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How broadband is killing newspapers
We all "know" that the Internet has been a key factor in the decline of the print newspaper business. Reflections of a Newsosaur's Alan Mutter delivers some numbers to back that up.
Disgusting things left behind on airplanes
Wall Street Journal columnist Scott McCartney looks at how airline passengers are behaving worse these days, and leaving behind more disgusting residue for the next unwary passenger.
Worse than mere evil
I love this bit of wisdom from the Fake Steve Jobs: "... big companies are scary; big evil companies are even scarier; but big evil clumsy companies are the scariest of all."
Death on the rails
During the past two weeks, two people have been hit and killed by trains in South King County while talking on their cell phones.
Why the nursing shortage is easing
I never thought of nursing as a reverse economic indicator, but it makes sense. As The Wall Street Journal explains:
Little actually read online
How much of a Web page does the average Internet user actually read? At most 28 percent -- and more likely as little as 20 percent, according to usability guru Jakob Nielsen. He based his conclusion on his own analysis of the raw data from a study conducted in Germany.
A new site for pet owners
We've launched MySeattlePets, a new community-oriented site where pet owners to compare tips, share stories and photos, and more.
Potential new streetcar lines
The Seattle Department of Transportation thinks four proposed new streetcar routes look promising enough to merit further consideration.
In nature, being smart can cost you
Evolutionary biologist Tadeusz Kawecki set out to find the answer to a simple question: "If it's so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?"
Biofuel pros and cons
Dateline Earth's Lisa Stiffler penned a nice overview of the many controversies surrounding biofuels.
Stable fat
The study making the biggest news the past few days has to be what Roger Highfield, science editor for The Daily Telegraph, calls a "fundamental new insight into the cause of obesity."
Potential pitfalls of plug-in cars
Electric cars that you can recharge by plugging into any old wall outlet? Sounds great -- and automakers expect to introduce plug-in hybrid cars in 2010. But there's a big catch, The Wall Street Journal explains.
New sports stats blog
Steve Rudman, our sports department's resident statistics guru, now has his own blog, Take 2 Online.
High price of gas beyond some pumps
As gas prices reach $4 a gallon, what'll become of older gas pumps that just can't support prices that high?
VoIP 911 tragedy
As regulators in both the U.S. and Canada begin to require that VoIP providers support enhanced 911 services to help pinpoint Internet callers' location, a tragic story out of Canada reminds us of the need. A toddler in Calgary died waiting for an ambulance that was actually dispatched to his family's former home across the country.
Buzzworthy
SeattlePI.com senior online producer Brian Chin's blog covers technology, politics and social trends -- plus stuff that's just too strange to make up.
RIGHTS-JAPAN: Broadcasters Break Hanging Secrecy Taboos
TOKYO, May 12 (IPS) - The final seconds in the life of a Japanese death
row inmate -- the rasping muffled last words, the trapdoor
springing open, the whip of a noose and a Buddhist gong
signalling the end -- has made radio history here, waking
listeners up to what goes on in one of the most secretive
execution systems in the world.
POLITICS-US: Lawmakers Seek Probe of "Media Generals"
NEW YORK, May 8 (IPS) - As U.S. television networks continue their silence
about their use of retired military officers to "sell"
progress in Iraq, members of the U.S. House of Representatives
are calling on the Defence Department Inspector General to
investigate the Pentagon-sponsored public relations effort.
EUROPE: The Newspaper World Suffers Another Blow
PARIS, May 5 (IPS) - The financial crisis in the French newspaper Le
Monde, that led to an unprecedented two-day strike in mid-April,
is symptom of a growing crisis in the print media in France, and
in several other European countries.
MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Caught Between State and Non-State Actors
KARACHI, May 5 (IPS) - "My captivity only brought honour upon me,"
is how journalist Suhail Qalandar sees his ordeal at the hands of
kidnappers last year. He was talking with IPS over the phone from
Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province.
FIJI: Aussie Journo Expelled on Press Freedom Day Eve
SUVA, May 5 (IPS) - Fiji’s interim government has come under withering
criticism both nationally and internationally for the deportation
on Friday of the Australian publisher of the leading ‘Fiji Times’
daily, Evan Hannah.
MEDIA-ASIA: More Than Just Freedom
BANGKOK, May 2 (IPS) - More than gaining the freedom to report on
society’s problems Asian media must gauge it’s real contribution
to the public‘s needs, especially at a time of increasing
commercialisation.
RIGHTS: Impunity Reigns in Journalist Murders
NEW YORK, May 2 (IPS) - Over the last 15 years, at least 500 journalists
were killed directly because of their work. But in less than 15
percent of cases have the perpetrators been brought to justice,
according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ).
EGYPT: New Strike to Greet Mubarak
CAIRO, May 2 (IPS) - Hundreds remain in detention following a nationwide
protest Apr. 6 against rising food prices and political
stagnation. But this has not deterred activists from calling for
a second general strike on May 4, timed to coincide with
President Hosni Mubarak's birthday.
