Tuesday, February 26, 2002

[Scripting News] Newsbytes: "Lawyers for makers of the file-sharing applications Morpheus and Grokster say that, if their clients can be held responsible for illegal copies of music and motion pictures, then so too should companies such as Microsoft and AOL Time Warner, whose software and Internet connectivity are essential to building networks of file traders."    Hmmm.   Slippery slope is the theme of the day I guess.   Could this possibly work?  I'm skeptical 8:46:28 PM

[Slashdot] The Problem Of Developing an article about the diminishing differences between programming languages... sounds interesting, but I haven't read it yet... 5:20:50 PM

[IDG InfoWorld] Microsoft edges into CRM 4:25:09 PM

[diveintomark] Keepin' the faith. Erann Gat: How I lost my faith in Lisp and learned to love Python. [via Daily Python-URL]  --  an editorial by a guy who was a long-time Lisper because it was the most productive environment he knew.   He says his experience working at Google has made him a Python convert.  Interesting... makes me want to learn Python. 4:22:40 PM

[Wired News] 'Marked' Mom Births Clean Baby. A woman with a gene that causes early-onset Alzheimer's has her eggs screened in a lab, then gives birth to a baby free of the defect.  Down the slippery slope we go...  There are people that want to do this for dwarfism, I hear.   Dwarves who want dwarf babies.   Not saying that Alzheimer's and dwarfism are in the same category -  no one is content to have alzheimers.   Still, makes it clear to me that there is in fact a slope here. 2:43:10 PM

[Scripting News] Until reading this ZDNet article interviewing Don Box, it had not occurred to me that HTTP isn't everything we could want it to be. No sarcasm. People are jumping all over this story, but sheez, he makes some good points.   Favorite thoughts from the article - 1) HTTP is like cockroaches: when the holocost comes, it will be the only protocol left standing.  2) HTTP won't last forever - we have to replace it some day.    #1 is probably true.  #2 can't be true if #1 is true.  Mr. Box should talk to those who figured two digits were enough to represent the year.   Of course, churning the transport protocol would create a tremendous opportunity for Microsoft - can't fault them for trying.   The good news is it's such an obvious opportunity, everyone else is on it too (e.g. everyone's got a p2p solution).   He makes a good point about the weaknesses of the protocol -- asymmetric and intended for quick turn-around requests (not long running requests).   Not sure either of those are sufficient to drive replacement, but we will see.... 2:07:49 PM

BEA Systems and Intel Announce Commitment to Optimize BEA's Java Virtual Machine for Intel Architecture I used to wonder what it meant that Intel and BEA had formed an alliance -- how could you optimize weblogic for the intel platform when the jvm was in between. Duh. By adding adding a JVM as part of BEA's platform. 12:22:42 PM

[Scripting News] Here's a surprise. I just skimmed this new Dan Bricklin essay on weblogging, and all the links were blue, including the pointer to my site. Nice.  a thoughtful look at what makes weblogs tick 12:09:11 PM

[Scientific American] Researchers Discover Taste Receptor for Amino Acids there's also a link to an article about the perception of fat in foods -- turns out it's not just texture (as has been widely believed) or smell -- there's evidence it's a taste too. And who knew about the new fifth taste - umami. Apparently, it's the reason food with MSG tastes good. 12:05:40 PM

[Scripting News] Heads-up and a bit of a tease. Last night we released a few parts for Radio 8 that generalize the connection between the desktop and the community server. This will make it easier, in the future, to switch to a new server, with new features for communities. More than one Weblogs.Com? Behind a firewall? Private workgroups? Write your own cloud-apps? All of that, and more. There's even a technical term for this. Federation. Inch by inch.  11:15:09 AM

[IDG InfoWorld] Web services take wing at BEA show 11:13:11 AM

A reason to keep a journal, from The Essential Drucker, pg. 218: Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong... There is only one way to find out [what you're good at]: the feedback analysis . Whenever one makes a key decision, and whenever one does a key action, one writes down what one expects will happen. And nine months or twelve months later, one then feeds back from the results to expectations. I have been doing this for some fifteen to twenty years now. And every time I do it, I am surprised. And so is everyone who has ever done this. 10:24:00 AM

[Slashdot] Factoring Breakthrough? sounds big... apparently dan bernstein (of qmail fame) has found a way to remove some previously unrecognized inefficiencies in the implementation of number field seives on modern computer hardware. According to the analysis, it means that keys shorter than 2kbits are insecure now and that you should probably be looking to 6kbits for long term security (barring further developments other than hardware speedups). This gives creedence to rumors that one of the government agencies had hardware that made childs play of RSA keys. 10:10:56 AM

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]  People that weblog dominate their chosen topic areas.  They are smart and write extremely well.  Here is a very small sample: http://buzz.weblogs.com/ (Buzz owns the topic of new media PR) http://80211b.weblogger.com/  (Glenn dominates the discussion of this widespread wireless tech) http://radio.weblogs.com/0001014/  (Adam Curry from MTV fame is working on innovations on new media topics he is going to implement) http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/  (Jenny covers new tech for librarians) http://www.lextext.com/icann/  (Bret owns reporting having to do with ICANN -- the Internet naming authority) http://segway.weblogs.com/  (Paul Nakada is the source -- according to the NYT -- on topics related to Segway, the new human transporter) http://radio.weblogs.com/0103924/ (Dave is staking a claim to MS Front Page topics) http://www.carlsoncarlson.com/dane/  (Dane is an all around good source) http://radio.weblogs.com/0100243/  (Mary has been providing first hand accounts of the skating  -- and scandals -- at the Olympics) http://www.scripting.com (Dave, is the source for views and news on software) http://radio.weblogs.com/0100676/  (Ken, an Apple VP, is covering OS X news and insider topics) 6:06:29 AM

[ZDNet Tech News] Open your wallets for next StarOffice. StarOffice downloads once were free, but the next version of Sun's suite of software will reportedly come with a charge. Will Sun lose the high ground in its campaign against Microsoft?  Not sure how this will work out for them... probably not too well. 6:02:12 AM