Richard Giles Blog

I’ve just noticed on Amazon that Michael Crichton has just released a new book called Prey. The story revolves around nanotechnology and sounds like it could have a lot in common with Bill Joy’s letter in Wired from a few years ago, Why the future doesn’t need us.

I’ll have the book by tonight, and should finish it within the next few days (Crichton writes the only novels I manage to rip through quickly).

Prey: A Novel at Amazon.

Dr. Mike Doyle, Founder of Eolas, a company that is taking Microsoft to court for patent infringement covering all uses of plugins, applets, activeX controls and other similar technology, says this about the possibilities :

“Is there any practical settlement amount that is worth more to Eolas than a victory at trial? Considering the facts in the case and the magnitude of the stakes here, a highly likely outcome is that it will actually go to trial, and, once it does, that a jury will award us both damages and an injunction. Injunction is the key word here. That is what patent rights provide: the power to exclude. What if we were to just say no? Or, what if some other big player were to acquire or merge with us? What if only one best-of-breed browser could run embedded plug-ins, applets, ActiveX controls, or anything like them, and it wasn’t IE? How competitive would the other browsers be without those capabilities? How would that change the current dynamics in the Industry?”

For more on this see Cringley or the news on their own web site.

I wonder if Sun are in talks with them.

The Waypath Project. ” The Waypath Project is an attempt to network the weblog community, connecting weblogs that share common themes, ideas, and topics.”

For instance, a search on the Wired link in my last entry results in this list.

Well worth a read to help understand the misunderstood Kevin Mitnick is the “Lost Chapter” from his latest book. It explains how the reporter John Markoff printed outrageous articles that inaccurately portrayed Mitnick as a hacker that caused millions of dollars worth of damage. The chapter should be read by everyone that doesn’t understand the power held by reporters. Thanks to Wired and the supplier of the text in Yahoo Group’s Kevin’s Story. I’ve put a text file of the document here.