BREAKING SURF
| Phoning in Your Blog |
| Rating the Cyberbeggars |
| Old World Travel Advice |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| William Gibson Starts Blog |
| The Greatest Golf Game Ever Played |
| Why Computer Books Suck |
| The Literary Tradition of the 1960s |
| Randy Cassingham's True Stella Awards |
| The Top Stories Science of 2002 |
| Biology in Motion |
| Online Scientific Calculators |
| Apple's Safari Browser |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
Big Consumer Legal Victory in Norway DeCSS Case
A Norwegian court cleared Jon Johansen of all charges in a closely watched international intellectual property case. Johansen was being prosecuted for cracking and distributing code - the famous DeCSS code - that can decrypt DVD region encoding, allowing DVDs to be played on any computer anywhere in the world. The Norwegian prosecutors acted on a complaint brought by the American entertainment industry which maintained that sharing the code with others was illegal and could lead to DVD piracy. The court ruled that there was no evidence of illegal activity as a result of Johansen's work, and that Johansen had no intent to commit illegal activities by hacking his own DVD player. The court also ruled that it is not illegal to use the DeCSS code to watch DVD films obtained by legal means. It's not clear whether the case can be appealed, but this is a huge defeat for the restriction-obsessed entertainment industry and a big win for consumers.http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=466519
Lexmark Sues Toner Cartridge Chip Maker under DMCA
The big printer companies have essentially all adopted a business model of selling printers at unrealistically low prices and garnering their profits from expensive ink refills. Companies that market less expensive replacement ink cartridges obviously cut into the heart of the printer business. Printer manufacturer Lexmark is now trying to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to block the production of such second-party refills. Lexmark claims that the chips used in non-Lexmark refills crack the proprietary code that Lexmark uses to have its printers communicate with the inserted ink cartridges. The DMCA makes this kind of software end-around illegal, and so Lexmark has sued the chip maker, which sells the chips to the cartridge makers. With any luck, this case will only serve to further remove the DMCA from relevance, as did the recent acquittal of ElcomSoft for producing an eBook decryption app. CNET has the news.http://news.com.com/2100-1023-979791.html
Want Some Free Money? Join the CD Price Fixing Lawsuit
Here's a little known fact: last September, the five top US distributors of CDs and three major music retailers agreed to pay $143 million in cash and CDs to settle allegations they cheated consumers by fixing prices. Somehow, the RIAA isn't trumpeting this, but that's another story. Anybody who bought a CD in the years 1995-2000 can have a little taste of those millions, but so far only 30,000 people have lined up for the cash. Maybe it's because each person is only eligible for $5 to $20, depending on the total number of respondents. In fact, if more than 8.8 million people ask for money, no one gets any and the settlement goes towards the promotion of music programs. We doubt that NSD's readership will put the response over that magic number, so why not sign up? The San Jose Mercury News has more details.Settlement: http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/
Mercury News: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4889636.htm
It should be no surprise to learn that the Internet has become a mainstream information tool and that Americans increasingly regard it as the key source for product information, healthcare findings, info about government services, and news. The latest Pew Internet and American Life Project report, "Counting on the Internet", reveals just how much the Web has transformed how we obtain information and our positive experiences with it. When it comes to personal information, however, the story isn't as reassuring. Most users expect to be able to reach people via e-mail, but only a few believe they will find reliable information about people online. Also, users over 65 are less likely to turn to the Web to meet their information needs than younger ones. Overall, the most heartening of the survey findings is that the Internet provides access to information and knowledge that many users simply wouldn't have otherwise, fulfilling one of the bright hopes of Internet pioneers. The 17-page PDF report is important for almost any organization and provides an interesting overview of user expectations and experiences.
