aviary

Catching up from last week after the move…
Oh yea, and these links were generated from a script written in ruby too. =) Finally putting that knowledge to use. I do agree that ruby is really simple to code for. I just need to get used to the syntax differences and method names.

Slashdot

• Inkscape, an open source scalable vector graphics editor, has reached v0.42.
• How to build a Turntable using a floppy motor
• FreeBSD ported to Xbox
• A new study shows that those who download music on P2P networks spend 4.5 times more on records than those who don’t
• Russia offering a $100 million USD trip to the moon
• Intel to build a $3 billion 45nm fabrication plant in Arizona
• Philips to research how to eliminate ghosting in LCDs
• An Israeli research group, IsraCast, has found evidence that microwave cell phone radiation causes two types of eye damage, one irreversible
• Fiberoptics bring sunlight into the house
• Japanese develop ‘female’ android
• ZDNet interviews lead Google Maps engineer Lars Rasmussen
• Homeland Security to track visitors with RFID at border crossings
• Retailers call for a unified HDTV format
• How to run Windows with no services
• Cable industry wants to offer wireless/mobile (cell) services
• Judge bars ex-Microsoft Google employee to work at Google
• Windows Genuine Advantage defeated with a script implemented with Greasemonkey
• AMD hits 10% of x86 server market
• WSJ reports on lawyers using the Wayback Machine Archives and Google Cache for evidence
• After 2.6.13-rc4, Torvalds will adopt a new development model, only allowing changes to be made two weeks after the release of a stable kernel
• Amazon seeks a patent for providing and charging for web services
• Canada and Denmark’s dispute over an arctic island hits Google
• BCC editorial: What if Microsoft went open source?
• Scientists have discovered a 190 million year old dinosaur embryo
• Google and Yahoo’s hiring practices are creating a brian-drain in the industry
• Stem cells mend spinal cords
• The US wants to replace leap seconds with a leap hour every 500 or 600 years
• Someone wins the content for the best worst piece of writing
• HP stops selling Apple iPods
• Xbox 360 to eventually have support for HD-DVD
• Novell requests that SCOscoure money be separated and kept away from SCO
• A site writes about the creation of the Apple Lisa
• Why Microsoft wants to get 3000 patents a year
• How to build a gaming router using BSD
• Wireless Hijacker Dealt First UK punishment
• 2005 record for unamplified WiFi, 125 miles
• NYTimes reports on Freenet
• Successful strategies for commenting code, with examples
• Carnegie Melon University and SpikeSource releases and rating system to evaluate free software
• Discovery to get an unscheduled repair before returning
• 19 scalable vector graphics programs are compared, in preparation of Firefox’s soon support for SVG
• NYTimes reports that NASA sees that the shuttle needs to be redesigned
• 802.11n rivals merge, creating a standard that can operate at 540Mbps
• Cosmic travel estimated to raise cancer risks in 10% of travellers
• The National Labor Relations Board has ruled in favor of allowing employers to ban employees from socializing with fellow co-workers

digg

• Hacking a hotel’s info system through the TV
• Dual core Pentium D won’t work on Nforce4-IE
• Hacker forced new planet discovery out of the closet
• Cracked Windows anti-crack cracked claim
• AMD releases budget dual-core Athlon, Athlon 64 X2 3800+
• A javascript cheat sheet
• You might be a geek if…
• A list of Useful Windows Software
• A statistical analysis of why someone will never find a girlfriend
• Design Snack, a digg for designers
• BIOS Optimization Guide v8.1 lists a lot of BIOS settings and their descriptions
• How to turn your laser printer into a shredder (on purpose)
• Some quasars, which are huge black holes notorious for being difficult to detect, have been found
• RULER Aero, a OSX Tiger theme, that incorpoates Vista-like transparency
• Modifying a fridge to hold a computer

OSNews

• An Andrew Morton podcast on linux kernel development
• IBM, RISC, and Apple’s move to the PowerPC platform
• A site devoted to Qt programming, tutorials, and overviews

Flexbeta

• Michigan and Utah to impose email tax
• 90% of the teens are on the internet, a figure that was lower than I thought it was.
• Not new, but the EFF has provided a service to detect whether or not your printer prints out identification tracking dots
• Microsoft’s Ballmer announces more expensive enterprise versions of Office and Windows for the next release
• FBI holds eight on piracy charge
• A judge has issued a restraining order against the ex-Microsoft employee Lee’s working at Google
• The Canadian Supreme Court has taken down the $25 iPod tax that began in late 2003
• Microsoft is said to be investigating the circumvention of their Windows Genuine Advantage system
• Opera to stop spoofing as IE in User Agent
• Apple releases a multi-button mouse!
• Apple is probably recruiting Sony engineers to build the first Intel PowerBook
• The circumvention of Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage has sparked economists saying that Microsoft will have to lower its prices
• OSx86, the home of OSX on x86

Also with readings from yesterday for previous days too.

