Gaige's Pages

Do you think that's an inflamatory enough title? I really think this is how the press should be handling information like the nnotification of this morning's net slowdown due to lax security on MS SQL servers net-wide.

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p>Discovered in July of 2002, Microsoft did provide a patch to this error, recognized at the time as "Critical", so much of the onus is on the administrators who didn't apply the patches and secure their networks. However, people need to read this stuff, so more inflamatory headlines are necessary.

The band Phish, already known as being the most wired band in the world (courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine), has initiated a new service that allows phans to download soundboard-quality music just days after a concert.

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p>The service, known as LivePhish charges between 10 and 13 dollars, dependent upon the number of sets and the audio format. Formats available are the venerable MP3, and SHN (a lossless format).

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p>As an added bonus, they encourage buring onto CD's (thus obviating the need for a music publisher...hmmm) by including PDFs of labels, liner notes, and tray inserts.

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p>They're not employing any copy protection scemes in this, and it could well be the wave of the future, if we're lucky.

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p>Read more in the Wired article.

Sony, in the position of having both content and computers, faces an interesting dilemma when it comes to things like content creation and portable music devices.

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p>The article on Wired gives some perspective on this.

Sun Microsystems has a good article on their site about bringing Java applications to the Mac under OS X.

In a move that might be the beginning of something interesting, or the end of IT in Houston, the city has decided to stop using Microsoft's Office products in lieu of SimDisk, a web-based package offered by a local (to Houston) company.

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p>The agreement will cost the city $9.5M and will put the 13,000 city employees online with the system first, to be followed by service for up to 3M city residents.

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p>CNet has a good article about the move.

CNET is reporting that a "coalition" of technology companies has formed to oppose the MPAA and its bid to get the goverment to impose regulations requiring intrusive copy protection be installed in computers and consumer electronics devices.

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p>The bill, proposed last year by Senator Fritz Hollings, D-SC, has not yet been introduced this session.

Ok, this is cool.... as in 25-below-zero.

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p>Seriously, the grandson of the last remaining Sherpa to accompany Hillary up Mr. Everest is bringing email to the base camp of the world's highest peak.

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p>As described in this article in the New York Times, they are betting on wireless to help them get to the 'net.

An article on CNET reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has upheld a ruling that AOL (and hopefully therefore other ISPs) are immune to prosecution over destructive files (such as viruses) sent over their common carrier systems from one user to another.

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p>It appears that the CDA's safe harbor provisions will continue to provide some safety to ISPs.

In a stunning departure from the kinds of lawsuits that make you unable to eat, a judge has dismissed the case against McDonald's that claimed the food giant was responsible for obese patron' obesity.

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p>The suit, brought in New York, claimed that McDonald's had done too much to make its food tempting and not enough to warn people that eating an Egg McMuffin for breakfast and a SuperSize BigMac meal for dinner without any exercise would make you fat.

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p>CNN Money is reporting in this article that the lawsuit was dismissed because the judge couldn't find that McDonald's had done anything wrong, but has suggested that an amended complaint which focussed the cited deception in the original complaint might be fit to proceed.

In good news for privacy advocates, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has come out against the controversial Total Information Awareness initiative by our fine government.

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p>In an article on CNET, there are details of this latest opposition from the chairman of the Senate Finance committee.