I wish we could drop one of those satellite guided bombs on the office of this emarketersamerica. Or hire a hitman with a high powered rifle to pick off people entering/leaving that office. Would give so much satisfaction. those bastards...
I got cable(chartermi 768k(80k/16k)) internet for about 8 months. I had'nt directly taken the connection, I had a 100 feet cat5 cable running from my neighbor's house to mine. And all it cost me was 23$. For about 6 of those months I was doing data transfer of about 1 gb/day. I tried to play CS a few times but the pings were so damn high, the servers used to kick me before I could play. But the download speed was more than fine and leeching was a charm.
Then I moved to on-campus apartments for 4 months during the summer. There I got 512k(90k/23k) dsl for 18$. Here downloading more than 600 mb a day would mean trouble from the college admins. But the upside was lower ping times . In CS the ping were around 40-50ms. But given a choice I would stick to cable as I leech more than I play and download caps a day are not for me.
Right now im in another country for a few months. Since Im used to doing a gb/day data transfers, I ran up bills of 500 $ in 3 months using my 56k modem. So I signed up for cable and for 23$ a month I get 64k cable(5.5k/2k and 600 mb data transfer limit per month) and playing CS is out of the question. Ping times are 570ms.
Getting a 384k connection would cost 620 $ a month. Can't wait to get back to high speed cable in the US. Mmmmm
Your right. But the question here is also about frivolous patents. When granting patents, there are many grey areas. The academics and industry people can help reduce the load in this case. I might have been wrong about the numbers
The fees should be raised but also note that in an article a few months earlier, it said that the USPTO is one of the few departments of the govt that is raking in huge profits compared to the spending required. There is pressure on the PTO to keep those margins.
Is it possible that since patents take 2 years to be granted and time before your granted one is increasing, people might be filing more frivolous patents just because the time gap to profit with their innovation is decreasing.
It would be better if the PTO hired was a group of 40-50 people consisting of IP/patent professors and industry people who would be consulted whether the patents submitted are valid or just a time waste.
A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE "SUPER DMCA" (THE DRAFT MODEL COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY ACT)
Background
Over the past two years, lobbyists from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have been lobbying in state legislatures for passage of a model "Communications Security Act." This act, which has already been passed by six states - Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wyoming - has been represented to legislatures as little more than an updating and minor amendment of existing state laws designed to prevent theft of cable or telephone service. A close reading both of the acts that have been passed and of the "draft model act" shows, however, that the proposed law could have a far broader impact - it could undermine existing consumer rights to use cable, telephone and Internet services, and could also hurt technological innovation and the development of new products that benefit consumers.
The model act, together with the state acts that already have been passed or that currently are being proposed, are often referred to by some opponents as "super DMCAs" or "state DMCAs" - in reality, their scope is different from, and far broader than, the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Overbroad Definitions The acts protect "communication services," which include any "service lawfully provided for a charge or compensation" delivered via electronic means using virtually any technology. This includes every wire in your house for which you pay a fee, including your telephone, cable TV, satellite and Internet lines. This category also sweeps in any Internet-based subscription services for delivery of copyrighted materials, including digital music services such as pressplay, MusicNow, or Rhapsody.
The acts would regulate the possession, development and use of "communication devices" and "unlawful access devices." A "communication device" is virtually any electronic device you might connect to any communication service. The definition of "unlawful communication device" is somewhat narrower, sweeping in any device that is "primarily designed, developed,...possessed, used or offered... for the purpose of defeating or circumventing" a technological protection measure used to protect a communication services.
What the Acts Prohibit The proposed bills generally prohibit four categories of activity: (1) Possession, development, distribution or use of any "communication device" in connection with a communication service without the express authorization of the service provider.
(2) Concealing the origin or destination of any communication from the communication service provider. (3) Possession, development, distribution or use of any "unlawful access device." (4) Preparation or publication of any "plans or instructions" for making any device, having reason to know that such a device will be used to violate the other prohibitions.
page-2
Short Analysis of the "Super DMCA," Page 2 The Proposed Acts Are Unnecessary The MPAA has argued that this law is necessary to "update" existing state laws to prevent "Internet piracy" and "cable theft." But copyright infringement and cable-service theft are already expressly prohibited under current state and federal laws. In addition, any service provider who believes a subscriber has violated the terms of his or her service contract can terminate the contract.
The MPAA has not identified any specific problem that is not already addressed by existing law. Nor have state law-enforcement personnel called for or supported these proposals. Controlling Consumers and Undermining Innovation These prohibitions, together with the broad definitions, dramatically expand the power of entertainment companies, Internet service providers, cable companies and others to control what citizens can and can't connect to the services that they pay for. If enacted, they will slow innovation, impair competition and seriously undermine consumers' right
I am at a loss to take sides in this case. In my department, when you open a new email account, they assign the username and say that the password is the first 5 digits of your social security number.