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=80
The Value of Deleting Your Web Logs
Cryptome.org is a well known site that hosts often-controversial documents, many relating to leaked or little known government documents about sensitive topics like cryptography, nuclear policy, and Internet intelligence. This week, the Attorney General of Massachusetts subpoenaed the site's Web logs. John Young, who runs the site, responded that "logs of Cryptome are deleted daily, or more often during heavy traffic, to protect the privacy of visitors to the site." We note the item to emphasize the need for a good record disposal policy if you're going to be hosting controversial content, or if you may be placing yourself at risk of litigation. Besides, it's a good excuse to point you at Cryptome itself, which offers a plethora of fascinating netsurfing material.http://cryptome.org/cryptome-log.htm
Wi-Fi, Voice Over IP, and the Doomed Phone Companies
Clay Shirky has written an insightful analysis of a blind spot in the phone companies' plots to dominate the world. My, but that sounds dramatic, doesn't it? Actually, Shirky has noted that the phone companies are relying on a future economic model that has already been shown to fail spectacularly in the past. At one time, Federal Express built a huge network of fax machines that connected their consumer locations, and the company offered to fax documents around the country for you at a decent fee. The business was doomed from the start, because customers essentially built their own fax network as they bought their own fax machines for obvious reasons (cheap machines, cheap fax bandwidth) and never even considered the hassle of going to Federal Express outlets. Shirky draws a parallel between the commoditization of wireless networks and how they make Voice over IP telephone services analogous to that old fax network, suddenly cutting the middlemen, the phone companies, out of the picture. It's an insightful piece about the implications of the customer-owned Wi-Fi network phenomenon.http://shirky.com/writings/zapmail.html
Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for
The top entry is a little known stock broker company called Edward Jones. Most people probably won't recognize the top three companies on this list - Container Store and Alston & Bird rank two and three. The list was generated by surveying a random sample of employees from 269 candidate companies. The employee survey counted for two-thirds of the score, with Fortune's evaluation of the company policies accounting for the last third. Not surprisingly, some of the best known brands in America make it into the top 100 - good companies generally make good brands - but many little known companies also rank highly. Fortune's Web page also has links to other lists, including the top ten in Europe, America's Most Admired, 100 Fastest Growing, 50 Best for Minorities, and so on.http://www.fortune.com/fortune/bestcompanies
The Top Ten Conspiracies of 2002
The events of Sept. 11, 2001 unleashed not only a war against terrorism, but also a flood of conspiracy theories. If you've somehow missed out on any of the latest paranoid fancies, here are AlterNet.org's top ten conspiracy theories of 2002. Oil lubricates the creative imagination in many of these conceptions, in which the key geopolitical importance of the fossil fuel explains all manner of dodgy deceits, including the supposed real reason for cleaning out the Taliban in Afghanistan and why the US is so set on toppling Saddam. Oil is also the central theme in theory number ten, not so much a conspiracy as a fearful prognostication in which the gradual drying up of oil supplies fuels chaos on a global scale. There are even echoes of old historical fulcra, including the Gulf of Tonkin and Pearl Harbor. Mercifully oil-free, however, is the story of Mohamed Atta's inferno-defying passport. These stories of hidden agendas and manipulative government agencies are cleverly written, with a deft touch for sarcasm and a nice way with humor.http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14873
New "Star Trek"-Inspired Episode
In an amazing labor of love, two "Star Trek" fans have spent a good part of the last four years creating a 35-minute, genuine-looking, original-style Star Trek episode, complete with Klingons, Starfleet uniforms, and tricorders. "Starship Exeter: the Savage Empire" is a surprisingly good-looking show. It's divided into five QuickTime movies and we know that once you watch the first, you won't be able to resist the others any more than we were. Brothers Jimm and Joshua Johnson thought up the idea in 1995 and had soon written a first draft. The movie was finally finished last month and posted to the Internet for all to see. A story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press provides fascinating details about how the Johnsons pulled it off and some neat links to other fan projects (most of which we've covered in NSD in the past). Any trekker worth his dilithium will want to watch the adventure of the crew of NCC-1706.Movie: http://homepage.mac.com/starshipexeter/
Pioneer Press: http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/business/technology/4837583.htm
Are you one of the legion of people bothered by spam and interested in stopping it from entering your mailbox? Read this sophisticated discussion of real-time black-hole lists (RBLs) and discover a usually hidden dimension to the war on spam. In particular, pay attention to the way the author portrays the use of RBLs as a political act with a host of unforeseen collateral damages. If you want an introduction to the spam wars, this is a fine way into the whole mess.
