Because no bad idea (or bad name) remains unused for long, the state of Florida has been working to create an information network that gathers information about its residents to aid in "anti-terrorism" and law enforcement. According to this article in the Washington Post, Florida is now working to go …

That's right, according to an article from EETimes, SCO (everyone's favorite whipping boy) thinks they deserve $32 for each product with a copy of embedded Linux containing post-2.4 Linux Kernel.

Terra Soft Solutions, a systems integrator and the developer of Yellow Dog Linux, has announced that they have won a contract with Lockheed Martin to provide servers for image processing aboard the subs. This sale, which the press release indicates is the largest VAR sale for the Xserve product, shows …

The US may have decided that the world's largest software company is in the clear, but the EU has a different take, according to this article from BBC News. Their focus, quite happily for me, is Windows Media Player (that bastion of proprietary digital rights management, with which Microsoft is …

I found a pointer to the Stupid Security web site earlier this week, but hadn't had sufficient time to check it out. Now that I have, I'll recommend it as an interesting (and sometimes frightening) read. StupidSecurity is a site about all things silly related to security, but seems to …

New to me, at least, is WiFi411, a web site that provides a list of hotspots from various suppliers world-wide. I don't know how accurate their information is, but Reston and Herndon are reasonably correct. However, search through menus only (no "type in your current address" or "zip code" searches …

Not a huge surprise for those of us who know people like this, but an article from the Associated Press (courtesy of Wired) indicates that the growing trend is pushing 7.5 million people who have eschewed land lines for a cellular-only lifestyle. Although the article mentions that the number …

CNN is reporting that a California 20-year-old has been sentenced to a year in jail and fined $2,000 for posting information on building bombs to his web site linked with protests on foreign trade. This is a sticky little case. The man entered into a plea agreement which means …

If the folks at Red Hat needed any more proof for their allegations in a Deleware court that SCO is using scare tactics to frighten customers away from their 'wares, they got it today when the company announced their pricing for Linux users. According to an article from CNet, the …

An article from BBC News tells of an upcoming documentary on Bravo called All of the Presidents Movies, showing 7pm on August 7th. Drawing on the memories and notes of a projectionist who served many presidents, the special takes a look at the films most requested by US Presidents and …

A mailing list that I'm on had a link to the a web site today that uses census information to graphically show where people with particular surnames live. Neat toy.

A friend of mine from the old InterOp days has a great new cause. Frustrated with the call to remove sitting governor Gray Davis, D-CA, he has started Run-For-Governor.org aimed at taking the absurdity of the recall election to its logical conclusion, 1000 candidates! Check it out. If you …

Lexar Media released a 4GB Compact Flash II card running at 40X with Write Acceleration today, according to a press release from the company. $1499 Do be careful, though, only some cameras support the FAT32 file format that is required.

The final paper session at SIGGRAPH 2003 was on Meshes. Frankly, I don't know if I will do this set of talks justice, as I took every few notes through most of them, partially because the speakers were getting a little dry and partially because my brain was completely saturated …

The Dynamics section contained a number of papers on dealing with rigid and soft body dynamics. Because most of the papers deals with the math involved in simulating physics for these mechanisms, I won't provide a lot of detail, but there were a couple of talks that were particularly interesting …

The Design and Depiction papers contained some very different applications, from creating effective assembly instructions to automatic magazine and web layout and finally two methods for creating effective non-photorealistic renderings. Designing Step By Step Assembly Instructions This paper was an interesting collaboration between cognitive psychologists and computer graphics researchers. The …

Let me be the latest reviewer to jump on the bandwagon for Seabiscuit and give it a strong recommendation. The horse tale where "our horse is too small, our jockey is too big, our trainer is too old, and [the owner] is too stupid to know the difference" is a …

With a big "hi" to Todd and Paula, now residing in Texas, we turn our heads once again to the state who's Democrats have made running from office a new pastime. According to an article in the Washington Post, this week's exodus was a rather elaborate affair involving private jets …

Considering the number of kidney transplants done in the US every year (13,000 in 2002, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients), it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that there are some interesting webs of connection between recipients. Here's an amusing one from Baltimore, courtesy of …

A new film into which Mel Gibson has poured over US$25M is causing contention among Christians and Jews even before its release scheduled for next March, according to an article in the New York Times. The Passion, is a retelling of the final hours of the life of Jesus …