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jammag writes "It's a perennial question, and one that Mike Elgan gives a counterintuitive answer to. Sure, there's a lack of women in IT, but the various programs to boost the percentage of women in IT are doomed to failure. The reason: if a person isn't motivated enough by complex problem solving and the other joys of tech (computers! buggy software!) than they're unlikely to be willing to put up with the general hellishness of a career in tech (long hours, industry disruption, stress) — no matter how many role models or affirmative action programs there are."
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3746501

An anonymous reader writes "US cellphone companies still try to restrict everything you do with your phones and they won't even think of supporting Linux. Meanwhile, global giant Vodafone is embracing Linux with a vengeance. Over at their developer site, a blog post makes it clear that Linux is being embraced with open source drivers for their mobile broadband cards and an active discussion group. It may not by the year of Linux on the Desktop — but it could be the year of Linux on the Laptop!"
http://www.betavine.net/web/guest/mobile_linux/blog

A review of past studies examining whether people who participate in clinical research wish to know the results has found that most people do wish to be told, even if receiving the results might cause distress or anxiety.
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/289427685/080513054836.htm

Tryfen writes "While debate rages in the USA about when a mobile carrier is open or not, Vodafone have just released Linux Drivers (including source) for their 3G mobile connect cards. The release also coincides with the relaunch of Vodafone Betavine a community resource for mobile developers and enthusiasts."
http://www.vodafonebetavine.net/web/linux_drivers

When people talk about how file sharing and giving away music for free can help promote a small time band into the big time, a common example is the band The Arctic Monkeys. The band was a true internet wonder, using file sharing to help boost attention and making the band a huge success. That's why it's quite surprising to hear that the band and its backers are now doing everything possible to prevent file sharing for its latest album. Reader Sal points us to an article saying that they're so afraid of songs being released early that music writers have to go to the band's "headquarters" to hear a preview of the album, rather than sending out copies. The article, from the Times Online, is a bit strange. It basically reads like a press release for some company that tries to monitor and stop online file sharing -- though, it's not clear if the Arctic Monkeys are using that particular service (it's implied, but the wording is written in a way that suggest they may not be). Either way, it may be a bit surprising that a band like the Arctic Monkeys would suddenly be against file sharing -- but as some have pointed out, rather than encouraging new and innovative works, intellectual property protection often comes after some have had some successes, as a way of protecting that success, rather than working hard on new efforts.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070402/210639.shtml

ellem Sophie are you excited about Christmas and Santa?

Sophie It's Halloween.

ellem No, baby it's Christmas-time.

Sophie No, it's dark. It's Halloween.

ellem Just because it's dark doesn't mean it's Halloween.

Sophie It's Halloween, Stupid!

ellem OK then, Happy Halloween.

Sophie Thank you Daddy.

capedgirardeau writes "I noticed that SparkFun has a very detailed dissection of the Wii remote with a description of all the ICs on the internal board. They even went so far as to remove the main EEPROM and squeeze out the binary information from the thing, the first step to effective hacking on the Wii-mote. This is for the serious geek who has a little electrical engineering experience or interest."