From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Wed Aug 1 01:40:10 2007 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Wed Aug 1 01:40:23 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: Social computing for government and business In-Reply-To: <20070731001409.E29B81614E@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: On 31/7/07 9:47 AM, "Tom Worthington" wrote: > As I found out only last week, the trendy > new buzzword for this is "Enterprise 2" > > . > To find out exactly what that is, if anything, we will need to wait > for another seminar. Fred Cavazza has written a long post that aims to answer the question: what is enterprise 2.0? To quote: > If "Web 2.0" was 2006?s buzzword, we begin to hear much of Enterprise 2.0. To > make a long story short, it means using inside an enterprise the successful > tools of web 2.0. > > Please, do not sum-up this to internal blogs or wikis, this notion gather much > richer fields and above all implies deep mutations which go farther than > rolling-out new tools. Before going through my overview map (which can confuse > you), I?d like first to introduce the subject. http://fredcavazza.net/2007/07/27/what-is-enterprise-20/ Lots of diagrams, and there's even discussion of using virtual 3D spaces. e. From kim at holburn.net Wed Aug 1 03:04:35 2007 From: kim at holburn.net (Kim Holburn) Date: Wed Aug 1 03:04:54 2007 Subject: [LINK] New secret search powers Message-ID: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/new-secret-search-powers/ 2007/07/31/1185647903263.html?s_cid=rss_news > New secret search powers > > Tom Allard > August 1, 2007 > > POLICE and security agencies will be given unprecedented "sneak and > peek" powers to search the homes and computers of suspects without > their knowledge under legislation to go before Federal Parliament > next week. > > The extensive powers - which also give federal police the right to > monitor communications equipment without an interceptions warrant - > come amid growing public disquiet about counter-terrorism powers > following the bungled handling of the Mohamed Haneef case. > > Under the laws, officers from the federal police and other agencies > would be able to execute "delayed notification warrants", allowing > them to undertake searches, seize equipment and plant listening > devices in businesses and homes. > > Police and security officers will be able to assume false > identities to gain entry and conduct the surreptitious searches. > > But the person affected by the raid does not have to be informed > for at least six months, and can remain in the dark for 18 months > if the warrant is rolled over. > > The warrant is to be issued by the head of a police service or > security agency without the approval of a judicial officer. It can > also be extended for more than 18 months with the sanction of the > minister. > > The lack of judicial oversight was justified by the Minister for > Justice and Customs, David Johnston, on the grounds that a court or > judicial officer might leak news of the warrant. > > "I don't want to impugn anyone, but the security of these > operations has to be pristine," Senator Johnston told the Herald. > > Moreover, the warrant can be issued for any offence that carries a > prison term of 10 years or more, despite a strong recommendation > from a bipartisan Senate committee earlier this year that it only > be used for investigations into terrorism, organised crime and > "offences involving death or serious injury with a maximum penalty > of life imprisonment". > > The new powers have their genesis in a meeting of state, territory > and federal police ministers two years ago to create uniform search > warrants. > > They are scheduled to be introduced to the Senate on Tuesday when > Parliament resumes. ..... -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant Ph: +39 06 855 4294 M: +39 3494957443 mailto:kim@holburn.net aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny. -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961 From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Aug 1 08:17:05 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Aug 1 08:17:14 2007 Subject: [LINK] ANZ, govt in chip card agreement Message-ID: <36150.1185920225@iimetro.com.au> ANZ, govt in chip card agreement July 31, 2007 Australian IT http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22166108-15306,00.html THE federal Government has signed an agreement with ANZ that will see some of the bank's customers trial secure access to online government services. The agreement between ANZ and the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, allows ANZ business customers trial access to government services using a chip card carrying an IdenTrust digital certificate. Access to federal, state and local government services would be provided during the trial, ANZ said in a statement. ANZ working capital managing director Chris Cooper said the bank for the first in Australia to provide customers with secure access to government services. Uses for the card could include access to applications for government grants, licence applications, customs reporting and access to government tender information. Trials are scheduled to begin later in the year, with ANZ planning to offer access to more customers if the trials prove successful. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From cas at taz.net.au Wed Aug 1 09:22:17 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Wed Aug 1 09:22:26 2007 Subject: [LINK] New secret search powers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20070731232217.GC4898@taz.net.au> On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 07:04:35PM +0200, Kim Holburn wrote: > http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/new-secret-search-powers/2007/07/31/1185647903263.html?s_cid=rss_news > >> New secret search powers >> >> Tom Allard [...] >> >> Moreover, the warrant can be issued for any offence that carries a prison >> term of 10 years or more, despite a strong recommendation from a >> bipartisan Senate committee earlier this year that it only be used for >> investigations into terrorism, organised crime and "offences involving >> death or serious injury with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment". now, does anyone still think that those of us who said that 911 and the so-called "War On Terror" were being used by Western, allegedly-democratic governments as an excuse to trample the rights & freedoms that *define* western liberal democracies and bring in a big-brother police surveillance state were being "overly paranoid"? aren't these sorts of powers EXACTLY what all the 1950s-1980s anti-soviet, anti-eastern-bloc propaganda made a big point of scaring us about (and rightly so, that kind of ubiquitous surveillance has a chilling effect on freedom and a poisonous effect on society)? >> They are scheduled to be introduced to the Senate on Tuesday when >> Parliament resumes. the interesting question, to be answered in the Senate soon is whether Rudd's me-too-ism is a cunning anti-wedge tactic or if he's a real Howard-clone. craig -- craig sanders From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Aug 1 10:07:18 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Aug 1 10:07:28 2007 Subject: [LINK] Businesses having second thoughts about Vista Message-ID: <18620.1185926838@iimetro.com.au> Businesses having second thoughts about Vista Gregg Keizer July 30, 2007 Computerworld http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9028478&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1 Fewer businesses are now planning to move to Windows Vista than seven months ago, according to a survey by patch management vendor PatchLink Corp., while more said they will either stick with the Windows they have, or turn to Linux or Mac OS X. In a just-released poll of more than 250 of its clients, PatchLink noted that only 2% said they are already running Vista, while another 9% said they planned to roll out Vista in the next three months. A landslide majority, 87%, said they would stay with their existing version(s) of Windows. Those numbers contrasted with a similar survey the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based vendor published in December 2006. At the time, 43% said they had plans to move to Vista, while just 53% planned to keep what Windows they had. Today's hesitation also runs counter to what companies thought they would do as of late last year. In PatchLink's December poll, 28% said they would deploy Vista within the first year of its release. But by the results of the latest survey, fewer than half as many -- just 11% -- will have opted for the next-generation operating system by Nov. 1. Their change of heart may be because of a changed perception of Vista's security skills. Seven months ago -- within weeks of Vista's official launch to business, but before the operating system started selling in retail -- 50% of the CIOs, CSOs, IT and network administrators surveyed by PatchLink said they believe Vista to be more secure than Windows XP. The poll put the security-skeptical at 15% and pegged those who weren't sure yet at 35%. Today, said PatchLink, only 28% agreed that Vista is more secure than XP. Meanwhile, the no votes increased to 24% and the unsure climbed to 49%. Reconsiderations about Vista have given rival operating systems a second chance at breaking into corporations. Last year, Linux and Max OS X had only meager appeal to the CIOs, CSOs, IT and network administrators surveyed: 2% said they planned to deploy the open-source Linux, while none owned up to Mac OS X plans. July's survey, however, noted a sixfold increase in the total willing to do without Windows on at least some systems: 8% of those polled acknowledged Linux plans, and 4% said they would deploy Mac OS X. PatchLink's survey results fit with research firms' continued forecasts that corporate deployment of Vista won't seriously begin until early next year. Although Microsoft recently announced it had shipped 60 million copies of Vista so far, it has declined to specify how many buyers are businesses, or even what percentage of the estimated 42 million PCs covered by corporate license agreements have actually upgraded to Vista. The poll also offered evidence that corporations are even more afraid of zero-day vulnerabilities -- bugs still unpatched when they're made public or used in exploits -- than they were last year. Zero-day vulnerabilities are the top security concern for the majority of IT professionals, according to the survey, with 53% of those polled ranking it as a major worry. In the December 2006 survey, only 29% of the administrators pegged zero-days as their top problem. "The prospect of zero-day attacks is extremely troubling for organizations of all sizes," said Charles Kolodgy, an IDC research director, in a statement accompanying the survey. "Today's financially motivated attackers are creating customized, sophisticated malware designed to exploit unpublished application vulnerabilities in specific applications before they can be fixed." -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Wed Aug 1 16:08:08 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Wed Aug 1 16:08:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] Access denied: young people and the new 'smartcard' Message-ID: <48805.1185948488@iimetro.com.au> The comments about this article make interesting reading. Same URL, following the article. Access denied: young people and the new 'smartcard' By Luke Bo'sher ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/01/1993583.htm The Government's proposal of the Access Card has set an ideological and strategic position about the right to health care and age of independence. Hidden well beneath the simmering debate about privacy, technology, safety and cost, the Federal Government has made young people's access to health care more tenuous than it has ever been before. The Access Card is designed to replace all existing health care and social security cards, effectively making it essential for anyone who wants to see a doctor or receive medical treatment. This is particularly the case for young people who are very unlikely to be able to meet the cost of health care without government subsidy through Medicare. The legislation sets the benchmark for a legal right to a card at 18 years. Anyone below the age of 18 will require an exemption from the Minister to get a card. The Minister for Human Services, Senator Chris Ellison, has given assurances that he will give all young people aged 15-18 who want an Access Card the necessary exemption, consistent with the current Medicare policy. However, this guarantee cannot be made for future ministers, let alone future governments. Concentration of power The Government is proposing to substantially increase the power of one individual Minister to decide whether or not a young person has the right to independently access health care. If the minister decided to revoke his or her exemptions for each or all of those aged below 18, as it is within his or her power to do so, the impact on young people would be disastrous. Requiring all young people to be on their parents' Access Card would deny young people the opportunity to access health care independently and would compromise their right to confidentiality of treatment. Confidentiality and privacy in accessing health care is central to young people. For the past decade, an unprecedented amount of resources have been dedicated to promoting 'help seeking behaviours' and early intervention for young people in relation to health care. Particularly in the areas of mental health, family planning, sexual health and alcohol and drug treatments, confidentiality is one of the most important aspects for young people. In making the Minister for Human Services the sole decision maker in whether or not those aged 15-18 can access health care services independently, the health and wellbeing of thousands young people rests with one politician. Young people in this age group already have virtually no formal political power. This Government position reflects an ongoing desire to keep young people invisible and removed from decision making processes. Significantly, this is not just about political processes - but also about those personal decision making processes that young people have every right to be involved in. It is about the right to make decisions about your own body, health, access to income and living arrangements. Get real The Government likes to pretend that all young people live in family environments where there is no need for them to make independent decisions - "Father knows best". The Government needs to get real. The legislation should be amended to reflect the position that is already accepted as a reality in Australia by most of us today - that those aged 15-18 should be able to access healthcare independently and with the same level of confidentiality as those aged 18 and above. This position has been recognised by the medical profession's national peak body, the Australian Medical Association. The legislation should make everyone aged 15 and above eligible for a card but allow those aged 15-18 to remain on their parents' card if they so wish. This alteration would make no difference at all in the immediate period following the Access Card's introduction, but would make the Access Card legislation more transparent, accountable and robust in determining who is able to get exemptions in the future. It would shift power from one Minister to the whole Parliament and allow for any change in young people's access to health care to be scrutinised and debated with the seriousness this issue deserves. Luke Bo'sher is a policy officer at the Youth Coalition of the ACT. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From link at todd.inoz.com Wed Aug 1 20:54:52 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Wed Aug 1 20:58:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] New secret search powers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200708011058.l71Aw99h021307@ah.net> At 03:04 AM 1/08/2007, Kim Holburn wrote: >http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/new-secret-search-powers/ >2007/07/31/1185647903263.html?s_cid=rss_news > >>New secret search powers >> >>Tom Allard >>August 1, 2007 >> >>POLICE and security agencies will be given unprecedented "sneak and >>peek" powers to search the homes and computers of suspects without >>their knowledge under legislation to go before Federal Parliament >>next week. >> >>The extensive powers - which also give federal police the right to >>monitor communications equipment without an interceptions warrant - >>come amid growing public disquiet about counter-terrorism powers >>following the bungled handling of the Mohamed Haneef case. Oh great and the chatroom logs they intercepted were so devastating the whole world want to hunt down Haneef - not to charge him but to say sorry for the appalling way Aus treated him. Intercepting my phone calls didn't help the Police, other than to charge me with an offence that doesn't exist (NSW SC Justice Latham July 6, 2007) >>Under the laws, officers from the federal police and other agencies >>would be able to execute "delayed notification warrants", allowing >>them to undertake searches, seize equipment and plant listening >>devices in businesses and homes. And does the law say that a citizen if guilty of an offence if they search for and disable the devices? Or will that be a case of the Government saying "It's not my device" which happened in Police V Todd 29 January 2004 :) Someone might explain how the conversation I had with my wife in the bedroom that morning was repeated by the Prosecution an hour later in the court room :) >>Police and security officers will be able to assume false >>identities to gain entry and conduct the surreptitious searches. Haven't they heard of Tresspass? Plenty V Dillion. They can assume any identity, unless "they" have an appointment they can stay in the street and use a laser listening device. I love those :) I modulate a laser in the same frequency range right back at them with 1 kHz, 5kHz and 10 kHz tones at -3 dB :) >>But the person affected by the raid does not have to be informed >>for at least six months, and can remain in the dark for 18 months >>if the warrant is rolled over. That's assuming a person is stupid enough not to know. Who in this day and age isn't monitoring their own security and privacy? I get monthly requests to do house and business security sweeps, physical, electronic and IT. >>The warrant is to be issued by the head of a police service or >>security agency without the approval of a judicial officer. It can >>also be extended for more than 18 months with the sanction of the >>minister. Ohh that's interesting. That will conflict with the Constitution! Will simply be a case of suing for Trespass and asking a constitutional question pursuant to Section 51 :) >>The lack of judicial oversight was justified by the Minister for >>Justice and Customs, David Johnston, on the grounds that a court or >>judicial officer might leak news of the warrant. And this has happened before? >>"I don't want to impugn anyone, but the security of these >>operations has to be pristine," Senator Johnston told the Herald. Gee, we are a stupid species! >>Moreover, the warrant can be issued for any offence that carries a >>prison term of 10 years or more, despite a strong recommendation >>from a bipartisan Senate committee earlier this year that it only >>be used for investigations into terrorism, organised crime and >>"offences involving death or serious injury with a maximum penalty >>of life imprisonment". Well that's most things now :) Except Drink Driving. Add that to the Immigration Character test and, oh hang on. No. Sorry, prison colony. From stephen at melbpc.org.au Thu Aug 2 04:33:21 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Thu Aug 2 04:36:45 2007 Subject: [LINK] Wi-Fi hotspot .. access accounts via VPN or SSL Message-ID: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Hi all, Quoted: "never use a Wi-Fi hotspot unless you are using VPN (virtual private networking) or SSL (secure sockets layer) to access accounts" -- Researchers: Web apps over Wi-Fi puts data at risk Security experts warn that packet sniffers can collect cookie information while a user is accessing rich Web apps over Wi-Fi By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service August 01, 2007 Users who access Google's Gmail or the Facebook social-networking site over Wi-Fi could put their accounts at risk of being hijacked, according to research from Errata Security, a computer security company It's not just those sites but any rich Web applications that exchange account information with users, including blogging sites such as Blogspot .. wrote Errata CEO (etal) in a paper. Most Web sites use encryption when passwords are entered, but because of the expense, the rest of the information exchanged between a browser and a Web site is not encrypted, they wrote in a paper presented at the Black Hat 2007 security conference in Las Vegas this week. Using a packet sniffer, which can pick up data transferred between a wireless router and a computer, it's possible to collect cookie information while a user is accessing one of those sites over Wi-Fi. Cookies consist of bits of data sent to a browser by a Web site to remember certain information about users, such as when they last logged in. Included in the cookie can be a "session identifier," which is another bit of unique information generated when people log into their accounts. By collecting cookie information and the session identifier with the packer sniffer and importing it into another Web browser, the hacker can get inside a person's account. The attacker may not, however, be able to change a person's password, since many Web 2.0 applications require a second log-in to change account information. Nonetheless, it could allow a hacker to create blog postings, read e-mail, or do other malicious activity. Meanwhile, the victim is directed to a version of the Web page they intended to visit, which Errata calls "sidejacking." There is a remedy, however. "The consequence of this is that users should never use a Wi-Fi hotspot unless they are using VPN (virtual private networking) or SSL (secure sockets layer) to access their accounts," they wrote. -- Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From brd at iimetro.com.au Thu Aug 2 09:13:00 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Thu Aug 2 09:13:10 2007 Subject: [LINK] Targeting systems threaten privacy Message-ID: <33506.1186009981@iimetro.com.au> Targeting systems threaten privacy Lara Sinclair August 02, 2007 Australian IT http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22175680-15306,00.html Australian privacy groups have warned that the proliferation of behavioural targeting on the internet could breach privacy guidelines. It is expected that five of the six biggest Australian internet publishers - Sensis, Ninemsn, Fairfax, News Digital Media and Yahoo - will have behavioural targeting in operation on their sites within six months, but they are not expected to reveal the practice to users. Behavioural targeting is where a user is profiled according to their purchase habits and served relevant ads that can follow them from site to site. Privacy groups say users should be made aware of the practice to save them from being unduly influenced without their knowledge and allow them to opt in or out of the service. The Australian Privacy Foundation expects "ad-stalking" will become a flashpoint once consumers are aware of it. "(It) is one of those topics that will absolutely explode in companies' faces when people think the companies they've done a deal with have shared (their data) with others," said APF chairman Roger Clarke, an ebusiness consultant. "(People) are quite happy (to share information) provided we are informed about what it is and we believe we have consented to that usage," he said. Telstra's digital media arm Sensis will launch its system by October and is already collecting user profiles. Digital marketing chief Anthony Saines said it was the holy grail of advertising to put ads in front of people who were interested in the product, and the practice could improve sales conversions by 600 per cent. "You're never going to know individuals. You're just going to know browsers," he said. David Vaile, executive director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at the University of NSW, said ad targeting was not a "victimless activity". "In the US this has gone beyond consumer product preferences to political preferences and maybe sexual preferences," he said. "There may be advertising of gambling to people who you already know have a weakness and an inability to stop." Mr Saines said Sensis would focus on advertising products such as cars to people who had shown they were about to buy one, and subversive persuasion for contentious categories would not be allowed. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Thu Aug 2 09:25:06 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Thu Aug 2 09:25:19 2007 Subject: [LINK] Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon Message-ID: <56686.1186010706@iimetro.com.au> Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon 1 August 2007 By John C. Dvorak PCMag http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2164136,00.asp Every single person working in the media today who experienced the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000 believes that we are going through the exact same process and can expect the exact same results?a bust. It's d?j? vu all over again. And since this moment in time is only the beginning of the cycle, the best nuttiness has yet to emerge. Nevertheless, this is not to say that a lot of nuttiness hasn't already happened. If we look closely, the 1999 dot-com bubble was nothing new. We saw all sorts of bubbles before the dot-com one. For instance, there was the CD-ROM bubble. Remember all the CD-ROM companies? Bill Gates's "Information at Your Fingertips" was the watchword. Microsoft itself started a unique division called Microsoft Home. The whole scene collapsed almost overnight. Each succeeding bubble has been worse than its predecessor. Thus nobody is actually able to spot the cycle, since it just looks like a continuum. I can assure you that after this next collapse, nobody will think of the dot-com bubble as anything other than a prelude. Before the CD-ROM bubble, pad-based computing was all the rage. Every company and a lot of start-ups were going to make this kind of computer. It was a total bust. Before that we had the software wars, when you could choose from dozens and dozens of word processors and spreadsheets. And don't forget the IBM PC clone wars in there somewhere. These all resulted in one sort of collapse or another. I think you get the idea. Each of these bubbles had a distinctive theme. For the dot-com bubble, it was e-commerce?it really should have been called the e-commerce bubble. Everything was focused on how the Internet was going to destroy all existing brick-and-mortar operations. We were told that you'd be buying sandwiches over the Internet and having them delivered the next day by FedEx. Everything was about "eyeballs" and finding ways to attract customers, whether they bought anything or not. Every article in every newspaper in the country parroted the litany as to how you'd be out of business in a year or two if you were not present on the Web in a big way. Of course, this was all crap. The current bubble, already called Bubble 2.0 to mock the Web 2.0 moniker, is harder to pin down insofar as a primary destructive theme is concerned. A number of unique initiatives, however, are in play here. Let's look at a few of the top ideas floating the new bubble. Neo-social networking. Today everything from YouTube to the local church has a social-networking angle. And this doesn't even consider the actual social-networking sites, from MySpace to LinkedIn to Facebook to even Second Life. This scene is totally out of control and will contribute to the collapse for sure. Video mania. With dozens and dozens of YouTube clones cropping up to get on the "throw money away" bandwagon, you must sense that the eventual shakeout in this space will have a negative impact. User-generated content. This idea has been around since Usenet and just keeps improving. It will make no contribution to the overall collapse except for users reporting the collapse. Mobile everything. Here is another concept that has been in play since the mid-1990s. It cannot trigger a collapse since it will never fully get off the ground, although the iPhone mania may be a bad sign of something. Ad-leveraged search. Most search engines will fail as a matter of course. This segment of the industry is mundane. It would be affected by a crash but not trigger one. Widgets and toolbars. I cannot see the widget scene going crazy, and the jury is still out on toolbars. But there is the potential for nuttiness, I think. The problem here is that these things tend to be dependent on the stability of operating systems and browsers. One bad operating-system patch and suddenly nothing works. You can come up with your own theories about the next collapse. Your guess as to the cause will be as good as mine. All I can tell you is that it's a sure thing. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 2 09:50:12 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 2 09:51:55 2007 Subject: [LINK] [Fwd: [iosn-general] APDIP e-Note 18 on Standards for Electronic Documents] Message-ID: <46B11C34.8080402@ramin.com.au> -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Wed Aug 1 12:12:28 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Thu Aug 2 09:56:49 2007 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: VIP-L: Missed lectures accessible on screen In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4okgq1@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4okgq1@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <20070801235632.064D5EBCF@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 09:17 AM 31/07/2007, Jan Whitaker wrote: >This should be of interest to a few linkers: > >>Missed lectures accessible on screen By Milanda Rout Australian IT >>- Australia, July 17, 2007 >> >>STUDENTS will be able to listen to lectures and quiz academics at home ... Not exactly a new idea. I tried out the Lectopia/iLecture System developed by the University of Western Australia at their Albany campus in 2000 . This system allows for recording digital audio and video of lectures. ANU lectures have been recorded with a digital audio system for several years. When I push the "stop" button on the podium in the lecture theatre, the digital audio is made available to the students via the web based course management system. The system now has an option for providing podcasts . The notes and slides are also provided online for some lectures, along with assignments and tutorials. There are forums for students to discuss and ask questions. In most cases the questions are answered by other students in the forum, not the staff. Some courses incorporate the forums into the assessment process, grading students on their participation. I expect this is much the same at many Australian universities and is not something they would think worth doing a media release about. The suggestion that staff at home would spend their time answering student questions shows the article is not about a real system. The ANU software engineering students have a more advanced system with software development tools and scheduling tools integrated (developed by a team of students). It is possible to provide an entire course online. The ACS does this for its postgraduate Computer Professional Education Program . The Moodle system used has features for encouraging students to contribute to the online discussion and to stop any one student dominating the discussion (a feature which might be useful on Link). But the new frontier I see is applying such tools in the classroom, to blend the online and face to face environments . Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 2 10:04:11 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 2 10:07:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] Bubble 2.0 Coming Soon In-Reply-To: <56686.1186010706@iimetro.com.au> References: <56686.1186010706@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <46B11F7B.4040407@ramin.com.au> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2164136,00.asp > Each of these bubbles had a distinctive theme. For the dot-com bubble, it was e-commerce???it really should have been called the e-commerce bubble. Everything was focused on how the Internet was going to destroy all existing brick-and-mortar operations. We were told that you'd be buying sandwiches over the Internet and having them delivered the next day by FedEx. Everything was about "eyeballs" and finding ways to attract customers, whether they bought anything or not. Every article in every newspaper in the country parroted the litany as to how you'd be out of business in a year or two if you were not present on the Web in a big way. Of course, this was all crap. > > The current bubble, already called Bubble 2.0 to mock the Web 2.0 moniker, is harder to pin down insofar as a primary destructive theme is concerned. A number of unique initiatives, however, are in play here. Let's look at a few of the top ideas floating the new bubble. > > Neo-social networking. Today everything from YouTube to the local church has a social-networking angle. And this doesn't even consider the actual social-networking sites, from MySpace to LinkedIn to Facebook to even Second Life. This scene is totally out of control and will contribute to the collapse for sure. > > Video mania. With dozens and dozens of YouTube clones cropping up to get on the "throw money away" bandwagon, you must sense that the eventual shakeout in this space will have a negative impact. > > User-generated content. This idea has been around since Usenet and just keeps improving. It will make no contribution to the overall collapse except for users reporting the collapse. > > Mobile everything. Here is another concept that has been in play since the mid-1990s. It cannot trigger a collapse since it will never fully get off the ground, although the iPhone mania may be a bad sign of something. > > Ad-leveraged search. Most search engines will fail as a matter of course. This segment of the industry is mundane. It would be affected by a crash but not trigger one. > > Widgets and toolbars. I cannot see the widget scene going crazy, and the jury is still out on toolbars. But there is the potential for nuttiness, I think. The problem here is that these things tend to be dependent on the stability of operating systems and browsers. One bad operating-system patch and suddenly nothing works. > > You can come up with your own theories about the next collapse. Your guess as to the cause will be as good as mine. All I can tell you is that it's a sure thing. > > One thing they forgot to mention was just before the Dot.com bubble burst, mining exploration companies started to complain that they couldn't raise funds. Nothing new...see > > The term tulip mania (alternatively tulipomania) is used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble. M -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Aug 2 08:19:59 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Aug 2 10:42:31 2007 Subject: [LINK] Wi-Fi hotspot .. access accounts via VPN or SSL In-Reply-To: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <46B1070F.4070301@praxis.com.au> stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Quoted: "never use a Wi-Fi hotspot unless you are using VPN (virtual > private networking) or SSL (secure sockets layer) to access accounts" [SNIP] > risk_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2007-08-01> [SNIP] > It's not just those sites but any rich Web applications that exchange > account information with users, including blogging sites such as > Blogspot .. wrote Errata CEO (etal) in a paper. Whew! I was worried there for a second. I thought I was at risk using email and non-rich Web apps, but I feel better now. NOT! "Rich Web apps" have nothing to do with this problem. ANY plain text Internet protocol shoveled through non-encrypted WiFi or even non-WiFi connections are at risk of being snooped. > There is a remedy, however. "The consequence of this is that users should > never use a Wi-Fi hotspot unless they are using VPN (virtual private > networking) or SSL (secure sockets layer) to access their accounts," they > wrote. I'm sure that is reassuring to the computer illiterati. has a reasonably comprehensible discussion of the problem and the talkback section offers some Real World Solutions (TM). Google for "never use a Wi-Fi hotspot unless you are using VPN" for more help on this. