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Utterly irrelevant to bring up a little embedded OS fit for cars and blackberries and compare it to Linux. You have no point,

QNX is not so little that it can't run nuclear reactors. Old citation but still valid.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/...

That was from IBM, not MS. Look it up, really!

I can find Bill Gates denying he said it. I can find someone saying they don't believe him. I can even find someone saying that the quote is likely apocryphal.

It doesn't seem like anybody is actually reliably attributed to this quote. So, either it's a meme that's stuck, or Bill Gates is lying, or it's mis-attributed and nobody knows who said it.

Anybody got something more definitive?

At the very least, Flash prompts for permission before accessing them (well, usually).

Bureaucracy is bureaucracy. Government involvement doesn't mean ineptitude, and the free market doesn't gurantee competence. Whether private or public, ineptitude as well as competence abounds.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=53225

So pick up an RFID scanner

Sometimes you can't see the obvious solution ; thanks.

it wouldn't be that difficult to determine if the thing tends to be sitting at an angle rather than flat

The sensor is a piezo sensor and can only detect acceleration in a single axis, and cannot detect motion with constant acceleration - so unlike the sensor in the Wiimote, it cannot orient itself with respect to the vector of gravity.

Even if it could, the device might shut off if you start running down a hill, perhaps. It wouldn't preclude other manufacturers putting horizontal sensor pockets in their soles, or stop users hacking their own. Heck, Clarkes already make shoes with TOY pockets in the sole.

If you need to rip your shoes apart to get at it

That's the idea ; if it's easily removable and user servicable, then you'll have people just removing it. People who buy Nikes but don't want the iPod sensor kit could realize value by selling their RFID to people who had generic shoes and an iPod. Nike perceive this as a lost sale.

Now obviously, if the sole (pun not intended) use of the RFID was inventory control, putting the tag in.. well, a tag, attached through a lace hole, would be simpler, just as cheap, and provide most of the benefits ; apart from the iPod DRM and ubiquitous shoe-tracking.

How long does it take to go from 1 to 2 ? :

1. "For about $5,000 a school could have a tag readers solution and start timing their kids."
2. "For about $5,000 a school could have a tag readers solution and start tracking their kids, via the now standard and ubquitous RFID tags in their clothing, shoes, and bags"

The first quote is from a product being used to time the movement of running shoes in races. The second line is what happens when this company realizes it can grow it's market by tapping the paranoia of middle America, like so many other companies.

The Linux desktop lifewatch, T minus 2 weeks.

Of course, as all nerds know, anything that dies can come back as a zombie to eat that which is alive. But we're rational people here and could never imagine that.

That isn't right. First, here's a link that works. Fred Gilbert (whom I knew, slightly, ten years ago) did not have wifi removed from Lakehead. He merely decided that no further wifi would be installed until the health risks were clarified. This was not a big deal since the university had an extensive wired network. Lakehead had wifi in a few areas not reached by the wired network - he left that wifi alone. His position on the health issues is at the conservative end, but he hasn't drawn any conclusion about the dangers of wifi and explicitly said that in the future he might allow further use of wifi - he just wants a clearer picture of the risks.

The sad thing is that some teachers actually believe this bullshit. For example, Lakehead University's President Fred Gilbert had all wireless internet taken out of the University because he was afraid of the harmful effects of EMF (electric and magnetic fields).

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.as p?id=38093&PageMem=1/

I found a link here:

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.as p?id=40795&cid=11

I expect this to make a Slashdot story...in about a week or so. :)

Transporter_ii

I had read about this before and from what this article says there are implementations of network controled invasive patient care out there this one is in kingston Canada.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.as p?id=37573

I had read about this before and from what this article says there are implementations of network controled invasive patient care out there this one is in kingston Canada.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.as p?id=37573

The article from MSNBC mentioned in this story is very light on details. Thanks to Google News, here are some more useful articles about CETS, the Child Exploitation Tracking System:

• itbusiness.ca: Canadian police roll out child porn tracking system
• internetnews.com: Microsoft System Tracks Pedophiles
• itworld.com: Microsoft creates tools to crack child porn cases

These articles mention that CETS is based on MS SQL Server (for the database) and some bits of MS SharePoint (for the web portal). Also, the system uses .NET and web services (SOAP/XML) for exchanging data so it should be possible to integrate this with non-Microsoft systems (in theory).

