The TSA and I now have something in common: blogging. So now that we’re all part of the blogosphere, I have a few questions. Let me start by asking about the bomb juice.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
And you thought NTP getting RIM to shell out $612.5 million was excessive? It seems that other patent holding companies are shooting much higher. About a year ago, we noted that some private equity firms were so thrilled with the outcome of various patent hoarding lawsuits that they were raising funds solely to buy up patents, stick them in shell companies, and sue businesses that actually made products. We’re seeing more and more of those types of lawsuits, with the latest one being pretty impressive. Private equity firm Fortress Investment Group has backed a patent holding firm IP-Com, who is now suing Nokia for patent infringement to the tune of $17.77 billion (yes, billion with a b). At that rate, a mere $600 million seems like pocket change. Expect to see a few more of these types of lawsuits, as well. With so much money going into these patent hoarding firms, combined with fears that we may finally seem some legitimate patent reform (either via Congress or the Supreme Court), many patent holders may be scrambling to squeeze whatever they can as fast as they can — and starting off with ridiculous numbers is one way to push for a faster settlement.
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WebsiteMag brings us news from the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) about a recent study of drop catching —’a process whereby a domain that has expired is released into the pool of available names and is instantly re-registered by another party.’ The eleven day study showed that 100% of ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ domain names were immediately registered after they had been released. CADNA has published the results with their own analysis. Quoting: “The results also show that 87% of Dot-COM drop-catchers use the domain names for pay-per-click (PPC) sites. They have no interest in these domain names other than leveraging them to post PPC ads and turn a profit. Interestingly, only 67% of Dot-ORG drop catchers use the domains they catch to post these sites — most likely because Dot-ORG names are harder to monetize due to the lack of type-in traffic and because they tend to be used for more legitimate purposes.”
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Sprint and T-Mobile have proposed using the white spaces in the TV spectrum for licensed backhaul instead of unlicensed wireless broadband. Google thinks that would be a waste of perfectly good spectrum.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
During his company’s earnings call, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that demand for the Kindle is “outpacing” expectations. The company also announced it is moving beyond eBooks to audiobooks, buying Audible for around $300 million.
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The unidentified figure working on a personal computer in the Spaceship Earth attraction isn’t an Apple founder, Disney says. Instead, it’s a tribute to all the geeks who toil in California garages.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
Forget silicone implants and cheesy dialogue. Sex sites that tease out the truly erotic bits — including the realistically awkward moments — raise the bar for the industry. Commentary by Regina Lynn.
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The United States gets its first film-production studio with the opening of Thomas Edison’s “Black Maria.”
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Bryansix brings us a story about the 50th anniversary of the United States’ entry into the Space Age. On January 31st, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first U.S. satellite to reach orbit. The New York Times is running a similar feature. “Explorer 1 gave America a chance to recover some of its confidence and prestige after the Sputnik shock, but there was a scientific payoff as well: The data returned by the satellite showed that Earth was not surrounded by a swarm of killer pebbles, as some scientists had feared. However, the cosmic-ray readings hinted at the existence of bands of radiation surrounding the planet - an unexpected result that led to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts.”
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One of the questions that came up last week in Edinburgh was whether or not social networking sites were really the big moneymakers they claimed to be. In the discussion, what we agreed on, was that the social networking sites had done a good job in doing an “upfront” monetization, with MySpace getting a guaranteed ad deal from Google and Facebook getting a guaranteed deal from Microsoft. However, all the details suggested that on the backend things were pretty ugly. It’s not hard to figure out why. Ads work on Google because people are looking for information. They do a search, and if the advertisement shows information that helps with the query, that makes everyone happy. However, when it comes to a social network, usage is quite different. People aren’t looking for information about products — they’re looking to communicate with friends. In that environment, ads are seen as an intrusion — which is the exact opposite of ads in a search world. That explains why Facebook was so focused on its Beacon offering, which was designed to try (rather unsuccessfully so far) to make an advertisement about communicating with your friends.
