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DECEMBER 14, 2009 - DECEMBER 27, 2009 SCI/TECH THE ENEMY PREYS ON THE PREDATOR WITH A $26-HACK
As someone who works with sensitive, personal consumer information in my business, on a day-to-day basis, I may now say that the rules that are in place to protect the consumer purchase of a toilet seat with a credit card are, actually, more stringent than those used to manage telecommunications in our nation's defense infrastructure. Makes "Catch 22" look like the portrayal of a well-run piece of Swiss timing in comparison. Who says art doesn't imitate life? Read the article DAILY KOS/Off the shelf assymetric warfare takes a bow <> During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong managed to connect hard taps to our battlefield telephone lines, and no doubt got plenty of good intel that helped them evade and/or ambush our forces. One would think that people at the Pentagon would have learned from such a recent lesson. This has got to be a heads-roll event, and the Pentagon should insist that it be fixed at ZERO cost to the taxpayers, unless THEY were the ones who issued the design specs, in which case yes we have to pay for this. But what we pay in taxes for this is nothing compared to what our troops in the field are paying for this. This translates into lower battlefield effectiveness, higher levels of civilian casualties, and higher levels of US casualties. This cannot stand! Read the article DAILY KOS/Off the shelf assymetric warfare takes a bow
AL QAEDA MINES THE WEB FOR TERROR RECRUITS
Of course terrorists are going to use the Web, YouTube, and all other means available to recruit, seek to be recruited, gather information, and everything else. That cat is already out of the bag and we can't put it back in. We just have to be smarter, faster, more cunning and, yes, more ruthless in going after the terrorists. Whether we're going to be able to that by trying them in civil courts is dubious, and this administration's outstretched hand to Iran and other terrorist states has been bitten, not clasped. A wake-up call to the White House, Justice Dept., CIA and FBI is overdue. When are they going to realize our enemies are cold, calculating killers who care nothing about peace and just want to kill infidels until their caliphate reigns supreme? Soon, I hope. Read the article MSNBC/NEWSVINE/Dangers, limits, as terror recruiters turn to the Web <> This article somewhat exaggerates the danger of the internet as a recruiting tool. A true story: When I lived in Wilmington, Delaware, a co-worker was arrested and convicted of soliciting a 13-year-old girl for sex over the internet. Needless to say the 13-year-old girl was a fat, bearded detective who did this every evening on law enforcement grant funding. The co-worker never even questioned why the 13-year-old wanted to meet him just Racross the state line at a rest stop in Maryland (making it a Federal crime.) When thinking about it, I realized that the vast majority of 13-year-old girls willing to have sex with 50-year-old men they meet on the internet are almost certainly cops. Pretty much the same would apply to Islamic radicals recruiting on the internet. Though many of these people may be very internet-savvy, you have to remember that they are the product of an absolutist (everything is black or white) iron-age culture. Their thinking lacks a great deal of sophistication. They are rationalizers who believe what they want to believe. I am as certain as I can be that the majority of people on the internet that present themselves as susceptible to radicalization are either law enforcement or intelligence people laying the same traps as the cop posing as a 13-year-old girl. You notice from the story that al-Qaida/Taliban was unwilling to accept these people. They were unconvincing because they looked and acted more like cops than 13-year-old girls. There is a good reason for widely publicizing this story because it is important to sow the seeds of distrust in internet recruiting by Islamic radicals. If you think about it, it is a game that they cannot win. Read the article MSNBC/NEWSVINE/Dangers, limits, as terror recruiters turn to the Web <> I'm not a lawyer, but just because they are not called "terrorists" doesn't necessarily imply that they won't be tried for treason or conspiracy to commit violent acts. Nonetheless, fools indeed. First, for what they believed they were going to do. Second, for believing they were being recruited over the Internet. They probably had penis enlargers, teeth whitening kits, and their free credit scores along with them in their luggage. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Al Qaeda's YouTube recruiting trick
"INFO-NAMI:" AMERICANS SWAMPED BY 34 GIGABYTES OF CONTENT IN 11.8 HOURS DAILY
HOW MUCH INFORMATION? - REPORT This is really no surprise; throughout history, all available technology of its era has induced mass interest and a desire to utilize what's 'new' at the time. If a service or product is offered, then generally it will be used. There is no use offering a global technical revelation, marketing it, making it readily accessible and affordable and then criticizing its everyday use. Just as well no one decided against the sliced loaf, isn't it. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Americans consume 100,000 words, 34 gigabytes of content a day
<> The definition of information is critical. Do you get more information by surfing the internet than someone else does staring in the fire contemplating the universe? It depends on which level you operate on and are aware of. Read, and try to understand, Carlos Castaneda's books. Garbage in garbage out does not equal "information" in my book. Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/America's information consumption soars
