Not a fan of iTunes for Windows. Aside from its annoying habit of renaming the files I’d painstakingly named, it doesn’t like being removed. I’ve had blue screen of death and an unstable PC in the aftermath of the two occasions I’ve tangled with the piece of crap
The dangerous profession of anti-personnel mine detection is getting a surprising new tool: giant Gambian rats [BugMeNot]. Some resourceful Belgians have figured out how to train these 30-inch rodents to hunt out land mines. They are cheaper and work harder than dogs and are more reliable than metal detectors
The search giant escalates the e-mail storage arms race by a factor of 1,000, by quietly raising storage limits to 1 terabyte for some users. They are also preparing to introduce a powerful file and text software search tool [BugMeNot] for locating information stored on personal computers
Teenage virus writers, or script kiddies
, are having an effect on the IT industry, but not to the extent that the public believes. In fact, most are not even very good at what they do
A less than bright Los Angeles nurse found a stolen Stradivarius cello worth $3.5 million next to a dumpster and planned to turn it into a CD cabinet until she discovered it was the instrument the whole town was searching for
Six Apart are wondering just what the hell people have been doing with MovableType in an effort to help streamline their licensing.
The definition of exactly what constitutes a weblog
is actually more confusing since Six Apart clarified it.
Currently MT is used for two sections of the site in separate directories using two weblogs. Whether this counts as one or two weblogs under the new definition is anyone’s guess. There are currently three active users, with vague plans to add more.
If MT3 has features that are suitable, more sections of the site will be integrated into MovableType which will be another five weblogs, give or take, which moves the site beyond the base licence. Maybe. Depending on semantics. And features of course. It’s all a bit confusing at the moment.
Still, I’d like to know exactly what shiny things are planned to be integrated into the general release.
MT-Blacklist, which I can’t live without, is in Jay Allen’s capable hands. He started a wishlist for the new version today.
Most of the plugins used are neat little tools that format things the way I want. However, two of the things I’ve been holding off installing are sub-categories (installed David Rayner’s plugin, it crashed and burned in spectacular fashion) and threaded comments (luscious install of Alexei Kosut’s plugin on Phil Ringnalda‘s site).
It has been hinted that these two things could be in the new version, rather than as separate plugins, but I’ve been holding off to avoid the nightmare of porting major wackiness between versions or dealing with changes from a plugin version to an integrated version. So it would nice to have an idea of when the general release is due and what additional features are planned.
Netspace, a Melbourne ISP, has joined the list of ISPs planning to build broadband infrastructure to reduce their dependence on Telstra’s ADSL network
Spammers are now trying to find out which antispammers have infiltrated their ranks and are sharing sensitive
info with fellow antispammers. Online spammer forums like the Pro Bulk Club, the Bulk Club and bulkmails.org have been gatecrashed by activists from organisations like Spamhaus. Steve Linford of Spamhaus said spammers know this already but they don’t know who amongst their number is working for the other side
Auto insurance company Geico has sued Google and Overture Services for allegedly violating its trademarks in search-related advertisements, in the latest legal salvo against the Internet companies
The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of intimidating the ABC into agreeing to ongoing monitoring of whether its programs and stories are politically balanced
The home state of presidential contender John Kerry has held the first legal gay marriages in US history, while the loony fundies demand that the constitution be rewritten to outlaw such unions forever. Congratulations to Tanya and Marcia, the first couple to take the plunge
Retired Congressman Al Smith testified on the DMCRA, Rep Boucher’s bill to reform copyright. Smith’s been home-taping for 54 years, and he knows what’s what: When I buy a CD or a DVD, that content should be wholly mine to do with as I please as long as I am in no way selling its contents or profiting from it… Present law is predicated on the assumption that consumers will rip-off copyright holders. The vast majority are innocent of that assumption, but all are treated as guilty
A new web browser from Opera this week is the first major browser to incorporate RSS, an emerging technology that automatically delivers new blog entries and news articles
Those radicals in Holland have protected the right of a search engine to search for MP3s — via Lawrence Lessig
Wondering what to do with your disposable camera when you’re finished with it? TechTV has an article describing how to reach out and zap someone with a home-made stun gun
British scientists have developed technology that can grow structures up to 2mm and 0.2mm in diameter on metal surfaces. Dubbed Surfi-Sculpt, it will act like ultra-strong Velcro to form much tougher joints between metals and lightweight composite materials
Web portal Yahoo will begin offering virtually unlimited storage
for its paid e-mail customers and will upgrade free users to 100MB. The upgrade is part of an overall enhancement for Yahoo Mail that will launch this summer. Besides additional storage, the service will get a face-lift and tie in more Yahoo-branded services, such as Photos and Messenger
Yahoo and Google disable links to controversial adware maker WhenU after the company is accused of engaging in unauthorised practices aimed at boosting its search rankings. The practices came to light following an investigation by antispyware crusader Ben Edelman, a Harvard student who found that the company used a technique known as cloaking
to dupe search engines into favourably listing decoy Web pages that direct people to other destinations, once they click on the link. Ben has a couple of follow up articles on the situation; Which SEO Did WhenU Use? The Best Inference: Synergy6 and WhenU Copies 26+ Articles from 20+ News Sites
Sir John Sulston, a Nobel Prize winning scientist, has called on the British government to introduce legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s genetic make-up
Called Google Groups 2, the service lets people create, search and sift through e-mail mailing lists. People can also subscribe to and monitor groups of interest
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