Through a series of bizarre circumstances, I have installed Skype on one of my computers. And then something occured to me…

If there’s anyone important enough to talk to, I’ll call them on a regular telephone.

So other than that, what good is Skype? I await your comments…

The terrible attack that injured ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt is, of course, terrible, but it not only shows the risks of covering the war zone in Iraq, but the foolishness of news organizations sending out anchors to cover stories they are ill-prepared to handle. Look, I’m not picking on the guy who got hit by an explosive device, but the news anchor shouldn’t be “parachuting” into a story…the whole point of the anchor is to tie together the news of the day - all of the news of the day - not to pick some macho story and cover it as if they have a bloody clue.

This nonsense is going to eventually kill someone for no good reason; and, frankly, it is beginning to make news organizations from the television networks to NPR look foolish, and as amateurish as the local stations who keep experimenting with standing newsreaders up in front of a blue screen. (Maybe it’s to keep them awake; I can’t think of another good reason for them to stand up while reading a teleprompter…)

Anchors should sit down at the desk and do their job, instead of trying to do the job of the reporter as well. Anything else is a ratings stunt that serves no one.

From Boing Boing: StarForce threatens to sue me for criticizing its products

The short version is, one of the bloggers at Boing Boing mentioned a particularly insidious copy protection produced by a Russian firm and used in some PC games, and didn’t hold back that this software could cause device driver problems particularly with CD/DVD writers. The braniac who is the self-proclaimed (and clearly misnamed) Public Relations manager fires off a letter telling the blogger that StarForce is going to sue, and also that he contacted the FBI about the “harassment.”

What made me laugh is that Cory Doctorow is a Canadian who is currently living in London. Wonder what the FBI could do about it even if it did rise to the level of harassment, which it clearly does not…