] We received a 40 page package from SBC Intellectual
] Property today informing us that our web site – which has
] links on the left side that go to other web pages within
] the site – but does not lose the left side navigation
] links – was in violation of their “Structured Document
] Browser” Patent.

SBC weighs in with another bad patent.

SBC Communications claims they own Patent on Internal links and Includes

] It looks like the Bush Administration is astroturfing,
] trying to artificially create the appearance of a
] grassroots movement supporting their policies. A Google
] search on the phrase "demonstrating genuine leadership"
] returns a number of nearly identical letters sent to the
] editors of various newspapers and publications this
] month, each one with the name of a different individual
] attached.

Now, its possible that the names are real and they are sending in a form letter that came from a central group. Political groups do that sort of thing all the time (although usually directed at Congress). Of course, if that was the case, then these papers would have received hundreds of copies of the same letter. Would they have printed them in that case? Is that the reason that so many papers decided to print this letter? Looks like the "letters to the editor" section is a lot more interesting then I thought.

politechbot.com: Google reveals Bush administration's astroturf campaign?

] The survey of 100 chief information officers at leading
] U.S. companies indicates that average business spending
] on computer hardware and software will decline by 1
] percent this year compared with last year.

Discouraging signs for IT rebound - Tech News - CNET.com

I think there are some people on this site who might have good answers to this question.

Why don't I have VoIP? I've got broadband. All my friends have broadband. I pull down high fidelity internet radio all the time. But, when I want to talk to my friends I pick up the phone. What is the deal?

I don't even want to interconnect to the POTs system, but while I'm talking about this, dialpad.com used to offer free ad supported voice calls. Now they have a VoIP calling card system. Did the economics not work out or were people turned off by the quality level??

Is there some software out there for this that I just don't know about? Is there some technical problem that prevents this from working, or is the problem economic?

Aren't the service providers looking for ways to expand bandwidth utilization? Why aren't they working on this stuff?

What IS the deal?

Jeremy wrote:

] * Acknowledge that non-Internet communications equipment ...
] is economically obsolete ...

I'm interested in hearing what other people on the site think about this.

I agree with many of the things being said here, but I've stopped short of recommending this in the past. There seems to be an irrational undercurrent in this that wants to say "my stuff is better then your stuff" in an absolutist and unthinking way. There are certainly serious problems and limitations with the Internet Protocol suite, and in the last few years the quality of the "standards" the IETF and similar bodies have been producing has dropped dramatically.

IP didn't win because its the most capable solution. It won because it existed in an environment where the telecom monopolies were actively trying to stall the development of digital networks, and IP was the hardest solution to control.

Hard to control doesn't always been optimal. Gnutella is not more efficient then napster.

Having said that, I think its clear that IP has "won" and that with the deployment of IP being so ubiquitous that any future development must, at least, interoperate with it in order to be useful. I don't think we're going to replace it with something else anytime soon.

I raise this counter point only to provide the perspective needed to see what I think the FCC ought to be doing, which is that they ought to be agnostic. The FCC should no more prefer IP based solutions then other solutions. What it should do is create an environment where its possible for different solutions to be made available... an environment where it is possible to innovate. I don't want the government choosing a technological direction, and a future where non-IP based solutions are simply not possible is as much a threat to innovation as a future where the only technologies that are allowed are the ones that benefit the telecom companies.

RE: The Paradox of the Best Network

] The Internet has become a giant white elephant. Its
] technological capabilities are dazzling; its commercial
] realities are depressing.

There is much to observe about the state of things in thinking about why this essay is wrong.

I won't bother explaining why his over simplification of the intellectual property problem is misleading. Its well covered elsewhere.

What I will note is that his analogy to automobiles is silly, but also instructive. Automobiles have been a part of our society for a hundred years. All previous forms of transportation have, for the most part, been elminiated, and the layout of our cities, in fact our whole planet, has been reorganized with the existence of automobiles in mind. Therefore, at this stage we could not hope to revert to steam locomotives, and carriages, without huge disruptions.

The Internet, on the other hand, has been available commerically for around 8 years. Although already I feel like I couldn't live without it, we certainly haven't done any reorganizing of society to account for it it, and we haven't eliminated any of our older communications systems. So, yes, in general we could do away with it, much as we might have been able to do away with the automobile 8 years into its development.

So his arguement is silly, but also illuminating. If you want to know what is going to happen over the next 50 years, consider what occured over the first 50 years of the automobile...

Lack of innovation fueled Internet failure

Most of the bible illustrated with legos!

The Brick Testament

Downtown SF filled with people on a sunny day.

Helicopter Pictures of SF Demo : SF Indymedia

An nice collection of war protest pictures on this site.

SF Anti-War Protest Pictures

Some very strange and alien landscapes created with intentionally damaged electronic instruments and childrens toys.... Some very interesting MP3s here...

cARRIONSOUNd - circuit bending / synth diy / bent audio nightmares