Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
War is an economic event. Isn't this war?
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2006/08/603967/
Illegal internet phone cards claim 90% of market
20:54' 20/08/2006 (GMT+7) Soạn: AM 872491 gửi đến 996 để nhận ảnh này
VietNamNet Bridge – Though many Vietnamese companies provide prepaid internet phone cards, more than 90% of the market is filled by smuggled cards.
The market for internet phone cards in Vietnam is growing at 30% per annum. However, illegal cards claim more of the domestic market than legal ones.
Illegal cards are distributed widely and publicly, with no hindrance from state agencies. [How can that be? Bob] Users can buy illegal cards from almost any IT or phone shop, although the primary stockists are internet agents.
Could Dell set a new standard for product recall?
Dell gives enterprises options in battery recall
Dell is working with corporate customers to develop strategies for getting their users replacement batteries
By Robert Mullins, IDG News Service August 21, 2006
Dell has come up with several ways to help corporate customers replace defective laptop batteries that may have thousands of the dangerous batteries deployed all over their enterprises.
"We are working with customers to develop a plan that best suits their specific circumstances," said Anne Camden, a spokeswoman for Dell, in Round Rock, Texas. "But we are constantly tweaking the plan."
... Dell is pursuing any one of three strategies to help corporate customers get replacement batteries, Camden said. For companies with a large dedicated IT staff, that staff will track down the affected laptops within the company, order the replacements and install them when they arrive from Dell. In other instances, Dell may set up and staff kiosks on the campus of a corporate customer to handle the recall.
But the third option may be the most likely: "In some cases, some larger corporate customers may just leave it to the end user," [This is not wise, is it? Bob] Camden said.
... If an enterprise has people in offices scattered around the country or the world, the simplest thing for them to do is have each employee go to Dell's Web site, determine if their battery is subject to the recall, and apply online for a replacement to be sent to that field office, Jacobsen said.
The hardest thing to do: Rethink old concepts...
AUGUST 20, 2006 Technology By Olga Kharif
A Quantum Leap for Cell Phones
A new no-buttons handset by Pilotfish and Synaptics signals that mobiles as we know them may soon be a thing of the past
It's likely to evoke the children's song inquiring, "Where's the button?" On Aug. 21, designer Pilotfish and sensor maker Synaptics are releasing a prototype of a cell phone, and the funny thing is, it doesn't have any buttons.
Instead, the Onyx device understands signs and gestures, thanks to the sensitive touch pad covering most of its surface. It opens and closes applications when swiped by one or two fingers. The phone recognizes shapes and body parts. Lift Onyx to your cheek and it will pick up a call.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Will this become a “Best Practice?”
http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_231174740.html
Aug 19, 2006 2:21 pm US/Pacific
UC Students Get Crash Course In Internet Privacy
(AP) BERKELEY This Sunday thousands of University of California, Berkeley freshmen moving in to residence halls will not be able to use their computers until they attend a mandatory social networking workshop.
Is this a Tim Allen survival kit or a terrorist tool?
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000003.php
Tool Belt
Another way to have your tools "always on"
A carry-around tool that can pass through airports security (without me even taking it off) is the Tool Belt. It is designed for snowboarders but is useful all the time. The buckle can be disassembled easily (without removing the belt) and gives you a phillips, a flat head and 8, 10, and 11mm hex wrenches (which turn out to have handy standard equivalents). It's also a good tough and comfy belt which I have been wearing and using since 1999.
... Tool Belt $50 Available from Daddy's Board Shop Manufactured by 686 Enterprises
Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.
http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw060818_1_n.shtml
Opinion - Asymmetry and other fables
By Helmoed-Roemer Heitman JDW Correspondent 18 August 2006
Cape Town Today we are fascinated with asymmetric warfare, net-centric warfare and precision warfare and we are convinced that heavy forces and the tank (yet again) are passe.
Asymmetry works both ways. There is nothing quite as asymmetric as a tank driving over an infantryman.
Asymmetry is not new. It is as old as warfare: mounted knights totally outclassed foot soldiers until faced with new weapons and tactics. The crossbow reversed things and declaring it "unchristian" and attempting to ban it did not work too well. Both mounted and foot soldiers remain on the battlefield, however, despite the shifting advantage.
Guerrilla warfare is also hardly new and can be defeated by forcing the guerrillas to fight on unfavourable terms - asymmetrically. The South African Army, for example, used mechanised forces against guerrilla bases in Angola and light mechanised forces to track and defeat those guerrillas who did get across the border.
