This will surely be compared to WLNP, but its different in one key way. The internet has a built in system that alleviates the need for IP Portability, that system is called DNS. Regardless of how many times you change IPs, your domain name can remain constant.
Lets pray the courts don't start setting technical policy more than they already are. How long before I have to enter my MAC address at every console just to make sure any random ARP packets intended for a machine I was just at still get to me here?
Privacy is a big issue here. What's to stop me from hooking a $30 voice activated phone recorder to the line and record all of your conversations? I don't know how much I trust someone I've never met and who has no real oversight to protect my privacy. Scratch that.. I do know that I don't trust them at all.
I've been using vonage.com for my primary home line and fax line for a while now and I absolutely love it. Not only can one talk a lot more for a lot less money, the other features that are included are remarkably useful. I love transferring calls from my home phone to my cell phone before I walk out the door, and I'm planning to put together some code that interacts with Vonage's web "dashboard" to allow better integration with the rest of my digital life.
Marrying phones and computers in the home is going to open a whole new avenue of technical exploration, and unfortunately, exploitation as well..
From the article: There is no right in the copyright law to make backup copies of motion pictures, so the whole argument that people should have the right to make backup copies of DVDs has no legal support whatsoever
EFF has this to say on the issue:
Although the legal basis is not completely settled, many lawyers believe that the following (and many other uses) are also fair uses:
* Space-shifting or format-shifting - that is, taking content you own in one format and putting it into another format, for personal, non-commercial use. For instance, "ripping" an audio CD (that is, making an MP3-format version of an audio CD that you already own) is considered fair use by many lawyers, based on the 1984 Betamax decision and the 1999 Rio MP3 player decision (RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia, 180 F. 3d 1072, 1079, 9th Circ. 1999.)
* Making a personal back-up copy of content you own - for instance, burning a copy of an audio CD you own.
(Emphasis mine)
So, the issue is not completely settled, yet. Let's hope that legislation such as those proposed can help settle this matter and take the MPAA down a notch.
They wouldn't provide the source code anyway. Their response to this issue (link above) indicates that some or all of the non-GPLed portion of the code is licensed to them from other distributors and public release is forbidden under that license.
"seeking audio "fingerprints" that could be compared with information in Audible Magic's database."
We've tried database-oriented filters to stop spam in the form of keyword lists and the like for years, yet spam is more of a problem today than it was 5 years ago. Why won't the same techniques that let spam slip past our filters let content slip past these filters? Add a byte here or there, run a very light encryption routine over a file and bam - one broken filter.
Even if the networks that use encryption in the protocol itself are stopped - encryption on the file level can be used on insecure networks and this software becomes useless.
Emailing the email address given on the last page generates this auto-reply:
Thank you for contacting Google about our Copernicus Research Center.
We've received an overwhelming response to this opportunity and are not currently accepting additional resumes. We will, however, keep your information on file should we have an opening in the future. At the current staffing levels, we anticipate that we may need additional applicants on or around April Fool's Day in 2104. Until then, we appreciate your interest in Google and your taking the time to write us.
Sincerely,
The Googlunar Recruiting Team
Now, would Google have been able to be this kewl if they had gone public?
1) Communicate with other people in the organization or company. If this is the case, then the company should provide a phone for that purpose. Obviously the company you work for does not think a cell phone is necessary to do the work they hired you to do. They could be wrong, but that's what they think. If so, either convince them they're wrong, if they really are, or use the tools and processes they want you to use for communication.
I have an office phone, but I don't always sit in my office. I am frequently in meetings, visiting other locations, performing system tests in other locations, etc. It is frequently 3 or 4 hours between stops at my desk to check my messages, my email, etc. The company would not be happy if a critical service was down for 3 or 4 hours because I was busy elsewhere.
2) To communicate with vendors or other 3rd parties. If so, then the company should provide you with a phone, but it doesn't have to be a cell phone.
I don't use it for this very much, though our T1 provider does notify me via cell phone if there is a problem after hours.
