From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29012946/
SAN FRANCISCO - With an upgrade to its mobile maps, Google Inc. hopes to prove it can track people on the go as effectively as it searches for information on the Internet.
The new software to be released Wednesday will enable people with mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.
The feature, dubbed "Latitude," expands upon a tool introduced in 2007 to allow mobile phone users to check their own location on a Google map with the press of a button.
"This adds a social flavor to Google maps and makes it more fun," said Steve Lee, a Google product manager.
It could also raise privacy concerns, but Google is doing its best to avoid a backlash by requiring each user to manually turn on the tracking software and making it easy to turn off or limit access to the service.
Google also is promising not to retain any information about its users' movements. Only the last location picked up by the tracking service will be stored on Google's computers, Lee said.
The software plots a user's location — marked by a personal picture on Google's map — by relying on cell phone towers, global positioning systems or a Wi-Fi connection to deduce their location. The system can follow people's travels in the United States and 26 other countries.
It's left up to each user to decide who can monitor their location.
Opinion mode: on.
This can make people's locations known to anyone that can hack into the system. Also, a cheating spouce's location could be learned by the simple click of a button.
At first I thought that this was a cool idea. My wife could track my progress from work to home. But, in the wrong hands, this could cause more problems than what it solves.
Let's say that a school kid is being bullied at school. The kid tries to escape. Meanwhile, the bulley could be tracking the kids location, and can lay in wait for the bullied kid to show up. More harm would follow.
With the lack of ethics, this is a dangerous tool.
Opinion mode: off.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Day That Music Died
People associate "the day the music died" with the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J P (The Big Bopper) Richardson; as reflected in the Don McLean ("American Pie") song.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on point of view) the music didn't die. Three entertainers did. The Big Bopper was a one-hit wonder; however, he wrote other material for other singers. Valens and Holly were singer/songwriters, nothing more and nothing less.
Some could say that music died with the murder of John Lennon, which could hold true to an extent; however, most of the Beatles music was co-written by Paul McCartney and Lennon, with George Harrison and Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) writing additional material. Music didn't die, two song writers/entertainers did.
I do agree that it's nostalgic to look back on music in general and rock music in particular. However, as long as song writers continue to produce songs, and entertainers continue to sing them, music will never die.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on point of view) the music didn't die. Three entertainers did. The Big Bopper was a one-hit wonder; however, he wrote other material for other singers. Valens and Holly were singer/songwriters, nothing more and nothing less.
Some could say that music died with the murder of John Lennon, which could hold true to an extent; however, most of the Beatles music was co-written by Paul McCartney and Lennon, with George Harrison and Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) writing additional material. Music didn't die, two song writers/entertainers did.
I do agree that it's nostalgic to look back on music in general and rock music in particular. However, as long as song writers continue to produce songs, and entertainers continue to sing them, music will never die.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
If this is true, we won't be able to hide.
BY: Jeff Levy
A United Nations agency is quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by non other than the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications, potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous.
The U.S. National Security Agency is also participating in the "IP Traceback" drafting group, named Q6/17. Members of Q6/17 have declined to release key documents, and meetings are closed to the public.
The potential for eroding your rights to remain anonymous on the Internet, which is, by the way, protected by law in the United States and recognized in international law by groups such as the Council of Europe, is setting off alarms for some technologists and privacy advocates.
What's really distressing here is that it doesn't look like there has been any real consideration of how this type of capability could be misused.
Most of us agree that there are, at least in some circumstances, legitimate security reasons to uncover the source of Internet communications. The most common justification for tracebacks is to counter distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks.
But implementation details are important, and governments participating in the process -- organized by the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency -- may have their own agendas. A document recently submitted by China said the "IP traceback mechanism is required to be adapted to various network environments, such as different addressing (IPv4 and IPv6), different access methods (wire and wireless) and different access technologies (ADSL, cable, Ethernet. To ensure traceability, essential information of the originator should be logged."
Another document to be considered by this traceback group holds that if a political opponent to a government publishes articles putting the government in an unfavorable light, the government, having a law against any opposition, will try to identify the source of the negative articles but because the articles were published using a proxy server, can’t do so, thereby protecting the anonymity of the author.
So it looks like we have the same old my rights to privacy” vs. “we need to find the bad guys. On a personal note, I wouldn’t ever support this kind of tracing – Currently we here in the U.S. have methods by which law enforce can and does find individuals on the Net. We just don’t need any more legislation designed to make us more visible to prying eyes.
A United Nations agency is quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by non other than the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications, potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous.
