Ian Lamont writes "MySpace is preparing to boost its advertising systems, by launching a targeted ad platform called HyperTargeting and creating a Web-based system that lets vendors purchase ads without dealing with human sales teams. HyperTargeting will 'look at a person's interests listed on their public profile and then classify the user into particular interest-specific categories.' MySpace claims that early tests resulted in a 300 percent increase in the number of ad click-throughs. The company apparently learned a lot from Facebook's earlier experiences with Beacon — MySpace members will be able to opt out of HyperTargeting, according to the company."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We've written about all sorts of crazy things that software companies do in their EULAs (End User License Agreement), but it really says something about how ingrained the concept of an EULA has become that malware companies are starting to offer such draconian EULAs on their products (found via Ars Technica). Among the more amusing features of the EULA is a guarantee to buy any future upgrades. How's that for lock-in? Of course, EULAs are barely enforceable as is, and when you're selling to scammers and crooks they become even less so. Most EULAs are backed up via the power of copyright law, but that obviously doesn't work in this case. So how are the malware authors enforcing it? In typical organized crime fashion: with threats to destroy everything else you've got. Specifically, if it catches anyone violating the terms, it promises to send their botnet code to various antispyware companies -- effectively handing over the location of their secret hideout to the malware police. Who knew that honor among thieves now has taken on an EULA angle? Of course, we already know that almost no one reads normal software EULAs, so I somehow doubt that the online scammers using this software are bothering with the fine print either.

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eldavojohn writes "The design director of NYTimes.com, Khoi Vinh, recently answered readers' questions in the Times's occasional feature 'Ask the Times.' He was asked how the Web site looks so consistently nice and polished no matter which browser or resolution is used to access it. His answer begins: 'It's our preference to use a text editor, like HomeSite, TextPad or TextMate, to "hand code" everything, rather than to use a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) HTML and CSS authoring program, like Dreamweaver. We just find it yields better and faster results.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Megan McCardle ponders the future of amateur blogging and wonders if we're seeing a transition to a world in which most high-traffic bloggers do that as their day jobs, and the line between amateur and professional becomes sharper. Megan actually points to two trends that seem mutually exclusive. On the one hand, she says that almost all the economics bloggers (which is her area of focus) she knows have been snapped up. On the other hand, she wonders if we're getting to the point where it's a lot more difficult to "break in" to the blogging profession. But clearly these can't both be true. If media organizations have snapped up all the good bloggers in a given category, then there's presumably pent-up demand that could be satisfied by any ambitious amateur who can prove herself to be up to the task. The great thing about the blogosphere is that you don't need a "big break." You just start writing, and if your work is good enough, other bloggers eventually notice you and start reading you.

But don't professional bloggers have an unfair advantage because they can do it all day? There's certainly some truth to this, but it shouldn't be over-stated. Lots of people have white-collar jobs that allow them to take blogging breaks on a regular basis. And it's not necessary to churn out 20 posts a day in order to build up a strong readership. If you can do one or two really sharp posts each day, that's likely to be enough to get people noticing your work. Moreover, having a day job often gives a blogger unique insights. One of Techdirt's contributors, Tom Lee, is a working web developer, and I think this is clearly reflected in the technically-savvy posts he contributes to the site. One of the great strengths of the blogosphere is that it's not limited to people who sit around blogging all day.

But the most important thing to keep in mind is that "breaking in" isn't really the point, and probably never will be. As I'm sure Megan will agree, blogging is not a good way to get rich. People almost always start blogging as amateurs, and they blog first and foremost because they enjoy doing so. Someone who didn't enjoy blogging simply couldn't bring themselves to devote the amount of time it takes to build up a widely-read blog; there are much quicker and easier ways to earn some extra cash. On the other hand, if someone does enjoy it, it doesn't matter too much if they "break in" because it's a fun hobby whether they're getting paid for it or not. I don't think this is a temporary artifact of blogging's early days; it's likely a permanent feature of the Internet's democratization of communications. There will always be a large number of amateurs creating online content and a smaller core of professionals, with a relatively fluid line dividing the two.

