] The rush to lump VOIP in with phone services obscures the
] larger problem: The 100-year-old regulatory structure for
] telephones is no longer adequate for today's advanced
] telecom services. These rules were written in a time when
] each technology delivered one type of service: Voice
] traveled over copper wires. Broadcast radio and TV
] signals flew through the air. Multichannel video
] journeyed across a coaxial cable.

Time to Rewrite the Rules of Telecom

] A Senate panel will hold hearings on the recording
] industry's crackdown against online music swappers, the
] chairman said Thursday.
]
] Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) made the announcement in a
] letter to the Recording Industry Association of America.
] He had received information he had requested from the
] group about the campaign, which Coleman has called
] excessive.
]
] The Senate Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee
] on Investigations is reviewing the group's responses and
] declined to make them available Thursday, as did the
] industry group.
]
] The association announced plans in June to file several
] hundred lawsuits against people suspected of illegally
] sharing songs on the Internet. Copyright laws allow for
] damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song.
]
] In his letter, Coleman said he would look at not just the
] scope of that campaign but also the dangers that
] downloaders face by making their personal information
] available to others. Coleman said he would review
] legislation that would expand criminal penalties for
] downloading music.

Finally - a glimmer of hope the RIAA is going to be told to call off the dogs.

Senator to hold hearings on recording industry's piracy crackdown

"Scientists running a pioneering experiment with "living robots" which think for themselves said they were amazed to find one escaping from the centre where it "lives"."

I am Not a Number!!! Well, maybe Number 5...

Robot on the run

] MANCHESTER, New Hampshire -- A security flaw at a website
] operated by the purveyors of penis-enlargement pills has
] provided the world with a depressing answer to the
] question: Who in their right mind would buy something
] from a spammer?

Wired News: Swollen Orders Show Spam's Allure

] A widely publicized project to transform a man-made
] platform off the coast of England into a haven for
] controversial Web businesses has failed due to political,
] technical and management problems, one of the project's
] founders said.

Has 'haven' for questionable sites sunk? | CNET News.com

] As devices get smarter, they can identify and adapt to
] individual users in a household, potentially making
] suggestions on everything from what to eat to how to
] dress. "Think of it as the electronic equivalent of an
] English butler," says Emile Aarts, vice-president and
] scientific program director at Philips Research
] Laboratories in Eindhoven. Those concepts may seem
] pie-in-the-sky now, but many are being tested in
] corporate labs -- and some are nearing commercialization.

Let's hope the telecom service providers don't screw this up.

Digital Homes

] The music industry disclosed aggressive plans Wednesday
] for an unprecedented escalation in its fight against
] Internet piracy, threatening to sue hundreds of
] individual computer users who illegally share music files
] online.
]
] The Recording Industry Association of America, citing
] substantial sales declines, said it will begin Thursday
] to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify
] users who offer "substantial" collections of MP3-format
] music files for downloading. It expects to file at least
] several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within
] eight to 10 weeks.
]
] Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based lobbying
] group that represents major labels, would not say how
] many songs on a user's computer will qualify for a
] lawsuit. The new campaign comes just weeks after U.S.
] appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to
] identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music
] and movie files.
]
] The RIAA's president, Carey Sherman, said tens of
] millions of Internet users of popular file-sharing
] software after Thursday will expose themselves to "the
] real risk of having to face the music."
]
] "It's stealing. It's both wrong and illegal," Sherman
] said. Alluding to the court decisions, Sherman said
] Internet users who believe they can hide behind an alias
] online were mistaken. "You are not anonymous," Sherman
] said. "We're going to begin taking names."

SING
Send in the goons...
/SING

Music labels to sue hundreds of music sharers

] Some 11,000 miles above the earth, 28 satellites beam
] down data that enables the targeting of locations with
] once-unthinkable precision. It's a lethal tool in war --
] and a killer app for business. The Global Positioning
] System (GPS) is transforming everything from auto
] insurance to agriculture, from hauling freight to trading
] stocks. Is your business next?

This is a great article about how transformative GPS has become. But the example thread that runs through the article instigates some interesting questions. Are we getting too much data? Are we too accurate? Obviously we've been able to farm the land for thousands of years just fine. At what point does our accuracy start effecting our efficiency? Is it better or worse for us? Let alone all the privacy concerns.

The Sky's the Limit

] Cable operators say they may soon be able to offer
] services that would crush their satellite and phone
] competitors following introduction this week of a simple
] device that could free up massive amounts of bandwidth.
]
] These devices, about the size of two cigarette packs,
] could enable cable systems to transmit lots of
] high-definition TV (HDTV), video phone connections, video
] on demand and far faster high-speed Internet connections.
]
] "It allows you to dream, create and do things differently
] than you've ever done," says Comcast Cable President
] Steve Burke.
]
] Operators envision buying millions of these converters
] or similar ones planned by Motorola and others
] and putting them on virtually every TV owned by
] their nearly 72 million customers. Then operators can
] stop transmitting analog signals and go all-digital.
]
] That's a big deal. Analog TV channels consume about 65%
] of the bandwidth on most modern systems and
] operators can squeeze as many as eight digital channels
] into the bandwidth that each analog channel now fills.
]
] That's key for adding HDTV.

Adios analog.

Laughing Boy

Device could change cable

] However, there have also been a number of people who
] claim I'm overstating the case and that it's not possible
] to build a real cruise missile without access to
] sophisticated gear, specialist tools and information not
] readily available outside the military.
]
] So, in order to prove my case, I decided to put my money
] where my mouth is and build a cruise missile in my own
] garage, on a budget of just US$5,000.

Fux0ring 3133t Cruise Missile d00d3s