] # Brings full virtual desktop support as available on
] other operating systems (Unix/Linux, Mac OS 9, Windows)
] to the Mac OS X platform.

] # Significant workflow improvements as you gain the
] ability to switch between multiple desktops and
] applications.

] # Considered by many users to be the most powerful
] implementation of virtual desktops on any platform, which
] is exactly what Mac OS X deserves.

] # Ideal for anyone who has more than one application open
] at a time!

Virtual Desktops are a must have.. It goes like this: Man crawled out of ocean, man coded window manager, man coded virtual desktops. If you don't have them, or rather, if you don't _need_ them, you either don't do alot with your machine or you really enjoy switching around and getting lost in an overly complicated/packed desktop.. Tabbed browsers are not enough.

This product costs $30 to register. Earlier versions "phoned home", but they removed that a few revisions ago. I've registered. The mouse focus handling stuff (thats also missing from OSX) that this product adds could still use some work. It needs to separate rasing the window from focus. I want focus to follow the mouse, but I want to raise windows by clicking.. You should be able to use the mouse to control elements of your desktop without having to click on anything. Although, I'm not too upset about the lack of advanced mouse focus handling.. I keep hitting my touchpad when typing, so I have a feeling it wouldn't work out like it normally does.. Works better with nipple mice, where you never have to take your hand off the keyboard. Without that, it may makes more sence to use hotkeys.. I promised myself I wasn't going to say anything else about the mouse, in particular its buttons, or lack there of.. Not going to say anything about it, or how much I love context menus. Not a damn thing. No sir..

Anyway, note to Apple. Mac OS has a damn sweet desktop out of the box. But it _really_ needs to ship with a virtual desktop utility. I expect Microsoft to miss details like this, but from what I've seen thus far, Apple is tuned into what makes a nice desktop in ways others are not. How could they miss this? I really think this should be built into the system.. I should not have to pay $30 for it..

I'm also pissed they did away with window shading..

Am I am the only one who _really_ likes these UI features? I completely understand why the *nixs ship with them turned off by default.. The desktop should be as simple and intutive as possible by default, and allow me to turn on additional super-powers as I feel necessary. Whats so hard about that? Do we really need to be chasing Microsoft in terms of UI? I mean, they suck, always have. Its a horrible desktop to navigate around in. The taskbar is the only thing I recall being a radical step forward for them, and it really has not evolved much since w95.. Its all been "next natural step" kinda innovation, all with very little regard for anyone other then the most low-level newbie user.. I can't find any reason why some of this stuff is not more common, other then the lack of it on MS, and everyone chasing MS. Stop chasing MS.. They are not leading in the right direction..

CodeTek Studios - VirtualDesktop for Mac OSX

] Chilling details of al Qaeda's secret communications
] system - and the possibility of widespread knowledge that
] the devastating attacks on New York and Washington were
] in the works - were unveiled in a courtroom in Milan,
] where a group of Islamic militants are on trial for
] supporting al Qaeda's terrorist activities.
]
] According to reports in the Corriere della Sera newspaper
] and on ABC News' Web site, the secret communications were
] discovered during a November 2001 raid on the Via
] Quaranta mosque in Milan, where police confiscated 11
] computers.

] Investigators believe cell members were using a process
] called stenography, in which special software allows a
] text message to be hidden inside a small part of a
] computer photograph.

NYPOST.COM World News: 9/11 PLOT HIDDEN IN E-PORN By NILES LATHEM

] "What we heard back from him (Rosenberg) was that Eminem
] was fine with me having the parody on my album but said
] he was afraid that a Weird Al video might detract from
] his legacy, that it would somehow make people take him
] less seriously as an important hip-hop artist," Yankovic
] said.
]
] Yankovic said even though he didn't get to make the
] video, he's grateful Eminem let him use the song in the
] first place. "I'm grateful to Eminem; he at least let me
] put it on the album," Yankovic said. “I have to say I'm
] extremely disappointed at the same time; frankly, this
] was going to be the best video that I've ever done."

