Lucent - formerly Bell Labs - really needs a shot in the arm. It's stock price has been battered big-time lately for reasons unconnected to the dot-bomb phenomena. Voice recognition on computers has been around for a while now with products like Dragon, Via Voice, etc. All of these programs are clunky, somewhat bloated, and need to be trained to individual speakers. A truly speaker-independent voice recognition system could be just what the doctor ordered for Lucent.
I searched Google for "VoiceNav" and the only references that came back were those connected to the MXP-100. I wonder if this is brand new. On the down side, if this does represent a breakthrough of sorts, Lucent probably holds patents on the technology that they will milk for all they're worth. The old Bell Labs used to have fairly liberal licensing policies for some of their stuff (UNIX anyone?) but now they're profit-driven. Shareholders might not look favorably on giving away a possible golden goose. I would love to see the magic behind this technology in an Open Source form.
Creationists have always struck me as being strident and inflexible. I believe in evolution. I also believe in creation to the extent that some higher being at one point installed the last "spark plug", if you will, in order to give humans that certain something extra that separates us from mere beasts. I really do hold that both beliefs can coexist in harmony. There are two passages from the linked article that trouble me, however, being scientifically disposed and all that.
The achievement is a landmark in evolutionary biology, not only because it shows how new animal body plans could arise from a simple genetic mutation, but because it effectively answers a major criticism creationists had long leveled against evolution--the absence of a genetic mechanism that could permit animals to introduce radical new body designs.
and this one...
The UCSD team's demonstration of how a mutation in the Ubx gene and changes in the corresponding Ubx protein can lead to such a major change in body design undercuts a primary argument creationists have used against the theory of evolution in debates and biology textbooks.
Doesn't it seem that these scientists are going out of their way to discredit creationists? While the real bible-toting creationists constantly rail about the godlessness of science and the inherent evil they see in the theory of evolution, I always thought that the scientific view would be to let the results of solid research speak for themselves. A thinking person would be able to decide for himself what to make of the whole debate. These two paragraphs really disturb me. They clearly desire not only to further the study of evolutionary processes, but also to denigrate those who hold onto the creationist point of view for dear life (no pun intended). This seems to be way too over the top for my liking. Is it necessary to drag down opposing viewpoints while making your own best case? It's almost as though they actually see the by-the-book creationists as a threat to their cherished beliefs. Certainly, creationists feel that way about what science has shown us since the days of Darwin. Is it necessary to stoop to the same tactics?
Classical techniques also require that the original signal be "band limited" - a technical term meaning that the signal must stay within certain, defined limits.
This is not quite accurate. The original signal is not "required" to be band-limited. Rather, it is accepted that frequencies outside of your design bandwidth will not be captured. The signal can stray outside of the "defined limits", but should it do so that information will be lost. Furthermore, Fourier's math tells us that a signal that is limited in time is unlimited in frequency, and a signal that is limited in frequency is unlimited in time. This has important ramifications. The biggest - and most obvious - is that all man-made signals are limited in time and therefore unlimited in frequency. Ergo there will ALWAYS be information lost no matter what bandwidth you design for.
Now to read the rest of the article - it sounds intriguing...
It's going to come down to something akin to a Digital Boston Tea Party. The original BTP was an "enough-is-enough" protest against unjust taxes. Remember, those taxes were legal, but when enough people got pissed off about them, they staged a protest that made the Animal House parade mods seem pale by comparison.
In economic terms it's beginning to look like the recording industry, born in analog and transmogridifed into new digital clothes, is no longer a viable business model. Thus we have the spate of new laws to protect their interests and prolong their economic strength. The industry can no longer sustain its lifeblood without the help of artificial government laws and regulations. The atmosphere of legal bribery - political campaign donations and lobyists - has allowed them to pull off the DMCA, UCTIA and other patently absurd legislation.
The time is drawing near when nothing short of mass protest will suffice to throw off these usurpers of democracy and purveyors of digital tyrrany. I say COPY, COPY, COPY music. Then COPY some more. Don't be content with making backups for youself. Actively copy music and then MAKE AN EXTRA COPY AND GIVE IT TO A FRIEND. The music industry fears for their bottom line, despite numbers which suggest that casual copying and does not hurt their sales. Time to give them something to cry about.