The reverse side saw South Vietnam conquered by conventional North Vietnamese forces of armour, infantry and artillery that rolled over the South Vietnamese Army without much difficulty. They were able to do so because the south was organised and armed primarily for operations against guerrillas. This is asymmetry at work.
Armies rushing to become lighter, more agile and more deployable - and more fragile - might want to ponder that example.
Asymmetry is real and can offer a real edge to those who recognise its potential in the particular situation and exploit it - in either direction.
246 of 1,032 words © 2006 Jane's Information Group [End of non-subscriber extract]
The first comment set off a DRM debate...
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/19/1838253&from=rss
Locking Up Linux, Creating a Cryptobook
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday August 19, @03:22PM from the operational-paranoia dept.
Tom's Hardware has a nice overview about some of the latest ways to secure your data looking specifically at open source solutions that wont lock down your credit card. Since many people presented performance issues for why they don't implement encryption there was also special attention given to how well your system will perform after implementation of encryption. From the article:
"At least where LUKS is concerned, performance is hardly an issue - one must expect to pay some penalty for additional encryption facilities that handle unencrypted data transparently. All of these solutions are simple to set up and use on a daily basis, but LUKS is portable across Windows and Linux platforms."
Video that does not say much about where the information comes from or how it is used. I wonder where Colorado's is?
http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6107497.html?part=rss&tag=6107497&subj=news
First U.S. government intelligence center opens
CNET News.com's Joris Evers gets inside the first Joint Regional Intelligence Center, whose workforce is drawn from the FBI, Homeland Security and regional agencies. Our camera was allowed in for a visit from Michael Chertoff, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Marginally interesting
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012178.html
August 18, 2006
National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism Annual Report 2006
National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism Annual Report 2006 (82 pages, PDF)
This is the probable future of all journals – free and online
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012182.html
August 18, 2006
International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law Available Free Online
International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law "...is ICNL's quarterly journal of analysis on global civil society. IJNL addresses legal topics as well as social, cultural, political and economic issues affecting the legal environment. Our readers include attorneys, government officials, grantmakers, scholars, and activists...IJNL is electronically distributed without charge to subscribers." [Lawsites]
Far be it for me (a great fan of governmental bureaucracies) to point out that this is hardly the logical approach. Wouldn't it be better to capture the data at the source? Should it take 70 years to complete ANY task?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012177.html
August 18, 2006
DHS Announces Establishment of Records Digitization Facility
Press release, August 17, 2006, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: "USCIS Announces Establishment of a Records Digitization Facility in Williamsburg, Ky., that will digitize more than one million UCIS Alien-Files (A-Files) during the first phase...[there are approximately 70 million immigration records]."
[From the press release:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today the establishment of a new Records Digitization Facility (RDF) in Williamsburg, Kentucky to digitize more than one million USCIS Alien-Files (A-Files) during the first phase of the inaugural project. While this is a relatively small percentage of the approximately 70 million immigration records, USCIS plans [i.e. They haven't even STARTED yet. Bob] to use the digitized files to begin the transformation of its business processes. Congress has provided dedicated funding for the digitization of approximately one million files per year. [Scheduled to be done in 2076 (except for all the new stuff) Bob]
Raw data for my database class...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012188.html
August 19, 2006
Portal to Census 2000 Data
"CensusScope is an easy-to-use tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends, brought to you by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN) at the University of Michigan. With eye-catching graphics and exportable trend data, CensusScope is designed for both generalists and specialists."
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Now you see the bones of our (the geeks) evil plot. We're going to automate everything and rule the world!
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060818/0845209.shtml
Taking The Journalists Out Of Journalism
from the replaced dept
Stories about different jobs being replaced by computers have been a favorite for journalists over the years -- now it's some of those journalists being replaced by computers. The Thomson Financial news service says that it will expand the use of computers to write automated stories, mainly on things like earnings reports, which it can churn out as quickly as 0.3 seconds. These sorts of stories are the stock and trade of financial newswires, with speed and accuracy the two most important elements, so there's no reason a computer shouldn't be used to quickly digest a company's earnings report, compare the results to the previous year's, then spit out a quick story -- which typically follows a rigid format, even when written by a human. And, of course, it's cheaper than employing a small army of human writers, but Thomson says speed is the only consideration here (though surely the cost savings don't hurt), and that the system will free up reporters for more thought-intensive tasks, which is how these types of project should be approached: using technology to automate menial tasks to allow human resources to be allocated to other tasks computers can't handle. [Like fetching coffee for us geeks. Bob] Thomson says it's been working on different types of software to write different types of stories, making us wonder how long before they release their summer rerun program, freeing up their writers for a nice mid-year break.
