Thursday, December 02, 2004

The dwarf known as al-Qaida. In the Los Angeles Times earlier this week, journalist Dirk Laabs wrote that the ill-defined al-Qaida network is now more a pint-sized peril than a towering global threat. He cited the recent findings of the BKA, Germany's esteemed federal police service that battled the Red Army Faction terrorist organization in the 1970s and '80s -- only to realize by the late '90s that the terrorists' propaganda campaign, magnified by the media, had kept the BKA in vigorous pursuit of the group long after its decline. [Salon.com] 11:20:49 PM    comment []

Collection of links is taken from Dan Gillmor's book, We The Media ISBN: 0-596-00733-7. We The Media: Web Site Directory Kevin McAllister did a nice job!... This collection of links is taken from Dan Gillmor's book, We The Media ISBN: 0-596-00733-7 (http://wethemedia.oreilly.com/). It is a replication of the the appendix titled "Web Site Directory." I have created this derivative work based on my rights under the Creative Common's license under which this text was distributed. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) because of the terms of that license this work is available under the same license. [unmediated] 8:46:10 PM    comment []

BitTorrent servers under attack. File sharers on at least one hub of the peer-to-peer network were shut out for 10 hours, an admistrator says. [CNET News.com] 8:46:05 PM    comment []

Robo-Calling: Telemarketing Is Back. The Federal Trade Commission is considering a rule change to allow "pre-recorded message telemarketing." Robo-calling, as it's called, is a cheaper, but no less-annoying remix on traditional telemarketing. [Plastic] 3:20:09 PM    comment []

I Want My Moscow TV. A lone inventor with a colorful past has come up with a way to let you tap into your home TV reception anywhere in the world. By By SETH SCHIESEL. [NYT > Technology] 7:25:40 AM    comment []

Meta-CC. By combining strategies employed in web-based discussion forums, blogs, tele-text subtitling, on demand video streaming, and search engines, the open captioning format employed by Meta-CC will allow users to gain multiple perspectives. The Meta-CC engine is run off of a computer connected to a SoftTouch Mag Hubcap Closed Caption Data Recovery unit. The Data Recovery unit transmits closed caption information from an incoming video signal into the computer's serial port. A small application developed with the Max/MSP software environment reads, formats, and archives the incoming caption information to a MySQL database. The database saves chunks of text at regular intervals. These chunks are accessed through a PHP based browser interface, which uses the text as search terms for various RSS feeds from alternative media outlets. The Max/MSP/Jitter application then accesses the text from the searches and superimposes it in the 'news-ticker' format over the live video stream. A dynamic web page will display the video stream from the cable box, with the captions overlayed, along with a second video stream, slightly time delayed, with user captions and cross referenced information, along with links to further alternative information sources. [unmediated] 7:25:36 AM    comment []

Pennsylvania Limits Cities in Offering Net Access. In a victory for Verizon Communications, a law will make it harder for cities to build Internet networks that compete with major telecommunications providers. By By MATT RICHTEL. [NYT > Technology] 7:24:19 AM    comment []

New residence halls planned for fall 2006. Webster University publicly announced plans Nov. 30 to build two new residence halls near Edgar Road and Interstate 44. The two new buildings, estimated to cost between $14 and $15 million, are expected to be completed by fall 2006, pending approval by the City Planning Commission and the Webster Groves City Council. [The Journal] 7:22:29 AM    comment []

Our ReplayTV Home Is Somewhat Similar. A Life Where TiVo Has Always Existed "...My daughter was only 3 months old when it arrived and we set it up. As far as my daughter knows, TiVo has always been around. Now that she (and our TiVo) are three years old, and there are some very interesting things I've been able to observe. First - she doesn't watch much TV (an allotted hour per day), but when she does watch it, she gets a choice of a recent episode of any of her favorite pre-recorded shows (current favorites are Dora the Explorer and Caillou), and she can watch it at any time of day. We get to choose what shows we'd like to allow her to watch, set up a Season Pass, and we're done. Second - Commercials are an infrequent novelty to her. We always fast-forward through commercials, or watch non-commercial shows. When she does occasionally see a full commercial, she's fascinated, and will often ask us to stop so she can see what's going on. How can we demonstrate to her the evils of commercial interruption, when she has never had to experience it? Third - Ignorance of Schedules/Programming - she has no idea when her favorite shows are on, never has. She gets quite confused when we are watching a non-TiVo TV, and she asks to watch 'a kids show', and we have to explain that this TV won't do what ours at home does. We've sometimes shortened this explanation to 'This TV is broken', which she seems to accept, and will wait until we get home to watch our 'fixed' TV. Fourth - pausing taken for granted. She is now the master of paused TV - saying 'Can you please stop this for a minute - I have to use the Potty'.... I compare all of these observations to my TV-watching experience as a child - always excited about Saturday Morning, because that's when cartoons were on - swapping stories about the latest Evel Knievel motorcycle I saw on a commercial with the other kids, knowing they had all seen the same commercials as well. Feeling disappointed when my parents would switch off a show mid-way through because they decided it wasn't appropriate. The pain of commercial interruption, the disappointment of 'nothing's on', or the missed shows that were probably gone for good. (On a side note, anyone else remember the days where if you missed a movie in the theater, you'd never get a chance to see it again?) There are a lot of other home entertainment developments that have changed since I was a kid, but none so radically as the TiVo experience. I never cease to be amazed when I'm zooming past a commercial with a woman dancing with a 'swiffer', and I hear my daughters small voice say: 'Wait Papa, I wanna see that'." [Eintagsfliegen] Kids growing up like this view their entertainment and multimedia very differently than the rest of us. Heck, as an adult I'm completely spoiled by this revolution, and the desire for this functionality spills over into other mediums (why can't I press a button to go back 7 seconds and hear what I just missed on the radio or pause it?). It's an interactive world for them, and they shift everything. [The Shifted Librarian] 7:22:15 AM    comment []

Scoble: "Why isn't MSN Spaces good enough for me?" [Scripting News] 7:20:12 AM    comment []

Gifts to Sate Your Technolust. The holidays may mean food and decorating to some, but for the geek crowd, they're just another excuse to buy gadgets. Here's a collection of cool ones. By Xeni Jardin. Her So-Called Digital Life. Internet consultant Mary Hodder spends most of her life online. She has gone almost entirely digital. It may not be long before you do, too. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg. [Wired News] 7:20:07 AM    comment []

The looming threat to U.S. high tech's future. Herb Wamsley of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, says an underfunded patent office threatens innovation. [CNET News.com] 7:14:16 AM    comment []