With all that said, I estimated that within a year, advertisers would begin to back away from social network advertising, unless some new, more effective, mechanism was found. I figured it would take about a year, because the mindset of advertisers would still be focused on just getting ads on these “hot properties” and it would take some time before they realized that no one looked at the ads. Apparently, my estimate was wrong. Brands are already staying away. At least, that was a major point behind Google missing its earnings estimates. It seems unlikely that this situation will get much better, unless social networks really do come up with a different form of advertising. They need to recognize that simply throwing up ads doesn’t work any more. An advertisement can’t be intrusive. It can’t be annoying. It needs to be relevant and wanted.
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Asian countries are reeling from cuts in underwater internet fiber optic cables that have left millions in the e-dark. While the internet feels crucial, one internet analyst says such outages are the cost of cheap internet access fees.
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Designed as a safe social networking site for kids 8 to 14, Imbee gets off on the wrong foot by collecting and storing basic personal information on tots without their parents’ permission.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
I Don’t Believe in Imaginary Property writes “Apparently, the participants in the U.S. ‘Cyber Storm’ war games are familiar with the Kobayashi Maru, because some of them tried to cheat by hacking the games themselves. They also prepare for some very interesting scenarios. Among other things, the organizers are worried about having too many people on the ‘No Fly’ list show up at an airport, finding ‘mystery liquids’ in the subway, and having bloggers reveal the classified location of railcars with hazardous materials. The Department of Homeland Security has already analyzed the results of the games, and plans to hold ‘Cyber Storm 2′ in March.”
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While the MPAA continues to insist there’s really no legitimate use for file sharing apps, it appears that one film festival has decided that it’s a great distribution mechanism for finding new films. The Cinequest film festival is asking filmmakers to submit their movies to a file sharing platform where people can view the films and vote for their favorites. The fan favorites for feature-length and short films will be added to the actual festival. The organizer has a few quotes that suggests he understands that piracy isn’t the problem the MPAA makes it out to be: “No artists have ever starved because too many people knew about them.”
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A chocolateY coating? Calcium caseinate? Discover the ingredients that comprise the popular PowerBar, some of which might freak you out.
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Keith Abrahamsson launches the first all-digital reissues label, Anthology Recordings.
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willdavid writes “Paul McDougall reports in InformationWeek on Microsoft’s new online comic. The Heroes Happen Here comic strips are being created by Jordan Gorfinkel, a former DC Comics editor who helped revitalize the Batman series. ‘Tech workers who in the middle of the night fix a downed server or take on a computer virus don’t really have extraordinary powers. It just seems that way. But a new comic book has debuted in which IT pros literally are superheroes. The daily Web comic, called Heroes Happen Here, features tech savvy crime fighters like Lord Firewall, who “stands between chaos and order” and says things like “begone vermin!”‘” And because it’s never easy, in order to read the archives of the comic you’re going to need to install Microsoft’s Silverlight.
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The week leading up to the Super Bowl is often a banner week for TV sales, but recent data suggest that sales of high-definition TVs may be leveling off.
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its hard to think of writes “There’s an interesting story up at Nature News about scientific ethics. It seems that while one group of scientists is figuring out details about aetosaurs (ancient crocodiles), another group in New Mexico is repeatedly taking credit for their work and naming the new animals they ‘discover’. It also looks like the state government, which has been asked to intervene, is trying to sidestep the issue. ‘The New Mexico cultural-affairs department, which oversees the museum, conducted a review of two of the instances last October and concluded that the allegations were groundless. But some experts call that review a whitewash, claiming that it failed to follow accepted practices of US academic institutions faced with claims of misconduct. Now all three cases are before the Ethics Education Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a professional organization based in Northbrook, Illinois, which is awaiting responses from the New Mexico team before making a ruling.’ How widespread is this kind of thing?”
