Culture and Society

Our own Brian Dear was featured in the NY Times yesterday for the smackdown he laid on former Red Herring publisher Tony Perkins: Evisceration is not pretty, especially on the Internet, where the verbal slicing and dicing can be done before a potential audience of millions. Which is pretty much …

No, not Christina, the other one. Paris weeps: “I feel embarrassed and humiliated, especially because my parents and the people who love me have been hurt,” the socialite and reality TV actress said Monday in a statement to The Associated Press. “I was in an intimate relationship and never, ever …

Salt Lake City and other Utah cities are looking to build the largest ultrahigh-speed digital network in the country. Excellent. Construction on the project is scheduled to start next spring – if the cities can raise the money to pull it off. The network would be capable of delivering data …

Are you plagued with nagging guilt about file sharing? Do you sit awake at night fretting that your computer may be the downfall of the music industry, even though you buy more CDs now than before you started sharing? Do you no longer belive that sharing means caring? Then this …

Microsoft to join the digital music scrum: A spokeswoman for the Redmond, Wash., software company confirmed that Microsoft’s MSN Web site will offer such a service in 2004, but declined to provide further details. Microsoft executives previously have said the company was considering selling music online; the company’s latest comments …

Particle physics enters the encryption wars: After 20 years of research, an encryption process is emerging that is considered unbreakable because it employs the mind-blowing laws of quantum physics. This month, a small startup called MagiQ Technologies Inc. began selling what appears to be the first commercially available system that …

People have been getting a lot more aggressive in attacking spam lately – by deleting spam comments as quickly as possible and banning the sender’s IP, we have cut our problem down here to a dull roar. But the Nigerian (insert other nation of origin here) money transfer scam is …

What’s that little hosemonster doing to the poor dolphin? But anyway, if they had worn the suits instead of filing them, none of this would have happened: Paris Hilton’s ex-boyfriend is suing an Internet porn company for more than $10 million to stop distribution of the sex video he made …

A very balanced and sensible look in starkly capitalist Forbes at the current state of copyright in the digital era: EVERYONE is going to have to compromise – what a shock: File sharing has gotten a black eye from illegal downloads of copyrighted music and movies, but the technology behind …

At 39 Courtney should be getting it together, instead she seems to be falling apart. Is it too late? No, but it’s getting close. My MSNBC.com commentary is here: “When they get what they want, They never want it again” – “Violet” by Hole I hate Courtney – I love …