RIGHTS: People Everywhere Support Free Media
WASHINGTON, May 1 (IPS) - Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights asserted the individual's right to "receive
and impart information and ideas through any media", it
appears that most of the world's people agree, at least in
principle.
Q&A: Is a Global News Agency of the South Viable?
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 (IPS) - When the tart-tongued prime minister of a Southeast
Asian nation was once asked what the leading newspapers were in
his country, he remarked rather cynically: "We don't
have any leading newspapers because all our newspapers are
misleading."
MIDEAST: Just The Place To Be, And Not To Be
GAZA CITY, Apr 18 (IPS) - Fadel Shana just had to go to the scene of the
Israeli bombing. As a Reuters cameraman, that was his job. He
wasn't the only one killed, but through his pursuit of attacks
as they happen, he was always more at risk than most others.
MEXICO: Murder of Reporters Highlights Indigenous Divisions
MEXICO CITY, Apr 16 (IPS) - The airwaves of "Radio Copala, the Voice That
Breaks the Silence" only cover a few hectares in an
indigenous region in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. But
since the murder of two of the station’s four reporters, they
have reached across borders.
MIDEAST: No Ambulance, Call the Radio
GAZA CITY, Apr 12 (IPS) - "I am bleeding uncontrollably, I need an
ambulance." That was not a call to emergency
services, it
was an appeal broadcast live on radio in Gaza City.
Q&A: Crossing the Red Lines in Egypt
CAIRO, Apr 8 (IPS) - Launched in 1995, Al-Dustour was closed by the
government three years later after publishing articles critical
of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Following a judicial
decree, the newspaper began printing again in 2005.
COLOMBIA: Violent Society, Violent Schools
BOGOTA, Apr 7 (IPS) - In a survey carried out in 807 public and private
primary and secondary schools across the social spectrum in the
Colombian capital, 56 percent of students said they had been
robbed within the school premises.
IPS Inter Press Service - Media, Technology & Communications
There is more to progress than economic growth. The true goals of development are human freedoms and rights, including the right to information and knowledge.
Daily Twitterings
You can't keep the good ones down for long...
First there was The Register, then came The Inquirer. Now Mike Magee is back with a new experiment in online IT journalism, The IT Examiner.
The first cut of the site is up, and it's looking interesting - especially as it blends western and eastern news in one place, with journalists based in Bangalore doing much of the writing. I suspect the outsourcing section of the site will be worth following. The site only went live yesterday, so there's not much there yet, but as with all online writing the value is in the corpus, and things should grow pretty rapidly now.
Bit of a theme going on with the site names, Mike!
Open Space Invader
Parakeet flying over Richmond Park. The aliens among us squawk and screech their torrid affairs from the tree tops...
Richmond Park, London
May 2008
Daily Twitterings
Photo 3000
My 3,000th image on Flickr comes from a walk through Richmond Park's Isabella Plantation at the height of the azalea season.
The park is one of my favourite places for photography, so it's fitting that it's the source of a milestone image.
Richmond Park, London
May 2008
Asking a subset of the LazyWeb: Ad Management Software
Some folk from a project I'm distantly involved with are looking for ad management software for a web site.
Any recommendations from the folk out there? It'd be good to hear what's good and what horror stories people have had.
I don't have many details of what they want, but I suspect it'll be banner and side bar management with some AdWords integration as well.
Thanks!
Daily Twitterings
Daily Twitterings
New aphorisms for our time
"It's like watching a RAID array rebuild".
(29.4% Complete, Time Remaining 399.8 Minutes)
RetroGPS
A 1927 navigation device. Scroll the map through the viewer to guide you on any of 20 or so pre-set routes.
Yes, I know, it's a link to the Daily Mail. And from a Guardianista like me, too. Sorry...
10 hours and counting...
The house NAS is slowly on its way back to health.
One of the four drives in the RAID array lunched itself a while back, and I received a replacement this afternoon. Fitting it was a snap, the Buffalo Terastation Pro uses quick release drive caddies, so all I had to do was unscrew and replace the drive. The folk at RL Supplies had the right drives, and they delivered the replacement pretty quickly.
(Actually, the first thing I had to do was find the key to open the drive bay door, which in my usual efficiency I had "filed". Once that panic was over I could get to work.)
Once it was in I powered up the NAS to discover that the crash had also lunched its firmware. Luckily I could download some replacement code, and fire it off at the box. Of course the firmware updater needed me to turn of the firewall on my desktop PC so it could actually see the NAS. Still, updating the firmware was pretty straight forward, so I didn't have to much to worry about there.
Reflashed, it booted, and I could finally see the web UI. The three remaining disks were OK, and all that remained was clicking the "rebuild array" button. Oh, and waiting. And waiting. It's looking as though the process will take about ten hours. At least I was running RAID 5 and could do the restore, so waiting for the data to come back is really not too much of a hassle compared to not having anything.
And then I'll be able to get back to the house music collection - as I've ripped everything we have and stored it on the NAS. And, err, the wedding photos.
Phew.
4.6% done.