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He’s been good on consumer rights and the environment. But as Sen. John McCain works to solidify his Republican front-runner status, signs emerge that he’s abandoning some long-held convictions.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who became the face of the American military effort in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, begs the armed services to let troops blog and post to YouTube. But Army rules squeeze military bloggers hard and military nets ban the video site.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
There’s been a lot of discussion, here and elsewhere, about the dangers that expanded government surveillance pose to civil liberties. The Constitution protects the right to be free of unreasonable searches, which the courts have held includes electronic eavesdropping, and many people, myself included, think that recent proposals for expanded wiretapping threaten that right. But less attention has been paid to the security risks created by expanded eavesdropping programs. Matt Blaze and some other computer security experts have a new article documenting the risks concerning eavesdropping systems that themselves could be compromised, allowing unauthorized third parties to use government surveillance networks for their own ends. That’s what happened in Greece, when someone managed to hack into the Greek surveillance infrastructure and listen in on dozens of senior government officials. Blaze and his co-authors argue that the more information collected by a wiretapping scheme, the greater the damage that will be done if it’s ever compromised. The Protect America Act, which Congress passed last August and is due to expire in a few days, authorizes virtually unchecked government interception of communications between Americans and those overseas. The paper warns that the safeguards in the Protect America Act are inadequate to protect Americans from a compromised surveillance network. Congress would do well to listen.
Timothy Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Timothy Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
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Erris writes “A member of the Baton Rouge LUG noticed that Cox checks the text of outgoing email and rejects mail containing key phrases. I was aware of forced inbox filtering that has caused problems and been abused by other ISPs in China and in the US. I’ve also read about forced use of ISP SMTP and outbound throttling, but did not know they outbound filtered as well. How prevalent and justified is this practice? Wouldn’t it be better to cut off people with infected computers than to censor the internet?”
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PCWMike writes “PCs may disappear from your desk by 2033. But with digital technology showing up everywhere else — including inside your body — computing will only get more personal, reports Dan Tynan for PC World’s 25th Anniversary. While convenience will be increased by leaps and bounds, it will come at a profound loss in our sense of what privacy means. ‘Technology will become firmly embedded in advanced devices that deliver information and entertainment to our homes and our hip pockets, in sensors that monitor our environment from within the walls and floors of our homes, and in chips that deliver medicine and augment reality inside our bodies. This shiny happy future world will come at a cost, though: Think security and privacy concerns. So let’s hope that our jetpacks come with seat belts, because it’s going to be a wild ride.’”
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In the last year, we’ve witnessed plenty of companies dig up VoIP patents with which to sue market innovator Vonage. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and Nortel all were able to get Vonage to cough up some money, rather than continue to fight some questionable patents. The fact that there are so many overlapping patents, is exactly the “patent thicket” problem that our current patent system encourages. Of course, there are always more patents to choose from, and it appears that Net2Phone has dug out an old patent and decided not to sue Vonage, but to go after Skype instead. Unfortunately, there’s very little in the way of detail. The ZDNet post just claims it happened, but doesn’t give any details about the actual lawsuit (even where it’s been filed). Also, the writer seems amazed that it’s based on a patent filed in 2000, even though it’s common enough to see old patents used in patent lawsuits. In this case, it’s absolutely true that Net2Phone was an early pioneer in the VoIP space, but saw its business eclipsed when it had trouble coming up with a product people actually wanted to use (and then watched as providers like Skype passed them by). If anything, this seems like yet another example of those who lost in the marketplace punishing those who innovated better. Skype came up with a good product that people wanted to use. Net2Phone did not. It’s hard to see why Skype should be punished for doing a better job serving the market.
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I Don’t Believe in Imaginary Property writes “According to a new report from EDUCASE (pdf), it would cost $100 billion to wire the US with fiber optics and keep our infrastructure from falling behind the rest of the world. Specifically, they recommend what has worked in many other countries — government investment and unbundling — which are often criticized by free market groups, even though those policies have resulted in faster, better connections for smaller total costs. Ars Technica mentions in their analysis of this report that the President will be releasing a report on US broadband today, too.”