3) Personal calls. It's actually better for the company to make a phone available for personal calls. Many little errands can be done over the phone that you would otherwise have to take time off for work to handle and it is invariably more efficient to use the phone. It may be in an inconvenient location, but they aren't obligated to make it convenient for you. And if they don't provide a phone for personal calls to take care of personal items, then you either take a couple of hours off from work to run errands, figure out another way to handle the errand, or quit over it. Quitting seems excessive.
I don't make/take personal calls at work with only few rare exceptions. I am far too busy to!
4) You mention server alerts. Are you attempting to manager either personal servers or servers you've set up for a side business on company time? If so, why should they permit that? Many companies even have specific rules against moonlighting because they know the drain two jobs can have on a person. Switch to email alerts and have the mail sent to an account you can check at work. Then if they see that you're doing a second job on their time, they can deal with that as appropriate.
All alerts are for work-owned and work-dedicated servers. Though I do contract with other companies and do have alerts sent to my phone, they are ignored until after business hours. My primary responsibility is to my primary employer.
Interestingly, even in this tight IT market, my company values IT employees otherwise. I am moving soon and the company is bending over backwards to let me keep my position despite the fact that I'll be living 2 hours from our closest office.
Though this policy was abandoned due to my concerns prior to being implemented, it still has relevance in many places. Let me answer some of the questions that have been asked.
Work was, in-fact, saying that I cannot bring in my personal cell phone. Though they don't pay me for for the phone bill itself, I do get compensated for responding to server-down pages or other problems after hours and this more than pays for the phone bill.
Why are they doing this? The stated reason is security. We've been the victim of intellectual property theft due to camera phones, but in my case: it isn't an issue. I have, in effect, clearance to any and all company documents at this location and all others.
As for forwarding my responsibilities to my supervisor, it just won't work. I report directly to the president of the company and he is not exactly a power-user. I've been with the company just over three years, and he's never even glanced at any of my coding work. He simply believes the heads of other departments when they note that their IT systems are doing well, saving money, or whatever the case is.
To save this poor guy a headache: I am not Brian Cancio. I don't own that domain and have no involvement with it whatsoever. Digitalvengeance is just a slashdot ID as my usual alias was already taken.
90% of the american population will never equate this with "that song downloading MP3 thing" and the 10% that do already know enough to decide for themselves whether or not the MPAA/RIAA have a valid point or just pointless rhetoric.
Yes, I can imagine landline providers doing just that, because they do. Most of the "unlimited long distance" plans offered by the large phone companies come with the "voice calls only" restriction. They don't want someone in a rural area connecting to AOL 16 hours a day for one flat rate.
Do I agree with the policy? No. The only way it could be enforced is to listen in on a call from time to time to ensure that it is human voice rather than modem chatter... and that opens up a whole new can of worms.
Bit by bit copying isn't enough to make solid backups at this point. Many commercially purchased DVDs are over 8 or 9 GBs and available DVD+-R/RW media is maxed at 4.7 GBs. Though companies like Verbatim are promising to release dual-layer disks, they aren't on the market yet. The only way (that I know of) to split a single commercially available disk onto several smaller writable media and still have it be playable is to break the CSS.
What I'd like to see is someone taking the CSS code and writing a good open source DVDxCOPY type program.
This brings up an interesting notion. At what point does financial globalization lead to the homogenization of national laws, even horrible ones? In the past, idiocy could be somewhat contained due to the fact that different countries have vastly different review procedures and generally different sensibilities about abstract concepts such as intellectual property. This article serves as a frightening example of how financial interests may lead to the exportation of horrible ideas.
One is also led to wonder what good ideas will be lost as testing of creative ways to deal wth modern problems could be in violation of treaties such as this one.
I like that idea, but I still find it questionable that the USPTO or some subset thereof could afford the type of experts necessary to properly handle the wide range of IP patents applied for everyday. Can the USPTO really have a resident microprocessor expert on staff to handle all of Intel/AMD/Patriot's stuff? Probably not. Why not make companies such as this pay for the USPTO to hire an independent expert (to be selected by the USPTO) to review any particular patent. Moderation committees or eventually the courts could ensure that such private experts didn't act out of private interest. Basically, an "expert witness" function for the USPTO.
