So are the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Medals the coolest ever, or what, eh?
The Medals themselves include a small percentage of metal reclaimed from end-of-life electronics recycling - a first for Olympic medals, and typically Canadian for recognizing that everything's political.
There are 2 styles, the regular round shape, and the squared Paralympics medals.
The native design on the medals is accredited to Corrine Hunt, and the entire design and production was a collaboration between VANOC's in-house design team, internationally renowned industrial designer, Omer Arbel, the Royal Canadian Mint, and Teck Resources Limited.
The Abalone/mother-of-pearl effect is awesome. Cool design!

PS. Click the images to check out an awesome Hamatsa song on Corrine Hunt's website

"The issue with Flash-Cookies is not whether they be good or bad - for the most part they're a helpful tool - but the fact that many companies are using them semi-clandestinely, knowing that most users have no clue that "flash-cookies" exist and persist on their computers."

To check how many Flash-cookies are on your computer – and there's probably a lot – go to Macromedia Settings Manager and scroll through the list.
To control Flash-Cookies get the BetterPrivacy Plug-in or use the Macromedia Settings Manager.

Original Report at: Social Science Research Network
So you think you cleared the Cookie cache on your browser? They're not tracking you? Think again! The insidious tracking of web users' activities reaches new levels of sophistication every year. The current favorite of some of the web-giants is the Flash-cookie. Modern browsers come equipped with privacy controls to protect users from the prying eyes of commercial and institutional interests. Yet, every time software vendors implement new security and privacy features, web companies find newer, more sophisticated ways of circumventing those protections. To wit - Flash-Cookies.

Ever heard of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter?
It's not a new book, it was published some ten years ago, has been widely read, and, for most part, was well received.

The book was so successful that Kiyosaki licenced his name to Whitney International, to be used in a series of financial self-help seminars and workshops.

These seminars have come under fire as nothing more than sales sessions designed to up-sell more expensive seminars and workshops in which nothing of real value is taught or learned.

CBC's Marketplace took a closer look at the current series of 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' based "Learn to get Rich" seminars which are being hosted throughout major Canadian cities. The report is less than favorable.

Photo by NeoSpire@FlickrThe WorldWideWeb is a very public place. Information about its users is one of the most valued commodities for companies looking to profit by it.
Modern operating systems and web-browsers matured to keep pace with the evolving nature of the Internet, and so have the data-miners who are always watching and tracking our movements and interactions on the web.

Panopticlick is a new web app recently launched by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to help us gain a clearer understanding of how we're being tracked and recorded as we surf the web.

This weeks technology buzz is focused almost entirely on Apple's new iPad. Rants, critiques, raves, and reviews – it's even in the national news. What a great scam! How many other companies' products are featured on prime-time news? Few if not none. Well, this week the trumpets heralded the arrival of the new iPad, (the 21st Century's answer to the Etch-a-Sketch).
And what was the great fanfare about? Is it some revolutionary new technology? A new "killer-app" that will shave hours off' your work day, or an entirely new way of accessing the burgeoning Internet information super-highway?
No, it's none of the above. The single most interesting news about the iPad is that it will retail at prices starting as low as $499.00.
Bam! There it is! You can acquire this marvelous new piece of the Apple-tosh techno-toy for a mere $499.00.
Here's a quote from Peter Jeffrey's most excellent Wall Street Journal write-up: