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| "I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
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Apple's Quirky Ads Evoke Parodies of Themselves |
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| Topic: Technology |
3:39 pm EST, Nov 25, 2002 |
A Sunday NYT article provides URLs for several "switch" parodies, including the switch-to-Canada ad discussed here recently. Apple's Quirky Ads Evoke Parodies of Themselves |
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| Topic: Society |
11:40 pm EDT, Oct 8, 2002 |
How to ZAP a Camera:
Using Lasers to Temporarily Neutralize Camera Sensors Cameras are ubiquitous today, and, from a technology perspective, the revolution is just beginning. To many, this is good news. But there is a dark side. ... When cameras are everywhere, is it possible to become invisible from them? Yes and no. I began by aiming an inexpensive laser pointer directly into the lens of a video camera. The results were striking. This work has a certain "Steve Mann meets Ross Anderson" appeal to it. Camera Zapper |
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Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2003 |
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| Topic: Society |
1:10 am EDT, Oct 5, 2002 |
"I am happy, although a tad superstitious, to announce that the 13th Annual Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy will begin on April 1 and run through April 4, 2003 in New York City. " This would be a really good excuse to get to hang out in New York for a week. On the other hand, April 1st plus 13 plus NYC = a hell of a lot of bad mojo... Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2003 |
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TechTV | Alvin Toffler and the Information Revolution |
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| Topic: Society |
12:15 pm EDT, Oct 1, 2002 |
The world's preeminent futurist explains what's next for an industrial civilization bursting at the seams. The Tofflers employ a deep intellectual and practical understanding of technological, economic, political, and sociological progress to predict the course of our culture at large. So far, they've been disturbingly correct. In this week's episode of "Big Thinkers," Alvin Toffler will explain in his own words what the immediate implications of the information revolution will be, and what we as a society must do to ride out the cultural turbulence to come. Toffler's most pressing concern is the moral and ethical specter of genetic engineering. Such a powerful technology carries with it deep social implications that could rip the fabric of a nation into shreds. Tom mentioned that he saw the Tuesday overnight airing of this segment on TechTV. Set your TiVo for the next showing, on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern. Tune in again on Sunday and Monday for more Big Thinkers, including Tod Machover, Steve Jones, Tom Kelley, Stewart Brand, Rodney Brooks, Sherry Turkle, and David Gerlenter. TechTV | Alvin Toffler and the Information Revolution |
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'Why Spy?' | John Perry Barlow in Forbes ASAP |
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| Topic: Society |
1:19 am EDT, Sep 30, 2002 |
For more than a year now, there has been a deluge of stories and op-ed pieces about the failure of the American intelligence community to detect or prevent the September 11, 2001, massacre. Nearly all of these accounts have expressed astonishment at the apparent incompetence of America's watchdogs. I'm astonished that anyone's astonished. What strikes me about this article is that there is no need for the government to set up such an entity. Why do you have to be a state? Stratfor is the model here. Start a company. Sell the intelligence. Sell it to the US government. Don't sell it to people you don't like. Governments are very risk adverse. The reason you are having so much trouble changing the culture there is because people are AFRAID that if they think for themselves rather then following the time honored methods they will fail and people will die. People trust established methods and they fear the uncertainty this sort of thinking brings. For these reasons such an effort is far more likely to work if it is established outside of the control of the government, where risk taking is OK and fear will not dominate decision making. 'Why Spy?' | John Perry Barlow in Forbes ASAP |
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TNR Online | Intelligence Test (print) |
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| Topic: Current Events |
12:34 pm EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
If the Bush administration's preparations for war with Saddam Hussein were proceeding appropriately, the president would probably be curling up right now with something called a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) for Iraq. But ... there is no NIE for Iraq and there probably won't be one anytime soon. Everything is worse then you thought. TNR Online | Intelligence Test (print) |
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Los Angeles Times: A High School Where the Sensorship Is Pervasive |
