Barely Coherent

Nifty/scary toy from Google

Google Earth

I downloaded this about 2 weeks ago and could not get it to work (it was shortly after release) I think their servers were getting hammered. Bored today and ran it again...it is very cool zooming down to the house level in most areas.

No Software Patents in Europe

The EU decided not to allow patents on software.

This only covers the EU, so each country still has its own patent laws.

Believe it or not, I think this is a good thing (and I'm a developer). Software is already covered by copyright.  To me writing software is like writing a book. Authors do not patent the arrangement of the words in their book, so developers should not patent the arrangement of their words (which what code is)

Geek p0rn

Adult atari video games on ebay

Up for auction is the three adult games for the atari 2600 made by mystique..

1st game CUSTERS REVENGE...It comes in mystique plush box w/ inst. book game, box and inst are as new.. no flaws that i can see   Both stickers are in great shape..    made in 1982

2nd game BACHELOR PARTY  it comes in mystique plush box NO inst.  Game and box are as new no flaws... both stickers are in great shape     1982

3rd game isBEAT EM and EAT EM... It comes in its plush box and it has its inst book.. game box and inst book are in great shape   Both stickers are looking great    1982

Nothing geeky is complete with a quote from Wil Wheaton (played Enisgn Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation)

The 2600 pr0n games you posted about today are available in ROM form at atariage.com, as part of their complete 2600 library.

As a bonus, they have home pages for each game, most of which include screenshots, html manuals, and cartridge, box (and occasionally manual) scans.

Custer's Revenge: Link, Bachelor Party: Link, and Beat'em and Eat'em: Link.

Links are relatively safe for work.

Pissing in the wind

From the DOJ

Beginning yesterday morning, the FBI and law enforcement from 10 other countries conducted over 90 searches worldwide as part of “Operation Site Down,” designed to disrupt and dismantle many of the leading criminal organizations that illegally distribute and trade in copyrighted software, movies, music, and games on the Internet.

90  searches, that is going to just devastate the internets.  Why don't they use these resources to actually do something important. I can think of someone that is still running lose that we actually fought a war to catch.

Technology is the answer pt II

Rhode Island is opening up a bunch of webservices that will deliver government data.

This will never happen in Texas as we do not even record the votes of our elected state officials.

Grokster decision in .torrent

via Boing Boing

Here's a link to a BitTorrent distribution of the decisions in Grokster, today's Supreme Court decision that established a new copyright thoughtcrime: "inducing" your users to infringe by failing to employ restrictions that you believe will reduce copyright infringement. BitTorrent is a P2P software application that was not designed to reduce infringement. Many BitTorrent users use it to pass around infringing copies of movies and music. Many also use it to distribute Supreme Court decisions.

Torrent Link