Timothy Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Timothy Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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Ron Guilmette writes "As reported in the Washington Post's Security Fix blog, a substantial hunk of IP address space has apparently been taken over by notorious mass e-mailing company Media Breakaway, LLC, formerly known as OptInRealBig, via means that are at best questionable. The block in question is 134.17.0.0/16, which I documented in depth in an independent investigation. (Apparently, the President of Media Breakaway has now admitted to the Washington Post that his company has been occupying and using the 134.17.0.0/16 block and that front company JKS Media, which provides routing to the block, is actually owned by Media Breakaway.) Remarkably, the president of Media Breakaway, who happens to be an attorney, is trying to defend his company's apparent snatching of this block based upon his own rather novel legal theory that ARIN doesn't have jurisdiction over any IP address space that was handed out before ARIN was formed, in 1997."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rob Hyndman writes in to let us know about yet another person trying to use libel laws to get content taken down that isn't libelous at all. Apparently, the head of the Canadian postal service, Moya Greene, got upset at a satirical blog post on the blog of the postal workers' union making fun of Greene for joining the board of directors of Tim Hortons, the well-known doughnut shop. The union blog post put together a mildly amusing "Top 10" list of reasons why Greene had joined the board, including such things as "So she (or her driver) doesn’t have to get in line to get her morning coffee." Har har. So, it's not all that funny. But, it's difficult to see how it's libel. And, of course, by invoking The Streisand Effect, it seems like all Greene has done is suggest that she doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

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Bob Harris, author of an amazing book about his experiences on Jeopardy! called Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy!, returned from Chile and emailed a bunch on interesting photos to his friends. He kindly gave me permission to post a few of them on Boing Boing. (Click on thumbnails for enlargement).

There are two species of pudu, Northern Pudu (pudu mephistopheles) and Southern Pudu (pudu pudu). These are pics of pudu pudu, perhaps the most fun to say of all species names.

Pudu are the smallest deer species on earth. (There are smaller critters that look deeroid, but they're not.)

It's the mascot of my own site, Bobharris.com, which has a Friday pudublogging section where most weeks I post a new pudu pic that I've either taken myself or received from readers.

A student at Purdue once tried to start a movement to change the school mascot from the boilermaker to the pudu, so they would be the Purdue Pudus. This did not succeed.

These pudus have been hit by cars or wrongly adopted as pets, so without Fernando, they probably wouldn't have survived. When people in these parts hear of such things, they bring the pudus to Fernando's hideaway, where they live out their days with space, safety, food, and comfort. Sometimes they even make babies.

Dibs -- your new way to eat ice cream.

You mean, all over that woman's face and neck, while she passively mimes pleasure as the ice cream pelts her at high velocity?

Yes, this would be new. Usually I just use a spoon.

And our Final Jeopardy clue today is:

These Mediterranean girls had the custom of going up nude on the roof so the influence of the moon would increase the size of their breasts.

Clearly, I have been playing Jeopardy! in the wrong country entirely. Unfortunately, none of the contestants gives the correct response.

I'm 95% sure on my translation, but I can't swear to it. My Spanish is not yet fluent.

Jess Stover says:

I'm a filmmaker in Los Angeles at the helm of project ARTEMIS ('Artemis Eternal') a short, scifi-fantasy film currently in preproduction that is professionally-led, community-funded, cross-platform and supported by an audience of Wingmen who accept the challenge to create a better professional model for film production, distribution and exhibition. Here's a 2-minute clip.

You may have seen us on YouTube Film, MySpace.com main, CurrentTV.com' top 8, io9, and the Globe & Mail... The project is noted for its advanced presentation and packaging and the involvement of many high-profile crewmembers such as celebrated computer artist Greg Martin, who I collaborate with frequently from development to delivery.

We've had tremendous community support already, ranging from Fortune 500 companies like JetBlue (who altruistically has contributed free airfare) to independent craftsman like a renown master bowyer in Hungary to Wingmen who have been working directly with me on various parts of the project.

And, thanks to the Wingmen, everyone can access what we accomplish without a login or payment and we continue to deepen the content each week and add new ideas to the project map on the official site.

This is the best time to come into the project. We are completely prepared to shoot: Everything is booked and packaged and will happen quickly from this point forward. Budget-wise we're halfway there and are looking for the rest of our Wingmen to help us cross the finish line.

The story of the actual film is about questioning what society expects of you and what we accept as normal. Everything we're doing with the overall project fits and explores that theme. As BoingBoing readers ourselves, we're looking forward to sharing the project with other like-mindeds. We won't succeed without you.

