Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
player, I respectfully disagree to a degree...
...yes, virus writers are probably not the best representatives of good moral human nature (if there is such a thing).
However, because it is open, it is peer reviewed. The peer review process, in my opinion, will go further to plug weaknesses. That is much the reason why scientific studies must be peer reviewed before acceptance into major journals for yet another round of peer review.
New medicines are peer reviewed extensively in order to reduce risks. I argue that reducing risks is accomplished nicely by peer review.
The downside to the peer review process is that it is time consuming.
player1234, there are a number of counter thinkers...
...that also posit a similar argument.
I, for one, don't subscribe, at least fully. Awk had a great one-liner about how this current situation is aking to irresponsibility. I agree with that. I think that other individuals might take the responsibility differently.
Further, there is the argument that open source code is more secure because more weaknesses are found due to the nature of the code development.
This is no longer a long-term investment...
...this is an M&A target in my opinion.
When will the PC world wake up? This is nothing short of incredible...
Reuters
UPDATE - Microsoft details Windows plans amid security woes
Tuesday May 4, 9:41 pm ET
By Reed Stevenson
(Adds details, Bill Gates (News) comments)
SEATTLE, May 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) will make its software more reliable and easier to use, promised the vice president responsible for its flagship Windows operating system, even as a new worm continued to wreak havoc on personal computers on Tuesday.
Microsoft also demonstrated its latest prototype PC for the home, built with Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News) hardware, and also said it expected a faster shift to high-end 64-bit computing and more "instant-on" devices over the next 12 to 18 months.
"We see the PC as not just catching up with other computing," Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, told an audience at the annual Windows Hardware Engineering conference.
"We see it really driving the frontiers of computing," Gates said.
But his comments were overshadowed by the outbreak of the "Sasser" worm that had infected, according to some estimates, more than one million PCs running Microsoft Windows 2000, NT and XP since it appeared over the weekend.
Users were being advised to update their PCs with the latest Microsoft patches and to install a firewall to keep out future infections. Security experts have warned that Sasser was likely to hit home users, and that a likely sign of infection would be an unexpected reboot of computers or an unusually slow Internet connection.
Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president in charge of operating systems admitted that Windows still fell short of the software maker's goal of making computing more user-friendly.
"It's hard to deploy the operating system today, apps (programs) are more difficult than they should be," Allchin
Allchin also said that his division, the largest at Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, was working hard to improve the security and reliability of Windows, the latest version of which is installed on more than 210 million PCs.
NEXT GENERATION WINDOWS
Allchin also confirmed that Microsoft would ship a preliminary, or beta, test version of the next version of Windows in 2005. Longhorn, the code-name for the next version of Windows, is due out in the first half of 2006.
In a side-by-side demonstration comparing an early version of Longhorn and Windows XP, Allchin showed two PCs with the current and newer operating system displaying memory-intensive graphics.
The Longhorn machine, although slightly better than Windows XP at displaying graphics-heavy Windows, failed to respond when Allchin also tried to bring up another graphics-intensive application, the popular first person shooter game Quake.
Allchin said that the PC was slow and Microsoft said that the demo worked fine in trials.
The conference, being held this week in Seattle, gathers the hardware manufacturers that make the chips, memory, drives, graphics boards and countless other electronics that work with Windows.
Microsoft would begin shipping different editions of Windows XP, such as those for Tablet PCs and Media Center PCs, that support 64-bit computing. These chips are a step up from the current mainstream 32-bit chips since they can handle larger amounts of data and produce more detailed video.
Microsoft said that it expected most of the microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - News), the frontrunner in 64-bit desktop computing, to be 64-bit architecture by the end of 2005.
Gates also told device manufacturers that Microsoft would hand out early preview toolkits for Longhorn so that they could start building device drivers, or software that allows hardware to work with Windows.
Gates also unveiled off a new prototype PC for homes, the Home Concept PC.
The prototype PC was connected to a large flat-panel display and ran a modified version of Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center operating system, which allows users to navigate through a simplified menu system to play back TV, digital music and photos, DVDs and view other content.
The remote control, which also doubled as a telephone handset, had its own mini-display and was used to control the various functions of the prototype PC.
That PC featured another concept that Microsoft said would soon become mainstream, the ability for computers to turn on and off nearly instantaneously.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040504/tech_microsoft_2.html
If this isn't a great reason to short MSFT I don't know what is...
Okay - Linux might be a good reason too. But this Reuters indicates a whole lot of problems.
Reuters
UPDATE - Microsoft details Windows plans amid security woes
Tuesday May 4, 9:41 pm ET
By Reed Stevenson
(Adds details, Bill Gates (News) comments)
SEATTLE, May 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) will make its software more reliable and easier to use, promised the vice president responsible for its flagship Windows operating system, even as a new worm continued to wreak havoc on personal computers on Tuesday.
Microsoft also demonstrated its latest prototype PC for the home, built with Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News) hardware, and also said it expected a faster shift to high-end 64-bit computing and more "instant-on" devices over the next 12 to 18 months.
"We see the PC as not just catching up with other computing," Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, told an audience at the annual Windows Hardware Engineering conference.
"We see it really driving the frontiers of computing," Gates said.
But his comments were overshadowed by the outbreak of the "Sasser" worm that had infected, according to some estimates, more than one million PCs running Microsoft Windows 2000, NT and XP since it appeared over the weekend.
