Info Tech Buzz

Adobe Creative Suite 5 arrives

2010-04-12T09:51:00.000-04:00

At Midnight this morning Adobe pushed out the launch of Creative Suite
5, which contains truly remarkable new media creation technologies.
The press and expert users are all breathless with exuberance for this
new product.

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2010/04/unveiling_the_all_new_creative.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20002131-264.html
http://thomashawk.com/2010/04/adobe-photoshop-cs5-boldly-empowers-the-digital-artist.html
http://terrywhite.com/techblog/archives/5117
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2010/archives/9577
http://www.macworld.com/article/150507/2010/04/pscs5.html

Some great videos showing it off:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/cs5-web-premium-feature-tour/whats-new-for-photographers/
http://tv.adobe.com/show/cs5-web-premium-feature-tour/
http://www.photoshopuser.com/cs5
http://creativesuitepodcast.com/
http://kelbytraining.com/
http://photoshopuser.com/cs5

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/
http://www.layersmagazine.com/
http://www.photoshopuser.com/

One bummer: Still no sign of Monmouth making the cut into Adobe's
best pricing tier.
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/students/new_jersey.html

But until we get in, which should be soon, you can get the mid tier
discount and get the Production Premium pack for as cheap as $449.
Once we are in the program it would be as cheap as $299.

Sam

Look how simple the guts of an iPad really are

2010-04-12T08:45:00.001-04:00

Not much room to strip things down to reduce cost. It's a shell on
the outside, a nice display up front and two big honking batteries in
the middle. The space taken up by the actual 'computer' is 3/4 WIFI
support and 1/4 CPU. Brilliant.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/12/business/IPAD.html?ref=technology

Snopes, iPad and more

2010-04-05T10:05:00.001-04:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/technology/05snopes.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/ipad-education-schools.html
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/apple-sells-over-300-000-ipad-tablets-on-us-launch-day/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/03/apple-ipad-review/
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/31/a-first-look-at-ipad.html
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/2134163,ihnatko-ipad-computer-detractors-033110.article
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/2134139,ihnatko-ipad-apple-review-033110.article
http://www.macworld.com/article/150330/2010/04/ipadreview.html
http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/kids_are_all_right
http://www.fastcompany.com/1604832/why-you-shouldnt-buy-an-ipad-yet
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1976935,00.html
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100331/apple-ipad-review/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/technology/personaltech/01pogue.html?ref=technology
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/the-ipad-arrives-the-wait-is-over-and-wasnt-bad/
http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_ipad_first

For the record, I couldn't wait for my 3G iPad pre-order to get here
in about a month so I went to Menlo Park on Saturday and got a 32GB
Wifi model. Will discuss it tomorrow night!

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff_youtube_5secrets
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/comcast-broadband-meters/

I'm not much into comics but this is awesome, I bought $16 worth of
comic books just to show it off:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/04/first-look-at-marvel-comics-ipad-app/

Sam

Digital Due Process

2010-03-30T12:47:00.001-04:00

Hope it works...

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/30/digital-due-process-coalition-looks-to-update-online-privacy-laws/

Sam

Sistine Chapel Virtual Reality Panorama

2010-03-29T16:16:00.001-04:00

Pretty interesting use of this technology, regardless of what religion you are!

http://kottke.org/10/03/sistine-chapel-virtual-panorama

Giz on the current state of music piracy

2010-02-19T14:11:00.001-05:00

Fascinating. The music industry knew they had to compete with free,
so they improved their services. The Pirates then had to ratchet
things up on their end too!
http://gizmodo.com/5475006/the-secret-world-of-private-bittorrent-trackers

Sam

The government is tracking your baby's DNA!

2010-02-19T11:08:00.001-05:00

Wow that is incredibly scary. Thanks to Katrina for the find and
passing it on! I've forwarded that to Professor Farber and a few
other security researchers to hear their thoughts...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04/baby.dna.government/index.html?iref=allsearch

Lets all think about the ways this can be abused...

Data, information, knowledge, wisdom

2010-02-08T00:34:00.001-05:00

What do you consume and what do you create?

How much of what you already know and how much of what you will learn
is 'sticky'?

Rands takes on this deeeep subject!
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/02/08/a_story_culture.html

Is the education angle why Apple is going to the Tablet format?

2010-01-25T08:55:00.001-05:00

Interesting questions from TUAW. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) tried
this and failed pretty miserably so far, but they didn't have the
educational roots that Apple has....

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/25/is-jobs-looking-to-overhaul-education-with-the-tablet/

Re: FW: [IP] Clinton Speech: Internet Freedom (Text)

2010-01-22T11:11:00.001-05:00

Analysis of the Hilary Clinton Internet speech:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/hillary-clinton-slams-information-curtain-of-censorship.ars

FW: [IP] Clinton Speech: Internet Freedom (Text)

2010-01-22T10:12:00.000-05:00

From Professor Dave Farber's IP list

From: Dave Farber [mailto:dfarber@me.com]
Sent: Thu 1/21/2010 1:13 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Clinton Speech: Internet Freedom (Text)