There are posters in the labs *strongly* advising one to change their password once they login for the 1st time. As far as I know it works just fine. If the user continues to use their social security no. and somebody hacks it, the user is totally at fault here.
Since there is the question of huge monetary losses, AT&T should assume responsibility here and ask the users to change their default password the first time they use their voicemail. Im sure AT&T has the technology to ensure that customers change their default passwords. Another way is to assign a hard to remember password so that the customer is *inclined* to change it.
When a website you sign up for assigns its own password, don't most people change it to a one that's convenient to them or do they keep using the uJl24fDSkPa they got in their email? Im betting on the former.
Im from India too and am in India(Bangalore) right now(temporarily). This offer of 128k slowband(?) came out a month or so ago.
It took me 4 days just to get in contact with a person who knew about this system. This system is going to come to my area only after 3-4 months. Ill be gone from here by that time.
My uncle in Calcutta has got this service and he says it sucks big time. The 128k is closer to 56k and its not reliable at all. I have 64k cable right now and I am paying 23 $ for 600mb bandwidth cap.
Back in the US I was used to 1 gb(on 768k charter cable) a day downloads for 2 years. When I came back, I ran up bills of 500 $ in 3 months using a 56k modem. I switched to cable and still run up bills of about 100 $ a month for 3 Gb bandwidth usage. A 384k connection here costs ~620 $ a month, and I used to pay 23 $ for cable in the US. Broadband still ain't cheap in India. Too bad.
The third item was a dual quarter pound cellophane wrapped cardboard package of loose leaf Chinese tea. Unfortunately, it was of a well known variety known as Gunpowder Tea, and had this printed on the packaging.
Obviously this was of such importance, that, despite already forcing the passenger to check his hand bag as hold luggage, it was decided that the tea was allowed, but that the evil word "Gunpowder" was not.
Consequently the security staff then rummaged around (thereby delaying me and the rest of the queue) and found a plastic bag into which they decanted the fragrant tea leaves, and confiscated the cardboard packaging !
you see short term thinking always does'nt pay off. Apple will start its music subscription with songs from 4 out of 5 major labels.
If MS got hold of Universal, then MS would start its own service and effectively lock Apple out from some of the best musicians. Do we want that to happen? NO. There are other music subscription services but most of them are a half-assed effort.
Quite a few people believe Apple will do a lot better in this field. Do you want to subscribe to 2 seperate subscriptions just because Apple and MS don't see eye to eye?
The music industry needs some innovation. It does'nt matter where it comes from. It will give many people who use Kazaa a better piracy-free alternative.
If you recall correctly, then Vivendi itself asked Jobs to take up a minority share in Universal. Why? Because Steve's music subscription plan hit a sweet note with Vivendi executives. Steve might be in talks to buy Universal and that is a good thing. About Microsoft, they have about 45 billion in liquid assets and they can afford to run the competitors out of business. Note that Vivendi has put up Universal on the block. For Microsoft to buy it, it will have to calm the anti-trust flames that will be stoked on both sides of the Atlantic. Also remember that the anti-monopoly enforcers in the EU have not yet announced the punishment for MS. It will be coming in the next few months and MS's lawyers will be advising that bidding for Universal now won't make things easier for them. But, if MS is really determined to get Universal then it might take a year to complete the deal. One thing, I will keep my fingers crossed that this does'nt go through.
Where Is Doom III Going? 07-APR-03 An article in the current issue of Wired magazine confirms what a lot of gamers were suspecting already: Microsoft is actively courting id Software for the exclusive console rights to Doom III. According to the article--a feature on current developments in the jaw-dropping PC FPS--the company behind the Xbox is offering an undisclosed amount of money to id in exchange for the right to make their latest game an Xbox-only title as far as consoles are concerned. (It'd still come out on the PC, of course.) The folks at id reportedly haven't made a decision on the matter yet--it seems a reasonable enough assumption (lead programmer John Carmack has made comments in the past that seem to show a preference for the Xbox), but we'll see how it turns out. The PC game will likely be playable at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month in Los Angeles.
The Wired article also had one more interesting bit on the PC version: in addition to the multiplayer expansion pack Carmack hinted at earlier, plans are also in the works for a new single-player expansion pack, due to be released some time after the final product hits stores. We'll have more details for you soon, so stay tuned.
Gas Goes Solid Japanese researchers may have found the secret to exploiting the world's untapped natural gas reserves.
By David Wolman April 11, 2003
Nearly 95 percent of the known gas fields in the world are too small to justify the costs required pipe the gas to a plant, turn it into a liquid, and then transport it on specially equipped tankers.
