The Raw File – Stuff That Didn’t Fit into SNS
Here’s a bunch of items that never made it into the
StratVantage News Summary.
Some of the info is a bit dated now, but
most is still interesting. So here it is, raw and uncut, the infodump
that I massage into SNS issues on a regular basis.
Enjoy.
- Logan International Airport is trying to block Continental Airlines Inc. from providing free wireless Internet access to its frequent fliers — a service for which the airport charges a daily $7.95 fee — calling it a threat to safety and security.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan, Boston's airport, claims Continental's Wi-Fi service interferes with other wireless devices.
Continental rejects that claim and argues Massport has no legal authority to restrict its use of the technology.
Massport ordered Continental to remove the Wi-Fi antenna from its Presidents Club lounge by July 9, prompting the Houston-based airline to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.
Yet: http://internetweek.cmp.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=170700888
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060214/sc_nm/environment_climate_dc
- By Jeremy Lovell
- LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists set out on Tuesday to harness the power of home computers to predict climate change more accurately than ever before.
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- Using the reach of the BBC and the forecasting techniques of Britain's Meteorological Office, they hope to persuade thousands of people to take part.
- "If 10,000 people join in, you are already bigger than the world's biggest supercomputer," said lead scientist Myles Allen from Oxford University.
- "The more we get, the more accurate will be our predictions. We have got 500,000 climate variations stacked up and ready to go," he told reporters.
- Temperatures have already risen by 0.6 degrees since the start of the industrial age and most scientists agree that a rise of over two degrees could tip the world into a climactic meltdown.
- So many variables are involved that the longer the forecasting timescale for the climate models, the higher the uncertainty over the outcome.
- "Each person who joins in will get a slightly different model for their computer to crunch, so the more people we get the more confident we can be of our results," Allen said.
- Volunteers should go to www.bbc.co.uk/climatechange and follow the instructions.
- Allen said the program only took minutes to download, would not slow people's computers and would use only negligible extra electricity as it would run in the background when the computer was switched on but not being used.
- He said it should take an average home computer about three months to complete the full program that runs a climate model from 1920 to 2080.
- "The most important for us is the first few decades of the model to see if it gives an accurate picture of what actually happened in the 20th century," Allen said.
- Similar experiments boosting computer power by linking thousands of PCs have been carried out in search of extra-terrestrial intelligence and huge prime numbers
- By Mobile Pipeline Staff , Mobile Pipeline
Tue. Jan. 24, 2006
The recent first wave of certifications for WiMAX products is a milestone, but that specific type of wireless broadband faces a serious challenge from a type of wireless broadband supported by Qualcomm, a study by ABI Research claimed Tuesday.
The first handful of WiMAX products were officially certified last week and many more product certifications are in the pipeline, Philip Solis, a senior analyst for the research firm said in a statement.
"This is a major milestone," Solis said. As more products are certified, an increasing number of wireless ISPs will start deploying the wireless broadband technology, he said. He also noted a large number of pre-standard WiMAX deployments are already in place or are being put into place.
However, while WiMAX, based on the 802.16 standard, has the strong backing of Intel, Solis noted that other types also could succeed. Specifically, Qualcomm just completed acquisition of Flarion Technologies, developers of FLASH-OFDM and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access (OFDMA) technology, which are based on the 802.20 standard.
"Qualcomm will almost certainly attempt to rally support from other industry participants, but many companies had abandoned 802.20 to support 802.16e," Solis noted. He noted that the acquisition of Flarion by Qualcomm gives FLASH-OFDM what he called "a new lease on life."
The study did not discuss the role of IPWireless' UMTS TDD, a third wireless broadband technology. Sprint Nextel is field testing that technology and recently increased is investment in IPWireless.
- Grokster Gives Up: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113139188324090276.html?mod=djemalert
- UN Internet Grab: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB113133007519089738-lMyQjAxMDE1MzAxNzMwMzcwWj.html
- http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3559661 stop outsourcing!
- Cingular with High Speed Cell Data: This week, three markets in Cingular's brand-new HSDPA network went live: Seattle, Pheonix and Dallas-Fort Worth. A full 20 markets are promised before the end of the year, when the official rollout will take place along with the shipment of the first HSDPA data cards. Although, Cingular has not yet released handsets that work on an HSDPA network, they have finally released the integration costs for its acquisition of AT&T Wireless. The company said it will spend $620 million during the next 15 months to integrate the cellular network it acquired for $41 billion in cash.
- For more on Cingular's launch of HSDPA services:
- scroll through this piece from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Now, Microsoft Labs has developed a way to turn your Wi-Fi card into multiple virtual cards, so that you can be connected to multiple Wi-Fi nets at the same time. This nifty trick has numerous applications, many of which are yet to be dreamed up. Some examples of what Virtual Wi-Fi can do:
> Share a paid hotspot connection, as mentioned above;
> Connect to multiple Wi-Fi networks simultaneously, such as linking to a friend's computer in ad-hoc mode for gaming while surfing on an infrastructure network;
> Extend the range of wireless networks by virtual mesh networking from device to device.
