Month: <span>June 2002</span>

NYT: Puncturing Web Ads Before They Pop Up. “Last September, a German company called MediaBeam released a program that lets Web sites block visitors who use anti-ad software — the first anti-anti-ad software. Within days, a 25-year-old German programmer published instructions for defeating MediaBeam’s blockade, in effect inventing the first anti-anti-anti-ad software. Predictably, MediaBeam responded by announcing version 2.0 of its product, designed to block the blocker’s block of ad-blockers. It’s going to be a long millennium.”

Time to switch to Lynx?

NYT: Xerox to Restate $1.9 Billion in Revenue. “Accounting manipulations by Xerox had “enormous impact” on its reported financial performance, the SEC said in April. The agency also alleged Xerox’s senior executives quashed objections auditor KPMG LLP. At the same time, the executives were making millions of dollars in bonuses and sales of personal stock at inflated prices resulting from the fraud.”

It’s a sad day for bass players like myself. NYT: John Entwistle, Bass Player for the Who, Dies at 57. “John Entwistle, the quiet, efficient bass player who co-founded The Who and helped it become one of the most dynamic and successful rock bands in history, was found dead of an apparent heart attack Thursday in his Las Vegas hotel room. He was 57… The Who was to play at the Hard Rock Hotel-Casino on Friday, the first date of a three-month, nationwide tour. That show and another scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles were canceled.”

Entwistle made a big impression on me musically. He was one of the first rock bassists to “open up the tone control” and really be heard. His solo on My Generation was groundbreaking, and aside from Paul McCartney, I have a hard time thinking of a more influential rock bassist.