Users were being advised to update their PCs with the latest Microsoft patches and to install a firewall to keep out future infections. Security experts have warned that Sasser was likely to hit home users, and that a likely sign of infection would be an unexpected reboot of computers or an unusually slow Internet connection.
Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president in charge of operating systems admitted that Windows still fell short of the software maker's goal of making computing more user-friendly.
"It's hard to deploy the operating system today, apps (programs) are more difficult than they should be," Allchin
Allchin also said that his division, the largest at Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, was working hard to improve the security and reliability of Windows, the latest version of which is installed on more than 210 million PCs.
NEXT GENERATION WINDOWS
Allchin also confirmed that Microsoft would ship a preliminary, or beta, test version of the next version of Windows in 2005. Longhorn, the code-name for the next version of Windows, is due out in the first half of 2006.
In a side-by-side demonstration comparing an early version of Longhorn and Windows XP, Allchin showed two PCs with the current and newer operating system displaying memory-intensive graphics.
The Longhorn machine, although slightly better than Windows XP at displaying graphics-heavy Windows, failed to respond when Allchin also tried to bring up another graphics-intensive application, the popular first person shooter game Quake.
Allchin said that the PC was slow and Microsoft said that the demo worked fine in trials.
The conference, being held this week in Seattle, gathers the hardware manufacturers that make the chips, memory, drives, graphics boards and countless other electronics that work with Windows.
Microsoft would begin shipping different editions of Windows XP, such as those for Tablet PCs and Media Center PCs, that support 64-bit computing. These chips are a step up from the current mainstream 32-bit chips since they can handle larger amounts of data and produce more detailed video.
Microsoft said that it expected most of the microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - News), the frontrunner in 64-bit desktop computing, to be 64-bit architecture by the end of 2005.
Gates also told device manufacturers that Microsoft would hand out early preview toolkits for Longhorn so that they could start building device drivers, or software that allows hardware to work with Windows.
Gates also unveiled off a new prototype PC for homes, the Home Concept PC.
The prototype PC was connected to a large flat-panel display and ran a modified version of Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center operating system, which allows users to navigate through a simplified menu system to play back TV, digital music and photos, DVDs and view other content.
The remote control, which also doubled as a telephone handset, had its own mini-display and was used to control the various functions of the prototype PC.
That PC featured another concept that Microsoft said would soon become mainstream, the ability for computers to turn on and off nearly instantaneously.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040504/tech_microsoft_2.html
eamonnshute, I really am a believer of free markets...
The mac is but one way to get things done. It is not the only way. Of course you know this.
Now that I know people tend to consider their computers as humanoid they develop a relationship with their computer. This tends to polarize discussions into the Mac vs. PC.
I no longer partake of these discussions because it is a success-less discussion.
Best Regards!
eamonnshute, you will find that with...
...the Unix platform a lot of toying around under the engine is going on. How much toying around under the hood?
http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/000257.html
Naw, didn't work...but...
I found the solution I think:
http://homepage.mac.com/major4/
A few of you are going to want to read this! Is Apple the gateway to Linux becoming a desktop standard?
http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/000257.html
helpfulbacteria, you just received a membermark from me.
Welcome!
micro, I had not seen that. Thanks! eom
quicktime to mpeg?
I can convert from Quicktime to mpeg4, but the extention is not .mpeg. I want this video to run on a PC with the extension .mpeg. Does anybody know if it will run if I change the mp4 extension to .mpeg?
mpeg video question...
Does anyone know if there is a board for discussing how to convert a quicktime video to mpeg?
TechTV talked quite a bit about the new iTunes 4.5...
http://www.techtv.com/techtv/index.html/
awk, re: irresponsibility...
I strongly agree with you. I would love to see a grass-roots movement to discuss this lack of vision and irresponsible (selfish) behavior.
I would like to see http://www.trustedcomputingsociety.org become a springboard for such a grass-roots discussion. But I can't do it...
Hope things are well in Toronto?
Now is the time to buy those companies you have been watching!
iTunes 4.5: iTunes 4.5 uses a new authentication algorithm. However, not even 24 hours after I downloaded it, and that includes a little sleep and lots of uni time, I've broken it. Hah. Anyhow, libopendaap 0.2.0 and tunesbrowser 0.1.4 are now available.
http://craz.net/programs/itunes/
In order to update your iPod under Linux, follow these "easy" steps:
Be aware that you do this on your own risk. If the steps below set your cat on fire and melt your iPod, you are the one to blame!
Go to http://www.apple.com/ipod/download and download the Windows updater application (setup.exe).
Go to any Windows XP or Windows 2000 box and install the application (I know this sucks, blame Apple not me
If you can connect your iPod to this box, run the updater and be happy.
If you only have a firewire card in your Linux box, copy the updater.exe file from the target installation path (default is c:\Program Files\iPod\...) to your Linux box.