>From: "Richard Forno" <rforno@infowarrior.org>
>To: <Undisclosed-recipients:unspecified-domain;>
>Cc: "Dave Farber" <dave@farber.net>
>Date: January 21, 2010 12:53:57 PM EST
>Subject: Clinton Speech: Internet Freedom (Text)
>
>Internet Freedom
>
>The prepared text of U.S. of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
>Clinton's speech, delivered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
>
>JANUARY 21, 2010
>
>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/21/internet_freedom
>Thank you, Alberto for that kind introduction. It's a pleasure to be
>here at the Newseum. This institution is a monument to some of our
>most precious freedoms, and I'm grateful for this opportunity to
>discuss how those freedoms apply to the challenges of the 21st
>century. I'm also delighted to see so many friends and former
>colleagues.
>
>This is an important speech on an important subject. But before I
>begin, I want to speak briefly about Haiti. During the last nine days,
>the people of Haiti and the people of the world have joined together
>to deal with a tragedy of staggering proportions. Our hemisphere has
>seen its share of hardship, but there are few precedents for the
>situation we're facing in Port-au-Prince. Communication networks have
>played a critical role in our response. In the hours after the quake,
>we worked with partners in the private sector to set up the text
>"HAITI" campaign so that mobile phone users in the United States could
>donate to relief efforts via text message. That initiative has been a
>showcase for the generosity of the American people and it's raised
>over $25 million for recovery efforts.
>
>Information networks have also played a critical role on the ground.
>
>The technology community has set up interactive maps to help identify
>needs and target resources. And on Monday, a seven-year-old girl and
>two women were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket by an
>American search and rescue team after they sent a text message calling
>for help. These examples are manifestations of a much broader
>phenomenon.
>
>The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for
>our planet. When something happens in Haiti or Hunan the rest of us
>learn about it in real time - from real people. And we can respond in
>real time as well. Americans eager to help in the aftermath of a
>disaster and the girl trapped in that supermarket are connected in
>ways that we weren't a generation ago. That same principle applies to
>almost all of humanity. As we sit here today, any of you - or any of
>our children - can take out tools we carry with us every day and
>transmit this discussion to billions across the world.
>
>In many respects, information has never been so free. There are more
>ways to spread more ideas to more people than at any moment in
>history. Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are
>helping people discover new facts and making governments more
>accountable.
>
>During his visit to China in November, President Obama held a town
>hall meeting with an online component to highlight the importance of
>the internet. In response to a question that was sent in over the
>internet, he defended the right of people to freely access
>information, and said that the more freely information flows, the
>stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information
>helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, generates new
>ideas, and encourages creativity. The United States' belief in that
>truth is what brings me here today.
>
>But amid this unprecedented surge in connectivity, we must also
>recognize that these technologies are not an unmitigated blessing.
>These tools are also being exploited to undermine human progress and
>political rights. Just as steel can be used to build hospitals or
>machine guns and nuclear energy can power a city or destroy it, modern
>information networks and the technologies they support can be
>harnessed for good or ill. The same networks that help organize
>movements for freedom also enable al Qaeda to spew hatred and incite
>violence against the innocent. And technologies with the potential to
>open up access to government and promote transparency can also be
>hijacked by governments to crush dissent and deny human rights.
>
>In the last year, we've seen a spike in threats to the free flow of
>information. China, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan have stepped up their
>censorship of the internet. In Vietnam, access to popular social
>networking sites has suddenly disappeared. And last Friday in Egypt,
>30 bloggers and activists were detained. One member of this group,
>Bassem Samir - who is thankfully no longer in prison - is with us
>today. So while it is clear that the spread of these technologies is
>transforming our world, it is still unclear how that transformation
>will affect the human rights and welfare of much of the world's
>population.
>
>SYNCING PROGRESS WITH PRINCIPLES
>
>On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for
>freedom and progress. But the United States does. We stand for a
>single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge
>and ideas. And we recognize that the world's information
>infrastructure will become what we and others make of it.
>
>This challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the
>free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic. The
>words of the First Amendment to the Constitution are carved in 50 tons
>of Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every
>generation of Americans has worked to protect the values etched in
>that stone.
>
>Franklin Roosevelt built on these ideas when he delivered his Four
>Freedoms speech in 1941. At the time, Americans faced a cavalcade of
>crises and a crisis of confidence. But the vision of a world in which
>all people enjoyed freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom
>from want, and freedom from fear transcended the trouble of his day.
>
>Years later, one of my heroes, Eleanor Roosevelt, worked to have these
>principles adopted as a cornerstone of the Universal Declaration of
>Human Rights. They have provided a lodestar to every succeeding
>generation - guiding us, galvanizing us, and enabling us to move
>forward in the face of uncertainty.
>
>As technology hurtles forward, we must think back to that legacy. We
>need to synchronize our technological progress with our principles. In
>accepting the Nobel Prize, President Obama spoke about the need to
>build a world in which peace rests on the "inherent rights and dignity
>of every individual." And in my speech on human rights at Georgetown I
>talked about how we must find ways to make human rights a reality.
>Today, we find an urgent need to protect these freedoms on the digital
>frontiers of the 21st century.
>
>There are many other networks in the world - some aid in the movement
>of people or resources; and some facilitate exchanges between
>individuals
>
>with the same work or interests. But the internet is a network that
>
>magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that's why we
>believe it's critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms.
>
>FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
>
>First among them is the freedom of expression. This freedom is no
>longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square
>and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs,
>email, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums
>for exchanging ideas - and created new targets for censorship.
>
>As I speak to you today, government censors are working furiously to
>erase my words from the records of history. But history itself has
>already condemned these tactics. Two months ago, I was in Germany to
>celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The
>leaders gathered at that ceremony paid tribute to the courageous men
>and women on the far side of that barrier who made the case against
>oppression by circulating small pamphlets called samizdat. These
>leaflets questioned the claims and intentions of dictatorships in the
>Eastern Bloc, and many people paid dearly for distributing them. But
>their words helped pierce the concrete and concertina wire of the Iron
>Curtain.
>
>The Berlin Wall symbolized a world divided, and it defined an entire
>era. Today, remnants of that wall sit inside this museum - where they
>belong. And the new iconic infrastructure of our age is the internet.
>
>Instead of division, it stands for connection. But even as networks
>spread to nations around the globe, virtual walls are cropping up in
>place of visible walls.
>
>Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their
>people from accessing portions of the world's networks. They have
>expunged words, names and phrases from search engine results. They
>have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non-violent
>political speech. These actions contravene the Universal Declaration
>on Human Rights, which tells us that all people have the right "to
>seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
>regardless of frontiers." With the spread of these restrictive
>practices, a new information curtain is descending across much of the
>world. Beyond this partition, viral videos and blog posts are becoming
>the samizdat of our day.
>
>As in the dictatorships of the past, governments are targeting
>independent thinkers who use these tools. In the demonstrations that
>followed Iran's presidential elections, grainy cell phone footage of a
>young woman's bloody murder provided a digital indictment of the
>government's brutality. We've seen reports that when Iranians living
>overseas posted online criticism of their nation's leaders, their
>family members in Iran were singled out for retribution. And despite
>an intense campaign of government intimidation, brave citizen
>journalists in Iran continue using technology to show the world and
>their fellow citizens what is happening in their country. In speaking
>out on behalf of their own human rights the Iranian people have
>inspired the world.
>
>And their courage is redefining how technology is used to spread truth
>and expose injustice.
>
>All societies recognize that free expression has its limits. We do not
>tolerate those who incite others to violence, such as the agents of al
>Qaeda who are - at this moment - using the internet to promote the
>mass murder of innocent people. And hate speech that targets
>individuals on the basis of their ethnicity, gender, or sexual
>orientation is reprehensible. It is an unfortunate fact that these
>issues are both growing challenges that the international community
>must confront together. We must also grapple with the issue of
>anonymous speech. Those who use the internet to recruit terrorists or
>distribute stolen intellectual property cannot divorce their online
>actions from their real world identities. But these challenges must
>not become an excuse for governments to systematically violate the
>rights and privacy of those who use the internet for peaceful
>political purposes.
>
>FREEDOM OF WORSHIP
>
>The freedom of expression may be the most obvious freedom to face
>challenges with the spread of new technologies, but it is not alone.
>The freedom of worship usually involves the rights of individuals to
>commune - or not commune - with their Creator. And that's one channel
>of communication that does not rely on technology. But the freedom of
>worship also speaks to the universal right to come together with those
>who share your values and vision for humanity. In our history, those
>gatherings often took place in churches, synagogues, temples, and
>mosques. Today, they may also take place on line.
>
>The internet can help bridge divides between people of different faiths.
>
>As the president said in Cairo, "freedom of religion is central to the
>ability of people to live together." And as we look for ways to expand
>dialogue, the internet holds out tremendous promise. We have already
>begun connecting students in the United States with young people in
>Muslim communities around the world to discuss global challenges. And
>we will continue using this tool to foster discussion between
>individuals in different religious communities.
>
>Some nations, however, have co-opted the internet as a tool to target
>and silence people of faith. Last year in Saudi Arabia, a man spent
>months in prison for blogging about Christianity. And a Harvard study
>found that the Saudi government blocked many web pages about Hinduism,
>Judaism, Christianity, and even Islam. Countries including Vietnam and
>China employed similar tactics to restrict access to religious
>information.
>
>Just as these technologies must not be used to punish peaceful
>political speech, they must not be used to persecute or silence
>religious minorities. Prayers will always travel on higher networks.
>But connection technologies like the internet and social networking
>sites should enhance individuals' ability to worship as they see fit,
>come together with people of their own faith, and learn more about the
>beliefs of others. We must work to advance the freedom of worship
>online just as we do in other areas of life.
>
>FREEDOM FROM WANT
>
>There are, of course, hundreds of millions of people living without
>the benefits of these technologies. In our world, talent is
>distributed universally, but opportunity is not. And we know from long
>experience that promoting social and economic development in countries
>where people lack access to knowledge, markets, capital, and
>opportunity can be frustrating, and sometimes futile work. In this
>context, the internet can serve as a great equalizer. By providing
>people with access to knowledge and potential markets, networks can
>create opportunity where none exists.
>
>Over the last year, I've seen this first hand. In Kenya, where farmers
>have seen their income grow by as much as 30% since they started using
>mobile banking technology. In Bangladesh, where more than 300,000
>people have signed up to learn English on their mobile phones. And in
>sub-Saharan Africa, where women entrepreneurs use the internet to get
>access to microcredit loans and connect to global markets. These
>examples of progress can be replicated in the lives of the billion
>people at the bottom of the world's economic ladder. In many cases,
>
>the internet, mobile phones, and other connection technologies can do
>for economic growth what the green revolution did for agriculture. You
>can now generate significant yields from very modest inputs. One World
>Bank study found that in a typical developing country, a 10% increase
>in the penetration rate for mobile phones led to an almost one percent
>annual increase in per capita GDP. To put that in perspective, for
>India, that would translate into almost $10 billion a year.
>
>A connection to global information networks is like an on a ramp to
>modernity. In the early years of these technologies, many believed
>they would divide the world between haves and have-nots. That hasn't
>happened. There are 4 billion cell phones in use today - many are in
>the hands of market vendors, rickshaw drivers, and others who've
>historically lacked access to education and opportunity. Information
>networks have become a great leveler, and we should use them to help
>lift people out of poverty.
>
>FREEDOM FROM FEAR
>
>We have every reason to be hopeful about what people can accomplish
>when they leverage communication networks and connection technologies
>to achieve progress. But some will use global information networks for
>darker purposes. Violent extremists, criminal cartels, sexual
>predators, and authoritarian governments all seek to exploit global
>networks. Just as terrorists have taken advantage of the openness of
>our society to carry out their plots, violent extremists use the
>internet to radicalize and intimidate. As we work to advance these
>freedoms, we must also work against those who use communication
>networks as tools of disruption and fear.
>
>Governments and citizens must have confidence that the networks at the
>core of their national security and economic prosperity are safe and
>resilient. This is about more than petty hackers who deface websites.
>
>Our ability to bank online, use electronic commerce, and safeguard
>billions of dollars in intellectual property are all at stake if we
>cannot rely on the security of information networks.
>
>Disruptions in these systems demand a coordinated response by
>governments, the private sector, and the international community. We
>need more tools to help law enforcement agencies cooperate across
>jurisdictions when criminal hackers and organized crime syndicates
>attack networks for financial gain. The same is true when social ills
>such as child pornography and the exploitation of trafficked women and
>girls migrate online. We applaud efforts such as the Council on
>Europe's Convention on Cybercrime that facilitate international
>cooperation in prosecuting such offenses.
>
>We have taken steps as a government, and as a Department, to find
>diplomatic solutions to strengthen global cyber security. Over a half-
>dozen different Bureaus have joined together to work on this issue,
>and two years ago we created an office to coordinate foreign policy in
>cyberspace. We have worked to address this challenge at the UN and
>other multilateral forums and put cyber-security on the world's
>agenda. And President Obama has appointed a new national cyberspace
>policy coordinator who will help us work even more closely to ensure
>that our networks stay free, secure, and reliable.
>
>States, terrorists, and those who would act as their proxies must know
>that the United States will protect our networks. Those who disrupt
>the free flow of information in our society, or any other, pose a
>threat to our economy, our government and our civil society. Countries
>or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences
>and international condemnation. In an interconnected world, an attack
>on one nation's networks can be an attack on all. By reinforcing that
>message, we can create norms of behavior among states and encourage
>respect for the global networked commons.
>
>THE FREEDOM TO CONNECT
>
>The final freedom I want to address today flows from the four I've
>already mentioned: the freedom to connect - the idea that governments
>should not prevent people from connecting to the internet, to
>websites, or to each other. The freedom to connect is like the freedom
>of assembly in cyber space. It allows individuals to get online, come
>together, and hopefully cooperate in the name of progress. Once you're
>on the internet, you don't need to be a tycoon or a rock star to have
>a huge impact on society.
>
>The largest public response to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai was
>launched by a 13-year-old boy. He used social networks to organize
>blood drives and a massive interfaith book of condolence. In Colombia,
>an unemployed engineer brought together more than 12 million people in
>190 cities around the world to demonstrate against the FARC terrorist
>movement. The protests were the largest anti-terrorist demonstrations
>in history. In the weeks that followed, the FARC saw more
>demobilizations and desertions than it had during a decade of military
>action. And in Mexico, a single email from a private citizen who was
>fed up with drug-related violence snowballed into huge demonstrations
>in all of the country's 32 states. In Mexico City alone, 150,000
>people took to the streets in protest. The internet can help humanity
>push back against those who promote violence and extremism.
>
>In Iran, Moldova, and many other countries, online organizing has been
>a critical tool for advancing democracy, and enabling citizens to
>protest suspicious election results. Even in established democracies
>like the United States, we've seen the power of these tools to change
>history. Some of you may still remember the 2008 presidential
>election...
>
>The freedom to connect to these technologies can help transform
>societies, but it is also critically important to individuals. I
>recently heard the story of a doctor who had been trying desperately
>to diagnose his daughter's rare medical condition. After consulting
>with two dozen specialists, he still didn't have an answer. He finally
>identified the condition - and a cure - by using an internet search
>engine. That's one of the reasons why unfettered access to search
>engine technology is so important.
>
>APPLYING PRINCIPLES TO POLICY
>
>The principles I've outlined today will guide our approach to the
>issue of internet freedom and the use of these technologies. And I
>want to speak about how we apply them in practice. The United States
>is committed to devoting the diplomatic, economic and technological
>resources necessary to advance these freedoms. We are a nation made up
>of immigrants from every country and interests that span the globe.
>Our foreign policy is premised on the idea that no country stands to
>benefit more when cooperation among peoples and states increases. And
>no country shoulders a heavier burden when conflict drives nations
>apart.
>
>We are well placed to seize the opportunities that come with
>interconnectivity. And as the birthplace for so many of these
>technologies, we have a responsibility to see them used for good. To
>do that, we need to develop our capacity for 21st century statecraft.
>
>Realigning our policies and our priorities won't be easy. But
>adjusting to new technology rarely is. When the telegraph was
>introduced, it was a source of great anxiety for many in the
>diplomatic community, where the prospect of receiving daily
>instructions from Washington was not entirely welcome. But just as our
>diplomats eventually mastered the telegraph, I have supreme confidence
>that the world can harness the potential of these new tools as well.
>
>I'm proud that the State Department is already working in more than 40
>countries to help individuals silenced by oppressive governments. We
>are making this issue a priority in at the United Nations as well, and
>included internet freedom as a component in the first resolution we
>introduced after returning to the UN Human Rights Council.
>
>We are also supporting the development of new tools that enable
>citizens to exercise their right of free expression by circumventing
>politically motivated censorship. We are working globally to make sure
>that those tools get to the people who need them, in local languages,
>and with the training they need to access the internet safely. The
>United States has been assisting in these efforts for some time. Both
>the American people and nations that censor the internet should
>understand that our government is proud to help promote internet
>freedom.
>
>We need to put these tools in the hands of people around the world who
>will use them to advance democracy and human rights, fight climate
>change and epidemics, build global support for President Obama's goal
>of a world without nuclear weapons, and encourage sustainable economic
>development. That's why today I'm announcing that over the next year,
>we will work with partners in industry, academia, and non-governmental
>organizations to establish a standing effort that will harness the
>power of connection technologies and apply them to our diplomatic
>goals. By relying on mobile phones, mapping applications, and other
>new tools, we can empower citizens and leverage our traditional
>diplomacy. We can also address deficiencies in the current market for
>innovation.
>
>Let me give you one example: let's say I want to create a mobile phone
>application that would allow people to rate government ministries on
>their responsiveness, efficiency, and level of corruption. The
>hardware required to make this idea work is already in the hands of
>billions of potential users. And the software involved would be
>relatively inexpensive to develop and deploy. If people took advantage
>of this tool, it would help us target foreign assistance spending,
>improve lives, and encourage foreign investment in countries with
>responsible governments - all good things. However, right now, mobile
>application developers have no financial incentive to pursue that
>project on their own and the State Department lacks a mechanism to
>make it happen. This initiative should help resolve that problem, and
>provide long-term dividends from modest investments in innovation.
>We're going to work with experts to find the best structure for this
>venture, and we'll need the talent and resources of technology
>companies and non-profit organizations in order to get the best
>results. So for those of you in this room, consider yourselves invited.
>
>In the meantime, there are companies, individuals, and institutions
>working on ideas and applications that could advance our diplomatic
>and development objectives. And the State Department will be launching
>an innovation competition to give this work an immediate boost. We'll
>be asking Americans to send us their best ideas for applications and
>technologies that help to break down language barriers, overcome
>illiteracy, and connect people to the services and information they
>need. Microsoft, for example, has already developed a prototype for a
>digital doctor that could help provide medical care in isolated rural
>communities. We want to see more ideas like that. And we'll work with
>the winners of the competition and provide grant to help build their
>ideas to scale.
>
>PRIVATE SECTOR AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY
>
>As we work together with the private sector and foreign governments to
>deploy the tools of 21st century statecraft, we need to remember our
>shared responsibility to safeguard the freedoms I've talked about today.
>
>We feel strongly that principles like information freedom aren't just
>good policy, they're good business for all involved. To use market
>terminology, a publicly-listed company in Tunisia or Vietnam that
>operates in an environment of censorship will always trade at a
>discount relative to an identical firm in a free society. If corporate
>decision makers don't have access to global sources of news and
>information, investors will have less confidence in their decisions.
>Countries that censor news and information must recognize that, from
>an economic standpoint, there is no distinction between censoring
>political speech and commercial speech. If businesses in your nation
>are denied access to either type of information, it will inevitably
>reduce growth.
>
>Increasingly, U.S. companies are making the issue of information
>freedom a greater consideration in their business decisions. I hope
>that their competitors and foreign governments will pay close
>attention to this trend.
>
>The most recent example of Google's review of its business operations
>in China has attracted a great deal of interest. We look to Chinese
>authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of the cyber
>intrusions that led Google to make this announcement. We also look for
>that investigation and its results to be transparent. The internet has
>already been a source of tremendous progress in China, and it's great
>that so many people there are now online. But countries that restrict
>free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet
>users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next
>century. The United States and China have different views on this
>issue. And we intend to address those differences candidly and
>consistently.
>
>Ultimately, this issue isn't just about information freedom; it's
>about what kind of world we're going to inhabit. It's about whether we
>live on a planet with one internet, one global community, and a common
>body of knowledge that unites and benefits us all. Or a fragmented
>planet in which access to information and opportunity is dependent on
>where you live and the whims of censors.
>
>Information freedom supports the peace and security that provide a
>foundation for global progress. Historically, asymmetrical access to
>information is one of the leading causes of interstate conflict. When
>we face serious disputes or dangerous incidents, it's critical that
>people on both sides of the problem have access to the same set of
>facts and opinions.
>
>As it stands, Americans can consider information presented by foreign
>governments - we do not block their attempts to communicate with
>people in the United States. But citizens in societies that practice
>censorship lack exposure to outside views. In North Korea, for
>example, the government has tried to completely isolate its citizens
>from outside opinions. This lop-sided access to information increases
>both the likelihood of conflict and the probability that small
>disagreements will escalate. I hope responsible governments with an
>interest in global stability will work to address such imbalances.
>
>For companies, this issue is about more than claiming the moral high
>ground; it comes down to the trust between firms and their customers.
>Consumers everywhere want to have confidence that the internet
>companies they rely on will provide comprehensive search results and
>act as responsible stewards of their information. Firms that earn that
>confidence will prosper in a global marketplace. Those who lose it
>will also lose customers. I hope that refusal to support politically-
>motivated censorship will become a trademark characteristic of
>American technology companies. It should be part of our national
>brand. I'm confident that consumers worldwide will reward firms that
>respect these principles.
>
>We are reinvigorating the Global Internet Freedom Task Force as a
>forum for addressing threats to internet freedom around the world, and
>urging U.S. media companies to take a proactive role in challenging
>foreign governments' demands for censorship and surveillance. The
>private sector has a shared responsibility to help safeguard free
>expression. And when their business dealings threaten to undermine
>this freedom, they need to consider what's right, not simply the
>prospect of quick profits.
>
>We're also encouraged by the work that's being done through the Global
>Network Initiative - a voluntary effort by technology companies who
>are working with non-governmental organization, academic experts, and
>social investment funds to respond to government requests for
>censorship. The Initiative goes beyond mere statements of principle
>and establishes mechanisms to promote real accountability and
>transparency. As part of our commitment to support responsible private
>sector engagement on information freedom, the State Department will be
>convening a high-level meeting next month co-chaired by Under
>Secretaries Robert Hormats and Maria Otero to bring together firms
>that provide network services for talks on internet freedom. We hope
>to work together to address this challenge.
>
>CONCLUSION
>
>Pursuing the freedoms I've talked about today is the right thing to do.
>
>But it's also the smart thing to do. By advancing this agenda, we
>align our principles, our economic goals, and our strategic
>priorities. We need to create a world in which access to networks and
>information brings people closer together, and expands our definition
>of community.
>
>Given the magnitude of the challenges we're facing, we need people
>around the world to pool their knowledge and creativity to help
>rebuild the global economy, protect our environment, defeat violent
>extremism, and build a future in which every human being can realize
>their God-given potential.
>
>Let me close by asking you to remember the little girl who was pulled
>from the rubble on Monday in Port-au-Prince. She is alive, was
>reunited with her family, and will have the opportunity to help
>rebuild her nation because these networks took a voice that was buried
>and spread it to the world. No nation, group, or individual should
>stay buried in the rubble of oppression. We cannot stand by while
>people are separated from our human family by walls of censorship. And
>we cannot be silent about these issues simply because we cannot hear
>their cries. Let us recommit ourselves to this cause. Let us make
>these technologies a force for real progress the world over. And let
>us go forward together to champion these freedoms.
>
>
>
>

-------------------------------------------
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Are men and women wired differently for success in tech / social media?

