Someone Has to Pay for TV. But Who? And How?
THEY will take my remote control away only when they pry it from my cold, dead hands. — This thought followed my first reading of a patent application for a new kind of television set and digital vi...
"Star Wars" on DVD, Again... For the First Time
Star Wars fan Philip Wise has purchased a home-video copy of George Lucas' seminal sci-fi film six times—"seven, including the Beta edition"—and he's not done yet. Because Lucas isn't done yet. — R...
Waxxi is a New Kind of Podcast
I think Tracy Sheridan's Waxxi is a great idea: a scheduled podcast where people can call in and participate (Frank Gruber has more). The kickoff podcast is with Naked Converstions authors Shel Israe...
Appeals court takes dim view of Net-tapping rules
WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court suggested on Friday that government regulations levying extensive Internet wiretapping requirements on universities and libraries may go too far. — The U.S. Court ...
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
As you may have heard, we have been working away on a question and answer service for Windows Live Search. Yesterday a few pages for the beta signup were posted by accident so we decided to get the w...
Microsoft files for *bleep*ing good patent
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is a wonderful institution. No, really. Where else can you receive a patent for a particular method of swinging on a playground swing? Of course, not a...
Wow: 3D operating system, Open Croquet
We're getting a demo of Croquet from Julian Lombardi and David Smith of Open Croquet, which is a 3D world. Something like Second Life, but runs P2P. — We have just seen a new world. — You have ju...
Apple patents digital media reservation system
Time for another peek into the Apple patent catalog for some gool ol' speculation into that mysterious product pipeline which Steve Jobs called the "best I've ever seen in my life." This time, a pate...
Hacker fears 'UFO cover-up'
In 2002, Gary McKinnon was arrested by the UK's national high-tech crime unit, after being accused of hacking into Nasa and the US military computer networks. — He says he spent two years looking fo...
Motorola Cell Phone Automatically Adjusts to the Elderly
Often the special needs of the elderly can be a disadvantage when attempting to use cell phones, and these options can be especially confusing to consumers with minimal technical abilities. To help e...
The Day DDoS Brought Down Six Apart
At around four o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, Six Apart and their properties Typepad, Typekey and LiveJournal all went dark after a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that spokesperson Jane An...
Free Wi-Fi in S.F. more than flipping a switch
Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco. Will EarthLink and Google leave a barrel of money trying to deliver universal Wi-Fi access to the hilly city's 740,000 residents? — San Francisco polit...
Embargo breakers: In ten days, you can finally share photos on the Net
If only there were photo-sharing sites on the web — wouldn't that be pretty cool? — Well thank the gods for Tabblo, the "groundbreaking free online photo-sharing site" launching May 15!
Windows Live Local Offers a Unique View of Where the Stars Hang Out
Microsoft's online mapping service provides the inside scoop on where top celebrities spend time in the cities they call home. — REDMOND, Wash. — May 4, 2006 — Celebrity watchers rejoice!
New Disclaimer
Rob linked to an amusing but clear rock climbing disclaimer. — I took that as a challenge, and offer below an amended version for technology contracts. I'm sure it can be improved upon (this calls ...