Whatever next? Sony releases Linux for Playstation 2. According to reports, the “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” Release 1.0 kit includes:

• Internal hard disk drive for PlayStation 2 (HDD) with 40 GB capacity
• Network Adaptor (Ethernet) (for PlayStation 2) with 100 Base T Ethernet interface
• Linux Kernel version 2.2.1 (with USB device support)
• “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” Version 1.0 software distribution on two DVDs
• gcc 2.95.2 and glibc 2.2.2 with VU assemblers
• XFree86 3.3.6 with PlayStation 2 GS support
• Computer monitor adaptor (for PlayStation 2) (with audio connectors)
• USB Keyboard and mouse (for PlayStation 2)

Now all we need is Linux for the X-Box!

“A collaboration between Cambridge and MIT, given £65.1m by the government, has so far underwhelmed academia with its achievements. Where is the money going?” So says a sceptical piece in today’s Guardian. But since the article claims that Dr. Gillian Evans is a member of the University’s Council (elementary schoolboy mistake), one wonders how well-informed it actually is.

Saying the federal government isn’t doing enough to ensure consumer privacy, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has sent an open letter to the attorneys general in all 50 states to stop what it claims are Microsoft’s unfair and deceptive business practices surrounding the company’s Passport service. Computerworld story here.

This is an experimental posting made from my Psion via a mobile phone! Just pushing the envelope!

“Distance education threatens the privacy of students and professors because online class discussions can be monitored in ways that are impossible in traditional classrooms, argues David Noble, a history professor at York University, in Toronto, and a well known critic of technology. ” From a useful review by Jeffrey R. Young of David Noble’s new book, The Digital Diploma Mill. In the light of the security-panic which has been triggered by September 11 in the US, this is something for anyone interested in academic freedom to worry about.

Well, I’ve made my contribution to the Dave Winer retirement fund and now am a fully paid-up Radio user. First time in ages that I’ve not resented paying for software.

This is a test posting — by email!

Found a good source for general information about the Weblogging phenomenon. [More.]

‘The term “Nasdaq”, it seems, has entered the language as a verb. It means to crash, or slump. “His quarterback rating”, The Denver Post wrote of a footballer recently, “has Nasdaqed”‘. From a Financial Times review of John Cassidy’s book about the Internet bubble — Dot Con: the greatest story ever sold .

There’s a new online publication — The Free Software Magazine. Foreword by You Know Who. The mag is earnest and well-intentioned, but not the world’s slickest read. And there’s a whiff of the collective navel-gazing one often sees in embattled or evangelical groups. But then most mags need time to settle down.