Microsoft Earth

It should be noted that I'm something of a Google fanboy, and that I'm growing ever-more-rabidly opposed to Microsoft, but even accounting for those I'm skeptical of the usefulness of MS Earth. Google Earth is already a fairly-reliable world-wide mapping system that's attached to a proven direction-finding system and a powerful search engine. Microsoft is relatively new in the online application world, negligible experience in searching and arguably no sense of finding directions. Not to mention that they only offer 15 cities to look at currently, and even after they add the proposed 5000 worldwide that's a pretty small fraction.

eGuido

This Article, describing a new service called ReputationDefender, makes me want to nickname it eGuido. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. Even as it was initially envisioned, to 'protect' children and teenagers from immortalizing potentially damaging lapses of judgment, makes me think back to a few months ago when politicians and other high-profile people were being embarrassed with compromising pictures and blog posts made by their children. It seems to me like a strong-arm tactic to ensure that Junior's indiscretions can't make mommy and daddy look bad, and feels particularly geared toward the rich and important -- a way to keep them on top even when their lack of integrity would rightly bring them down. It also feels a little counter-productive as far as teaching Junior how to behave -- when you can just pay someone to clean up the mess, why care?

I think there is something to be said about prospective employers using search engines to research prospective employees. Even at that, though, I'm not sure... I really don't believe the line "if you've done nothing wrong you've nothing to fear," but maybe if you've done something worth erasing maybe it's time you re-evaluate the way you're living your life. The only valid bit I can imagine is if you have changed your life but something in your past is so bad, so persistent, and so readily searchable that it's invalidating the changes you've made. But I'm skeptical how often that would be the case.

Anti-AIDS AIDS

This Article could offer something promising. Allegedly, scientists have been able to cripple and reengineer a strain of HIV which fights other HIV, effectively treating AIDS. The article itself seemed a bit spotty and I didn't see anywhere that really said what it was this altered virus does that helps fight AIDS (or how, if it still hijacks cells, replicates, and destroys the host cell, it's not just as bad as the regular virus), but anything that brings us a step closer to a cure is a good thing.