Slashdot Mirror

The following is the actual patent. http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P TO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch- bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22warp+d rive%22.TTL.&OS=TTL/

A comment on the above. http://www.lot49.com/2005/11/patent_issued_for_war p_drive.shtml

The following link is when the patent was denied. Hopefully until someone can actually demonstrate a real working drive. http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2006/02/oh_ darn_warp_dr.html

Read 'The Search Engine Confessions of AOL User 23187425' and tell me it expresses any smaller torrent of hte raw, beautiful essense of what it is to be human than any Keats or Basho;.

That's a really strange torrent of searches. Maybe it's part of someone's chat conversation making its way into the search field? It's like an AM radio station fading in and out at night, scraps of dialogue surfacing in the static.

At least, before this leak -- as beautiful as it is, this might finally be the tipping point in getting Joe Average AOLer to understand the gravity of the drastic erosions of privacy the Western world has experienced since 9/11, and stop trusting the unencrypted text submission these logs prove we often so completely and utterly, soul-baringly do. And no one acts anywhere near the same when they have even the slightest feeling they're being watched (and, more importantly, judged). In a world where Diaries are implicitly public, who have you ever trusted more than your search bar?

Especially as, judging by these search logs, Joe Blow has a lot more to hide than even my cynical ass ever imagined. Might make some people realize the terr'rists aren't the only ones who'll be caught, charged, sentenced and executed for having something to hide.

And this leak has finally given credence to the long-cynically-mocked, longer-held Sci-Fi ideal that, in teh big, unknowable futar, all Art will be on, be of, Technology. And this horrific breach of privacy is also the greatest set of Artistic and statistical data to have ever been released to the public. I would say, since it's raw data and not just a single interpretation, it's more important than the Kinsey Report. Which is tragic, because it can never be allowed to happen again, if we want any semblance of a feeling of privacy and freedom in our civilization. It's becoming unexpectedly apparent that this will be the form of major (mainstream, big-A-)Art of the future.

Don't believe me? Read 'The Search Engine Confessions of AOL User 23187425' and tell me it expresses any smaller torrent of hte raw, beautiful essense of what it is to be human than any Keats or Basho;. And that's only one piece among the very many a quick search can reveal. Many more at SomethingAwful's special edition of the Weekend Web, one of the primary progenitors, whether it was intended to be or not, of this kind of art.

I interviewed Dr. Vint Cerf and Karl Auerbach about Internet goverance and alternate roots recently. Not surprisingly, Cerf wasn't a fan of alternate roots. Auerbach, however, has some provocative things to say on the subject.

Slashvertising must be cheap too.

Indeed. If you follow the link to the homepage of the submitter of this story, you'll see that it leads to Thomas Clayburn's weblog. Follow the link to the submitted article, and you'll see that it's written by Thomas Clayburn. Of course, it's not immediately obvious, because, when submitting this article, Thomas Clayburn hid behind the alias "Dotnaught".

I'm also a bit wary that Transmedia's website, the company behind this product, uses almost identical styles to both of Thomas Clayburn's websites. Just look at those grey microfonts for example, and it goes right down to similar coding styles. However, apart from superficial similarities, I didn't turn up anything definitive.

Also of note, one of the leading critics of RFID, Katherine Albrecht, issued this press release today:

February 5, 2004

German RFID Scandal: Hidden devices, unkillable tags found in Metro Future Store Germans say, "Nein! We wont be your versuchskaninchen"

"We won't be your versuchskaninchen." That's the message German privacy advocates are sending to executives at the Metro Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany after discovering RFID devices hidden in the store's loyalty cards. They also found that RFID tags on products sold at the store cannot be completely deactivated after purchase, despite Metro's claims.

"Versuchskaninchen" is the German word for guinea pig, which is how German consumers feel Metro and its partners have treated them since opening the Future Store last year to test experimental RFID applications on live shoppers.

The revelations came just one day after Katherine Albrecht, founder and director of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) toured the Future Store with a delegation of privacy experts from German advocacy group FoeBud, who sponsored her visit.

"We were shocked to find RFID tags in Metro's 'Payback' loyalty card," said Albrecht, after FoeBuD tested the cards with an RFID reader and discovered the tag. "The card application form, brochures, and signage at the store made no mention of the embedded technology and Metro executives spent several hours showing us the store without telling us about it."