- The memo now circulating shows that Microsoft execs are well aware of the search giant's impact. "Google threatens Microsoft's position on the Internet, and could potentially lock Microsoft out of its existing distribution channels and reduce the value of Windows," the memo said, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal first reported on the memo Thursday. Microsoft, the memo said, was playing "an expensive game of catch-up." http://news.com.com/Microsofts+nightmare+inches+closer+to+reality+-+page+2/2100-1012_3-5877197-2.html?tag=st.num
- Microsoft and Google: http://www.marketingtechie.com/linkFrame.asp?link=%20http://news.com.com/Microsofts+nightmare+inches+closer+to+reality/2100-1012_3-5877197.html?tag=nefd.top
- The number of Web sites distributing malicious software has quadrupled in the last year to more than 300,000, as the spyware problem continues to fester on the Internet, according to an upcoming report from Webroot , an antispyware software company. 80 percent of enterprise computers are infected with some kind of adware or spyware. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1850937,00.asp
- Google and NASA to Collaborate: http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39152863,00.htm
- Sprint/Nextel to Steal a March on Mobile Data Carriers? Korea’s WiBro Secures Springboard to World Market
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509150020.html
- Wimax update http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA631032.html
RFID Software Standard: http://www.cbronline.com/article_news_print.asp?guid=501806F2-1E9D-4A59-97CB-B078CDEE410D http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/networking/news/print.php/3550956
Metric: Fuel cells to take off in 2006
According to a new study from NanoMarkets, 2006 will be the break-through year for mobile fuel cells, a soon-to-be commercial technology that will provide longer-lasting power supply for handsets and other mobile devices. The study estimates that the mobile fuel market in 2010 will be worth $1.6 billion and about $2.6 billion in 2012. Insiders say the technology will fulfill future burgeoning power requirements for the smart phone. Initially the fuel cells may serve to complement batteries as portable rechargers or as battery/fuel cell hybrids, in which fuel cells provide long-lasting power and batteries deal with power spikes.
For more details on the future of mobile fuel cells:
- take a look at this press release
http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-3513_11-5869832.html?tag=nl.e019 New tech knocks out digital cameras
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Security researchers warn
against a hacking technique in which scammers set up a bogus wireless access
point near a legitimate base station that they then jam.
By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News
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An "Evil Twin" that hijacks unsuspecting wireless transmissions is
the latest security bugaboo, academic researchers in the U.K. asserted Thursday. But the
idea is anything but fresh.
The hacking technique is dubbed "Evil Twin" because scammers set
up a bogus wireless access point near a legitimate base station that they
then jam. Users within range of the sham access point connect to it thinking
that it's a real link to the Net. All the time, however, the information
transmitted over the wireless connection is being intercepted by the hackers,
who look for passwords, usernames, financial account log-in information, or
other confidential data.
Think of it as one big key logger and you get the idea
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"Much of the information of the 21st
century and the late 20th century
will be lost if we don't do
something," said L. Reynolds Cahoon, an
assistant archivist at the National
Archives and Records
Administration.
The world, and the U.S.
government, are increasingly moving from paper
records to electronic ones. Billions
of pieces of information are
digitized, including military
personnel records, Social Security
accounts, nuclear-plant designs and
border-safety plans. But while
electronic data - such as digital photos
or word documents on floppy
disks - are easily reproduced and
take up little physical space, they
are easily erased, have a short
shelf life and are often delivered by a
system that quickly becomes
obsolete.
The National Archives, which manages records
for the federal
government, is losing data every day as
new technology replaces the
old. So, with the goal of
finding the holy grail of records permanency,
the agency awarded $20 million
yesterday to a pair of companies in a
competition that seems impossible:
designing an everlasting technology
to house the nation's history.
"No one can today guarantee to our
military forces that these
electronic records can be
preserved," said Kenneth Thibodeau, director
of the project, dubbed the
Electronic Records Archive. The new system -
whatever it might be - will make that
promise, he said.
Obsolete technologies
During a news conference
yesterday at the National Archives, where the
nation's most revered documents of
American independence are displayed,
Cahoon drove home the point. He
held aloft relics of data storage -
computer punch cards, an eight-track
cassette tape and a black 5 1/4
-inch
floppy disk.
"Just as these technologies have become obsolete and
the information on them
inaccessible," he said, so will the information
stored on today's technology: thumb
drives, zip disks, CD-ROMs.
Other government offices are also feeling the
pressure to preserve.
The Smithsonian Institution
began busily capturing images in digital
formats several years ago, said
Shannon Perich, a specialist at the
National Museum of
American History.