The U.S. National Security Agency is also participating in the "IP Traceback" drafting group, named Q6/17. Members of Q6/17 have declined to release key documents, and meetings are closed to the public.
The potential for eroding your rights to remain anonymous on the Internet, which is, by the way, protected by law in the United States and recognized in international law by groups such as the Council of Europe, is setting off alarms for some technologists and privacy advocates.
What's really distressing here is that it doesn't look like there has been any real consideration of how this type of capability could be misused.
Most of us agree that there are, at least in some circumstances, legitimate security reasons to uncover the source of Internet communications. The most common justification for tracebacks is to counter distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks.
But implementation details are important, and governments participating in the process -- organized by the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency -- may have their own agendas. A document recently submitted by China said the "IP traceback mechanism is required to be adapted to various network environments, such as different addressing (IPv4 and IPv6), different access methods (wire and wireless) and different access technologies (ADSL, cable, Ethernet. To ensure traceability, essential information of the originator should be logged."
Another document to be considered by this traceback group holds that if a political opponent to a government publishes articles putting the government in an unfavorable light, the government, having a law against any opposition, will try to identify the source of the negative articles but because the articles were published using a proxy server, can’t do so, thereby protecting the anonymity of the author.
So it looks like we have the same old my rights to privacy” vs. “we need to find the bad guys. On a personal note, I wouldn’t ever support this kind of tracing – Currently we here in the U.S. have methods by which law enforce can and does find individuals on the Net. We just don’t need any more legislation designed to make us more visible to prying eyes.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Off the top of my pointy little head.
As I type this I'm listening to some cool Jazz that I've either downloaded or ripped from CDs. A lot of it is from "unknown" or unsigned artists. Some is from unheard of artists, such as Yoko Kanno (she did the soundtrack music from the "Cowboy Bebop" animated series and movie).
The thing is, why aren't radio stations playing this stuff? Some of my music is from the turn of the 20th Century (yes, it's on composition or bakelite, or whatever they used way back then), and continues up to the present. This is great stuff! It's not being heard, and that's a shame.
The thing is, why aren't radio stations playing this stuff? Some of my music is from the turn of the 20th Century (yes, it's on composition or bakelite, or whatever they used way back then), and continues up to the present. This is great stuff! It's not being heard, and that's a shame.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Off The Top Of My Head
I've been hearing how good "HD" radio is. Now, the "HD" doesn't mean high definition; it means high density. This means that a radio station's digital signal can carry many programs at the same time. "HD 1" may mean the main channel; while "HD 2" may be in Spanish; "HD 3" may be traffic information; and so on.
The problem is that the "HD" signal can't be heard in some areas, but the main (analog) program can. The "HD" signal creates adjacent channel noise. This means that, if there is a weak station you want to listen to that's next to the "HD" station, the weak station can't be heard over the noise.
The company licensing the "HD" concept, and equipment (iBiquity) has a monoply on everything made, and that ain't right. There's no competition, which means that iBiquity can set the prices of transmitting and receiving equipment.
If that ain't bad enough, the programming on most "HD" channels is a computer playing a few songs in its library, sort of like an iPod on random play. Here, in southern California, the entertainment capitol of the world, the programming sucks.
I'm not going to buy a "HD" radio anytime soon.
The problem is that the "HD" signal can't be heard in some areas, but the main (analog) program can. The "HD" signal creates adjacent channel noise. This means that, if there is a weak station you want to listen to that's next to the "HD" station, the weak station can't be heard over the noise.
The company licensing the "HD" concept, and equipment (iBiquity) has a monoply on everything made, and that ain't right. There's no competition, which means that iBiquity can set the prices of transmitting and receiving equipment.
If that ain't bad enough, the programming on most "HD" channels is a computer playing a few songs in its library, sort of like an iPod on random play. Here, in southern California, the entertainment capitol of the world, the programming sucks.
I'm not going to buy a "HD" radio anytime soon.
Big 22 Doubles Tournament
OK - a lot has happened since my last entry.
Over the weekend, my bowling partner and I competed in a doubles tournament. We went against 28 teams and made the semi-finals. Now it got down to a one-game-beat-the-board semi final. The field was cut in half again, and we were still in it. We went against two other teams for final positions.
My partner had a spare in the ninth, and left the 6 - 10 in the tenth. Going for the spare, he pulled the shot, which went wide missing the two pins. He finished with a respectable 198, ten pins over his average.
