http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Business/SiliconInsider/SiliconInsider-1.html
The travails of Sun Microsystems, as mentioned in this blog, are, according to this analyst, typical of big firms which tried to turn themselves around and failed. His extensive analysis of why Sun is doomed is certainly worth considering, especially when analysed in terms of 'survivors' like IBM and Texas Instruments -- which had attributes and timing that Sun lacks.
Perhaps the most provocative statement in the article is the notion that it would be more beneficial for all if Sun accepted the inevitable now, wound itself up, and distributed its considerable assets. Whether true or not, I suspect those same assets will in fact fuel Sun's CEO's natural pugnacity to keep on fighting to an end which this article clearly indicates, can be indeed bitter.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2004/tc20040413_0505_tc146.htm
The question of IT commodification, discussed earlier in this blog was related to the degree to which IT innovation appeared to have slowed or stopped. The indexed article looks forward into the near future of office hardware and software, suggesting that there is a lot of evidence for further productivity gains with improved techology.
With the costs of basic hardware falling, the home-office gap has closed remarkably -- one wonders if these developments are pursued, if the gap won't open again. It is not that people don't need productivity at home -- it is just that most people can't afford such improvements.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0421chinaagree.html
The initiative taken by the Chinese Communist government to develop a restrictive IT standard, mentioned earlier in this blog, has been retracted as a result of international negotiations. One would have liked to "been the fly on the wall for to see that!". Perhaps the most interesting outcome of this is the degree to which it suggests that China's trade ties to the rest of the world are so valuable that it will not take risks which jeapordize them, even if the Chinese IT industry would benefit in the short term.
http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/
The link is to a free, downloadable copy of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, by Lawrence Lessig. This issue is so important that information about it should be widespread. The ultimate irony is, that by restricting culture to the degree big media do, they ultimately kill the creative goose which lays the golden eggs by which they profit.
The usual remedy to such a market failure is government action. One of the major functions of government is to make and enforce decisions in the general benefit against stakeholders with vested interests. Since to all intents and purposes in most 'democratic' countries in the world, the vested interests effectively own the government, there is little chance of that happening.
Spider Robinson wrote a SF short story on this issue: "Melancholy Elephants" which is right to the point -- alas, Robinson overestimated the sagacity and probity of today's politician, a shortcoming only forgiveable because it is so easy to do.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,1551702,00.asp
Short article covering new initiatives in Communist China to develop IT standards which differ from those prevailing in the rest of the world. Because mainland China is such a large market, and is also such a large producer of IT equipment, the force of such standards is significant. Currently, most of the IT production structure in China is owned by foreign companies, implemeting low-cost production of foreign technology designs. By mandating different standards in a large and growing market, and licencing these to select Chinese companies, who then become mandatory partners for any foreign firm in this area, China hopes to keep more profits in the country.
Since this goes against the long-term trends to open, non-proprietary standards, it represents a considerable challenge to the 'accepted way of doing things', which challenges have tended to fail in the past. The question here, perhaps, is the degree to which Chinese economic expansion continues, because the more it does so, the stronger China's bargaining position with the rest of the world.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=170177&seqNum=1
The IT arena has always had community elements [and seen itself as a defined community: 'the geeks'], but as IT becomes more pervasive, in one sense that community becomes so large that it evaded easy identification. In another sense, what some commentators are seeing as enabled by IT is "social networking", as discussed in this article.
Blogs and RSS are important components of social networking, but the full range of tools, with their advantages and disadvantages are also covered here. The fact that mobile computing proliferates terminals simply makes the potential for social networking all that more extensive.
There is a lot to this, but there is one aspect which needs further commentary, having a double-edged aspect. The first edge comes out when the author remarks "Surely you've been invited by someone to Friendster or Orkut" -- well, in fact I have not been, and don't expect to be soon, even though I am tightly connected to the InterNet. So some people will be excluded from social networking by their nature. The second edge is that a significant portion of the populace lacks access to the IT network, and always will do so. To the extent that social networking comes to define 'the human community', this represents another (and extreme) case of technological marginalization.
That someone so insensitive to 'people' issues like myself should come to this realization with such speed says something about this phenomenon, though as usual, I can't say exactly what.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5182641.html?tag=nefd_lede
As an example of a justice system which is not in the thrall of corporate domination, a judge in Canada made a common-sense ruling which undercuts much of the effort of the record industry to restrict file sharing. In essence, the judge noted that simply placing a copy of a copyrighted work on a shared device did not equate to publication, so long as the copy was not advertised. Although this is a major spoke in the wheels of those who wish to strangle the public domain with a cord of gold, international viewers should note that in Canada, apart from the written constitution, which is both diverse of interpretation and resistant to amendment, all law is capable of being rewritten by legislative action ["the supremacy of parliament"], and the Minister of Communications, probably nudged appropriately by industry, is on record in favour of a rapid initiative to change the law to align more exactly with USA practice.
As a Canadian citizen myself, I can only sigh....
http://www.cambridge-mit.org/cgi-bin/default.pl?SID=6&SSSID=446&SSSSID=366
As a general rule, this blog discusses the here-and-now, with only occasional looks at big questions or future potentials. In this case, however, the fact that the concepts discussed in the indexed article have yet to be implemented [and indeed, the question of whether they can be implemented is indeed beggable] is overshadowed by just how basic the concepts are in the IT industry. For the fact, as every technogeek knows, is that computers are our masters, not our servants -- we must accommodate their interfaces, properties, and methods, rather than the other way round.
Apart from the general damage this does to humanity [which however unquantifiable, cannot be lightly dismissed], the more important issue, especially from the hardware manufacturer's point of view, is how such inflexibility serves as a barrier to adoption. This article discusses a 'pervasive computing' research initiative joining the computer, communications, academia, and industry players in one group to help address how to make computing easier and better.
For every time I have moaned: "It shouldn't have to be this hard!", I can see this intitiative as one with major potential, very well worth tracking, and a useful source of all sorts of teaching moments.
Another perspective on this pervasive computing concept can be found here:
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/1124
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5173287.html
The latest, and possibly last, act in the Eolas-Microsoft patent case, which has been discussed in this blog before, features a rarely-exercised bureaucratic review process which essentially excludes the opponents, with the potential to either void the patent (which is what common sense would require) or uphold it.
Should the patent dispute be resolved in the way that will do the least harm to the smallest number of people, there is reason to cheer. It is, however, distressing to see justice done in such a hole-in-the-corner way -- and inter alia many will be convinced, without a shred of evidence, that Microsoft has used its considerable influence to prevail over the government once again.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040311_3157_tc024.htm
The gloomy clouds over Sun's prospects have already been mentioned in this blog, but the company keeps on trying to shine. The indexed article mentions such balloon-poppers as S & P reducing Sun's debt rating to junk status, and dowgrades and stock slides on Wall Street.
While Sun's CEO still beams forth with optimism, the article suggests that sales and profits are needed to allow Sun to rise again. Since Sun is the licence-holder for JAVA, its demise would be of no small consequence to the IT world in general and Web development in particular.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040316_6114_tc166.htm
The USA has enjoyed high-technology leadership for so long that it has come to be taken as a given. Now with increased outshoring and the flight of IT jobs to India and points west and north, fears mount that this leadership position is unsustainable. Clearly, in specific areas, ranging from cell-phones to passenger aircraft, the USA's lead has been eroded or eliminated.
When developing countries will fund new ventures in a wey that government in the USA cannot, this introduces potentials for additional competitive mismatch. Over-concentration on defence hardware development is one contributing factor, a reluctance to invest in long-term R&D is another, and a reduced higher education graduating cadre in science and technology is a third. Of course a nation which rewards its lawyers far more than its technologists is bound to develop an educational output which corresponds to this reward system. The fact that other countries have started recognizing the 'brain drain' only exacerbates this.
The fact that the USA still has a climate most congenial to intellectual innovation is one of the few cards it has left to play in this game. With such an obvious way to maximize public benefits, one could almost expect governments to start chipping away at the university system. This race is by no means over, and the outcome is by no means a sure thing.
Related articles on technology competitiveness are indexed in article sidebars.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_11/b3874102.htm
This blog tends to concentrate on the here and now, only occasionally lifting its head from the quotidian trought to look into the future for inspiration and things upon which to ruminate. Quantum computing is one of those things, which has been mentioned in this blog before. Here is another review of the prospects and progress being made in this technology, which certainly has the potential to remake the computing and security landscape.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/InformationControl.html
"Que custodiet custodiens?" was the Roman expression of worry over control -- we might look at it as "who is informing the informers". The referenced article comes from an admittedly fringe magazine, but the issues it addresses are so salient [and just because of that, so likely to be ignored in the mass media] that it is certainly worth taking the time to wade through it.
My private take on this is than in North America, much of Europe, and the Pacific Rim nations, people have such a well-developed sense of skepticism that the extent to which media can be used for social control is much more limited than this article suggests. But then, perhaps I am myself brainwashed....
How all this relates to IT? Because IT in general and the InterNet in particular represent forms of media of unparalled speed, power, and flexibility.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35498.html
Article on and interview with Jim Griffin, who suggests that the advent of high-speed wireless spells the doom of DRM and the lock-down model. Historically, such models have failed in the past, and he suggests an alternative flat-fee licencing scheme which would reward producers without penalizing producers.
It all sounds very seductive, but knowing the effort Microsoft has put into DRM, I am not sure another model will prevail, even if people desire it. The author uses the anology of the satellite broadcast providers being able to carry major channels, as being forced by public opinion. The power of public opinion has declined markedly since then, and Microsoft is a lot more resistant than the satellite broadcasters were.
http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-5166887.html
A long 5 years after the imposition of a ban on publishing the DeCSS DVD cracking tool on the InterNet, the California Court of Appeals overturned the injunction on the basis that it burdened free speech unnecessarily. This rare victory for common sense and the meaning of constitutional law is described in a link-filled article summarizing the state of play in the DVD copy world.
Why a common-sense approach like that taken to VCRs has not been adopted by the industries involved in this case continues to escape my understanding, except perhaps as an indication of the degree to which corporate community obligation has withered in the 30 years since the VCR landmark rulings.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,62562,00.html
Concern about the environmental effects of discarded IT equipment has been expressed for many years, with impressive statistical documentation. This article summarizes a UN report on the environmental impact of computer manufacture, which raises another aspect of the issue. It turns out the impact of manufacturing a computer are on par with most other major industrial products, in terms of resource use [most particularly, large amounts of water used in cooling during the production process]. The key to minimizing the environmental impact of computing is to keep existing machines running as long as possible.
With a standard lifespan of two years, computer systems could, in theory be upgraded to minimize the impact of replacing the case, keyboard, etc. In practice, new machines are so cheap that upgrading, prima facie makes no economic sense. Perhaps a deeper investigation and accounting is needed to make the sums balance in this case.
http://www.osnews.com/search.php?search=blachford
The indexed URL displays a page of articles, including a 7-part series on the future of computing [oddly enough, none of the individual parts link to one another, which is why I had to index this search page instead]. It reflects the ruminations of an interested observer rather than an academic expert, and could be useful in the classroom as a scorecard, as well as stimulating discussion or research papers.
Since the search displays all the author's articles, a number of other interesting computer-related articles are also displayed here.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/162079_virgin26.html
One of the most famous 'bad predictions' was the idea that the computerized office would be paperless [or very nearly so]. This pontifcation seemed reasonable at the time, and was argued most forceably and lucidly by F.W. Lancaster, who himself was an expert of no mean intellect. Except, of course, as this article observes, that the projection of a paperless future was entirely wrong.
Yet if our present is not paperless, pace the discussion here, it does seem to me that it is not as heavily papered as it otherwise might be. While it is true that our desks and filing cabinets are rife with paper, this is still just a patch on the volume of data stored electronically.
