Monthly Archives: February 2009

Feb 20 2009

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs

From Slashdot:

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs: suraj.sun notes CNet reporting on bills filed in the US House and Senate that would require all ISPs and operators of Wi-Fi hotspots — including home users — to maintain access logs for 2 years to aid in law enforcement. The bills were filed by Republicans, but the article notes that the idea of forcing data retention has been popular on both sides of the aisle over the years. “Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that… would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates. … Each [bill] contains the same language: ‘A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user [i.e., DHCP].'”

That means that I would have to keep logs of my wireless router at home, which I use only for personal internet connectivity (i.e. I don’t provide a service)??? What drugs are they taking, and did they bring enough for everybody?? This is what happens when you have people that don’t have a clue about tech trying to make laws about how the tech should be used and controlled.

Feb 20 2009

Microsoft.com Makes IE8 Incompatibility List!

From Slashdot:

Microsoft.com Makes IE8 Incompatibility List!: nickull writes “Microsoft is tracking incompatible Web sites for its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser and has posted a list that now contains about 2,400 names — including Microsoft.com. Apparently, even though Microsoft’s IE8 team is doing the ‘right’ thing by finally making IE more standards-compliant, they are risking ‘breaking the Web’ because the vast majority of Web sites are still written to work correctly with previous, non-standards-compliant versions of IE.”

The irony in this is palpable, and it proves the old adage that what goes around comes around. Had Microsoft made an effort from the beginning to be standards compliant, they would not be in this embarrassing and ridiculous position of having their own product not work properly with their own web site. Now if we could just get them to realize that many of their products are good enough to win the competition on their own merits, and stop locking people into a vertical vendor specific, proprietary solution and embrace open standards across the board, we’d be onto something.

Yeah, and I’m really the 8th cylon.

Feb 20 2009

Woods on verge of making return

From BBC Sports:

Woods on verge of making return: Tiger Woods will make his comeback from injury at next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Good news for golf fans! Having gone through the surgery(s) and recovery that he’s gone through, I know how tough it is to come back, and how sweet it feels when you do. Best of luck [[Tiger]]!!!

Feb 20 2009

Battlestar Galactica Timeline

For those of you trying to keep track of what’s happened when in the Galactiaverse, check this out:

From Battlestar Wiki:

Battlestar Galactica Timeline: This article attempts to plot the events illustrated or mentioned in the history and prehistory of the Twelve Colonies in the Re-imagined Series.
All dates use the day of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies as the central time marker for all events in the series. Items that occur before the Fall are marked as “BCH”, or “Before Cylon holocaust”. Given the few and somewhat contradictory dates about the Colonials’ ancient history and the exodus from Kobol, that part of the timeline is speculative.

This is a very comprehensive look at the timeline, and has cleared a few things up for me after last week’s revelations. It should make watching the show this week a bit easier to follow.

Feb 9 2009

Microsoft to Charge for Nothing

In a shocking development…

From Slashdot:

Average User Only Runs 2 Apps, So Microsoft Will Charge for More: Barence writes “Microsoft’s decision to limit Windows 7 Starter Edition to running only three concurrent applications could force up the price of netbooks as many manufacturers opt for the more expensive Home Premium.

This is just plain evil. Unix has done (proper) multitasking since the early 1970’s. Running multiple programs is just part of what an operating system is supposed to do, not part of what you charge extra for. This is a desperation move to try and increase their profits as they try and deal with their first layoffs ever.

Feb 2 2009

Why the RIAA Sucks Redux

The RIAA has been getting slammed a bit in court these days… exactly as it deserves. I somehow lost the link to [this great speech](http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/) by Courtney Love several years ago on how the RIAA operates with respect to the artists.

If you want to get seriously enraged at how your favorite musicians are treated by the RIAA, give it a read. It’s definitely an eye opener.