I just read a pretty good article discussing how IT professionals tend to blame Lusers ('lousy users') rather than face up to badly written software and poor implementation. The article does a great job comparing the IT world to other businesses involved with development:

Engadget just posted an article (Jan '07) on RCA's new Small Wonder EZ201 and the EZ205 . It looks great with mpeg-4 encoding , 1.5-inch, 180 degree swivel LCD display, runs on 2 AA batteries and an SD card slot for memory storage. Oh yeah its only about $129. That's a bar tab for a camcorder. So wow I want more info! Google... Nope... Nada.

DVDs, and many other forms of digital content, use a technology called Digital Rights Management that allow producers to control when and where you watch their protected content.

If a president of over-protection is set, then what at first is just DVD movies and commercial music, could soon become any form of digital information. While it may not happen over night, locking down all content could result in a environment where commercialized content is placed ahead of innovation and open thought.

The UT Dallas breach is not the first breach of data the University of Texas System has seen even this year. In October, the UT System appointed a chief information security officer to build and oversee a system-wide plan to protect UT's information after some recent exposures. What I find so frustrating is that unlike businesses whose public opinion rating can result in the loss of millions of dollars in profit, Universities seem to depend on the fact that the ID's being stolen are merely students who lack the maturity, financing and time to actually force these institutions of learning to act with even the slightest sense of liability. The University of Texas treats ID theft like a common burglary, where the store owner is the victim and everyone should be saddened that the University has been a target of hacking. As an Alumni, I feel for the students of a school that has repeatedly put our information at risk.

The Washington Post just ran an article that Virgina has a proposed law that would require sex offenders to register their email and IM screen names in an attempt to monitor and control their presence on social networking sites like MySpace.com

I was just watching the Today show on NBC and they had a story about how YouTube was aiding criminals by hosting videos on how to defeat locks through lock picking. A similar theme of anti-YouTube lock picking started to show up in UK based news media outlets earlier this morning - All Headline News, Metro UK, Life Style Extra.

I recently stayed at a Hilton Hotel. The stay was very nice with no major complaints (larger selection of cable channels would be nice). Service and people were very professional. And then I get this email asking for a feedback from my experience:

An article appeared on the Seattle Post-Intellegencer regarding a website that displayed the Seattle Live 911 website feed on a Google map. The city's response? Change the text to images in an attempt to prevent the map display for security reasons.

MIT has been working on the One Laptop for Every Child "OLEC" program and yes it uses Linux rather than Windows. Bill Gates was upset that Windows was not the chosen solution. The laptop would cost about $100 each.