What is not mentioned in any of the articles is whether the system is really open-source, as claimed in the headline of this Slashdot story and the related MSNBC article. The only statements that I found about this said that Microsoft Canada will "make [CETS] available free of charge to any law enforcement agency that wants to use it." But no mention of any Open Source license.

And who would you have look after re-training required?
Sun also has included some forms of training (and training for teachers as well)
There's a story at ITBusiness.ca that has more information.

And who would you have look after re-training required?
Sun also has included some forms of training (and training for teachers as well)
There's a story at ITBusiness.ca that has more information.

ITB: Security starts with the developer. What do you think that developers can do to harden their apps and how is Microsoft helping with tools?
BG: You don't need perfect code to avoid security problems. There are things we're doing that are making code closer to perfect, in terms of tools and security audits and things like that. But there are two other techniques: one is called firewalling and the other is called keeping the software up to date. None of these problems (viruses and worms) happened to people who did either one of those things.

Let me put this whole thing to the side and just say... that is the smile of a rich man.

Yes, most certainly they are making another stupid investment. However, as this atricle points out, we need to be politely letting them know about it.

Actually I prefer this icon, or this one.

The bitter end of outsourcing
9/25/2003 5:00:00 PM - There comes a limit to what you can farm out

by Shane Schick

Cost savings? What cost savings?

At every Conference Board of Canada event, it is customary that the chair offers a recap of each day's presentations the following morning. On Day 2 of this week's Business Process Outsourcing event those responsibilities fell to Blake Hanna, a partner with Accenture in Toronto, who tried to whittle down a series of presentations into a few bullet points. When he was finished he asked the audience if any key issues hadn't been addressed so far. A hand went up.

"I didn't get the impression anyone was saving any money," one guy said.

This was a great comment, because it went straight to the heart of why many people had probably registered for this conference. The best response came from one of the previous day's presenters, Scotia Group vice-president of strategic sourcing Linda Tuck Chapman, who said many enterprises say they expect cost savings of 30 per cent or more from outsourcing. "I don't know where these comments come from," she said. "Sometimes we've managed to see savings of 10 per cent or a little bit more, but it's usually been much more about the value (outsourcing) brings to the company."
------------ end quote

If you aren't a PHM, you should know that hourly rate isn't the only cost involved in outsourcing. It may not even be the most important. Infrastructure costs. Remember, part of why it's cheaper is that the infrastructure isn't all there. Third World phone lines. Electricity that works sometimes. How big are your outsourcer's generators? Oversight costs. Costs of analyzing your processes well enough to allow exporting them.

Plus, if you didn't adequately spec what you're paying for, for any reason, you're hosed when you get the products back, there may not have been money to do it right but there will be money to do it over. Or the company dies right there.

So why do this? Part of it is... PHMs look at labor costs and don't look any further. Part is... if one is planning to cook the books to reflect a profit that really isn't there, if you can talk about savings from outsourcing, people won't look too hard for further explanations.

University of Calgary is planning on teaching folk how to write virii, but I don't think for quite the same purpose.

The following artical explains:
"11/7/2002 5:00:00 PM - Privacy experts explain why widespread surveillance of online communication won't prevent another tragedy like Sept. 11. Plus: The implications of Lawful Access"

Interesting reading, and relevent.

Nice... Contrast that to Ontario, where Rogers has dropped their speed from 3 to 1.5, without even making an announcement...

You still have time to prevent this from happening in Canada. We have similar connectivity to the USA and are very close in proximity. Our laws prohibit personal weapons but are much more lax in digital expression at this time.

Check out this article on ITBusiness.ca or the government's submissions page on the issue. We're engaging in "Copyright Reform" -- submit your opinions.