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The robot army is coming, and it’s well armed. Wired tours the military robotics labs of the Space and Naval Warfare System Center, which is part junkyard, part high-tech weapons laboratory.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
How many visual items can the brain keep track of? A recent study suggests that we have a limited number of slots for object recognition, regardless of an object’s complexity, and that the number of slots may correlate with IQ test scores.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
dratcw writes “The first commercial LAN was based on ARCnet technology and was installed some 30 years ago, according to a ComputerWorld article. Bob Metcalfe, one of the co-inventors of Ethernet, recalls the early battles between the different flavors of LAN and says some claims from the Token Ring backers such as IBM were lies. ‘I know that sounds nasty, but for 10 years I had to put up with that crap from the IBM Token Ring people — you bet I’m bitter.’ Besides dipping into networking nostalgia, the article also quotes an analyst who says the LAN may be nearing its demise and predicts that all machines will be individually connected to one huge WAN at gigabit speeds. Could the LAN actually be nearing the end of its lifecycle?”
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The Netscape Navigator browser, after years of lagging behind competitor Internet Explorer and siblings Mozilla and Firefox, will fade into history on Feb. 1. Parent company AOL will cease production on all Netscape-branded projects Friday, though the Netscape.com website will continue to exist as a web portal.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wired: Top Stories
As mentioned earlier this month, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland last week, after being invited over to give a series of talks at the University of Edinburgh. It was a fantastic trip, full of interesting discussions. I gave three different talks, with the second one, being the one with the most interesting reaction. It was for a graduate-level class on “digital marketplaces” and was the first time I’ve done a detailed talk about the economic theories we discuss around here.
I was interested to see how people would react to some of the ideas, and it certainly generated a lively discussion that lived on well-past the class itself. In fact, some of that talk got dragged into the other sessions as well and even a student-run tour the next day of the Edinburgh castle (imagine discussing new business models while touring an ancient castle… surreal). However, the most interesting thing was that, for the most part, people didn’t seem to think the idea that you could make money by leveraging infinite goods to sell scarce goods was a strange idea. Almost everyone seemed to grasp that intuitively — and the majority of the discussions then focused on how such concepts could be constructively applied to a variety of different fields and offerings (with some asides to question why certain old industries have so much difficulty adapting to the changing market).
This was immensely encouraging. While I assume there were some people who disagreed with what I said and just decided to remain quiet, the fact that so many people seemed eager to take these ideas and make use of them in the real world suggests that the next generation of entrepreneurs and engineers aren’t going to be tied down by legacy ideas of trying to limit artificial scarcity. They’re going to go out into the world and build the new businesses with the new business models that finally force the old regime to change (or simply go away). It was an extremely encouraging experience. I was somewhat concerned that most of the discussion would be about defending and expanding on the concept, but instead it turned into a much more constructive conversation about how to apply it in the real world. Hopefully, that’s a sign of good things to come.
As for the other talks, the first one, given to a graduate-level entrepreneurship class, was on market research and how to actually make it useful. The last talk was on the history of Techdirt and how we (hopefully!) have been able to build a sustainable company. That one was to the local Edinburgh Entrepreneurship Club and involved a talk I’ve done a few times now. One attendee wrote up his notes on it. During the trip I was also able to meet a few local entrepreneurs, including the folks behind PeopleMaps, Hubdub and Scoopt, among others. We held a Techdirt Greenhouse idea workshop, which was quite a bit of fun, as well. It’s always interesting to see startup communities outside of Silicon Valley. The experience was somewhat similar to when I went to the Mesh Conference in Toronto last year. While the entrepreneurs there may not have quite the same resources as they would in Silicon Valley, they seem to make up for it with additional enthusiasm and determination. Overall, it was a great trip full of interesting people and interesting discussions. Thanks to Mike Clouser for making it happen.
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From McMansion rentals to designated drivers, locals advertise their services, hoping to hook football fans headed to the big game.
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Internet giant Yahoo launched its OpenID provider service Thursday, allowing its 248 million registered users to log into dozens of popular websites using the same login and password. Ironically, none of those websites where users can take advantage of their new, easy login management tools are run by Yahoo.
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Can’t afford $98,000 for a Tesla Roadster? The Zap Alias costs 69 percent less money and has 25 percent fewer wheels.
