TFA is idiotic as others have posted, also it neglects a potential arms race with other rootkits.
However the idea of taking over the user's hardware, is not bad, though the way it is presented is awful. I really don't like the approach to assuming stupidity (sure it appeals to a sysadmin maybe) or the idea of breaking in unlawfully.
After all if you totally took over the machine, there would be no rootkits or other insane plugins. Here are a couple ideas to think about.
1. A new kind of, hardware manufacturer supported, signed minimal clean OS with verified signed apps. The forerunner of this is the instant-on SplashTop linux os for ASUS by DeviceVM, Phoenix Technologies' Hyperspace, etc. This is really grabbing the hardware using tools built into the hardware. Could be nasty if it allows being taken over by a cracker but possibly could guarantee a dumb but safe commerce terminal.
2. Launching a virtualized machine, perhaps using virtualization hooks in new cpus, which is similarly minimal and signed. It would seem this could be vulnerable depending on degree of memory protection and security of the kernel or hypervisor or whatever is running it. So this is a mostly software solution
In both cases (especially in the first one), the rightful owner of the hardware is given superior power over the hardware that a cracker does not have. For the first one, especially if you are going from a cold power up and you base the minimized system and apps all on a cryptogaphically safe ensured stack, or otherwise use resources not available to the Windows OS normally, you basically have a separate computer - safer than Vista - guaranteed by a trusted vendor. Applications could come from the trusted vendor too perhaps.
If you think about it you really don't need more computing ability than an old Apple ][ or a standalone kiosk teller machine has, except for the crypto. It seems possible to simulate this for significant transactions, contract signing, and so on. I could see a separate colored power button that will use hardware resources that are completely separated from Windows and the morass of unsafe architecture and virulent bots. Possibly this separate OS could be used for setting passwords that could be read from Windows, and for storing confidential documents.
Maybe you could partition the disk from there to assign a certain amount of space for work that is only accessible from the safe OS side, or set folders in the Windows partition that cannot be read or written except from a virtual PC like instance that has been checked by the safe OS. This approach would give the machine's owner a safe island where he knows he is alone and which only communicates over encrypted virtual private network paths to other safe island nodes.
Ihave not seen an iPhone yet but based on my experience reading ascii books (from the Baen Free Library) on the video iPod the screen is definitely not good for books. It hurts the eyes terribly to the point that I am wondering whether there is significant UV or IR being emitted from it; when on a train if I turn it on to start reading a book my eyes immediately start to feel leaden. You can't change the fonts, you have to scroll in a circle,you can't change the fonts, etc. In comparison reading books on my Palm Clie was excellent, even without backlight, and the memory stick was useful when I had my vaio (before it fell to starbucks).
So the iPhone could become a reader but it might have a much worse screen than the amazon unit for book reading. I think you want a cool, crisp feel. I'd like to hear rather a comparison of the amazon and sony ebook units (and there was another good one mentioned).
I haven't read the rebuttal but here's some reasons why they should keep it as is.
1. By keeping inaccuracy to below 1 second, human-set clocks and pcs that sync to an atomic clock are all always within about a second or so.
2. Keeping time is useful for being able to navigate with solely a clock, a compass and the sun.
3. Shadows could get out of whack, ruining sundials.
4. Humans generally experience time at a granularity similar to that of the leap second. Computers also have power up/down events, however for a limited period of continuous high resolution time they can use TAI or just turn off their ntp sync until the end of the period.
5. A disparity on the order of several to tens of minutes in the length of a day or noontime position will be discernible and could cause psychological stress or anxiety. News reports will heighten that.
6. Star charts and possibly existing navigation systems could get out of whack.
Don't know about Gmail, but a small number of sites ask for the device unique id when I connect from my Japanese docomo phone. Gmail asks when I connect via ssl. I can choose to refuse.
Much of the issue is likely invented by operators who want to own more of the pie and feel little responsibility to reducing their ROI by switching dark fiber on. Also the term "brownout" is cute since obviously there is no such thing, you get collisions and throttling but the routers don't explode usually.
However I am curious about how much bandwidth is eaten by: - Spam - Advertising - Zombie communications and DDoS
Also, bandwidth availability, congestion and capacity need to be examined with respect to net segment, time, directionality and efficiency. It has to be mentioned whether last mile networks or cross-country lines are what is nearing capacity, and the study should mention competitiveness to other countries compared to which the updated investment forecast is still pitiful. The market may be sufficient for some things but the network infrastructure needs to grow much faster than that, in order to support innovation and business development.
Here is the content of an email a friend forwarded to me, originally sent from the European Business Council in Japan to Europeans doing business in Japan. After the clipped email is the content of the MS Word attachment describing a new quick pass gate system, which it seems they got from the Japanese government.
I lost my first post which included this and a small rant. Whatever. I am quite unhappy about this, and it seems to reverse the direction they were going, but the U.S. remains the king of security theater and it is an easy political win I suppose. They already got my photo and fingerprint from my passport and old foreigner card but I know I'm going to hate this. If it is in fact required.
Forwarded Email:
---
Further to my message on new immigration procedures last week, this is to inform you that Ministry of Justice has now issued instructions in English on how to undergo pre-registration for the new semi automatic gate system to be established at Narita Airport on November 20. Please find attached the instruction document, which should be available soon on the MoJ website.
---
[For Foreigners]
(Reference Material for the PR Dept.)
Operation of the Automated Gate
Ministry of Justice, Immigration Bureau
1. Introduction
Automated gates will be placed at Narita Airport from November 20th, 2007, in order to improve convenience of immigration procedures by simplifying and accelerating them. We would like to ask foreigners who wish to use the automated gates to provide their personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial portrait) in advance and register themselves as applicants in order to use the gate.