I had a clean game, including picking up the 5 - 7 split early on. I had a strike in the ninth, and my first ball in the tenth was a strike. My first bonus ball was a half of a board high, and left a wobbly 7 pin, which I spared, giving me a clean 229 game.
When our handicap was added in, we ended two pins short of making the final match. We ended the tourney in third place, which was good for $500 each.
First place paid $1000 each, and second paid $750. $500 for an afternoon's work was good. The main thing was that we put on a great show. Getting paid for it was a bonus.
Over the weekend, my bowling partner and I competed in a doubles tournament. We went against 28 teams and made the semi-finals. Now it got down to a one-game-beat-the-board semi final. The field was cut in half again, and we were still in it. We went against two other teams for final positions.
My partner had a spare in the ninth, and left the 6 - 10 in the tenth. Going for the spare, he pulled the shot, which went wide missing the two pins. He finished with a respectable 198, ten pins over his average.
I had a clean game, including picking up the 5 - 7 split early on. I had a strike in the ninth, and my first ball in the tenth was a strike. My first bonus ball was a half of a board high, and left a wobbly 7 pin, which I spared, giving me a clean 229 game.
When our handicap was added in, we ended two pins short of making the final match. We ended the tourney in third place, which was good for $500 each.
First place paid $1000 each, and second paid $750. $500 for an afternoon's work was good. The main thing was that we put on a great show. Getting paid for it was a bonus.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
You have to read this.....
Received this e-mail from an old Navy pal. Either he received this mail or one of his friends did. Too bad our own politicians don't see our troops as this guy does.
Gentlemen
I am an Australian and my son is an Australian - as far as we are
concerned there is not place on God's earth better than Australia , and
there are no people better than Australians.
That was until the past week or so.
My son is in the Australian Army and he is currently on deployment in
Iraq . I can not go into his duties in great depth, but shall we say
that he and his fellow army buddies are on a glorified guard duty
looking after the Australian Embassy. They don't go out looking for
"action", though it is a different story in Afghanistan , there the
Aussie troops chase the baddies over the hills and into the valleys..
My son and I just ended a long 'phone conversation and here are some of
his comments, believe me this is what he said. We have all seen the
cowpie emails written by some clown in his lounge room pretending to
be at the coal face, but this is what was said.:
"Before I came over here I thought we (the Australian Army) were pretty
[beep] hot..... was I ever wrong!....The Yanks (I hope you don't mind me
using that word) are so professional from the top to the bottom that it
is almost embarrassing to be in their company, and to call yourself a
soldier....don't get me wrong, we are good at what we do but the Yanks
are so much better.....they are complete at what they do, how they do it
and their attitude is awesome....they don't complain they just get on
with the job and they do it right.....I carry a Minimi (SAW) so I am not
real worried about a confrontation but I tell you I feel safer just
knowing that the US Army is close by....If we got into trouble I know
that our boys would come running and we could deal with it but they
would probably be passed by a load of Hummers. No questions asked, no
glory sought, the Americans would just fight with us and for us because
that is their nature, to protect those in need of protection.....We use
the American Mess so you could say that we are fed by the
Americans.....they have every right to be pissed at that but they don't
bitch about that they just make us feel as welcome as possible....what
gets to me is that the Yanks don't walk around with a "we are better
than you attitude" and they could because they are, they treat us as
equals and as brothers in arms. If nothing else, coming here has taught
me that the Americans are a truly great Nation and a truly great bunch
of people.....Let's face it they don't HAVE to be here, they could stay
in America and beat the [beep] out of anyone who threatened them, BUT THEY
ARE HERE because they believe they should be here, and the Iraqis would
be screwed if they weren't here.....When I come home, you and I we are
going to the US, we will buy some bikes and we are going riding...."
The reason why I am sharing this with you is because I realize that you
(as a nation) must get pretty pissed with all the criticism you receive
by the so-called "know it alls" who are sitting at home - safe. The
reality is that they are safe, just as I am, because of America . If the
world went arse up tomorrow there is f**k all we ( Australia ) could do
about it, but I know that the Americans would be there putting
themselves on the line for others. That to me is the sign of greatness.
The most precious thing in my life is my son, I look at him and I thank
God that I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time in his company.
We laugh, we discuss, we argue, we dummy spit, we have the same blood I
am not happy that he is where he is but that is his duty. He joined the
Army to protect and to defend, not to play games. I mightn't like it but
I accept it. My reasons for not liking it are selfish and self centered.
