Pixel Perfect
lowercase sound is a website designed to look like a circa 1985 Mac desktop. I'm still not sure what they're selling or anything - but, gee, doesn't that low tech look give you the warm and fuzzies? Via Daypop Top 40.

posted by Matt Hinrichs @ 2:46 AM

Daily Relay is Syndicatin' (Again)
Thanks to Blogger Pro, Daily Relay has an RSS feed again. The URL is http://www.mindjack.com/relay/rss.xml.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 10:27 PM

PDA Confidentiality
The Register reports that significant personal information, including bank accounts, is often left unprotected on PDAs. Encryption and password protection are worth consideration given the widespread use of such devices.
posted by Jim Lai @ 10:46 AM

NASA To Announce Find of Vast Ice Reservoirs on Mars
BBC News reports that the Mars Odyssey spacecraft has found huge quantities of water-ice just below the surface of Mars, confirming earlier discoveries. There is now speculation that the find will lead to a manned mission to Mars within the next 20 years. Complete details on the finding will be announced next Thursday, and in the journal Science the day after.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 5:16 PM

How Immersive Can Interaction Get?
I just attended a speaker session sponsored by CITO held at the University of Toronto. Barry Wellman gave a talk titled "Using Sociological Analysis To Design For A Mobile-ized Society". Steve Mann, wearcomp cyborg at large, is working with an eyewear designer to develop a commercial line of mediated reality glasses. Life could get pretty interesting in a few years.
posted by Jim Lai @ 12:51 AM

Linux For PS2 Orders And Shipping
Today, preorders are now accepted for Linux for the Playstation 2 at http://www.linuxplay.com/ for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Further details for ordering from New Zealand and Australia can be found at http://playstation2-linux.com/. Today is also the expected ship date for preorders to the United States and Canada.
posted by Jim Lai @ 10:30 PM

Shipping Now Free on Mindjack Shirts
Shipping is now free on all Mindjack shirts. T-shirts are $15US, longsleeve are $18. We don't make much money from these, but everything we do goes back into Mindjack, so stock up. They make fine gifts too.

The shirts are high-quality, screenprinted Hanes Beefy Ts, printed by the good folks at Brunetto T-shirts. Shortsleeve shirts are available in either crimson red or navy blue, longsleeve ones just in navy.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 10:05 PM

Nintendo Drops GameCube Price
Following price cuts by Sony and Microsoft last week, Nintendo has dropped the price of its GameCube console to $149.95US ($229.95 Cdn), making it the least expensive of the three.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 4:32 PM

Kazaa To Push Ads
Kazaa activates their Altnet application today, allowing them to push paid links when keyword searches are performed on their filesharing software.
posted by Jim Lai @ 2:33 PM

Not the most timely notification, but the Waking Life DVD is out -- this movie redefined live-action animation through very cool rotoscoping. But the reason for the late notification is because Bob Sabiston gave a talk at the MIT Media Lab where we went over things like the tech behind Waking Life to his stories behind the "Earthlink Sucks" commericals.
posted by Raffi Krikorian @ 4:25 PM

Sonicblue probably won't have to spy on their users. They have been granted a stay in their request to not have to monitor their customers.
posted by Raffi Krikorian @ 11:35 PM

Sony Slashes PS2 price, Microsoft to Follow
Sony has cut the price of its PlayStation 2 console by $100US. Microsoft is expected to follow suit, cutting the price of the Xbox at E3 next week, making both consoles $199US. Nintendo has made no annoncement concerning its Gamecube console, which has been retailing for $199US since its launch last year. Sony has also reduced the price of it's PlayStation One console to $50US.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 3:50 PM

Nintendo Unveils Online Gaming Plans
Nintendo has revealed it's plans for online gaming for its Gamecube console. The company plans to launch broadband and dial-up adapters this fall, with the first multi-player games being Sega's Fantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2. The game will be playable at E3 later this month.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 8:44 PM

A post on kuro5hin.org about a talk on the upcoming ylem forum titled -- "Why Johnny Can't Encrypt: Social Aspects and Barriers to Adoption of Privacy Technology". There are two social problems to encryption -- one, there is a social stigma of being a "icky UNIX/Linux misfit" associated with those that do encrypt, and two, nobody sees the need to encrypt. How do we combat both social problems and bring encryption (and therefore privacy) to the masses?
posted by Raffi Krikorian @ 8:56 PM

A few interesting notes from the WWDC
Apple has released the features on the new version of OS X. The most interesting thing on there is Rendezvous; based on the IETF ZeroConf working group, Apple is trying to bring the ease of their AppleShare network to IP based networks. With integration into iChat, people are going to be able to find and chat with people on the network who are physically close to you allowing them to bridge real world communication with the virtual world communication.
posted by Raffi Krikorian @ 10:30 PM

SonicBlue Ordered to Track ReplayTV users' viewing
SonicBlue has been ordered to install spyware on its ReplayTV 4000 personal video recorders to track users' viewing habits. The information will then be turned over to TV and film studios.
posted by Donald Melanson @ 2:17 PM