I certainly find myself using less paper in the past 5 years; whatever the ultimate results, this is an instructive case study to put before students, since it shows how technical potentials get subverted by humble human needs. It also can serve as an example of the need for disciplined scepticism in evaluating future trends [note that electronic information neither replaced paper nor was without impact -- the two media forms in fact co-existed] more effectively.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1537712,00.asp
Detailed article which looks at the recent decision of a USA District Judge ruling that a DVD backup software product [DVD-X-Copy] violates the DMCA. As a result the product was pulled from the market. The indexed discussion clarifies how this decision violates individual fair use rights in protecting corporate profits, while suggesting strategies to fight back.
Apart from its intrinsic interest, this is a useful subject for a case study of how technology affects and is affected by individual rights and the exercise of corporate power.
http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/29644
Computers have the gloss of modernity, and the emphasis is always on what's new, what's improved, what the next 'killer thing' will be. This article shows that the roots of current and upcoming computer technology are both old and deep [the Intel processor base and UNIX being two cases in point]. In part, potential future developments are overconstrained by the hand of the past, but in part, developments simply unfold in a 'natural' manner based on what has already been established. In this, computing really is no different from most technologies, which at any one time are an amalgam of the old and the new.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17700027
While the implications and revelations involving Radio Frequency ID chips have been touched upon in other entries in this blog, this thorough article (which also has sidebar links to a number of interesting related stories) clarifies the magnitude of what we are facing. We are going to create billions of remote sensors within a decade, producing a cascading torrent of data which brings to mind the grain silo scene in Witness.
How we handle this data, and what we do with it are questions addressed by this article. One of the problems is the tendency of data to exponentiate -- as RFID chips become more sophisticated they can report on more items of interest -- and each additional data item can imply billions of additional records. Policy management is as important here as any technical element.
Wal-Mart has been an early adaptor of this technology -- if every item it merchandises has a RFID chip, and all of the data they send are collected, we are talking about nearly 8 additional TB/day. This represents data collection which warms the hearts of storage manufacturers. The big mistake is to look at only the present of RFID -- those who consider its future can position themselves for a massive competitive advantage.
Another measured overview of the promises and perils of RFID can be found here:
http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-04/departments/emerging-technology/
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6135
Wireless Fidelity connectivity is mushrooming in major cities across the world: this article predicts a compound annual growth nearing 57%. The fact that Wi-Fi hotspots can be found in places like cafes and bars makes a prediction that worldwide use may reach a "staggering" 25 million over the next 5 years completely credible. The fact that there is an extensive array of service suppliers and a good selection of technological alternatives makes Wi-Fi a very big busines indeed.
The article does note the dowside -- the current 802.11b/g bandwidth limitations may result in crashing congestion in the not-too-distant future, with major effects on the SMB and SOHO environments. The solution, upgrading to new 802.11a hardware, is by no means a snap sell. Rollout replacement plans might prove very valuable, and could be the source of useful student exercises in this area.
Another perspective on Wi-Fi is provided by this special report on problems with Wi-Fi growth:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2004/tc20040218_4891_tc140.htm
These problems are by no means trivial, in particular those relating to the issues enveloping roaming. A menu of related items discusses several other aspects of this topic as well.
A recent special report on implementing wireless connectivity in the enterprise, found here:
http://www.entmag.com/reports/print.asp?EditorialsID=59
indicates that connectivity options are improving, although phone-based e-mail may be of dubious value, even while better costing models for introducing wireless are becoming available.
When the 800-pound gorilla of the hardware market, Intel, starts becoming active in the wireless arena, this is a sure sign of a technology which has arrived:
Side/end bars provide additional links to wireless articles at this site.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040216/tech/16dust.htm
An update on the progress in developing miniaturized remote sensors, which shows that they can actually be used effectively in research. The methodologies underpinning such application go far to reduce problems of power consumption and transmission bandwidth. The article also notes concerns about the potential for this technology to be misused [and these are very real] and how shortcomings in existing deployments point up the need for future improvements.
But perhaps the most startling point in the article is the revelation of the chief scientist in charge of this DARPA research (which began in 1998): "We had no idea what the applications would be and never in our wildest dreams expected it would lead where it has[.]" This invites consideration at several levels. One would be the degree to which the technology's potential has exceeded expert previsioning in just a little over 5 years. The other is the availability of several conceptual models on just this very thing in SF, which might have helped with the previsioning in the first place.
Another overview of the rapid pace in sensor development can be found here:
http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,90529,00.html
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/start.html?pg=2
Short article which compares current efforts by would-be intellectural property monopolists in the USA to restrict competition with the efforts made over three decades ago to save the USA cargo shipping industry. It didn't work then, and it is not going to work now -- the only result will be a loss of USA competitiveness accompanied by a rise of less-effective [but adequate and much cheaper] services and products elsewhere.
The major point of the article deserves to be hoisted inboard: the objection to excessive IP restriction is not that it is wrong and harmful [though in fact it is], but that over the long run it just plain does not work. The hows and whys of this are breifly sketched here -- they are nevertheless convincing.
If there ever was an argument against special interests that should be heeded throughout national policy-making, this is it. With the way governments protect people's rights today, of course, this is simply a laughable delusion, but we have to know what to want before we can ask for it.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21
The classes of objects the Web can handle is highly restricted [yet even this restricted feature set brings an information deluge with the click of a button], and many researchers consider it capable of useful extension. The result, as explained in this article, is the "semantic Web", which can react helpfully to the meaning of selected words and phrases [as opposed to reacting to the structure of a URL]. The result is a Web which is more precise and responsive to human intention.
Such a development in and of itself is a prospect worth pursuit, but consider this: the more the Web becomes semantic, the more it becomes a form of embedded prosthetic. It is a bromide that tools work on the user even as the user uses the tools to effect some task -- making the Web semantic could carry that reciprocal shaping deep into our secret selves. Like many other maind-stunning prospects, I don't think we can really grip all of the implications of this before deciding whether to do it or not -- we will shoot down Alice's rabbit hole while praying we find an umbrella handly in case of strain.
The components of the semantic Web are discussed in this article:
http://logicerror.com/semanticWeb-long
An introduction to the concepts behind the semantic Web, and the the state of play as of a couple of years ago, with links to further reading, is found here:
http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/
A primer on the semantic Web [which once again emphasizes that this strirring in the reeds has been ongoing for nearly 3 years, which is a century in InterNet time] is available here:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/01/semanticweb/
A more recent account, which discusses the XML programming side of the semantic Web is here; it includes a whole page-load of additional references:
http://www.disobey.com/detergent/2002/sw123/
Anything which involves ontology as part of its description should cause one's skeptical antennae to quiver mightily, but here is the site which not only flaunts the concept, but also provides you with the current news about this whole development:
To paraphrase Mr. Fudd: "This is wery, wery important!"
Even those of us who love computers and networking experience the occasional attack of fear and loathing, when instead of a mouse, we wish we had a 9-pound hammer. Here is a site devoted to logging whines, gripes, complaints, and other manifestations of discontent. You can search the gripes and view them by popularity, alphabetically, or by latest updated.
Apart from being a souce of direct information on a problem or a bug, this could also be an inspiration for a wide variety of critical research.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1460177,00.asp
Here is a downloadable survey of more than 750 respondents on the future of IT for the next 5 years. Of less importance are the specific facts revealed; what is more important is your reaction to what is predicted. If you agree, why? If you disagree, why?
Since we are educating students not for today, but for tomorrow, discussing such research as this in the classroom context should highlight the relevance of what we are teaching. If it does not, this is an urgent call for curriculum reform.
http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/
OK. I'll 'fess up -- not only do I not understand what is written in this book, I can't even understand the pictures. The link indexes an online version of A New Kind Of Science by Stephen Wolfram, the underlying premise of which [to the extent I grasp it at all] is that computation is giving us the capacity to do science in new and valuable ways outside the realm of material experimentation.
If he's right, this is A Big Deal indeed, and having this book online is the equivalent of having Newton's Principia Mathematica delivered to your doorstep in the 17th century.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5153627.html
Guy Gilpatrick characterized the effect of the extraordinary on one's imagination by saying "it not only staggered, but also reeled, tripped, and fell face-down into the gutter". That's somewhat the appropriate reaction to IBM's WebFountain initiative, a supercomputing project which intends to push current Web searching into data-mining services delivering meaning and content.
A number of competitors are also pursuing the same goal, which in some sense is the inverse of the 'semantic Web' concepts discussed previously in this blog. This article describes the roots of this project, along with the hardware, software, and personnel resources required to support it, and gives a glimpse of potential applications.
I have tin-drummed the concept that those companies which can make effective use of the plethora (if not surfiet) of information on the InterNet can get an immense leg-up on their competitors. IBM seeks to make this a service operation which could, prehaps, actually level this playing field even as it was being sodded and marked.
A number of related stories are covered in links within the indexed article, and another balanced evaluation of this system and its implications can be found here:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jan04/0104comp1.html
Absorbing article about the evolution of 'hidden tech' -- the fact that internetworking has improved to the point that the (sometimes vacuous) dream of de-urbanization for knowledge workers can be realized. While the result is a more humane way of life [with the not inconsiderable side effect of spreading the economic benefits of IT more widely], it has even more significance: because this development may be key to sustained economic recovery in the USA, and also because it is small, unincorporated, and therefore under the radar of standard business statistics.
There is a model worth considering in this regard: how the Falun Gong movement in China seemed, from the government's point of view, to emerge from nothing overnight. Something of the same impact, though far more benign, may be happening here. If so, the phenomenon is well worth keeping in mind.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1458955,00.asp
If music is liquid architecture, is the implementation of a network the equivalent of hard rock? The term 'architecture', as this article notes, is dangerously misused if it is applied only to the devices and connections comprising the network. All the blinking lights have to serve some use and purpose. This means that the IT infrastructure must support organizational goals while scaling to meet expected demands.
Doing this effectively for an organization occupying part of a floor in a single building may indeed be sufficiently served by an ad-hoc approach. This article suggests that for anything larger, disciplined application of architectural principles are essential to success, and provides downloadable fact sheets and a nine-step whiteboard process to support this contention.
Just as effective scaling is required for a successful IT implementation, so is it necessary for the initial architectural effort, making this article a useful resource for a wide audience.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62158,00.html
I have inveighed against the tendency to clip the USA's Defence Advanced Projects Agency in previous comments to this blog, and here we have another example. A DARPA project known as LifeLog, which intended to build a database tracking someone's entire existence, has been cancelled [for no apparent reason, although civil libertarians were up in arms about it].
The concept of a prosthetic memory in the face of the data glut which inundates us today would seem very worth investigating, and even if it did have the negative implications its opponents averred, ignorance is not the solution to this problem. The loss of nerve this seems to betoken in an organization which can only succeed by implementing daring decision is itself dauntingly disquieting.
When one considers that this research is of great interest to the private sector, and may well proceed under the cover of commercial secrecy, one is tempted to award the Phyrrus Palm with Crassus Cluster to the architects of this particular 'victory'.
The indexed page also includes some links to related stories.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_06/b3869066.htm
Japanese high technology industries have been uncompetitive for so long that it comes as something of a surprise to read that they are bouncing back in consumer and information technology. Combining innovations with a very un-Japanese headcount reduction and corporate restructuring, the major Japanese technology firms, which are still big players with deep pockets, are bidding to resume their dominant position.
To read that TV manufacturing is one of the areas from which Japan is withdrawing because it is not technologically rewarding enough is to get one inkling of what is involved here. There is no question that these firms still face major and serious obstacles, but I would be inclined to bet in their favour right now.
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/
Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your computer, here is The Risks Digest, a moderated Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems from the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy. This site explains a multitude of access options -- the fact that there are hundreds of issues going back to 1985 is an indication of the degree to which computers can be a problem rather than a solution.
This is a good educational corrective to blind computer worship, and would be an excellent component for any beginning programming class as well.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62083,00.html
A sales concept for disposable DVDs, which only could be veiwed for 48 hours after they were opened has foundered against massive consumer indifference. Given that the disks were priced at $7.00, a good $2.00 more than the most expensive video store rental [or a very conservative montly rental from Netflix, for that matter], one can only wonder what were these people thinking?
Not only do the disposable DVDs add insufficient convenience for their added proce, but they also were objectionable on environmental grounds. This is such a dumb idea one wonders how it ever got out of the concept stage.
