Gap pins loss on poor fashion sense / CEO apologizes for bright leather jackets and ’some very strange-looking jeans’ . “We probably got a little bored at being consistent and simple,” said Drexler, in a conference call with investors. “Big mistake.” Great quote.
Is software innovation gone?. According to an article by Rob Pike from Bell Labs, software innovation is more or less dead (and Microsoft isn’t at fault). For example: high-end PC hardware went from 33Mhz/32MB RAM in 1990 to 600Mhz/512MB RAM in 2000, but in that time software went from Unix, X, emacs, and TCP/IP to Unix, X, emacs, TCP/IP and Netscape. He argues that no one cares about making large changes or something new any more for various reasons. [kuro5hin.org] An old article, but with current resonance.
World’s First Designer Baby. Yet another science fiction tale has passed recently from the fanciful to the present; this time the story in question is genetically predesigned babies. Seventeen months ago, a woman in Chicago gave birth to the first designer baby. [kuro5hin.org]
Security Quandary: Who’s Liable?. The start of the argument: who should pay for security issues? If they’re the result of an internal misconfiguration then probably the company who configured. If it’s an unknown side-effect of installing software, probably the software manufacturer. Difficult to draw boundaries, though.
Stolen Restaurant Napkins Are Just a Start. I wonder how much of this happens in the UK. Just as much, I assume, from the number of Mezzo ashtrays around…
Great article about the power of weblogs. Specifically, how you can Googlebomb companies using them.
Stuck in a moment. Salon rant about the Emmys. Score 3: Funny.
Intel backs consumers over Hollywood. Finally, someone is doing the right thing.
Nice article on the storage repercussions of move to home digital centers.