Back online.  Gleaned from the news, it looks like the blackout protest is an initial success, with SOPA delayed for retooling and the White House coming out against it as it currently stands.  Its demise is no certain thing right now, though, so the pressure must continue against U.S. lawmakers.  Here's hoping they do right by the American people.

The site will be going down shortly, a bit premature but in support of the Jan 18 Internet blackout, protesting the railroading of the PIPA and SOPA laws through the U.S. congress.  These laws, supposedly created to curtail piracy and copyright infringement, pass unprecedented and unreasonable powers to authorities to shut down websites and seize IPs merely on the accusation of piracy or the linking to what is conceived to be such.  They are too broad and dangerous, and their loose language  will have a chilling effect on innovation and free speech on the web.

64 Turns 30

The venerable Commodore 64 turns 30 this week, having been first introduced to the world at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The C64 had a profound impact on two industries.  Not only did its low price ($525 at retail, compared to $1200 plus for the base Apple II model) further Apple's work at popularizing the computer for home use, the C64 became an incredibly prolific video game platform, on which many future game programmers cut their teeth.

It was a quirky system, especially the enormous 5140 floppy drive accessory, which was nearly the size of the computer itself, about 4 times the weight, and often seemed like it was going to shake itself off your desk while accessing information off 5 1/4" disks.  Despite this, the Commodore 64 became one of the most popular single computer lines ever, selling over 22 million units.

Although the 64K of internal memory in the C64 seems infinitesimally small, this powerhouse helped change the face of computing.