Privacy would not be a problem if we consumers were allowed to track ourselves and had complete ownership of our private data.
It would then be great if you could harness your own profile data to personalise every bit of digital content you get in contact with, from web browsing/searching, to mobile usage, to the adverts you see on TV and out in the street.
Corporations invest so much money into CRM systems, yet you only get the benefit of 'personalisation' from each company, whereas if you had your own data silo you could interface with everyone out there.
I still think the biggest challenge is to convince the corporations out there that they can trust such a paradigm-shifting concept, and as a result stop trying to invade our privacy.
Why would it have to carry anything back to earth? Let gravity do most of the work.
The first idea that came to my mind was making the shuttle go around collecting the goods, wrap them in a re-entry shield material and just push them back to earth, in such a way that they fall somewhere in a desert.
One launch, all the 'gold' retrieved.
In fact this is something I think they should be already doing with orbital debris, before it gets out of hand.
One of the ideas that I was trying to get at was public Bluetooth APs in places where normal mobile networks don't reach (such as underground stations and trains).
Allowing existing bluetooth mobile phones to be used in such areas would be very useful, and range wouldn't be much of an issue as users can only go so far inside a train;)
The current problem with WiFi VoIP is that you need a really big handset.
What I really wanted was to use my mobile phone and make VoIP calls over bluetooth. Yes, the bluetooth range sucks, but at least it's a technology ready to use by my mobile. All it needs is an app (say J2ME) that handles the VoIP at the client side.
- or -
rather than use the mobile phone, use a bluetooth headset and link it straight to the bluetooth AP. The problem then being headset configuration and call making/receiving. Perhaps the mobile phone could act as a bluetooth remote control, or another alternative is to use something like this and have it link up directly to the bluetooth AP, which then runs some kind of mobile phone emulator on the server-side.
I blogged about this before but only got a limited response (one guy who liked the idea, and that was it).
Is it feasible? Is anyone trying or willing to give it a try?
Makes me want to jump on a space ship and emigrate to another planet. One where the US administration/defence has no say/influence whatsoever.
But I'm sure they have plans to prevent such exodus anyway. They don't want people out of their control.
I kept thinking about the rubber band stretched along the outside ring of the donut, not through the centre. Because it's common sense that you can't stretch a rubber band through the hole without braking it (or the donut) first.
So, now I know what they mean by "somehow been stretched in the appropriate direction around a doughnut".
Thanks! You should be writing the explanations for claymath.org.
Run your own mailserver at home and enjoy the 40/60/80/etc/GB of disk storage you have, and use whatever you like to access it (IMAP, POP3, Web).
Then convert your Gmail account into an archive, by making your client forward all mails to it. Easy to search for stuff you think you've missed, or deleted.
Turning on the firewall by default is a design for newbies, and rightly so.
My mother doesn't know what a firewall is, nevermind how to switch it on.
Those who know what it is, and how to configure it, will be able to open the required ports or allow the required programs access to those ports.
The clueless might not be able to use some programs, but if that means viruses and worms will not spread as much as before then it's something I think we all can live with.
This ruling makes sense when it comes to making a profit out of selling these chips, but that's about it.
Surely there isn't any law preventing me from just dropping my PS2 on the floor and break it to pieces. If I break it enough it is no longer a PS2, but rather a bunch of broken bits of plastic and electronic components.
So there's nothing stopping one from breaking apart a PS2 in a 'controlled' way, until it no longer is a PS2. Then you have a bunch of electronic bits, which you can modify at will.
The fact that you modify it so that you can play a range of games is up to you. You're not breaking the law, as you didn't mod a PS2.
Not if the protocol is kept open, and the centralised database/site is run by an idependent body.
The virus-scanning clients only need to send the info about which sites are infected with what virus. Nothing about the user necessary.
The scanning of the browser's history is an internal operation only, and only used to check if any infected site was visited recently. Not much different from doing a normal virus scan, except that instead of only checking against a library of know viruses, it also checks agains a library of known infected sites.
No single security company is willing to do the finger pointing. It doesn't make sense for the reasons explained in the article.
What we need is for the various anti-virus software makers to agree on a protocol.
What this means is that, as soon as the anti-virus software is able to identify the threat, any time it encounters a web-server infected (as the user browses such site) it should send an alert to a centralised web-site. This site would list all the infected sites.
