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Al Gore never said he invented the internet

Here is what Al Gore said, quoting from Wired News:

During a March 1999 CNN interview, while trying to differentiate himself from rival Bill Bradley, Gore boasted: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

If you're a Democrat, what he said was an unfortunate exaggeration. If you're a Republican, what he said was a boastful lie. Either way, he'll be mocked for it by so many people that you could spend the rest of your life arguing the point, and get nowhere.

Not to flame you or anything but you do realize that the game only cost about $7 million to produce (at least according to Wired). You couldn't really do anything worthwhile in education or healthcare with only $7 million. As far as recruitment for the army goes $7 million is only probably about the amount the army spends on those "army of one" recruitment ads on TV in a week so no big waste of funds there. Now if you're trying to say that spending money to recruit people into the army is a waste of money, well that's a completly different conversation entirely.

According to an interview, Hilary Rosen grew up in New Jersey.

I don't need 1xEV-DO at work, because work is crawling with Ethernet cables. I don't need 1xEV-DO at home, because it's cheaper to buy WiFi equipment directly instead of paying for wireless by the packet. The only reasons I need wireless data in my car are for driving directions when I'm lost, which - being male - I wouldn't use anyway, and for streaming audio, for which I have a hi-tech device called a "radio" (or, more likely, a "six-disc CD changer").

By the time 1xEV-DV gets to market, McDonald's will have WiFi and you'll get free bandwidth with your Happy Meal. (They'll sell your data to advertisers and interrupt with McDonald's ads, but, hey, free bandwidth.) WiFi destroys the business case for cellular data, just as the unregulated Internet destroys the business case for pop music, and in the long-term WiFi even threatens the core cellular business of providing wireless voice.

Perhaps the real question is whether the Cellular Telephone Industry Association (CTIA) will someday find itself where the RIAA is today - fighting its customers in a desperate effort to squeeze the last dollar from a dying business model. Time for the Free Spectrum Foundation?

(Thinking Sony, etc.)

I used to think the same untill I saw the a blurb on Wired's site and realised that with Sony (and the likes), you only ever see their final, combined product.

Blurb from Wired's site:

The Civil War Inside Sony [Coming Jan. 24]
Sony Music wants to entertain you. Sony Electronics wants to equip you. The problem is that when it comes to digital media, their interests are diametrically opposed.

Maybe the moderator should read this wired article first, since it contains answer to many questions posted here.

Hating Hilary [Coming Jan. 23] Napster slayer. Corporate thug. Industry shill. Hilary Rosen has heard it all as the reviled frontwoman for the music biz. Sure, she knows file-sharing is the future. She's just fighting to give the dinosaurs one last gasp.
By Matt Bai

The article will be online soon at: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/ [wired.com]

The music industry should take a page from the pr0n industry, if you can't beat them, join them.

Hating Hilary [Coming Jan. 23] Napster slayer. Corporate thug. Industry shill. Hilary Rosen has heard it all as the reviled frontwoman for the music biz. Sure, she knows file-sharing is the future. She's just fighting to give the dinosaurs one last gasp.
By Matt Bai

The article will be online soon at: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/

Cheers, AC

Apple's a company with a huge customer following among creative types; I would think that their encouragement to "Rip/Mix/Burn" is intended more to enhance people's creativity... which happens to include the art form of the homemade mix album ;)

Speaking of Sony, the Wired article on Sony Electronics vs. Sony Music (which is being posted tomorrow) is an interesting read as well.

Some of Rosen's toughness can be traced to her twenties, when she came out as a lesbian and fought on the frontier of gay politics, becoming an early and ardent advocate for AIDS research. I ask Rosen if she thinks the stereotype of a militant lesbian plays into her image as being too aggressive. She considers this. "I never thought of myself as one of those separatist dykes," she says finally. "But I suppose if people see me that way, that's fine."

See here. But then again, it's probably Wired's.

Lockpicking has become a popular non-electronic hacker sport. Some links: Sportenthusiasts of Lockpicking, Wired, more links.

"Hating the RIAA's Hilary Rosen" - Wired Article

Link to picture of Hillary listening to an iPod.

But with the depreciation of hardware over time, does it still cost them? Thoughts appreciated. -MMT

Whoops! I'm sorry. I pressed the Submit instead of Preview.

The story can be found here.

• The two tactics are:
• Persue ISPs in court to recoup losses for piracy over the internet.
• Rosen also "advised" the music industry to "develop technological protections instead of relying on enforcement to quash pirating".

Rosen essentially wants ISP's to pay a fee to the RIAA to compensate for the loss of revenues due to piracy across the net. She would also like to see the ISP's begin scanning P2P type files being swapped on the net for pirated works.

