In recent weeks, more companies have started bringing advertising to RSS feeds, the popular platforms for aggregating content from multiple sites in a single place. In the past, RSS feeds have typically been free of ads.

Gary Stein, a senior analyst at JupiterResearch, estimates that less than 10 percent of RSS feeds have ads and noted that no large advertisers have latched onto RSS-based advertising.

So far, forays into RSS advertising have not been flashy. Most ads are text-based and made to be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.

Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs, said in an e-mail that most serious blog readers use RSS regularly and that it makes sense to start advertising on feeds along with blog websites.

A federal judge ruled against Microsoft on Wednesday in a patent suit challenging "AutoPlay" technology included in recent versions of Microsoft Windows.

Judge Jeffrey White of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied three Microsoft motions for summary judgment in a suit filed by TV Interactive Data (TVI), a small Monte Sereno, Calif., company specializing in interactive television technology.

Each motion sought to invalidate TVI patents cited in the case, on grounds of prior art and other causes. White ruled Microsoft offered insufficient evidence against the patents, and the case should go to trial as scheduled.

Those who think that e-voting in the US is just asking for trouble have had their case strengthened, when a test run of the system crashed in Florida.

Apparently the system was due to be tested on Tuesday but the test had to be delayed because excessive heat caused a computer server that tabulates data from the touch-screen machines to crash.

Officials were quick to blame Hurricane Jeanne, which struck in September. They think that a stray bolt of lightning may have zapped electricity and air conditioning to the room where the server was stored, causing temperatures to soar to 90 degrees or more.

So no-one noticed that the server room had warmed noticeably in the last month since the storm and the servers only chose the day of the voting test to crash. Sounds a little odd, but in a State were Robert Mugabe jokingly offered to send troops to help restore democracy anything is possible.

Boffins and Boffinettes at Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems have worked out a way of controlling a computer without needing a mouse.

They have wired up the brain of a 25-year-old quadriplegic to a computer using 100 wires coming out of a connector stuck in his skull.

According to USA Today the system is not fool proof as it only works 70 percent of the time and more challenging games such as Doom 3 are a long way off. However the unnamed 25-year old told doctors that the device has changed his life.

The boffins have called their system 'brain gate' and the long term goal is to build artificial limbs that can learn to read signals from the brain. It could also be used in combat situations where a fighter pilot, for instance, might operate some controls just by thinking. Of course for the idea to really get off the ground, they have to work out a way of doing it without drilling holes in people's head and sticking sensors like drawing pins into people's lower cortex.

Microsoft Corp. is behind schedule in complying with a court order to document its proprietary communications protocols, according to U.S. authorities monitoring its behavior. It also plans to release the documents in a file format that cannot be annotated, and can only be used with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, they said in a report published Friday.

The plaintiffs have three main areas of concern about the documentation.

First among these is that Microsoft, asked to open up and document the interfaces to its communication protocols for licensees, has chosen to issue the documentation in a rights-protected file format called MHT, readable only with its own Web browser, Internet Explorer. This means licensees can neither annotate nor effectively search the information, according to the plaintiffs.

Contracts for Microsoft's .Net Framework require that licensees ask Microsoft for permission before publishing benchmark testing results for the framework. Since this information could be key to effectively comparing Microsoft products with those of its competition, and the license provision could be used to prevent such comparison, the plaintiffs asked Microsoft to change it. Microsoft agreed to modify it to require only prior notice from licensees of their intent to publish, so that it can attempt to reproduce the results itself. "Microsoft does not object to benchmarking of non-Microsoft software against the .Net Framework," it said in the report.

Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human. They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking "superorganisms," highly complex conglomerations of human, fungal, bacterial and viral cells.

The scientists concentrated on bacteria. More than 500 different species of bacteria exist in our bodies, making up more than 100 trillion cells. Because our bodies are made of only some several trillion human cells, we are somewhat outnumbered by the aliens. It follows that most of the genes in our bodies are from bacteria, too.

The Imperial College research demonstrates what many -- from X Files stalwarts to UFO fanatics -- have long claimed: We are not alone. Specifically, the human genome does not carry enough information on its own to determine key elements of our own biology.

There's grim news for people who worry that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. A new mathematical formula has proved Murphy's Law really does strike at the worst possible time.

But now a panel of experts has provided the statistical rule for predicting the law of "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" - or ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)).

Project psychologist Dr David Lewis said: "The lesson from this is that, to cut the seemingly unbeatable Murphy's Law gremlins down to size, you need to change one of the elements in the equation.

"So, if you haven't got the skill to do something important, leave it alone. If something is urgent or complex, find a simple way to do it. If something going wrong will particularly aggravate you, make certain you know how to do it."

Major movie studios and record labels on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Grokster decision, which had absolved peer-to-peer networks of responsibility when their users download copyright material without permission.

"There is no reason the Supreme Court should review the Grokster decision," said Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a public-interest advocacy group. "That case was based on the principles established in the 1984 Betamax case, which has lead to the largest and most profitable period of technological innovation in this country's history. Consumers, industry and our country have all benefited as a result."

"What if millions of people a day were entering other peoples' homes and stealing property in the U.S.?" asked Motion Picture Association of American President and CEO Dan Glickman in announcing the petition. "How would citizens react? The fact is, every day copyrights are violated in similarly massive proportions over peer-to-peer networks such as Grokster and StreamCast.... Now is the time for the courts to review these businesses that depend upon violation of copyright."

Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied and turned over the requested servers, effectively removing those sites from the internet.

Since the subpoena was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia, the reasons for this action are still unknown to Indymedia. Talking to Indymedia volunteers, Rackspace stated that "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the concerned parties on what is happening.

The last few months have seen numerous attacks on independent media by the US Federal Government. In August the Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the NYC IMC before the RNC by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the FCC shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI requested that Indymedia takes down a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue.

Tuesday's release of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" to DVD is getting special treatment at online discount shop Overstock.com, but it may not be the type of attention the director would appreciate.

The Web merchant is promoting the DVD release of the most commercially successful documentary ever right alongside a relatively unknown one called "Fahrenhype 9/11," which Overstock describes as "a new documentary that challenges the assertions of Michael Moore in his highly publicized film."

The anti-Moore film features interviews with Fox News Channel commentator Dick Morris and three speakers from last month's Republican National Convention--actor Ron Silver, former New York mayor Ed Koch and Georgia Sen. Zell Miller. The film, which its makers insist is nonpartisan, has not received much play in theaters.

By contrast, Moore's film, which is critical of the Bush administration and its drive to wage a war in Iraq, is an award-winning documentary and the first to top the $100 million mark at theater box offices.