By the Russian walls
A nicely atmospheric shot of Fort Ross, a 19th century Russian trading post on the Northern California coast, between Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg. It's a really rather beautiful, but very isolated place - but the sea otter pelts were tempting.
The day we were there, the whole of the place was being used by several families worth of Russian re-enactors, all in a mix of historical and modern dress. It was slightly odd watching a group of peasant children singing modern pop songs while using toy guns as air guitars.
Fort Ross, California
April 2008
Daily Twitterings
Someone's stolen Peter Gabriel's web servers
According to El Reg, the servers have been stolen from the data centre where they've been running both his and the WOMAD sites...
Maybe someone was listening to this song as they walked off with the hardware...I know something about opening windows and doors
I know how to move quietly to creep across creaky wooden floors
I know where to find precious things in all your cupboards and drawers
Slipping the clippers
Slipping the clippers through the telephone wires
The sense of isolation inspires
Inspires me
I like to feel the suspense when I'm certain you know I am there
I like you lying awake, your baited breath charging the air
I like the touch and the smell of all the pretty dresses you wear
Intruders happy in the dark
Intruder come
Intruder come and leave his mark, leave his mark Still, the site is slowly coming back - so score one for data recovery.
Oddly Gabriel is keynoting at Salesforce.com's European DreamForce event in London this week. I don't think this makes him quite the poster boy for SaaS!
Signs of summer (one of a hefty series)
It's starting to warm up in London. The birds are singing late into the evening, and the windows are starting to open all along the street. People are wearing shorts, and there's a definite scent of barbecue charcoal and paraffin on the gentle breeze. The cats have rediscovered the catflap
And me?
I've had my bi-annual haircut and no longer look like the slightly hairier-twin of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. In fact this time the barber seems to have been even more drastic than I expected, and I've ended up with the closest thing I've had to a short back-and-sides since, ooh, since I had my first job. Still, it's a definite weight off my shoulders...
Daily Twitterings
Daily Twitterings
No (for now) Microhoo
News has just come out that Microsoft is walking away from its bid for Yahoo! after raising its offer to $33 a share.
I'm not really surprised at this result. As much as he's like to think so Yahoo! isn't worth the $37 a share that Jerry Yang was holding out for, and I really don't think Microsoft wanted to go hostile considering the damage it would have done to the Yahoo! engineering teams it wanted. More than $33 a share, and Steve Ballmer would have been risking an awful lot of additional gearing that would have ended up diluting Microsoft's control of its own destiny.
So what's next? One option is to for Microsoft to take the same approach it did with Borland in the 90s - so recruiters in the Bay Area can probably look for a bumper year as Microsoft starts to cherry pick the talent it wants from Yahoo!'s engineering teams. That'll be considerably cheaper for Microsoft, though any results will take time to filter through its product pipeline. It took nearly 10 years for .NET to get to where it is today...
The other option is, I think, going to depend on how the Microsoft and Yahoo! stock prices behave over the next quarter or two. Monday should see a steep drop in Yahoo!'s price, and an equivalent (but not so dramatic) rise in Microsoft. The spectre of a hefty gearing has depressed Microsoft's stock, and the prospect of a payday has pushed Yahoo!'s up. If Yahoo! continues to trend down, its board is going to come under considerable pressure from institutional shareholders as to why it didn't take the $33 offer. Yahoo! will end having to approach various suitors, but there won't be a white knight until Microsoft comes in with a bid at around $28 (or possibly even lower) a share, which the Yahoo! board will be forced to accept.
Either way Microsoft gets the people and skills it wants for less than it was originally planning to pay, though the second option adds a few additional properties and the trauma of a merger...
Graphing classic 80s records.
Originally posted as a comment to this entry by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) major_clanger
It's surprising how quickly you can knock these things up in Google Docs...
Daily Twitterings
Having a bad technology day...
What is it with me and card readers today?
The ATM at my bank ate my card, and then the ticket machine at the local supermarket refused to return my ticket. At least the bank manager was able to retrieve my plastic from the depths of the ATM, where it was jammed into some subtle piece of machinery, and the parking attendant reset the ticket machine so it eventually (with some assistance from marypcb) disgorged the sliver of card...
But still, what is it with me and card readers today?
Not your usual selection box...
I'm of the age where chocolate selection boxes were a staple of Christmas. My grandparents would give one each to myself and my brother, and my mother would ration the confectionery out over the next month or so.
Today's discovery came as a bit of a surprise. While wandering around Waitrose I spotted a rather different sort of selection box, from the Clarence Court traditional-breeds free-range egg folk. Instead of chocolate you got a selection of seasonal eggs - one goose, two duck, a brace of pheasant, and a handful of quails' eggs.
It's an interesting idea, bringing back some traditional eggs that most people don't actually eat. I know I've not had goose egg or pheasant eggs - though I do think duck eggs make for a much better fry-up than hens' (they crisp just right on the bottom when cooked in a fresh extra virgin olive oil)...
And if you want to check up on the birds, there's a hen cam!
Daily Twitterings
Somewhere in here is my wife...
marypcb at the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, California.