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas. -- Keppel Enderbery From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Thu Aug 2 11:38:34 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Thu Aug 2 11:44:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Concern over how AFP got comments' Message-ID: Concern over how AFP got comments Date: August 2 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald Asher Moses http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2007/08/01/1185647979267.html FEDERAL POLICE are refusing to say how they got snippets of online conversations between Mohamed Haneef and his brother. The Herald asked the Australian Federal Police yesterday how they got the transcript of the internet conversation last month. But a spokesman refused to specify whether the snippets came from logs stored on Dr Haneef's computer or from internet-based surveillance conducted by police, citing the ongoing investigation. The chairman of the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, Dale Clapperton, said under existing laws the police would have had to obtain a "telecommunications interception" warrant to conduct internet surveillance. He said questions remained about how such a warrant was obtained. "The police do not seem to have enough information to have gotten a TI [telecommunications intercept] warrant," he said. "They didn't even have enough information to make the SIM card charge stick." Federal police are refusing to reveal the extent of their surveillance in Australia, but the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act gives police the power to monitor virtually all internet activity provided they first obtain the warrant. "Anything you do using the internet can be monitored by law enforcement agencies, it doesn't matter whether it's emails, web browsing, chat rooms, whatever," Mr Clapperton said. But under new laws to go before Federal Parliament next week, the warrant can be issued by the head of a police service or a security agency, bypassing judicial oversight. "If the police don't trust the judges, how are we supposed to trust the police?" Mr Clapperton said. Nigel Waters, chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation's policy committee, accused the Government of rushing unprecedented surveillance legislation through Parliament before the public had the chance to work out how the provisions applied to new technologies. "There is no doubt that there is significant erosion taking place in the privacy of telecommunications and internet communications," he said. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 2 11:51:24 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 2 11:52:56 2007 Subject: [LINK] [Fwd: [iosn-general] APDIP e-Note 18 on Standards for Electronic Documents] In-Reply-To: <46B11C34.8080402@ramin.com.au> References: <46B11C34.8080402@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: <46B1389C.5020102@ramin.com.au> Apparently the attachment got stripped off.. Here is the substance > This APDIP e-Note provides a brief introduction to the history of > document standards, explores the different standards for electronic > documents and details the development of OpenDocument Format for Office > Applications (ODF). It also looks at how governments worldwide have > started to adopt ODF in public administration.This APDIP e-Note provides > a brief introduction to the history of document standards, explores the > different standards for electronic documents and details the development > of OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (ODF). It also looks at > how governments worldwide have started to adopt ODF in public > administration. > > Office productivity software is extensively used to create electronic > documents, spreadsheets and presentation files. These documents are > widely shared within and across government agencies, commercial > industries, educational institutions, and across countries, cultures and > time zones. With millions of users of office productivity software, > computer literacy is now equated by many to literacy in operating a word > processor, spreadsheet or presentation application. > > The office productivity software industry has had a tumultuous history > in the last two decades, much due to harsh competitions. In order to > ??????lock?????? users to their software by making it difficult for end users to > easily read, edit and save their documents in other office productivity > software, corporations have developed electronic document formats that > are closed, proprietary and lacked adequate documentation. > > The closed nature of the documents have resulted in problems > of electronic archeology: documents created by users 10 years ago or > less cannot be opened with 100 percent fidelity in modern office > software. > > In response, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured > Information Standards (OASIS) started its work in 2002 to define an open > standard for office documents (the ODF) to ensure interoperability > between different office productivity software. > > Governments and administrative bodies have been quick to recognize the > merits of ODF and have started to integrate ODF as national policies for > document use and exchange. This APDIP e-Note provide some examples from > Australia to the US. > > Other open standards discussed in this APDIP e-Note include the > Microsoft-released Office Open XML and Adobe Systems?????? Portable Document > Format. > > Download the e-note: http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/18.pdf > > WWW: http://www.apdip.net/news/apdipenote18 > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From lists at westnet.net.au Thu Aug 2 12:25:10 2007 From: lists at westnet.net.au (Kevin Emery (Lists)) Date: Thu Aug 2 12:25:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early Message-ID: <069301c7d4ac$59f859a0$0de90ce0$@net.au> http://www.industrysearch.com.au/news/viewrecord.aspx?id=27332 2/08/2007 - There could be national security concerns if the federal government allows the Optus-led G9 group of telcos to build a national high speed broadband network, a top ranking Telstra executive says. "Action is character. G9 does business by press releases, we (Telstra) don't." HEHEHEH Yeah right! Now what twit would say that...mmmm Burges... Yep... Phil Burgess, Telstra's group manager for communications and public policy, on Wednesday homed in on Optus' role in the G9 consortium, which is rivalling Telstra to build the fibre optic network, and highlighted its ownership. Optus is owned by the Australian and Singapore stock exchange listed Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, which is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singaporean government. "Why would you want somebody outside your country to control telecommunications," Dr Burgess told reporters after speaking at a Rotary Club function Melbourne. "Telecommunications is the nerve centre of a country. "One of the biggest problems we've had this year, all the telecom companies have had this year, is working with ASIO and the police and others on issues related to surveillance. "That is something which has to be an intimate relationship between the judicial authorities, the security authorities and the telecommunications company. "Do you want the government of Singapore to be at the table on that?" Asked if the broadband debate touched on national security issues, Dr Burgess said: "Of course it does." "How could you have the nerve centre of the country not touch on national security? "It goes right to the heart of national security. "It goes right to the heart of national prosperity. "It goes right to the heart of urban-rural parity. "It goes right to the heart of job creation." Dr Burgess also reiterated comments by Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo on Tuesday that the telco may shift its investment priorities elsewhere, if the broadband issue is not resolved quickly. "We have other things we can do," he said/ "We can do other things in this country we do other things outside this country." But Dr Burgess refused to elaborate on where Telstra was considering moving some $4 billion in funds originally earmarked to build the broadband network. "We're not going to be held up and have our shareholders' back pockets pillaged by the um-ing and ah-ing and indecisiveness and confusion of the government and the regulator," he said. "Action is character. G9 does business by press releases, we don't." In June, the federal government set up an expert panel to review high-speed broadband in Australia, laying the foundation for a tender process to decide which company or companies will build a fibre-optic network to service the nation's capital cities. But the panel's report will not be finalised before the federal election, expected about November - a delay that has rankled Telstra. Source: AAP NewsWire Best Regards Kevin Emery Managing Director West Australian Networks Pty Ltd, WWW: http://www.westnet.net.au Po Box 532, HILLARYS 6923 Western Australia No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.2/931 - Release Date: 1/08/2007 4:53 PM Checked for Virus & Spam by West Australian Networks Internet Service Providers see www.westnet.net.au From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 2 13:01:58 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 2 13:03:42 2007 Subject: [LINK] [Fwd: [iosn-general] APDIP e-Note 18 on Standards for Electronic Documents] In-Reply-To: <46B1389C.5020102@ramin.com.au> References: <46B11C34.8080402@ramin.com.au> <46B1389C.5020102@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: <46B14926.30509@ramin.com.au> Apologies for posting to myself...but I thought some Linkers may be interested in this comment > This is one of the numerous issues of the OOOXML, because documents > embed other data/media, if that data is proprietary or patent > encumbered, then nobody will be able to fully render the document > accurately. > > The FOSS Open Standards primer covers all these issues/formats in more > detail: > > http://www.iosn.net/open-standards/foss-open-standards-primer/ Marghanita Marghanita da Cruz wrote: > Apparently the attachment got stripped off.. > Here is the substance > >> This APDIP e-Note provides a brief introduction to the history of >> document standards, explores the different standards for electronic >> >> Download the e-note: http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/18.pdf >> >> WWW: http://www.apdip.net/news/apdipenote18 >> > > > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From lists at westnet.net.au Thu Aug 2 15:45:22 2007 From: lists at westnet.net.au (Kevin Emery (Lists)) Date: Thu Aug 2 15:46:02 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early Message-ID: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> http://www.industrysearch.com.au/news/viewrecord.aspx?id=27332 2/08/2007 - There could be national security concerns if the federal government allows the Optus-led G9 group of telcos to build a national high speed broadband network, a top ranking Telstra executive says. "Action is character. G9 does business by press releases, we (Telstra) don't." HEHEHEH Yeah right! Now what twit would say that...mmmm Burges... Yep... Phil Burgess, Telstra's group manager for communications and public policy, on Wednesday homed in on Optus' role in the G9 consortium, which is rivalling Telstra to build the fibre optic network, and highlighted its ownership. Optus is owned by the Australian and Singapore stock exchange listed Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, which is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singaporean government. "Why would you want somebody outside your country to control telecommunications," Dr Burgess told reporters after speaking at a Rotary Club function Melbourne. "Telecommunications is the nerve centre of a country. "One of the biggest problems we've had this year, all the telecom companies have had this year, is working with ASIO and the police and others on issues related to surveillance. "That is something which has to be an intimate relationship between the judicial authorities, the security authorities and the telecommunications company. "Do you want the government of Singapore to be at the table on that?" Asked if the broadband debate touched on national security issues, Dr Burgess said: "Of course it does." "How could you have the nerve centre of the country not touch on national security? "It goes right to the heart of national security. "It goes right to the heart of national prosperity. "It goes right to the heart of urban-rural parity. "It goes right to the heart of job creation." Dr Burgess also reiterated comments by Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo on Tuesday that the telco may shift its investment priorities elsewhere, if the broadband issue is not resolved quickly. "We have other things we can do," he said/ "We can do other things in this country we do other things outside this country." But Dr Burgess refused to elaborate on where Telstra was considering moving some $4 billion in funds originally earmarked to build the broadband network. "We're not going to be held up and have our shareholders' back pockets pillaged by the um-ing and ah-ing and indecisiveness and confusion of the government and the regulator," he said. "Action is character. G9 does business by press releases, we don't." In June, the federal government set up an expert panel to review high-speed broadband in Australia, laying the foundation for a tender process to decide which company or companies will build a fibre-optic network to service the nation's capital cities. But the panel's report will not be finalised before the federal election, expected about November - a delay that has rankled Telstra. Source: AAP NewsWire Best Regards Kevin Emery Managing Director West Australian Networks Pty Ltd, WWW: http://www.westnet.net.au Po Box 532, HILLARYS 6923 Western Australia No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.2/931 - Release Date: 1/08/2007 4:53 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.2/931 - Release Date: 1/08/2007 4:53 PM Checked for Virus & Spam by West Australian Networks Internet Service Providers see www.westnet.net.au From link at todd.inoz.com Thu Aug 2 20:53:42 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Thu Aug 2 20:54:02 2007 Subject: [LINK] Trust - Judges, Police and Citizens Message-ID: <200708021053.l72ArqZ7030371@ah.net> http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/concern-over-how-afp-got-comments/2007/08/01/1185647979267.html But under new laws to go before Federal Parliament next week, the warrant can be issued by the head of a police service or a security agency, bypassing judicial oversight. "If the police don't trust the judges, how are we supposed to trust the police?" Mr Clapperton said. Wow, I'm not sure Dale realises what he's just said there. If the police don't trust Judges, and we don't trust the police. What do the police do when they arrest people? Not take them before judges? Beg for laws to ensure that another Haneef incident doesn't occur. I can see Guantanamo Bay Laws being created in Australia. Innocent people will be terrorised by local "authorities" who are acting in a Draconian fashion on the heresay out of context words and phrases, or selective snippets of a persons conversation - leading to "Missing Persons" reports that of course the police will deny, and waste OTHER police time on searches, or maybe there will be a 'code of silence' process whereby you local police are told "We know where X is, there is no requirement for further contact at this time." Innocent Husbands and Wives will think their partner, children, parents etc have run off and left them and don't love them any more. What an awesome world we live in. All human beings are equal, just some are more equal than others. From russell.ashdown at ashdown.net.au Thu Aug 2 21:00:53 2007 From: russell.ashdown at ashdown.net.au (Russell Ashdown) Date: Thu Aug 2 21:01:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Concern over how AFP got comments' In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <46B1B965.6020209@ashdown.net.au> DCS1000 (previously known as 'Echelon' and/or 'Omnivore' / 'Carnivore') my dear Roger... Oh, and let's not forget the infamous 'Narus STA 6400' See: and: Cheers, Russell Roger Clarke wrote: > Concern over how AFP got comments > Date: August 2 2007 > The Sydney Morning Herald > Asher Moses > http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2007/08/01/1185647979267.html > > FEDERAL POLICE are refusing to say how they got snippets of online > conversations between Mohamed Haneef and his brother. > > The Herald asked the Australian Federal Police yesterday how they got > the transcript of the internet conversation last month. > > But a spokesman refused to specify whether the snippets came from logs > stored on Dr Haneef's computer or from internet-based surveillance > conducted by police, citing the ongoing investigation. > > The chairman of the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers > Australia, Dale Clapperton, said under existing laws the police would > have had to obtain a "telecommunications interception" warrant to > conduct internet surveillance. > > He said questions remained about how such a warrant was obtained. "The > police do not seem to have enough information to have gotten a TI > [telecommunications intercept] warrant," he said. "They didn't even > have enough information to make the SIM card charge stick." > > Federal police are refusing to reveal the extent of their surveillance > in Australia, but the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act > gives police the power to monitor virtually all internet activity > provided they first obtain the warrant. > > "Anything you do using the internet can be monitored by law > enforcement agencies, it doesn't matter whether it's emails, web > browsing, chat rooms, whatever," Mr Clapperton said. > > But under new laws to go before Federal Parliament next week, the > warrant can be issued by the head of a police service or a security > agency, bypassing judicial oversight. > > "If the police don't trust the judges, how are we supposed to trust > the police?" Mr Clapperton said. > > Nigel Waters, chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation's policy > committee, accused the Government of rushing unprecedented > surveillance legislation through Parliament before the public had the > chance to work out how the provisions applied to new technologies. > > "There is no doubt that there is significant erosion taking place in > the privacy of telecommunications and internet communications," he said. > > From mail at ozzmosis.com Thu Aug 2 20:54:57 2007 From: mail at ozzmosis.com (andrew clarke) Date: Thu Aug 2 21:02:32 2007 Subject: [LINK] Wi-Fi hotspot .. access accounts via VPN or SSL In-Reply-To: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <20070802105457.GA51383@ozzmosis.com> On Wed, Aug 01, 2007 at 06:33:21PM +0000, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Security experts warn that packet sniffers can collect cookie information > while a user is accessing rich Web apps over Wi-Fi Yep. Or any ordinary web server where unencrypted data transfer is the norm. Which is most of them. Nothing new there... > By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service August 01, 2007 > risk_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2007-08-01> > > Users who access Google's Gmail or the Facebook social-networking site > over Wi-Fi could put their accounts at risk of being hijacked, according > to research from Errata Security, a computer security company I'm not sure about Facebook or the rest of Google, but Google Mail accounts can be used over an encrypted link using HTTPS. https://www.gmail.com/ Google also provide an encrypted POP3 service for Gmail users. From link at todd.inoz.com Thu Aug 2 22:24:14 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Thu Aug 2 22:25:33 2007 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Concern over how AFP got comments' In-Reply-To: <46B1B965.6020209@ashdown.net.au> References: <46B1B965.6020209@ashdown.net.au> Message-ID: <200708021225.l72CPI6i001121@ah.net> Oh please. This wasn't a DSD/Echelon moment. Gawd if it was, then the information would have been available 4 days earlier! No, the information came from the poor guys laptop chat logs, which are unencrypted and stored in plain text on his computer. No doubt the police probably discovered the laptops clock was wrong and helpfully set it to the appropriate date and time, ensuring that the evidence was accurate. Just like the names and addresses of the alleged British Terrorists written into the back of Haneefs diary, strangely not in his handwriting and strangely in the hand writing of a police officer. No surprise an interrogator dropped dead during this process. Sympathy to his family, but his passing was probably from a heart or anurism attach caused by his inability to be dishonest under the extreme pressure of being ordered to fabricate "facts" (Ok, I'm being colourful here, but I didn't say that was a fact, I said "probably" and there is no evidence to the contrary and seriously would you believe any that was! But it doesn't have to be done at that level. Judges like Justice Megan Latham in the NSW Supreme Court are great at creating judgements with findings of evidence that was never put before the court orally, in affidavit, on a video, in a submission or even as a whisper around the room. Corruption in the Australian Government(s) legal system is systemic. The problem is people are too afraid to do anything about it for fear of repercussions. Nah Echelon wasn't excited about this, too much hassle to get access to logs that if were obtained by such process would never have even rated mention in any of the processes. Why? Because SOMEONE ELSE will know about them. And lets face it, the British would have been all out there with the Chat Logs if Echelon was the source :) Note the British greatly distancing themselves from this "ongoing investigation" :) At 09:00 PM 2/08/2007, Russell Ashdown wrote: >DCS1000 (previously known as 'Echelon' and/or 'Omnivore' / >'Carnivore') my dear Roger... Oh, and let's not forget the infamous >'Narus STA 6400' > >See: > >and: > > >Cheers, > >Russell From stephen at melbpc.org.au Fri Aug 3 05:27:24 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Fri Aug 3 05:27:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash Message-ID: <20070802192724.0C127168FB@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At Microsoft's MIX 07 conference, the keynote was mostly about Silverlight. What is Silverlight, and why should we care about it? Officially, Silverlight "is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web." Microsoft claims: "Stunning vector-based graphics, media, text, animation, and overlays that enable seamless integration of graphics and effects into any existing Web application." >From the user's viewpoint, to enable Silverlight, you download and install a 1.4 MB plugin, and then you can view Silverlight content in IE, Firefox or Safari. >From a developer's viewpoint, once you have the tools installed, you instantiate Silverlight by including some JavaScript helper files from your HTML, and then you can display and script XAML files in your Web pages. Free Developer Tools: Microsoft cites four key benefits of Silverlight: 1. Compelling cross-platform user experiences 2. Flexible Programming Model with Collaboration Tools 3. High-quality media, low-cost delivery 4. Connected to data, servers, and services Two versions of Silverlight were announced Monday: the V1.0 beta, and the V1.1 Alpha. Again, why should we care? If you're a cynic, Silverlight just looks like Microsoft's answer to Flash. But if you like the idea of XAML-based display, or the idea of programming in managed code, then Silverlight offers a compelling model for programming the Web client. -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 3 08:13:04 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 3 08:14:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash In-Reply-To: <46B2458C.9090009@lannet.com.au> References: <20070802192724.0C127168FB@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <46B2458C.9090009@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46B256F0.7050306@ramin.com.au> Howard Lowndes wrote: > > > stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: >> > developers_1.html?source=NLC-AD&cgd=2007-08-02> >> >> At Microsoft's MIX 07 conference, the keynote was mostly about >> Silverlight. >> >> What is Silverlight, and why should we care about it? >> >> >> >> Officially, Silverlight "is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in >> for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and >> rich interactive applications for the Web." > > [...snip...] > >> >> But if you like the idea of XAML-based display, or the idea of >> programming in managed code, then Silverlight offers a compelling >> model for programming the Web client. > > ...more vulnerable crap that runs on the browser and infects the PC. > > It was interesting that in her keynote at CEBIT in Sydney in May, the Mozilla CEO said security was a key aspect of Firefox. She put up some graphs comparing Firefox and Explorer's lag time in identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. Also, following up on Stephen's earlier posting on HTML 5. > 3.14.7.1. Video and audio codecs for video elements > > User agents may support any video and audio codecs and container formats. > > User agents should support Ogg Theora video and Ogg Vorbis audio, as well > as the Ogg container format. [THEORA] [VORBIS] [OGG] My stuff on Linux OGG/Theora/Video Formats is at Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Fri Aug 3 09:01:53 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Fri Aug 3 09:24:38 2007 Subject: [LINK] Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <7.1.0.9.0.20070725172014.01e597f8@tomw.net.au> References: <46A5F1DD.9020905@lannet.com.au> <46A6E875.7020502@ramin.com.au> <7.1.0.9.0.20070725172014.01e597f8@tomw.net.au> Message-ID: <20070802232417.9DA4C1ADC3@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 11:39 AM 26/07/2007, I wrote (was: "Re: Fwd: and it's Australia's turn on August 9"): >... using a Wiki to help prepare input on how the UK should vote on >ISO ballot on Office Open XML/OOXML ( DIS 29500) >. I have sent a message to >Standards Australia asking which committee is looking after it and >that they might do something similar (I am the ACS representative on >the Council of SA). ... I had a telephone call from SA on Wednesday to say that there was no committee considering OOXML. Instead SA are hosting a forum on the proposed Draft International Standard ISO/IEC 29500, "Information technology - Office Open XML file formats" standard in Sydney on 9 August. The Forum is limited to 30 persons and seats can be reserved by email to: michael.langdon (a) standards.org.au. Those who can not attend the forum can send comments to: alistair.tegart (a) standards.org.au Just make clear, my view as an IT professional is that there is no need to adopt OOXML as an international standard . However, I am not the nominated the Australian Computer Society expert on the relevant committee and the ACS may form a different view. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From lucychili at gmail.com Fri Aug 3 09:33:28 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Fri Aug 3 09:33:32 2007 Subject: [LINK] Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <20070802232417.9DA4C1ADC3@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <46A5F1DD.9020905@lannet.com.au> <46A6E875.7020502@ramin.com.au> <7.1.0.9.0.20070725172014.01e597f8@tomw.net.au> <20070802232417.9DA4C1ADC3@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: On 8/3/07, Tom Worthington wrote: > Just make clear, my view as an IT professional is that there is no > need to adopt OOXML as an international standard > . > However, I am not the nominated the Australian Computer Society > expert on the relevant committee and the ACS may form a different view. Thankyou for the clarification. Janet From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 3 10:33:53 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 3 10:35:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] Next, a Facebook for mum and dad Message-ID: <46B277F1.6070508@ramin.com.au> > August 02, 2007 > > BABY boomers and Gen-Xers can be flummoxed by the youth-oriented content on networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook but they still want an online social outlet to pursue their interests and interact with family and friends. > ...meanwhile > New Theatre (Sydney)'s Details > Status: Single > Zodiac Sign: Libra > Occupation: Theatre Company > Male > 74 years old > Newtown, New South Wales > Australia and > Actors Anonymous's Details > Status: In a Relationship > Here for: Networking > Hometown: Kings Cross > Zodiac Sign: Aries > Occupation: Creativity > Male > 35 years old > Sydney, New South Wales > Australia M -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 3 10:53:02 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 3 10:55:14 2007 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Concern over how AFP got comments' In-Reply-To: <200708021225.l72CPI6i001121@ah.net> References: <46B1B965.6020209@ashdown.net.au> <200708021225.l72CPI6i001121@ah.net> Message-ID: <46B27C6E.4070401@ramin.com.au> Meanwhile in the US.... > Ever since 9/11, the Bush administration has argued for greater freedom to electronically eavesdrop on terror suspects. But this week, there is new urgency, as it pushes Congress to allow it to intercept overseas communications that are routed through the United States. That is complicated by the 30-year old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which requires prior court approval for wiretaps that have a domestic component. m Adam Todd wrote: > > Oh please. This wasn't a DSD/Echelon moment. Gawd if it was, then the > information would have been available 4 days earlier! > > No, the information came from the poor guys laptop chat logs, which are > unencrypted and stored in plain text on his computer. > > No doubt the police probably discovered the laptops clock was wrong and > helpfully set it to the appropriate date and time, ensuring that the > evidence was accurate. > > Just like the names and addresses of the alleged British Terrorists > written into the back of Haneefs diary, strangely not in his handwriting > and strangely in the hand writing of a police officer. > > No surprise an interrogator dropped dead during this process. Sympathy > to his family, but his passing was probably from a heart or anurism > attach caused by his inability to be dishonest under the extreme > pressure of being ordered to fabricate "facts" (Ok, I'm being colourful > here, but I didn't say that was a fact, I said "probably" and there is > no evidence to the contrary and seriously would you believe any that was! > > But it doesn't have to be done at that level. Judges like Justice Megan > Latham in the NSW Supreme Court are great at creating judgements with > findings of evidence that was never put before the court orally, in > affidavit, on a video, in a submission or even as a whisper around the > room. > > Corruption in the Australian Government(s) legal system is systemic. > The problem is people are too afraid to do anything about it for fear of > repercussions. > > Nah Echelon wasn't excited about this, too much hassle to get access to > logs that if were obtained by such process would never have even rated > mention in any of the processes. > > Why? Because SOMEONE ELSE will know about them. And lets face it, the > British would have been all out there with the Chat Logs if Echelon was > the source :) > > Note the British greatly distancing themselves from this "ongoing > investigation" :) > > > > At 09:00 PM 2/08/2007, Russell Ashdown wrote: >> DCS1000 (previously known as 'Echelon' and/or 'Omnivore' / >> 'Carnivore') my dear Roger... Oh, and let's not forget the infamous >> 'Narus STA 6400' >> >> See: >> >> and: >> >> >> Cheers, >> >> Russell > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Aug 3 11:22:03 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Aug 3 11:22:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] Next, a Facebook for mum and dad In-Reply-To: <46B277F1.6070508@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: On 3/8/07 10:33 AM, "Marghanita da Cruz" wrote: >> BABY boomers and Gen-Xers can be flummoxed by the youth-oriented content on >> networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook but they still want an online >> social outlet to pursue their interests and interact with family and friends. >> > rss> I was one of a small number of bloggers who attended a special "private viewing" of iYomu, as this new site is called, on Wednesday night. I'll be posting a daily report as the site moves from beta to its launch on 13 August and beyond My comments so far: http://stilgherrian.com/internet/iyomu_social_networking/ More detailed info from another attendee: http://blogpond.com.au/2007/08/02/iyomucom-social-networking-for-grown-ups/ If anyone wants the password to enter the beta test site -- and be eligible for a US$5000 prize draw! -- please email me privately. Enjoy! Stil Disclosure: Nothing to disclose, apart from iYomu paid for the food and drinks. Their PR firm got onto me through a story that was published in Crikey. -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Aug 3 11:38:58 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Aug 3 11:39:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] Elton John: close the Internet! Message-ID: Yes, it's true: http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/eltons-war-on-the-web/2007/08/02/118564804462 3.html And Wired's take: http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/08/elton-john-stra.html Ah, it's Friday... Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 3 11:44:39 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 3 11:46:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: MEGA-LITIGATION In-Reply-To: <46A95B22.9050804@ramin.com.au> References: <46A95B22.9050804@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: <46B28887.90800@ramin.com.au> something seems at odds between this article and the summing up in the C7 litigation below... > THE cost of business litigation is about to fall by millions of dollars as a result of rule changes by two of the nation's top commercial courts. > > The changes have been triggered by widespread discontent in the judiciary at the excessive cost of commercial litigation. > > It reached a crescendo with the massive C7 litigation in the Federal Court, which is estimated to have cost $200 million while generating 75,000 documents. > > The Federal Court and the NSW Supreme Court aim to put an end to the cost blow-outs by switching some of the most expensive litigation processes to computer technology. Marghanita da Cruz wrote: >> 1. THE DISPUTE >> >> 1 The heart of the dispute in this case is the complaint by ?Seven? >> (as I call the Applicants) that in May 2002 it was forced to shut down >> the business of C7 Pty Ltd (?C7?), a producer and distributor of >> sports channels for Australian pay television platforms. Seven says >> that the closure of C7?s business was forced on it because some of the >> Respondents, notably the News, PBL and Telstra parties and their >> associated corporations, engaged in anti-competitive conduct in >> contravention of ss 45 and 46 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) >> (?Trade Practices Act?), during the period from 1999 to 2001. >> >> 2. MEGA-LITIGATION >> >> 2 The case is an example of what is best described as >> ?mega-litigation?. By that expression, I mean civil litigation, >> usually involving multiple and separately represented parties, that >> consumes many months of court time and generates vast quantities of >> documentation in paper or electronic form. An invariable >> characteristic of mega-litigation is that it imposes a very large >> burden, not only on the parties, but on the court system and, through >> that system, the community. >> >> 3 Before briefly explaining the issues in the case and the outcome, I >> wish to record some of the features of this particular example of >> mega-litigation. >> >> 4 The trial lasted for 120 hearing days and took place in an >> electronic courtroom. Electronic trials have many advantages, but >> reducing the amount of documentation produced or relied on by the >> parties is not one of them. The outcome of the processes of discovery >> and production of documents in this case was an electronic database >> containing 85,653 documents, comprising 589,392 pages. Ultimately, >> 12,849 ?documents?, comprising 115,586 pages, were admitted into >> evidence. The Exhibit List would have been very much longer had I not >> rejected the tender of substantial categories of documents that the >> parties, particularly Seven, wished to have in evidence. >> >> 5 Quite apart from the evidence, the volume of written submissions >> filed by the parties was truly astonishing. Seven produced 1,556 pages >> of written Closing Submissions in Chief and 812 pages of Reply >> Submissions (not counting confidential portions of certain chapters >> and one electronic attachment containing spreadsheets which apparently >> runs for 8,900 or so pages). The Respondents managed to generate some >> 2,594 pages of written Closing Submissions between them. The parties? >> Closing Submissions were supplemented by yet further outlines, notes >> and summaries. > > > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From gdt at gdt.id.au Fri Aug 3 13:42:29 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Fri Aug 3 13:42:00 2007 Subject: [LINK] Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <46B271C0.1080508@lannet.com.au> References: <46A5F1DD.9020905@lannet.com.au> <46A6E875.7020502@ramin.com.au> <7.1.0.9.0.20070725172014.01e597f8@tomw.net.au> <20070802232417.9DA4C1ADC3@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <46B271C0.1080508@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <1186112549.9474.13.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> On Fri, 2007-08-03 at 10:07 +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: > Have the ACS stated what their official position is? Good question. My view, by the way, is that the national interest isn't served by ratifying OOXML as an international standard. There was a lot of national interest in having Microsoft document it's new file format, but that is amply achieved by the ECMA's publication of the OOXML specification. It would suit the national interest if Microsoft's limited patent license were less narrow, but proceeding down the international standards tracks won't made it any more broad. > It strikes me that as this is an SA forum and not an SA committee it has > no formal position within the SA determination on this matter. Last I checked it's also lacking an agenda. From wavey_one at yahoo.com Fri Aug 3 20:14:54 2007 From: wavey_one at yahoo.com (David Goldstein) Date: Fri Aug 3 20:15:05 2007 Subject: [LINK] should .au domain names be traded? Message-ID: <970399.95421.qm@web50505.