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Posting anonymously to avoid allegations of karma whoring... :-P

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U.S. broadband A-OK

January 10, 2005, 4:00 AM PT
By Declan McCullagh

IT'S BECOME FASHIONABLE TO FRET about the purported need for a "national broadband policy," a concern typically accompanied by laments that the United States lags other nations in adopting speedy Internet connections.

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, recently complained that "the United States is ranked 11th in the world in broadband penetration!...When we find ourselves 11th in the world, something has gone dreadfully wrong. When Congress tells us to take immediate action to accelerate deployment, we have an obligation to do it."

One commentary piece published on CNET News.com last week worried that the United States is "falling behind" other countries in broadband connectivity. Another from last year offered "several recommendations that could help form a national broadband agenda" and touted South Korea as a "success" story.

[Image: High-speed providers by ZIP code]

But is the United States truly faring so poorly? A careful look at the numbers gives reason to be skeptical.

The now-traditional source of dismay about U.S. broadband adoption is a set of figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a kind of governmental think tank. The June 2004 figures say the United States has 11.2 broadband subscribers for every 100 inhabitants, in 11th place and far behind South Korea's 24.4-people-per-100 top ranking.

Those figures are misleading. South Korea is roughly 100,000 square kilometers, about the size of the state of Indiana, with a population clustered around large cities like Seoul. In those cities, Koreans tend to live in high-rise apartment buildings. Population density makes it relatively easy to provide high-speed connections--it's perfect for speedy VDSL lines--and boosts the nation in the OECD's rankings.

By contrast, the United States sprawls over nearly 10 million square kilometers--100 times the size of South Korea--with a population more evenly distributed between rural areas, towns and cities and far more likely to live in single-family homes. Geography and demographics explain why broadband will take longer to become available in the United States. Copps might as well complain that the more spread-out United States has fewer subway lines per capita and less smog too.

[Image: Global broadband subscribers

To be sure, complaints about U.S. lagging refer both to slow adoption of broadband and the slower broadband speeds available. It's true that South Korea and Japan may offer connections measured in the tens of megabits, but fiber connections are finally happening in the United States. By the way, if you've got complaints about the rollout speed, the best way to accelerate it would be to eliminate wacky go

Or how about the fact that Apple is suing a web site over its contents? If this isn't fucking important YRO I don't know what is! http://msn-cnet.com.com/Apple+suit+tests+First+Ame ndment/2100-1047_3-5519311.html?part=msn-cnet&subj =ns_2510&tag=mymsn.
I know VA Software (and thus Slashdot) are now officially corporate shills, but this is getting ridiculous.

I did some reading on Laurence Canter a while back. CNET wrote an article on him and he was asked about his thoughts about the SPAM. He said:

Given the same set of circumstance--the same time, the stage of the Internet--I'd probably do the same thing. Somebody would have done it, if we hadn't done it.

Read more here.

From reading the article, he still thinks the SPAM was a good thing.

= 9J =

In This cnet article BIll Gates refers to people who want to reform IP law as "communists".

I am surprised he didn't say terrorists but clearly he is laying the ground work to get people who disagree with him on the terrorist list.

The Business Software Alliance, a lobbying group whose members include Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer Inc.

It would seem that judging by Apple Computer's recent lawsuit that the current laws are sufficient for them.

In the news.com.com.com.com article you read:
The white paper also suggests tightening the rules under which patents are issued to allow both proposed and issued patents to be challenged more easily.
This is very, very funny, indeed... emphasis mine.

I think he was refering to this interview in which Bill Gates refers to people who disagree with him on IP issues as "communists" repeatedly.

Is there a scummier human being on the planet then Bill Gates? Well maybe the guy who raped a tsunami survivor but even then it's close.

This was spewed from Intel in 2002:

"First, by switching to the Pentium 4 architecture, Intel can drastically boost the clock speed. The old server Xeon topped out at 1.4GHz. The new one debuts at 1.8GHz, 2GHz and 2.2GHz, and will eventually pass 10GHz, she said."
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-843879.html

I can't find the exact quote and article, but another Intel exec/rep stated that this goal would be achieved by 2006.

