http://cordblomquist.com Libertarian Geek Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:10:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en View my page on Bureaucrash Social Bureaucrash, the activist arm of CEI, has started a new social network called, you guess it, Bureaucrash Social.  After only 30 hours we have nearly 250 members, which isn't a bad start.  Facebook wasn't built in a day and what some members are already ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=133 Lately the good folks at Bureaucrash have really been giving us a lot of cool tech related podcasts. Last week they brought us an interview with Cory Doctorow. This week a guide to online privacy. Topics include: Email Encryption The Onion Router (TOR) KeePassX TrueCrypt Pidgin & OTR Plugin for Pidgin Adium Incognito Listen to it ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=120 Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: def. monopoly Exclusive possession of a market by a supplier of a product or service for which there is no substitute. In the absence of competition, the supplier usually restricts output and increases price in order to maximize profits. How does this possibly apply to Google?  Google hasn’t decreased ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=121 None other than Sci-Fi author, civil libertarian, blogger, activist, and TLF commenter Cory Doctorow drops in at the Bureaucrash Podcrash (that’s a podcast for “crashers”) to discuss his new book Little Brother. Austin Grossman’s review of the book for the New York Times remarks: An entertaining thriller and a thoughtful polemic on ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=123 “Buzz Out Loud,” one of my favorite podcasts, disappoints me from time to time, specifically when the good folks at CNET decide to bash broadband companies and call them “jerks” and “evil.” So goes Episode 809 of Buzz Out Loud.  Molly Wood, Jason Howell, and guest host Don Reisinger declare AT&T’s ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=122 Yes, this is my second question mark-festooned post of the day, but it’s another title that calls for being phrased as a question, because it’s so unbelievable that anyone said it. Turns out, a McCain adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, was struggling to prove that McCain has what it takes to tackle our ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=124 The Washington Post reports today on a trend that I thought we all knew about, but one I’m glad the mainstream media is finally realizing.  It turns out that people who play video games are not just virginal teenage boys with acne problems.  No, even 20-something, attractive women play video ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=125 To follow-up on my post from this morning I should note that Google Chrome immediately asks you  which search engine you’d like to use upon installing, conveniently providing users with a chance to use something other than their default search engine and dodging potential complaints about the browser from Microsoft. Speaking ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=126 Google is entering the browser wars today (if any such war still exists) with the launch of Chrome, its new web browser.  I’m glad to see more competition in browsers as I think—and I hope everyone else agrees with me—that Firefox is the only real game in town. I know ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=127 Declan McCullagh has a great write-up on presumptive Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden over at CNET.  Some highlights: Biden was one of only four Senators invited to a champagne reception with Jack Valenti for his work on the DMCA Surveillance legislation by Biden inspired Phil Zimmermann to write PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), ... http://cordblomquist.com/?p=128