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Hi all, auDA's Names Policy Panel is examining whether .au names should be able to be traded, and if so, what possible scenarios could exist to enable this. The Issues Paper at http://auda.org.au/pdf/2007npp-issues-paper.pdf outlines some of the pros and cons of allowing domain name trading. The issues are addressed from point 7.15 on in the Issues Paper. The minutes of the last meeting capture the discussion in regards to this, notably, what issues were discussed. See http://auda.org.au/2007npp/2007npp-19062007/ What I would like to know is what do people on the Link list think of the idea? Should domain names be able to be traded? If not, why not? If so, should there be any restrictions apart from existing eligibility requirements? I know a couple of people on the list have made submissions, but I'm particular keen to hear on other points of view, or if these people want to reinforce their points of view! I'm happy to receive correspondence either on or off list. Regards, David PS See http://technewsreview.com.au/ for the latest on internet news around the world - domain names, governance, censorship, cybercrime, spam, privacy, internet use and more! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Aug 3 21:41:55 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Aug 3 21:58:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] should .au domain names be traded? In-Reply-To: <970399.95421.qm@web50505.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <970399.95421.qm@web50505.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: At 3:14 -0700 3/8/07, David Goldstein wrote: >auDA's Names Policy Panel is examining whether .au names should be >able to be traded, and if so, what possible scenarios could exist to >enable this. The Issues Paper at >http://auda.org.au/pdf/2007npp-issues-paper.pdf outlines some of the >pros and cons of allowing domain name trading. ... >what do people on the Link list think of the idea? I can't see any evidence of having posted my submission to the Panel to link. (Strange - I don't usually hide my light under a bushell). >Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 05:06:54 +1000 >From: Roger Clarke >Subject: Submission to AuDA Names Policy Panel > >Mr Derek Whitehead >Chair >Names Policy Panel >.au Domain Administration Limited > > Attention Jo Lim, Chief Policy Officer, auDA > >Dear Derek > > Submission to AuDA Names Policy Panel > >I have reviewed the submission by John Selby of Macquarie >University, and strongly support it. > >I would add one further point. > >Allocating active names directly within .au would create an enormous >amount of additional contention over short names and acronyms. It >would not only re-open many old wounds, but also create new >conflicts. > >For example, ACS is *at least* .com: Advanced Client Services, >Australian Christian Services, Associated Computer Solutions, >.org/.asn: Australian Computer Society, Australian Cinematographers >Society, Aged and Community Services, Australian Cancer Society, >Australian Coastal Society, .gov: Australian Customs Service, and >.edu: Australian Correspondence Schools. (Those are all real, not >made up; and there are plenty more to choose from). > >In general, corporations have far greater power than small >businesses and non-profit organisations, and hence corporations >would win most battles, in some cases at considerable cost to the >smaller organisations. (The squelching of Virgin Helicopters by >Richard Branson's company is a lesson that needs to be remembered). > >If AuDA were to proceed with this ill-advised idea, then a >complementary design feature would be essential. This would provide >something similar to Wikipedia 'disambiguation' pages: the owner of >a .au page would be obliged by the terms of contract to >provide an initial page containing an index of any secondary links >that had been accepted for registration to the same domain-name. > >Using John Selby's example, if the owner of the whitegoods business >gained the rights to whirlpool.au, then the first page encountered >by the user would not be the whirlpool home-page, but instead a page >along the lines of: > > This is the home-page of > The full page will be displayed in 15 seconds, > or you can click here to go directly to it > > If you are looking for another organisation, > the following registrations also exist: > > - LINK:whirlpool.net.au - > - LINK:whirlpool.org.au - > - ... > > This service is provided under AuDA guidelines > >Another approach would be to require the owner to display on their >home-page a prominent display and link along the lines of FIND OTHER >ORGANISATIONS WITH SIMILAR NAMES. But this alternative would be far >from satisfactory to any of the parties. > >AuDA's policy re acceptance of registrations for secondary entries >would need to be liberal and practical. It would need to accept not >only any organisation that gains a registration under the relevant >policies applicable to any .au 2TLD, but also any organisation that >*would* gain such a registration if the relevant domain-name had not >already been assigned. > >Hence Virgin Helicopters, which it appears no longer owns any >virgin.xxx.au domain-name, would be accepted for registration for >the virgin.au domain. > >Would you please accept this as a formal submission, despite its >brevity and ASCII formatting. > >Regards -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From stephen at melbpc.org.au Fri Aug 3 22:47:09 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Fri Aug 3 22:47:20 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash Message-ID: <20070803124709.115A216FA7@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At 08:13 AM 3/08/2007, Marghanita writes: Regarding Microsoft's Howard writes: >> ...more vulnerable crap that runs on the browser and infects the PC. After the recent announcement of Silverlight by Microsoft at their Mix event in Vegas, Miguel de Icaza galvanised his team of developers in the Mono group at Novell to create a Linux implementation, called 'Moonlight'. They achieved this in 21 Days. > User agents should support Ogg Theora video and Ogg Vorbis audio, > as well as the Ogg container format. [THEORA] [VORBIS] [OGG] > > > My stuff on Linux OGG/Theora/Video Formats is at > > Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 4 04:18:52 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Aug 4 04:19:03 2007 Subject: [LINK] Particle Emission Characteristics of Printers Message-ID: <20070803181852.6CE6916FAD@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Hmm Of the .. "40% of the printers that were emitters, 27% were classed as high submicrometer particle emitters" School printers may pose health risk. Harmful particle emissions found in study of several common laser printers .. According to a recently published study, some commonly used printers are emitting toner particles. From eSchool News staff. August 3, 2007—Some of the laser printers used in classrooms, dorms, and school administrative offices could pose serious health risks as a result of the harmful emission of toner particles, according to a study by Australian researchers. According to the study, released Aug. 1 by the Queensland Department of Public Works .. Environ. Sci. Technol., ASAP Article 10.1021 Web Release Date: August 1, 2007 Copyright © 2007 American Chemical Society Particle Emission Characteristics of Office Printers Congrong He, Lidia Morawska and Len Taplin. International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD and Queensland Department of Public Works, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia Received / Revised / Accepted June 27, 2007 Abstract: In modern society, printers are widely used in the office environment. This study investigated particle number and PM2.5 emissions from printers .. The monitoring of particle characteristics in a large open-plan office showed that particles generated by printers can significantly (p = 0.01) affect the submicrometer particle number concentration levels in the office .. . 3.2. Printer Emission Investigation: Following the above findings, an investigation into printer emissions in the building was conducted. Based on the ratio of particle concentrations measured immediately after the printer printed one page, compared to the background office concentrations, the investigated printers were catalogued into four different classes, in terms of their particle emission levels, including: non-emitters (ratio 1); low emitters (ratio >1 and 5), medium emitters (ratio >5 and 10); and high emitters (ratio >10). A total of 62 different printers were investigated, including various models from CANON, HP COLOR LaserJet, HP LaserJet, RICOH, and TOSHIBA. Table 1 presents a summary of the results of the printer emission investigations, including printer brand and name, and the class of emissions. It can be seen that 37 of the printers were non-emitters, 6 were low, 2 were medium, and 17 were high emitters. Overall, 60% of the investigated printers were non-emitters and of the 40% that were emitters, 27% were classed as high submicrometer particle emitters. It can also be seen that the same model of a printer (in this case the HP LaserJet 5) can act as either a non-emitter or a high emitter, and further investigation should be conducted for this phenomena.. In summary, the chamber measurements confirmed that particle emissions start immediately after the printer starts operating, and they showed that in general, size distributions of the particles generated by the printer are monodisperse. They also showed that particle number and size distributions vary.. Table One: -- cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria, australia From ivan at itrundle.com Sat Aug 4 08:40:33 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Sat Aug 4 08:40:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash In-Reply-To: <20070803124709.115A216FA7@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070803124709.115A216FA7@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <79F1594C-F45C-4723-9E8A-A98490848486@itrundle.com> On 03/08/2007, at 12:47 PM, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > At 08:13 AM 3/08/2007, Marghanita writes: > > Regarding Microsoft's Howard writes: > >>> ...more vulnerable crap that runs on the browser and infects the PC. > > After the recent announcement of Silverlight by Microsoft at their Mix > event in Vegas, Miguel de Icaza galvanised his team of developers > in the > Mono group at Novell to create a Linux implementation, called > 'Moonlight'. > They achieved this in 21 Days. opensource/> > > > It'll all end in tears. I can't see any reason why either Flash or Silverlight, or Moonlight in 21 days, will get any real traction. The web developers that I talk to and lists that I subscribe to are all seeking ways of achieving flash-like effects without using plug- ins, proprietary or otherwise. Partly driven by accessibility, and partly by the desire to use open standards. Take a look at Apple's American website for how it's possible to implement lots of useful (and not so useful) - and flashy - code without resorting to Flash/Silverlight. I'm not suggesting that javascript has all of the answers (and it has some problems, too), but it's got a better long-term future, if web developers have a say in it. iT From georgebray at gmail.com Sat Aug 4 10:29:59 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Sat Aug 4 10:30:10 2007 Subject: [LINK] Cringely on US Broadband Competition Message-ID: <635bd2180708031729t2ae884e7n549a1d93d48cb273@mail.gmail.com> Cringely laments the effectiveness of the US broadband industry, compared with cheap fibre to the home offerings in Japan. "Game Over" U.S. broadband will need a miracle to become competitive again after years of bad policy and distraction. -- George Bray - University of Canberra, Australia From ivan at itrundle.com Sat Aug 4 11:48:42 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Sat Aug 4 11:48:54 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash In-Reply-To: <46B3D223.70001@lannet.com.au> References: <20070803124709.115A216FA7@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <79F1594C-F45C-4723-9E8A-A98490848486@itrundle.com> <46B3D223.70001@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <530A9987-942D-48CB-B88F-06BAB4A915E0@itrundle.com> On 04/08/2007, at 11:10 AM, Howard Lowndes wrote: >> Take a look at Apple's American website for how it's possible to >> implement lots of useful (and not so useful) - and flashy - code >> without resorting to Flash/Silverlight. > > ....it uses a Quicktime plugin - which is proprietary - so where is > the advantage? It does to display movies, but the UI and navigation no longer relies on Flash, or any other plugin. Try http://www.apple.com/mac/ as an example. Clicking and beginning to type in the search box gives dynamic search results, hovering over right-sidebar gives instant display. All using CSS and javascript. The point that I was trying to make is that it's possible to enhance the user experience without resorting to Flash or Silverlight. How well does Flash/Silverlight work for those who don't have/don't use plugins? Or for people with handicaps? From my experience in web delivery and UI development, Flash is a nightmare with inconsistent results and unpredictable in function and output. It also confuses the hell out of anyone over 30. But it's great for packaging some games, or mindless eye-candy. iT From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Sat Aug 4 12:18:34 2007 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Sat Aug 4 12:18:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> Message-ID: <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> Kevin Emery (Lists) wrote on 2/8/07 3:45 PM: Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? Why aren't the media all over this?? - If he's right, then he's indicted himself and the Three Amigos. - If he's wrong, then what is he doing in that job? Or are we so close to being the 51st state, that he and we can't distinguish between Aus & the USA? > http://www.industrysearch.com.au/news/viewrecord.aspx?id=27332 > > 2/08/2007 - There could be national security concerns if the federal > government allows the Optus-led G9 group of telcos to build a national high > speed broadband network, a top ranking Telstra executive says. > > > > Phil Burgess, .... > > "Why would you want somebody outside your country to control > telecommunications," > > "How could you have the nerve centre of the country not touch on national > security? > > "It goes right to the heart of national security. > > > Source: AAP NewsWire > > Best Regards > > Kevin Emery > Managing Director > West Australian Networks Pty Ltd, > WWW: http://www.westnet.net.au > Po Box 532, HILLARYS 6923 Western Australia > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sjenkin From link at todd.inoz.com Sat Aug 4 15:03:35 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Sat Aug 4 15:04:00 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <200708040503.l7453oap000938@ah.net> At 12:18 PM 4/08/2007, steve jenkin wrote: >Kevin Emery (Lists) wrote on 2/8/07 3:45 PM: > >Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one >of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on >about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? > >Why aren't the media all over this?? >- If he's right, then he's indicted himself and the Three Amigos. >- If he's wrong, then what is he doing in that job? > >Or are we so close to being the 51st state, that he and we can't >distinguish between Aus & the USA? We're a prison colony. It doesn't matter what happens here as long as it doesn't affect the rest of the world. If it does, then the troops will be sent in and we'll be lined up with our hands on our heads. From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 4 19:21:23 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sat Aug 4 19:27:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 12:18 PM 4/08/2007, steve jenkin wrote: >distinguish between Aus & the USA? Didn't you know? AUS is an acronym for A United State. ;-) But yes, I did think it was a bit rich for him to be talking about 'foreign owners'. There are still quite a few of those of his own company, although limited by the legislation. Here's a question for you. How does the govt intend to make Telstra keep the CDMA network operating? Wasn't there a little thing called a 'privatisation' not long ago? Is the threat that Howard/Coonan will 'nationalise' the company? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From georgebray at gmail.com Sat Aug 4 21:41:03 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Sat Aug 4 21:41:14 2007 Subject: [LINK] Microsoft's Flash In-Reply-To: <20070802192724.0C127168FB@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070802192724.0C127168FB@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <635bd2180708040441p5cd47764ofe0cb31c1a3ae3b4@mail.gmail.com> On 8/3/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Again, why should we care? If you're a cynic, Silverlight just looks like > Microsoft's answer to Flash. Actually, it's Microsoft's answer to Adobe's AIR, a conflagration of Flash, Flex and their own scripting environment and browser plugin. http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/ The sad thing is that both of them will try to be "the platform", but neither will be ubiquitous, and both will be buggy resource hogs, badly implemented in all browsers for many years to come. Let's not discuss the new wave of security vulnerabilities they will bring. Ivan's right, there will be tears. As history has told us, those trying to implement these fantastically complex environments first will be the first to cry. George Web 0.5 Evangelist From link at todd.inoz.com Sat Aug 4 22:29:13 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Sat Aug 4 22:30:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <200708041229.l74CTp1N010853@ah.net> At 07:21 PM 4/08/2007, you wrote: >At 12:18 PM 4/08/2007, steve jenkin wrote: >>distinguish between Aus & the USA? > >Didn't you know? AUS is an acronym for A United State. ;-) ROFL! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH! Oh gawd wish I'd had that one last night when I went out! You are so funny! >But yes, I did think it was a bit rich for him to be talking about >'foreign owners'. There are still quite a few of those of his own >company, although limited by the legislation. Pffft, and how is this different? Australia is made up of foreign people and now the Fed Government is taking away the lands from families in the North yet again. They say history repeats every 200 years or so :) >Here's a question for you. How does the govt intend to make Telstra >keep the CDMA network operating? Wasn't there a little thing called >a 'privatisation' not long ago? Is the threat that Howard/Coonan >will 'nationalise' the company? Me? Personally? Ha! No, be interesting to see others opinions on this. I don't think they can. Although the legislation relating to Telstra from an infrastructure requirement hasn't changed :) And of course now being freed of Telstra as a major shareholder the Government can now put money into whatever infrastructure and whatever companies it desires. As is currently seen with the Optus Broadband fiasco and Telstra taking the Minister to the Federal Court. I guess when you loose your major Government shareholder, you have to expect to be treated as an outsider :) Telstra enjoyed 15 years of funding from the Government coffers whilst other telcos suffered in being set up. I'm surprised to be honest that no one tested the Constitutional requirement that Government not operate or be a majority shareholder of a competing commercial enterprise. This was by the Government Printer shut down many years ago. It was very cheap and more and more people were starting to use it at the expense of other suburban business printers. Eventually it become a major political issue. From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sun Aug 5 02:51:01 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sun Aug 5 02:51:12 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early Message-ID: <20070804165101.3863E164DB@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At 12:18 PM 4/08/2007, Steve writes: > Kevin writes on 2/8/07 3:45 PM: > >> Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one >> of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on >> about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? Yes .. it's astonishing .. get rid of the idiot, and his whole team. As an aside, I understand the chief rival for Trujerko when he got the job was a very talented Australian Telstra person, whom has now left the company :-( Is it foolish to hope that Telstra will ever again work WITH the Ausssie Government Communications Minister, and help to build a better Australia? Telstra, Coonan to slug it out in court By Michael Sainsbury and Jennifer Hewett August 04, 2007 12:00am IN an escalation of its acrimonious battle with the federal Government, Telstra is taking Communications Minister Helen Coonan to court. The proceedings in the Federal Court, which began yesterday, centre on Senator Coonan's recent decision to give nearly $1billion to Telstra's main rival, Singtel Optus, to improve regional broadband services. The move comes after attacks on the Government over the past week by Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie, chief executive Sol Trujillo and regulatory chief Phil Burgess. In what is essentially a fishing expedition, Telstra wants the court to force Senator Coonan to hand over documents explaining how this decision was made. The action is the most personal yet in the poisonous relationship between the telco and the minister. A spokesman said Telstra was unaware of any precedent for its actions. Senator Coonan said: "The fact that no one can hide from is that Telstra put in a bid for funding; it was independently assessed and then soundly beaten by a superior bid from Opel. "According to Telstra's own admission, its bid would have covered only 250,000 under-served premises, less than half that covered by Opel." "This is just a case of an ordinary bid being blown out of the water by an outstanding bid and the loser not happy with the umpire's decision." > Why aren't the media all over this?? > - If he's right, then he's indicted himself and the Three Amigos. > - If he's wrong, then what is he doing in that job? > > Or are we so close to being the 51st state, that he and we can't > distinguish between Aus & the USA? >-- > http://www.industrysearch.com.au/news/viewrecord.aspx?id=27332 > > 2/08/2007 - There could be national security concerns if the federal > government allows the Optus-led G9 group of telcos to build a national > high speed broadband network, a top ranking Telstra executive says. > > Phil Burgess, .... > > "Why would you want somebody outside your country to control > telecommunications," > > "How could you have the nerve centre of the country not touch on national > security? > > "It goes right to the heart of national security. > > > Source: AAP NewsWire > > Best Regards > > Kevin Emery > Managing Director > West Australian Networks Pty Ltd, > WWW: http://www.westnet.net.au > Po Box 532, HILLARYS 6923 Western Australia > >-- > Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. > 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) > PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA > sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sjenkin Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From cas at taz.net.au Sun Aug 5 09:08:28 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Sun Aug 5 09:08:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 12:18:34PM +1000, steve jenkin wrote: > Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one > of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on > about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? it was the first thing i thought when i heard it. the second was "that was one of the many reasons why telstra shouldnt have been privatised". craig -- craig sanders Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion. -- Mike Coleman From david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au Sun Aug 5 16:39:08 2007 From: david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au (David Boxall) Date: Sun Aug 5 16:39:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] In-Reply-To: <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> On Sun, Aug 05, 2007 at 9:08 AM Craig Sanders wrote: > On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 12:18:34PM +1000, steve jenkin wrote: >> Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one >> of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on >> about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? > > it was the first thing i thought when i heard it. the second was "that was > one of the many reasons why telstra shouldnt have been privatised". Let me tell you a story:- 18 July: phone line damage reported to Telstra. 19 July: temporary repair effected, leaving wiring clipped together in the bottom of a trench, protected by plastic bags. 26 July: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has been closed off and no follow-up organised. Follow-up arranged. 27 July: A linesman arrives, looks at the mess, says something about how it can be permanently repaired, then leaves. 2 August: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has been closed off and no follow-up organised. Appointment made for the following day. 4 August: a phone call to Telstra faults elicits the response that a permanent repair was effected by reprogramming the ISDN terminal adapter. A quick look in the trench reveals the same mess, but it rained on the 3rd so it's looking a bit soggy. Needless to say, the job has been closed off. I do my best angry customer act. Over the past ten months, my service has been out of action four times. Telstra has shown that they will go to extraordinary lengths to claim exemptions from legislated obligations (OK; there was one natural disaster, but no excuse is infinite and Energy Australia's performance put Telstra to shame). If they can get away with it, Telstra will always claim that work can't be done until a date at least two weeks in the future. From my experience, I have to declare the commercial experiment a failure. The privatised Telstra has demonstrated that it is not a fit custodian of the nation's telecommunications infrastructure. It's time for compulsory resumption of the infrastructure into public ownership. -- David Boxall | "Cheer up" they said. | "Things could be worse." | So I cheered up and, | Sure enough, things got worse. | --Murphy's musing From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Sun Aug 5 18:04:58 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Aug 5 18:11:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] rant - online shopping websites Message-ID: <61fg7n$4r331l@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Linkers, I thought I'd do some price comparison between the big two before going out for my groceries this week. Wow, what a shocking situation! Coles is where I started. It's full of js and its shopping area has FIVE frames. What a disaster. It has flashing pictures, instructions to use the Browse Aisles area, which is nowhere to be seen. The left column frame words run 'under' the central frame, so you can't read them without a horizontal scroll. Wait -- I went back to the beginning and the Browse Aisles had disappeared after I had selected a different button, funnily enough, the first one on the list called My Shop. Once I found that, it is pretty cool. Provides the per unit price on some items without me having to do the division in my head. [but given that it's not based on the store prices, there is more to this story as I found out] Safeway is interesting. No frames, but not the whole product line. For example, search for toilet paper, and the returned result is a holder, not the paper. Coles has 56 choices. Then I went to the product search screen which allows you to put in multiple products (at least according to the instructions). Put in toilet paper, tea and cheese. The only result--you guessed it--toilet paper holder. They don't sell tea online? Pitiful. Wait -- there is a drop down box! And there is the cheese and tea. No earl grey, though. [found on the Coles result list] The cheese list is interesting. Includes every instance of the word, including dog and cat food varieties. Adding 'tasty' helped, but not the price! Home Brand Tasty 1kg block is $8.12. In the shop it's around $6. That's a 25% markup. Now, while I've been scoping out the competition, the Coles 'session' logged out and is asking me to log in to resume shopping. I didn't log in in the first place, but it's evidently put a cookie somewhere because even my backup commands are sending me off to the same login screen. I feel like saying several naughty words that I'm thinking now. I was able to go back to the very beginning of the session and get the browse icons back. OK, back to the cheese, Coles' brand is even higher - $8.63. Then there is this little thing called a Service Fee and Redelivery fee. They are listed on the FAQ, except the embedded link to them doesn't work. If you didn't know HTML, you might think they didn't want the prospective customer to read that bit. I just clicked on the closest one that worked and scrolled to the right spot. That little puppy is an extra $8-$15. Redelivery is $10. Safeway is similar, with $15.90 their top level. So, can't do price comparison of store prices, costs a bomb, and has design problems. Thank goodness I'm mobile and not reliant on this. /rant/ Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From georgebray at gmail.com Sun Aug 5 21:13:21 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Sun Aug 5 21:13:33 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] In-Reply-To: <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <635bd2180708050413g6f01e577sb80d738b3b2f3246@mail.gmail.com> On 8/5/07, David Boxall wrote: >It's time for compulsory resumption of the infrastructure into public ownership. That sounds like "on just terms". Tell him he's dreaming. Maybe we need Bud Tingwell to sort out the Telstra mess. g Nostalgia enclosed: http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/01/28/castle_wideweb__430x293.jpg From kauer at biplane.com.au Sun Aug 5 22:29:10 2007 From: kauer at biplane.com.au (Karl Auer) Date: Sun Aug 5 22:29:23 2007 Subject: [LINK] OFF TOPIC: Where does the phrase "purple pissing" come from? Message-ID: <1186316950.5803.43.camel@karl> It's hugely off topic, but a group so eclectic as Link may succeed where all my Google mojo failed: Where does the term "purple pissing" come from? It was famously used by General Patton to refer to the Japanese. It is used in the play "Dimboola", too, where one of the characters refers to a "purple-pissing Protestant". I've found it used to insult many other groups and individuals, but apart from discovering that there is a variety of plum called the "purple pissing plum" I am no closer to finding out where it comes from or what (if anything) it *means*. Even without a meaning, I'd be interested in pointers to its earliest use. Regards, K. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer (kauer@biplane.com.au) +61-2-64957160 (h) http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/ +61-428-957160 (mob) From scott at doc.net.au Sun Aug 5 22:48:10 2007 From: scott at doc.net.au (Scott Howard) Date: Sun Aug 5 22:49:04 2007 Subject: [LINK] OFF TOPIC: Where does the phrase "purple pissing" come from? In-Reply-To: <1186316950.5803.43.camel@karl> References: <1186316950.5803.43.camel@karl> Message-ID: <20070805124810.GA8307@milliways.doc.net.au> On Sun, Aug 05, 2007 at 10:29:10PM +1000, Karl Auer wrote: > It's hugely off topic, but a group so eclectic as Link may succeed where > all my Google mojo failed: Very much off topic, but... > Where does the term "purple pissing" come from? It was famously used by It's a reference to the use of Gentian Violet in order to treat various venereal diseases. Gentian Violet is also used as a purple die. I'll leave it to you to put 2 and 2 together... :) Scott From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Mon Aug 6 09:29:46 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Aug 6 09:35:17 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer Message-ID: <61fg7n$4r9pjo@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Interesting article in the Age today: http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/hard-to-get-analog-aussies-over-digital-divide/2007/08/05/1186252543127.html Hard to get analog Aussies over TV digital divide Ross Honeywill August 6, 2007 Basic point: it's a digital barrier, not a divide, and moving the turn-off date doesn't solve it. It's a different perspective than we normally take on Link. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Mon Aug 6 09:47:46 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Mon Aug 6 10:03:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] hCalendar Microformat in Moodle Courseware System? Message-ID: <20070806000330.B239E16339@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Perhaps someone could try my first attempt at hCalendar and let me know if it is syntactically correct (Login as Guest): ? hCalendar is a microformat for embedding event details in web pages. The calendar function in the Moodle courseware system doesn't have hCalendar built in. So I used hCalendar creator to mark up the date, time and other details. I then pasted that into the Moodle editor. Details at: . The Microformats idea of embedding formatted data in ordinary web pages is a bit of a cludge but seems a good idea, if we have systems to create and read the data. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From link at todd.inoz.com Mon Aug 6 10:02:43 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Mon Aug 6 10:12:45 2007 Subject: [LINK] rant - online shopping websites In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4r331l@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4r331l@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <200708060012.l760C7Qp020271@ah.net> At 06:04 PM 5/08/2007, Jan Whitaker wrote: >Linkers, I thought I'd do some price comparison between the big two >before going out for my groceries this week. Wow, what a shocking >situation! Coles is where I started. It's full of js and its >shopping area has FIVE frames. Jan, this is why we gave up on Home Delivery Grocery Shopping a long long time ago. Rarely are the prices even comparable. The time you spend online going round the process of selecting and item, then a qty and then going through the confirmation process is longer than me ducking up to the shop, going to the shelf, loading my trolly and checking out. ALDI opened and the online prices are generally 35-60% higher, and now we have a coles and a wollies with an ALDI all in the same building the price war is on. Our grocery bill has dropped 13% the last fortnight and my ALDI manager tells me expect even better pricing and special deals. I pity however the old Green Grocer who was pushed out of the local market by Wollies under cutting their prices every time. Although anyone with intelligence and a lust for quality food bought from the grocer he was compelled by market demand to drop his prices to avoid people taking a lower quality for lower price. Anyway, online shopping is for those who have a psychological belief that it's better. From link at todd.inoz.com Mon Aug 6 09:57:35 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Mon Aug 6 10:12:55 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] In-Reply-To: <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <200708060012.l760C7Qn020271@ah.net> Log a formal complaint in the, um, well it use to be called CICERO, but I incremented the complaint count too much they wanted to start again :) Also make a complaint to the TIO :) It costs them bucks :) BTW Telstra is not the "custodian" of the network infrastructure, it owns it. If it were a custodian, then the infrastructure could be given or transferred to the management of anyone. Sadly Australians voted for the Sale of Telstra and the Infrastructure into private hands. So we only have ourselves to blame. (Except me, I didn't cast a vote in the last Fed Election, there wasn't anyone I could vote for with the confidence of being represented and my vote should I have cast it would have made no difference.) At 04:39 PM 5/08/2007, David Boxall wrote: >On Sun, Aug 05, 2007 at 9:08 AM Craig Sanders wrote: >>On Sat, Aug 04, 2007 at 12:18:34PM +1000, steve jenkin wrote: >>>Did no-one else catch the irony of a Foreign National in charge of one >>>of our largest public companies (in fact, part of a Troika) banging on >>>about the dangers of having Foreign Nationals in charge?? >> >>it was the first thing i thought when i heard it. the second was "that was >>one of the many reasons why telstra shouldnt have been privatised". >Let me tell you a story:- >18 July: phone line damage reported to Telstra. >19 July: temporary repair effected, leaving wiring clipped together >in the bottom of a trench, protected by plastic bags. >26 July: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has >been closed off and no follow-up organised. Follow-up arranged. >27 July: A linesman arrives, looks at the mess, says something about >how it can be permanently repaired, then leaves. >2 August: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has >been closed off and no follow-up organised. Appointment made for >the following day. >4 August: a phone call to Telstra faults elicits the response that a >permanent repair was effected by reprogramming the ISDN terminal >adapter. A quick look in the trench reveals the same mess, but it >rained on the 3rd so it's looking a bit soggy. Needless to say, the >job has been closed off. I do my best angry customer act. > >Over the past ten months, my service has been out of action four times. >Telstra has shown that they will go to extraordinary lengths to >claim exemptions from legislated obligations (OK; there was one >natural disaster, but no excuse is infinite and Energy Australia's >performance put Telstra to shame). If they can get away with it, >Telstra will always claim that work can't be done until a date at >least two weeks in the future. > > From my experience, I have to declare the commercial experiment a > failure. The privatised Telstra has demonstrated that it is not a > fit custodian of the nation's telecommunications > infrastructure. It's time for compulsory resumption of the > infrastructure into public ownership. From pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au Mon Aug 6 10:55:59 2007 From: pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au (Paul Brooks) Date: Mon Aug 6 10:57:33 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46B6719F.7020107@layer10.