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| "The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." -- Marshall McLuhan, 1969 |
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Xbox mod-chips now available |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
9:58 pm EDT, May 28, 2002 |
The Xtender, a "mod chip" intended to be added to the main circuit board of the Xbox, went on sale last weekend through retailers such as Hong Kong-based Lik Sang. Three other Xbox mod chips are also in development. Xbox mod-chips now available |
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From The Globe and Mail; Microbiologists dropping like flies... |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
12:22 am EDT, May 26, 2002 |
Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months. Some of them world leaders in developing weapons-grade biological plagues. Others the best in figuring out how to stop millions from dying because of biological weapons. Still others, experts in the theory of bioterrorism. Well, here is a nice can of fuel for your conspiracy theories... This would make for one hell of a movie... From The Globe and Mail; Microbiologists dropping like flies... |
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| Topic: Current Events |
7:02 pm EDT, May 25, 2002 |
Maybe it is a way to tame a fearsome subject by Hollywoodizing it, or maybe it is a way to drive home the dreadful stakes in the arid-sounding business of nonproliferation, but in several weeks of talking to specialists here and in Russia about the threats an amateur evildoer might pose to the homeland, I found an unnerving abundance of such morbid creativity. From the Sunday NYT Magazine. Here's the table of contents: Not If But When
25,000 Warheads, and It Only Takes One
The Garage Bomb
Weapons of Mass Disruption
The Peril of Power Plants
Being Afraid Nuclear Nightmares |
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CNN - Your source for terror (parody) |
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| Topic: Humor |
6:04 pm EDT, May 24, 2002 |
New terrorist attack really, really, really certain in like 5 more minutes. Cheney, lawmakers, and news reporters across the country have advised U.S. citizens both at home and abroad to "Run, run for your lives. Pretend that horrifying space aliens are coming to devour us, because the real damger is much, much scarier. Just run." CNN - Your source for terror (parody) |
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Vivendi Universal playing with MP3 singles |
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| Topic: Intellectual Property |
4:18 pm EDT, May 24, 2002 |
In what may be a first for the recording industry, Maverick Records and Vivendi Universal's online division are asking listeners to pay just under a dollar for an unprotected MP3 version of a new single. When I worked for MongoMusic, VivendiU always proved the most resistant of the major labels to online music distribution. They didn't want to play ball with anyone. Vivendi Universal playing with MP3 singles |
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Coming soon: The Metaverse |
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| Topic: Economics |
4:13 pm EDT, May 24, 2002 |
He and two partners are chipping in $300 each to purchase prime real estate on Calypso, Project Entropia's virtual world. And then they'll rent out space in these pixilated buildings to players who want to set up their own in-game stores. Unless they rename this online world to "The Metaverse", I will have nothing to do with it. "The whole idea is to get people to work for me. I want to be the head honcho," said Quackenbush, who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and pulls 10-hour shifts at the local Ford Ranger plant. s/honcho/idiot/
s/honcho/moron/
s/honcho/dipshit/ ... or someting like that. Pick one, or some up with your own! I think the "sometimes it just takes an idiot" phenomenon that we saw with Napster in the P2P space has potental to create an interesting situation here. Assorted cypherpunks are going to get to say "I told you so" many times if this takes off. The potental for real crime rocks^H^H^H^H^His really high. Coming soon: The Metaverse |
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Modern radio technology can blast spectrum open |
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| Topic: High Tech Developments |
10:38 pm EDT, May 22, 2002 |
"We need to do for [the radio] spectrum," Reed said, "what the Internet did for the network." Modern radio technology can blast spectrum open |
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Wearable Computer Laboratory - ARQuake |
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| Topic: High Tech Developments |
7:53 pm EDT, May 22, 2002 |
Using the Tinmith system described earlier, the students at UNISA (in Australia) have been able to get Quake working as an Augmented Reality system on campus. Movement is controled by GPS positioning and firing is controled by a toy gun. Wearable Computer Laboratory - ARQuake |
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Google Keyboard Shortcuts |
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| Topic: Technology |
7:45 pm EDT, May 22, 2002 |
Cool... Now, just give me this for all memestreams navigation and I'll be super happy. Google Keyboard Shortcuts |
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HTTP Extensions for a Content-Addressable Web |
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| Topic: Technology |
3:50 pm EDT, May 21, 2002 |
"A particularly useful class of URI schemes are "Self-Verifiable URIs". These are URIs with which the URI itself can be used to verify that the content has been received intact. We also want URIs that are content-specific and can be independently generated by any host with the content. Finally, to show the intent that these addresses are location-independent, a URN scheme will be used.
Cryptographic hashes of the content provide the capabilities that we are looking for. For example we can take the SHA-1 hash of a piece of content and then encode it using Base32 to provide the following URN. urn:sha1:RMUVHIRSGUU3VU7FJWRAKW3YWG2S2RFB" Decius: This is awesome. I explained this concept to Jeremy about 6 months ago. Its whats needed to allow MemeStreams to be used to access and recommend p2p content. Glad I don't have to do it myself. :) Only issue is that they are looking for browser implementation. They can't rely on browsers. They need to build a driver that sits on top of your ethernet driver, looks for these urns, and modifies the access method appropriately... HTTP Extensions for a Content-Addressable Web |
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