The successor for Rosen will undoubtedly try to take a more subtle approach. Essentially, we'll be seeing the equivalent of the "Softer Side of RIAA" advertisements. I would implore the Slashdot community to see through the new image to the cold, black, evil that is the essence of the RIAA (and MPAA). Hopefully, Rosen doesn't live in Salem lest she run the risk of being burned at the stake!

or wait until tomorrow for the online article. This is an interview on her which was an interesting read. Here's what the Web site said:

Hating Hilary [Coming Jan. 23]
Napster slayer. Corporate thug. Industry shill. Hilary Rosen has heard it all as the reviled frontwoman for the music biz. Sure, she knows file-sharing is the future. She's just fighting to give the dinosaurs one last gasp.
By Matt Bai

Yes. As an example recently in the news, gene therapy for "bubble-boy" disease has been suspended, because a couple of the boys have developed leukemia (or something like it) as a result of the gene therapy.

This same type of argument is used by those opposed to genetically modified foods-- the possibility of introducing new allergens and such that we have no experience with, and anyone could be allergic to. The risk is always there, and the only way to discover it is to try.

IBM has a long history of releasing open standards and not making money of it starting from "IBM-compatible PCs ". Then laptop standards and now this ....
Now by specifying PowerPC as the chip , which they own, maybe they will make actual money out of it...
Now HPQ, and last quarter Dell, sold the maximum number of "IBM comaptible PCs" in US. Even if this goes similarly IBM still can profit...Dell's current PDA uses Intel chips and Microsoft and HP uses Intel in iPAQ and Strongarm in Jornada. Dell being such a follower of "Industry Standards" ,might switch but lets see about HP

The car companies are trying to buy some good karma with enviro freaks and government types while they continue to produce gas-guzzling behemoths for the public.

I agree. The first thing that entered my mind when I read this was, "when will it stop being a concept car?" (the second being how ugly it is, as others have posted). I'm far from being a granola, but I'd like to see at least some balance in companies' lineups.

And for those saying that the auto industry is just "answering a need": The market difference between a green car and a power SUV is virtually nil. In both cases, you've created the demand through endless hype and ads. Taking the easy out in marketing, I'm sure that a "green" car could be sexy, too (c.f. all those reviewers talking about electric cars' near-instant acceleration).

I thought I'd head the name of this consultancy before: Wired had an article on MBDC last year. It spotlights their work with Ford, so I'm guessing that Ford has at least some actual intent to put their money where their mouth is. At least, until the government gets even softer on pollution regulation...

Wired article

People who want to enforce it (with exact amounts listed)

People who want to stop it

So, can I borrow your cd's? I want to burn a couple 100 since I just bought a big whack of blanks and have already paid for the right to do so!

Where are you getting your information from? Were you actually present at the meeting? Some of your statments smell of sensationalist tripe... a common occurance in the Bay Area.

I lived in SF for 7 years, and Berkeley for 2.5 years, and have been an avid biker in Berkeley, Oakland and SF for 3 years.

Listen, SF is a crowded city. The sidewalks can be almost impassable during commute and lunch hours.

Bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, scooters, and any other fast-moving wheeled device are banned from the sidewalk. Why should the Segway be any different?

They believe this device would cause everyone to get fat.

Could you please post your reference?

According to an article at Wired,

Pedestrian advocates are gearing up for a fight as Segway shifts its lobbying from statehouses to city halls.

"We don't want to say that it doesn't ever make sense. But in urban settings there isn't enough room for all the pedestrians," said Ellen Vanderslice, president of America WALKs, a pedestrian advocacy group.

Being a liberal city, a $4000 device is seen as a rich man's toy and rich men should be spending their money on social problems such as the homeless problem, not toys. This viewpoint is pretty common here unfortunately.

*SIGH*. More tripe. If they really wanted to ban it because it was a "rich man's toy", then why aren't they trying to take away other "rich man's toys"? SF is a City *full* of "rich man's toys".

That would hurt the disabled however, so it isn't even considered.

Any ban on wheelchairs in any American city would quickly be declared in violation with the American Disability Act. It has nothing to do with SF PCness as you suggest...

Anybody got Saddam's e-mail address?

press@uruklink.net. This account was broken into recently as well. Although this is a "press" email, it is the one that appears on Saddam's own webpage.

I actually came across anarticle in wired quite a while ago. It was the typical stuff at the time, i.e. almost a "vaporware" type article, when nano and bio where the hot new prefixes and every tech magazine was scrambling to get coverage. However, there was something I found extremely interesting that is relevant here, as apparently it is one of the possible methods of implementing nano ICs...three dimensionals circut boards.. I googled a little and didnt come up with much besides this blog entry apparently from some scientist working with this stuff in an R&D program for a company in europe somewhere. Anyways, if anyone has further knowledge on the topic id be extremly interested, as I am sure others would be too.