But archivists later realized they
needed a hard-copy backup such as
slides or transparencies in case the
technology changes and "those
[digital] files don't convert," Perich
said.
The National Archives administration has
spent six years outlining the
problem and creating a technology
wish list. It solicited bids from
various companies and yesterday
chose Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin
and Florida-based Harris Corp.
to begin the work .Itgrantedeacha
one-year contract worth about $10
million.
The companies will spend the next nine months
researching a solution
to digital data decay. The
winner could land a contract worth $500
million.
For now, the companies and records
administration are talking mostly
in generalities and hypotheticals, reflecting the unusual challenge.
The new technology will have
to last over time and be universal enough
to entice others to adopt it,
including those in the business and
commercial sectors - potentially around
the world.
"It's very, very hard to make that
happen," said William G. LeFurgy,
digital initiative project manager
at the Library of Congress, which is
working with the National Science
Foundation to create electronic
standards of its own. "One of the
great things about information
technology is there's a lot of
diversity and innovation. That kind of
works against moving toward one
particular standard."
Warring standards in technology are as old as
the wheel. Beta battled
VHS for videocassette rights
20 years ago, and today differing
standards have delayed the adoption of
high-speed wireless and radio
frequency identification tag
technologies.
Don Antonucci,
president of Lockheed Martin's Transportation and
Security Solutions division,
said he hopes to develop a format that
isn't dependent on a specific
program to be accessed - something like a
DVD player
that could run VHS cassettes and reel-to-reel film. The
greatest challenge, he said, will be
in anticipating integration with
"technology
that has not yet been created or even imagined."
Bob Henry, president of Harris Corp.'s
government division, said his
biggest concern is coming up with a
system that could digest the huge
amount of data within the National
Archives. Several million, billion
electronic bits will have to be
processed.
Rivals for contract
The two companies involved
are quite different: Lockheed Martin, the
world's largest defense contractor,
has 130,000 employees, recorded $32
billion in sales last year and has
worked on countless electronic and
security projects for the government.
Harris, based in Melbourne,
Fla.,
has 10,000 employees, half of
them engineers and scientists, and
recorded $2 billion in sales last
year.
The archives will award a final contract to
one of the companies by
next summer. Cahoon
said he expects the winning system to have "initial
operating capabilities" by late
2007, with full operation by 2011.
Technology shelf lives
Videotape and film: 10 years
Floppy disks and super disks: 10 to 30 years
Recordable DVDs and CDs: 30 to 100 years
Stone carvings and treated paper: centuries
Regulations: You Snooze, You Lose
In the strongest sign yet that the government will,
if it must,
regulate corporate security, the Federal Trade Commission is
cracking down on companies with lax security on their websites.
CHICAGO – Each time a Sprint PCS customer wants to send a “short mail” to another phone,
waiting to hop on the Web and then access the text message is currently a
requirement.
As many of us know, several of the other major
wireless carriers just blast text messages directly to their phones – effectively
averting the need to log onto the wireless Web. Sprint PCS finally has decided
to follow suit.
But to do so, the carrier must first take
down its short mail system. Sprint PCS has recently done just that without
notifying customers, ePrairie has learned.
As the wireless text messaging crave proliferates by the day, Sprint PCS messaging
customers are currently left in the dark.
The carrier plans to migrate
its current messaging network to one that doesn’t necessitate logging onto
the wireless Web, which would hasten a user’s access to individual text messages.
Sprint PCS is currently shooting for an end of November project completion
date, according to ePrairie sources.
An attempt to send a Sprint PCS short mail
message currently dissolves into cyberspace. At the present, no notification
is displayed on the carrier’s Web site.
UWB Splitting Up?
By Vikki Lipset
Published
November 17, 2003
Hopes for a swift resolution
to the ultrawideband standards process were dashed
last week when the 802.15.3a Task Group emerged from an IEEE meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., in deadlock, creating the distinct
possibility that all that may come out of the whole mess is two de facto UWB
standards.
Microsoft to charge for MSN Mobile
Microsoft today said it will begin charging for MSN Mobile, a service that
lets MSN and Hotmail users check their email and use other services from their
mobile phones. Starting on December 3 MSN Mobile users in the United States
and Canada will have to pay $19.99 a year to access MSN services via their
mobile phones, with fees going up to $24.99 a year after November 25, 2004.
The new paid-access policy will affect MSN Mobile services on Sprint PCS and
Verizon Wireless in the U.S.,
and Bell Mobility and Rogers AT&T in Canada.
Some analysts are skeptical if Microsoft will be able to generate sizable
revenue from its mobile content services.
For more on Microsoft's new paid-access model:
- see this piece
from CNET
Verizon Wireless, Lucent launch 3G in
San Diego, Washington, D.C.