A smarter step would then be for the anti-virus software to regularly cross-check your recent browser history against the infected-listed sites.
This way no one company is doing the finger-pointing. It is rather a distributed effort, based on a common protocol.
Yes, if a trojan silently installed itself as I innocently browse a web page from an infected web server, and if as a result of that my banking details are compromised and my bank account is emptied, it would be rather annoying.
I could almost agree with those who say "turn your partner into a gamer", but then again...
I managed to get my girlfriend hooked on Counter-Strike. The problem is that we live together, and there's only one gaming PC in the house.
So rather than enjoying a nice gaming sesh with her, we end up having to take turns to play. And of course, when I 'forget' about her turn and play for hours she gets all upset.
Still, even if I got another gaming PC there would be problems, as she doesn't like EverQuest, or other strategy games (can't win them all).
In the end I guess you can never expect your partner to like exactly the same things as you do, and when you spend hours doing those things you can expect a very annoyed partner waiting for you.
But here's a tip, this line normally works well: "Well at least I'm not spending all this time with another girl";)
The end of the RH Linux line was a blessing in disguise. Had it not happened I probably wouldn't have given Gentoo a try.
What a gem of a distro.
And not only is it rock solid, it forces you to understand a lot more about linux, but it comes naturally, since you have great step-by-step documentation that guides you through the installation and customization. Compiling a kernel is no longer a daunting prospect. Now I actually enjoy it!
All this because there's such a vibrant community behind Gentoo. If you get stuck, you'll have both the web-based forums and the IRC channels full of people actually willing to help you.
I installed Gentoo for the first time this weekend. It has an issue with my hardware (NIC drops net connection sometimes) but other than that they were by far the most enjoyable hours that I spent using Linux since 1999 when I first gave Red Hat a try.
I used to be a just-get-RPMs-that-work guy, and hadn't even compiled a kernel until 2 days ago. Now I enjoy every bit of each kernel compilation and emerge. I think I've learnt more about Linux in the past 2 days than I did the 4 years before.
The community behind Gentoo is as strong as I've seen (both in IRC and the Gentoo forums). It's been great to have joined the Gentoo bandwagon.
I didn't even know who Robbins was until I read this article, but now that I know just let me say this: Thanks, thanks, thanks.
how do you (as user interface designer) take them to the next level of understanding?
That's the problem. Most users don't want to understand, they just want to use.
Remember we're talking about non-techie users. People who want to use a tool to do something, not learn about its internals. Just as I want to use a microwave oven, but don't want to clutter my brain having to learn about all the mechanical/eletronic bits inside it.
The user interface should adapt to the user's mental model, not the other way around.
Of course I'm this only applies to everyday tools used by everyday people. I don't want my IDE to hide away technical bits that I am interested in tweaking.
In an ideal world, where all applications talk the same language, and where GUIs are perfect, you wouldn't need Help installing that printer over the network.
It shouldn't be rocket science. You have 2 or more computers networked, a printer connected to one of them. It should be as simple as showing you a list of available printers, and you click on the printer to connect to it. Microsoft almost got it right.
But sometimes you do get stuck, and need that Help button. Provided you're online, the Help button should not open offline documentation, but open an online discussion about that screen.
When Googling for technical problems, I find 90% of the answers in forums. So skip Google, and bring the forum link to the dialog box!;)
Not only will everyone get their answers from fellow users, but the developers will have much valuable feedback to help improving the interface.
You are absolutely right.
Software development is a skill that only software developers need. And if the society was all made up of software developers then who would fix my car? Or act as my financial adviser or lawyer?
For those who say "computers/robots will be your mechanic, lawyer, etc" I reply with: when computers take over 'intellectually demanding' jobs, software development jobs will be the first to go.
And it's not science fiction really. Software already writes itself to some extent (in the shape of automated code generation). When CASE tools/visual programming finally succeed in replacing 'code writing' with 'diagram drawing' then computers drawing boxes are your future programmers.
Slashdot Mirror
If you turn promiscuous you can even sniff others' ports while they're at it.
Privacy would not be a problem if we consumers were allowed to track ourselves and had complete ownership of our private data.
It would then be great if you could harness your own profile data to personalise every bit of digital content you get in contact with, from web browsing/searching, to mobile usage, to the adverts you see on TV and out in the street.