But a handful of researchers have an idea that could make these fields worth mining: rather than figure out cheaper ways to transport this cleaner-burning energy source from point A to point B as a liquid, why not change natural gas into a solid substance that's easier and cheaper to transport?
Japanese researchers Hajime Kanda and Yasuhara Nakajima at Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding in Tokyo think they've found a solution with the aid of hydrates, solid crystals in which natural gas--composed chiefly of methane--is caged inside of water molecules.
For decades, researchers have been looking for ways to gather these crystals from their deep-ocean deposits and reap what they expect could be a natural gas harvest. Kanda and Nakajima are taking an opposite approach. Rather than extracting methane from hydrates, they want to turn methane into hydrates--essentially, transforming the colorless and odorless gas into small pellets that can be easily stored, transported, and eventually turned back into natural gas. A few months ago Mitsui, in partnership with Osaka University, opened a demonstration plant near Tokyo to promote the concept and show that it works. If the Mitsui's process proves feasible and economical, many untapped natural gas deposits could become vital energy sources.
Changing natural gas into a hydrate form for cheaper transport gained attention in the early 1990s. Norwegian petroleum engineers first proposed the idea after comparing the transport economics of liquid natural gas to natural gas hydrates, knowing that hydrates could store large amounts of natural gas in a small space. "More than 180 standard cubic feet of gas can be stored in one cubic foot of hydrate," says Rudy Rogers, professor of chemical engineering at Mississippi State University, and an authority on industrial use of gas hydrates.
Another major advantage: "transporting natural gas as hydrates can be done at lower temperature and pressure than liquid natural gas, and the risk of ignition in transport is much lower," explains Hugh Guthrie, who studies natural gas at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV. Much of the high cost of liquid natural gas comes from temperature and pressure demands on piping, shipping, and storage facilities.
Producing the hydrates requires mixing natural gas with water in a continuously stirred tank reactor. When gas is piped into the water from the bottom, hydrates form on the surface of the gas bubbles. Removing the residual water leaves behind a residue of hydrate powder. Kanda and Nakajima envision a hydrate-pellet production plant close to gas fields in Southeast Asia. From there, a pellet carrier would transport the hydrate load to plants where the pellets would be turned back into gas and piped to market.
The company's demonstration plant produces as much as 600 kilograms of hydrates per day, moving the methane through all the necessary phases: hydrate formation, storage, pelletizing, and "controlled dissociation," or separation of the gas and water. Whereas a liquid natural gas facility requires temperatures of -162 C, Mitsui's plant operates at -10 C, which means huge savings in cooling costs. Kanda says the project, which is co-sponsored by the government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, demonstrates that hydrates can be a successful vector for gas transport.
Mitsui's only significant competition in gas hydrate technology comes from another Japanese company, Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi is pursuing its own gas-to-solid technology based on a hydrate-oil slurry, a process whose main drawback is that i
The oppurtunity after the situation stabilizes is great. In Afghanisthan a man with a 10,000 $ investment made 500,000 $ in a matter of 6-8 months buying property and selling it. Trying to fund the reconstruction through this effort is fine but one has to be aware that there are also chances that domain name squatters will take over.
TOKYO -- Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. has added an image capturing function to its low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal displays. A 3.5-inch diagonal LTPS LCD dubbed Input Display has an optical sensor for each pixel. The transmissive type color display with a QVGA (320x240 pixels) resolution, when placed on an object, scans an area of actual display size and captures it as a 960x240-pixel monochrome image.
The high mobility of LTPS liquid crystals allows pixel transistors to be small in size and the display has a higher aperture ratio compared to amorphous silicon TFT. These factors allow room for a sensor to be fabricated for each pixel, said a spokesman for the company.
Toshiba Matsushita Display expects the display with the image capturing function to open new consumer and business applications. The company expects the technology to be used in security applications such as fingerprint authentification.
The display will be exhibited at EDEX 2003, a display exhibition to be held in Tokyo next week (April 9-11).
that the only way to gain marketshare in the handheld arena is to go open source. There are many well entrenched companies in this area and they are making it difficult for MS to gain marketshare.
Windows in desktops is different because they have a monopoly and there is no viable competition(excluding Llinux).
MS is relatively a newcomer in the mobile market and one has to keep in mind that WinCE is reduced bloatware unlike Palm or Symbian which are built for mobility from ground up.
Samsung was supposed to release a WinCE mobile device but it switched to Symbian. Same case with Sendo which is right now in a legal battle with MS.
The tactics of MS is similar to its media player initiative for Linux.
It does not hurt MS because it does not get any significant money from media player anyways.
Many people have commented on the Dell Axim which is pretty much the cheapest WinCE device you can get and they are not much impressed with it other than the screen. The software is buggy and it just does'nt work as nicely as the Palm's.
