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December 1, 2004
Technology Review: Conversational Engagement Tracked.
Michael Schrage. That’s also why I now believe that the dominant global issue of our time is the accelerating diffusion of innovation. Period. Full stop. The diffusion of innovation—not the "spread of ideas" or the "clash of civilizations" or even "globalization"—is the dynamic driving today’s world and tomorrow’s.
December 2, 2004
Wired News: Fight for Public Domain Goes On.
District Court Judge Maxine Chesney dismissed the case filed by Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, and Rick Prelinger, founder of the Prelinger Archives, in late November. The archivists allege that the government's sweeping changes in copyright laws are unconstitutional because they lock-up creative works that should be returned to the public domain.
eWEEK: Wozniak's Wheels of Zeus Tackles Enterprise Data Encryption.
Wozniak offered a peek into his vision for the company on Ziff Davis Media's Security Virtual Tradeshow, where he introduced "wOz Location-Based Encryption," an application that uses GPS tracking within a wireless hub to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data for large businesses.
Technology Review: The Search for Science.
That prompted many groups to push for an "open access" policy towards scientific research, and they see Google Scholar as a major step to help that occur. Proponents believe that using the Internet as a vehicle for distribution has made the costly subscription fees unnecessary.
December 3, 2004
IBM DeveloperWorks: Hardware and usability, Part 2.
This second installment in The cranky user's focus on hardware takes on some of the more practical annoyances of badly designed hardware, including the deafening roar of computer fans and those nasty little cable nests you keep tripping over. The article concludes with a hardware-usability checklist that might just save you a trip to your local computer parts outlet; or a nasty e-mail exchange with the deadbeat vendor du jour.
eWEEK: Berners-Lee Maps Vision of a Web Without Walls.
The Web of the future, for which Berners-Lee, the W3C and other research and industrial partners have been working to lay the foundation since about 2000, will give us a rice box that, when scanned, electronically unfurls that multifaceted, rice-related Web of data—without having to squint at dinky type.
December 4, 2004
Technology Review: Screen Test.
Simson Garfinkel. Within the next few years, active screens are going to be mounted on the walls of most households. We’ll use them for entertainment, we’ll use them for information, but most of all, we’ll use them to communicate without words.
December 5, 2004
InfoWorld: Bootstrapping the semantic Web.
Jon Udell. Semantic-Web naysayers think people and organizations can't be bothered to assert machine-readable facts about themselves. And, today, that is undoubtedly true. But when others assert facts about you -- as they increasingly will -- the tide could begin to turn.
December 6, 2004
NY Times: Beijing Loves the Web Until the Web Talks Back.
Indeed, as the number of people online in China has quintupled over the last four years, the government has shown itself to be committed to two concrete, and sometimes competing, goals: strategically deploying the Internet to economic advantage, while clamping down - with surveillance, filters and prison sentences - on undesirable content and use.
Red Herring: Beating China’s Google censors.
Activists claim that in late November, the Chinese government began blocking access to Google’s main news site after Google launched a Chinese-language version of its site in September that omits links to content typically blocked by Chinese authorities. While that has left free speech advocates fuming, experts say there’s little Google can do, but a whole lot that clever entrepreneurs and Chinese citizens can.
Useit.Com: The Most Hated Advertising Techniques.
Unfortunately, most studies sorely neglect the user experience of online ads. As a result, sites that accept ads know little about how the ads affect their users and the degree to which problematic advertising tricks can undermine a site's credibility.
December 7, 2004
PC World: Epson Eyes Electronic Paper.
The company is developing "e-paper" that can be rolled up and folded as a replacement for paper-based newspapers or magazines, says Tatsuya Shimoda, fellow and director of Epson's technology platform research center. The electronic paper is expected to be on the market in five years...
December 8, 2004
Computerworld: 802.11n's Pregame Show.
There is no 802.11n standard today. As yet, there is no agreement even on which technical proposals should be included. Final ratification of a standard isn't expected before late 2006, and mature, business-class products probably won't appear before 2007. Yet the first "pre-n" products are already heading for store shelves.
December 9, 2004
The Economist: Plugging in, at last.
Why bother with broadband over power lines? The FCC is keen because it will bring into the broadband market a third group of competitors, after telephone firms, which use supercharged phone lines to deliver broadband, and cable-TV operators, which use their cables for the same purpose.
December 10, 2004
News.Com: Who says safe computing must remain a pipe dream?
Bruce Schneier. Two years ago, I published a list of PC security recommendations. The idea was to give home users concrete actions they could take to improve security. This is an update of that list: a dozen things you can do to improve your security.
InfoWorld: Congress fails to act on copyright bills.
The U.S. Congress this week passed a telecommunications bill in the final hours of the 2004 session, but some groups praised lawmakers for failing to act on legislation that would create new penalties for copyright violations.