Incidentally, one presumes that if these things were produced in quantity, the materials cost would not justify any price beyond a normal rental in terms of the profit to be made, and if they were priced competitively, they might have had a chance, though I cannot be sad they did not succeed.
http://www.infoworld.com/infoworld/article/04/01/16/03FEgrids_1.html
After several years of 'more of the same' in PC developments, a cluster of technologies bids fair to bring us a new class of machines which combine speed and a small space footprint. Many of the individual developments summarized in this article are referenced elsewhere in this blog.
The major determining factor here is economic -- the degree to which existing machinery is still capable of doing the job. Since older machines typically have a higher maintenance cost, resolving this conundrum is by no means simple.
But if customers want to buy, manufactuers will have some attractive devices on display.
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3302121
Brief article discussing the thesis that companies are stockpiling patents as a way of extracting licensing fees. Even if the patent is contestable, it may be cheaper to pay the fee than to fight the case in court. The long term implications of this for software developers are extremely negative.
More to the point, the stockpiling of patents as a litigation weapon seems a perverse frustration of the original intent of patenting, which was to increase the spread of useful knowledge.
I am firmly on the side of those who consider the current state of software patenting to be broken -- I am less sanguine that it ever can be repaired.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2004/tc20040127_2819_tc047.htm
The RIAA has succeeded in putting its foot in its mouth before shooting itself in the foot. By its aggressive tactics it not only looks like a bully, but it also gives a powerful impetus to the use of strong encryption for all Netly transactions. Once that happens, the 'enforcers' will not even be able to find their victims without an extensive amount of legwork -- more than the game is worth.
And by forcing file sharers underground, the RIAA also makes it more difficult for others pothered about the implications of the digital era, like the MPAA, to detect transgressors.
An engaging analytic article suggesting that over-concentration on Moore's Law may actually be harmful to technology planners and the industry as a whole. Noting that older processors are embedded by the billions, and we still have not gotten the full chicken richness out of most of these, the author suggests we are asking the wrong questions, and so are guaranteed to get the wrong answer.
The physics of the situation are outrunning the capacity of organizations to implement -- successful Google has gotten that way partly by looking at the 'price' end of the price:performance ratio, and not the 'performance' end. How many organizations can successfully emulate this feat is in question, because the fate of those who try to avoid, cope with, or just ignore Moore's Law seems to be equally dismal in the long run.
Of course, in the long run....
The continuing battles relating to copyright have already been recorded in this blog; the article indexed by this URL reviews the degree to which copyright has moved from a limited protector of individuals to a near-permanent protector of corporations. The question is discussed in some detail, with the inevitable negative consequences on creativity and art being clearly laid out.
This is another example where a large amount of people collectively suffer loss which is neither direct nor easily quantifiable, whereas the few who gain do so directly and in large measure. The inbalance which results may have long-term negative consequences even for the 'winners', but by the time this point is reached, there may be no return possible.
To the extent that copyright is now a global phenomenon, this is very grim news indeed.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114417,00.asp
The DVD Copy Control Association announced it was dropping a case against someone who posted information about DeCSS, which defeats DVD security technology. This is a body-blow, I think, to the overly-restrictive provisions of the DCMA which were contrary to requirements for free speech and open research. Similar cases elsewhere in the USA, as well as in Norway, have also resulted in these stranglehold provisions being struck down, making it harder for those who would control information with a fist of iron to succeed in their aspirations.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0114_040114_robot.html#main
General article describing the results of an experiment to use a robot [which was in no way humaniform] to do some of the investigative tasks [hypothesization, experimentation, and interpretation] which human scientists do. The particular field was genetics, and the robot performed effectively. Some proclaim this as the first step in automating science, and others remark that true scientific genius will always be needed.
Again, I think we have heard this argument before. This certainly drives the capacity of IT as an enabler to new levels of ability, and represents a trend well worth watching. Perhaps scientists will join IT workers in the unemployment line!
And the line may get even longer if inventors have to join it -- the following article discusses a computer program called a 'Creativity Machine':
I confess myself a bit skeptical bout this, but on the other hand, it does seem to be the logical outome of work which has been ongoing in the AI field.
A more focussed application, devoted to helping scientists with literature searches, is described here, showing that the impact of IT development does not have to be negative for scientist employment prospects:
The relevance of this at first blush may appear tenuous. My first defence is to say that the site is intrinsically interesting, but my second is to ask a question: why should IT workers be less concerned with interface issues than anyone else? Apart from the programmer's specific role in interface development, IT professionals generally are in the business of making the complex simple, not only for users, but for themselves as well.
I don't think there is any evidence suggesting that we have interface issues solved correctly across the IT board [when using a computing device is as simple as using a toaster, then we will have made some success]. It behooves us then to consider examples of bad interfacing, such as those supplied on this site, from all its aspects. The intended reaction is "WHAT were they thinking of" -- that the answer was not an effective interface seems obvious, and can serve as a useful discussion starter in many aspects of IT education.
The site provides monthly and categorized archives.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-01-13-patentscover_x.htm
An overview article which, while providing some counter-arguments, demonstrates that the current USA patent system as it applies to software is stifling innovation and enriching parasitic legal lampreys. Many small businesses accused of infringing obscure and perhaps invalid patents cannot afford either to fight or comply, so they simply drop off the Web altogether.
When giants like Intel and IBM also express concern about this situation, it is clear that Something Must Be Done. Since my usual prescription for these sorts of situations required the painful reorganization of bodily parts, I must recuse myself.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/dec03/12035com.html
A number of rubrics conveying conventional wisdom in IT go by the definition of 'law', when in many cases [like Moore's Law] they are more rule-of-thumb generalizations. This article looks at five instances of such laws, and concludes all are less than perfectly lawlike. Of those examined, it looks like "Rock's Law": Semiconductor tool costs double every 4 years, is the one which now has the least quantitive relationship to reality, being out by a factor of 5 whereas most of the others instances are only out by a factor of two.
Some, like Metcalfe's Law, are impossible to qualtify fully, and thus the degree to which they are adrift is not possible to evaluate in the same way as some of the others. Still I can propound Ox's Law: Rock's Law looks less like a law than a guess, with a perfectly straight face.
Not only is this an interesting discussion of some major factors in the IT industry, but it can also be the starting point of many fruitful investigations, whether about the eponymns of these laws or about their current and future validity.
http://www.technologymarketing.com/mc/content/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2030373
A gtoup of noted computer journalists look at the past and future of the PC in an interesting and engaging article. The changing role of the computing press is also highlighted [it is clear that we have lost something in our gains in InterNet information]. There are problems to overcome, without doubt, but the PC still has a role to play at home and in the workplace, and companies can still make money in this market [one particularly valuable way to do so is to exploit an underfulfilled niche].
http://www.infoworld.com/infoworld/reports/49SRiw25.html
A retrospective on 25 years' of information technology is one thing, but coupling this with an attempt to forecast the next 25 smacks of hubris. Nevertheless, the indexed article attempts just that, suggesting that the major foci for advances will be:
Pervasive computing, with consumer electronics showing the way
Computers that mimic intelligence
The invisible workforce: IT in the future: as IT becomes invisible, so do the workers who keep it that way
After silicon: Biocomputing, where organic processes become the model for future technology
In addition, some IT leaders make predictions about the future, about which one wonders if we should keep a scorecard.
Still, the future is going to happen, so we might as well expend some skull sweat in showing whether or if these sorts of predictions are wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3340491.stm
The notion of pervasive computing, which I have referenced previously in this blog as "making the world smart" would appear to be as unexceptionable as Mom and apple pie. Enter the Philip Wylies of the computer world, who call for more social reflection on whether pervasive computing is a good thing or not.
In principle, such second thought seems like a good thing in and of itself, but I have my suspicions that in an arena as complex as this, not only are we able to pause for thought, but we really cannot adopt any useful vantage point in any case. It may well be that we will only be able to see effective coping strategies after we have suffered the deluge.
http://marshallbrain.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_marshallbrain_archive.html#107294501224793568
Indexes a blog archive from Marshall Brain, who comes to the conclusion, in relation to the amount of time wasted in reparing computers: "this is just nuts". Having spent a substantial time of my holidays on exactly this issue, I can sympathize -- and this is from people who, prima facie, are supposed to know about this stuff.
And then we wonder why the mythical "average user" gives up or operates an insecure and poorly performing system. I think that Brain's main point -- that we should have a secure and easy-to-use operating system by right -- has a lot going for it, and as I have suggested before, the first manufacturer to realize this will make a bundle.
http://sensorsmag.com/articles/1103/22/
One drum I have been pounding in this blog, using the leg of one of the big bees drawn from the hive in my bonnet, is the implication of distributed sensors ['smart dust'] for networking and communication, as well as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in general. Here is an excellent long illustrated article on the current state of play with small sensors, and what is likely to be available in the future.
Applications in several major areas are discussed, references are provided, and further readings are suggested. In general, I am prone to postpone consideration of the immediate future until it gets here [the long-term future, I have mooted previously, requires much more care and planning], but in the case of small, smart sensors, I think the issues and capabilities are so front-and-center [as well as, paradoxically, being so elusive] that it is worth considering them now.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow -- the implications of smart sensors could be "vaster than empires" while not being slow in any sense of the word at all.
http://news.com.com/2010-7345-5121763.html
XML was originally intended to be the universal language for Web pages and Web-enabled applications, but its advent collided with the big bubble bust. Despite promises that it would become a standard for applications interchange [as, for example, made much of by Microsoft in its plans for OFFICE], it is Not There Yet. But as this article indicates, support for XML standards is growing, and it looks like the long-delayed maturation of this technology is at hand.
One thing which networking folk should regard in all of this [and indeed, originally this was front-and-center when Server 2003 was known as Server.NET] is that the sort of programming which XML represents is going to become essential for network operation as well. For those networkers working in a *NIX environment, and for Windows [and other OS] administrators who do scripting, this will not come as much of a shock, but for those, especially in smaller installations, who think of programming as a separate and arcane black art, the development of XML is indeed protentious, because, I think, it blurs the boundaries between programming and network administration.
This is no small thing.
http://www.techreview.com/articles/sahin1203.asp
Whenever anyone asks me why I have such a swollen head, I reply: "My bonnet is full of buzzing bees". The whole issue of how innovations get fostered and aopted amounts almost to a complete hive. The impression I get that we are not using our wealth of tools wisely or well reflects, au fond, difficulties in innovation adoption. Here is an article which speaks to the state of innovation today, explaining how economic forces have produced stagnation in this area, and suggesting some potenital cures. All very interesting in and of itself, but also, I think, relevant in some way to the more specific organizational theme.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-105-1-1-618817-4347-1
The issue of Radio Frequency Identification devices has already aroused a storm of ontroversy, as noted in earlier remarks in this blog. Like any other technology, there is a 'right way' and a 'wrong way', and the corporate take on this may not be the correct one. This article suggests some guidelines for RFID implementation, which itself is one of the ways 'we will make the world smart', and is probabaly therefore inevitable -- but we might as well get it right.
That the sailing is not completely smooth on this electronic sea can be gauged by this account of Wal-Mart's problems with RFID:
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-105-1-1-618817-4350-1
On the other hand, if the army of the USA is enthusiastic about this technology, it can't be all bad:
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-105-1-1-618817-4344-1
A more balanced examination of this technology is provided in this report from Harvard on a conference which discussed RFID issues:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=3879&sid=-1&t=special_reports_cyber2004
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031211.wtxkapica1211/BNStory/Technology/
One of the refrains of this blog is that the current legislative regieme, particularly as it relates to intellectual property, is in fact repressive, benefits only the "haves", and contains long-term destructive effects for technology competitiveness. When it becomes more profitable to sue than to innovate, more will sue, which is like men in a leaky boat fighting over a cup of water. This article essentially agrees with me, which simply highlights the good sense and discriminating intellect of its author.