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > > Here's a question for you. How does the govt intend to make Telstra > keep the CDMA network operating? Wasn't there a little thing called a > 'privatisation' not long ago? Is the threat that Howard/Coonan will > 'nationalise' the company? A License Condition, probably broadly similar to the one that mandated replacement of the AMPS system with a digital equivalent. All holders of a carrier license have to comply with license conditions, regardless of ownership structure. Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997 From lealink at viking.org.au Mon Aug 6 11:26:01 2007 From: lealink at viking.org.au (Lea de Groot) Date: Mon Aug 6 11:27:43 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] In-Reply-To: <200708060012.l760C7Qn020271@ah.net> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> <200708060012.l760C7Qn020271@ah.net> Message-ID: <20070806112601347012.e732b612@viking.org.au> On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:57:35 +1000, Adam Todd wrote: > (Except me, I didn't cast a vote in the last Fed Election, there > wasn't anyone I could vote for with the confidence of being > represented and my vote should I have cast it would have made no > difference.) Well, really, you should have attended the polling booth anyway and voted informally. Not marked the ballot in any way that could have been interpreted as a vote and written on it what you thought of the candidates. Everyone (well, perhaps not everyone here ;)) thinks an e-voting system will sing and dance, but it will lose an important facet of the current paper system - Human scrutineers. These people not only check that the vote is being counted correctly but also view the physical ballots, and will see a trend such as 'No Dams', etc and will report back to their party (because the majority are from a party) on what The Peepul want. See, there is a point to voting informally. Although I can almost always find someone I want to vote against :) Lea -- Lea de Groot Brissie From wavey_one at yahoo.com Mon Aug 6 12:50:50 2007 From: wavey_one at yahoo.com (David Goldstein) Date: Mon Aug 6 12:51:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] Message-ID: <680832.1009.qm@web50512.mail.re2.yahoo.com> On electronic voting, I've put some stories on my website, but in short: 1. "This year's federal election will be the first to engage electronic voting when blind or vision impaired people will be able to vote at 29 locations across Australia. 2. The California Secretary of State moved strongly on Friday to corral electronic-voting problems found in independent tests conducted on machines previously certified for use in that state. See http://technewsreview.com.au/cat.php?cat=6 for links to these stories... David ----- Original Message ---- From: Lea de Groot To: link@anu.edu.au Sent: Monday, 6 August, 2007 11:26:01 AM Subject: Re: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:57:35 +1000, Adam Todd wrote: > (Except me, I didn't cast a vote in the last Fed Election, there > wasn't anyone I could vote for with the confidence of being > represented and my vote should I have cast it would have made no > difference.) Well, really, you should have attended the polling booth anyway and voted informally. Not marked the ballot in any way that could have been interpreted as a vote and written on it what you thought of the candidates. Everyone (well, perhaps not everyone here ;)) thinks an e-voting system will sing and dance, but it will lose an important facet of the current paper system - Human scrutineers. These people not only check that the vote is being counted correctly but also view the physical ballots, and will see a trend such as 'No Dams', etc and will report back to their party (because the majority are from a party) on what The Peepul want. See, there is a point to voting informally. Although I can almost always find someone I want to vote against :) Lea -- Lea de Groot Brissie _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html From wavey_one at yahoo.com Mon Aug 6 19:28:33 2007 From: wavey_one at yahoo.com (David Goldstein) Date: Mon Aug 6 19:28:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer Message-ID: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> If our government had the foresight of the Brits on digital television, then maybe more people would be keen, but then they have their problems too. When you compare Freeview - http://freeview.co.uk/ - with what Howard outlined below, then it's no wonder so few Australians take up digital television... David ----- Original Message ---- From: Howard Lowndes Cc: link@anu.edu.au Sent: Monday, 6 August, 2007 2:52:02 PM Subject: Re: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer Jan Whitaker wrote: > Interesting article in the Age today: > http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/hard-to-get-analog-aussies-over-digital-divide/2007/08/05/1186252543127.html > > > Hard to get analog Aussies over TV digital divide > Ross Honeywill > August 6, 2007 > > Basic point: it's a digital barrier, not a divide, and moving the > turn-off date doesn't solve it. It's a different perspective than we > normally take on Link. I guess that I am one who has jumped the digital hurdle, or am at least still airborne and landing on the far side. I have a very old TV that has been in the repair shop twice in its life already and I guess that its next trip will bypass to the tip, and having just had to replace a geriatric refrigerator and about to do the same with a washing machine, I decided that I needed to look at a TV options and at least see what digital TV offered. That was amplified by being a Linux bigot and wanting to play with MythTV. At this stage I have got digital TV working fine with the frontend being, either the same box as the backend, or wifi to my laptop. (Yes, I have got an ugly tower sitting in the lounge room, but then I don't have anyone to nag me about it, except the cat - I'm planning on building a more acceptable box for it down the line). I also went to the steps of replacing my antenna. My old one was a VHF/UHF antenna pointing south to Mt Baranduda at about 20km; now I have a 13db UHF antenna pointing north-east to North Albury at about 4km. So, what do I get with digital TV? I get good pictures, including HDTV, though my current processor (AMD 1GHz) is not man enough to decode a wide screen 16:9 HD signal and stream it cleanly to a frontend; it will handle a standard 4:3 HD signal and stream it. Actually MythTV does a better job of getting the video and audio streams than the Winders software that came with the capture card. What about content? ABC offers: ABC SD } ABC TV Victoria } all the same content ABC HD } ABC 2 some time shifted content from ABC and some new ABC DiG Radio ABC DiG Jazz SBS offers: SBS SD } SBS 2 } all the same content SBS HD } SBS NEWS SBS Radio 1 SBS Radio 2 Prime offers: Prime Albury } Prime HD } Prime View 1 } all the same content Prime View 2 } Prime View 3 } WIN offers: WIN Upper Murray } WIN HD } all the same content SC10 offers: SC10 } SC10 HD } all the same content MyTalk To I get additionally ABC 2 as a new channel, SBS News which is non-English, 2 radio channels mostly non-English and 2 music channels. I understand that current legislation does not allow the commercial channels to multi-channel. If the government wants to promote the move from analogue to digital then it has to facilitate more content and quality content, not just more channels of cheap to produce "reality" shows. One other thing that has to be got right is for the channels to ensure that their EITs are: 1. Correct, esp at the end and start of programs 2. Appropriate to the region - Prime Albury EIT is not what is broadcast 3. Forward looking - WIN is currently looking forward 3 days, Prime is looking forward 1.5 days but is incorrect for the local region, ABC about .5 days and SBS and SC10, you're lucky if they tell you what the current program is let alone the next one due up. The forward schedules are available for the analogue channels The Winders software has no provision for accessing the EIT stream. So, my recommendations are: 1. more quality content that are not just advert fillers 2. a more reliable EIT stream -- Howard. LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people When you want a computer system that works, just choose Linux; When you want a computer system that works, just, choose Microsoft. -- Flatter government, not fatter government; abolish the Australian states. _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html From liddy at sunriseresearch.org Mon Aug 6 23:53:13 2007 From: liddy at sunriseresearch.org (Liddy Nevile) Date: Tue Aug 7 00:23:54 2007 Subject: [LINK] OOXML problems Message-ID: <774136BB-38F0-462F-8852-EEDC449B5D53@sunriseresearch.org> Just in case people are interested, I have attached the url to a paper by Jutta Treviranus et al that might be of interest with respect to problems with OOXML for accessibility: http://www.atrc.utoronto.ca/index.php? option=com_content§ionid=14&task=view&hidemainmenu=1&id=371 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Aug 7 09:46:16 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Tue Aug 7 09:46:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australia: Networked Nation - talk to ACS NQ AGM 7 Feb Message-ID: <20070806234639.C01F23E4@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> I wrote Fri, 2 Feb 1996 23:21:52 +1100 : >... this "future history" contains some comment >on the IT and telecommunications policies of >both the current Government and opposition, >contesting the Federal election. ... Be careful what you put online as you never know who will quote it, ten years later before another election: "In 1996, the then President of the Australian Computer Society, Mr Tom Worthington ? whom I am pleased to see is here today?gave a speech in which he envisioned the world 10 years on in 2005. In this tongue-in-cheek vision, he predicted the winner of the 1996 election would de-regulate the Telecommunications industry; I am happy to report his skills as a seer were spot on when we were elected a year later, and did in fact get the Telstra privatisation underway. Tom also predicted that Telstra and Optus would rollout a significant cable network for Pay TV; and they certainly have. And he predicted that competition from Internet voice applications would start to destroy the long distance monopoly the telcos had enjoyed. Again, Tom was on the money. ..." From: Developing a National ICT Capability, Address to ACS Council Breakfast, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Canberra, Friday 25 May 2007: . ;-) Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From cas at taz.net.au Tue Aug 7 10:51:02 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Aug 7 10:51:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 02:28:33AM -0700, David Goldstein wrote: > If our government had the foresight of the Brits on digital > television, then maybe more people would be keen, but then they have > their problems too. When you compare Freeview - http://freeview.co.uk/ > - with what Howard outlined below, then it's no wonder so few > Australians take up digital television... i just don't get it. an SD set top box costs $50 or less these days, and greatly improves both reception and picture/sound quality (if you get a signal at all, it'll be perfect. otherwise nothing). that's significantly less than what people spend on getting a new antenna installed to improve reception. more channels may or may not be desirable (IF they included some variety rather than just more of the same crap american cop shows, banal dramas, and reality tv garbage), but IMO the improvement in quality is worth it anyway. if they cost $50 retail, with profit included, they must land in the country from china at about $20 or maybe $30. if the govt really wants to accelerate the adoption of digital TV, it could bulk order a lot of them and give them to low income households so that they are not disadvantaged by the changeover. craig -- craig sanders "Christ came, and Christianity arose...But originating in Judaism, which knew woman only as a being bereft of all rights, and biased by the Biblical conception which saw in her the source of all evil, Christianity preached contempt for women." [August Bebel, "Woman and Socialism", 1893] From marghanita at ramin.com.au Tue Aug 7 11:10:17 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Tue Aug 7 11:11:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46B7C679.9090100@ramin.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 02:28:33AM -0700, David Goldstein wrote: >> If our government had the foresight of the Brits on digital >> television, then maybe more people would be keen, but then they have >> their problems too. When you compare Freeview - http://freeview.co.uk/ >> - with what Howard outlined below, then it's no wonder so few >> Australians take up digital television... > > i just don't get it. an SD set top box costs $50 or less these days, > and greatly improves both reception and picture/sound quality (if you > get a signal at all, it'll be perfect. otherwise nothing). that's > significantly less than what people spend on getting a new antenna > installed to improve reception. > > more channels may or may not be desirable (IF they included some variety > rather than just more of the same crap american cop shows, banal dramas, > and reality tv garbage), but IMO the improvement in quality is worth it > anyway. > > > if they cost $50 retail, with profit included, they must land in the > country from china at about $20 or maybe $30. if the govt really wants > to accelerate the adoption of digital TV, it could bulk order a lot > of them and give them to low income households so that they are not > disadvantaged by the changeover. > Following David's reference, > All this great TV deserves great reception, so it might be a good idea to get your aerial checked. You can get in touch with the Confederation of Aerial Industries (CAI) www.cai.org.uk or the Independent Digital Standards Commission (IDSC) www.idsc.uk.com who can give you details of one or more aerial engineers who operate in your area. noting Howards comments, and a neighbour's interest in an outside antennae having purchased a giant TV, it seems this could be another area of skills shortage. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au Tue Aug 7 20:18:05 2007 From: david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au (David Boxall) Date: Tue Aug 7 20:25:34 2007 Subject: [LINK] Friday funny a little early In-Reply-To: <46B6719F.7020107@layer10.com.au> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <61fg7n$4qrau5@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46B6719F.7020107@layer10.com.au> Message-ID: <46B846DD.6010304@hunterlink.net.au> Paul Brooks wrote: > Jan Whitaker wrote: >> >> Here's a question for you. How does the govt intend to make Telstra >> keep the CDMA network operating? Wasn't there a little thing called a >> 'privatisation' not long ago? Is the threat that Howard/Coonan will >> 'nationalise' the company? > A License Condition, probably broadly similar to the one that mandated > replacement of the AMPS system with a digital equivalent. All holders > of a carrier license have to comply with license conditions, > regardless of ownership structure. > CDMA is not 'equivalent' to AMPS. I'm told there are places that had AMPS coverage where CDMA is still not available. NextG is said to be even worse. -- David Boxall | I have seen the past | And it worked. | --TJ Hooker From david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au Tue Aug 7 20:41:58 2007 From: david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au (David Boxall) Date: Tue Aug 7 20:42:18 2007 Subject: [LINK] Take the infrastructure back [Was: Friday funny a little early] In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708050413g6f01e577sb80d738b3b2f3246@mail.gmail.com> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <46B3E1FA.3000701@canb.auug.org.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> <635bd2180708050413g6f01e577sb80d738b3b2f3246@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <46B84C76.2060304@hunterlink.net.au> George Bray wrote: > On 8/5/07, David Boxall wrote: >> It's time for compulsory resumption of the infrastructure into public > ownership. > > That sounds like "on just terms". Tell him he's dreaming. Maybe we > need Bud Tingwell to sort out the Telstra mess. > > g > > > Nostalgia enclosed: > http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/01/28/castle_wideweb__430x293.jpg Yes George, Terms as just as those offered to landholders whose property is resumed (for example, for dams or roads). Wouldn't any deal that doesn't involve a firing squad for Telstra management be overly generous? David Boxall | Laugh and the world laughs with you | Snarl and you get better service. | -- Anon From stephen at melbpc.org.au Tue Aug 7 21:38:14 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (Stephen Loosley) Date: Tue Aug 7 21:39:02 2007 Subject: [LINK] 'flurry of gov action in telecommunications' Message-ID: <20070807113848.28D7A64019@vscan59.melbpc.org.au> Coonan opens up broadband race Michael Sainsbury | August 07, 2007 THE federal Government is poised to unveil the guidelines and timetable for the $5 billion-plus residential broadband network that has been at the centre of its escalating dispute with Telstra. Senator Helen Coonan's plan could help kill off broadband as an election issue The process, which will be revealed as early as today, is expected to run beyond the federal election, helping to neuter broadband as an election issue. Interested parties are to be given an initial period of 30 days for comment on the draft guidelines. Both Telstra and a rival Optus-led group known as G9 have released some details of their plans, but the Government is hoping to attract wider participation. At least one offshore telco and one international infrastructure player are understood to be interested in the project. "If you are going to have anyone new in this race, you have got to give them some time to be able to get a bid together," Communications Minister Helen Coonan told The Australian. The release of details for the network comes amid a flurry of government action in the telecommunications sector, which included imposition of a new licence condition that may delay the January 2008 closure of Telstra's CDMA network. Senator Coonan said yesterday she had made the decision because Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo had told her the Next G network would not be available for testing until October, rather than August as originally promised. With testing taking up to 12 weeks, the change would leave the Government little time before Telstra's proposed January 28 switch-off date. "They said it would be available for testing about now and their own timetable has slipped to October," Senator Coonan said. "This is intended to give punters some comfort." Senator Coonan said she had asked Mr Trujillo in June to put back the switch-over date, but he had refused. Telstra spokesman Jeremy Mitchell said: "If the Government now wants to take a backward-looking view, rather than looking to the future of this nation, that would be disturbing to Telstra, its shareholders and its customers." Senator Coonan is understood to have received the draft guidelines for the so-called fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network on Friday and plans to release them mid-week. "Once people have commented, the final guideline will be released in September," she said. "The taskforce committee (which consists of bureaucrats and business people) has already received plenty of input." But Telstra continues to send out mixed messages about whether it will participate in the project, while working on alternatives. On the other hand, the Government may have to make major legislative changes to force Telstra to work with any rival network, which may see Telstra resort to the courts once more. -- Cheers, people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia . From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Wed Aug 8 08:08:15 2007 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (Richard Chirgwin) Date: Wed Aug 8 08:08:26 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 02:28:33AM -0700, David Goldstein wrote: > >> If our government had the foresight of the Brits on digital >> television, then maybe more people would be keen, but then they have >> their problems too. When you compare Freeview - http://freeview.co.uk/ >> - with what Howard outlined below, then it's no wonder so few >> Australians take up digital television... >> > > i just don't get it. an SD set top box costs $50 or less these days, > and greatly improves both reception and picture/sound quality (if you > get a signal at all, it'll be perfect. otherwise nothing). that's > significantly less than what people spend on getting a new antenna > installed to improve reception. > The problem is that some people just don't care. I don't like to argue solely from myself as the example, but I don't watch that much TV; reception is good enough on analogue with a standard antenna for the amount of TV I watch. Since I catch news and weather, a little sport, Dr Who and not-much-else, there's nothing that I want that digital can pitch to. So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, it's just that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I give money to someone for a product I don't want? I guess another piece of the consumer psychology has to do with the multiple-TVs problem. Someone with three analogue TVs in the house has a choice: - Get multiple STBs - Replace all the TVs (harking back to my non-watching habits, I haven't bothered with a plasma or LCD either) - Get one STB and try to reticulate it throughout the house All of these look singularly unpalatable to the hour-a-day TV watcher. RC > more channels may or may not be desirable (IF they included some variety > rather than just more of the same crap american cop shows, banal dramas, > and reality tv garbage), but IMO the improvement in quality is worth it > anyway. > > > if they cost $50 retail, with profit included, they must land in the > country from china at about $20 or maybe $30. if the govt really wants > to accelerate the adoption of digital TV, it could bulk order a lot > of them and give them to low income households so that they are not > disadvantaged by the changeover. > > craig > > From georgebray at gmail.com Wed Aug 8 08:52:22 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Wed Aug 8 08:52:32 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years Message-ID: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> > Again, Tom was on the money. High praise Tom. But what's going to happen in the *next* ten years? Will we still have belligerent monopolist limiting our IT progress? Will we all have wristwatch iPhones? How far will the national WiMax network reach? Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have nothing to complain about? Will a national microband network evolve on the old copper network to distribute 12v services to all Australians? Will we watch live TV, or just download the shows that interest us? George From ivan at itrundle.com Wed Aug 8 09:33:31 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Wed Aug 8 09:33:45 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: On 08/08/2007, at 8:52 AM, George Bray wrote: >> Again, Tom was on the money. > > High praise Tom. But what's going to happen in the *next* ten years? > > Will we still have belligerent monopolist limiting our IT progress? Of course - that's the way that our society works. > > Will we all have wristwatch iPhones? If so, it'll be the reincarnation of wristwatches - something that is rapidly zooming out of fashion with young 'uns (and some oldies, too). However, the wrist is about the best place to dangle things, though the ear might be better for listening and talking (and no-one wants to walk/ride/drive with one hand against an ear). > > How far will the national WiMax network reach? In ten years, there might be a handful of oldies using this technology. But the aforementioned monopolists will get in the way. One thing is for sure - it won't be ubiquitous, if previous history is anything to go by. > > Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have > nothing to complain about? Having read that the top-ten most popular blogs in the world don't conform to web standards, I see no change here. We'll still have something to whinge about. > > Will a national microband network evolve on the old copper network to > distribute 12v services to all Australians? Old tech again. We'll all have photo-voltaics (sliver cell technology, or similar) on our roof, and will be self-sufficient in the 12v department, at least - possibly even pumping power back into the grid, if aforementioned monopolists don't get in the way. > > Will we watch live TV, or just download the shows that interest us? Do people *still* watch TV? I'm amazed. iT From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Aug 7 12:27:56 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Wed Aug 8 09:47:28 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard Message-ID: <20070807234715.2BF4A3D55@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> I wrote Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:01:53 +1000: >... I had a telephone call from SA on Wednesday >to say that there was no committee considering >OOXML. Instead SA are hosting a forum on the >proposed Draft International Standard ISO/IEC >29500, "Information technology - Office Open XML >file formats" standard in Sydney on 9 August. ... SA sent an agenda for the meeting. This was very useful in clarifying the process SA is using. I couldn't find these details on the SA web site so here are some excerpts: --- ... The European Computer Manufactures' Association International (Ecma International) adopted and published the Microsoft Open Office XML specification as ECMA 376 late in 2006. Ecma approached ISO/IEC JTC1, the international standards organisation for information technology, seeking to use the fast track process to elevate its standard to International Standard status late in 2006, as per its recognised status as a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) submitter. The JTC1 enquiry process opened on 1 January 2007, for a 30 day period. In accordance with the JTC1 Directives (their process rules) Member countries were asked to list any apparent contradictions with existing standards (including ISO/IEC 26300: Information technology - Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)). Some 19 countries did this, including Australia. The Standards Australia Communications, IT and e-Commerce (CITeC) Standards Sector Board (SSB) developed and approved Australia?s contribution. ECMA provided a response to all contradictions raised and subsequently JTC1 made the document available as ISO/IEC DIS 29500 Information technology - Office Open XML file formats standard for actual balloting by the ISO/IEC member nations. PROCESS As a Participating Member of JTC1, Australia has an obligation to vote on this document. The options open are: * Approve * Approve with comment * Abstain * Disapprove with comment (disapproval of the DIS for technical reasons to be stated, with proposals for changes that would make the document acceptable (acceptance of these proposals shall be referred to the NB concerned for confirmation that the vote can be changed to approval). This contribution will be approved in advance by the CITeC Standards Sector Board by consensus. The final vote will be submitted by Standards Australia by 2 September 2007. PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum for discussion by interested parties to advise Standards Australia in development of its submission for approval by the CITeC Standards Sector Board. Invitees to this meeting include: * Members of Standards Australia?s committees: o IT-004 Geographical Information Systems o IT-015 Software & Systems Engineering o IT-019 Computer Applications ? Information & Documentation o IT-027 Data Management & Interchange o IT-031 Computer Modelling and Simulation * Members of the CITeC SSB * Interested parties who have submitted comments since the beginning of the initial comment period in January 2007, by e-mail or letter. Participants are invited to contribute their comments in writing following the forum by 21 August 2007 to ensure that they are considered in development of the submission to the CITeC SSB. CONSIDERATIONS TO NOTE Standards Australia is recognised by the Government as Australia?s peak standards body. It develops Australian Standards? of public benefit and national interest and supports excellence in design and innovation through the Australian Design Awards. Standards Australia is Australia?s representative on the International Organization for Standardization [ISO], the International Electrotechnical Commission [IEC], and the Pacific Area Standards Congress [PASC]. Participation in international committee work is dependent on our capacity to consult and respond through the Australian committee structure. The CITeC Standards Sector Board is responsible for this vote. This forum is being conducted by Standards Australia as a courtesy to stakeholders. It is an extraordinary meeting that we are not required to hold, but do so to provide an open process. We appreciate your attendance and expect that you appreciate our effort in making this opportunity available to you. Standards Australia values its vote as a participating member of all international committees, and does not exercise it injudiciously. We provide considered Australian viewpoints that are beneficial to Australian stakeholders, including industry, government, academia and the general community, through the facilitation of trade and the inclusion of clear Australian requirements in international standards. The JTC1 process has established that the ECMA-376 document is not contradictory to existing standards and ECMA has responded to a number of technical considerations raised in the initial consultation period. This forum is not to debate the merits of the JTC1 decision making process or the validity of the ECMA response. While technical comments are welcomed, it would be entirely counter productive to use this forum to reiterate technical comments that have already been raised and are likely to be debated in every JTC1 member body in some form. We are looking for creative, positive contributions that emphasise our commitment to representing truly Australian views to the international community. To ensure the best outcome for the meeting, we ask you to note the guidelines and agenda below. GUIDELINES ? Standards Australia will document the meeting and will share with attendees/interested parties not able to attend. Discussion will not be recorded, in line with our general committee meeting policies. ? When general discussion commences, please limit your contribution to no more than five minutes. ? Speakers should be allowed to complete presentations, prior to inviting questions or comments. Responses, including questions, should be raised through meeting chair. ? When individuals do comment, they should state their name and organisational affiliation, if any. ? Respect others? opinions. AGENDA 10am Opening of the meeting and attendance (please sign attendance list) 10.10am Introduction - Standards Australia 10.30am Invited discussion openers 10.30 -10.40am General overview of the standards process 10.40 ? 11.00am Objections to ISO/IEC adoption of DIS 29500 11.00 ? 11.20am Case for ISO/IEC adoption of DIS 29500 11.20am 20 minute break 11.40am General Discussion 12.45pm Summary and next steps 1pm Close Participants are invited to contribute their comments in writing following the forum by 21 August 2007 to ensure that they are considered in development of the submission to the CITeC Standards Sector Board. CONTACT Please confirm attendance via e-mail to: michael.langdon (a) standards.org.au --- Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 8 09:52:45 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 8 09:56:04 2007 Subject: [LINK] Planting trees will not save the planet: official In-Reply-To: <46B900DA.2090000@lannet.com.au> References: <46B900DA.2090000@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46B905CD.1050706@ramin.com.au> Howard Lowndes wrote: > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/banking_carbon/ > > Bad news for plastic greens: planting trees really isn't going to save > us from global warming. Researchers studying pine trees in North > Carolina have determined that there is a limit to the amount of extra > carbon dioxide a tree can actually turn into more tree. > > The decade-long Free Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) experiment, set up to > test the viability of proposals to "bank" humanity's carbon emissions by > growing forests, revealed that to make an impact on the amount of CO2 we > are pumping out, we'd need to feed the growing trees so much extra water > and fertiliser that the societal impact would be unacceptable. > > [...] > A couple of weeks ago, I put together a page on Carbon & Climate Change and am still reelling from my research. There are some interesting calculators around. According to the The Greenhouse Accounting CRC's Tree Carbon Calculator, fast growing softwood pine aborbs less CO2 than hardwood Eucalyptus....but it is still pretty slow. Ofcourse trees that drop their leaves don't photosynthesise without their leaves and absorb no CO2 during winter. There is also some interesting data available on cars and home appliances. comments on page most welcome. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From gordonkeith at acslink.net.au Wed Aug 8 09:59:57 2007 From: gordonkeith at acslink.net.au (Gordon Keith) Date: Wed Aug 8 10:00:10 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: <200708080959.57702.gordonkeith@acslink.net.au> On Wednesday 08 August 2007 08:08, Richard Chirgwin wrote: > The problem is that some people just don't care. I don't like to argue > solely from myself as the example, but I don't watch that much TV; > reception is good enough on analogue with a standard antenna for the > amount of TV I watch. Since I catch news and weather, a little sport, Dr > Who and not-much-else, there's nothing that I want that digital can > pitch to. > > So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, it's > just that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I give > money to someone for a product I don't want? While your TV watching seems to be much more extensive than mine :-), I agree whole heartedly with your reasoning. Regards Gordon -- Gordon Keith There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't. From gordonkeith at acslink.net.au Wed Aug 8 09:59:57 2007 From: gordonkeith at acslink.net.au (Gordon Keith) Date: Wed Aug 8 10:00:22 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: <200708080959.57702.gordonkeith@acslink.net.au> On Wednesday 08 August 2007 08:08, Richard Chirgwin wrote: > The problem is that some people just don't care. I don't like to argue > solely from myself as the example, but I don't watch that much TV; > reception is good enough on analogue with a standard antenna for the > amount of TV I watch. Since I catch news and weather, a little sport, Dr > Who and not-much-else, there's nothing that I want that digital can > pitch to. > > So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, it's > just that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I give > money to someone for a product I don't want? While your TV watching seems to be much more extensive than mine :-), I agree whole heartedly with your reasoning. Regards Gordon -- Gordon Keith There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't. From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 8 10:19:04 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 8 10:21:09 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <20070807234715.2BF4A3D55@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> References: <20070807234715.2BF4A3D55@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <46B90BF8.2000003@ramin.com.au> Tom Worthington wrote: > I wrote Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:01:53 +1000: >> ... I had a telephone call from SA on Wednesday to say that there was > As a Participating Member of JTC1, Australia has an obligation to vote > on this document. The options open are: > > * Approve > * Approve with comment > * Abstain > * Disapprove with comment (disapproval of the DIS for technical > reasons to be stated, with proposals for changes that would make the > document acceptable (acceptance of these proposals shall be referred to > the NB concerned for confirmation that the vote can be changed to > approval). It is worth noting the Keypoints of Productivity Commission research report, Standard Setting and Laboratory Accreditation, released on 16 November 2006. > Standard setting > > Standards Australia should make the following improvements: > > * systematically consider costs and benefits before developing or revising a standard, and publish reasons for such decisions > * ensure more balanced stakeholder representation > * reduce barriers to volunteer and public participation > * improve accessibility, transparency and timeliness, including an improved appeals and complaints mechanism. > > All government bodies should rigorously analyse impacts before making a standard mandatory by way of regulation and ensure it is the minimum necessary to achieve the policy objective. Each Australian Government agency should also provide the funding necessary to ensure free or low cost access to such standards, including Australian Standards. and ofcourse Glen's tale. -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From cas at taz.net.au Wed Aug 8 10:45:29 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Wed Aug 8 10:45:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> On Wed, Aug 08, 2007 at 08:08:15AM +1000, Richard Chirgwin wrote: > The problem is that some people just don't care. I don't like to argue > solely from myself as the example, but I don't watch that much TV; > reception is good enough on analogue with a standard antenna for the amount > of TV I watch. which begs the question: why should the analog TV spectrum be wasted on people who just don't care? > Since I catch news and weather, a little sport, Dr Who and > not-much-else, there's nothing that I want that digital can pitch to. i don't watch or care about that much on TV either, mostly ABC, sometimes SBS, rarely something on one of the commercial channels (with a book in hand for the ads). However, i do prefer watching the stuff that i want to watch WITHOUT ghosting or interference (before i got the SD box, reception of ABC TV was dreadful, possibly due to the huge electricity pylons running along the creek a few hundred meters away). i tried a new antenna (about $130 incl. installation about 5 years ago), it made no difference. the problem only went away - completely vanished - when i bought an SD box about 3 years ago (for about $100 IIRC). it died about six months ago after a lightning storm, i replaced it for about $50. > So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, it's just > that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I give money to > someone for a product I don't want? because you want to be able to continue using the TV set you bought after the analog signal is discontinued? technology moves on and scarce resources are reallocated. that's why, for example, town planners don't waste much public space in roads and towns on drinking troughs for horses and camels any more. craig -- craig sanders From wavey_one at yahoo.com Wed Aug 8 10:57:13 2007 From: wavey_one at yahoo.com (David Goldstein) Date: Wed Aug 8 10:57:26 2007 Subject: [LINK] Paris leaps ahead with broadband Message-ID: <143542.16564.qm@web50504.