http://theory.whirlycott.com/~phil/antispam/rbl-bad/rbl-bad.html
While we slacked off in December, the geek world marched on. We're going to assume that you were too preoccupied to catch some goodies then, and gaming is rather timeless, so here's some gaming news. Tom's hardware Guide reviewed Xbox Live, and while the online service doesn't get raves, it's better than expected. The Xbox was designed for connectivity; competing Sony and Nintendo products were not. Because of this, the initial advantage seems to belong to Microsoft. Read about it and draw your own conclusions.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/20021214/index.html
Vaporware is the stuff dreams are made of. Wired has published its top ten vaporware titles for 2002. Leading the pack for the second year in a row is 3D Games' Duke Nukem Forever, now five years overdue and counting. As one respondent explained, the game was announced when he was in eighth grade and now he's in college. The real question: will it still be vaporware when he gets his doctorate?
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57023,00.html
ONLINE CULTURE
Dublin-based NewBay Software is developing software that will let you phone in your weblog entry. Obsessive bloggers who must comment on something every two seconds will have the ability to send photos and text messages directly to their blog sites from the new generation of MMS and camera-equipped cell phones - yet more reasons for twitchy geeks to annoy us with their cell phones. The product itself is vaporware so far and we don't generally waste your time with such, but as a milepost on the winding road of online culture, this item is worthy of mention. Frankly, this kind of thing makes us inclined to coin the Netsurfer Law of Cell Phone Hype: A cultural/technological phenomenon is officially overhyped when somebody decides to port it to cell phones. Cell phone blogs? Can we stop the madness? Will somebody think of the children?! Ahh, never mind.... The Register has more.NewBay Software: http://www.newbay.com/
Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/64/28773.html
Rich Schmidt has received a lot of press for his cyberbegging site, which is fine, but we're more interested in his Rate-a-Beggar page. There, he links to and passes judgment on his e-panhandling cohorts, and provides insight into the phenomenon made famous by Karyn Bosnak of Save Karyn fame. Humorous chutzpah is almost certainly more a requirement for appreciated cyberbegging than is a worthwhile cause - some of these e-bums are disarmingly candid about their disdain for work and their intention to squander the loot recklessly. One suburbanite couple promise to "spend your money only in the most self-serving, pleasure filled ways possible," while another cyberbeggar shuns hard work for fear of ruining an expensive manicure. Our favorite is the straightforward guilt-tripping approach of Whitey Must Pay, whose proprietor candidly admits that any contributions given may or may not be used to stick it to the Man.
http://www.sendmeadollar.com/rate-a-beggar/rateabeggar.html
ONLINE TRAVEL
This Web site bills itself "a resource for independent travellers in Europe, Northwest Africa, and Asia and a space for travellers to share original writing and photos." It aims to provide timely travel info more accurate and useful than a guidebook that may be two years out of date before publication. The resource is free and it provides access to currency exchange rates, news, weather information, maps, and route finders. The idea is noble and worthwhile, but we found two major drawbacks. First, the list of countries is not complete, but this may change over time. Second, there is a gaping lack of text. You may admire some of the breathtaking photographs of famous and hidden destinations, most of which are available for download as desktop backgrounds, but there doesn't appear to be any text information at all for France, Turkey, or Italy, for example. This could grow into a useful Web site, but currently the elegant shelves look bare.http://www.attitudetravel.com/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A Photo Essay Is Worth Ten Thousand Words, at Least
The old bromide that a picture is worth a thousand words actually comes true here, with the help of an additional smattering of well chosen words by the photojournalists themselves. Well, in some cases it's more than a smattering, but the journalistic journey is usually impressive, whatever form it takes. The latest presentation on the Ohio and Erie Canal combines spectacular photography with historical insight, and the half-dozen or so offerings profferred in each month's feature seem to uniformly combine great photography and interesting narrative - whence comes the term "photojournalist". This place provides remarkable content, both in the stories and the photo essays. Most of the stories contain links to sources, discussions of how the project was done, and more background. Take a stroll through here and you'll be glad you did.http://www.photojournalistas.com/index.html
Takashi Ohta, a Japanese artist, creates original art using carefully selected, cut and pasted pieces of paper. The results have a three-dimensional quality, vivid colors and textures, and are best described as a cross between a photo and traditional painting, although they have no actual photographic elements. This type of creation is also seen in Japanese etching where the quality is also photographic, but the image conveys more than reality. Many of Ohta's works are centered around cars, but the car is never the only star. The beauty is in the details, and the beauty is extreme. Ohta's Paper Museum's site exhibits 85 examples in the Project pages. While the Japanese Showroom page seems to indicate where you can go to buy Ohta's works, the English Showroom page is not finished. Good thing too, or our reviewer would be much poorer.