About the only flaw I see in my plan is that there is way too much garbage out there that noone of moderately mature taste and sophistication would touch with a ten-foot pole. Time to show the bastards who's boss, and do it in ways that make their lawyers impotent and expose their paid whores in Washington for what they are. Strike a blow for freedom in America. When old business models can't stand up to modernization it's time for them to go.
The General Electric Company - owners of the NBC television broadcast network - has been doning this for YEARS.
This link shows this sh*t going on for Years. What's the big deal with Monsanto? What makes them any worse? Sometimes I think our erstwhile/. editors have been living under a rock. Either that or they were born yesterday.
I worked in the same building for a time. The law office I worked for was on the 49th floor, at the top of the keyhole. Here's a picture of the Chase Tower (formerly known as the Texas Commerce Tower). Arguably, space at the top of the keyhole was more prestigious than the floors above, including 54, where you couldn't even see the keyhole space. Maybe that was part of their problem. Their office space wasn't cool enough.
Another point of view regarding the Ion Storm office space was written up in 1998 here.
Coincidentally, the lawyer I worked for had a thing for style and appearance. He spent too much time worrying about that and not enough about his cases. As a result he ended up losing a HUGE case, filed for bankruptcy, lost his house and his wife and Mercedes, and had to move to a low-rent district in Dallas. Lawyers seem to always land on their feet, much like cats, however, so now, 3 years later, he's doing quite well again. I wish the Ion guys the same good fortune.
I looked at the first page. When I got 2 - not 1, 2 - pop-up ads I left your crappy website. Judging from some of the comments I see here, I'm not getting the feeling that I missed anything.
Shatner can ham it up big-time we all know that. I've actually been waiting for this for months. It was originally going to air in August but was delayed for some reason. There are a number of reasons why it could suck, but Bill Shatner probably isn't the biggest one:
Las Vegas screaming fans venue (they did have a live audience on some (IC Specials)
Female floor reporter
Bogus tasters / judges
Non-bizzarro theme ingredients
UPN
OK, the last one sent me over the edge. Think about it - what type of show would UPN try to sell to its advertisers given their viewership demographics? But wait a minute. They are also the Star Trek network and IC USA is hosted by William Shatner! I'm willing to give it a shot.
One problem with/. is that there is never any follow-up on a lot of stories. It would be nice to see what everyone thought after it's over. The alt.fan.tv.iron-chef newsgroup is too lame.
I don't see how tilting the tunnel is valid for investigating ascending or descending flight. A little bit, maybe, but it takes more energy to increase your altitude and less to decrease your altitude and that's different than maintaining the same altitude in an air flow that happens to be pointed up or down. But I'm no researcher so maybe it's completely valid.
I was surprised how well-behaved the birds seem to be. When I throw bread out my back door the locals won't even come close to it until I'm well inside with the door shut! I would expect birds to get completely freaked out by this contraption. Pretty cool, wish they had more pics.
The more I think about it the more I like #1. That alone would be a huge benefit to MS competitors. Just think about the possible projects that could be done - both Open Source and for-profit ventures - with such information. Think about the ramifications for potential competing MS Office products if the file formats were completely documented.
Does it seem funny to anyone else that the judge is eager to initiate fast-track remedy hearings but they won't start until March 2002? Only in America can something be "expedited" by a process that takes 2 years and won't even start for another 5 months! No wonder Microsoft thinks it can commit murder with impunity.
Hmmm. The only large, populous state with objections to the giveaway^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H settlement is Florida. Look for Dubya to somehow convince his brother Jeb to accept the DOJ's recommendation. The BIG states in this thing are Illinois, California and New York - these guys are inclined to sign off on the deal as it stands.
It's really sad when justice is polloted by politics but that's exactly what's probably going to happen. With many states facing revenue shortfalls, throwing the holdouts a bone or two (in the form of good ol' legalized payola) might bring them on board to sign off on the agreement.
"Lawyers and executives for Microsoft have previously bristled over suggestions that any settlement would require them to disclose the "source code" blueprints for the company's monopoly Windows operating system, the underpinnings of its multibillion-dollar business."
... and...
"Microsoft officials also have warned they wouldn't accept any broad prohibitions against bundling new features into Windows."
Well gee whiz. Why did the government go after them in the first place?
"James, the antitrust chief, recently announced the government won't seek to break up Microsoft..."
Microsoft didn't want this. Talk about caving in.
