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Slashback: ASIMO History, CSIRO WiFi, Net Neutrality
A Short history of Honda's ASIMO. Ant writes to tell us that Honda has posted a short overview of the evolution leading up to the ASIMO. The history showcases the progress Honda has made in robotics over the last 20 years. It contains drawings, photographs, specifications, and other information about each prototype.
Intel bows out of the embedded processor market. markrages writes "Embedded.com is reporting Intel is withdrawing from the embedded processor market. From the article: 'The company will stop producing the 8051, 251, 8096/196, 188/186, i960, all versions of the 386 (including the 386EX) and 486.'" The product change notification is also available from Intel's site.
Microsoft USB giveaway fizzles. An anonymous reader writes "If you thought you could get something for nothing from Microsoft. Think again. NetworkWorld is reporting that Microsoft is backing down from the free USB drive marketing promotion they launched last February."
CSIRO close to WiFi win. Trapped Database Adm writes "Australian IT reports that Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the eastern district of Texas issued a Markman opinion, providing 'strong support for CSIRO's position in its patent infringement test case.'" From the article: "The CSIRO claims its patent relates to several wireless standards, and the technology covered by its patent is a standard feature of most notebook computers and many other devices. Many technology companies are refusing to pay up, however."
Lawmakers target MySpace again. ardyng writes "It appears Congressman Michael G. Fitzpatrick,(R-Penn) has introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban minors from accessing social networking websites such as Myspace, as well as any site that 'allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger. The Bill, H.R. 5319, also known as the 'Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006', is still in its infancy, but in its current form, would forbid libraries from allowing access to such sites as well." (That description would also include the site you're reading now.)
New York Times weighs in on net neutrality. KarmaOverDogma writes "The New York Times' Adam Cohen provides an argument in favor of neutrality on the World Wide Web. Cohen succinctly provides a brief history of the World Wide Web, its creator Tim Berners-Lee's vision of how it should operate, why he designed that way, and the forces moving to create a tiered pricing system of access. From stifling creativity and competition to free speech and innovation, Cohen shows why strange bedfellows have come to favor enforcing the 'Democratic Ethic' of the internet by Legislation."
Isn't the XScale also an Intel embedded processor?
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
I have always wondered if ASIMO's name was a nod to Asimov and his robotics books...
Myspace is to today as AOL Chatrooms were to the 90's. All the hip pedophiles use MySpace.
I regret spilling a glass of ginger ale on an achritect!
"The Bill, H.R. 5319, also known as the 'Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006', is still in its infancy, but in its current form, would forbid libraries from allowing access to such sites as well."
The solution is to force these politians to take vacation 360 out of 365 days of the year to limit the damage and stupidity caused.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Hey! How do you know what website I'm reading right now?
Oh. Right.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
If minors are prohibited, how does one prove one is an adult, and perhaps more importantly, does the information required to prove one is an adult provide yet more ways for one's online activity to be tracked?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
"That's not what we call Internet at all," says Sir Tim. "That's what we call cable TV."
Beautiful line, and summed up so even a politco could understand it.
Infiltrated dot Net
it is actual a nod to Asimov and his robotics books.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If you're interested, schools and libraries must:
Additionally, a "commercial social networking website" is:
'Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006' are you kidding me? How about just 'Deleting everything Online Act of 2006' This bill is FAR too broad? How many websites have a forum? Just about all.
Microsoft sent me an e-mail a couple of days ago saying that the offer was available "while supplies last" and intimated that I got in too late, pointing me instead to an online location containing the documents that would have been on the drive. I thought I'd heard of someone getting their drive, but maybe not.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
There is absolutely no information you can enter that someone else can't.I'm sure most kids (who want to) have ALL their parents' credit card numbers written down somewhere - and many have probably been asked to use them for online ordering.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Here are the actual videos of ASIMO doing things.o bj-2/
http://world.honda.com/HDTV/ASIMO/tech-recog-mov-
As far as that bill goes, before deciding that material obscene to minors should be banned, how about we decide _what_ is obscene to minors. Isn't this really a morality issue up to the _parents_ not Big Brother? Material described as obscene and harmful to minors is so disgustingly vague, that anyone can come on and say Microsoft.com is harmful to minors. Let's ban that (yay). I don't want legislators in congress deciding what is and isn't obscene for me.
