GeekSpeak for February 21, 2009
Cats on Facebook playing Pong with Wifi
Can a cat answer a User Agreement? What happened this time of year in Geek history, Pong 1974, Apple.com 1987 and much more.
[ Audio 23.4 MB mp3 ]GeekNews
Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police
Wanted that terabyte hard drive for your stuff? Too bad! Legislators in Congress would rather you kept WiFi access logs instead.
IE6 in Web Developers' Crosshairs
Has IE6 found itself up against the wall as the revolution comes?
Bands bypass iTunes by streaming music through iPhone apps
Don't like the terms with which Apple sells your music? Be like "The Presidents of the United States" and release an iPhone app that plays just your albums.
Pong Patent Issued this week in 1974
1974 Nolan Bushnell is issued a patent for a “video image positioning control system” for his Pong home video game system. (US No. 3,793,483) Read more about Pong. View the patent at Google.
Nolan Bushnell is issued a patent for a “video image positioning control system” for his Pong home video game system. (US No. 3,793,483) Read more about Pong. View the patent at Google.
Chronomedia: 1946
February 18 Television signals are successfully transmitted from Washington to New York via AT&T coaxial cable.
The Agreeable Cat by Anne Loucks
Cats agreeing to EULAs:
"As he is not a legal entity, I don't really know how kitty's agreements would stand up in court, but I like to think he would be responsible for any breaches of contract, assuming the agreement is even enforceable. After all, he is not even of legal age, at least in human years."
Facebook backs down, reverses on user information policy - CNN.c
Under fire from tens of thousands of users, the social networking site Facebook said early Wednesday it is reverting to its old policy on user information -- for now.
Emailing while asleep
According to a case described in the medical journal Sleep Medicine, a 44-year-old sleepwalker logged onto her computer and emailed out party invitations to friends. Fortean Times magazine looks at this case and several other bizarre episodes of somnambulism. From Fortean Times:
Attackers Exploiting Unpatched Flaw In Adobe Reader, Acrobat
"Hackers are exploiting an unpatched security hole in current versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat to install malicious software when users open a booby-trapped PDF file, security experts warn."
BATTLEZONE high score 1982
February 20th 1982, Mr. Ken Chevalier, 16, scores 12900000 points on BATTLEZONE by Atari Inc. after playing the game for 12 hours at the Star Station 101 arcade in ...
Apple.com was created in 1987
The 100 Oldest Currently Registered .COM Domains (last updated 1/25/2003) ... 02/19/1987, APPLE.COM. 03/04/1987, NMA.COM. 03/04/1987, PRIME.COM ...
Other Links
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MetaVid <- archive of congress



