] The music industry has been spoiled. They have controlled
] the distribution of music by producing CDs, and thereby
] have also protected their profits. So they have resisted
] Internet distribution. Six years ago I asked Sony Music
] to start working with IBM to figure out how to offer
] secured distribution of their content over the Net. But
] nobody in Sony Music would listen. Then about six months
] ago, they started to panic.

] Nokia is focused on volume—selling as many cell phones as
] possible at a low price. But in my observation, I am not
] sure they know very clearly what the real opportunity is
] in the telephone business. We are talking about secure
] distribution of music on the phone.

Nokia and Sony were the primary investors behind a music searching technology company I worked at. One of the key areas of interest was cell phones. Granted, that particular R&D thread is probably dead to both Nokia and Sony, due to who bought the company.

Sony's CEO Unplugged :: AO

] Britain's The Observer newspaper has published a memo
] that purportedly orders increased espionage against U.N.
] Security Council diplomats. The memo is likely a forgery:
] It includes un-American spellings, and the writer
] apparently lacks understanding of the U.S. intelligence
] community's structure.

Observer story likely faked.

This is extremely belated. You may have noticed the orange XML icons in the lower right corner of some of the MemeStreams pages. We've added RSS support. This means you can view MemeStreams using RSS aggregators and headline scrollers (AmphetaDesk, NewsMonster, Faust's Friend). The topic pages and user weblogs are supported. The XML icons link to the RSS output. However, you can reach it by adding "?type=rss" to the end of a MemeStreams URL.

Rattle did this feature in some sort of insane 24 hour coding binge. He deserves props. [rattle: "Its time I got back.. Its time I got back.. And I don't even know how I got off the track.." -weezer]

You can now submit your MemeStreams page to weblog aggregators like Blogdex and Daypop. We'll be turning the main page in to these services this weekend.

MemeStreams has RSS support!

] Witness to centuries of bloodshed, the ancient walls of
] Jerusalem's Old City saw only white Tuesday as
] Palestinians and Israelis traded snowballs instead of
] stones and bullets.

Yahoo! News - Snowballs Replace Bullets as Snow Hits Holy Land

For "Net-genners," Microsoft learned that using the Internet for socializing is a way of life.

Microsoft aims to tap 'Net generation' | CNET News.com

] "What we're seeing now is the weaving of electronic
] warfare, psyops and other information warfare through
] every facet of the plan from our peacetime preparations
] through execution," said Maj. Gen. Paul J. Lebras, chief
] of the Joint Information Operations Center, a secretive
] military agency based in Texas that has sent a team of
] experts to join the Central Command info-warfare team for
] the Iraq campaign....

] "We are trying very hard to be empathetic with the Iraqi
] military," said a senior American information warfare
] official. "We understand their situation. The same for
] the Iraqi population. We wish them no harm. We will take
] great pains to make those people understand that they
] should stay away from military equipment."

Firing Memes, US Wages Information War

] So the secret is well and truly out.
]
] Despite this a London Court judge last week granted an
] injunction preventing experts in the case (including the
] Cambridge security researchers) discussing anything
] likely to become testimony in the trial. Citibanks'
] petition can be found here.
]
] A counterargument by Anderson arguing that the
] injunction, while appropriate for the bank experts
] involved, contravened academic freedoms and was bad for
] security was rejected, the Sunday Times reported
] yesterday. Citibank's court victory is yet to be recorded
] elsewhere, at least as far as we can see.

Citibank obtains an injunction against distribution of research paper!

] I'm starting to wonder if were aren't watching something
] like the same strategy again. In other words, it's
] possible Cheney and company are actually bluffing. This
] time, instead of trying to terrify the Soviets into
] collapse, the objective is even grander. If I'm right
] about this, they have two goals. Neither involves actual
] war, any more than the MX missile did.

The thought had occurred...

John Perry Barlow provides a personal perspective on Dick Cheney

] UserFriendly makes a stab at the eternal. He's better at
] this then Scott Adams! Unfortunately, the message board
] is sorely in need of moderation. So, I'll ask our audience
] here. Does this comic speak to you? How? Don't be afraid
] to admit a silly supersitious beleif in fate. I'll even
] forgive a fundamentalist religious conviction. I just
] want some perspectives.

Durring the periods when I had customer facing support roles at ISPs, I used to frequent UserFriendly often. Although, I'll admit to having trailed off due to not wanting to be reminded of that particular hell.

I am glad this particular comic found its way to me. This one is a gem.

UserFriendly Strip - Feb. 22

] A link to a site you read isnt the same as a link to
] someone you know through their blog or someone you
] actively collaborate with.
]
] After reviewing data of work relationships, information
] flows and knowledge exchanges from hundreds of consulting
] assignments inside Fortune 2000 organizations Valdis
] Krebs did not see much evidence of power laws in this
] data. His data is of confirmed ties [both persons
] agreed/recognized their mutual
] interactions/flows/relationships] from a worldwide pool
] of clients dating back to 1988. Of course he found some
] people were better connected than others, but the extreme
] hubs found in power law networks just were not evident.

Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Looking at weblog networks