] A user asked us this weekend how to cure a virus, which
] "infected the onboard computers of automobiles Lexus
] LX470, LS430, Landcruiser 100 via a cell phone."
]
] We haven't been able to trace whether or not Toyota/Lexus
] uses Symbian in their onboard electronics so far.
] However, we do know that car manufacturers are
] integrating existing operating systems into their onboard
] computers (take the Fiat and Microsoft deal, for
] instance).

Oh. Right. Because now that cellphone virii are becoming common, we've got another vector with all kinds of new prospective victims. This sounds farfetched, so far... but how far out is it, really?

Viruslist.com - Analyst's Diary

] Imagine a gun with no recoil, no sound, no heat, no
] gunpowder, no visible firing signature (muzzle flash),
] and no stoppages or jams of any kind. Now imagine that
] this gun could fire .308 caliber and .50 caliber metal
] projectiles accurately at up to 8,000 fps
] (feet-per-second), featured an infinitely
] variable/programmable cyclic rate-of-fire (as high as
] 120,000 rounds-per-minute), and were capable of laying
] down a 360-degree field of fire. What if you could mount
] this weapon on any military Humvee (HMMWV), any
] helicopter/gunship, any armored personnel carrier (APC),
] and any other vehicle for which the technology were
] applicable?

Overhyped in the article, but interesting.

Defense Review - World Exclusive Video! DREAD Weapon System: Devastating, Jam-Proof, and Silent.

] Yeah, but what's it REALLY for? Movies.
]
] The Mac Mini is one of Apple's trademark technology
] repackaging jobs. There ought to be nothing inherently
] exciting about the little box.

Nice assessment. I really hope NetFlix is talking with them.

PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column

] And yet every May, speakers all over the country fire up
] the Standard Graduation Speech, the theme of which is:
] don't give up on your dreams. I know what they mean, but
] this is a bad way to put it, because it implies you're
] supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on. The
] computer world has a name for this: premature
] optimization. And it is synonymous with disaster. These
] speakers would do better to say simply, don't give up.

This is a pretty good summary...

What You'll Wish You'd Known

] So I have a feeling that what we're going to see after
] the widespread implementation will not be a decline in
] comment spam (and, on weblogs which support TrackBack,
] TrackBack spam), but rather a marked increase.

This is a nicely thought out article that follows up on my question posed on the show: ok, this eliminates PageRank advantages, but spammers don't give up -- where do they go next.

Volume. Damn it.

I kind of like the criticism angle, too.

A step toward solving comment spam? || kuro5hin.org

] This is called comment spam, we don't like it either, and
] we've been testing a new tag that blocks it. From now on,
] when Google sees the attribute (rel="nofollow") on
] hyperlinks, those links won't get any credit when we rank
] websites in our search results.

Right on. I am trying to think of downsides; certainly it will decrease the visibility of good faith link recommendations. It also means it may be harder to trackback to user identities from where they post with personal url. But these don't seem significant enough relative to comment/guestbook spamming.

Google Blog

] Onstage at the Macworld Exposition in San Francisco last
] week, Apple's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, proclaimed
] 2005 as "the year of high-definition video," a strange
] declaration from someone who was not trying to sell
] television sets. He kept his laser-like focus on the iPod
] and the Mac mini, a new low-priced, book-size computer.
]
]
] But he noted that the giant screen projecting his
] demonstrations was in high definition, gave a cursory
] display of several computer video-editing tools and
] offered an enthusiastic plug for a new Sony
] high-definition video camera. He also invited Sony's
] president, Kunitake Ando, onstage for a brief and cryptic
] appearance and mentioned that the two companies might
] find other things to cooperate on in the future.

The New York Times : Technology : Is Apple Thinking About Mac TV?

] It is a small but significant measure for a company with
] major efforts to patent its research, then license those
] patents. Still, the vast majority of IBM's 10,000
] software patents in the United States aren't being shared
] so freely.

IBM offers 500 patents for open-source use | CNET News.com

] Microsoft said Monday that it would expand its Redmond,
] Wash., headquarters to accommodate the hiring of more
] than 10,000 new employees over next 10 to 20 years.

It is not exactly a small campus at this point.

Microsoft to expand Redmond headquarters | CNET News.com

] As goes pornography, so goes technology.
]
] The concept may seem odd, but history has proven the
] adult entertainment industry to be one of the key drivers
] of any new technology in home entertainment. Pornography
] customers have been some of the first to buy home video
] machines, DVD players and subscribe to high-speed
] Internet.
]
] One of the next big issues in which pornographers could
] play a deciding role is the future of high-definition
] DVDs.

Porn industry mulls next-generation DVD | Tech News on ZDNet