From the parent: "we need to have some kind of IP court that determines whether or not a certain idea/algorithm/process deserves a patent to begin with. If not, no patent."
Isn't that precisely what the patent office is supposed to do? The problem is that they are inundated with so many requests that they don't have the resources (or desire for that matter) to adequately analyze and process each application.
I think the IP court you suggest would be subject to exactly the same problem, but with the added detriment of procedure in our never-ending legal process.
Though I haven't read the patent in question, it's possible that Intel's work in the 90s reflects prior art - but the patent office doesn't have time to find out one way or the other.
"If you value privacy why are you posting logged in? Doing the cookey's job for it?"
Slashdot has a decent privacy policy and gives me the option of being anonymous, so I don't mind posting as a registered user. I will post anonymously if I don't want my name associated with something.
I do apologize for not noticing the second page, though.
And here is the NYT Text for those of us who value privacy online:
Radar Brings Vision to Cars' Blind Spots
By TIM MORAN
Published: February 2, 2004
Valeo Raytheon Systems
A radar system that scans adjacent lanes and flashes a warning icon in the rearview mirror could reduce lane-change collisions.
PHASED-ARRAY radar, a technology used by the military to guide missiles to their targets, is about to take on a civilian mission: alerting drivers to the presence of vehicles in the cars' "blind spots."
Miniaturized and drawing a small fraction of the power required to track targets like supersonic fighter jets, the automotive radar systems are designed to detect vehicles lurking in areas blocked from the driver's view. These so-called blind spots can be a result of improperly positioned rearview mirrors, structural necessities like the pillars that support the car's roof, or a cargo load that blocks the driver's line of sight.
Drivers often compensate for blind spots by turning their heads to glance out the side window. But there is a drawback to doing this when changing lanes or merging into the flow of freeway traffic - the driver's eyes and attention are diverted from the road ahead. And older drivers may have difficulty twisting to catch that quick glimpse.
Systems that electronically patrol the space around a vehicle are already available on some new models. Employing sonar, laser or radar technology, the devices detect unseen objects very close to the car or operate an advanced cruise control that maintains a set distance from the cars ahead, rather than simply enforcing a predetermined limit on vehicle speed.
The newly developed blind spot monitoring system, which required scaling down the military-type phased-array radar units to fit automobiles, could be in showrooms within a few years. Like the latest Doppler radar that tracks approaching storms, phased-array systems can determine the distance and closing rate of an approaching vehicle, and also add the capability to track its path continuously. The system was developed jointly by Valeo, an auto parts supplier, and Raytheon, a military contractor.
W. Scott Pyles, a business development manager at Valeo Raytheon Systems, the companies' joint venture, said his company's analysis of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration data indicated that some 300 people a year died in accidents caused by side-to-side collisions. In the last 10 years, such accidents led to 1.5 million injuries and caused more than $360 billion in damage, according to the data.
While that may be a small fraction of the 42,815 deaths reported in 2002, it is a fraction that has been mostly ignored - and one that could be reduced, Mr. Pyles said.
"All of the efforts have gone into solving the damage that occurs when a side impact happens, such as air bags, but nobody has done much to stop them from happening in the first place," he said.
Phased-array radar is an ideal foundation on which to build an early-warning system, as it is able to collect data rapidly and to track moving objects. With styling trends shifting toward higher beltlines - the lower edge of door windows seems to rise with every new design study unveiled on the auto show circuit, encroaching on the driver's view - the need for blind-spot detection devices would seem to be increasing.
Traditional radar systems broadcast high-frequency electromagnetic waves, determining the distance to an object's location by analyzing the echo reflected from the target. Rotating antennas, a common sight around airports, sweep the radar beam around the horizon to develop a 360-degree view, but the picture is updated only when an antenna completes another full revolution. Doppl
Today I installed KDE 3.2, third major release of award winning KDE3 desktop platform, on my Fedora box. I have been using KDE 3.2 RC for the past few days and the final version from today. My first impression is "wow".
