] "A message encoded as artificial DNA can be stored within
] the genomes of multiplying bacteria and then accurately
] retrieved, US scientists have shown.
]
] Their concern that all current ways of storing information,
] from paper to electronic memory, can easily be lost or
] destroyed prompted them to devise a new type of memory -
] within living organisms.
]
] "A big concern is the protection of valuable information in
] the case of a nuclear catastrophe," says information
] technologist Pak Chung Wong, of the Pacific Northwest
] National Laboratory in Washington State. The laboratory was
] set up as a nuclear energy research institute."

Hrm. I have a hard time buying the idea that this is really going to be useful in a nuclear catastrophe. However, these bacteria would make for one hell of a covert channel. Of course, the encoding/decoding process would have to be as automatic as possible, but imagine smuggling secrets in your belly button.

I still maintain that it is feasible that our own DNA already has messages encoded in it and the SETI people need to get to work on decoding it. :)

Storing information in DNA

The new Reputation Agent has been significantly improved.

1. The agent will always show you highly rated new content. Previously the agent only showed you content from the people with the highest reputations. It will now find the highest rated content for the time period, even if your highest rated contributors haven't posted anything new.

2. The timeframe for the agent now defaults to Since Last Visit. If you don't touch the agent for 3 hours your visit is considered to be over, and the next time you use the agent content will be collected from the time your last visit ended.

3. The mode selector is gone. The agent now uses a hybrid mode. This should make the agent a lot easier for new users to understand.

I must confess to being a Baxter fan. Their new CD is a little more upbeat and relationship oriented (read girly) then their older one, which is high on my list of top music. However, its basically impossible to get their new CD in the USA anyway. :)

:::: BAXTER ::::

] "The government is trying to paint a picture of
] terrorism, but these dentists, lawyers and high-tech
] workers are not the terrorists," she said. "Not the ones
] who willingly go the INS office for a six-hour
] registration process."

Fallout from last month's mass detention... 3 Canadians working in Silicon Valley were detained for a week because they got their dates screwed up. INS is catching a fair amount of hell in the press.

3 tech workers freed after INS detention / Bay Area men face deportation hearings

Apple has just announced a number of new products, including 12 and 17 inch powerbooks (one too small, and the other too large?), updates for iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie which allow them to interoperate more easily, and a new web browser. The web browser, linked here, is the most important development IMHO, as the existing browsers all have various problems. Of course, I have yet to download it. I'll edit this comment when I've had a chance to try it out.

OK, here are my comments on Safari:

1. Looks REALLY nice and works well. My first overall impression is good. However, only time will tell if it is stable. (Its not...)

2. Pop up blocking did not interfere with MemeStreams! They got it right!

3. Spell Checker!!! Sweet!

4. No tabbed browsing... You kinda need that on a mac where you don't have a window bar.

5. Cannot turn offf anti-aliasing. Anti-Aliasing gives me headaches.

6. Does not draw empty tables. I am submitting this to them as a bug. This makes MemeStreams a little ugly...

7. ACK! Does not support Javascript text selection! I'm reporting this as well.

Apple - Safari

] So welcome, and special thanks to those of you who
] arrived early and started colonizing the place before it
] was even completed. That really cheered me up, a couple
] of weeks ago. I don’t have to feel I’m moving into an
] empty (and dishearteningly brand-new) structure. There
] is already some human space here, the start of that
] sense of duration and habitation, and soon there’ll be,
] I hope, more.

] In spite of (or perhaps because of) my reputation as a
] reclusive quasi-Pynchonian luddite shunning the net (or
] word-processors, depending on what you Google) I hope
] to be here on a more or less daily basis.

Its live now!

William Gibson's Blog

] "Jon Lech Johansen has been acquitted of all charges in a
] trial that tested the legality of the DeCSS DVD
] decryption utility he produced, Norwegian paper
] Aftenposten reports."

Jon Johansen Freed

] "Here goes: So (a) if a law like the one I propose is
] passed on a national level, and (b) it does not
] substantially reduce the level of spam, then (c) I will
] resign my job. I get to decide whether (a) is true;
] Declan can decide whether (b) is true."

Good Lord! If (a) is true then Lessig will be on the street! Any notion that a tagging law is going to reduce the number of emails you receive from compromised servers in Korea is just downright silly. These people are already commiting computer fraud. Whats a little fine going to mean to them? IF we had the ability to enforce the anti-fraud laws internationally THEN you might consider something like this, but right now we need to start by prosecuting people who hack websites in other countries.

politechbot.com: Larry Lessig bets his job on spam law -- with me as judge?

January 02, 2003

For the first time, we Kenyans have more or less agreed that this time we have had a fair election with the highest number of voters turning out to vote.

One key instrument has been the mobile phone.

Smart Mobs - Kenya Elections

] "What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation
] and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin
] to deal with them? - GWB"

Edge.org is at it again with a long list of famous responses to an important policy question.

Famous scientists discuss national science policy