Blackmoor Vituperative

It’s one thing for the telcos to lobby their way out of having to contribute a portion of their DSL proceeds to the federal Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes Internet access to schools, libraries, low-income households, and rural areas. Because who needs that, right? The FCC is totally cool with letting them out of that. But even the FCC wants to know how, exactly, Verizon and BellSouth will justify continuing to charge the exact same amount as the now-defunct USF fee and pocketing the cash. I’d like to know that, too.

(from cnet, Even the FCC has its limits)

The State of Massachusetts has reaffirmed its commitment to begin using the OpenDocument Format by Jan. 1, 2007, a move that has been welcomed by the ODF Alliance.

“We plan to implement ODF, using translator technology plugged in to Microsoft Office, in a group of early adopter agencies, including the Massachusetts Office on Disability, by January 1, 2007,” Louis Gutierrez, CIO of Massachusetts’ ITD (Information Technology Division), said in a mid-year statement on ODF implementation, dated Aug. 23.

(from eWeek, Mass. Back on Track for ODF Implementation)

And of course, anyone who does not depend on assistive technology can just use OpenOffice.

Yes, the prices for Windows Vista are ridiculous.

No, I won’t be buying Vista.

If I could run Photoshop CS2 on Linux, I would have switched my desktop OS to Linux already.

The flight recorder video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRgs-f6Niis

The Aircraft Occurrence Summary:

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/dfs/docs/Fti/CT155202_e.asp

Apple Computer and Creative Technology have agreed to settle their legal dispute over music player patents for $100 million, the companies announced Wednesday.

The $100 million, to be paid by Apple, grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company’s Zen music players. After months of hinting that it would be coming after rival music player companies, Creative sued Apple in May, claiming the iPod maker was infringing on its patents.

[…]

The patent covers an interface that lets users navigate through a tree of expanding options, such as selecting an artist, then a particular album by that artist, then a specific song from that album, said Phil O’Shaughnessy, a Creative spokesman. The patent applies to portable media players, which includes devices like the iPod or cell phones that have the ability to play music, he said. Creative filed for the patent on Jan. 5, 2001.

(from ZDNet, Apple settles with Creative for $100 million)

The real loser here is the American public, because yet another ridiculous patent has survived. Beyond ridiculous: Creative was granted a patent on hierarchical menus, for crying out loud!

I am too disgusted to even make a snide comment.

If you’re like the majority of Internet users, a good quantity of your e-mail is junk. Perhaps the amount seems like less than it actually is thanks to filtering, but it’s still there. The world is fighting a losing battle with junk e-mail — primarily because of weaknesses in the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) — and everyone knows it.

(from TechRepublic.com, Replacing SMTP: A proposal)

Spam is beyond ridiculous. We have needed a better email protocol for years. Yarden’s sugestion is as good as anything else that I have seen.

I’m currently prepping a whole new batch of stories for daily updates. In the meantime, check out the new themed story collections on our home page! Our first collection features some of our best vampire stories!

Michael D. Pederson
Publisher/Editor
Nth Degree
www.nthzine.com

There are all sorts of stories whirling around the Internet regarding the pros and cons of desktop Linux as well as its chances of adoption (or track record so far) that I thought I’d try to connect the dots to form a more coherent picture (well, perhaps a confusing picture).

(from ZDNet, The skinny on desktop Linux)

This is a really good article that touches on several issues (Linux, the next version of the GPL, DRM, the crashing of Apple laptops, the evil of iPods, and so forth), with lots of interesting links. You should read it.

Did you know that the automatic dishwasher was invented by a woman named Josephine Garis Cochrane? She received an award for her invention at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The company she founded to market the dishwasher to hotels, restaurants and other commercial groups was purchased in the 1920’s by the Hobart Corporation. They introduced the “KitchenAid” brand name that is known today. Dishwashers under this name were introduced in 1949.

Deep Discount DVD is having a promotion on boxed sets: buy one boxed set, and get a second boxed set for free. Deep Discount DVD already has great prices on DVDs, so this is an extraordinarily good deal.

My recommendations:

Fright Pack: The Walking Dead
Profit
The Angel Collection
The Complete Musketeers