My.02 $
"Terra Soft Solutions has determined that it is not, at this point in time, prudent to carry the Teron mainboards nor offer Teron-based Boxer systems. This is as great a disappointment for us as it is for many of you. We were truly excited to bring this particular ATX PowerPC Linux product to market.
If you have read the rumor mills, there are a variety of supposed reasons why we have been delayed in shipping, including unqualified statements and speculation at best. It is our corporate policy to not address specific issues regarding any strategic relationship within a public forum, where fact and fiction are not easily discernable, and our fiduciary responsibility to our customers, shareholders, and industry associates may be compromised.
We regret having launched a product initiative and built expectations prior to receiving first shipment. We have clearly learned a powerful lesson and do extend our apology to you, our existing and potential customers.
As the Teron mainboard and associated systems will be made available through other resellers, we will encourage them to sign-on as official Yellow Dog Linux resellers in order that we may continue to support movement of what we hope to be a very popular product."
mean that Sun would probably phase out Intel chips in the next 1-2 years in its lower end Linux systems. They will move entirely to AMD for their 32 bit lower end Linux and 64-32 bit mid level systems. Given that so many companies: Sun, IBM, Dell want to increase their 64 bit x86 offerings, Microsoft *will* have to work double time to speed up their version of 64 bit Windows. Already 5 varities of Linux, 3 BSD's, IBM's DB2, CA Ingres and Oracle have confirmed firm support for Opteron. Delaying Windows for this segment will mean that as Opteron becomes popular in the coming months, Linux will become the dominant operating system. This will mean a further boost to Linux. A few months back Sandia National labs signed up to put 10,000 Opteron's in a supercomputer named Red storm which is supposed to become operational in 2004.
From: "Curtis J. Tompkins" Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 12:38:38 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Copyright Letter
Dear Students:
I have a serious message for you about making illegal copies of copyrighted material. While you may be tempted not to read this email, I suggest that you do so in order to better understand just what the risks and penalties are for violating the law.
In recent years, high-speed computer networks and personal computers have made it easy to copy computer programs, movies, and recordings. Most of this material is copyrighted, which means the right to make copies is restricted. Making copies of any copyrighted material without the right to do so is against both state and federal law and University policy. Most people who make illegal copies know it is wrong, but are unaware of how severe the penalties can be.
The US Copyright Law (Title 17 of the US Code) has very serious penalties for violations. These include significant fines for each copy. If you copy more than $1,000 worth of material, there are criminal penalties that include substantial fines of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years prison time for flagrant cases of infringement.
The software, record, and movie industries are stepping up their enforcement of copyright laws. They are using computer technology to detect those who run servers or simply download something they have no right to possess. The likelihood of being caught is growing every day, and prosecutions will become more frequent.
You may have downloaded copyrighted materials and not been caught, so you think you're safe from prosecution. I urge you to think again. Two students in Oregon were caught and prosecuted under the criminal statutes. One received a suspended two-year sentence, the other spent time in jail. A student in North Carolina spent 41 months in prison for copyright infringement. Messing up your future is a steep price to pay for music or a video.
What happens at MTU if you are caught? By statute, the University must immediately block your network access when we receive notification that a particular computer has been involved in a violation of the law. You may also be taken to court by the copyright holder or charged in the federal courts with a crime. That is not all that can happen. You should know that falsely certifying either that you have the right to material or have removed it can result in federal perjury charges as well as copyright infringement.
What else does MTU do? When we receive a complaint, student offenders are referred to the Office of Student Affairs. Why? Because it is illegal and against University policy to infringe on someone's copyright. You will be required to attend a hearing and presentation on copyright law. You will also be charged a $40.00 administrative fee. You may also be required to write a paper on what you have learned. Sanctions can range from warning to probation to suspension or expulsion.
The bottom line is that there is a potentially high price to pay for an illegally copied computer program, movie, or recording. Stealing is stealing and against the law, regardless of how you try to justify it.
Challenging the legality of this case applies to Joesph Nievelt too. He had 1100 mp3 on his system, unlike the 650,000 that the RIAA stated. While Napster could *only* be used to search for mp3's this search and index tool is used for a lot of files other than mp3's.
Speaking as a present MTU student, if Joseph is expelled then MTU will be loosing a very talented programmer.
He was ranked 4th in the nation in the Top Coder competition
Top CoderMTU News
Slashdot Mirror
I wish we could drop one of those satellite guided bombs on the office of this emarketersamerica. Or hire a hitman with a high powered rifle to pick off people entering/leaving that office. Would give so much satisfaction. those bastards...
let me chip in too.
I got cable(chartermi 768k(80k/16k)) internet for about 8 months. I had'nt directly taken the connection, I had a 100 feet cat5 cable running from my neighbor's house to mine. And all it cost me was 23$. For about 6 of those months I was doing data transfer of about 1 gb/day. I tried to play CS a few times but the pings were so damn high, the servers used to kick me before I could play.
