Kevin Kelly: the first human/Martian hybrid?

Interbreeding between humans and aliens is a recurrent theme of science fiction – and late night talk radio. But could an example we’ve unearthed from near San Francisco, California, prove to be the first living example? Scientists have been able to identify human DNA for over 40 years. And here at The Register, we have … Read more

Tales from the Google interview room

The mailbag: On a phone interview six or seven years ago for Google- I have a PhD-level resume and a string of major innovations and discoveries to my credit–the interviewer asked questions like, “What is the C-language command for opening a connection with a foreign host over the internet?” My (wrong) answer: “Look it up … Read more

The DIY encyclopedia

Who can fail to love the can-do spirit and have-a-go enthusiasm of Wikipedia? When the site found itself in need of copyright-free illustrations, one user simply generated his own. We were alerted to this cockle-warming tale via a Something Awful forum, where member Stick_Fig, sets the scene like this: A group of users has decided … Read more

Now you know: Blogging is ‘un-Christian’

Blathering on blogs is un-Christian, an Evangelical church has warned.

“Blogging has become a socially accepted practice – just as are dating seriously too young, underage drinking and general misbehaving,” notes the monthly of the Reformed Church of God, Ambassador Youth.

Blogging “often makes the blogger feel good or makes him feel as if his opinion counts – when it is mostly mindless blather!” notes Kevin D Denee.

“People will now do and say things that should only be done in private, or, frankly, should not be said or done at all,” rues Denee.

“Propriety, decorum and decency are not elements considered on blogs. People simply blurt things out, without considering the contents or consequences.”

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Do Artificial Intelligence Chatbots look like their programmers?

George the AI chat bot

Do pets eventually resemble their owners? Or do owners get to look like their pets? It’s heck of a conundrum – but one we might now be a little closer to solving. For the past fortnight it’s been hard to escape the animated faces of “Joan”, or “George” the graphical representations of what we’re told is a new breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence. TV and newspapers, both highbrow and lowbrow, have flocked to report on the chatterbot. You can talk to Joan (or George) – the output of the British software project Jabberwacky – and think it’s human!

Er, almost.

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Addicted to antitrust, Microsoft outlines 12-Step Recovery

Antitrust addict Microsoft has outlined a 12-Step Recovery Program, which it says will help prevent it from lapsing back into anti-competitive practices in the future.

The declaration follows three major “interventions” in fifteen years. A 1991 investigation by the Federal Trade Commission resulted in a Consent Decree signed in 1995. A 1997 investigation by the Department of Justice, joined by a number of US states the following year, resulted in a conviction and settlement in 2002. And just last month, the EU rejected Microsoft’s claim that it was complying with a 2004 antitrust settlement.

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Meet the Jefferson of ‘Web 2.0’

If Google’s PageRank reflects the “uniquely democratic nature of the web” – and if weblogs are the most empowering technology of our age – then how can we begin to fete a humble entrepreneur based in St Paul, MN? Very probably as the Gutenberg of the digital age. And the Jefferson. All rolled into one. … Read more

‘Lightweight, high-velocity and very connected’

At ZDNet, it’s Microsoft’s “Pearl Harbor”! Forbes screams, “Google’s office invasion is on!” Only it isn’t – and we have the founder’s word for it. As we reported yesterday, Google has paid an undisclosed sum for a web-based document editor, Writely. It’s a product that seems as mature as the company which produced it, Upstartle. … Read more

‘Take out a subscription to The Register. Then cancel it, and sign it Disgusted Wikipedian’

An early taxonomy of excuses. Mostly variations of “It’s the user’s fault.” “He who feels punctured must have been a bubble – Lao Tsu A funny thing happened last week. Author and broadcaster – and veteran OpenOffice user – Andrew Brown wrote a piece in The Guardian a fortnight ago demolishing some of the more … Read more