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katlalog
020529 13:05 Browsers
Opera makes its marvellous browser available for free to educational institutions and disabled users. (via Brainstorm & Raves)
020523 11:39 Intellectual property
Another casualty in the fight against the big greedy guys: KaZaA Collapses.
020522 23:22 Geeks
Awww! Poor little geeks :(
020522 21:38 Browsers
Netscape 7 Preview has been released. Cheeky really, calling it 7, just to get ahead of IE again. It's based on Mozilla 1.0 RC2 which i've been happily using for ages.
My two favorite things in Mozilla at the moment : 'open tab in background' (keep reading while page loads in background) (already an old hat for Opera users) and 'disable javascript for unrequested windows' (i haven't seen a pop-up in months).
020522 13:02 Intellectual property
The music industry (by which i don't mean the people who create music but the ones that sell it) is shooting itself in the foot. I would have bought the Star Wars Episode 2 CD, especially the super-cool Jango Fett Limited Edition. I'm not, though, because I can't play it on my computer. It's no good to me like that. And I resent being treated like a criminal just because I'd like to listen to it at work.
This CD includes anti-copying technology that is intended to prevent unlawful copying of the CD with a PC. This may affect playability of the CD on certain computer devices such as PCs and gaming platforms.
020521 15:42 Weblogs
This is where the original web loggers diverge from the new mainstream 'bloggers' of the last few years. In the 'old days' it was about finding interesting things on the net, commenting briefly, and providing links to them. Now it is about linking to other bloggers. And beware of the anger of your fellow bloggers if you don't. How dare you, don't you want to be part of this community? Nope, not if it's that vain. Basically, web loggers dig and find, bloggers rehash.
020521 10:17 Space
Space tourism is about to take off. I'm all for it, if it pays for more explorartion. And who could possibly envy these people their chance of fullfilling a dream and going on the most extraordinary trip of their lives. ...except that for us poor folks it's going to stay a dream.
020518 16:49 Star Wars
Interpretations of the Star Wars story take a sinister turn.
The Good Empire or How idealism took a dark turn.
Wait a minute. Only because we've gotten to know evil Darth Vader as tormented Anakin Skywalker, have developed compassion for him and admit that under every cruel person there must have once been an innocent soul, we are now entertaining the thought that the Evil Empire isn't that evil after all?
020518 13:12 Culture
Just discovered the Nutella node on everything2. Don't believe people who praise Belgian chocolate. They know nothing of German chocolate culture.
Funny super sweet choco-hazelnut spread that Germans like to put on their Broetchen in the morning.
I tend to spoon it straight from the jar. Leave the jar sitting in the sun for a while until it goes warm and liquid. Yum!
Summer Version: Dip strawberries in the silky smooth hazelnut luv. Enjoy with an aperitif white wine such as a light riesling or maybe a chenin blanc.
Winter Version: Dark toast some bread. While toast is still hot spread the chocolate joy over it. Consume with a hot cup of strong tea. I recommend Jasmine though I've found success in Earl Grey too.
020517 20:55 Star Wars
More fun from Slashdot readers (via boingboing) :
CORUSCANT -- Presiding over a memorial service commemorating the victims of the attack on the Death Star, the Emperor declared that while recent victories over the Rebel Alliance were "encouraging, the War on Terror is not over yet."
"We will continue to fight these terrorists, and the rogue governments who harbor them, until the universe is safe, once and for all, and the security of the Neo-New Cosmik Order ensured."
020517 19:01 Intellectual property
The Creative Commons has opened to the public.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization founded on the notion that some people would prefer to share their creative works (and the power to copy, modify, and distribute their works) instead of exercising all of the restrictions of copyright law.
020517 10:45 Star Wars
Slashdot conversation about Star Wars Episode 2 :
poster #1: I thought the worst part was the kiss between Jar Jar and Yoda. I just about hurled.
poster #2: If you saw it in the digital theater, they included the 'digital projection' only extended version. What a tounge on that Jar- Jar. Natalie, look out.
poster #3: I really hope that's a joke.