But the download speed was more than fine and leeching was a charm.
Then I moved to on-campus apartments for 4 months during the summer. There I got 512k(90k/23k) dsl for 18$. Here downloading more than 600 mb a day would mean trouble from the college admins. But the upside was lower ping times . In CS the ping were around 40-50ms. But given a choice I would stick to cable as I leech more than I play and download caps a day are not for me.
Right now im in another country for a few months. Since Im used to doing a gb/day data transfers, I ran up bills of 500 $ in 3 months using my 56k modem. So I signed up for cable and for 23$ a month I get 64k cable(5.5k/2k and 600 mb data transfer limit per month) and playing CS is out of the question. Ping times are 570ms.
Getting a 384k connection would cost 620 $ a month. Can't wait to get back to high speed cable in the US. Mmmmm
you can now relax and surf all the porn you want without worrying about the wife/gf sneaking up on you. Just keep an eye on those mirrors. ;)
about using grease in cars in the uk Fry and Drive
Your right. But the question here is also about frivolous patents. When granting patents, there are many grey areas. The academics and industry people can help reduce the load in this case. I might have been wrong about the numbers
The fees should be raised but also note that in an article a few months earlier, it said that the USPTO is one of the few departments of the govt that is raking in huge profits compared to the spending required. There is pressure on the PTO to keep those margins.
related article-GoogleIs it possible that since patents take 2 years to be granted and time before your granted one is increasing, people might be filing more frivolous patents just because the time gap to profit with their innovation is decreasing. It would be better if the PTO hired was a group of 40-50 people consisting of IP/patent professors and industry people who would be consulted whether the patents submitted are valid or just a time waste.
A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE "SUPER DMCA" (THE DRAFT MODEL COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY ACT)
...possessed,
Background
Over the past two years, lobbyists from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have been lobbying in state legislatures for passage of a model "Communications Security Act." This
act, which has already been passed by six states - Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wyoming - has been represented to legislatures as little more than an updating
and minor amendment of existing state laws designed to prevent theft of cable or telephone service.
A close reading both of the acts that have been passed and of the "draft model act" shows, however, that the proposed law could have a far broader impact - it could undermine existing
consumer rights to use cable, telephone and Internet services, and could also hurt technological innovation and the development of new products that benefit consumers.
The model act, together with the state acts that already have been passed or that currently are being proposed, are often referred to by some opponents as "super DMCAs" or "state DMCAs" - in
reality, their scope is different from, and far broader than, the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Overbroad Definitions
The acts protect "communication services," which include any "service lawfully provided for a charge or compensation" delivered via electronic means using virtually any technology. This
includes every wire in your house for which you pay a fee, including your telephone, cable TV, satellite and Internet lines. This category also sweeps in any Internet-based subscription services
for delivery of copyrighted materials, including digital music services such as pressplay, MusicNow, or Rhapsody.
The acts would regulate the possession, development and use of "communication devices" and "unlawful access devices." A "communication device" is virtually any electronic device you might
connect to any communication service. The definition of "unlawful communication device" is somewhat narrower, sweeping in any device that is "primarily designed, developed,
used or offered... for the purpose of defeating or circumventing" a technological protection measure used to protect a communication services.
What the Acts Prohibit
The proposed bills generally prohibit four categories of activity:
(1) Possession, development, distribution or use of any "communication device" in connection with a communication service without the express authorization of the service provider.
(2) Concealing the origin or destination of any communication from the communication service provider.
(3) Possession, development, distribution or use of any "unlawful access device."
(4) Preparation or publication of any "plans or instructions" for making any device, having reason to know that such a device will be used to violate the other prohibitions.
page-2
Short Analysis of the "Super DMCA," Page 2
The Proposed Acts Are Unnecessary
The MPAA has argued that this law is necessary to "update" existing state laws to prevent "Internet piracy" and "cable theft." But copyright infringement and cable-service theft are already
expressly prohibited under current state and federal laws. In addition, any service provider who believes a subscriber has violated the terms of his or her service contract can terminate the contract.
The MPAA has not identified any specific problem that is not already addressed by existing law. Nor have state law-enforcement personnel called for or supported these proposals.
Controlling Consumers and Undermining Innovation
These prohibitions, together with the broad definitions, dramatically expand the power of entertainment companies, Internet service providers, cable companies and others to control what
citizens can and can't connect to the services that they pay for. If enacted, they will slow innovation, impair competition and seriously undermine consumers' right
He whines better than wine.
I am at a loss to take sides in this case. In my department, when you open a new email account, they assign the username and say that the password is the first 5 digits of your social security number.
