Over The Edge – Dan Rosenbaum's random musings

Now, *That’s* an SUV…

From CNN: BUTLER, Pennsylvania (AP) — The sport utility vehicle that rolls out of the Ibis Tek shop looks just like those driven by millions of soccer moms. But with a flip of the switch, out of the sunroof pops weaponry ranging from a .50-caliber M2 machine gun to an MK-19 40 mm grenade launcher. […]

The Jewish World of Superheros

From Mitch Wagner: DOES THIS MEAN ALL JEWS ARE THEREFORE SUPERHEROS?. “A debate for the silly season.” Teresa notes that all superheros, unless specifically stated otherwise, can be assumed to be Jewish. “This is an insight of Paul Krassner’s. He explained once in an interview that when he was a kid, he figured all superheroes […]

Ziff Lives To Publish Another Day

After extending its “final” deadline no fewer than four times, Ziff Davis has gotten the requisite 95 percent (actually, it’s 95.1 percent, at last count, thank you very much) of its bondholders to agree to swap their bonds for cash and equity in the company. The result gives Ziff an extra $30 million in breathing room […]

Udell on Weblog Privacy

More on the security/authorization piece from earlier today, below. Jon Udell is one of the smartest technology writers out there, though you may never have heard of him or read his stuff, because he works the techier side of the street, at Byte Magazine and now Infoworld. He wrote a fine piece yesterday about why […]

A Business Model for the Paid Online World

A very good piece in Fast Company (and, hey — when’s the last time you heard anyone say that?) about what we at NetGuide used to call Revenge of the Empire. No one knew just when the free ride on the Net would end, but even in the earliest days, everyone knew there was going […]

Good Customer Service is Its Own Punishment

When the Trade Center towers went down last year, they took with it a link between the city’s Municpal Credit Union and the ATM network it uses. The bank’s data apparently was safe, but there was no way to tell who had how much money in their account at any given time. As a convenience to […]

Weblogs Need More Security

It’s like I said a few weeks ago: this weblog thing is neat, but if it’s going to be a real business tool, some authorization/password tools have to be invented. Casual readers won’t know this, but there are some pretty sophisticated technologies behind his weblog. For one thing, every item I write here is automatically […]

WTC Re-Development Deal Forming

It’s been a particularly interesting weekend for the redevelopment of the Ground Zero site, with all relevant parties cautiously approaching a deal. The WTC site is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is controlled by the governors of the two states. There’s never-ending tension within the PA over which […]

Not Soon for Rail to Javits

The estimable Glenn Fleishman complains about mass transit to the Javits Center. Sez I: As a New Yorker who both drives and takes mass transit, I feel your pain about the Javits Center. Some comments: Your fond reminiscences of taking the T to the Boston MacWorld are, well, mis-remembered. The World Trade Center is nowhere near […]

Russian Crime Boss Ordered Olympic Skating Fix

Remember the froofraw about the Russian and Canadian ice dancing teams in the Salt Lake City Olympics. Now comes a story that the whole thing was masterminded by a Russian crime boss better known for drug dealing and illegal arms sales. Apparently, though, he also fixed Moscow beauty pageants as a sidelight. And they say guys don’t […]