computers for the poor

Inexpensive. Simple. A computer that people in poor countries might be able to use. Keyword here is might. Poor people in poor countries need food before microchips, but this kind of technology could be useful for some people, and certainly better than forcing them to choose between paying for a Wintel PC or having nothing at all.

the crying of lot 49

Just as Gravity's Rainbow is always in the background of my mind the Crying of Lot 49 is another book that keeps coming back, over and over. Structurally and conceptually simpler (a lot simpler) than GR, tCoL49 nevertheless displays many of GR's traits in a way that V didn't. V was more personal in terms of story and underlying symbology, tCoL49 has the scope in symbolism and narrative that GR displays, but for a single plotline, while GR is ... well... everything. Because it's simpler, tCoL49 is more approachable as well, maybe even more so than V, because of its size. I have to read V again soon, before re-reading GR.
On a related note, I found this article from 4 years ago about Pynchon's letters to his agent, their publication, and the resulting mess. Really interesting.

syncml

A good intro to the SyncML initiative.

incredible

The Washington Post has some astonishing news: In an Iraqi War Scenario, Oil Is a Key Issue. Wow. I am shocked! Shocked I tell you!!!

flaw in CryptoAPI

Microsoft disclosed that a major flaw in CryptoAPI could make it easy for some websites to impersonate others. It seems that the problem is related to certificate chains, and one has to wonder, where is their much-vaunted security initiative? Cert verification is one of the most basic functions in cryptography...

no time

I thought I would have time to check out Eclipse but I could only download it. Too many people to see. :-) At least it's on my hard drive now, I'll check it out later. Two things are already making me wary: its size (50+ MB) and the consortium of companies involved in its creation. Design by committee never works well, much less when committee members are competitors.