2. Registration as an Applicant to Use the Automated Gate
1. Required Items for Registration
1. Valid passport (including Re-entry Permit) and re-entry permission
2. Application form to use the automated gate
2. Where and When to Register
We will be accepting applications from November 20th at the locations stated below:
1. Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau
Application Counter for re-entry permission (2F) 9:00-16:00 (Except Saturdays, Sundays, National Holidays and December 29th to January 3rd)
2. Narita Airport District Immigration Office
The departure inspection area at South Wing of Passenger Terminal 1: 9:00-17:00
The departure inspection area at the South Exit of Passenger Terminal 2: 9:00-17:00
3. Registration Procedures
Submit your application form with your passport and provide fingerprints of both index fingers and a facial portrait.
Then, when the official affixes a registration stamp on your passport, the registration procedure is complete. In principle, you can use the gate from that day forward.
4. Points of Concern for the Registration
1. Time Limit of Registration
You can register until the expiration date of your passport or the expiration date of your re-entry permit, whichever comes earlier.
2. Registration Restrictions
In some cases, such as when you cannot provide fingerprints, you may not be able to register.
3. Using and Providing the Registered Information
We will manage information including fingerprints and facial portraits provided at the registration as personal information set forth in laws on protection of personal informati
- A video camera might be used to defeat it - Beams invisible to the naked eye such as infrared, sonic, or microwave/wlan could be used with reflectors to create a compromised space in which shaken objects' movements could be recorded - Powered units in motion could induce current/magnetic fields might be detectable - When upgrading a device your keys are copied by a terminal in the phone company's office or at a kiosk belonging to a private company, presumably, as part of the address book. Implementation will require a secure partition/encrypted file on the device or its removable memory card. - Phones look the same from the outside. How to prove it's your phone? Perhaps a thumbprint (like with PGP) using that musical tune feedback would be useful.
This could be a fud/lawsuit move but probably has elements of usefulness for Kyocera too (although they just aren't the same since their captain became a monk). But you know, slashdot has a lot of people and they aren't broke as far as I know. They are a news site, even with people they give the title "Editor".
I know it is an *utter flight of fancy* but how about having a reporter (or just someone you can call a reporter) to like, you know, ask those guys?? Kyocera might even want to be sure they don't appear evil or stupid, and your "reporter" could mention how much trouble Novell has gotten into with the community from their own patent agreement with Microsoft.
If slashdot is not able to evaluate, hire and manage investigative reporters then there are a few other options. So I'll just state all the options off the top of my head here.
Slashdot writer asks Kyocera in the U.S.
Slashdot asks Slashdot.jp to assist. Bet they'd love to.
Slashdot asks one of the blog-leech ahem regular contributors to do this. They can pay them, or they can say "graciously volunteered his service" and those guys can contribute something back to the community. Although maybe some are already too hated for their opportunism and lack of value-added.
Slashdot asks a linux magazine or freelance linux writer in U.S. or Japan to do it.
Slashdot posts a query to all readers to see if anyone wants to volunteer to do the reporting, and then selects and follows up. Maybe even cooler if everyone who wants to suddenly contacts Kyocera in parallel, this would be a slashdotting in the real world! Cool!
Slashdot makes a request for an interview the transcript of which will be on the site. Kinda wimpy. Time delay probably gives them plenty of time to act smart.
Finally, utter wimpout. Slashdot determines its future is mediocrity, something like what happened when Conde Nast bought Wired only with more armpit odor and less chicks.
Heise security article says, "...British and German secret services initially had reservations about the cipher challenge."
I'd like to know more about what they said. Are they worried it will encourage kids to get interested in crypto? Where do they expect to pick up talented cryptographers anyway?
TFA does not in any part of it say "backing up your brain". It does not say it gives you "a simulacrum of your memories". It does give some clear explanation of research they are doing, which is not new.
It is not "hooey" either, as the web really is a memory extender just try Google. Or ask Ted Nelson, whose work on Xanadu hypertext for example is tracable to his own faulty memory which he overcame by carrying ring-bound cards on his belt.
The only problem with this of course is that Microsoft is involved. They are inevitably going to spread their smarmy-feely corporate crap all over it. And you know what's going to happen, you will see people buy other people's lives (as a 100GB file download of multimedia clips indexed by time and location) and act all superior and shit.
They always describe these things in glowing terms that make you think of your Mom scanning in family photos to email her kids but in the end they end up owning your ass. That part of it wasn't hooey.
Now an open source version of this would be cool. I wouldn't have to write stuff down, just surf back a la Time Machine or if anyone has tried it, Gelernter's Mirror Worlds which was an interesting Java desktop demo that puts you in mind of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. If someone tagged bits of their lives meaningfully it might be useful, even restaurants might get better service.
Nice. I invented something like it >2 years ago and proposed it to Ogilvy Mather, the system which runs on an internal network.
Google's spam filter is good but they can still do a lot more with what they have, for example identify mailing lists and group them on the side of the page, allow reordering by date/sender etc as Yahoo does, don't let important emails scroll off the bottom of the page so fast.
I would not be a happy camper however if social network analysis (which is used to identify information gatekeepers in an organization among other things) was used to target advertising or spam, especially if information from different gmail accounts was coordinated to do so. A minimal amount of analysis within one mailbox, and subtle navigational aids for that user, fine. Beyond that it gets scary and Google could have trouble calling themselves a common carrier.
I would like to add a data point. At one time I was asked to get involved in a venture by a Scandinavian company that was said to include a past head of the NYSE on its board. The venture was meant to be a game, not strictly gambling, though it seemed you could in fact win money. It was walking a thin line in a grey area.