Whenever a corporate entity launches a legal challenge in the public interest, we should look very carefully to see whose ox is being gored.
http://www.economist.com/science/tq/
The Economist carries a good deal of weight in the dead-tree world; here is a quarterly on-line look at technology, with back issues, available for free. The major problem with a resource like this is not getting sidetracked by "oh that looks interesting" -- the main reason why it takes me 3.5 hours to look up "Cat" in the encyclopedia.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1395384,00.asp
Interesting article which connects the dots among RFID, ubiquitous wireless networking, and continual downsizing of computational devices. The results could be a seamless information ecosphere to which we adjust as we move; and the timeline suggested for this is under 5 years out.
This is another example of something which just yesterday was science fiction, and tomorrow, appears to be a coming reality.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20031125zg.htm
Japan has always taken a leading role in the development of robotics, with the latest evidence being a virtual avatar appointed as a digital diplomat to the ASEAN nations. Yet the overall attitude towards robotics development in Japan is to see it as a sort of dream which can inspire recovery from its current depression. The wider implications of this certainly are not easy to evaluate.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/994223.asp?0cv=KA01
The concept that IT does not matter, as indicated in a recent Harvard Business Review article discussed in previous postings in this blog, is something which is vigorously disputed in the IT community. In addition to the cited article above, which attempts to evaluate the degree to which the bloom is off the high-tech rose generally, this article:
http://www2.cio.com/analyst/report1929.html
makes the argument that even on the individual firm level, the fact that IT has become a general commodity has nothing to do with the effectiveness with which it is used, and it is the latter which generates real competitive advantage.
http://www.circleid.com/article/369_0_1_0_C/
Article bemoaning the inability of even the erudite popular press to get IT issues right, using as a focus an article about IPv6 and its necessity as misreported by the BBC. Indeed it often appears that the level of press information, far from abetting informed choices, confuses more than it counsels. The most disturbing point the author raises, which is one I encounter whenever I detect an error in an information source is this: if we are reading a book which addresses some things which we know, and some we do not, and the part we do know has multiple errors, how much can we rely upon that part of the exposition about which we know little or nothing?
My answer to that is fairly blunt, if not actually pungent.
http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/tipsIndex/0,289482,sid1_tax294820,00.html
A series of browseable accounts of true bloopers in the IT arena. As well as being useful to consider when developing a disaster prevention policy, these could serve as extremely useful teaching or problem-solving starters.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/32166.html
One of the myths of the PC age is that the PC has replaced the mainframe [the term "dinosaur" is thrown around in relation to the latter as if it weighed nothing]. IBM makes out like the bee which does not know it cannot fly, and being able to make mainframes sit up and do the network dance is still a good job specialty. Now the claim for grid computing suggests that the mainframe is no longer needed.
And it may even be true, though I would be inclined to wait a bit before pulling my big iron's plug.
The range of Ziff-Davis/EWeek topic centers is certainly comprehensive, and each features news, reviews, opinions, and analysis, in the following categories:
Database http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3850-1
Desktop http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3853-1
Developer & Web Services http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3856-1
Enterprise Applications http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3859-1
Linux and Open Source http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3862-1
Macintosh http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3865-1
Messaging & Collaboration http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3868-1
Mobile Devices http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3871-1
Networking http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3874-1
Security http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3877-1
Storage http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3880-1
Windows http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3883-1
Wireless http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd1/cts?d=75-95-1-1-618817-3886-1
With this cornucopia, there should be little reason for an assignment or a research paper to lack content.
http://www.clickz.com/feedback/buzz/article.php/3112021
Insightful article on "The 10 Biggest Spam Myths", from which I quote directly:
1. There are only 200-300 hardcore spammers worldwide. They account for the overwhelming majority of junk e-mail.
2. Most spam comes from outside the U.S.
3. Spam legislation can end the problem.
4. [Spam can be defined.]
5. Legitimate marketers don't spam.
6. Opt-in is a sufficient spam deterrent.
7. Never opt out.
8. Microsoft is committed to helping end the spam epidemic.
9. A do-not-e-mail database will stop you from getting spam.
10. Spam can take down the whole Internet.
Since many of these points go contrary to what 'everyone thinks', they are worth considering and investigating. We cannot control the problem [and it is a problem with potential to estrange many from the InterNet] without thinking about it clearly and accurately.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/13/MNGPU30H811.DTL
A California state appelate court has ruled that InterNet Service Providers can be held legally responsible if someone using their services defames someone online and the ISP knew about it. This makes an ISP equivalent to a bookstore or a library, instead of a telephone or telegraph network. The chilling effects of this misguided ruling on free InterNet speech cannot be exaggerated, and serves as yet another example of how the legal system continues to vitiate the promise inherent in information technology.
Of course, the ruling is being appealed...we can comfort ourselves that the lawyers at least, are making money out of this.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5106129.html
Following strong and concentrated protest, the USA's Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to re-examine the Eolas patent which effectively broke Web browsers (see previous entry) and was agreed to be both voided by prior art and a humongously bad social decision by anyone with technical competence. The article also indexes related stories on this issue.
I would expect the patent to be reversed on careful re-examination, so we may see here an uncommon victory for common sense -- and of course, another lesson in what happens when Microsoft's ox is gored.
http://www.digitaldeliverance.com/MT/archives/000281.html
Amid all the hoopla for RSS as a delivery system, here is a negative view which suggests it will not be all that useful to most people, who are not inclined to raise their technological heads above the trough of e-mail. I have been somewhat skeptical of those RSS proponents who regard it as replacing e-mail; the fact that current RSS installation require more of a software updating on the desktop than I care to contemplate at this moment suggests that even people who are technologically aware and conscious of the technology's benefits may not jump on this bandwagon with NICs unholstered.
RSS is, nevertheless, a new form of InterNet communications which enables information gathering in different ways, shifting the activity burden from accessing to using. The consequences of this ought to be major, if the technology really can deliver on its promises; if not, then never mind!
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6021
Business Intelligence is another formerly arcane process which automation and deskilling are now causing to be devolved throughout the workplace. In one sense, this is a vindication of the flattened hierarchy and theories of decentralized or 'bottom up' control. In fact, some BI operations have been automated entirely.
This is an excellent example of the importance of 'information' in IT -- the sort of technological upgrading which can result in greatly improved productivity. But as suggested previously in several entries in this blog, such improvement does not happen automatically -- the tools must be applied with vision. An example of a real problem with BI at Cisco, and an analysis of the structural stresses which this development is causing IT operations sound some useful cautionary notes.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2003/tc2003114_2291_tc134.htm
The 'beige box' is now some two decades old as a form factor, and with the exception of laptops, has retained its same essential form [although having considerably more power]. This artilcle looks at the future of distributed computing, and suggests we will have a multitude of form factors:
1) The cooling limitations of current chips will be overcome with different cooling media technologies, shrinking CPU size;
2) Specialized computers will proliferate, and often not even be recognized as such;
3) Increased power, capacity, and reliability of networks will enable a wide variety of mobile computing tools, since consumers will be able to get a fast signal from anywhere -- so a terminal will become equivalent to a PC;
4) Flexible displays will enable portability, and wireless connection can mean that public flat panels can be accessed by any system.
It took several decades for our current computing environment to evolve and it will probably take about the same amount of time for replacement technologies to become pervasive.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/SciTech/FutureTech/RSSWeb031029-1.html
One sign that the technology known as RSS has reached the mainstream is that the acronym is given different interpretations [Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication]. This article explains the basics of RSS and what problems still remain. For my 2 cents, the fact that you have to install the .NET framework before being able to make an on-desk aggregator work is the main stumbling block.
If I can't do it in 5 minutes, it won't get done -- this is my latest computing mantra, and RSS still has to succeed on that account. But if your life involves tapping into news/information services and making sense of them, an agregator is an essential tool. One could concieve of an organization which aggregated at different levels, a form of meta-aggregation, so to speak, which might help people see the InterNet forest in that profusion of trees.
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/031029datadouble/index.html
I tend to be somewhat bullish about IT, but I confess this article surprised me: the amount of stored data has doubled in the past three years, according to a UCB report -- the total in 2002 was 5 exabytes [or 500,000 Libraries of Congress], most stored on magnetic devices.
No wonder that petabyte storage for small firms and well-heeled individuals is becoming a reality -- data growth at that level makes for a quantity/quality shift. With a doubling rate of every three years, the idea of anyone ever having "universal knowledge" becomes risible.
One dark site -- magnetic storage is vulnerable -- a large and tempting target for those who would create massive social disruption.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/Gartner_predicts_future_of_IT.html?tag=zdannounce0.list
In many ways, the URL says it all: Gartner predicts that in 2004 cost-cutting will be gradually replaced by innovation for growth, leading to an upswing in 2005 and a major surge in 2006. The next generation of computing will be built on a service software architecture based on always-on communication. "The next wave of technology [is] the confluence of pervasive wireless, real-time infrastructure, service-oriented architecture and low power-consumption mobile devices...".
If this vision is even approximately correct, we should be thinking about its educational implications now, so our 2006 curriculum reflects real applied needs.
http://www.corante.com/policy/redir/32260.html
The oppressive nature of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, surely one of the most obnoxious national laws since the Volstead Act, has been somewhat mitigated by the USA Library of Congress granting exemptions in four cases:
* bypassing digital content protection for InterNet filtering software;
* allowing access to programs with broken or obsolete dongles;
* programs/games using obsolete fomats/hardware; and
* e-books which prevent handicapped access.
Certainly these exemptions are both reasonable and supportable [and the fact that they are needed in the first place is ample condemnation of the DCMA]. We still do not have the degree of 'fair use' we previously had, and we could expect the Library of Congress to do more, but it is the library of Congress after all...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/technology/29soft.html
The Eolas patent case has attracted sufficiently pungent commentary already in these pages, but the inervention of the WorldWideWeb Consortium on Microsoft's side is indeed an example of strange bedfellows. As the W3C submission makes clear, not only was the patent application invalid on the basis of 'prior art', but enforcing it will also cause economic harm throughout the Web.
One has to think that causing general harm in the support of mistaken policy decisions is simply another of these delightful surprises government constantly brings us. One also has to wonder when enough becomes enough.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/october29/nilsson-1029.html
Reflecting on his career as an Artificial Intelligence researcher, the article subject suggests that humans and computers will always be different, but the intellectual and creativity differences will narrow. This is sufficiently ambiguous to give one pause. On one reading, if the differences are sufficiently narrow, then AI will ultimately usurp human intelligence, because it is much more effective within the corporate structure. On the alternative reasoning, when our machines 'grow up' enough that the gap is sufficiently narrow for us to treat them as alternative autonomies, then the potential benefits from man-machine interaction could be boggling to the minds of both [and this is an issue where there is much SF writing of merit].
Of course, if you seek to determine which of these future will come about, based on the principles I have expressed elsewhere in this blog, the answer is obvious.
http://www2.cio.com/analyst/report1860.html
Article suggesting that there are continuing signs of a recovery in the IT industry, which can be expected to continue into 2004. The more interesting part of the discussion is the explicit rejection of IT 'commodification', which sees it as just a base cost which everyone pays. Since established vendors are back in control, and technology users are increasingly business users, we are seeing significant structural changes in the environment which may lead to massive productivity gains across industries.
Of course, if all this simply means accelerated employment outsourcing, it is not necessarily a matter of warm confidence.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60927,00.html
In this article we have a good example of rights in conflict. A firm providing electronic voting services, Diebold Inc., had internal memos detailing problems [potentially serious] leaked to voting activists, who have published them on Web sites. The company is suing the ISPs carryng the Web sites, claiming copyright violation, and many ISPs have submitted on this issue [though this fatally compromises any claim they might have to "common carrier" status, in my opinion. Note that the telephone company would not be liable if someone phoned the press and read one of the memos in question to someone at the other end].