Well, it's 2005, the P4 has topped out at 3.6ghz and has been discontinued because Intel has determined that the P4 arcitecture is streached to the limit.

Bottom line is that we should be expecting a 10ghz processor soon because Intel brazenly stated that they would produce one. Whenever they do make these statements the AP drools over the story, stock prices jump and I'm sure investors get excited.

Instead, their next gen processor is a 2ghz Pentuim M dothan. Intel should be ashamed of themselves for lying to the public and should be investigated for inflating their stock value though fictional claims about their processor technology.

Rumor has it that they have only one 90nm capable facility...

That explains why Sony is spending $1.6 billion on the next plant for the PS3 Cell processors. I guess all of those unit shortages are eating into their profits and reputation, so they need a bigger plant for the next generation of processors.

CNET report Just weeks after legal attacks crippled the popular BitTorrent file-swapping community, an underground programmer from its ranks has stepped forward to announce new software designed to withstand future onslaughts from Hollywood. Sloneck, the head of that now-defunct SuprNova, officially announced the Exeem project in an interview on the NovaStream Webcasting network.

CNET report Just weeks after legal attacks crippled the popular BitTorrent file-swapping community, an underground programmer from its ranks has stepped forward to announce new software designed to withstand future onslaughts from Hollywood. Sloneck, the head of that now-defunct SuprNova, officially announced the Exeem project in an interview on the NovaStream Webcasting network.

Communists :-)

Sounds more progressive than in the U.S.

While our founding fathers recognized the abuses that were possible from a powerful government and put safeguards into our constitution to protect us from the kinds of abuses they could see in the 18th century, they did not foresee the rise of corporate power in America. In the U.S. there is no inherent right to privacy except as interpreted through the protection against unreasonable search and seizure. A private contract of employment will typically permit the employer to do drug-testings, credit checks, interviews with people you know, etc. You can always choose to not work for that employer, but with a special skill and few potential employers most people choose to swallow their pride in order to eat.

Without such protections against powerful private entities, we pretty much fall back on the a legal system that guarantees specific rights of property holders from the feudal era. Monitoring, everywhere, everyway, everytime is growing in most U.S. workplaces, aided by most people's ignorance of just how widespread it is.

The U.K. has pretty intrusive government monitoring of public places using video cameras that would unnerve me if it became more commonplace in the U.S.

There was a case a few years ago where a former and disgruntled Intel employee posted an email to all his co-workers that Intel did not like. The court rulings were in favor of Intel IIRC. Replacing "Intel" with "federal government" would have probably put greater protection onto free speech in that case.

Microsoft buy comes with strings attached Sunbelt Software of Clearwater, Fla., on Friday confirmed reports that it has exclusive rights over certain aspects of the anti-spyware programs Microsoft gained in its acquisition of Giant Company Software on Thursday.

Apple Computer (AAPL) is working on portable and TV set-top entertainment devices that offer Internet access and play everything from music CDs to DVD movies, as the company refashions itself for the convergence of consumer electronics and PC technologies.

No indication whether it'll be DRM-crippled.

No indication in that lame NYT peice, but C|NET is quite clear that HP is will be producing DRM crippled crap:

HP readies TVs, media hub products
Hewlett-Packard plans to announce by next week a set of home entertainment products, including large-screen TVs and a digital storage console, embedded with copy protection technology.

Yet another product that I absolutely positively will NEVER spend a single cent on, except perhaps specifically to help fix (aka crack) the DRM.

-

These will also be less likely to crush you while setting it up....

Thin CRTs to Challenge LCDs in 2005

Slimmer tube TVs to challenge flat panels

Samsung SDI Develops the Ultra-slim and Flat CRT

Cnet has nice article on FED screens using carban nanotubes

Nikon's adapter is $450 and goes on a $2000 camera. I think that drastic price reduction (albeit to a more rational level) and moving features into a different market segment is innovation.

Gotta love this:

"I'm not spamming again," Wallace said in an interview with CNET News.com. "I am the most antispam person alive because of the trouble my old company got into."

Apparently he didn't mean it.Here's the full article: http://news.com.com/Is+the+king+of+spam+back+in+bu siness/2100-1023_3-220427.html

FCC Chairman Michael Powell has done everything in his power to restrict American citizens' choice of information and entertainment

Powell is one of the most digusting double talkers. Talks one thing to the public, does exactly the opposite in congress. He should be castrated.