People got cold feet and it evaporated as U.S. legislators gave hints that it would become illegal, but it seems to me that there remains a very grey area inhabited by the stock exchange, online gambling, virtual worlds like second life and massive multiplayer games with their own currencies and conversion rates. Games of chance and skill abound in already addictive and immersive worlds.
At the time even experienced people thought the line was drawn in one place but now it is perhaps in another. I would like to note that the venture I mention was not a casino. It was supposed to teach you about the stock market.
I think the definition of gambling these days has little to do with people's welfare. The definition is made by legislators and government executives, and involves a cynical calculation and the creation of a protected and coveted revenue source for a municipality.
Great I thought, and then had the wind taken out of my sails. They refuse to display the clip if you are out of the region they define. Despite that it would be used I think by people on vacation who don't want to miss their favorite show. Sum of my experience:
1. Watch TV! Yay! 2. But it's NBC! They have a lot of programs and they all suck! Honestly I wanted to watch Stargate Atlantis or some kind of scifi-y thing. Nope. They got ten cop shows though. Fine I pick the updated Bionic Woman I haven't seen before. 3. Figure out their convoluted interface, okay. Very spiffy but what I really want is to quickly find out what the show is about then watch it, y'know? Looks like they must spend a lot of money to add shows to this system. 4. They don't have the first episode of the series! Arrrgh! No matter of clicking little arrows will show it! 5. Pick a chapter. Wuh? This isn't a DVD!! Will I have to click each chapter as they finish? (Cringe!) 6. Okay here we go, I clicked the first chapter of the first clip I could find. ARRRRRGHH!! I'm in Japan and instead of a video, the video pane shows a message saying they refuse to show the video!! AAAAAACK! 7. Goodbye NBC.
I'm pro-Seti for the reasons mentioned above and obviously, 1) based on current scientific understanding it is overwhelmingly likely there is not just one intelligent civilization in the galaxy, and 2) the tech we could gain might be incredible so the financial risk is not only miniscule , it is a crime we don't invest more in it.
HOWEVER, I have to say that I once talked to my 75 yr. old Dad (a few years younger at the time) about it. We had a HUGE fight. A total schism! His understanding of aliens is that they don't exist, but if they do then they are the bugs from the Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Which we both did think is great (he saw the movie, I saw it but had reread the book many times). Basically he said he doesn't *want* to meet bug-eyed aliens! Vehemently! Okay, I don't either if they're psychotic murderers, fine. But I just want to emphasize that in addition to the stupidity of busybodies against SETI posting here, there are also probably a lot of people who due to either age and/or the media, just don't want to think about anything off the earth. Talking about SETI with my Dad drew such an amazing reaction from him. I think SETI and Spaceguard against comet/asteroid collisions are two useful things the government should fund, thank you. Allen's awesome. Oh yeah, and Contact the movie was cool but the book was better, darn it!
I read half of TFA just to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. Excellent, now I know I can ignore anything he ever writes again. Below, the (contiguous) passage I choose to rebut with facts.
Regarding his idea that there is no point using google on the phone: - I have been using a 1 and 2 year old Sony phones running on DoCoMo's Japanese infra. I use Google all the damn time, it is tied for 1st place in frequency with "norikae annai" which lets you type in two station names and gives you the top three fastest train routes to get there with near exactness, and I use it more frequently than R25.jp (a news blurb site for train riders covering all topics from science to scandals) and much more than i-mode which is how DoCoMo got rich. - Google also pages all sites for memory challenged phones, I've read books on it (like from infinity plus sci fi) - though nearly everyone does not read books on their phones. - I look up phone numbers and addresses on the phone for places I'm going. Why? because it also gives you context in particular a precis of the event, it is very useful if a film festival is going on, and most useful you can get a street address and then put it into a map site (I use mapion) which will then help you get to where you are going. Even better if you have gps in your phone (all the new ones have it). - I use gmail on my phone (I have my mail accounts forward to gmail, which has great spam filtering and is accessible online, plus being in a paged interface for small memory phones), even though the old Sony I have now can't run the Java applet and even though it wants to make a new ssl connection for every darn page. It is STILL useful, for when I really need to check something that was in an email. - I want to buy a bigger screened phone, or if possible the new Softbank phone with keyboard if it ever comes out, so I can have a full browser and run Google MORE. - Heavy PC google users must obviously bring their habits to their phones, I know I do. - Google obviously knows by referer what phones people are using to access their site. They have more data than TFA's author.
Regarding [2]: - How stupid. Images make your bill go through the roof unless you are on a good plan with FOMA maybe. I keep images turned off on my phone unless totally absolutely necessary. Doesn't everyone? - The experience does NOT suck compared to lugging a pc with you outdoors. It sucks perhaps compared to having a phone with a full keyboard and big screen but while available they do not I think generally have GPS and lots of other stylish features, are expensive, etc. I conclude this guy must never leave his basement. Idiotic comment. - The rest of the comments seem to be based on experience with shitty infrastructure. TFA's author says he actually has tried the web on different phones. Where I live any child can say the same fucking thing. This guy should retire, I don't think he can embarrass himself more. - In conclusion, Google's current search and mail services, and its automatic paging of all data for mobile terminals, are already the most fucking useful things about my phone, and I will demand it on any future phone. If google can make them work better, perhaps getting google maps to integrate with gps and browsing, I will jump on it! It's a no-brainer. Oh yeah, and it costs money and takes time to dial information, and then you have to remember an address or phone number unless you have a notepad out, whereas on a modern phone you just hit the big button in the middle and it dials for you. That they will also improve the front-end input processor for Japanese is also an awesome freebie, and if it reduces phone rates it will gain a massive following among any gadget savvy people who don't use it yet on their phones.
