The Internet was "over" quite some time ago. Which is to say, it's no longer hip and cool in and of itself any more than you'd want to say, "hey, check it out, I have a television in my house!" Sure, there's still plenty of good stuff on the Internet, and people will find new uses for it for decades to come, but the Internet itself is now taken for granted. And that's a good thing: in technology, as in all engineering disciplines, good design is whatever gets the job done without calling attention to itself.
The real promise of Diaspora is not Diaspora itself, but the standards and protocols that it could potentially spawn. Think about it: if this thing takes off, plenty of people will install Diaspora servers, but plenty more will also begin joining the Diaspora cloud by building the protocols into existing content management (Wordpress, Slash, etc.) and groupware (Citadel, Kolab, etc.) systems. It could potentially become as huge and decentralized as UseNet, except hopefully with better spam controls.
There is currently a proprietary Skype channel driver for Asterisk that you can buy and bolt onto your Asterisk server to make Skype calls. Does the availability of this new SDK mean that it will now be trivial for someone to build such a module and release it (minus the "Open SDK" of course) as open source?
True, but in the last couple of cycles I've noticed that the mere knowledge that a change is on its way is enough to have a bit of an effect on the economy.
Like it or not, right now employment is a "buyer's market." If you can find a more satisfying job with better pay then go for it, otherwise, one of the perks of working where you are working right now is that you aren't unemployed.
Perhaps if and when the economy improves you will be in a better position to negotiate in your favor.
Go ahead RIAA, keep going. Every time you pull another bullshit move like this, you motivate the music sharing community to build software and networks that are more and more decentralized. $1.5 Trillion might just be enough to push someone to build the perfect anonymous P2P network.
As soon as I read this story, I did a Google search for Falling Blocks for Android, went to his web site, and downloaded the game to my G1. That's the beauty of a phone OS that allows you to choose whether you want to be able to install out-of-market apps. My "trendy" iPhone-using friends wouldn't have had that option -- if Apple says you can't have it, you can't have it.
As a VERY happy Verizon FiOS customer, I can tell you that cable absolutely has something to worry about. The installer showed up when he said he would, did a good job, and the service is absolutely perfect (and actually came out a few pennies cheaper than the cable company's equivalent triple play).
So it's no surprise that the cable company is running ads that say things like "40% of customers switched back to cable!" (they had to *really* mess with the sample set to get that number) and "we've been using fiber since 1991!" (yeah, fiber to the node, not to my house, and yes, people know the difference).
What's the creepy part? I've become a cheerleader for the phone company. That just blows my mind.
Netbooks are experiencing a lull in sales right now for a couple of reasons. For starters, they're not "new" anymore, so a lot of the people who wanted a netbook now have them. iPads are just starting the "new" phase now.
Also, I happen to think that netbooks are about to undergo a bit of a transition. Remember, netbooks weren't originally supposed to be "a very small laptop" -- that only happened after Microsoft got pissed off that Linux machines were actually starting to sell, and they forced the OEM's to lard up the specs until they could (badly) run Windows XP. Netbooks were supposed to be access devices, companion devices. And with the iPad, Apple has just proved what I've been saying all along: that such a device absolutely has a place in the world. So, as the netbook market begins to retool, look for new models with ARM processors, insanely long battery life, Android or similar operating system, and a low price tag. Look for these devices to begin emerging over the next 12 months, and appeal well to people who won't buy an iPad, either because the iPad is too expensive or because they really want something with a keyboard.
As the cost of energy continues to rise (due to purely political reasons rather than any actual scarcity, which is sad) there's going to be more and more demand for computing equipment with low power consumption. ARM fits that requirement nicely... and it's all going to be running Linux, even if Microsoft enters the game.
Why?
Windows running on ARM would suffer from the same (imho perceived) problem that desktop Linux on x86 has: it wouldn't be able to run Windows x86 binaries. In fact, for Microsoft it would actually be worse because they'd have to deal with irate customers who thought they'd be able to pop in that CD and install some application they already own.
Linux has been playing this one well by establishing a large base of open source software that can be built on any platform. Combine this with your favorite APT or YUM repository and what do you get? The equivalent of an "app store" which is something the world is now quite familiar with. Linux for the win!/p?
Lots of comments here debating the relative merits of Twitter and Facebook, but the original poster was asking for alternatives.
I say, go out and find yourself a good old fashioned BBS, make friends there, invite friends there, and have fun. One possibility is this nice little place which has been online for 22 years and has a great friendly bunch of people.