There are posters in the labs *strongly* advising one to change their password once they login for the 1st time. As far as I know it works just fine. If the user continues to use their social security no. and somebody hacks it, the user is totally at fault here.
Since there is the question of huge monetary losses, AT&T should assume responsibility here and ask the users to change their default password the first time they use their voicemail. Im sure AT&T has the technology to ensure that customers change their default passwords. Another way is to assign a hard to remember password so that the customer is *inclined* to change it.
When a website you sign up for assigns its own password, don't most people change it to a one that's convenient to them or do they keep using the uJl24fDSkPa they got in their email? Im betting on the former.
70 % AT&T's fault, 30 % customer's fault.
Lan of the Lost
Sales of consumer products containing a defined amount of coffeine is not permitted in Norway g..
WTF?here is the link... Honda
Im from India too and am in India(Bangalore) right now(temporarily). This offer of 128k slowband(?) came out a month or so ago.
It took me 4 days just to get in contact with a person who knew about this system. This system is going to come to my area only after 3-4 months. Ill be gone from here by that time.
My uncle in Calcutta has got this service and he says it sucks big time. The 128k is closer to 56k and its not reliable at all. I have 64k cable right now and I am paying 23 $ for 600mb bandwidth cap.
Back in the US I was used to 1 gb(on 768k charter cable) a day downloads for 2 years. When I came back, I ran up bills of 500 $ in 3 months using a 56k modem. I switched to cable and still run up bills of about 100 $ a month for 3 Gb bandwidth usage. A 384k connection here costs ~620 $ a month, and I used to pay 23 $ for cable in the US. Broadband still ain't cheap in India. Too bad.
The third item was a dual quarter pound cellophane wrapped cardboard package of loose leaf Chinese tea. Unfortunately, it was of a well known variety known as Gunpowder Tea, and had this printed on the packaging.
yahooObviously this was of such importance, that, despite already forcing the passenger to check his hand bag as hold luggage, it was decided that the tea was allowed, but that the evil word "Gunpowder" was not.
Consequently the security staff then rummaged around (thereby delaying me and the rest of the queue) and found a plastic bag into which they decanted the fragrant tea leaves, and confiscated the cardboard packaging !
How much more stupid can it get?you see short term thinking always does'nt pay off. Apple will start its music subscription with songs from 4 out of 5 major labels.
If MS got hold of Universal, then MS would start its own service and effectively lock Apple out from some of the best musicians. Do we want that to happen? NO. There are other music subscription services but most of them are a half-assed effort.
Quite a few people believe Apple will do a lot better in this field. Do you want to subscribe to 2 seperate subscriptions just because Apple and MS don't see eye to eye?
The music industry needs some innovation. It does'nt matter where it comes from. It will give many people who use Kazaa a better piracy-free alternative.
If you recall correctly, then Vivendi itself asked Jobs to take up a minority share in Universal. Why? Because Steve's music subscription plan hit a sweet note with Vivendi executives. Steve might be in talks to buy Universal and that is a good thing.
About Microsoft, they have about 45 billion in liquid assets and they can afford to run the competitors out of business. Note that Vivendi has put up Universal on the block. For Microsoft to buy it, it will have to calm the anti-trust flames that will be stoked on both sides of the Atlantic. Also remember that the anti-monopoly enforcers in the EU have not yet announced the punishment for MS. It will be coming in the next few months and MS's lawyers will be advising that bidding for Universal now won't make things easier for them.
But, if MS is really determined to get Universal then it might take a year to complete the deal.
One thing, I will keep my fingers crossed that this does'nt go through.
Where Is Doom III Going?
07-APR-03
An article in the current issue of Wired magazine confirms what a lot of gamers were suspecting already: Microsoft is actively courting id Software for the exclusive console rights to Doom III. According to the article--a feature on current developments in the jaw-dropping PC FPS--the company behind the Xbox is offering an undisclosed amount of money to id in exchange for the right to make their latest game an Xbox-only title as far as consoles are concerned. (It'd still come out on the PC, of course.)
The folks at id reportedly haven't made a decision on the matter yet--it seems a reasonable enough assumption (lead programmer John Carmack has made comments in the past that seem to show a preference for the Xbox), but we'll see how it turns out. The PC game will likely be playable at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month in Los Angeles.
The Wired article also had one more interesting bit on the PC version: in addition to the multiplayer expansion pack Carmack hinted at earlier, plans are also in the works for a new single-player expansion pack, due to be released some time after the final product hits stores. We'll have more details for you soon, so stay tuned.
Gas Goes Solid
Japanese researchers may have found the secret to exploiting the world's untapped natural gas reserves.
By David Wolman
April 11, 2003
Nearly 95 percent of the known gas fields in the world are too small to justify the costs required pipe the gas to a plant, turn it into a liquid, and then transport it on specially equipped tankers.