"He also decided not to try to block Microsoft from releasing Windows XP, its newest version of its operating system."
Well Microsoft wanted to do that anyway.
"Letting Microsoft add new features into its flagship Windows software, but requiring the company also to offer a version that doesn't include those additions."
Wasn't that the idea behind a previous government action against them?
"Banning restrictive contracts that would force computer makers to buy versions of Windows with new features, but allowing financial incentives such as discounts to make those versions more enticing."
This amounts to a big fat zero. Nada. Squat. Zilch. Zip. They will just have to adjust the wording of their OEM licenses and it's back to business as usual.
"Forcing Microsoft to reveal parts of its Windows blueprints relating to its Internet browser software, but not the blueprints to Windows."
They will no doubt continue to conceal the parts that separate the MS "standards" from the open industry standards (HTML). This is a fucking joke. And finally, the coup de gras:
"A three-person advisory committee would oversee compliance with the agreement."
Yeah, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen. This is a miscarriage of justice and I am totally disgusted. It means that MS will face virtually NO punishment or sanctions. Let's hope the individual states' legal actions aren't muzzled by Ashcroft. Watch concerns over "the economy" and vague "terrorist" tie-ins put the brakes on the states actions. Blech.
TLD's are bastardized beyond belief. What do you think about the Department of Motor Vehicles in Connecticut having a.org domain? I mean really, should a duly authorized state agency have a.org domain? Chek it out for yourself - it's right here.
How did this happen, and since it did, is there any rhyme or reason to any domain naming? (Apologies to non-US readers)
I will only say this, that if the measure before us should pass, and should produce one-tenth part of the evil which it is calculated to produce, and which I fully expect it to produce, there will soon be a remedy, though of a very objectionable kind. Just as the absurd acts which prohibited the sale of game were virtually repealed by the poacher, just as many absurd revenue acts have been virtually repealed by the smuggler, so will this law be virtually repealed by piratical booksellers. At present the holder of copyright has the public feeling on his side. Those who invade copyright are regarded as knaves who take the bread out of the mouths of deserving men. Everybody is well pleased to see them restrained by the law, and compelled to refund their ill-gotten gains. No tradesman of good repute will have anything to do with such disgraceful transactions. Pass this law: and that feeling is at an end. Men very different from the present race of piratical booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable monopoly. Great masses of capital will be constantly employed in the violation of the law. Every art will be employed to evade legal pursuit; and the whole nation will be in the plot.
Macaulay is basically saying that most people want to do the right thing, but when onerous laws are passed those laws become de-facto repealed by just about everyone. It lessens the dignity and honor of good people when rules and regulations become so one-sided in favor of special interests that ordinary people start to think there's nothing morally wrong with acting outside those laws and thus become "criminals" overnight. IMO such laws also demean the law itself and the respect which should be accorded to it.
At one time, people just wouldn't sit still for some things. With the general laziness and apathy of the general public (consumers) today, no wonder the special interests are trying so hard.
I don't subscribe to The Progressive's viewpoints on all issues, but this article pretty well sums up the dangers.
And, most seriously of all, it would take a sledgehammer to every American's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Under the new law, police wouldn't need to notify you when they were about to search your home. Instead, as long as they had a warrant and as long as they claimed that notifying you would obstruct their investigation, they could go in and search your place and tell you about it later.
Yes, sort of. This Washington Post article describes what happened. The sunset clause does NOT apply to all provisions, however. At least Ashcroft didn't get a completely blank check.
-- Live Free Or Die (State Motto of New Hampshire)
We need a law that requires every elected public official be hooked up to a polygraph when they take their Oath of Office. The results must be available to the public as soon as possible. Think about the fun opponents could have armed with the results when it's time to run campaign ads on television!
This would let us make sure we're getting what we're voting for. Corporations and big donors already know they're getting what they're paying for, so why should the ordinary voting citizen be deprived of the same validation? Think of the polygraph going crazy when they all say... I swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Whenever there's an MS-bashing story on/. the responses usually fall into these categories:
This proves MS is evil
Maybe it's an honest mistake
If you don't like MS don't use their stuff
MS is being unfairly criticised again
It's quite amazing that so far there are no posts I can see falling into category number 4 on this story. What happened to all the MS apologists? No astroturfers? Nobody rising to their defense on this? No undercover MS agents or employees have an opinion on this? Very interesting......