And yes, I did drive a car through it. And through another tree further up the Avenue of Giants. Yet more trips to Roadside Americana so you don't have to. Actually driving through a tree is pretty cool, and remember, P.J O'Rourke applies*.
*"There's lots of argument about what kind of car drives best. Some say a front-wheel drive car. Some say a rear-wheel drive. I say it's a rental car. There are things you can do with a rental car that are just impossible with any other kind of vehicle."
More back up brains
Recently I blogged about Evernote, part of a suite of tools I'm using to try and improve my notoriously faulty memory. I've also mentioned Dopplr, and I'm connected to quite a few of you out there on there too.
Since then I've found a handful of extra sites and services that help me organise myself.
First there's Tripit. At first glance it's something of a competitor to Dopplr, but in practice it's quite different. I'm using it as a place to organise all my travel itineraries - flights, car hire, hotels, whatever. You just forward the site any confirmation emails and it builds a complete itinerary for you, with access to additional information about your destination. It's an excellent personal companion to the more public Dopplr trip sharing tool, though I can give people access to the actual details of a trip on a trip-by-trip basis.
Next there's ReQall, which is a simple reminder service. All I (or anyone I've let connect to me) need to do is IM, email or phone the service to give it a task I need reminding about. I can send it notes too. The phone side of it is especially useful - there's a UK number - and it uses voice recognition to take my message and stick it on the service, and when it gets to my deadline it'll email, text or IM me with the reminder I've left. of course there's a web option, and there's also a dedicated Firefox toolbar...
Another tool I've been looking at, but haven't used in anger, is Presdo. It's a scheduling tool that aims to try and find appropriate places to meet. I have a lot of meetings where I need to find "somewhere in the West End" or "somewhere near San Mateo", and I often have no idea what's good, quiet coffee shop, or a place to eat breakfast, or... Well, you get the picture. Anything that helps with that's got to be a winner...
Then there's Microsoft's Live Mesh which mixes device-to-device synchronisation and an online store. I'm currently using it to keep my working set of files in sync between desktop and laptop, but as Mesh adds features (and I've seen some of the internal stuff that MS will be rolling out as the beta gets larger), it becomes a framework which starts to be an implementation of David Weinberger's Small Pieces Loosely Joined, where application endpoints share information over the net.
So what are you folks out there using? Is there something I'm missing that'll make my life easier?
Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff
Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff - LiveJournal.com
Quiet Moves
It’s been very quiet here on TNL.net but the same has not been true of my life. As a matter of fact, it’s been extremely busy.
The Job Search
The job search has ended and thanks to the many people who have helped. It’s been an interesting excercise in learning how to use social tools to achieve [...]
Updates
It’s been kind of quiet here as I’ve been busy with the job search and a number of other matters.
The Job Search
I am reasonably optimistic in terms of job prospects. The silver lining on this cloud, if there is one, is that this has helped me spend a little more time thinking about what I [...]
Non-obvious winners and losers in Microsoft Yahoo Deal
The tech community is buzzing at the news that Microsoft has made an unsolicited US$44.6 billion offer to acquire Yahoo and word is that Yahoo is actually considering it very seriously.
The potential merger has long been rumored and there are many reasons for which it could actually make a lot of sense for both companies. [...]
On the road again
Six weeks ago, it was with great joy and hopes that I joined GroupM, leaving behind the safety of a big bank for the more tumultuous waters of media and advertising.
At the time, however, I did not expect things to turn as they just did: I’ve been laid off as I was told that a [...]
Palm responds, Part 2
In part 2 of a 2 part interview, John Moses, global Vice President of Customer Support for Palm, answers questions about Palm's unit replacement program and about other issues relating to Palm's technical support.
Palm responds, Part 1
In part 1 of a 2 part interview, John Moses, global Vice President of Customer Support for Palm, answers questions about Palm's call centers and about my own experience with them.
Could Tech Support Undo Palm?
I’ve been a supporter of Palm for a very long time (in fact, I’ve been a supporter of Palm for longer than the company itself has existed as I supported it through the first iteration of the company, its subsequent acquisition by US Robotics, then 3COM, then its return to a new company base, its [...]
Personal Relationship Manager
I am a tad obsessive about my address book. While there are several thousand people in it, I tend to believe that I need to make sure that they stay current and I look to my address book as the center of my social network. but it ought to work more like a personal relationship [...]
My thoughts are with Marc
Marc Orchant has been one of the bright lights of my experience with blognation to date.Last night, he suffered from a massive heart attack. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I know Marc has a solid fighting spirit and I really, really hope he pulls through this.
Update (December 9th): Sad News. [...]
Transition time
Yes, it has been quiet on the blog. Too quiet in fact and here is some background information as to why and what’s being done about it.
Background
“People are concerned about your blog.” In the hushed world of banking, this was a clear sign that I was in trouble. People didn’t like my blog and it [...]
The TNL.net weblog
Turning Data into Knowledge
Web Site Marketing Strategy Tool?
