‘Original’ Founders of Facebook Advance To Olympic Finals

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin cofounders of a college social network finished second in today’s Olympic rowing semifinals, just behind the Aussies, and will compete in the finals on Saturday.

The pair alleged that Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea in creating Facebook, ended up settling, and then appealed over the terms of the settlement; a judge denied their request.  [Valley Wag]

College Offers Free Bicycles

This is a great idea for several reasons, reducing congestion and pollution on campus, increasing safety, and helping students save some money and maybe even keep off the “freshman 20″ or whatever they call it. But why mountain bikes? I have nothing against mountain bikes, when used for their intended purpose of off-road riding, but some sort of commuter bike or hybrid would probably be a more appropriate choice for encouraging transportation cycling. But aside from this minor complaint, I hope that this is a successful program, and that it encourages other universities to take on similar projects. [Rolling Resistance]

Universities Realize That The RIAA Is Taking Advantage Of Them In Lawsuits On Students

We never quite understood why various universities were cooperating with RIAA demands that it send “pre-litigation” letters to students accused of file sharing. These non-binding letters are often used to pressure students into paying fines, even if they’re based on weak (at best) evidence of file sharing. It certainly wasn’t in any university’s best interests to basically help out a private organization in a business model dispute with its students. Yet, some university officials, falsely convinced by the RIAA that this was more than a business model dispute, decided to help out. And the response? The RIAA has increased the flood of notices, and then convinced Congress to move forward on legislation that would legally obligate universities to act as the RIAA’s copyright cops.

It appears that more and more universities are realizing that they got shafted. [Techdirt]