Baracko Still Bigger Than Jacko

I stole Greg's headline because it was so good. Take that!

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Newspaper Web sites had some hiccups Tuesday because of a crush of traffic related to Michael Jackson's memorial service. The Internet as a whole, though, didn't seem to suffer.

(snip)

Keynote says it took up to 18 seconds to load the home pages of some of the 16 major news sites it tracks. The average time increased to 5.5 seconds from 4.25 seconds. Keynote didn't identify which sites were hit hardest.

The company says overall Internet performance wasn't seriously affected by Jackson-related traffic.

That's unlike the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January. Live streaming of that larger event brought the performance of many sites to a crawl.

Orthodox Jews launch Koogle, the kosher way to surf the net

Okay, not sure if this is a joke, but the site really is there. Obviously I don't know Hebrew, so I can't do a search and see if it really works.

Religiously devout Jews barred by rabbis from surfing the Internet may now 'Koogle' it on a new 'kosher' search engine, the site manager said yesterday.

Yossi Altman said Koogle, a play on the names of a Jewish noodle pudding and the ubiquitous Google, appears to meet the standards of Orthodox rabbis, who restrict use of the web to ensure followers avoid viewing sexually explicit material.

The site, at www.koogle.co.il, omits religiously objectionable material, such as most photographs of women which Orthodox rabbis view as immodest, Altman said.

(snip)

Nothing can be posted on the Jewish Sabbath, when religious law bans all types of work and business, Altman said.

'If you try to buy something on the Sabbath, it gets stuck and won't let you,' he said.

Fact Check Weekly

Your info dose of what crazy lies are flying around the intertubes.

Q: Did Obama issue a policy that "no U.S. serviceman can speak at any faith-based public event"?
A: This claim in a chain e-mail is false. Army officials say there has been no change in policy regarding "faith-based" events. And the event the e-mail refers to wasn't a "faith-based" one.

Q: Would Senate bill 2099 put a yearly $50 tax on each privately owned firearm?
A: There is no such bill. A chain e-mail containing bogus claims refers to a bill that died more than eight years ago.

Obama expected to announce 'cyber czar' position

I think he's supposed to be speaking about this soon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama is expected to announce Friday the creation of the position of cyber czar, a person who will coordinate the nation's efforts to protect government and private computer systems from hackers, criminal gangs, terrorists and spies, people familiar with the plan said Thursday.

The czar will report to both the national security adviser and the head of the National Economic Council, the sources said.

(snip)

In addition, the White House will release a 40-page report that sets broad goals for combating cyber intrusions, but does not spell out in detail how to do so, said the sources, who would not agree to be identified because the report has not been released.

Diane Feinstein Trying to Kill Net Neutrality

Make the phone calls, this would kill, literally kill blogs like this.

According to The Register Diane Feinstein is trying to add language to the stimulus bill to allow for ISP throttling. Using the 'reasonable network management' euphemism, she tried to attach this to the broadband section. While this has been removed, she still plans to try to put her amendment back in committee. Rep. Waxman is also listed as supporting the amendment.

"This is the most backdoor of all the backdoor ways of doing things," Public Knowledge's Art Brodsky told The Reg. "Conference committees are notorious for being the most opaque of all legislative processes."

Please contact Senator Feinstein and Rep. Waxman to let them know you support Net Neutrality:

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501

Rep. Henry Waxman
In Washington, D.C.
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-3976 (phone)
(202) 225-4099 (fax)

In Los Angeles
8436 West Third Street, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 651-1040 (phone)
(818) 878-7400 (phone)
(310) 652-3095 (phone)
(323) 655-0502 (fax)

Obama Keeps His Blackberry

Yeah!!! Party for the Pres!! I couldn't imagine having to do without the modern electronics.

Marc Ambinder reports President Obama will get to use a Blackberry -- with a new "super-encryption package" -- for "routine and personal messages" to his friends and family.However, "it's not clear whether he yet has the device."

Poll- Women would rather give up sex than internet

I seriously wish you could see the look on my face.

(CNET) -- Just how reliant are you on the Internet?

Nearly half of the women questioned by Harris Interactive said they'd be willing to forgo sex for two weeks, rather than give up their Internet access, according to a study released Monday by Intel, which commissioned the survey.

While 46 percent of the women surveyed were willing to engage in abstinence versus losing their Internet, only 30 percent of the men surveyed were willing to do likewise.

The U.S. survey, which queried 2,119 adults last month, found that the gap grew even wider for both men and woman who were 18 to 34 years old. For woman, the percentage of those willing to skip the sheets in favor of the Web rose to 49 percent, while it climbed to 39 percent for men.

And for women 35 to 44 years old, the figure jumped to 52 percent.

Held Hostage By The Time Warner Cabal

Just to let you know that Gotta is, gasp, unable to access the intertubes due to the vagaries of Time Warner Inc. She will be back as soon as she beats them into submission

PC premiered 40 years ago to awed crowd

Think of all the things that this demonstration brought to the world.

(12-07) 19:24 PST -- Little did the world realize 40 years ago that a San Francisco stage was featuring the first public glimpse of an invention that would revolutionize not only our daily lives but also our ability to solve the world's problems.

An audience of about 1,000 people had witnessed the premiere of the personal computer.

The Dec. 9, 1968, unveiling of the primitive device with a mouse and interactive screen - in a now-legendary demonstration by its inventor, Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute - drew a rousing, standing ovation from the computing cognoscenti who recognized the significance of what they had just seen.