Don't snooze, here's the news!

It's legally hip to unlock iPhones

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2197688/legal-exemption-allows-iphones

Apple and AT&T lawyers are begging alright, but have they made any filings or petitions?

The DMCA has apparently already made the case for unlocking and linking the iPhone to other networks in the form of a clause / exemption. The clause or exemption, if not successfully circumvented in the courts, could make it legal for the consumer to unlock an iPhone and use it on another network until mid-fall 2009.

Apple and ATT attorneys say the clause is defeated by another in the DMCA that rules the iPhone a copyrighted work. I know you can trademark a phone, but can you really copyright one? I dealt with copyrights and contracts as a creator, not an attorney, for 20-years and I consistently got the push back that the definitions of what constitutes a copyrighted work don't include tangible, physical products that are not themselves media.

My guess is that the iPhone does not meet copyright law definitions of what constitutes a work. If the attorneys are not copyright law specialists, they may not know that, and they may be about to find it out the hard way.

VW + I = good news or bad for consumers?

http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Apple+and+Volkswagen+Could+be+Planning+iCar+Project/article8662.htm

Take the VW and sprinkle some iLife on it and poof! The Love Bug? Maybe not, but who knows what we'll get.

Apple and Volkswagen head honchos are meeting in semi-secret working on beaucoup ideas for a new era car/Internet collaboration.

The iCar, which gets its moniker from the media, is a marriage between many media tools and a car's peripheral technologies (no, you won't have to connect to iTunes for your car to start).

Computers and CEs have been creeping into cars this millennium like never before. And it's only the beginning by a long, long shot and a wide, wide margin. Now, if only one knew which companies to invest in for the ride?

Poisonous golden frog discovered in Colombia

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070830-poison-frog.html

Researchers found a tiny, half-golden frog inhabiting 50 acres of the well-forested central Colombia region.

The golden frog of Supata has been hiding on its home turf for who knows how long (estimates and figures aren't provided in this report).

The dart frog breed is poisonous to the tummy or the touch if you have open wounds or mucous membranes. This forewarns any frog eaters or open-wound-frog-touchers.

Vista SP1 due out next year

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2003859806_microsoft30.html

As with every Windows OS, Vista has required security updates and patches. When it gets easier to offer the group as a Service Pack, you see them made available as such. Microsoft will be offering SP1 for Vista early next year.

If I can wait the new OS out until SP2 and then some, I plan to do so. That's what I did with XP. I was using Windows 98 until six months after XP SP2 came out. That Service Pack had issues, and I had issues with that. We're all better about it now though.

I think with some loving care and more RAM, I can be happy with XP for another year or two. And with the announcement of an XP SP 3 mid-year '08, I may find a way to use it even longer.

I would like to hear from folks about whether it is becoming easier to find drivers for their other software and hardware?