Verizon Wireless and Lucent Technologies today
said they will launch broadband wireless data service on October 1 in San
Diego, California, and Washington, D.C. The new service, called BroadbandAccess, uses CDMA2000 EV-DO technology and is part
of Verizon Wireless' VZOffice
suite of wireless products and services targeted at the enterprise. BroadbandAccess requires the Verizon
Wireless PC 5220 card, which costs $149.99 after $100 rebate, and is available
for a $79.99 flat-rate monthly fee. The service offers data speeds of 300-500
Kbps with occasional bursts of up to 2 Mbps. BroadbandAccess
is the first cellular wireless data service in the U.S. to offer data speeds
comparable to landline broadband and WiFi. Verizon Wireless tested its EV-DO network in Washington, D.C.,
and in San Diego through 2002.
For more on Verizon Wireless' new EV-DO service:
- go to this press
release
http://www.digitalangel.net/
http://www.activewaveinc.com
http://www.franklinwireless.com/
http://www.northernapex.com
Finally, consider this picture brought to our attention
by reader Robert
Macauley. They're not watching a movie -- they're "programming!"
Image - Monkey Programming School -
http://www.newtechusa.com/ppi/images/7517897_image001.jpg
According to an article in "Primate
Programming Inc."
(http://www.newtechusa.com/ppi/pressroom.asp#higher)
titled "Higher
Primates Can Program After VB.NET Training", it seems that Stamford
School of Zoology's Dr. James McAuliffe amazed even himself with the
results of recent experiments:
"Baboons and chimpanzees can use computers,
do software testing, and
even program...
...When male baboons were shown multi-way branches
leading to
certain GIF, JPG and BMP
images of interest, we found the male
animals could quickly navigate
and recall up to seven levels of deep
menu nesting, with each
level containing up to 27 menu items.
...That's about 35 million possible paths."
And you were worried about programming jobs being outsourced
merely to
other COUNTRIES!?!
Find out more about current Primate Programming services
and personnel
through links on PPI's home page
-
http://www.newtechusa.com/ppi/main.asp , and in their faq at
Netgear Using Super G and A/G
By Eric Griffith
Netgear (Quote, Company Info)
of Santa Clara, Calif., today announced some of the first products that will
use the speed boosts called Super G and Super A/G provided in the latest generation
of Atheros chipsets for 802.11a and 802.11g. The claim is the
products could be capable of as much as 108Mbps.
Netgear is announcing a new set of 802.11g products
(backwards compatible with 802.11b, as are all 802.11g products) that will
use the Super G speed boost with the rather unceremonious names of the 108
Mbps Wireless Firewall Router (model WGT624, $149.99 MSRP) and 108 Mbps Wireless
PC Card (model WG511T, $89.99 MSRP). The products will also use Netgear's Smart Wizards software for installation and an all-new
Wizard for assisting with firmware upgrades. Future firmware for the router
will offer WDS repeater functions; the router comes with four 10/100 Ethernet
switched ports, NAT and SPI firewall, up to 152-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) encryption, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), security logs, and VPN pass-through.
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3067951
Coming Soon: HotCountries
By Gerry
Blackwell
Chris Gilbert, CEO of IPWireless, is loath to admit that service providers using
his company's 3G-based wireless broadband data technology might actually be
in competition with Wi-Fi hotspot operators. He'd rather dwell on how the
two wireless technologies can complement each other -- which they certainly
can. Gilbert is a good-news kind of guy.
He finally caves, though, when we ask what happens to Wi-Fi hotspot providers
in an area where an IPWireless operator is offering
service with ubiquitous, cellular-like coverage?
This is exactly what AtlasONE,
a start-up and relatively new IPWireless customer
in Malaysia, is planning to do. It's
one of several around the world.
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3068261
Judge bans RIM from selling BlackBerry in the
U.S.
Research in Motion (RIM) late yesterday was barred by a U.S.
judge from selling its BlackBerry handheld or any
accompanying services in the U.S.
as a part of the company's ongoing legal battle with NTP. The injunction will
remain in effect until all of NTP's related patents
expire on May 12, 2012. The judge then stayed the injunction, pending an appeal
by RIM. The court also ruled that RIM must pay NTP $53.7 million in damages.
If RIM fails to win its appeal this decision could effectively end the company's
ability to do business in the U.S.
market. The decision has also quieted rumors that an IT integrator like Hewlett-Packard
might acquire RIM. RIM and NTP have been engaged in a legal fight since late
2001, when NTP claimed that RIM infringed on its patents covering the use
of wireless communications with email systems.
For more on the latest legal decision in the RIM case:
- see this story
from CNET
Pushing Giant for More Changes
Probe Focuses on Multimedia,
Inner Workings of Windows
By BRANDON MITCHENER and JAMES KANTER
Staff
Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
BRUSSELS -- The European Union, again flexing its muscle as the
regulator that could force companies to hew to tougher global standards, said
it may force Microsoft
Corp. to change the way it sells some of its software and cough up more information
about how its software works in general.