Is this the start of a new government initiative? Will all businesses have to become terrorist watchdogs? What happens if a programmer simplifies things and just flags everyone with a middle-eastern name? (“Your name is written in Arabic, therefore...”) Certainly looks like the kind of thing an Identity Thief could make use of...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/18/paypal_terror_ban/
PayPal freezes out British user in 'terror' list snafu
By Chris Williams (chris.williams@theregister.co.uk) Published Friday 18th August 2006 14:58 GMT
PayPal has frozen Brit Mohammed Hassan's account and banned him from using the service if he refuses to fax the company a raft of personal information.
The online payments service told him his name is "similar to or a match to" a name on the US government's anti-terror assets freezing list.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN) is operated by the US Treasury and designed to prevent money laundering and funding of illegal organisations.
The SDN list is here (http://www.treasury.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf) (.pdf). It contains hundreds of names, including Osama Bin Laden and a Tunisian named Mohamed Hassan.
Register reader Mohammed received the following email last week:
Access to your PayPal account has been denied because your name is similar to or a match to an entry on the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. We are required to further verify your identity. In order to regain access to your account, please provide the following documentation:
1. A copy of government-issued photograph identification (i.e. passport, driver's license).
2. A copy of a utility bill verifying your address
3. A copy of a document verifying your date and place of birth.
Please fax the information to +1 303-395-2802, Attention: Compliance. The documents may also be mailed to the following address:
PayPal, Attention: Compliance P.O. Box 45950 Omaha, NE 68145, United States
Please provide the requested information within the next 30 days. If this information is not received within the next 30 days, your PayPal account will be closed.
We contacted PayPal with a series of questions. They confirmed that in Mohammed Hassan's case, his account will be closed unless he faxes his passport to them - action he told us he is not willing to take on priniciple. Unlike banks, PayPal does not require identity verification to set up an account. [“Unless we want to discriminate against your kind.” Bob]
PayPal refused to provide any details of how many customers the bans are affecting, or whether the policy had led to any genuine terrorist assets being seized.
Mohammed works for the UK government, in a job which requires security clearance. He said: "I am not a terrorist or a criminal. How the hell can PayPal link me to that name on the SDN list, is it because my name is Arabic? Or is it because PayPal are just plain stupid?"
We love our customers, but not enough to warn them.
Dell, Sony discussed battery problem 10 months ago
Sony made changes to minimize the problem but did not recall suspect batteries because it wasn't clear that they were dangerous [i.e. No one had died? Bob]
By Paul F. Roberts August 18, 2006
Dell and Sony knew about and discussed manufacturing problems with Sony-made Lithium-Ion batteries as long as ten months ago, but held off on issuing a recall until those flaws were clearly linked to catastrophic failures causing those batteries to catch fire, a Sony Electronics spokesman said Friday.
... Dell is reported to have known about incidents of laptops overheating, albeit in small numbers, for years. It and CPSC recalled 22,000 laptop batteries in December, 2005, because of overheating problems. Metal particle contamination was the cause behind that recall, as well, said Scott Wolfson, a CPSC spokesman.
... Catastrophic failures of the Li-ion batteries, though rare, can be "very dramatic," Doughty said. "You get a lot of fireworks."
Your tax dollars at play. (Well, they obviously aren't working!)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060818/1613226.shtml
Where's The Checkbox For 'New FBI Computer System Is So Bad I Plan To Go On A Crime Spree'?
from the nice-work dept
Back in 2004, we wrote about how hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent over the previous four years on a new computer system for the FBI that apparently didn't actually work and was useless at finding terrorists. After that was announced, it still took the FBI another seven months before announcing they were getting rid of the system. After that, it still took another year for them to agree to spend hundreds of millions on a new system that won't be ready until 2009 at the earliest. Is it any wonder that FBI employees who are working on the computer system already feel the need to hack the system just to get some work done?
If you're wondering how this all came to be, the Washington Post has now done an in-depth report on just how screwed up the process was for building the FBI's computer system. Basically, the FBI handed the project over to the government's favorite secretive tech supplier, SAIC. Rather than actively manage the process, they more or less let SAIC define what it should do. There's some disagreement over who made this decision, but it included having SAIC build a system from scratch -- rather than modify available off-the-shelf offerings (something the FBI insists it won't do this time). So, you have a government contractor given a multi-million computer project, little oversight and loosely defined objectives. SAIC did pretty much what you'd expect. They took a lot of money from the government (or, if you'd like, from the taxpayers), wrote lots of code, but didn't bother much to make sure it did what the FBI needed it to do. The best part of the article is the quote from a computer science professor who reviewed the system and noted the pure stupidity of trying to launch an entirely new computer system at once with no backup plan, rather than phase it in gradually: "A bunch of us were planning on committing a crime spree the day they switched over. If the new system didn't work, it would have just put the FBI out of business." Comforting, huh?