Open the updater.exe file in a hex editor, e.g. khexedit
Search for Copyright
Delete everything before these lines:
0000:0000 7b 7b 7e 7e 20 20 2f 2d 2d 2d 2d 2d 5c 20 20 20 {{~~ /-----
0000:0010 7b 7b 7e 7e 20 2f 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 5c 20 20 {{~~ /
0000:0020 7b 7b 7e 7e 7c 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 7c 20 {{~~/ /
0000:0030 7b 7b 7e 7e 7c 20 53 20 54 20 4f 20 50 20 7c 20 {{~~/ S T O P /
0000:0040 7b 7b 7e 7e 7c 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 7c 20 {{~~/ /
0000:0050 7b 7b 7e 7e 20 5c 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 2f 20 20 {{~~ \ /
0000:0060 7b 7b 7e 7e 20 20 5c 2d 2d 2d 2d 2d 2f 20 20 20 {{~~ \-----/
0000:0070 43 6f 70 79 72 69 67 68 74 28 43 29 20 32 30 30 Copyright(C) 200
Save the file under a new name, e.g. firmware_new.bin
Connect your iPod to the Linux box and backup your old firmware (just in case so if anything goes horribly wrong you can use this file to restore your iPod):
# dd if=/dev/sda1 of=firmware_backup.bin
Upload your new firmware:
# dd if=firmware_new.bin of=/dev/sda1
Disconnect your iPod
When the Plug-in image appears on the display, plug the iPod back in (you need a powered firewire cable or the AC outlet for this step!)
Wait for the iPod the extract the new firmware (watch the progress bar)
done... "
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8801
Real Dialogue: The Tech [MIT] interviews Jack Valenti
By Keith J. Winstein
SENIOR EDITOR
Jack Valenti, the iconic 82-year-old who has headed the Motion Picture Association of America for the last 38 years, spoke at the MIT Communications Forum last Thursday. The MPAA offered The Tech a chance to ask Valenti questions after his talk, and -- as a former Tech news reporter interested in technology and copyright -- I got drafted.
Valenti is an incredibly polished advocate for the movie studios. He has numerous legislative and regulatory successes to his name, and his stated commitment to honest debate (he spoke passionately several times about his commitment to the “ideal of civic discourse” and his disgust at Washington, D.C.’s lack of it) is admirable.
But we don’t have a real debate on copyright issues. We have rival camps that rarely understand each other. Virtually everybody I know and encounter on the Internet thinks Valenti’s signal accomplishments are bad. He can claim credit for the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which make it illegal to build your own DVD player and well-nigh impossible to watch DVDs legally under the GNU/Linux operating system, as well as the Federal Communication Commission’s Broadcast Flag, which will make it illegal or virtually impossible to build your own digital television receiver or, again, watch HDTV under Linux.
Everybody in Hollywood, and everybody in Congress, seems to love these things. There is little compromise, meeting of the minds, or mutual understanding, between these two sides.
Three years ago, I organized an MIT IAP class and invited Valenti to come. (He politely declined.) When the MPAA called to ask if I wanted to talk with him for ten minutes last week, I finally had my chance to take a shot at reaching some tiny mutual understanding.
I found Valenti woefully unfamiliar with the arguments of “our side” -- the same arguments that “we” wank about every day on Zephyr, on Slashdot, and in 6.805 (Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier), the class I TAed for Professor Hal Abelson.
A compromise, or at least a solution to these issues that doesn’t involve outlawing all tinkering and all independent engineering, seems to be possible: we’re just not getting through to each other. The dystopia of Richard Stallman’s “The Right to Read” at www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html is not an inevitability. But if we can’t manage to have a real conversation with “the other side” -- and a longer one than my ten minutes with Valenti -- that’s where we might be headed.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation:
The Tech: You’re described by various people as the best lobbyist ever. Do you have any tips for the other side, about how they can achieve better victories in the legislative area?
Jack Valenti: I hope that I’m a good persuader, that I’m able to make advocacy of a cause that people say, “You know, that makes sense.” ‘Lobbyist’ has a connotation to me that gives me little shivers. But I like to believe that I try to make things simple to understand. And frankly, if I can understand it, then I figure everybody else can understand it, because I am not a technologist. ... But I try to make things simple and clear as I can, and I think that helps you persuade other people.
TT: Everybody I know thinks the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Broadcast Flag are awful. And everybody in Congress disagrees. This does not lead to good debate and good public policy, when people can’t even talk to each other. How can we have a good debate on these topics?
JV: I don’t know. I go on forums, and panels, and Rich [Taylor, an MPAA spokesman] does the same. We’re available to anybody. I never believe in hostile debates. That’s not my style. I believe that we ought to talk objectively about it. I think for anything that I’m advocating, I’m willing to be in an open debate with anybody about it. Because if my ideas have no bottom, then they ought not be even heard.
The broadcast flag -- if you are in your home, then you can copy anything that’s on over-the-air television to your heart’s content. The only time that you will know there’s a broadcast flag is if you try to take one of those copies and redistribute it on the Internet. Then, the flag says, ‘No, you can’t redistribute it.’ But you can do everything you’re doing right now -- you’ll never know there’s a broadcast flag. Well, why would people object to it?
TT: I’ll tell you, because I’m an engineer, I’m an engineering student, and this year I built a high-definition television, from scratch. But because of the broadcast flag, if I wanted to do that again after July 2005, that would be illegal.
JV: How many people in the United States build their own sets?
TT: Well, I’m talking about engineers.
JV: Let’s say there are a thousand. But there are 284 million people in this country. You can’t have public policy that is aimed at 100,000 people when the other multi-multi-millions are also involved. You can’t do it that way.