KDE 3.2 provides an integrated desktop along with various applications to carry out common desktop tasks such as web browsing, email, instant messaging, multimedia, graphics, etc. Some of the impressive features which you will notice include
* Increase in speed evident from faster application startup time
* Improvements in usability and performance
* Better appearance through interface refinement
* Browser performance boost evident through better webpage rendering
Upgrading to KDE 3.2 is a breeze. If you are a newbie and want to learn how to do it, you can refer to my HOWTO. I started my installation and within few minutes I am logged into my new KDE 3.2 desktop.
The desktop is very polished and you can configure it in any way you want by right clicking on the desktop. You can setup your desktop background as a slide show so that the background picture changes at predetermined intervals. The style and window decorations are very refined increasing the overall appearance. I love plastik for style and window decoration. A better icon set is also available. Now that you can find a wide array of themes and icon sets in www.kde-look.org, you can customize your KDE desktop in any way you want. In fact, you can even select the KDE splash screen (which appears when you login) from the available choices.
The K Menu is better organized now. It is grouped into "Most Used Application", "All Applications" and "Actions". Even the applications are grouped in a much better way compared to earlier version.
The new KHotkey feature is really hot. You can create keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures for various tasks. This comes very handy. People used to such features in Microsoft Windows environment will love this feature. It is really cool to press the "Windows" key in your keyboard and see KMenu pop up in your screen.
The control center is well spruced up and better structured in KDE 3.2. Some of the tabs like background, window decoration, style etc. are redesigned. Some of the welcome addtions to control center are
* Splash Screen - where you can select a KDE splash screen of your choice
* Wireless Network - where you can configure your wireless network. You can save upto four different configurations.
* Vim Component Configuration - where you can configure Vim to use inside KDE
* KHotkeys - where you can specify keyboard shortkeys and mouse gestures to lauch applications in KDE
* KDE Wallet - where you can configure KDE Wallet to store your internet and local passwords
* Sony Vaio Laptop - where you can configure the hardware for this laptop
KDE 3.2 has more countries under Country/Region. Also these countries are better organized. This is a very positive step in the internationalization efforts of KDE.
Another welcome feature in the control panel is the "Font installer". With this, installation of new fonts is a breeze. This is very useful for people who want to install their regional fonts and other extra fonts (many fonts are available in kde-look.org). The best aspect of the font installer is the instant preview available with it. I feel this is one of the greatest additions to KDE.
Many new applications are added and some of the existing applications have been upgraded. It is quite impossible to discuss all the applications available in KDE 3.2. I will just discuss some of the applications based on my preferences.
Konqueror: This is the central part of KDE environment. it is a web browser, file manager, network browser and so on. Konqueror has finally matured as a web browser. I feel, though many would disagree with me, that rendering of sites is somet
They still serve a very important purpose for many businesses: Multipart form printing.
One company I work with prints 4 part invoices for in-home services. We've tested alternatives, but have yet to find a non-impact printer capable of getting the job done.
I think its unfair to call the technology outdated when it still performs some tasks better than its modern counterparts.
From the article: "SCO Execs point www.sco.com at the loopback address 127.0.0.1, end lawsuits, dismiss lawyers, and invest remaining corporate cash reserves in call options in Dell & Microsoft stock."
Since when do SCO and Verisign share corporate strategy for "net presence management?" Now that's synergy in action!
Slashdot Mirror
Um, Mods...how exactly is a first post redundant?
The way I understand it, you *do* keep your area code with WLNP.
This will surely be compared to WLNP, but its different in one key way. The internet has a built in system that alleviates the need for IP Portability, that system is called DNS. Regardless of how many times you change IPs, your domain name can remain constant.
Lets pray the courts don't start setting technical policy more than they already are. How long before I have to enter my MAC address at every console just to make sure any random ARP packets intended for a machine I was just at still get to me here?
Josh
You mean there is more to the internet than Slashdot?
