links for 2009-07-30

"The committee’s vote was 13 to 6, with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina the only Republican joining the panel’s 12 Democrats in voting for the nomination. The action cleared the way for a Senate floor vote next week for Judge Sotomayor, who would be the 111th justice to serve on the Supreme Court, the first Hispanic and the third woman."

"To say it clearly: Microsoft does not enter a market unless it’s important, huge and on the way to becoming even bigger. Microsoft is the buy sign, not the sell sign. The people at Microsoft are brilliant and not to be underestimated–history has shown this to be true." It's down to Microsoft and Google in terms of the major search engines.

"Regardless, we are certainly committed to continuing to innovate on the user experience of search all across Yahoo! and on continuing to engage with the developer community on several fronts, opening up leading audience experiences and data to third-party innovation. In that context, SearchMonkey can add a lot of value to how we help people get the most out of search and out of Yahoo!. Over the next several months we'll determine what makes sense with our developer offerings and provide information when available." Yahoo provides no details on it's search API's.

"The Obama administration says it will release Mohammed Jawad, who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp since 2002. Earlier this month officials admitted that there was no military case for Mr Jawad's continued detention." Another wrongful imprisonment.

"AT AN EVENT to show off upcoming Christmas goodies, Microsoft let slip to the INQ that Windows Mobile 6.5 is to be re-christened Windows Phone." Why Microsoft, Windows Mobile had good brand recognition and mostly positive.

"Iranian opposition leaders have vowed to attend ceremonies to honour those killed in the violence following the country's disputed election result. Authorities have refused permission for a ceremony traditionally held 40 days after a person's death."

"The Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility in Chile has taken the sharpest pictures yet of Betelgeuse. The star, which famously sits on the shoulder of Orion, is positioned some 640 light-years away and is one of the brightest objects in the night sky."

"Although genocide and homosexual acts are both sins, in man's economy–and my own belief system–genocide is a far greater sin. And although I believe that all sin represents rebellion against God, I believe that homosexuality and genocide are by nature distinct. If I were going to compare the Holocaust to another sin in terms of its gravity and evil, it would be to abortion." You are a moron.

"Anyone wondering who got the better deal today (my detailed thoughts later) need only look at the stock movements of Yahoo and Microsoft. Yahoo dipped 12.08% to $15.14, knocking $2.91 billion off their market cap. Microsoft gained 1.41% to $23.80, adding…$2.94 billion to their market cap."

"About half the US population should be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus with pregnant women and health workers the top priority, US officials have said. A US government advisory committee said health officials should prepare to vaccinate 160 million people.

"A South Korean fishing boat has been towed away by a North Korean patrol boat off the peninsula's east coast, South Korean officials say. The military says the ship may have strayed north of the maritime border due to a navigation system error. It is not known how many crew members were on board the vessel."

"I had to fax a form to someone the other day. I do not have a fax machine. Had to drive over to the copy store and stand in line behind three other people, one of whom was faxing 22 pages of something. Then I had to pay $5 to send four pages. Total damage: 1 hour of my life that I will never get back and $5." Why are faxes still used?