TT: Okay, let’s take a different example. Four years ago, you said that people who use Linux, which is about a million to two million people, who want to play DVDs, should get licensed DVD players and that those would be on the market soon.
JV: And we have those now.
TT: But today, you still cannot on the market actually buy a licensed DVD player for Linux.
JV: I didn’t know that.
TT: So the question is, do you think people who go to Blockbuster, they rent a movie, they bring it home, and they play it on Linux by circumventing the access control, are those people committing a moral transgression?
JV: I do not believe that you have the right to override an encryption. Because if you have the right to do it, everybody can do it. For whatever benign reason you have, somebody else has got one even more benign. But once you let one person deal in a digital copy -- and I don’t have to tell you; you know far better than I that, unlike in analog, the ten thousandth copy is as pure as the original -- it is a big problem. So once you let the barriers down for your perfectly sensible reason, you gotta let it down for everybody.
I don’t want to get into the definition of morality. I never said anything was immoral in what I was saying. I said it is wrong to take something that belongs to somebody else.
TT: Indeed, but are you doing that when you rent a movie from Blockbuster and you watch it at home? ... I run Linux on my computer. There’s no product I can buy that’s licensed to watch [DVDs]. If I go to Blockbuster and rent a movie and watch it, am I a bad person? Is that bad?
JV: No, you’re not a bad person. But you don’t have any right.
TT: But I rented the movie. Why should it be illegal?
JV: Well then, you have to get a machine that’s licensed to show it.
TT: Here’s one of these machines; it’s just not licensed.
[Winstein shows Valenti his six-line “qrpff” DVD descrambler.]
TT: If you type that in, it’ll let you watch movies.
JV: You designed this?
TT: Yes.
JV: Un-fucking-believable.
TT: So the question is, if I just want to watch a movie--I rent it from Blockbuster--is that bad?
JV: No, that’s not bad.
TT: Then why should it be illegal?
Rich Taylor, MPAA public affairs: It’s not. ... You could put it in a DVD player, you could play it on any computer licensed for it.
JV: There’s lots of machines you can play it on.
TT: None under Linux. There’s no licensed player under Linux.
JV: But you’re trying to set your own standards.
TT: No, you said four years ago that people under Linux should use one of these licensed players that would be available soon. They’re still not available -- it’s been four years.
JV: Well why aren’t they available? I don’t know, because I don’t make Linux machines.
Let me put it in my simple terms. If you take something that doesn’t belong to you, that’s wrong. Number two, if you design your own machine, you can’t fuss at people, because you’re one of just a few. How many Linux users are there?
TT: About two million.
JV: Well, I can’t believe there’s not any -- there must be a reason for... Let me find out about that. You bring up an interesting question -- I don’t know the answer to that... Well, you’re telling me a lot of things I don’t know.
TT: Okay. Well, how can we have this dialogue?
JV: Well, we’re having it right now. I want to try to find out the point you make on why are there no Linux licensed players. There must be a reason -- there has to be a reason. I don’t know.
[Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the MPAA, later pointed to one company, Intervideo, that has a license to sell GNU/Linux DVD software, although the company does not actually sell a product that Linux users can purchase. Linux users who want to watch DVDs should “perhaps buy a DVD player instead,” Taylor said, or “write to Intervideo and others, encourage them that they’re the market,” he said. Will Linux users ever be able to view DVDs on their computers without breaking the law? “I’m sure that day is not far away,” Taylor said.
A spokesman for Intervideo, Andy Marken, said the company’s product is only for embedded systems and that Intervideo has no plans to release a software player for end users.]
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V124/N20/ValentiIntervie.20f.html
awk...I concur. eom
Investors Insight Explosive News Release Brings You: PTSC
This stock will rocket 300%+ Intel is being sued by PTSC and every one of there "pentium" chips is in VIOLATION. We believe that this will lead to fast settlement and HUGE cash flow for the company. Buy now. This is a FREE pick. If you wish to become a paid member please reply to this email asking for more info.
Press Release
Source: Patriot Scientific Corporation
Patriot Scientific Notifies More Than 150 Companies of Patent Portfolio Infringement
Friday April 23, 9:28 am ET
SAN DIEGO, April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Patriot Scientific Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: PTSC - News), a developer and owner of core microprocessor technologies, announced today that it has sent notification to more than 150 additional companies of potential infringement of its U.S. Patent 5,809,336. The companies are among the world's largest electronics firms in the semiconductor, communications equipment, computer hardware, electronic instruments, computer peripherals, scientific and technical instruments, computer storage, computer networks and office equipment business segments.
Dr. Patrick Nunally, chief technical officer of Patriot Scientific, said, "The widespread use of U.S. 5,809,336 is becoming increasingly apparent across multiple industries. The mechanisms disclosed are essential to the operation of thousands of products. We believe that each of these violates PTSC's rights."
The notifications are intended to protect Patriot Scientific's patent rights. Patriot previously announced lawsuits filed against Sony, Fujitsu, Toshiba, NEC and Matsushita. The initial filings seek damages in excess of several hundred million dollars.
Patriot Scientific's patents describe the principal means used by the microprocessor industry to increase the internal operating speed of modern microprocessors. Patriot Scientific's patent portfolio encompasses the fundamental workings of well over $18 billion dollars worth of microprocessors sold in the United States last year. From the time the patents were issued, the company estimates that over $150 billion dollars worth of microprocessors have made use of Patriot Scientific's technology.
