How Zappo's user agreement failed in court – A lot of people have an almost-mystical belief in the power of terms of service and license agreements. Courts generally look for some minimal evidence that people are reading and understanding what they're agreeing to before they'll agree to enforce those terms. They also don't look kindly on agreements that allow one party to change the terms at any time, without notice or assent. The law may be an ass, but there are humans at the controls and you can't get too far from common sense before they'll intervene.
Free Foundation Trilogy Audio Books – Every now and again I have to stop and be amazed at the cornucopia of art that the internet has made instantly available to me. I remember struggling to piece together book series from libraries and stores, in a way that the web has made obsolete. I was reminded of that when I ran across this eight hour epic production by one of my favorite childhood authors, though I'm slightly afraid to listen in case Asimov hasn't aged well.
The Evil Bit RFC – The perfect antidote to endless angels-on-a-pinhead debates around web specifications (*cough* webfinger *cough*). It's way more fun to sketch the rules of a perfect world than to wrestle with the tradeoffs of an ugly one.
Unwise Microwave Experiments – Who knew you could use your microwave to create lava? I'll be trying these shortly before I move out of my current apartment.
Mind your nanoseconds – It's pretty thrilling to know that we're now doing things so fast in computing that the speed of light is becoming a significant barrier, and Admiral Grace Hopper does an amazing job turning very abstract ideas into something very concrete.
Pete Warden's blog 