Stoned4Life
gen = new Random
As a Canadian it appears that Americans are getting all the stick and no carrot. While being gagged and bound by unenforcable laws and taxed to support humongous government the American people go without the social programs and safety nets that coutries like Canada enjoy as a consequence of being over governed.
In the beginning was Adam Smith and things were OK; then came J.M. Keynes, government programs and a chicken in every pot, followed by J.K. Galbraith and the military industrial complex. What you've got going now I haven't got words for, but, better you than me.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
What a mediocre article. He could've at least brought up the "double-dipping" nature of the tiered system.
At least do some better research:
The blogging phenomenon is possible because individuals can create Web sites with the World Wide Web prefix, www, that can be seen by anyone with Internet access.
No wonder my site isn't working: I forgot to add the www prefix!!
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP US BY USING LAME-O FILTERS AT SCHOOL AND SHUTTING DOWN PIRATEBAY? THINK AGAIN, YOU *RETARDS*!!!
MININOVA AND HTTPS CGIPROXY FOR THE WIN! HA HA I WIN YOU LOSE HA HA HA HA!!!!
I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L B E F R E E!!!!!
(posted anonymously because I know this is just a semicoherent rant and deserves to be modded 0 at the most).
Wow, I actually got caught by the lameness filter. That's the first time that's happened to me. Perhaps I should stop reading Slashdot for a while...
I am all about Network Neutrality...the problem is that most of you aren't. There, my shocking intro is out of the way. ;-)
:-\
Seriously though, I'm only half joking. I agree that we must do everything we can to promote the vision of the Web that people like Tim Berners-Lee had at its inception. The problem is that while we want to fight for neutrality in our bandwidth, we are willing to give it up in our protocols.
For instance, the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) so-called spam solution is being adopted all over the place without nary a complaint. But think about it. Tim Berners-Lee didn't just envision a web of equitable bandwidth, he envisioned a web of peers---a web of end points, all equally valid. What happens when my system is no longer considered a valid end point? Suddenly, we have a network of clients and servers rather than peers. When the SPF process looks to verify that the sender is the one valid smtp server for the mail address' domain (based on either MX or A records), it devalues all non-domain level systems on the web. Peers on the network become clients, fed valid packets from those servers that are approved to pass said packets. The SMTP semantic paradigm moves from Sender>Receiver to Server>Client.
But no one really cares because there is some belief that this will help reduce spam. It will, but so will turning off our mail clients. Neither is the right solution. The solution is a newer, better mail protocol, many of which have been proposed that DO NOT devalue the peers of the network. Probably one of the better known of the examples is the IM2000 protocol.
But we'd rather have a network of tiered rights---as long as our bandwidth is balanced equitably we won't complain, I guess.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/
-Tom
I could see banning under-13's (who already require parental supervision), but minors? What does a sixteen-year-old have to fear from a pedophile? Even if this passes (oh, Canada!), it's an absurd smoke-and-mirrors measure.
also known as the 'Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006'
I propose the Kill All The Politicians Who Think Up These Fucking Stupid Slogans Disguised As Bill Names Because It Doesn't Make Them Big, It Doesn't Make Them Clever And It Doesn't Make Them Caring, It Just Makes Them Opportunistic Scum Act of 2006.
Also known as the I propose the KATPWTUTFSSDABN,BIDMTB,IDMTC,AIDMTC,IJMTOS Act, for short.
Not cool, not cool!
Hey, did that robot just fart?