http://www.paper-museum.com/index-e.htm
Glass has been a man-made material for 7,000 years. Glashutte Lamberts in Germany has been making glass for only the last 65 years of that span, but it knows what it's up to. The techniques and craftsmanship handed down through generations are on display at the company Web site, which exhibits products inspired by a passion for the artform. Each glassblowing method is shown in crystal-clear photographs. Having the detailed processes explained might be enough, but the images of the finished panes are truly amazing. The sheets of glass used in modern furniture or church restoration projects could just as well be framed as pieces of art. The variety of glasses include oddly named fashions like streaky, reamy, roundels, and crackled. The reamy glass is particularly beautiful. It resembles flowing water frozen in one moment of luminous clarity.
http://www.lamberts.de/elambhom.htm
Some people believe that boys shouldn't play with dolls. They obviously haven't seen some of the amazing creations designed by Andrew Leman. The multitalented Leman has created a dark fantasy world of puppets, dolls, costumes and much more. Drawing inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, Leman's works delve into the macabre world of monsters, ghouls, and other wickedly absurd creatures. His passion for creating these amazing stage and movie props started when he was just 13. Using materials found around his home, he designed his first doll, Superklutz. As the years have passed, Leman's creations have become more intricate and detailed. You can view his online portfolio of beautifully executed photographs of his work. Each image is accompanied by a description of his inspiration and the ultimate goal or use of the piece. Discover what an old sock or pair of nylons can transform into with a little thought, imagination, and determination.
http://www.ahleman.com/indexprops.html
Radio and TV Free from Europe (and Elsewhere)
Broadcast Live links to media streams and newspaper sites from the entire globe, though this page is devoted to Europe. For some older European netsurfers, it may bring back the days of old bakelite radios whose dials took you to exotic places like Limoges, Hilversum, Munich V.O.A., and Luxembourg - although some of the streams are video. If you don't have the software wherewithal pre-installed, don't worry, you can download the necessary Windows Media Player or Real Player for free from the Broadcast Live site. There are around 60 different European radio and TV networks available, all handily set out in a straightforward table detailing the broadcasting network, the city and country of origin, the language, and download speed and media player requirements. There is something wonderful about being able to access Swiss pop music, Croatian news and current affairs, and Czech country music at the click of a mouse. When we checked out the site, we saw TV reports of French fishermen blockading the port of Boulogne in protest at European Union fishing quotas, and we were reminded that no one does industrial unrest quite like the French. Czech country music is probably an acquired taste though.Broadcast Live: http://broadcast-live.com/
Europe: http://broadcast-live.com/europe.html
Free Music, 365 Days This Year
The whole MP3 controversy has grown tired and jaded. It's just so predictable: the RIAA screams and downloaders counter. Into this yawner comes a fresh face. Each day over the course of 2003, Otis Fodder will offer a free MP3. The featured tunes may not be your everyday music from your everyday major labels, but at least there are no strings attached, so you can avoid the fray. The freebies are yours for the plucking. Beyond the fringe music, here you'll also find some solid suggestions for sharing audio files, and around a dozen and a half links to other sources for MP3 content. We wish we'd not listened to the Kentucky Fried Chicken jingle, though - it was never used by the company, and for good reason.http://www.otisfodder.com/365days.html
This site should carry a health warning. It contains RealPlayer streams of some of the most heinous atrocities ever committed to plastic. William Shatner's infamous version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has been rated Auditory Torture by site users, and we don't disagree. Shatner, who seems to farcically enter into the spirit of the Beatles paean to hallucinogens, gets the benefit of the doubt though, as singing was not his day job. The same can't be said for Enrique Iglesias and his version of "Rhythm Divine". The site says it is Iglesias, but it sounds to us like some boozed-up karaoke singer on a dare. It's not just about the butchering of decent songs, though. Some songs are truly dreadful in their own right - even an Elvis or a Sinatra couldn't have redeemed "My Bathroom is my Special Place", though the King might perhaps have given it an added poignancy, given the manner of his demise. So, what's the worst song on offer? Well there are four stand-out shocking tracks by Yoko Ono here, and "Don't Worry" is singularly hideous. Readers click the link below at their own risk, and NSD accepts no liability for auditory injuries or gastrointestinal distress.
