The suit continued Friday with arguments before the judge on a case in which Apple demands that several web sites disclose the sources from whence they obtained allegedly protected information. The three sites that were sued supposedly released information about upcoming Apple products that could only have been obtained by some person breaking a confidentiality agreement. The sites seek to use California laws that permit established media to protect confidential sources. Of course the main stream media would also seek in most cases not to leak protected information … or would they? A decision is expected this week or next to our understanding. There is a pretty good write up about Friday’s arguments on Mercury News.

Ebay completed it’s purchase of Rent.com this past month. Imagine the possibilities, you find your next apartment, furnish it on Ebay and pay for it with Paypal. What is next, a plumbing service?

Gmail is an aggressive free email service that has been tested for quite some time by Google. To date, the only way to get a Gmail address is to be invited by another user. When we were first invited to join, we were given seven invitations. Interesting, because the spread of Gmail is similarly like the game six degrees of Kevin Bacon, where players try to figure out how one actor/actress played in a movie with another who played in another with a different actor and within six steps have reached a movie in which Kevin Bacon appeared. If I have only seven invitations, and I give them out, how long before every web user has one? What makes it more interesting is that every time you use one, you get another soon. Now, they have increase the number of available invites to FIFTY and they continue to replenish.

So what does this mean? It means if you want one, you got one, just use our contact form and we will get one out to you. And some think it means a move towards taking the experiment out of the beta phase and into production. Maybe. The concept is simple, give lots and lots of storage, allow you to search your email easily (have you ever wondered which of your various accounts you used for something and had to go looking? I have), and bring you relevant advertisements which are not overly obtrusive. I hope it is financially viable for them because it works quite well.

A C|Net article reports that Apple obtained a preliminary ruling that bloggers who disclosed possible trade secrets are not entitled to keep the source of that information private and confidential. The traditional press has long fought this battle to keep sources confidential. Some state laws provide protection for the press, but this case may suggest similiar protections are not available to blogs. The issue will continue to ripen because many blog sites take on a very press like quality, complete with levels of editors, advertisers and the like. Meanwhile, some mom and pop small town newspapers may be less professional. Interesting times.

Segway released a couple of new models, including one for golfers and other off road riders, in it’s 2005 line. They are also now starting to offer color. Unless I had a job that required me to cover a lot of space or bad legs, I don’t see myself enjoying one of these. They do however allow many people to work more efficiently. Google apparently has several and some consider it one of the ultimate geek toys.

At least not for any of the reasons sited by Scott Granneman in his March 3, 2005 article: Where is Google Headed? As the bad guys start using Google more and more, the company wrestles with some new security and privacy issues with AutoLink.

Scott suggests that Google should somehow stop bad guys from exploiting sites with security flaws, giving an example where Google stopped the activity after just ten hours. Ten hours! That isn’t a very long time for something that was unknown until the day it hit. If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns as the old saying goes. Likewise, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Google didn’t do anything wrong. The authors who created the security problem did. Bad things happen to good people sometimes. That is just life.

He goes on to question the ethics of Autolink, something that only works with Internet Explorer thus far, adding links determined from term searching the page. As he points out, it only works IF EVERY TIME the reader manually hits the autolink button (thereby indicating he wants the auto links.) Google is not rearranging the page, changing the text, or doing anything else untoward — it is doing what the reader asks, providing other possibly relevant links.

I need better examples than these to convince me Google did anything wrong on these issues.

A hacker gained access to the ApplyYourself system that handles admissions applications for Harvard, Stanford, Duke, MIT and other similiarly successful business schools. Apparently some students for whom a decision had been made were able to get a preview of the decision. The schools apparently see the previews as an ethical breach sufficient to warrant a reversal of the admissions. I wonder if it has occurred to them that a possible source of the hacking instuctions might be someone hoping to displace other students? Read the AP story for more details.