...more recent posts
Here's a very interesting piece on the future of computers and information space. Non technical, but obviously written by someone who knows what they are talking about. It's called a manifesto, but I always use the ridiculous phrase 'intuition pump' to describe writing like this. It doesn't go into detail, it just gives enough shape to get you thinking. I agree with almost everything, especially number 20. (from eatonweb)
Apparently, British Telecom (BT) is thinking about suing all ISP's for infringing on one of their patents. What's the patent you ask? Oh nothing really, just a little something about hyperlinks. As in: BT thinks they invented (and patented) the idea of hyperlinks. You can read the patent yourself here. I'd like to see what Al Gore has to say about this one. Who really did invent the internet? Whatever your answer, BT probably isn't it. This suit (if they really do bring it) will definitely go nowhere (prior art? How about Ted Nelson's Xanadu from 20 years earlier?) Still, it's annoying to see companies try to cash in like this. Maybe this one is so outrageous that it will spark some much needed patent law reform. We can only hope.
Making banner ads is probably not a very fun job. But Barbelith has a link to a cool site which features some creative work in that usually dead boring category. (Flash required, I believe, although I have no idea why they built it that way.)
Making the web a two way information space is the primary goal. The Magi Project is on the right track. Every device needs to be boty a client and a server in a giant peer to peer network. There is a lot of activity starting to build toward this end. Check out Ed Dumbill's excellent the state of XML keynote speech for an overview of the XML underpinnings of this near future collaborative web environment.
David Boies is going to be representing Napster in the case brought against them by the RIAA. In case you don't know, he's the guy that destroyed every Microsoft witness for the DOJ. Interesting. Maybe they do have a chance.
Mozilla M16 (milestone 16) is up. I'm downloading now and will report back.
Today (among other things) I've been checking out the icab web browser. It is Macintosh only (how often does that happen?) and very good. Quick download (1.1 mb) here. No installation, no hassles, very well behaved program (this is too rare these days.) Just download and double click and you're off to the races. This is a pre-release version, but so far it appears rock solid (unlike that other preview release browser we won't mention.) The only draw back is that javascript support is lacking at this point, so for some sites it will not work. But for this site (and most others) it functions very well. It's fast. And it doesn't need a lot of memory. I definitely recommend you check it out. The final release promises javascript and CSS level II (!) support. Possibly I'm not thinking clearly, but if feels like they (gasp) tried to make a good product rather than corner the rights to a mountain of money. Go icab.
Oh my god. Courtney Love is my new hero. Here's a transcript of a speech she gave to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference. Long, but very worth it. Here's the quick (very) paraphrased version: "Take my Prada pants - fuck it. All I need is a good back end coder."
Looks like the RIAA is seriously going after Napster now. They are going to try to force Napster to remove all major label content from their servers. And they are trying to get an injunction to force Napster to comply while the legal battle is being fought. The obvious pro-Napster argument is "O.K., sure, done!" because the content isn't on their servers (only pointers to where the content is,) but my guess is that the RIAA might win this one regardless of such technical details. The funny thing is, defeating Napster will be the worse thing for the music industry. I'm not saying they shouldn't try. It might be that they have to pursue this or be seen as weak and ineffectual, but seriously, this will spell the end for them. As long as Napster is around I doubt that freenet or gnutella could break out to mass acceptance. They are simply not as easy to use. But if all the content comes down off Napster, people will switch. And at least with Napster the RIAA has someone to strike a comprise deal with. Stopping Gnutella would involve something like shutting down the internet - probably not going to happen. So while all this pirating may well be wrong, ethically speaking, I'm not sure that arguing ethical philosophy is really what the RIAA should be doing. To me it seems like they cut a deal with MP3.com, but are drawing the line with Napster. But what they should do is cut a deal with Napster and draw the line with Freenet and Gnutella.
Here's some speculation about the future of information architecture. 100% new buzzword compliant. Yet more proof that everyone is thinking the same thing these days. (I know this is just an illusion of (my) perspective, but that doesn't make watching this convergence any less interesting.)