That’s what the makers of Raindrop, from Mozilla Labs- makers of Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird free software, aim to accomplish with their new beta software.  To take all the social sites in your life and create one aggregate feed into a browser-based website that automatically filters out the stuff you don’t want.  The idea is similar to Trillian or Pidgin for creating an aggregate of all your instant messaging protocols.  Sounds simple, right?  Or maybe just too good to be true.

It separates your spam and social networking messages from robots or applications (Farmville, for example) and other detritus from the stuff you actually want like e-mails from your mother, or status updates from your friends.  All of the other types of messages are put into special folders you can easily access from the main page should you want them!

According to their website: “Raindrop uses a mini web server to fetch your conversations from different sources (mail, twitter, RSS feeds), intelligently pulls out the important parts, and allows you to interact with them using your favorite modern web browser (Firefox, Safari or Chrome).”  Their slogan is “Open messaging for an Open web”.

We’ll see what develops and how far they take this new technology.  I, for one, would love not having to visit five sites just to keep up with all that’s going on…

The .NET Framework Assistant caused quite a stir when it was introduced earlier in this year, not because it did anything grand, mind you, but because it was installed without permission and was difficult to remove: An annoyance that most computer users took as personal offense; as an invasion of their privacy because Microsoft feels safe in assuming that they can modify your end-user experience regardless of what software you choose simply because you are using the Windows operating system.

Most users were left wondering what, exactly, this program did, and just who it reported your .NET statistics to judging by the 753 comments worth of nerd rage on the original Slashdot article.

According to the bug report, the problem lies in the Windows operating system and is available to be patched manually.  A formal Windows Update through the Windows Update program is expected to follow.  The bug was discovered three days ago and as such it is not expected to be fixed anytime soon.  There is no way to re-enable either add-on at this time, despite the fact that the problem was in the OS and not the plug-in.

The Chamber is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a formal, “on-the-record” hearing giving the Chamber and other groups an opportunity to question EPA witnesses on the validity of their rulings, a trail some are calling the “Scopes Monkey Trial of the 21st century”

Last week Nike resigned from it’s board membership and in September PG&E, Exeoln, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. all resigned their membership.

In a statement made to the press Apple said, that they “strongly object to the Chamber’s recent comments opposition the EPA’s effort to limit greenhouse gases,” the statement said. “Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in this effort.”

Treasurer Ben Westlund said in a Thursday press release that the firm’s low fees, flexibility in designing a plan that fits Oregon’s needs and willingness to put a full-time representative in the state were factors in the decision to choose TIAA-CREF for this position.

TIAA-CREF is a non-profit financial investing company specializing in retirement plans for a multitude of business and academic fields. The new management company will charge $5.20 for every $1,000 in investors’ accounts at the end of the year, the lowest fees of all the proposals, as well as Oppernheimer Funds. In addition, it will provide at least $500,000 a year to promote the plan and investment strategy.

In April, the state filed a lawsuit against Oppenheimer Funds due to their faulty management strategy, leading the state to lose $36 million in investments. TIAA-CREF, which is also hoping to assist in the recovery of the lost money, is estimated to gain the Oregon College Savings funds in around six to eight months.

The first part of the document — a stock University Licensing agreement with Russell’s name handwritten at the top in blue ink — is available here. Under its terms (based on my non-authoritative interpretation), the University can only end the agreement if it does not affect the royalties it will earn, or if Russell is unable to make products and pay for them, or if any other part of the contract is broken.

The second part of the document contains a cost schedule, signatures, and a list of the products Russell produces.

The last article is a lengthy Greg Bolt number about questions of conflict of interest among the faculty. The UO Matters blog has criticized the depth of that story.

The University ran programs for its architecture and journalism schools out of the Willamette Building in downtown Portland until 2008, when it moved them to the iconic White Stag Building. The building also housed an outpost of the University of Oregon Duck Store.

PCC paid the Oregon University System $5 million for the 127-year old building. The community college has already begun the building’s first rennovation since 1980, which will cost a further $6.7 million.

For your reference, here is the letter Step Up, Oregon! sent to Frohmayer.

UPDATE: This is a copy of the OUS policy Frohnmayer is citing.

Other developments:

• Sixty-five members of Congress have expressed concern to Russell in a letter. The list includes Eugene’s Peter DeFazio and fellow Oregon Congressman David Wu. “We urge you,” the letter reads, “to take all necessary action to ensure that any harm done to your employees in Honduras is fully remedied in a manner satisfactory to workers and their elected representatives, and that their rights to association are respected going forward.” However, the wording of the letter does not suggest that Russell has actually committed any wrongdoing. It merely states that if Russell has committed wrongdoing, it should redress it.
• Meanwhile Russell has its own letter, from the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, which is available here in the original Spanish and in a translation from Russell here.

It’s an interesting perspective on the thing. To support it, Giegerich quotes businessmen from two Oregon construction and engineering firms. The majority of students who go to Oregon schools stay in Oregon once they graduate, Giegerich and his sources reason. Larger pool of applicants for jobs at Oregon firms. More competition. Better productivity. More money. Thanks OUS? Like I said, interesting, especially as it’s not one of the voices usually heard in the campus discussion on the issue.

Students from out-of-state pay over three times as much on average as Oregonians to attend the University of Oregon ($19,941 as compared to $6,531). Giegerich writes that the number of out-of-state students at the University has increased by five percent in the last five years.