In an ideal world, yes. As things progress you'll see an improvment in reliability - and quality overall. But let's face it, when you write software there's a point where you have to say "it's good enough" and start distributing it. It doesn't matter whether you're a company, an Open Source project team, or an individual guy writing a game trainer.
At some point you say "Enough". No program is perfect and you cannot guarantee 100% bug free. Humans aren't perfect and like everything else - none of our creations are perfect.
If you kept developing and coding until it was "perfect", you'd never finish it. If you like, and your customers desire, you can continue to improve and debug your software. Add features, etc. I don't think there's a big delta in all this between large software and smaller programs. The problems and challenges are universal. I've seen root kit source code for small utility programs that blows donkeys. I've seen large software projects turn out the same reliability. In the "way before", a computer that crashed your computer was BIG TROUBLE. Today, you can experiment all you want and nobody's going to notice if you reboot your PC 10 times a day. CPU access used to be expensive. Today it's cheap, fast and widespread. At some point in the last 25 years we crossed the threshold where computing power became a commodity. Has software reliability gotten any better? Hardly. It's gotten worse.
If viruses are "Industrial Terrorism" then Microsoft is clearly Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Libya all rolled into one. Now, you get three guesses as to who Bill Gates is.
The new U.S. National ID cards would be perfect for this. You won't be allowed to sell or bid on eBay (or any other autcion for that matter) without providing a verifiable ID. Of course, this is all voluntary. eBay will require it, however, so if you want to continue as a member on eBay then you have to volunteer. See how easy that was?
This reminds me of a very old skit they did on Saturday Night Live once. They had this Scotch Tape store in a mall - that's all they sold - Scotch Tape. They weren't doing any business and they couldn't figure out why their brilliant idea wasn't working. I don't remember all the dialogue from that skit but the "Scotch Tape Store" concept stayed with me. I see analogies all the time both in meatspace and on the Internet. It's my fundamental acid-test for spotting products and services whose niche is way too small to make it Big Time.
Slashdot Mirror
Lucent - formerly Bell Labs - really needs a shot in the arm. It's stock price has been battered big-time lately for reasons unconnected to the dot-bomb phenomena. Voice recognition on computers has been around for a while now with products like Dragon, Via Voice, etc. All of these programs are clunky, somewhat bloated, and need to be trained to individual speakers. A truly speaker-independent voice recognition system could be just what the doctor ordered for Lucent.
I searched Google for "VoiceNav" and the only references that came back were those connected to the MXP-100. I wonder if this is brand new. On the down side, if this does represent a breakthrough of sorts, Lucent probably holds patents on the technology that they will milk for all they're worth. The old Bell Labs used to have fairly liberal licensing policies for some of their stuff (UNIX anyone?) but now they're profit-driven. Shareholders might not look favorably on giving away a possible golden goose. I would love to see the magic behind this technology in an Open Source form.
and this one...
Doesn't it seem that these scientists are going out of their way to discredit creationists? While the real bible-toting creationists constantly rail about the godlessness of science and the inherent evil they see in the theory of evolution, I always thought that the scientific view would be to let the results of solid research speak for themselves. A thinking person would be able to decide for himself what to make of the whole debate. These two paragraphs really disturb me. They clearly desire not only to further the study of evolutionary processes, but also to denigrate those who hold onto the creationist point of view for dear life (no pun intended). This seems to be way too over the top for my liking. Is it necessary to drag down opposing viewpoints while making your own best case? It's almost as though they actually see the by-the-book creationists as a threat to their cherished beliefs. Certainly, creationists feel that way about what science has shown us since the days of Darwin. Is it necessary to stoop to the same tactics?
This is not quite accurate. The original signal is not "required" to be band-limited. Rather, it is accepted that frequencies outside of your design bandwidth will not be captured. The signal can stray outside of the "defined limits", but should it do so that information will be lost. Furthermore, Fourier's math tells us that a signal that is limited in time is unlimited in frequency, and a signal that is limited in frequency is unlimited in time. This has important ramifications. The biggest - and most obvious - is that all man-made signals are limited in time and therefore unlimited in frequency. Ergo there will ALWAYS be information lost no matter what bandwidth you design for.
Now to read the rest of the article - it sounds intriguing...
Don't know when they're awarded or announced, but this bit of research *will* win the next Nobel Prize for physics. Guaranteed.