[1] So what is Google trying to do with a phone? First of all, it wants to put Google search on a phone. It wants to do this because it is obvious to the folks at Google that people need to do Web searches from their phone, so they can, uh, get directions to the
I once read that Plan9 used a WORM drive and basically all work from the office was saved at byte-level granularity. This is really what I want.
A Time Machine like system would be useful, but there are two problems I see. One is that a file could be corrupted if being written to when the backup is made (at least someone said this happens). FWIW there's something called pdumpfs from 2004 like flyback (in Ruby).
The other is of course that my most common needs for backup are erasing something by accident, "organizing" my files and then deleting something to where they've been organized, somehow losing my current version and wanting to revert to the version a minute before, etc. Other uses are when I have files on old media I need (where's the memory stick reader and the memory stick, or what's in that dead computer), and also of course the need for remote secure peace of mind backup (not on an ISP).
Time Machine doesn't answer all these things. I think there needs to be a system-wide stream backup daemon that apps can call, then the apps need to support it. Definitely I would like OpenOffice to do something like this that would work cross-platform. a series of graduated scales allowing one to zoom back quickly would also be good, finest grain one can show context. Apps should also provide hooks to the OS so that such an OS-supported interface could for example compare layers or bitmaps in the Gimp to show what has changed, compare stroked vector art, compare rich text, etc. in an intuitive manner perhaps using outlines or coloration so you can grab bits of what has changed.
All that said I think I would be very happy if 1) OpenOffice saved the entire keystroke/mouse event stream allowing reversion at any granularity, and 2) common filesystem commands could be relinked to utilities that maintain a trash space so you can revert prior to your (my) latest fuckups within the past week, say. These things do not seem too difficult technically.
Wrong. The building on the right is an Olympic torch. Some people have joked about poop but it is actually nice looking. The building on the left is the company's headquarters. It looks much like a frothing glass of beer. It is also extremely beautiful, either close up or from Asakusa across the Sumida River. Its gold tinted windows are gorgeous and the top floor has restaurants and a cafe with a magnificent view of the area.
Anyone else having trouble with the comparisons of aircraft carriers to fireflies, wondering why "bump" in the data has quotes around it? I'll let them keep the snowy fence post as a freebie.
Speaking of which google says proton mass / electron mass = 1,836.15266 so since when did an aircraft carrier weight as much as 1,000 fireflies anyway???
proton mass = 1.67262158 x 10^-27 kilograms electron mass: 9.10938188 x 10^-31 kilograms aircraft carrier mass: 9 x 10^7 kg (88,000 metric tons for a big one) firefly mass: 2 x 10^-3 kg (what a grasshopper supposedly weighs) snowflake mass: 3 x 10^-6 kg (typical 100 crystal snowflake)
So if proton/electron is about 1836 then we should be talking more about aircraft carriers to trucks, or to make electrons seem wispy we could compare fireflies to snowflakes. If you want to tell people about science you shouldn't use metaphors that give them wrong concepts.
No the supervillains are the guys that got treated in the secret human program run last year, which proved to make them psychotic too. Now they are running extra mouse trials so they can make it public as a CYA.
The OP is perhaps mystified because he is expressing an opinion from 2005 as shown here. Clearly mobile is where the money is, as Steve Jobs can tell you. Their English compatibles page is not too exciting but take a look at NTT DoCoMo's lineup (Japanese). DoCoMo sells advanced phones in Japan with Napster built in. Actually, the brand seems on that page to be "Napster x Tower Records" which will make you either gleeful or sick.. like the RIAA is selling Napster or vice versa. Phones providing unlimited songs it seems are made by several manufacturers (list).
There are two more data points to note.
1. The monthly flat fee format is very popular at least in Japan. In particular, ring tones are a big business, but also all kinds of other media like games, weather reports, and what looks compelling to me is NaviTime which tells you the combination of train and other transportation to get you to your destination in the shortest time. Flat fees though are usually I think 300 yen per month though (for a subscription to downloadable Java games from a game manufacturer). Perhaps you can get more money if bundled when you buy the phone.
2. The HSDPA high speed data network rollout is marketed to people as the way to deliver songs to your phone. Personally I wanted to go to the Internet at high speed but it turns out (at least until sometime in the future) that this is only within the carrier's network, perhaps only to registered sites. So a Napster-like unlimited service is very useful for HSDPA rollout especially for carriers (all of them) who just want to stuff things down your throat and could care less about connecting you the rest of the world.
I should note two things: it may be possible to get out of the network but you will go broke, and also the docomo person told me they might come out with a pcmcia card or some such that could do it. Anyway I'm waiting for the model supposed to come out this month or so that can also do roaming (World Wind service) in the U.S. (the last country to be added it seems).
My impression was that after consumers splurge (repeatedly) for new tv's or whatever to view NBC, that NBC then shoves ads down their mouths with the programs. I'd be willing to pay for the electricity and internet provider costs needed if they would just stream or (better yet as it is higher quality) torrent me the programs with the original advertising. An ipod version would be nice but I can't see paying for it. Though I might pay for a whole season at once or back issues. Might even be willing to pay a few bucks, preferably as a donation, when I think something is particularly worthy of it. Or buy a dvd or text transcript of something I already saw that was streamed to me. If NBC wants to do one better than iTunes they should just keep the ads and open a free channel on zudeo. It won't cost them anything and they can sell crap on their website. The airwaves are already "free" to the viewer, it makes little sense to charge now. They could also offer a network based tivo-like archive that lets you go back in time (like Apple's Time Machine) in case you miss a day or month of viewing. They could keep extending the time machine back further in time. Voila, business plan. Execute it, NBC! or FRY!
