An article on SecurityFocus heralds the coming of the book Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering. What makes the self-publication of this book by hacker/author Andrew Shane Huang of interest to an audience broader than the hacker community is the fuss over whether Microsoft will attempt to …

You just can't keep Buckminster Fuller down. Although he obviously wasn't personally involved in it's development (Fuller died in 1983), the latest development in high-density, high-speed non-volatile memory uses Buckytubes to store a bit of data. According to this article in The Economist, Nantero is developing what it refers to …

A bug that affects users of Apple's Safari browser has been discovered. The bug results in sophisticated sites being able to masquerade as other sites even when SSL is being used. Although the bug is considered moderately severe, and should be fixed immediately, it is unclear that the risk …

Preying on the pent up demand for the upcoming national do-not-call registry, a number of web sites have started charging people to be put on the list when it becomes available later this year. Problem is, the service is free and no company is allowed to register people with the …

Forbes has an article that describes some of the new PalmOS devices that are coming our way. Among the devices to use PalmOS are: Tapwave - a handheld gaming device Meazura - a handheld measurement device platform Palm and Sony seem the only folks to be continuing the development of PalmOS PDAs …

RecordStoreReview.com has a comparison between the AAC and MP3 formats. No real surprises, as an audiophile, he prefers to use non-perceptual encoding, but AAC sounds better than MP3 at most/all bitrates.

CNet Asia is reporting that the Tokyo Book Fair has a demonstration showing the use of RFID (Radio Frequency ID) technology to track shoppers within a book store. The concept is to station the receivers on shelves, so that you can see where the shoppers go while browsing for the …

An appeals court has decided to hear the case against Verizon by theRIAA. The case involves a subpoena by the RIAA requesting Verizon disclose personal information (name, etc.) about a user they suspect was illegally sharing files.

An article in Wired today reports that the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as a way to provide legal cover for wiretaps is increasing as state and federal law enforcement agencies reduce the number of "Title III" Federal wiretap requests. The FISA taps are completely secret and are …

Book (and web) publisher O'Reilly has announced the second MacOS X Innovators Contest. The contest ends June 16, 2003 and winners will be announced in July.

A Mighty Wind is another enjoyable "mockumentary" from Director/Writer/Producer Christopher Guest (who has been a writer on This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman, each a fine farce in its own right). As with the previous films, the real genius of this one is …

Not for the faint of heart, this Emergency Boot Disk from Russia has a micro Linux on it and a whole bunch of tools to help you fix what is preventing your computer from booting.

An article from CNet points out that Microsoft is operating under a Consent Decree with the Federal Trade Commission regarding the service. In part, the consent decree states that Microsoft shall not "misrepresent in any manner... the extent to which Microsoft Passport will maintain, protect, or enhance the privacy, confidentiality …

Users of AT&T Wireless mobile telephone services have a new way to get information on their cell phones. The new TXT-411 service provides "411" information services via SMS messages (text messaging) for $0.40 per request, which is about a third of the cost of using the voice 411 …

The systems that Microsoft is putting in place in the next major version of Windows (code-named Longhorn) to handle security and permissions are falling under greater scrutiny as the company starts to provide some answers, and feed a lot more questions. An article from Wired tells of some of the …

An article from the NY Times describes one Austin, TX businesswoman who decided to add free wireless to her coffee shop. In the end, she figures the service is costing her about $40/month in addition to her $80/month internet bill and an additional $700 for the hardware to …

A study published by research firm Jupiter Research is showing that adding copy protection to a CD cuts its sales by nearly 76%.

Sound of stop watch clicking Almost two weeks. I can't believe it took that long. A little less than two weeks into the new era of Apple's iTunes, the first service to act as a clearing house for iTunes 4 servers is now up and running on SpyMac site …

An insightful article from FindLaw about the recent court decisions on P2P file sharing and Apple's entry into the music market.

A significant vulnerability in Microsoft's Passport facility was found by a security enthusiast. The exploit allows the changing of arbitrary passwords to arbitrary accounts, and through such access to services, personal information, and potentially hotmail email. Microsoft has been alerted to the problem, but has not responded with a …