There's an awful lot of spam and other abuse coming out of EC2. I'm not surprised to hear that it's being used as a source of SIP attacks as well. Amazon is quite irresponsible about handling abuse. As long as it isn't harming their systems, they wait until someone reports abuse, and then they terminate only the EC2 instance from which the attack originated. They make zero effort to thwart future attacks or prevent more abuse.
Amazon is gaining a reputation as a house of ill repute, and they deserve it.
Thanks for writing that. I've been pointing out for years that the Bell System breakup was performed along the wrong lines, and that a better solution would be pretty much exactly what you've described. The job of an ILEC should be exclusively the provision of the "last mile" infrastructure, and they should be barred from providing any type of services over that infrastructure. Local vs. long distance? Srsly? Who cares? Voice, data, video? It's all the same now.
The only danger is that it could turn into something similar to what the "deregulated" power grid has become, where you can buy your electricity from any ESCO you want to, but it doesn't matter because the local power company still overcharges you for "delivery" of that electricity. I'm not quite sure how we'd solve this problem, although I'm sure that if there were at least two last-mile infrastructures in each market (one former telco and one former cableco) there might be enough competition to keep the prices reasonable.
I've already registered the domain "openmouse.org" and am just waiting for copyright reform to happen so I can release my Creative Commons version of Mickey!
Smart move. Ubuntu has figured out that most Linux users will (correctly) follow this line of thought:
1. Yahoo == Bing
2. Bing == Microsoft
3. If Ubuntu search == Yahoo, then Ubuntu == sucks
What they're not telling you is that in order to enjoy all of this wonderful hardware-accelerated browser goodness, you must only visit sites implemented using Silverlight with DirectX stuff embedded in it. But you were going to do that anyway, right?
Slashdot Mirror
The Internet was "over" quite some time ago. Which is to say, it's no longer hip and cool in and of itself any more than you'd want to say, "hey, check it out, I have a television in my house!" Sure, there's still plenty of good stuff on the Internet, and people will find new uses for it for decades to come, but the Internet itself is now taken for granted. And that's a good thing: in technology, as in all engineering disciplines, good design is whatever gets the job done without calling attention to itself.
The real promise of Diaspora is not Diaspora itself, but the standards and protocols that it could potentially spawn. Think about it: if this thing takes off, plenty of people will install Diaspora servers, but plenty more will also begin joining the Diaspora cloud by building the protocols into existing content management (Wordpress, Slash, etc.) and groupware (Citadel, Kolab, etc.) systems. It could potentially become as huge and decentralized as UseNet, except hopefully with better spam controls.
I always thought that if business sites were .com, then porn sites should be .cum
There is currently a proprietary Skype channel driver for Asterisk that you can buy and bolt onto your Asterisk server to make Skype calls. Does the availability of this new SDK mean that it will now be trivial for someone to build such a module and release it (minus the "Open SDK" of course) as open source?
Dude, if you've been around that long, you're old enough to buy porn now. Turn off the computer and pick up some girlie mags.
True, but in the last couple of cycles I've noticed that the mere knowledge that a change is on its way is enough to have a bit of an effect on the economy.
Like it or not, right now employment is a "buyer's market." If you can find a more satisfying job with better pay then go for it, otherwise, one of the perks of working where you are working right now is that you aren't unemployed.
Perhaps if and when the economy improves you will be in a better position to negotiate in your favor.
Or, to put it another way, 99.9% of O2's users are staying well within reasonable usage of the network.
Fun little spin he's putting on it there.
Go ahead RIAA, keep going. Every time you pull another bullshit move like this, you motivate the music sharing community to build software and networks that are more and more decentralized. $1.5 Trillion might just be enough to push someone to build the perfect anonymous P2P network.
Of course. The Empire has been doing it for ages now. "I am altering the deal. Pray that I do not alter it any further."
Y'all are thinking too much. Some of us just like to be near our loved ones.
As soon as I read this story, I did a Google search for Falling Blocks for Android, went to his web site, and downloaded the game to my G1. That's the beauty of a phone OS that allows you to choose whether you want to be able to install out-of-market apps. My "trendy" iPhone-using friends wouldn't have had that option -- if Apple says you can't have it, you can't have it.
Really? There could be a huge earthquake capable of swallowing up the Microsoft headquarters into the ground?
Oh please please please please please let there be an earthquake!
Sorry, but I don't believe that Richard Dawkins exists.
