Friday, March 29, 2002

WSJ.  The Napster saga continues.  Bertelsmann withdrew its $30m offer to purchase Napster (it had already loaned the company $85m!) after a fight broke out over control of the board of directors.  Basically, it looks like the Napster's VC Hummer Winblad, who owns preferred shares in Napster, and took control of the board (John Hummer and Hank Barry are directors) when Napster ran into trouble, are running the negotiations with Bertelsmann. This of course worries the founders and owners of common stock since it is likely that they will get screwed ($0) in this deal.  As a result, they voted to replace John and Hank with their own people.  John and Hank obviously disagree and the battle is on (they want the whole enchilada including any back-end money). So, unless the common gets a slice of the deal, this is going to drag out for a while.   7:58:31 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

NYT.  Very, very cool.  A brain to computer interface enables a monkey to precisely control a mouse with its mind.  >>>Dr. Heetderks said he expected the animals to learn to control the cursor mentally. "But the speed and quality with which the monkey learned to control the movement of the cursor was a surprise," he said. "It was minutes, not weeks."<<< Wow. With the addition of brain-driven keyboard input, a wireless connection, and a glasses-based display system you would have a completely killer PC (that would dispatch Palms, smart-phones, voice activated systems, etc.).  If only there was a way to capture the signals without having to do an invasive proceedure. 7:26:36 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Jake, a Lockergnomian starts a new weblog.  He is planning to build a community of webloggers in Iowa.  Hopefully with RCS! 6:57:38 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Tommy took down his article on Microsoft at the request of his wife.  I agree Tommy.  It's not worth the potential downside.   6:52:43 AM    Comment_ Trackback []