Speaking of articles:
Is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Unconstitutional under Eldred v. Ashcroft?

Mail Chauvinism:The Magicians,the Snarkand the Camel-Ted Nelson

Flying in the Face of Infertility


Dancing around Web services

2002 Worst Manual Contest Winners

We pay a levee on all blank media which is handed over to the music industry

Actually, it doesn't even go to the recording industry yet, it goes to the CPCC, which has yet to redistribute the funds.

The feds could have pushed on things like prize award incentives for technical achievements in energy or space transportation or scientific discovery.

Think about Henry Ford and The Guggenheim Trophy or Charles Lindbergh and the Orteig Prize.

Of course, I think we all know why prizes that let the best man win (AKA "fair contests") are anathema to the guys who run things.

The feds have become the enemy not simply of the people but of the planet. They're going to grind the United States, and with it life on earth, into the dust. Nanotech grey-goo won't be an issue if the feds aren't removed from the seat of power by something at least as radical as a Constitutional Convention.

Naw, if people were just *buying* more CDs, I am sure they would stock more. I don't think that GiantRetailCo stocks a certain item only because it has a better value proposition for a customer (and of course you are correct- they do offer more value). But DVDs are hotter than a pistol right now with people snapping up players (fastest adoption of an electronic media format *ever*), and frankly, the people that market movies are way smarter than the ones that market music.

BTW- did anyone read the latest Wired (print) on the music biz? If thier predictions were correct they'd be lucky to get only 6% decline. But then, take Wired predictions with a grain of salt, and have a laugh reading this chestnut:
http://www.wired.com/wired/5.07/longboom.html

Paul Boutin just wrote up Doctorow's novel in this story.

This article here is quite interesting, assesing all the possible consequences of the ruling.

The "concept cover" for Pulitzer's magazine looks strangely similar to the cover of Wired's December issue

I can just imagine all those teenybopper crackers out there who won't get or won't believe the RIAA's denial, deciding they've been issued a challenge by authority and therefore the RIAA's affiliates are fair game. RIAA's denial should be stronger but then since the RIAA's been seeking go-ahead to crack into users' computers it makes it rather difficult for them to deny they've thrown down the gauntlet to the pubescents.

Google does 90% of the non-msn queries, and that's pretty close to controlling the flow of information on the Internet, something that certainly scare the hell out of many folks out there.

To see other companies truly trying to compete with Google is really very good, good news.

He'll be able to read it online in a week. From this article, Mitnick has been banned from using the Internet as a condition of his supervised release. He's free to go online again on January 21, 2003, after close to eight years offline. The first site he'll visit is his girlfriend's blog.

I just read this book too. It really does make you think about how easy it would be for someone to manipulate you or your coworkers. The book is full of suggestions, especially the last few chapters. The chapter about training and warning employees prompts to add security awareness training both for new hires and continued, and retool policy and procedures in a way that employees will follow them. Sadly, a friend of mine showed up at work Monday to find out that 10 laptops, including hers, had been stolen. Security had no record of unauthorized access which makes it seem like it had to have been some kind of social engineering.

Earlier the RIAA focus appeared to be on impeding the transmission of illegitimate files. Although that might be legal, they wanted immunity from prosecution for screwing up or crossing the line. Obviously (?) they should not get it; if they want aggressive means they'll have to persuade the gov't to do the intrusion. The more expansive idea of allowing them to install malware is nuts. We don't use the posse any more.

But also insane are the current punishments for hacking, equating the activity with terrorism. It's a serious offense, but the law is based on hysteria that robs the courts of the ability to make intelligent sentencing decisions. The RIAA is right to fear it.

*
My Q is who was the idiot who thought putting executables in MP3 files was a good idea? Can this be defeated at least as the default? The same one who thought up scripts in email? Whatever stunts the RIAA can pull, anyone can, profiting from the relative anonymity of P2P.

MP3 files should be data, like a JPEG. Throw the clown who created the security hole in jail and fix the problem so the RIAA and everyone else can't touch a thing.

The US post office gives reduced rates to groups that send mail in bulk. In effect this is no different.

If you don't know the difference between postal bulk mail and spam, you have not been studying either for very long. Postal bulk mail, at least in the United States, subsidizes first-class mail: although the rates are reduced, bulk mailers are required to pre-sort and bar-code their mail, which vastly reduces the cost to the Postal Service to handle it.

Spam, on the other hand, imposes additional costs on the email system and the recipient. A spammer may pay his own ISP (and sometimes not -- stolen credit cards are pretty damned common) but his actions don't subsidize the rest of the system that delivers his spam, namely the transit and the recipient's site. At most -- in the case of direct-to-MX spam in which there are no third party open relays or proxies involved -- the spammer is paying only half his costs, and forcing the other half on you. Usually, the spammer is also shoving his costs off on third parties, such as schoolchildren in South Korea.

