ActiveWords gets its due

My blog buddy Buzz Bruggeman's ActiveWords software must have demoed well at the DEMO 2004 show. It's been praised in both the WaPo and the WSJ. Here's an excerpt for non-subscribers: To open Microsoft Word, for example, type "word" anywhere, in any Window. Then hit the F8 function key. Hey presto, Word launches. Open the invoices folder? Type "invoices," hit F8 and off it goes. Your hands never leave the keyboard to grab the mouse, or scratch your head trying to remember what the Word icon looks like and which submenu it's in. In short, ActiveWords removes the machinery and graphics from your face. I've perennially had the problem of not being able to get Buzz any press, so I'm happy to offer some A-list newspaper links. Link to this entry Posted on 2/23/04; 10:03:44 PM

O'Reilly goes it alone

Bill O'Reilly: "This Gavin Newsom guy, like him or not, is pretty gutsy. But Newsom has made a calculation that few will stand up to him, and he's absolutely right. At this point it's me against him." Link to this entry Posted on 2/23/04; 9:15:24 AM

Copyright gone wrong

Don't hit the back button yet! Usually when a blogger mentions copyright, you know what's coming: "I can rip anything I want, and anyone who says that's wrong is a jerk." For a change of pace, Lawrence Lessig has a good story this morning about how copyright law and its current interpretation in the courts makes it hard for copyright holders not to keep their work, but to give it away: Ron Suskind wanted to make sure that the records supporting his book, The Price of Loyalty, were in the public domain so others could draw upon them to verify, or critique, his account of Paul O’Neill’s time at Treasury. In principle, the documents should be in the public domain because they were government documents. But there would always be a way for someone to argue that, e.g., the digitization created a separate right, or special marks on the document created a special right, or whatever. Link to this entry Posted on 2/23/04; 8:39:20 AM