Both above vendors require per seat licensing, and can lock the enterprise in at the IT management level. But both also offer many of the same advantages of Linux on the desktop for a fraction of the effort and inside knowledge required.

For instance, News.com posted this in an article way back in May of 2003: "The move comes amid the discovery of a remarked chip market earlier this year. In February, AMD embarked of a series of raids in the Philippines."
AMD combats chip fraud in Asia

No assumptions are necessary:

"Microsoft said Friday that it is halting development of future Macintosh versions of its Internet Explorer browser, citing competition from Apple Computer's Safari browser."

But that is his Elected right. For the American people to be able to call need for battle in harsh times is quite possibly the least strategic and responsive way to enter into battle.

The Commander-in-Chief has been given this right to call us into battle if he, our Elected official, deems it necessary. That is why he/she was elected.
Unlike the days of the tea where The People had only the voice the Nobles wanted to hear.

And so as to where I'm not entirely OT, you do not have to be British to be Knighted. However, once Knighted you cannot use the Sir title in your name.
Bill Gates is a classic example.

Office is the standard, and for 99% of people that use it, it's flawless.

Great to know MS Office isn't responsible for all these problems

Sun's announcement on CNET News.com

Follow-up on MacCentral

What planet are you on? Ask corporate America about their licensing agreements with Microsoft sometime.

(a) Read what I wrote. "...outside of the business world".

(b) I'm on a planet where there was massive uproar over Microsoft's switch to their new subscription-based licensing, and in fact they had to give in and change the terms several times.

Like HTML, which surprised people in the 1990's, the OASIS OpenOffice.org file format is indeed vendor independent, though, it is now called Open Document. Anyone can use it or develop tools for it without restriction. Even Microsoft is part of the team at OASIS, at least on paper. And, even if MS doesn't get out of the way, interesting things will happen with Open Doument.

So far OASIS Open Document being used by at least the following:

• StarOffice
• OpenOffice.org
• AbiWord
• kWord

... the adoption of an OASIS Open Office Standard should be welcomed, and industry actors not currently involved with the OASIS Open Document Format should consider participating in the standardisation process in order to encourage a wider consensus around the format.

--EU Telematics between Administrations Committee, May 24, 2004

Currently, there are many governments moving up to StarOffice or OpenOffice.org for the sake of these formats. Singapore comes to mind first, but there are many, many others that don't necessarily make the mainstream press like Sarpsborg. Likewise, there are many small, medium and large businesses moving along. Some with an axe to grind (with good reason ) speak up. However, most are silent until the move is being implemented to keep the goon squad from Redmond from getting in the way.

The current choice:

• OASIS Open Document --
  1. be able to access your own data indefinitely as XML
  2. and change productivity tools, operating systems and hardware only if and when it suites you
• MS-WordML --
  1. pay that Redmond tithe indefinitely
  2. and buy new productivity tools, operating systems and hardware when Chairman Bill tells you to

Well first of all. The first source obviously is "unbiased". Second the only thing this does is basically pop up ads "That page set off a chain of events that led to the creation of several Internet Explorer windows, each containing a different ad or adware." All the rest is basically speculation (what might be). And last and most important. Neither one proves that there's any connection between Overseer and the MPAA/RIAA. For all anyone knows. Overseer could have done this of their own free will (Plausable deniability.)

"Then, included in this they are using exploits and loopholes to install unwanted software on a user's machine designed to hurt the user's experience with their computer. "

There's always the same defense that BitTorrent sites use. "We're just providing links" ...to ads.

"But since the license dialog box acts just like an Internet Explorer window, it can display whatever is on the page it points to [URL] --whether a legitimate call for license information or a series of pop-up ads."

"Thats why ALL the RIAA suits against traders were against uploaders. "

Careful reading disagrees

"When we played the modified files, the License Acquisition dialog box showed a page containing ads and quickly spawned more IE windows, each containing a different ad."

Remember the legal ruling awhile back about the legality of linking? Hmmm...

At least that's how I see it. And I'm not even a file trader.

