One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Wednesday, 31 March 2004

.< 11:50:53 PM >
Holophone Launches H2-PRO Surround Microphone

Holophone, a division of Rising Sun Productions, Ltd., will launch its first commercial product, the Holophone H2-PRO surround sound microphone, next month at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 19 - 22. The H2-PRO surround sound microphone improves upon Holophone's beta system with a sleek new design that maintains the patented "head" shape, adds eight channel recording capability (5.1-channels plus a top channel and a center-rear channel), and has an improved connector and handle. [ProSound News]

< 11:49:43 PM >

Blu-ray Disc to Deliver Five Times Disc Capacity of DVD Discs With Comparable Costs Per Disc
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 29, 2004 -- Blu-ray Disc (BD) -- the next generation of optical discs for storing high-definition movies, photos and other digital content -- will have by far the highest capacity of any optical disc storage format ever developed for consumers with disc-making costs that are comparable to those for DVDs when manufactured at mass volumes, according to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation. Read more [Digital Pro Sound News]

< 11:45:38 PM >

The decision, by the United Nations' highest court, was seen as a moral victory in Mexico and as a stinging rebuke to the United States. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

< 11:44:37 PM >

170 arrests in Canada, U.S. drug bust
Police in Canada and the United States say they have smashed a drug ring that had been supplying the U.S. with about 15 per cent of the drug ecstasy. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

< 11:42:08 PM >

Let me briefly sing the praises of the open source MapServer project. If you're interesting working with web-based maps, you should give it a look: it's powerful, well-documented, well-supported and let's you create very powerful mapping applications.[Reinvented News]

< 11:41:12 PM >

Aggreg8 is a beautiful, simple RSS reading/managing application that runs inside Mozilla-based browsers. It's a great example of Mozilla software acting as a sort of "cross platform operating system." [pointer from Scripting News] [Reinvented News]

< 11:38:45 PM >

Notre-Dame-des-Neiges - known to most of us as Cte-des-Neiges Cemetery - is 150 years old this year, and the third largest in North America. [montreal city weblog]

< 11:25:28 PM >

Today, we look at in-depth options when shopping for a digital camera. Topics include Professional Studio and Compact Cameras, Resolution, Recording Options, Operating Modes, White Balance, and much more. By Sybex. 0329 [WebReference News]

< 11:07:25 PM >

Google is planning to up the ante in its competition with Yahoo and Microsoft by unveiling a new consumer-oriented electronic mail service. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

< 11:02:03 PM >

The rise in the ethnic Chinese population has stimulated meteoric growth in the Chinese media and made them an influential player on the Canadian political landscape. [New York Times: International] 'Leaving the mainstream media out of the political dialogue is not unusual anymore in a city whose Chinese population has exploded from a tiny minority to 30 percent of all residents in just one generation. By making his pitch directly to the 40 percent of his district's voters who are ethnic Chinese, Mr. Chan was giving a nod to Vancouver's parallel worlds.

The Chinese population in Canada has doubled in the last two decades to 1.1 million, or more than 3 percent of all residents. But nowhere is its presence felt more than in this metropolitan area of 1.8 million, of which 342,665, or 19 percent, are ethnic Chinese, according to the 2001 census.'

< 10:53:37 PM >

Bush administration condemns "despicable" attack in which four US civilians working in Iraq are killed and their charred and mutilated bodies dragged through the streets in front of cheering crowds. [Guardian Unlimited]

< 11:28:26 PM >

An updated version of the Manila User's Guide PDF has been posted to include the most recent changes in Manila. [UserLand Product News]

< 11:27:44 PM >

Artists from all over the world are being refused entry to the US on security grounds. (The Guardian, UK) The insanely cumbersome process of entering America [as a performing artist] now goes something like this: first, the manager or producer... [The Practical Nomad]

< 10:22:45 PM >

< 10:06:44 PM >

I wrote up a step-by-step guide that describes how to share one iPhoto library among several users on one machine. This guide is for you, if you ...

want to share one iPhoto library on the SAME computer between two or more... [macosxhints]

< 11:14:27 PM >

If you view your mail in Mail.app without organizing by thread, you can still traverse the next and previous messages in the thread by hitting option+up arrow or option+down arrow instead, browsing to it manually. [macosxhints]

Sweet!

< 11:14:27 PM >

If you are driving by Cobalt -- and driving by Cobalt is something every Canadian should do once in their life -- you should set aside half a day for a visit to the bookshop.

