News and Commentary Archives

But... schools October 28, 2014
This school alarmism needs to stop. For the children.

LiveJournal Power-loss post-mortem January 23, 2005
A detailed account of real-world disaster recovery at LiveJournal.

The Web's 10th birthday April 22, 2003
The first graphical browser was released a decade ago.

Who defines this? April 11, 2003
Exactly what is a misleading name?

Internet MLS discussion September 26, 2002
The National Association of Realtors is considering a ruling that will prevent brokers from displaying full property data on the Web. Read how this might help consumers.

A reason to buy September 18, 2002
Anti-piracy measures that reward music fans instead of punishing them.

RSS for publishers September 9, 2002
Mark Nottingham’s introduction to RSS for content publishers.

eGray September 4, 2002
A well-executed use of online satire in the California Governor’s race.

Apple's anti-competetive practices May 7, 2002
Zimran asks, "Why is Microsoft integrating IM into the OS bad, while Apple integrating it...

NYT in Radio March 20, 2002
So Dave’s been bubbling about some new thing that Userland is doing. "You’ll think differently...

Cutting through Web Services hype March 19, 2002
Over at ZDNet, some Gartner analysts discuss the hype and promose of Web services, and...

DSL deregulation passes House February 28, 2002
Computerworld | Broadband bill wins House approval: "The legislation would eliminate requirements that incumbents open...

Criminal Customers February 23, 2002
The recording, television, and motion picture industries are treating their customer base as if they...

Safeway Delivers February 21, 2002
Contra Costa Times | Safeway rolls out its online delivery plan: "Safeway on Monday will...

Cell shields don't work February 21, 2002
Mercury News | Feds: Cell Phone Shields Are Bogus: "Some shields touted as protecting cell...

Google Ad Auction February 20, 2002
Mercury News | Google will let Web sites bid for higher rankings in ad listings:...

Be Inc sues Microsoft February 19, 2002
The Register: "Be Inc is suing Microsoft for the destruction of its business. A damages...

Web Rage February 19, 2002
InformationWeek | Count To 10, Then Read This: "When people get mad at the Internet,...

New Job site February 18, 2002
Mercury News | Big employers band together on recruiting site: "Fed up with paying big...

AOL IM BS February 18, 2002
washingtonpost.com | Instant Messaging: Tear Down the Walls: "[AOL] consistently says [third-party AIM client] applications...

Opera Has SmartTags February 13, 2002
Newsday.com | Opera: Hitting Its Highest Note Yet: "Version 6.0 of Opera for Windows introduces...

Ars Digita Crumbles February 8, 2002
Philip Greenspun’s Ars Digita is gone. A while back he took on some investors and...

So much for Global Warming January 13, 2002
BBC: Animals retreat as Antarctic cools...

Microsoft FUD January 11, 2002
Richard M Stallman has an editorial over at NewsForge that encourages people to ignore MS...

$5 Million Used Bra November 11, 2001
Even though it is encrusted with diamonds, if I were paying $12.5 million for a...

TV compession November 8, 2001
Apparently there is a device that TV stations can use to shorten a TV show...

Taliban fruits November 7, 2001
DAWN: Taliban stocking up on fruit: traders. I guess it’s time to bomb the restrooms,...

Auction pricing November 7, 2001
An article in NewScientist describes the results of a three-year study into pricing factors in...

Mr. Showbiz gone November 6, 2001
"After six years... Mr. Showbiz has retired. We’ve had a lot of fun, and we...

The Wayback Machine October 25, 2001
The Internet Archive Wayback Machine has copies of over 10 billion web pages in it’s...

Farsite October 24, 2001
Farsite is a system that Microsoft Research is working on that allows you to store...

Kournikova, Anna Kournikova October 19, 2001
Anna Kournikova the next Bond girl?...

Intel prescience October 19, 2001
From an IM conversation I had late last month: Jeremy: Plus, Intel is in the...

Reading is dangerous October 19, 2001
Bring in the thought police. A Philadelphia man was not allowed on a United flight...

Commerce One sale? October 15, 2001
Internet News reports that Commerce One may be preparing themselves for sale to SAP. Back...

RIAA hacks October 15, 2001
The new anti-terrorism bill makes it a crime to break into a computer system and...

Califoria employees orderd not to open packages October 12, 2001
The Govenor of California, Gray Davis, has sent a message to all state agencies ordering...

PGP gone October 12, 2001
eWEEK: Network Associates cuts PGP unit. Network Associates is shutting down their PGP unit and...

Tickle Me Elmo, The Sequel October 11, 2001
Elmo isn’t about to let his buddy Bert get all the media attention. The 5th...

Muppet Madness October 11, 2001
"It is not clear whether the protesters actually knew who the character Bert is, and...

Playboy cuts October 11, 2001
You know the Net economy is hurting when the porn sites start struggling. Playboy will...

Evil Linkrot October 11, 2001
A different kind of linkrot has affected my post on the Bin Laden-Bert connection. The...

Evil Fox News October 11, 2001
So now Fox News has caught on to the Bert photo in the Bin Laden...

Excite@Home dying October 10, 2001
Excite@Home stops taking new subscribers. They’re trying to conserve cash....

Evil bert October 10, 2001
Flutterby, F***edCompany, and others are pointing to a picture of Bin Laden supporters. What’s so...

Limewire goes open source October 8, 2001
The Limewire Gnutella client is now an open source project. "By going open source, Lime...

Cell phone excess September 26, 2001
Telecom.paper: Cell phones to exceed fixed lines by 2006. I’d bet that in some areas...

Avoid cows September 25, 2001
"Moral of story: avoid cows, unless you’re a vet, in which case avoid doctors." -...

Bezos the pitchman September 23, 2001
I would have expected to see dot-com "heros" endorsing products a year or two ago,...

Legislative tragedy September 14, 2001
Each time we have a tragedy in this country, lawmakers try to legislate away the...

September 11 entries September 11, 2001
My entires on September 11th were short and somewhat disjointed. I have combined all of...