] The FCC press release (in PDF format, no HTML) said that
] 255 MHz in the 5.470-5.725 GHz band are now available for
] unlicensed devices. This action will also harmonize the
] spectrum available for these U-NII devices throughout the
] world, enabling manufacturers to reduce product
] development costs by allowing the same products to be
] used in many parts of the world.
]
] The FCC is also requiring the items covered in IEEE
] 802.11h, which was developed to conform to European/World
] Radio Congress concerns, also apply to the lower indoor
] bands of 5.250-5.350 GHz as well as the new 5.470-5.725
] GHz bands: dynamic frequency selection (DFS) - a
] listen-before-talk mechanism — and transmit power
] control (TPC).
]
] That additional 255 MHz should translate into as many as
] 12 additional nonoverlapping channels for 802.11a, which
] already has 12 nonoverlapping channels. In a talk with
] Atheros that Glenn had recently, the company noted that
] bonding channels in 802.11a to create multiple channel
] throughput of 108 Mbps or higher has enormous potential
] because of the lack of channel overlap.

Wi-Fi Networking News has the scoop.

Wi-Fi Networking News: Update on Wrinkle in U-NII Expansion Plans

] A reader wrote to point out that weblog.infoworld.com is
] categorized by SurfControl as "Usenet News" and is,
] therefore, being blocked for people in organizations that
] deploy SurfControl's server-based filter.

If laws that require libraries to install internet filters require libraries to enable categories like "usenet news" for filtering, then those laws are trivially unconstitutional. By banning all viewpoints that are not delivered by established news media, the government would be employing at restriction on speech which is not content neutral and has nothing at all to do with "protecting minors from pornography." If you see a library banning access to weblogs, I'm sure the ACLU would be itching to take them to court.

Jon Udell: Surf Control Bans Blogs

Everyone should be concerned about this fight.

NYT weighs in on one of two ongoing labor disputes in southern California.

The Wal-Martization of America

] American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
] said the evidence was strong that Mr. Arar had associated
] with suspected Islamic militants over a long period in
] Canada. They say he confessed under torture in Syria that
] he had gone to Afghanistan for terrorist training, named
] his instructors and gave other intimate details.

Is this the spin they are going to run with here? That a cosigned lease really is evidence of involvement with Al'Q, and that a confession obtained under duress in a Syrian prison is credible? If we're that gullible we're really in trouble.

Qaeda Pawn, US Calls Him. Victim, He Calls Himself.

] RPXP v0.74 generates SMIL 1.0 and RealText streaming
] media presentations. These can be hyperlinked via
] standard HTTP URLs. People with web publishing access can
] subset and annotate video streams into clips to which
] URLs can be distributed via email or weblog. The
] original media stream is not changed.

A very poor explanation, but basically this is software for linking to an anchor tag in a real video... So you can recommend a story from the news instead of the whole show. Expect more like this...

Autometa Reciprocal Peer eXchange Projector (RPXP)

] In a turn of events the 30-year-old characterized as
] "horrifying," Kevin Widmar announced Tuesday that his
] mother Lillian has discovered his weblog.

The Onion | Mom Finds Out About Blog

The pollution is horrendous. The rich have withdrawn into fortress-style towers. The avenues teem with unruly, eccentrically dressed immigrants who speak a rough street language instead of English. References to these scenes show up everywhere, from books about politics to civic-planning documents like "L.A. 2000," a look at the future commissioned by Tom Bradley, when he was mayor of the city in the 1980's. The report warned that the region might deteriorate into a scene from "Blade Runner": a featureless sprawl seething with class and ethnic hostilities. In "A California State of Mind," the public-opinion analyst Mark Baldassare writes that Californians who were asked about the future "presented an image more like a nightmare than a utopia" — descriptions that recalled a certain science-fiction movie.

Even Raymond Chandler painted an ugly picture of California. Everything moves faster here, technology and politics, qnd also all the problems that threaten to turn the entirety of the Western world into miserable scifi scenario. Yes, we're afraid of the bad bits. who wouldn't be?

Viewing California Politics Through the Lens of a Science-Fiction Movie

] The Founding Fathers would have found [the USA PATRIOT ACT]
] to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged
] anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional
] Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.

Gore Vidal discusses the Bush administration, patriot act, eVoting...

This is entertaining, but my regular litmus for lefties is Afghanistan. If you oppose Afghanistan I can't take you seriously.

LA Weekly: Features: Uncensored Gore

] Startup MagiQ Technologies Inc. yesterday announced it's
] shipping what appears to be the first security system
] based on quantum cryptography.
]
] Quantum cryptography goes a step further than electronic
] cryptography through its employment of a stream of
] photons, the quantum properties of which determine the
] key. The fun part is that if an intruder observes or
] intercepts the transmission, those properties get changed
] -- an unavoidable principle of quantum mechanics --
] meaning the sender and receiver can tell if anyone is
] eavesdropping. Perhaps more important, the key can't be
] copied or faked (see Optical Science Gets Spookier and
] Quantum Cipher Sent by Fiber ).
]
] It's a potential breaththrough, though working with
] photons has never been easy, and, as the optical
] networking bubble has shown, it can be an expensive way
] to build technology.
]
] MagiQ's Navajo system, a box made to fit in a standard
] telecom rack, was unveiled in February and began beta
] trials in March.

Startup Says Quantum Crypto Is Real

] Powers of Ten

This is neat...

Science, Optics and You