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At PMA 2008, the camera and video industry’s annual tradeshow, manufacturers will be showing new products that promise to give consumers better pictures — and HD video.
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eldavojohn writes “Today in a speech the pope denounced human cloning, embryonic stem cell research and artificial insemination, citing them as a violation of ‘human dignity.’ That said, the pope did ‘appreciate and encourage’ research on stem cells from non-embryonic cells in the human body. The pope encouraged the Vatican to be a leading voice in the philosophy and discussion of bioethics. ‘Church teaching certainly cannot and must not weigh in on every novelty of science, but it has the task to reiterate the great values which are on the line and to propose to faithful and all men of good will ethical-moral principles and direction for new, important questions,’ Benedict said.”
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TiVo won yet another victory in its long-running patent infringement battle against Dish Network. A federal appeals court has upheld the lower court’s ruling and damage award, and Dish Network is likely to be forced to shut off its DVR service once the appeal becomes final.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
Since the Olympic stadium doesn’t have a roof, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been given the task of making sure the games remain dry. According to Zhang Qian, head of weather manipulation (best title to have on a business card ever) at the bureau, they’ve had success with light rain but heavy rain remains tough to control. I see a hurricane cannon in some lucky country’s future.
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A new report from EDUCAUSE calls for a national broadband strategy that runs fiber past every home and business in the country and offers at least 100Mbps. We could have it all for $100 billion, and only two-thirds of that would have to come from taxes.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
As was widely expected, Swedish prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the guys who run The Pirate Bay. It’s still unclear how creating a search engine that doesn’t actually store or handle any unauthorized material breaks the law, but I guess we’ll find out how that works during the trial. If anything, though, this will probably work just like every similar file sharing lawsuit, where the end result is merely that more people know about it and more people use it (or move on to use the “next” version that comes out). Also, as some are pointing out, the indictment only includes a very small number of files. It really took one and a half years to come up with such a small list?
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Garmin’s Nuviphone promises to wed GPS with cellphone, using finesse and flair. Lots of people are comparing it to the iPhone.
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Matt Barton writes “Gamasutra is running a feature on the venerable Apple II platform, which practically defined the early home computer industry and was home to many of he greatest games and developers of all time. The authors discuss the platform’s lifespan and many iterations, struggles with illegal distribution, and legendary Apple II games such as Prince of Persia, John Madden Football, and Ultima. ‘How big of a problem was piracy? Although several software authors claim that they stopped developing games because of rampant piracy and the subsequent loss of revenue, piracy did expose more computer owners to more games than they otherwise would have been — this was at a time before ubiquitous demos made it easier to “try before you buy.” Another benefit of this piracy is that much of the software archived today at online repositories are the cracked versions.’”
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An anonymous reader writes “This week a sub-$100,000 rocket belt was unveiled and will be on sale this summer, but that’s the sad thing: it’s still not a real jet pack. Here’s a fascinating inside look at the human-flight industry, full of law-suit scandals, technical difficulties, fuel-economy woes and endless delays. The good news? It all points to the next generation of rocketeer research, with real applications for medical rescue and military technology actually coming on the horizon. From the article: ‘With a little patience, and a little funding, we could actually have the pleasure of grumbling over regulatory issues we never dreamed possible. Like being limited to specific kinds of air strips, because the jet strapped to your back is classified by the FAA as an ultralight. Or being required to wear a ballistic parachute, because Amarena’s Thunderjet design could reach altitudes as high as 10,000 feet (and, for the record, speeds of up to 160 mph, provided someone can solve wind-resistance issues).’”