Twitter the project & use it to coordinate: Link

Tumbleweed writes "The Cross Platform and Interop team at Microsoft today announced some new beta products for managing Unix/Linux systems from MS Operations Manager 2007, as well as connectors for HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console. Both betas are available at Microsoft Connect (search for systemcenter), according the blog."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

bushleague.tv is a yet-to-be-launched internet video show produced right next door to where we make Boing Boing tv, at the studios of internet video firm DECA. The Bush League people are pretty crazy, and they're fun neighbors to have.

Anyway, tonight at at 5pm LA time, they -- specifically, this one guy on the show named Jim -- will attempt to break a gaming world record by playing the new edition of Grand Theft Auto (GTA IV) for over 25 consecutive hours. That's a lot of whores and cars! I understand they've even hired a real-life nurse to stand by in case the guy like, dies or whatever.

A live-cast video feed (and twitter updates) will be at bushleague.tv. I hear a bunch of friends from G4 TV will be in the house. Allison Kingsley from Bush League bought a ton of flowers to counteract the anticipated olfactory menace of eau de wargamer (I am so not kidding).

There's a teaser about their show on the site now, and the live feed will start promptly at 5pm. Bush League is an entertainment site aimed mostly at dudes that launches next week, on May 8th.

The lawsuit of Atlantic v. Howell got a ton of attention late last year when some folks, including the Washington Post, misinterpreted an RIAA filing to suggest that the RIAA had claimed that merely ripping your CD to your computer was file sharing. While the RIAA may actually believe that (and has made other statements to that effect), the filing in this case did not say that at all. Instead, it clearly stated that it was the combination of ripping the CD and putting the music into a shared folder that made the songs no longer "authorized." It was simply yet another version of the RIAA's theory that "making available" is the equivalent of distribution for copyright purposes. Still, based on this theory, the RIAA asked for summary judgment against Howell. The court has now come out with a detailed and well reasoned decision completely rejecting the RIAA's "making available" theory, highlighting why it does not appear to be supported by copyright law. It's worth reading if you're interested in this stuff. Either way, the RIAA isn't getting its summary judgment, and the case will proceed later this year.

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Wall Street Journal reports that Mazda decided to destroy "approximately $100 million worth of factory-new automobiles" that had been shipped on a tanker that tilted on route to the US.

The freighter, the Cougar Ace, spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, before finally being righted. The mishap created a dilemma: What to do with the cars? They had remained safely strapped down throughout the ordeal -- but no one knew for sure what damage, if any, might be caused by dangling cars at such a steep angle for so long. Might corrosive fluids seep into chambers where they don't belong? Was the Cougar Ace now full of lemons?

Link

hweimer writes "Remember the heat the Linux Foundation took for allegedly not giving enough attention to Desktop Linux? The latest events at the Foundation's annual summit paint a different picture. Industry heavyweights like Dell, HP, and Lenovo 'announced on stage that they will now include wording in their hardware procurement processes to "strongly encourage" the delivery of open source drivers'. The move specifically targets desktop and mobile products."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Just a reminder: tonight's the Toronto book-launch for Little Brother, my latest novel! It starts at 7PM at the Merril Collection (239 College St., east of Spadina).

BakkaPhoenix books will be selling books at the event, and they're also happy to take pre-orders for custom inscriptions -- CDN$19.95 for the book, plus $9 and GST for shipping in Canada, $15 to the US, $20 to Europe, and $25 to the rest of the world (BakkaPhoenix: 416 963 9993, inquiries@bakkaphoenixbooks.com). Link

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In Atlantic v. Howell, the judge has totally eviscerated the RIAA's theories of 'making available' and 'offering to distribute.' In a 17-page opinion (PDF), District Judge Neil V. Wake carefully analyzed the statute and caselaw, and based on a 'plain reading of the statute' concluded that 'Unless a copy of the work changes hands in one of the designated ways, a "distribution" under [sec.] 106(3) has not taken place.' The judge also questioned the sufficiency of the RIAA's evidence pointing towards defendant, as opposed to other members of his household. This is the Phoenix, Arizona, case in which the defendant is representing himself, but received some timely help from his friends. And it's the same case in which the RIAA suggested that Mr. Howell's MP3s, copied from his CDs, were unlawful. One commentator calls today's decision 'Another bad day for the RIAA.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.