Articles


Bluetooth headset roundup

A recent review of Bluetooth headsets is available from HowardChui.com. The review compares the HBH-60 from Sony Ericsson, Bluetake BT400, Jabra BT200, Nextlink Bluespoon, and Nokia HDW-2. In the end, the HBH-60 was the winner.

Be careful when kicking a sleeping giant

IBM let loose a fusillade of legal firepower today aimed squarely at blowing away SCO. The computer giant, considered three decades ago to be the most controlling, powerful, and anti- competitive company in the industry (like Microsoft is today) is in the interesting position of being the "defender of the …

Sun describes OS X MIDP development

Sun (the author/owner of Java) has posted an article about hosting MIDP development on Apple's OS X. MIDP is the Mobile version of Java (used by phones like the P800). The implementation requires X11, but works very nicely.

Another piece of aviation history lands at Dulles

In preparation for the opening of the Dulles Annex to the Air and Space Museum, another piece of aviation history has landed at Dulles airport, according to an article from the Washington Post. The oldest example of a working Boeing Stratoliner has come to final rest at the site of …

Dude, your printing some cash...

A story form the Washington Post this morning tells the sad tale of a group of teenagers who allegedly beat up another teenager because the victim had cooperated with a Secret Service investigation into a counterfeiting in Reston. What does this have to do with Dell? Apparently, the counterfeits were …

Mike Hawash pleads guilty to conspiracy

Mike Hawash (of FreeMikeHawash fame), the former Intel employee held in secret for five weeks as a "material witness" before he was charged, has plead guilty and has agreed to testify against his alleged fellow conspirators in a plot to go to Afghanistan in 2001 to help the Taliban, according …

"MATRIX" to provide TIA-like capabilities to states

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 …


US Navy to use Linux XServes aboard subs

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 …

EU gives final chance to Microsoft

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 …

Stupid security site

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 …

Find your WiFi

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 …

Millions moving to cellular only

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 …

Man jailed for posting bomb info on web

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 …

Unabashed SCO sets ridiculous licensing prices

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 …

All the Presidents Movies

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 …


Everybody should be running for Governor

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 4GB CFII card released

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.

SIGGRAPH 2003: Meshes papers

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 …