The blog
Writing & notes
Essays, notes and reflections on technology, law and life.
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Legal Ruminations
Quite a few movers and shakers this week, with a major (USD $521 million) settlement being awarded to Eolas Technologies Inc and the University of California, the co-plaintiffs in a recent patent infringement case against Microsoft Corporation. The plaintiffs alleged that Internet Explorer’s “plugin” feature, which allows third-party applications to add functionality to the web… Read more →
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Blaster Seizes Control
Recent days have seen the rapid spread of a new internet worm, which seems to have taken many by surprise and is continuing to infect users with unprecedented rapidity. It goes by several names – MSBlast, W32.Blaster, Lovsan – and has a relatively mild (but annoying) payload: it uses a DCOM RPC exploit to shutdown… Read more →
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Points of Interest
In a not-so-startling discovery, scientists have supposedly demonstrated that yawning is contagious, especially between “self-aware or empathic people”. The referenced author is perhaps taking things a bit far with the article’s title. While I don’t doubt yawning is indeed contagious, I question the study’s findings; I catch yawns regularly, yet am described by many as… Read more →
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US Looks Set to Re-Enter Nuclear Arms Race
Though hyping their recent destruction of chemical weapon supplies, the administration was rather less forthcoming about a meeting which brought together 150 of the United States’ top nuclear scientists. The meeting took place at Offutt air force base, Nebraska, and sought to establish a new generation of high-yield, low-payload nuclear weaponry for localised battlefield deployment.… Read more →
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Quae Vide No 2
This entry is a day overdue, but here it is nonetheless. This week’s theme is books and literature. Without further ado: What I’m Reading: Asimov, Isaac: Foundation Flannigan, Richard: Gould’s Book of Fish Davies, Margaret: Asking the Law Question Sugarman, David: Legal Science, Liberalism, and Imperialism Classics: Borges, Jorge Luis: Fictions Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary… Read more →
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Light Pollution
I’ll admit that I laughed when I first saw this, but according to the author, light pollution represents a real and deadly threat to nocturnal moth populations everywhere. Environmentalists aren’t the only ones irked by Earth’s increasingly luminaphobic tendancies. Astronomers, too, are worried that the darker regions of the sky will no longer be visible… Read more →
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The $29.5 Million Haskell Question
Sitting in yet another laboratory class writing rather simple programs, my mouse wanders off in search of news. First up, from Slashdot, comes word of an interesting roundup of bluetooth headsets. I look forward to the day when I can buy a wireless mobile phone hands-free kit for the right side of $100. Perhaps more… Read more →
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Boredom Strikes
Waste countless hours in what is possibly the most addictive game since Junkbot and Insaniquarium (which, incidentally, I suggest you check out if you haven’t already). I give you: Castle. It starts off slow, but becomes fun – in a mindless, monotonous kind of way. I enjoyed trying to make the game play itself by… Read more →
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AMD Gains on Intel
I wouldn’t exactly call this groundbreaking, but AMD reports an 0.1% increase in market share against rival CPU manufacturer Intel Corp. Intel has had great success lately, reaping the rewards of a product which actually performs. Another factor contributing to allround Q2 success may be the resurgance of PC sales. Surprisingly, AMD’s stock closed lower… Read more →
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RIAA Ignores the Real Pirates
In an insightful article at BBC, Mark Ward describes the true threat to the music industry: street piracy. According to the article: [t]he pirate CD market is now so big, $4.6bn, it is “of greater value than the legitimate music market of every country in the world, except the USA and Japan”. Ken from Ars… Read more →