One the one hand, you have the company claiming that its intellectual property has been stolen, and on the other, you have the publicizers claiming that the company cannot use IP law to cover up what may be a criminal activity. On the face of it, one would have to think that the activists have the better of the case, but consider this: an internal memo often does not state facts, but opinions or incorrect information -- so wonders whether the gun is smoking as furiously in this case as might initially have been thought.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/itspending/story/0,10801,86122,00.html
Despite appearances, I am just as human as the next person who has my same quotient of human kindness, and one thing to we are prone is looking at which technologies are on the upward slope, since these are the logical candidates for curriculum development. This article lists 5 technologies which are going in the opposite direction, plans to abandon which should be put in place posthaste:
* Windows 9x
* Client/server computing [as strictly construed]
* IBM SNA and proprietary network architectures
* Tape backup
* Visual Basic 6
In fact, I de-emphasize the first four of these in my current classroom teaching, only avoiding the last one because I don't teach programming.
http://www.cio.com/archive/092203/kurzweil.html
Some form of constructive engagement with the future, I strongly believe, is an indispensable tool in any IT professional's armoury, especially those engaged in teaching people who have a very good chance of living to the 22nd century.
This article by the ever-provocative Ray Kurzweil is an absorbing defence of the proper attitude towards future risks, and is thus worth reading in itself, but the fact that it is part of an article set: "Technology's Impact On Everything" with a diverse range of author links, each article with subscriber comment, makes it a resource worth highlighting.
A somewhat different take on the near future of IT in the 21st century is given here by Bill Joy, whom Kurzweil mentions in his article:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,490598,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60770,00.html
A design guru opines on the importance of the 'wow' factor, the viscerial reaction we get when we see someone using an Apple 17" widescreen portable. His position: the look and feel, and concomitant pleasure a techological object gives is as an important a design criterion as actual function. Clearly, this bit of advice applies to IT, particularly program design.
And yet, I wonder: what makes me go "wow" about my main home system is not the case, which is boring beige to the featureless max, but the fact that it contains a 10,000 rpm SCSI RAID array, which gives new meaning to disk speed.
And what slows my hand with something like the highly lucious APPLE G5 with 23" Cinema display, which has the 'wow' factor in spades, is a little matter of some $6K. For that, I can have a higher-performing Athlon 64 FX box with a much more capable graphics card, a bigscreen display, and lots of money left over to buy cigars. It may not look like much, but I don't think I really care.
In the case of much modern technology, my response is not "wow" but "what?!?!", although I must admit I am weakening when it comes to keychain USB storage peripherals, which appear ever-more indispensible to me.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60770,00.html
A major problem in conserving our computer heritage is the degradation of media, widely regarded as a serious problem. The answer, suggested by the creator of th 'Wayback Machine" is to archive them on the InterNet. But this, surprise, surprise, violates copyright law, even if the copyright holder cannot be contacted for permission in the first place. Even more absurdly, the DCMA suggests that for encrypted works, permission cannot even be given to allow such storage.
This is just another instance of the degree to which the current legal structure attempting to regulate information technology is devoid of reason, common sense, or any concept of "the greatest benefit to the greatest number".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031011/FOLD11//
One of the most endearing [and irritating] aspects of the IT field is the way in which supposedly disparate intellectual concepts fuse together into a mutation of astounding potency. In part, this is simply a reflection of the computer's capacity to be a 'general machine', but the trick still looks magical for all that.
This article discusses programs which simulate orgami-style folding on computers, and their surprising and fruitful research results.
Now when we can get computational bending, stapling, and mutilation, we will indeed have crossed the threshold of a Brave New World.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2121720
Article reporting on the first conference on agents in networking, displaying areas of success [principally financial markets] as well as areas where the application is more speculative, but has much broader payoff effects. This area of research is well worth constant attention of networking folks for two reasons:
1) It represents a major opportunity for more effective control of highly complex networks; and
2) If successful, it will cost most of us our jobs.
The agent concept is one which hitherto has not reached its considerable potential, and progress may be about as frustrating as with speech recognition, but it is nevertheless something which could become a dominant feature of our future lives.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/
Certainly one of the most attractive aspects of the InterNet was its reputation as a technology providing liberated freedom of speech, since it turned the old saw about a free press ["a press is only free to whomever has the gold to own one"] on its head. Increasingly, however, a variety of developments have called this bright promise [which at its most anarcho-libertarian probably was fools gold] into question.
This on-line publication by an experienced and concerned observer: "The Digital Imprimatur" gives its plot away in its subtitle: "How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle". Increasingly, alas, it does look like this is going to happen, and there is SFA we can do about it.
A more generalized view of this, which essentially concludes that we will sell our souls for a mess of pottage, can be found here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3606168&p1=0
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994248
A new form of copy protection, called "Fade", protects games from being copied, not by making the copying impossible, but by making it unattractive. Games using this technology can be copied freely, and will work well at first, but eventually the copy protection degrades the game experience so badly that getting a legitimate version is the only solution.
Defeating the technical ability to make flawless digital copies seems like a perverse technological triumph, but it does have this upside: ordinarly I can know if I am going to play a game intensively within several hours of first playing it -- so if I did like it, I would not object to buying it.
The major caveat is that the Fade technology should be clearly distinguishable from an actual machine malfunction, so I can correctly diagnose what is going on. I also wonder, based on the technology used, if this protection could not be defeated by cloning the original, instead of copying it.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/100603C.html
Article invoking the technological equivalent of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" in economics [that the emergent properties of individual and disparate transactions can nevertheless have directive {and more arguably, beneficial} results]. The upshot of the "digital hand" is such an empowerment of consumers that producers have no price leverage at all.
Since most of us are consumers, this initially appears to be good news -- but without producer margins of profit for salaries, how can consumer wages be maintained? The whole issue of extending commoditization is at work here. The locus of competitive advantage will shift from techological capabilities to organizational deployment.
This is another "tip of the iceberg" issue.
Here is a site with breaking news about information technology, broken into sections on hot news, e-business, technology, trends, enterprise computing, opinions, innovation, cybercrime, Macintosh, worldwide technology, techology developments outside the IT umbrella, and special reports. The site is cleanly laid out, and it is easy to see when a section is updated.
http://utilitycomputing.itworld.com/4589/031001linkfeature_uc/page_1.html
The URL indexes a page of links about utility computing and related isues, including news articles/features, webcaset, white papers, product information, and a newsletter up with which you can sign. As a much-heralded enterprise solution, this technology is definitely worth keeping an eye on, and this site effectively peels that eye,
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/6925805.htm
The appeal of technology can be seductive, and in some cases, produces effects, as this columnist arges, which are equivalent to addiction -- something addressed by E.M. Forster nearly 80 years ago in his story "The Machine Stops". There is no question we do become dependent, and as users of Microsoft operating systems in particular have learned to their cost, this dependency can be used against us.
As this article notes, there are important political costs to this technological dependency, and the nature of the situation means that these are getting higher and higher, with no apparent way out, short of radical action. Somehow, I get the feeling we have been through all this before....
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6924663.htm
Once a leading light of the IT industry, Sun Microsystems is sliding towards apparent oblivion, accoring to investment analysts. At a time when some faint signs of a recovery in the IT industry can be discerned, Sun's sales continue to decline. The increasing power and ubiquity of the Intel chipset and the Linux operating system has negatively affected both the hardware and software side of Sun's business. Sun, of course, perfers to shine light on the brighter side, saying its installed base is firm.
Another perspective on the Sun situation is available here:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/6925805.htm
A very much less gloomy outlook on Sun's prospects, invoking the way IBM turned itself around, and itemizing Sun's strengths as well as its real, albeit solveable problems, can be found here:
http://news.com.com/2009-7339_3-5087245.html
A late-breaking analyst upgrade of Sun Microsystems stock is described here:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7664198.htm
On the IBM PC and all its Wintel derivitives, a warm reboot requrires the 'control-alt-delete’ three-finger salute. This short article profiles the individual who invented this control sequence, and explains why he made the choice he did. This is an interesting vignette on how a common standard came to be.
http://www.e4engineering.com/item.asp?ch=e4e_aerospace&type=Features&id=50026
If there ever was a case of killing the golden goose, the current controversy over the USA's Defence Advanced Research Project Agency must rank as a prime example. The value of this agency and the current political peril it faces are reviewed in this article, which also explains how the UK is affected by DARPA. As an incubator of tomorrow, DARPA takes some beating, and it would be shameful [albeit typical] if it should be damaged as a result of the political process.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/tvfuture.html
In the narrow sense, this is not about IT at all, but it raises interesting issues which are certainly relevant to digital rights management. The fact is that commercials on broadcast TV have become so obtrusive that people will pay to have recorders which allow them to skip over the ads.
The corporate response is predictable: find ways of proscribing use so as to force people to watch the ads. One can only imagine the extent of public gratitude which will result. This article suggests some more useful and less restrictive alternatives.
One point the advertisers have missed, of course, is the amount of time taken by commercials -- as this has steadily escalated, people are voting with their feet. Once again, a practical initial arrangement is undone by greed. The alternative is at least interesting to contemplate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61058-2003Sep24.html
Telephoned-based visual data services along the lines of Prestel, Minitel, and Telidon were all the rage over two decades ago, but in North America, it turned out they were a solution looking for a problem. They were effectively swamped by the InterNet. In France, it was a different story, and Minitel is still operational, with its terminals now Net-connected.
Reviewing the history of this technology as it played out in France is a useful object lesson in how environments and technologies interact in creating a solution, rather than a technology simply becoming the solution.
http://news.com.com/2010-7339-5082259.html?tag=gutspro
The argument that IT commodification has reached the point that competitive advantages no longer can be realized with its implementation has been made with some eloquence. Here is a rebuttal, suggesting that the development of on-demand computing promises to restore the potential for differential IT development and the concomitant advantages.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/cof/story/0,13893,1047449,00.html
If computational power continues to grow in an approximation of Moore's Law, then, as this article indicates, we will have the power of a human brain on a computer before the middle of the decade [if one accepts with the Itanium and similar 64-bit chips that we now have the power of an ant brain on a computer -- itself no mean feat -- then the progression seems inevitable].
Well, perhaps not -- there are no lead pipe cinches in this arena. But should it come to pass, and the thing this article makes worth thinking about, our educational systems will have to change, not only in terms of methodology, but also in terms of product. If technological developments also allow more reliable output measures to be applied [something which is already ongoing] then the radical nature of this set of challenges to the current education system is impossible to overstate.
Again, apocalyptic prognostigations of radical change usually don't pan out...but the current spate of IT offshore outsourcing is a minor indication of the kinds of change in educational goals which technology demands, suggesting we cannot ignore this projection either.
Creative answers here are going to be so valuable that the nation or institution first coming up with them can have a major competitive advantage if such answers can be implemented institutionally. This of course begs the question that existing institutions can implement these answers....
http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/DMCA/20031003_unintended_cons.php
A great many people interested in freedom of information and the unfettered flow of intellectual activities thought the DCMA was a major mistake -- I was [and am] certainly one of these people. This thorough paper: "Unintended Consequences: Five Years under the DMCA" [also available in .PDF] form, with a host of links, demonstrates how truly harmful the DCMA might be.
If anyone had any doubt about the baneful effects of unfettered corporate powers in relation to society as a whole, this article should disabuse them. Provisions of the act chill expression and research, hinder fair use, impede competition and innovation, and are being misused to ban access to computer networks. Once again, it demonstrates powerfully how in North America generally, and the USA in particular, we have the best government that money can buy.
A shorter critical article is presented here:
http://www.mikehealan.com/articles/DMCA/abuses.php
the conclusion to which is worth quoting:
The DMCA must be withdrawn before it causes irreparable harm to our society. Whatever replaces it should acknowledge that our permanent Fair Use rights and our permanent right to free speech are far more important than a corporation's right to protect its temporary copyright.
Of course we all know that it is completely unrealistic, in the current scheme of things, to ever think that anything like this would ever happen.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/Sterling1003.asp?p=0
Although this goes wide afield of IT issues, anything by Bruce Sterling is worth an eyeball. He here inveighs against a set of technologies he thinks we would all be better off without:
Nuclear Weapons
Coal-Based Power
The Internal-Combustion Engine
Incandescent Light Bulbs
Land Mines
Manned Spaceflight
Prisons
Cosmetic Implants
Lie Detectors
DVDs
I expect I disagree with him on the majority of these, which I suspect is highly salutary, though I do think him particularly on the mark in regard to prisons. I feel quite strongly we should punish people for their crimes, but there are lots of ways which are much less expensive, and more satisfying to contemplate, than the conventional prison system.
http://www.geoplace.com/gw/2003/0309/0309swb.asp
A good overview of an issue I have remarked on hitherto -- that we are in the process of making the world smart. The headline of this article is worth quoting: "The most profound revolutionary technologies are those that disappear...no longer exciting because [they] have become part of our life".