Finally! An explanation as to why no one ever RTFAs. They don't believe the FA exists!
Josh.
Privacy is a big issue here. What's to stop me from hooking a $30 voice activated phone recorder to the line and record all of your conversations? I don't know how much I trust someone I've never met and who has no real oversight to protect my privacy. Scratch that.. I do know that I don't trust them at all.
I've been using vonage.com for my primary home line and fax line for a while now and I absolutely love it. Not only can one talk a lot more for a lot less money, the other features that are included are remarkably useful. I love transferring calls from my home phone to my cell phone before I walk out the door, and I'm planning to put together some code that interacts with Vonage's web "dashboard" to allow better integration with the rest of my digital life.
Marrying phones and computers in the home is going to open a whole new avenue of technical exploration, and unfortunately, exploitation as well..
Josh.
From the article:
There is no right in the copyright law to make backup copies of motion pictures, so the whole argument that people should have the right to make backup copies of DVDs has no legal support whatsoever
EFF has this to say on the issue:
Although the legal basis is not completely settled, many lawyers believe that the following (and many other uses) are also fair uses:
* Space-shifting or format-shifting - that is, taking content you own in one format and putting it into another format, for personal, non-commercial use. For instance, "ripping" an audio CD (that is, making an MP3-format version of an audio CD that you already own) is considered fair use by many lawyers, based on the 1984 Betamax decision and the 1999 Rio MP3 player decision (RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia, 180 F. 3d 1072, 1079, 9th Circ. 1999.)
* Making a personal back-up copy of content you own - for instance, burning a copy of an audio CD you own.
(Emphasis mine)
So, the issue is not completely settled, yet. Let's hope that legislation such as those proposed can help settle this matter and take the MPAA down a notch.
Source: http://eff.org/IP//eff_fair_use_faq.html
More Info: http://eff.org/IP/
Josh.
Great demonstration of the relationship. For real hilarious excerpts from IRC, try http://www.bash.org
(Warning: Some quotes may contain questionable content.)
They wouldn't provide the source code anyway. Their response to this issue (link above) indicates that some or all of the non-GPLed portion of the code is licensed to them from other distributors and public release is forbidden under that license.
Josh.
From the article:
"seeking audio "fingerprints" that could be compared with information in Audible Magic's database."
We've tried database-oriented filters to stop spam in the form of keyword lists and the like for years, yet spam is more of a problem today than it was 5 years ago. Why won't the same techniques that let spam slip past our filters let content slip past these filters? Add a byte here or there, run a very light encryption routine over a file and bam - one broken filter.
Even if the networks that use encryption in the protocol itself are stopped - encryption on the file level can be used on insecure networks and this software becomes useless.
Josh
Emailing the email address given on the last page generates this auto-reply:
Thank you for contacting Google about our Copernicus Research Center.
We've received an overwhelming response to this opportunity and are not currently accepting additional resumes. We will, however, keep your information on file should we have an opening in the future. At the current staffing levels, we anticipate that we may need additional applicants on or around April Fool's Day in 2104. Until then, we appreciate your interest in Google and your taking the time to write us.
Sincerely,
The Googlunar Recruiting Team
Now, would Google have been able to be this kewl if they had gone public?
Josh.
1) Communicate with other people in the organization or company. If this is the case, then the company should provide a phone for that purpose. Obviously the company you work for does not think a cell phone is necessary to do the work they hired you to do. They could be wrong, but that's what they think. If so, either convince them they're wrong, if they really are, or use the tools and processes they want you to use for communication.
I have an office phone, but I don't always sit in my office. I am frequently in meetings, visiting other locations, performing system tests in other locations, etc. It is frequently 3 or 4 hours between stops at my desk to check my messages, my email, etc. The company would not be happy if a critical service was down for 3 or 4 hours because I was busy elsewhere.
2) To communicate with vendors or other 3rd parties. If so, then the company should provide you with a phone, but it doesn't have to be a cell phone.
I don't use it for this very much, though our T1 provider does notify me via cell phone if there is a problem after hours.
