The Washington Post has an article about a number of schools in Fairfax County, VA that are trying "looping" with their grade school classes. The technique involves moving the entire class (or close to it) up to the next grade level with the same teacher. The technique appears to be …

In response to the Open Letter from SCO's CEO earlier this week, Linux Today has printed a response from Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond. It covers some specific responses to the SCO claims that the Open Source community has been harboring the DDoS attackers and also goes over the intellectual …

IDG News Service reports (courtesy of MacCentral) that Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee) raised questions yesterday about the DMCA's subpoena provisions. Unfortunately, he is still taking the RIAA side in the intellectual property vs. privacy debate. Although he indicated that the DMCA is "not perfect," he …

On the eve of the announcement that NASA plans to run the shuttle again next spring, the Christian Science Monitor has an article about the X Prize, a contest intended to bring commercial entities into the space race.

In a search to find out the popularity of the variations on the name Eric (Erik, Erick) during a discussion with a friend, I happened upon the Social Security Administration's official Baby Name site. Yeah, I thought the same thing.... since when does the SSA need an official baby name …

In a move intended to prove a point, defendants sued earlier this year by EMarketersAmerica.org have decided to continue the lawsuit to its conclusion despite a motion by the plaintiffs to drop the lawsuit voluntarily. The defendants are determined to win a judgment and get court costs for the …

Obituaries are a bit out of character for this site, but I felt it appropriate to note the passing of renowned scientist Edward Teller. Teller is best known as the "father of the H bomb", however he had also worked at finding peaceful uses for nuclear reactions (including nuclear power …

Baby steps to be assured, but still steps. I received an email this morning from Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD) stating that they will be releasing viewers and import/export tools later this fall. The announcement is available online at their site. They are reiterating that they have not yet decided …

In a move heralded as a victory by both the ACLU and the CDT (Center for Democracy in Technology), CNet is reporting that the state of Pennsylvania has suspended the operation of its site blocking law pending further legal action by the federal courts. At issue is a Pennsylvania state …

An article on Wired this morning indicates that the RIAA has settled a lawsuit with one of the newly sued people. This one is a 12-year old and they are letting her off with a fine of $2,000. Fortunately, this move has sparked some new resistance to the DMCA's …

I read with interest an article from CNet about a ruling yesterday by a Federal judge in Virginia who found that software that pops up ads over particular web pages (such as is done by the defendant, WhenU, and others such as Gator) are annoying, but legal and do not …

SCO, the company that created an outcry earlier this year by stating every copy of Linux was in violation of their copyrights, is targeting SGI for their next action. In an open letter from SCO to the Open Source community which broadly accuses the community of coddling those who launched …

For those interested in the logistics of an RIAA lawsuit and how they seek out and find file swappers, there is an article from CNet that does a good job of covering the basics without oversimplifying or going so deep that they get facts wrong.

An article from CNet indicates that T-Mobile's wireless Hotspot service is expanding to include Delta's Crown Room lounges. As an added bonus, Delta is offering between 3,000 and 3,400 miles each year to subscribers to the service.

Apple announced today that it's Apple Music Service has served up its 10 millionth song, as of 11:34pm on September 3. This puts their run rate at a little over 500,000 songs per week and still going strong. Now, where did I see that graph saying that the …

As the second anniversary of the September 11th attacks looms, the Washington Post has an article about questions being raised by a key piece of legislative fallout, the USA Patriot Act. Those familiar with the act recall that not only does it provide significant new powers for the federal government …

Apple has announced this morning that it is moving the iMacs to 1GHz (15") and 1.25GHz (17"), that it has revamped the video processors (moving the 17" to the new GeForce FX 5200) and that it has added USB 2.0 to the cadre of features on the system …

As was widely reported last week, Japan, China and Korea are trying to put together a program to jointly develop an Open Source operating system to stand as a competitor to Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system. In an interview with Wired, Microsoft spokesperson (and former US trade official) Tom Robertson …

Before you go out and put too much trust in that peer-reviewed scientific research that just came out last Friday, take into consideration this report from the New York Times about a study released previously this year concerning death rates and the designer drug, Ecstasy. The study, published last year …

According to an article from Wired, the RIAA (the recording industry's "enforcement arm") is preparing an amnesty program for music pirates. If you have downloaded music and have not already had your information subpoenaed by the RIAA, you can sign an agreement saying that you have deleted your illegal booty …