This reminds me of an interesting book I read years ago called "The User Illusion" by Tor Norretranders.. A big portion of the book examined the Vast (with a capital V) difference between the amount of information taken in by the senses and the tiny trickle that actually enters awareness (consciousness). Read the article ARSTECHNICA/Americans consume 3.6 zettabytes of data, most of it pixels
DECEMBER 7, 2009 - DECEMBER 13, 2009 SCI/TECH RICHARD BRANSON TAKES ONE GIANT STEP CLOSER TO SPACE
Think of today as March 31, 1951, the day the UNIVAC I, the first commercially-available computer, shipped. It's gigantic, it costs hundreds of thousands (millions in 2009) of dollars, and it will still be years until computers are even measured in MHz or flops. But here it is. It's the beginning. It's a slow beginning. But, bit by bit, this is eventually gonna change everything. Read the article BOINGBOING/Exclusive Spaceship2 univeling gallery <> This project has been ongoing for many years on a shoestring budget, what they have created here is a miracle of engineering built in the true pioneer spirit. I salute Burt Rutan and his team. And of course there are many unknowns, just like there was when commercial flights started, the UK had BOAC and led the world in jet technology. Then it all turned into a disaster. Branson is risk taker (and also a big show off, its all part of the act) but he brings unique ideas to the market. Look at what he did with Virgin Atlantic, before than most transatlantic routes were extremely expensive and there was very little competition. Regarding the environmental impact of this craft, well, I believe there will be a few built and it burns for 90 seconds the engine to climb to the upper parts of the atmosphere. Is 90 seconds a day really going to impact substantially on the atmosphere? I dont know, does anyone have any hard data to say it will? And regarding the price, well when the first commercial passenger flights appeared then they were extremely expensive so only the rich could afford it because developing the technology and building the fleet is expensive, you have to pay for it. Over time the price comes down. Without these early payers who subside the cost of the operations, there would be no commercial jet travel and there would be no space passenger flights either. So, wait 10 or 20 years by then I`m sure it will be a lot cheaper if they are still flying. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/Branson hails SpaceShipTwo, the "sexiest space ship ever)
We have to think to the future; one aspect of that is to reach for the stars. Anything that might make it more economical for us to get into space is good. Even if it were only to get small autonomous craft (or manned) to asteroids for mineral mining, water mining or other such endeavours which would benefit us all. Apart from the human spirit of exploration which is behind most of what we've done so far. We should make habitation modules on the moon and mars, and slowly try to reach further. Always try for more.
On with the adventure! Read the article BOINGBOING/Exclusive Spaceship2 univeling gallery WHY GOOGLE PUBLIC DNS IS GOOD NEWS FOR THE WEB
I don't understand why this is such a big issue. Everyone is freaking out about Google doing DNS like DNS is a new thing and no ones ever used it before. DNS servers have been around for a long time and every ISP (tier 1 to 3) has their own DNS servers which they can use to see where you're going, too I don't understand what the story is here. OpenDNS has been doing the same thing Google is and they've been doing it for a few years now. Stop freaking out about Google DNS because its not an issue. If you don't trust Google then don't use their DNS. But do you trust your ISP's DNS or your company's DNS? Every computer connects to multiple DNS servers while they are on the internet, its nothing new. Read the article PC WORLD/Google strives to make public DNS more secure <> It seems to me that those who are sweating this are making much ado about nothing. They're providing free, unfiltered, unlaced, adfree DNS service, and trying to make that service faster. Again the threat is where? Yes, they keep logs, some for a few weeks, some forever. Any respected DNS server does the same, even the RootServers out there. The primary reason for the logs is to protect themselves and thereby protect users from becoming victims of redirection attacks, etc. Your ISP logs more information about your internet activity than Google will. And their logging is ALWAYS associated with your personal info, very personal. So if Google DNS logging scares you, then I wonder one of two things: Either you're afraid of someone finding out you're building a nuke in your basement, or perhaps your foil hat is getting a bit too tight and cutting off circulation. Think before you panic... Read the article CNET/Google wants to unclog internet plumbing <> Arrived here from DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I can’t blame Google for taking this approach anymore than I can blame them for providing an alternative to the ever deficient Internet Explorer with Chrome and Chrome frame. Why should Google allow itself to be hobbled by the misguided and self serving actions of other industry giants? Some will take this opportunity to scare-monger, I’m sure, but unlike Microsoft or Comcast, Google does not suffer from a trust deficit, and have demonstrated that they are the most willing internet related company out there to protect your data from government intrusion. The rest give open access and don’t so much as tell you, or as it is with AT&T, actually spy on you for them. The telcoms continue to lobby hard against net neutrality, but Google is the one we should be worried about? If Google finds empowerment by empowering their users, that just fine with me. It’s not like my own ISP is driven by altruistic motives. Far from it. Far, far, from it. Read the article WIRED/Geez, Google wants to take over DNS, too U.K. ANTI-PIRACY SQUAD OFFERS £20,000 TO SNITCHES