020515 14:24 Intellectual property
Got problems playing that copy protected CD in your computer's drive? Here an ingeniously simple way of getting around it (in german and in english). And if you can't be bothered with that, here's an even more intelligent solution.
020515 14:16 Intellectual property
More fun with copyright laws: This man is billing authorities $500,000 every time they speak or write his name.
020514 13:17 Intellectual property
More patent madness. When is capitalism finally going to be laughed out of existence?
...they claim that they invented the use of text and images as a method of business on the Internet. They also claim that they invented the use of a form to enter customer information.
020514 13:07 Culture
Sonali Kolhatkar, Vice President of the Afghan Women's Mission, points out that it is the western lust for sensationalistic outrage that is creating a distorted image of the situation of women in Afghanistan:
[The interviewer] was more interested in exploring the fascinating desire of Afghan men to treat women like dirt, than in examining those forces (most often Western male dominated governments) that have fostered misogynist religious extremism at the expense of women's rights.
More victimization, more justification for cultural imperialism.
She also point out how ludicrous our self-congratulatory justification of the war is:
In fact, the entire US war against Afghans has been made more palatable to Americans who were told by the President that it was those Afghan women we were going to be saving by bombing.
020512 14:36 Commercial net
Good news. More of the business layer of the Internet is crumbling. RealNames is going under and it will certainly not be missed by this commercial Internet hater. RealNames set up a system in 1996 that associates keywords with certain companies that paid for the privilege. It's a bit like the paid-for ranking in search engines and is simply unfair. (via slashdot) Update: Lots of info at ScriptingNews.
020511 15:44 Health
Workstations 'dirtier than toilets' (via boingboing).
...the average workstation has 400 times more bacteria than the average loo.
020511 14:02 Astronomy
Site recommendation: If you are a regular wallpaper changer, bookmark Astronomy Picture of the Day. Check the archives for some amazing images, from the fantastically kitschy Planets Over Stonehenge to some strange shots of far-out galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope.
020511 00:00 mozilla / web design
i've had to endure a bit of mozilla dissing recently, which made me think about how to explain where mozilla now stands in the hall of fame of browsers in a way that is relevant to web designers..
i've been downloading new builds regularly since milestone 13 over 2 years ago. once in a while a new build forces me to make changes in my code, which helps me improve it every time. in a way i have shared mozilla's path to standard compliance. we have grown together.
i think that says it all. now go get the best browser on the planet.
020510 20:57 Internet
Nope, that never happens to me. (I hope my boss doesn't read this.) Web of distraction:
With only nine hours before tomorrow's early morning deadline, I've been having some trouble getting around to writing this column. Who can stay for long in the intimidating blankness of Word when the other windows are so much more fun?
020510 20:08 Health
This could be our chance to put pharmaceutical companies out of business: Against Depression, a Sugar Pill Is Hard to Beat.
After thousands of studies, hundreds of millions of prescriptions and tens of billions of dollars in sales, two things are certain about pills that treat depression: Antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft work. And so do sugar pills.
020510 16:08 Internet
Again, our dream of something that is for all, not just for people with money, is shattered. On the 6th of May Cameron Barrett of camworld wrote:
Weblogger's Dilemma: Over the past few weeks I've discovered a few sites that I've badly wanted to link to because they are truly quite amazing. But I am reluctant to link because I know my traffic will possibly cause them to exceed their bandwidth limit or possibly shut down altogether.
020510 15:38 Humor
There's an incredible amount of madness in this world. Someone put up a petition on petitiononline.com to have the next Lord of the Rings film ('The Two Towers') renamed out of respect to the Sept-11 victims. The 'signatures' contain a lot of swearing and name calling and the petition has been suspended. (via kuro5hin).
