The meeting will address four topics: Internet governance, the use of excess bandwidth to help development, connecting more people to communications networks and finding the appropriate technologies. At the heart of each of the four discussions will be the question of what role government and intragovernmental agencies should play.
So they're trying to facilitate all these aspects. I now everyone is a bit worried about issue 1, governance. Fair enough. But every other issue they are discussing is good. And if they can address them in a global manner they may well improve the digital world.
Back to issue 1, just forget for a minute any preconceptions you have about how crap you think the UN is, or how lame dipomats are and read and think about what the meeting is for:
1) The fact that ICANN runs the Internet's address system is not necessarily good. They are a private company, why should they be in charge of all the addresses? Should MIT *really* have more IP addresses than China?
2) If you're talking about human rights violations, why isn't having the UN excerting some pressure on nations where connections are firewalled to *not* monitor Internet connections good? (they may not be out to impose chinese firewalls on the rest of the world, perhaps they don't want china to run the firewall they do)
3) Of all the people who are supposedly at the meeting (including Tim B-L, Nicholas Negroponte, Esther Dyson) don't you think it's a bit weird that there's such a fuss because they kicked out the ICANN guy. I don't think this is a major conspiracy, it's just a conflict of interest having them there.
The UN might be spineless, and this whole meeting will probably amount to nothing, but I don't think everyone should be rubbishing it so much. The UN isn't out to make life tough for everyone, and they do have some admirable goals.
In 2002 only 12% of people downloading music owned MP3 players
In 2003 17% of people downloading music owned MP3 players.
So we're talking percents of percents here. 12% of however many people were downloading music (on that'd be less if we're talking people who've paid for their downloaded music). Has this number increased, decreased?
Thankfully in the new 2003 Jupiter Research consumer survey, 6 percent of online adults said they would be buying a portable music device in the next 12 months. What's an online adult, am I an online adult?
Uhuh? Anyone else confused? They seem like numbers just for the sake of numbers to me...
Unsettled weather for the duration of the migration?
Are forecasts really getting better as computer power increases? I know that Metrology is always in need of more computer cycles to model the weather, but have forecasts actually improved with this power? Are there any success statistics around?
The reason that it'll include new optimized CPU/GPU algorithms is that new graphics cards (i.e. hardware) will have new inbuilt routines / operations for this kinda thing.
Even if DirectX 8 was, for arguments sake, completely backwards compatible with a 1980s graphics card that doesn't mean it would be able to suddenly make it do pixel shading or nifty T&L stuff.
It seems a little more complicated than that (from here):
Until recently, SSC provided web hosting for the Gazette and allowed some of its (SSC's) staff to assist in production of the Gazette during working hours.
However, all that seems to have changed. SSC is now running a site at linuxgazette.com which it calls Linux Gazette. The people who were running Linux Gazette earlier have moved to a new site at linuxgazette.net - and are running Linux Gazette as well!
According to an explanation posted by SSC, "a group of the Linux Gazette contributors opposed the transition of our site to a Content Management System. While we did our best to address the concerns, some have elected to leave Linux Gazette and start their own publication. We regret their decision but as (most) were volunteers, it certainly is their right.
"Unfortunately, they have so far continued to use our Linux Gazette trademark in conjunction with their new site. Until such time as they stop using that trademark, we have been advised to remove any references to that mis-use (sic) from our site."
According to Rick Moen, contributing editor of Linux Gazette, the decision to move was due to a number of things, "including SSC's unexplained, unannounced, retroactive deletions of prior issues' articles, its stripping of authors' copyright notices and substitution of their own corporate one, and its proclaimed plans to make LG cease being a magazine and cease having editors, turning it into solely a dynamic Web site."
Moen said after the move to new quarters, SSC "to our astonishment produced a November issue purporting to be Linux Gazette, immediately after our November issue went to press. This was surprising because we'd been told they intended that monthly magazine issues would cease."
It's all good if you have a valid usage warrant issued by the UK Radiocommunications Agency:
Cell phone jamming equipment is illegal to use in the UK as it violates sections 1 & 13 of the 1949 telegraphy act, we are therefore unable to supply cell phone jammers to any UK customer who does not hold a current & valid usage warrant issued by the UK Radiocommunications Agency. Please note that no exceptions can be made on this policy.
Are they selling it to students or the public at that price?
At many universities Microsoft gives a very large academic discount to students studying IT (if the university computer labs have a Microsoft academic partnership). The CDs typically look like OEM versions, but they are upgrade/oem with really weird license restrictions (you can only install the software once, you can't reinstall it -- AFAIK you can reinstall normal XP distributions around 5 times before you have to call the Microsoft activation people).
Were the participants informed that their conversations were to be monitored during this period? from study 2
"303,648 messages comprising 21,213 conversations between 692 pairs of people".