2010-01-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

Clay Shirky seems to think so:
http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/01/a-rant-about-women/

The comments are even more insightful than his "rant"... The
consensus seems to be that there is a fine line between being
assertive and TOO assertive, and I'm sure you can full in the blanks
for the pejoratives used on both sides of the gender aisle there.
But, at least a modicum of assertiveness seems to be a necessity for
success in any industry...

Sam

How Natal works

2010-01-15T12:22:00.001-05:00

Biggest problem is the lag...

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-01/exclusive-inside-microsofts-project-natal

Welcome to IT 102-50

2010-01-12T15:04:00.001-05:00

Hello to all who are currently signed up for this section of IT
102-50! Looking forward to seeing you all in class a week from
tonight.

We'll be using a 'Team Teaching' approach. This class will be
primarily taught by myself, but we are fortunate to have Mr. William
"Bill" Reynolds fill in for me a few times throughout the semester
when I will unfortunately be on business travel. Bill happens to be
one of the best and most fun teachers of MS Office you will ever meet.
Between the two of us we will help you explore everything Information
Technology has to offer and take advantage of the extensive IT
resources available to you at Monmouth U!

We'll go over what is required for the class in detail on the first
night of class, but a few of you have emailed me about what books you
need to buy as you budget for the semester. There is a special
'package' of books for the IT 100/102 class that are bundled together
at the bookstore, it comes with some codes that are needed to get
access to our digital tools for the class. ***All in one shot the
books are sold as a bundle which must be purchased together. Please
note that the bundle IS required and you must purchase it directly
from our own book store, which has not only worked to get you a very
good price but also bundles in a code which gets you access to the SAM
technology which we use throughout the class. ***

The required bundle is ISBN: 1435468872
***TEXTBOOKS REQUIRED: Bundle ISBN: 1435468872 (also listed as ISBN
9781435468870).***

Bundle includes the following components:

Title Author Component ISBN
SECURITY AWARENESS: APPLYING PRACTICAL SECURITY- 3rd Edition Mark
Ciampa 1435454146
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS & TECHNIQUES, Premium
Video Edition (Vista) Shelly/Cashman/Vermaat 0324826842
CURRENT TOPICS IN TECHNOLOGY Paparella/Simko 1439038708
SAM 2007 Assessment and Projects 4.0 Printed Access Card, 1st Edition
Course Technology 1439044058

TEXTBOOK RECOMMENDED:

Discovering Computers 2010: Complete, Living in a
Digital World
Gary B. Shelly | Misty E. Vermaat
ISBN 10: 032478645X | ISBN 13: 9780324786453
©2010

Also be sure to log in to see the details at:
http://ecampus.monmouth.edu
That site will be updated with Drop Boxes, the Syllabus, and forum
questions before the first class.

My email should you need to get me fastest is: sposten@gmail.com and
Bill can be reached at: WilliamSReynolds@aol.com

I do not recommend you use posten@monmouth.edu tho you can CC that
address and samuel.posten@l-3com.com if you want to be sure I'll see
your mail the first time I go to one of my email clients.

Couple of things we want you thinking about as you come to our first meeting:
-How much do you _really_ know about computers? Do you know just
enough to get your work done or have you looked into ways that
computers are invading every aspect of our lives?
-What applications do you use regularly? Is it mostly Email and Word
processing with a few games thrown in, or do you use a wide variety of
traditional and "web 2.0" type applications?
-How much are you into the "social networks" like old standards of
Facebook and Myspace, or are you on to the new grounds like Twitter,
Friendfeed or something even more cutting edge?
-What are computers doing today that we never expected just a few years ago?
-What is more important to you where technology is concerned:
Flexibility, stability, coolness or ease of use?
-What do you want to get out of this course? Are you here just because
it's a requirement or does technology genuinely really excite you?
-Now that 'everybody' uses computers how can you be sure who is really
competent in using them versus just someone who knows Word and Mail
and not much more?
-If you are someone who excels at information technology, how can you
prove that? How can you "Stand out from the crowd"?
-How have computers crept into our lives in ways that we don't even
think about any more? Where are computers being used in ways that are
almost invisible to us?
-Have you tried any computer operating systems besides those made by
Microsoft? Have you gone to an Apple Store (closest ones to us are in
the Freehold and Menlo Park Malls) to see the differences between
Windows and OSX?
-Have you tried an E-Book like the Kindle or Nook? How about an iPod
Touch Kindle app? Or even the blio Software for Windows?
-Have you tried Android or Linux?
-Do you believe that a company like Apple or Sony can sell you a
device and then dictate what you can and cannot run on that device?
Would you buy a car from Ford if they told you you are not allowed to
tinker with the engine?
-Would you trust people who break into software for their own use? Or
do you think that changing a system beyond what a vendor thought was
possible is cool and exciting?
-Have you ever had a computer virus? Have you ever lost data due to
malware or hardware crashes? Are you worried about 'hackers' stealing
your identity?
-Do you have virus scanning software installed? Do you have a backup
strategy? Have you thought about how you might want your digital
assets treated if something were to happen to you?
-Do you think that all the cool computer technology has already been
invented and now we'll just see little refinements over time or are
there tons of BIG new developments as earthshaking as the Internet
still to come?
-What do you wish computers could do that they just can't accomplish
given today's state of the art technology?

Did you know you can get the FULL MS office for just $60 as a student?
You can get Windows Vista and maybe even Windows 7 cheaply through
this program too. It's an amazing deal, Microsoft calls it the
Ultimate Steal:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

We'll make big use of this classwide email capability, tho we havent
really started much on the pre-class email blasts, you should start
seeing random news bits coming in from me, and you can see the links
from previous years if you go to:
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com/

If you find good articles about new technology that interests you,
please send them my way. Could be that your story will make it back
to the list for the whole class to talk about. Hopefully you already
have a few favorite sources for technology news. If not, here are a
few links to get you started, we will be discussing current events in
technology quite a bit!
http://www.engadget.com/
http://www.techmeme.com/
http://www.boingboing.net/
http://arstechnica.com/index.ars
http://gizmodo.com/
http://slashdot.org/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.wired.com/
http://tech.alltop.com/

***For you mac-heads and those looking to learn more about Apple:
http://www.tuaw.com
http://www.macrumors.com
http://www.appleinsider.com
http://www.macnn.com
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/

And of course, http://www.apple.com

We look forward to talking to you all soon! Let us know if you have
any questions that need answering before the first meeting.

Sam

Avatar is the real deal

2009-12-21T15:02:00.001-05:00

Saw it this weekend in Imax 3D up in New Brunswick. Definitely
recommend that over the Digital 3d and don't even think about seeing
it in 2D! Good stuff and Cameron has come through on all he promised.
The trailers for Hubble, How to Train your Dragon, and Shrek all in
IMAX 3d were impressive too but not even close to Avatar. No "Uncanny
Valley" here. The actors were beyond Gollum level perfect at
conveying real emotions. Here's how they did it:
http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/avatar-catches-real-emotions-with-performance-capture/57975931001

Why we need privacy even if we've "got nothing to hide"

2009-12-10T08:38:00.001-05:00

Eloquently stated:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/12/my_reaction_to.html

Sam

What's new in Office 2010?

2009-11-25T09:45:00.001-05:00

Via Lifehacker...
http://lifehacker.com/5411837/hands+on-look-at-whats-new-in-office-2010

Sam

Two videos to start your holiday off right

2009-11-24T19:07:00.001-05:00

#1: Do Schools Kill Creativity?
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

#2: Bohemuppetan Rhapsody:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/24/muppets-singing-quee.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Also, Demi Moore loses a hip then gains a body:
http://consumerist.com/2009/11/great-now-demi-moores-torso-is-missing.html

SAM Code and info

2009-11-10T17:39:00.001-05:00

The MU SAM code is: v7247944

Training is now available for Word Excel Access and PowerPoint
Practice Tests now available for all four too!

Sam

Podcasting guide

2009-10-21T15:07:00.001-04:00

http://hivelogic.com/articles/podcasting-equipment-guide-2009/

Fun stuff!

sam

Breaking up in an online world

2009-10-13T16:59:00.001-04:00

Good advice.

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/10/how-to-break-up-in-an-online-worldand-avoid-e-stalkers.ars

This is not good. Plus 2600 and our semester long project.

2009-10-09T09:20:00.001-04:00

Not good. Not good at all if true:
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=5547

To get the 2 point exam bonus you folks need to put a 1-2 paragraph
word document in into Drop Box week #4 answering: What is significant
enough about the term '2600' that the Hacker magazine chose it for
their name?

For next week:
Test tuesday on Windows/Internet. Notes:
- zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/class5.ppt
- zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/Class 9 - intranet.ppt
- zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/class8.ppt
- zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/class11-ethics.ppt
Thursday meet in the basement of the Library.
Thursday the next part of our semester long project is due, use Google
Scholar or Diigo to find 10 peer reviewed / scholarly articles related
to your subject and split them up between all team members for review.
Post the names of them and a link in Dropbox for Week 5 with who is
assigned to review each one.

From 2004, The Essay in the age of the Internet

2009-10-02T12:01:00.000-04:00

Saw this linked earlier today, it's a good read and reminds me of what
I find frustrating about the modern educational system here in the US.
I wonder how much better off I'd be as a writer if I hadn't gotten
stuck with so many of the bad habits that built into this system. Or
would I still be a 'lazy' writer any way?
http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html

The thing I like about Graham is that he is both a thinker and a
do-er, and he can distill down what separates the two, and separates
those groups from the average lazy slug like me. The bottom line is
that you all are spending an awful lot of money, time and effort to be
here at a University, and the whole 'point' of University seems to me
to be able to inspire you to do those things that will recoup that the
best. And Graham nails the million little cuts that tear most of us
down and gets us into the whole 'career' mindset which society has
deemed to be the safe and smart thing, and gives a sparkle of an
insight into what it takes to break free of that and do some
astonishing things with our limited time here on earth.

Some other good Graham essays if you like this one:
http://www.paulgraham.com/nthings.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/boss.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/determination.html

Here's one that nails the reason why we treat the words Hacker and
Cracker very differently in this class:
http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html

Here's one of the best:
http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html

It's what you'll wish you had known before you had gotten into college
from the perspective of where you will be from a few years on. Chief
among these is that if you have ANY entrepreneurial spark, capitalize
on it while you are still young and crazy and don't have a family to
support. This is the time in your lives when you can most afford to
take those risks that you will dread when you've got a few kids of
your own.

FW: [IP] Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

2009-09-29T09:28:00.000-04:00

This is pretty neat!

Sam

From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Sun 9/27/2009 1:48 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

Begin forwarded message:

From: bobr@bobrosenberg.phoenix.az.us
Date: September 27, 2009 3:46:54 EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

Hi Dave

I just noticed this item from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Physics regarding
Schrodinger's Cat.

Perhaps we'll finally learn the answer.

But I'm uncertain (Sorry, but I really couldn't resist that). ;-)

Cheers,
Bob

--
Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ 85067-3023
Mobile: 602-206-2856
LandLine: 602-274-3012
bob@bobrosenberg.phoenix.az.us

----
Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed
September 24th, 2009 by Sheeraz M. Hyder Schrodinger's cat
http://www.physorg.com/news173026471.html

Schrodinger's cat. Image by Dhatfield, Wikimedia Commons.

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the classical problems in quantum mechanics concerns a man
and his feline companion. The man has placed his cat in an opaque tank and is
slowing pumping it full of poison. Now until the man opens the tank and looks
inside, he cannot be sure whether the cat is dead or alive. That is to say, the cat
is both dead and alive at the same time. Impossible but such is the nature of the
problem that faced this man. The man's name is Erwin Schrodinger and the problem is
that of his Uncertainty Principle.

For nearly a century, his problem has remained a quixotic quest for physicists.
Particle physics has always held that matter can only exist at one state in one
time. That is why particles are classified as moving with an up or down spin but
nothing in between. In recent years that rule has been bent with the superposition
of atoms and other nonliving things. Superposition is the term for an object that is
not being observed that exists as both possibilities: up and down, dead and alive.
This allows physicists to observe the matter in two different states at the same
time. However, thus far it has only been done with non-living things. A life-form
has never been superimposed. Now, one physicist says he may have an answer.

Oriol Romero-Isart is at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Physics in Garching in
Germany. Along with his team he is proposing a "Schrodinger's virus" experiment that
would follow the same general principles of Schrodinger's Cat. Using an
electromagnetic field created by a laser, the virus would be trapped in a vacuum.
Then, using another laser, the virus will be slowed down until it lies motionless in
its lowest possible energy state.

Now that the virus is fixed, a single photon is used to put the virus into a
superposition of two states, moving and non-moving. Up until the point is measured
it is in both states. Only after a measurement is it found to be in one state and
one alone. The team has suggested that the tobacco mosaic virus be used. The virus
is rod-shaped and measures 50 nanometers wide and approximately 1 micrometer long.
There is debate however, whether the virus can truly be classified as "alive."
However the scientists are confident that the treatment could be extended to tiny
micro-organisms such as tardigrades who can survive in vacuum for days, making them
suitable for the "Schrodinger treatment."

However, physicists are doubtful about the experiment's results. Martin Plenio of
Imperial College in London says that there is little reason that a virus would
behave any differently than a similarly-sized inanimate object. However, there are
possibilities in testing large objects such as viruses and molecules. This is
because quantum mechanics says that macroscopic objects can enter superposition
however, it has never happened. Through these studies, Plenio believes that we will
finally be able to bridge the divide between the quantum world and our own
macroscopic world.

More information:

• Towards Quantum Superposition of Living Organisms, arxiv.org/abs/0909.1469

• Schrödinger's cat on Wikipedia.

© 2009 PhysOrg.com

Motion Controller in detail

2009-09-27T12:22:00.001-04:00

Very very cool:
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/699311/Sonys-Richard-Marks-Demos-Motion-Controller.html?utm_source=g4tv&utm_medium=twitterblog&utm_campaign=so-0907-twittermostcom-699311&cmpid=so-0907-twittermostcom-699311

Addendum: Homework assignments and the DropBox

2009-09-21T21:25:00.001-04:00

Forgot to mention this one other article to read by Thursday. Besides
just reading about TED, I want you to watch at least one TED Podcast
and be ready to talk about it thursday night.

http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/making_the_world_safe_for_smart_why_ted_matters

Sam

PS TED might have some great ideas for your semester long project!

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Good evening. Many of you have been inquiring about week 2 and Week 3
drop box submissions. Some of you mentioned being prompted that a
deadline was approaching, as far as I know nothing should have
automated deadlines set up, if you could forward me a screenshot of
that it would be much appreciated.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will meet in class to go over a first in-depth
look at Microsoft PowerPoint. PP is actually a great place for us to
start, there is no test on this app but it is one that all of us will
have some need for in our business lives, whatever business we
eventually pursue.

