While governments debate how to prevent human reproductive cloning, it seems that nature has put a few hurdles of its own in the way. On page 297, a team reports that in rhesus monkeys, cloning robs an embryo of key proteins that allow a cell to divvy up chromosomes and divide properly. Unpublished data from this and other groups suggest that the same problem may also thwart attempts to clone humans.

Your methods are broken. Return to the drawing board. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

'The Primates Will Not Be Cloned' | Science Magazine

An action-packed trailer for the long-awaited sequel to The Matrix has been released by Warner Bros. The minute-long series of clips from The Matrix Reloaded offers a glimpse of the action sci-fi feature, due for release on 23 May. It mirrors the first film's combination of acrobatic martial arts fight scenes, high-octane car chases and spectacular special effects.

Here's a link to a full-screen Quicktime version of the trailer (97 MB):

http://progressive1.stream.aol.com/wb/gl/wbonline/progressive/thematrix/us/med/trailer_final_1000_dl.zip

The Matrix Reloaded | Trailer

In a pairing that would alter the architecture of the music business, Apple Computer Inc. is in talks with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, sources said.

Apple Reportedly in Talks to Buy Universal Music

Elections are not necessarily synonymous with constitutional liberalism. Democracy is flourishing; liberty is not.

Fareed Zakaria has a new book entitled, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad." I've linked here to the NYT review. This book has received praise from Peter Jennings, Arthur Schlesinger, Richard Holbrooke, Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Nicholas Lemann, and others.

Fareed's book tour will be in SF on April 21, LA on April 22, Boston on May 1, and elsewhere on other dates.

Here's Your Vote; Liberty Can Wait

... What all these emerging services have in common is a business model based on subscriptions that are billed monthly or yearly. What the most successful services will share is an appeal that will quickly evolve from intriguing to compelling to essential.

The future will not be advertised.

It Adds Up (and Up, and Up)

We act as though we could wish away what is happening to new products and prices. But the fact is that the on-going commoditization of technology cannot be undone. Products will continue to get better but they will also continue to fall in price. In the face of these dynamics, jobs will melt away. The only growth in the industry will be come from a variety of education, customer support, strategic evaluation and consulting positions. Additional growth can come only from use of the technologies in an open architecture that preserves the freedom to innovate.

This is just one of many worthwhile articles in the latest issue of the Cook Report.

The Paradox of Commoditization

Because it's unhealthy. Because it has become our obsession. Because it is dangerous -- a runaway train, roaring down a path to disaster.

Michael Malone writes in the February issue of Red Herring. (This is the article that John Markoff mentioned in today's NYT article.)

Forget Moore's Law | Red Herring

"Forget Moore's law, because it is unhealthy," Michael S. Malone, a longtime member of the valley's technology community and an eBay founder, wrote recently in a trade publication. Forget Moore's law, "because it has become our obsession," Mr. Malone wrote. "Because high tech has become fixated on it at the expense of everything else -- especially business strategy."

Is There Life After Silicon Valley's Fast Lane?

The Computer Science Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences has released a pre-publication version of their latest report. The report discusses the privacy implications of various proposed and deployed authentication technologies.

Who Goes There?: Authentication Through the Lens of Privacy

UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism is hosting an event entitled "Weblogs, Information, and Society" on April 10.

Speakers include: Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News; Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext; Donna Wentworth, Harvard's Berkman Center; Ed Felten, Princeton; Scott Rosenberg, Salon; and Ernest Miller, LawMeme.

Description: The Weblogs Information and Society panel draws webloggers from academe, business, and journalism to explore how weblogs continue to change the way groups and individuals work, learn, and communicate.

The panel will also explore how weblogs, and social software in particular, facilitate civic and creative engagement by increasing the fluidity of information between individuals and organizations. This developing relationship between weblogs, information, and society is significant and deserves further discussion.

Weblogs, Information, and Society | Event at UC Berkeley