About fifteen years ago I went to teach at a private school that had fired their IT guy the year before. Out of spite, he narced on the school for ignoring the terms of their software licenses and loading the same programs on computers throughout campus (which, of course, he was responsible for!) and they got slammed with heavy fines. When I got there, they were sore about the outlay of cash and were completely anal from that point on about making sure there was one set of software per installation. Revenge is a disk best served cold? Read the article BOINGBOING/Business software alliance asks Britons to become paid informants <> I don't see the benefit in snitching unless you're about to quit and hate your job lol. I also don't trust these numbers. If people are pirating the software, what makes you think they'll go buy it if they get caught? I'd just use a free or much cheaper alternative. Read the article AFTERDAWN.COM/BSA doubles reward for snitches
NOVEMBER 30, 2009 - DECEMBER 6, 2009 SCI/TECH THE IMAGE PROBLEM: WHY GOOGLE DID THE RIGHT THING
Before you form your opinion you need to understand that the image was not on Google servers - it wasn't hosted by Google - Google didn't put the image on the internet - they didn't "own" the image... I can't think of another way to say it wasn't Google's image to remove. The picture was posted on a site unaffiliated with Google but accessible to the the Google search engine. You would have been able to find the image using Yahoo or many other search engines. Because they are ignorant of the way the internet and search engines work, people were attacking Google. So, understand you aren't asking if Google should have "removed" the image you are asking if Google should have "censored" the image. I fully agree with the Google decision NOT to censor the image. U.K. GUARDIAN/Was Google right to remove Michelle Obama image? <> While politically moderate myself, and a patriot and defender of our Constitutional rights, I have to point out and clarify something that a sizable number of poorly educated Americans seem to not understand: the First Amendment and "free speech" are Constitutional guarantees that apply to the abridgment of rights by the government. They DO NOT apply to Google, newspapers, or any other private entity or forum. If Google wants to take it down, they can, and it's no violation of our First Amendment rights. The violation would be if the *government* made Google take it down. It's pretty simple, really, but by the posts here it's clear that most people don't understand this very basic distinction. READ the Constitution before you cite it next time. Read the article LOS ANGELES TIMES/Google won't remove distorted Michelle Obama image from search engine <> As a black man, I would have no problem with the picture of a monkey. But the problem is relating it to a person, and that person happens to be black. Slaves were carried from Africa and were being referred to as monkeys with no value. This tendency of referring to Africans as monkeys continued even up to the colonialization era(1800+)when the Europeans were scrambling for the natural resources of Africa.So this picture is not an insult to Mrs Obama, but to all of us the black people. Read the article LOS ANGELES TIMES/Google won't remove distorted Michelle Obama image from search engine <> I understand the difficulty that Google had deciding what to do. If there was no malware on the original site, they erred initially but then found the correct response with the second site. I'll give them credit for that and forgive their initial error, if it was an error. The internet should never be censored but that means each of us will, inevitably find something that offends or even disgusts us. Every posting reveals something about the person that posted it. Offensive postings may be similar to the flasher in the park who opens his trench coat to expose himself for reasons that only he can understand. For that reason, I use my real name when posting; to remind myself that I am not anonymous and I choose not to hide behind a trench coat. Hopefully, I will then use words that don't embarrass me when I read them. Read the article ATLANTIC ONLINE/Google, Michelle Obama, Racism and what the Internet is for.
WHEN EVAN RATLIFF WENT MISSING
Yes, Evan probably could have holed up somewhere in Northern Canada with no electricity and lived off the land without being caught, but I don’t think that was the point. The real question is, can you reinvent yourself in this digital age by giving up everything from a previous life? Over the course of reinventing yourself, I’d imagine you’d still want friends and to live some semblance of a ‘normal’ life (e.g. accessing the internet, going to restaurants, going to public meetings, etc). To me, it seems like the answer to that question is yes. Evan was caught, but that’s because he had legions and legions of people following him. It certainly seems like I could travel to big cities (LA and NO), go to the beach, stroll the streets, go to restaurants, reinvent my life in general - so long as I didn’t make finding me a contest. Read the article WIRED/Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here's what happened
NOVEMBER 23, 2009 - NOVEMBER 29, 2009 SCI/TECH WILL GOOGLE CHROME OS BOOT THE COMPETITION?