The company believes that significant segments of the electronics industry are currently benefiting from technology owned by Patriot Scientific and that microprocessors operating at speeds above 110 - 120 MHz violates portions of Patriot Scientific's patent portfolio.
private process desire curve spring surpri noise expert destruction substance no at drain grain reason low bird living about pipe even girl seed dear card cup woman seem disgust for comb thought wire square mind dear ray before umbrella fold from tired gun pain earth awake bit short way medical hard profit surpri building tall ill self engine only house payment collar family organization with special
OT...Alcatel, Birdstep and Gemplus join forces to offer secure and seamless service continuity between mobile networks and WLAN
Paris, Oslo and Luxembourg - April 27, 2004 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE:ALA), Birdstep Technology, a global provider of Mobile IP software client technology and Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card based solutions, announced today an alliance to jointly develop, promote and market the industry's most secure solution for seamless service continuity between GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS or CDMA mobile networks and WLAN. This alliance will also apply to emerging technologies such as WiMAX.
This collaboration will enable users of laptops and PDAs to have an "always best connected" experience at any time, and to seamlessly profit from a smart card (SIM) based secure handover between heterogeneous access networks, ensuring the highest data rate, relying on a single subscription.
Alcatel will integrate a new software client combining Birdstep's intelligent Mobile IP client software into its Evolium™ multi-access offering. This will enable seamless roaming across multiple access networks, with a smart card (SIM) enabled client software designed by Gemplus for secured wireless communications and transactions. This unique combination will provide mobile operators with the best of breed solution for secure mobile broadband service continuity.
All it requires is the client software to be installed on the end-users' Mobile/WLAN enabled laptop or PDA and the SIM card to be integrated in a PCMCIA card inside the laptop. In the near future, the SIM will be in a USB key plugged onto the PDA, or simply inside a BlueTooth-enabled handset. As soon as users pass by a WLAN hot spot, the intelligent client software automatically notifies the end-user of broadband services availability directly accessed in a totally transparent manner.
"The Birdstep Mobile IP client software has evolved to meet the demands of infrastructure vendors and other component vendors who want to provide seamless mobility with their solutions", commented Jørgen Bredesen, chief executive officer of Birdstep Technology. "By jointly creating end-to-end seamless solutions for operators, our alliance with Alcatel and Gemplus will provide a one-stop-shop for the market in need of secure seamless mobility."
"The Gemplus smart card authentication solution allows service providers to offer a totally reliable and convenient tool for accessing a network, WLAN, GPRS or even 3G, while providing the same user experience", declared Jacques Seneca, executive vice president, Gemplus Business Development Group. "The partnership with Alcatel and Birdstep establishes a consistent offer for providing a unique experience for seamless mobile data access via a laptop or a PDA."
"Alcatel's vision is to consider the end-user at the center of the mobile experience by offering solutions guaranteeing totally transparent access to services from any device, regardless of the access technology," stated Marc Rouanne, chief operating officer of Alcatel's mobile activities. "Our alliance with Birdstep and Gemplus supports this strategy and allows us to provide operators with new business opportunities based on the complementary interaction of their mobile networks today with WLAN, tomorrow with WiMAX."
About Birdstep Technology
Birdstep Technology is traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) under ticker 'BIRD'. The company has headquarters in Oslo and Seattle in addition to offices in London, Boston and San Francisco. Birdstep's small footprint, high performance database technologies combined with its wireless roaming and access software enable companies to build innovative solutions for embedded systems and the Mobile Internet. Birdstep makes your information accessible anytime, anywhere, on any device and on any infrastructure. Birdstep's global customers include 3Com (COMS), VERITAS (VRTS), Harman Becker Automotive Systems, HP (HPQ), Accenture (ACN), Telenor (TELN), PCTel (PCTI), Connect One and the National Stock Exchange of India. For more information, visit www.birdstep.com.
awk, I recall...
...getting lamblasted for discussing TI and what I think they have been working on.
It is for that reason that I do not find it surprising to see them in ARM's TrustZone. Have you any thoughts on this?
Rusty, do you have a link for that article? eom
DRM is the industry attempt to increase sales through decreased piracy...
...I am of the belief that if you offer the music affordably and easily that the average joe will buy it. However, when the companies try to get 100% purchasing (we may all agree that they are entitled to not having any shoplifted) they are seeking the magnetic stripe that goes off when the shoplifter tries to sneak out of the store. DRM is the attempt to reduce theft. And I believe it does reduce the theft somewhat.
So, you have the average joe who is not stealing it (presumably).
Then those that would steal it but are stopped by DRM (and don't have the time or expertise to work around it).
You are left with a core of theives who will steal it regardless. For those you have litigation/DMCA, etc.
This is the scaffold of protection:
1. Personal Values
2. DRM
3. Litigation/Laws
The PC world has had extreme difficulties with theft, viruses, etc. The MPAA is not going to let happen to movies what happened to music.
More smart card standards, please
BY Florence Olsen
April 22, 2004
RELATED LINKS
NIST report on smart-card standards
"TSA smart card program makes headway" [Federal Computer Week, April 12, 2004]
"Smart cards: A step ahead, or a step backward?" [Federal Computer Week, March 29, 2004]
Although many smart card standards exist, more are needed to make the best use of the cards, according to a government report issued this week.