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| Topic: Society |
2:39 am EDT, Sep 11, 2002 |
Cameras track pupils at West Hills High. Campus' cameras see pupils' every move. Most shrug it off, but privacy advocates don't. ... West Hills High sits on the cutting edge of the emerging surveillance society. ... Demand for [surveillance] products will grow, as people are tracked ... even [at] places such as the Third Street Promenade shopping district in Santa Monica. ACLU: "Once privacy is gone, you can't get it back." ... "It's been so incremental, we almost didn't notice [the surveillance]." There is so much ignorance in this article its hard to know where to start. Its almost artful. A crescendo of fear and power. A spinning cycle of action and reaction that can only end in cataclysm. When I was in high school people who felt hopeless committed suicide and artists predicted shootings. Now people who feel hopeless commit shootings. What do the artists predict? Los Angeles Times: A High School Where the Sensorship Is Pervasive |
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Iraqi air defence site attacked | BBC News |
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| Topic: Current Events |
10:56 am EDT, Sep 6, 2002 |
US and UK planes have taken part in an attack on a major Iraqi defence facility in the west of the country. About 12 jets dropped bombs. The operation, which targeted the main air defence command centre for western Iraq, is part of the enforcement of the air-exclusion zones over the country. [From Yahoo news:] Iraq considers the patrols a violation of its sovereignty and frequently shoots at them with anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. In response, coalition pilots try to bomb Iraqi air defense systems. There have been more than 30 allied attacks against Iraqi installations this year. Sorry to burst the bubble, but war this is not. Iraq is probably not even unusually upset or concerned about it. After the 35th such event in the last 8 months (and, no doubt, after hundreds of such engagements over the last decade), this stuff has become routine. I find it interesting that this story is, at present, nowhere to be found on the New York Times and LA Times web sites. Iraqi air defence site attacked | BBC News |
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The COOK Report On Internet |
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| Topic: Telecom Industry |
11:18 pm EDT, Sep 3, 2002 |
This issue of the COOK Report explores peering, transit and exchanges for the first time since about 1999. While a lot has changed, a lot remains the same. Estimates of the capacity utilization of the Tier 1 backbones show them to be lightly utilized ... Over the past five weeks we have had conversations ... [which] suggest that the [Tier 1] oligopoly is engaging in behavior that could blow up in a manner similar to the capacity swaps that blew up earlier this year. ISPs are beginning to use tools to do load balancing of their upstream connections in real time. The Tier Ones, by peering in their tight oligopoly, may have rendered themselves irrelevant. Andrew Odlyzko: "I find the prospects of smaller networks being able to bypass the Tier Ones fascinating. The development of tools [that do this] is also very interesting." The COOK Report On Internet |
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Deals Within Telecom Deals |
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| Topic: Telecom Industry |
2:07 pm EDT, Aug 25, 2002 |
An article about the sneaky financial dealings of the telecom industry. Time Warner Telecom, Sonus, Qwest, Williams, Winstar, Global Crossing, Corvis, Tellium, Lucent, Sycamore, WorldCom, Alteon, Nortel, and others. ... The fact that companies and their executives profited from investments in fledgling suppliers may help explain why there was such a gross misallocation of capital in the sector, and why networks that cost billions to build fetch far less in bankruptcy auctions. This article implies a problem that is much more broad then likely existed. There were a lot of these sort of relationships in the industry, and not just between big telecoms and small equipment companies, but also between small telecoms and big equipment companies. There are many reasons for getting involved in a deal like this. Telecoms want cheaper gear and good support for it. Equipment dealers want environments that push the technical limits of their gear and/or need large customers who validate their offerings in the marketplace. Throwing stock into the deal is little different then lowering a price. If the equipment didn't work, or wasn't used, or wasn't really bought, then thats obviously a problem, but the overall value of telecom networks in the current environment has to do with sellers pressured by debt and an overcapacity in infrastructure rather then an inflation of the value of *new hardware.* Extent of network capacity in most cases was based on demand estimates made by investment firms. Most people were not building capacity just to buy equipment. Its not impossible that this occured, but most of the industry is not guilty of this. Deals Within Telecom Deals |
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