24 Ways, domain squatters, and more

Drew McLellan has gifted us with the first article for 24 Ways, which is a sort of advent calendar for web developers — subscribe to the feed and learn something new every day until Christmas. Day 1 is a quick introduction to doing AJAX with my beloved prototype javascript library and PHP.

Joi Ito explains the methods of domain squatters. This is interesting. I did not know that there is a five day refund period when you purchase a domain name, something that allows squatters to collect ad metrics for free before buying, say, microsopft.com.

Bill Harris posts a summary of the MIT Emerging Technology Conference written by one of his readers. Topics include Negroponte’s hundred dollar laptop, nanoelectrics, the state of science education in the US (It’s not good — Dean Kamen laments here that more students graduate with degrees in sports management than engineering of any type.), and the obligatory wild-ass ideas about technology changing society from Ray Kurzweil and others.

This one is not like the others: Watch this nice goal from van Persie against Blackburn on Saturday. What a marvelous shot! However, before we begin calling him the next Dennis Bergkamp, Persie will have to have to make a play as good as what I call The Touch.

Crespo’s tap-in is worth watching as well.

Finally, this Goldeneye mod for Half-Life 2 is probably the most legal thing I’ve ever seen.