3) Personal calls. It's actually better for the company to make a phone available for personal calls. Many little errands can be done over the phone that you would otherwise have to take time off for work to handle and it is invariably more efficient to use the phone. It may be in an inconvenient location, but they aren't obligated to make it convenient for you. And if they don't provide a phone for personal calls to take care of personal items, then you either take a couple of hours off from work to run errands, figure out another way to handle the errand, or quit over it. Quitting seems excessive.
I don't make/take personal calls at work with only few rare exceptions. I am far too busy to!
4) You mention server alerts. Are you attempting to manager either personal servers or servers you've set up for a side business on company time? If so, why should they permit that? Many companies even have specific rules against moonlighting because they know the drain two jobs can have on a person. Switch to email alerts and have the mail sent to an account you can check at work. Then if they see that you're doing a second job on their time, they can deal with that as appropriate.
All alerts are for work-owned and work-dedicated servers. Though I do contract with other companies and do have alerts sent to my phone, they are ignored until after business hours. My primary responsibility is to my primary employer.
Interestingly, even in this tight IT market, my company values IT employees otherwise. I am moving soon and the company is bending over backwards to let me keep my position despite the fact that I'll be living 2 hours from our closest office.
Clarification from the submitter:
Though this policy was abandoned due to my concerns prior to being implemented, it still has relevance in many places. Let me answer some of the questions that have been asked.
Work was, in-fact, saying that I cannot bring in my personal cell phone. Though they don't pay me for for the phone bill itself, I do get compensated for responding to server-down pages or other problems after hours and this more than pays for the phone bill.
Why are they doing this? The stated reason is security. We've been the victim of intellectual property theft due to camera phones, but in my case: it isn't an issue. I have, in effect, clearance to any and all company documents at this location and all others.
As for forwarding my responsibilities to my supervisor, it just won't work. I report directly to the president of the company and he is not exactly a power-user. I've been with the company just over three years, and he's never even glanced at any of my coding work. He simply believes the heads of other departments when they note that their IT systems are doing well, saving money, or whatever the case is.
To save this poor guy a headache: I am not Brian Cancio. I don't own that domain and have no involvement with it whatsoever. Digitalvengeance is just a slashdot ID as my usual alias was already taken.
No, it won't.
90% of the american population will never equate this with "that song downloading MP3 thing" and the 10% that do already know enough to decide for themselves whether or not the MPAA/RIAA have a valid point or just pointless rhetoric.
Yes, I can imagine landline providers doing just that, because they do. Most of the "unlimited long distance" plans offered by the large phone companies come with the "voice calls only" restriction. They don't want someone in a rural area connecting to AOL 16 hours a day for one flat rate.
Do I agree with the policy? No. The only way it could be enforced is to listen in on a call from time to time to ensure that it is human voice rather than modem chatter... and that opens up a whole new can of worms.
Bit by bit copying isn't enough to make solid backups at this point. Many commercially purchased DVDs are over 8 or 9 GBs and available DVD+-R/RW media is maxed at 4.7 GBs. Though companies like Verbatim are promising to release dual-layer disks, they aren't on the market yet. The only way (that I know of) to split a single commercially available disk onto several smaller writable media and still have it be playable is to break the CSS.
What I'd like to see is someone taking the CSS code and writing a good open source DVDxCOPY type program.
This brings up an interesting notion. At what point does financial globalization lead to the homogenization of national laws, even horrible ones? In the past, idiocy could be somewhat contained due to the fact that different countries have vastly different review procedures and generally different sensibilities about abstract concepts such as intellectual property. This article serves as a frightening example of how financial interests may lead to the exportation of horrible ideas.
One is also led to wonder what good ideas will be lost as testing of creative ways to deal wth modern problems could be in violation of treaties such as this one.
