Go out and buy Art!
A friend of mine created a web site with his artwork – go and check it out!
New Terror Laws are used against Common Criminals
Well, we all expected it: The Patriot Act can be used against common criminals. And because it can, it happens. Scary times…
Corporate censorship of Al-Jazeera?
On March 24th, the arabic news station Al-Jazeera launched an English-language website (which so far I was unable to access). Supposedly, AOL and Yahoo! are refusing to run their advertisements.
“Officials say…” – new title for the New York Times
I had the pleasure to see Robert Fisk, reporter for the British Independent, when he was talking at MIT recently. He suggested that the New York Times should be renamed into “Officials say…”, reasoning that many articles use this phrase continuously, while rarely elaborating on who those officials are.
Copyright revisited
Most people these days think of Copyright as a fundamental right – but this is not in the spirit of the original copyright laws, as Eric Raymond prominently stated 1998 in the Cathedral and the Bazaar. Instead, it is "a bargain with the public." It is nice to see that this idea is being discussed more widely these days, as in this Economist editorial.
Bought CD? Get money back!
The CD industry recently settled a price fixing suit. Everybody who bought music through a retailer between 1995 and 2000 is eligible! Go to http://www.musiccdsettlement.com to file a claim.
Philip S. Khoury on the Middle East
Yesterday, I attended a talk organized by the Boston MIT Alumni Club on the Middle East. The speaker, Philip Khoury, is Professor at MIT. He gave an excellent overview on what happened in the region the last 100 years, and he didn’t hold back on what he thought should be done to fix the situation.
Impressions from SD East
Yesterday, I visited the Software Development conference SD Expo in Boston. While I only had the free Floor pass, the organizers sent out an email that allowed me to visit some classes. If you are interested in what I learned there, read on…
First woldwide press freedom index published
Reporters without borders just published this report on press freedom. Among the surprising findings is that Costa Rica (15th) ranks befor the USA (17th).