That hits it right on the mark. One of Marshall McLuhan's metaphors was that with new media, we were externalizing our nervous systems -- we are about to make this much more than a matter of mere metaphor.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/74/5tech.html
With so much going on in the IT world today, one can have trouble sorting out the real earth-shaking technologies from those which are just causing the jello to ripple. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags [mentioned several times before in this blog], 3D printing, biosimulation, self-aware computers [also touched on previously], and distributed power generation are the selected candidates here.
Of all of these, I think that self-aware computers, followed by 3-D printing, probably have the potential for the deepest impact, because the combination could give rise to machine propagation. It is hard to see how a self-aware machine capable of both these functions and able to communicate in a naturalistic manner could not be granted personhood.
http://news.com.com/2009-1023-5082004.html
More in-depth commentary on the recent case Microsoft lost relating to Web browser patents, again demonstrating how unsuited the patent system is to software and networking, and how harmful malicious action undertaken within the current regieme can be.
On the one side we have the hacker outlaws, and on the other, the ligation inlaws, with actual human prosperity and progress being sandwiched between them.
http://www.computing.co.uk/News/1143845
A previous entry discussed grand challenges in computing, mostly from a USA-centric viewpoint. This article looks at the output of the UK Computing Research Committee, which is concentrating on the following projects:
IVIS: In Vivo <-> In Silico
Science for Global Ubiquitous Computing
Memories for Life
Scalable Ubiquitous Computing Systems
Architecture of Brain and Mind
Dependable Systems Evolution
Journeys in Non-Classical Computing
The record of previous Grand Challenges is worth quoting from the article:
The Human Genome Project - achieved
The Turing Test - outstanding
A championship chess programme - achieved
To find a cure for cancer within 10 years - failed in the 1970s
Unify the four forces of physics - in progress
If in even the next 20 years, the same percentage of currently specified Grand Challenges is achieved, the world as we know it will be changed beyond all recognition.
According to this article, one of the first PCs saw the light of day in Canada 30 years ago [the weather was so bad it promptly went back into hibernation]. Even if we look at the mainstream, it is hard to believe the fact that over two decades have passed since the PC was introduced.
Again looking at the capactity of the Intel 8008 microprocessor and comparing it to today makes it clear how impossible it is to extrapolate from the past 30 years into the future 30.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,473054-1,00.html
A computer scientist has built a robotic head which does a much better job of mimicking human appearance than anything previously done -- indeed, from the photographs in the article, it looks like it does as good a job as anything in the movie _AI_. The conceptual issues involved with this are explored in the article, since this touches a nerve and excites emotional responses.
Again, given the general tendency of mankind, we have to ask ourselves how this will be applied to pornography first, in order to get a handle on how the technology will spread. Thought about long enough in this context, along with other strands of development covered in this blog, and loss of sleep seems like the only reasonable response.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/09/19/wow.tech.life.computing/index.html
Research on using DNA as a basis of computing and calculating devices has been ongoing; this report summarizes what has been going on, and what is likely to be coming down the pike. But it ignores one question which should be strobing like the end of a James Cameron movie: at what point is a "machine", based on organic principles, and displaying what appear to be cognitive abilities, no longer merely a machine?
Philosophers have debated cogently that substrate really makes no difference in the attribution of personhood -- bu what if there really are no substrate differences?
Suddenly Golem appears a lot less implausible....
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030918.gttwtico18/BNStory/Technology/
The limits on Moore's Law are approaching like the end of the runway to an overloaded jumbo jet -- 15 year really is not all that far away. Assuming we will still need increases in processing capacity [when we consider that 15 years conservatively represents processors running at a 6 THz pace it is about as hard to consider how we will need such processing power as it is to imagine how we will keep them cool], then other methods will be needed to continue computing's colossal curve of conquest.
One option is nanotechnology, which in its "mildest" form -- that is, the capacity simply to create useful objects at the molecular form -- appears like a solidly-devolping technology. This article explores some of the potentials behind this development.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2003-09-16-maney_x.htm
Progress in robotics proceeding in parallel along multiple axes are bringing us tools which are capable of useful work in complex areas like individual homes. Some of us [those who can afford such products] may have the option to live completely different lives in the future, as robots take over common and time consuming basic tasks.
The developments in hardware, software, and concepts currently ongoing make this a very promising line of development. After many years of failure on deliver, some of these blue-sky promises will deliver [I am still waiting for software which will really allow me to dictate into the computer better than I can type].
Once again, the iceberg metaphor is appropriate -- science fiction has, perhaps, done [and will continue to do] more useful thinking about what all this means than any other discipline. We should be aware that none of these rewards will be a boon unalloyed.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20030920/ap_on_hi_te/classroom_gadgets
If any segment of the population is gadget-happy it is teenagers, the greater part of whom are in school, particularly Secondary schooling. The "problems" such tools present educators are discussed in this article, along with some "remedial" measures which school systems are taking.
Yet in some measure there is a distubing resonance of the K-12 school system's habit of viewing everything which is different as a "problem". In fact, some consideration should be given to the degree to which these gadgets represent an new intellectual ecology, and should, therefore, become part of the curriculum rather than being seen as something to be resisted or suppressed.
I do not want to suggest this is simple, but I do want to suggest that attitudes often preclude possibilities -- which may, in the end, be simple, but should be far from satisfactory.
http://utilitycomputing.itworld.com/4606/030916helpthemselves/index.html
The concept of autonomic computing, already discussed in this blog, promises to help reduce the complexity of network management. The URL indexes an article on the topic, setting out what is ongoing, along with whitepapers, webcasts, news articles, and featured topics.
http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/bestWebLinks/0,289521,sid1_tax294061,00.html?Offer=w2kamd
A straightforward listing of annotated Web links to 64-bit computing: hardware, software, the background behind it, the latest news, and a glossary of terms.
While not directly concerned with IT per se, this blog covering all sorts of gadgets strikes deep into the heart of ultimate geekiness. As someone who fervently that "less is more" [except, of course, when it really is less] and who cannot find any of his cameras, only a couple of which work anyway, this site is not to my particular taste. But lots of IT professionals are interested in this sort of thing, and here is a good way to keep up with the silicon flood.
The point being: "Everyone to his own!" as the old lady said when she kissed the cow.
Microsoft's loss of a patent infringment suit relating to Web browser display technologies not only inflicted a fairly hefty fine on it, but also put at risk the capacity of browser service for its most widespread tool. The article recounts efforts being made to minimize this damage, and affects an optimistic stance.
This, like the recent decision legalizing scumware, is another example of a narrow application of the legal system resulting in untold harm for hundreds of millions of InterNet users. One wonders how much longer such a pernicious and iniquitous system of behaviour can continue to exist, or why the general community does not rise up in protest.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,60453,00.html
The USA Senate has cut some of the budget submitted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which acts as the cutting-edge military technology supporter for the USA. Much of the legislative ire is directed against the Information Awareness Office, which represented a dubious initiative at the best. However other projects which have potential civilian as well as military benefits, such as a project to control mechanical limbs using thought, have also been axed.
Given the average level of technological sophistication of most congresscritters, having them make micromanagement decisions in what was the crown jewel supporing USA military effectiveness and advantage does not seem like a particularly beneficial idea.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0337/baard.php
The rush towards military robotics is another of these technological streams which is making science fiction fact. Some scientists, for personal reasons, are refusing to accept sponsorship or direction from military sources. There are, however, sufficiently many researchers who are perfectly willing to work on such projects that the overall thrust of developments in this arena is unlikely to be halted. "The Terminator" it isn't, but robotic innovations [some of which have already been field tested] which help make the difficult, dangergous, dirty, and undesirable job of city-fighting more manageable while reducing friendly casualties represent just one strand of this effort. Those sponsoring it, and more important, the soldiers using it, are, in general, firm advocates of this technology.
Of course the ultimate upshot of this antimilitary stance is that people will die, instead of machines.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3097904.stm
Here is the upside of the ID chip issue -- devices which can sense proximity to other devices, and emit alarms if they are moved [in particular, by an aspiring thief]. This is RFID in another guise, and again is part of the whole surge to making the world smart.
Like many such Janus-faced technologies, the question is: do we want the benefits sufficiently to put up with those drawbacks which cannot be mitigated? My suspicion, in this particular instance, is that the answer is "Yes, please!".
http://www.computerworld.com/networkingtopics/networking/management/story/0,10801,84604,00.html
The concept of "autonomic computing" warms IT managers' hearts, even as it chills IT workers' souls. The capacity for systems to configure and repair themselves automatically bids to be more reliable than the current process, as well as being less labour-intensive, and less expensive. The article indicates that this trend is well-established, but will really begin paying off in the short- to medium-term future.
One wonders the degree to which knowledgeable IT technicians may be tempted to resist implementing such systems in their own economic self-interest. One also remembers the cheery riposte to those who feared a computer takeover: "You can always pull the plug!" -- well, now maybe we can't.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3420519
In another development bringing SF closer to reality, the introduction of new display technologies which can project images essentially "in thin air" is discussed. Whether these devices are accepted or not depends on a number of rather complex issues, but there is a deeper factor to consider.
If, as I have ruminated previously, we are "making the world smart", then we need some way of being able to access this, and we can't hang a CRT or LCD display from every tree branch. This form of projective technology could have a major impact in, for example, making highway signage more interative and responsive to conditions. It could be the interface we need to relate to a vastly more information- and connection-rich world.
Which leaves the question: What will SF writers have left to talk about? Since this question was asked after the first moon landing, and there has been at least a small library wing of true SF published subsequently, I don't think there is any reason to worry on that score.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/31534.html
One of the major hurdles to a viable networked virtual reality has been developments of haptics technology, allowing the sense of touching/feeling to be extended beyond the individual body. The article dicusses research developments in this area, and suggests that while the initial enthusiasm about VR was [like just about every other IT/high tech enthusiasm] overblown, nevertheless we will be able to move forward in this area.
The real question: will we want to? Whether this becomes a limited niche market or the realization of reams of SF depends on consumer acceptance, itself often something which can be neither predicted nor reasoned with.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3189537.stm
The commonplace that gaming graphics is one of the major drivers of computer hardware development is challenged in this article, which suggests that graphics have evolved sufficiently that by themselves, they will no longer sell a game.
I am somewhat of two minds about this [being an avid purchaser of games who never actually plays them]. I agree that a game has to have something more than graphics in order to be successful; I also think one of the major issues with most games is that they interpose difficulty for most computer users instead of enhancing the gaming experience. Many potential users might be drawn in by a game which, like The Sims, is less a form of puzzle-solving or reflex-driven competition than an immersive experience.
In that case, I hardly think that the level of realism offered by what I have seen of current games represents the graphic ultimate -- which to me will only happen when I play a game and have a visual experience equivalent to watching a movie on TV. The crucial point will have been reached when instead of thinking "My how realistic that water looks!", I think "There is a stream to my left, and it really looks cold and dangerous".
And I don't think we are "there" yet -- but we are getting close, and should be at that level in 3 - 5 years tops. Then what are we going to do for hardware excitement?
This article makes the extremely good point that technology should be simple and cheap, and how hard and expensive it can be to bring that about. Certainly IT can never become a general purpose instrument without being much simpler than it is [composed of at least two parts -- the expertise to determine what/how to do, and the time in which to do it].
I have one reservation about this article: when it recommends using the past as a way of making the future familiar. My fear is that this prevents the sort of mental liberation that new tools used in new ways have the potential to engender. Still and all, this is worth reading and considering.