Corporations invest so much money into CRM systems, yet you only get the benefit of 'personalisation' from each company, whereas if you had your own data silo you could interface with everyone out there.
I'm glad this vision is shared by others. Doc Searls already coined the term VRM (Vendor Relationship Management) and started a community around ProjectVRM.
I still think the biggest challenge is to convince the corporations out there that they can trust such a paradigm-shifting concept, and as a result stop trying to invade our privacy.
Absolutely.
The first idea that came to my mind was making the shuttle go around collecting the goods, wrap them in a re-entry shield material and just push them back to earth, in such a way that they fall somewhere in a desert. One launch, all the 'gold' retrieved.
In fact this is something I think they should be already doing with orbital debris, before it gets out of hand.
Well as long as you don't install SP1 you won't get any BSODs either.
One of the ideas that I was trying to get at was public Bluetooth APs in places where normal mobile networks don't reach (such as underground stations and trains). ;)
Allowing existing bluetooth mobile phones to be used in such areas would be very useful, and range wouldn't be much of an issue as users can only go so far inside a train
The current problem with WiFi VoIP is that you need a really big handset.
What I really wanted was to use my mobile phone and make VoIP calls over bluetooth. Yes, the bluetooth range sucks, but at least it's a technology ready to use by my mobile. All it needs is an app (say J2ME) that handles the VoIP at the client side.
- or -
rather than use the mobile phone, use a bluetooth headset and link it straight to the bluetooth AP. The problem then being headset configuration and call making/receiving. Perhaps the mobile phone could act as a bluetooth remote control, or another alternative is to use something like this and have it link up directly to the bluetooth AP, which then runs some kind of mobile phone emulator on the server-side.
I blogged about this before but only got a limited response (one guy who liked the idea, and that was it).
Is it feasible? Is anyone trying or willing to give it a try?
Mobile phones with WLAN is what I want to see. The more and cheaper the better.
I really want a cheap phone that I can make WLAN based VoIP calls from anytime I'm near a hotspot.
Erm, those guys are dead. That's a failed emigration attempt in my book.
Makes me want to jump on a space ship and emigrate to another planet. One where the US administration/defence has no say/influence whatsoever. But I'm sure they have plans to prevent such exodus anyway. They don't want people out of their control.
I kept thinking about the rubber band stretched along the outside ring of the donut, not through the centre. Because it's common sense that you can't stretch a rubber band through the hole without braking it (or the donut) first.
So, now I know what they mean by "somehow been stretched in the appropriate direction around a doughnut".
Thanks! You should be writing the explanations for claymath.org.
Run your own mailserver at home and enjoy the 40/60/80/etc/GB of disk storage you have, and use whatever you like to access it (IMAP, POP3, Web).
Then convert your Gmail account into an archive, by making your client forward all mails to it. Easy to search for stuff you think you've missed, or deleted.
Turning on the firewall by default is a design for newbies, and rightly so.
My mother doesn't know what a firewall is, nevermind how to switch it on.
Those who know what it is, and how to configure it, will be able to open the required ports or allow the required programs access to those ports.
The clueless might not be able to use some programs, but if that means viruses and worms will not spread as much as before then it's something I think we all can live with.
This ruling makes sense when it comes to making a profit out of selling these chips, but that's about it.
Surely there isn't any law preventing me from just dropping my PS2 on the floor and break it to pieces. If I break it enough it is no longer a PS2, but rather a bunch of broken bits of plastic and electronic components.
So there's nothing stopping one from breaking apart a PS2 in a 'controlled' way, until it no longer is a PS2. Then you have a bunch of electronic bits, which you can modify at will.
The fact that you modify it so that you can play a range of games is up to you. You're not breaking the law, as you didn't mod a PS2.
Not if the protocol is kept open, and the centralised database/site is run by an idependent body.
The virus-scanning clients only need to send the info about which sites are infected with what virus. Nothing about the user necessary.
The scanning of the browser's history is an internal operation only, and only used to check if any infected site was visited recently. Not much different from doing a normal virus scan, except that instead of only checking against a library of know viruses, it also checks agains a library of known infected sites.
Right, except a few might argue: money > life.
Anyway, depends how much of the life savings one looses I guess...