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Making a mockery of our government's broadband proposal, in Paris they're building a 100mbps fibre-to-the-home network. BT says it's too expensive for them to do it. The issue is covered in an interesting story on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight this morning our time and is available online for around a week. I've got an outline of the story on my website at http://technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=2269 with a link to the the story. Cheers David ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo!7 Mail has just got even bigger and better with unlimited storage on all webmail accounts. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Wed Aug 8 11:17:49 2007 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (Richard Chirgwin) Date: Wed Aug 8 11:19:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: [snip] >> So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, it's just >> that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I give money to >> someone for a product I don't want? >> > > because you want to be able to continue using the TV set you bought after the > analog signal is discontinued? > ...Indeed. And that will be the sole reason for doing so. But get this: if the digitisation turns out to be an utter disaster, if it has to be delayed because not enough people care, then doesn't it cast the policy itself into doubt? The policy, it should be remembered, was not in any way a response to citizen demand. It's a "for your own good" policy. > technology moves on and scarce resources are reallocated. that's why, > for example, town planners don't waste much public space in roads and > towns on drinking troughs for horses and camels any more. > When we're talking about a consumer product, I'm not convinced that government edict is a good way to measure obsolescence. RC > > craig > > From lucychili at gmail.com Wed Aug 8 11:25:02 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Wed Aug 8 11:25:15 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <20070807234715.2BF4A3D55@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> References: <20070807234715.2BF4A3D55@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: On 8/7/07, Tom Worthington wrote: I wrote Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:01:53 +1000: > SA sent an agenda for the meeting. This was very > useful in clarifying the process SA is using. I > couldn't find these details on the SA web site so here are some excerpts: Yes it is interesting stuff > The JTC1 process has established that the > ECMA-376 document is not contradictory to > existing standards and ECMA has responded to a > number of technical considerations raised in the > initial consultation period. This forum is not to > debate the merits of the JTC1 decision making > process or the validity of the ECMA response. Except that this is incorrect isn't it. ooxml is known to conflict with the date and time standards. people using ooxml would be required to function in a way which would break existing time and date standards in order to comply with ooxml. doesnt this undermine standards practice overall if the organisations are not able to be internally consistent? It feels like a choice between the proposal or supporting standards as a process and internally consistent set of practices. If the technical aspects of the proposal are known to be flawed, and our standards process is aware of this and is still deeming the technical aspects correct, what purpose does the current process serve? What is the function of the standards process if not to ensure that the standards are congruent and functional? Janet From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Wed Aug 8 12:01:27 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Wed Aug 8 12:02:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> Where are you guys getting these $50 digital teevee tuners? Are they available in Canberra? I've found them for $150 - $250. Cheers, Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From gdt at gdt.id.au Wed Aug 8 12:27:58 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Wed Aug 8 12:27:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> References: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> Message-ID: <1186540078.3449.18.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 12:01 +1000, Pilcher, Fred wrote: > Where are you guys getting these $50 digital teevee tuners? Are they available in Canberra? I've found them for $150 - $250. Hi Fred, The "$2 shop". I don't know about the ACT, but here in SA if you listen for the worst ads on TV then you've come across one. You obviously take a punt as to the quality of the unit. The set top box is actually an interesting exercise in electronics retail margins. The standard definition boxes are around $30-$50. But Hardly Normal, Retrovision, etc can't make a quid at that price, so they only stock the $150 high definition set top boxes. I had to install a set top box for a neighbor. Now she has five remote controls! So I suspect some consumer resistance is more than merely financial. Best wishes, Glen From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 8 12:47:04 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 8 12:49:12 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46B92EA8.7040002@ramin.com.au> Howard Lowndes wrote: > > > Richard Chirgwin wrote: >> Craig Sanders wrote: >> [snip] >>>> So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, >>>> it's just that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would I >>>> give money to someone for a product I don't want? >>>> >>> >>> because you want to be able to continue using the TV set you bought >>> after the >>> analog signal is discontinued? >>> >> ...Indeed. And that will be the sole reason for doing so. >> >> But get this: if the digitisation turns out to be an utter disaster, >> if it has to be delayed because not enough people care, then doesn't >> it cast the policy itself into doubt? The policy, it should be >> remembered, was not in any way a response to citizen demand. It's a >> "for your own good" policy. > > No Richard, digitisation does have benefits, the main one being the > ability to deliver more content within a given bandwidth. Just look at > ABC and SBS (the only services that are currently permitted to > multi-channel), They each deliver one analogue service on each of the > channels that they use to broadcast analogue on, but currently each > deliver 6 digital services on each of the channels that they use to > broadcast digital on. > > What we need is for the commercial stations to be permitted to > multi-channel, and for there to be more (or even any would be nice) > quality content. I was going to respond when you brought up multichannelling before...this problem is the fault of the existing free to air stations who wanted to keep their comfortable little pentapoly. So, they argued for HDTV - despite the cost of production, transmission and reception not being justified. > Free-to-air (FTA) television (TV) and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver. Free-to-view (FTV) is, generally, available without subscription but is encoded and may be restricted geographically. Neither of these are pay-TV, which is an encrypted subscription (or pay-per-view) service. FTA is usually delivered by satellite television, but in various parts of the world with encrypted digital terrestrial television channels it is broadcast on UHF or VHF bands. > > Although these channels are described as free; the viewer does in fact pay for them. Some are paid directly by payment of a licence fee (as in the case of the BBC) or voluntary donation (in the ca and You can probably check out the link archives and fine extensive discussion there from long ago. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 8 14:02:24 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 8 14:04:14 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <1186540078.3449.18.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> <1186540078.3449.18.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <46B94050.9090206@ramin.com.au> Glen Turner wrote: > On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 12:01 +1000, Pilcher, Fred wrote: >> Where are you guys getting these $50 digital teevee tuners? Are they available in Canberra? I've found them for $150 - $250. > > Hi Fred, > > The "$2 shop". I don't know about the ACT, but here in SA if you listen > for the worst ads on TV then you've come across one. You obviously > take a punt as to the quality of the unit. Aldi (in ACT and Sydney at least) have a SD box, not sure of the price, but it is less than the USB DVB-T device (which does HD as well) I bought from them for $80 a few months back. > > The set top box is actually an interesting exercise in electronics > retail margins. The standard definition boxes are around $30-$50. > But Hardly Normal, Retrovision, etc can't make a quid at that price, > so they only stock the $150 high definition set top boxes. > > I had to install a set top box for a neighbor. Now she has five > remote controls! So I suspect some consumer resistance is more > than merely financial. > > Best wishes, Glen > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Aug 8 15:36:11 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed Aug 8 15:36:23 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination Message-ID: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Hi all, Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" Cheers, people Stephen Loosley From pbolger at gmail.com Wed Aug 8 16:00:32 2007 From: pbolger at gmail.com (Paul Bolger) Date: Wed Aug 8 16:00:42 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: Is it a car ad? The only clue I have is 'Audi' in the page title. I'm still waiting for it to load - a black screen and strange whooshing noises for over five minutes. The phrase "It'd be quicker to walk" comes to mind. On 08/08/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Hi all, > > Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" > > > > Cheers, people > Stephen Loosley > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Wed Aug 8 16:03:41 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Wed Aug 8 16:03:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B94E63.8060700@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336E1@cal066.act.gov.au> Thanks for all the advice, guys. I'll report back. Cheers, Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au Wed Aug 8 16:13:33 2007 From: darrell.burkey at anu.edu.au (Darrell Burkey) Date: Wed Aug 8 16:13:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <1186553613.23992.10.camel@bippo> 5 Mins eh? You might want to switch to pigeon packet delivery. Sounds like it would be faster. On Wed, 2007-08-08 at 16:00, Paul Bolger wrote: > Is it a car ad? The only clue I have is 'Audi' in the page title. I'm > still waiting for it to load - a black screen and strange whooshing > noises for over five minutes. The phrase "It'd be quicker to walk" -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darrell Burkey UNIX Systems Administrator College of Asia & the Pacific Australian National University Ph: (02) 6125 4160 From rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au Wed Aug 8 17:11:28 2007 From: rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au (Richard Chirgwin) Date: Wed Aug 8 17:11:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46B96CA0.2020303@ozemail.com.au> Howard Lowndes wrote: > > > Richard Chirgwin wrote: >> Craig Sanders wrote: >> [snip] >>>> So the price is immaterial. I don't see the STB as too expensive, >>>> it's just that there's other stuff to do; so why bother? Why would >>>> I give money to someone for a product I don't want? >>>> >>> >>> because you want to be able to continue using the TV set you bought >>> after the >>> analog signal is discontinued? >>> >> ...Indeed. And that will be the sole reason for doing so. >> >> But get this: if the digitisation turns out to be an utter disaster, >> if it has to be delayed because not enough people care, then doesn't >> it cast the policy itself into doubt? The policy, it should be >> remembered, was not in any way a response to citizen demand. It's a >> "for your own good" policy. > > No Richard, digitisation does have benefits, ...but those benefits accrue to the TV stations, to people freeing and selling bandwidth, but only to a subset of consumers - the ones that want multichanneling. They may be real, but they ain't mine; so the digital TV push says "if Richard co-operates, then people who want multi-channeling can have it." But that still isn't a pitch that delivers benefits to me! "What if everybody felt the way you do?" "Then I'd sure be a fool to feel any other way." - Catch-22 RC > the main one being the ability to deliver more content within a given > bandwidth. Just look at ABC and SBS (the only services that are > currently permitted to multi-channel), They each deliver one analogue > service on each of the channels that they use to broadcast analogue > on, but currently each deliver 6 digital services on each of the > channels that they use to broadcast digital on. > > What we need is for the commercial stations to be permitted to > multi-channel, and for there to be more (or even any would be nice) > quality content. > >>> technology moves on and scarce resources are reallocated. that's why, >>> for example, town planners don't waste much public space in roads and >>> towns on drinking troughs for horses and camels any more. >>> >> When we're talking about a consumer product, I'm not convinced that >> government edict is a good way to measure obsolescence. >> >> RC >>> >>> craig >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Link mailing list >> Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link >> > From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Wed Aug 8 17:32:08 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Wed Aug 8 17:33:07 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <46B96891.8080608@lannet.com.au> References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <46B96891.8080608@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: >stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Hi all, > Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" > Howard Lowndes : >What a crock of sh!t. It made Firefox totally unstable and gave a >new meaning to Flash, and nearly caused me to lose 16 open tabs that >I had been working with. Good heavens - it worked fine in Safari 2.0.4 (419.3), albeit with a couple of pauses that even 1Mbps ADSL didn't seem to cope with. I even thought it was quite well done, so maybe my usual scepticism went missing this afternoon. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Aug 8 18:22:09 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Aug 8 18:28:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 11:50 AM 8/08/2007, Howard Lowndes wrote: >What we need is for the commercial stations to be permitted to >multi-channel, and for there to be more (or even any would be nice) >quality content. Makes me wonder if the free to air or the gubmint have nudge wink deals with Foxtel to not do this. I would love a couple more channel types: old b&w movies cartoons [rocky and bullwinkle, looney tunes, etc] weather channel, even if it were just a graphic with updates of satellite imagery a clock educational programs (there are quite a few of those available, used to be on Open Learning) arts and music there must be a lot of programming from the hundreds of cable stations in the US that aren't being shown here that could be. why are we deprived? Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From eleanor at pacific.net.au Wed Aug 8 21:59:25 2007 From: eleanor at pacific.net.au (Eleanor Lister) Date: Wed Aug 8 21:59:35 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <46B9B01D.7060405@pacific.net.au> Paul Bolger wrote: > Is it a car ad? The only clue I have is 'Audi' in the page title. I'm > still waiting for it to load - a black screen and strange whooshing > noises for over five minutes. The phrase "It'd be quicker to walk" > comes to mind. > > On 08/08/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" >> >> References: <06ca01c7d4c8$51e10e80$f5a32b80$@net.au> <20070804230828.GF4898@taz.net.au> <46B5708C.8080104@hunterlink.net.au> Message-ID: <200708082211.01620.dlochrin@d2.net.au> On Sunday 05 August 2007 16:39, David Boxall wrote: > Let me tell you a story:- > 18 July: phone line damage reported to Telstra. > 19 July: temporary repair effected, leaving wiring clipped together in > the bottom of a trench, protected by plastic bags. > 26 July: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has been > closed off and no follow-up organised. Follow-up arranged. > 27 July: A linesman arrives, looks at the mess, says something about how > it can be permanently repaired, then leaves. > 2 August: a phone call to Telstra faults reveals that the job has been > closed off and no follow-up organised. Appointment made for the > following day. > 4 August: a phone call to Telstra faults elicits the response that a > permanent repair was effected by reprogramming the ISDN terminal > adapter. A quick look in the trench reveals the same mess, [...] The problem seems to be that most Telstra repairs are done by poorly trained technicians whose managers are goaled on call-closure rate. Throwing a controlled tantrum and escalating the call can help, and I have gone as far as the Local Member for one customer. The sooner basic telecommunications infrastructure goes back into public ownership and Telstra is relegated to insignificance the better, in my view. David From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Aug 9 07:00:44 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Aug 9 07:00:54 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <46B9B01D.7060405@pacific.net.au> References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <46B9B01D.7060405@pacific.net.au> Message-ID: <46BA2EFC.80705@praxis.com.au> Eleanor Lister wrote: > Paul Bolger wrote: >> Is it a car ad? The only clue I have is 'Audi' in the page title. I'm >> still waiting for it to load - a black screen and strange whooshing >> noises for over five minutes. The phrase "It'd be quicker to walk" >> comes to mind. >> >> On 08/08/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" >>> >>> > it makes my head hurt It is a well-executed waste of electrons that used 100% of my CPU and heaps of bandwidth. Flash is a total abomination. If that ad was implemented as an MPEG it would have used about 1/100 the CPU and bandwidth resources. The interactivity provided by the ad was useless and stupid: "It's not rocket surgery" ? The people that put so much effort into this crap are a waste of oxygen. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Aug 9 07:04:27 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Aug 9 07:04:37 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > there must be a lot of programming from the hundreds of cable stations > in the US that aren't being shown here that could be. > > why are we deprived? Of course those specialised cable channels in North America are funded by subscription. BTW: Has anyone seen free-to-air in use in Canada or the USA in the past, say, fifteen years? I cannot recall seeing it. *Everyone* seems to have cable, even if to watch the CBC and PBS. Cable has failed in Australia, probably for several reasons: the cost is outrageous for what you get and the culture is different. Aussies actually spend more time outdoors than North Americans. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From stil at stilgherrian.com Thu Aug 9 08:01:24 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Thu Aug 9 08:01:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <46BA2EFC.80705@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: "Rick Welykochy" and the rest of the tired old fogeys wrote things along the lines of: > It is a well-executed waste of electrons that used 100% of my CPU and > heaps of bandwidth. Flash is a total abomination. If that ad was > implemented as an MPEG it would have used about 1/100 the CPU and bandwidth > resources. The interactivity provided by the ad was useless and stupid: > [snip] > The people that put so much effort into this crap are a waste of > oxygen. Ah, so much energy wasted on such a trivial issue...! Yes, some enthusiastic kiddie-creative at an ad agency convinced the client that their "wonderful idea" for a web advert should be made. And you don't like it. Diddums. Sure, the ad's a bunch of self-indulgent shit. Were you ever likely to buy an Audi anyway? No. So who cares what you think? Railing against the "misuse" of Flash etc... it's hardly the most important issue facing the planet, or even the most important issue facing the topics that Link is about. I won't bother listing them, but there's plenty of FAR more important issues which deserve the energy and intelligent attention of Linkers. Especially in an election year. But then, Link is only populated with tired old luddites which think that anything more than ASCII text is "inefficient" and that no-one should be allowed to use more technology than their own clapped-out 486 and whatever low-bandwidth link they can persuade Telstra (or the PMG, as they know it) to run to their shotgun shack in some godforsaken beyond-rural hellhole. Killjoys. > "It's not rocket surgery" ? It's quote from Kath & Kim. Folks in the target market would get it. Happy Thursday, love your work, Rick. :) Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From stil at stilgherrian.com Thu Aug 9 08:22:24 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Thu Aug 9 08:22:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 8/8/07 5:32 PM, "Roger Clarke" wrote: > I even thought it was quite well done, so maybe my usual scepticism > went missing this afternoon. Well obviously you're not a tired old fogey bearded academic... ;) Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From saliya at hinet.net.au Thu Aug 9 08:24:01 2007 From: saliya at hinet.net.au (Saliya Wimalaratne) Date: Thu Aug 9 08:24:18 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <20070808222401.GA8451@netspace.hinet.net.au> On Wed, Aug 08, 2007 at 05:36:11AM +0000, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Hi all, > > Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" > > += "with a spelling mistake" ? :) Regards, Saliya From pbolger at gmail.com Thu Aug 9 08:52:55 2007 From: pbolger at gmail.com (Paul Bolger) Date: Thu Aug 9 08:52:59 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <46BA438C.3000704@lannet.com.au> References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <46B9B01D.7060405@pacific.net.au> <46BA438C.3000704@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: I was a bit disappointed, after sitting through that thing, to realise that the car company still expect me to pay for the car - I thought by that point I'd earned it. > Eleanor Lister wrote: > > Paul Bolger wrote: > >> Is it a car ad? The only clue I have is 'Audi' in the page title. I'm > >> still waiting for it to load - a black screen and strange whooshing > >> noises for over five minutes. The phrase "It'd be quicker to walk" > >> comes to mind. > >> > >> On 08/08/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > >> > >>> Hi all, > >>> > >>> Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" > >>> > >>> > > > it makes my head hurt > > It's also interesting how it defines you as an acceptable profile when > you make absolutely zero input. :) > > Audi - nice car - shall not be buying one... > > > > > - > > ------------ > > Eleanor Ashley Lister > > South Sydney Greens > > http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au > > webmistress@ssg.nsw.greens.org.au > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Link mailing list > > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > > > > -- > Howard. > LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people > When you want a computer system that works, just choose Linux; > When you want a computer system that works, just, choose Microsoft. > -- > Flatter government, not fatter government; abolish the Australian states. > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > From cas at taz.net.au Thu Aug 9 09:05:55 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Thu Aug 9 09:06:03 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> References: <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C72081336DE@cal066.act.gov.au> Message-ID: <20070808230554.GI4898@taz.net.au> On Wed, Aug 08, 2007 at 12:01:27PM +1000, Pilcher, Fred wrote: > Where are you guys getting these $50 digital teevee tuners? Are they > available in Canberra? I've found them for $150 - $250. i got one of my SD boxes from JB HIFI and the other from Good Guys, both reasonably large chains. can't remember which came from where (they both have shops next to each in Preston, not far from me). one was about $100 3 years ago, one was about $50 6 months ago....roughly equivalent quality, so i guess that's how much cheap models have dropped in price in approx. 3 years. craig -- craig sanders From cas at taz.net.au Thu Aug 9 09:09:58 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Thu Aug 9 09:17:50 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20070808230958.GJ4898@taz.net.au> On Wed, Aug 08, 2007 at 08:52:22AM +1000, George Bray wrote: > Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have > nothing to complain about? web standards aren't the problem. it's the idiot web designers who ignore the standards. craig -- craig sanders BOFH excuse #347: The rubber band broke From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Thu Aug 9 08:55:06 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Thu Aug 9 09:20:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.co m> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 08:52 AM 8/08/2007, George Bray wrote: > > Again, Tom was on the money. > >High praise Tom. But what's going to happen in the *next* ten years? ... The next ten years is easy. The Minister wanted to know what would happen in the next 30 years. ;-) Appended is my first draft of "Networking 2016". >Will we still have belligerent monopolist limiting our IT progress? No, I expect we will have several oligopolies. >Will we all have wristwatch iPhones? I was thinking more of StarTrek Next Generation communicators, worn as jewelry. In the nearer term we will have iPhone type devices, but running open source Linux software. I am seeing if we can have a demonstration of one of these in Canberra next week. >How far will the national WiMax network reach? We will have about 98% of the population covered with various terrestrial wireless networks. That is as far as the economics will stretch. This will be a mix of different WiMax and mobile phone networks. >Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have >nothing to complain about? No. But perhaps we can automate the complaints process, so the system automatically drafts a comment on news items, then automatically writes a self promotional reply from me, then an objection to that from ... ;-) >Will a national microband network evolve on the old copper network >to distribute 12v services to all Australians? No, but we might have 48 volts to many office desks in Australia. I have arranged for Kevin Miller, a green architect, to talk on how to build environmentally friendly offices in Canberra . I have asked him, if IT people replace desktop PCs and phones with low power thin clients , how will that change office design. One option is to eliminate mains power to office desks and use Power Over Ethernet instead for computers and task lighting. Using a low voltage does not itself save power (it is less efficient than mains power), but it would stop office workers using power hungry devices. >Will we watch live TV, or just download the shows that interest us? What is now TV will become just one minor inflexible form of digital entertainment. The idea of material which is only available at a scheduled time and can't be paused will seem bizarre to the average viewer (already I find it annoying that I can't fast forward on the rare occasions I watch live TV). We might be doing this using our "smart rooms" . --- Networking 2016 Jim is not a happy man. His new Toyota Tarrago was late being delivered from the dealer and now he will not be able to pick up the kids in time. They grumbled about his choice of a third generation hybrid combustion/electric vehicle: "Dad, why can't we have a proper electric car like normal families?". They laughed at Jim's idea they would be able to drive beyond the limited range of a battery car: "But the electric highway reaches all the way to the other end of the city now and if we want to go further where are you going to be able to buy fossil fuel anyway?". Then there was the problem of getting the car to recognize his communicator. In 2016 the mobile phone has shrunk to the size of a piece of jewellery and is normally worn like the communicators in "Star Trek Next Generation". Communicators act as car keys as well as phones. But Jim had difficulty getting his old model communicator to link to his new car. Eventually the car's security system recognized the communicator, so Jim could simply walk up to the door and step in. At least he had remembered to upload the configuration file of the old car to the family data store. Downloaded into the new car this allowed the details of the family's preferences to be preset. When Jim walked up to the car the communicator opened the door and the car, recognizing Jim, set the electric seat and steering wheel to the right height, adjusted the mirrors, set the radio station. The car navigation system searched for an optimal route to the likely journey for this time of day, checked the family schedule and bulletins. All Jim needed to do was to confirm he wanted to go to the school to pick up Sally. As Jim drove off the system advised that there was a priority request from the household: could he pick up some milk? But the navigation system estimated there was not sufficient time to do this and pick up Sally on time, so Jim said "no" to the system. Meanwhile Sally was running late. It was sports day and she was dawdling chatting to her new friends from third grade. Like all students Sally had her communicator with her. This is a simple disposable model (children tend to loose them before the batteries go flat). The unit can identify Sally by a signature phrase for voice identification (children usually use an nursery rime) and verify bio metrically using an accelerometer measuring her walking style. The school system checked its heuristics to see if it was okay for Sally to still be on school premises after hours. The system noticed Sally was with another student and it wasn't too late, even so the system checked with Sally's home system to see this was okay. If Sally was with a stranger the system would have checked with Jim (by law all visitors to a school are required to have an electronic visitors pass, or their own communicator). Noticing Sally was running late, the car navigation system recalculated the route and altered Jim there was time to pick up the milk, collect Sally and get home. Jim accepted the suggestion "confirm" and the car plotted the shortest route to the shop at this time of day. The electronic pantry at Jim's place had checked and found the usual shop was out of the milk Ellen, Jim's wife preferred, so the navigation system picked the next nearest shop. Ellen has just left work. As she walked out of her office the company system shut down her office computer, lights and air conditioning. The system had made a reasonable guess that Ellen was on her way home and had not just gone down the corridor. It had been a difficult day for Ellen at her PR office was handling the Federal Government's proposed restrictions on indigenous land use. Within minutes of the proposal being announced on the Prime Minister's official "My Tube" web site, it had been transmitted to remote indigenous communities across Australia. The secretariat of the Indigenous Virtual Land Council contacted members by mobile phone, WiMax and satellite for an emergency meeting. The meeting was held thirty minutes later using "smart rooms" in communities across Australia, including one on an offshore fish farm. The more remote smartrooms are converted shipping containers equipped with solar panels for power, LCD screens in the walls and a wireless link. These are also used as flexible learning centers for the local schools. But the most remote participant was the first Australian taikonaut aboard the Chinese-European space station in low earth orbit. After thirty minutes debate the land council issued a statement condemning the PM's proposals. The text, audio and video feeds went out over the council's network a few minutes later. With in an hour, as well as thousands of complaints to MPs, there were several electronic writs served on the Federal Government for racial discrimination and a detailed economic model showing the effect of a threatened boycott by aboriginal artists (Australia's major export earner). Ellen had to summon up as much support as she could via the official ComNet and unofficial political channels. Even so the polls taken a few minutes later indicated a lack of support for the Government and it was likely the proposal would be radically changed by the team working overnight from Bangalore. Meanwhile Prime Minister Julia Gillard was still aboard the Australian Navy flag ship HMAS Canberra, meeting with US President Hillary Clinton about the war on climate change. The PM was due to record another "Vodcast to the Nation" in the aircraft carrier's command and control smartroom (adapted from the technology used by the virtual land council). She was then to attend the next session of eParliment from the smartroom. --- Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 9 09:49:36 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 9 09:52:07 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> Rick Welykochy wrote: > Jan Whitaker wrote: > >> there must be a lot of programming from the hundreds of cable stations >> in the US that aren't being shown here that could be. >> >> why are we deprived? > > Of course those specialised cable channels in North America are funded > by subscription. > > BTW: Has anyone seen free-to-air in use in Canada or the USA in the past, > say, fifteen years? I cannot recall seeing it. *Everyone* seems to > have cable, even if to watch the CBC and PBS. > > Cable has failed in Australia, probably for several reasons: the cost > is outrageous for what you get and the culture is different. Aussies > actually spend more time outdoors than North Americans. > Cable was a legacy technology when it was installed in Australia. However, the powers that be, I think labor at the time, thought we have to have what everyone else had. We could and I think do have subscription/pay via wireless. And I would guess some people subscribe to Satellite subscription services. [Howard, does MythTV support this?] DVB-H looks interesting. To put this all in the best possible light - the Government has an obligation to protect the value of the spectrum/existing business interests. In the worst possible light they are opting for the status quo in Media. My recollection of Cable TV in Toronto in 1989, is a heap of stations dedicated to Star Trek & Doctor Who - can't remember if it was one station each. Sports fans do subscribe to Foxtel cable. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Thu Aug 9 10:10:59 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Thu Aug 9 10:12:26 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: >At 08:52 AM 8/08/2007, George Bray wrote: >>Will we all have wristwatch iPhones? At 8:55 +1000 9/8/07, Tom Worthington wrote: >I was thinking more of StarTrek Next Generation communicators, worn >as jewelry. In the nearer term we will have iPhone type devices, but >running open source Linux software. I am seeing if we can have a >demonstration of one of these in Canberra next week. A cautionary, based on experiences with my (occasional, mostly failed) attempts at crystal-ball-gazing: In 1996, I played around with this one, set in 2005: A Vision of Consumer Payments Futures http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/EC/VADER.html Some of the elements are fine, but the scenario as a whole can easily be re-dated to 2015 ... Re Tom's scenario below, as always some nice touches; but, if the nastier elements were to come about, I don't want to be there. Fortunately for me, the biometrics bits won't work, and the realities of competition and techno-unreliability are on freedom's side too, so I can maybe hang around for a bit longer. (Sorry). >--- >Networking 2016 > >Jim is not a happy man. His new Toyota Tarrago was late being >delivered from the dealer and now he will not be able to pick up the >kids in time. They grumbled about his choice of a third generation >hybrid combustion/electric vehicle: "Dad, why can't we have a proper >electric car like normal families?". They laughed at Jim's idea they >would be able to drive beyond the limited range of a battery car: >"But the electric highway reaches all the way to the other end of the >city now and if we want to go further where are you going to be able >to buy fossil fuel anyway?". > >Then there was the problem of getting the car to recognize his >communicator. In 2016 the mobile phone has shrunk to the size of a >piece of jewellery and is normally worn like the communicators in >"Star Trek Next Generation". Communicators act as car keys as well as >phones. But Jim had difficulty getting his old model communicator to >link to his new car. Eventually the car's security system recognized >the communicator, so Jim could simply walk up to the door and step >in. At least he had remembered to upload the configuration file of >the old car to the family data store. Downloaded into the new car >this allowed the details of the family's preferences to be preset. >When Jim walked up to the car the communicator opened the door and >the car, recognizing Jim, set the electric seat and steering wheel to >the right height, adjusted the mirrors, set the radio station. > >The car navigation system searched for an optimal route to the likely >journey for this time of day, checked the family schedule and >bulletins. All Jim needed to do was to confirm he wanted to go to the >school to pick up Sally. As Jim drove off the system advised that >there was a priority request from the household: could he pick up >some milk? But the navigation system estimated there was not >sufficient time to do this and pick up Sally on time, so Jim said >"no" to the system. > >Meanwhile Sally was running late. It was sports day and she was >dawdling chatting to her new friends from third grade. Like all >students Sally had her communicator with her. This is a simple >disposable model (children tend to loose them before the batteries go >flat). The unit can identify Sally by a signature phrase for voice >identification (children usually use an nursery rime) and verify bio >metrically using an accelerometer measuring her walking style. The >school system checked its heuristics to see if it was okay for Sally >to still be on school premises after hours. The system noticed Sally >was with another student and it wasn't too late, even so the system >checked with Sally's home system to see this was okay. If Sally was >with a stranger the system would have checked with Jim (by law all >visitors to a school are required to have an electronic visitors >pass, or their own communicator). > >Noticing Sally was running late, the car navigation system >recalculated the route and altered Jim there was time to pick up the >milk, collect Sally and get home. Jim accepted the suggestion >"confirm" and the car plotted the shortest route to the shop at this >time of day. The electronic pantry at Jim's place had checked and >found the usual shop was out of the milk Ellen, Jim's wife preferred, >so the navigation system picked the next nearest shop. > >Ellen has just left work. As she walked out of her office the company >system shut down her office computer, lights and air conditioning. >The system had made a reasonable guess that Ellen was on her way home >and had not just gone down the corridor. > >It had been a difficult day for Ellen at her PR office was handling >the Federal Government's proposed restrictions on indigenous land >use. Within minutes of the proposal being announced on the Prime >Minister's official "My Tube" web site, it had been transmitted to >remote indigenous communities across Australia. The secretariat of >the Indigenous Virtual Land Council contacted members by mobile >phone, WiMax and satellite for an emergency meeting. The meeting was >held thirty minutes later using "smart rooms" in communities across >Australia, including one on an offshore fish farm. The more remote >smartrooms are converted shipping containers equipped with solar >panels for power, LCD screens in the walls and a wireless link. These >are also used as flexible learning centers for the local schools. But >the most remote participant was the first Australian taikonaut aboard >the Chinese-European space station in low earth orbit. > >After thirty minutes debate the land council issued a statement >condemning the PM's proposals. The text, audio and video feeds went >out over the council's network a few minutes later. With in an hour, >as well as thousands of complaints to MPs, there were several >electronic writs served on the Federal Government for racial >discrimination and a detailed economic model showing the effect of a >threatened boycott by aboriginal artists (Australia's major export >earner). Ellen had to summon up as much support as she could via the >official ComNet and unofficial political channels. Even so the polls >taken a few minutes later indicated a lack of support for the >Government and it was likely the proposal would be radically changed >by the team working overnight from Bangalore. > >Meanwhile Prime Minister Julia Gillard was still aboard the >Australian Navy flag ship HMAS Canberra, meeting with US President >Hillary Clinton about the war on climate change. The PM was due to >record another "Vodcast to the Nation" in the aircraft carrier's >command and control smartroom (adapted from the technology used by >the virtual land council). She was then to attend the next session of >eParliment from the smartroom. > >--- > > >Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 >Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 >PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ >Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml > >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From marghanita at ramin.com.au Thu Aug 9 10:29:22 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Thu Aug 9 10:31:28 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <20070808230958.GJ4898@taz.net.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808230958.GJ4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46BA5FE2.2090602@ramin.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Wed, Aug 08, 2007 at 08:52:22AM +1000, George Bray wrote: >> Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have >> nothing to complain about? > > web standards aren't the problem. it's the idiot web designers who > ignore the standards. maybe the Internet, not paper, will be the primary record/communication medium with documents provided in HTML, and forrests will no longer cut down to make paper or room to grow biofuels. Online campaigns are already here see Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Aug 9 11:31:07 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Aug 9 11:31:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <46BA6E5B.5030709@praxis.com.au> Tom Worthington wrote: >> Will web standards ever evolve to the point where we Linkers have >> nothing to complain about? > > No. But perhaps we can automate the complaints process, so the system > automatically drafts a comment on news items, then automatically writes > a self promotional reply from me, then an objection to that from ... ;-) Will us old fogeys still be on Link in ten years? Will there be an automated technology complaints system in ten years that will make us old Linkers obsolete? cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From rick at praxis.com.au Thu Aug 9 13:34:01 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Thu Aug 9 13:34:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <46BA5FE2.2090602@ramin.com.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808230958.GJ4898@taz.net.au> <46BA5FE2.2090602@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: <46BA8B29.2060804@praxis.com.au> Marghanita da Cruz wrote: > maybe the Internet, not paper, will be the primary record/communication > medium > with documents provided in HTML, and forrests will no longer cut down to > make > paper or room to grow biofuels. The problem with digital is preservation. I doubt we even have much left from, say, the 1960s on tape :( And even if you found such a tape, could you (a) physically read it and (b) logically decode it? Imagine a digital Principia being uncovered in some 320 years and being able to read it. We are a far far away from that goal. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Thu Aug 9 13:33:57 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Thu Aug 9 13:36:29 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: <46BA438C.3000704@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133701@cal066.act.gov.au> Pft. You're all too cynical. That ad demonstrates perfectly that the web provides a vehicle, exactly as rap music does, for the talentless, illiterate, and otherwise unemployable to make an honest living. Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From Evan.ARTHUR at Dest.gov.au Thu Aug 9 13:47:42 2007 From: Evan.ARTHUR at Dest.gov.au (Evan.ARTHUR@Dest.gov.au) Date: Thu Aug 9 13:47:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] Data Preservation - Was The Next Ten Years [SEC=UNOFFICIAL] In-Reply-To: <46BA8B29.2060804@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <8DA55692F752634C955C1DDAF682629801C1B343@acexp007.portfolio.base> Rick wrote: < Rick Welykochy wrote: > Marghanita da Cruz wrote: > > > maybe the Internet, not paper, will be the primary record/communication > > medium > > with documents provided in HTML, and forrests will no longer cut down to > > make > > paper or room to grow biofuels > > The problem with digital is preservation=2E I doubt we even have much > left from, say, the 1960s on tape :( And even if you found such a tape, > could you (a) physically read it and (b) logically decode it? >=20 > Imagine a digital Principia being uncovered in some 320 years > and being able to read it=2E We are a far far away from that goalE I think to the role that certain monkish types played during the dark ages, preserving knowledge... Because in some ways, it will be the handful of hard core enthusiasts who are keen on preserving information from some particular area that will heavily influence the tone and nature of our times in the future=2E Hey, if ain't in the minutes, it wasn't said at the meeting! Consider the recent case of the fellow who has been uploading old Countdown music video clips that he'd receorded and kept on tapes in a pile in his bed room. For many of these clips, there was no other copy=2E An oldish, but not unreasonable paper to get the thinking juices flowing: Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Information - Jeff Rothenberg, RAND http://www.clir.org/PUBS/archives/ensuring.pdf Sylvano > > cheers > rickw > > > -- > _________________________________ > Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services > > This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a > little ironic since we may not have one=2E > -- Arthur C Clarke -- What we want from computer games? - Gnomon Publishing http://www.gnomon.com.au/cgi/svy/survey.pl?sc=CompGames From stephen at melbpc.org.au Thu Aug 9 20:20:47 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (Stephen Loosley) Date: Thu Aug 9 20:21:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] IceTV and TiVo Message-ID: <20070809102125.5E91564023@vscan59.melbpc.org.au> Speaking of TV .. Nine loses electronic program guide case by Asher Moses August 9, 2007 - 10:44AM The Nine Network has lost its bid to retain control over how and when people consume its television shows in a landmark court judgment today. In a David and Goliath battle played out before the Federal Court, Nine alleged Sydney-based IceTV's electronic program guide (EPG) - an online TV guide subscribers can use to schedule television recordings from their computer, personal video recorder or mobile phone - breached its copyright. Nine claimed IceTV's guide was too similar to its own, but it is widely held that a a key concern was the potential for IceTV users to skip through advertisements in recorded shows. Handing down her judgment today, Justice Annabelle Bennett agreed Nine owned the copyright to its program guide but dismissed Nine's claim on the basis that IceTV "does not reproduce a substantial part of" Nine's guide. IceTV's general manager Matt Kossatz said "It's obviously a win for a small Aussie start-up against a large media company, but more importantly, it's a win for Aussie consumers," he said. Many viewed Nine's court action as an old media versus new media battle, which saw Nine fighting to maintain control of the consumption of its programs. IceTV - which has 6500 paying subscribers and several thousand free subscribers on the trial version - has always maintained its EPG did not infringe Nine copyright because it used publicly-available information and wrote its own program descriptions. It also claimed it was not responsible for subscribers using their computers or video recorders to make copies of television shows and skip ads because the IceTV service simply provided the recording software. The legal battle took an ironic turn last month when Free TV Australia, the industry body that represents commercial broadcasters, announced it had secured an agreement to make program guides available in electronic form to makers of personal video recorders. The guide will be used to schedule recordings through the TiVo box, which Seven plans to sell in Australia early next year. TiVo's functionality is similar to today's personal video recorders loaded with Ice TV's software, but ambiguous conditions laid down by Free TV Australia over the use of the program guide could greatly limit TiVo's potential. Julie Flynn, chief executive of Free TV Australia, said manufacturers who wish to use the new EPG must comply with "base-level requirements designed to protect copyright, protect the integrity of the program information and facilitate collection of ratings information". This would require manufacturers to alter their product for the Australian market and leave owners of current digital video recorders which don't meet the commercial broadcasters' requirements in the lurch. -- Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia . From Mike.Shearer at westnet.com.au Thu Aug 9 21:12:03 2007 From: Mike.Shearer at westnet.com.au (Mike Shearer) Date: Thu Aug 9 22:12:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <426644be35914191a232bea2ada82d69.info@gnomon.com.au> References: <426644be35914191a232bea2ada82d69.info@gnomon.com.au> Message-ID: <46BAF683.9050208@westnet.com.au> An interesting thread... I'm curious how many Linkers have read, or at least are aware of, Stafford Beer's book "Platform for change" published in 1975. It includes details of his management/control system for Allende's Chilean government which was way ahead of its time (and technology). Mike Shearer Townsville From gdt at gdt.id.au Thu Aug 9 22:42:37 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Thu Aug 9 22:41:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 08:55 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > The next ten years is easy. The Minister wanted to know what would > happen in the next 30 years. ;-) The year is 1977. Could you have anticipated: - the Internet probably not. - the spreadsheet unlikely, there was a fierce academic debate about computers and "knowledge workers" and the big guns were on the side of their complete replacement by artificial intelligence rather than augmenting them with productivity-focused computing support. - the ubiquity of digitisation probably not. Imagine arguing that converting things to 0 and 1s would catch on because this was convenient, cheaper and smaller than simple analog processing. - miniaturisation almost everyone got this. many people thought it would be a communications device too, although they would probably have been accused of too much science fiction. It's also interesting what hasn't changed. Transport changed immensely between 1947 and 1977, especially with containerisation. But it hardly changed at all 1977 to 2007. So it's possible that we might go through a similar era slower technical advance and of consolidation. We're at the limits in a lot of communications technolgoies now. Battery lifetimes now improve in single digit percentages, we can't build faster CPUs without water cooling, hard disk drive have only doubled in speed in the past ten years. > I have arranged for Kevin Miller, a green architect, to talk on how > to build environmentally friendly offices in Canberra > . I have > asked him, if IT people replace desktop PCs and phones with low power > thin clients > , > how will that change office design. One option is to eliminate mains > power to office desks and use Power Over Ethernet instead for > computers and task lighting. Using a low voltage does not itself save > power (it is less efficient than mains power), but it would stop > office workers using power hungry devices. POE is a tad ambitious. That gives you 18W per socket. That's currently not enough for a CPU and LED-backlit screen, but it's tantalisingly close. The "less efficient that mains power" depends were you get your power from. -48VDC is a natural match to battery systems, and thus to solar systems. If you run solar power through an inverter and then a rectifier (in the PC, remember the aim is to get 12VDC and 5VDC for the motherboard) you are wasting a about 10% of the power on needless conversion to AC. Also, AC power supplies are very inefficient. There's a move in the US called "80plus" to get PC rectifier performance above 80%. I suppose my question is -- why do you think there will still be an office as we know it today? With better communications technologies and higher travel expenses and time why won't those how can do work from home. We've already seen the move by a lot of workers to establish a second office at home. I'm suggesting that this will become the primary office for a lot of people. From gdt at gdt.id.au Thu Aug 9 22:12:16 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Thu Aug 9 23:45:06 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46BA4AA5.1010608@lannet.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA4AA5.1010608@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <1186661536.15875.27.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Howard Lowndes wrote: > Now that the Beeb are releasing a ton of their old stuff on the net, why > can't this be picked up by ABC or SBS - is there a copyright issue? The BBC take the view that this content should be available for a limited time to those that paid their UK television license fee. Everyone else can continue to pay. > That would be an excellent idea for another complete channel and > should be being pushed by AVCC (or whatever they are these days) This content is being offered via the Internet, not via Pay TV. Makes sense to use an infrastructure that the universities and their students have today. Jan wrote: > there must be a lot of programming from the hundreds of cable > stations in the US that aren't being shown here that could be. Yes and no. I looked at getting a direct feed from WGBH into AARNet (WGBH is the US Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Boston, and maker of some of the finest educational TV in the world). The problem is that WGBH make a substantial amount of money from sales to Australian public and commercial TV. They were obviously concerned that this might disappear, especially if we also ran a time-lagged channel. To their credit they were willing to forgo this revenue if we were to establish a PBS affiliate in Australia. I haven't picked this up again since my last visit to the US, since it seems a bit of a hopeless case for me to pursue -- I'm not in a position to raise the necessary $m funding, nor have enough TV industry experience to kick off a TV station, commission works, etc. Cheers, Glen From rick at praxis.com.au Fri Aug 10 00:41:01 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Fri Aug 10 00:41:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] IceTV and TiVo In-Reply-To: <20070809102125.5E91564023@vscan59.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070809102125.5E91564023@vscan59.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <46BB277D.7030802@praxis.com.au> Stephen Loosley wrote: > Speaking of TV .. > Nine loses electronic program guide case > by Asher Moses > August 9, 2007 - 10:44AM > [SNIP] > Julie Flynn, chief executive of Free TV Australia, said manufacturers who wish to use the new EPG must comply with "base-level requirements designed to protect copyright, protect the integrity of the program information and facilitate collection of ratings information". > This would require manufacturers to alter their product for the Australian market and leave owners of current digital video recorders which don't meet the commercial broadcasters' requirements in the lurch. Erm ... as an owner of a pvr that uses an EPG, I doubt I'll be taking any action to conform to some future regulations from Free TV. Retroactive regulating is just so unAustralian, don't you think? Lurch? cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From stephen at melbpc.org.au Fri Aug 10 03:17:15 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Fri Aug 10 03:17:28 2007 Subject: [LINK] The US and analog tv whitespace Message-ID: <20070809171715.E71D417000@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> FCC rejects 'white space' device backed by Google, HP, Intel Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal 2:49 PM PDT Wednesday, August 8, 2007 A prototype device supported by companies like Google Inc., Hewlett- Packard Co., and Intel Corp. was criticized in a report by the Federal Communications Commission, which warns that the device could cause interference and cannot reliably detect unused TV spectrum. Mountain View-based Google is part of the White Space Coalition along with companies that include Palo Alto-based HP, Santa Clara-based Intel, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. and Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. The group said the device could be used to beam high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves, and that it believes the spectrum can be used without resulting interference to wireless signals and television. The coalition said it plans to work with the FCC to identify the problems. The companies say that white space, or the unlicensed and unused TV airwaves, could be used to make Internet service accessible and affordable, particularly in rural areas. -- 'White Spaces Coalition' >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The White Spaces Coalition consists of eight large technology companies that plan on delivering high speed (broadband) internet access to consumers via existing unused analog television frequencies. The coalition claims that broadband speeds for "single-user applications" could reach 50 to 100 MBps [1] The group includes Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Philips, Earthlink, and Samsung. Senate decision Analog television broadcasts, which operate between the 54MHz and 698MHz television frequencies, are slated to cease operating per a United States Senate mandate in February 2009. This is also the timetable that the white space coalition has set to possibly begin offering wireless broadband services to consumers. The delay allows enough time for the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to test the technology and make sure that it does not interfere with existing television broadcasts. S Similar technologies could be used worldwide as much of the core technology is already in place. It was thought in 2005 that the value of the entire U.S. analog television spectrum could reach more than $20 billion at government auction. The White Spaces Coalition formed in late 2006[citation needed], soon after the Senate set the date to cease analog broadcasts. Unfortunately, many companies (like those making wireless audio systems) that already use these TV bands have to now grapple with the fact that their wireless PA systems will no longer function properly if unlicensed devices are to now be able to operate within the same spectrum. Solutions at all major companies are currently pushing for deployment of their new products by Feb. 2009. Early Developments The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology released a report dated July 31, 2007 with results from its investigation of two preliminary devices submitted. The report concluded that the devices did not reliably sense the presence of television transmissions or other incumbent users, hence are not acceptable for use in their current state and no further testing was deemed necessary. However, it must be noted that these two devices are only considered prototypes and that they were be used as a benchmark for future developments. -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Fri Aug 10 08:20:25 2007 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Fri Aug 10 08:21:07 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <46BB9329.30304@optusnet.com.au> Glen Turner wrote: > On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 08:55 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > I suppose my question is -- why do you think there will still be > an office as we know it today? With better communications > technologies and higher travel expenses and time why won't those > how can do work from home. > > We've already seen the move by a lot of workers to establish a > second office at home. I'm suggesting that this will become the > primary office for a lot of people. Without saying that won't happen, there is the issue of the need of most people for social interaction, so I am not convinced about this. Brendan From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Fri Aug 10 08:26:33 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Fri Aug 10 08:32:43 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <1186661536.15875.27.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA4AA5.1010608@lannet.com.au> <1186661536.15875.27.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4tpuva@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 10:12 PM 9/08/2007, Glen Turner wrote: > > That would be an excellent idea for another complete channel and > > should be being pushed by AVCC (or whatever they are these days) > >This content is being offered via the Internet, not via Pay TV. >Makes sense to use an infrastructure that the universities and >their students have today. clarification again> the issue is programming new digital free to air channels to convince take-up of digital free to air, not internet or pay tv. The reason cable took off in the US is because of the program selection. It's like a TV supermarket, even with commercials. So why can't a wireless niche channel service work here? The reason has been the 'dilution' of the advertising value of eyes on channels. Is this still true? Congrats on pursuing GBH, Glen. In the day, I used to serve on program review panels for various educational series producers, the types of projects that were used for the open learning uni courses. They were mostly for the Annenberg Foundation and various PBS/CPB stations. I've actually seen the set of Mr Rogers' Neighborhood! That was made in Pittsburg if my memory serves. Anyway, net TV is the next big thing only if there affordable 'data traffic' capacity. I don't think folks will pay for or put up with the streaming video quality. Downloads, yes, but not for an unreasonable charge. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Fri Aug 10 08:31:15 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Fri Aug 10 08:38:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering Message-ID: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> It must be an election year. The government (and Stephen Conroy) is 'saving' children all over the place! Oh! My! Lock them up! . How in the world will they provide DUAL -DSL to homes to provide a 'safe' channel for the kids and a real channel for the >16s? Or will everyone in the family be 'saved'? I'm sure the audience spoken to last night will be happy with the 'one size fits all' version, so I guess that means that the ISPs will be required to spend the pittance they get of the shared $40mill to provide another unwanted/unused service option ('clean' channels) so that a minority can be bought for an election. How crass is that in a public policy sense? Of course, why should expect any different? Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Aug 10 09:02:13 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:13:49 2007 Subject: Beer [Was Re: [LINK] The Next Ten Years] In-Reply-To: <46BAF683.9050208@westnet.com.au> References: <426644be35914191a232bea2ada82d69.info@gnomon.com.au> <46BAF683.9050208@westnet.com.au> Message-ID: At 21:12 +1000 9/8/07, Mike Shearer wrote: >I'm curious how many Linkers have read, or at least are aware of, >Stafford Beer's book "Platform for change" published in 1975. It >includes details of his management/control system for Allende's >Chilean government which was way ahead of its time (and technology). The one with the different-coloured pages? -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From ivan at itrundle.com Fri Aug 10 09:14:20 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:14:47 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <46BB9329.30304@optusnet.com.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> <46BB9329.30304@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: On 10/08/2007, at 8:20 AM, Brendan Scott wrote: > Glen Turner wrote: >> On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 08:55 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > >> I suppose my question is -- why do you think there will still be >> an office as we know it today? With better communications >> technologies and higher travel expenses and time why won't those >> how can do work from home. Another consideration is reducing CO2 output, and infrastructure costs to support our desire to travel to the office every day - a relatively new concept since the beginning of the industrial revolution. >> >> We've already seen the move by a lot of workers to establish a >> second office at home. I'm suggesting that this will become the >> primary office for a lot of people. > > Without saying that won't happen, there is the issue of the need of > most people for social interaction, so I am not convinced about this. Robust bandwidth can solve a lot of the office communication problems, but it's by no means perfect. I work in a team who often leave communication channels open (we work in four or five different locations) so that 'office noise' can permeate the background, but nothing beats a face-to-face interaction. The open channel usually consists of leaving cameras with microphones on and rolling (and requires good bandwidth to do so). It's not just for gossip and 'water-cooler' conversations, either, but often the impromptu conversations that shape business direction, or identify issues of concern. Even overhearing someone else's phone conversations in passing can help to resolve problems, or identify new business opportunities. Casual, impromptu, extemporaneous, and even serendipitous business (not just social) interaction is as important and often ignored - and tele-commuting does not easily resolve those issues. That aside, I'm working from my comfy armchair today, and endeavour to minimise my carbon footprint by not travelling to work at least 25% of the time. I know of many others who do the same, and are (not surprisingly) part of a network of people who communicate via their laptop - with built-in camera, skype, chat, e-mail, voice mail, SMS and even regular mobile phone calls (I make and answer mobile calls through my laptop's microphone and speakers). Indeed, my 'office' has shrunk to the point of being the metal and plastic box that sits on my lap. iT From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 09:02:10 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:15:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <46BB9329.30304@optusnet.com.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> <46BB9329.30304@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <46BB9CF2.7070405@ramin.com.au> Brendan Scott wrote: > Glen Turner wrote: >> On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 08:55 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > >> I suppose my question is -- why do you think there will still be >> an office as we know it today? With better communications >> technologies and higher travel expenses and time why won't those >> how can do work from home. >> >> We've already seen the move by a lot of workers to establish a >> second office at home. I'm suggesting that this will become the >> primary office for a lot of people. > > Without saying that won't happen, there is the issue of the need of most people for social interaction, so I am not convinced about this. > I agree with Brendan about the role of workplaces providing a key place of social interaction and identity - particularly for men. I don't think this is much different between the coal miners, timber cutters or business executives. Women tend to adjust better to new environments - this is an observation, but I would guess would be supported by the correlation between retirement and death/major heart attacks or death of a wife followed by death of a husband. This might give a clue into why JWH is sticking around. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 09:13:51 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:15:50 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <20070808231951.4A6C8239A@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <1186663357.15875.54.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <46BB9FAF.3080805@ramin.com.au> Glen Turner wrote: > On Thu, 2007-08-09 at 08:55 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: >> The next ten years is easy. The Minister wanted to know what would >> happen in the next 30 years. ;-) > > The year is 1977. Could you have anticipated: > - the Internet > probably not. > - the spreadsheet > unlikely, there was a fierce academic debate about > computers and "knowledge workers" and the big guns > were on the side of their complete replacement by > artificial intelligence rather than augmenting them > with productivity-focused computing support. In 1982, in my first job, I was still programming the Orani Econometric model of the Australian Economy in FORTRAN, and programming memory management on a CYBER 76...boy was the the spreadsheet long overdue. > We're at the limits in a lot of communications technolgoies > now. Battery lifetimes now improve in single digit percentages, > we can't build faster CPUs without water cooling, hard disk > drive have only doubled in speed in the past ten years. I think you are separating the engineering from the application -to my mind, technology is the combination of both. I was going to guess that cross language communication would happen. Interpreters would become available to the ordinary person. The following Courtesy of (note following lines left my computer in arabic, chinese,russian scripts) > > ????? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ??????????? ?? ???? ?? ???????. ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ?????. ????????? ????? ????? ???? ????. > > ??????????,?????????????.??????????????????.???????????? > > ?????, ??? ?? ????????? ??????????? ?????????