It sounds like they sampled a single population (only 700 users), perhaps from a single organisation that knew they were being monitored? If so the data surely needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
These don't seem to be/.ed yet, at least, they're working for me (sourced from http://www.wellingtonnz.com/cam/cam/index.html)
Downtown Courtenay Place (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/courtenay/)
Uptown Courtenay Place (http://webcam.citylink.co.nz/reading/)
The red carpet (live 12noon NZ time) (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/midland-park/ and http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/traffic/)
Unfortunately no cams yet running from *inside* the cinema
If you live in NZ, you can get some visit live streaming cams from the link above.
Right, although that wasn't the intention. If that's the kind of problem I should expect when a simple electrical component goes wrong I think getting locked in my new luxury car is going to be the least of my worries!
Perhaps this is a better reference for the iDrive BMW problems (check out the vids at the bottom) -- although in fairness the car was recalled.
White said investigators had asked AOL as a routine precaution to watch for any log-ons in Gascoyne's name. He said the world's biggest online service had reported a hit earlier this month but then dragged its feet in providing information about the phone line used in the connection.
It just be something as silly as the dial-up/broadband connection being bound to a windows login through a domain server. As soon as thief logged into AOL they get a Username and Password prompt for the Walls Fargo domain. For all we know, he could've paniced and accidentally hit OK.
An invalid password for a user whose laptop was nicked from a whacky AOL IP address sure sounds suspicious to me.
Anyone know how the money gets distributed around artists?
Are they just going to distribute the tax around members of this so-called SOCAN, or are they going to somehow monitor the traffic and assign it radio-style?
It would be kind of interesting if it was radio-style (royalty-per-leech).
If I was living in a country where I was paying a copyright infringement tax on my CDs and on my ISP bill, I think I'd feel pretty different about engaging in copyright infringement.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're wondering how a gyroscope works and what it does:
How stuff works has a nice article.
Nasa's also got a page about how they're used in space shuttles
Or even (with a marked up URL):
t m
http://www.zapthedingbat.com/security/ex01/vun1.h
Is pretty compelling (spoofs Microsoft.com):
t m
http://www.zapthedingbat.com/security/ex01/vun1.h
The meeting will address four topics: Internet governance, the use of excess bandwidth to help development, connecting more people to communications networks and finding the appropriate technologies. At the heart of each of the four discussions will be the question of what role government and intragovernmental agencies should play.
So they're trying to facilitate all these aspects. I now everyone is a bit worried about issue 1, governance. Fair enough. But every other issue they are discussing is good. And if they can address them in a global manner they may well improve the digital world.
Back to issue 1, just forget for a minute any preconceptions you have about how crap you think the UN is, or how lame dipomats are and read and think about what the meeting is for:
1) The fact that ICANN runs the Internet's address system is not necessarily good. They are a private company, why should they be in charge of all the addresses? Should MIT *really* have more IP addresses than China?
2) If you're talking about human rights violations, why isn't having the UN excerting some pressure on nations where connections are firewalled to *not* monitor Internet connections good? (they may not be out to impose chinese firewalls on the rest of the world, perhaps they don't want china to run the firewall they do)
3) Of all the people who are supposedly at the meeting (including Tim B-L, Nicholas Negroponte, Esther Dyson) don't you think it's a bit weird that there's such a fuss because they kicked out the ICANN guy. I don't think this is a major conspiracy, it's just a conflict of interest having them there.
The UN might be spineless, and this whole meeting will probably amount to nothing, but I don't think everyone should be rubbishing it so much. The UN isn't out to make life tough for everyone, and they do have some admirable goals.
So let me get this straight:
In 2002 only 12% of people downloading music owned MP3 players
In 2003 17% of people downloading music owned MP3 players.
So we're talking percents of percents here. 12% of however many people were downloading music (on that'd be less if we're talking people who've paid for their downloaded music). Has this number increased, decreased?
Thankfully in the new 2003 Jupiter Research consumer survey, 6 percent of online adults said they would be buying a portable music device in the next 12 months. What's an online adult, am I an online adult?
Uhuh? Anyone else confused? They seem like numbers just for the sake of numbers to me...
Unsettled weather for the duration of the migration?
Are forecasts really getting better as computer power increases? I know that Metrology is always in need of more computer cycles to model the weather, but have forecasts actually improved with this power? Are there any success statistics around?
The reason that it'll include new optimized CPU/GPU algorithms is that new graphics cards (i.e. hardware) will have new inbuilt routines / operations for this kinda thing.
Even if DirectX 8 was, for arguments sake, completely backwards compatible with a 1980s graphics card that doesn't mean it would be able to suddenly make it do pixel shading or nifty T&L stuff.
It seems a little more complicated than that (from here):
Until recently, SSC provided web hosting for the Gazette and allowed some of its (SSC's) staff to assist in production of the Gazette during working hours.
However, all that seems to have changed. SSC is now running a site at linuxgazette.com which it calls Linux Gazette. The people who were running Linux Gazette earlier have moved to a new site at linuxgazette.net - and are running Linux Gazette as well!