I like that idea, but I still find it questionable that the USPTO or some subset thereof could afford the type of experts necessary to properly handle the wide range of IP patents applied for everyday. Can the USPTO really have a resident microprocessor expert on staff to handle all of Intel/AMD/Patriot's stuff? Probably not. Why not make companies such as this pay for the USPTO to hire an independent expert (to be selected by the USPTO) to review any particular patent. Moderation committees or eventually the courts could ensure that such private experts didn't act out of private interest. Basically, an "expert witness" function for the USPTO.
From the parent: "we need to have some kind of IP court that determines whether or not a certain idea/algorithm/process deserves a patent to begin with. If not, no patent."
Isn't that precisely what the patent office is supposed to do? The problem is that they are inundated with so many requests that they don't have the resources (or desire for that matter) to adequately analyze and process each application.
I think the IP court you suggest would be subject to exactly the same problem, but with the added detriment of procedure in our never-ending legal process.
Though I haven't read the patent in question, it's possible that Intel's work in the 90s reflects prior art - but the patent office doesn't have time to find out one way or the other.
"If you value privacy why are you posting logged in? Doing the cookey's job for it?"
Slashdot has a decent privacy policy and gives me the option of being anonymous, so I don't mind posting as a registered user. I will post anonymously if I don't want my name associated with something.
I do apologize for not noticing the second page, though.
Josh
A slightly longer version of the article can be found here: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/techscience/story /0,4386,233212,00.html
And here is the NYT Text for those of us who value privacy online:
Radar Brings Vision to Cars' Blind Spots By TIM MORAN
Published: February 2, 2004
Valeo Raytheon Systems A radar system that scans adjacent lanes and flashes a warning icon in the rearview mirror could reduce lane-change collisions. PHASED-ARRAY radar, a technology used by the military to guide missiles to their targets, is about to take on a civilian mission: alerting drivers to the presence of vehicles in the cars' "blind spots."
Miniaturized and drawing a small fraction of the power required to track targets like supersonic fighter jets, the automotive radar systems are designed to detect vehicles lurking in areas blocked from the driver's view. These so-called blind spots can be a result of improperly positioned rearview mirrors, structural necessities like the pillars that support the car's roof, or a cargo load that blocks the driver's line of sight.
Drivers often compensate for blind spots by turning their heads to glance out the side window. But there is a drawback to doing this when changing lanes or merging into the flow of freeway traffic - the driver's eyes and attention are diverted from the road ahead. And older drivers may have difficulty twisting to catch that quick glimpse.
Systems that electronically patrol the space around a vehicle are already available on some new models. Employing sonar, laser or radar technology, the devices detect unseen objects very close to the car or operate an advanced cruise control that maintains a set distance from the cars ahead, rather than simply enforcing a predetermined limit on vehicle speed.
The newly developed blind spot monitoring system, which required scaling down the military-type phased-array radar units to fit automobiles, could be in showrooms within a few years. Like the latest Doppler radar that tracks approaching storms, phased-array systems can determine the distance and closing rate of an approaching vehicle, and also add the capability to track its path continuously. The system was developed jointly by Valeo, an auto parts supplier, and Raytheon, a military contractor.
W. Scott Pyles, a business development manager at Valeo Raytheon Systems, the companies' joint venture, said his company's analysis of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration data indicated that some 300 people a year died in accidents caused by side-to-side collisions. In the last 10 years, such accidents led to 1.5 million injuries and caused more than $360 billion in damage, according to the data.
While that may be a small fraction of the 42,815 deaths reported in 2002, it is a fraction that has been mostly ignored - and one that could be reduced, Mr. Pyles said.
"All of the efforts have gone into solving the damage that occurs when a side impact happens, such as air bags, but nobody has done much to stop them from happening in the first place," he said.
Phased-array radar is an ideal foundation on which to build an early-warning system, as it is able to collect data rapidly and to track moving objects. With styling trends shifting toward higher beltlines - the lower edge of door windows seems to rise with every new design study unveiled on the auto show circuit, encroaching on the driver's view - the need for blind-spot detection devices would seem to be increasing.