If you can't make it to Cobalt, you can buy their books online from ABE. [Reinvented News]

< 11:07:41 PM >

Arts: A group of German violinists are demanding more money - because they do more work than the brass. What do our musicians make of their pleas? [Guardian Unlimited]

< 10:45:44 PM >

A former White House security expert says President George W Bush did not consider terrorism "an urgent issue". [BBC News | World | UK Edition] 'Mr Clarke also reiterated his criticism of the decision to invade Iraq, saying Mr Bush had "greatly undermined the war on terrorism".'

< 10:42:54 PM >

Online: European commission imposes a record fine of €497.2m on Microsoft, accusing the software giant of abusing its 'near monopoly' to squeeze competitors in other markets. [Guardian Unlimited]

< 10:41:59 PM >

US elections: The US president is determined to use a climate of anxiety to his advantage, write Albert Scardino and John Scardino. [Guardian Unlimited]

No question. There's terrorism and then there's the reign of fear promoted by the war party.

< 10:22:00 PM >

US: George Bush's record on fighting terrorism today suffered a further blow when the president's former anti-terror adviser said that his administration had failed to take the threat from al-Qaida seriously before the September 11 attacks. [Guardian Unlimited]

< 12:49:28 AM >

Learn how to back up and restore your playlists. [Apple Computer Knowledge Base Changes for 2004-01-30]

< 12:01:01 AM >

NewsWatcher is a "new free RSS reader for Windows that includes the unique Vision interface developed by Scopeware and Dr David Gelernter." [Scripting News]

< 11:59:18 PM >

Wired: Why RSS Is Everywhere. [Scripting News]

A simple introduction to RSS.

< 11:58:05 PM >

Following a public beta release offered in early February, Apple on Tuesday released iChat AV v2.1, the latest version of its instant messaging software for users of Mac OS X. The new version can be downloaded through the Software Update system preferences pane or from Apple's Web site. [MacCentral]

< 11:55:11 PM >

When you create websites like this, you are, in effect, saying "screw you, web." Flash websites don't get indexed, so their content is neither world, nor wide, nor web.

This isn't television. [Reinvented News]

Bingo. Flash sites bug the heck out of me. This thought was going through my mind just today. They are almost worthless. You might look once and 'poof', it's gone. Most unweb-like. Some of them win smarty pants prizes. I go to look at the site and my eyes almost immediately glaze over. I've got to figure out how to navigate them. They almost never inform me. They might entertain. Usually they frustrate.

< 11:44:33 PM >

Public inquiry demands to question Bush's national security adviser. [Guardian Unlimited]

Dr. Rice has time to appear on talk shows where she can control the spin but will not appear before a commission. I saw a clip from one of those talk show appearances and my impression was that she looked really rattled. She's losing sleep over Clarke's allegations.

< 12:31:03 AM >

Regional leaders criticized Israel for ratcheting up the violence at a time when the first tentative steps toward peace were being taken in almost four years. [New York Times: International]

< 12:29:46 AM >

The Department of Defense has identified 577 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the death of the following American yesterday:. [New York Times: International]

21, 22 and 31 years old.

< 12:19:42 AM >

Starbucks Coffee Company, through its Hear Music brand, has launched an innovative music delivery experience that makes it easier for customers to discover, acquire and enjoy music. The company's new retail digital music service, enabled by HP technologies, launched earlier this week with the grand opening of the Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica, CA.
[ProSound News]

< 12:13:41 AM >

BookBITS: Apple Confidential 2.0 (22-Mar-2004; 3.5K) [TidBITS] 'Owen W. Linzmayer's Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company. This cleverly written, well laid-out history of Apple Computer contains plenty of nuggets that all Apple aficionados will appreciate.'

< 12:05:29 AM >

The fate of RealNetworks, a pioneering maker of music-playing software for the Internet, is a question awaiting an answer. [New York Times: Technology]

< 12:03:18 AM >

Proponents say that the time has come for online radio, and now they hope mainstream advertisers come along. [New York Times: Technology]

< 11:57:34 PM >

New York and iPods go together like bagels and cream cheese. Just search for the word 'iPod' in New York personal ads, and you get a unique insight into the mentality of the city. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]

< 11:57:03 PM >

In a sure sign of success, satellite radio providers XM and Sirius attract direct attacks from their earthbound competitors. But uncertainties still cloud the companies' financial futures. By Randy Dotinga. [Wired News]

< 11:56:11 PM >

If you've ever wanted to buy a digital camera, this guide demystifies the world of digital photography and imaging—a must-read whether you're a photography enthusiast, a gadget lover, a novice photographer, or anybody who regularly works with images. By Sybex. 0322 [WebReference News]