Slashdot Mirror
TFA is idiotic as others have posted, also it neglects a potential arms race with other rootkits.
However the idea of taking over the user's hardware, is not bad, though the way it is presented is awful. I really don't like the approach to assuming stupidity (sure it appeals to a sysadmin maybe) or the idea of breaking in unlawfully.
After all if you totally took over the machine, there would be no rootkits or other insane plugins. Here are a couple ideas to think about.
1. A new kind of, hardware manufacturer supported, signed minimal clean OS with verified signed apps. The forerunner of this is the instant-on SplashTop linux os for ASUS by DeviceVM, Phoenix Technologies' Hyperspace, etc. This is really grabbing the hardware using tools built into the hardware. Could be nasty if it allows being taken over by a cracker but possibly could guarantee a dumb but safe commerce terminal.
2. Launching a virtualized machine, perhaps using virtualization hooks in new cpus, which is similarly minimal and signed. It would seem this could be vulnerable depending on degree of memory protection and security of the kernel or hypervisor or whatever is running it. So this is a mostly software solution
In both cases (especially in the first one), the rightful owner of the hardware is given superior power over the hardware that a cracker does not have. For the first one, especially if you are going from a cold power up and you base the minimized system and apps all on a cryptogaphically safe ensured stack, or otherwise use resources not available to the Windows OS normally, you basically have a separate computer - safer than Vista - guaranteed by a trusted vendor. Applications could come from the trusted vendor too perhaps.
If you think about it you really don't need more computing ability than an old Apple ][ or a standalone kiosk teller machine has, except for the crypto. It seems possible to simulate this for significant transactions, contract signing, and so on. I could see a separate colored power button that will use hardware resources that are completely separated from Windows and the morass of unsafe architecture and virulent bots. Possibly this separate OS could be used for setting passwords that could be read from Windows, and for storing confidential documents.
Maybe you could partition the disk from there to assign a certain amount of space for work that is only accessible from the safe OS side, or set folders in the Windows partition that cannot be read or written except from a virtual PC like instance that has been checked by the safe OS. This approach would give the machine's owner a safe island where he knows he is alone and which only communicates over encrypted virtual private network paths to other safe island nodes.
Ihave not seen an iPhone yet but based on my experience reading ascii books (from the Baen Free Library) on the video iPod the screen is definitely not good for books. It hurts the eyes terribly to the point that I am wondering whether there is significant UV or IR being emitted from it; when on a train if I turn it on to start reading a book my eyes immediately start to feel leaden. You can't change the fonts, you have to scroll in a circle,you can't change the fonts, etc. In comparison reading books on my Palm Clie was excellent, even without backlight, and the memory stick was useful when I had my vaio (before it fell to starbucks).
So the iPhone could become a reader but it might have a much worse screen than the amazon unit for book reading. I think you want a cool, crisp feel. I'd like to hear rather a comparison of the amazon and sony ebook units (and there was another good one mentioned).
I haven't read the rebuttal but here's some reasons why they should keep it as is.
1. By keeping inaccuracy to below 1 second, human-set clocks and pcs that sync to an atomic clock are all always within about a second or so.
2. Keeping time is useful for being able to navigate with solely a clock, a compass and the sun.
3. Shadows could get out of whack, ruining sundials.
4. Humans generally experience time at a granularity similar to that of the leap second. Computers also have power up/down events, however for a limited period of continuous high resolution time they can use TAI or just turn off their ntp sync until the end of the period.
5. A disparity on the order of several to tens of minutes in the length of a day or noontime position will be discernible and could cause psychological stress or anxiety. News reports will heighten that.
6. Star charts and possibly existing navigation systems could get out of whack.
Don't know about Gmail, but a small number of sites ask for the device unique id when I connect from my Japanese docomo phone. Gmail asks when I connect via ssl. I can choose to refuse.
Much of the issue is likely invented by operators who want to own more of the pie and feel little responsibility to reducing their ROI by switching dark fiber on. Also the term "brownout" is cute since obviously there is no such thing, you get collisions and throttling but the routers don't explode usually.
However I am curious about how much bandwidth is eaten by:
- Spam
- Advertising
- Zombie communications and DDoS
Also, bandwidth availability, congestion and capacity need to be examined with respect to net segment, time, directionality and efficiency. It has to be mentioned whether last mile networks or cross-country lines are what is nearing capacity, and the study should mention competitiveness to other countries compared to which the updated investment forecast is still pitiful. The market may be sufficient for some things but the network infrastructure needs to grow much faster than that, in order to support innovation and business development.
Here is the content of an email a friend forwarded to me, originally sent from the European Business Council in Japan to Europeans doing business in Japan. After the clipped email is the content of the MS Word attachment describing a new quick pass gate system, which it seems they got from the Japanese government.
I lost my first post which included this and a small rant. Whatever. I am quite unhappy about this, and it seems to reverse the direction they were going, but the U.S. remains the king of security theater and it is an easy political win I suppose. They already got my photo and fingerprint from my passport and old foreigner card but I know I'm going to hate this. If it is in fact required.
Forwarded Email:
---
Further to my message on new immigration procedures last week, this is to
inform you that Ministry of Justice has now issued instructions in English
on how to undergo pre-registration for the new semi automatic gate system to
be established at Narita Airport on November 20.
Please find attached the instruction document, which should be available
soon on the MoJ website.
---
[For Foreigners]
(Reference Material for the PR Dept.)