But a handful of researchers have an idea that could make these fields worth mining: rather than figure out cheaper ways to transport this cleaner-burning energy source from point A to point B as a liquid, why not change natural gas into a solid substance that's easier and cheaper to transport?
Japanese researchers Hajime Kanda and Yasuhara Nakajima at Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding in Tokyo think they've found a solution with the aid of hydrates, solid crystals in which natural gas--composed chiefly of methane--is caged inside of water molecules.
For decades, researchers have been looking for ways to gather these crystals from their deep-ocean deposits and reap what they expect could be a natural gas harvest. Kanda and Nakajima are taking an opposite approach. Rather than extracting methane from hydrates, they want to turn methane into hydrates--essentially, transforming the colorless and odorless gas into small pellets that can be easily stored, transported, and eventually turned back into natural gas. A few months ago Mitsui, in partnership with Osaka University, opened a demonstration plant near Tokyo to promote the concept and show that it works. If the Mitsui's process proves feasible and economical, many untapped natural gas deposits could become vital energy sources.
Changing natural gas into a hydrate form for cheaper transport gained attention in the early 1990s. Norwegian petroleum engineers first proposed the idea after comparing the transport economics of liquid natural gas to natural gas hydrates, knowing that hydrates could store large amounts of natural gas in a small space. "More than 180 standard cubic feet of gas can be stored in one cubic foot of hydrate," says Rudy Rogers, professor of chemical engineering at Mississippi State University, and an authority on industrial use of gas hydrates.
Another major advantage: "transporting natural gas as hydrates can be done at lower temperature and pressure than liquid natural gas, and the risk of ignition in transport is much lower," explains Hugh Guthrie, who studies natural gas at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV. Much of the high cost of liquid natural gas comes from temperature and pressure demands on piping, shipping, and storage facilities.
Producing the hydrates requires mixing natural gas with water in a continuously stirred tank reactor. When gas is piped into the water from the bottom, hydrates form on the surface of the gas bubbles. Removing the residual water leaves behind a residue of hydrate powder. Kanda and Nakajima envision a hydrate-pellet production plant close to gas fields in Southeast Asia. From there, a pellet carrier would transport the hydrate load to plants where the pellets would be turned back into gas and piped to market.
The company's demonstration plant produces as much as 600 kilograms of hydrates per day, moving the methane through all the necessary phases: hydrate formation, storage, pelletizing, and "controlled dissociation," or separation of the gas and water. Whereas a liquid natural gas facility requires temperatures of -162 C, Mitsui's plant operates at -10 C, which means huge savings in cooling costs. Kanda says the project, which is co-sponsored by the government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, demonstrates that hydrates can be a successful vector for gas transport.
Mitsui's only significant competition in gas hydrate technology comes from another Japanese company, Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi is pursuing its own gas-to-solid technology based on a hydrate-oil slurry, a process whose main drawback is that i
The oppurtunity after the situation stabilizes is great. In Afghanisthan a man with a 10,000 $ investment made 500,000 $ in a matter of 6-8 months buying property and selling it.
Trying to fund the reconstruction through this effort is fine but one has to be aware that there are also chances that domain name squatters will take over.
TOKYO -- Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. has added an image capturing function to its low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal displays.
A 3.5-inch diagonal LTPS LCD dubbed Input Display has an optical sensor for each pixel. The transmissive type color display with a QVGA (320x240 pixels) resolution, when placed on an object, scans an area of actual display size and captures it as a 960x240-pixel monochrome image.
The high mobility of LTPS liquid crystals allows pixel transistors to be small in size and the display has a higher aperture ratio compared to amorphous silicon TFT. These factors allow room for a sensor to be fabricated for each pixel, said a spokesman for the company.
Toshiba Matsushita Display expects the display with the image capturing function to open new consumer and business applications. The company expects the technology to be used in security applications such as fingerprint authentification.
The display will be exhibited at EDEX 2003, a display exhibition to be held in Tokyo next week (April 9-11).
that the only way to gain marketshare in the handheld arena is to go open source. There are many well entrenched companies in this area and they are making it difficult for MS to gain marketshare. Windows in desktops is different because they have a monopoly and there is no viable competition(excluding Llinux). MS is relatively a newcomer in the mobile market and one has to keep in mind that WinCE is reduced bloatware unlike Palm or Symbian which are built for mobility from ground up. Samsung was supposed to release a WinCE mobile device but it switched to Symbian. Same case with Sendo which is right now in a legal battle with MS. The tactics of MS is similar to its media player initiative for Linux. It does not hurt MS because it does not get any significant money from media player anyways. Many people have commented on the Dell Axim which is pretty much the cheapest WinCE device you can get and they are not much impressed with it other than the screen. The software is buggy and it just does'nt work as nicely as the Palm's. My .02 $
Terra Soft ATX PowerPC Systems
Terra Soft Current and Pending Customers,
7 April 2003
"Terra Soft Solutions has determined that it is not, at this point in time, prudent to carry the Teron mainboards nor offer Teron-based Boxer systems. This is as great a disappointment for us as it is for many of you. We were truly excited to bring this particular ATX PowerPC Linux product to market.