< 11:09:59 PM >

European regulators plan to levy a record fine of more than $600 million against Microsoft as part of a strongly worded rebuke of the company's business practices. [CNET News.com]

< 11:09:32 PM >

With RealNetworks out of the picture, Microsoft will this week sign a multimillion-dollar deal with the league for live game streaming, the software giant has confirmed. [CNET News.com]

< 11:05:49 PM >

[W]e now have triangulation, between Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke, there are two ex-Bush insiders with consistent stories on the nature of the Bush organization. One or two more and even the staunchest Bush supporters are going to wonder if we wouldn't be better off with Kerry. [Scripting News]

< 10:48:03 PM >

< 10:40:49 PM >

"They would do a better service to the American people if they would give honesty to their own budgeting rather than make up ours," she said.

.< 9:46:06 PM >
Apple releases iPhoto 4.0.1 update

If you have the iLife '04 suite installed on your Mac, run Software Update. iPhoto has been updated to version 4.0.1, an upgrade that offers stability enhancements, faster importing, smoother image viewing, easier Rendezvous photo sharing and better thumbnail images. [MacCentral]

< 9:45:08 PM >

Sometimes your iDisk may seem like it hasn't had its morning coffee. There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes. Read on to learn about some of the things you can do to help your iDisk perk up. [Apple Computer Knowledge Base Changes for 2004-01-30]

< 2:00:59 PM >

On CBS's "Face the Nation" on March 14, 2004, United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that he hadn't used the phrase "immediate threat" to describe the situation in Iraq and that President Bush hadn't either.Thomas Friedman of CBS then presented Rumsfeld with quotes from September 2002 where he did describe the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq as an "immediate threat." Rumsfeld's response was that we may still find that they really were an immediate threat after all.MoveOn.org has a video available which cuts off before Rumsfeld finishes his response.You can also read the full transcript from CBS (PDF), or there is a partial transcript below. [Kuro5hin.org]

< 1:54:02 PM >

"And I said, 'Paul, there hasn't been any Iraqi terrorism against the United States in eight years!' And I turned to the deputy director of the CIA and said, 'Isn't that right?' And he said, 'Yeah, that's right. There is no Iraqi terrorism against the United States."

Clarke went on to add, "There's absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda, ever."

.< 1:33:36 PM >
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush attacked on terrorism record
"There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently," Mr Carter told the Independent.

"I think that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the allegations were based on uncertain intelligence... a decision was made to go to war [then people said] 'Let's find a reason to do so'."

Correspondents say it is very rare for a former US president to criticise an incumbent or a British prime minister.

Former President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter speaking.

< 1:26:40 PM >

'Minimizing or hiding the Installer window drops its CPU usage to less than 1% and the Prebinding then gets about 80% of the CPU or so -- quite a difference!' [macosxhints]

Definitely something wonky with the installer. I've often wondered why it took so long to optimize after a software update.

< 1:23:42 PM >

This is a nice detail for PowerBook users. One persistant annoyance with OS X on PowerBooks for programmers has been the way it forces you to hold down the "fn" key to use the function keys as normal function keys. If you d... [macosxhints]

< 1:21:53 PM >

The investigation of the Madrid bombings shows how terrorists continue to exploit advantages against the agents tracking them. [New York Times: International] 'The unfolding Spanish investigation has shown that the terrorists continue to exploit a tactical advantage. The militants operate in an ever-changing constellation of cells, moving freely from country to country across the continent, guided by opportunity and fanaticism. The agents tracking them are constrained by jurisdictional and bureaucratic boundaries. Intelligence is far too infrequently shared, investigators say, often leaving information about dangerous militants woefully incomplete.'

A competent US administration in a genuine fight against terrorism could have helped build consensus in Europe about opening up communication amongst intelligence gathering agencies around the world.

< 1:16:27 PM >

Accusations by the former White House counterterrorism czar promised to reverberate this week as the 9/11 commission conducts a public hearing. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] '"The facts are that within six months of the first bombs falling on Afghanistan, this administration was diverting military and intelligence resources to its planned war in Iraq, which allowed Al Qaeda to regenerate," said Mr. Graham, who was one of the first lawmakers to label the war with Iraq a distraction from the fight against terror. "As the people of Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and most recently Spain have learned painfully well, this president failed to execute the real war on terrorism."'

< 1:13:06 PM >

Economic dispatch: The EU is expected to order Microsoft to undergo a series of anti-monopoly measures. Mark Tran reports. [Guardian Unlimited] 'Barring any late surprises, Brussels will require Microsoft to produce two versions for the European market; one that includes its Windows Media Player, which is used for video and music, and one without. The ruling will also require Microsoft to disclose information to competitors that would allow Windows-based computers to perform tasks like printing and file sharing better.'