Google Chrome is a welcome development, and I believe would be a good challenge to Windows, but its penetration and acceptance among those of us in Africa with slow connections is going to be tough. Imagine taking a minute or two to open a 65kb mail attachment document file when your connection is timing out. Now imagine your whole operating system and all your files are stored on a server on the net - would that be something you want to try out? I doubt it! If Chrome would work both on and offline with applications and programs available whether one is connected to the net or not, I would personally replace my Vista, XP and 2000 on my systems in an instant. Read the article. BBC NEWS/HAVE YOUR SAY/Have you tried out Google Chrome? <> As a senior technologist and engineering manager, I can see the appeal. However I think people will not be comfortable with having their data stored on remote servers, under the control of a third party, along with everybody else. You have no idea how secure your data and data access patterns are. It is a security concern at a personal level. I think people will use it like people use Gmail today - not as their main application, but as a secondary application, and only for low level information. If all it turns out to be is a smarter web browser, then they have missed the target. Read the article BBC NEWS/HAVE YOUR SAY/Have you tried out Google Chrome? <> "Well, for one thing, these machines won't have hard drives. They'll use solid-state disks, which is one reason why Google can reasonably be telling folks that Chrome OS machines will boot in a few seconds." This is not completely accurate. It's not the change in the storage hardware that will speed up the boot process, but a change in what happens end-to-end during boot. Chrome OS will boot faster because it will be running on hardware that has custom firmware that immediately boots the kernel and then Chrome, eliminating things like BIOS checks, services, and startup apps that currently slow down Windows. Read the article PC WORLD/Google Chrome OS: Its promises and secrets <> Please don't forget that Google's greatest asset is its brand. They understand the "free" business model, and know that as long as they can keep their users happy they can depend on their loyalty (a business model that is a stark contrast to Apple's and Microsoft's, if you think about it). I think the comparison to Apple is unfounded. Google will keep their web apps under control, of course, but don't care about the OS itself. The hardware support is limited, but the reasons for that should be clear: it's a Linux OS and can't install extra drivers. I'm not the greatest fan of "the cloud" but think only good things can come from more players entering the OS market. If the competition can chip away even 35% of the reigning monopoly things may start to improve -- think OS wars instead of just browser wars. The consumer can reap the benefits of these giants fighting it out: better prices, faster software, better quality... Read the article THE REGISTER/Google Chrome OS: Do we want another monoculture? <> My mum and dad have a PC running XP which they use primarily for email and browsing, some simple document writing, and playing simple games (puzzles). They buy a service from a local company who supplied the machine and broadband package, and some server side services (email, with Outlook configured to their server). There is a huge body of people who don't want to have a computer, they want to have an internet appliance with some basic apps. They don't care if those apps are server-side or client-side (and wouldn't understand the difference). My parish priest wants to pick up email and print his sermons. We have had many false starts in this space. What Google can bring is the deep pockets, the brand and the ready availability of server-side applications. Chrome OS clearly isn't ready. But for a conceptual "release early", the direction they are following has a huge potential market of people who don't read el Reg.(The Register )I look forward to watching Chrome OS mature into the long awaited webtone appliance. Read the article THE REGISTER/Google Chrome OS: Do we want another monoculture?
Can you imagine if then, as is common today, he had patented and licensed his email application? In 1971 his engineer's salary was probably around $20,000 or less, but if he had made a deal to get 1/10th of a penny for each email sent ... Say goodbye Bill Gates and hello Berkshire Hathaway - Tomlinson? But those were different times, the 70s. We were more cooperative than capitalistic. Technology was aimed at making everyone's life better - not just making a few richer. Companies looked beyond the next quarter's profit and we all looked forward to a bright future. Ray Tomlinson changed the world. Not by making the pen obsolete, but by opening a path of communication between real people, whether across the street or across the ocean. I'll take idealism over ideology any day. Thanks Ray. Read the article NPR/The man who made you put your pen away <> While I appreciate e-mail, I am such an old fashioned person who has nice stationary, sealing wax and fountain pens. And because I have dear friends who also love letter writing I have letters tied up with ribbon that they have written over the years. As I do with the letters my late husband sent me. There is something so wonderful to the eyes and hands, when one gathers mail and finds a hand written letter, that one can read over and over, and see the time taken to put words to paper, seal the envelope, place the stamp and place in the postal box. It's like holding a work of art in ones hand. Read the article NPR/The man who made you put your pen away GLOW-IN-THE-DARK BACTERIA THAT FINDS LANDMINES
It'd work in the short term; but I suspect that that wouldn't be terribly relevant. In the short term (i.e. while hostilities are actively ongoing in the area,) you try to avoid having sappers grovelling around finding mines one at a time. You, if possible, clear them quickly but imperfectly with demining vehicles or explosives, to allow your army to pass. The real danger is in the long term, when you need to hunt them all down, so that use of the land, rather than simple traversal, can begin again. Since the explosives degrade over time, areas that started with more explosives will always have a higher concentration of explosives than will areas that started with less. Shortly after spraying, the whole area will light up light a christmas tree; but by the time whatever nastly little war caused the problem has simmered down, the locations that contain big chunks of pure explosive should be distinguishable from the ones that had a light dusting 5 years ago. Read the article BOINGBOING/Glowing bacteria that finds landmines <> An interesting idea, but it'll never be implemented. 1) Minefields are prone to explosives contamination, so the false positive rate would be too high. 2) Some types of mines would remain sealed, even after years in the ground. The false negative rate would be too high. Many clever ideas have been produced to help de-mining, but- unfortunately- as the human cost is far too high, errors are most unwelcome. Manual probing remains the only viable tool. I worked for years as an explosives chemist; a high false positive rate and a high false negative rate constitutes a non-viable technique for locating mines. Read the article BOINGBOING/Glowing bacteria that finds landmines
NOVEMBER 16, 2009 - NOVEMBER 22, 2009 SCI/TECH NASA FINDS WATER -— AND THE "WOMAN IN THE MOON!"