Operation of the Automated Gate
Ministry of Justice, Immigration Bureau
1. Introduction
Automated gates will be placed at Narita Airport from November 20th, 2007, in order to improve convenience of immigration procedures by simplifying and accelerating them. We would like to ask foreigners who wish to use the automated gates to provide their personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial portrait) in advance and register themselves as applicants in order to use the gate.
2. Registration as an Applicant to Use the Automated Gate
1. Required Items for Registration
1. Valid passport (including Re-entry Permit) and re-entry permission
2. Application form to use the automated gate
2. Where and When to Register
We will be accepting applications from November 20th at the locations stated below:
1. Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau
Application Counter for re-entry permission (2F) 9:00-16:00 (Except Saturdays, Sundays, National Holidays and December 29th to January 3rd)
2. Narita Airport District Immigration Office
The departure inspection area at South Wing of Passenger Terminal 1: 9:00-17:00
The departure inspection area at the South Exit of Passenger Terminal 2: 9:00-17:00
3. Registration Procedures
Submit your application form with your passport and provide fingerprints of both index fingers and a facial portrait.
Then, when the official affixes a registration stamp on your passport, the registration procedure is complete. In principle, you can use the gate from that day forward.
4. Points of Concern for the Registration
1. Time Limit of Registration
You can register until the expiration date of your passport or the expiration date of your re-entry permit, whichever comes earlier.
2. Registration Restrictions
In some cases, such as when you cannot provide fingerprints, you may not be able to register.
3. Using and Providing the Registered Information
We will manage information including fingerprints and facial portraits provided at the registration as personal information set forth in laws on protection of personal informati
Looks cool but I wonder how secure it is.
- A video camera might be used to defeat it
- Beams invisible to the naked eye such as infrared, sonic, or microwave/wlan could be used with reflectors to create a compromised space in which shaken objects' movements could be recorded
- Powered units in motion could induce current/magnetic fields might be detectable
- When upgrading a device your keys are copied by a terminal in the phone company's office or at a kiosk belonging to a private company, presumably, as part of the address book. Implementation will require a secure partition/encrypted file on the device or its removable memory card.
- Phones look the same from the outside. How to prove it's your phone? Perhaps a thumbprint (like with PGP) using that musical tune feedback would be useful.
I know it is an *utter flight of fancy* but how about having a reporter (or just someone you can call a reporter) to like, you know, ask those guys?? Kyocera might even want to be sure they don't appear evil or stupid, and your "reporter" could mention how much trouble Novell has gotten into with the community from their own patent agreement with Microsoft.
If slashdot is not able to evaluate, hire and manage investigative reporters then there are a few other options. So I'll just state all the options off the top of my head here.
Heise security article says, "...British and German secret services initially had reservations about the cipher challenge."
I'd like to know more about what they said. Are they worried it will encourage kids to get interested in crypto? Where do they expect to pick up talented cryptographers anyway?
TFA does not in any part of it say "backing up your brain". It does not say it gives you "a simulacrum of your memories". It does give some clear explanation of research they are doing, which is not new.
It is not "hooey" either, as the web really is a memory extender just try Google. Or ask Ted Nelson, whose work on Xanadu hypertext for example is tracable to his own faulty memory which he overcame by carrying ring-bound cards on his belt.
The only problem with this of course is that Microsoft is involved. They are inevitably going to spread their smarmy-feely corporate crap all over it. And you know what's going to happen, you will see people buy other people's lives (as a 100GB file download of multimedia clips indexed by time and location) and act all superior and shit.
They always describe these things in glowing terms that make you think of your Mom scanning in family photos to email her kids but in the end they end up owning your ass. That part of it wasn't hooey.
Now an open source version of this would be cool. I wouldn't have to write stuff down, just surf back a la Time Machine or if anyone has tried it, Gelernter's Mirror Worlds which was an interesting Java desktop demo that puts you in mind of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. If someone tagged bits of their lives meaningfully it might be useful, even restaurants might get better service.
Nice. I invented something like it >2 years ago and proposed it to Ogilvy Mather, the system which runs on an internal network.
Google's spam filter is good but they can still do a lot more with what they have, for example identify mailing lists and group them on the side of the page, allow reordering by date/sender etc as Yahoo does, don't let important emails scroll off the bottom of the page so fast.
I would not be a happy camper however if social network analysis (which is used to identify information gatekeepers in an organization among other things) was used to target advertising or spam, especially if information from different gmail accounts was coordinated to do so. A minimal amount of analysis within one mailbox, and subtle navigational aids for that user, fine. Beyond that it gets scary and Google could have trouble calling themselves a common carrier.
Thank you very much, I like Jay Leno. It seems some of the clips are drmd but I enjoyed the Pope motorcycle segment a lot. Cool!
Thanks very much!
I also had a brainstorm I'll see if I can access via my linode.
Yes out of loop too long I suppose! Atlantis? I dunno, cheesy but in a warm broiled grilled cheese kinda way, soul food.
Regards,
Matt
I would like to add a data point. At one time I was asked to get involved in a venture by a Scandinavian company that was said to include a past head of the NYSE on its board. The venture was meant to be a game, not strictly gambling, though it seemed you could in fact win money. It was walking a thin line in a grey area.
People got cold feet and it evaporated as U.S. legislators gave hints that it would become illegal, but it seems to me that there remains a very grey area inhabited by the stock exchange, online gambling, virtual worlds like second life and massive multiplayer games with their own currencies and conversion rates. Games of chance and skill abound in already addictive and immersive worlds.
At the time even experienced people thought the line was drawn in one place but now it is perhaps in another. I would like to note that the venture I mention was not a casino. It was supposed to teach you about the stock market.
