Internet News: “New York-based ActiveBuddy has won a crucial patent covering instant messaging bot-making technology, but hobbyists and amateur developers aren’t buying the company’s claim that it invented the technology.” [Scripting News]

The Democrats and the War. The subtext to the current debate over America’s foreign policy is history in particular, the Democratic Party’s history of international engagement. By Ted Widmer. [New York Times: Opinion]

The Anger of Arab Youth. Washington needs to become a more convincing and consistent advocate of democracy in the Arab world. [New York Times: Opinion]

Ellison seeks open-source unity. Linux is making inroads against Microsoft, but to become a real threat, there must be a concerted effort to build an open-source alternative to Office, Oracle’s CEO says. [CNET News.com]

Looking at the Books, The Government Way. Where the government is scrutinizing companies they suspect of cooking their books, it does not do a good job of keeping its own books. By Richard W. Stevenson. [New York Times: Politics]

Playing Hooky? Can’t Fool a Database. Boston truancy officers trade bulky paper lists for wireless access to a student database. By Julie Flaherty. [New York Times: Technology]

MP3 Player Does Double Duty as a Spare 20-Gigabyte Drive. The Odyssey 1000, the latest MP3 player looks quite a bit like the trendy white music box from Apple, but it’s different. By Mark Glassman. [New York Times: Technology]

Gift appeal?

Whither Wi-Fi? [CNet News]

Bluetooth Shows Signs of Life [Wieless NewsFactor]

Bush Says Nothing
One noteworthy thing about President George W. Bush’s Economic Forum held in Texas yesterday: There was apparently so little worth noting about it that this morning nary a mention of the event was to be found on the main page of The Wall Street Journal’s website. [The Motley Fool]