This is actually very clever. The Post gets new content (which it can pick and choose, yet they can still deny responsibility) and even more places to stick its ads.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/specialsales/blogroll/submit.htm
What is the Sponsored Blogroll?
The Sponsored Blogroll is an index on the washingtonpost.com homepage that promotes bloggers who are participating in a partnership with the advertising team of WPNI. If you are a blogger or blog network looking to expand your readership and advertising, our Sponsored Blogroll program can be the boost you've been looking for.
Should the police be allowed to make secret arrests?
http://www.theagitator.com/archives/026938.php#026938
August 18, 2006
More Threats for Videotaping Police
This time in Massachusetts.
It's an odd case, with all sorts of strange twists and turns. But the gist of the case is that the state police and prosecutors are threatening a woman with crimnal sanctions for posting video of an arrest on her website. Not only that, but state prosecutors are apparently threatening other websites (actually, the website of the man arrested in the video) for merely linking to the video.
The case caught the attention of the Boston Phoenix, which gave the prosecutor and state police one of it's "Muzzle Awards" for suppressing free speech. The paper sums up what's at stake rather succinctly:
Since no one other than the State Police objects to the videos being posted, we must assume that it is they who believe their rights are somehow being violated. But how can that be? They are seen carrying out their public duties: arresting a citizen and temporarily depriving him of his freedom. Our right to keep tabs on how the police use that power is vital.
Again -- it should never, ever be illegal to record the actions of an on-duty police officer.
...and don't forget to look at it with a variety of browsers.
http://digg.com/software/Online_Font_Tester
Online Font Tester
MatthewDoucette submitted by MatthewDoucette 16 hours 36 minutes ago (via http://www.fonttester.com/ )
Online font comparison tool.
Look at them now. Don't wait until you're on a deadline.
List of nifty tools for drawing diagrams, charts and flow-charts
Aug 18, 11:53 AM
Tutorials
Free Web-Tools
Free Software
Leading commercial products:
Ditto
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2005149,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
Get Back Your Lost Files: File Recovery Software
August 18, 2006 By Michael W. Muchmore
Of course, prevention (in this case read "backup") is the best medicine [Amen. Bob] when it comes to lost files, whether as a result of disk malfunctions or your mistakenly deleting them. But for those of us with less foresight, there's utility software that can save our skins when it comes disappeared files. Today, we investigate three leading software products that claim to be able to find and recover files you've deleted or lost to a bad disk drive or media:
Just another reminder to consider protecting your critical data.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2002421,00.asp
Microsoft Office Under Siege
By Ryan Naraine August 13, 2006
News Analysis: Attackers and flaw finders are pounding away at Microsoft Office applications, discovering new ways to attack millions of Windows machines. Can Microsoft cope with the deluge of flaws?
What started as an amusing eBay listing of an Excel vulnerability for sale has developed into an all-out hacker assault on Microsoft Office applications.
Security researchers and malicious hackers have zeroed in on the desktop productivity suite, using specialized "fuzzing" tools to find a wide range of critical vulnerabilities in Word, Excel and PowerPoint file formats.
The upsurge in reported Office flaws has put Microsoft on high alert for targeted zero-day attacks that have all the characteristics of characteristics of corporate espionage—highly targeted and using Trojan horse programs to drop keyloggers and data theft malware programs, according to information from anti-virus vendor Symantec.
Friday, August 18, 2006
This was inevitable. It remains to be seen if it did its job and pushed the legal envelope in the desired direction. I suspect not. One issue remains. How best can we do this when it is truly required? Could we have a “hot pursuit” exception? If Osama starts calling his people in the middle east, giving them a “go” for the next 9/11, and them calls a US number, could we agree that is likely to be of interest? Might make an interesting article...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012160.html
August 17, 2006
Federal Judge Rules NSA Domestic Surveillance Program Unconstitutional
Via ACLU, ACLU v. NSA Federal Court Decision,(8/17/2006)
Via U.S. District Court, ED of Michigan, ACLU v National Security Agency, 44 pages, PDF.
"Description: In the first federal challenge ever argued against the Bush administration's NSA spying program, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor rules that the program to monitor the phone calls and e-mails of millions of Americans without warrants is unconstitutional. Calling for a halt to this abuse of presidential power, Judge Taylor states that "[t]here are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution," so all the president's "inherent powers" must derive from the Constitution."
