Fired for protesting a cost-saving proposal that would have quietly compressed millions of digital images stored by customers. Kodak insisted it would never condense images in a lower-resolution format -- and thereby potentially diminish their quality "without our customers' knowledge."
read more | digg story
Friday, March 31, 2006
Sepia Mutiny Goes Foolish
The folks at Sepia Mutiny have brilliantly replaced their entire site with something, well, wierd - a day early, more the merrier.
The weblog link itself takes one to first a Wordpress site, and then a blogger blog purporting to be the real Sepia Mutiny, a victim of cyber squatting.
The main page itself has tons of inside jokes that are pretty neat.
The weblog link itself takes one to first a Wordpress site, and then a blogger blog purporting to be the real Sepia Mutiny, a victim of cyber squatting.
The main page itself has tons of inside jokes that are pretty neat.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Ants need Wet soil
Discovery of the week:
Argentine ants in Southern California need wet soil to
live and breed.
I could've told them that.
Argentine ants in Southern California need wet soil to
live and breed.
I could've told them that.
Steve Ballmer's Kids Don't Use Google or IPods
Fortune interviews the dude with the 'Developer' yell, and he doesn't disappoint in acerbic responses.
AOL is not making any investment in the future of the media and advertising business.
Do you have an iPod?
No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions
they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this
dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you
don't use an iPod.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Internet Censorship, the Pakistani Way
If the government controls all outside links, one might think that it should be a simple matter to censor the internet. Yet this isn’t the case-the current filtering system in place is very crude. There is a list of banned addresses which the Pakistan Internet Exchange look at, and block requests by users to the computers on the blacklist.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
20000 Hong Kong Citizens Info Leaked Online, Governmental Silence
Information on 20000 people from Hong Kong's Police files found on a commercial server. This is undoubtedly the worst breach of data privacy in Hong Kong's history. The Government remains mum. The data was taken offsite by a consultant whose contract did not cover data security.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Stanislav Lem, Sci-Fi writer dies, where do they go?
Do science fiction writers and mystics get a different afterlife? They spend their creative urges imagining a world different from their own, it only seems fair they should be allowed a universe different from anyone else's when they pass over.
Stanislav Lem, author of fine books like Solaris, the Star Diaries, etc. died on March 27 at 84.
Stanislav Lem, author of fine books like Solaris, the Star Diaries, etc. died on March 27 at 84.
It was in this extraordinary tradition that Lem wrote, for all that he
chose the science-fiction form — and he was a prime examplar of it. He
was a true polymath and at the same time a virtuoso storyteller. He was
truly described as “one of the deep spirits of the age”.
Friday, March 24, 2006
South Park Without Chef
South Park won't be the same without Chef - his songs, his horny nature, and his explanations to the kids were a key part of the show. Some analysis of the episode "The Return Of Chef", shot post the announcement of the departure of Isaac Hayes is over at Blogcritics.
Technorati Tags: south+park, television, chef
In his eulogy for Chef, Kyle says "Some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us." That's quite a public admission of vulnerability coming from these macho pirates. After all, like L Ron Hubbard, Parker and Stone have many enemies.
On the surface, this episode looks normal, but it's not a typical South Park. The style of their animation is the same as ever. The narrative structure is customary. Like the returned Chef, it looks standard.
Technorati Tags: south+park, television, chef
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Greasemonkey This!
A complete book on GreaseMonkey scripting is available for free online - Greasemonkey is the Firefox extension that allows people to 'hack' scripts onto webpages for convenient stuff.
Some interesting case studies make this book worth the reading, I'm sure:
Some interesting case studies make this book worth the reading, I'm sure:
Epic Records to Feature Artists on Xbox Live
The Artist of the Month feature on Xbox Live will have free exclusive artist content & high-definition music videos. Through the Xbox Live Game with Fame program, Live subscribers can also enter a monthly sweepstakes to win a chance to play against the musicians. The first artist in the AOM series is British singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Show Your Love - Link To Desicritics!
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<a href="http://desicritics.org/">Desicritics.org</a>Some more buttons, and banners, designed by our resident designer, Geniusoid:
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THANKS!
