Ego Gratification Bulletin

Posted on July 2, 2002

Woo-hoo! I’m the #1 ‘Jason Lefkowitz’ on Google!

Here’s the proof: Google Search: jason lefkowitz

Next goal: to be the #1 Jason on Google. That’s a little more ambitious 🙂 Throw me a link and help me out, folks!

Another Deep Throat Suspect

Posted on June 27, 2002

Here’s another name to add to your list of Deep Throat suspects — Diane Sawyer. A fascinating article on Sheila Lennon’s weblog from the Providence Journal fingers Sawyer as a prime (and undermentioned) suspect. Today Sawyer is a big-shot journo, but back in the Watergate era she was a special assistant to White House press secretary Ron Ziegler, and Nixon confidante Rabbi Baruch Korff has described her as having had an (ahem) “special relationship” with Ziegler. Pillow talk with the press secretary would certainly have given Sawyer the opportunity to overhear much of the inner workings of the Nixon White House, even if she wasn’t present for them herself; and she could have insisted on remaining anonymous to this day so as not to tarnish her current journalistic image. Of course, Woodward and Bernstein have always maintained that Deep Throat was/is a man, which could put a dent in this theory… but that could just be a clever bit of misdirection too, sending the hounds away from the one suspect who isn’t a man.

So, is Sawyer Deep Throat? Who knows. Speculation marches on!

“Homeland Security”? Puh-leeze

Posted on June 26, 2002

It’s pretty rare that I agree with ex-Reagan speechwriter and conservative ideologue Peggy Noonan. It’s even rarer that I agree with the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal (shudder). But Noonan has been on to something recently. She’s been urging the Bush administration to retire the term “Homeland Security” from its lexicon. Her argument? That it is too old-world, too Teutonic. “Homeland Security” is the sort of thing Nazis and Stalinists worried about, not Americans. “It summons images of men in spiked helmets lobbing pitchers of beer at outsiders during Oktoberfest. When you say you love America, you’re not saying our mud is better than the other guy’s mud,” she argues, and I’m inclined to agree. America is much more about a shared set of values and ideals than about any particular patch of land. And those values and ideals are what we’re trying to defend in this battle against terror.

Her readers (and those of Mickey Kaus, a liberal columnist who picked up on this issue after she did) have suggested a whole list of potential alternate names for the idea Bush is trying to get across. Some of them are just as creepy as “Homeland Security”, in my opinion (“Department of American Protection”? ugh!), but among them, one really appeals to me: Civil Defense. This is a term we know, we’ve lived with it since the Cold War, and we know that it means sensible protections against risk that don’t unduly interfere with the regular workings of society. There’s no mental images of guys in jackboots knocking on doors in the night. And that’s a good thing, because words matter, and words that suggest that kind of image hurt our cause far more than they help it.

Check Out the Glass Engine

Posted on June 24, 2002

Check this out — some developers at IBM have developed The Glass Engine, an interactive browser that lets you go through the works of composer Philip Glass in a whole new way. This thing is a trip! It requires Microsoft Internet Explorer (grrr) and the Microsoft Virtual Machine (it wouldn’t work for me when I tried to use Sun’s JVM, alas), which kinda sucks, but the experience is worth checking out nonetheless.

How Many Peasants With Pitchforks Fit In a Parking Garage, Anyway?

Posted on June 19, 2002

So what with it having been the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in on June 17, there’s been a new rash of speculation about the identity of Deep Throat, the legendary anonymous leaker who guided Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein towards the truth about Richard Nixon.

Of course, speculating about who Deep Throat is/was is nothing new. What is new is a new suspect, who writer Joshua Micah Marshall fingers in his excellent political blog, the Talking Points Memo. He thinks the infamous leaker is none other than everyone’s favorite reactionary, three-time Presidential candidate and former Nixon White House speechwriter Pat Buchanan. And he makes a pretty compelling case for it, too (as do the students at the University of Illinois whose research pointed him in Pitchfork Pat’s direction).

Is Buchanan Deep Throat? He denies it, of course. But then, if you were a Republican presidential hopeful who had brought down a Republican administration, wouldn’t you?

Thumbs Up For Mozilla 1.0

Posted on June 18, 2002

So the Mozilla Organization, the open-source project launched by Netscape in 1998 when they released the source code of their Web browser, has after four years of development (!) finally managed to release version 1.0 of their new-from-the-ground-up browser.

The good news? It ROCKS!

(more…)

New Stuff from Yours Truly

Posted on June 17, 2002

My latest article for the Online Community Report newsletter, entitled “Lessons From the Anthill”, is now available for your consideration. Look it over and let me know what you think!