Consider: The industry has been utterly unable to stop P2P to date, and a whacked-out move like this will probably be countered in a matter of days as the authors of SpyBot and AdAware catch on and release updated signature files.

Why go to the trouble of doing something that at least some in the industry know will be easily counteracted unless they're so flustered that they're not thinking straight?

The other indicator that makes me think this is sheer desperation are the comments from Marc Morgenstern. "Just deserts?" Criminys... He sounds like a grumpy kid who got his favorite marbles taken away or something.

Remember that at least one legislator, under pressure from the RIAA, once floated the idea of hiring system crackers to do their level best to try to sabotage P2P networks. The idea withered at the time, mainly because it would have run afoul of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

However, it is evident that the RIAA was not so easily dissuaded. They've found a sneaky way to deliver what they, in their deluded way, think is going to be a knockout punch. Adware and spyware are not (yet) illegal that I know of. What better loophole to try and pull the stunts the industry's been wanting to pull all along?

How's it all going to end? Well, this kind of move will make all the file sharers and sharing networks even more mad at the industry than they were before (assuming that's possible). It will serve as yet another wedge driven between an industry that is clearly too greedy to see past the end of its collective noses, and God knows how many people who might have been customers under different conditions.

The biggest irony to me is that they STILL haven't gotten it through their thick skulls that their music sales are down mainly because they're putting out slop that no one really wants to buy.

Example: I used to buy at least a dozen CD's a month in the early-to-mid 90's. However, in the last six years, I've bought maybe half a dozen. If that. I'm just not hearing the raw talent that I used to.

Seems to me that the industry is a victim of their own delusions. I think a line from Adam Savage, found in the opening credits for Mythbusters, hits the issue spot on: "I reject your reality, and substitute my own!"

I predict an entertainment industry implosion, due primarily to pissed-off customers and a consequent reduction in sales, within the next decade.

Keep the peace(es).

This isn't the first time Microsoft has lost Passport.com, although I doubt that a Linux user will return it to them this time.

I don't thing this will bother xmms or xine, but I don't share music so I could care less either way.

The people who get burnt are going to be 12 year olds who don't know what they are doing is wrong in the first place. They get music for "free" on the radio, why should their computer be any different, they might think. Then boom, their computer explodes and they get taken for their life savings, even if it is only $2,000.

Hell, I just don't trust them to keep the damn domain active. :-) (Original slashdot coverage here.)

A Linux user is taking credit for restoring service to Microsoft's Hotmail free email service, saying he paid a delinquent domain name registration fee that blocked access to some users over much of the Christmas weekend.

The lapse, which was first reported on the Internet news service Slashdot.org, was apparently caused when Microsoft's registration for the Passport.com domain name expired sometime Dec. 24, Chaney said. The Passport.com site verifies user identification and passwords for access to Hotmail and about 25 other services, according to Chaney.

From the article:

China is not the only Asian country with a strong interest in IPv6. Japan has already implemented an IPv6 production network, which is used by every service provider in the country. South Korea is working with the EU to develop applications and services using IPv6.

Also, check out this article: Japan, China, S. Korea developing next Net.

If people were paying $2000 for their Windows machines, they wouldn't be pissing and moaning about how Apple's prices are too high.

People are not completely content with their Windows machines, they are getting fed up with the constant patching and worries about malware. At least, something is causing people to want to switch.

And finally, the Apple retail stores exist so people don't have to buy sight unseen.

So I'd say the idiot is you.

Yes and no.

According to this article
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-888893.html
The yodeler Wylie Gustafson was paid a one time fee of $590 for one television commercial in 1996.

Yahoo then took that same yodel and used it again and again in ther advertaisments without paying Wylie.

Wylie sued Yahoo and received an undisclosed sum of money. Proberbly on the order of a million dollars (he sued for 5 million).

After that Yahoo had a Yodel contest to replace Wylie's yodel
http://promotions.yahoo.com/yodel/
They paid some little girl $10,000 and proberbly forced her to sign over the rights to the yodel as well (to avoid another lawsuit.)

Rethin

CNET News reported five days ago on the 10th that both Yukon and Whidbey would be delayed and their final names. They need that time if they are going to clean up the shit HTML and JS outputed by VS. Not that they will, that would allow people to use Firefox.

