Because of unfortunate timing (dying within 24 hours of Bob Hope, who will be sorely missed), Matt Jeffries, a set designer and art designer for Star Trek, is likely to have passed without most people noticing. An obituary in Inside Ventura County gives a little insight into the man's work …

The second day of SIGGRAPH this year (Monday) was headlined by the keynote and awards ceremony and then went right in to the meat of the conference: papers, sketches, and applications. Most of my day was spent at the papers, hearing about what the researchers are doing and looking at …

An article from Wired this week describes the recent adoption of instant messaging by people in areas of Iraq fortunate enough to have power and Internet service. However, the addition of broadband features such as voice chat are bringing cheap communications, and bandwidth problems, to the country. The basis of …

An article from CNet provides some evidence that people in the United States are cooling to the idea of having their privacy invaded and warming up to the idea of overturning (or at least limiting) some of the additional powers granted the government after 9/11. The article cites a …

Not that anyone familiar with running software on a Windows box would notice, but another hallmark of bad customer service has reared its ugly head at BuyMusic.com, insufficient testing. According to an article in USA Today, the company's new music system has not been appropriately interacting with digital music …

I don't know how I've missed this over the past year, but Second Life is a very interesting "game". I put the word game in quotes, because it is a simulation and an environment more than it is an actual game. The system is designed as a completely user modifiable …

They may not like President Bush, but it appears from this article in the International Herald Tribune that the French have warmed up to Lance Armstrong, winner of the last five Tours de France. But, for Lance, it hasn't always been this way. The French press, which had awarded him …

An article in the The Register is reporting that after talking to Apple executive Greg Joswiak, they can confirm that OSX 10.3 (Panther) will be a 32-bit release with accommodations for 64-bit addressing (much as 10.2.7 is intended to be). The approach will allow Apple to continue …

Have you ever wondered if you or your family is in the cross-hairs of the RIAA? Well, this article from BBC News describes how you can find out using a new database from the EFF. If you are on one or more of the file sharing services, you can check …

When I read the article in the Washington Post, I decided not to post a link to it, because it was just more "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt" being spread by people who didn't really understand the internet or security. I'm happy to report that a blogger, Cory Doctorow, has saved …

While commenting in Computer Reseller News on the SCO v. IBM lawsuit, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates asserted that he believes there is Microsoft intellectual property inside of not only Linux, but other open source programs as well, and he may be right. The issue at hand here isn't copyrighted code …

An article from the Scotsman describes a German law that prevents gardeners from killing ants, "especially by using poison." It appears that German environmental laws, and the forest industry in Germany, hold ants in such high regard that gardeners could be fined if they are caught destroying an ant hill …

Day one of SIGGRAPH is on a Sunday this year, allowing for the travel benefits of staying over a Saturday night without having to find something to do that isn't related to the conference on Sunday. However, none of the papers start until Monday, so you will only miss the …

An article in the Washington Post takes on MusicMatch (one of the most popular Windows programs for managing music, and Apple's partner for their iPod device on the operating system) and BuyMusic.com as being misleading and difficult to use. In particular, her calls attention to misleading advertising on the …

It's pricey, but it's huge! Trans International has announced that they are now shipping a 1GB DDR333 RAM module compatible with Apple's 17" PowerBook. For only $1400, you can have 2GB of RAM in your laptop.

I was reading an article this morning about a cleric in Iraq who is preparing a force to control the city of Najaf (a holy site in the country) and was struck by a particular phrase that should give warning to those who think that it is a waste of …

You may not have seen the original story about a man in Las Vegas who was selling the opportunity to hunt naked women with paintball guns, but plenty of women's groups did and were outraged. However, it turns out now that the "hunt" was just a ploy to sell videos …

Do you ever get that feeling that you didn't see the same movie that everybody else did? That's certainly the case for me after reading reviews of Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life. I don't know what these people saw, but I want to see that movie, because …

This article in USA Today describes an invention by a Chicago-area Boy Scout who saw an opportunity to streamline airport inspections at the world's busiest airport (still O'Hare). The invention (and I've actually seen these at Dulles as well) is a box with a metal detector in it that is …

Robert Cringely of PBS has a proposal that he wants people to look at for creating a commercial music service that keeps the simplicity of Napster without the legal problems. I'm not so certain that it would be successful in court, but it's a nice exercise in thinking outside of …