http://www.miserablemelodies.com/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
For more selections, check out: Netsurfer Books: http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/ Netsurfer Library: http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/ |
Starving to Death on $200 Million
Kingdom of Fear
1421: The Year China Discovered the World
Syberiahttp://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/archive/archive.asp
The Greatest Golf Game Ever Played
Just about everyone loves a surprise underdog, especially against great odds. The subject of "The Greatest Game Ever Played", a bestselling book by novelist and "Twin Peaks" co-creator Mark Frost, was such a long shot: Francis Ouimet. In 1913, at age 20, Ouimet, an American amateur known to most golfers of the day as a caddy from the wrong side of the tracks, teed off at the US Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass. By tournament's end, he'd have faced his idol, five-time British Open champion Harry Vardon, in a most unlikely shootout. Many consider their showdown the birth of modern golf. This companion Web site expectedly links to accolades about Frost's book, but through the hype the history shines. With a 10-year-old caddy of his own, Ouimet forced a playoff against Vardon and another seasoned British Open winner and amazingly became the first amateur to win the US Open. Ouimet never turned pro, but did become a respected Bostonian and president of the Boston Bruins. Is this the stuff of legends? Touchstone has optioned the book, and let's hope any movie does justice to these subjects. The nifty Web site does so, with a low-key Flash introduction, a slideshow, sample chapters, and a contest.http://www.greatestgameeverplayed.com/
It's true. We know it, you know it, your dog knows it. It's a great surprise when, after paying some not insignificant sum for a computer, you find that a book you bought to serve as a manual is useful for more than five minutes. After a while, many readers accept that they have to buy a new computer book to solve every new specific problem, reasoning that the book costs less than the for-fee tech support. Rose Kelleher, a computer book author, accurately and with more wit than you'll find in most computer books explains the computer book publishing process and why it really can't and doesn't work. There's also a link to an even more horrific tale. The long and the short is hard-copy computer book writing is a sure source of grief for the author and profit for the publishers. Kelleher's site is an excellent cautionary tale. Now, our reviewer needs to get back to a current hot computer-book manuscript. It's nearly due.