Click for large image This is HUGE, to followers of space news. Read the article CBC NEWS/NASA's moon crash reveals "lots of water." <> Why am I seeing the ghostly face of a woman in that pic? Read the article MASHABLE/Moon bombing redux: There's water on the moon <> To give a little meaning behind the 100 kilograms (100 liters) of water vapor/ice they detected (mostly vapor), a person on average loses 80 ounces, or ~2.4 liters, of water from their body a day, with half of that being returned in their food. So, a person can survive on 1 liter of drinking water a day. In a 20 meter crater, which they only got a small windowed snapshot of the content of, they found enough water to allow one person to survive for 100 days. And that's without recycling technology. Read the article DAILY TECH/Mission Success: NASA announces "significant amount" of water found on moon FACEBOOK AND THE HEADTEACHER WHO CRIED FOUL
One parent claimed his daughter had made a fairly 'innocuous' comment and 'Mrs Hitch couldn't just have taken a joke and handled this discreetly. They're annoyed at the fact that their freedom is being invaded out of school.' .Read the article U.K. DAILY MAIL/Headteacher suspends pupils after being "cyberbullied" on Facebook attacking her dress <> On many occasions I think that teachers get it wrong; however, this time I believe that Mrs Hitch has got it just right. Rather than castigate her, the parents of the children involved in this awful behaviour should be taking steps to ensure that their offspring cease their reprehensible behaviour; apologise and get on with being properly behaved pupils (not students). Their efforts must be concentrated on learning and not wasting their time playing with a system which is more and more exposed for social problems that it adds to or causes. NOVEMBER 9, 2009 - NOVEMBER 15, 2009 SCI/TECH READ THE MANUAL! -- MORE WOMEN THAN MEN DO
I often get made fun of by my family and friends because I not only keep all of my manuals, but I actually read them, usually before even setting up the item in question. Not in great detail with notes and such, but definitely at least skimmed. Read the article ARSTECHNICA/Surprise! more men should read the freakin manual <> Ah statistics... TAKE YOUR PICK: 100,000 APPLE APPS
Statistics can be made to prove many things, even the truth. So it must be safe to say only 3% of the 100,000 apps are actually installed and used by iPhone owners. Read the article PC WORLD/Apple's app store: 100,000 apps, but most are unused <> I have the max but I want a million apps to choose from - that’s like asking how many books should be published or how many websites should there be. I want to see the creativity and greed of a billion programmers working for me - some might sound stupid but are brilliant and others that sound brilliant are stupid but until we see it... So anyone who thinks we have too many books, too many websites or too many apps or dares to decide for the rest of us - what is ’stupid’ - can just get on a donkey and ride back to the 10th century. Read the article WIRED/Apple's app store hits six digits; how many apps do you need? <> The number isn't important in itself. The most important application is the one that you need right now. Knowing there are thousands of other applications doesn't really help if nobody has bothered to code together just the application you need. But, when I've gone browsing for an application for a specific purpose I usually find something that fits the bill. Read the article ARS TECHNICA/App store officially passes the 100,000 app milestone
IS SOCIAL MEDIA MAKING US MORE OR LESS SOCIAL?
However, it also found some indications that social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, are acting as substitutes for neighbourhood involvement for some people. Read the article CBC NEWS/Internet users not isolated, survey suggests <> This article is so skewed it is hard to believe it was even posted. Come on, an internet company did the survey, of course they are not going to say that we are becoming a singular society. I deal with the general public everyday, and believe me when I say, people are forgetting their social skills and are replacing them with rudeness. Look at the technology, personal mp3 players(used to be a radio you shared with friends), personal game systems(used to be a time when you competed with your friends and interacted in the same room), text messaging( my teenage daughter and her friends text all the time( used to be that teens tied up you r phone line from after school till bed time) I could just keep going but im sure you all see my point. Read the article MSNBC/NEWSVINE/Tech use doesn't add to social isolation Pew Research Center: Social Isolation and New Technology NOVEMBER 2, 2009 - NOVEMBER 8, 2009 SCI/TECH FIRST INTERNET MESSAGE SENT 40 YEARS AGO...AND LO! A CRASH!