This semester we will have a semester long set of assignments that
work together to help us all explore areas of great change in
information technology. You will select a topic that you find
particularly interesting, you can find some suggestions below but if
you have better ideas we can vet those as well. For the Week 2
dropbox assignment you will find 2-3 other students and form a group
to create a series of artifacts together that explore your given
topics. To be clear groups must be at least 3 students but no more
than 4. In Dropbx 2 you will, after tuesdays class, present me with a
three slide powerpoint presentation.

- Slide 1, title and topic
- Slide 2, pictures from a digital camera of all team members
- Slide 3 a brief set of bullet points on what you want to cover in
exploring this topic

We will meet in class Thursday night to approve or improve your list of points

Topics for consideration:
- Virtual Worlds
- Computer based training
- Digital Media, Voice and Video in the near future
- 'Hackers' and Malware
- Tricky ethical issues which are still being played out (think
gambling and other similar issues on the net)
- What comes after the internet? Are we progressing towards Minority
Report, The Terminator or something totally different?
- Computers and parenting / Kids
- The ethics of piracy and the trouble with Copyright, and copyright
alternatives
- Alternatives to Microsoft Dominance in computing

Again, or something tat strikes your fancy and meets the criteria.
That's the easy part, the hard part will be for your teams agreeing on
how to flesh this all out and what angles you are most interested in.

NEXT Thursday you'll need to show me some progress on exploring the
issue via updates to your powerpoint presentation, dropped into Week 3
Dropbox.

Questions? Let me know! START building your teams before class
Tomorrow but please do not work on this assignment DURING our class!
If you don't have your team formed at the beginning of class we will
set a few minutes at the end for people to network and find others to
work with.

Professor Reynolds may have some other Dropbox assignments as well,
we'll explain that in class, make sure you are ready to follow through
on those too!

Sam and Professor Reynolds.

More on Windows Office cloud edition and cheap Microsoft software for students

2009-09-18T10:36:00.001-04:00

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/17/imitation-isnt-always-flattery-microsoft-previews-google-apps-killer-to-beta-testers/

We'll see how this plays out... The great thing is that the cloud
efforts have MS trying everything they can to get people to still pay
_something_ for the boxed copies, even if it's just a percentage of
the old price.

Don't forget to take part of the ultimate steal and get Win 7 and
Office Ultimate for under $100, it's the best deal you will find.
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
http://www.win741.com/

Want great prices on Microsoft tools for artists and developers?
Can't get cheaper than FREE:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/dd759402.aspx

Discussion on these programs:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1452528
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1446708

(Note that Hard Forum is a discussion forum and not a news outlet.
You may encounter rough language. I can't control that. Skip it if
you are easily offended. It's nowhere near as bad as places like
SomethingAwful, 4chan or other spots tho, just be aware to adjust your
expectations) =)

http://www.loopinsight.com/2009/09/18/microsoft-matches-snow-leopards-29-price-for-students/

Maureen: Please forward this to all the classes!

Sam

Microsoft announced kickass deal for students on Windows 7

2009-09-17T20:23:00.001-04:00

$30 for windows 7, tough to beat that!

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/09/17/microsoft-uk-students-to-get-windows-7-for-30

Sent from my iPhone

Did you know it is possible for totally blind people to use the iPhone?

2009-09-16T16:57:00.001-04:00

This is crazy, and amazing, and very very cool.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/accessibility.html#video

An internet meteor is hurtling towards the University Dinosaurs

2009-09-14T10:49:00.001-04:00

Or so says the Washington Post...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091104312.html

I absolutely believe that the move to virtual classes will occur. I
believe it will take decades tho and will be just as messy as it has
for music, video, games and other content. If not more so.

New images from Hubble

2009-09-10T10:55:00.000-04:00

Breathtaking!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/ero/index.html

News from the Apple keynote

2009-09-09T15:01:00.001-04:00

Mostly evolutionary / boring updates but a few new tricks in the mix.
If you were going to buy a new iPod anyway might as well get the new
ones with new toys built in! iTunes has some neat free updates tho...

Three most important things: Steve Jobs returned to the stage, you
can now set where apps show on your iPhone/touch and the touch did NOT
get a camera!

http://gizmodo.com/5355615/itunes-9-everything-you-need-to-know
http://gizmodo.com/5355725/new-ipod-nano-hands-on/gallery/
http://gizmodo.com/5355169/the-new-ipod-nano-shoots-video-plays-radio
http://gizmodo.com/5355697/ipod-classic-and-shuffle-get-modest-storage-color-adjustments
http://gizmodo.com/5355633/ipod-touch-third-generation-now-up-to-64gb
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/ipod-nano-5g-with-camera-first-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/apple-slaps-video-camera-into-new-ipod-nano/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/apple-announces-cheaper-more-colorful-ipod-shuffle-new-special/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/apple-updates-ipod-touch-line-drops-prices-adds-top-end-64gb-m/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/itunes-9-bringing-itunes-lp-functionality-mentioned-in-new-del/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/iphone-os-3-1-is-offical-available-today/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/apple-rocks-and-rolls-with-new-ipods-itunes-lps.ars

Other neat stuff:
http://gizmodo.com/5355644/concept-windows-7-ads-shot-with-5d-mark-ii-set-the-bar-high
http://gizmodo.com/5355540/hands-on-with-leicas-m9-and-x1-fine-art-for-a-price
http://gizmodo.com/5355112/palm-pixi-hands-on-the-smaller-pre-with-a-better-keyboard-and-no-wi+fi

Wednesday update, SCSite, Optional books, Mass Storage, Apple news

2009-09-09T08:58:00.001-04:00

A couple of you noted you couldn't get to the course.com link, but the
link works for me:
http://oc.course.com/sc/dc2010/index.cfm?action=review&chapter=1

You will need to register for the service here first:
http://login.course.com/login/accountsetup.cfm

Discovering computers is the optional text, you can only order it online:
----
Discovering Computers 2010: Complete, Living in a Digital World
Gary B. Shelly | Misty E. Vermaat
ISBN 10: 032478645X | ISBN 13: 9780324786453

This recommended book is not available in the bookstore and should be
purchased online using the following link:

http://academic.cengage.com/cengage/student.do?codeid=Z406&sortby=copy&type=all_radio&courseid=CKC01&product_isbn=9780324786453&disciplinenumber=201&filter=NewText&optValue=newtext_radio&codeFlag=false
---

Apple is expected to introduce new iPods (Gen3) later today. In a
surprising move, they will continue to sell Gen2 at a reduced price!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/09/the-incredible-shrinking-ipod-prices-undercut-the-zune-hd/

So Microsoft's Zune will be squeezed here, beat on price by gen2, beat
on features by gen3...

Pics of Gen3 iPod Touch? Looks legit to me!
http://gizmodo.com/5355340/first-pics-of-apples-new-ipod-touch-3g-nano-5g

Engadget will be live at the keynote at 1pm our time:

So will Giz:
http://gizmodo.com/5355097/apple-lets-rock-liveblog

If you just want a cheap Mass storage device, here's a few options:
How does under $5 sound?
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDCZ6-4096-A11-Cruzer-Micro-Flash/dp/B000NWVAFO/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252500575&sr=8-13

Tiger has all kinds of varieties:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=379&name=USB-Flash-Drives&

Or you could just go to staples / walmart / best buy / PC richard and
see whats on sale.

You could also get a USB hard disk for under $100:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3751572&CatId=2424

Will the Beatles come to iTunes today? Sources say no.
http://gizmodo.com/5355014/beatles-remastered-a-reminder-of-why-it-will-probably-rock

If you are into music games tho, Beatles Rock Band launches today!
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/102/1021831p1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/arts/television/06schi.html
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/05/review-the-beatles-rock-band/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/09/you-want-a-revolution-ars-reviews-beatles-rock-band.ars

More fun stuff:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/video-hard-rock-cafe-vegas-strip-gets-ginormous-interactive-roc/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/08/dell-packs-intels-lynnfield-cpus-into-studio-xps-8000-and-9000/
http://gizmodo.com/5355170/dallas-cowboys-stadium-continues-streak-of-giant-screen-fails
http://gizmodo.com/5355137/forget-silicon-this-teenagers-solar-panel-uses-human-hair-as-a-conductor
http://gizmodo.com/5355068/internet-distractions-in-order-of-importance
http://gizmodo.com/5354033/stop-5-reasons-to-wait-on-buying-that-laptop/gallery/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/fcc-report-on-parental-control-devices-why-arent-they-used.ars
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/09/resistance-to-book-deal-builds-as-google-woos-europe.ars

Earlybird welcome for IT 102-50, Updated

2009-09-08T11:33:00.001-04:00

Hello to all who are currently signed up for this section of IT
102-50! Looking forward to seeing you all in class TONIGHT!. Most of
you have seen a version of this email sent out a few weeks back,
please check through this new version as several things have been
updated. I will try to call out the updates with *** notification
symbols

We'll go over what is required for the class in detail tonight, but a
few of you have emailed me about what books you need to buy as you
budget for the semester. There is a special 'package' of books for
the IT 100/102 class that are bundled together at the bookstore, it
comes with some codes that are needed to get access to our digital
tools for the class. ***All in one shot the books are sold as a
bundle which must be purchased together and runs just under $250.
Please note that the bundle IS required and you must purchase it
directly from our own book store, which has not only worked to get you
a very good price but also bundles in a code which gets you access to
the SAM technology which we use throughout the class. ***

The required bundle is ISBN: 1435468872
***TEXTBOOKS REQUIRED: Bundle ISBN: 1435468872 (also listed as ISBN
9781435468870).***

Bundle includes the following components:

Title Author Component ISBN
SECURITY AWARENESS: APPLYING PRACTICAL SECURITY- 3rd Edition Mark
Ciampa 1435454146
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS & TECHNIQUES, Premium
Video Edition (Vista) Shelly/Cashman/Vermaat 0324826842
CURRENT TOPICS IN TECHNOLOGY Paparella/Simko 1439038708
SAM 2007 Assessment and Projects 4.0 Printed Access Card, 1st Edition
Course Technology 1439044058

TEXTBOOK RECOMMENDED:

Discovering Computers 2010: Complete, Living in a
Digital World
Gary B. Shelly | Misty E. Vermaat
ISBN 10: 032478645X | ISBN 13: 9780324786453
©2010

Also be sure to log in to see the details at:
http://ecampus.monmouth.edu
That site will be updated with Drop Boxes, the Syllabus, and forum
questions before the first class.

My email should you need to get me fastest is: sposten@gmail.com and
Bill can be reached at: WilliamSReynolds@aol.com

I do not recommend you use posten@monmouth.edu tho you can CC that
address and samuel.posten@l-3com.com if you want to be sure I'll see
your mail the first time I go to one of my email clients.

***For you mac-heads and those looking to learn more about Apple:
http://www.tuaw.com
http://www.macrumors.com
http://www.appleinsider.com
http://www.macnn.com
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/

And of course, http://www.apple.com

We look forward to talking to you all soon! Let us know if you have
any questions that need answering before the first meeting.

Sam

School demolishes library, replaces it with coffee and Kindles

2009-09-05T09:10:00.001-04:00

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/05/boston-prep-school-nixes-all-the-books-in-its-library-replaces/

Probably the first step on a long voyage as we all head in that
direction. DRM still stands in the way of our success in making that
work though...

Sent from my iPhone

Facebook and twitter revolutionize how parents can stalk their college age children

2009-09-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

http://gizmodo.com/5350303/facebook-revolutionizes-how-parents-stalk-college+aged-kids

"Just make sure you misspell a lot of words and swear a lot"

Scoble and Thurrot add to the Office 2010 intros

2009-07-13T11:44:00.001-04:00

http://www.winsupersite.com/office/office2010_tp.asp

http://scobleizer.com/2009/07/13/microsofts-new-office-10-brings-office-back-from-the-dead-tons-of-videos/

The changes to the hated ribbon interface look like a good start.
Will see how it plays out.

Sam

On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 8:24 AM, Sam Posten<sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/13/the-complete-guide-to-microsofts-office-2010/
>
> More surely to follow later today during Microsoft's Partner meetup.
>
> Sam
>

What do the Credit Card companies know about you pt. 2

2009-07-13T10:59:00.001-04:00

Chilling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17credit-t.html?_r=1

The iPod of its day

2009-06-29T11:36:00.001-04:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8117619.stm

Hilarious.

Google Wave and Microsoft Bing (Bing is not Google)

2009-05-29T08:43:00.001-04:00

If you haven't heard about Google's Wave yet, be prepared to be
impressed, it is a project from Google imagining how Email would look
if it were introduced today and not in the 60s:
http://mashable.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-guide/

The funny thing is today was supposed to be all about Microsoft
relaunching their sad search efforts into Bing, a new and interesting
mashup of search technologies that has the name Bing, which is
jokingly recursive in 'Bing is not Google'. Google totally got the
best PR launch of the day tho!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/what-just-happened-thursday-was-supposed-to-be-bing-day/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2oM&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_content=techcrunch-autopost&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=twitter.com

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/the-bing-definition-microsoft-probably-doesnt-want-you-to-get-in-your-fortune-cookie/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2oI&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_content=techcrunch-autopost&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=twitter.com

Ars' guide to the Digital Transition

2009-05-26T08:43:00.001-04:00

Most people in our area probably have some form of cable tv. For
those that still rely on antennas tho they will need to be ready by
June 12th.
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/05/gain-the-secret-knowledge-become-a-dtv-transition-guru.ars

Sam

Readers Digest on Urban Legends

2009-05-14T11:54:00.001-04:00

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/rumor-detectives-true-story-or-online-hoax/article122216.html

Hope everyone had a good semester, enjoy the break or graduation!

Sam

Tuvalu is sinking?

2009-05-01T08:55:00.001-04:00

According to GoDaddy at least that makes them a bad choice for domain names...
http://gizmodo.com/5235114/godaddy-tells-us-not-to-buy-tv-domains-because-tuvalu-is-sinking

Tuvalu history:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.09/tuvalu_pr.html
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTuvalu&ei=pPD6SZTMLJCmM-ma1dQE&usg=AFQjCNFHSu-Ht3451LxW7Rp_KmO8thwQIw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvalu
http://archive.salon.com/tech/view/2000/07/24/dot_tv/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tv

When is the right time for kids to get a cellphone?

