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[1] Well, all about speculation about something that will have already occured by the time you read it.

From the summary: "But one Baghdad political insider says that the imbroglio is likely to end 'imminently'--possibly by the time this magazine hits newsstands--with ICANN handing over .iq to the new government."

I have to commend the article writer, the submitter, and the editors for giving us 'news' that is obviously (obviously as in noted in the article summary) outdated. When an article tells you itself that it is outdated, that's a really, really big hint that some more research is in order before the article gets submitted and/or posted.

Of course, that's what the readers are for -- to do the research themselves and post comments with updated information.

This website has the text of a CNN article from last June explaining why .iq has not been made available to Iraq, and why reassignment has been problematic: http://forums.hostmysite.com/about228.html

Here's some news from 8/5 (over a month ago!) about the .iq reassignment: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/new s/editorial/12314495.htm

And here it is again: http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml ?articleID=167600327

A couple seconds with Google is all it took.

Please, submitters, you should be checking your submissions for accuracy and 'datedness'.

Check out these links where people have made similar arguments:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hollow/1093/tva ndvideogames.html

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/116 16646.htm

http://www.playattention.com/attention-deficit/art icles/computer-video-games-do-have-benefits/

I think the grandparent is partly right, and jcr (and Felton) is partly wrong. Hollywood may be settling on Intel's DRM scheme, and Apple wants to make sure it doesn't get left in the cold. That is undoubtedly a major factor in the switch.

You and John Paczkowski (Good Morning Silicon Valley - San Jose Mercury News) should get together. Great post. And yes, I am a Mac user - lost count of how many machines over the years.

!seineew era sreenigne epacsten!

Translates to (when read backwards): Netscape engineers are weenies!

Here is the explanation taken from this article:

Don Rickles apparently writing code at Microsoft:: In the aftermath of Microsoft's admission Friday that its engineers had included a secret password in some of the Web site authoring software shipped with Microsoft's Windows NT operating system -- which The Wall Street Journal claimed could be used to gain unauthorized access to Web sites -- the editor of the Microsoft-software security site NTBugTraq came forward to offer some clarification on the matter. In a message posted to the NTBugTraq mailing list Cooper wrote, "This is a hole that could allow information to be manipulated by others. However, it's limited to 'others' who already have Web authoring permissions on the same box." Cooper added that the secret password in question--"!seineew era sreenigne epacsteN" IE: "Netscape engineers are weenies!" -- wasn't a password at all, but a cypher key which only allows access to the security breach, not the security breach itself. However, over the weekend, two programmers revealed that they were able to disrupt Web servers by exploiting a different vulnerability in the same file. Microsoft confirmed that assertion, indicating that the pair had discovered "a new, separate vulnerability that significantly increases the threat to users of these products" and that "could be used to cause an affected server to crash." (Wall Street Journal story; paid registration required). In any event, when Microsoft issues a patch for this, as it inevitably will, you'll find it here.

Not knowing that ms "innovated"/"invented" terraserver, I tried to "google" for "microsoft buys terraserver" and "microsoft acquire terraserver" but stumbled upon this:

microsoft acquire terraserver:

http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+acquire+t erraserver&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N

microsoft buys terraserver:
http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+buys+terr aserver&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://www.esj.com/Features/article.aspx?Editorial sID=90

"BARC was chartered to develop scalable server technology, and its most visible product was the Microsoft TerraServer. Launched in 1998, TerraServer, which currently runs on a Windows 2000 SQL Server cluster, is existing proof that Windows can reliably serve terabyte datasets to a worldwide audience."

Now, this second bit (excerpts from Dan Gillmor of SJ Mercury News:) is slightly off-topic or dated, but it talks about ms competing with Google and settling (cumulatively $3 billion) with companies it "trampled over"..:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/bus iness/columnists/dan_gillmor/10179377.htm

"Linux and other open-source software remain the best hope for actual competition, at least in more traditional computing markets. More and more corporate customers are finding open-source at least a plausible alternative.

Microsoft has been forced to lower its prices and offer cheaper versions of its products in several countries where Windows and Office are prohibitively expensive in local terms. If this spreads, it's a good sign. China's Linux push, meanwhile, is adding some pressure."

Now, see:

http://www.jackphelps.net/

which is a CC (Creative Commons) site that has a blurb on Google buying some technology named "dodgeball"...

AND, see:

http://www.broward.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/ special_packages/11622441.htm

"Microsoft in deal to launch MSN China"

wherein ms buys "certain technology" from China...

