Monday, October 22, 2007

Resisting the “Vast Machine”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22wireless.html?ex=1350705600&en=2948513e73fead72&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Google’s Purchase of Jaiku Raises New Privacy Issues

By IVAR EKMAN October 22, 2007

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 21 — Google’s acquisition of Jaiku, a small Finnish start-up active in the obscure field of microblogging — a word most often associated with the better-known company Twitter — might not appear to be an earth-shaking event.

But the deal, announced this month, has much of the tech-tracking blogosphere abuzz. Some claim it is the harbinger of a new, truly interconnected world, where a chunk of our existence will migrate online.

To begin with, the reasoning goes, Jaiku is not really about microblogging — those minimessages submitted by text or e-mail that made Twitter famous. Jaiku is “a mobile company in the business of creating smarter presence applications,” and therefore “a leader in a category most people haven’t fully grasped yet,” Tim O’Reilly, a technology conference promoter credited with the phrase Web 2.0, wrote in his blog.

Petteri Koponen, one of the two founders of Jaiku, described the service as a “holistic view of a person’s life,” rather than just short posts. “We extract a lot of information automatically, especially from mobile phones,” Mr. Koponen said from Mountain View, Calif., where the company is being integrated into Google. “This kind of information paints a picture of what a person is thinking or doing.”

In practical terms, Jaiku’s mobile application allows users to broadcast not only their whereabouts, but how the phone is being used, even what kind of music it is playing.



Was this about regulatory compliance or price negotiations?

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9801647-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Report: EU, Microsoft strike deal in antitrust case

Posted by Richard Defendorf October 22, 2007 4:13 AM PDT

European regulators announced on Monday they have struck an agreement with Microsoft that will bring the company into compliance with the European Commission's 2004 ruling on the company's anticompetitive practices, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The agreement identifies three changes in Microsoft business practices that will bring the firm into compliance, according to The Journal: competing software developers will be able to access and use Microsoft's interoperability information; royalties for use of the interoperability information will be reduced to a nominal payment of $14,348; and royalties for a worldwide license for use of its product, including patents, will be reduced to 0.4 percent from 5.95 percent.

Microsoft has been under increased pressure to come to reach an agreement with the Commission since September, when a European court ruled in the regulators' favor on key issues in their case against the company.



A new profit center for insurers.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/016313.html

October 21, 2007

Ceres Report - Insurer Responses to Climate Change

Ceres: "Global warming and the growing incidence of extreme weather events pose an enormous challenge to the insurance industry. This summer's devastating floods in Europe and wildfires in the West are only the latest reminder of why investors and consumers are concerned about the impacts of climate change on insurers. This report focuses on the significant progress made by insurers to develop these new products and services. It identifies 422 real-world examples from 190 insurers, reinsurers, brokers and insurance organizations from 26 countries. That's more than double the 192 products and services that we identified in a similar report done by Ceres in August 2006."



Using technology to defeat technology

http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-bypass-comcast-bittorrent-throttling-071021/

How To Bypass Comcast’s BitTorrent Throttling

Written by Ernesto on October 21, 2007

Back in August we reported that Comcast was limiting BitTorrent traffic. Comcast denied our allegations, even though we had some pretty solid evidence. However, a recent test by Associated Press confirmed what we have been reporting all along. The million dollar question remains, can Comcast subscribers get around this, and more importantly, how?



As goes Lithuania, so goes the world!

http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19054/

Sacrificing privacy for national security

Oct 17, 2007 By Kimberly Kweder

BIG BROTHER: EC-mandated legislation to retain data on calls and SMSs is making its way, largely unnoticed, into Lithuanian policy.

In a matter of weeks, the details of every phone call and text message in Lithuania could be under close police scrutiny. The Lithuanian Parliament is due to vote in early November on whether to adopt a European Commission directive on retaining data from telephone and mobile communication devices. Human rights observers are concerned about the potential for abuse, while mobile phone operators may be forced to increase their prices to cover the cost. Further concern has been raised by public servants who say the issue has barely been debated in Lithuania or across the European Union. Few citizens are aware of the impending changes, while few politicians have bothered to consider the issue.



Why you should have backups! Humor – I think...

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/breaking_news_all_online_data



Dilbert on security

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2733330071022.gif

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