It's going to come down to something akin to a Digital Boston Tea Party. The original BTP was an "enough-is-enough" protest against unjust taxes. Remember, those taxes were legal, but when enough people got pissed off about them, they staged a protest that made the Animal House parade mods seem pale by comparison.
In economic terms it's beginning to look like the recording industry, born in analog and transmogridifed into new digital clothes, is no longer a viable business model. Thus we have the spate of new laws to protect their interests and prolong their economic strength. The industry can no longer sustain its lifeblood without the help of artificial government laws and regulations. The atmosphere of legal bribery - political campaign donations and lobyists - has allowed them to pull off the DMCA, UCTIA and other patently absurd legislation.
The time is drawing near when nothing short of mass protest will suffice to throw off these usurpers of democracy and purveyors of digital tyrrany. I say COPY, COPY, COPY music. Then COPY some more. Don't be content with making backups for youself. Actively copy music and then MAKE AN EXTRA COPY AND GIVE IT TO A FRIEND. The music industry fears for their bottom line, despite numbers which suggest that casual copying and does not hurt their sales. Time to give them something to cry about.
About the only flaw I see in my plan is that there is way too much garbage out there that noone of moderately mature taste and sophistication would touch with a ten-foot pole. Time to show the bastards who's boss, and do it in ways that make their lawyers impotent and expose their paid whores in Washington for what they are. Strike a blow for freedom in America. When old business models can't stand up to modernization it's time for them to go.
The General Electric Company - owners of the NBC television broadcast network - has been doning this for YEARS.
/. editors have been living under a rock. Either that or they were born yesterday.
This link shows this sh*t going on for Years. What's the big deal with Monsanto? What makes them any worse? Sometimes I think our erstwhile
I worked in the same building for a time. The law office I worked for was on the 49th floor, at the top of the keyhole. Here's a picture of the Chase Tower (formerly known as the Texas Commerce Tower). Arguably, space at the top of the keyhole was more prestigious than the floors above, including 54, where you couldn't even see the keyhole space. Maybe that was part of their problem. Their office space wasn't cool enough.
Another point of view regarding the Ion Storm office space was written up in 1998 here.
Coincidentally, the lawyer I worked for had a thing for style and appearance. He spent too much time worrying about that and not enough about his cases. As a result he ended up losing a HUGE case, filed for bankruptcy, lost his house and his wife and Mercedes, and had to move to a low-rent district in Dallas. Lawyers seem to always land on their feet, much like cats, however, so now, 3 years later, he's doing quite well again. I wish the Ion guys the same good fortune.
I looked at the first page. When I got 2 - not 1, 2 - pop-up ads I left your crappy website. Judging from some of the comments I see here, I'm not getting the feeling that I missed anything.
Civ3 sleep pattern LOL
I hear that! I wouldn't worry too much about your online status. I dropped to almost 0 since I got Civ3
- Las Vegas screaming fans venue (they did have a live audience on some (IC Specials)
- Female floor reporter
- Bogus tasters / judges
- Non-bizzarro theme ingredients
- UPN
OK, the last one sent me over the edge. Think about it - what type of show would UPN try to sell to its advertisers given their viewership demographics? But wait a minute. They are also the Star Trek network and IC USA is hosted by William Shatner! I'm willing to give it a shot.One problem with
I don't see how tilting the tunnel is valid for investigating ascending or descending flight. A little bit, maybe, but it takes more energy to increase your altitude and less to decrease your altitude and that's different than maintaining the same altitude in an air flow that happens to be pointed up or down. But I'm no researcher so maybe it's completely valid.
I was surprised how well-behaved the birds seem to be. When I throw bread out my back door the locals won't even come close to it until I'm well inside with the door shut! I would expect birds to get completely freaked out by this contraption. Pretty cool, wish they had more pics.
The more I think about it the more I like #1. That alone would be a huge benefit to MS competitors. Just think about the possible projects that could be done - both Open Source and for-profit ventures - with such information. Think about the ramifications for potential competing MS Office products if the file formats were completely documented.
Does it seem funny to anyone else that the judge is eager to initiate fast-track remedy hearings but they won't start until March 2002? Only in America can something be "expedited" by a process that takes 2 years and won't even start for another 5 months! No wonder Microsoft thinks it can commit murder with impunity.