< 1:09:15 PM >

Mr Clarke coordinated the writing of a report by the CIA, FBI, and his own staff, concluding that Iraq had few links with al-Qaida and no involvement in the September 11 attacks. He said: "We sent it up to the president and it got bounced by the national security adviser or deputy. It got bounced and sent back saying, 'Wrong answer ... Do it again.'"

.< 12:49:28 PM >
Soros presses anti-Bush effort

CHICAGO -- There were gingerbread houses on the tables and lights on the Christmas trees at the White House holiday reception last December, but George W. Bush was haunted by the ghost of a Hungarian-born billionaire. [Boston Globe -- Front Page] 'Republicans, too, have wealthy benefactors who contribute to conservative causes, Soros notes.

So why does one rich liberal provoke such animosity?

Perhaps, Soros's admirers say, it is because Soros acts against type. He made his money through sophisticated investments and yet has been highly critical of the system that enabled him to make so much money.

"Although I have made a fortune in the financial markets, I now fear that the untrammeled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society. The main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat," Soros wrote in The Atlantic in 1997.'

< 12:41:22 PM >

Britain and France condemned Israel's killing of Palestinian Hamas movement leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday and said it would only fuel violence. [New York Times: International]

But bombing Iraq unprovoked would not fuel violence?

< 12:40:09 PM >

Yassin killed in missile strike· Mass protests by Palestinians [Guardian Unlimited] 'Palestinian militants today warned of swift and bloody retaliation against Israel after it "opened the gates of hell" by assassinating Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of militant group Hamas.'

Thanks to Dubbya and the War Party Israel can brush this off as an attack on terrorists.

< 2:25:20 AM >

Israeli military raid kills founder of Hamas
The founder and spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas is dead after an Israeli missile attack in Gaza City. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

< 2:21:23 AM >

In New York, San Francisco and around the world, tens of thousands of marchers protested the Iraq War and the Bush administration assault on democracy. [Salon]

Just got an email from dad telling me he organized the march in the city where he lives. Cool.

< 2:17:46 AM >

The Fast Company article"Its a Blog World After All" came out today and while it was interesting and it mentioned a bunch of our customers, it didn't attribute those customers to UserLand. Manila and RSS are really starting to happen in the corporate world and it goes well beyond just simple blogging tools into the way corporations consume and synthesize information as well as communicate it - both internally and externally.

< 2:11:58 AM >

I used to love the dock. The Microsoft task bar was the one cool thing about Windows that I missed in Mac OS 9 and below. When OS X came out, the most noticeable difference for me was the dock. However, I have found myself... [macosxhints]

< 2:06:00 AM >

Apple's recent announcement of Spoken Interface has moved speech recognition to the forefront. However, Mac OS X has included speech recognition and synthesis technologies for quite some time. In this article we delve into the often misunderstood world of talking to your Mac. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: MacDevCenter.com]

< 2:05:15 AM >

Did you ever wonder what exactly should be in the /usr/bin directory? Or maybe what goes inside the /usr/local/sbin directory? I found a great resource of the standards for UNIX describing all the directories in a basic UNIX ... [macosxhints]

< 1:48:23 AM >

I've never been seated firmly on the " weblogs are going to change the media forever and replace newspapers and television" bandwagon. That said, what happens here, and on other local blogs, does seem to more and more involve an interesting sort of feedback loop that you don't see in traditional media.

Whether this is truly powerful and interesting, or a self-involved sort of virtual coffee talk, remains to be seen. In the meantime, it is lots of fun. [Reinvented News]

< 1:45:28 AM >

Snow greets the arrival of the vernal equinox in Montreal. [montreal city weblog]

< 12:02:44 AM >

Mr. Clarke, who is expected to testify Tuesday before a federal panel reviewing the attacks, said Mr. Rumsfeld complained in the meeting that [base "]there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.[per thou] [snip] Frankly, I find it outrageous that the President is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism,[per thou] Mr. Clarke told CBS. [base "]He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something."

.< 12:01:34 AM >
Mexico's hot palette
Mexico City is in a constant state of flux. From the 1968 summer Olympics that spurred a boom in ritzy, Knot's Landing-isharchitecture to the modern day contemporary art exhibitions at the Museo Rufino and the chic Hotel Habita, one cannot deny that Mexico City is hip. Of course, any description of Mexico as hip is a somewhat loaded concept, considering that extreme poverty, corruption and art don't necessarily make the best bedfellows. Still, it's a place where violence and beauty coexist as parallel facets of everyday life. It is a pulsating diorama of colour, textures, sounds and smells that is making a major impact in the world of contemporary art and a lasting impression on travellers who choose to linger.