My first use of what is now the Internet was when I logged onto an academic network, BITNET. BITNET was one of the several networks (including ARPANET) that was soon to be connected by the NSF backbone, a country-wide Network--the Internet--that connected these existing networks. BITNET grew from the original node at City University of New York by requiring that any university joining BITNET had to provide the connections for other universities to join BITNET through them, so in a sense BITNET grew itself. I first used BITNET in 1983 from the University of Connecticut to complete my doctoral dissertation in evolutionary biology at City University of New York, and to communicate with members of my committee via email. Back then BITNET was small enough (only about 30 nodes on it) that one could type "who" on the network and get a reasonably short list of the email addresses of everyone logged on to the network at that moment! At the time, it was more exciting to me when I received my first email from overseas, from Rome, in 1984--BITNET had grown so fast that there were nodes/universities connected to it from all over the world just over a year later. Read the article NPR/"Lo" and Behold: a computer revolution <> Consider a computer the analogue of a single human. Not much use on their own, and no need for communication. No language is available. The internet is the computer analogy of human communication by speech. Baby is born but takes a while to speak. Same with computers, so I'm with the date the language was born being the birth of the internet. Must be the reason why I've had a good day at work for a change. So I'm celebrating both by getting slightly sloshed ! Well more than slightly Read the article THE REGISTER/Internet pops champagne on (second) 40th birthday. <> As the song says... blame it on the rain......or you can blame the Internet. That is how times are made. Read the article ZDNET/Forty years ago the Internet was born: Now it devalues everything it touches. <> I had email in the 1800's. It was a steam driven affair of course. Rather clunky but still useable. I had to constantly clean my brass "get mail" lever. Read the article P.C.WORLD/The Internet at 40: History began with its first crash
It would be good to make "most" of the profile public after 100 years. As with census data and official secrets, there comes a time when privacy is meaningless because nobody concerned is still around to have any privacy to be preserved. What matters then is genealogy and history. And the most interesting part of history is the affairs and events of common people. Read the article THE REGISTER/Facebook enshrines dead people profiles <> I did not know about this feature, but for me it is GREAT. My sister recently passed away and was an avid user of Facebook. People are still posting to her page as a way to grieve. This is a wonderful thing, when I'm having a hard day, to go look at her Facebook page and see that she is so very loved and that there are so many others are missing her too. Read the article MASHABLE/Facebook How to eliminate "dead friend" suggestions. <> Obituary comments? Send a message to your dead friend/relative? What next? A gravestone that tweets? Read the article THE REGISTER/Facebook enshrines dead people profiles <> No thanks. I would rather not stay lodged in some e-purgatory. I posted this on some other article on living online after death earlier this month: I know that if and when I die -- and mind you, I am only 21 -- my family will go through my possessions, where they will find that paper. On that paper, along with my passwords, I have instructions to delete all my online accounts (including this one on the Huffington Post), email addresses, etc. The idea of living online after I pass away has long creeped me out. I want to make sure that when I am gone, I live only in people's memories and photos (but not on some Facebook page)." Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/ New Facebook redesign to keep profiles of the dead
OCTOBER 19, 2009 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 SCI/TECH APPLE'S MAGIC MOUSE SCURRIES AHEAD OF NEW FAMILY MEMBERS
There was a time when I NEVER would have considered an iMac for my home. For my mother's home, sure, but not my own. Read the article ARSTECHNICA/MagicMouse, IMacs, Mac minis lead Tuesday Apple update bomb <> It's funny because people used to say that Apple stuck with the one-button mouse even after the two-button mouse became standard because they didn't want to admit they were wrong. The joke went that some day Steve Jobs would come out with a no-button mouse just to spite people. Read the article ARSTECHNICA/MagicMouse, IMacs, Mac minis lead Tuesday Apple update bomb <> Typical Apple product announcement: APPLE: We've shipped a new mouse that has lasers and multi-touch, just like Microsoft's demo last month, only for real. BLOGGER 1: It's not the tablet that we've been PROMISED for 800 YEARS!!! WAHH!!! BLOGGER 2: Why doesn't it have the following 137 other ports? BUT DELL... . BLOGGER 3: This was exactly like what the rumors sites predicted. Except that they predicted that the mouse would recharge itself wirelessly, and didn't predict the multi-touch, laser part. YAWWWWNNNNN!!!! BLOGGER 4: Everyone who likes these things is a mindless Appal Fanboi!!!!!! And Windows 7.5, which comes out sometime in the next decade, will have killer new features, just like that product mockup that MS leaked last year. Read the article BOING-BOING/27" iMac rules Apple's new gear A FINN'S RIGHT TO THE PURSUIT OF LIFE, LIBERTY...AND BROADBAND
The way I am reading this is they want to guarantee access to everyone, not that they are giving everyone internet access. I think this is a good thing and should be enacted here in the states as well. Read the article CNET/Finland makes 1mb broadband access a legal right <> From Wikipedia Read the article NPR/Finland makes broadband a public right <> "Very cool idea by the Finnish government. It's obvious to anyone over 10 years old that if you don't have access (no, not free) to the web, it will take you 100x longer to do anything. (Yes, I know, some people still choose to get in their car to go write a check to pay a bill.)" Oh, some tourists might have done it after that. Practically everybody I know under 70 uses internet banking for their regular chores. First time I used "electric banking" from home was around '90. Doesn't necessarily say that things would be so magically better than elsewhere, but shows that coordinated efforts of things like digitalisation of banking system and limiting adverse effects of anti-competitive practices can speed up adoption of processes that leave more time for more relevant things in life than if the advance would have been driven plainly by financial interests of individual companies. The effort described in the article is certainly towards broadly similar direction. Read the article CNET/Finland makes 1mb broadband access a legal right
WILL YOU CURL UP WITH A GOOD E-BOOK TONIGHT?
