Aside

My cousin Nena is visiting California for about 10 days and took this photo of me at my desk a couple days ago. The Flickr version has notes, detailing what’s on my desk right now. That is all. Carry on.

Baltic Times: [Estonian President Toomas Hendrik] Ilves also talked up Estonia’s reputation as a centre of hi-tech excellence, saying: “Estonia has some positive experiences, like digitalised public services, that deserve to be explored by the others. We have gone far in reducing paper bureaucracy – it makes my life much easier to work with the computer. Our approach to facilitating computer use deserves to be examined by others.” “In Estonia you can use your computer anywhere and you have free…

Wired News: by Cyrus Farivar It’s a crisp, fall day and you’re strolling down the sidewalk, enjoying the fresh air and the turning leaves, when — squip — you realize you’ve just stepped on a big wad of freshly discarded chewing gum. Bummer. But at least you didn’t brush your knee against a gumwad stuck to the underside of a café table. Those unpleasantly sticky experiences may soon be a thing of the past, if a new British startup has…

Since I unlocked my iPhone last week, various friends have asked me if it is, indeed, legal. My impression was always that it technically wasn’t under the DMCA, but I was heartened when I found this exemption ruling from late last year: The Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making…

Note: The following is a piece on cybersecurity that I wrote for the upcoming book: Secrets of 24: The Unauthorized Guide to the Political & Moral Issues Behind TV’s Most Riveting Drama. Unfortunately, the editors decided to cut the piece from the book, but have let me republish it here. Hed: Experts warn of serious cybersecurity threat to America Dek: Former Bush official calls administration’s current strategy ‘totally disorganized and ineffective’ by Cyrus Farivar While cybersecurity might not mean much…

Wow, Street has done it again: Daniel Hernandez: I’m leaving L.A. for a little bit, a year, maybe more, for Mexico City. I’m sealing a deal with editor Colin Robinson at Scribner to write a book about the underground, basically — youth and subcultures. I’m gonna do a lot of writing, a lot of reading, a lot of drinking and eating, and a lot of walking. My boots are my best friends. Participation does a body good. Gustavo Arellano says:…

Macworld: By Cyrus Farivar If you’re one of the million people who’ve purchased an iPhone since the end of June, you probably signed up with Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T, when you activated your phone. That means your iPhone identifies itself to AT&T’s network using an AT&T SIM card, a smart card that’s located in a small tray between your iPhone’s sleep/wake button and its recessed headphone jack. But what if you’re planning a trip to Europe and…

On October 5, 2007, there are two fantastic discussions going on in New York for The New Yorker Festival. Fortunately I don’t have to choose between them as I can’t make it to either of them, but if you’re in the tri-state area, you definitely should go: Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk on Homeland Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay and educated in England. His novels include “The Moor’s Last Sigh,” “The Satanic Verses,” “Shame,” “Shalimar the Clown,” and “Midnight’s…

Booya! I finally got my iPhone yesterday and spent last night and this morning figuring out how to GSM unlock it — letting me use my T-Mobile SIM card with ease. How’d I do it? I’ll have a forthcoming article for Macworld explaining soon, but until then, you can read this guide and thank the good folks at ModMyiPhone.com. I followed their instructions — but after three failed tries, I installed AppTapp before doing the faux activation, and that seemed…

So I tried to go check out the LeRoy Grannis (Alan Wiig‘s grandfather) show at the M+B Sidebar at the Brentwood Country Mart today. However, despite the fact that the gallery claims it’s open Tuesday-Saturday 10-6, it wasn’t open today at all. I guess I’ll have to settle for the images online. Bummer. I’ll be back in Oaktown tomorrow eve.