Hmmm. The only large, populous state with objections to the giveaway^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H settlement is Florida. Look for Dubya to somehow convince his brother Jeb to accept the DOJ's recommendation. The BIG states in this thing are Illinois, California and New York - these guys are inclined to sign off on the deal as it stands.
It's really sad when justice is polloted by politics but that's exactly what's probably going to happen. With many states facing revenue shortfalls, throwing the holdouts a bone or two (in the form of good ol' legalized payola) might bring them on board to sign off on the agreement.
The State of Connecticut...
.org domain? I mean really, should a duly authorized state agency have a .org domain? Chek it out for yourself - it's right here.
TLD's are bastardized beyond belief. What do you think about the Department of Motor Vehicles in Connecticut having a
How did this happen, and since it did, is there any rhyme or reason to any domain naming? (Apologies to non-US readers)
Macaulay is basically saying that most people want to do the right thing, but when onerous laws are passed those laws become de-facto repealed by just about everyone. It lessens the dignity and honor of good people when rules and regulations become so one-sided in favor of special interests that ordinary people start to think there's nothing morally wrong with acting outside those laws and thus become "criminals" overnight. IMO such laws also demean the law itself and the respect which should be accorded to it.
At one time, people just wouldn't sit still for some things. With the general laziness and apathy of the general public (consumers) today, no wonder the special interests are trying so hard.
Yes, sort of. This Washington Post article describes what happened. The sunset clause does NOT apply to all provisions, however. At least Ashcroft didn't get a completely blank check.
-- Live Free Or Die (State Motto of New Hampshire)
We need a law that requires every elected public official be hooked up to a polygraph when they take their Oath of Office. The results must be available to the public as soon as possible. Think about the fun opponents could have armed with the results when it's time to run campaign ads on television!
...
This would let us make sure we're getting what we're voting for. Corporations and big donors already know they're getting what they're paying for, so why should the ordinary voting citizen be deprived of the same validation? Think of the polygraph going crazy when they all say
I swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
- This proves MS is evil
- Maybe it's an honest mistake
- If you don't like MS don't use their stuff
- MS is being unfairly criticised again
It's quite amazing that so far there are no posts I can see falling into category number 4 on this story. What happened to all the MS apologists? No astroturfers? Nobody rising to their defense on this? No undercover MS agents or employees have an opinion on this? Very interesting......In an ideal world, yes. As things progress you'll see an improvment in reliability - and quality overall. But let's face it, when you write software there's a point where you have to say "it's good enough" and start distributing it. It doesn't matter whether you're a company, an Open Source project team, or an individual guy writing a game trainer.
At some point you say "Enough". No program is perfect and you cannot guarantee 100% bug free. Humans aren't perfect and like everything else - none of our creations are perfect.
If you kept developing and coding until it was "perfect", you'd never finish it. If you like, and your customers desire, you can continue to improve and debug your software. Add features, etc. I don't think there's a big delta in all this between large software and smaller programs. The problems and challenges are universal. I've seen root kit source code for small utility programs that blows donkeys. I've seen large software projects turn out the same reliability. In the "way before", a computer that crashed your computer was BIG TROUBLE. Today, you can experiment all you want and nobody's going to notice if you reboot your PC 10 times a day. CPU access used to be expensive. Today it's cheap, fast and widespread. At some point in the last 25 years we crossed the threshold where computing power became a commodity. Has software reliability gotten any better? Hardly. It's gotten worse.
If viruses are "Industrial Terrorism" then Microsoft is clearly Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Libya all rolled into one. Now, you get three guesses as to who Bill Gates is.
Hint: the first 2 guesses don't count!
The new U.S. National ID cards would be perfect for this. You won't be allowed to sell or bid on eBay (or any other autcion for that matter) without providing a verifiable ID. Of course, this is all voluntary. eBay will require it, however, so if you want to continue as a member on eBay then you have to volunteer. See how easy that was?
NOTE: This message was brought to you by Sarcasm
This reminds me of a very old skit they did on Saturday Night Live once. They had this Scotch Tape store in a mall - that's all they sold - Scotch Tape. They weren't doing any business and they couldn't figure out why their brilliant idea wasn't working. I don't remember all the dialogue from that skit but the "Scotch Tape Store" concept stayed with me. I see analogies all the time both in meatspace and on the Internet. It's my fundamental acid-test for spotting products and services whose niche is way too small to make it Big Time.