In an unprecedented third and "final" warning to the
software giant after a drawn-out investigation, EU regulators said Wednesday
Microsoft was continuing to thwart competition in the market for software
that millions of companies, governments and consumers use to run offices and
play music and videos.
Among other threatened remedies, the European Commission, the
EU's chief antitrust authority, said it wanted Microsoft
to market a "naked" version of its ubiquitous Windows operating
system without software that played digital music and videos. The company
could also face a hefty fine.
- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106016430280301700,00.html
- Europe's 4 largest wireless carrier collaborate to let consumers
"Pay for stuff with your mobile"
Four big players in the European wireless market, Orange SA and Vodafone
from Britain, Telefonica Moviles
from Spain, and T-Mobile from Germany, have joined forces to create Simpay - a company that lets cell phone users securely
pay for products with their cell phone. The long-term goal of the four wireless
companies is to increase the popularity and usefulness of mobile commerce,
by creating a single payment processing brand. The market is currently limited,
but is expected to grow. More at Silicon Valley, 6/23/03:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6151471.htm
- researchers are also focusing on several new
nonthermal techniques to kill dangerous bacteria.
One area of investigation is biosensors, the biological equivalent of the
old practice of sending a canary down into a mine with to spot dangerous
levels of methane gas: When the canary dies, it's time for the humans to
leave.
The goal is to spot normally harmless bacteria cells that behave a certain
way in the presence of dangerous toxins. For example, at Clemson University in South Carolina a team of chemists, microbiologists, and food scientists have devised
a way to tether luminescent molecules to food pathogens, such as e.
coli and salmonella, to make contaminated food glow in the dark. Led
by professor Paul Dawson, the team is working to create a
"protein key" that would "fit" with another molecule,
creating a bio-alarm when key and lock fit. Though promising, biosensors
are still years from widespread commercial usage.
Another technique, high-pressure processing, where liquids are put under
150,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, is already being used to reduce
contamination in products including guacamole and fresh orange juice. The
intense pressure inactivates microbes and other undesirable enzymes by causing
their membranes to burst. Because heat isn't involved, the process doesn't
affect freshness or flavor, or cause liquids to lose important vitamins
and minerals that are destroyed by high-temperature treatments. From Roger Hamm
http://yahoo.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2003/tc2003078_8216_tc114.htm
More From Forbes
- Web Lab 06.25.03
We test Ceiva, a digital picture
frame and Napster alternative, LimeWire.
- http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
- http://architecture.mit.edu/house_n/web/resources/articles/lifeinthefuture/MIRACLES%20OF%20THE%20NEXT%20FIFTY%20YEARS.htm
- Clean air at the Internet truck stop cafe
- Hookup lets drivers turn off engine, go online at night
- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/16/BU222509.DTL&type=tech
LinkSpot and Transaction Network Services team to roll out
$5.95 per day WiFi service at RV parks around
the country
RV parks are being added to the growing list of hot spots for WiFi, right up there with coffee shops, hotels, and airport
terminals, and even truck stops. RV wireless connectivity service will cost
around $6 per day for unlimited use, according to LinkSpot Networks, one of the companies helping to build
the service. Already installed in 20 parks nationwide, up to 100 parks are
expected to be connected this year, and as many as 1,000 in 5 years. LinkSpot
will be setting up each wireless network, and TNS will run the service.
More at Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2409-2003Jun16.html
A new California law requires companies to report
security breaches:
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/174/business/Law_requires_that_firms_
reveal_security_breaches+.shtml> or <http://tinyurl.com/fddn>In
the days after 9/11, lots of people took advantage of malfunctioning
cash machines and stole millions.
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=3508252&thesectio
n=news&thesubsection=world> or <http://tinyurl.com/erxh>Password
Safe
Password Safe 1.92b is available.
Many computer users today have to keep track
of dozens of passwords:
for network accounts, online services, premium Web sites.
Some write
their passwords on a piece of paper, leaving their accounts
vulnerable
to thieves or in-house snoops. Others choose the same password
for
different applications, which makes life easy for intruders
of all
kinds. Password Safe is a free Windows utility (originally
developed
at Counterpane Labs) that allows users to keep their passwords
securely
encrypted on their computers. A single Safe Combination --
just one
thing to remember -- unlocks them all.
Password Safe has always been free, but it only
become open source last
year. This April, Rony Shapiro took charge of the project. (Applause
and accolades.) He's released a new version, based on work
by a small
team of volunteers.
Password Safe 1.92 has a number of small improvements,
all of which
make it easier to use and more customizable to each user's
preferences. The changes include: resizable main window, displaying
username and notes in main window, ability to search the database
for a
given string, listing last database opened, ability to define
generated
password policies, ability to pass the name of a database via
command
line. The Release Notes list all the changes in gory detail.
