October 2004

Just wanted to see how the new version of ecto works in OSX. So far, so good. I like it. Although, the prevsious version was very good and so easy to use. Oh well, progress is progress.

Have a great weekend all. Oh, and don’t forget to vote on Tuesday. In case you forgot or could escape all of the hype, I just thought I would mention it.

Later.

CBC is reporting about the 35th birthday of the internet, which is today. The story talks about the less-than-prophetic beginnings of the net: ‘In order to log in to the two-computer network, which was then called ARPANET, programmers at UCLA were to type in ‘log’, and Stanford programmers would reply with ‘in’. The UCLA programmers only got as far as ‘lo’ before the Stanford machine crashed.’

Must have been running Windows. No, of course not. Windows wasn’t even around then. Ahh, the good old days.

To celebrate in LA, their is a big event going on at UCLA today with speakers and such, all talking about the internet. Where’s its come from and where its going. Notably, the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, will discuss the future of the internet and how Google will come to dominate the world as we know it.

I hope the internet doesn’t get too drunk and make a fool of itself.

Later.

How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

None. There’s nothing wrong with that light bulb. There is no need to change anything. We made the right decision and nothing has happened to change our minds. People who criticize this light bulb now, just because it doesn’t work anymore, supported us when we first screwed it in, and when these flip-floppers insist on saying that it is burned out, they are merely giving aid and encouragement to the Forces of Darkness.

Later.

Apple launched a few new toys this week. Among them, the new Photo IPod and the cool U2 iPod. In basic black, as I predicted.

The Photo iPod lets you look at pictures on its color screen and sports a longer battery life of 15 hours! Better than the old iPods but for the price, it should be.

The U2 iPod is cool but I don’t like U2 enough to shell out the bucks for it. Besides, I already have a few iPods around the house and really, I’m waiting for the gold encrusted ABBA edition anyway.

It is nice to look at though.

Also, CNET is reporting that the Virginia Tech supercomputer a.k.a System X, which is made up of lots of G5 XServes (1100 to be exact), has reached 12.25 Teraflops.

For those non-geeks in the audience, that’s a crap load of computing power. This makes it in the top 5 of supercomputers in the world. Look out NEC earth simulator, we’re coming for you!

Later.

According to “The American Conservative” magazine, which is run by, of all people, Pat Buchanon, John Kerry is the one they like for President. Well, like may be too strong a word. But they don’t want GW to be re-elected and that’s good enough for me. This has to be good in the fight to woo “undecided” voters too.

This, and the growing list of publications that actually endorse John Kerry and things are looking up. I feel a shift in momentum. Yes I do.

Later.

Three anti-spyware bills are working their way through Congress, and the FTC has achieved its first victory in its lawsuit against “Spamford” Wallace. On Thursday the US District Court granted a temporary restraining order against Wallace prohibiting him from exploiting Internet vulnerabilities to place spyware on computers. Wallace was given 24 hours to pull his software from the web.

PalmOne has officially announced the release of the Treo 650. Sprint has cornered the market on the hot phone through sometime next year. Sprint says the phone will be available by mid-November and cost around $500. Wi-Fi support will not be available at first, but PalmOne does expect to make a Wi-Fi card for the phone eventually.

Sprint also crippled the bluetooth implementation on their version of the 650. One more reason not to use Sprint. Besides, I am loving T-Mobile here in Los Angeles. Any ATT users out there? I advise you to switch. T-Mobile works so much better.

Meanwhile Google shares were up another 15% on Friday, topping $180/share at one point. Thanks to a strong earnings report on Thursday, two analysts are saying it’s worth over $200.

An AOL survey shows that 20% of home computers are infected with viruses. 80% are infected with spyware. Infected machines had an average of 93 different spyware programs on them. Technical experts from AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance examined 329 computers in the survey. More than 70% of owners falsely thought they were protected from online threats.

The DOJ has given its go ahead for Cingular’s acquisition of AT&T Wireless. The merger now has to go to the FCC for approval. I wonder if they will get it? The merger will give Cingular 47.6 million subscribers, making it the number one wireless carrier in the US of A.

The tech industry received a big tax break on Friday. President Bush signed a bill offering $136 billion in corporate tax relief, including a reduction from 35% to %5.25 in the tax rate on foreign profits for US multinationals. The breaks have been criticized for encouraging offshoring of jobs, but the US tech industry lobbied heavily for them saying they needed the money for additional R&D and investment. Senator Feinstein’s amendment requiring companies to spend their tax windfall in the US was rejected.

And, Apple’s big press conference is today. Will they announce the new U2 iPod? We’ll see.

Mmm theme iPods. Interesting. Supposedly in basic black for the U2 one. Now, if I could just get a computer that color. A black 12″ powerbook would be cool. Or, maybe a black G5 tower. What can I say, I like black. Probably all those years in the movie business.

Later.

John Stewart on C-Span right after his appearence on “Corssfire”. Must see TV.

Also, the British Armed Forces have officially recognized a naval technician as a satanist, meaning that he can conduct satanic rituals on board the HMS Cumberland. This is a first for them, obviously. What can they say? The devil made them do it?

And, from the “what the fuck are they doing?” department:

It seems that hundreds of tons of high explosives are, ah, how do you say it . . . . . gone. At least according to the United Nations watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that was keeping an eye on the explosives before the war.

My personal favorite quote from Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the group: “Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we’ve seen,” Fleming said.

You think? Oh, who was watching the explosives after the IAEA left Iraq? Why us, of course. Think about this when you go to the polls people.

Later.

My friend Courtney Jones is a talented film director and a good writer to boot. He posts an interesting article about film versus digital over at our other site.

Other than that, I am off to San Diego with the wife for her birthday. We are going to Sea World to see Shamu and the sharks. She likes sharks but has never been to Sea World so this will be fun. I hear they have a rollercoaster now or something.

Later.

Hunter S. Thompson and his take on politics these days. He has an interesting perspective and nobody says it quite like him.

And, here’s the followup regarding John Stewart’s “Crossfire” appearance. He handicaps his own work and it’s even funnier the second time around.

And finally, here’s a picture of some citizens exercising their right to free speech and telling it like it is.

Later.