My brain and I love our Kindle.
Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Does the brain like E-Books? <> No, no, no, no! E-books are Fahrenheit 451, long version. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Does the brain like E-Books? <> Libraries SHOULD evolve according to what's relevant to the present. So good for them... maybe we just need to see that evolvement happen a bit faster. Having said that... I hope that libraries will always be there for us. In our contemporary life... as it is now and as it's paced now... there are just two places you can count on for peace, where you can experience a sort of hushed silence and slide into another space in your head... a church and a library! Read the article DAILY BEAST/Kindle won't kill libraries COMPUTING SHAKESPEARE -- THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN
I doubt any contemporary scholar thinks of Shakespeare as a "lonely, independent author". The only surviving examples of Shakespeare's handwriting of any length is three pages from the Tragedy of Thomas More, a work of collaborative authorship. Many of Shakespeare's collaborations are well known: Two Noble Kinsmen (with John Fletcher), Pericles, Prince of Tyre (probably with George Wilkins), Titus Andronicus (probably George Peele), the version of Macbeth that we have is most likely a redaction by Thomas Middleton. Shakespeare borrowed from earlier writers - most notably there are references to a play on the subject of Hamlet before Shakespeare's play, commonly referred to as the Ur-Hamlet - and Shakespeare's work went on to be borrowed by other writers - so John Ford's oeuvre, for example, is suffused with Shakespearean reference - or directly adapted by the likes of Nahum Tate. We should think of the world of the Elizabethan theatre as rather like modern Hollywood: with scripts passing through different iterations, sometimes by different hands; with writers responding to the demands and interests of their audience and always ready to steal a plot from the headlines; a theatre with an insatiable appetite for material that eats through any sources it can find; where even successful writers will do jobbing work "doctoring" the scripts of others for performance or resurrecting a past success; where any big hit will spawn a couple of sequels and a dozen attempts at emulation. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Computer program proves the bard didn't work alone. <> Do we really need all these conspiracy theories? Why couldn't "Shake-spear" have written his own plays by himself? Of course it was "Silly Billy" from Stratford! He dashed them off in moments between deer-stealing, tax evasion, grain-hoarding during famines,and getting involved in vicious brawls.It all falls into place after you've had a drink or two. No time to educate his daughters, who remained semi-literate. Too busy portraying highly educated women like Portia and studying Ovid's Metamorphoses in the original Latin, most unlikely to have been available at the local Grammar School, and debating the quality of mercy and other moralistic themes. What a lark! Read the article U.K.TIMES/Computer program proves that Shakespeare didn't work alone, researchers claim
OCTOBER 12, 2009 - OCTOBER 18, 2009 SCI/TECH TARGET CABEUS: TAKING A SHOT AT THE MOON
The purpose of this mission isn't just to crash into the Moon. That's an ingenious bonus. The primary mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), has been imaging the Moon's surface. LCROSS (moon crasher) is a low-cost add-on after LRO moved onto a bigger rocket that could launch more stuff. So, instead of getting so upset about "wasted millions", give NASA some credit for squeezing the most out of a mission without spending much money. This mission was approved, planned and paid for years ago...so it's pointless to attach this to Obama or the economy or anything else. Can't you all just admire the mysteries of the universe and the marvels of engineering? The cost of this mission is paltry compared to everything else that's going on, and using that money to throw at our other problems wouldn't make a dent. But the benefit to science and to stirring the excitement and imagination of children and adults alike...priceless. Read the article MSNBC-Newsvine/ How to watch NASA's big crash on the moon <> Please pause to consider why the crash is planned. The probe needs to penetrate the mantle to access any water that might exist. It is not possible to access the same at the surface given the wide changes in surface temperature and the lack of atmosphere. Kudos to Chandrayaan for their pathbreaking discovery that led to this. Read the article GLOBE&MAIL,CANADA/The damp side of the moon
<> The deleted scene from the end of Godzilla – The monster banished to the dark side of the moon, and frozen in the ice caverns of the great meteor craters. Only to be awoken when the ice shield is broken unleashing it’s fury upon the known universe. Or maybe not.. remember people, the size and magnitude of the explosion will be a similar force as throwing a grain of sand at a bowling ball. Not to mention that the importance of discovering water on the moon means that space travel will be far easier if we can launch from the moon, not having to use up 10zillion gallons of fuel just to lift off earth. Go for it NASA, I want to live on mars one day. I hear they have nice chocolate. Read the article DISCOVER MAGAZINE/LCCross impact site picked. <> It’s all just an attempt to create a water trap for the next time we hit a golf ball there. Big cover-up. Read the article DISCOVER MAGAZINE/LCCross impact site picked.