If you're a user of Password Safe 1.7 (the most
recent version
available on the Counterpane Web site), you'll have no trouble
going
back and forth with the same database.
Password Safe 2.0 is currently under development.
The significant new
features are: an ability to organize passwords in hierarchical
view,
portability to other platforms (PocketPC,
Linux, Palm, probably in that
order), and an extensible database format (meaning that they
will be
able to add more features easily). The overall goal is to
keep
Password Safe a small and simple application.
As with any open source non-commercial project,
schedules are
fluid. Right now, the end of this year is a good conservative
estimate
for a non-beta 2.0 release.
Password Safe Web site:
- <http://www.counterpane.com./passsafe.html>
- Portable device that shows real-time traffic information in Washington entice angel investors
TrafficGauge, a new Seattle start-up company, is releasing a new battery-operated
portable device that commuters are sure to love. The device is portable
and small enough to mount on a dashboard, and shows real-time maps of traffic
jams on 4 major roadways in Washington. The Washington State Department of Transportation
delivers the maps via radio waves to the portable devices, indicating the
always shifting traffic conditions. The device, available only through TrafficGauge's
website, can be purchased for $49.99, and has a monthly service fee of $4.99.
More at Seattle Pi, 6/13/03:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/126468_vc13.html
- The future of retailing in IBM lab; wristpad
computer will handle cashless transactions
IBM is working on producing a variety of products that will revolutionize
the way shopping is done. Among the new products is the IBM Watch Pad, a
product that is expected to hit the open market in fewer than 5 years. Running
the Linux OS, the watch is a "complete computer on your wrist"
that has Bluetooth and infrared wireless connectivity capabilities, and
may have a fingerprint sensor at some point in time to verify your identity.
Other advantages of the watch include personalized sale information about
the products you most often purchase, access to credit cards without carrying
the cards around, a calendar, address book, email, photo album, and video
game access. While still in the prototype phase, this kind of multi-functionality
is expected to become popular in the very near future. More at MSNBC, 6/11/03:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/925276.asp?0si=-&cp1=1
- United Airlines plans to be first air carrier to offer 2-way in-air
email services
Airlines said it would be the first commercial carrier to offer two-way
e-mail on all its domestic flights. By the end of the year, passengers will
be able to connect their laptops to the Verizon
Airfone handsets that will use technology developed
by Tenzing Communications. The JetConnect service will be offered to all passengers
for a charge of $15.98 per flight. More at Silicon Valley, 6/17/03:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6106096.htm
- Microsoft intensifying campaign against spammers; files 13 civil
suits domestically, 2 in UK
In an attempt to boost its anti-spam campaign, Microsoft has begun taking legal action in its home state of Washington, as well as in the United Kingdom. Microsoft has filed 13 civil suits domestically,
with accusations of spamming their customers with deceptive emails. 2 suits
were filed in the UK, with accusations against the defendants for illegally
harvesting Microsoft email addresses in building spam mailing lists. More
at Cnet, 6/17/03:
http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-1018140.html?tag=fd_top
- US Senate has bill to restrict spam
The Senate Commerce Committee will consider the "CAN-SPAM" Act
and many other tech-related bills, including proposals to fund nanotechnology
research as well as strengthen oversight of a program to wire libraries
to the Internet. The CAN-SPAM Act would allow federal regulators and ISPs
to sue spammers using forged or false headers, do not contain valid opt-out
information, or send messages to email addresses found by crawling the web.
More at Cnet, 6/16/03:
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-1017962.html?tag=fd_top
- US Supreme Court rules sex.com domain name is property and should
be protected as such
The six-year legal battle over the sex.com domain has been settled, as the
Supreme Court rejected Cohen's appeal. Cohen illegally hijacked the domain
by forging a letter to transfer ownership of the domain to his name. When
the owner of the domain found out and tried to regain ownership, the domain
registration company refused to return it to him without a court order.
More at Internet News, 6/12/03:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/2221341
Suddenly, it's not just Linux users;
customers of AIX, IBM's
Unix variant, are suddenly at risk, too,
since Mini-Me has
rescinded IBM's license to that version of Unix.
It's turned
into an incredible Saturday-morning serial.
What will Larry
do next? Will SCO raise its ransom requests
to $10 billion?
Could Linus Torvalds be our own version
of Austin Powers,
riding to the rescue in a fire-engine-red
VoodooPC, smiting
Dr. Evil and Mini-Me
simultaneously? Too much to ask for,
but this entire episode has me gawking
in disbelief. Of
course, we've got all the details on the
latest developments
here, with full special reports on both
PeopleSoft vs.
Oracle and SCO vs.
the World.
These are two of the most
important stories of the year, and you can't
afford to be
uninformed, so make sure you check each report
every day for
updates.