No single security company is willing to do the finger pointing. It doesn't make sense for the reasons explained in the article.
What we need is for the various anti-virus software makers to agree on a protocol.
What this means is that, as soon as the anti-virus software is able to identify the threat, any time it encounters a web-server infected (as the user browses such site) it should send an alert to a centralised web-site. This site would list all the infected sites.
A smarter step would then be for the anti-virus software to regularly cross-check your recent browser history against the infected-listed sites.
This way no one company is doing the finger-pointing. It is rather a distributed effort, based on a common protocol.
Yes, if a trojan silently installed itself as I innocently browse a web page from an infected web server, and if as a result of that my banking details are compromised and my bank account is emptied, it would be rather annoying.
I could almost agree with those who say "turn your partner into a gamer", but then again...
;)
I managed to get my girlfriend hooked on Counter-Strike. The problem is that we live together, and there's only one gaming PC in the house.
So rather than enjoying a nice gaming sesh with her, we end up having to take turns to play. And of course, when I 'forget' about her turn and play for hours she gets all upset.
Still, even if I got another gaming PC there would be problems, as she doesn't like EverQuest, or other strategy games (can't win them all).
In the end I guess you can never expect your partner to like exactly the same things as you do, and when you spend hours doing those things you can expect a very annoyed partner waiting for you.
But here's a tip, this line normally works well: "Well at least I'm not spending all this time with another girl"
I second that.
The end of the RH Linux line was a blessing in disguise. Had it not happened I probably wouldn't have given Gentoo a try.
What a gem of a distro.
And not only is it rock solid, it forces you to understand a lot more about linux, but it comes naturally, since you have great step-by-step documentation that guides you through the installation and customization. Compiling a kernel is no longer a daunting prospect. Now I actually enjoy it!
All this because there's such a vibrant community behind Gentoo. If you get stuck, you'll have both the web-based forums and the IRC channels full of people actually willing to help you.
All in all, a great Red Hat replacement.
I installed Gentoo for the first time this weekend. It has an issue with my hardware (NIC drops net connection sometimes) but other than that they were by far the most enjoyable hours that I spent using Linux since 1999 when I first gave Red Hat a try.
I used to be a just-get-RPMs-that-work guy, and hadn't even compiled a kernel until 2 days ago. Now I enjoy every bit of each kernel compilation and emerge. I think I've learnt more about Linux in the past 2 days than I did the 4 years before.
The community behind Gentoo is as strong as I've seen (both in IRC and the Gentoo forums). It's been great to have joined the Gentoo bandwagon.
I didn't even know who Robbins was until I read this article, but now that I know just let me say this: Thanks, thanks, thanks.
Remember we're talking about non-techie users. People who want to use a tool to do something, not learn about its internals. Just as I want to use a microwave oven, but don't want to clutter my brain having to learn about all the mechanical/eletronic bits inside it.
The user interface should adapt to the user's mental model, not the other way around.
Of course I'm this only applies to everyday tools used by everyday people. I don't want my IDE to hide away technical bits that I am interested in tweaking.
In an ideal world, where all applications talk the same language, and where GUIs are perfect, you wouldn't need Help installing that printer over the network.
;)
It shouldn't be rocket science. You have 2 or more computers networked, a printer connected to one of them. It should be as simple as showing you a list of available printers, and you click on the printer to connect to it. Microsoft almost got it right.
But sometimes you do get stuck, and need that Help button. Provided you're online, the Help button should not open offline documentation, but open an online discussion about that screen.
When Googling for technical problems, I find 90% of the answers in forums. So skip Google, and bring the forum link to the dialog box!
Not only will everyone get their answers from fellow users, but the developers will have much valuable feedback to help improving the interface.
You are absolutely right.
Software development is a skill that only software developers need. And if the society was all made up of software developers then who would fix my car? Or act as my financial adviser or lawyer?
For those who say "computers/robots will be your mechanic, lawyer, etc" I reply with: when computers take over 'intellectually demanding' jobs, software development jobs will be the first to go.
And it's not science fiction really. Software already writes itself to some extent (in the shape of automated code generation). When CASE tools/visual programming finally succeed in replacing 'code writing' with 'diagram drawing' then computers drawing boxes are your future programmers.
Why discriminate humans? Are the hands of a chimp any cleaner?