Since no studio could possible make a movie as simple or original as the "Blair Witch Project" any longer, they're blaming the success of the movie on the Net, calling it the "first Internet movie. Wait a minute... It's a great movie, but is it worth the cover of both "Time" and "Newsweek?" The hype is getting scarier than the movie.

Red Hat is now worth serious money. Exactly how much changes hour by hour. Check the Red Hat Wealth Monitor for up-to-date information. This page is by no means anti-Red Hat, and it has a bunch of commentary on it that's well worth reading. We also got some excellent comments about the Red Hat IPO from professional investors Jay Roseman and Frederick Berenstein of The Linux Fund, and a perceptive note from "an anonymous insider" (he'd lose his job if we published his name) that may help put Red Hat's IPO in perspective -- and serve as a cautionary tale for other Linux and/or Open Source-related companies that decide to sell stock to the public. (Lots more below.)

Matthew Priestley has taken a break from slaving for the man to write us a piece where he takes on the convential wisdom that Security through Obscurity isn't secure at all, and tries to argue that sometimes it is. Click the link below to read it. Lots of interesting stuff and some good examples. Its worth a read.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is so worried about technology, culture and kids that it wants to ban TV for small children, restrict access for all kids and start recording media histories of all the young. Even pedes are muddling technology, truth and medicine against a horrifying backdrop of bullets flying all over the country.

By Hollywood standards, the "The Blair Witch Project" is shockingly Lo-Tech, employing none of the expensive techno-tricks that increasingly overwhelm movie after movie. But the BWP, thumping expensive hi-tech competitors like "The Haunting" and "Deep Blue Sea," uses technology brilliantly, if minimally, in its making and marketing. Here's to a new Lo-Tech genre in cinema.

Stewart Rosenberger has written an interesting piece about what the success of Linux means for the users out there who are currently using it. Will it mean that the pioneers will move on to other places? Is this already starting-rather then Linux fragmenting, the user base fragmenting? Click below to read more-it's well worth it.

Columns last week on Ticket Booth Tyranny drew well over a thousand e-mail messages, mostly from kids (including many of those ushers) enraged at theater chain restrictions, posturing and hypocrisy, and scrambling to buy DVD's and build home theaters. The entertainment industry seems not to grasp the strong message that digital technologies give kids lots of choices. They can't wait to make them.

So like many of us this weekend, I saw the Blair Witch Project this weekend. I thought about writing a full blown review, but have opted against it. I enjoyed the movie a lot, but I'd really rather solicit comments on the movie. I do ask that anyone who wants to put spoilers in their comments try to warn people before they read anything that might spoil the movie. But what did you guys think of it?Update: 08/02 08:34 by H :FiNaLe wrote to say that August 2nd, at 9pm Eastern, on irc.scifi.com in #auditorium the Directors of The Blair Witch Project will be talking.

Albert Hybl is an Associate Professor of Biophysics at the University of Maryland who believes traditional scientific publications are often controlled by editorial cliques that don't necessarily select the best or most original articles available. He says that Open Source, Internet-based scientific journals are the wave of the future. Jon Katz touched on this subject last month. Today Professor Hybl tells us exactly how "Slashdot-style" scientific e-publishing could gradually replace the old way, even though, he says, "this will put a lot of Journal publishers out of business, and they're going to do a lot of kicking and screaming before they go."

Part Two: Time to fight back against ticket booth tyranny. Some ideas for circumventing fake piety, including making Labor Day "Take a Geek Kid To A Restricted Movie Day". This could be an annual event in the ascending Geek Nation.

Well, Morrigan seems to have had a bad week. He sent in this interesting first-person tale of network woe at 0:dark:thirty. It's here to greet you this morning so that anyone in a similar situation can give Morrigan a big "right on," and those who simply use the network instead of maintaining it can gain a little insight into how hard it is to keep it working.

Technology is overwhelming journalism when it comes to stories like the death of John Kennedy Jr., his wife and sister-in-law. Increasingly visual, techno-driven media distort reality, drown out all other news and information, and pump manipulative, highly emotional imagery continuously all over the globe.

Like it or not, the FCC and other government agencies make decisions every day that affect the way the Internet works. Don Weightman is a Washington, DC attorney who is currently in the middle of the ongoing regulatory dispute over who controls the "last mile" of online access in the USA. Don's strong words make it unlawyerly obvious which side he's on, but the only disclaimer he asked us to add was, "The following opinions are mine and not my clients'."

Forget about dirty pictures. A discouraging government study shows a rapidly widening gap between Americans whose use computers and the Net and those who don't, despite cheaper computers and easier Net access. The difference is money, class, race and education.

Matthew Priestley has written an excellent essay on News in the Slashdot Decade. It talks about how The Internet is changing the way that news moves about, and discusses problems and advantages related to it. Interesting its a really excellent piece.

This week, Amazon debuted its new toys and electronics departments. Jeff Bezos newly-revealed vision for the allegedly hip, once-revolutionary website has been revealed: a tacky online K-Mart. You're as likely to see a Pokemon critter or digital camera as a book there these days. Is this what all those investors were counting on? Get on over to Fatbrain.com immediately and sign up because the new Amazon sucks profoundly.

Michael Crawford has written a feature on the recent trend towards integration and what it menas to us as the trend continue. Its a nice little summary piece of something that has been happening in the industry lately.

A reader who has asked me to post his feature anonymously has written up the recent events surrounding a Conflict within the development of an Open Source package. It talks about what happens when egos collide over Free Software. Its a true story, but with the names and versions changed to protect those involved. This is a real problem that I'm sure many of us have seen on mailing lists before. What do you think?

Last week an Internet "deliver groceries to your door" company called Webvan, based in Foster City, California, announced a $1 billion deal with international engineering and construction giant Bechtel to build distribution centers in 26 U.S. markets. But Webvan may be planning to deliver much more than food.

The music industry claims to be re-taking control of the distribution of digital music, after battering by MP3's, rogue bands selling music directly on the Net, the posting of of music files online and on-line audio sites with vast archives and libraries.

Don't bet on it.