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Last week there was a lot of ridiculous buzz trying to connect Facebook to a series of suicides in the UK. It’s the sort of thing that newspapers love to run with. Facebook is popular, and parents are already worried about it, so link it to suicide and *bam* immediate interest in the story. Of course, an equally accurate story could be “Paper Industry Linked To Suicide After Many Victims All Leave Notes!” Yet, that doesn’t stop some people from trying. Con von Hoffman writes in to point out that the UK story has migrated down under, with an Australian newspaper warning parents about Facebook suicides in the UK. The only problem, there doesn’t seem to be any support to the actual story — as even the Australian article notes… though, buried down in the fourth paragraph: “a police spokesman in Bridgend said there was no evidence to date of a suicide pact and that the theory did not come from police.” Despite that, the article still says that “experts remain concerned there may be a connection between the suicides and social networking sites.” Meanwhile, the article also quotes someone saying: “The more stories that appear about young people having killed themselves in your area, the more it might appear to you to be a reasonable response to a particular kind of crisis.” So, perhaps the Australian paper is trying to turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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philetus writes “New Scientist has up a story on Posey, a hub-and-strut construction kit that senses its configuration and communicates it wirelessly to a computer. From the article: ‘If you gave Lego brains, you might get something like Posey, a new hands-on way of interacting with computers developed at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, US. When Posey’s plastic pieces are snapped together, an exact copy of the construction appears on a computer screen. Every twist of, say, a stick figure’s arm is mirrored in 3D modelling software … Each piece’s plastic shell is stuffed with chips and devices for processing these signals. They are sent wirelessly to a computer using a low-power protocol called ZigBee. This means, bending Posey’s pieces can make objects on-screen respond in real time. Right now, each custom-made piece has about US$50 (£25) worth of parts, Weller estimates. But if mass produced, it could be much cheaper.’”
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After two undersea cable lines were mysteriously severed, Egypt and a number of surrounding countries are trying to minimize the economic damage of the massive Internet outage while figuring out exactly what happened.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica
ficken writes “The great micro vs. monolithic kernel is still alive and well. Andy Tanenbaum weighs in with another article about the virtues of microkernels. From the article: ‘Over the years there have been endless postings on forums such as Slashdot about how microkernels are slow, how microkernels are hard to program, how they aren’t in use commercially, and a lot of other nonsense. Virtually all of these postings have come from people who don’t have a clue what a microkernel is or what one can do. I think it would raise the level of discussion if people making such postings would first try a microkernel-based operating system and then make postings like “I tried an OS based on a microkernel and I observed X, Y, and Z first hand.” Has a lot more credibility.’”
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A new paper from climate scientists finds that dropping water supplies in the West are primarily due to manmade global warming through the increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
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As NASA’s Messenger probe returns the first pictures ever taken of the unseen side of Mercury, we see an aging, shrinking planet scarred by volcanic eruptions, as well as a startling, spider-shaped crater.
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Last year there was a bit of a fuss when comedian Joe Rogan accused Carlos Mencia of stealing jokes. Amusingly, Mencia responded to the claims of plagiarism by using a copyright infringement claim to get Rogan’s video of the accusation taken down. However, in a more detailed discussion of the issue, we pointed out how silly it is to claim a copyright on a joke. There are a ton of joke books out there, many of which collect all kinds of jokes that have been told by many people, without bothering to find the originator and pay them (or even credit them). In fact, with most jokes, it’s not the joke that matters, but the delivery. As I noted, I had recently read Isaac Asimov’s “Treasury of Humor” where he admits that almost all of the jokes are ones he heard from others — and no one seemed to think it was infringing.
However, that didn’t stop Jay Leno and some other comedians from suing a woman who published a recent joke book that included some Leno jokes. Rather than go through a lawsuit, the woman and her publisher quickly settled the lawsuit paying an undisclosed sum and publicly apologizing. This leads William Patry to put together some details of other court cases looking into the copyrights of jokes, noting that Jeff Foxworthy sued someone for using his jokes, even though he admits people send joke ideas to him that he uses.
All of this seems to be an unfortunate extension of the increasing use of copyright to “control” every last use of content. Telling jokes is a social experience, often having little to do with the material itself, and quite a lot to do with the performance and delivery. Witness the movie The Aristocrats, where the entire premise is getting a bunch of different comedians to all tell the same joke, and looking at the different performances and embellishments. No one screamed about copyright infringement in that case — and the comedians seemed to relish the chance to tell the same joke in many different ways. It’s unfortunate that we’re now reaching the point that something that used to be a shared experience is also going down the path to being protected and limited.
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