Slashdot

• The TSA broke privacy laws while attempting to collect information on travelers.
• The Economist is predicting a Google stock value deflation
• Firefox to see boost in users when IE7 is released to only Windows XP users
• Team Banzai is using OSX Tiger to run Dora, their customized Touareg car, in the DARPA Grand Challenge
• Gamespot has an article for those who want to be a game designer
• Columbia LDEO, sigh, has released audio recordings of last year’s December 26 earthquake
• ‘Vista’ may bring Microsoft and Vista into a trademark dispute
• Construction begins on the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will feature a 25.6m diameter lens, and will be installed in Chile by 2016
• New self-cleaning building that fights smog by breaking it down when exposed to the air and sun
• Microsoft releases VirtualEarth
• Hitachi releases the 7K500 SATA-II Deskstar
• Studying the butterfly helps determine why evolutionary lines splits species
• The FreeBSD Status Report for Second Quarter 2005
• Yahoo! purchases Konfabulator and makes it free
• ZDnet has a review on Intel and AMD notebooks
• XYZComputing reviews fanless power supplies
• WSJ reports that computer games will include TV-like commercials
• Russia’s biggest spammer found murdered in his apartment
• MIT creates cell phones that can predict the actions of 100 MIT staff members 85% of the time
• Multibooting Intel-based Macs - A step-by-step howto guide
• Not new, but the TechReport reviews the Asus’ Pentium M socket adapter for Socket 478
• Japan wants to spend between $714 million and $893 million (USD) on a 10 petaflop supercomputer to be used for formation-of-the-galaxy and medical simulations, and not non-military simulations (again)
• China has produced a MIPS-compatible processor, but is unlicensed and is based on 1995 technology.
• Sony BMG pays $10 million to New York State, and stops ‘Payola,’ which is bribing radio stations to play Sony BMG artists
• New Unified Extensible Fireware Interface (UEFI) to replace BIOS
• Personalized Google Homepage
• Gigabyte releases i-RAM, solid state storage in the form an SATA controller populated by DDR RAM chips, which is powered by a rechargeable battery when the system is off
• Discovery is launched, the first shuttle mission since February 2003
• Microsoft introducing compulsory Windows piracy checks into Windows Update, Microsoft Update and Microsoft Download Center
• Google and Microsoft are fighting for the same consumer base with their services

Flexbeta

• Eerie Sounds from Saturn’s Radio Emissions
• Running Windows with no services

Slashdot

• OSX is seeing a higher penetration into the corporate market, in both desktop and server installations.
• Bush creates an anti-pirary post in the Commerce department.
• A whitedust article about TOR, The Onion Router, aptly titled “Tor: The Ying or the Yang?”
• Google’s Orkut has been used to track down a drug smuggling ring based in Brazil.
• House approves NASA missions to the moon and Mars in the nex two years 383-15. Senate is next.
• An ApacheCon Europe presentation: “Why I Hate the Apache Web Server.” Points interesting things out.
• Google Maps now has a hybrid view!
• Popping water balloons in space on NASA’s DC9 aircraft. Movies included!
• Blue Security is encouraging those who get spam to fill in forms on the spam websites. I don’t see how this is going to help, but the article isn’t too well written.
• Microsoft frowned upon for smiley/emoticon patent.

Flexbeta

• Computer is used to predict time and place of Yonkers robbery

Gave up setting a “periods” standard.

