"The Sun Blade 150 workstation, starting at $1,395, is the latest in a series of inexpensive RISC/Unix workstations designed to compete against workstations based around Intel chips running Windows or Linux"

Sun is trying to compete with Linux and Apple... I think they are going to have to offer something more compelling if they want to make headway.

Sun releases low-cost Unix workstation - Tech News - CNET.com

"The prevalence of pornographic Web sites and e-mails is a lot more than an insult to common decency," Chernin said. "It's an increasing reason to keep kids and families off the Internet. And these are only part of the virtual logjam of valueless clutter."

The CEO of News Corp hates the internet; supports regulating the hell out of it.

Media chief decries Net's moral fiber - Tech News - CNET.com

"The Cambridge study suggests a "continuum" of disability, "with AS as the bridge between autism and normality". Res may represent a point on the spectrum between AS and obsessive - a place other top hackers might also occupy."

This is an odd article. Why computer hacking may be a symptom of mental illness... I'm skeptical of this sort of thing. Psychologists recently have wanted to define any unpopular behavioral pattern as "abnormal" and further tag it as a disease. ADD is the classic example. Seems like everybody's kid has ADD. I wonder how often "my kid has ADD" means "my kid doesn't do what I say so I've put him on drugs." There is a great difference between this sort thing and a serious mental illness which prevents someone from living life, and I don't think its appropriate to blur the lines. Start by asking yourself if you think the behavior is a problem because it makes YOU unhappy or because it makes life difficult for the person who exhibits it.

Cracking the hackers' code - theage.com.au

"Doing things in a garage is more than just a quaint image. It means "doing things without _any_ burn rate." It means having a day job."

Timothy C. May is often at his best when talking about business. Here he discusses the back to earth realities of technological innovation post-bubble. This is not 20/20 hindsight. This guy was writing furious rants about the hot sports cars and crazy salaries back in 1997.

I'm reminded of a quote I heard at a Cypherpunks meeting: "If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope of finding that most modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances." - Albert Einstein

Startups, Bubbles, and Unemployment

Ahh, that crazy Houston police department...

Ice cream is illegal, little girl. Say hi to Bubba!

"Ordinary alfalfa plants are being used as miniature gold factories that one day could provide the nanotechnology industry with a continuous harvest of gold nanoparticles. "

This is rad!

Scientists use alfalfa plants to harvest nanoparticles of gold: 8/02

IRC version of the matrix...

Bastardization of The Matrix

"A genetic mutation might explain why only one fifth of people infected with West Nile virus go on to develop symptoms - and why only one fifth of these people develop a severe, often fatal, brain inflammation, say French researchers. "

Genetic Mutation might explain West Nile Infections; Vaccine being tested

"Cox customers can turn to a designated channel, without cost, to view content developed by a host of advertisers, including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records and Volvo North America. Cox plans to test the service for six months. "

Oh lord... The "advertisement network." I think there was a joke about this on "You can't do that on Television" many years ago...

Cox channel tunes in to advertisers - Tech News - CNET.com

"If you believe the buzz, you'll conclude that programmers, academics and engineers should be scared witless about being sued under the DMCA. In effect for nearly two years, the law sets protections for the codes that are wrapped around certain copyrighted content such as DVDs and electronic books. "

I think McCullagh is simply trying to rile people up here. If he is really trying to tell researchers not to over-react to the DMCA, News.com isn't really the best place to reach them.

Furthermore, everyone seems to forget that the RIAA fired the first shot in the Felton case. YES, you are unlikely to be prosecuted if you are a research scientist; not because of the law, but because you are a research scientist. You have the resources to defend yourself and you look good in court. If you are an independent security researcher living off peanuts and posting to bugtraq, the exact same research could have very different implications. Again, not because of the law, but because the law offers a pretense to prosecute, and even if such a prosecution is not going to be successful, it will still punish you financially beyond your means.

This discrepancy should not be presented in a positive light. "Don't worry about the DMCA, it only applies to the little people."

Debunking DMCA myths - Tech News - CNET.com