  Saturday, 20 March 2004

.< 11:44:13 PM >
Guantánamo Detainees Deliver Intelligence Gains

Prisoners at the detention center have provided a steady stream of valuable intelligence, including detailed information on Al Qaeda. [New York Times: International] 'The sweeping assertions about the value of the detention center at Guantánamo respond to criticism of the operation, in the United States and abroad. Released detainees have also made allegations of mistreatment.

Apparently in an effort to counter the criticism, officials offered to talk in far greater detail than before about their interrogation techniques and what they say are important intelligence harvests from the detainees.'

< 11:40:31 PM >

Harper wins Conservative leadership
Stephen Harper won a first-ballot victory Sunday to become the first leader of the Conservative Party of Canada – a win he said marks "the beginning of the end" for Paul Martin's Liberal government. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

< 11:39:48 PM >

The former Dutch queen, Juliana, dies at the age of 94 after a prolonged period of ill health. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

< 11:38:41 PM >

Harrison McCain, a Canadian billionaire whose family-owned business began in a cow pasture in New Brunswick, died Thursday night. [New York Times: International]

< 11:27:45 PM >

Marking the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, demonstrators marched through Midtown Manhattan and scores of cities from Alaska to Australia on Saturday. [New York Times: International] 'Fred D'Amato walked through the crowd holding a photo of his son, Christopher, 24, who was sent to Iraq last April with the Army Reserves. Mr. D'Amato, himself a Vietnam veteran, was showing everyone he met another photo - of a sign he had placed on his front lawn in Mount Pocono, Pa. The sign read: "Support Our Troops - Impeach Bush."'

< 11:26:59 PM >

The Department of Defense has identified 575 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the death of the following Americans on Friday:. [New York Times: International]

< 11:20:17 PM >

Oaxaca, one of Mexico's most heavily Indian states, has been a hotbed of political disputes, guerrilla raids and drug production.

In 1996, a band of rebels of the Popular Revolutionary Army, or EPR, demanding sweeping political reforms, killed nine police and three civilians in a raid on police and military installations in the resort of Huatulco.

Murat "had affected many interests, and gone after many rural strongmen" during his term, Velasco said.

.< 11:13:35 PM >
Mexican first lady defies president over ambitions
Mexico's outspoken first lady, who rejects the submissive role of women in this macho nation, is having differences with her husband over her career goals.

Marta Sahagun, whom admirers compare with Hillary Clinton and detractors with Lady Macbeth, Monday openly challenged her husband's recent assertion she will not run for president in 2006, saying she had not yet made up her mind



  Thursday, 18 March 2004

.< 11:04:29 PM >
Are we ready for videoblogging?

Video interview. There’s a video interview with me in the latest Mac Developer Journal. Jason Snell interviewed me via iSight.

[inessential.com]

Besides being able to see and listen to Brent for the first time (which is quite cool per se), the idea of doing an interview with iChat and post it to the web is great in its simplicity.

I want to do this too. How was the video recorded? (iChat doesn't save video sessions afaik).

I want to record and publish a video conversation with somebody as soon as possible. Any volunteers out there? My iChat address is "paolovalde".

In perspective RSS+BitTorrent could easily provide bandwidth relief as far as distrubution is concerned. There might be something interesting here.... [Paolo Valdemarin: Paolo's Weblog]

< 10:55:01 PM >

Analysis: Poor results from the Pepsi promotion [The Register]

< 10:51:34 PM >

Demands for further concessions from Microsoft have hurt the chances for a settlement between the software giant and European antitrust regulators. [New York Times: Technology]

< 10:49:57 PM >

Handel and Hendrix slept here, Sarah Elton , Globe And Mail, 3/18/2004 [La Scena Musicale - News]

< 9:02:31 PM >

Twenty-three Afghan detainees from the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo, Cuba, were freed in Kabul, one of the largest releases of prisoners so far. [New York Times: International]

< 9:00:56 PM >

The U.S. Army doles out what it calls "sympathy payments" to Iraqis as a part of a compensation process for civilian casualties. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

< 12:23:40 AM >

Local if you are in the US that is.