Slashdot

• HP lays off 14500 employees, including Alan Kay.
• US House votes to extend the Patriot Act for 10 more years.
• FCC proposes to drop Morse Code Requirement for all license classes
• AMD to move from Socket 939 to M2, 80A to 95A, keeping a max TDP of 125W in their rev. E to rev. F of Athlon 64 X2. It will also feature a DDR2 memory controller.
• People are being distracted every 3 minutes by their computer. Oddly enough, it cites that Gates knows people are experiencing “information overload,” when I know he also spent some time debunking it; he can’t make up his mind.
• IBM will support Harmony, the open-source Java project.
• Google countersues Microsoft over employee.
• MSNBC reports that broadband subscription has now surpassed dial-up accounts in the US. I thought this happened a long time ago.
• US Government releases a free electronic medical records system, after being requested for it under the FOIA.
• British Police is requesting for more power. Great.

Slashdot

• VoIP providers will have to release their 911 shortcomings on July 29, and suffer unknown FCC punishment.
• ArsTechnica debunks the claim that $178 billion is lost through employee unproductivity because of web surfing.
• Pay-per-click market soaring.
• Telemarketers are trying to get the Do Not Call list overturned at the state level.
• FDA approves brain pacemaker for the depressed.

Flexbeta

• Pair of high school students invent a freon-free peltier air-conditioner.

Slashdot

• Cultural differences between Windows and *nix users
• RPI has created 3D silicon chips. The article includes nice diagrams, for once.
• The University of California’s have adopted Mindawn, an online music system that supports Linux, OSX and Windows for their 200,000 students. TheKompany.com introduced the service last December, and offers Ogg Vorbis and FLAC encoded music.
• OSNews reviews Zeta R1, a new release of BeOS.
• This is not the first article, but I decided to include it now: Apple will do a video iPod. And before, Apple promised not to.
• Series 2 Tivos allows viewers to submit their contact information to advertisers when their ads air.
• More and more people are believing the medical advice they find on the web than their own doctors.
• A Death Star Home Cinema Subwoofer
• The government is pressuring the ESRB to pay more attention on M-rated titles.
• An OS/2 user’s group is urging IBM to open OS/2, after IBM decided to stop supporting OS/2.
• ZDNet reports on the history of Firefox, from pre-phoenix days (omg, I still remember those).
• ZDNet reports on Asa Dotzler believing that the release of IE7 will boost Firefox adoption and about randum stuff in Firefox 1.1.
• WSJ has an interview with Kevin Martin, the Chairman of the FCC, who is pushing to drop the requirement for internet providers to share lines with competitiors.
• Gates is worried about how CS isn’t picking up in the US, and decreased spending is ‘a kind of crime.’ So his is company.
• MSNBC reports on the changing demographics of IT - it’s actually the middle-aged women who’s taking over.
• Microsoft is suing a ex-employee who they say violated their noncompete clause, for accepting a job at Google less than a year after leaving.
• Power over Ethernet might actually take off now, after being standardized years ago. Even Cisco changed their proprietary way of supplying power. The article mentions the fact that IP telephones need to be able to operate during emergencies, just like regular telephones.
• A java applet that allows folding window interactions.
• The Education Ministry of New Zealand has signed an 18-month software contract with Novell.
• Bank of America will begin adding even more security questions in order to authenticate online bankers.
• A chess playing Bayesian filter? Cool.
• Google Moon has been released (Google Maps style). Now we can finally prove that the moon isn’t made up of cheese (or IS it?!) (Hint: Zoom in all the way!)
• Here’s an idea: RSS will not rise from blogging, but from being used as a corporate communication channel.
• The ESRB has re-rated GTA: San Andreas to “Adults Only 18+” (AO).
• Congress is thinking about adding two months to Daylight Savings Time.
• How to get Debian ARM running on a $99 Linksys NSLU2, a Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 drives. Another reason why NOT to ditch the ARM project.
• Finland plans 100Mbps residential cable service.

Neowin

• AMD has now removed all lead from their microprocessors to meet European environment regulations.
• RFID stops a possible infant abduction, from paranoid parents.
• Two people are working on recreating Beethoven’s rarest works by digitizing the scores.