I felt assured that he would be safe because he is in a well trained
army with an excellent record, BUT NOW, I feel a whole lot better
knowing that he is with your sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
Whilst he was growing up. I was always there to look after him, I would
not let harm befall him and I would always put myself before him to
protect him I can't do that now. When it comes to looking after him now
he and his mates will do the job, but also THANK GOD FOR AMERICA.
Gentlemen, I have rambled on for too long. but as I finish I say to you,
as a foreigner and outsider, a nation is only a collection of its people
and its attitude is the attitude of its people, collectively and as
individuals. I am really glad you are here on this Earth and I respect
you as a nation and as people.
Stand up and feel proud because you deserve it, there is no one else who
will do what America does without question. The next time someone howls
you down, take some comfort in the fact that America is defending their
right to act like an idiot.
Finally, thank you for looking after my son.
XXXXX XXXXXX
Gentlemen
I am an Australian and my son is an Australian - as far as we are
concerned there is not place on God's earth better than Australia , and
there are no people better than Australians.
That was until the past week or so.
My son is in the Australian Army and he is currently on deployment in
Iraq . I can not go into his duties in great depth, but shall we say
that he and his fellow army buddies are on a glorified guard duty
looking after the Australian Embassy. They don't go out looking for
"action", though it is a different story in Afghanistan , there the
Aussie troops chase the baddies over the hills and into the valleys..
My son and I just ended a long 'phone conversation and here are some of
his comments, believe me this is what he said. We have all seen the
cowpie emails written by some clown in his lounge room pretending to
be at the coal face, but this is what was said.:
"Before I came over here I thought we (the Australian Army) were pretty
[beep] hot..... was I ever wrong!....The Yanks (I hope you don't mind me
using that word) are so professional from the top to the bottom that it
is almost embarrassing to be in their company, and to call yourself a
soldier....don't get me wrong, we are good at what we do but the Yanks
are so much better.....they are complete at what they do, how they do it
and their attitude is awesome....they don't complain they just get on
with the job and they do it right.....I carry a Minimi (SAW) so I am not
real worried about a confrontation but I tell you I feel safer just
knowing that the US Army is close by....If we got into trouble I know
that our boys would come running and we could deal with it but they
would probably be passed by a load of Hummers. No questions asked, no
glory sought, the Americans would just fight with us and for us because
that is their nature, to protect those in need of protection.....We use
the American Mess so you could say that we are fed by the
Americans.....they have every right to be pissed at that but they don't
bitch about that they just make us feel as welcome as possible....what
gets to me is that the Yanks don't walk around with a "we are better
than you attitude" and they could because they are, they treat us as
equals and as brothers in arms. If nothing else, coming here has taught
me that the Americans are a truly great Nation and a truly great bunch
of people.....Let's face it they don't HAVE to be here, they could stay
in America and beat the [beep] out of anyone who threatened them, BUT THEY
ARE HERE because they believe they should be here, and the Iraqis would
be screwed if they weren't here.....When I come home, you and I we are
going to the US, we will buy some bikes and we are going riding...."
The reason why I am sharing this with you is because I realize that you
(as a nation) must get pretty pissed with all the criticism you receive
by the so-called "know it alls" who are sitting at home - safe. The
reality is that they are safe, just as I am, because of America . If the
world went arse up tomorrow there is f**k all we ( Australia ) could do
about it, but I know that the Americans would be there putting
themselves on the line for others. That to me is the sign of greatness.
The most precious thing in my life is my son, I look at him and I thank
God that I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time in his company.
We laugh, we discuss, we argue, we dummy spit, we have the same blood I
am not happy that he is where he is but that is his duty. He joined the
Army to protect and to defend, not to play games. I mightn't like it but
I accept it. My reasons for not liking it are selfish and self centered.
I felt assured that he would be safe because he is in a well trained
army with an excellent record, BUT NOW, I feel a whole lot better
knowing that he is with your sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
Whilst he was growing up. I was always there to look after him, I would
not let harm befall him and I would always put myself before him to
protect him I can't do that now. When it comes to looking after him now
he and his mates will do the job, but also THANK GOD FOR AMERICA.
Gentlemen, I have rambled on for too long. but as I finish I say to you,
as a foreigner and outsider, a nation is only a collection of its people
and its attitude is the attitude of its people, collectively and as
individuals. I am really glad you are here on this Earth and I respect
you as a nation and as people.
Stand up and feel proud because you deserve it, there is no one else who
will do what America does without question. The next time someone howls
you down, take some comfort in the fact that America is defending their
right to act like an idiot.
Finally, thank you for looking after my son.
XXXXX XXXXXX
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