The body that OK's new web standards, W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium) has announced that it's new policy on patents has been approved by the membership. Although the announcement doesn't guarantee that all future W3C standards will be fee-free (note: not patent-free), it does reserve that possibility for circumstances …

CNET reports that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has sent a letter to the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation outlining the official Microsoft line on spam. The committee hearing was attended by the Vice Chairman of AOL, Brightmail's CEO, the Executive Director of EPIC (Mark Rotenberg) , and …

In what seems to be a repeating problem between Microsoft's MSN sites and other browser manufacturers, CNET reports that there are new problems between Opera and the sites.

According to an article on CNET, Amazon and Microsoft have entered into an agreement by which Amazon will provide music samples via Windows Media Player 9.

If you have more than one Macintosh or are just getting a bit stingy on disk space (seeing as you have 20-30GB of iPod tunes), you may be wondering how you can play back songs on your iPod while it is connected to your Macintosh. Here are the helpful hints …

What's good for Microsoft must certainly be good for the US Department of Defense. Under attack by privacy and civil liberties groups for their Total Information Awareness program, the DoD has now stated that TIA means Terrorism Information Awareness. I feel just about as much safer now as I did …

In a highly anticipated move reported by CNN, the Governor of Washington state has signed into law a bill that will prevent the sale of video games depicting violence against law enforcement officials. The bill was discussed extensively at E3, both because it largely ignores the existing ESRB standards and …

Wired reports that researchers from St. Louis University have created a new fuel cell that is able to take alcohol and turn it into power. For those who follow fuel cell developments, this would be a completely uninteresting story, except that it doesn't require the use of methanol, like previous …

Those interested in seeing the NuVue 550L Display, Kodak's first product in the line of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays, now have a chance. The company has incorporated the low-power, high-contrast, high-viewing angle technology into their LS633 Digital Camera, which should be making its way to stores soon …

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. It took me a bit of work to memorize the technical term for Mad Cow disease, and unfortunately I'm am now able to share it with you. The reason is this report from BBC News that a cow in Alberta, Canada appears to have had the disease …

A story on BBC News relates that researchers have found a small group of Ugandans who seem to posses some kind of natural immunity to AIDS. It appears that their immune systems actually fight off the disease and keep it at bay. So, perhaps this is an indicator that a …

Although the Belkin site says that the Auto Kit for iPod with Dock Connector is "Coming Soon!", I can assure you that both the local Tysons Corner Apple Store and Apple's online store have the product in stock. Why is this of interest? Because, it contains not only a …

A (response)[http://www.catb.org/~esr/hackerlore/sco-vs-ibm.html] to the SCO vs. IBM lawsuit has been posted on the web site of the Open Source Initiative. It's lengthy, but an interesting read.

I got my new slimmer, fatter iPod yesterday and so far, so good. I'll put up more comments as I have time to test various features. However, it struck me that there sure are a lot of pins on that connector at the bottom. What are they all for? Pins …

In an article as fascinating for its location (Business 2.0) as its content, the author suggests that Intuit's act of contrition (dropping their cumbersome activation codes) may be an indicator to Microsoft and the studios in Hollywood that they should be thinking about user's rights if they want …

An article in Rolling Stone brings up some interesting points about the Apple's new music service. Among them: at the current rate of sales, more money is made at retail selling Vinyl records than Apple will give to the music companies (although the stats are interesting, because I can't …

An article from CNET describes the reactions of Red Hat, HP, Microsoft, and Sun to the claims by SCO that Former-AT&T IP was stolen and infused into Linux. Each company reacted a bit differently: HP claims there are no grounds for the suit and that it is a …

An article from the Adrenaline Vault ponders the effect of gaming in the workplace on productivity and argues that it may help, rather than hurt.

A school in the UK has sent a letter to parents telling them that they are not welcome at the upcoming Sports Day at the school. An article from BBC News indicates that the headmistress claims that having the parents standing by can be embarrassing for the students and may …

In an interesting analogy, PeopleSoft's president and CEO Craig Conway has compared Microsoft's .NET technology to the naturally-occurring substance that seemed to be a very promising heat shield and insulator until it was found to cause severe lung trouble and was labeled one of the more toxic substances that …