2009-04-30T09:23:00.001-04:00

How old should kids be for their first cell? This is actually a
question my extended family is discussing right now.
http://gizmodo.com/5231392/is-giving-a-child-a-cellphone-a-bad-idea

RE: [IP] How the Internet got its rules

2009-04-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Better link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opinion/07crocker.html

From: Posten, Samuel @ C2S2
Sent: Tue 4/7/2009 10:00 AM
To: 09sp_it10250@monmouth.edu; mpaparel@monmouth.edu
Subject: FW: [IP] How the Internet got its rules

From the IP list

From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Tue 4/7/2009 8:30 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] How the Internet got its rules

For the record I have known Steve for maybe 30 plus years. djf

and

CERT Technical Symposium on 11 March Reinventing the Internet – Can We
and How Would We? Panelists: David Farber, moderator, Carnegie Mellon
University Lawrence Roberts, Anagram, Inc. Steve Crocker, Shinkuro,
Inc. Paul Mockapetris, Nominum, Inc. Guru Parulkar, Clean Slate
Internet Design Program

mms://wms.andrew.cmu.edu/001/CERT1_Session3.wmv

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David S. Isenberg (isen)" <isen@isen.com>
Date: April 7, 2009 7:40:11 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: How the Internet got its rules

Dave,

I'm sure you know Steve Crocker, who wrote RFC #1
at the dawn of the Internet, long before the
letters IETF stood for anything. Now the NY Times
has published Steve's Op-Ed commemorating the 40th
Anniversary of RFC #1. This history, the story of
how RFC #1 (and the RFC system, the IETF and the
Internet) came to be, is history that those of us
who care about preserving the Internet's most
vital properties should know.

Here are several key paragraphs:

> The early R.F.C.’s ranged from grand visions to mundane
> details, although the latter quickly became the most
> common. Less important than the content of those first
> documents was that they were available free of charge
> and anyone could write one. Instead of authority-based
> decision-making, we relied on a process we called “rough
> consensus and running code.” Everyone was welcome to
> propose ideas, and if enough people liked it and used
> it, the design became a standard.
>
> After all, everyone understood there was a practical
> value in choosing to do the same task in the same way.
> For example, if we wanted to move a file from one
> machine to another, and if you were to design the
> process one way, and I was to design it another, then
> anyone who wanted to talk to both of us would have to
> employ two distinct ways of doing the same thing. So
> there was plenty of natural pressure to avoid such
> hassles. It probably helped that in those days we
> avoided patents and other restrictions; without any
> financial incentive to control the protocols, it was
> much easier to reach agreement.
>
> This was the ultimate in openness in technical design
> and that culture of open processes was essential in
> enabling the Internet to grow and evolve as
> spectacularly as it has. In fact, we probably wouldn’t
> have the Web without it.

Steve's complete Op-Ed is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opinion/07Brooks.html?ref=opinion
and here: http://bit.ly/UBIWf

David I

-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com

FW: [IP] How the Internet got its rules

2009-04-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

From the IP list

From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Tue 4/7/2009 8:30 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] How the Internet got its rules

Netbooks set to become TV boxes...

2009-04-02T08:52:00.001-04:00

I like the looks of this, I'm in for one for sure. I'd probably try
to find a way to sneak OSX onto it tho, don't tell Apple!

http://www.liliputing.com/2009/04/acer-to-launch-nvidia-ion-powered-hornet-nettop-next-week.html

FW: [IP] Good REading Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries - NYTimes.com

2009-03-30T09:41:00.001-04:00

From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Sun 3/29/2009 2:16 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Good REading Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all 29, 2009

Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries

By JOHN MARKOFF

TORONTO — A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.

In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.

The researchers, who are based at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware.

Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.

The researchers, who have a record of detecting computer espionage, said they believed that in addition to the spying on the Dalai Lama, the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Intelligence analysts say many governments, including those of China, Russia and the United States, and other parties use sophisticated computer programs to covertly gather information.

The newly reported spying operation is by far the largest to come to light in terms of countries affected.

This is also believed to be the first time researchers have been able to expose the workings of a computer system used in an intrusion of this magnitude.

Still going strong, the operation continues to invade and monitor more than a dozen new computers a week, the researchers said in their report, “Tracking ‘GhostNet’: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network.” They said they had found no evidence that United States government offices had been infiltrated, although a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day and computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated.

The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.

snip

FW: [IP] The full text of the University speech -- "The Need for Heretics" The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile - NYTimes.com

2009-03-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

From the IP List...

From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Sat 3/28/2009 4:35 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] The full text of the University speech -- "The Need for Heretics" The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile - NYTimes.com

Begin forwarded message:

From: George Dyson <gdyson@gmail.com>
Date: March 28, 2009 12:33:35 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Re: [IP] The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile -
NYTimes.com

On Mar 28, 2009, at 6:02 AM, David Farber wrote:

> Is there a write-up on the University speech?

Here is the full text:

The Need for Heretics

Commencement Address, given at the University of Michigan, December
18, 2005

Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey

When the Princess Rosalba was baptized, in Thackeray's story, ``The
Rose and the Ring'', her father, King Cavalfiore of Crim Tartary, gave
a banquet, and all the royal guests came with fine clothes and
expensive presents and flattering speeches. Then at the end of the
line of guests came the Fairy Blackstick, an ugly old lady with a long
nose, carrying nothing in her hands but a plain black stick. She
waved her stick over the baby and said, ``As for this little lady, the
best thing I can wish her is a little misfortune''. The King was
furious and ordered his servants to remove the Fairy Blackstick from
the hall. But of course the magic was done, and the Fairy
Blackstick's present turned out to be more valuable than all the other
presents put together. I will tell you at the end how the magic worked.

I am grateful to the University of Michigan and to you, President
Coleman, for giving me the privilege of talking at this celebration. I
find it strange that I should be talking here. In this company I am
the Fairy Blackstick. You students are proud possessors of the Ph.D.
or some similar token of academic respectability. You have endured
many years of poverty and hard labor, and now you are ready to go to
your just rewards, to a place on the tenure track of a university or
on the board of directors of a company. And here am I, a person who
never had a Ph.D. myself and fought all my life against the Ph.D.
system and everything it stands for. Of course I fought in vain. The
grip of the Ph.D. system on academic life is tighter today than it has
ever been. But I will continue to fight against it as long as I
live. In short, I am proud to be a heretic. But unfortunately I am
an old heretic. What the world needs is young heretics. I am hoping
that one or two of you may fill that role.

I will tell you briefly about three heresies that I am promoting. The
first of my heresies says that all the fuss about global warming is
grossly exaggerated. Here I am opposing the holy brotherhood of
climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe
the numbers predicted by the models. Of course, they say, I have no
degree in meteorology and I am therefore not qualified to speak. But
I have studied the climate models and I know what they can do. The
models solve the equations of fluid dynamics, and they do a very good
job of describing the fluid motions of the atmosphere and the oceans.
They do a very poor job of describing the clouds, the dust, the
chemistry and the biology of fields and farms and forests. They do
not begin to describe the real world that we live in. The real world
is muddy and messy and full of things that we do not yet understand.
It is much easier for a scientist to sit in an air-conditioned
building and run computer models, than to put on winter clothes and
measure what is really happening outside in the swamps and the
clouds. That is why the climate model experts end up believing in
their own models.

There is no doubt that parts of the world are getting warmer, but the
warming is not global. The warming happens mostly in places and times
where it is cold, in the arctic more than in the tropics, in winter
more than in summer, at night more than in daytime. On the whole, the
warming happens most where it does the least harm. I am not saying
that the warming does not cause problems. Obviously it does.
Obviously we should be trying to understand it better. I am saying
that the problems are grossly exaggerated. They take away money and
attention from other problems that are more urgent and more important,
such as poverty and infectious disease and public education and public
health, and the preservation of living creatures on land and in the
oceans.

I could talk for the whole of my fifteen minutes about the global
warming heresy, but I won't. My second heresy is about
biotechnology. It says that biotechnology will soon be domesticated.
Fifty years ago in Princeton, I watched the mathematician John von
Neumann designing and building the first electronic computer that
operated with instructions coded into the machine. Von Neumann did
not invent the electronic computer. The computer called ENIAC had
been running at the University of Pennsylvania five years earlier.
What von Neumann invented was software, the coded instructions that
gave the computer agility and flexibility. It was the combination of
electronic hardware with punch-card software that allowed a single
machine to predict weather, to simulate the evolution of populations
of living creatures, and to test the feasibility of hydrogen bombs.
Von Neumann understood that his invention would change the world. He
understood that the descendants of his machine would dominate the
operations of science and business and government. But he imagined
computers always remaining large and expensive. He imagined them as
centralized facilities serving large research laboratories or large
industries. He failed to foresee computers growing small enough and
cheap enough to be used by housewives for doing income-tax returns or
by kids for doing homework. He failed to foresee the final
domestication of computers as toys for three-year-olds. He totally
failed to foresee the emergence of computer-games as a dominant
feature of twenty-first-century life. Because of computer-games, our
grandchildren are now growing up with an indelible addiction to
computers. For better or for worse, in sickness or in health, till
death do us part, humans and computers are now joined together more
durably than husbands and wives.

What has this story of von Neumann's computer and the evolution of
computer-games to do with biotechnology? Simply this, that there is a
close analogy between von Neumann's vision of computers as large
centralized facilities and the public perception of genetic
engineering today as an activity of large pharmaceutical and
agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto. The public distrusts
Monsanto because Monsanto likes to put genes for poisonous pesticides
into food-crops, just as we distrusted von Neumann because von Neumann
liked to use his computer for designing hydrogen bombs. It is likely
that genetic engineering will remain unpopular and controversial so
long as it remains a centralized activity in the hands of large
corporations.

I see a bright future for the biotechnical industry when it follows
the path of the computer industry, the path that von Neumann failed to
foresee, becoming small and domesticated rather than big and
centralized. The first step in this direction was already taken
recently, when genetically modified tropical fish with new and
brilliant colors appeared in pet-stores. For biotechnology to become
domesticated, the next step is to become user-friendly. I recently
spent a happy day at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the biggest flower
show in the world, where flower-breeders from all over the world show
off the results of their efforts. I have also visited the Reptile
Show in San Diego, an equally impressive show displaying the work of
another set of breeders. Philadelphia excels in orchids and roses,
San Diego excels in lizards and snakes. The main problem for a
grandparent visiting the reptile show with a grandchild is to get the
grandchild out of the building without actually buying a snake. Every
orchid or rose or lizard or snake is the work of a dedicated and
skilled breeder. There are thousands of people, amateurs and
professionals, who devote their lives to this business. Now imagine
what will happen when the tools of genetic engineering become
accessible to these people. There will be do-it-yourself kits for
gardeners who will use genetic engineering to breed new varieties of
roses and orchids. Also kits for lovers of pigeons and parrots and
lizards and snakes, to breed new varieties of pets. Breeders of dogs
and cats will have their kits too.

Genetic engineering, once it gets into the hands of housewives and
children, will give us an explosion of diversity of new living
creatures, rather than the monoculture crops that the big corporations
prefer. Designing genomes will be a personal thing, a new art-form as
creative as painting or sculpture. Few of the new creations will be
masterpieces, but all will bring joy to their creators and variety to
our fauna and flora.

The final step in the domestication of biotechnology will be biotech
games, designed like computer games for children down to kindergarten
age, but played with real eggs and seeds rather than with images on a
screen. Playing such games, kids will acquire an intimate feeling for
the organisms that they are growing. The winner could be the kid
whose seed grows the prickliest cactus, or the kid whose egg hatches
the cutest dinosaur. These games will be messy and possibly
dangerous. Rules and regulations will be needed to make sure that our
kids do not endanger themselves and others. When they are grown up,
these kids will be at home in the new world of biotechnology. They
will be ready to put their skills to use, designing new species of
termite with a taste for heavy metal to chew up derelict automobiles,
and designing new species of tree with silicon leaves to make liquid
fuels out of carbon dioxide and sunlight.

Here is my third and last heresy. I say that the United States has
less than a century left of its turn as top nation. Since the modern
nation-state was invented around the year 1500, a succession of
countries have taken turns at being top nation, first Spain, then
France, Britain, America. Each turn lasted about 150 years. Ours
began in 1920, so it should end about 2070. The reason why each top
nation's turn comes to an end is that the top nation becomes over-
extended, militarily, economically and politically. Greater and
greater efforts are required to maintain the number one position.
Finally the over-extension becomes so extreme that the whole structure
collapses. Already we can see in the American posture today some
clear symptoms of over-extension. Who will be the next top nation?
It might be the European Union or it might be China. After that it
might be India or Brazil. You should be asking yourselves, not how to
live in an America-dominated world, but how to prepare for a world
that is not America-dominated. That may be the most important problem
for your generation to solve. How does a people that thinks of itself
as number one yield gracefully to become number two?

I am telling you that misfortunes are on the way. Your precious
Ph.D., or whichever degree you went through long years of hard work to
acquire, may be worth less than you think. Your specialized training
may become obsolete.You may find yourself over-qualified for the
available jobs. You may be declared redundant. The country and the
culture to which you belong may move far away from the mainstream.
But these misfortunes are also opportunities. It is always open to
you to join the heretics and find another way to make a living. With
or without a Ph.D., there are big and important problems for you to
solve.

I am hoping that things will turn out for you as nicely as they turned
out in the end for the Princess Rosalba as a result of the Fairy
Blackstick's appearance at her baptism. A few years after the baptism
the misfortunes began. King Cavalfiore was slain in battle and the
rebel Duke Padella usurped the Kingdom of Crim Tartary. Rosalba was
left alone, a toddler in the abandoned palace. She wandered out into
the forest and was adopted by a friendly lioness. After living quietly
for a few years with the lion family, she wandered back to
civilization and found a job as a serving-maid in the household of
King Valoroso the twenty-fourth of Paflagonia. There she took
advantage of her situation to educate herself with the school-books
cast aside by her spoiled mistress, the Princess Angelica. Finally,
having acquired the right sort of education, the education of hard
knocks, she married Prince Giglio, the rightful heir to the throne of
Paflagonia, and lived happily ever after. But now I must sit down
quickly, before the King's servants throw me out.

---------

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I'm a PC and I'm a cheap idiot... More.