Slashdot

• Debian moves to x.org with sid and etch, after sarge was released. Describes a simple upgrade process.
• The $99 Linux instant messenger device, Aeronix Zipit.
• “Securing your Network: Removing Unwanted Devices,” describes how to do it on Cisco. Of course, if you’re already certified, you know this stuff.
• HP to lay off 15,000 workers.
• Rock band in UK is urging people to “pirate” their songs (pirate defined by the stupid industry). They’re confident that it’ll make their listeners happy.
• How the SAS Institute remains the largest privately held software company, and still making a profit (in terms of their creative capital).
• Voters of Lafayette, Louisiana approve of municipal fiber-to-home.
• How to describe what needs to be done for a mass Linux migration.
• Eco-designing future cities - China has adopted “Cradle to Cradle,” a book written about how to design sustainable cities.
• A majority of women control the DVR, and are more proficient in using it than their VCRs.
• One of the three Nigerian scammers has been convicted to two and a half years in prison.
• Microsoft interview about how they’re not going to be set back by Apple’s iPod and digital media revolution.
• RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 compared
• Ethanol not worth the Energy (29% not effective). Cornell Professor Paul Chirik told us this last year already.
• Blue Security DDOS’ spam sites by following their links, using their forms, and sending unsubscription email requests.
• Two early Google investors have now invested in Zazzle, a compnay that works to re-create online shopping.

Flexbeta

• How to Make Windows 2000 run with only 32MB of RAM

Neowin

• IEEE meets to discuss 802.11n (mimo), 802.11s (mesh), and 802.11w (protected management frames for 802.11i).
• Gigabyte launches dual-GeForce 6800GT graphics Cards, with 2 DVIs and 2 VGAs onboard.

Found The Unofficial Apple Weblog a few days ago… forgot how. It’s a very interesting site.

After realizing that most of my “news” posts are balantly ripped off comments of the sites I read, I remembered the original purpose of this record-keeping - to be able to FIND what I’ve READ before (as in the actual article). Not only has the copying links been very tedious, but it also reminds me of my rather weird “collective” nature - the “I must have all of these logged” feeling that I so hate when I start feeling it; it’s a very powerful feeling that can otherwise bind me into behaviors I wish I didn’t have.

So, I’ll now try to start doing what I meant to do - post links and small descriptions of each article that I actually read, and hopefully whatever I tag them with is what I’ll use to search for them whenever I need them again.

Reverse Chronological order (like I used to read articles), from Slashdot, one from Flexbeta, and possibly from Neowin

• Mars’ dust storms turn out to be much bigger than anticipated.
• Dual-core processors change licensing models
• Shrimp shell band-aids clot blood immediately
• NYT - Correupted PC’s Find New Home in the Dumpster
• Another theory behind Apple’s switch to Intel is the Trusted Computing Platform on x86
• Someone’s project to monitor all circuits in his house
• China’s planning a second manned space mission
• Amazon sues Cedant for patent infringment, while we thought they weren’t going to
• Purdue has a completed a table-top nuclear fusion experiment
• This blogger has earned 20,000$ from blogging with Google AdSense
• 56.2% of software developers use some sort of open source software
• Another idea: Convert LP records using its image, but it “sounds like it’s being played at your neighbor’s house–across the street”
• Intel is going to use hardware Trusted Computing/DRM to not allow Linux to boot on its processors; To AMD!

Slashdot

• Sharp will soon release a double-view LCD TV that will show show images to views on left and right.
• SCO apparently ignored the advice of an outside consultant, hired in 2002, who found no copyright violations in the linux kernel.
• Jason Striegel weighed the internet, or calculated the total number of users online in one day, using physics.
• IBM will stop all OS/2 sales on December 23, 2005, and has a site for OS/2 users to switch to Linux.
• A planet in a solar system with 3 suns has been discovered, like Tatooine. This questions the theory that planets form from dust of orbiting around one sun.
• Fujitsu .
• Drupal documents the huge responce to requests for donations. They raised $10,000 and received a new Sun Fire V20z server.
• Forbes documents the differences in Microsoft’s Sender ID and Yahoo/Cisco’s DKIM authoritative email specifications.
• Engadget has an article about a new feature in Longhorned call PVP-OPM (Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management). DRM protect for your hardware.
• SCO fights back with an announcement that the earlier rumored email is inaccurate. And so are they.
• Customers of Time Warner Cable in San Diego can watch live TV over their internet-connected computers. Neat, IPTV.

Neowin

• AMD has completed their 90nm SOI transition, ending all Socket A processor production.
• TweakTown covers overclocking a AMD Athlon FX-57 to 3.54GHz with Phase Change cooling.