A National Institute of Standards and Technology study found a need for additional technical and policy standards as agency officials discover more uses for smart cards spanning organizations. Smart cards are increasingly being used both for controlling physical access to government facilities and authenticating federal users' identities online.
The study found a need for better coordination among agency officials in setting policies on the types of personal information that can be stored on smart cards. A report on the study also states that consistent, governmentwide policies are needed for who can enter and update personal information on the cards and how that should be done. The lack of consistent policies poses a barrier to interoperability.
The Defense Department, currently the largest federal user of smart cards, needs more consistent public-key infrastructure (PKI) policies so that users do not have to present unique PKI credentials at each of the facilities to which they need to gain access, the report states. DOD has issued 4 million smart cards so far.
Officials at the State Department, another potentially large user of smart card technology, also need to settle on a single technical standard that they can use for the agency's various government travel documents. Department officials currently favor so-called contactless smart card technology as the standard that can best accommodate State's needs, the study found. Contactless smart cards function at different ranges and frequencies and require no direct contact with readers.
The report concludes with recommendations that smart card policy or technical standards be developed for:
Biometrics, card-to-reader authentication, physical access and PKI interoperability.
Best practices and reference models.
Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification options.
Cross-agency credentialing.
Migrating to newer technologies such as contactless cards.
Integrating applications on a card.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0419/web-nist-04-23-04.asp
Representing an industry breakthrough by merging network security management for a wide range of both layer 2 and layer 3 solutions, the SMC is based on a robust, Java-based management platform. The SMC first authenticates any security device that is to be integrated onto the network. The SMC then remotely configures, monitors, and performs firmware updates for SafeNet network security products, allowing organizations to implement a broad range of security polices that can limit access to specific network elements or provide unlimited access to the entire network. Communications between the SMC and SafeNet clients, encryptors, and IPSec VPN gateways are handled securely through the use of digital certificates.
The SMC manages a wide range of devices, securing networks that include small-office remote access applications as well as large inter-office enterprise applications running SONET, ATM and Gigabit speeds. These devices include the HighAssurance(TM) Remote VPN Client, the HighAssurance(TM) 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 IPSec VPN Gateways, and the SafeEnterprise Link, Frame, ATM and SONET Encryptors.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040426/265129_1.html
The melt down of my G5 w/ 10.3.3 continues...
I have 2 drives. One that is the boot drive with all applications and one for storage. The storage drive no longer mounts.
I rebooted from the G5 DVD and did a disk repair on both drives. I have also run the utilities repair from the system HD and it still does not mount (I have tried to mount it through utilities as well).
The error is as follows:
Invalid Key Length
Volume Check Failed
Error: The underlying taks reported failure on exit (-9972)
That Apple support does not open until 10am EST really bites at the moment...
dmarsh, the plot thickens...
I just lost my storage HD in my G5.
I rebooted from the G5 CD and did a disk repair. I have also run the utilities repair from the booted HD and it still does not mount (I have tried to mount it through utilities).
The error is as follows:
Invalid Key Length
Volume Check Failed
Error: The underlying taks reported failure on exit (-9972)
dilleet, did they say whether or not they were fonts being used or just fonts in the library? Your are right - tedious is an understatement perhaps. Thanks for the lead on free fonts, but if fonts are a problem I shall stay away from them.
yofal, I think there is something wrong with how 10.3 processes MS Office documents. eom
OT, running 10.3.3 and MS Word...
When I print (to pdf) a document it works fine. When I do it a second time MS Word crashes. Strangest thing my mac has ever done (a new G5, so give me time). I reinstalled (clean install) the MS Word and it still occurs. Anybody ever experienced this interface problem between Word and the new OS?
Trusted Computing/DMCA v. Diebold's Pentagon Papers
Ernie breaks a great story about Jones Day suing the Oakland Tribune to take back the memos they wrote about Diebold's risky ventures in California over uncertified e-voting machines.
While Jones Day chose to use legal tools to restrain news reporting and Free Speech in this case, keep in mind that if we had Trusted Computing, Jones Day could have written the documents in a word processing application that required an attestation that the reader was authorized to access the documents before decrypting them.
If this was the case, the reporters at the Tribune would never have been able to read the documents even after they had acquired them because the application would not "trust" them to decrypt the contents. Unless, of course, they attempted to circumvent the attestation requirement and "hack" into the document, thereby invoking dangers under the DMCA.
When the Diebold email archive and memos were posted on the net by the Swarthmore students and others, Diebold sent DMCA take-down notices to shut down their speech. But there, the students were able to respond and repost the documents. They were able to claim fair use as a defense to the allegations that they infringed Diebold's copyrights in its internal memoranda and emails. With Trusted Computing and the DMCA, fair use is no defense. Under current law, circumvention of Trusted Computing and/or DRM is arguably a criminal and civil violation -- whether your purpose is to publish the Pentagon Papers or the Diebold Papers.
http://www.corante.com/copyfight/archives/003348.html
Schools' streaming video use at risk
Corey Murray, Assistant Editor
April 1, 2004
The rights of U.S. schools and colleges to use a powerful new tool for enhanced communication and instruction are at risk, because a little-known California company claims it owns the patent on what enables streaming video. The company has already sent demands for royalty payments to several U.S. universities.
Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. seems to have a message for schools: Either stop the transmissions now, or prepare to pay the company as much as 2 percent of the revenue generated from courses that employ such technology.