< 12:18:59 AM >

Canada passes a law to outlaw reproductive cloning, but the bill might also ban the type of cloning that could lead to treatments for diseases like diabetes and Parkinson's. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News]

< 12:12:48 AM >

Slashdot tunes into the elegance of RSS-plus-BitTorrent. [Scripting News]

< 4:20:35 PM >

Many people may be familiar with the su UNIX command and its sibling sudo. This allows a user to do stuff as the "root user." However, the su command can also be used to change the identity of a user (and thus have access t... [macosxhints]

< 4:19:51 PM >

Last update: 16/03/04; 08:47:55 EDT

Scripting, Blogging, Softwares...

• CocoaMySQL: CocoaMySQL is an application used to manage MySQL databases (locally or over the internet). It lets you add and remove databases and tables, change fields and indexes, view and filter the content of tables, add, edit and remove rows, perform custom queries and dump tables or entire databases. -> Open Source.

< 4:16:54 PM >

Just about everyone looks great behind a cursor, but the days of communicating online exclusively with text are numbered. So Snaggy and Nitrozac offer their brand of advice on how to look great on iChat AV, in spite of iSight. With tips on proper lighting, camera angles, and using the right foundation, Snaggy and Nitrozac offer more of the high-tech humor you've come to know and love in their comic and in their book, The Best of The Joy of Tech. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: MacDevCenter.com]

< 1:57:43 PM >

Apple has introduced a new accessibility solution for visually impaired users that it will integrate with the next major release of Mac OS X. The company took the wraps off of the new technology today: It's called Spoken Interface for Mac OS X. To find out more, MacCentral recently spoke with Mike Shebanek, Apple product manager for Mac OS X. [MacCentral]

< 9:17:51 PM >

The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS will launch its brand new MP3 Surround technology at the CeBIT telecom and IT trade show in Hannover this week. A next generation of MP3, MP3 Surround technology provides a multichannel listening experience with minimum effort and maximum compatibility, according to the company. [ProSound News]

< 9:14:55 PM >

Sonic Studio Ships ATRAC3plus Encoding Software
Plymouth, MN, Mar. 16, 2004 -- Connect, Sony's new music service which is due to launch in the spring of 2004 will support the ATRAC3plus format.

"We are pleased to be the first to market with an encoding tool for this promising new format," said Jeff Wilson of Sonic Studio, LLC. "ATRAC3plus is sonically superior to existing compression schemes at similar bit rates plus it is part of a much more secure DRM system." Read more [Digital Pro Sound News]

< 9:06:19 PM >

The software giant announces a program to help governments produce local versions of Windows and Office. Is it a response to overseas pressure from open-source products? [CNET News.com]

< 8:57:56 PM >

Scott Rosenberg: "Those darn Spanish voters -- they just don't do what George Bush wants them to do." [Scripting News]

< 8:54:39 PM >

Here is a first example: I'm publishing in RSS format a collection of quotes, s l a m:shorts, that I gather while reading my subscribed feeds in Radio Userland's aggregator.

I then auto-syndicate this content into other pages published with Radio, such as this one, by placing activeRenderer's rssbox macro into my pages' template, producing the column on the right if you are reading the HTML version of this story. For an alternate, non outlined result, I could have used Userland's xml.rss.viewRssBox macro.

Since the s l a m:shorts feed is available on the Web, there's nothing preventing other like-minded publishers to do the same.

< 1:08:34 PM >

Simon Carless: RSS and BitTorrent, Sitting in a Tree. [Scripting News] 'If users are unable to upload as they download, all your bandwidth savings are lost, and this seems to happen with a certain percentage of users on LegalTorrents right now.'

Lots of dreaming right now but plenty of practical issues to be resolved.

< 12:53:28 PM >

Access free of charge [The Register] 'Essentially, the programme is a co-marketing deal. The location makes sure the AMD logo is prominently displayed and agrees not to charge users for Internet access. In return, AMD will promote the network and its constituent hotspots.'

< 12:47:46 PM >

European antitrust regulators are united behind Mario Monti, their top antitrust official, on his proposed finding that Microsoft has abused its dominant position in the software market. [New York Times: Technology]

< 11:21:34 PM >

Thanks to iPodlounge publisher Dennis Lloyd for getting me to write this article for the iPodlounge. Bookmarking, recovering files from iPod, ripping CDs to iPod, and other topics are covered. [Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes]

< 11:20:14 PM >

Skippy sez: "I heard, years ago, about a rule prohibiting the use of the flag in advertising for any means."[snip Link

< 11:12:07 PM >

A comprehensive page of all of CNET's RSS feeds. [Scripting News]

< 5:12:31 PM >

Thanks to BoingBoing for the pointer to this very cool application of RSS, which shows the last five entries on the Kerry weblog, adjacent to the last five entries on the Bush blog. [Scripting News]

Actually this is pretty cool. Simple but clever use of the technology.