The Battle Over Unix:
FACT: By 2005, the 3 superpowers - Japan, Korea and China - will own key global patents and IPR on 4G Technologies!
Wireless markets are currently going through
immense changes, globally. The consensus among industry experts is that 4G,
the "fourth generation of wireless communication" opens up a new
world of benefits and opportunities that will revolutionize communications.
While North Asia has been at the forefront of innovation in this area, every operator,
vendor, manufacturer and user in this market is doing themselves a disservice
if they're not keeping pace with the latest changes.
- Will Japan, Korea and China dominate the 4G front?
- Will European and North American vendors' and operators' efforts
be hindered by their 3G investment?
- Will North Asia own vital 4G patents?
North Asia is the most advanced mobile market in the world, and
there is a strong concentration of 4G government and industry research occurring.
The region has the right combination of government initiative, industry expertise
and market size and market maturity to lead in core technology research, commercialization
and potentially, worldwide market domination.
From R&D to standards development, North Asia has been taking the necessary first steps over the past few years to
lay the groundwork for leadership in 4G. Pyramid Research believes that the
mobile and fixed technology industries of these three markets are creating
an industrial juggernaut, one that will likely define the future of broadband
wireless technology—and give North Asian technology manufacturers and operators
a tremendous edge in competing for business in future 4G markets.
- The potential marginalization of 3G technologies and business plans
due to 4G.
- The possible leap-frogging by China, Korea and Japan over the rest of the world in both a services and
equipment perspective
- The impact cooperation between China (manufacturer and consumer), Korea and Japan (R&D)
- The level to which patent development and IPR collection can be used
as a strategic tool by vendors and operators in North Asia in cooperation
with - or competition against - players worldwide.
http://www.pyra midresearch.com/info/rpts/may03_4g.asp
- Orrin Hatch Goes Crazy: Sen. Hatch Proposes "Destroying" Copyright
Pirates' PCs
-
- Los Angeles -- During a Congressional hearing on security and privacy
of
- peer-to-peer networks, Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch
- (R-Utah) commented that he would not oppose using means to "destroy"
the
- PCs of users who use the networks to download copyrighted material, the
- Associated Press reported. "If we can find some way to do this without
- destroying their machines, we'd be interested in hearing about that,"
- Hatch said. "If that's the only way, then I'm all for destroying
their
- machines. If you have a few hundred thousand of those,
I think people
- would realize…"
- http://makeashorterlink.com/?B49F219F4
Summit Strategies 2003 Research Focus
Summit Strategies' 2003 research will center around a massive shift that will emerge as the most important,
most differentiated and most profitable component of IT solutions—the shift
to services-driven computing. This shift will change how all hardware, software,
services and communications vendors must—and will—use services to create new,
more compelling, customer value propositions. (Practice Area descriptions)
http://www.summitstrat.com/
The IT industry is on the cusp of a massive shift to the era of services-driven
computing—an era in which services will become the foundation of IT solutions,
and emerge as their most important, differentiated and profitable component.
This transformation will force all companies to perform wholesale reevaluations
of their business models and strategies.
These changes will lead to profound modifications in industry shape and structure.
Many companies will acquire strategic assets, sell or spin off tactical ones,
and struggle to develop the types of ecosystems required to succeed in an
industry in which no one yet knows the rules. In this report, we explain why
the industry is entering this new era, and how it will redefine the solutions
and rearrange the entire IT market competitive landscape.
Report Features
Assesses the changing role and composition of all types of IT services, from
front-end demand creation through life-cycle delivery services;
Evaluates which type of provider is best suited to deliver each type of service
to different types of customers; and
Analyzes the impact of the shift to a services-driven industry
and the changing nature of the underlying services.
Tom Kucharvy
Graeme Thickins:
Experts say this movement will blend well with the related concepts of grid
computing and Web services, mentioned above. With grid computing, storage,
databases and applications are made available for customers to access on demand
over networks that appear as one large virtual computing system. Part of what
utility computing provides is the necessary charge-back function to support
grid computing.
So wait just a doggone a minnit, here. Are we just
talking about Application Service Providers dressed up in fancier clothers?
-
- Chip Makers Give 802.11g More Speed
http://www.80211-planet.com/news/article.php/2222031
Who can blame business technology executives if half a decade of overspending
on IT now makes them somewhat obsessed by costs? Indeed, companies in much
of the world are capping their IT expenditures. Some companies even peg
the performance bonuses of chief information officers to how much money
they cut from technology budgets.1-
- Yet companies underinvest in technology at
their peril—even in lean times. New technology, deployed intelligently,
can help organizations make dramatic leaps in productivity and redefine
competition within whole sectors, as Wal-Mart and Dell Computer, among others,
have shown. The essence of smart deployment is knowing where and when to
invest. Which technology expenditures will yield a sustainable, differentiable
advantage? Will the bleeding edge of technology bolster a company’s bid
to be a leader, or should executives wait until the risks and costs fall?