I think the definition of gambling these days has little to do with people's welfare. The definition is made by legislators and government executives, and involves a cynical calculation and the creation of a protected and coveted revenue source for a municipality.
Great I thought, and then had the wind taken out of my sails. They refuse to display the clip if you are out of the region they define. Despite that it would be used I think by people on vacation who don't want to miss their favorite show. Sum of my experience:
1. Watch TV! Yay!
2. But it's NBC! They have a lot of programs and they all suck! Honestly I wanted to watch Stargate Atlantis or some kind of scifi-y thing. Nope. They got ten cop shows though. Fine I pick the updated Bionic Woman I haven't seen before.
3. Figure out their convoluted interface, okay. Very spiffy but what I really want is to quickly find out what the show is about then watch it, y'know? Looks like they must spend a lot of money to add shows to this system.
4. They don't have the first episode of the series! Arrrgh! No matter of clicking little arrows will show it!
5. Pick a chapter. Wuh? This isn't a DVD!! Will I have to click each chapter as they finish? (Cringe!)
6. Okay here we go, I clicked the first chapter of the first clip I could find. ARRRRRGHH!! I'm in Japan and instead of a video, the video pane shows a message saying they refuse to show the video!! AAAAAACK!
7. Goodbye NBC.
I'm pro-Seti for the reasons mentioned above and obviously, 1) based on current scientific understanding it is overwhelmingly likely there is not just one intelligent civilization in the galaxy, and 2) the tech we could gain might be incredible so the financial risk is not only miniscule , it is a crime we don't invest more in it.
HOWEVER, I have to say that I once talked to my 75 yr. old Dad (a few years younger at the time) about it. We had a HUGE fight. A total schism! His understanding of aliens is that they don't exist, but if they do then they are the bugs from the Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Which we both did think is great (he saw the movie, I saw it but had reread the book many times). Basically he said he doesn't *want* to meet bug-eyed aliens! Vehemently! Okay, I don't either if they're psychotic murderers, fine. But I just want to emphasize that in addition to the stupidity of busybodies against SETI posting here, there are also probably a lot of people who due to either age and/or the media, just don't want to think about anything off the earth. Talking about SETI with my Dad drew such an amazing reaction from him. I think SETI and Spaceguard against comet/asteroid collisions are two useful things the government should fund, thank you. Allen's awesome. Oh yeah, and Contact the movie was cool but the book was better, darn it!
I read half of TFA just to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. Excellent, now I know I can ignore anything he ever writes again. Below, the (contiguous) passage I choose to rebut with facts.
Regarding his idea that there is no point using google on the phone:
- I have been using a 1 and 2 year old Sony phones running on DoCoMo's Japanese infra. I use Google all the damn time, it is tied for 1st place in frequency with "norikae annai" which lets you type in two station names and gives you the top three fastest train routes to get there with near exactness, and I use it more frequently than R25.jp (a news blurb site for train riders covering all topics from science to scandals) and much more than i-mode which is how DoCoMo got rich.
- Google also pages all sites for memory challenged phones, I've read books on it (like from infinity plus sci fi) - though nearly everyone does not read books on their phones.
- I look up phone numbers and addresses on the phone for places I'm going. Why? because it also gives you context in particular a precis of the event, it is very useful if a film festival is going on, and most useful you can get a street address and then put it into a map site (I use mapion) which will then help you get to where you are going. Even better if you have gps in your phone (all the new ones have it).
- I use gmail on my phone (I have my mail accounts forward to gmail, which has great spam filtering and is accessible online, plus being in a paged interface for small memory phones), even though the old Sony I have now can't run the Java applet and even though it wants to make a new ssl connection for every darn page. It is STILL useful, for when I really need to check something that was in an email.
- I want to buy a bigger screened phone, or if possible the new Softbank phone with keyboard if it ever comes out, so I can have a full browser and run Google MORE.
- Heavy PC google users must obviously bring their habits to their phones, I know I do.
- Google obviously knows by referer what phones people are using to access their site. They have more data than TFA's author.
Regarding [2]:
- How stupid. Images make your bill go through the roof unless you are on a good plan with FOMA maybe. I keep images turned off on my phone unless totally absolutely necessary. Doesn't everyone?
- The experience does NOT suck compared to lugging a pc with you outdoors. It sucks perhaps compared to having a phone with a full keyboard and big screen but while available they do not I think generally have GPS and lots of other stylish features, are expensive, etc. I conclude this guy must never leave his basement. Idiotic comment.
- The rest of the comments seem to be based on experience with shitty infrastructure. TFA's author says he actually has tried the web on different phones. Where I live any child can say the same fucking thing. This guy should retire, I don't think he can embarrass himself more.
- In conclusion, Google's current search and mail services, and its automatic paging of all data for mobile terminals, are already the most fucking useful things about my phone, and I will demand it on any future phone. If google can make them work better, perhaps getting google maps to integrate with gps and browsing, I will jump on it! It's a no-brainer. Oh yeah, and it costs money and takes time to dial information, and then you have to remember an address or phone number unless you have a notepad out, whereas on a modern phone you just hit the big button in the middle and it dials for you. That they will also improve the front-end input processor for Japanese is also an awesome freebie, and if it reduces phone rates it will gain a massive following among any gadget savvy people who don't use it yet on their phones.
[1] So what is Google trying to do with a phone? First of all, it wants to put Google search on a phone. It wants to do this because it is obvious to the folks at Google that people need to do Web searches from their phone, so they can, uh, get directions to the
I once read that Plan9 used a WORM drive and basically all work from the office was saved at byte-level granularity. This is really what I want.
