January 31, 2002
AOL Blocks Trillian Users
AOL is blocking Trillian users from interfacing with it's AOL Instant Messenger program, reports CNET.com. Trillian is a popular application that allows users to manage ICQ, AIM and other accounts in a single program. For it's part, Trillian is not just standing by, it has been releasing updated versions of its software designed to get around AOL's blocking system, but AOL is reponding in turn to each new version. Posted by Donald Melanson at 09:38 PM

snapGallery!
Paul Bausch's snapGallery is a simple Windows script that lets you create a web gallery of pictures. Only works with Windows 2000 and XP for now though. Posted by Donald Melanson at 05:22 PM

Winners of the 2002 Bloggies Announced
The winners of the Second Annual Weblog Awards were announced today. Wil Wheaton Dot Net was the big winner with six awards, included best new weblog and weblog of the year. Posted by Donald Melanson at 03:32 PM

January 30, 2002
Sony Announces Linux for PlayStation 2
Sony Computer Entertainment America announced today that it is releasing Linux for the PlayStation 2 in May 2002. It will sell for about $200US. The kit is aimed at the hobbyist market and will allow users to write their own programs and applications. A beta version had been made available in Japan last year and generated a huge amount of interest around the world. Posted by Donald Melanson at 04:06 PM

January 28, 2002
Apple Introduces Dual 1GHz G4s
Apple quietly introduced new dual 1GHz G4 PowerMacs today. They feature a GeForce4 MX, and a DVDRW/CDRW SuperDrive. Prices start at $3,000US. Posted by Donald Melanson at 09:27 PM

Palm Launches i705 Handheld
Palm has just launched the Palm i705 Handheld, featuring an always on wireless Internet connection. It retails for $450US, plus $40/month for unlimited Internet us. The i705 has 8MB of memory and a monochrome screen. Posted by Donald Melanson at 05:05 PM

Nintendo Announces Price Drop for GameBoy Advace
Nintendo today announced a global price drop for the Game Boy Advance. The system will now retail for $79.95 in the US and $109.95 in Canada, reflecting a 20% decrease in price. Since it's release in June 2001, the Game Boy Advance has sold nearly 5 million units. More than 200 GBA games are planned for release this year. Posted by Donald Melanson at 04:51 PM

January 25, 2002
Blogger Pro Launched
Blogger Pro was launched today offering a number of new features not available in the free version of Blogger. The rate is $35/year for now, but will eventually cost $50/year. Posted by Donald Melanson at 08:28 PM

Xybernaut's New Wearable
Xybernaut has introduced wearable computer that at first glance addresses all the major complaints about previous wearables. The poma has a small headset and belt-unit, runs Windows CE, supports up to 1GB micro drives, has 800x600 resolution, wireless LAN capability, and costs $1499US. Xybernaut says that a limited quanity will be available before the end of Q2 2002. Posted by Donald Melanson at 07:19 PM

January 24, 2002
Spyware Gets Even Worse
kuro5hin.org has a good little piece about spyware, software that piggy-backs on other programs and installs on your computer with them, often without telling you. One particularly nasty one is VX2 which for a while installed was installed with AudioGalaxy. Wired also has a good article today, which led me to Ad-Aware, a great application that will detect spyware on your system and remove it. Posted by Donald Melanson at 10:39 PM

Media Grok Returns Under New Name
The team behind Media Grok, the Industry Standard's email newsletter, are back under a new name Media Unspun. The weekly newsletter is free for now but will switch to a $39.95/year in March. Posted by Donald Melanson at 08:43 PM

Aibo and the DMCA
Scientific American has a good article on Sony's Aibo that, among other things, discusses the implications of the DMCA on robots. Posted by Donald Melanson at 08:18 PM

January 23, 2002
Woz Forms Start-Up
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced today that he has formed a new company called Wheels of Zeus (wOz). The company will create small wireless devices that Woz says will help "everyday people track everyday things". Wozniak says that wOz has secured $6 million in initial funding. Tim Draper will be chairman of the wOz advisory board. Posted by Donald Melanson at 03:57 PM

"how things work" episode wayback machine
i love the wayback machine -- i recently found my friend's OK soda page on it. i even put the alexa toolbar on my windows machine (there doesn't seem to be any plugins for internet explorer: mac -- a total shame). there is a good interview on the o'reilly network with brewster kahle -- the creator of the archive. Posted by Raffi Krikorian at 10:29 AM

January 22, 2002
New Version of Blogger Demoed Tonight
Evan Williams will be doing a demo of the new version of Blogger tonight at the Bay Area Weblogger Interest Group in Mountain View. Here are the details for anyone interested in attending:

Next meeting: January 22, 2002 at the "Dana Street Roasting Company" (744 Dana St., between Castro & Hope). We will meet at 7 p.m. in the coffee house for an hour and then move to one of Mountain View's brewpubs. Tonight's agenda? Evan Williams of Pyra will show off a new version of Blogger and we'll have a discussion on "what makes a great weblog?"

Posted by Donald Melanson at 09:42 PM

Hope Yet for the Adventure Game Genre?
GameSpy.com has an interview with Marie-Sol Beaudry, project manager for Syberia a new adventure game from Microid. Any new adventure game is news in my book, but this looks like an earnest attempt to breath some life into a fading computer game genre. I'm still holding my breath for Gabriel Knight 4. Posted by Donald Melanson at 04:52 PM

Amazon.com Posts First-Ever Profit
AP: Amazon.com Posts First-Ever Profit. Beats Wall Street expectations. Posted by Donald Melanson at 03:47 PM

January 21, 2002
Denizen Weblog Launches
Denizen is a promising new weblog about the classic gaming scene from the creator of Home of the Underdogs. Posted by Donald Melanson at 11:17 PM

Boing Boing Turns Two
Our friends at Boing Boing are celebrating their second birthday today (in blog form). Congrats guys. Posted by Donald Melanson at 10:46 PM

2002 SXSW Web Award Finalists Announced
The SXSW Web Awards showcase the best new sites of 2001. The winners will be announced March 10. Posted by Donald Melanson at 08:26 PM

Australian government keeps censoring, and secretly
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Broadcasting Authority has been doing some internet censoring work for about two years. What's news is that the ABA is keeping the list of bannable materials a secret. This is a new strategy, since Australian censors have previously made their criteria public. I'm not sure what "censoring" means here - a combination of mandated filtering in public stations, plus police going after ISPs? This fits into the global movements towards restricting the net - http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/21/opinion/opinion5.html Posted by Bryan Alexander at 01:20 PM

January 19, 2002
AOL to Buy Red Hat?
The Washington Post reports that AOL is in Negotiations to Buy Red Hat. No word yet on what AOL would pay. Red Hat's current market capitalization is about $1.45 billion. Posted by Donald Melanson at 02:45 AM

January 16, 2002
Big Changes Coming At Handspring
PalmInfocenter reports today that Handspring plans to eventually stop making Visors and focus on Treos, their combination PDA and cell phone. CEO Donna Dubinsky said during a conference call: "We are a company that is transitioning out of the organizer business and into the communicator business". Also announced was that the launch of the Treo in the US would be delayed due to a parts shortage. Posted by Donald Melanson at 11:22 PM

January 03, 2002
Apple Hypes Macworld Like Never Before
Apple has been hyping next week's Macworld expo more than any previous event, first saying on Apple.com that "This one is big. Even by our standards.", today it's "Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond." Apple Tech Damien Barrett has some of the best speculation I've seen so far regarding what all the fuss it about. His main predictions: the expected flat-panel iMac and a PDA to work with or replace the iPod. Posted by Donald Melanson at 12:43 AM