Here is one of the funnier comments:
Peter Jackson, have you no shame? You should be thrown into prison for trying to capitalize on the 9/11 attacks. Why can't you just name it "LORD OF THE RINGS TWO"???
020510 14:00 Library
The Internet and mobile phones are killing the library. Or we could just be blaming technology for really bad manners and an atrocious lack of respect ...and the lack of resources doesn't help matters either. (via Library Juice)
Public libraries have long accommodated both scholars and snorers, intellectuals and lunatics (yes, yes, often one and the same). But the old regulars are finding they have little in common with library newcomers, who tend to surf rather than study. One author who frequents the 42nd Street branch says, "People get calls on their cell phones, and you can tell it's about a job they've applied for. And you feel awkward because you'd really like them to be quiet, but then again, it's someone's livelihood." He adds, "It feels like it's no longer your place."
020509 23:03 Language
Netmechanic exposes our Top 10 Spelling Errors. My personal bane is affect/effect :
7. Affect and Effect
Affect is a verb: it acts upon something, someone, or an emotion, while effect is a noun. The words sound almost identical in conversation, but it's important to get them right in print!
Doesn't matter how many times I look it up, I simply can't store it in long-term memory.
020504 18:45 Society
What a great idea: Just send women on space flights to colonize other planets and take the sperm frozen to minimize weight and increase the rate of population growth. I have an even better idea: analyze the sperm before take-off and take only sperm that will produce girls.
020504 18:01 Advertising / Copyright
When advertising rules the world: Do you turn down the sound during commercials? Do you channel-hop? Do you go to the bathroom? How dare you, you thief! Top Ten New Copyright Crimes.
020503 19:54 kaltalog
a bag of goodies tonight as an apology for the more than sporadic activity here recently. i was terribly busy the last couple of weeks and i still am. so, a quick burst tonight, before i disappear in work again.
020503 23:26 History
A lawsuit has been filed against three companies in the United States, demanding compensation for profits they are alleged to have made from the American slave trade.
020503 22:49 Science fiction
'Darth Virus' hits high-tech industry. Will companies be forced to close for the event of the year because fans skip work? It's a geek holiday.
The first-day absenteeism could cost US businesses $319m [...] with 2.6 million employees taking a day off sick.
020503 22:38 Culture
In the wake of the recent school massacre, Germany's Interior Minister proposes to raise the age of adulthood from 18 to 21. Of course, as usual, violent computer games are to blame for what happened. And I'm sure the killer used the evil Internet as well.
020503 22:26 Culture
It seems that even putting a big sack over your whole body doesn't protect you from men's lecherous eyes. Afghan boys talk about Afghan girls and burqas:
"You can tell a lot by their hands, and their shoes, and the way they walk," says Zobi. Then he grins and sculpts the air with his hands.
"If the wind's blowing the right way, you can see all you need."
020503 22:17 Search engines
Google is about to take over from Yahoo as the Number 1 search engine in the world:
Yahoo 36.35%
Google 31.87%
MSN 12.73%
020503 22:08 Civil liberties
A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department acted illegaly when detaining suspects in the Sept-11 aftermath.
"If the government has probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime, it may arrest that person," Scheindlin wrote. "But since 1789, no Congress has granted the government the authority to imprison an innocent person in order to guarantee that he will testify before a grand jury conducting a criminal investigation."
020503 20:03 web design
i think i should start a campaign to add a <sarcasm></sarcasm> tag to HTML. screenreaders would change their voice accordingly but i haven't had an idea on how browsers could display it visually yet. send me your suggestions and then let's lobby the browser makers.
020503 20:02 techie message of the month
this email was sent by the head of IT to all staff at an unnamed university. the sort of thing you end up sending to all your friends :)
It has been brought to my attention that there is a risk of damaged CD-ROMs breaking up in high speed CD-ROM drives (40x and faster).
In rare cases, fragments of the disk may burst through the front panel of the drive at high speed, presenting a risk of injury.