Links: Nov 10, 2005

It's like oatmeal but tastes better and isn't good for you! It's the link round-up ...

• Linux backers form patent-sharing firm--another step along the path to finding a sane solution to the problem of software patents. A lot of people are building these patent communes. I wonder when we'll find the TCP/IP of patent indemnity offerings, something that everyone can use, join, and benefit from.
• eBid launches in UK--I've been wondering about eBay lately. In the beginning you could get great bargains, but as the volume went up the market found consistent price points. It's harder to find bargains now. Is the solution to have more online marketplaces? If so, what's the incentive for listers to use them? People who list things for sale want high prices, not bargains.
• LIFT 06--interesting European conference with some big name speakers.
• Monkeygrease--server-side Greasemonkey. Lets you tweak the output of JSP components before the HTML reaches the user. This should be the killer app for Apache 2's content filters, shouldn't it--write a content filter that's scriptable in Javascript, and you've got a server-side Greasemonkey for any site. Of course, with Apache you probably have access to the source and can tweak it to emit the correct HTML in the first place.
• The Open Source WRT54G Story--mmm, commodity device hacking at its best. Those Linksys boxes are just ripe for exploitation. Nikolaj Nyholm talked about this at ETech this year, and about how he's built a business around it. Hardware's hard. So much more is possible when you can build on someone else's hard work. Update: see this interesting project to turn a Linksys into a box capable of dealing IPv6 to the home--removing the need for NAT.
• WikiCalc--a wiki in an unholy union with the demon spirit of VisiCalc. Its offspring shall roam the earth, recalculating each time they're spammed.
• Google is Building Yahoo! 2.0--another take on what Google's up to. So Yahoo! should be hiring more engineers to continuously rethink and improve their offerings? How do you debaggage? And is there even such a word?