RSS for Package Tracking

SimpleTracking provides an RSS feed to track your UPS – USPS – FedX – DHL package! No more periodic visits to the UPS site to see where your package lives in realspace.  All you need is the tracking number and a working e-mail address (where they will send your RSS feed URL) as well as an RSS reader.

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Sony Faces Another Challenge

On the heels of claims that Sony’s DRM software is malware comes this news: an allegation that the software is "’infringing the copyright of several open source projects," according to  reknowned hacker Jon Lech Johansen. According to Reuters, Thomas Dullien from Sabre Security, concurs: "We can confirm that at least five functions in the XCP software are
identical to functions in LAME." LAME is an open source MP3 player; the 49 Sony titles force Windows consumers to use a built-in music player to listen to the CD.

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Apple Abandons Firewire?

I was poking around the Apple Store, looking at the new iPod, when I noticed this: "USB 1.1 and 2.0 through integrated USB connector." What? No Firewire? I quickly did a web check — USB v Firewire — to try to refresh my memory as to the differences. Ah, yes, USB 2.0 is supposed to be slightly faster than Firewire (on paper) but often isn’t in reality. Then I found this at MacInTouch:

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Clicks + Mortar

I just discovered Circuit City’s "buy-it-online, pick it up in 24 minutes" promo…. just in time for the holidays. From the website: "When you arrive at the store, follow the signs with the 24/24 Pickup Guarantee logo to the in-store pickup area…. Your In-Store Pickup can be picked up anytime during regular Circuit City store hours, and the 24/24 Pickup Guarantee will apply to purchases made up to 30 minutes before closing." This holiday season, it’s likely the lines will be shorter here than at the regular registers. Next year? All bets are off!

Google Print : Friend or Foe?

Paul Andrews discusses the pros-and-cons of Google Print — from the point of view of an author — in today’s Seattle Times column. Google "argues that indexing books and displaying excerpts are legal procedures
akin to quotes in reviews and do not require publishers’ permission."

As an author of two books, though, I’m not sure I want to be suing
Google. Every writer wants his or her work to be read. But to be read,
a work needs to be found. Digital search is fast becoming the de facto
way to be found.

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Convergence,
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