A Federal jury in Los Angeles has convicted Lori Drew of three misdemeanour counts of computer fraud, specifically accessing a computer without authorisation. This is not unusual in itself, but the novelty of the decision is that Ms Drew’s conduct was to create a fictional MySpace account to bully neighbour Read more…
Monty Python releases its own YouTube channel to get back at all the people who have been ripping them off for three years. If you cannot beat them, join them… ’tis but a flesh wound.
Congratulations are in order to American readers for bringing to a close the long and arduous election process, a truly remarkable result has been achieved. You will be hearing a lot about this in the next few days, but it is clear that the U.S. election has been one of Read more…
This is a very good article in the New York Times about publicising inventions via Web 2.0 tools like YouTube. The piece concentrates on Dr Johnny Chung Lee, a 28-year-old inventor who became a YouTube celebrity by posting Wii hacks, including how to make a muilti-touch whiteboard, and the mind-boggling Read more…
From the same people who brought you The War on TerrorTM, comes the latest in terrorist tools: Twitter! Wired reports that an American intelligence outfit has been attempting to guess which tools might be used by terrorist to unleash death and destruction on an unsuspecting populace. GSM phones, chat software Read more…
The Wall Street Journal has published an excerpt provocatively named In Defense of Piracy from Lessig’s new book Remix (out tomorrow). It seems like Lessig is still very much involved in the copyfight, highlighting the almost farcical story of Holden Lenz and Prince. One could be forgiven for thinking that Read more…
I would like to declare a moratorium on excessive use of adjectives to describe the current financial crisis. Why adjectivise (is that a word? If not it should be) when onomatopoeia will suffice? Zoom! Fzzzt! Eek! Kapow! Kabbloey! Argh! There, the credit crisis easily explained in one line. Seriously though, Read more…
I still remember how we looked at the Internet in the early days, and how many of us thought that it could never be regulated. Years later, a large firewall and a rather effective gambling ban have proved us wrong. This is why I keep reading every year JPB’s Declaration Read more…
I have always been interested in the depiction of computers in popular fiction. One early computer meme represented the percentage crunching computer/robot that would helpfully tell the protagonists the percentage rate of survival for X situation (“You have a 2% chance to survive that jump”). While computer predictions are not Read more…
One of the recurring themes in this blog has been the popular depiction of technology in the media, particularly in mainstream press. It seems to me that there is a pervasive view of information technology in some sectors of the press, where new technologies are to be met with fear Read more…