2009-03-27T10:25:00.001-04:00

Brilliant reinforcement, MS essentially says PCs are for cheap
losers... Who writes this stuff?
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/26/pc-to-mac-i%27m-cheaper/
http://i.gizmodo.com/5186672/microsoft-marketing-team-now-exclusively-advised-by-internet-commenters-but-it-works

Edit, Daring Fireball says the same thing:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2009/03/26/new-microsoft-ads

Sexting is illegal for teens:
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/sexting-may-place-teens-at-legal-risk/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/parents-fight-child-porn-threats-against-sexting-teens.ars

What is conficker?
http://i.gizmodo.com/5183751/giz-explains-how-a-brainy-worm-might-jack-the-worlds-pcs-on-april-1

Data rot:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5185550/theres-no-great-solution-for-data-rot

More Stuff...
http://i.gizmodo.com/5185947/sun-storing-the-entire-internet-in-a-shipping-container
http://i.gizmodo.com/5185911/winning-pwn2own-hacker-macs-are-safer-than-pcs
http://i.gizmodo.com/5169801/windows-7-release-candidate-changes-increase-productivity-and-workflow
http://daringfireball.net/2009/03/obsession_times_voice
http://i.gizmodo.com/5185629/mythbusters-explosion-breaks-windows-tosses-women-off-couches
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/27/video-ge-bringing-3d-hd-baggage-screening-to-airports/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/eu-to-us-wto-appeal-justified-fix-your-gambling-laws.ars
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/03/sugar-labs-announces-new-version-of-sugar-learning-platform.ars
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/review-monsters.html
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/first-look-of-t.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/technology/internet/27twitter.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/03/young-people-embrace-mobile-tech-but-feel-overconnected.ars
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343959,00.asp

Monday morning link soup

2009-03-23T08:56:00.001-04:00

Some interesting (I hope!) stuff here this AM.

Facebook Fail.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7957000/7957764.stm

Just because you are homeless doesn't mean you can live without
technology, including a cell phone:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201835.html

Saw this on Quarter to Three this weekend:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5179465/whats-in-the-box-is-mysterious-mishmash-of-gadgets-video-games-apocalypse

Google blackout:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5178261/google-blacks-out-hundreds-of-entertaining-voyeuristic-street-view-shots

How Cell Towers work:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5177322/giz-explains-how-cell-towers-work

Deep Packet Inspection Voodoo:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/does-deep-packet-inspection-mean.ars

Game developers Conference starts today, will we see a PS3 price cut this week?
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/gdc.ars

New $800 iMac, if you are looking to get into Apple computing here's
the cheap way in (Ooops, only if you are a school):
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/apple-may-be-offering-17-imac-for-educational-institutions.ars

Diebold is in hot water over flawed voting booth software:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/video-ca-hearin.html

Free Nine inch Nails / Janes Addiction songs;
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/03/download-free-n.html

More dumb ideas from the music industry:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/sxsw-music-exec.html

A life in Art:
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/03/a-life-in-art.html#more

Google is not a design company:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/googles-data-cu.html

iPhone 3.0 on video:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/03/excited-about-i.html

More fun tech stuff:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/21/25-beautiful-macro-photography-shots-photos/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/2008-winners
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/03/great_cgi_story.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/22/2336208
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/22/1619207

Sam

Fwd: Juries & Technology

2009-03-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

More stories of tech being used in ways that establishments havent considered.

THIS sounds like a terrrrrific idea:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5173548/chicago-street-lights-may-scan-for-car-insurance

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Reynolds, William <wreynold@monmouth.edu>
Date: Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Subject: Juries & Technology
To: "sposten@gmail.com" <sposten@gmail.com>

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/18juries.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
William S. Reynolds
William.Reynolds@Monmouth.edu
Supervisor of Student Teachers
Freshman Advisor
Monmouth University
Cell 908-601-2736

UK School testing Face Recognition for class attendance

2009-03-06T12:08:00.001-05:00

Creepy. Joseph this might be similar to the project you asked me about tho!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/06/uk-college-begins-testing-facial-recognition-attendence-system/

Sam

Re: Kindle on iPhone / iPod Touch, plus geoDefense

2009-03-05T09:13:00.001-05:00

Ars on the lack of an in app purchasing capability on Kindle for iPod:
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/03/ars-hands-on-kindle-for-iphone.ars

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc2009034_069800.htm

Kindle on iPhone / iPod Touch, plus geoDefense

2009-03-05T08:47:00.001-05:00

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc2009034_069800.htm

I installed the Kindle reader on my iPod touch this morning, and
logged in to their Kindle Store via the web and bought two books,
Stephen King's UR and William Gibson's Neuromancer. I'm a huge fan of
King and this book was the only mass market book by him I didn't have
yet (it's a Kindle exclusive, and is sorta about a Kindle like device)
and have always intended to finish reading Neuromancer, which I
started reading back in the 90s and never finished. Neuromancer is
the book that coined the term Cyberspace, and the genre it created
spawned things like The Matrix and Johnny Mnemonic. The interface is
not bad, but I don't know how long I could stare at the device without
a break. I also don't like that you have to go to a web browser to
buy new books, it's a total fail to not be able to buy new books with
Amazon one click inside the app itself. Perhaps in Rev 2.0... Also
the books are all DRM wrapped which sucks, but there are thousands of
public domain classic books also available which is nice. I approach
this the same way I did iTunes: Lets see the vendors make a great
experience and trust that the rights stuff will all work out in the
end. It worked for music, I can now get all DRM free music from
Amazon and Apple, it's only a matter of time before that happens with
Books and Movies too. Apple sucks in that they want several hundred
bucks from me to 'upgrade' my iTunes tracks to DRM free and doesn't
make an easy interface for me to pick and choose which ones that might
actually be worth it for me to do so on, but that's a story for
another day.

I also haven't checked out Stanza, but I will install that later today.

Also, a few books I wanted to buy on Kindle weren't available for the
device yet. I've heard interesting things about David Foster
Wallace's 'Infinite Jest' but that one isn't in the store yet for
whatever reason.

Speaking of the iPod Touch: If you own one (or the iPhone) and want
to try an amazing but HARD game, spend the 99 cents and download a
game called geoDefense. It's a vector based Tower Defense game that
is like a combination of Chess, Tower Defense, and Asteroids. No
playing in class! =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_game

Re: Microsoft's Vision 2019

2009-03-04T09:30:00.001-05:00

Two more:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/cool-videos-microsoft-surface-physics.ars
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/cool-video-iphone-and-microsoft-surface-mashup.ars

I actually got to play with Surface at the Ice Bar in Las Vegas when I
was out there last year. It sucked. Really. It has potential tho!

Sam

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 9:20 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> More on what Microsoft Research is up to. Lots that relate to the Vision video.
>
> http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/microsoft-research-techfest-2009-a-glance-at-the-road-ahead.ars
>
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
>> http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/
>>
>> Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday! Watch both the short
>> and long versions please!
>>
>> Sam
>>
>

Re: Microsoft's Vision 2019

2009-03-04T09:20:00.001-05:00

More on what Microsoft Research is up to. Lots that relate to the Vision video.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/microsoft-research-techfest-2009-a-glance-at-the-road-ahead.ars

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/
>
> Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday! Watch both the short
> and long versions please!
>
> Sam
>

FW: [IP] Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

2009-03-03T16:34:00.001-05:00

Update on the British Surveillance we discussed.

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 3/3/2009 10:44 AM
Subject: [IP] Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

It is fitting for the UK to have the most camera. After all it was the
home of George Orwell and "1984" Long live Big Brother. djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>
Date: March 2, 2009 12:57:46 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy
capital of the world

Hi Dave:

From today's (UK) Guardian, for IP if you so wish.

cheers

Brian

=====

Every step you take: UK underground centre that is spy capital of the
world

Visitors from around the world come to marvel at Westminster CCTV system

Millions of people walk beneath the unblinking gaze of central
London's surveillance cameras. Most are oblivious that deep under the
pavements along which they are walking, beneath restaurant kitchens
and sewage drains, their digital image is gliding across a wall of
plasma screens.

Westminster council's CCTV control room, where a click and swivel of a
joystick delivers panoramic views of any central London street, is
seen by civil liberty campaigners as a symbol of the UK's surveillance
society.

Using the latest remote technology, the cameras rotate 360 degrees,
365 days a year, providing a hi-tech version of what the 18th century
English philosopher Jeremy Bentham conceived as the "Panopticon" - a
space where people can be constantly monitored but never know when
they are being watched.

The Home Office, which funded the creation of the £1.25m facility
seven years ago, believes it to be a "best-practice example" on which
the future of the UK's public surveillance system should be modelled.

So famed has central London's surveillance network become that figures
released yesterday revealed that more than 6,000 officials from 30
countries have come to learn lessons from the centre.

They include police with the job of keeping order in the most
dangerous cities on earth, from São Paulo in Brazil to Baltimore in
the United States, as well as law enforcement officials from countries
with a notorious disregard for the rights of citizens, such as China.

A delegation of foreign visitors turns up at Westminster's
subterranean CCTV control room on a monthly basis. The FBI has paid a
visit, as have - more recently - police forces from South Africa,
Japan and Mexico.

The UK, whose police forces pioneered experiments with the technology
in the 1960s, leads the world in surveillance of its people.

Exactly how many CCTV cameras there are in the UK is not known,
although one study four years ago estimated 4.8m cameras had been
installed.

What is rarely disputed is that the UK has more cameras per citizen
than anywhere else.
. . .
----
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/02/westminster-cctv-system-privacy

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL =
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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Introducing Siftables

2009-03-02T23:14:00.001-05:00

Check this out, I saw this on the TED podcast and knew you guys would dig it!

http://siftables.com/

Microsoft's Vision 2019

2009-03-01T01:42:00.001-05:00

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/

Required viewing, we will discuss on Tuesday! Watch both the short
and long versions please!

Sam

What is this Pirate Party all about?

2009-02-26T11:27:00.001-05:00

Ars on what it all means and the struggles they face.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/rick-falkvinge-is-the-face.ars

FW: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-24T13:25:00.000-05:00

From Professor Farber's IP list. I remember reading the original story and sharing it with my IT100 class at the time...

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 2/24/2009 12:43 PM
Subject: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>
Date: February 24, 2009 12:01:22 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Hi Dave:

For IP if you think it is appropriate:

> A NEWCASTLE professor watched Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire -
> not realising he was the inspiration behind the movie.
>
> A decade ago Professor Sugata Mitra knocked a hole through the wall
> of his laboratory in New Delhi, India, so children in the adjoining
> slum could play on one of his computers.
>
> The experiment, to see whether unschooled children would teach
> themselves how to use the internet if left to their own devices, was
> intended as an educational tool.
>
> But it eventually inspired the film which swept the Oscars on Sunday
> night.
>
> As he celebrated the film's success, original author Vikas Swarup
> said he wrote Q&A, which was adapted for the screen by Simon
> Beaufoy, as a direct result of hearing about street children using
> Professor Mitra's computer.
. . .

Full story at:

http://tinyurl.com/czcd32

OK, so maybe 2 hours on the Credit crisis was a bit much

2009-02-21T16:44:00.001-05:00

Here's a BRILLIANT animated recap of the problem in 10 minutes
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

Sam

NYT introduces a new way to skim an online newspaper

2009-02-17T09:17:00.001-05:00

Check this out, it's pretty damn slick and few ads.
http://prototype.nytimes.com/gst/articleSkimmer/

The Ascent of Money

2009-02-13T22:46:00.001-05:00

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/watch-full-program-the-ascent-of-money/24/

Absolutley fascinating documentary. I have always considered the
whole concept of money to be bull from the start and they go into why
that is and isnt true and why it doesnt matter, and then on to how we
got into this housing mess and where we go from here.

Watch the whole thing PRINT OUT a 2 paragraph review and I'll give
credit worth 1 weekly assignment.

Kindle 2 offiicial, I'm still yawning

2009-02-09T15:01:00.001-05:00

For exactly the reasons Giz and its commenters list:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5149814/giz-explains-why-kindle-2-isnt-a-big-step-forward-for-voracious-readers

http://i.gizmodo.com/5149704/does-the-kindle-2-pass-the-applebraun-design-test

http://i.gizmodo.com/5149696/confirmed-kindle-coming-to-cellphones-and-how-to-get-a-kindle-2-firstest

Apple is smart in ignoring text, but if they ever do turn their eyes
to the printed word you can bet it won't be this boring.

Monmouth U is closed BUT we will still continue online!

2009-02-03T14:40:00.001-05:00

One of the blessings and curses of the internet age is that we can
continue our work and learning remotely even when physical locations
are shut down. By now you should have heard from MUs emergency
notification system that the school is closing at 2:30. We will do a
number of things ASYNCHRONOUSLY so that our learning continues almost
at pace as if we had the actual class. This means you can do this
assignment at your own pace, you don't have to do it from 6-715 but
since you already have that time blocked out, that might be a good
time to do it!

First, you can catch up with all the lecture notes at:
http://zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten

Download and go through all of them through 'Storage'

Then do the following:

Read up on the Dr. Math talks Binary:
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54311.html

Read How Stuff Work's article on Bits and Bytes:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bytes.htm

For extra info, check out Joel Spolski's intro to Unicode for programmers:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html

What's inside my computer?
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/inside-computer.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/motherboard.htm
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/compuspeed90.html
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-memory.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm

Be ready to discuss the different parts of a computer, the different
types of memory, how much faster computers are today than just a few
years ago, how we rate computer speed and memory capacity, and the
difference between primary and secondary storage. Let me know if you
have any questions!

Sam

Looking at genius in the rearview mirror

2009-01-30T13:45:00.001-05:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939600/steve_jobs_the_rolling_stone_interview

Absolutely brilliant how he saw some of this stuff so clearly. I know
for a fact I linked this article to my students, along with the 'Rip
mix burn" stuff to get their opinion of it at the time.

So what's next???

Jason Calacanis says we are losing empathy on the web

2009-01-29T08:36:00.001-05:00

http://calacanis.com/2009/01/29/we-live-in-public-and-the-end-of-empathy/

Actually this is nothing new but Jason's idea about Internet Aspergers
is an interesting take on this. The web is probably the MOST
civilized bastion where this is occurring tho, other online services
are much worse. If you want to have your eyes opened to what he means
spend an afternoon on Xbox 360 or in a typical MMORPG. The lack of
flesh and blood feedback to the insults and hate online acts like an
accellerant, because there is no punishment and because the hate feeds
hate, it keeps amping up.

He calls for an end or curtailing of anonymity to solve this, I'm not
so sure. There has to be a method of eliminating hate without the
loss of privacy for those who aren't out of line.