Ok.. Thats it! Any cool factor capitol Eminem had is gone now. You don't dis Weird Al. You just don't. Its not allowed. Who was the last person to do that? Coolio? Where is his career now? The shitter. That's where. Concidence? You'd like to think so..

Even Kurdt Cobain, who was an unhappy-with-any-attention-manic-wuss, said he only realised he had an effect on music when Weird Al took on Nirvana.

This guy clearly takes himself a little too seriously. What was the last thing Eminem had all over MTV? That video with all the live concert footage, and the self-important-ego-overload thrust? His legacy? Look at the greats.. OD, blow your brains out, get shot by a fan, plane crash, etc.. All easy things to arrange. Just do something that ends tragic, when you are still young, in your prime, and in theory still have so much to offer the world with your art.. Its a good formula for a legacy. Tested and proven. Silver bullet.

Eminem says 'no' to Weird Al

] This hands-on guide to hacking was cancelled by the
] original publisher, Wiley, out of fear of DMCA-related
] lawsuits. Now, "Hacking the Xbox" is brought to you
] directly by the author, a hacker named "bunnie". The book
] begins with a few step-by-step tutorials on hardware
] modifications that teaches basic hacking techniques as
] well as essential reverse engineering skills. The book
] progresses into a discussion of the Xbox security
] mechanisms and other advanced hacking topics, with an
] emphasis on educating the readers on the important
] subjects of computer security and reverse engineering.
] Hacking the Xbox includes numerous practical guides,
] such as where to get hacking gear, soldering techniques,
] debugging tips and an Xbox hardware reference guide.
]
] "Hacking the Xbox" confronts the social and political
] issues facing today's hacker. The book introduces
] readers to the humans behind the hacks through
] several interviews with master hackers.
]
] "Hacking the Xbox" looks forward and discusses the
] impact of today's legal challenges on legitimate
] reverse engineering activities. The book includes a
] chapter written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
] (EFF) about the rights and responsibilities of hackers,
] and concludes by discussing the latest trends and
] vulnerabilities in secure PC platforms.

"Line in the sand"

Hacking the Xbox

] Note: Salam Pax sent me this in a Word attachment
] earlier today. After weeks of silence everything's
] happening at once: yesterday I received an email
] from his cousin with his satellite phone number.
] I called it; Salam’s father decided to play grumpy
] patriarch and told me to call back in “two minutes,"
] which I did. Salam sounds fine. We discussed as many
] things as we could in a short amount of time.
] Without further ado, I present his latest posts.
] Diana Moon PS Please excuse any formatting
] weirdnesses; I've already been warned not to blog at
] work, so can't take the time to clean anything up.

Glad to see this guy is on the radar again. I've been checking "Where is Raed?" at least two or three times a day, but I wound up seeing it mentioned first on The Agonist.. Fitting, eh?

I'm likely to edit this post up after reading it over..

] Today while going thru Karada street I saw a sign
] saying “Send and receive e-mail. Affordable prices”
] I am checking out the place tomorrow. If the price
] really is affordable I might be able to update the
] blog every week or two.

With the attention this blog has gotten, a sat phone and a laptop will find its way to this guy very soon..

Salam Pax is Back!

] Several 17th-century clay pipes found at the site of
] William Shakespeare's home were used to smoke marijuana,
] a South African anthropologist says. Although he has no
] proof that the Bard was the guy who smoked the pipes, he
] surmises that some of Shakespeare's sonnets and plays
] also lend credence to the possibility that the writer
] smoked marijuana for inspiration.

] Thackeray said his "hobby" developed after he played
] the part of the ghost in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in
] 1998. That renewed his interest in Shakespeare's work.
] He noticed a reference in Sonnet No. 76 to "invention
] in a noted weed." "Weed" is a slang term for marijuana,
] and "invention" can refer to writing. The same sonnet
] refers to "compounds strange," a known reference to
] drugs. In Sonnet 27, Shakespeare wrote about "a journey
] in my head." Sonnet No. 118 speaks of "to make our
] appetite more keen, with eager compounds we our palate
] urge." Perhaps a reference to marijuana as an appetite
] stimulant, Thackeray wonders.