Any time I look at my heap of malfunctioning PCs and bleat "It shouldn't be this hard!", I become an object lesson for the sort of thinking this article represents.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
Do I know anything about RSS? Heck. I can't even spell it! But this is a technology of undeniable importance,and here is an article comparing 6 RSS readers, spanning a variety of platforms and providing a range of capcity and ease of use.
http://www.cra.org/Activities/grand.challenges/
The proceedings of a Computing Research Associates conference on "Grand Research Challenges" in Computer Science and Engineering are available on-line, complete with the downloadable .PDF files of the five Grand Challenges which appear most noteworthy:
Create a Ubiquitous Safety.Net
Build a Team of Your Own
Provide a Teacher for Every Learner
Build Systems You Can Count On
Conquer System Complexity
All of these major issues have the power to so alter the fundamental fabric of computing and life that even if their realization is a matter of the more distant future, it behooves us to be thinking about them today.
"Chance favours the prepared mind" -- Louis Pasteur
As an early adopter who got badly stung by DVD-RAM as a "standard" -- and indeed, as someone who has not, as of this writing, ever gotten any of his writeable optical media drives on any of his systems to actually work -- this guide as to which standard works best comes a tad late.
For those of you still deciding, however, it is another matter.
http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=15703
Examination of how mobile telephony has changed the way we live and work. As someone who Thinks Bad Thoughts towards anyone using a mobile phone in public, and who would rather be skinned and salted alive than actually carry one of these beastly contraptions, the position on mobile InterNet interaction discussed here certainly tempts.
I am fond of saying that if they come up with a chip implant to allow direct interation with the Net, I will happily plunk down the cash to have one -- the Net is simply my favourite indoor activity. Those who cannot make it an outdoor activity are seen as quaintly excluded by the author of this article: "citizens of another country" which one might visit, but not live for an extended time.
Obviously, millions of people think like this. For my money, these millions of people are, essentially, wrong. I want to be able to get away from the Net and connectivity -- so why should I pay for a device which makes this more difficult?
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7010272%255E13762,00.html
Now this is downright creepy! Articloe about a doll which can read, tell time, and do sums, and, effectively, react in a limited way to the world around "her". Shades of AI!
I have often been tempted to say that if it looks like a human, and talks like a human, and walks like a human....
This is bringing us far too close to the point where we can't tell [the other driving technology here is medical prosthetics] which twin has the AI. Such developments raise a whole host of questions resonating with the maddening hum of killer bees -- and it is time we started trying to sketch out an answer.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/?ID=21stCenturyCitizen
An extensive on-line and downloadable [WORD format] white paper titled "Educating the 21st Century Citizen" setting out Microsoft's future education vision. The broad coverage in this paper gives ample pause for thought, regardless of one's opinion of the originator.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,60053,00.html
Article explaining the benefits of aggregation tools such as RSS. With e-mail becoming more and more about aggravation, the ability of this class of tool to provide a wide and deep self-selected news channel can be highly empowering.
The combination of the Net and powerful tools appears to continually provide paradigm shifts in the way we can and do use information.
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_34/b3846601.htm
The technology revolution is far from over, according to this article. The term of "creative distruction" has been relatively constant in IT throughout the years, and the author considers it will continue to apply. While this does make the IT future look brighter than most prognistication, there is an iceberg of disappointment here.
The point being if creative destruction remakes the IT world to the extent that major hardware and software investments are needed to cope, it also makes extensive demands on education. Many existing skills will become obsolete, and IT technology is sufficiently challenging without this extra ear from the bull.
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2003/08/15.html
Previous murmurings about the degree to which humans may be usurped by computers may gain some volume with this, a report on a Sandia Labs experimental "congnitive" system, which interacts with users in a radically different manner from the computers to which we are accustomed.
Apart from the sheer potential power of such a system [and the danger of extrapolating something like this to politics, where the "axioms" involved are much "mushier"], one wonders at what point the machine will no longer need to collaborate with the human at all -- it might prefer collaborating with another machine!
Spam keeps getting worse; this article discusses fixes for the problem, based on replacing SMTP or fixing it. No consensus except, I opine, if we are going to solve spam and reliability, we will have to give up some of the open connectivity potential which has made the InterNet such a joyful place.
Another demonstration of the price of progress.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1195170,00.asp
Thought-provoking and highly metaphorical article discussing the relevance of "information architectures" and suggesting the these are not sufficent -- we need the equivalent of "city planning" as well. The point that any sufficiently large scale planning objective will almost always be obsolete once completed is contrasted with the seductive nature of such a vision in the first place.
Deep background thinking like this is an important component to overall IT progress, because new metaphors can result in new meanings.
http://www.foresight.org/NanoRev/index.html#FurtherInfo
While not quite "much ado about nothing", certainly a lot has been made of a very little in this case. Yet the promises are seductive, representing the sorts of tremendous strides in basic control of matter and energy which the term "industrial revolution" connotes.
Here is a page of straightforward annotated links to many aspects of the nanotech revolution, well worth bookmarking.
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
In the very near future, based on Moore's Law, robots will be able to do such difficult jobs as flipping burgers and driving buses [if the jobs were not so difficult, they would have been automated by now]. The author raises some alarm about the consequences of this -- what will our economy be like when unemployment rates reach 50%?
There are a number of hands to be on about this, not least that we have been here before [see, for example, Herbert A. Simon: The Shape of Automation for Man and Management]. This has the potential to be a Real Big Deal; at the same time, there are lots of points at which this argument can be pulled apart.
I, for one, am not particularly optimistic about this, because if you seek to know the future, determine what will happen with the least effort. Not only is this likely to be what in fact does happen, it is also likely to be the outcome which is most offensive to human dignity, decency, and comfort.
Where is the Terminator when we need him?
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2003/08/11.html#a550
The promise of quantum computing is almost as daunting as its premise. Here is a link to another blog summarizing a report detailing progress towards the quantum computer -- in this case, a logic gate.
Of course, from my understanding of quantum physics, specifying the exact location of something is not possible -- so even if we create a quantum computer, we may not be able to find it!
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/dialog0703.asp?p=0
A vigourous commentary from several authors in response to an original [and linked on the page] article about the problem of spam, which ought to be sobering for anyone who considers it carefully.
I always like an argument which causes me to rethink my position. For some time I have been arguing vociferously that the solution to spam is an unique and difficult-to-forge ID attached to mail. I have equally opposed a pricing structure for e-mail. Now I have my dounts about both.
Certainly, for some charge like $10/year, if my inbox can be cleared of spam [defined as bulk UCE], I would be willing to pay such a charge.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5047555.html
An article reprising a Global Software Survey by the Ovum research group, which suggests that the software market will continue to shrink, particularly as a result of Web services. An upturn in this arena is not expected until 2007, suggesting that company consolidation will continue apace.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1027238.html
Article reprising a study from the Rand Institute suggesting that the USA will maintian a lead in technology development for the forseeable future, despite developments elswhere. One critical element in the set of USA national advantages is a willingness to allow uncompetitve industries to fail. Since the "hollowing-out" of basic manufacturing once led to prolonged lamentation, there is some virtue in finding out this "medicine" is good for the country after all.
Incidetally, though I cannot provide citations, there have been several other studies (one source being George Guilder) suggesting that allowing uncompetitive businesses to fail is best in the long run.
http://news.com.com/2100-1019_3-1023934.html
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59565,00.html
Two opposite takes on the desirability of Radio Frequency ID tags: in the first, Wal-Mart abandoned plant to implement this technology in each item sold in the store, enabling exact determination of who bought what, following extensive protest from privacy advocates. In the second article, the Euro may have RFID tags embedded in each item of currency.
The privacy implications of the second initiative is staggering, since in theory it would mean that private cash transactions are impossible -- organized crime in particular must view this with disfavour. It brings new meaning into the concept of "money laundering".
However regrettable such "intrusions" into our privacy might be, I suspect we will continue to be unwilling to sacrifice the benefits of the privacy-threatening technology. In any case, the question of "costs" in this case is sufficiently complex to preclude discussion in this entry.
In a related article, research firm IDC reported on the prospects and economics related to RFID:
http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-5136650.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23689-2003Jul7.html
The tension between what can be known and what should be known is exemplified by the example of a PhD student, whose dissertation has mapped every part of the USA economy to its connecting fibre-optic network. Since all the data were gathered from public information, no direct security breach resulted from their compilation and interpretation.
Both corporations and the government, however, are eager to suppress these research results, and the university involved will only allow publication of the most general information about this topic. This is a major problem, in that suppression is antithetical to the benefits which open research generates, so we may have a bad precedent here.
It is equally understandable why those in authority should object to vulnerabilities being easily known, although ultimately the only justification for continued censorship here is to give the responsible parties the time to cure the identified defects. Previous examples in this regard do not give rise to undue confidence that those in control will "do the right thing".
To the extent that the defects are not capable of correction, a posture of public ignorance is at least questionable and at worst, objectionable.
An article with the details about something which may appear self-evident to those of us who daily wash our psyches in the ever-flowing InterNet information stream: that information is addictive -- we tend to access it far beyond any capacity for rational use, even to our detriment in terms of a wider range of activities.
As someone who regularly buys 1.347 books for every one that he reads, I can have considerable sympathy for this position -- the only salvation is if you so enjoy your non-data-gathering activities that their continued neglect impels you to lift your muzzle from the bit trough to occasionally gaze at the stars.
This is another of my "tip-of-the-iceberg" phenomena.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59495,00.html
One of the pervasive fears of IT has been the potential for '1984' -- complete totalitarian observation of the governed. What this article notes is that Net technologys allow anybody to be watched and information published -- hence a project to provide detailed information about what is going on in the government, analogous to the Terrorist Information Awareness provisions for citizens.
http://www.versalaser.com/english/index.html
OK -- so it costs $10K, and is thus prohibitive for the home user. But I feel in my bones is that here is a portal to a new and changed future, made possible by "desktop" manufacturing. This device is a laser tool of sufficient power to engrave, emboss, cut, slice, and dice most non-metallic materials under PC control, just as if it were a printer.
George Gilder predicted something like this less than a decade ago, as part of his perception that value was moving from the tangible to the ideational. Now it is actually coming true -- yet another techological/economic iceberg seeming no bigger than a man's hand. If so, we had best not be on the Titanic.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111420,00.asp
IP v6 has blown hot and cold over the past few years, with many taking the position that the need for this version was rendered moot by the use of NAT and private addressing. Now the USA DOD is taking an interest, by making contractors to its Global Information Grid support IP v6.
There is surely something worth looking at here -- the common joke that IP v6 would enable everyone on Earth to have a separate IP address for each of the cells in their body looks a lot less funny when you link this to military support for sensors the size of dust motes -- because there could be "billions and billions" of these in operation at any one time, and IP v6 might be the only way to actually address them, should such addressing become necessary.
In the meantime, we can comfort ourselves with the realization that while hex representation of bit values in IP v6 makes subnet masking much more complex, it also renders it a lot less necessary....
AMD and Intel Ship 64-bit Chips: http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-28-1-1-618817-1171-1
Red Hat, Dell and Others Support Intel's 64-bit Madison: http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-28-1-1-618817-1171-1
Does the G5 Really Matter: http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-28-1-1-618817-1174-1
The whole bandwagon towards 64-bit computing seems to have sprouted afterburners. In part this results from the ease with which Linux/UNIX variants can support 64-bit processors [they've been doing it for years], and Apple's venture results from the fact that OS X has BSD UNIX roots. Given all that, Intel simply could not afford to hold back from the fray, and the more progress and support that is given to hardware and software developments relating to this, the sooner we all will have supercomputers on our desktops.
Then the question to answer will be: "What do we need these for?" -- which, when you think about it, is really a pleasant position in which to be.
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,415483,00.asp
An index page to 20 short articles about up-and-coming technologies in IT and related fields. Even if only some of these come to pass, it is worthwhile considering what it would mean if, for example, we do get wide-scale implementation of biosensors for medical purposes.