According to an explanation posted by SSC, "a group of the Linux Gazette contributors opposed the transition of our site to a Content Management System. While we did our best to address the concerns, some have elected to leave Linux Gazette and start their own publication. We regret their decision but as (most) were volunteers, it certainly is their right.
"Unfortunately, they have so far continued to use our Linux Gazette trademark in conjunction with their new site. Until such time as they stop using that trademark, we have been advised to remove any references to that mis-use (sic) from our site."
According to Rick Moen, contributing editor of Linux Gazette, the decision to move was due to a number of things, "including SSC's unexplained, unannounced, retroactive deletions of prior issues' articles, its stripping of authors' copyright notices and substitution of their own corporate one, and its proclaimed plans to make LG cease being a magazine and cease having editors, turning it into solely a dynamic Web site."
Moen said after the move to new quarters, SSC "to our astonishment produced a November issue purporting to be Linux Gazette, immediately after our November issue went to press. This was surprising because we'd been told they intended that monthly magazine issues would cease."
linuxgazette.com slashdotted.
linuxgazette.net still standing.
Seems like the trial is over to me...
A nice article on Cryogenic Rocket engines is available here .
It's all good if you have a valid usage warrant issued by the UK Radiocommunications Agency:
Cell phone jamming equipment is illegal to use in the UK as it violates sections 1 & 13 of the 1949 telegraphy act, we are therefore unable to supply cell phone jammers to any UK customer who does not hold a current & valid usage warrant issued by the UK Radiocommunications Agency. Please note that no exceptions can be made on this policy.
Their suggested uses get pretty dodgy pretty quickly, from http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/mj10.htm:
Suggested Uses for a cell phone jammer:
Theatres/Cinemas, Concert halls, Lectures, Libraries, Restaurants, Hospitals, Coffee shops, Police stations, Recording studios, Prisons, Court rooms, Conference rooms, Embassies and Government facilities, Financial institutions, Casinos, Power plants, Schools, Military establishments etc etc
Dude! you got AOLed!
Are they selling it to students or the public at that price?
At many universities Microsoft gives a very large academic discount to students studying IT (if the university computer labs have a Microsoft academic partnership). The CDs typically look like OEM versions, but they are upgrade/oem with really weird license restrictions (you can only install the software once, you can't reinstall it -- AFAIK you can reinstall normal XP distributions around 5 times before you have to call the Microsoft activation people).
Checkout the AdWord listing on Google for Red Rabbit, Tom Clancy's latest book.
It's pretty dicey here in the UK (are AdWords regionalised?)
Were the participants informed that their conversations were to be monitored during this period? from study 2
It sounds like they sampled a single population (only 700 users), perhaps from a single organisation that knew they were being monitored? If so the data surely needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
These don't seem to be
-
Downtow Courtenay Place
- Uptown Courtenay Palace
- The red carpet (live 12noon NZ time)
Camera 1 and Camera 2
Unfortunately there aren't any cams running from *inside* the cinema as yet.If you live in NZ, you can get some visit live streaming cams from the link above.
These don't seem to be /.ed yet, at least, they're working for me (sourced from http://www.wellingtonnz.com/cam/cam/index.html)
Downtown Courtenay Place (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/courtenay/)
Uptown Courtenay Place (http://webcam.citylink.co.nz/reading/)
The red carpet (live 12noon NZ time) (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/midland-park/ and http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/traffic/)
Unfortunately no cams yet running from *inside* the cinema
If you live in NZ, you can get some visit live streaming cams from the link above.
Right, although that wasn't the intention. If that's the kind of problem I should expect when a simple electrical component goes wrong I think getting locked in my new luxury car is going to be the least of my worries!
Perhaps this is a better reference for the iDrive BMW problems (check out the vids at the bottom) -- although in fairness the car was recalled.
When you combine the story in the post with the article above you start to get a pretty scary picture.
It just be something as silly as the dial-up/broadband connection being bound to a windows login through a domain server. As soon as thief logged into AOL they get a Username and Password prompt for the Walls Fargo domain. For all we know, he could've paniced and accidentally hit OK.
An invalid password for a user whose laptop was nicked from a whacky AOL IP address sure sounds suspicious to me.
Do we get taxed for car crashes that occur on roads?
No, we get taxed (fined) for speeding, or DUI, on roads.
Anyone know how the money gets distributed around artists?
Are they just going to distribute the tax around members of this so-called SOCAN, or are they going to somehow monitor the traffic and assign it radio-style?
It would be kind of interesting if it was radio-style (royalty-per-leech).
If I was living in a country where I was paying a copyright infringement tax on my CDs and on my ISP bill, I think I'd feel pretty different about engaging in copyright infringement.
1) Build ugly ridiculous looking xbox mod, because I can ...
2)
3) Make ludicrous amounts of money
Is step 2 slashdot+eBay?
If only cohen had've patented the computer Virus'