Monthly Archives: May 2003

Linux contains stolen code?

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This whole story about SCO lately is fairly frightening if you ask me. They are suing IBM for $1 billion, claiming that the Unix technology that IBM licensed from them was then ripped off and copied into the open-source Linux operating system. It may not be a problem for just IBM however, because they are also hinting at going after users of the Linux OS.

From the Q&A with SCO GM:

What about SuSE and Red Hat customers and other Linux users? Could they face litigation or be affected in any way? Certainly, as the evidence mounts, there could be concerns and issues for end customers. When you’re talking about copyrighted materials or trade secrets being inappropriately obtained and released, even the recipients of that information have to have concerns.

Slashdot has some interesting discussions as well.

Playboy: The Video Game

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Joining the ranks of SimCity and other world-building games, Playboy’s planning on coming out with a video game. Build a magazine empire, and throw parties at your lavish house. Sounds like a good time. Oh yes, and surely there will be ample nudity.

TiVo for Radio

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As posted on Slashdot, there is an interesting article on a few products that have TiVo-like functionality but for radio.

I was looking for a product like this back when Opie and Anthony were on the air, but now I’m not so interested. If I had sucessfully recorded a good chunk of their shows back when they aired (I was only able to get a few) I wouldn’t be so bored in the car all the time today.

Interesting approach on car design

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Business 2.0 had an article about the Nissan Murano in the last issue. It’s kind of interesting, because magazines like this don’t usually do car reviews. The particularly interesting part is how they came up with the design:

Nissan spent five years and shuffled through dozens of iterations to achieve the look of the vehicle, knowing full well that some people would instantly hate it (e.g., Mrs. Foil), while others would quickly like it (e.g., me). Such aesthetic tightrope walking is scientific these days: Nissan tweaked the design until it arrived at a point where opinion diverged neatly into thirds. That is, a third of the people who saw it hated it, a third loved it, and the final third could possibly warm in their ardor at some future date.

With so many bizarre looking cars out there these days, this sounds like it could be a pretty common practice. You have to admit, those cars are fairly memorable. If you happen to fall into the 1/3 that likes the appearance, it probably beats looking like everyone else driving around in a Saturn or something.

All aboard, clothing optional

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I didn’t notice this article back when it was written, but it’s making news again because the flight is finally happening.

A Houston travel agency specializing in clothing-optional vacations is organizing the outing, which it claims is the first nude flight.

Once they reach a cruising altitude, they can disrobe, Bailey said. Each will be given an embroidered beach towel to sit on.

Go ahead and book your trip now at their website.