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| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| News about news now popular |
| 1:24:56 am mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in internet / source NY Times 23 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| According to this NY Times article, one of the most popular features on the Yahoo! News site is their "Most e-mailed" page, which lists the top 20 most news stories e-mailed from web surfers to their friends over the past 6 hours. Their "Most e-mailed" list tends towards the quirky or bizarre, whereas the companion "Most viewed" list leans more towards conventional breaking news. |
| If enough people click through to the article, then it will show that news about news about news is also popular. |
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| How Your Computer Boots |
| 3:40:36 am mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in operating systems / source O'Reilly Network 99 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| From the essay: "This excerpt from Understanding the Linux Kernel by Daniel P. Bovet and Marco Cesati explains what happens right after users have switched on their computers, that is, how a Linux kernel image is copied into memory and executed. In short, we discuss how the kernel, and thus the whole system, is 'bootstrapped.'... [T]his article takes you from the most primitive starting state to the full glory of a running Linux system." (Link from RootPrompt.) |
| Both this essay (and the book) look pretty good for geeks who want a more detailed understanding of how Linux works. |
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| Making water flow uphill |
| 6:43:23 am mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source Science Daily 107 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Lehigh professor Manoj Chaudhury has found a way to manipulate surface tension gradients to induce water droplets to flow uphill at speeds of up to 1 meter per second. His work may have applications in fluid transport systems for zero-gravity environments as well as microfluidic devices. |
| Or model T-1000 "liquid metal" Terminators... |
| read 2 comments |
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| Yes, You're Hot |
| 7:51:36 am mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source Ironminds 161 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Ironminds takes a look at the factors that made the AmIHotOrNot site so spectacularly successful when other far more ambitious websites crashed and burned. |
| The points they raised were good ones. Another that Diana pointed out to me was that it lets the user see when and how his or her judgments differ from the norm. When I rate someone much higher (or lower) than the group average, I find it interesting to try and figure out why. (Note: The San Jose Mercury News also has a nice update on how the site creators James Hong and Jim Young are doing these days.) |
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| Italy: Foreign 'Net sites can be closed |
| 9:56:18 am mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in legal / source Politech 43 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Declan McCullagh's Politech list pointed us towards this article, in which an Italian court is claiming the authority to shut down overseas websites containing material defaming an Italian citizen. The court ruled that "Italy has jurisdiction since end-users connect to the sites from Italian territory." |
| Lotsa luck! As the article notes, "It was not immediately clear, however, how such an order could be implemented or enforced." |
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| 10 Reasons Why It Sucks To Be Borg |
| 1:11:41 pm mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in humor / source Hacker Network 280 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Are you considering a lifestyle change and joining the Borg Collective? Hacker Network has provided this handy list of ten reasons why you might wish to reconsider. (Link from Fark.) |
| If you like the above, then take a look at their, "You know you're addicted to the internet when..." |
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| Hard drive on a keychain |
| 3:16:27 pm mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in hardware / source Forbes 102 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| The article reviews the Q drive from Agate Technologies. This is a small removable "hard drive" that connects with a PC via the USB port, and fits on a keychain (!) The module uses nonvolatile flash RAM, and it comes in 16, 32, and 64 MB sizes. |
| Quite nifty! |
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| The Army Is Watching Your Kid |
| 6:29:43 pm mst / 29 January 2001 found by diana / filed in internet / source Wired 59 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| According to documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (via the Freedom of Information Act) the Department of Defense has been purchasing reports on the surfing habits of schoolkids from the leading provider of web-filtering software to schools. The question is: WHY? |
| One explanation is that they are trying to gather data that will help them with their recruitment problem. Then again, the DoD probably has no idea what they are doing with the data. |
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| Empty box sold for $425 |
| 10:18:44 pm mst / 29 January 2001 found by paul / filed in internet / source Register 133 hits / 1 comment / 1 e-mail |
| A seller on eBay advertised a "PlayStation 2 Original Box And Receipt" (including free shipping) and sold it for $425. The buyer was less than pleased when she received exactly that -- an empty box. The original eBay auction can be found here. (Thanks to Techdirt for the pointer.) |
| The Seller Feedback Profile is also entertaining, with the buyer warning, "Complaint: Buyer Beware!!! Misleading information about item. Paid $425 for an empty box!" and the seller replying, "I sent what was promised in the auction. I do not rip people off. She's a liar." |
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