Mental notes to myself

When things hit Time, I guess it’s pretty much hit mainstream:

here is the Time’s article on RSS

What does it mean to be “the best programmer” and are there really such major variations between the quality of software produced by different programmers?

Joel Spolsky answers this question on his website

I was one of the guys who really liked Cisco products etc.
I even got the CCNA courses. However this news is not something that I can put together with Cisco.

A researcher followed through with a presentation on a security hole in Cisco’s IOS even after the network equipment company theatened to shut down the conference if the information wasn’t suppressed.

Also:
video of the cencorship : here
and the presentation on Cisco bugs which was removed from the books are here.

An online store system, which may be implemented as a web site or another type of interactive system, presents context-sensitive information to customers about their prior orders during browsing of an electronic catalog of products. In one embodiment, when a customer accesses a detail page for a particular product, the detail page is supplemented with information, such as status information, about a related order placed by the customer. The related order may be an order for the product represented in the detail page or may be for a related product. Information about related orders may additionally or alternatively be added to other types of pages, such as product category pages and shopping cart pages. In one embodiment, a customer’s related order information is maintained in a cache during the customer’s browsing session, and the cache is updated in real time to reflect actions performed by the customer.

That means: When you are browsing a book at Amazon, it reminds you your previous orders.

This idea’s been lately patented by Amazon, after 4 years and 5 rejections…

link to patent

Looks like we got an early look and possibly a name for the new Netflix movie download service. I’m wondering if the “Netflix Player” is a TiVo or possibly a new device.

from Hacking NetFlix

After watching the Longhorn- RSS and Browsing Teams 1 hour video, I was so amazed. At first it was something really unexpected from Microsoft. Supporting RSS at OS Level? Having APIs for RSS? Is Microsoft approaching to the open source guys by supporting RSS deeply?

Days passed and I see the things much clearer.

After reading this passage, you’ll understand the Microsoft way and Microsoft’s idea about computers and computer users (plus developers). The question you should ask to yourself is “What is an Operating System?”
Read more…

France Telecom’s wireless unit, Orange SA, will soon roll out a new mobile video service that will let cellular phone subscribers view TV, movies, photos and broadband Internet content with a big screen viewing effect using Kopin®-enabled video eyewear from U.S.-based MicroOptical Corp. Kopin Corp. (Nasdaq: KOPN - News), the largest U.S. manufacturer of microdisplays for mobile consumer electronics and military applications, has received an order for CyberDisplay® 230K microdisplays from MicroOptical for this application.

from 101reviews

From ron:
This makes me think nasty

ICANN is lifting restrictions on VeriSign’s pricing of .net domains after Jan. 1, 2007, a move that may signal ICANN’s intent to get out of the business of regulating domain name pricing. ICANN has historically capped registry fees at either $6 or $4.25 per domain, depending on the top-level domain extension (TLD). The new contract reduces the current .net price cap from $6 to $4.25 through Dec. 31, 2006, but then lifts it altogether. The awarding of the .net registry to VeriSign has already prompted controversy and criticism from competitors.

more from here

Big pharma has made billions pumping up the male population with erectile-disfunction drugs. Now neuroscientists are turning their attention to women.

from wired news

Pat’s tip : from Ynot

Ron’s Comment:
Some RSS readers like Thunderbird can filter or block content inside the RSS. So it’s very soon that others will start to filter it out.
But obviously RSS advertising is a good idea. Since October 2004 I’m already accomodating advertisements at my site feeds.
Checkit out: RTC Feeds