The threat became real when some colleges and universities--including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the University of Virginia, the University of Wyoming (UW), and a number of schools in the Oregon State University System (OSUS)--began receiving "cease-and-desist" letters from the company.
Legal experts from these and other schools say the royalty demands could spell trouble for revenue-generating distance-education programs, which are relied upon to connect students across great distances while appealing to pupils with vastly different learning styles. If the royalty demands exceed the profits generated by such courses, they say, the practice could become cost-prohibitive, adding a debilitating expense to schools' already waning technology budgets.
Education observers fear demands for a percentage of revenues might be merely a prelude to demands for licensing fees from all schools and universities that use streaming video, regardless of whether the technology generates revenue.
To skirt a potential disaster, legal counsel for universities across the country have begun looking for ways to insulate their institutions from potential lawsuits. But while much is being debated, nothing has been decided, a fact that has college lawyers contacted by eSchool News largely mum on the topic of strategy.
Lawyers have been so tight-lipped, in fact, that officials from the University of Virginia and the Johns Hopkins University declined to go on record with eSchool News about the letters. Those who are willing to talk, however, say they are concerned.
Ben Rawlins, general counsel for the OSUS, said the proposed 2-percent royalty claims would result in a significant amount of money for the state's universities and could be enough to threaten the existence of video-streaming and distance-learning programs in some institutions, but he declined to comment on the validity of Acacia's patents or on the university's defense, stating, "Everything is still under consideration."
For universities, Rawlins said, the question is whether the technology has been around long enough for it to be considered in the public domain, or whether Acacia has the right to claim collective control over the broader use of the technology itself--mainly, the process by which audio and video are transmitted across the internet--as opposed to a specific hardware device or media player used to make such transmissions possible. OSUS reportedly is consulting with patent lawyers to further investigate the company's claims.
Meanwhile, Acacia's crusade is gathering steam. On the heels of more than a dozen settlements reached last year with a swath of online pornography providers--all of which use streaming video to broadcast racy images to customers' computer desktops--the company has set its sights on academia, claiming it's entitled to a slice of the revenues schools reap from ballooning enrollments in distance-education classes that use the technology.
Acacia's general counsel and senior vice president for business development, Robert Berman, did not return repeated telephone calls from an eSchool News reporter before press time. But Berman told the Chronicle of Higher Education for a Nov. 7 story that the patents--which were first granted in 1991 and sat dormant throughout the dot-com bust--were finally ripe to make the company some serious money.
"Money wasn't being made using streaming media at the time," Berman told the Chronicle. "If you remember, everything on the internet was free, and people were just figuring out how to use the technology."
Today that has changed--especially in education, where teachers and professors at all levels of schooling have employed the tool as a means to increase interactivity among a growing contingent of students weaned on the technology.
According to industry research firm Quality Education Data, video streaming is the No. 1 technology being evaluated for use in K-12 schools this year. It also has become increasingly popular among universities, where streaming video is used not only to extend the boundaries of the traditional college campus but also to broadcast sporting events and even conduct online campus tours.
One school that has sought to take full advantage of the technology is the University of Wyoming, which since 1999 has been using streaming video and audio as part of its UW Outreach School, otherwise known as Online UW, to reach students via the internet.
"I think (Acacia's claim) has some really severe repercussions for universities, whether you're talking about (classes) on campus or about distance learning," said Mike McElreath, director of technology for the UW Outreach School. Online UW uses a platform designed by distance-education provider eCollege.
A teacher at the university, McElreath said streaming video has become an integral part of a course he teaches on documentary history. Educators, he said, also rely on the technology for video conferencing and virtual meetings, among other things.
If the patent issue isn't resolved, McElreath predicted, additional royalty payments--coupled with already tight technology budgets--could "create a huge barrier to delivering courses and professional development across the internet."
Other distance-learning experts agree. Diana Zilberman, who heads up the Maryland Distance Learning Association, said royalty payments could stunt the growth of new innovations for this type of technology in schools.
"If institutions were forced to pay such royalties, the cost would become a real impediment," Zilberman wrote in an eMail message to eSchool News. "It's hard to say if today's colleges that use distance-learning related technologies can offset currently high technology licensing costs with tuition fees."
Banding together
To share the legal burden awaiting them, a number of universities that received cease-and-desist letters from Acacia reportedly have banded together to discuss the best possible strategy for beating Acacia's claims.
University counsel refused to reveal the names of institutions participating in the consortium, but internet lawyer Harvey Jacobs of Washington, D.C.-based Jacobs and Associates said seeking a communal legal defense would be a smart move by the schools.
The idea, he said, would be to share the legal costs and combine strategies in what could be a long and costly litigation. Such an alliance could seek to ensure that no single defendant would bear the full brunt of Acacia's legal assault.
As to Acacia's delayed claims on its alleged patent rights, Jacobs said the company's decision to sit on its patents until the technology matured is not uncommon. "This represents a classic example of a company exploiting its patent portfolio," he said.
In all, Acacia has entered into 47 different licensing agreements for its video and audio streaming patents. Thirteen others are currently in litigation. Apart from universities and adult-content providers, Acacia also has initiated patent infringement claims against companies that supply video on demand to hotel rooms.