"In retrospect, it's no wonder store employees appeared nervous when we asked to take a few of the cards with us," she added.

Vendors of RFID-enabled loyalty cards promote them as a way for supermarkets to identify shoppers remotely as they enter the store, using details of their identity and purchase history to pitch products to them and to track their movements and activities within the store. Prior to the Metro discovery, no major retailer had publicly admitted to using such cards.

In addition to the cards, Albrecht discovered that Metro cannot deactivate the unique identification number contained in RFID tags in products it sells. The use of unique, item-level ID numbers is one of the key privacy concerns surrounding the use of RFID tags on consumer goods.

"Customers are misled into believing that the tags can be killed at a special deactivation kiosk, but the kiosk only rewrites a portion of the tag, while leaving the unique ID number intact," she said.

Outraged German citizens are calling on Metro to put an immediate end to the trials.

"We are deeply disappointed at the Metro executives. They talked of an open dialog while hiding important facts from us," said Rena Tangens of FoeBuD. "We are calling for an immediate moratorium on further RFID testing as it is clear that Metro is not handling the technology responsibly."

Evidence of the RFID tag in Metro's "Payback" loyalty card, along with evidence of the incomplete deactivation of product tags, can be found on FoeBuD's website at http://www.foebud.org/rfid/.

CEO Outsourcing

Both statements of yours were true.

Condoms do lead to more sex, by legitimizing sex (as does pornography). As part of that, one must remember that *sex can kill*. I seem to remember reading some Washingtom Post articles about AIDS-transmission parties. True or not, sex can kill through STDs. Nor is it always voluntary.

And guns *do* legitimize killing (in case nobody noticed the upcoming Iraq Wars sequel, "Clone of the Attack". ).

That said, I would be happy to get rid of all guns, so long as we start with the most evil people, since guns also empower. So it would have been fine for Germany to get rid of guns if they had first had the German *government* and *army* and SS Troopers get rid of their guns. Likewise, we first have to get the guns out of the hands of the most power-hungry Americans, the government... and then I'm sure that the second Amendment will become unnecessary.

So by all means... get rid of both.

With regard to the price, I agree it's too high. That's the one of the main problems with Xlibris: The otherwise fair contract, which grants the author all rights, lets Xlibris set prices without consulting the author. The reason for that is that Xlibris is set up to make money off of authors rather than readers. A friend of mine recently published his own novel as well and I suggested that he avoid print-on-demand. By using a traditional printer and a short run of 1000 or so books, he can price his books around $14 and still make a decent profit. I get about $2 per book sold at Amazon...Amazon and Xlibris get the rest.

With regard to the post, "Self publishing could be a sign of bad quality" that's true, unfortunately. I like to think Reflecting Fires is among the exceptions because I make a living as a writer and editor. Still, that's not really my call to make. But also note that the primary consideration of publishers is not quality but commercial potential. The state of the publising industry is beyond the scope of this post, but for those interested, check out Holt Uncensored. Here's a quote from one of her newsletters...

It seems to me that the toughest thing facing an author
today is an industry that's going to ask for one compromise after
another: Change your book to suit our needs, publishers say. Don't
expect us to nurture you. Find your own manuscript consultant before you
submit to an agent or editor. Create a marketing plan - write the pitch
we'll consider for jacket flaps and catalogs and sales reps (then be
quiet). Don't expect us to advertise - learn how to promote your book in
publicity interviews (many of which you'll have to set up yourself).

Thanks for listening.
Thomas Claburn

With regard to the price, I agree it's too high. That's the one of the main problems with Xlibris: The otherwise fair contract, which grants the author all rights, lets Xlibris set prices without consulting the author. The reason for that is that Xlibris is set up to make money off of authors rather than readers. A friend of mine recently published his own novel as well and I suggested that he avoid print-on-demand. By using a traditional printer and a short run of 1000 or so books, he can price his books around $14 and still make a decent profit. I get about $2 per book sold at Amazon...Amazon and Xlibris get the rest.

With regard to the post, "Self publishing could be a sign of bad quality" that's true, unfortunately. I like to think Reflecting Fires is among the exceptions because I make a living as a writer and editor. Still, that's not really my call to make. But also note that the primary consideration of publishers is not quality but commercial potential. The state of the publising industry is beyond the scope of this post, but for those interested, check out Holt Uncensored. Here's a quote from one of her newsletters...