Image Stabilization in iMovie 09 is the real deal, Kindle 2

2009-01-28T13:03:00.001-05:00

check this out, very impressive:
http://www.macworld.com/article/138480/2009/01/imovie_09_image_stabilization.html

Not bad for a first attempt at moving this to the desktop from the
capture device. Doesn't negate the need for a pan/tilt head for
serious movies but for family shots it's worth the cost to upgrade to
the new iLife alone I think. More examples here:
http://flickr.com/photos/neven/3231965235/
http://beaucolburn.com/post/73597921/flippingsmooth

Oh, and the face recognition in iPhoto will keep your CATS organized
too. Can they haz cheezburgers?
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/iphotos_faces_recognizes_cats

We'll talk a lot about Mac Vs. PC and Mac AND PC in this class. All
of my business stuff is PC based but I have 3 Macs at home and a
dedicated PC only for videogaming. If it weren't for games I'd be all
Mac at home.

Kindle 2 coming in 2 weeks. We'll see how that goes, I wasn't all
that impressed with the first one.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/amazons-kindle-2-will-debut-feb-9/

Some interesting links

2009-01-27T09:18:00.001-05:00

New IE might not suck so much:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/01/26/internet-explorer-8-release-candidate-now-available.aspx
I'll stick to Firefox tho I think.

Kanye West says don't use the same dumb password for all your accounts:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/26/kanye_west_hacked/

Continuing the recession bad news, IBM slashes 2800:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123300431170916831.html

Spooky Memory primer:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/01/spooky-memory-at-a-distance-with-quantum-teleportation.ars

Title says it all:
http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/01/man-buys-used-ipod-gets-60-pages-of-sensitive-military-data.ars

PSP2 coming soon, maybe:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5139947/the-psp2-coming-soon-and-featuring-a-touchscreen
The rumored features sound interesting and I will be shocked if it
isnt multitouch/accelerometer enabled, but if it doesn't have two
analogue pads that will just be lame.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5139723/snow-shoveling-robots-where-were-you-during-my-childhood
http://i.gizmodo.com/5139559/19-examples-of-the-best-gaming+themed-furniture

Get ready for superbowl sunday:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5139579/tips-for-hd-and-3d-viewing-on-superbowl-sunday

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/nsa-whistlebl-2.html
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2009/01/14-gigapixel-im.html

Best hack ever. I really hope this kid can do the same for the Nikon D300:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/hack-adds-hi-de.html

HDTV transition dumbly delayed:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/senate-pushes-b.html

Israel hacks.... antelope???!?!?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/israel-unleash.html

Just when you think you've heard the dumbest thing ever... along comes:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/new-bill-asks-f.html
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/01/our-intrepid-leaders.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/congress-gets-bill-to-make-cell-phone-cameras-go-click.ars

The mac turns 25
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2009/jan/22/mac-25-andy-hertzfeld
http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_tech/~3/PlUn3zL1Ad8/index.html

Gigapixels:
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/01/gigapixel-tokyo.html
http://www.davidbergman.net/blog/2009/01/22/how-i-made-a-1474-megapixel-photo-during-president-obamas-inaugural-address/
http://specials.washingtonpost.com/inauguration/mosaic/
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/20/us/politics/2009-inauguration-zoom-photo.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/panorama/capitol.monday/
http://www.simonhoegsberg.com/we_are_all_gonna_die/slider.html

More:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Mashable/~3/Kvaulfr_Pyk/
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Mashable/~3/Gc7OfIZ79mc/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/25/AR2009012502179.html?wprss=rss_technology
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/27/disagree-with-a-flig.html
http://waxy.org/2009/01/pirating_the_2009_oscars/

FW: [IP] Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide - NYTimes.com

2009-01-26T13:49:00.001-05:00

From New York Times via Professor Farber’s IP list

From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 3:28 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/technology/internet/23worm.html?_r=1&hp

By JOHN MARKOFF

A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack. The world’s leading computer security experts do not yet know who programmed the infection, or what the next stage will be.

In recent weeks a worm, a malicious software program, has swept through corporate, educational and public computer networks around the world. Known as Conficker or Downadup, it is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand-carried consumer gadgets like USB keys.

Experts say it is the worst infection since the Slammer worm exploded through the Internet in January 2003, and it may have infected as many as nine million personal computers around the world.

Wired President, Twitter Journalism, more

2009-01-16T10:40:00.001-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/15/obama.internet.president/

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/us-airways-crash-rescue-picture-citizen-jouralism-twitter-at-work
http://scobleizer.com/2009/01/15/plane-crash-in-nyc-captured-on-real-time-web/

Sending this article for you to see the 100 biggest blogs by traffic
more than you caring about how they are made. Scroll down to see the
list and links:
http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/01/15/the-blog-platforms-of-choice-among-the-top-100-blogs/

Warrantless Wiretaps given a legal nod:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090116-fisa-court-upholds-warrantless-wiretap-authority.html

Sleepwalkers use email too!
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090115-night-e-night-sleepwalking-woman-logs-on-sends-e-mail.html

Welcome IT 102-50 Students!

2009-01-16T09:55:00.001-05:00

Looking forward to seeing you all in class next week. We'll have a
bit of an interesting start to the semester, as we will be using a
'Team Teaching' approach. This class will be jointly taught by myself
and Mr. William "Bill" Reynolds, who happens to be one of the best and
most fun teachers of MS Office you will ever meet. Between the two of
us we will help you explore everything Information Technology has to
offer and all of the IT resources available to you at Monmouth U!

Please be sure to check the class blog frequently at
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com/

Also be sure to log in to see the details at:
http://ecampus.monmouth.edu - That site will be updated with Drop
Boxes, the Syllabus, and forum questions next week.

My email should you need to get me fastest is: sposten@gmail.com and
Bill can be reached at: WilliamSReynolds@aol.com

I do not recommend you use posten@monmouth.edu

We hope to see you all there at 6 Tuesday night, we will have a ton of
things to discuss. Couple of things we want you thinking about as you
come to our first meeting:

-How much do you _really_ know about computers? Do you know just
enough to get your work done or have you looked into ways that
computers are invading every aspect of our lives?
-What are computers doing today that we never expected just a few years ago?
-What is more important to you where technology is concerned:
Flexibility, stability, coolness or ease of use?
-What do you want to get out of this course? Are you here just
because it's a requirement or does technology genuinely really excite
you?

Do you know you can get the FULL MS office for just $60 as a student?
It's an amazing deal, Microsoft calls it the Ultimate Steal:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

Do you regularly follow technology news? If not, here are a few links
to get you started, we will be discussing current events in technology
quite a bit!
http://www.engadget.com/
http://www.techmeme.com/
http://www.boingboing.net/
http://arstechnica.com/index.ars
http://gizmodo.com/
http://slashdot.org/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.wired.com/
http://tech.alltop.com/

We look forward to talking to you all soon!

Sam

Your own personal lie detector, end of semester

2008-12-19T08:57:00.001-05:00

Hi folks, this should be one of my last posts for the year. Your
grades have been submitted and I'm proud of the hard work you all did
and great responses you provided back in all our discussions this
semester, it makes it a lot more fun to teach this class when students
give ME a lot to think about!

Here's one for you to think about, is it a GOOD thing for everyone to
have their own personal lie detector? With a new 8 dollar iPhone app,
you can test it out for yourself and see if you believe it really
works:
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/19/no-lie-voice-stress-analysis-on-iphone/

I'm not so sure this is going to be a good idea for a lot of people, I
think it's a technology that just screams out for misapplication and
drama. We'll see how this one plays out, should be interesting!

Have a great break and Happy Holidays!
Sam

Re: Class is on for tonight at 6PM per the University - Students and Email/Texting

2008-12-12T14:01:00.001-05:00

Students and Email/Text
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gmail_preferred_by_students_but_nothing_beats_texting.php

Sam

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 1:37 PM, Sam Posten <sposten@gmail.com> wrote:
> Folks, I have canceled my existing personal plans to make sure I meet
> with you at the designated time and place the University set up
> (without consulting me!) so that you may have the benefit of this
> final class period and can ask any questions you may have going into
> our final exam on Tuesday. This will not be a required meeting, but
> since I have done my best to be there I would appreciate it if you are
> available at that time that you take advantage of this opportunity and
> come to that session.
>
> "Your Tuesday evening class that was affected by the power outage has
> been rescheduled to meet Friday evening, December 12th as follows:
>
> IT 102 50 6-7:15 to: Plangeres, Room 234
>
> Sincerely,
> The Office of Registration and Records"
>
> Again, while it would be nice to meet and show you Maple/Matlab I
> believe this classroom is just that, a CLASSroom and not a LAB. If
> possible to demonstrate these functions in that meeting place I will
> definitely do so. As noted, Maple/Matlab and Powerpoint are not going
> to be parts of the final exam but everything else we covered this
> semester is fair game.
>
> Thanks and please keep those questions and comments coming and I will
> see those of you who can make it tonight at 6 in Plangeres 234,
> wherever that might be.
>
> Sam
>

NYT on Freedom and Technology

2008-12-08T08:49:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/technology/personaltech/08link.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Sam

Why Copyright?

2008-12-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

http://arstechnica.com/journals/law.ars/2008/12/04/new-short-film-asks-why-copyright

FW: Introducing Windows 7

2008-10-28T16:05:00.000-04:00

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.ht
ml

Looks like it might not actually suck. Good for them, perhaps Apple has
lit a fire under MS after all!

Hopefully MS will release a demo video later today.

New Apple laptops confirmed for Tuesday!

2008-10-09T13:03:00.001-04:00

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/09/apple-notebook-event-is-on-october-14th/

Will it be 'the brick'?
Will it have Blu?
Will it be a sub-notebook for under $800?
Will there be a tablet version?

Tune in Tuesday and see!

FW: [IP] Nat'l Research Council report on data mining report: it doesn't work

2008-10-09T09:10:00.001-04:00

Not surprising, the software guys have been saying this for years. The bad news is that this won't kill it, it will be too easy for someone new to come along every 6 months and claim they have new technology that this report didnt count on.

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 10/8/2008 3:26 PM
Subject: [IP] Nat'l Research Council report on data mining report: it doesn't work

Begin forwarded message:

From: Peter Swire <peter@peterswire.net>
Date: October 8, 2008 2:45:24 PM EDT
To: "dave@farber.net" <dave@farber.net>
Subject: RE: [IP] Nat'l Research Council report on data mining report:
it doesn't work

Dave:

I did not participate in writing the report, but attended the roll-out
event yesterday and have read through most of it.

I really commend this report to your readers. It does high quality
work on data mining and behavioral surveillance.

A particularly strong aspect of the report is a detailed and usable
"framework for program assessment." This essentially takes the
Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Gov Act of 2002 and
deepens the process considerably. Although designed specifically for
assessment of federal programs, the step-by-step framework would be
easily usable in private-sector, state, and local programs.

One noteworthy point in the report is that compliance with the "law"
is not enough (in part because the laws lag behind technical
developments). Too often officials defend a bad program by saying "it
complies with all laws." Program assessment also must look at
upholding "values," and the framework sets out a step-by-step way to
do that.

Along with the committee members mentioned, your readers should know
that the lead drafter of the report (who was presented as such at the
event yesterday) was Fred Cate of Indiana University.

I think this is the best single document I have seen for how privacy
issues should be addressed in the federal government going forward.

Peter

Prof. Peter P. Swire
C. William O'Neil Professor of Law
Moritz College of Law
The Ohio State University
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
(240) 994-4142, www.peterswire.net

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 1:34 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Nat'l Research Council report on data mining report: it
doesn't work

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10059987-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&ta
g=2547-1_3-0-20

October 7, 2008 9:30 AM PDT
Government report: Data mining doesn't work well
Posted by Declan McCullagh

The most extensive government report to date on whether terrorists can
be identified through data mining has yielded an important conclusion:
It doesn't really work.

A National Research Council report, years in the making and scheduled
to be released Tuesday, concludes that automated identification of
terrorists through data mining or any other mechanism "is neither
feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology
development efforts." Inevitable false positives will result in
"ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses" being incorrectly
flagged as suspects.

The whopping 352-page report, called "Protecting Individual Privacy in
the Struggle Against Terrorists," amounts to at least a partial
repudiation of the Defense Department's controversial data-mining
program called Total Information Awareness, which was limited by
Congress in 2003.

But the ambition of the report's authors is far broader than just
revisiting the problems of the TIA program and its successors.
Instead, they aim to produce a scholarly evaluation of the current
technologies that exist for data mining, their effectiveness, and how
government agencies should use them to limit false positives--of the
sort that can result in situations like heavily-armed SWAT teams
raiding someone's home and shooting their dogs based on the false
belief that they were part of a drug ring.

The report was written by a committee whose members include William
Perry, a professor at Stanford University; Charles Vest, the former
president of MIT; W. Earl Boebert, a retired senior scientist at
Sandia National Laboratories; Cynthia Dwork of Microsoft Research; R.
Gil Kerlikowske, Seattle's police chief; and Daryl Pregibon, a
research scientist at Google.
<snip>

FW: [IP] What can you do with a 12-million-digit prime number? | csmonitor.com

2008-10-02T09:01:00.001-04:00

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 10/1/2008 11:31 AM
Subject: [IP] What can you do with a 12-million-digit prime number? | csmonitor.com

http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/09/30/what-can-you-do-with
-a-12-million-digit-prime-number/

What can you do with a 12-million-digit prime number?
By Andrew Heining | 09.30.08

The scientific world is abuzz this week with news that researchers at
UCLA have discovered a prime number with more than 10 million digits.
The find qualifies them for a $100,000 prize from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) and undeniable geek cred, but a decidedly
unscientific survey of comments from around the web concludes that the
overall response to the announcement is: So what?

Not being a math whiz myself by any means, I set out to find an answer
to this question. Are monster prime numbers the key to clean energy?
Negative. Can you prevent space shuttle accidents with a gigundo-
prime? Survey says: no. But megaprimes will help rid your golf game of
that nasty slice, right? Wrong again.

When a frustrated parent questioned the importance of her daughter
learning about prime numbers in school, the helpful folks at Ask Dr.
Math pointed out that primes are the basis of RSA encryption. Whenever
online shoppers send personal information and credit card numbers
across the web, prime numbers provide the backbone of that security.

Besides keeping your identity secure, primes have long been used as a
math shortcut, helping with factoring, linear equations, and other
things you probably haven't thought about since high school.

But why did the EFF offer $100,000 for the first person to discover a
10-million-digit-plus prime number? The hunt for large primes requires
massive computing power – the production of which is prohibitively
expensive for a single organization. Distributive computing – the same
kind UCLA used to find their megaprime – makes a supercomputer out of
many smaller individual machines, using the web to stitch all that
power together. The EFF Cooperative Computing Awards provide an
incentive for everyday Internet users to contribute to solving great
scientific problems.

The method is the message.

