Tuesday's Tiny Dancer

Time for ToIP: tech news over IP. Skype for Linux is out. Bilbo Baggins returned to Bag End on this day in 1342 (Shire reckoning). Charles II established the Greenwich Observatory in 1675. The doughnut was invented in 1847. The voting age was lowered to 18 in 1970. Florida bans the thong in 1990. The first American born world chess champion, Paul Morphy, was born in New Orleans on this day in 1837. The voice of Boris Badenov, the Haunted Mansion, and the Pillsbury Doughboy, Paul Frees was born in 1922.

1. The EFF, Sun Microsystems, the Consumer Electronics Association, Gateway, Intel, and the Baby Bells along with many others are throwing their support behind a new bill from Virginia Representative Rick Boucher to re-write the Digital Millennium Copyright act. The bill would make it legal to circumvent copy protection as long as no violation of copyright occurs. The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act would allow the FTC to regulate CD copy protection as well. Time for Congress to read Cory Doctorow's brilliant speech on why copy protection doesn't work, is bad for business, and is bad for society.
2. Long live the 45. Universal is debuting a new Pocket CD format in Britain. The three-inch CD is big enough to carry a couple of songs and ringtones. The record company is also abandoning CD copy protection in Germany, citing consumer dissatisfaction.
3. The US Army is building a new supercomputer based on 1,566 dual-processor G5 Macintosh computers. Mach 5 will cost $5.8 million and will be used by the Army to model the complex aerodynamics of hypersonic flight.
4. Never recharge your laptop, PDA, or cell phone again. New portable fuel cell technology will make it possible to plug in little methane cartridges to keep your device running. MTI Micro Fuel Cells will announce their new Mobion cells this week. Duracell will sell the replacement cartridges just in time to power my wearable cell phone. The FAA has yet to approve fuel cell use on airplanes.
5. Cablevision is offering its three million New York City customers cable TV, high-speed Internet, and unlimited long-distance VoIP phone service for $90.