Thanks to an article from the Christian Science Monitor, I was pointed to a new feature on the National Geographic web site which is intended to be a companion piece to the new IMAX film Forces of Nature The site is an exceptional use of Macromedia's Flash technology for educational …

Apple's iTunes Music Store has (according to an announcement by Apple Computer) reached 1 million songs in its catalog for download in the US. They have also stated that they now have songs from over 600 independent labels on the US site.

An article from the New York Times relays the story of two patent attorneys who have embarked on a quest to help fill the missing archives of the USPTO (the Patent and Trademark office). And, they have met with some success, handing over information to the Office about at least …

An article from BBC News cites a study conducted in the US and published in the journal Neurology, that indicates (although not conclusively) that people who perform more challenging mental tasks later in life ward off the dreaded disease. Looks like even mental exercise is good for you.

NPR had a segment this morning called "Misunderstanding the First Amendment", where it speaks directly to an issue that I think more people need to think about: what is the First Amendment. Mark Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down, makes the point that too many people (especially celebrities) are …

Voip-info.org has a page about building, installing, and running Asterisk (the open source VOIP PBX) under OS X. Included are pointers to graphical tools for use with Asterisk.

As if web sites didn't have enough to worry about, Microsoft has posted a lengthy document describing changes made in Windows XP SP2 and the effect on web pages. Sounds like some nice security fixes, though.

An article from the Voice of America news service mentions the passage (by the US Senate) and the signature (by President Bush) of the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It also mentions that the Australian Senate isn't keen on it in its current form but leaves out information reported by …

This isn't a great story from the Washington Post, but it's an amusing comment on our political system and small towns like Cuba City, Wisconsin.

Well, the younger Powell and his crew were busy yesterday. Rulings were made about cell phone spam and digital broadcast reproduction. On cell phone spam: you can't send it via email... which isn't surprising, but the CAN-SPAM act will now have a registry of domains for wireless providers that can't …

A web site called Dear Steve has been set up to collect messages for Steve Jobs about his recent cancer surgery. Interestingly, it's not an Apple site, but a set set up by Varen Swaab, whose relationship with Steve Jobs appears on the site. Cool read. Thanks to Wired for …

BusinessWeek has a series of articles about Apple this week in a special report entitled Apple: The Next Generation. The five articles look at the company's performance since Jobs took over the reins (again), corporate and government prospects, the role of clustered Macs in supercomputing, and their current push toward …

We got our Airport Express boxes yesterday and I finally got a chance to turn them up this morning. So far, I've installed one (and did some network reconfiguration at the same time to increase security). The device works beautifully and has a frightening range. Right now I'm sitting in …

With the launch of McDonald's Go Active Meals in the UK, the Sun reports that it would take a walk of nearly 10 miles to walk off a Big Mac Meal (including fries and a shake), as it weighs in at over 1400 calories. Additional nutritional info can be found …

An interesting article today on Wired about using the internet to search for the identities of John Doe (and Jane Doe) victims. Includes a particularly in- depth discussion of one man's quest to figure out the identity of a woman killed in Kentucky in 1968.

PC Magazine, which despite the name does a reasonably good job of being non-partisan in covering equipment that doesn't qualify as PC-compatible, has released their 17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey results. The short form: Apple has a significant lead in basically every category (except servers, where they aren't represented in …

A&E, the once-venerable home of Arts and Entertainment, turned recently more crime and punishment, is going off the deep end with tonight's premier of Growing Up Gotti. That's right, "reality" TV about the daughter of John Gotti... you know the mobster. The Scotsman has an article about the show …

An article from BusinessWeek discusses the long-term health of Netflix, the online DVD rental service, after its announcement that its expenses were up and Blockbuster's announcement that they are entering the fray with a lower-priced product.

CNet has an article in which John Kerry's Senate record on technology is evaluated. According to the article (without any significant supplemental research by me), he has been less interested in privacy and innovation than in status quo (movie industry copy protection over consumer electronics) and increased taxation.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar, underwent successful surgery to treat an early stage pancreatic cancer over the weekend. He is expected back to work in September (I guess he's waiting until the G5 iMacs come out). According to articles in the Wall Street Journal (Apple CEO Undergoes …