If you are interested in joining Desicritics, please see here.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The Always-On Digital Lifestyle - Sereniti's Smart Home Server
This is a Wi-Fi router with an on-board storage drive. It comes with a monthly subscription that gives you 24/7 support with setting up and managing your network connections,and keeping your firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware software current and updated. And something unique: $1000 if you incur virus damage, and $25,000 for identity theft.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, March 13, 2006
Is the Rise of Iran a Threat or an Opportunity?
Scientific Development can only benefit a nation - should we not cheer nuclear development, even on the part of Iran?
India Rising - The Big Scare - Is it warranted?
Very topical discussion on media portrayals of India that don't seem to have changed much despite the boom.
Friday, March 10, 2006
My Humps! Most Downloaded Ringtone ever
My Humps from the Black Eyed Peas is the most downloaded ringtone ever - wonder what says for Western civilization:)
Sunday, March 05, 2006
The Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List
It's always good to get a pre-researched reading list, makes one's hyperconnected life a little more directed. Locus magazine published a recommended reading list from 2005 science fiction works in their February 2006 issue, selected by Locus editors and reviewers, as well as authors
Some great stuff, too much to really read or list here, but a few standouts:
Some great stuff, too much to really read or list here, but a few standouts:
- Transcendent, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz; Del Rey)
- Shadow of the Giant, Orson Scott Card (Tor; Orbit)
- The Carpet Makers, Andreas Eschbach (Tor)
- Old Twentieth, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
- Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber Faber UK; Knopf)
- Fifty Degrees Below, Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins UK; Bantam Spectra)
- Living Next Door to the God of Love, Justina Robson (Macmillan UK; Bantam Spectra 2006)
- The Rosetta Codex, Richard Paul Russo (Ace; Orbit)
- Accelerando, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit)
- Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler (Seven Stories)
- Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
- Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Review)
- Thud!, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)
- Old Man’s War, John Scalzi (Tor)
- Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions, Frederic Jameson (Verso)
- Audrey Niffenegger, The Three Incestuous Sisters (Abrams; Cape)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
O'Reilly Continues To Bloviate
O'Reilly threatens a hapless caller for invoking the fell name of Olbermann - and still people will call:)
Hilarious Cartoon by Monk:
Hilarious Cartoon by Monk:
Friday, March 03, 2006
Blogger/Blogspot Censored In Pakistan
Another pointless blow against free speech.
Desicritic Teeth Maestro reports that Blogger has been censored in Pakistan
Good grief!
A banner to demonstrate solidarity against this action, which is vitiated by the millions of options to get the word out, is also available.
Desicritic Teeth Maestro reports that Blogger has been censored in Pakistan
As I write this post on the 4th of March 2006 all sub-domains on Blogspot.com/Blogger carrying thousands of free blogs continue to remain censored for all internet users in Pakistan. The mess started on the 27th of February when the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority issued instructions to all ISP to block all websites displaying the controversial cartoon images of Prophet Muhammad.
Good grief!
A banner to demonstrate solidarity against this action, which is vitiated by the millions of options to get the word out, is also available.
RIM Reaches Settlement With NTP on Blackberry Patent Dispute
Apparently, RIM has reached a settlement in the long-running patent dispute with NTP on their ever-more popular Blackberry devices.
The settlement is for $612.5 million - Press Release here
More details later - leastways, I won't see my crackberry switch off abruptly, leaving me bereft from my mails, conference calls, etc.:)
The settlement is for $612.5 million - Press Release here
More details later - leastways, I won't see my crackberry switch off abruptly, leaving me bereft from my mails, conference calls, etc.:)
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Thomas Friedman at Yale Law School
A video of Thomas Friedman's talk at Yale Law School (Quicktime) recently - very interesting hearing his views.
Also, the first of a new series on Tom Friedman's book, The World Is Flat, at Desicritics
Also, the first of a new series on Tom Friedman's book, The World Is Flat, at Desicritics
The whole controversy about Dubai's take over of Ports; India and USA
signing a Nuclear Deal; Pakistan and India moving towards peace through
trade and hence opting for the "Lexus"(Trade) and keeping the "Olive Tree"(Kashmir) in background would be more clearer if we look at them in view of "The Flat World."
Lightning quote
A quote I came across and really like:
"The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is
the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug" - Mark Twain
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