del.icio.us links for May 14, 2007 - Other Stuff

del.icio.us links for May 14, 2007 – Other Stuff

1. Scientology takes on BBC reporter with YouTube clips – CBC.ca

   John Sweeney’s outburst came while he was researching a documentary scheduled for broadcast on the BBC’s Panorama series. The Church of Scientology was filming Sweeney as he investigated the organization, a tactic it has used in the past to intimidate rep

2. Cooper Asks MySpace for Names of Registered Sex Offenders Online – WRAL.Com

   Top law enforcement officers from North Carolina and six other states sent a letter to MySpace.com on Monday, asking the social networking site to turn over the names of registered sex offenders.

3. Irony alert: Pirate file-sharing site hacked – ComputerWorld.Com

   Pirate Bay, the BitTorrent directory, downplayed the threat. “The passwords are stored encrypted, so it’s not a big deal,” read the post. “All e-mails are, for instance, encrypted as well, they will most likely not be able to decrypt them either (they are _very_ encrypted).” Even so, Pirate Bay recommended that users change their access passwords as soon as possible.

4. Cell Phone-Only Users Growing As People Dump Landlines – Wired.Com

   One in four people aged 18 to 24 had only cell phones, as did 29 percent of those aged 25 to 29, the study showed. The percentages declined with age after that, with 2 percent of those 65 or over having only cell phones.

4 more articles after the Jump

1. The blog as job – BookofJoe.Com – New York Times magazine

   New York Times magazine, switched-on technology writer Clive Thompson told what to me was a very fascinating story about how Jonathan Coulton (above, next to the guitar), a 36-year-old Brooklyn musician, two years ago quit his job as a computer programmer to become a full-time singer and songwriter.

   Long story short: he’s doing it — but the resulting lifestyle, with its unending demands on his time to remain interactive online with his legion of fans, looks awfully similar to a real job.

   For example: “Every day, Coulton wakes up, gets coffee, cracks open his PowerBook and hunkers down for up to six hours of nonstop and frequently exhausting communion with his virtual crowd.”

2. ‘Build parks to climate proof our cities’ – Physorg.Com

   “Urban areas can be up to 12°C warmer than more rural surroundings due to the heat given off by buildings, roads and traffic, as well as reduced evaporative cooling, in what is commonly referred to as an ‘urban heat island’,” said Dr Ennos.

3. Cisco Steps Up Consumer Push – BusinessWeek.Com

   Its 2003 purchase of Linksys has made Cisco the market-share king in the home wireless router business, and in late 2005, Cisco acquired set-top box powerhouse Scientific-Atlanta, just in time to ride a huge wave of new demand from its cable and telecom carrier customers. But home routers and set-top boxes may be only the beginning.

4. Learn Illustrator At YouTube – WebsiteMagazine.Com

   As one of the more robust design tools available, Illustrator takes a little getting used to and requires a lot knowledge to master. Luckily, there are many good tutorials available which provide a lot of insight into how to do very specific things.