Related postings on domestic surveillance program
See also the following draft:
The First Amendment as Criminal Procedure, by Daniel J. Solove, George Washington University Law School, August 17, 2006, GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 217: "This article explores the relationship between the First Amendment and criminal procedure. These two domains of constitutional law have long existed as separate worlds, rarely interacting with each other. But many instances of government information gathering can implicate First Amendment interests such as freedom of speech, association, and religion. The Fourth and Fifth Amendments used to provide considerable protection for First Amendment interests, as in the famous 1886 case, Boyd v. United States, where the Supreme Court held that the government was prohibited from seizing a person's private papers. Over time, however, Fourth and Fifth Amendment protection shifted, and now countless searches and seizures involving people's private papers, the books they read, the websites they surf, the pen names they use when writing anonymously, and so on fall completely outside of the protection of constitutional criminal procedure. Professor Solove argues that the First Amendment provides protection against government information gathering implicating First Amendment interests. He contends that there are doctrinal, historical, and normative justifications to develop what he calls “First Amendment criminal procedure.” Solove sets forth an approach to determine when certain instances of government information gathering fall within the regulatory domain of the First Amendment and what level of protection the First Amendment should provide."
Is this so different from life in small town America? “Look, that's Betty Lou's son. He got drunk last week and drove through Thelma's rose garden...” Only differences I see is the culture in Korea and the “size” of the virtual small town.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/142226&from=rss
Korea's Online Aggression a Taste of the Future?
Posted by timothy on Thursday August 17, @12:41PM from the smart-mobs-redefined dept. The Internet
DerGeist writes "Imagine your life ruined by an organized mob that convicts with scant, unreliable evidence. Fueled only by hearsay and rumors, an invisible horde of your fellow citizens begins bombarding your snailbox, email, phone, work, school and family with threats, insults and general harassment. You are forced to drop out of school and quit your job as a result of constant attacks. You are shunned and ridiculed in public as anywhere you go, you are instantly recognized. Although it may seem to be just a second-rate Hollywood nightmare scenario reminiscent of "The Net," this sort of "organized mob" justice is being dealt out freely in South Korea where net usage is booming. So freely, in fact, that almost 1 in 10 of 13-65 year-olds has felt its sting. Could this trend hit the U.S.? Will policing net behavior eventually become necessary?" [Virtual Law Bob]
This is an example of a trivial (almost a hobby) database. But it could be designed to allow the schools to update their record, and if you could charge them $10 a year for the privilege...
http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2006/08/18/database-of-public-and-private-schools-google-mapped/
August 18, 2006
Database of Public and Private Schools, Google-Mapped
Filed under: Reference-Education
I didn’t even know there WERE 130,000 public and private K-12 schools in the US. Well, apparently there are, and now you can search them, get some demographic information, and even a Google map at EasySchoolSearch.com.
Wow! Someone got it very wrong. Perhaps a license would have been cheaper?
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/18/0538207&from=rss
TiVo Wins Permanent Injunction Against EchoStar
Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday August 18, @03:23AM from the tuning-out dept. Television The Courts Media The Almighty Buck
ZenFodderBoy writes "It's official! Judge Folsom entered his ruling today granting TiVo nearly $90 million in damages, plus granting a permanent injunction calling for the disabling of nearly all of EchoStar's DVRs within the next 30 days. EchoStar's motion to stay the injunction pending appeal was denied. Additionally, the judge reserves the right to grant additional damages in the future, so treble damages may still be coming. Excellent news for TiVo!"
If you no longer charge subscription fees, you gotta make a buck somehow!
AOL security tools raise adware questions
Active Virus Shield's license agreement would allow AOL to send spam or serve up adware
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service August 18, 2006
Just days after posting details of searches made by hundreds of thousands of subscribers, AOL is in hot water again with consumer advocates. This time the issue is with the company's Active Virus Shield anti-virus software, released last week.
At issue is the software's licensing agreement, which authorizes AOL to gather and share data on how the software is being used and permits AOL and its affiliates to send e-mail to users. "If you go through the installation, just as any normal user would, there is not the slightest hint of any advertising functionality or data gathering of any kind," said Eric Howes, director of malware research at anti-spyware vendor Sunbelt Software.
Active Virus Shield uses Kaspersky Lab's well-regarded anti-virus software, and comes with an optional security toolbar that blocks pop-up ads and manages passwords. The software is available for free to anyone who wishes to download it and can be found here.