Traditional radar systems broadcast high-frequency electromagnetic waves, determining the distance to an object's location by analyzing the echo reflected from the target. Rotating antennas, a common sight around airports, sweep the radar beam around the horizon to develop a 360-degree view, but the picture is updated only when an antenna completes another full revolution. Doppl
Because of early reports of slashdotting:
KDE 3.2
by Krishnan Subramanian
Today I installed KDE 3.2, third major release of award winning KDE3 desktop platform, on my Fedora box. I have been using KDE 3.2 RC for the past few days and the final version from today. My first impression is "wow".
KDE 3.2 provides an integrated desktop along with various applications to carry out common desktop tasks such as web browsing, email, instant messaging, multimedia, graphics, etc. Some of the impressive features which you will notice include
* Increase in speed evident from faster application startup time
* Improvements in usability and performance
* Better appearance through interface refinement
* Browser performance boost evident through better webpage rendering
Upgrading to KDE 3.2 is a breeze. If you are a newbie and want to learn how to do it, you can refer to my HOWTO. I started my installation and within few minutes I am logged into my new KDE 3.2 desktop.
The desktop is very polished and you can configure it in any way you want by right clicking on the desktop. You can setup your desktop background as a slide show so that the background picture changes at predetermined intervals. The style and window decorations are very refined increasing the overall appearance. I love plastik for style and window decoration. A better icon set is also available. Now that you can find a wide array of themes and icon sets in www.kde-look.org, you can customize your KDE desktop in any way you want. In fact, you can even select the KDE splash screen (which appears when you login) from the available choices.
The K Menu is better organized now. It is grouped into "Most Used Application", "All Applications" and "Actions". Even the applications are grouped in a much better way compared to earlier version.
The new KHotkey feature is really hot. You can create keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures for various tasks. This comes very handy. People used to such features in Microsoft Windows environment will love this feature. It is really cool to press the "Windows" key in your keyboard and see KMenu pop up in your screen.
The control center is well spruced up and better structured in KDE 3.2. Some of the tabs like background, window decoration, style etc. are redesigned.
Some of the welcome addtions to control center are
* Splash Screen - where you can select a KDE splash screen of your choice
* Wireless Network - where you can configure your wireless network. You can save upto four different configurations.
* Vim Component Configuration - where you can configure Vim to use inside KDE
* KHotkeys - where you can specify keyboard shortkeys and mouse gestures to lauch applications in KDE
* KDE Wallet - where you can configure KDE Wallet to store your internet and local passwords
* Sony Vaio Laptop - where you can configure the hardware for this laptop
KDE 3.2 has more countries under Country/Region. Also these countries are better organized. This is a very positive step in the internationalization efforts of KDE.
Another welcome feature in the control panel is the "Font installer". With this, installation of new fonts is a breeze. This is very useful for people who want to install their regional fonts and other extra fonts (many fonts are available in kde-look.org). The best aspect of the font installer is the instant preview available with it. I feel this is one of the greatest additions to KDE.
Many new applications are added and some of the existing applications have been upgraded. It is quite impossible to discuss all the applications available in KDE 3.2. I will just discuss some of the applications based on my preferences.
Konqueror: This is the central part of KDE environment. it is a web browser, file manager, network browser and so on. Konqueror has finally matured as a web browser. I feel, though many would disagree with me, that rendering of sites is somet
They still serve a very important purpose for many businesses: Multipart form printing.
One company I work with prints 4 part invoices for in-home services. We've tested alternatives, but have yet to find a non-impact printer capable of getting the job done.
I think its unfair to call the technology outdated when it still performs some tasks better than its modern counterparts.
Here is a Washington Times summary that doesn't require registration.
1 23126-8662r.htm
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040202-
And here is a IHT article which appears to feature the same quote as the NYT article. Same article? I won't register...
http://www.iht.com/articles/127677.html
Josh.
From the article: "SCO Execs point www.sco.com at the loopback address 127.0.0.1, end lawsuits, dismiss lawyers, and invest remaining corporate cash reserves in call options in Dell & Microsoft stock."
Since when do SCO and Verisign share corporate strategy for "net presence management?" Now that's synergy in action!