A Time Machine like system would be useful, but there are two problems I see. One is that a file could be corrupted if being written to when the backup is made (at least someone said this happens). FWIW there's something called pdumpfs from 2004 like flyback (in Ruby).
The other is of course that my most common needs for backup are erasing something by accident, "organizing" my files and then deleting something to where they've been organized, somehow losing my current version and wanting to revert to the version a minute before, etc. Other uses are when I have files on old media I need (where's the memory stick reader and the memory stick, or what's in that dead computer), and also of course the need for remote secure peace of mind backup (not on an ISP).
Time Machine doesn't answer all these things. I think there needs to be a system-wide stream backup daemon that apps can call, then the apps need to support it. Definitely I would like OpenOffice to do something like this that would work cross-platform. a series of graduated scales allowing one to zoom back quickly would also be good, finest grain one can show context. Apps should also provide hooks to the OS so that such an OS-supported interface could for example compare layers or bitmaps in the Gimp to show what has changed, compare stroked vector art, compare rich text, etc. in an intuitive manner perhaps using outlines or coloration so you can grab bits of what has changed.
All that said I think I would be very happy if 1) OpenOffice saved the entire keystroke/mouse event stream allowing reversion at any granularity, and 2) common filesystem commands could be relinked to utilities that maintain a trash space so you can revert prior to your (my) latest fuckups within the past week, say. These things do not seem too difficult technically.
Wrong. The building on the right is an Olympic torch. Some people have joked about poop but it is actually nice looking. The building on the left is the company's headquarters. It looks much like a frothing glass of beer. It is also extremely beautiful, either close up or from Asakusa across the Sumida River. Its gold tinted windows are gorgeous and the top floor has restaurants and a cafe with a magnificent view of the area.
Yes I saw that. Which is cool but fits right into context now that I'm halfway done with Rudy Rucker's new novel which is free CC liscensed online.
Matt
Anyone else having trouble with the comparisons of aircraft carriers to fireflies, wondering why "bump" in the data has quotes around it? I'll let them keep the snowy fence post as a freebie.
Speaking of which google says proton mass / electron mass = 1,836.15266 so since when did an aircraft carrier weight as much as 1,000 fireflies anyway???
proton mass = 1.67262158 x 10^-27 kilograms
electron mass: 9.10938188 x 10^-31 kilograms
aircraft carrier mass: 9 x 10^7 kg (88,000 metric tons for a big one)
firefly mass: 2 x 10^-3 kg (what a grasshopper supposedly weighs)
snowflake mass: 3 x 10^-6 kg (typical 100 crystal snowflake)
So if proton/electron is about 1836 then we should be talking more about aircraft carriers to trucks, or to make electrons seem wispy we could compare fireflies to snowflakes. If you want to tell people about science you shouldn't use metaphors that give them wrong concepts.
No the supervillains are the guys that got treated in the secret human program run last year, which proved to make them psychotic too. Now they are running extra mouse trials so they can make it public as a CYA.
The OP is perhaps mystified because he is expressing an opinion from 2005 as shown here. Clearly mobile is where the money is, as Steve Jobs can tell you. Their English compatibles page is not too exciting but take a look at NTT DoCoMo's lineup (Japanese). DoCoMo sells advanced phones in Japan with Napster built in. Actually, the brand seems on that page to be "Napster x Tower Records" which will make you either gleeful or sick.. like the RIAA is selling Napster or vice versa. Phones providing unlimited songs it seems are made by several manufacturers (list).
There are two more data points to note.
1. The monthly flat fee format is very popular at least in Japan. In particular, ring tones are a big business, but also all kinds of other media like games, weather reports, and what looks compelling to me is NaviTime which tells you the combination of train and other transportation to get you to your destination in the shortest time. Flat fees though are usually I think 300 yen per month though (for a subscription to downloadable Java games from a game manufacturer). Perhaps you can get more money if bundled when you buy the phone.
2. The HSDPA high speed data network rollout is marketed to people as the way to deliver songs to your phone. Personally I wanted to go to the Internet at high speed but it turns out (at least until sometime in the future) that this is only within the carrier's network, perhaps only to registered sites. So a Napster-like unlimited service is very useful for HSDPA rollout especially for carriers (all of them) who just want to stuff things down your throat and could care less about connecting you the rest of the world.
I should note two things: it may be possible to get out of the network but you will go broke, and also the docomo person told me they might come out with a pcmcia card or some such that could do it. Anyway I'm waiting for the model supposed to come out this month or so that can also do roaming (World Wind service) in the U.S. (the last country to be added it seems).
There already are cells for numbers, namely the follicles in the ear that are used to detect pitch IIRC each cell picks up a specific frequency.
My impression was that after consumers splurge (repeatedly) for new tv's or whatever to view NBC, that NBC then shoves ads down their mouths with the programs. I'd be willing to pay for the electricity and internet provider costs needed if they would just stream or (better yet as it is higher quality) torrent me the programs with the original advertising. An ipod version would be nice but I can't see paying for it. Though I might pay for a whole season at once or back issues. Might even be willing to pay a few bucks, preferably as a donation, when I think something is particularly worthy of it. Or buy a dvd or text transcript of something I already saw that was streamed to me. If NBC wants to do one better than iTunes they should just keep the ads and open a free channel on zudeo. It won't cost them anything and they can sell crap on their website. The airwaves are already "free" to the viewer, it makes little sense to charge now. They could also offer a network based tivo-like archive that lets you go back in time (like Apple's Time Machine) in case you miss a day or month of viewing. They could keep extending the time machine back further in time. Voila, business plan. Execute it, NBC! or FRY!