Voodoo Links to High Technology
Sex in Cyberculture News
The Evolution of a Cyberculture News Subculture
Negative Imagery: Don't Believe Everything You Read in the Cyberculture News
Lunacy of Life
The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back
A Classic Tail Symbol: Modern Day Analogy
Have I told you?
Cursed with a Gift
Hollywood Script Dictated by Cosmic Mind
Think Outside the Box
Symbolism: China Syndrome: Portentous Headlines
The Paradox of Loneliness
Transcendental Thoughts from Cyberculture News
History Repeating Itself: Religion Censoring Progress
Sin: The Art of Expression
Blogger Goes Wide Screen
Cyberculture News: Movers and Shakers
Gold n Them Thar Virtual Fences
Investment Grade Headlines
Headlines: Foreseeing the Future
Portentous Headlines: Seeing the Future
Number 1 Equals $14 Million
Cyberculture News: Portentous Headlines.
Cyberculture News
CDT's Schwartz Named to Government Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board
The Center for Democracy & Technology is pleased to announce that Ari Schwartz, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed to the US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.
The Board advises the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget on information security and privacy issues pertaining to information systems in the Federal Government. The Board was created by the Computer Security Act of 1987, and its name was changed and mission reaffirmed by the E-Government Act of 2002.
CDT Is Joined on Anti-Spyware Brief by Wide Range of Groups and Companies
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today, CDT argues that anti-spyware vendors should be protected by the liability protections afforded other filtering companies under the Communications Decency Act. CDT was joined by a broad spectrum of Internet and technology industry groups, public interest organizations, civil liberties groups and individual companies that are all committed to the proposition that users should be empowered to control their own Internet experiences. The brief urges the court to protect anti-spyware vendors from liability in cases brought to intimidate anti-spyware vendors into ignoring spyware.
CDT Testimony: DHS, State Using Insecure RFID Technology
The long-range or "vicinity" Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology chosen by the Departments of Homeland Security and State for government-issued ID documents poses serious risks to personal privacy and security, CDT testified today before a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee. CDT recommended that DHS and State abandon the technology, which was originally developed to track things, not people, and that encryption be used to protect a citizen's unique ID number. CDT also urged Congress to support legislation or regulations banning unauthorized "skimming" of RFID chips and prohibiting use of the passport card and Enhanced Driver's License beyond border security.
ASC Behavioral Targeting Working Group Launched
The Anti-Spyware Coalition has created a new internal working group to review privacy concerns raised by partnerships between behavioral targeting advertising companies and ISPs. The concerns stem from instances in which these business relationships result in all, or substantially all, user Web traffic being passed to advertisers with little or no notice. In many instances the activities raising privacy concerns are taking place by exploiting "borderline" acceptable practices in order to skirt anti-spyware products. The new working group will convene to specifically review current guidelines and recommend changes if needed.
Senate Approves Vital Health Privacy Bill
CDT applauds the Senate's passage of HR 293, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (GINA) by unanimous consent. The House is expected to quickly pass the measure. The bill represents a significant step forward in protecting health privacy because it prohibits the use of genetic information by employers when making hiring decisions or by health insurers when making coverage decisions or adjusting premiums. Under GINA, employers and insurers also would not be allowed to impose genetic testing requirements. CDT is urging the President to quickly sign the bill into law.
CDT Calls for Judicial Oversight of FBI Information Demands
The Center for Democracy and Technology today called for judicial oversight of National Security Letters (NSLs); the documents are used by the FBI when seeking records containing sensitive personal information. Successive Inspector General reports have uncovered abuses and mistakes by the FBI in issuing the NSLs. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, CDT's Greg Nojeim said that FBI self-policing does not work. CDT and other organizations issued a letter endorsing the NSL Reform Act, S. 2088, which would place more restrictions on how NSLs are issued and subject them to judicial oversight.
FTC Should Strengthen Behavioral Advertising Principles
The Federal Trade Commission's proposed behavioral advertising principles aren't strong enough on their own to adequately protect consumers, according to comments filed jointly today by CDT, Consumer Action and Privacy Activism. Although the principles represent a solid first step in the process, protecting consumer privacy interests in this space will require a rigorous mix of self-regulation, enforcement of existing law, and the passage of new general privacy law. The comments include CDT's finding that there are several practices of concern occurring on the Internet today that remain unaddressed by current self-regulation. Based on this research and other industry developments, CDT, Consumer Action, and Privacy Activism recommend ways for the FTC to bolster several of its proposed principles. The groups also urge the Commission to explain how it will ensure industry compliance with the principles.
CDT Corrects the Record About Security of Personal Data on REAL ID Cards
Today CDT sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighting Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoffβs recent testimony in which he wrongly asserted that the personal information stored on REAL ID cards will be safe from unauthorized access, and accused privacy advocates of spreading βmisinformation.β In fact, the REAL ID Act and regulations mandate that Americansβ personal data be stored in an unsecured barcode, which can be easily scanned with widely available readers.