"Microsoft already offers its MSN Messenger instant messaging service and the MSN Hotmail e-mail service in Chinese, but said the new venture will deliver more comprehensive communications and information for the 94 million Chinese who were online in 2004."

I wonder how much of this deal includes a demand to embed citizen tracking technologies into cellphones beyond what is normally possible for cell carriers. PRC might be "PeepHole Remote Control" (pun...intended...)

Bon Read-a-tit...(pun... intended...)

You may be "voting" even though you don't realize it. Many digital cable boxes now phone home with logs of what you watch, down to the second. If you have a TiVo, Nielsen knows not only what you watch, but when you watch it.

Really?

I think "Ding - correct answer" may be more appropriate.

Check this article from 2002

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/419 3833.htm

They did not want this but they HAD to in order to get the RIAA and it's members on board with iTMS.

The VC funds listed there (scroll down to pages 3,4) almost all have rates of return well over 20%.

From that chart, even conservative private equity funds like ones from Madison Dearborn and Thomas Lee have done returned over 20% since 1995!

Rick Berman, Dem, CA, is one of the guys behind this. Follow the money. He was the guy behind the proposed legislation to allow hacking people's computers if they were suspected of P2P file sharing. John Paczkowski of Good Morning Silicon Valley referred to him as a "Congressman and Hollywood sock puppet". Is this the guy you want deciding how you will get your music?

Rick Berman, Dem, CA, is one of the guys behind this. Follow the money. He was the guy behind the proposed legislation to allow hacking people's computers if they were suspected of P2P file sharing. John Paczkowski of Good Morning Silicon Valley referred to him as a "Congressman and Hollywood sock puppet". Is this the guy you want deciding how you will get your music?

The UC system has required since the fall that such sensitive data on portable equipment be encrypted. But in this case, the information was downloaded onto a new laptop the day before it was stolen, and was scheduled for encryption the afternoon a thief walked off with it, said campus spokeswoman Marie Felde.

How about this and this.

There were also stories directly addressing Apple's negotiations with the RIAA, but It was a couple of years ago and can't dig up the exact refference at the moment. Apple's DRM position is well doumented in many places, and the outcome of the Apple-RIAA negotiations are obvious. Everyone is busy praising Apple for having the least oppressive DRM and iTunes has pretty well crushed all competing services. That is because Apple fought for and got different terms from the RIAA than anyone else was able to get. Apple was about to walk out of negotiations over it.

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Yes, after Apple was forced into using DRM they obviously tied it to the iPod. When someone won't let you have anything other than lemons, you make lemonade.

Apple has been rejecting DRM and Steve Jobs gave an interview interview with Rolling Stone he explaining that DRM is just stupid and the Music industry is clueless about computers. I don't have a specific link, but Apple did in fact battle the RIAA against having any DRM at all on the music download service they wanted to create.

The business Apple currently has is not the business they wanted to create.

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Apple likes DRM, otherwise they'd only sell one of any mp3.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Thanx for playing, but you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Apple is rejecting DRM and in thisSteve Jobs interview with Rolling Stone he explains that DRM is just stupid and the Music industry is clueless about computers. I don't have a specific link, but Apple did in fact fight the RIAA against having any DRM at all on iTunes. Apple has less oppressive DRM because Apple fought against DRM.

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the funny write-up John Paczkowski gave this story in the good morning silicon valley.com.

NOTE: lots of good, if not absolutely fresh content show up on GMSV, its my favorite alternative to /. but beware...if you mention it as a source of a story submission, /. will quash it.

"Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg refused to extend to the Web sites a protection that shields journalists from revealing the names of unidentified sources or turning over unpublished material."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/110 49112.htm

As a retirement gift this week, the ousted Sony CEO (Nobuyuki Idei) was given an iPod of all things! He didn't find it very funny considering he is famous for declining Apple's offer to participate in the iTunes music store.

After ruining HP, the Bush administration has suggested her for rui^H^Hnning the World Bank. Read it here. 'Top executives' like herself like to tell us that they need their huge salaries because they take such risks, and if they screw up they are done in the business. Yeah, right. The truth is, it doesn't matter how much they screw up, their own will take care of them anyway.

The article can be found here

Deduct a few seconds from your 15 minutes of fame. The parent was quoted on Good Morning Silicon Valley.

"While I hate losing share, the reality is that our competitor has a very strong product offering"

Further details on the story can be found here

Flash: Carly to leave HP.

When did Bloglines send you this message?
J. Paczkowski wrote about this yesterday. It was in the e-mail form of Good Morning Silicon Valley. Apparently Jeeves didn't control the story too well and it got out before they could make their official announcement.