Strangely absent from Acacia's hit list, however, are the major providers of this technology to schools. Streaming video companies in the education market, such as United Learning and AIMS Multimedia, as well as Microsoft Corp. and streaming audio-video giant RealNetworks, all say they've yet to receive any form of legal notification from Acacia asking them to pay royalties for the services each provides to schools and other customers.
Jacobs--who is an attorney specializing in internet and trademark law rather than patents--said that while Acacia probably could send cease-and-desist letters to these companies, it has a better chance of procuring revenue-generating licensing agreements if it trains its efforts on end-users, such as schools, many of which lack the legal clout to match Acacia's corporate attorneys. Companies such as United Learning--which is owned by Discovery Communications--are more likely to fight the claims in court, he said, a process that could cost Acacia more money than it's worth.
Whether Acacia eventually chooses to go after these companies with its patent claims likely will depend on how these claims hold up against schools. And that will depend on the strength of the company's patent, which has to demonstrate definitive ownership over what amounts to a widely used and extremely broad conceptual technology, experts contend.
Jacobs said the debate is analogous to the man who holds the trademark for the term "internet." While the word is often referenced in its trademarked form with a capital "I," it would be unlikely that a judge would award the trademark holder royalties for the repeated use of the term across the web, simply because it has passed into the vein of public use and is no longer considered proprietary, he said.
Whether video streaming has crossed into that realm has yet to be decided. But even if schools are forced to pay royalties for using the technology, it doesn't necessarily mean the end of streaming video in education. Schools still would have the option of reaching licensing agreements with the patent holder. They also could look for ways to cut down on the amount of videos streamed by copying the content onto a CD-ROM and making it available that way, Jacobs suggested. Of course, this practice would raise legal questions of its own.
Legal experts in the public and private sectors alike agree that solutions to patent-infringement claims have been slow to catch up to the evolving nature of the internet.
"It's like trying to drive a thumbtack in with a sledgehammer," Jacobs said. "Technology is way ahead of the legislative curve."
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4958
Sam, I am not familiar with that firm. I will need to check it out. If this is the kind of thing you are interested in you might look at the company who is in an interesting position regarding streaming video.
Best Regards,
2b
Sam, I am not sure what you want me to think upon? eom
Didn't Sony just announce they are buying MGM? eom
...but it doesn't have to be a leap backward...
http://www.touchsmart.net/presentations
Great leap backward for LeapFrog
By Herb Greenberg, CBS MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:02 AM ET April 22, 2004
SAN DIEGO (CBS.MW) -- When this column first started raising questions about LeapFrog Enterprises a little over year ago, the stock was higher and so were Wall Street's expectations. The Michael Milken/Larry Ellison-backed educational toy maker had come from almost nowhere to command a more-than-respectable share of the toy market.
Its stock (LF: news, chart, profile) turned in an equally impressive performance after the company went public in the summer of 2002. But there was a catch -- or so said short sellers who believed the Emeryville, Calif.-based company was quickly becoming a victim of its own success: It had sold so many LeapPads so quickly, especially into its prime pre-school market, that its growth was bound to slow.
While the shorts were early (as is often the case) they turned out to be right.
Tuesday's preannouncement -- the second in six weeks -- shows just how right they were. It also suggests LeapFrog is having a hard time getting a grasp on the rapidly changing dynamics of its business.
This, after all, is the same company that last month tried to downplay the first quarter's downward forecast, saying that the quarter "is a very small portion of our overall year."
It's so small (he said, somewhat sarcastically) that now LeapFrog is warning that revenues, earnings per share and the gross margin for the entire year will fall below prior estimates. Revenues, the company said, would be in a range of $770 million to $800 million, down from previous forecast of $800 million to $850 million. Earnings per share, meanwhile, were expected to be $1.18 to $1.28 per share compared with earlier guidance of $1.39 to $1.51 per share.
And while Leapfrog won't offer any quarterly forecast, management conceded on its conference call that "some portion" of the full year's miss would come out of the current quarter. (Comforting!)
What went wrong? As suspected, the company said there's simply too much product at stores, in part the result of shipping too many products in December at the behest of retailers eager for what had been high demand for some of its products.
As a result, the company said, retailers are "not taking inventory." (Which is another way of saying they're not ordering much in the way of new merchandise.)
But retailers are also dragging their feet on paying their bills, evidenced by a rise in receivable days outstanding by 19 days. Receivable days outstanding, as they're called, are an indicator of how long customers are taking to pay. (Makes me wonder why the retailers are so slow.)
LeapFrog also attributes the drag in payments to a sale late in December by its "SchoolHouse" unit, which sells to schools. The potential of SchoolHouse was mentioned more than once by the company, which is clearly trying to direct attention from the slowdown in its core business.
On a positive note, LeapFrog said it expects to have a "double-digit" percentage of shelf space at large retailers this year. "Double digit," however, is a far cry from the 40 percent the company added last spring.
All of which suggests: For growth investors the game of LeapFrog may be over.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&gui...
A NYTimes article about network of 600 PowerMac G5s that scan original movie negatives at 4000 lines per inch to create high-resolution digital recreations of movies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/movies/18KAPL.html
Vacationhouse, re: OT or to not OT...
Right you are! If it does not say wave then it is properly annotated at OT. I have failed miserably to follow this protocol and I shall now ensure that I correct this shortcoming.
Thanks for keeping me straight!