Although security experts, including Howes, say that Active Virus Shield does not behave in a malicious fashion or serve up unwanted ads, some are concerned that the product's end user license agreement (EULA) would allow AOL to send spam or serve up adware at some point in the future. "If it actually does any of the things stated in the EULA, we would actually flag it as spyware," said Christina Olson, a project manager with Stopbadware.org.
... "The problem is similar to the Sony rootkit issue," Raff said referring to Sony BMG Music Entertainment's notorious copy protection software, which was found to be the source of security issues late last year. "A big company chose an external company's software and rebranded it as their own, later to discover it might be bad after all," he said. [Due diligence? Bob]
They're not being rude, they're being Japanese. (Wasn't Sony a Japanese company once?)
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2004629,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
Japan PC Makers Say No Sony Battery Recall Needed
By Reuters August 17, 2006
TOKYO (Reuters)—Fujitsu Ltd. and other Japanese computer makers said on Thursday that no recall of batteries made by Sony Corp. was necessary as their computers were designed to avoid overheating.
Think of the old economic truism about debasing currency... This is inevitable!
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2004864,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
VD Giveaways Signal Woes of Once-Booming Format
August 17, 2006 By Jeffrey Goldfarb, Reuters
LONDON (Reuters)—British newspapers are now giving away free as many DVDs as are being purchased in stores, revealing a stealth contributing factor to the decline of Hollywood's cash cow format.
The cover-mounted DVD giveaways, which have included "Prizzi's Honor" and "Donnie Darko," devalue the format in the eyes of consumers, one-quarter of whom said they would have bought the same title if they had seen it in shops for a reasonable price, [The concept is called “willing and able” and since they weren't willing at that price, there was no demand. Bob] according to a report released on Thursday.
They have a pre-existing relationship. The information is public (free for the asking, in fact). What's the big deal? Isn't this actually a free version of the yellow pages?
China site offers name cards without consent: Xinhua
Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:41 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese Web site has sparked controversy by posting information from 2 million people's business cards without their consent and winning 5 million visits a month, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
Mingpian.com, named after the Chinese word for business card, offers people's mobile phone and office numbers and email and company addresses for free, Xinhua said.
"Many of the name cards were contributed by our staff through their personal connections," [Okay, there goes the pre-existing relationship argument... Bob] it quoted the Web site's press officer as saying.
Viewers can accumulate points by contributing names or inviting friends to log on to the site, the Web site said.
"I never revealed my information to this Web site and it violates my privacy," it quoted Mao Qinglin, marketing manager for the personal computer giant Lenovo, whose name was the most clicked IT contact on the site, as saying. [“I just can't deal with all these business offers!” Bob]
In an ongoing effort to prove they NEVER arrest people for no reason...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060817/1118205.shtml
Phone Resellers Avoid Trumped-Up Terrorism Charges, Now Face Trumped-Up Fraud Charges Instead
from the saving-face dept
Some good news came for the three Palestinian-American men arrested in Michigan, basically for having 1,000 prepaid cell phones: they won't be charged with any terrorism-related offenses. The bad news: they've been hit with federal fraud charges instead. The guys' business plan was pretty straightforward: buy subsidized prepaid phones, then get them unlocked so they could work with any compatible provider, then sell them for a higher price. Prosecutors allege the men's actions represent an attempt to defraud prepaid provider Tracfone, phone manufacturer Nokia and the public by trafficking in counterfeit goods. While unlocking phones, particularly for resale, annoys mobile operators, it's not abundantly clear how doing so represents fraud, nor how unlocking the phones makes them counterfeit, and it's not clear at all why doing so is illegal, though Tracfone and other providers apparently make the bizarre claim that it's copyright infringement. In any case, it seems like any potential legal problems here would be of a civil nature, and not worthy of federal fraud and money-laundering charges. Somehow, you get the feeling somebody doesn't want to admit the arrest and subsequent treatment of these guys was nothing other than a big mistake.
http://fsi-language-courses.com/
FSI Language Courses
Welcome to fsi-language-courses.com, the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.
... visit How-to-learn-any-language.com
Thursday, August 17, 2006
A new dimension to product liability?
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2004230,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
Agency Reviewing All Sony Laptop Batteries
By Philipp Gollner, Reuters August 16, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Consumer safety officials said on Tuesday they are reviewing all Sony-made lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers for fire hazards after Dell Inc. announced the largest electronics recall in the United States.
... The Sony batteries are also used in laptops from Hewlett-Packard Co., Apple Computer Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd.
"We are looking at the complete scope of the batteries made by Sony to ensure that no other consumers are in harm's way," U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said. "We recognize that the batteries manufactured by Sony are not unique to just the Dell notebook computers."