<grin>
As a VERY happy Verizon FiOS customer, I can tell you that cable absolutely has something to worry about. The installer showed up when he said he would, did a good job, and the service is absolutely perfect (and actually came out a few pennies cheaper than the cable company's equivalent triple play).
So it's no surprise that the cable company is running ads that say things like "40% of customers switched back to cable!" (they had to *really* mess with the sample set to get that number) and "we've been using fiber since 1991!" (yeah, fiber to the node, not to my house, and yes, people know the difference).
What's the creepy part? I've become a cheerleader for the phone company. That just blows my mind.
Netbooks are experiencing a lull in sales right now for a couple of reasons. For starters, they're not "new" anymore, so a lot of the people who wanted a netbook now have them. iPads are just starting the "new" phase now.
Also, I happen to think that netbooks are about to undergo a bit of a transition. Remember, netbooks weren't originally supposed to be "a very small laptop" -- that only happened after Microsoft got pissed off that Linux machines were actually starting to sell, and they forced the OEM's to lard up the specs until they could (badly) run Windows XP. Netbooks were supposed to be access devices, companion devices. And with the iPad, Apple has just proved what I've been saying all along: that such a device absolutely has a place in the world. So, as the netbook market begins to retool, look for new models with ARM processors, insanely long battery life, Android or similar operating system, and a low price tag. Look for these devices to begin emerging over the next 12 months, and appeal well to people who won't buy an iPad, either because the iPad is too expensive or because they really want something with a keyboard.
Hey folks, let's look on the bright side. At least it is HTML5, not Silverlight, that is being positioned to replace Flash. Non-Windows users rejoice!
As the cost of energy continues to rise (due to purely political reasons rather than any actual scarcity, which is sad) there's going to be more and more demand for computing equipment with low power consumption. ARM fits that requirement nicely ... and it's all going to be running Linux, even if Microsoft enters the game.
Why?
Windows running on ARM would suffer from the same (imho perceived) problem that desktop Linux on x86 has: it wouldn't be able to run Windows x86 binaries. In fact, for Microsoft it would actually be worse because they'd have to deal with irate customers who thought they'd be able to pop in that CD and install some application they already own.
Linux has been playing this one well by establishing a large base of open source software that can be built on any platform. Combine this with your favorite APT or YUM repository and what do you get? The equivalent of an "app store" which is something the world is now quite familiar with. Linux for the win!/p?
Lots of comments here debating the relative merits of Twitter and Facebook, but the original poster was asking for alternatives.
I say, go out and find yourself a good old fashioned BBS, make friends there, invite friends there, and have fun. One possibility is this nice little place which has been online for 22 years and has a great friendly bunch of people.
No you don't. You have a fiduciary responsibility to your shareholders to sell as many iPhones as possible. You are not in the morality business.
There's an awful lot of spam and other abuse coming out of EC2. I'm not surprised to hear that it's being used as a source of SIP attacks as well. Amazon is quite irresponsible about handling abuse. As long as it isn't harming their systems, they wait until someone reports abuse, and then they terminate only the EC2 instance from which the attack originated. They make zero effort to thwart future attacks or prevent more abuse.
Amazon is gaining a reputation as a house of ill repute, and they deserve it.
Thanks for writing that. I've been pointing out for years that the Bell System breakup was performed along the wrong lines, and that a better solution would be pretty much exactly what you've described. The job of an ILEC should be exclusively the provision of the "last mile" infrastructure, and they should be barred from providing any type of services over that infrastructure. Local vs. long distance? Srsly? Who cares? Voice, data, video? It's all the same now.
The only danger is that it could turn into something similar to what the "deregulated" power grid has become, where you can buy your electricity from any ESCO you want to, but it doesn't matter because the local power company still overcharges you for "delivery" of that electricity. I'm not quite sure how we'd solve this problem, although I'm sure that if there were at least two last-mile infrastructures in each market (one former telco and one former cableco) there might be enough competition to keep the prices reasonable.
I've already registered the domain "openmouse.org" and am just waiting for copyright reform to happen so I can release my Creative Commons version of Mickey!
Smart move. Ubuntu has figured out that most Linux users will (correctly) follow this line of thought:
1. Yahoo == Bing
2. Bing == Microsoft
3. If Ubuntu search == Yahoo, then Ubuntu == sucks
What they're not telling you is that in order to enjoy all of this wonderful hardware-accelerated browser goodness, you must only visit sites implemented using Silverlight with DirectX stuff embedded in it. But you were going to do that anyway, right?