Why not ban kids from going outside? Let's make sure they can't open their text books either because some bad author might have written some rude words!
You can protect kids as much as you want, but they'll still have to deal with it at some stage.
I was a kid on the 'net. Fortunatly I was more into the technical side of the net than chatrooms, but my point is that you'd be blocking most of the potential good that kids get out of the internet too.
(at least from Microsoft's perspective)
They have, and can use, all your personal contact information for the price of putting a few documents online. Don't you feel like a sucker?
Wow uhhhh... the response from you guys has been OVERWHELMING... UNPRECEDENTED really... just WOW! And ummm... yeah, ya know, the economy has been kinda harsh lately and times are hard for everyone these days so ummmm... sorry, we just can't send you those USB drives we promised. Sorry.
Okay, now next on the agenda... what should we do with this $35 Billion cash burning a hole in our pockets? Any suggestions?
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
I might if I didn't use a spam address and don't especially care about what physical mail gets sent to me, since I opted out of most lists long ago.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Someone else said it in another post: Cable TV. Specifially: The Shopping Network. Web sites would be nothing much more than electronic brochures for companies that want you to buy their wares. Corporations show you their goods on a web site. You contact them and buy their stuff. Any interaction with a web site would be limited to filling out a form with enough information that the company's sales force would know how to reach you. Ultimately, there would be none of that electronic sales folderol allowed via the Internet. Politicians can't figure out how to tax your purchases anyway and we can't allow transactions to go untaxed now can we? Besides, if there are no Internet transactions, think about how much safer your identity would be.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
What do you think they do now? Your average congrescritter spends most of his or her time campaigning, travelling to Iraq (big with voters, see "campaigning"), taking trips to speak or attend meetings (paid for by lobbyists), and so on. Governors like to do it too- the governor of MA, Mitt Romney, has practically been out of office more than he has been in, because he's so busy travelling around the world (literally!) because he wants to be "presidential."
Check out the voting record of most of these people...half the time they're never around and don't even bother to vote. I seem to recall one was even caught using another's access card (for the voting system) because the other one couldn't be bothered to leave their office. It's absolutely pathetic- they've completely forgotten what their job is. A representative's job is NOT TO GET RE-ELECTED. It is to REPRESENT.
Please help metamoderate.
They are going to try to make sites like Wikipedia hard to use, that's the point. Big publishers like the NYT probably don't like the fact that more people visit Wikipedia than them by a large margin. The old TV and radio empire is striking back. They can't compete so they are going to make laws to protect themselves. Netcraft Site Ranking, today wikipedia is 28th and they NYT is 57th. Between my local paper, BBC, Google News and Wikipedia, I don't need Fox, CNN, M$NBC, CBS, ABC and their ilk. Well, those old companies do find daily rotten fillers.
Say no to this nonsense.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
See when his facility set up it's anonymizer setup, they knew that it was only a stopgap measure and that the forces of evil would find them anyways, but they wanted to make sure that as much of their last transmission as possible got through while still finding a way to signal to the outside world what happened, so when the anonymizer detects a partial packet containing a post form submission, it adds the NO CARRIER portion, and sends a complete packet on to the website the submission was destined for. Understand now?
Subject line aside, the (rough) equivalents of this using your examples would be:
No driving in the carpool lane when you have a child in the car, as pedophiles may see them.
Children may not go to the grocery store where pedophiles may see them.
No using a knife when there is a child in the room. (a bit harder as a knife is not a place).
Children may not be in tow when going to vote as pedophiles might see them.
*Net Neutrality and the eBay Community: A Call to Action*
As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.
Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.
The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.
The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.
The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.
Today's Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can't give that up. A two lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can't afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we'll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.
The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let's use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.
Thank you for reading this note. I hope you'll make your voice heard today.
Sincerely,
Meg Whitman
President and CEO
eBay Inc.
P.S. If you have any questions about this issue, please contact us at government_relations@ebay.com .