And comparing Intel's financials to AMD's financials last quarter what do you think made better business sense

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/103 23259.htm

IBM has made the Cell for servers and embedded applications. I don't know much about the author of the article, but the Cell will change computing.

Here's my analysis on why Apple will use the Cell http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/103 23259.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/103 23259.htm

IBM has made the Cell for servers and embedded applications. I don't know much about the author of the article, but the Cell will change computing.

Here's my analysis on why Apple will use the Cell http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/103 23259.htm

Kertzman also deserves credit for presiding over accounting scandals at both Liberate and Sybase.

You can't compare it to air, because spectrum is a scarce resource.

In 2003, a financial privacy bill came up in California. Several lawmakers voted against the bill. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights obtained the SSNs for 8 of these 9 lawmakers (the information was not available for one individual.) The first four digits of each SSN were posted on the Internet with the name of each individual. They also released the first three digits of the SSN for Governor Davis. The affected lawmakers were rather upset as a result.

In another incident, Citigroup supported a bill that would have overturned financial privacy protections in California. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights acted by publicly releasing the first five digits of the Citigroup CEO's SSN. The digits were written in the sky by a professional skywriter.

Is it just me or would you take a 4% profit per machine instead of a 23% profit per machine on a deal like this if you were Apple? Which actually points out a small fact. Apple still makes an average of 12% on educational sales (even more if you factor in Applecare and service plans) I think if they are serious about enterprise and education, they'd take 3-4% profit. I also think that they don't realize how many of these workers would love them and buy them for home use.

You're correct. Both articles talk about how Steve Jobs and Apple don't support "trusted" computing.

Kerry tried to make it one. But America acted like it didn't care. So the plan was not mentioned again (this talk of 30 year old wars definitely helps push away current issues). If nerds would make this a campaign issue, then we might get our better broadband. Say the military needs it: thats how we got our interstate highway system!

While Ozzie was apparently unaware of this, his (very detailed) weblog entry was part of the same PDF document that included the letters signed by Counsel from Microsoft (and their outside law firm), AOL, Macromedia, and Adobe.

virtual Bullying has been going on for some time.

and you know this (they make a profit) how?

Because they're still in business. Even if they make exactly zero profit, it still proves the "no profit on iTMS" idea to be a crock. Occam's razor, my friend.

...and most illegal activity sells "goods" below market. Why? Because it didn't cost them anything (or little) to get it ... which is what makes Apple's claim of "no profit" so pathetic. Let me restate it, since you seem to be having trouble understanding.

1. Apple charges 99c per song, 35c of which goes straight to Apple.

2. AllofMP3.com charges ~four cents per song. Even if 100% of that goes to them, without paying any royalties, they're still able to stay in business.

3. Therefore, if allofmp3.com is able to cover their expenses (cc processing, bandwidth, hosting, electricity, staff, etc) on FOUR CENTS PER SONG (which is the high estimate, assuming no royalties being paid out), then Apple's claim of making no profit taking in 35c per song is complete bullshit.

And look, Steve Jobs proves me right, in a private conference call.

If apple sold 200 million songs, that fits right in with the $70 million profit figure that Jobs himself mentions.

Of course, publicly, he has a completely different story. Publicly, he pretends that they make no profit on iTMS. It's great PR, it fits in great with Jobs' bullshit faux-hippie image, and it works--

*Because he knows Apple zealots are too sheepish to do their own research.

*Because anyone who contradicts the word of Jobs is shouted down, even if Jobs' statements are completely illogical

This whole "no profit on iTMS" line is just like his famous "$1 salary". That's a load of horseshit too. Because along with that $1 salary, he also receives $74.7 million in restricted stock; Apple also provides him a private jet, which he leases back to Apple for $1.2 million in two years

Hate Microsoft and Real all you want. Their products certainly aren't the best. But Bill Gates actually does good things with his ill-gotten gains. Jobs pathologically lies about what he takes in, then keeps it for himself.

It's far from obvious that "Wall Street" wants Google to "fail" --- they're underwriting the Google IPO. Who do you think Morgan Stanley and CSFB are?

What's more, it's not obvious to everybody that Google's approach is necessarily motivated by helping individual investors (like the average Slashdot reader). For example, take Henry Blodget's recent column on Salon:

However, it's important to remember a few things. First, auctions are not a new IPO mechanism. They have been tried in numerous countries over the last 25 years (including the United States) and, in almost all cases, have been discarded in favor of the traditional American IPO method. Second, what's good for the company (high price) is often bad for investors (less upside). Third, those willing to pay the most for shares may not be those best qualified to evaluate their worth. Fourth, and relatedly, auctions are generally not better for individual investors (i.e., us). When individuals "win" auctions (e.g., get stock), it is often because they outbid professional investors who have better information and/or a better sense of value. In such cases, the future stock performance is usually lousy, and the "winners" end up losing.