December 11, 2004
NY Times: Justices to Hear Case on Sharing of Music Files.
The Supreme Court, accepting urgent pleas from the recording and film industries, agreed on Friday to decide whether the online services that enable copyrighted songs and movies to be shared freely over the Internet can be held liable themselves for aiding copyright infringement.
December 12, 2004
NY Times: In U.S. Market, Cellphone Users Are Often All Talk.
One of the most popular new cellphones this holiday season is the Razr, an ultrathin model that stresses style over services. That is good news for Motorola, which makes the Razr, but bad news for wireless carriers that are spending billions of dollars to build high-speed networks in the hopes that their customers will do more than just talk.
December 13, 2004
The Economist: Move over, Big Brother.
But in the past few years, something strange has happened. Thanks to the spread of mobile phones, digital cameras and the internet, surveillance technology that was once mostly the province of the state has become far more widely available.
SJ Mercury: Motorola cell phone's keyboard sets it apart.
Motorola's new A630 mobile phone is guaranteed to amaze your friends. The featherweight 4.3-ounce phone, not much bigger than a hotel's bar of soap, flips open on its long side to reveal a color screen and a tiny but full-scale keyboard.
December 14, 2004
NY Times: Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database.
Google, the operator of the world's most popular Internet search service, announced today that it had entered into agreements with some of the nation's leading research libraries and Oxford University to begin converting their holdings into digital files that would be freely searchable over the Web.
December 15, 2004
PC World: NEC, Toshiba Claim Memory Breakthrough.
Several companies, including NEC and Toshiba, are developing a type of memory called MRAM that uses magnetic fields to store data. MRAM can retain data when switched off, and can also recall data faster, work longer, and potentially be produced at a lower cost than flash memory, according to its proponents.
December 16, 2004
MSNBC: High-speed wireless network lives up to claims.
Verizon is betting that $80 a month is affordable for business people who need high-speed access on the go. For those people, and for others who want the fastest available, I agree. Once you experience the speed and ease of the service, you’ll understand.
eWEEK: Microsoft Makes 'Giant' Anti-Spyware Acquisition.
Within the next month, Microsoft plans to roll out an anti-spyware protection beta for Windows customers. The company said the spyware detection and removal application will work alongside the security technologies in Windows XP Service Pack 2.
December 17, 2004
eWEEK: IBM Storage 'Bricks' Build Toward Petabyte Level.
Called CIB, the storage system is under development at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. IBM officials discussed its work on the prototype intelligent brick storage system with reporters and editors Wednesday as part of a general briefing on its storage research efforts.
December 18, 2004
The Economist: Battle of the blue lasers.
The battle between the two standards has heated up in recent months as the two camps fight to sign up hardware vendors and content producers, notably Hollywood studios, which have determined the outcome of previous standards wars.
December 19, 2004
Useit.Com: Situate Follow-Ups in Context.
Usability is often enhanced when people can find follow-up transactions on the page where they conducted their first transaction. Conversely, usability is reduced if the original page contains no hint of what people might need to do at a later stage.
December 20, 2004
News.Com: Sprint offers streaming mobile music.
Under the terms of the deal, Music Choice is providing a range of six streaming music channels organized by genre, as well as some music videos and artist interviews for Sprint subscribers who pay about $6 a month.
December 21, 2004
Business Week: A Collective Net to Catch Phishers.
Now the e-commerce industry is fighting back. Eighteen big-name Internet service providers, banks, e-commerce outfits, and tech security providers announced on Dec. 8 an alliance called Digital PhishNet. The companies, ranging from Microsoft to Citibank promise to share information about phishers...
December 22, 2004
News.Com: Notebooks to slim down in new year.
After several years of bulking up to meet consumer demand for high-performance models with large screens, many notebooks will shed weight to dip below 7.5 pounds. New hardware, including an updated version of Intel's Centrino chip bundle, will help usher in the era of slimmer portables...
December 23, 2004
NY Times: Digital Picture Frames Reviewed.
Yes, with the ultimate digital camera accessory: the digital picture frame, a flat-panel screen designed exclusively for showing digital photos. A digital frame can do something no ordinary frame can do: change what's in it at the touch of a button, or even treat you to a slide show.
December 24, 2004
Schneier on Security: The Digital Person.
The issue here is not about secrecy, it's about control. The issue is that both government and commercial organizations are building "digital dossiers" about us, and that these dossiers are being used to judge and categorize us through some secret process.
NY Times: Banks Test ID Device for Online Security.
Responding to an increase in Internet fraud, some banks and brokerage firms plan to begin issuing small devices that would help their customers prove their identities when they log on to online banking, brokerage and bill-payment programs.
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