Reader Pseudonym contributed this review of the visually dense tome The Art of the Matrix. I spent an hour with this coffee-table-size book a few weeks ago, and even though I'm not a big fan of the film itself, the book made me appreciate it a lot more. If you did like the film or know someone who did, I recommend it, even for the art alone. WARNING: May contain spoilers for the film. But you wouldn't be reading this review if you hadn't seen it already, would you?

Golgo_13 writes: "Spindl3top released their latest community-generated Blackbird source today, pooling together some of the coolest free software-friendly components. Highlights include the project's ultracool trademark black cube, SMP with dual PIIIs @ 1GHz, SCSI @ 10000RPM, a Matrix-Orbital LCD panel (with lcdproc), a ThermoEngine (or optional Watercooler), and an ultra quiet PS from Enermax. Aside from being an ubergeek dream, it's for a good cause. They are selling them here for less than $2500 and all proceeds are being used toward Spindl3top going nonprofit. Since Spindl3top and the FSF have joined hands (first mentioned here by Lucas) to create the official, noncommercial GNU hardware/free software database, this is a very important cause IMHO."

ford23 writes "CNN has a story on Hollywood and how it portrays Hackers to the public, and how the view on them has changed as the issues of hacking have evolved. Listed and discussed are 9 movies that have had the most effect on the image of hackers, WarGames and The Matrix naturally included." Tragically they also included The Net. At least Real Geniuses offsets it.

d0om asks: "I'm curious if there is a program that allows one to view a graphical, three-dimensional representation of data, much like in the Matrix concept in the book Neuromancer where you have a grid of different blocks of data, all presented visually. I'm curious if anyone can recommend anything of this sort to me."

What can you really say about Steven Seagal's Exit Wounds that everybody doesn't already know? It's genial, and horrendously-acted (cept for DMX); the story line is absurd; the writing is mindless. It's also fun. There's no point in wasting much time discussing this predictable action film, except that it does suggest something far more interesting: the exit of the Hollywood Superhero. Technology is the Superhero now. (Read more.)

zosa asks: "I'm looking for a resource that details which cell phone makers use which processor cores in their different cell phone models (and any other hardware details if possible). It seems you can get some details on the IC vendor's sites (TI, ADI, ARM etc.) but it is hard to find out the details of who is using what processor core(s). In addition I know that not all of the cell phone makers develop there own software. Maybe someone here knows of a place where I can find a matrix of manufacutrers, models, software developers and CPU/DSP cores for the cell phone industry (one can dream)."

The Hacker Ethic is a brilliant book.Written by young Finnish philosopher Pekka Himanen, with contributions in the same volume by Linus Torvalds and Sociology Professor Manuel Castells, this little book blows away the myth that getting important things done requires stodgy and outmoded forms of organization, or a slavish devotion to work. Just the opposite -- Himanen demonstrates with modern and historical examples that there's a sea change underway in the way that work happens. (Read More.)

So, I'm sitting here half-watching the Super Bowl and admiring some of the new commericials. So far, I think that the E*trade Monkey with Horse ad has been really good, as has the Kasparov vs. The Machines - the accenture and cingular ads have been, IMHO, as bland as Wonder bread. That, and the Cingular icon looks like a bold color version of the X icon, or something. The E*Trade Matrix rip-off ad was good as well - but with one quarter left, I'm not as impressed as in past years. What do you folks think?Update: 01/29 06:29 PM by H :Check out AdCritic's Superbowl site.

wirehead_rick writes "Imagine 'The Matrix' style special effects for the replay of sports action. Being able to see a 360-degree stop action view of that receiver's foot on the line in the end zone." USA Today covers some whiz-bang video technology being debuted in the Super Bowl.

If you seek updates this evening, you're in luck. Below, we have some additional information for you on: the state of the dot-com-economy; more information (and a link to a very neat site) about your private bar-coding adventures; more about the bad things that can result from farming out your spam prevention; and the threads being plucked ungently from the fabric of the Matrix sequels. Enjoy.

Below: More comments spawned by Jon Katz' columns on the events in Colorado. These words speak for themselves.

jopasm writes "The Matrix sequels may be in trouble. They've had one of the major actors pull out due to scheduling conflicts and Keanu is rumored to have broken his ankle while in training. Scifi.com is carrying the rumour/style. " Yes, Michelle Yeoh ^[?] (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has pulled out - but the other part to remember is that SAG ^[?] will almost be certainly going on strike, delaying production in any case.

First of all, Merry Christmas Eve. Can't think of a better place to be. As for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, round up all the women and teenaged girls you know who thought Charlie's Angels was awesome and take them to see the real thing, perhaps the greatest and most beautiful kung fu movie ever made. "Crouching Tiger" makes The Matrix's martial-arts choreography seem primitive.

Way back in October we solicited ideas for Christmas presents for geeks. This was done with Wired, and the results appear in the current issue (the lime-green colored one: unless you're blind, you can't miss it. You'll only be able to find the first copy, tho). The authors' money will be a nice Christmas present to the EFF. Thanks go to Paul, who did all the really hard work compiling the final list from all your ideas. Now read on to see the list.

There's almost no political discussion offline about the fuzzy boundaries between human and other "lifeforms" -- clones, cyborgs, mutants, AI. That topic has mostly fallen to Hollywood, which has taken up the issue in a series of movies -- Blade Runner, Gattaca, The Matrix, X-Men. Some of these movies are masterpieces. Some, like "The Sixth Day" are less ambitious. They are just entertaining. (Note: As some of you have noticed, we're doing a regular Sunday tech culture column devoted to certain movies, TV programs, music and books with tech themes.)

Senor-D writes "Shigeyuki Sandou, a LEGO minifig creator from japan, has built multiple scenes from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" using LEGO minifigures. it can be found here in English or here in Japanese. He also did scenes from "The Matrix", they can be found here."

wonko writes: "IBM has begun shipping new monitors that are as much as 12 times sharper than current displays, and 4.5 times sharper than HDTV. These new 22-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays use aluminum-based technology and have over 9 million pixels. IBM will soon be licensing the technology to other display makers, so you could soon see these screens in laptops, PDAs, cellphones, etc. Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard ..." This is the same high-definition display you read about here earlier. They are not yet in CompUSA, to put it lightly -- first examples are going to Lawrence Livermore -- but the trickle-down effect in a couple of years is promising.

Until this week, I've been unconvinced by those who say the U.S. election process needs to be conducted with computers instead of paper, pencil, and punchcards. I've changed my mind. It's time to take a good hard look at our ancient voting system, and bring it up to date. When today's 14-year-olds go to vote in the 2004 elections, will they still take the pencil from the volunteer, slide the punchcard into the molded plastic, and turn the weird knobs? Or will they use the technology they've grown up with?

Okay, here (as a refreshing break from all the political stuff) is what amounts to one of the most lucid primers on software development management I've ever seen, contained in NEdit leader Mark Edel's answers to your questions. If you ever expect to lead an Open Source project (or a closed source one, for that matter), you need to read this from start to finish, possibly even print out a copy and read it over and over. Great stuff!

mach10 writes: "An article here shows that a scientist has been able to create fibers that collect ambient light, strong enough to power a dotted matrix for display. It can reach 30 times ambient light, and they are soon hoping to expand the area to replace signs on roads. Hrm ... But my sundial watch still doesn't work in the dark =\" Add this to some ultra-efficient light source (like white LEDs?), a low-power processor, human power and some solar cells, and most of my requirements for portable computing happiness would be met.