Liability Protection for Internet Content Venues Threatened
Over the past few months, the Center for Democracy & Technology has joined a series of "friend of the court" briefs urging courts to broadly enforce a federal law that shields Internet website operators from liability for content posted by Internet users. This immunity from liability has been a vital underpinning of the explosion of user generated sites such as blogs and video sharing websites. Although many courts have broadly interpreted "Section 230" to protect these websites, an increasing number of cases challenge that protection. Earlier this week, CDT released an analysis of this trend and an overview of the arguments presented by CDT to the courts. Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Roommates.com website and held that Section 230 did not protect the site from a civil lawsuit. CDT believes that the court's decision is an ominous indicator of the threats to openness and free expression online.
Comcast To Quit Controversial Congestion Management Practice
Comcast, in a joint statement with BitTorrent, today said that by the end of 2008 it will abandon the controversial practice of responding to network congestion by degrading BitTorrent and other selected peer-to-peer traffic, in favor of a "protocol agnostic" approach. CDT applauds the new announcement because it appears to call for exactly the kind of evenhanded and transparent approach that CDT has advocated. The announcement also calls for cooperation to make peer-to-peer systems more bandwidth-efficient, another welcome development.
Compendium of Behavioral Targeting 'Sensitive' Definitions
CDT today released a compendium of definitions for those grappling with the question of what information should be considered "sensitive" in the online behavioral targeting context. Culled from an array of statutes, self-regulatory guidelines and policy proposals, the definitions address information about individuals that has been granted some measure of special treatment. Use of sensitive data is a key issue in the FTC's proposed self-regulatory principles released in December 2007. The compendium was developed in consultation with CDT's Internet Privacy Working Group.
Supreme Court to Decide If FCC Can Regulate 'Fleeting Expletives'
The ability of the FCC to punish broadcast stations for airing "fleeting expletives" -- the one-time blurting out of profanity on broadcast programming -- is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court announced this week that it will hear a case in which a lower court ruled that the FCC's new policy of penalizing one-time utterances of profanity was illegal under federal administrative law. CDT is concerned that the Supreme Court will reverse the trend of modern free speech precedent by increasing the Commission's power to censor broadcast speech, rather than focus on federal administrative law, as the lower court largely did.
CDT Weighs In On Mayfield Case
In a brief filed today with the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, the Center for Democracy & Technology asked the court to strike down a provision of the Patriot Act as unconstitutional. That provision allows the government to use intelligence authorities to conduct searches for criminal purposes without first having probable cause of a crime. CDT and three other civil liberties groups, in the case of Portland, Ore.-based attorney Brandon Mayfield, filed the amicus brief. The government wrongly suspected Mayfield of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
House Passes Compromise Surveillance Bill
CDT applauded the House of Representatives today for passing a compromise intelligence surveillance bill. CDT urges the Senate to adopt the bill's provisions protecting privacy and promoting accountability. The House bill requires prior judicial authorization of procedures governing surveillance targeting people abroad who may be communicating with people in the U.S., but does not require individual orders in such cases. While the bill rejects blanket retroactive immunity for telecoms that assisted with illegal warrantless surveillance, it would allow the companies to use national security information in defending themselves against litigation.
CDT Comments on E-Verify Program
Today CDT submitted written comments to the Department of Homeland Securityβs Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee on the substantial privacy and civil liberties risks of E-Verify, the DHS program to electronically verify the work eligibility of newly hired employees in an effort to combat illegal immigration. CDT urged the Committee to make recommendations to DHS and Congress to provide adequate safeguards and procedures to protect the rights of workers.
Center for Democracy and Technology
The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.
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Toshiba's Fiscal 2009 Plans
Gaming Performance: Windows Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3
Two Microsoft OS service packs enter, one Microsoft OS service pack leaves.
AMD Launches Low-Power Opterons
Advanced Micro Devices launched a low-power version of its Opteron processor on Monday, targeting customers who are hoping to save a few watts in the data center.
PC Usage in the Case House
I build a lot of PCs here at ExtremeTech, and discuss how you should use your PCs. I review gear, I offer suggestions. So here's how the Case house really uses PCs.
Chil Semi Aims to Streamline Mobo Power
Chil Semiconductor hopes to make its mark on the motherboard next month, offering improved power efficiency, reduced cost, and more fine-grained overclocking.
'Gran Turismo' Series Sells Fifty Million Copies
A lot of people sure like sexy cars. In fact, enough to sell over fifty million games to be exact, according to a recent Sony press release.
Miller on Nvidia's Hybrid SLI
Tuesday, it was nVidia's turn with its new Hybrid SLI solutions, called the nForce 780a SLI and GeForce 8 series, aimed at enthusiasts and the mainstream market.
Virtual PC 2007: Bypass Vista 64-bit Limitations
Problems with 64-bit Vista? Don't give up yet, we've got some tips that will make the OS more bearable.
'BioShock' Movie Lands 'Pirates' Gore Verbinski
Take-Two software said on Friday that "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski will make a movie version of "BioShock", its hit video game about an underwater utopia gone disastrously wrong.
