Spyware - It's Lurking On Your Machine
This article is a good description of the problem posed by spyware, that is, software designed to hide on your computer and to report information about your web viewing habits back to an advertising agency. More...

MetaMap
If you are like me, you do not have a reliable Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) viewer available - yes, I know that Adobe makes a plug-in, but it has never worked for me, either for Internet Explorer on Windows (which it hangs) or Galeon / Mozilla on Linux (which it crashes). More...

Apple reportedly pursuing purchase of Universal Music
What would happen were the company that coined the slogan "Rip, Mix, Burn" to acquire the largest music distribution in the world? Perhaps, suggests this article, sanity, as a lone voice of reason joins the RIAA. More...

Google Turns News 'Bug' Into Payola Feature
There has been a flurry of comments in the online news community as the popular Google News service has begun linking to press releases along with news articles. Some writers - such as this one from the Register - were harsh with their criticism. More...

An Analysis of the RIAA's Complaint Against Dan Peng '05
This is a detailed analysis of the RIAA case claiming billions of dollars in damages against a Priceton student it alleges "hijacked an academic computer network and installed on it a marketplace for copyright piracy." The analysis is a point by point shredding of the RIAA case, making the strong argument that the student's system was a search engine for shared files and not a file trading service. More...

Students Put Their Own Spin on Downloading Music
The record industry hoped to capture students' attention with a recent series of huge lawsuits against file sheres. It did. The students are now up in arms and openly defiant. More...

RELOAD Releases Beta of Open Source Metadata Editor
OK, we (the learning object community) really needed this: an open source XML authoring tool that reads schema (XSD) files to allow the creation of both simle and complex metadata files. More...

Wine Agent 1.0
So what's the perfect beverage for a pasta dish with a spicy red sauce? I would say the same as for any other dish: beer. This site disagrees, recommending a spunky little Pinot Noir from Mount Eden. More...

XP, Windows Server to Support AMD's Opteron
Yesterday I suggested that we ought to be watching for the next round of upgrades as 64-bit processing began to be widely deployed. It may hit sooner than we think. Microsoft said yesterday it will be supporting 64-bit technology with its new versions of Windows XP and Server 2003. More...

Enterprise Software Redux: An Open Letter to Click2learn CEO Kevin Oakes
Kevin Kruse writes an open letter to Click2learn CEO Kevin Oakes in response to the latter's contention that enterprise software providers (such as, say, SAP or PeopleSoft) will not make major inroads into the learning management system market. More...