Bored in the final minutes of the day I did a Google search for "WOPR site:.mil"

Instead of a global thermonuclear war playing computer, I found "Wing Office of Primary Responsibility"

The world would be more fun if there were global thermonuclear war playing computers running on .mil sites...

Microsoft is not passionate about Tablets. MS's marketing department is passionate about Tablets. They had a memory leak which causes XP Tablet edition to need a daily reboot which they refuse to patch for over a year! MS has created a .NET framework for compact devices that they themselves don't even use. So what's with this complete disconnect between MS's words and MS's actions when it comes to Tablets?

In case you couldn't tell MS is not Apple. They sell software. Don't be fooled by the XBox. Game consoles are the ulitmate example of selling hardware simply to sell more software. MS is and always will be a software company. For this reason it is not in Microsoft's interest to personally bootstrap the raise of the Tablet PC. Unlike the XBox, it doesn't position their technology into a new space. Why? Well what does everyone say Tablets will replace? Not laptops but that weird gray area of PDA/Cell Phone/gadgetry. Microsoft is already mature in this area; they are selling plenty of licenses for PDA style devices and cell phones. Changing all of those licenses into Tablet licenses doesn't make them any more money.

Since it doesn't create a new space for them MS would needto increase sales volumne to actually make money off a "Tablet revoltion." Since they aren't creating a new space, this means more people would need to buy tablets than cell phones when replacing older devices. Can you put a Tablet in your pocket? JaneLane can keep her Razr in her jeans, which I might add are tight sexy jeans with tiny non-functioning girl pockets! Have you seen pockets on girl's jeans? Crazy! It easy to say that Tablets, for the foreseeable future, are going to remain in an extreme niche market.

So if the economics of Tablets don't make sense, they why does MS seem to care about them much? Two reasons really:

1) MS is making sure that the devices which cause any market share gain for Tablets at the expense of PDAs or cell phones are running some Windows OS. The percentages of the licensing pie may change, but the overall pie stays the same.

2) Tablets are just a marketing campaign. MS throws enough resources at them to look cool and hip and trendy.

The truth about tablets

..when I talk with Decius and he simply replies:

"Billy, whatever you are planning here, it should never get released. EVER."

You need to know how to destory the Internet to make it better.

the XSS security challenge
Anybody bored and want a permanent account? Read on:

We're going to be running an XSS (Cross site scripting / Javascript injection) bug hunt challenge soon here. The biz people like the idea but need to squabble over rules and legal stuff. Unofficially, it'll involve giving out permanent accounts and money (or gift certificates).

So while I can't promise you jack right now in terms of money, I can give out permanent accounts like candy, so I'll announce the first round of the game:

Hmmmmmm

The XSS security challenge

tired as hell. 2 Conferences in 2 weeks with 2 different topics. I'll post more later becuase it was a cool event.

At the end of the day, Google's Davidson says that his biggest worry is not for Google but for the prospect of bringing fresh innovation to the Internet. After all, if worse comes to worst, Google can pay AT&T or BellSouth to maintain its role as the Internet's dominant search engine. But the bright young start-up with the next big innovative idea won't have that option.

This is exactly my concern.

Who really gets hurt by 'prioritization' of the Internet

Who is listening-in on your phone calls? Probably nobody. Right now, there is huge interest in phone tapping in the United States because the Bush Administration (through the National Security Agency) was caught listening in without appropriate court orders. What I have noticed is that, for all the talking and writing on this subject, there seems to be very little real information being presented. So this column is my attempt to share what I've learned about the topic. It might surprise you.

Gold star

Cringley on phone tapping

Metal Gear Solid 3 for stealing 3 days of my life... [checks watch]... shit, now its Sunday, so make that 4 days.

an. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, was sued by the Justice Department after it refused to turn over information that may help the government monitor sexually explicit material on the Web.

The Justice Department said it asked for all Google queries for a week and for 1 million Internet addresses in the company's database. According to the lawsuit, other search engines have complied with similar requests, ``and have not reported that they encountered any difficulty or burden in doing so.''

They did what now! How many of you want anything you have ever typed into Google to be in the government's hands? How many of you are pissed that other search engines just said "Here!"

The information would ``assist the government in its efforts to understand the behavior of current Web users, to estimate how often Web users encounter harmful-to-minors material in the course of their searches, and to measure the effectiveness of filtering software in screening that material,'' the government's filing said.

Now for the really scary part of this. I have read the above paragraph countless times before. The only difference is back then it said China instead of the government and people instead of minors. Why don't you congressional ass clowns try to "understand the behavior" of my right to privacy or the term of illegal search and seizure!

DoJ sues Google for failing to turn over records!

Irish scientists have discovered that three million men worldwide share a common ancestor - allegedly a fifth century Irish warlord rather splendidly called Niall of the Nine Hostages.

The revelation, Reuters reports, comes after a team from Trinity College Dublin tested the Y chromosome in 800 males across Ireland. The results showed that up to one in twelve Irish men has the same Y chromosome, with the highest concentration being in northwest Ireland, where an impressive one in five males boasts the same chromosome.

Irishman has three million kids