PayPal charged with breaking Patriot Act. Anybody care to explain what does terrorism have to do with glambing? (No, it is not a rescued April fool's joke ...)
posted by magullo on Apr 11, 2003 - 10 comments

Google censors search results "Google, the world's most popular search engine, has quietly deleted more than 100 controversial sites from some search result listings. "
posted by mert on Oct 24, 2002 - 53 comments

No laptops??? How am I going to watch my DVDs? Or, for that matter, get my ego stroked by people ogling my TiBook?
posted by fpatrick on Sep 4, 2002 - 35 comments

TiVo and the BBC force programming on consumers. The BBC apparently paid TiVo to command all its boxes -- without consumers' permission -- to record an episode of a drama the BBC marketing department deemed a must-see. Users can't even delete the recording -- it'll be there until TiVo decides to remove it. Can TiVo users expect to be bombarded with paid advertising after all? (ZDNet article here.)
posted by mattpfeff on May 26, 2002 - 29 comments

First it was the music industry complaining about the file sharers, now it's the file sharers complaining about people stripping the adware out of their software. More proof that 'piracy will find a way'.
posted by mrben on Apr 25, 2002 - 11 comments

Dump broadband? *gasp* Well, according to this ZDNet article, it's a movement. With price hikes and a souring economy, some people can't justify the cost. Could you let it go?
posted by hotdoughnutsnow on Nov 7, 2001 - 50 comments

ever wish those new laptops were a little cheaper? hackers have found a simple way of changing the prices on e-commerce sites and then submitting a purchase order with the new price...all in the "edit page" feature of your browser... suddenly network security is not the only thing to be aware of with online transactions.
posted by zerotype on Mar 21, 2001 - 29 comments

Tasteful web design: Remember how a couple of companies came up with the brilliant idea of putting smell-o-vision on your PC? Now one of them has realized that there's another sense left to exploit.
posted by harmful on Mar 7, 2001 - 9 comments

Finally! Someone is taking a stand about freedom of speech on the internet. Although it is AOL (who I dislike), it is high time someone other then the ACLU take a stand for freedom of speech on the internet. (And there isn't anything wrong with the ACLU, just that it is nice to see someone else come in and back them.)
posted by da5id on Mar 5, 2001 - 8 comments

Tales of unmitigated stupidity. Some people belong in jail because it's not safe for them to be left alone in public. (What's the law in the UK for dealing with a minor committing a crime like extortion? In the US, this guy would probably be tried as an adult.)
posted by Steven Den Beste on Feb 15, 2001 - 7 comments

Two of the biggest tech news sites seem to be coming up a little short in the creativity department. ZDNet and CNet News have both been redesigned recently, and their new similarities are astounding. Worse still, they both now feature huge, ugly ads (which we're supposed to "explore") that completely overwhelm the page.
posted by fraying on Jan 25, 2001 - 24 comments

Gadgets are better than sex, or so lots of guys think. Kind of reminds me of that old beer joke.
posted by tatochip on Jan 4, 2001 - 1 comment

When asked, Apple said "Of course we're going to sue them, what sort of silly question is that?"
posted by baylink on Nov 18, 2000 - 19 comments

MacOS X built for Oracle?! David Coursey's "top ten" reasons why MacOS X was built so that Larry Ellison could become more competitive with Bill Gates. Sounds good to me.
posted by Brilliantcrank on Nov 16, 2000 - 1 comment

Sony to introduce new CD format. No, it's not DVD-Music. It's a new double-capacity CD format that Sony says "will be able to prevent illegal copying." I'm assuming the new format will require all-new hardware to read and to write. So my question is, what's the point? Won't another music format just increase consumer confusion and make them more reluctant to buy? Why come out with a 1.3GB format just as recordable DVDs, with much larger capacities, are becoming practical? Do they really expect people to buy all new hardware to support what is obviously a dead-end format?
posted by daveadams on Jul 5, 2000 - 12 comments

"When you visit a site, you can't take that information and use it for your own purposes, especially for commercial purposes," the lawyer says. Is it just me, or will this ruling render every single search engine illegal?
posted by jjg on Apr 17, 2000 - 13 comments

This article at zdnet is all about how wireless web devices aren't that handy, and how our lives would suck if wireless web access was everywhere. I heartily disagree. I have a wireless 2Mb LAN connection at work and it's liberating (it's possible to code, listen to shoutcast mp3 streams, and check email outside or down at the coffee house next door). My PCS phone is useful too, I can surf a few important websites when I don't have a laptop around, getting news, weather, and email. Wireless access is certainly a Good Thing, and should make our lives easier, but the article's author is blaming the possible deluge of information on wireless, instead of the user. How would a wireless broadband connection make your life better or worse?
posted by mathowie on Feb 1, 2000 - 8 comments