ISPs report this consistently: spam runs up their costs. The largest email service under single management is America Online, which has also been the most frequent plaintiff against spammers. Yes, you read that right: AOL sues spammers. They also win, and they've been winning since 1996.

The Postal Service could not stay afloat solely on first-class and parcel-post mail: there just isn't enough of it. The email system would be doing much better and more reliably if it were not being clogged and slowly ruined by the theft called spam.

Sexy? You're more right than you think!

Why not? It might feel good ;-)

There's a blurb about it at the bottom of this Wired Article.

One quote "Microsoft also is re-evaluating the ubiquitous name's use on other software." adds another dimension to this than just taking it off of the Windows 2003 Server.

They have already pushed the release back more time than I can count. They even made wired's vaporware list at number 5. Its about time they actually went gold.

I'm still trying to load that Quicktime video from their /.'ed server but I believe this was the same type of coaster mentioned in this WiReD Magazine article a couple of years ago.

Pilgrim, who earns his living as a Web accessibility consultant

Most of the great leaps of the computer age have happened despite, rather than because of, (Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)). (B)efore the Internet the proprietary network protocols divided customers, locked them into providers and forced them to exchange much of their data by tape. The power of the network was not unlocked by IPR. It was unlocked by free and open innovation shared amongst all.

Yes, it uses the standard FM radio band, but it uses the unutilized parts of each channel, so it's compatible with analog FM broadcasts. The FCC approved this tech last October, and a radio consortium (iBiquity) has developed the tech. News article link. The receiver chip is manufactured by National Semiconductor. It will be a nation-wide service, since it requires cooperation from the FM broadcasters, so Clear Channel et. al. are involved (I think they are large backers of iBiquity.) This also means there'll be some sort of monthly service charge.

FYI, the Microsoft watch will have a 28-MHz ARM9 processor, 512 kbytes of ROM and 384 kbytes of RAM.

Then again, there's that guy (Lucky Green) that has filed for a patent specifically to stop microsoft from using Palladium for DRM.

It's so crazy, it just might work......

Shadowbane was even listed (#8) in Wired's Vaporware for 2002. . .

I noticed in this article in Wired news that the agreement last month that supposedly paves the way for HDTV to be broadcast on cable will force DVRs to only allow the programs recorded to be watched within 90 minutes of being recorded!

The problem with today's power grid is that it's so heavily centralized -- from the beginning, power plants have become relatively larger and larger, with relatively fewer of them. The key to widespread adoption of alternatives like solar energy is not for existing power companies to build huge solar installations, which is all that will work with the existing grid. It's for power companies to be able to buy back power produced by their customers' solar panels, microturbines, fuel cells, or whatever -- distributed power generation. The problem is that they don't have the infrastructure to be able to do that -- ie, switching and metering equipment -- nor are they interested in changing the status quo. Wired magazine had a good article on this awhile back.

I don't think it's just about wanting to force people through all of your ads.

I can understand objecting to another site repeatedly linking to yours to the point of imitating your content without attribution, getting a free ride on both your content and server load. Heck, you could mimic the entire site. There must be copyright issues if you misrepresent ownership of the creative material, or use them beyond fair use. The Tickets.com case didn't resolve everything.

As for directing someone to a page, that seems very reasonable, especially because it's pretty hard to track down a page after the home page changes.

Also, just as a matter of politeness, I would want to respect the wishes of the site owner. But they should make their wishes clear, say in the HTML of the page. Doesn't the referrer tag make it pretty easy to police your oen pages against casual intrusion? Anyway, a liberal linking policy in more in the spirit of the internet; I hope site owners think twice before clamping down.

Why is it that people create these virtual worlds that contain the same limitations as the real world. The idea of money only makes sense when you have scarcity. Guess what, this is cyberspace: there is no scarcity necessary here. And yet people build it into their worlds as a "feature".

What I would really find interesting to see is how such a world would look like when there is no scarcity. How would population centers look (usually city center means $$$).

An interesting quote I found in this Wired article:

These little economies raise big questions, therefore, and by no coincidence, they tend to be the big questions of the economic age. How, for instance, do we assign value to immaterial goods? What defines ownership when property becomes as fluid as thought? What defines productivity when work becomes a game and games become work?

Are we so used to the notion of scarcity that we wish to reproduce it in cyberspace? Would we not rather move beyond this idea?

Another interesting aspect to think about is how copyrights relate to this. Say I write a piece of code that represents my design for a Castle in such a virtual world. If I copyright it nobody else can legally build the same castle as me. And so the idea of scarcity is reintroduced. But it is only relevant as long as there is no rich public domain from which people can retrieve equivalent items. So hopefully there would be tons of castles available under a Creative Commons license.