http://www.ramblingrose.com/ComputerBooks.htm
The Literary Tradition of the 1960s
Love-ins. Flower power. Drugs. Who could forget? If your parents grew up in the 1960s, we suggest you visit the Pyschedelic '60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change. It might help you understand them. (OK, that's wishful thinking, but wishful thinking drove that decade.) Whether you grew up then or don't know anyone who did, you can still learn something at this authoritative site. The Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia has brought buzzwords - civil rights, Vietnam, hippies, Woodstock - up front to draw you into the poetry, fiction, and even visual source materials that document the spirit of the times. Whether you're an expert on American culture, literature, or politics, or even a Deadhead, you're likely to find memorabilia such as posters and album covers you've never seen. A good, if predictably academic, place to start is the introduction, a self-interview by Stephen Railton, "Balding Hippie and Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Virginia". Railton finds a nice counterpoint between Wordsworth and the Who as he embraces both idealism and skepticism in retrospect. Check out this site if you've ever wondered whether you can trust someone over 30.http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/sixties/index.html
Randy Cassingham's True Stella Awards
If you've never read Randy Cassingham's material, you've been missing out. Pawing through news media on a daily basis, he first broke out of the cubicle with This Is True, a long-running series featuring pithy headlines, a synopsis of a frequently hysterical article gleaned from the media, and a killer tagline at the end. On the heels of that success, he's branched out into reporting legal abuses. The True Stella Awards - inspired by the famous Stella Liebeck, who sued McDonald's because she spilled hot coffee in her lap - examines outrageous, ridiculous lawsuits in Cassingham's inimitable style. This is a new project, but one that brims with hot candidates. Check out the site - it won't take long - then subscribe to the free mailing list and sit back. Great material will pour into your lap every seven to ten days or so. As long as you're in the neighborhood, you might as well check into This is True, as well.True Stella Awards: http://www.stellaawards.com/
This Is True: http://www.thisistrue.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
The Top Stories Science of 2002
Year's end produces the inevitable best-of lists for books and movies, so why not science? These two lists offer readers a quick way to catch up on the rapidly changing world of science. Scientific American lists the top 25 accomplishments in the broader scientific world, ranging from archaeology to physics to climate change. PhysicsWeb focuses on physics, but puts forth an impressive list, including a discussion of topics ranging from the reversal of the second law of thermodynamics at the microscopic level to the fraud uncovered at Lucent Labs last summer.Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?articleID=00077641-A3BF-1E03-8B3B809EC588EEDF
PhysicsWeb: http://physicsweb.org/article/news/6/12/14
The regulation of levels of thyroid hormone in the body is a complex interplay between the neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus, the anterior pituitary gland, and the thyroid itself. Are we still awake there at the back of the class? Okay, so the negative feedback system of the thyroid gland is not the most thrilling of subjects, but spice it up with some Flash animations of whizzing hormones and bulging goiters and things start to get interesting. Anyone who has taught kids will tell you that engaging their interest is half the battle, and cynics might say that if you allow them to think of cell division and enzyme characteristics as a Playstation game, you're home free. One child we spoke to described this site as an invaluable resource whose graphics and interactive multimedia enable children readily to grasp complex biological functions while having fun. A biology teacher told us, "This site, like, totally kicks ass, dude."
http://biologyinmotion.com/
There are times when your trusty handheld calculator isn't enough and your stat software package is serious overkill. GraphPad, maker of several quality stat and biostat packages, also offers a useful variety of online calculators to fill the gap. They calculate many specific biology and chemistry functions. All the user need do is fill in data. A nice plus is the lucid explanations of the various statistics calculated and how they are best used. These explanations don't delve to textbook depth, but they're right there and helpful to the casual stat user. The calculators are broadly divided into tools for categorical data (useful in all disciplines), assorted descriptive statistics, and specific chemical and radiochemical calculations - which, aside from their professional value, are a boon to high school and college basic chemistry students.
http://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/
SOFTWARE
It's not every day that you see the introduction of a new Web browser. Indeed, it came as rather a surprise when Apple unveiled Safari this week at the MacWorld show in San Francisco. The big claim to distinction for the new browser is its speed. Apple claims that Safari is 40% faster then Microsoft Internet Explorer and about twice as fast as Netscape. Safari only works on Mac OS 10.2, so comparisons come against the Mac versions of those programs. The browser has a number of noteable user interface features. There is built-in Google search, a feature called SnapBack that takes you back to the last URL you typed or bookmark you chose, an enhanced bookmark management system, and the now-standard pop-up blocking controls. The underlying code is based on open source Mozilla and Konquerer technology, and it will be interesting to see how Safari will fare against those popular browsers. The software is still a beta and does have some bugs, as revealed by Mark Pilgrim's review, which also has links to other reviews. Still, it is a significant piece of Apple software which Mac users will surely want to take for a test spin around the Web.Safari: http://www.apple.com/safari/
Pilgrim: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/01/07.html#safari_review