Chil Plans to Take PC Power Digital
In June, startup Chil Semiconductor plans to revamp the way PCs handle power, saving cost, improving their efficiency and offering more fine-grained control for overclocking the PC's components.
Extremetech
News, reviews and commentary and how-to on the latest hard core technology.
Releases: bbLeanSkin, BBLeanBar, Emerge Desktop, Foobar2000, LSXCommand
- bbLeanSkin Mod 2008-04 build (1.16u1) by unkamunka
- bbLeanSkin is a Blackbox for Windows plugin that provides a way to skin your MS Windows' windows. - posted by sryo
- BBLeanBar Mod 1.20 by unkamunka
- A fluxbox style taskbar for Blackbox for Windows. - posted by sryo
- Emerge Desktop 4.1.2 by Chris Sutcliffe (ironhead)
- Emerge Desktop (formerly known as iShell) is an alternate shell for windows. - posted by sryo
- Foobar2000 0.9.5.3 beta1 by Peter Pawlowski
- Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats. - posted by sryo
- LSXCommand 2.0.2 by Andymon
- LSXCommand is a greatly extended version of LSCommand (by limpid).
A quick list of the enhancements are:
* Entirely rewritten History code (sorry limpid!)
* Resizable History
* History stored in Modules.ini (faster, - posted by sryo
Related Links: 0 comments
Amazing New Feature!!!
ok, so it only took two years, but you can once again COMMENT ON POSTS - but only, only if you're logged in.
I feel really bad that this took 10 minutes to implement, and most of that was figuring out how the blizzle code works again. Sorry!8 comments
Releases: Emerge Desktop
- Emerge Desktop 4.1.1 by Chris Sutcliffe (ironhead)
- Emerge Desktop (formerly known as iShell) is an alternate shell for windows. - posted by ironhead
Related Links: 2 comments
LiteStep 0.25.0 scheduled; 0.24.8 around the corner
The LSDev Team has shuffled priorities so as to get a v0.24.8 out the door sooner than later. So, Vista support has been moved back to the newly scheduled 0.25.0 release:
www.lsdev.org/bugs/view.php?id=42
And the 0.24.8 release will be seeing the light of day in a few weeks:
www.lsdev.org/bugs/view.php?id=32
One major item of note is that support for Win95 will be dropped with v0.25.0.
Source: LS Progress2 comments
Releases: sharpE
- sharpE Testing Day 4 Release 3 by SharpE Dev Team
- SharpE is a complete shell replacement for explorer. It allows you to replace your default tasbar, system tray, and desktop with a completely new system. - posted by sryo
Related Links: 0 comments
April 2008 State of the Step
The LSDev Team has released another "State of the Step"!
April 2008 State of the Step0 comments
Releases: ToolPlayer, Foobar2000
- ToolPlayer 0.2.5 by AleNofx
- ToolPlayer is a little and simple music player for OSX with support for many file types. Includes numerous effects like Equalizer, Reverb, Time Stretch, Pitch Shift, Echo. Moreover, all supported files can be exported to WAV format. - posted by sryo
- Foobar2000 0.9.5.2 beta 1 by Peter Pawlowski
- Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats. - posted by sryo
Related Links: 0 comments
TD4R3 Status
[Global]
* new configs: Task Filter, Taskbar, Taskswitch
* new service: Multimedia Input (support for multimedia keyboards, OSD display of volume changes (XP only) and generic media player support)
* task filters improved (again)
* added global notification system which can be used by any SharpE component/module
* changed SystemTrays balloon windows to use new SharpNotify system
* fixed that various tooltips from bar modules could be covered by other windows
* fixed a bug in SharpApi which still could cause the "file already used by another process" error
* fixed several bugs in the skin system
* improved and fixed how scheme colors can be used all over the shell
[VWM/Taskbar]
* added OSD display of new desktop number when switching a VWM
* improved "follow window focus" feature. It will no longer switch desktops if a window on Desktop B is closed and a window on Desktop A is getting the focus.
* improved "CurrentMonitor/VWM" filter. Minimized tasks will only show on the desktops where they have been minimized...