Maybe You Should Write Your Password Down, After All

Posted on June 7, 2002

If you know any Norwegian-speaking hackers, give them a call and let them know that we’ve got a job for them. The man who maintained the archives at Norway’s National Center of Language and Culture recently died — having never divulged the password to the computer system that houses the archive. Not to anybody. So now the Center finds itself in the position of having to hack into their own system or lose forever research on thousands of culturally important documents!

Read all about it: Dead Men Tell No Passwords (from Wired News)

Oops

Posted on May 16, 2002

If this is true, it looks like someone has got a hell of a lot of explaining to do:

CNN.com – Bush briefed on hijacking threat before September 11

Apple Moves Upscale

Posted on May 14, 2002

It’s been a long, hard road back to relevance for Apple Computer, but they seem to have made it through. Today’s announcement of the XServe rack-mounted Mac server marks their graduation day from the realm of the desktop powerhouses to the rarefied territory of the server world. It’s a welcome move, and one more notch for Steve Jobs’ gunbelt.

Five years ago Apple Computer was on the brink of death (anyone else remember the infamous “Pray” cover from Wired magazine, back when Wired was worth reading?) The rocky transition from the crusty Motorola 68000 line of CPUs to the modern PowerPC line was going slowly at best. Their product line was a bewildering mix of dozens of models, each with minor distinctions from the others that made it near impossible to figure out which one was best for you. They had started allowing other companies to license the Mac OS, but did everything they could to cut those companies off at the knees and then complaining that the cloners weren’t taking off in the right markets. In short, Apple was a mess.

Then, like him or not (I sure don’t), Steve Jobs came back to Cupertino. And things started to turn around.

(more…)

Make Yourself Important — With One Click of Your Mouse!

Posted on May 7, 2002

Tired of being at the low end of the totem pole? Instant Bureaucracy can solve that little problem in a jiffy! Just download the appropriate forms and you too can experience the thrills of middle management!

Everything Old is New Again

Posted on April 30, 2002

Ok, I promised a big announcement, so here it is…

I’ve just moved back to my old stomping grounds of Washington, DC to accept a position with Forum One Communications, a company that I actually have worked for in the past (from 1998-1999; I was their first employee!). I’m going back in a more senior capacity, though — I’ll be doing project management and Internet strategy consulting, along with the occasional odd production job.

What’s this mean? Well, it means I’m going to once again have to bid farewell to my home state of Ohio. It’s hard to explain why this makes me sad. I’ve been all over the world, slept at the foot of the Pyramids (with the Boy Scouts, natch) and skiied the Alps, but when I thought of home I always thought of Ohio. For the last three years I’ve been back there, and if I had my way about things I suppose I’d still be there; but unfortunately the Bushwhacking of the economy has dried up much of the opportunity for us Net folks there, so I had to cast my net farther afield when my previous employer decided to get out of the business of building the future. And the opportunity of working with old friends on interesting projects was just too good to pass up.

Which is a long way of saying goodbye to one chapter of my life and hello to the next one, I guess. But big transitions in life deserve a moment of reflection, I think, or else we risk careening through time without ever taking the opportunity to figure out why we’re doing so in the first place. And that, it strikes me, would be a pretty tragic thing.

So gas up the DeLorean, we’re going back to the future!

On Hiatus

Posted on April 10, 2002

Updates are gonna be thin on the ground for the next couple of weeks. Big news coming on the Our Favorite Geek front. Thanks for your patience and I’ll be back blogging like mad Real Soon Now (TM).

Kazaa — ZombieWare?

Posted on April 3, 2002

Hey kids…

If you’re a user of the popular file-sharing program Kazaa, you need to know this. CNet News.com is reporting that the makers of the software, Brilliant Digital Entertainment (BDE), have embedded software within Kazaa that turns your PC into part of a distributed stealth network that BDE can activate to host any kind of content they wish, including advertising. In other words, your PC effectively becomes a zombie to be raised from the dead (without your consent, mind you) whenever BDE wishes to make use of your bandwidth or CPU cycles.

If this sounds farfetched, it shouldn’t — BDE lists this plan as one of several potential revenue streams in their most recent annual report filed with the SEC.

This is one more reason why every PC user should make use of spyware-busting software like LavaSoft’s free AdAware product. If you’ve never tried this package before, go ahead and download it and give it a test run whether you use Kazaa or not. You might be surprised just how many of your applications are watching you!

Don’t Miss These Films

Posted on April 2, 2002

Over the last week or so, I saw two movies that seem destined to become prime examples of the dreaded cult classic — movies that a small slice of the population loves rabidly, while the rest of the world scratches its collective head in puzzlement. Which is a shame, because both are visionary entertainments that are definitely worth your time.