If you have read the rumor mills, there are a variety of supposed reasons why we have been delayed in shipping, including unqualified statements and speculation at best. It is our corporate policy to not address specific issues regarding any strategic relationship within a public forum, where fact and fiction are not easily discernable, and our fiduciary responsibility to our customers, shareholders, and industry associates may be compromised.
We regret having launched a product initiative and built expectations prior to receiving first shipment. We have clearly learned a powerful lesson and do extend our apology to you, our existing and potential customers.
As the Teron mainboard and associated systems will be made available through other resellers, we will encourage them to sign-on as official Yellow Dog Linux resellers in order that we may continue to support movement of what we hope to be a very popular product."
Kai Staats, CEO
Terra Soft Solutions, Inc.
mean that Sun would probably phase out Intel chips in the next 1-2 years in its lower end Linux systems. They will move entirely to AMD for their 32 bit lower end Linux and 64-32 bit mid level systems.
Given that so many companies: Sun, IBM, Dell want to increase their 64 bit x86 offerings, Microsoft *will* have to work double time to speed up their version of 64 bit Windows.
Already 5 varities of Linux, 3 BSD's, IBM's DB2, CA Ingres and Oracle have confirmed firm support for Opteron. Delaying Windows for this segment will mean that as Opteron becomes popular in the coming months, Linux will become the dominant operating system. This will mean a further boost to Linux.
A few months back Sandia National labs signed up to put 10,000 Opteron's in a supercomputer named Red storm which is supposed to become operational in 2004.
From: "Curtis J. Tompkins"
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 12:38:38 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Copyright Letter
Dear Students:
I have a serious message for you about making illegal copies of
copyrighted material. While you may be tempted not to read this email,
I suggest that you do so in order to better understand just what the
risks and penalties are for violating the law.
In recent years, high-speed computer networks and personal computers
have made it easy to copy computer programs, movies, and recordings.
Most of this material is copyrighted, which means the right to make
copies is restricted. Making copies of any copyrighted material without
the right to do so is against both state and federal law and University
policy. Most people who make illegal copies know it is wrong, but are
unaware of how severe the penalties can be.
The US Copyright Law (Title 17 of the US Code) has very serious
penalties for violations. These include significant fines for each
copy. If you copy more than $1,000 worth of material, there are
criminal penalties that include substantial fines of up to $250,000 and
up to 10 years prison time for flagrant cases of infringement.
The software, record, and movie industries are stepping up their
enforcement of copyright laws. They are using computer technology to
detect those who run servers or simply download something they have no
right to possess. The likelihood of being caught is growing every day,
and prosecutions will become more frequent.
You may have downloaded copyrighted materials and not been caught, so
you think you're safe from prosecution. I urge you to think again. Two
students in Oregon were caught and prosecuted under the criminal
statutes. One received a suspended two-year sentence, the other spent
time in jail. A student in North Carolina spent 41 months in prison for
copyright infringement. Messing up your future is a steep price to pay
for music or a video.
What happens at MTU if you are caught? By statute, the University must
immediately block your network access when we receive notification that
a particular computer has been involved in a violation of the law. You
may also be taken to court by the copyright holder or charged in the
federal courts with a crime. That is not all that can happen. You
should know that falsely certifying either that you have the right to
material or have removed it can result in federal perjury charges as
well as copyright infringement.
What else does MTU do? When we receive a complaint, student offenders
are referred to the Office of Student Affairs. Why? Because it is
illegal and against University policy to infringe on someone's
copyright. You will be required to attend a hearing and presentation on
copyright law. You will also be charged a $40.00 administrative fee.
You may also be required to write a paper on what you have learned.
Sanctions can range from warning to probation to suspension or
expulsion.
The bottom line is that there is a potentially high price to pay for an
illegally copied computer program, movie, or recording. Stealing is
stealing and against the law, regardless of how you try to justify it.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Curtis J. Tompkins
President
Challenging the legality of this case applies to Joesph Nievelt too. He had 1100 mp3 on his system, unlike the 650,000 that the RIAA stated. While Napster could *only* be used to search for mp3's this search and index tool is used for a lot of files other than mp3's.
Speaking as a present MTU student, if Joseph is expelled then MTU will be loosing a very talented programmer.He was ranked 4th in the nation in the Top Coder competition
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