What is a Gadget? How about a Gadget Against Redirection?

There are numerous definitions as to what a gadget is and what gadgets are. As one can read at sites such as the Wikipedia, a gadget can be nearly any device having a useful specific purpose and function.

Gadgets are popular as Engadget and Gizmodo demonstrate, two of the leading gadget websites.

We ourselves would never regularly read Gizmodo, however, because - without our express permission - that website redirects our entry of gizmodo.com to gizmodo.de just because we live in Germany and use a German-language OS, which is really none of the business of Gizmodo.

We consider such redirection from a specific entry of gizmodo.com as an Internet address - without the user's consent - to a German Internet address, to be illegal.

Engadget, on the other hand, takes us directly to Engadget.com when we enter that into our URL address line whereupon Engadget then correctly offers us the choice of the German page if we want it.

In our opinion, some lawyers could make lots of money by bringing class actions against those websites which force illegal redirection of users to any website other than the one that they expressly entered into the URL address line. Redirection without consent is simply one form of fraud. Arguing that in this case that there are good intentions behind this redirection is of no consequence. As a general principle of law, redirection should not be permitted without the user's consent.

Download Yahoo Desktop Widgets

Yahoo calls its desktop gadgets Widgets, and they can be downloaded at Yahoo Widgets.

Download Google Website Gadgets

You can download Google Gadgets for Webpages at this Google link.

Download Google Desktop Gadgets

You can download Google Desktop Gadgets at this Google link.

Digital Culture : 66 Science Blogs

Updated November 12, 2007

Science Blogs is the largest online blogging community dedicated to science. It was created as an experiment in science communication by the Seed Media Group, an emerging science media and communications company, who write:

"We have selected our 60+ bloggers based on their originality, insight, talent, and dedication and how we think they would contribute to the discussion at ScienceBlogs. Our role, as we see it, is to create and continue to improve this forum for discussion, and to ensure that the rich dialogue that takes place at ScienceBlogs resonates outside the blogosphere."

One blog - The Scientifc Indian - even links to a simply fantastic Larry Lessig video presentation on user-generated content (UGC)... a confluence of science and law. Even if you read no further, make sure you see that video in entirety to fully understand modern "digital culture" and the major issues facing intellectual property law today.

See also particularly the Evolution Blog about evolution and creation, and examine particularly What the Dumbledore Flap Teaches Us About the Constitution citing to Harry Potter and the Framer's Intent, a scathing demolition by Michael C. Dorf - via J.K. Rowling and fictional intent - of Constitutional originalism. Dorf writes:

"Speaking at Carnegie Hall last week, J.K. Rowling, author of the phenomenally popular Harry Potter series, revealed that Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is gay. Rowling explained that she was prompted to out the fictional Dumbledore when she noticed a reference to a female romantic interest of his in a draft of the screenplay for the planned sixth Potter film.

If the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince makes Dumbledore's sexual orientation explicit, then that will settle the matter, at least so far as the fictional cinematic version of Dumbledore is concerned. But given that the Potter books, now complete, make no mention of Dumbledore's sexuality, Rowling would not appear to have any authority to declare the print version of Dumbledore gay, straight or bi. Her views on such matters are naturally of interest to fans of her books, but the work must stand on its own.

These principles may seem obvious enough when considering the relation of a fiction writer's intentions to her text, but they are highly contentious when it comes to legal documents. In the balance of this column, I will explain why James Madison is no more of an authority on the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, than J.K. Rowling is on Dumbledore's sexual orientation."

Read the rest here.

Below is the list of the current 66 Science Blogs together with our comments - or not - about them, and/or including a link to a sample posting we have selected.

• A Blog Around The Clock
by the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science) who is a chronobiologist (see his recent posting on the upcoming Science Blogging Conference)

• A Few Things Ill Considered
by a software developer specializing in Artificial Intelligence applications and lot of postings on climate, e.g. Oceans are 'soaking up less CO2'
• Aardvarchaeology
archaeology, e.g. Towards a Social Theory of Sites We Haven't Found