L33t r3vu

2008-09-25T12:55:00.001-04:00

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080911/ANSWERMAN/809119984/1023

FW: [IP] Homeland Security Detects Terrorist Threats by Reading Your Mind

2008-09-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

From the IP list. Spooky.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 9/24/2008 3:31 AM
Subject: [IP] Homeland Security Detects Terrorist Threats by Reading Your Mind

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426485,00.html

Vincent LaForet shows off Canon's game changer

2008-09-23T14:46:00.001-04:00

Vincent LaForet clearly demonstrates why the 5D Mark2 is a game changer for the 'film' and video industry. This is as big a jump as the 'Red' Camera was and I'm really excited to see how it takes off. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/22/without-further-ado-reverie

FW: [IP] Nice reading -- Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

2008-09-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

A must read

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 9/20/2008 6:29 AM
Subject: [IP] Nice reading -- Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/diamond-and-kashyap-on-
the-recent-financial-upheavals/?em

September 18, 2008, 10:04 am
By STEVEN D. LEVITT

As an economist, I am supposed to have something intelligent to say
about the current financial crisis. To be honest, however, I haven't
got the foggiest idea what this all means. So I did what I always do
when something related to banking arises: I knocked on the doors of my
colleagues Doug Diamond and Anil Kashyap, and asked them for the
answers. What they told me was so interesting and insightful that I
begged them to write their explanations down for a broader audience.
They were kind enough to take the time to do so. In what follows, they
discuss what has happened in the financial sector in the last few
days, why it happened, and what it means for everyday people.

EFF Sues the USA, Wall Street Meltdown and IT, New E-Readers, more

2008-09-19T08:55:00.001-04:00

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/09/17-0

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/rights-group-su.html

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/how-wall-streets-quants-lied-to-their-computers/

"Lying to your risk-management computer is like lying to your doctor. You just aren't going to get the help you really need. "

Garbage in = Garbage out.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/18/ereader-kindle-irex-tech-egang08-cx_ag_0918irex.html

http://daringfireball.net/2008/09/theres_nothing_there

http://gizmodo.com/5052051/microsofts-im-a-pc-ad-beats-seinfeld-but-not-hodgman

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080918-recent-arrests-a-reminder-that-blogging-comes-with-risks.html

Force unleashed looks like a dud:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/09/18/star-wars-the-force-unleashed-is-out-and-its-a-heartbreaker

Alert the Grateful Dead, USGS finds dancing bears:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/09/18/grizzly-population-study-turns-up-video-of-dancing-bears

Journalism student barred from liveblogging and twittering in Web 2.0 Journalism class

2008-09-18T14:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/09/digging_deepernyu_professor_st_1.html

Kinda funny to ban this stuff in the class where it is supposed to be discussed and studied.

For our own class I'd probably be against liveblogging and twittering IN CLASS as we ask students to work strictly on the applications we are discussing at that point in time. Outside of class I'd consider anything I (as the instructor) said or did in the class fair game but I agree that quoting other students or even talking about the other students in a given class is probably a violation of their privacy. I'm not a lawyer tho, so I wonder what MU's policy would be on this, I imagine this incident will spark a deeper discussion on the subject by faculty.

Palin's email hacked, Microsoft dumps seinfeld, more

2008-09-18T11:23:00.000-04:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7622724.stm

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080918-alleged-1st-person-tale-of-palin-e-mail-hack-comes-and-goes.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-palin-e-mail-hack-makes-case-for-sticking-with-gov-e-mail.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/18/life-with-playstation-begins-today/

http://gizmodo.com/5051558/ps3-news-service-life-with-playstation-now-up-for-download

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/17/microsofts-new-ads-seinfeld-and-gates-out-hodgman-lookalike-i/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/17/21-1-megapixel-canon-eos-5d-mark-ii-with-full-frame-hd-video-ann/

I shoot a Nikon d300 and a Canon 20D. This new 5dm2 is a MONSTER and at $2700 isn't cheap but it beats out Canon's 8000 dollar flagship in many ways.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-gao-report-slams-us-cybersecurity-us-cert-and-dhs.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-the-kids-are-all-right-gamers-well-adjusted-civic-minded.html

Binary Math

2008-09-16T14:52:00.001-04:00

Here's a great refresher to make sure you are up to speed on converting between binary and decimal.

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54311.html

More employers than ever are watching employees/applicants social networking sites

2008-09-15T13:59:00.001-04:00

Like Facebook and MySpace

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080914-poster-beware-more-bosses-applicants-social-spaces.html

ROBOTIC ARMS!!!! More on open source textbooks, Rockband2, more

2008-09-15T13:47:00.001-04:00

You GOTTA see this! Fully Bionic arms:

http://gizmodo.com/5048872/dean-kamens-full-bionic-luke-arm-video-from-all-things-d

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

DRM nightmare incoming:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-everyone-but-apple-joins-new-buy-once-play-anywhere-group.html

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/rock-band-2-review.ars

(I REALLY like the new wireless drums. I'm still very much a beginner but even I appreciate the changes to this new set. My one complaint is that they don't seem quite as sturdy. Haven't tried the new Guitar or the Mad Catz bass, and no way will you ever catch me singing)

http://gizmodo.com/5049473/rock-band-2-wireless-guitar-and-drums-hardware-review

http://gizmodo.com/5049859/rock-band-2-instruments-vs-rock-band-1-instruments-in-decibels

http://gizmodo.com/5049522/nikon-d300-dslr-lightning-review

(D300 is what I shoot, odd that it took them so long to review it)

http://gizmodo.com/5049414/the-amazing-tech-lasers-and-lights-behind-a-nine-inch-nails-concert

Investigators looking into whether text messaging played a role in this weekends train disaster

2008-09-15T13:46:00.001-04:00

Seems the engineer may have been improperly texting with "trainspotters", enthusiasts who love trains...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/15/train.collision/index.html

MUST READ. Frequently asked questions about CERN and the LHC, why does it matter to Infotech?

2008-09-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/09/05/232151/the-cern-laboratory-and-the-big-bang-theory-an-essential-guide-for-it.htm

This one is required reading. Fascinating article that boils down what all the hoopla is about with the LHC.

Sam

What went wrong with Vista, iTunes and Zune?

2008-09-11T11:16:00.001-04:00

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/shattered_dreams_and_broken_promises_vistas_failure_launch?page=0%2C0

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10037908-75.html

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=536

Yeah let me know how that works out for you... More

2008-09-10T10:51:00.001-04:00

"These new HDX flicks are so data heavy, you've gotta wait two to three hours just for the flick to start."

http://gizmodo.com/5047711/vudu-testing-blu+ray-quality-hdx-flicks

Large Hadron Collider kicks off:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/10/lhc.collider/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

http://gizmodo.com/5047614/ipod-touch-version-2-review

http://gizmodo.com/5047578/ipod-nano-review

Updates from "Let's Rock"

2008-09-09T14:10:00.001-04:00

Get the full scoop from engadget or Gizmodo but here's the highlights:

-HD TV shows on iTunes-$2.99 for HD and $1.99 for regular SD. Viewable direct from PC/Mac as well as iPod and aTV
-NBC is back on iTunes. Heros, Monk, Battlestar etc
-iTunes 8 official - "Genius"=smart playlists on steroids. Grid view.
-160gb ipod classic killed, 120 is the new classic, $249. ONLY ONE Classic now, not two.
-New nano confirmed. All as suspected. Thin, aluminum, tall, with accelerometer and curved screen. Genius function built in, calendar, stopwatch and voice recorder. Shake to shuffle. Worse battery life, 24 hours music 4h video. $149 for the 8GB model, $199 for the 16GB model 8 in stock today, 16 next week. Green manufacturing. Black, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, violet, red
-New $79 headphones with built in mic and back/forward buttons. Engadget photos make em very Sennheiser like, looks good.
-New form factor for touch, similar to iPhone. Volume controls, speaker and Genius features. Nike+ integration built right in, get transmitter for your shoes. New UI.
-100,000,000 apps downloaded on app store. New games coming. Spore and Soccer zzzzz. D-Pad overlay could be a nightmare. Need for Speed.
-iPod Touch works with the new headphones. 36 hours for music, 6 for video. Environmental conscience. No size bumps. 8GB $229, 16GB $299 and 32GB $399. Weak. All starting today.
-"Funnest iPod ever." Double weaksauce.
-iPod software 2.1, inc Nike+ and Genius playlists. 2.0 Touch owners get a free update to 2.1, $9.95 to go to 2.1 from 1.x. Available today.
-Lots of bug fixes in 2.1 "Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements. No crashes with Apps. Backing up is faster"
-Jack Johnson performed, so thats it for one of the weakest Apple events ever
-Per Slashgear "Considering how "rock" the event started out, an acoustic performance by Jack Johnson seems a big strange ". Seriously.

Google's sat able to track your shadow? +more

2008-09-08T11:25:00.001-04:00

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/06/google-launches-sate.html

The history of Wired:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/05/kevin-kelly-on-the-h.html

Have you consider the possibility that you might suck at photoshop?

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/Big_Fat_Brain/You_Suck_At_Photoshop__Season_2/YouSuckAtPhotoshop16DefineBrushPreset_899.aspx

(If you haven’t seen it before, You Suck is actually a REALLY good tutorial site about Photoshop wrapped up in a ball of drama and ironic humor. May contain NSFW (Not Safe for Work / School) language, so check that one out at your own risk! This is this week’s episode which is part of Season 2, you might be best to start at Season 1 if you really have never used Ps)

Crypto wedding ring

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/05/help-design-a-cipher.html

We’ll talk a LOT about Cryptology and Encryption this semester!

Monday morning nuggets

2008-09-08T09:07:00.001-04:00

Posten's new logo!

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/05/norway-posts-new-logo-pokeball-or-marathon-symbol-variation/

Large Hadron Collider goes live Wednesday (this could be the most important physics experiment of our lifetimes)

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/cerns-lhc-first-beam-to-be-broadcast-live-on-wednesday/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/07/world-to-end-wednesday/

More on the LHC here with snarky gaming news:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/07/japanese-hardware-sales-aug-25-aug-31-supercollider-editio/

WiFi on the International Space Station

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/international-space-station-gets-wifi-404-errors-very-likely/

2 E-Reader stories:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/plastic-logic-finally-ready-to-launch-flexible-e-newspaper-re/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/08/esquires-e-ink-infused-magazine-cover-shown-on-video/

Are you a virtual rocker? Which one is on your mind, Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band 2?

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/05/sting-tool-join-guitar-hero-world-tours-lineup/

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/04/rock-band-disc-export-goes-live-costs-5-for-55-tracks/

http://www.joystiq.com/tag/rock-band

http://www.joystiq.com/tag/guitar-hero-world-tour

(I just exported my RockBand1 songs in anticipation of getting RB2 on Sunday, it was easy and cheap, RB2 should be awesome)

DRM free old games? Yes please!

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/05/good-old-games-offering-early-beta-access/

The Microsoft/Seinfeld ad is a dud:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122082676065908265.html

Google's satellite launch a success:

http://gizmodo.com/5046406/google-military+controlled-satellite-reaches-orbit-we-dont-feel-lucky

Fake Steve talks about Apple, shocker:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157545

Star Trek is 42

http://gizmodo.com/5046570/star-treks-enterprise-boldy-went-42-years-ago-today

Let's Rock is tomorrow:

http://gizmodo.com/5046340/first-photo-of-apple-lets-rock-event

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/09/06/on-itunes-8-and-hunches-also-iphone-2-1-for-tuesday

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/09/06/more-leaked-ipod-nano-pics-for-reals-this-time

Is it me or is it coincidence that Rockband and new iPods are launching this week, which coincidentally is back to school week? =)

Ars reviews Spore:

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/spore-review.ars

Google turned 10 yesterday:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080907-ars-on-google-at-10-years-old.html

FW: [IP] Summary One of your readers...My memory

2008-09-04T10:54:00.000-04:00

There's a recipe for revolution for you, make a product 6 orders of magnitude (so if your initial version is 10, it would be 10^9 or 10,000,000 times) bigger for 6 orders of magnitude (10,000,000,000) cheaper.

If you can do that you've got something...

I like to give my own personal example. The first hard disk I bought held 33 megabytes and cost me $888, and that was a LOT for a college student in 1988. Today you can get a 1GB disk for $200. So for 1/4 the price you get 30,303 times more storage. I now have single pictures that are larger than my first hard disk could hold.

My first 'real' computer, a Texas Instruments 99-4/a circa 1982ish, held 16 kilobytes of memory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A

I expect my next computer will have between 4 and 16 GB of RAM but lets be conservative and call it 4. That is a 250,000 fold increase in RAM.

My first PC was a Radio Shack / Tandy 1000tx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_1000

It had 640k of memory. This was 40x more than my TI but only 1/6240th of what a new 4GB machine will have. Again, this was in 1988, only 20 years ago.

This phenomenon isn't slowing down either, we are still living in the age of Moore's Law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

We're getting to the edge of what physics will allow tho!

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 9/4/2008 5:00 AM
Subject: [IP] Summary One of your readers...My memory

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gene Spafford <spaf@cerias.purdue.edu>
Date: September 4, 2008 1:31:51 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Cc: "ip" <ip@v2.listbox.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: One of your readers...My memory

So, to summarize what I got:

There were several one-off fully transistorized computers built by
various groups in the mid-1950s.

The first commercial system that was offered for general sale that was
completely transistors was the 608, announced by IBM in April of
1955. It had 3000 transistors. In current dollars it was possible to
buy a base model for a modest $700,000.

The price for transistors used by IBM in their machines circa 1958 was
approximately $2 each (or $20 current), as cited in Thomas Watson's
autobiography, Father, Son, & Co., on page 296 (thanks P. Capek and DV
Henkel-Wallace).

I wanted to verify a calculation I had used in a magazine article (to
come out in October) that in 50 years of semiconductor computing,
we've seen almost a nine order of magnitude drop in per-transistor
cost in current dollars (although we've also seen an increase in
transistors per system use, by a factor of about 6 orders), and about
7 orders of magnitude drop in per-byte cost in secondary memory (about
$.10 per byte of drum in 1958). Of course, other costs, including
main memory have also dropped in a similar fashion. Total system cost
has dropped by a factor of about 500, but capabilities have grown
tremendously as well (I don't have a measure of that, but in the
millions of times faster, I believe).

This all goes to points I've been making in invited lectures over the
last year, but I wanted to reverify my numbers for the print article.
(And I am going to let the magazine have priority on the essay, so I
won't expand further until October...unless I end up speaking at your
institution. :-)

My thanks to everyone who responded. It was fascinating, and I
greatly appreciate your willingness to respond!

--spaf