[Taskbar]
* added basic Unicode support for window captions
* made it possible to move minimized tasks to other VWMs with the right click menu
* fixed that Microsoft Office applications won't display a task item for each opened document
* fixed order of tasks being messed up when switching VMWs
[Taskswitch]
* added small icon overlay on minimzed tasks
[Shell.Service]
* new service providing basic shell functions. Replaces DeskArea, SystemTray and TaskManager services (all in one now)
* added basic application bar support (one app bar possible on the left and right of each screen)
[Exec.Service]
* improved how links are executed
[MediaControler.Module]
* removed media player selection and settings window
* replaced media player handling code with a generic solution which should work on most media players
[MemoryMonitor.Module]
* fixed wrong values being displayed on computers with more than 2GB RAM
[SharpMenu]
* added new dynamic menu items for 'recent/most used' lists
* fixed bug which caused the focus going back to top most menu when navigating through multiple sub menus with the keyboard
* fixed positioning problems with vertically aligned multi monitors
* Removable drives no longer report an error if no disk in drive
* Drives are only added if the media is physically accessible
[SharpBar]
* fixed black bars at startup bug
[SharpDesk/Wallpaper.config]
* fixed a bug in the color change effect
[SharpCore]
* fixed windows login screen staying visible for too long
* fixed a bug which could cause random AVs on XP 64bit
* fixed closing core sometimes not working
[SharpConsole]
* fixed several memory leaks
* fixed tray icon and window behaviour
* fixed SharpConsole slowing down the whole shell when receiving messages
Read the article on sharpe-shell.org0 comments
Releases: Vista Folder Background, StandaloneStack, Songbird, xPaintClass, NAPALM
- Vista Folder Background by Andreas Verhoeven
- In Vista, the ability to have custom backgrounds in explorer folders is gone. This small application makes folder backgrounds possible again. - posted by sryo
- StandaloneStack by Christian Salmon
- StandaloneStack is a Windows clone of Mac OS X dock's Stacks feature - posted by sryo
- Songbird 0.5 by Pioneers of the Inevitable
- Songbird is an open source alternative to iTunes which is currently in development. It is built on Mozilla's XULRunner platform, VLC and SQLite. - posted by sryo
- xPaintClass 1.0 Update 5 Beta by Andymon
- xPaintClass is a Litestep support library that allows the usage of the follwing without any deeper programming knowledge:
All kinds of background painting, images, icons, colors, or buttons. (position, color modifications, gradients, size, overlays, ...)
All kinds of icon painting (position, color modifications, size, ...)
All kinds of text painting (position, font attributes, special font effects, ...)
Easy tooltips for your module
Several useful functions, which most modules will need somehow
Retrieve all Litestep variables (bool, string, int, line, ...) with builtin full (nested) AddToGroup support
Retrieve special coordinates and dimensions with MultiMonitor support - posted by sryo - NAPALM by FireStarter
- NAPALM is a Windows clone of Compiz's Fire plugin. - posted by sryo
Related Links: 0 comments
Releases: 3RVX, xTaskbar, bbLeanSkinMod, BBClean
- 3RVX 2.0 by pogrelz
- 3RVX is a skinnable volume controller and display that supports alpha-blended skins, cool fade effects, drive eject notification, and a lot more. - posted by sryo
- xTaskbar 2.1.5 by Andymon
- xTaskbar is a Litestep module that shows the currently running tasks. - posted by sryo
- bbLeanSkinMod 1.16u (2008-02-11) by unkamunka
- bbLeanSkin is a Blackbox for Windows plugin that provides a way to skin your MS Windows' windows. - posted by sryo
- BBClean February 08 by noccy
- BBClean is another bbLean "mod". - posted by sryo
Related Links: 0 comments
blizzle! - internet pop culture
shells, scripts, graphics, music, news and information inside.
Announcing the Spring 2008 issue of New River Journal
The spring 2008 issue of the New River Journal has recently been published. The Journal, the oldest literary journal devoted to digital writing, was last year selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its Internet Archive, a recognition both of the journal’s lasting value and a guarantee that all issues will be available for as long, at least, as the Library of Congress is in existence.
The New River Journal has for the last three semesters been student-edited under the guidance of Ed Falco, the journal’s founding editor (and recent NEA fellow). This semester marked the first time three students have been involved, with editing duties split between Carrie Meadows, Lauren Jensen, and Weston Cutter, each of whom are MFA students in the English Department at Virginia Tech.
read more
April 16 Archive Anniversary
One year ago today we launched the April 16 Archive. Since then, the archive has expanded to include well over 1700 digital objects. To date we have recorded more than 23,000 visits to the site and over 170,000 page views. On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, we recorded nearly a thousand visits to the site. In coming months, we will be adding many more objects related to the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, creating a new archive of thousands of newspaper front-pages related to the the events and aftermath of April 16, and upgrading to the newest version of the Omeka platform. In the meantime we hope you will visit the archive and share your files and stories. And if you would like assistance with archiving a large collection, please contact us at admin@april16archive.org.
CDDC Launches Arts, Culture, and Civil Society
The Center for Digital Discourse and Culture (CDDC) at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the launch of Arts, Culture, and Civil Society (ACCS). This online archive of syllabi, e-prints, web links, and other digital resources is intended to serve as a starting point for students and scholars who are exploring the arts, culture, and civil society in their courses and/or research. These major topic areas are related to many important theoretical concerns for contemporary social criticism, political theory, and cultural policy-making. The collected materials span a wide range of disciplines, analytical frameworks, and locations. Topics range from the nature of current-day urban formations, nation-states, and local communities to the analysis of power, modernity, and discourse as related to the arts.
read more
1500 Objects in the April 16 Archive
We are pleased to announce that our April 16 Archive now includes more than 1500 digital objects, moving us closer to our goal of 2000 objects by the summer of 2008. Recent additions include numerous materials related to the tragedy at NIU, including photos from from the February 18 candlelight vigil held here at Virginia Tech. We also continue to archive college media coverage of April 16, all of which is accessible via our Collections page. And for ongoing media c | 