• Adventures in Ethics and Science
inter alia the ethics of science blogging
• Aetiology
... causes, origins, evolution and implications of disease ... e.g. Bad science writing of the day: your gut bacteria make you crave chocolate
• Afarensis
Anthropology, Evolution and Science - and Send Him Your Science Links for The Panda's Thumb
• Angry Toxicologist
by a scientist in the public health sector, who rages e.g. about Over the Counter Drugs Getting More Scrutiny -- Does that mean anything?
• Chaotic Utopia
posting example, Can Science Save the Planet?
• The Cheerful Oncologist
e.g. 25 Skills Every Doctor Should Possess
• Cognitive Daily
peer-reviewed developments in cognition, e.g. Trying to lose weight? Try staring at randomly changing squares or Using international adoptions to understand how kids learn language
• The Corpus Callosum
by a psychiatrist, posting example Psychotherapy Changes Brains
• The Daily Transcript
by a cell biologist, e.g. The Cell as Art
• Deep Sea News
e.g. Monster Squid Captured on Video?
• Deltoid
inter alia Global Warming
• denialism blog
e.g. Obesity and Overweight - what do these new studies really mean?
• Developing Intelligence
e.g. Blogging on the Brain: 11/04
• Discovering Biology in a Digital World
e.g. Cultural confusion: white papers vs. peer review
• Dispatches from the Culture Wars
  e.g. CSU Civility Code on Trial
• Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge
e.g. DIY Neuro-Motor Experiments: When the Left Hand Knows What the Right is Doing
• Dynamics of Cats
e.g. Harry Potter and the Redemption of Deconstructionism
• Effect Measure
public health, e.g. Smoking in the US
• evolgen
Evolution and Genetics, e.g. Publishing Original Research on Blogs - Part 1 (thus far 6 parts to this series) - pointing to the academic world of the future

• EvolutionBlog
evolution and creation, and see especially What the Dumbledore Flap Teaches Us About the Constitution citing to Harry Potter and the Framer's Intent
• Evolving Thoughts
  philosophy of biology, posting example The library of the mind
• Framing Science
science, media and politics, e.g. 63% of Election Coverage Focuses on Strategy Frame

• The Frontal Cortex
e.g. on criminal profiling
• Gene Expression
e.g. Golden-haired Neandertals?
• Good Math, Bad Math
e.g. Mathematical Constructions and the Abstraction Barrier
• Greg Laden's Blog
life science, e.g. Open Access Bill in Congress
• Highly Allochthonous
geology, paleomagnetism e.g. A map of wonderful magnetic things
• Intel ISEF
• The Intersection
e.g. Storm World
• The Island of Doubt
e.g. Uncertainty is here to stay, say climatologists
• Laelaps
e.g. "Monogamy" is much more interesting than it sounds
• Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
birding, e.g. Birder's Conservation Handbook
• The Loom
e.g. Fall Foliage--The Backstory
• Mike the Mad Biologist
e.g. Chloramphenicol, Frogs...and Bacterial Endosymbionts?
• Mixing Memory
e.g. Animal Rights and Animal Research
• Molecule of the Day
e.g. Lutein (Halloween Carotene)
• Neurophilosophy
e.g. Exercising the brain
• Neurotopia (version 2.0)
e.g. Like primates? Tough. Kiss 'em goodbye.
• Omni Brain
• On being a scientist and a woman
• Page 3.14
e.g. Neurogenesis at Neuroscience 2007
• Pharyngula
e.g. Humanist or post-humanist?
• Pure Pedantry
e.g. Blogging on Peer-Reviewed Research
• The Quantum Pontiff
  e.g. The Quantum Pontiff Has Landed
• The Questionable Authority
e.g. The Convention on Biological Diversity non-Parties
• Respectful Insolence
e.g. The 73rd Meeting of the Skeptic's Circle
• Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog
e.g. New Blog About Academic Interviews
• Science To Life
e.g. To do or not to do?-the neuroscience of decision-making
• The Scientific Activist
e.g. DonorsChoose Bloggers Challenge Update
• The Scientific Indian
e.g. a link to the superb IP video Larry Lessig at TED
• Shifting Baselines
e.g. Is There Too Much Information?
• Signout
e.g. Science Creative Quarterly
• Speaking Science 2.0
e.g. Why Definitions of Science Literacy Matter
• Stoat
• Stranger Fruit
e.g. Today in Science (1111)
• Terra Sigillata
e.g. New pharmacy student blog: introducing Secundum Artem
• Tetrapod Zoology
  dinosaurs, e.g. A most atypical stegosaur
• Thoughts from Kansas
e.g. The Panglossian Paradigm, or as science moves forward, creationists move back
• Thus Spake Zuska
e.g. "It's Not A Kitchen Gadget, It's A Tool!"
• Uncertain Principles
e.g. Who Are You People?
• The Voltage Gate
e.g. Science Art Tuesday: Triune Is Coming
• The World's Fair
e.g. Technology and Orgasm on Film
• Zooillogix

Reposted from LawPundit.