Gregory Heller

Month: November 2005

  • Bush takes a page from the west wing

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    gregoryheller

    <p>Well, [l:http://nytimes.com/2005/11/29/politics/29bush.html?hp&ex=1133326800&en=8ed882717b3b0cd8&ei=5094&partner=homepage|from the sound of it], Bush was catching up on his [l:http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing|West Wing] viewing while down at Crawford for the holidays. <i>(I tried to find the episode on immegration reform to link to but NBC's website sucks)</i> Anyway, since traipsing around the globe talking about trade issues didn't distract American't from the increasing violence…

  • Google and Privacy

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    gregoryheller
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    This is a good op-ed from the NYT about Google and privacy. People love google and seem to ignore the fact that they are pretty bad on privacy, with tracking cookies, saved search history, merky privacy on google desktop serach and then the “never delete your mail” gmail pitch. I heard someone from EFF talk…

  • The Disutility of gift giving

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    gregoryheller

    <p>My brother talks about this all the time. He doesn't like gift giving (or getting) that much. And I can relate. Often times you get stuff you don't want, or spend all together too much time buying things for people that they do not want either.</p> <p>[l:http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2005/11/28/PM200511287.html|This is a great little commentary from Market Place]…

  • Donating the Advertising revenue your eyeballs generate

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    gregoryheller
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    I just saw this article on DailyCandy.com about GoodSearch.com/ GoodSearch is a search engine, now powered by yahoo that donated profits from advertising revenue to the charity of your choice. GoodSearch has a goal of donating 50% of revenues to charity, however in the fine print there is a caveat about a lower percentage in…

  • A New Battelfield: Ownership of Ideas

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    gregoryheller
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    Noel pointed me toward this article in the Internaltion Herald Tribune about intellectual property. I have pulled out just a few quotes below: “In certain cases,” said Elsa Lion, an analyst at the London research firm Ovum, “technology companies are beginning to realize they have more to gain by releasing patents to the general public…

  • Sony / BMG shoot own foot with DRM

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    gregoryheller
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    Just saw a snip on the Black Friday Morning News about the Sony / BMG DRM fiasco (apparently Sony wasn’t sure that installing spyware on their cusomters machines was a bad thing). Anyway, some “industry analyst” made a comment that I hadn’t thought of: “Sony just gave kids another reason not to buy CDs and…

  • Workshop on iNames

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    gregoryheller
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    Kaliya Hamlin just pointed me towards this: Invitation to learn more i-names and datasharing using XRI and XDI by Andy Dale on the afternoon of Monday December 5th. Who will find this workshop useful? Those who want to have data from web-based applications (i.e. transaction processing, membership management) as well as basic forms (i.e. registration,…

  • ActivistCash.com goes after progressive organizations

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    gregoryheller
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    I just wanted to carry this over from my personal blog. Dan pointed this site out to me, and I felt the need to share with others…. ActivistCash.com goes after progressive organizations – I am a big fan of sunlight. I believe it makes the best disinfectant. And there is nothing wrong with sites like…

  • Congestion Pricing NYC

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    gregoryheller

    <p>I have been meaning to write about this for over a week. After the election, the NYT ran an [l:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/nyregion/11traffic.html?emc=eta1|article on the NYC Partnership's working group on congestion pricing NYC streets]. The article (or rather the Partnership) forced the freshly re-elected (and term limited lame duck) Mayor into a bad spot, and the administration [l:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/nyregion/metrocampaigns/12congestion.html?emc=eta1|shot…

  • Wanna build a house with me?

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    gregoryheller

    <p>Obviously, not going to happen in NYC. But wouldn't it be nice to have a house outside of the city? In the "country" somewhere? Well, my friend Hope mentioned [l:http://www.alternatives.com/cob-building/what.html|Cob] construction to me. It is the process of building with an earth/sand/clay/straw mixture that allows you to really "sculpt" the structure. Durable, eco-friendly, and the…