< 5:06:28 PM >

CNN: "It is called 'RSS' for 'really simple syndication.'" [Scripting News]

Can you say 'tipping point'?

< 4:14:58 PM >

Wired: "A demo publishing system launched Friday by a popular programmer and blogger merges two of this season's hottest tech fads -- RSS news syndication and BitTorrent file sharing -- to create a cheap publishing system for what its author calls 'big media objects.'" [Scripting News]

< 4:12:52 PM >

3/15/99: "Scripting News is the first site to support RSS." [Scripting News]

< 4:11:49 PM >

But art is news that stays news, to adapt a famous phrase from Ezra Pound. Posada's pictures have outlasted their topical uses. In the years following his death, influential viewers, including painters Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, saw an important precursor in their effort to forge a distinctively Mexican art.

.< 4:08:27 PM >
BBC SPORT | Mexico leading the way
It seems clear that the best league outside Europe is no longer the Brazilian or the Argentine. It is the Mexican.

.< 2:09:17 AM >
Yahoo! News - AP: Mexican Worker Deaths Rise Sharply
The jobs that lure Mexican workers to the United States are killing them in a worsening epidemic that is now claiming a victim a day, an Associated Press investigation has found. Though Mexicans often take the most hazardous jobs, they are more likely than others to be killed even when doing similarly risky work.

The death rates are greatest in several Southern and Western states, where a Mexican worker is four times more likely to die than the average U.S.-born worker. These accidental deaths are almost always preventable and often gruesome: Workers are impaled, shredded in machinery, buried alive. Some are 15 years old.

.< 1:54:58 AM >
Yahoo! News - Christ Film Reaches Mexico 16 Years Later
The ban on Scorsese's film highlighted the strong influence wielded behind-scenes by Mexico's conservative church hierarchy despite the nation's tradition of church-state separation. [snip] This time round, the church accepts that times have changed.

"We are against this type of film but we can't go against the right of those who are interested in seeing it. We have to respect freedom of expression," Father Jose de Jesus Aguilar, a senior cleric in Mexico City, told Reuters.

.< 1:42:07 AM >
Astronomers find 'new planet'

A new space telescope has detected what could be the Solar System's 10th planet, named Sedna. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

< 1:40:45 AM >

Investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the new Medicare law. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

< 1:39:09 AM >

The ouster of the center-right party in Spain is the first electoral rebuke of one of President Bush's most steadfast allies in the Iraq war. [New York Times: International]

< 1:37:48 AM >

When José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's new prime minister, was picked as the Socialists' next hope in this election, few people had heard of him. [New York Times: International]

< 1:21:51 AM >

With a meeting in Brussels, the clock on the five-year-old antitrust case against Microsoft begins to run down. [New York Times: Technology]

< 10:10:36 PM >

[Daypop Top 40] 'One of the most misleading phrases in marketing is "digital quality" -- as in "Buy this $40 DVD player and enjoy your movies in digital quality!"

We all know that just being digital doesn't make something better -- in fact, it can sometimes make it much worse. What's more, digital formats are not often comparable, and the quality of two seemingly similar formats can be drastically different.

This is especially true in the world of digital video, where such great strides have been made in recent years that it's nearly impossible to consider modern codecs in the same breath as those from even five years ago.'

Apple's implementation of QuickTime does not hold up well.

< 9:30:40 PM >

Sooner than the Summer [The Register]

< 9:24:55 PM >

The United States said it had won a victory at the World Trade Organization that could save people billions of dollars on phone calls to Mexico. [New York Times: Technology]

I use a phone card that costs 10 Canuck bucks and let's me talk to Mexico City for over 7 hours!

< 9:05:01 PM >

Michael Watkins: "It becomes increasingly obvious that 'we was had' on Iraq, because we had faulty intelligence, or manipulative interpretation of it by the administration." [Scripting News]

It was very clear to some of us a long time ago.

< 8:58:51 PM >

The first British suspect to be released from Camp Delta, Manchester-born Jamal al-Harith, gives a damning account of life in Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta in a three part article in today's Daily Mirror. He describes torture, systematic beatings, forced medication, exposure, inadequate sanitation and denial of religious rights, along with the claim that prostitutes were hired to humiliate inmates. [Kuro5hin.org]

< 8:37:38 PM >

In an outstanding show of national unity, massive crowds also gathered in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and even in Spain's Canary Islands off Western Africa. Nationwide, more than 11 million people -- about a quarter of the population -- marched, state TV said.