These perennially difficult questions—which hinge on a complex array of
industry-specific factors—become even thornier when earnings pressures are
high.
-
- Compounding the challenge is the tendency to view technology, first, as
a panacea and, then, after the hype proves unrealistic, as anathema. The
experience of the leaders shows that new technology alone won’t boost productivity.
Productivity gains come from managerial innovation: fundamental changes
in the way companies deliver products or services. Companies generate innovations,
in fat years or lean, by deploying new technology along with improved processes
and capabilities.2
- How can companies invest in technology to achieve meaningful gains? The
McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) spent two years investigating the relationship
between IT and productivity and found that the former most effectively stimulates
the growth of the latter by helping companies to innovate. Innovation sometimes
means creating new products (such as faster microprocessors), services (mobile
telephony), or processes (on-line securities trading). But it also involves
using technology to turbocharge existing processes
by helping companies to extend their current advantages in key areas. When
Wal-Mart linked IT with its efficient distribution network, it advanced
both the state of the art in supply chain management and the productivity
frontier of its sector.3
-
- MGI’s research suggests that to foster innovation
rather than merely spawn systems that are quickly imitated or promote the
wrong goals, companies should focus on two priorities. The first is to identify
the productivity levers offering the greatest opportunity for competitive
differentiation: targeting the few specific levers that could well create
a competitive advantage produces results more reliably than striving for
improvement everywhere. The most promising IT initiatives usually evolve
along with related business processes and build on an organization’s operational
strengths. When taking this route, companies should beware the siren song
of IT success stories from other industries, since the levers that matter
in one sector may be irrelevant in another.
-
- The second priority is to master the sequence and timing of investments.
Many technology-based advantages, particularly those that don’t involve
fundamental business changes, have a limited life because they diffuse rapidly
through the sector. Timing is therefore critical if IT investments are to
generate returns. Companies that get it right develop a clear understanding
of how IT-enabled competition is evolving in their sectors. Investing ahead
of the pack makes sense if the technology is hard to mimic, continues to
yield benefits even if imitated, or offers great near-term value. Otherwise,
companies can often hold down their spending and boost their returns by
diving in only after others have made investments—and mistakes.
Although the impact of IT on a function can be hard to isolate, rough metrics
are bound to exist if the business goals are clear. (An
inability to determine in advance how to measure an investment’s business
impact is a warning sign.)
Thus, companies that invest in sophisticated capabilities before the fundamentals
are solid can easily waste money. One major general-merchandise retailer,
for instance, invested millions to manage and measure the effectiveness of
sales promotions, but since its warehousing systems couldn’t cope with the
fluctuations in volume that accompany big promotions, it ended up with dissatisfied
customers. Yet companies can also spend too much time and money on basic IT
infrastructure and never reach the incremental high-return investments. Sequencing
is a delicate balancing act.
- Characteristics of Success
- Looking at three sectors in detail – retail trade, retail banking, and
semiconductors – the team found that successful IT deployment in these sectors
typically shared three characteristics: (from http://www.mckinsey.com/knowledge/mgi/IT/index.asp
-
- Applications were tailored to sector-specific business processes and
linked to performance levers. Retail banking applications, for example,
broke bottlenecks in the lending process by automating once-manual steps
in credit verification and authorization.
- Applications were deployed in sequence to draw on learning and capabilities
built up over time. For instance, leading retailers first automated data
capture and storage, then used the data to develop enhanced decision-support
capabilities like merchandise planning.
- Managerial and technical innovation evolved together in tandem with
IT applications. In retail banking, a leading player used imaging technology
to automate loan processing and innovated by diffusing the new platform
to build scale.
- http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?ar=1285&L2=13&L3=13&srid=27&gp=0
(Free Registration Required)
mips rating
RSA129 project 104
Internet 3 . 107
the world 3 . 108
We
then find that the typical processor in 2004 might
be
rated at 103 mips,
and in 2014 at 104 - 105 mips.
Since
there are already over 108 computers
in the
world,
it seems safe to assume there will be at least
2 . 109 by 2004.
By the year 2014, we might have
1010 - 1011 (Appendix F). Further, by that time
almost
all are likely to be networked together.
However,
it is uncertain what fraction might be available
for
a factoring experiment. Let us consider two
scenarios:
Odlyzko ftp://ftp.rsasecurity.com/pub/cryptobytes/crypto1n2.pdf
http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-1001815.html?part=dht&tag=ntop
"As interest in nanotechnology
peaks, government
scientists are claiming a significant breakthrough
with the ability to make atoms move one by one." Sent by Orlin Melstrand
If you're a glutton for punishment, here's More Raw File.
Enterprise
Architecture Resources
. 
