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Sun: Java will be free this year

The only element that's left now is actually a sound-related component within Java. We finally decided that the vendor that's involved there just isn't going to play ball and we're rewriting the code from scratch. That's going to be done within the next couple of months."

Phipps says Java is expected to be completely free within the coming few months. "I'm expecting that certainly by the end of this year and hopefully sooner we'll have all of the source code for Java under the GPL", he said. - ZDNet Asia

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AP says it will set its own, "clear," fair use standards

The AP has sent an overreaching letter asking the Drudge Retort to take down quotations of its content, backpedaled, then announced it will propound its own version of fair use on all of us. We'll see what they come up with, but the chances are it will be a similarly overreaching.

Field Guide to Firefox 3

We're done. Firefox 3 is going to be launched very soon. In anticipation of this long-awaited event, the folks in the Mozilla community have been writing extensively about the new and improved features you'll see in the browser. The new features cover the full range from huge and game-changing to ones so subtle you may not notice them until you realize that using Firefox is just somehow easier and better. The range of improved features is similar - whole back-end systems have been rebuilt from scratch, while other features have been tweaked slightly or redesigned in small ways.

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Why is Apple Scared of the Free Market with iPhone 3G?

Disclaimer: I’m an Apple fanatic. I love its hardware, I love its software. I’ve evangelized the Mac platform to my friends, family and coworkers and I’m directly responsible for “switching” at least a dozen of them since becoming a believer myself in 2002. So, after you read this post, don’t try to claim I’m an Apple hater, because nothing could be further from the truth.

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NYT Editorial Supports Copyright Rationality in Sports

The New York Times has a nice editorial today on the Supreme Court’s denial of cert to the MLB’s claims to own fantasy baseball. That leaves the case where the Eighth Circuit did, saying that fantasy leagues created around major-league baseball facts are fair game, not the property of MLB. Great to see a major new outlet weighing in against the expansionary claims:

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Incipient Intellectual Property

We talk a lot about the ways intellectual property stifles innovation once it attaches — the patent thickets created when dozens of companies claim rights to parts of the same widget-process, the hindrance to free expression and commentary posed by copyright clams to political imagery or culture — but lately, I’ve been wondering about the burdens of incipient intellectual property: when the vague promise of some potential future IP right causes people to share less and develop less value than optimal.

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Pipes

Pipes really does allow you to "aggregate, manipulate, and mashup" the web. This tool is so powerful its hard to even begin scratching the surface. Create aggregated rss feeds for... goods or housing in your area, news from around the web, price alerts from auction sites, and anything else you can think of! If you ever wanted to dabble in programming, but didn't want the code thing to get in the way, here's your chance.

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