.< 8:32:57 PM >
The Globe and Mail-Injured woman calls in vain for husband
The young couple were typical of many of the victims of yesterday's attacks, which hit commuter trains at 7:30 a.m., long before Spain's white-collar work force heads into the office. Many of those killed at Atocha railway station were immigrants, Latin Americans and Eastern Europeans who do many of the construction, cleaning and restaurant jobs shunned by affluent Spaniards.

.< 8:08:45 PM >
Spanish protesters assail government for bomb investigation...

Spanish protesters assail government for bomb investigation
Angry protesters assembled in Madrid Saturday outside the headquarters of the ruling Popular Party, calling for more transparency in the investigation of Thursday's bomb attacks that killed 200 people. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

< 8:05:45 PM >

UK: Freed Guantánamo prisoner also condemns British government. [Guardian Unlimited] 'A second Briton released from Guantánamo Bay last night savaged the United States for gross breaches of human rights which he alleged included interrogation at gunpoint.'

< 3:28:40 PM >

Huge crowds protest against terrorism in Madrid, a day after at least 198 people died in a series of bomb attacks. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

< 12:06:33 PM >

Canadian troops head to Haiti
Canadian soldiers from bases in New Brunswick and Ontario shipped out Friday morning to join an international peacekeeping force in Haiti. F U L L S T O R Y
[CBC News]

< 11:53:48 AM >

News.Com: "McDonald's doesn't expect to earn money initially from its Wi-Fi service. It hopes instead to attract more customers and sell more burgers and fries." [Scripting News]

< 1:25:04 AM >

macXware'sScreenRecord, which was released last year as a shareware application, is now available as commercial software through Apple's retail stores and other outlets. It captures continuous images on your monitor and saves them as a QuickTime movie useful for training, product demos, or other visually explanatory purposes. It also allows you to add voice-overs and music to make your video more engaging. [MacCentral]

< 1:23:45 AM >

UK: Guantánamo Bay returnees say police questions were 'charade'. [Guardian Unlimited] 'Jamal al-Harith told how US soldiers brought in prostitutes to the camp, and paraded them naked in front of the many devout Muslims. The 37-year-old also claimed he was kicked, punched and assaulted with batons.

He told the Daily Mirror that detainees were shackled for up to 15 hours at a time in hand and leg cuffs with metal links to the skin. Mr Harith said punishment beatings were meted out by guards and prisoners were subjected to pyschological torture and mind games in an effort to break them.

Few if any of the Britons freed from Guantánamo Bay answered questions from UK anti-terrorism officers before their release without charge, it has emerged.'

< 10:54:42 PM >

< 10:34:37 PM >

This column by Walt Mossberg perfectly captures the problem with all of the many different warnings that a properly protected Windows user receives all the time -- and why I'm glad to be a Mac user. I use a Mac most of the time for most of what I do as a desktop user, and I don't get warnings, alerts, errors, etc. [GlennLog]

< 10:30:45 PM >

Former Apple fellow and design guru Don Norman has been influential on and offline. He tells Jack Schofield why products should now start making us smile
The Guardian: Emotional about design. The sequel, Emotional Design, is based on the idea that there are three levels at play in design: visceral, behavioural, and reflective. It's still true that, on a rational level, products should be functional, but now he explains why they should be beautiful and have an emotional impact as well. [Tomalak's Realm]

< 9:03:34 PM >

A taxing proposal to solve the music download dilemma [GAM-Technology] 'Canada has recently become the world's test case for an alternative model of dealing with music downloads.'

< 8:39:02 PM >

Well that settles that!

< 7:33:29 PM >

Dave Pollard: What's This 'RSS' All About? [Scripting News]

< 7:30:47 PM >

Stephen P. Teplansky, a Sony stalwart, has spent three decades promoting recorders that have nothing to do with music. [New York Times: Technology]

< 7:29:13 PM >

The Canadian government demands that Hewlett-Packard pay back $120 million in defense department contracts or prove that it delivered at proper billing rates. [CNET News.com]

< 7:25:51 PM >

As the debate continues, opinions are divided on the merits of allowing online drug purchases from Canada. [New York Times: Technology]

< 7:25:10 PM >

The first highway to use digital cameras and license-plate-reading software rather than toll collectors opened in 1997. It still inspires a mixed reaction. [New York Times: Technology]

Never been on the 407 myself.

< 7:10:30 PM >

High-speed internet connections put music teachers within reach of talented faraway students. [New York Times: Technology]

More about this story at my main weblog.

< 3:53:14 PM >

Some simpl