The Null Device
2000/2/17
A nicely detailed IBM DeveloperWorks article on Ruby, a pretty nifty new OO language. (via Slashdot)
A piece on Edward Gorey, including a small gallery of his illustrations: (Salon)
In fact, Gorey's work is formatted very much like an incredibly baroque storyboard for a silent film. Each vignette alternates between panels of painstakingly ornate hand-lettered text and black-and-white illustrations. Like silent film, the juxtaposition of image and text allows us time to consider both, as separate but inseparable parts of the same work.
Salon bags Bloodflowers, the latest Cure album:
"Bloodflowers" is the latest stage in the Cure's devolution in the past decade. Since their heyday in the mid-'80s, the Cure has gone from being a coy, witty pop band in necrophiliac drag to artsy cartoons who prefer to wallow in muddy guitars and goth clichés.
MP3.com's Beam-It protocol compromises users' privacy? (via Slashdot)
MP3 knows ... the user's e-mail address, network IP address and Ethernet MAC address. An unscrupulous marketer could correlate musical preferences with other lifestyle choices and use this for targeted advertisements.
Cool new high-tech toy ideas debut at New York toy fair: (WIRED News)
The Cybiko weighs 4.3 ounces, has an expandable memory and a PC card slot, and broadcasts at 900MHz frequency. Although its range is only 300 feet, it can be daisy-chained to form a virtual wireless network. There's also an instant message feature, called Friend Finder, and a vibration alert that goes off when a message is received or when friends are nearby.
"The Enigma: The Mystery of the Stone," starts with a pendant engraved with unique symbols for $19.99, then sends players to solve puzzles on the Web, using the stone and its symbols as passwords.
On the site, players seek their Stone mates -- the only other person with the same combination of symbols on their pendant. Working together or independently, the players set out to unravel the mystery of the Stone by solving a total of 216 puzzles. Based on history, science, technology, art, literature, and media, the puzzles encourage players to comb the Web for the answers.
How to fight the DVD Consortium and other Big Business: don't bother ranting on the web or boycotting products, buy shares and vote/make statements at shareholder meetings. (Hacker News Network, via Slashdot)