Interesting.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5483.html
Is MySpace.com Your Space?
Q&A with: John Deighton Published: August 16, 2006 Author: Sean Silverthorne
Executive Summary:
Social networking sites such as MySpace.com have demographics to die for, but PR problems with parents, police, and policymakers. Are they safe for advertisers? A Q&A with Professor John Deighton. Key concepts include:
* Social networking sites such as MySpace.com are emerging as powerful advertising platforms reaching millions of desirable consumers.
* They will be advertising rivals to established Internet sites such as Google and Yahoo.
* Although MySpace has been the subject of some community criticism, MySpace advertisers don't seem frightened off.
But Mom, all the other kindergärtners have them! (If I catch them driving while talking on the phone, they're getting a spanking!)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/16/1746206&from=rss
Kids with Cell Phones, How Young is Too Young?
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday August 16, @04:16PM from the how-often-are-they-on-their-own dept. Communications Hardware
An anonymous reader writes "CNet is reporting that the average age of a child receiving their first cell phone is continuing to drop. A report carried out last year showed that the average age of a child's first cell phone was just eight years old and is expected to drop closer to 5 years of age this year. The author raises the obligatory medical questions that have been argued about in adults for years. Just how young is too young for a cell phone?
Business model: Leave your laptop at home, when you reach your destination rent one of ours! (The problem is, people still want to keep a copy of their data...)
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/0021227&from=rss
Is Your Laptop At Risk While Traveling?
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 16, @09:38PM from the use-more-bubblewrap dept. Portables Hardware
Editorgirl35 writes "Here's an interesting story on DesignNews.com With last week's announcement that the British government thwarted an alleged terrorist attack planned for flights from the U.K. to the U.S., news that travelers are required to check their laptops as baggage on some flights has raised a new level of panic as they try to figure out the best way to protect their laptops."
Oh please, please, PLEASE give me the opportunity to comment on some of these patent applications.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/0143207&from=rss
Patent Reviews Via Wiki
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 16, @10:58PM from the patents-of-the-many dept. Patents IT
unboring writes "Fortune reports on a pilot program where the patent approval process would be opened to outsiders for review. Reviewers can vote and discuss on different proposals, through say a wiki. Given the many (recent and past) patent approval fiascos, this seems like a good idea. It'll be interesting to see how they would deal with the issues faced by Wikipedia."
Continuing Microsoft's death by 1000 cuts?
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/0226248&from=rss
22,000 Indiana Students Using Linux Desktops
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 17, @02:34AM from the open-school dept. Education Linux
Anonymous writes "Indiana's Department of Education has moved 22,000 students onto Linux desktops, and it's looking like that's only going to accelerate with SLED 10, Linspire, and other distributions getting better."
All football, all the time. Think how access to any team (including your old high school) can change the media dynamic. MANY business opportunities here folks. Think this will entice jocks to Harvard?
Smaller Colleges Bypassing TV for Web
By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press Writer Aug 16, 5:46 PM EDT
... The big TV networks simply aren't interested in the little Ivy League.
But the Ivy League and other small conferences may have found a way around that - the Internet.
Many schools, and now some conferences, have begun showing football and other sports on their Web sites.
"We can produce our own television and reach, literally, the entire world on the Web, without having to go through the issues of, is there cable availability? Is there satellite availability? Is there advertising support?" said Jeff Orleans, commissioner of the Ivy League.
... Big Sky Conference's Northern Arizona offered webcasts of home football games last year. Using the four cameras already set up to provide replays on the stadium scoreboard, the school added audio from its radio broadcasts along with continually updated statistics.
... This season, the entire nine-school Big Sky Conference will webcast all football, basketball and volleyball games, using technology from Salt Lake City-based SportsCast Network LLC.
Fans will be able to choose which team's audio feed to which to listen. Games will be archived and can be downloaded to portable devices like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.
"This is the future," Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton said. "The fan will decide what they are going to watch and when they are going to watch it."
... ---On the Net: http://www.bigskytv.org http://broadband.espn.go.com/ivp/splash http://www.wac.tv
When, not if!
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012148.html
August 15, 2006
New National Survey on Enterprise Data Security Risks
Ponemon Institute Releases National Survey on Confidential Data at Risk
"Stored data presents unique challenges for enterprise security, and the U.S. Survey: Confidential Data at Risk is a first-of-its-kind study on the topic. Derived from a national sampling of nearly 500 experienced information security practitioners, the survey reveals a number of key findings, including: 81 percent of companies surveyed reported the loss of one or more laptop computers containing sensitive information during the previous 12 months."