It seems to me that the toughest thing facing an author
today is an industry that's going to ask for one compromise after
another: Change your book to suit our needs, publishers say. Don't
expect us to nurture you. Find your own manuscript consultant before you
submit to an agent or editor. Create a marketing plan - write the pitch
we'll consider for jacket flaps and catalogs and sales reps (then be
quiet). Don't expect us to advertise - learn how to promote your book in
publicity interviews (many of which you'll have to set up yourself).

Thanks for listening.
Thomas Claburn

Here's an interview with Congressman Rick Boucher, for those who can't get enough of him.

Here on slashdot a while back there was an interview posted with the founder of fightcloud.com, who had some interesting things to say about XM vs Sirius. Sure, it's just one's guys opinion, but he seems to have done his homework. Here were his quotes from the interview:

Q: Is the Net going to change radio at all do you think?

A: No, not yet. Not for a long time [because of the legal issues]. Greed is choking the Internet right now. It's definitely territorial. . . . The artists are greedy, they want their cut off the Internet, the record labels are greedy . . . . Everybody is so greedy that nobody can work on the Internet so there is going to be no radio on the Net, not even Internet radio stations. They all are going to start playing more independent. It's going to favor the independent artist; the unsigned artist really is who people are turning to because the unsigned artist isn't going to sue anybody.

They want the exposure, so is the Internet going to change anything for a while? No. There are so many court battles that need to be fought that haven't even been thought of yet. The only Internet radio I like listening to is Christian pirate radio. It's aggressive, it's all new bands that nobody ever heard of. Its great rock, great pop.

Another prediction is the success of satellite radio. The satellite radio companies that I invested in like two years ago are going to come sneaking up and they're just going to level local radio. Local radio will go under. . . . I'll pay $10 for commercial-free guaranteed. You start doing that and what is your local sponsors going to be saying? Why should I advertise on your radio when they're not even listening to you? They're listening to satellites, commercial-free; they're paying $10. When those numbers go up, so [does] XM Satellite Radio stock value, which Clear Channel has its fingers in. They own a big chunk of XM because they know better.

Q: Is that something that you're invested in as well?

A: Oh yes. Yes, I invested in it as soon as I heard about it. . . . When satellite radio kicks . . . there's going to be no more syndication. You put a talent like Howard Stern in the XM building and boom, he's syndicated instantly. All satellite shows are considered instant syndication. It's going to be like having cable TV in your car.

You're going to have so many selections. A&E has its own channel; Home Shopping Network probably has its own channel. There are 50 channels of music and 50 channels of news and entertainment. They're going to be able to fine-tune exactly what you want. If I want to listen to Hollywood gossip there's going to be one channel just for Hollywood news. If I want to just hear about the planet, there might be a Nova channel. Local radio is nowhere near that level. I don't know if you spend much time in Los Angeles, but we have some of the worst radio in the United States. . . . XM and Sirius are going to be really good if they play their cards right and Clear Channel is very smart for being apart of that.

Q: Do you see XM as the winner, as opposed to Sirius?

A: Yes and two reasons. Sirius had a lead when they first started with Cosby backing them and they were at the top of Rockefeller Center and they had three satellites instead of XM's two. The tables turned when Sirius wasn't ready to launch on schedule. The car dealers weren't ready for them and Sirius announced they had to up their rates past $10 before they even launched. XM launched before them and XM now is running commercials full time and XM has the lead. If you look at their stock, Sirius is at $5 a share and XM is at twice that. There's an interesting battle going on; XM would love to beat out Sirius before they can even get off the ground. You always see the David Bowie falling through the roof or B.B. King falling through the roof, those commercials. They're going hard. I see it being a huge thing; I see it being in every car and every radio in the next three years.

Lot49.com is an interesting tribute to Thomas Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49 , an intersting exploration of life in CA. (My favorite part is the name of one of the bands--Sick Dick and the Volkwagens)

For those interesting in a real headtrip, try to plow your way through Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.

Pynchon is an interesting hermit. He didn't accept his award for Gravity's Rainbow.

Instead, he sent Irwin Corey.

(BTW, You'll enjoy GR a lot more if you read it with a companion.)