The World Needs More Ninjas

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The Virtues of Openess

Here’s an interesting post advocating open salary knowledge within a company.

There are three major reasons why salaries secret are silly:

It frustrates employees because any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.
They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know.
It perpetuates unfair salaries which is bad for people and for the organization

…
Making salaries public (inside the [...]

The Corruptibles

The EFF has a new commercial detailing some of the anti-consumer legislation that the MPAA/RIAA is trying to get passed in Congress right now.

Sony’s Downward Spiral

Fresh off their rootkit debacle from last fall, Sony seems to be missing on all cylinders with the upcoming Playstation 3. The PS3 has such low expectations that if it doesn’t blow up when you plug it in, it will be hailed as a major success. Here’s a good article about Sony’s love [...]

A Bad Week for the MPAA/RIAA

First, allofmp3.com, the popular Russian site that sells non-DRM’d songs for about a tenth of iTunes’ price, gets an article in both CNN and the NY Times. That’s some pretty good advertising for the site.

I guess the MPAA/RIAA lobby is trying to keep Russia out of the WTO as long as the [...]

Coding 2.0

Replacement office chair suppliers in the Redmond area must be smiling today. Today, Google announced the release of the Google Web Toolkit which allows you to write code in Java and convert it into AJAX that can run in any browser as a web application. To me, this is a potentially huge development [...]

Google and Small Business

Here’s some interesting insights about the business models of Google and Microsoft by Robert X. Cringley.

Here’s the most important key to Google’s success: Most Google advertisers don’t advertise ANYWHERE else. Its mainly small and medium sized companies whose advertisements the average person would NEVER have seen before the Internet. Google is making a ton of [...]

From the “Cool Things I Didn’t Know Existed” Department

A friend from Korea told me that Korean airlines offer WiFi in-flight on their flights to/from America. He said the cost is about $30/flight and the bitrate is about 1-2 Mbps. Evidently, the connectivity is good too. Plus, they have plug-ins for each seat so you can work on your laptop the [...]

Random Tidbits from the Web

Amidst the MySpace hysteria, Congress proposes banning access to the site from libraries and schools. Isn’t telling teenagers “No” the most effective way of ensuring that they will do the activity? In other news, I think I’ll change my career track to be a “MySpace Pedophile Bounty Hunter”. Seems like that’s [...]

The CEO Work Day

I found this article absolutely fascinating.
It has people like Bill Gates and other CEOs essentially walk you through their work day. Of particular interest to me was the way people use email. Basically for the two tech people (Gates and the Google VP) and two law people (the law firm partner and Posner [...]

The Beginning of Crash 2.0

According to BusinessWeek, Facebook turned down $750 million because they want $2 billion.

Facebook, the Web site where students around the world socialize and swap information, has put itself on the block, BusinessWeek Online has learned. The owners of the privately held company have turned down a $750 million offer and hope to fetch as much [...]

The BBC on DRM

The BBC has an article about DRM. Money quote:

Yet, there seems to be a belief that rigorous enforcement of technological restrictions, backed up by the ruthless application of draconian laws that allow the replacement of copyright with contract law and criminalise activities which used to be considered legal – or acceptable even when not [...]

MPAA/RIAA: Let People Die, Just Don’t Let Them Circumvent DRM

Pop quiz: What’s more important:
A. Protecting people’s lives
B. Protecting critical infrastructure
C. Thwarting terrorists
D. A, B, and C
E. Making sure users don’t circumvent the copy protection on the latest Britney Spears song that they bought
If you answered E, you probably have a bright career ahead of you working for the MPAA or RIAA. A request [...]

Cory Doctorow Interview

Here’s a nice, short interview with Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing fame about copyright and the Internet.

I mean, the plan that the industry has is basically to come up with a world where all digital devices have to be approved, all analogue devices have to recognise watermarks, and the internet as we know it is torn [...]

The White House Gets Pwned By Google

In court papers, Google calls the Bush Administration’s search data request “so uninformed as to be nonsensical”

“The very fact that the Government is so uninformed about the value of search and URL information and so dismissive of Google’s interest in protecting it speaks volumes about why the Court should protect Google from this compelled disclosure,” [...]

Confirmed: The RIAA/MPAA has a Collective Intelligence Equivalent to a Group of Retarded Chimps

Do you enjoy technology such as the VCR, TiVo, and the iPod? The People’s Republic of Neanderthals (a.k.a. Hollywood or “Big Content”) has reached in their bag of tricks to try to make sure that never again will such evil innovations rear their ugly heads. Enter the “Digital Content Protection Act of 2006″ [...]

Dreamhost Promo Code

If you’re looking for web hosting, we use DreamHost, which gives you 20 GB of storage. Now they’re doing a referral program where you get $97 for every new person that you refer. However, you’re given the option of giving a portion of that $97 to the person being referred. So, I [...]

Let the Google Bashing Begin!

Is Google bashing the new black for 2006? Signs point to yes after their underwhelming showing at CES. First, there was Google Video that took it on the chin:

“This is a truly historical meeting of the established and new media,” said Les Moonves, the head of CBS, about his network’s new video partnership [...]

Where’s Google Going With Their Advertising Next?

Robert X. Cringley speculates on where Google is going with their entry into video:

So what are the data center trailers for? Well, right now, everyone in the country watching “American Idol” sees the identical commercials at the same time, except for two ads at every half-hour mark, which are inserted by the local station. So [...]

Google OS?

Totally crazy speculation from the LA Times, right?

Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.
Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft’s Windows, which [...]

Alexa and Snow Crash

Having thought some about the new Alexa service that is being offered where anyone can search their 100 TB of data for a modest fee, it made me think of one of the concepts from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (Amazon link). If you haven’t read it and enjoy sci-fi that makes you think, I’d [...]