(more…)

The Ultimate Palmtop

Posted on March 27, 2002

Sony’s “Clie” line of PalmOS-based organizers have been the standard by which others are measured in terms of style and polish for several years now. But now they’ve gone and outdone themselves with the PEG-NR70, a killer device with a high-color, high-resolution display, built-in MP3 player and keyboard, optional integrated digital camera, a unique “flip-and-rotate” design, and a striking magnesium body. The only sticking point is the price — $599 with the camera, $499 without. Ouch! Still, that’s about the price of a decent organizer built on Microsoft’s PocketPC platform, and I challenge you to take one look at this thing and not want one. Good work Sony!

Jason To Napster: Told You So

Posted on March 26, 2002

Wired News is reporting that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a July lower court ruling that Napster’s free online file-trading service has to go offline. Not news in practical terms, since Napster has shifted its focus to for-pay services, leaving the free file-swapping market to others, but it is one more affirmation of my 1998 call that the then-new Napster was fascinating but probably destined to be dragged down by the long arm of the law. It’s not often that my random opinions turn out to be correct, so I just want to take the opportunity while I can 🙂

Because The Innocent Have Nothing To Hide!

Posted on March 25, 2002

Attention Citizen! Have you gotten your Mandatory Patriotic Tattoo yet? Hop to it!

Movable Type 2.0 Released

Posted on March 25, 2002

If you are looking for an excellent Weblogging tool that is highly customizable and requires minimal maintenance, this should make you happy — version 2.0 of the Movable Type Weblog package has just been released. MT is the software that drives this site, and I recommend it highly. Check it out, and congratulations to the authors, Ben and Mena Trott, for reaching this milestone!

AMD Founder Steps Down Swinging

Posted on March 22, 2002

For all the brouhaha that has surrounded the Microsoft antitrust trial, it’s a little surprising that there isn’t more mention of the other great monopoly in the PC industry — the CPU headlock held by Intel Corp. Over the years, over 15 companies have challenged Intel’s dominance in this sector, and each one has gone down in flames.

Except one — American Micro Devices (AMD). Over the years AMD has gone from a simple sub-contractor, building 386 chips under an agreement with Intel, to its position today as the maker of the most technically and economically impressive microprocessors available, the Athlon and Duron CPUs.

And now, as AMD gears up for its next great battle with Intel over who will dominate the market for 64-bit microprocessors (all PC processors have been 32-bit since the introduction of the Intel 80386 in the late 1980s), the man who built the company from nothing to where it is today, CEO W.J. “Jerry” Sanders, is finally handing over the reins to a successor. It’s truly the end of an era in Silicon Valley.

(more…)

Blogging Goes Corporate — For Free

Posted on March 18, 2002

There’s already a jillion and one blogging tools out there, I know. But here’s some news about one that’s an interesting new twist on the whole idea of blogging itself. It takes blogging into a whole new world — by connecting bloggers directly with each other. And in doing so it opens up whole new ways for people to find and relate to each other.

And the best part? It’s free!

(more…)

“I, Claudius” on DVD

Posted on February 23, 2002

So I’m halfway through the DVD set of the BBC’s 1976 miniseries adaptation of “I, Claudius”, and boy, is it good stuff! Schemes, intrigue, history, and an appearance by a VERY young-looking Patrick Stewart (with a full head of curly hair, no less!) make this a must-see. The DVD set ain’t cheap (almost $80 at Amazon), but if you’re like me and that’s too rich for your blood, at least give it a rental — I get mine from NetFlix, the original online DVD rental service, which offers very reasonable pricing and no late fees. So put away your copy of “Gladiator” for a little while and see what ancient Rome was really like 🙂

Aww, Dave…

Posted on February 21, 2002

Dave Winer’s Scripting News is one of the most consistently interesting and useful sites on the Web. (Heck, I link to it from my home page!) His highly clueful observations, even when they seem a little off-the-wall, are almost always on the mark in one important way or another.

So what’s up with his boneheaded crusade against Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)?

(more…)

Day of Defeat 2.0 is Here!

Posted on February 10, 2002

Do you own a copy of Half-Life? Do you have a fast Internet connection? Are you ready to surrender most of your free time?

If so, this Bud’s for you, fella. Day of Defeat 2.0 is finally here. It’s a free (you heard right, free) mod that transforms Half-Life into an insanely intense World War 2 combat zone. This thing would be worth the full price of the game all by itself.

So what are you waiting for? Go download the thing already!

Bruno Rocks!

Posted on February 6, 2002

Here’s a little something to suck up your time: the Bruno Daily Times, one of the most insightful comic strips anywhere (and I mean ANYWHERE, not just the Web). Kudos to author Christopher Baldwin for managing to come up with such great stuff, every single day.