The company said Wednesday that it has decided to push out to the first half of 2005 the delivery of the next major edition of SQL Server, code-named Yukon, and a closely related update to Visual Studio.Net, called Whidbey. Until recently, the company had said that both products would ship by the end of this year.

The final product names for Yukon and Whidbey will be SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, said Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server.

I live in Tokyo and I've got 24Mbps downstream DSL right now. However, I'm within 500 meters of the central office. The greater Tokyo area also account for about 30% of Japan's population in an incredibly densely populated area which makes it much easier to roll out service here.

Supposedly in the US, now that the Bells have reasserted themseles as monopoly players, speeds will start going up. I've seen many references to fiber to the home being on the horizon.

No, we don't have to wait for abuse. What I am asking for is an example of how it can be abused. Once you leave the store with the RFID, how in the hell are they going to track you?

For example, if you buy clothes (which most larger supermarkets now offer), you may well be wearing them when you return to the store. Combine this with RFID readers in the shops to "prevent shoplifting" (which could just as easily be prevented by putting those items at the checkout), and you now have shops which can, if they wanted to, track customer's every movement. Just like mobile phone companies already do.

Hate to burst your bubble, but: The largest web site -- Yahoo! -- runs on PHP. Yahoo! is migrating all properties as they call their various services to PHP as templating engine. The business logic remains primarily in C++.

Story here:

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963937.html?tag=lh

"RSA keys" in the title is a bit misleading.. It makes it sounds like a full crypto implementation, using smart cards and all the capabilities that implies. Confusing the RSA crypto algorithm, with the SecurID card, a product made by the company RSA.

SecurID is just a clunky authentication system using a hardware token to display numbers used for the authentication (although, they do also offer software tokens. there is nothing magical about the hardware)

Why not go to a modern smart card system? It can store full certificates, and tie directly into really strong security/crypto. Tie the smart card / cert into the autentication of your system, and into IPSec, SSL, etc.

SecurID offers only the authentication piece, based on a completely closed algorithm.

• RSA has patents on time-based tokens, this allows for a simple sealed hardware token without any buttons.
• No additional hardware or software or drivers are needed to authenticate. Just the token and (optionalyl) a user selected PIN.

What? They don't check very well, not at all. How else could they accidentally issue keys identifying as Microsoft to some third parties? See here for more information.

Verisign does a lousy job of verifying that you are who you say you are. They may be slightly better now than they used to be but they still do minimal checks at best and rely on information that's relatively easy to subvert.

Why don't people get upset about this?

Programmer.no
ZDNet
News.com.com.com.com
Original Opera press release
Changelog

CNET News reported five days ago on the 10th that both Yukon and Whidbey would be delayed and their final names. They need that time if they are going to clean up the shit HTML and JS outputed by VS. Not that they will, that would allow people to use Firefox.

The company said Wednesday that it has decided to push out to the first half of 2005 the delivery of the next major edition of SQL Server, code-named Yukon, and a closely related update to Visual Studio.Net, called Whidbey. Until recently, the company had said that both products would ship by the end of this year.

The final product names for Yukon and Whidbey will be SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, said Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server.

CNET News reported five days ago on the 10th that both Yukon and Whidbey would be delayed and their final names. They need that time if they are going to clean up the shit HTML and JS outputed by VS. Not that they will, that would allow people to use Firefox.

The company said Wednesday that it has decided to push out to the first half of 2005 the delivery of the next major edition of SQL Server, code-named Yukon, and a closely related update to Visual Studio.Net, called Whidbey. Until recently, the company had said that both products would ship by the end of this year.

The final product names for Yukon and Whidbey will be SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, said Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server.

If security is important to you, you do not really have a choice... Windows systems are easily compromised, with MAJOR security problems coming up almost weekly. So you'll have to go with Linux/Unix and that pretty much means J2EE.

We've done a lot of systems with J2EE (mostly financial) and it's been a very positive experience. J2EE has excellent support, both OSS and commercial, lots of excellent tools (many of them are free, take a look at NetBeans or Eclipse), and a proven success record.

Without knowing your specific requirements, I'd recommend J2EE simply because it offers low start-up cost and we had a lot of success with it. Good luck.