A Dutch Auction doesn't necessarily kill the initial pop in a stock offering (there's an argument that it'll increase the value of Google's shares in the early days), and it doesn't cut the underwriters out of the action. They just keep the money they'd be doling out to cronies.

Finally, "do-no-evil" pledge or not, there are objective criticisms of the way Google is handling this IPO, and they aren't coming from Wall Street.

Personally, I wouldn't know the first thing about the true motivations behind Google's actions, but my totally uninformed take is that Google is doing an auction IPO just to be iconoclastic.

Well, it actually went live and was reported elsewhere on Friday the 30th.

Ross-Dove, the auction house, seems to run high on price. I've been to one of their auctions, and everything sold above blue book.

"Walton, 83, made about $3 million from patenting RFID technology. But his last royalty-bearing RFID patent expired in the mid-1990s, meaning that he won't share in the potentially gigantic windfall that will be generated as Wal-Mart and the Defense Department begin to require their largest suppliers to put RFID tags millions of warehoused goods."

You mean like when Intel shareholders (myself included) voted in favor of a proxy that the company expense options and "Intel executives said at the company's annual meeting Wednesday that they will not begin expensing stock options until they are required to do so by law."

While it may be difficult to decide how to expense them, and this proposal may not be the right way, hopefully a reasonable compromise can be reached. Options are used as an incentive just like salary and as such should be included in the books as a cost of doing business. Or should salary, bonus pay and benefit expenses just be up to the company to account for however they choose too? Otherwise tell me how options are different than other incentive based pay.

The shift key on Windows machines...

or for that matter, any computer anywhere that has an input and an output device.

Sun is not losing money. Their net profit is down, but they are not in the red and continue to return profit to their stockholders. Sorry, next troll?

The net loss for fiscal year 2003 was $2.378 billion or a net loss of $.75 per share as compared with a net loss of $587 million or a net loss per share of $.18 for the 2002 fiscal year.

Fri, Apr. 16, 2004 Sun posts loss again AS WOES CONTINUE, PROJECTS TO BE KILLED, MANAGERS SHUFFLED By Dean Takahashi Mercury News Based on its turnaround plan, Sun Microsystems should be recovering by now. But that's not happening, as the company announced its 10th loss in 12 quarters Thursday. As a result, Sun has begun changing plans and its management team.

You may be too late. AT&T has already received a patent for "A system and method for circumventing schemes that use duplication detection to detect and block unsolicited e-mail (spam.)"

http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/ archives/001506.shtml#001506

It was discussed on Slashdot.

The average WiFi user was tech savvy too, back when only us computer geeks used it.

Here's a counter-example. Two years ago, the San Jose Mercury published this article by one of the regular tech reviewers. He was unable to get his WiFi setup to work until a tech came over and turned off his firewall. Problem solved; finesse with a sledge hammer. His system's probably a slag heap by now with all of the extra use it's gotten.

However, this apparently describes an earlier draft, because this somewhat better article says the bill is about amassing personal information (ie, keeping email that's been deleted) and sharing it with third parties. Which are much more legitimate concerns, but have nothing to do with the targeted ad and search features of Gmail.

So what's the real story? It almost sounds like the revised bill is just a cover for Senator Figueroa's embarrassing early draft.

Apple laptops do work right out of the box. No manufactured laptop will be absolutely perfect, but the system and hardware are generally worry-free.

Yeah, they work right out of the box... just not for very long.

Apple does a great job of pretending all the problems with their computers don't exist.

But don't believe me, believe the many, many pissed off users that get brushed off when they want their in-warranty, defective computers fixed

Or the thousands that are having problems with defective equipment in their shiny, new, two week old G5s.

Or the formerly proud owners of Apple "Titanium" powerbooks, who found out the hard way that Apple's definition of "Titanium" is actually "Cheap-ass silver paint that flakes off after a month".

But hey, at least Apple still makes the most *expensive* personal computer on the market, right?

(Linked via the Drudge Report -- hopefully more articles like this will further add to the drumbeat of realization... by the public at large):

Single mom overwhelmed by recording industry suit

Actuall there are very accurate coverage maps, the providers just don't want you to see them.

You bunch of gringos, you crucify then investigate. Turns out Canadians are quite proud of All Computers' Mers Kutt and his milestone achievement in personal computing. Doesn't seem as though he is one of those run-of-the mill litigants Read this to understand why. . .