One thing does appear certain -- the pace of rapid change seems to be slackening not one whit.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030625/5271878s.htm
Quantum mechanics does not make sense to even the above-average layman -- indeed it is hard to say if "making sense" can even be used as a criterion in looking at this field. However wierd, in theory it would be possible to create a computer based on quantum state elements, which would give new meaning to the term "speed". To the extent that I understand it, a quantum computer processess all the solutions to a given problem simultaneously, and then resolves to the correct solution.
This is about as big a deal as it is difficult to understand -- the point behind this short newspaper article -- a VC firm is actually funding a quantum computer development, despite the fact that short-term developments in this area are discussed in terms of 30 years.
http://www.viperlair.com/articles/techreport/input/bsmembrane.shtml
While the thrust of this article is to lament the passage of the good ole' IBM keyboard, the point it makes is amply confirmed in my experience. The humble keyboard is, after all, the main input interface for most of us, so its construction, quality, and arrangement should matter.
I am a backspring return technology enthusiast myself, and some measure of my dedication to my favourite NORTHGATE "OmniKey Ultra" programmable keyboard is reflected in the fact that when I damaged it during an ill-starred cleaning, I paid enough in repairs to buy four membrane-switch boards, without even batting an eye.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/929152.asp?cp1=1
Another pointer towards the blurring barriers between users and IT equipment -- in this case, clothing containing wires which can broadcast messages to receivers for action [such as turning on the lights as you approach a house at night]. The key elements here are "action at a distance", and "no manual required". This technology will be one of the major underpinnings of the infosphere.
Tielhard de Chardin may turn out, in a way that I think he probably would have rejected with a passion, to be right about the "noosphere" after all.
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21823.html
http://securityfocus.com/columnists/169
Here is another facet in the development of small autonomous sensors, which I am convinced will have transformative powers far beyond their apparent utility. A radio transmitter so small that a sneeze would hurl it several feet, which is independently powered ["Look Ma, no batteries!"], can provide an ID report for whatever it is attached to.
The privacy implications are sufficiently absorbing, but the power of more extensive and proactive maintenance and repair that such devices could enable is also something worth careful consideration.
Not only have we not seen nothing yet, but if this all comes to pass in its most powerful format, we won't see nothing later, either -- but it will still be there.
Not least of iterest about this item is the fact that two quite different report references landed in my e-mailbox within hours of each other.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=4&u=/nm/20030628/tc_nm/tech_cio_dc
Short article summarizing marketing research to the effect that if IT projects cannot generate a fast ROI, most current business will not consider them. Despite a move towards greater standardization, there is no incentive whatsoever for new equipment purchases, and the industry outlook is likely to be flat for some time to come.
If so, this has obvious implications for IT industry employment as well.
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0625w.html
I am not altogether sure that this is a safe resource for its suggested audience. Billing itself as "an objective news digest for busy IT professionals", this site offers twice-weekly news summaries of technically interesting things. Each summary is about 500 words long, and most have links to the full story, report, or resource involved. It certainly does serve up a rich diet of technological red meat, but I wonder if busy IT professionals will have the time to read it.
Of course, they should.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=1841108
"It shouldn't have to be this hard!" is a plaintive cry from the technologically challenged -- and they are entirely right. Moreover, there is a lot of money to be made in realizing more of the potential IT offers. "Sentient computing" expresses the concept that instead of having to register ourselves with the machines, the machines will register themselves for us. The result is more intutitive interaction, which for most is a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Yet again, I can also see second- and n-order effects of this which may be much less congenial for many people [just as the wonderful liberation brought on by the cell-phone has also made many people available for work 24/7 with no private time of their own].
Another of the many straws gently wafting in front of what will become, I am sure, a technological hurricane.
http://news.com.com/2009-1032_3-1020641.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed
There are times when Microsoft seems like one of those B-movie monsters which cannot be stopped by any reasonable means, and here we have another example: embrace, extend, exterminate applied to search services. Given that search services are both fundamental to our lives on the Web, and [justifiably] fundamental to the directions Microsoft sees as useful for operating systems development, the unspeakable force may well be about to meet the inedible object.
Somehow, for some obscure reason I cannot elucidate with any precision, I do not think this bodes any good.
http://www.law.com/jsp/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawArticle&t=PrinterFriendlyArticle&cid=1052440872261
One bee in my bonnet which sends steam showers streaming screaming from my ears is the way the latest laws and decisions relating to intellectual property unfairly infringe on legitimate use of published products. I will argue that in fact major social and intellectual benefits are being hindered by the current rigorous stance on copyright; this article at least suggests that there may be some heavy-duty protection available for "fair use".
Those who would trample on this right may find, to their regret, their feet infected by thorns of shame.
http://search390.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid10_gci904778,00.html
There is so much going on out there in the IT workd that getting some straight answers, as this interview with a Meta Group analyst provides, is definitely useful. Some sparks strike to light up that future tunnel where an end, let alone any light, can be frustratingly difficult to see.
Two things stand out from this interview:
1) Far from suggesting that IT doesn't matter any more, we are still in the middle of some major transitions which require careful analysis; and
2) George Gilder's persistent vision of victory going to the "low and the slow" certainly seems to be coming about.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030616091423.htm
Anyone who has read widely in science fiction has come across adventures relating to the presence of "smart dust" -- individual sensors which are the size of a grain of sand. Some of the projections were indeed dire -- now, as this article indicates, another SF prediction has come to pass.
What this means is more efficient and ubiquitous information gathering and transmission of information -- with consequences of great moment, since we can vastly enhance the "intelligence" of the material world.
Of course, it can also mean more than this, much more....
An non-technical update on progress in smart dust can be read here:
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031210/5746410s.htm
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59287,00.html
Even though the more extreme potentials of nanotechnology may not be realizable, there is enough going on in this research for ecological groups to be up in arms, as this article records. Much of this currently resembles looking at a scummy swamp -- there is a lot of bubbling and thrashing going on, but we really can't see below the surface.
Merely moderate nanotechnology still will have some far-reaching implications, not least of these for the machinery supporting IT.
http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a431.asp
Inevitably a blog about IT has to refrence remarks about blogs -- and here is a highly persuasive argument -- that since our trust in big media is continuously eroding [for a host of reasons which make perfect sense to me], that blogs represent a form of high-tech samizdat, operating as a reality check.
Apart from the fact that there is no harm from hearing many voices [so long as they are not prone to deafening argumentation] there is much here, I think, that the eye misses. For "underground" to exist, there must be some "overground" in the first place. Symptom and cause must be closely correlated, which requires more than a little investigation.
The communication web that the Net in general and blogs in particular needs its history recorded and analysed. Remember always, when we watch, the object of our inspection can always be watching us back -- especially if we are looking in a metaphorical mirror.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/schwartz0703.asp
One-time registration is required to view this article on the problems caused by spam, as well as the cure potentially being worse than the disease. Spam has been with us for some time in a controllable way, but in this last year it appears to have metastisized to a point producing genuine problems for users and the network alike.
There are a lot of sides to this story, which is why it promises to be never-ending.
Everything needed to make you come out of your computing shell -- tutorials, themes, reviews, news, editorials, announcements, and jokes about shells as used in computing. Most of the online magazine issues, including the current one, are available for download as PDF files, for happy browsing offline.
If you find operating systems fun, shells should make you nearly delerious with joy.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59268,00.html
Of all the future technologies looming ahead, nanotechnology, as based on Eric Drexler's concept of nanobots -- molecular sized manufactories -- promised to be the most revolutionary, simply because they redrew the equations of energy use in relation to production. If anything could counter the Malthusian dystopia of an earth overrun with starving billions, nanotechnology sounded like it.
While initial scientific reception of Drexler's ideas was skeptical, over the early part of the 1990s they garnered some support. This article suggests that the more extreme versions of Drexler's dream (or nightmare) will never be realized. At the same time, the book is not necessarily closed on this subject.
The connections between nanotechnology and computing were immediate and obvious -- so any shortcomings in the former may well circumscribe futures in the latter.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1121367,00.asp
I can remember, when I first beheld the IBM S360 some 35 years ago, yearning to have one of my own -- little did I dream. Now, of course, reasonably powerful computers are available for everyone, but just as you can never be too rich or too thin, your coumputer can never be too powerful. The popular image of the "big machine" in film and fiction was just that -- a machine housed in massive caverns sized on a titanic scale [for example, Colossus in The Forbin Project.].
And there have been, no doubt, many impressive and gigantic supercomputers, ranging from Crays to ASCII White. Yet again, as has been true so many times in IT's past, at least some of the palm goes to the lowly and humble, as it turns out that it is quite cheap to arrange clusters of Linux machines which are not just resepctable, but in the upper echelons of the supercomputer ranks. There is no reason why such developments cannot continue.
All this suggests to the extent that we allow ourselves to be computationally challenged by raw power requirements, we may well be reading off the wrong disk drive.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107_2-1015566.html
Not only is Moore's Law [one of the fundamental statements about microprocessor evolution] not about to be falsified any time soon, but also it is in fact misunderstood and misquoted in spite of its apparent simplicity. The analysis given here of the impact of competition on technological developments suggests that the ""End of IT" argument is, perhaps, over-stated.
http://www.corante.com/index.shtml
Blogs and news digest covering inter alia e-business, communications, the InterNet, and personal technology.
http://eletters.wnn.ziffdavis.com/zd/cts?d=75-23-1-1-618817-742-1
One can almost hear the shark music rising steadily and stridently. This article suggests that Microsoft has taken notice of the blogging phenomenon, and may well Do Something About It. One in a number of points on the media landscape suggesting that the humble blog has become a very important tool indeed.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5846
Short article reporting on research study indicating that the instant messaging tidal wave is about to break over the corporate reefs. This suggests two things right away:
1) the security problems will be horrendous; and
2) give people a new way to communicate, and they will do so.
While the report emphasizes the North American context, elswhere much more widespread use of mobile devices could lead to an even greater demand for IM as being customary.
The OS files is one of those sites, well worth bookmarking, which takes your breath (and time) away. From W95 to "Blackcomb", MS-DOS to FreeDOS, Linux in a variety of distros, BeOS to Netware, there is something here on just about every operating systems running on a PC. In addition to reading about it, there is a links page to free OS that you can download and play with.
Nothing quite like whiling the time away twiddling with an obsure OS....
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1098455,00.asp
This points to an article about an article in the Harvard Business Review, to the effect that information technology has simply become a part of business, without much scope for demand. Holding down spending, becoming a follower, and examining vulnerabilities have become the priorities for business today.
This certainly is not a cheerful viewpoint, nor is it one which is necessarily wrong. Nevertheless, I feel something is being missed here -- that people are still creating new tools and systems [of which the whole blogging phenomenon is by no means a minor element], and there is no way we can tell in advance that some new technically-driven inequilibrum will not result. If it does, then an extension of the technological "arms race" in business should logically follow.
My bet here is that this will be driven more by software and its effective application than by hardware.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=5839
Though it may be uncharitable to paraprhrase Mr. Clemins and say "everybody talks about halting spam, but nobody does anything about it", nevertheless the tide appears to be rising above our chins with alarming rapidity. Those nestled behind a good corporate spam-control system may not notice much, but if you have a home account [even one which uses the slightly pitiful blacklisting method] you are probably seeing about 40% of your input taken up by UCE. True, with a good mail client, you can delete it with a click, but even a couple of minutes a day adds up to some serious time considered on a yearly basis.
My gut instinct tells me this is going to get worse before it gets better, and the article referenced above looks at present [failing] and future ways to control spam. For my money, the price of ending spam will be an unforgeable and mandatory identification of source and author for every piece of e-mail -- and despite the charms of InterNet anonymity, given the scope of the problem, it is a price I would gladly pay.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1054742400_409&type=RES&src=KA_RES
When two heavy hitters like AT&T and The Economist get together to ponder and pontificate about the future of networking, it probably behooves us to cast an eye over the result: in this case "Networking and Business Strategy", which is the first in a series of white papers on this topic.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134812856_memory26.html
This article on technology dependence exactly reflects what happened recently when the e-mail server went down. I had an appointment in my OUTLOOK Calendar, and did not know where the meeting was taking place. I had not committed it to memory -- because it was safe in my Calendar. I anticipate this will become a bigger issue in the future.