HARDY "ARDI" WALKS HOMINID RECORD BACK 4.4 MILLION YEARS
I find the timeframe to be the most remarkable thing about evolution - If, as is believed, the human and chimpanzee lines divided 6 million years ago, and modern humans emerged about 200,000 years ago, evolution is a rather more rapid process than many of us would imagine. It rather begs the question, what next? Could humanity split into two or more distinct species, or has globalisation ensured that we will remain a single group? Until a couple of hundred years ago many humans lived in splendid isolation, presumably adapting through natural selection to their environment - the results are obvious if one looks at the different adaptations of, for example, East Africans, West Africans, South American Indians, Japanese, Polynesians and Northern Europeans - and all in little more than 5,000 generations. I wonder if that, for the first time, we are all becoming more similar, rather than evolving apart? Not just through interbreeding, but through the modern world creating a common direction for the process of natural selection? Will the separation of people from their natural environment mean that the same characteristics will emerge victorious in all peoples and races? Read the article U.K.GUARDIAN/Fossil Ardi illuminates the dawn of humanity <> I could hardly wait to see the comments on this article. Why are so many of those who respond to the articles presented so uncivil, so illogical, and so unresponsive to opinions and beliefs of different persuasions? Read the article WASHINGTON POST/"Ardi" fossil sheds light on human species.
OCTOBER 5, 2009 - OCTOBER 11, 2009 SCI/TECH THE SOARING MISSION OF GUY LALIBERTÉ, FIRST CLOWN IN SPACE
So, did the rocket launch as expected, or did a huge plume of smoke come out the back, accompanied by a loud BANG, the doors falling off, the steering wheel coming off in the driver's hand, a wheel coming loose, one seat boinging skyward on a comical big spring and a huge, fake fire which another crew member attempted to put out with a bucket of confetti, which was finally thrown over a group of shrieking spectators? Read the article THE REGISTER/Clown blasts off for ISS <> So he gives $100 million to a water foundation, and spends $35 million to go to space, using the publicity to raise further awareness for water issues. After that, people on this board are still complaining that he "wasted" the $35 million. Read the article CBC NEWS/Cirque founder launches into space <> I wish this guy all the best, but I've got to advise him against something: Tickling somebody in an orbiting space station might, just maybe, be a bad idea. Read the article CBC NEWS/Cirque founder launches into space
HOME TOGETHER: PCs AND Macs UNDER THE SAME ROOF
My guess is that the people who have contributed to the current rise in Mac market share haven't tossed their PCs in the trash. Read the article CNET/PCs and MACs found shacking up. <> One thing I'd love to see come out of the co-habitation is a little more honesty on the Mac side. When I was looking for a new laptop I swear every review of a Macbook said. "Oh my gosh, it was like a fish to water, everything was easy, perfect, and I can never go back. I now use my PC as a door stop and it sucks at that too." While on the PC side I could actually find useful info like "Nice computer but the slot feeding CD drive doesn't work with the Mini CD's that some peripherials use." and other actually useful info. Read the article CNET/PCs and MACs found shacking up.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2009 - OCTOBER 4, 2009 SCI/TECH PUTTING THE VROOM-VROOM BACK IN ELECTRIC CARS
If manufacturers wanted cars to be cool and sound like they were moving with a sense of purpose they'd have the cars play the main riff from "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Read the article THE ATLANTIC/Making electric cars louder <> This is a valid issue. When bicycling once I was surprised by the sudden appearance of a Prius. I only heard the slight crunching of gravel under its tires. Pedestrians and bicyclists are aware of sounds from potential threats (hear that iPod users?). Read the article WASHINGTON POST/ The deadly silence of the electric car RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE ZAPS PESKY PAPARAZZI WITH ANTI-PHOTO SHIELD
If the system is using a laser there would have to be a hell of a lot of them constantly scanning otherwise it would be akin to the SETI program looking for first contact on a random distant planet. Yeah, the laser might get lucky - but then again… Read the article WIRED/Russian billionaire installs anti-photo shield on giant yacht. <> Destroying existing photos from afar might be a problem, but I can't imagine that preventing them from being successfully taken is the same thing. That would be like suing someone for walking into frame and ruining your shot. Also, visible and infrared light aren't regulated, for pretty obvious reasons. Your communications regulatory agency isn't concerned with anything above the radio spectrum. That's not to say there aren't other regulatory agencies that can step in... in the US, the sale of high power lasers is restricted by the FDA. I find it amazing that some company somewhere would build such systems... there's that much of a market for protecting the privacy of the stupidly wealthy? That aside, cool tech. I want one, because anything that automatically aims lasers at targets is, by default, awesome. Read the article BOING-BOING/Oligarch's yacht has a laser anti-photo screen.
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Anyone playing board games will tell you how much nicer it is to have the rules explained by a friend than to read the instructions. 
