Ross Anderson has posted an article summarizing his recent comments to the media since September 11. This includes "a few observations on why some of the common reactions to the attacks are not appropriate." He ends with a plug for his book, _Security Engineering_, of which four chapters, the foreward, table of contents, and bibliography are available online (links provided).

Commonsense in the Crisis | Ross Anderson on Security Truths

For a long time ... many better-known Silicon Valley companies ... resisted the notion that the bursting of the dot-com bubble last year would affect ... plans. ... CIOs remain pessimistic. ... It is all a vivid illustration of how Silicon Valley's technology firms succumbed to their own mantra that the new economy was unstoppable. ...

Equal Opportunity Recession: Almost Everyone Is Feeling It

Tom: "Rock. HP is playing around with augmented reality technology that allows you to tie audio messages to a physical location. Ultimately I'd like to see this sort of system tied into display technology such that you can create virtual objects that exist in real places."

For me, the most interesting parts of the article are these:

"A universal open messaging system also raises questions about privacy and the reliability of information. [Description of self-promotion.] [Developers] say prototypes ... will help them deal with problems of privacy and security. ... a paid service [to] guarantee authenticity and usefulness. ... embedd[ed] ... personal profiles ... only allowing acceptable people ... refuse to release your exact coordinates ... "the attractive features outweigh the drawbacks."

How is this system going to be secured? Can't one just supply false coordinates and post/read anything regardless of location? If a message is posted on private property, does this constitute trespassing? In what ways is it different from posting a physical sign at some (public? private?) location, then leaving? Can the next guy that comes along remove or replace it? How about standing at a location and repeating a message (instead of having the technology do it for you)? You can expect new legislation because of this, but at first, existing laws against graffiti, littering, trespassing, etc. will be used to try to remove or block messages.

New Scientist | Mobile Phones | Write here, write now

Excerpts from the publisher's overview:

Mainstream data mining techniques significantly limit the role of human reasoning and insight. ... [This is] the first book to explore the fertile ground of uniting data mining and data visualization principles in a new set of knowledge discovery techniques. ... The book ... details current efforts to include visualization and user interaction in data mining and explores the potential for further synthesis of data mining algorithms and data visualization techniques.

Information Visualization in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery

This is a new book by Steve Mann that will be in stores this January. Included below is the publisher's overview of the book.

"Intelligent Image Processing examines the fundamentals of personal imaging and wearable computing with a concentration on the EyeTap technology invented by the author. EyeTap technology comprises eyeglasses or contact lenses that cause the eye itself to function, in effect, as if it were both a camera and a display. Modern embodiments of this invention use a laser system having no moving parts to provide infinite depth of focus from the inside of the eye, out to infinity. The invention eliminates the distinction between cyberspace and the real world, allowing a shared visual experience and shared visual memory among multiple users. ...

There are a wide range of commercial applications ... The invention blurs the boundary between seeing and recording ...

The author approaches the fundamental ideas of wearable computing and personal imaging by providing an historical overview of the subject that takes the reader from his original wearable photographic computer inventions of the 1970s, through to the modern EyeTap system. This fascinating technology promises to change the way we live and the way we communicate, and Intelligent Image Processing provides a detailed, technical, and stimulating guide for those who wish to learn about or contribute to this promising future.

_Intelligent Image Processing_, by Steve Mann

Summary proceedings (48 pages in OpenBook browsable, searchable format) of a recent workshop on structured nanomaterials held on June 20-21, 2001 in Washington, D.C. Topics addressed include:

* Synthesis and assembly of nanomaterial building blocks
* Characterization of nanomaterials
* Examples of structural nanomaterials currently in use
* Potential applications of nanomaterials
* Gaps in understanding of synthesis, assembly, chemical, and physical characterization and the need for an interdisciplinary approach
* Identification of the "showstoppers" -- major barriers to utilization of nanomaterials

Workshop on Structural Nanomaterials | National Academy Press

David Gerlernter, writing in the Dec 12 NYT, reviews two new books: Lessig's _The Future of Ideas_ and Steve Lohr's _GoTo_. Apparently excerpting from _GoTo_, he quotes Brian Behlendorf as saying that computer programming must be "accessible to everyone. ... Not being able to program is going to be like not being able to drive -- lacking a fundamental skill in our society." Gerlenter comments in reply: There is no more revealing quote in the whole technology literature.

All in all, a good, brief article. Worth a look.

The Computer World, Inside and Out

Both today (Wednesday) and Thursday, the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property held/will hold hearings on the DMCA.

I was unable to find any reports/minutes immediately available for Wednesday's hearing. Please report back on anything you can find.

Thursday's hearings (beginning at 10:00 AM Eastern) can be heard via live streaming audio at the URL below. (No archival copies are offered.)

http://judaudio5.house.gov/2141b

House Subcommittee Revisits Online Copyrights

Jobless? Consider transplanting some squirrel genes into your system and painting yourself with a lovely lavender latex finish.

LA Times reports the ITAA says that good tech jobs are still widely available. They attribute the continued push for H1B visas to the fact that the people out of work are web designers, marketers, and dot-com consultants, when what industry needs are technically proficient business people. Salaries are still increasing, although at a lower rate than in the recent past. RSA Security is currently looking for 30 people, and Cisco is hiring in new product development.

(FYI: "Purple squirrels" are "people with skill sets that are extremely hard to find," according to a recruiter at EarthLink.)

No tech job worries for purple squirrels

Google's newly restored and expanded Usenet archive offers up (among other things) the original announcement for the first PhreakNIC in 1997. Curiously, it appears to have been published *on* the day of the conference.

Anyway, Usenet has saved for Posterity this record of my fabulous presentation: (what, you don't remember it? :)

"Reputation Capital: Digital Currency for the 21st Century and Beyond" Talk by Jeremy Mineweaser, with audience Q&A/discussion. The success of large-scale digital communications networks ultimately depends on security among untrusted parties. Widely-deployed reputation systems will revolutionize the way information is exchanged over digital communications networks."

That would have made for a great talk in 1997 ... and would still make a great talk today.

Recalling the Good Old Days ... with a little help from Google