Mac program can erase your home directory if you use a pirate serial

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Cory Doctorow:
David sez, "a Mac program called Display Eater that has been set up by its developer to respond to the use of pirated CD keys by 'erasing something' -- apparently this is, in some instances, the home directory of the infringing Mac. Response over on Versiontracker, amongst other places, has been rather irate -- the PR disaster has already occurred"

Link

(Thanks, David!)

Update: Jason sez, "Display Eater's developer posted a public letter on his website saying that it was all a hoax. Also, this isn't new to the Mac community. A similar incident occurred in 2004."

(Via Boing Boing.)

IE down, Firefox, Safari UP - The Browser Wars Continue…

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browserinfo.jpgArstechnica has a great article up breaking down the current trends in browser usage. In the US Firefox and Safari are on the rise, while IE has taken a slight dip, but Worldwide, IE is holding it’s own. Even though Opera is not mentioned in these charts, I think they are going to be one to watch with their connections to the mobile market, and devices like the Nintendo Wii.


The Browser Wars are back in full swing, and hopefully this will lead to some cool new innovations as each company tries to grab our attention with their latest releases.

(Via Apple Gazette.)

Don Imus Reports Administration Won’t Allow Him To Tour Entire Walter Reed Facilities

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This morning on his radio show, Don Imus continued to call attention to the deplorable conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Imus has highlighted the issue every day this week. On yesterday’s show, he revealed, “I haven’t heard from anybody [in the administration] about whether I can come down there and take a little tour.”


This morning, Imus updated his audience, reporting that administration officials called him and said he could take a limited guided tour of the facilities. Imus explained, “They will cherry pick some places for me to go look at, but they don’t want me just going down there looking at the entire facility. I’m not interested in having that.” Watch it:



Screenshot




Imus said that all he has received from the administration is talking points. “The Veterans Administration called me — they keep trying to cherry pick a couple of situations you have that you are doing what you are supposed to do. Don’t think that is going to shut me up, because it’s not. So just save your breath on all that stuff. It’s annoying and it’s insulting and it’s a waste of time,” he said.


Email the Walter Reed Public Affairs office, and tell them to let Don Imus tour the full Walter Reed facilities.


Digg It!


Transcript: (more…)

(Via Think Progress.)

Flame First, Think Later: NYT on why we act like jerks online

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Xeni Jardin:



Image: Penny Arcade.

This New York Times story on the psychopathology of flame wars has -- surprise! -- generated much heated discussion around the internet:

John Suler, a psychologist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., suggested that several psychological factors lead to online disinhibition: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online authority figure. Dr. Suler notes that disinhibition can be either benign — when a shy person feels free to open up online — or toxic, as in flaming.


Over on Metafilter, user scblackman rounds up links to some related web references:

What's behind those flaming hot e-mails or UseNet flame wars or MetaFilter comments?. Perhaps, as John Suler suggested, there are a number of factors, including dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection (altered self-boundaries), dissociative imagination, and minimzation of authority, as he discussed in his fascinating 2004 paper.

Link to that MeFi thread, in which several commenters said the NYT article reminded them of the timeless comic above.

(Via Boing Boing.)