] Intrigued, Thackeray asked the Shakespeare Birthplace
] Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon to allow South African
] researchers with state-of-the-art equipment to analyze
] 24 pipe fragments. Marijuana degrades over time, but
] eight of the fragments showed signs suggestive of
] marijuana, he said. Two also showed evidence of cocaine.

The pot head thing wouldn't shock me in the least.. However, freebasing cocaine dosen't fit my image of Shakespeare.

Anthropologist says Shakespeare might have smoked marijuana

Decentralized anonymity systems tend to be unreliable, because users must choose paths through the network without knowing the entire state of the network. Reputation systems can improve reliability by predicting the state of the network. In this paper we focus on anonymous remailers and anonymous publishing, explain why the systems can benefit from reputation, and describe our experiences designing reputation systems for them while still ensuring anonymity. We find that in each example we first must redesign the underlying anonymity system to support verifiable transactions.

Reputation in P2P Anonymity Systems [PDF]

,----
| VANCOUVER - A top White House drug policy official is threatening
| retaliation from the U.S. if Canada relaxes its laws against marijuana
| possession.
|
| David Murray, right-hand man to U.S. "drug czar" John Walters, says he
| doesn't want to tread on another country's sovereignty, but warned
| there would be consequences if Canada proceeds with a plan to
| decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
`----

Oh, really? So now tell me, would that be a 'Shock and Awe' type
retaliation?

CBC News: U.S. warns Canada against easing pot laws

] During this crisis patriotism as practiced in the United
] States reached alarming levels of intolerance and
] violence. The right of the other to dissent was
] unceremoniously thrown aside. If we take what happened to
] the Dixie Chicks as an example, one is hard-pressed to
] justify or even comprehend the incident. One of the
] ladies said she was ashamed of Bush being from her home
] state of Texas. She said it while performing on a stage
] in London. Had the Chicks been living under Saddam, we
] know a priori what would have happened. But knowing they
] lived in the United States one thought that the debate
] would have maintained a semblance of civility.
]
] Instead, they were attacked, taken off radio stations,
] and callers to the same stations spewed so much venom
] that it inevitably culminated in on-the-air death
] threats. Obviously, democracy is skin deep. I thought it
] was just foreigners like me who received death threats
] and viruses through their emails. I was wrong. This
] raises another issue: Could the Homeland security people
] tell the world why such people were not apprehended?
] Those who threaten to kill someone for reasons of
] ideology or a point of view are terrorists. No argument
] there. In this time of high security alert, it is amazing
] that such people get away with it. In all honesty, it is
] not very different from any petty dictatorship where the
] party clique and those close to power can do what they
] like when the rest are robbed of their basic rights.

The Dixie Chicks & Civility

] MemeStreams nbsp nbspUsing
] MemeStreams &
] net has been fun. ] ] Apparently,
] our domain
] not provide ]
] accurate contact
] information at this ] the
] stream of unanswered questions.
] about those laws, as and keep
] the free
] and interrogation took place raises serious
] questions about liberties 22:20: ]
] Well, folks been
] a
] 2004 campaign plan designed to
] the information linking the barrier
] for just anyone ]
] to inflict mass casualties against terrorism, 18:
] 45: Even as
] Loyalty Day. I
] was planning an answer
] What Do I also call upon all
] the dead us.of
] information that in
] Windows XP and the fight ] against terrorism, nbsp
] Fantasy
] Literature &nbspMovies &
] nbspMusic Business &nbspTech Industry &
] nbspTelecom Industry nbsp &
] search .:. .:.

CmdrTaco has produced a enlightened peice of code..

Rob's Amazing Poem Generator