Keep this link in your “Background research” folder...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012155.html
August 16, 2006
Updates to World Fact Book Online
CIA - The World Fact Book - What's New
"Country information has been updated as of 8 August 2006.
There have been some significant changes to the latest edition of The World Factbook. The successful secession referendum held in Montenegro in May of 2006 allowed it to legally leave its union with Serbia the following month. These two Balkan countries have now been formally recognized and are listed separately in the Factbook.
A new Appendix G lists Weights and Measures. The appendix includes information on mathematical notation and metric interrelationships, as well as over 400 examples of standard conversion factors.
Revision of some individual country maps, first introduced in the 2001 edition, is continued in this edition. Several regional maps have also been updated to reflect boundary changes and place name spelling changes."
I still can't find the “Ministry of Silly Walks”
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012151.html
August 16, 2006
U.S. Government Manual 2006-2007
"The official handbook of the Federal Government, provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches."
Current Edition (2006-07) only: Quick Search
Federal Regulatory information...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012156.html
August 16, 2006
OMB Searchable Inventory of Approved Information Collections
"Inventory of Approved Information Collections (updated daily) - This listing includes all collections of information from the public for which a Federal agency has received prior approval from OMB, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. An ongoing collection must be approved by OMB at least once every three years."
Sometime soon, elected officials will have to notice that most voters don't trust these machines... Nah!
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060816/1221223.shtml
Another Lawsuit Filed To Stop E-Voting Machines
from the groundswell dept
For years and years people have been pointing out the massive security flaws in e-voting machines. While the companies in the space laugh off the problem or try to block those who try to make sure the devices are secure, it seems like more and more people are beginning to recognize the problems with the machines. They're speaking up and letting politicians know that they're uncomfortable with these machines. The latest is that yet another lawsuit has been filed to stop these machines from being used in elections. This lawsuit is in Pennsylvania but is similar to lawsuits elsewhere. It's certainly true that no voting system is perfectly secure -- but the level of correctable problems found in many e-voting machines, combined with the level of disdain the equipment makers show towards those who point out the flaws makes it worthwhile to try to stop these machines from being used in elections.
What a great idea!
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2003853,00.asp
'Pen' Testing in the Palm of Your Hand
By Ryan Naraine August 15, 2006
A portable hacking device equipped with hundreds of exploits and an automated exploitation system will go on sale in the United States in October.
The wireless handheld, called Silica, is the latest product to be developed by Immunity, a Miami-based security company that sells penetration testing products and services.
“a virtual strip search” Cool. (Every high school kid in America will be trying to build one of these in his garage...)
http://digg.com/hardware/New_airport_screener_machine_shows_you_naked
New airport screener machine shows you naked
kmk2006 submitted by kmk2006 20 hours 54 minutes ago (via http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/scp_v3/viewer/index.php?pid=16598&rn=49750&cl=704900&ch=49799&src=digg.com )
Title says it all. Link to video.
How can you tell city officials can't write contracts (or laws) worth a damn? (Whatever happened to “We're the government. We can do anything we want.”)
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1155654959125350.xml&coll=8
Dispute slows school/county fiber-optic network
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 By Lynn Moore CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Debbie Brewer was puzzled when crews started erecting a power pole in front of her Muskegon home at the corner of Francis Avenue and Creston Street last spring.
Why, she thought, put up another one when there's an existing pole not 10 feet away on the same corner?
She wasn't too pleased when she learned the answer: Verizon Communications wouldn't allow a consortium of schools and government to use any of its poles to string fiber optics for a countywide improvement project.
... Verizon's claim that state law prevents it from allowing use of its poles is the latest snag in the $3 million fiber project that is two years behind schedule.
... The fiber also will allow schools, 911 Central Dispatch and the county to stop leasing "T1 lines" from Verizon that cost $500 to $700 per month. Those are broadband lines that can handle large amounts of voice and data.
Let's hope this doesn't escalate!
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/08/16/iran-gives-hezbollah-unlimited-budget-to-rebuild-lebanon/
Iran gives Hezbollah “unlimited budget” to rebuild Lebanon
posted at 12:54 am on August 16, 2006 by Allahpundit
Send to a Friend | printer-friendly
According to an anti-Syrian Lebanese MP who claims he was told by Hezbollah capos themselves. It figures that the one time the west actually wants to see an Arab government propped up with Sunni cash, the Egyptians, Jordanians and even the Saudis are asleep at the wheel. And Nasrallah’s taking full advantage:
Today's Dilbert sums up IT policy quite neatly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)