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????. ? ????????? ??????????, ??? ????? ???? ?????????, ??? ??????????. ??????????? ?????? ????????? ??? ???????? ????????. and for good measure maybe even Hindi or given the significance of Bangalore - Kanada Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From ivan at itrundle.com Fri Aug 10 09:17:16 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:17:37 2007 Subject: [LINK] Blocking URL spam servers Message-ID: <29D9D494-315D-42AF-9B85-B75EEDF7DDBF@itrundle.com> Study finds weak link in spam business (Jeff Hecht, NewScientistTech) A study of more than a million spam emails has revealed a weak link in the junk email business. It shows that the web links contained in many spam messages point to just a handful of servers. So, in theory, disabling or blocking these servers could help make spamming a less profitable business. Instead of focusing on filtering or blocking spam at the inbox, Geoff Voelker and Chris Fleizach at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) examined the infrastructure behind spam instead. The pair studied more than a million spam messages, collected over a single week in 2006, which advertised 2334 distinct companies, ranging from businesses selling legal products to financial scamming sites. The messages came from a wide range of sources, most likely PCs infected with a computer virus and remotely used to churn out spam (see Web browsers are new frontline in internet war). But when the UCSD team followed web links in each spam message, they found that 94% directed traffic to a single web server. Furthermore, 57% led to a single host based in the US. Stemming the tide This represents a potential vulnerability in the spam business, Fleizach says, who presented the research at the USENIX Security Symposium in Boston, US, on 9 August. He notes that conventional blacklisting - blocking the machines that send out spam - only goes so far. Partly because spammers generated random "from" addresses, more than 93% of which are used only once. "This excellent paper points at a new approach for making life harder for spammers," adds Nathaniel Borenstein, IBM's chief anti-spam and open strategist. "It's not going to stop the spammers completely, but it could slow them down for a while, and that's no small achievement." The links analysed by the UCSD team reveal other facts about the spam business. For example, only 30% of messages contained active web link (compared to 85% in 2005). Much of the rest was so-called "pump and dump" spam, aimed at hiking the value of specific stocks. Additionally, more than half of the messages carried a virus designed to infect computers so that they would send out Many links contain extra information to identify that identifies the spam sender, who then receives a commission for the traffic they generate. http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn12449&feedId=tech_rss20 iT From slc at publicus.net Fri Aug 10 09:19:37 2007 From: slc at publicus.net (Steven Clift) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:19:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] Looking for a bold Australian local community ... Message-ID: <06c501c7dadb$c174f8b0$6600a8c0@publicus> ... interested in joining E-Democracy.Org's global network of _local_ Issues Forums. This is a citizen-led volunteer-based sustainable model, but government or other funding can make it happen more quickly. For those I've met on past speaking trips, you may recall the "squirrel story." We now have a forum for Canterbury including Christchurch in New Zealand and our UK network continues to grow. We've also just received a grant to expand into three rural communities in Minnesota. Why not an Issues Forum for a remote region of Australia or a neighbourhood in Sydney? Issues Forum details, including a short video: http://e-democracy.org/if We've just released a strategic plan that should give you a sense of where we are going: http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/101 In a few years I'd like to see dozens of vibrant Issues Forums (which combine an e-list, web forum, a multi-editor blog, and file sharing in one unified online space with an integrated standards-based GPL open source platform) across Australia showing the rest of the world how to do it right. Interested in learning more? E-mail us: team@e-democracy.org Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven Clift - clift@publicus.net Web: http://publicus.net Blog: http://dowire.org/notes NGO: http://e-democracy.org Replies to slc@ may be missed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 09:20:34 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:22:11 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <1186661536.15875.27.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA4AA5.1010608@lannet.com.au> <1186661536.15875.27.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <46BBA142.3030707@ramin.com.au> Glen Turner wrote: > I haven't picked this up again since my last visit to the > US, since it seems a bit of a hopeless case for me to > pursue -- I'm not in a position to raise the necessary > $m funding, nor have enough TV industry experience to > kick off a TV station, commission works, etc. The NSW Government Digital station is a bit sad - most of the content seems to be Surf Watch. [Howard, perhaps you could contact them and ask why the good citizens of Albury are missing out - ] As a theatre buff, I would love to see more theatre even for educational purposes - ie not full productions (those are best seen live) - but the business models/licensing still has to be worked out. One of the interesting snippets I came across on the new community channel in NSW is golf tips/coaching - again with golf I prefer playing than watching. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 09:24:34 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:26:04 2007 Subject: [LINK] IceTV and TiVo In-Reply-To: <46BB277D.7030802@praxis.com.au> References: <20070809102125.5E91564023@vscan59.melbpc.org.au> <46BB277D.7030802@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <46BBA232.7000000@ramin.com.au> Rick Welykochy wrote: > Stephen Loosley wrote: > >> Speaking of TV .. >> Nine loses electronic program guide case >> by Asher Moses >> August 9, 2007 - 10:44AM >> >> > [SNIP] >> Julie Flynn, chief executive of Free TV Australia, said manufacturers >> who wish to use the new EPG must comply with "base-level requirements >> designed to protect copyright, protect the integrity of the program >> information and facilitate collection of ratings information". >> This would require manufacturers to alter their product for the >> Australian market and leave owners of current digital video recorders >> which don't meet the commercial broadcasters' requirements in the lurch. > > Erm ... as an owner of a pvr that uses an EPG, I doubt I'll > be taking any action to conform to some future regulations > from Free TV. Retroactive regulating is just so unAustralian, > don't you think? > and from 07/26/07 00:00 "TEN chief executive Grant Blackley has poured cold water on suggestions Ten will sign a deal for the TiVO video recorder." m -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Thu Aug 9 15:35:02 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:48:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <7.1.0.9.0.20070808122515.01c51c48@tomw.net.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <7.1.0.9.0.20070808122515.01c51c48@tomw.net.au> Message-ID: <20070809234836.213381B714@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 08:55 AM 9/08/2007, I wrote: >... Meanwhile Prime Minister Julia Gillard was still aboard the >Australian Navy flag ship HMAS Canberra, meeting with US President >Hillary Clinton about the war on climate change. ... I should have pointed out that the idea of President Hillary Clinton fighting a war comes from John Burmingham's future history trilogy. HMAS Canberra will actually be in service by 2016: Federal Cabinet recently approved its construction in Spain and Australia. The ship is planned to have containerized command and control facilities on board. These will look much like a de-mountable classroom, with video screens on the walls. ps: The Navy is not yet admitting HMAS Canberra is an aircraft carrier, despite the ship's most prominent feature being a "ski jump" on the front for Harrier and F-35 SVTOL jets. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Aug 7 10:09:08 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Fri Aug 10 09:48:59 2007 Subject: [LINK] Online journalism with Crikey.com founder, Canberra, 29 August 2007 Message-ID: <20070809234839.B58231B714@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Recommended: >Online journalism and its impact on traditional media > >The internet revolution has been the greatest structural shock to >hit the mainstream media since the introduction of television. >Crikey.com founder Stephen Mayne will assess how online journalism >is fundamentally changing traditional media and whether any of the >so-called 'user-generated content' of Web 2.0 should even be called >journalism. Whilst some media companies are now embracing the >internet as an opportunity and dominating the space, many are >feeling seriously threatened. And with such an extraordinary >fragmentation and proliferation of information in cyberspace, what >is the role of libraries in recording journalism's traditional >'first draft of history approach' to the news as it unfolds? > >Date: 29 August 2007 >Time: 12.30 to 13.30 >Venue: Library Theatre >Entry: Free > >The speaker, Stephen Mayne, will be introduced by Michele Huston, >Director Web Publishing, National Library of Australia. > >Bobby Graham >Web Content Manager >Web Publishing Branch, IT Division >National Library of Australia >Tel: +61 2 6262 1542 >www.nla.gov.au > Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From stil at stilgherrian.com Fri Aug 10 10:21:12 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Fri Aug 10 10:21:34 2007 Subject: [LINK] Blocking URL spam servers In-Reply-To: <29D9D494-315D-42AF-9B85-B75EEDF7DDBF@itrundle.com> Message-ID: On 10/8/07 9:17 AM, "Ivan Trundle" wrote: > But when the > UCSD team followed web links in each spam message, they found that > 94% directed traffic to a single web server. Furthermore, 57% led to > a single host based in the US. Ah, yes... And as soon as the anti-spam forces block that set of servers, the spammers will use distributed networks of servers to deliver the web-based content. Since they're already using automated systems to find and infect vulnerable computers to send the spam, it should be a straightforward network programming task to similarly automate the creation of many web servers. Whack-a-Mole comes to mind... Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From josh at email.nu Fri Aug 10 10:29:59 2007 From: josh at email.nu (Josh Rowe) Date: Fri Aug 10 10:30:11 2007 Subject: [LINK] auDA Public Board Meeting - Monday Aug 13 - Sydney Message-ID: <20070810002959.GA9692@whim.sanctum.com.au> Linkers, The auDA board will meet on Monday in Sydney. This meeting is open to the public. Here are the details: Time: 10:00 AM Date: 13 August 2007 Location: Maddocks Lawyers, Angel Place, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney Details: Notice of 2007 Extraordinary General Meeting http://www.auda.org.au/agm/egm2007-notice/ auDA Board Meeting Agenda - 13 August 2007 http://www.auda.org.au/meetings/agenda-13082007/ " ... auDA Board Meeting - 13 August 2007 Agenda 1. Confirmation of Agenda 2. Apologies 3. Continuous Disclosure 4. Confirmation of June 2007 Minutes 5. EGM Outcomes 6. Policy Development - 2007 Names Policy Panel report 7. Finance Report 8. CEO Report 9. auDA Foundation Report 10. auCD Report 11. 2007 AGM 12. Membership 13. Board Correspondence 14. Other Business 15. Next Meeting - Monday 15 October - Maddocks, Melbourne ... " Regards Josh -- http://josh.id.au/ From grove at zeta.org.au Fri Aug 10 10:59:07 2007 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Fri Aug 10 10:59:22 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: On Fri, 10 Aug 2007, Jan Whitaker wrote: > It must be an election year. The government (and Stephen Conroy) is 'saving' > children all over the place! Oh! My! Lock them up! is falling, says Chicken Little>. > > How in the world will they provide DUAL -DSL to homes to provide a 'safe' > channel for the kids and a real channel for the >16s? IPv6 will let you do this. You could even assign an IP address to a login session. The technology is not quite there yet, but expect an explosion of purposes for IPv6 when it finally comes (soon....). I know what you mean about the chicken little story, though.... rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html Will you tolerate this? Return Hew Raymond Griffiths now... "Who do you trust?" - John W Howard From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Aug 10 11:18:16 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:18:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] auDA Public Board Meeting - Monday Aug 13 - Sydney In-Reply-To: <20070810002959.GA9692@whim.sanctum.com.au> References: <20070810002959.GA9692@whim.sanctum.com.au> Message-ID: At 10:29 +1000 10/8/07, Josh Rowe wrote: >The auDA board will meet on Monday in Sydney. This meeting is open >to the public. >Time: 10:00 AM >Date: 13 August 2007 >Location: Maddocks Lawyers, Angel Place, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney >Notice of 2007 Extraordinary General Meeting >http://www.auda.org.au/agm/egm2007-notice/ >auDA Board Meeting Agenda - 13 August 2007 >http://www.auda.org.au/meetings/agenda-13082007/ >" ... >auDA Board Meeting - 13 August 2007 >Agenda >6. Policy Development > - 2007 Names Policy Panel report But no link is provided to the report, or even the Exec Summary, nor is any clue given about what the report contains. I trust that at least the Board members have some attachments, to that they can prepare for the meeting. http://www.auda.org.au/2007npp/2007npp-index/ Many linkers will doubtless appreciate the URL when the document becomes available. Thanks Josh! -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From rick at praxis.com.au Fri Aug 10 11:21:17 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:21:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46BBBD8D.9080902@praxis.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > It must be an election year. The government (and Stephen Conroy) is > 'saving' children all over the place! Oh! My! Lock them up! > . > > How in the world will they provide DUAL -DSL to homes to provide a > 'safe' channel for the kids and a real channel for the >16s? Or will > everyone in the family be 'saved'? I'm sure the audience spoken to last > night will be happy with the 'one size fits all' version, so I guess > that means that the ISPs will be required to spend the pittance they get > of the shared $40mill to provide another unwanted/unused service option > ('clean' channels) so that a minority can be bought for an election. Let's not forget that *any* system of filtering is most easily circumvented by young computer savvy kids. This has been demonstrated time and time again. It is wrong to assume that net filtering systems can be maintained in a secure manner by parents. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services This is the first age that's paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one. -- Arthur C Clarke From drose at nla.gov.au Fri Aug 10 11:21:26 2007 From: drose at nla.gov.au (Daniel Rose) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:22:05 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46BBBD96.4040604@nla.gov.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 11:50 AM 8/08/2007, Howard Lowndes wrote: >> What we need is for the commercial stations to be permitted to >> multi-channel, and for there to be more (or even any would be nice) >> quality content. > > Makes me wonder if the free to air or the gubmint have nudge wink deals > with Foxtel to not do this. I would love a couple more channel types: > old b&w movies > cartoons [rocky and bullwinkle, looney tunes, etc] > weather channel, even if it were just a graphic with updates of > satellite imagery > a clock > educational programs (there are quite a few of those available, used to > be on Open Learning) > arts and music > SBS carries a certain amount of "weird" or cult programming; south park and drawn together, old zombie movies, foreign war films and stuff like "Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are dead". I remember ~15 years ago they had a show on Saturdays called Buzz which was full of heavy concepts and general "wow, man, yeah!" stuff, and they've run some good new years eve lineups too. Along with heavy documentries like "the cutting edge", this is the only pay tv I'd pay for; as essentially it's the category I've seen with the least commercial/marketing influence on the programming. However, I suspect that the audience for sport or business channels is somewhat larger. If we can have channels like hallmark, disney and nikelodeon, I'd like to see something like this. From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Fri Aug 10 11:27:34 2007 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:27:47 2007 Subject: [LINK] Re: The Next Ten Years In-Reply-To: <46BBB070.4000102@lannet.com.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <7.1.0.9.0.20070808122515.01c51c48@tomw.net.au> <20070809234836.213381B714@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> <46BBB070.4000102@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <9D9718D1-067A-4ED9-A286-C23778F367E9@tony-barry.emu.id.au> On 10/08/2007, at 10:25 AM, Howard Lowndes wrote: > She was Ark Royal 5 and I was struck by how much smaller she was > than Ark Royal 3 which I saw as a kid anchored off Weymouth in the > English Channel. I remember a huge wall near my first primary school. It was too high to climb. Strangely when I returned 40 years later it had shrunk to a height I could sit on. The huge grasshoppers and cicadas I used to catch as a boy seem to have gone extinct. Only small species are left. Perhaps they have evolved to a smaller size. :-) Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 mobile: 04 1242 0397 -- ~| mailto: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au -- \@ or tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au -- _\\/\% http://tony-barry.emu.id.au GT3 ____(*)__(*)___ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore From kauer at biplane.com.au Fri Aug 10 11:46:59 2007 From: kauer at biplane.com.au (Karl Auer) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:47:14 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering In-Reply-To: <46BBBD8D.9080902@praxis.com.au> References: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BBBD8D.9080902@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <1186710419.27562.63.camel@karl> On Fri, 2007-08-10 at 11:21 +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote: > It is wrong to assume that net filtering systems can be maintained > in a secure manner by parents. "Kids interpret censorship as failure and route around it" :-) -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer (kauer@biplane.com.au) +61-2-64957160 (h) http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/ +61-428-957160 (mob) From cas at taz.net.au Fri Aug 10 11:58:29 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Fri Aug 10 11:58:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 11:23:26AM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: >> Sports fans do subscribe to Foxtel cable. > > Well, we did nearly lose the cricket of free to air, and as for the > golf... wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no sport at all on FTA, not even the 10-15 minutes that it wastes on the news each night? no football of any kind, no tennis, no cricket, no interviews with not-quite-retarded thugs whose claim to fame is that they can kick a ball or ride a bike or swim etc, no commonwealth games, and bliss! no olympics. craig -- craig sanders From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Fri Aug 10 11:52:40 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Fri Aug 10 12:03:13 2007 Subject: [LINK] more on evoting hacking Message-ID: <61fg7n$4tugc0@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> >Scientists Hack Voting Machines to Prove Tech Weaknesses >http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072807Y.shtml >"Computer scientists from California universities have hacked into >three electronic voting systems used in California and elsewhere in >the nation and found several ways in which vote totals could >potentially be altered, according to reports released yesterday by >the state," reports Christopher Drew in Saturday's edition of the >New York Times. > >Florida Voting Machines Can Be Hacked >http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080107J.shtml >Marc Caputo reports for The Miami Herald, "Reversing an unofficial >policy of denial, the Florida Secretary of State's office has >conducted an elections study that confirmed Tuesday what a maverick >voting chief discovered nearly two years ago: Insider computer >hackers can change votes without a trace on Diebold optical-scan machines." Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 12:19:54 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 12:21:49 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46BBCB4A.4010608@ramin.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 11:23:26AM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: >>> Sports fans do subscribe to Foxtel cable. >> Well, we did nearly lose the cricket of free to air, and as for the >> golf... > > wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no sport at all on FTA, not even > the 10-15 minutes that it wastes on the news each night? no football of > any kind, no tennis, no cricket, no interviews with not-quite-retarded > thugs whose claim to fame is that they can kick a ball or ride a bike or > swim etc, no commonwealth games, and bliss! no olympics. > No chance! Radio National was polluted a few years ago, and as far as I can tell, SBS at 6.30om makes no distinction. M -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Fri Aug 10 12:32:14 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Fri Aug 10 12:42:59 2007 Subject: [LINK] Open Source Alternative to the iPhone, Canberra, 15 August 2007 In-Reply-To: <7.1.0.9.0.20070808122515.01c51c48@tomw.net.au> References: <635bd2180708071552i5941076an2da63887049e1d08@mail.gmail.com> <7.1.0.9.0.20070808122515.01c51c48@tomw.net.au> Message-ID: <20070810024247.2DA25112CE@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 08:55 AM 9/08/2007, I wrote (was: "The Next Ten Years"): >... In the nearer term we will have iPhone type devices, but running >open source Linux software. I am seeing if we can have a >demonstration of one of these in Canberra next week. ... Linkers are invited: --- Australian Computer Society Green IT Special Interest Group In Conjunction with the ACS SQA SIG August Canberra Meeting Topic: Open Source Alternative to the iPhoneShayne Flint Speaker: Dr. Shayne Flint, Department of Computer Science, The Australian National University Venue: Australian National University, Room N101, Computer Science Building, North Road, Canberra Date: Wednesday 15 August 2007 Time: 5:30pm drinks/nibbles for presentation 6pm-7pm Event Prices: Free. Registration: Not required Announcement: http://education.acs.org.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=3636 Summary Dr. Flint will demonstrate the software development kit for the OpenMoko "Open Source" mobile phone. While the Apple iPhone has been getting media attention, another touch phone has been quietly under development by the Linux community and will be first to market in Australia. OpenMoko is set to revolutionize mobile communications by providing the power of Linux in a hand held touch screen device. Shayne will discuss some of the software engineering projects being formulated for use with the phones location sensitive and wireless communications features. ANU Mobile Web ServiceShayne will use the OpenMoko device to demonstrate the ANU's new "ANU Mobile" web service, which has just been released. Tom Worthington, Chair of the ACS Green IT Group, backs the move to mobiles, arguing that low power handheld devices with open access applications can be used to make a positive contribution to environmental sustainability. Power hungry desktop computers can in many cases be replaced with mobile devices. Some trips can be replaced with ad-hoc wireless meetings, using Web 2.0 "social networking" making further fossil fuel savings. About the Speaker Dr Shayne Flint is a Senior Lecturerat the Department of Computer Science, Australian National University, where he teaches Software Engineering. Dr. Flint is the originator of Aspect-Oriented Thinking, an approach that systematically develops, manages and integrates the knowledge and expertise of many disciplines to develop complex software systems. About ACS Green IT The ICT Environmental Sustainability Group ("Green IT") brings together professionals interested in balancing economic and environmental aspects of information technology and telecommunications. It is a special interest group of the Australian Computer Society. The group aims to hold joint meetings with other professional bodies interested in technology, the environment and sustainability. Sign up now to get updates on ICT and the environment. --- Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From brd at iimetro.com.au Fri Aug 10 14:31:42 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Fri Aug 10 14:32:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] Britain begins ID procurement Message-ID: <46BBEA2E.9070005@iimetro.com.au> Technically the UK project is a lot simpler than the Australian Access Card system. From what I can tell from publicly available documents on both schemes, the UK ID card is read only and will not be updated when someone reads the card. This is unlike the Access Card system where it is proposed that every time the card is used, there is the opportunity to update card data from the back-end applications - a much more difficult technical problem than just reading static data off a smart card. The procurement document, which is full of EU bureaucratic speak, is at https://homeoffice.bravosolution.com/esop/toolkit/notice/public/tender.do?caller=0&tenderId=tender_17806 Britain begins ID procurement Michael Holden in London August 10, 2007 Australian IT http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22220727-24169,00.html BRITAIN has launched the process to choose companies to run its multi-billion-pound national identity card scheme, the world's most ambitious biometric project. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government described the move as "another milestone" towards the controversial compulsory scheme, which is expected to cost more than ?5 billion ($12 billion) over the next decade. Ministers say the cards carrying fingerprint, iris and face-recognition technology, are vital to fight terrorism, serious organised crime and illegal immigration. The scheme, due to be rolled out from 2009, would see Britons issued with ID cards for the first time since they were abolished after World War II. "This is a groundbreaking project, with the potential for huge benefits for individuals and for the nation," Home Office Minister Meg Hillier said. "As the Framework Procurement published today makes clear, we are committed to introducing the scheme carefully and securely, minimising both cost and risk." The notice, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, invites firms to bid for the supply and maintenance of computer systems and the issuing of the cards themselves. Media reports said five firms would be chosen for the project with the largest contracts said to be worth up to ?500 million. The cards, which will involve one of the world's largest IT schemes, have drawn much criticism, with opponents saying they will infringe civil rights and be a costly flop. The opposition Conservative Party warned potential bidders on Thursday that it would scrap the scheme if it wins the next election. "This project will do nothing to improve our security," said David Davis, the Conservative home affairs spokesman. "In fact independent experts like Microsoft and the LSE (London School of Economics) have pointed out that it could well make our security worse while costing the tax payer ?20 billion in the process." ID cards are used in about a dozen European Union countries but are not always compulsory and do not carry as much data as those planned for Britain. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Aug 10 14:51:03 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Aug 10 14:51:45 2007 Subject: [LINK] Britain begins ID procurement In-Reply-To: <46BBEA2E.9070005@iimetro.com.au> References: <46BBEA2E.9070005@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: At 14:31 +1000 10/8/07, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: https://homeoffice.bravosolution.com/esop/toolkit/notice/public/tender.do?caller=0&tenderId=tender_17806 >http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22220727-24169,00.html >Ministers say the cards carrying fingerprint, iris and >face-recognition technology, are vital to fight terrorism, serious >organised crime and illegal immigration. Remarkable. A couple of Home Secretaries ago (i.e. fairly recently), a bloke called Clarke (no relation) said emphatically that the card would *not* contribute to counter-terrorism efforts. >The cards, which will involve one of the world's largest IT schemes, >have drawn much criticism, with opponents saying they will infringe >civil rights and be a costly flop. But, as Bernard pointed out, Australia Card Mark II is considerably more complex, and hence would be an even more serious infringement (should it work), but is far more likely to be a mega-costly mega-flop. >ID cards are used in about a dozen European Union countries but are >not always compulsory and do not carry as much data as those planned >for Britain. That's a serious misrepresentation. Many have 'inhabitant registration schemes', and many have a multi-function number akin to our TFN. But Denmark and Finland are the only two European countries with anything resembling the tool-for-totalitarians that the UK and Australian Governments are talking about imposing on their citizens. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From brd at iimetro.com.au Fri Aug 10 15:06:23 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Fri Aug 10 15:06:40 2007 Subject: [LINK] Britain begins ID procurement In-Reply-To: References: <46BBEA2E.9070005@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: <46BBF24F.8000002@iimetro.com.au> Roger Clarke wrote: > But, as Bernard pointed out, Australia Card Mark II is considerably more > complex, and hence would be an even more serious infringement (should it > work), but is far more likely to be a mega-costly mega-flop. Just to clarify. I said it was more complex - I did not make any comparisons with the Australia Card or observations regarding consequential infringements. Privacy is not my area of expertise and I don't make public statements about it. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Fri Aug 10 15:38:56 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Fri Aug 10 15:39:33 2007 Subject: [LINK] Britain begins ID procurement In-Reply-To: <46BBF24F.8000002@iimetro.com.au> References: <46BBEA2E.9070005@iimetro.com.au> <46BBF24F.8000002@iimetro.com.au> Message-ID: Bernard wrote: >Technically the UK project is a lot simpler than the Australian >Access Card system. ... >Roger Clarke wrote: >> But, as Bernard pointed out, Australia Card Mark II is >>considerably more complex, and hence would be an even more serious >>infringement (should it work), but is far more likely to be a >>mega-costly mega-flop. At 15:06 +1000 10/8/07, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote: >Just to clarify. I said it was more complex - I did not make any >comparisons with the Australia Card or observations regarding >consequential infringements. >Privacy is not my area of expertise and I don't make public >statements about it. Ain't english challenging ... Yep, that's exactly what I meant to imply: >> But, as Bernard pointed out, [Australia Card Mark II - my >>depiction, not Bernard's] is considerably more complex. [Separate >>point, made by Roger:] Hence [it] would be an even more serious >>infringement (should it work), but is far more likely to be a >>mega-costly mega-flop. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From marghanita at ramin.com.au Fri Aug 10 16:52:15 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Fri Aug 10 17:00:56 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering In-Reply-To: <1186710419.27562.63.camel@karl> References: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BBBD8D.9080902@praxis.com.au> <1186710419.27562.63.camel@karl> Message-ID: <46BC0B1F.7080700@ramin.com.au> Karl Auer wrote: > On Fri, 2007-08-10 at 11:21 +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote: >> It is wrong to assume that net filtering systems can be maintained >> in a secure manner by parents. > > "Kids interpret censorship as failure and route around it" :-) > ..... Every Australian family will be provided with a free internet filter and the federal Government will enter an unprecedented partnership with service providers to filter pornography at the source. Communications and Australian Federal Police resources will be boosted immediately to expand checks on internet chat rooms to detect child predators, and privacy laws masking sex offenders on the net will be altered. The Prime Minister unveiled his new net commandments last night on a webcast to more than 700 churches and thousands of churchgoers around the country....... -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From eleanor at pacific.net.au Fri Aug 10 18:22:08 2007 From: eleanor at pacific.net.au (Eleanor Lister) Date: Fri Aug 10 18:47:34 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46BC2030.7090404@pacific.net.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 11:23:26AM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: > >>> Sports fans do subscribe to Foxtel cable. >>> >> Well, we did nearly lose the cricket of free to air, and as for the >> golf... >> > > wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no sport at all on FTA, not even > the 10-15 minutes that it wastes on the news each night? no football of > any kind, no tennis, no cricket, no interviews with not-quite-retarded > thugs whose claim to fame is that they can kick a ball or ride a bike or > swim etc, no commonwealth games, and bliss! no olympics. > > > craig can you cook? -- ------------ Eleanor Ashley Lister South Sydney Greens http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au webmistress@ssg.nsw.greens.org.au From brd at iimetro.com.au Fri Aug 10 18:53:48 2007 From: brd at iimetro.com.au (Bernard Robertson-Dunn) Date: Fri Aug 10 18:54:00 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <46BC2030.7090404@pacific.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> <46BC2030.7090404@pacific.net.au> Message-ID: <46BC279C.2010108@iimetro.com.au> Eleanor Lister wrote: > Craig Sanders wrote: > >>On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 11:23:26AM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: >> >> >>>>Sports fans do subscribe to Foxtel cable. >>>> >>> >>>Well, we did nearly lose the cricket of free to air, and as for the >>>golf... >>> >> >>wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no sport at all on FTA, not even >>the 10-15 minutes that it wastes on the news each night? no football of >>any kind, no tennis, no cricket, no interviews with not-quite-retarded >>thugs whose claim to fame is that they can kick a ball or ride a bike or >>swim etc, no commonwealth games, and bliss! no olympics. >> >> >>craig > > > can you cook? > That's the funniest three words I have ever seen on Link. Thanks Eleanor, you made my Friday. -- Regards brd Bernard Robertson-Dunn Sydney Australia brd@iimetro.com.au From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Aug 11 11:02:58 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Aug 11 11:03:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google-DoubleClick Opposed in Canada Message-ID: EPIC Alert 14.16 of August 10, 2007 http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_14.16.html ======================================================================== [3] Canadian Group Urges Investigation of Google-DoubleClick Merger ======================================================================== In a complaint to the Canadian Commissioner of Competition, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa last week requested an investigation into the proposed $3.1 billion merger between Google and Internet advertising company DoubleClick. CIPPIC said the merger should be reviewed "on the grounds that it is likely to prevent or lessen competition substantially in the targeted online advertising industry." "Through the merger, Google-DoubleClick will gain unprecedented market power, with which they can manipulate online advertising prices. Advertisers and web publishers will have no real choice but to choose Google's advertisement platforms in order to remain visible in the e-commerce market," said CIPPIC Director Philippa Lawson. CIPPIC cited the US Federal Trade Commission complaint and supplement filed by EPIC, the Center for Digial Democracy and the US Public Interest Research Group, as well as the ongoing European investigations into the merger. The Federal Trade Commission has made a "second request" to Google concerning the merger, which means the FTC is closely scrutinizing the proposed deal under antirust and privacy issues. In July, the European Commission Directorate on Competition announced that it would review the merger. The decision was made shortly after European consumer group BEUC sent a letter urging the Commission to investigate the merger, noting that the European Commission has considered consumer choice as an element in its review of past mergers. BEUC also reminded the Commission that it has publicly defined its role as preventing mergers that would deprive consumers of "high quality products, a wide selection of goods and services, and innovation." The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party also recently expanded an investigation of Google's data retention policies after receiving Google's response to their initial inquiry. The initial review focused on Google's storage periods of server logs, whereas the Working Party has indicated that its new investigation will evaluate the previous analysis in addition to the data protection issues at stake with other search engines. Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, Section 9 Application for an Inquiry into the Proposed Merger of Google, Inc. and DoubleClick Inc. (Aug. 2, 2007) (pdf): http://www.epic.org/redirect/cippic0807.html The European Commission Directorate on Competition: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/index_en.html BEUC's letter on Proposed Acquisition of DoubleClick by Google (pdf): http://www.epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/beuc_062707.pdf Article 29 Data Protection Working Party Press Release (pdf): http://www.epic.org/redirect/a29_press.html EPIC's page on Proposed Google/DoubleClick Merger: http://www.epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/ Federal Trade Commission, Press Release: FTC to Host Town Hall to Examine Privacy Issues and Online Behavioral Advertising (Aug. 6, 2007): http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/08/ehavioral.shtm ======================================================================== -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From rick at praxis.com.au Sat Aug 11 11:32:39 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Sat Aug 11 11:32:50 2007 Subject: [LINK] And the winner is .. Novell Message-ID: <46BD11B7.5060104@praxis.com.au> Court Rules: Novell owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights! Novell has right to waive! Friday, August 10 2007 @ 04:52 PM EDT Hot off the presses: Judge Dale Kimball has issued a 102-page ruling on the numerous summary judgment motions in SCO v. Novell. Here it is as text. Here is what matters most: [T]he court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare Copyrights. That's Aaaaall, Folks! The court also ruled that "SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent". That's the ball game. There are a couple of loose ends, but the big picture is, SCO lost. Oh, and it owes Novell a lot of money from the Microsoft and Sun licenses. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services If schools also want to present students with intelligent design, I don't have any difficulty with that. It's about choice ... -- Brendan Nelson, 2005, Australian Minister for Education From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 11 15:19:29 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Aug 11 15:19:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion Message-ID: <20070811051929.131271A4@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You The Wall Street Journal .. By VAUHINI VARA July 30, 2007; . Here, then, are the 10 secrets your IT department doesn't want you to know, the risks you'll face if you use them -- and tips about how to keep yourself (and your job) safe while you're at it. * * * 1. HOW TO SEND GIANT FILES The Problem: Everybody needs to email big files from time to time, everything from big marketing presentations to vacation photos. But if you send anything larger than a few megabytes, chances are you'll get an email saying you've hit the company's limit. Companies cap the amount of data employees can send and store in email for a very simple reason: They want to avoid filling up their servers, and thus slowing them down, says messaging-research firm Osterman Research Inc., of Black Diamond, Wash. And getting your company to increase your email limit can be a convoluted process. The Trick: Use online services such as YouSendIt Inc., SendThisFile Inc. and Carson Systems Ltd.'s DropSend, which let you send large files -- sometimes up to a few gigabytes in size -- free of charge. To use the services, you typically have to register, supplying personal information such as name and email address. You can then enter the recipient's email address and a message to him or her, and the site will give you instructions for uploading the file. In most cases, the site will send the recipient a link that he or she can click to download the file. * * * 2. HOW TO USE SOFTWARE THAT YOUR COMPANY WON'T LET YOU DOWNLOAD The Problem: Many companies require that employees get permission from the IT department to download software. But that can be problematic if you're trying to download software that your IT department has blacklisted. The Trick: There are two easy ways around this: finding Web-based alternatives or bringing in the software on an outside device. The first is easier. Say your company won't let you download the popular AOL Instant Messenger program, from Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit. You can still instant-message with colleagues and friends using a Web-based version of the service called AIM Express (AIM.com/aimexpress.adp). There's also Google Inc.'s instant-messaging service, Google Talk, accessible at Google.com/talk. There are Web-based equivalents of software such as music players and videogames, too -- typically, skimpier versions with fewer features than the regular programs. The other approach to this problem is more involved but gives you access to actual software programs on your computer. All three of our experts pointed to a company called Rare Ideas LLC (RareIdeas.com), which offers free versions of popular programs such as Firefox and OpenOffice. You can download the software onto a portable device like an iPod or a USB stick, through a service called Portable Apps (PortableApps.com). Then hook the device up to your work computer, and you're ready to go. (But if your company blocks you from using external devices, you're out of luck.) The Risk: Using Web-based services can be a strain on your company's resources. And bringing in software on outside devices can present a security problem. IT departments like to keep track of all the software used by employees, so that if a bug or other security problem arises, they can easily put fixes in place. That's not the case if you've brought the program in on your own. Another thing to keep in mind: Some less reputable software programs, especially underground file-sharing programs, could come loaded with spyware and make it possible for your own files to leak onto the Web. How to Stay Safe: If you bring in software on an outside device, says Mr. Lobel, make sure you at least tweak the security settings on your computer's antivirus software so that it scans the device for potential threats. That's easy to do, usually through an Options or Settings menu. Likewise, if you use a file-sharing service, set it up so that others can't access your own files, also through an Options or Settings area. * * * 3. HOW TO VISIT THE WEB SITES YOUR COMPANY BLOCKS The Problem: Companies often block employees from visiting certain sites -- ranging from the really nefarious (porn) to probably bad (gambling) to mostly innocuous (Web-based email services). The Trick: Even if your company won't let you visit those sites by typing their Web addresses into your browser, you can still sometimes sneak your way onto them. You travel to a third-party site, called a proxy, and type the Web address you want into a search box. Then the proxy site travels to the site you want and displays it for you -- so you can see the site without actually visiting it. Proxy.org, for one, features a list of more than 4,000 proxies. Another way to accomplish the same thing, from Mr. Frauenfelder and Ms. Trapani: Use Google's translation service, asking it to do an English-to- English translation. Just enter this -- Google.com/translate? langpair=en|en&u=www.blockedsite.com -- replacing "blockedsite.com" with the Web address of the site you want to visit. Google effectively acts as a proxy, calling up the site for you. The Risk: If you use a proxy to, say, catch up on email or watch a YouTube video, the main risk is getting caught by your boss. But there are scarier security risks: Online bad guys sometimes buy Web addresses that are misspellings of popular sites, then use them to infect visitors' computers, warns Mr. Lobel. Companies often block those sites, too -- but you won't be protected from them if you use a proxy. How to Stay Safe: Don't make a habit of using proxies for all your Web surfing. Use them only to visit specific sites that your company blocks for productivity-related reasons -- say, YouTube. And watch your spelling. * * * 4. HOW TO CLEAR YOUR TRACKS ON YOUR WORK LAPTOP The Problem: If you use a company-owned laptop at home, chances are you use it for personal tasks: planning family vacations, shopping for beach books, organizing online photo albums and so on. Many companies reserve the right to monitor all that activity, because the laptops are technically their property. So what happens if your -- ahem -- friend accidentally surfs onto a porn site or does a Web search for some embarrassing ailment? The Trick: The latest versions of the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers both make it easy to clear your tracks. In IE7, click on Tools, then Delete Browsing History. From there, you can either delete all your history by clicking Delete All or choose one or a few kinds of data to delete. In Firefox, just hit Ctrl-Shift-Del -- or click Clear Private Data under the Tools menu. The Risk: Even if you clear your tracks, you still face risks from roaming all over the Web. You could unintentionally install spyware on your computer from visiting a sketchy site or get your boss involved in legal problems for your behavior. If you're caught, it could mean (at best) embarrassment or (at worst) joblessness. How to Stay Safe: Clear your private data as often as possible. Better yet, don't use your work computer to do anything you wouldn't want your boss to know about. * * * 5. HOW TO SEARCH FOR YOUR WORK DOCUMENTS FROM HOME The Problem: You're catching up on work late at night or over the weekend - - but the documents you need to search through are stuck on your office PC. The Trick: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask unit have all released software that lets you quickly search your desktop documents. On top of that, some will let you search through documents saved on one computer from another one. How does it work? The search company keeps a copy of your documents on its own server. So it can scan those copies when you do a search remotely. To use Google's software -- among the most popular -- follow these steps on both your work and home PC. First, you'll need to set up a Google account on both machines by visiting Google.com/accounts. (Be sure to use the same account on both computers.) Then go to Desktop.Google.com to download the search software. When it's up and running -- again, do this on both machines -- click on Desktop Preferences, then Google Account Features. From there, check the box next to Search Across Computers. After that point, any document you open on either machine will be copied to Google's servers -- and will be searchable from either machine. The Risk: Corporate technology managers offer this nightmare scenario: You've saved top-secret financial information on your work PC. You set up desktop-search software so that you can access those files when working from home on your laptop. Then you lose your laptop. Uh-oh. Getting hold of your company's internal documents could give others insight into your plans, and losing certain information could have legal repercussions. In particular, myriad state laws regulate how a company has to react when it loses private information about customers or employees; most require notifying those people about the breach in writing. Sending those notifications can be costly for your company -- not to mention damaging to its reputation. On top of that threat, researchers have found vulnerabilities in Google's desktop-search software that could let a hacker trick a user into giving up access to files, says Mr. Schmugar of McAfee. (Those vulnerabilities have since been fixed, but more could crop up, he says.) Matt Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, says there are bound to be vulnerabilities in any software and that, to the best of his knowledge, none of the Google Desktop vulnerabilities were exploited by hackers. He adds that when Google finds out about a vulnerability, it quickly fixes it and notifies users. How to Stay Safe: If you have any files on your work PC that shouldn't be made public, ask your IT administrator to help you set up Google Desktop to avoid accidental leaks. * * * 6. HOW TO STORE WORK FILES ONLINE The Problem: Desktop search aside, most people who often work away from the office have come up with their own solution to getting access to work files. They save them on a disk or a portable device and then plug it into a home computer. Or they store the files on the company network, then access the network remotely. But portable devices can be cumbersome, and company-network connections can be slow and unreliable. The Trick: Use an online-storage service from the likes of Box.net Inc., Streamload Inc. or AOL-owned Xdrive. (Box.net also offers its service inside the social-networking site Facebook.) Most offer some free storage, from one to five gigabytes, and charge a few dollars a month for premium packages with extra space. Another guerrilla storage solution is to email files to your private, Web-based email account, such as Gmail or Hotmail. The Risk: A bad guy could steal your password for one of these sites and quickly grab copies of your company's sensitive files. How to Stay Safe: When you're thinking about storing a file online, ask yourself if it would be OK for that file to be splashed all over the Internet or sent to the CEO of your company's top rival. If so, go for it. If not, don't. * * * 7. HOW TO KEEP YOUR PRIVACY WHEN USING WEB EMAIL The Problem: Many companies now have the ability to track employees' emails, both on work email accounts and personal Web-based accounts, as well as IM conversations. The Trick: When you send emails -- using either your work or personal email address -- you can encrypt them, so that only you and the recipient can read them. In Microsoft Outlook, click on Tools, then Options and choose the Security tab. There, you can enter a password -- and nobody can open a note from you without supplying it. (Of course, you'll have to tell people the code beforehand.) For Web-based personal email, try this trick from Mr. Frauenfelder: When checking email, add an "s" to the end of the "http" in front of your email provider's Web address -- for instance, https://www.Gmail.com. This throws you into a secure session, so that nobody can track your email. Not all Web services may support this, however. To encrypt IM conversations, meanwhile, try the IM service Trillian from Cerulean Studios LLC, which lets you connect to AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and others -- and lets you encrypt your IM conversations so that they can't be read. The Risk: The main reason companies monitor email is to catch employees who are leaking confidential information. By using these tricks, you may set off false alarms and make it harder for the IT crew to manage real threats. How to Stay Safe: Use these tricks only occasionally, instead of as a default. * * * 8. HOW TO ACCESS YOUR WORK EMAIL REMOTELY WHEN YOUR COMPANY WON'T SPRING FOR A BLACKBERRY The Problem: Anyone without a BlackBerry knows the feeling: There's a lull in the conversation when you're out to dinner or an after-work beer, and everyone reaches for their pocket to grab their BlackBerry, leaving you alone to stir your drink. The Trick: You, too, can stay up to date on work email, using any number of consumer-oriented hand-held devices. Just set up your work email so that all your emails get forwarded to your personal email account. In Microsoft Outlook, you can do this by right-clicking on any email, choosing Create Rule, and asking that all your email be forwarded to another address. Then, set up your hand-held to receive your personal email, by following instructions from the service provider for your hand- held. (That's the company that sends you your bill.) The Risk: Now, not only can hackers break into your personal account by going online on a computer, they can also break into it by exploiting security vulnerabilities on your mobile device. How to Stay Safe: There's a kosher way to access work email on some devices, by getting passwords and other information from your IT department. * * * 9. HOW TO ACCESS YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL ON YOUR BLACKBERRY The Problem: If you do have a BlackBerry, you've probably got a different problem: You want to get your personal email just as easily as work email. The Trick: Look at the Settings area of your personal email account, and make sure you've enabled POP -- Post Office Protocol -- a method used to retrieve email from elsewhere. Then log in to the Web site for your BlackBerry service provider. Click on the Profile button, look for the Email Accounts section and click on Other Email Accounts. Then click Add Account and enter the information for your Web-based email account. Now your personal emails will pop up on the same screen as your company email. The Risk: Your company probably uses a whole bunch of security technology to keep viruses and spies out of your files. When you receive personal email on your BlackBerry, it's coming to you without passing through your company's firewall. That means viruses or spyware could sneak onto your BlackBerry via a personal email, says Mr. Schmugar of McAfee. Worse yet, he says, when you plug your BlackBerry into your work computer, there's a chance that the malicious software could jump onto your hard drive. How to Stay Safe: Cross your fingers and hope that your personal email provider is doing a decent job weeding out viruses, spyware and other intruders. (Chances are, it is.) * * * 10. HOW TO LOOK LIKE YOU'RE WORKING The Problem: You're doing some vital Web surfing and your boss turns the corner. What do you do? The Trick: Hit Alt-Tab to quickly minimize one window (say, the one where you're browsing ESPN.com) and maximize another (like that presentation that's due today). The Risk: The good news is that there are no known security risks. How to Stay Safe: Get back to work. -- Ms. Vara is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau. Write to Vauhini Vara at vauhini.vara@wsj.com -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Aug 11 15:34:52 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Aug 11 15:35:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion In-Reply-To: <20070811051929.131271A4@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070811051929.131271A4@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: At 5:19 +0000 11/8/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: >Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You >The Wall Street Journal .. By VAUHINI VARA July 30, 2007; http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB118539543272477927-lMyQjAxMDE3ODM1MDMzOTA1Wj.html With even the WSJ offering 'advice' that invites a whole host of insecurities (Google Desktop, for heaven's sake!!??), what chance is there of small business or consumers avoiding the pitfalls?? -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 11 15:52:06 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Aug 11 15:52:17 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion Message-ID: <20070811055206.64B7E1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At 03:34 PM 11/08/2007, Roger Clarke wrote: > Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You > The Wall Street Journal .. By VAUHINI VARA July 30, 2007; > lMyQjAxMDE3ODM1MDMzOTA1Wj.html> > > With even the WSJ offering 'advice' that invites a whole host > of insecurities (Google Desktop, for heaven's sake!!??), what > chance is there of small business or consumers avoiding the pitfalls?? True enough, Roger, one agrees in principle .. but, others say ... Stop complaining and shut the door! By Frank Hayes on Fri, 08/10/2007 - 2:54pm I didn't see this Wall Street Journal article, "Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You," when it appeared at the beginning of last week. The piece was a tip sheet for how employees can get around corporate IT policies, and it seems to have stirred up great fury in some quarters -- I understand why the security people are unhappy with the WSJ for publishing this piece. But the security people should understand that, on this one, they're dead wrong. Not a little wrong -- completely, 100% wrong. And I'm really appalled to think that serious security professionals believe what the WSJ published was a bunch of deep, dark secrets to corporate users. Users know this stuff already! They don't have to read an article in the WSJ to learn about it. They have departmental power users who have been diving through the holes in their company's IT security for years. The Web and print magazines are full of information on everything that was in the WSJ article. And everybody's brother-in-law is full of misinformation about how there's really nothing wrong with it. This isn't even a case of depending on "security through obscurity." It's not obscure! The idea that this is new information to users falls under the category of "security through wishful thinking." Was the WSJ wrong, irresponsible and evil to publish the article? Hogwash. They revealed nothing. But they did do every corporate IT security pro a huge favor. It's not too late to dig up the Monday, July 30, issue of the paper. Photocopy the article. Take it to your boss, and recite the following speech: "We must now assume that every user can do these things. "I need your sponsorship and the budget and resources necessary to close these 10 security holes in our systems. "And I need them now, because users have had this article for two weeks." Face it, if you just e-mailed that boss a list of those same stupidly dangerous user tricks, you'd get no action. You'd likely get nothing if you sent a copy of an article with the same information that appeared in Computerworld or CSO or any other infosec trade pub. But the Wall Street Journal? That's something that will get respect all the way up the chain. Quit whining. Use the opportunity this presents. And for petesake stop assuming your users are stupid. Your worst enemies? Maybe. Grossly misinformed and undereducated and uncooperative when it comes to security? Probably. But not stupid. That stopped being a secure assumption a long time ago. Filed under : IT Management | Security Frank Hayes's blog -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 11 16:25:02 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Aug 11 16:25:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: Literature Factory invitation (Second Life) Message-ID: <20070811062502.A455A1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:18:09 -0500 From: Jeremy Hunsinger Subject: Fwd: Literature Factory invitation (Second Life) > > Forwarded with permission:) Please distribute as appropriate. -jh > > You are invited to the grand opening of the Literature Factory at > Kula 2 (187,7) in Second Life. What is a Literature Factory? Well > now, that's a silly question, it's simply a factory that makes > literature. According to Wikipedia: > > "The term "literature" has different meanings depending on who > is using it and in what context. It could be applied broadly to > mean any symbolic record, encompassing everything from images and > sculptures to letters. In a more narrow sense the term could mean > only text composed of letters, or other examples of symbolic > written language (Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example). An even more > narrow interpretation is that text have a physical form, such as on > paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of inscriptions > or digital media." > > Well, we certainly meet that criteria, excepting the physical form > bit, but we hope you'll appreciate the transgression. > > Now, we have things to do and people to see, so we went ahead and > automated the factory. The Word-o-Mats runs tirelessly day and > night, manufacturing words for the factory, the Bin Bots with them > take charge of ferrying the words from the Word-o-Mats to the > sorted bins on the other side of the factory. From there other > bots build sentences and transfer them into the new works of > literature under constant production. > > We're celebrating our grand opening Saturday with an open house > from 4pm to 6pm SLT so drop in to the Literature Factory at Kula 2 > (189,9,25). > -- > Blog: http://channel3b.wordpress.com > Second Life Name: Ciemaar Flintoff > jeremy hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series -- Cheers, people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Aug 11 16:42:09 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Aug 11 16:42:58 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion In-Reply-To: <20070811055206.64B7E1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070811055206.64B7E1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: At 5:52 +0000 11/8/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au posted: >Stop complaining and shut the door! >By Frank Hayes on Fri, 08/10/2007 - 2:54pm > >I understand why the security people are unhappy with the WSJ for >publishing this piece. ... [but] they're dead wrong ... I'm not in the least unhappy that the WSJ published information that divulges insecurities. What I'm complaining about (as I suspect are many of "the security people") is that the article is written with such naivete, failing to show appreciation of the insecurities. It instructs in available dodges, without conveying anywhere near enough about the risks involved. (It didn't help that it adopted a tone befitting a secondary school newsletter - 'Ways to cheat your teachers and parents'). >And I'm really appalled to think that serious security professionals >believe what the WSJ published was a bunch of deep, dark secrets to >corporate users. I haven't read what he has, but I'd be astonished if "serious security professionals" pretended, let alone believed, that these were "deep, dark secrets". But I guess Hayes needs something to blog about. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From cas at taz.net.au Sat Aug 11 16:53:33 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Sat Aug 11 16:53:42 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion In-Reply-To: <20070811055206.64B7E1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070811055206.64B7E1C3@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <20070811065333.GL4898@taz.net.au> On Sat, Aug 11, 2007 at 05:52:06AM +0000, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Stop complaining and shut the door! > By Frank Hayes on Fri, 08/10/2007 - 2:54pm > > [...] > It's not too late to dig up the Monday, July 30, issue of the paper. > Photocopy the article. Take it to your boss, and recite the following > speech: > > "We must now assume that every user can do these things. > > "I need your sponsorship and the budget and resources necessary to close > these 10 security holes in our systems. > > "And I need them now, because users have had this article for two weeks." and if any IT person took that article to upper management and made that request, the most likely response would be "wow, thanks for the pointer. i've always wondered how i could do that". a lot of security holes in corporate firewalls are there because some ignorant high-level manager wants to do something stupid, has absolutely no interest in being taught a better/more secure way of achieving the same goal, and has the authority to order IT staff to ignore best-practice and do it anyway. (and yes, those 10 "secret tips" are lame and old news...it's still bad that the WSJ is encouraging such abysmal security breaches) craig -- craig sanders From wavey_one at yahoo.com Sat Aug 11 18:17:07 2007 From: wavey_one at yahoo.com (David Goldstein) Date: Sat Aug 11 18:17:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] auDA Public Board Meeting - Monday Aug 13 - Sydney Message-ID: <771152.76605.qm@web50501.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Roger, You've got this wrong. This is a report to the board on the activities/progress of the Names Policy Panel by the chair of the panel, either in person or by telephone. David ----- Original Message ---- From: Roger Clarke To: link@anu.edu.au Sent: Friday, 10 August, 2007 11:18:16 AM Subject: Re: [LINK] auDA Public Board Meeting - Monday Aug 13 - Sydney At 10:29 +1000 10/8/07, Josh Rowe wrote: >The auDA board will meet on Monday in Sydney. This meeting is open >to the public. >Time: 10:00 AM >Date: 13 August 2007 >Location: Maddocks Lawyers, Angel Place, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney >Notice of 2007 Extraordinary General Meeting >http://www.auda.org.au/agm/egm2007-notice/ >auDA Board Meeting Agenda - 13 August 2007 >http://www.auda.org.au/meetings/agenda-13082007/ >" ... >auDA Board Meeting - 13 August 2007 >Agenda >6. Policy Development > - 2007 Names Policy Panel report But no link is provided to the report, or even the Exec Summary, nor is any clue given about what the report contains. I trust that at least the Board members have some attachments, to that they can prepare for the meeting. http://www.auda.org.au/2007npp/2007npp-index/ Many linkers will doubtless appreciate the URL when the document becomes available. Thanks Josh! -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick of deleting your inbox? Yahoo!7 Mail has free unlimited storage. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/unlimitedstorage.html From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sat Aug 11 20:03:53 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sat Aug 11 20:04:15 2007 Subject: [LINK] auDA Public Board Meeting - Monday Aug 13 - Sydney In-Reply-To: <771152.76605.qm@web50501.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <771152.76605.qm@web50501.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: At 1:17 -0700 11/8/07, David Goldstein wrote: >You've got this wrong. This is a report to the board on the >activities/progress of the Names Policy Panel by the chair of the >panel, either in person or by telephone. Ah, the ambiguities of that curious dialect of english used for Board Agendae. (As a many-year Board Chair, I should have picked it up). I look forward to your eagle-eyes also picking up the *actual* report, when it comes to light! P.S. My Eudora doesn't like whatever CR/LF your SquirrelMail (version 1.2.11) is adding into the posting you replied to. I've seen that oddity before, and never run it to ground. >Notice of 2007 Extraordinary General >Meeting >http://www.auda.org.au/agm/egm2007-notice/ >auDA Board >Meeting Agenda - 13 August >2007 >http://www.auda.org.au/meetings/agenda-13082007/ >" ... >auDA >Board Meeting - 13 August 2007 >Agenda >... >6. Policy Development > - 2007 Names Policy Panel report >... -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From stephen at melbpc.org.au Sat Aug 11 22:44:26 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Sat Aug 11 22:44:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] a little light diversion Message-ID: <20070811124426.0BB0F1FE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At 04:53 PM 11/08/2007, Craig writes: > a lot of security holes in corporate firewalls are there because some > ignorant high-level manager wants to do something stupid .. and has > the authority to order IT staff to ignore best-practice and do it anyway. Then the company IT professionals would be acting counter to several of our APS code of conduct clauses at the very least, and, class-legal-action were it to be a public company. > it's bad that the WSJ is encouraging such abysmal security breaches And Roger, "failing to show appreciation of the insecurities. It instructs in available dodges, without conveying anywhere near enough about the risks involved." Given the likely WSJ financial-market-computer-savvy readership, where computers regularly manage business in the billions, I suspect the article might best be regarded as a grey-suit corporate network self-test weapon. I much prefer this WSJ approach to IT, (arm's length), to the New York Times approach which is somewhat gushy about personal technology: At 07:30 AM 10/08/2007, The New York Times wrote: Thursday, August 9, 2007 THIS WEEK IN CIRCUITS: Five Fun Little Gadgets I do a lot of stuff for The Times: a weekly print column, this weekly e- column, a daily blog, a weekly audio podcast and a weekly video.. Anyway, my video last week profiled five fun little gadgets that were too trivial to write about in my columns, but seemed telegenic enough to show off on camera. Each would make a great stocking stuffer; each solves a minor technology problem in an ingenious way. Here, for anyone who missed it, is a recap of the handy little inventions I featured in last week's video. BlueQ ($40, www.bqwireless.com). The BlueQ, shipping this fall, looks like a black rubber watchband, minus the watch. It contains a tiny Bluetooth receiver and a cellphone-like vibrating module. The idea.which is, actually, rather brilliant.is that you'll no longer miss cellphone calls because your cellphone's own vibrate mode is feeble and you can't hear the ringer. Because of the BlueQ, you'll feel the vibration on your wrist, where you can't miss it. (Get the name now? Blue as in Bluetooth; Q as in your cue to answer the phone.) Of course, black rubber isn't many people's idea of a fashion statement, so the kit comes with a special sheet of inkjet printer paper. The idea is that you can design self-adhesive strips, using a template on the Web site, that precisely fit the rubber wristband to make it a little less industrial-looking. On my prototype, the sticky paper didn't stick well at all. Even so, this is a killer idea, and it'll do very well. Quik Pod ($25, quikpod.com). Another clever solution to a problem you didn't know you had: This is a lightweight, plastic, telescoping support for your digital camera or camcorder. Its threads screw tightly into the camera's tripod socket and adjusts to any angle. The idea is that now you can take self-portraits without having to hand the camera to a stranger. You can also shoot over crowds, under the car, and so on. (You set the camera's self-timer to make it take the shot.) >From the description, I couldn't really understand how the Quik Pod is any different from a monopod (which is something like a tripod but with only one leg, so it helps stabilize a camera with less bulk than a tripod). But as the inventor pointed out to me by e-mail, "the largest diameter segment of the Quik Pod is at the opposite end to the camera mount, to allow a hand grip. If you used a regular monopod to hold a camera out, you'd have to grip the thinnest rod, which normally touches the ground. The thinnest rod of a monopod does not provide a positive grip and is somewhat slippery." The Quik Pod's hand grip, on the other hand, is rubberized to make it a more comfortable grip. And the whole affair is made of polycarbonate and aluminum, so it's waterproof, for you lucky ducks who have underwater cameras or camera housings. DiscEraser (disceraser.com, $13). This tiny plastic tool quickly and easily gouges nasty quarter-inch-wide tracks in the back of a CD or DVD that you want to throw away, rendering it completely unreadable by anyone else. It's a good safeguard before you throw away any disc that contains personal data. It's a heck of a lot safer and cleaner than breaking the disc (which results in nasty plastic splinter shards). It's also much cheaper and less messy than a disc shredder. And it's kind of fun to use. If you can believe it, five readers actually wrote me after watching my video to say that they routinely destroy their CDs and DVDs by nuking them in the microwave. Yikes, people! As the DiscEraser Web site points out, the arcing can damage your oven, the toxic fumes can damage you, and even then your disc may not actually be unreadable. Besides: one swipe of the DiscEraser is much faster than 60 seconds in the microwave. See Eye2Eye (bodelin.com/se2e, $50 from bhphotovideo.com.much better than the $100 list price I had in my video). The See Eye2Eye is a sort of a periscope attachment that slips over your Web cam and hangs down over your screen. The idea is that, when you have video chats, you can make eye contact with your buddy. That's because you're no longer looking down at your buddy's image halfway down your monitor; you see it instead floating directly in front of your own camera. With some optional add-on software, this mirror contraption also becomes an excellent teleprompter; that is, you can look directly into the camera, all the while reading your script. Clever stuff. Monkeysoft Office Upgrade ($20, monkeysoftoffice.com). OK, I don't even know where to begin. This kit includes software for a Windows PC, a foam caveman-style hatchet and a U.S.B. motion sensor. You affix the U.S.B. sensor to the back of your monitor. Then, the next time your PC starts driving you crazy, you grab the mallet and start pounding your screen. SMASH! CRASH! SHATTER! With each pound, realistic sounds and animations make it look like you're breaking the glass of the screen. And then, on the fourth smash, the glass shards fall away to reveal what's really causing your computer problems: a roomful of juvenile, out-of- control monkeys. O.K., how does someone even come up with something like this.and who'd believe in a product like this enough to bring it to market? Well, whatever. I'm just glad someone did, because it's hilarious. - This week's Pogue's Posts blog. Visit David Pogue on the Web at DavidPogue.com. POGUE'S POSTS The Blog The Times's David Pogue keeps you on top of the latest in personal technology. 620 Eighth Ave. New York, N.Y. 10018 Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company -- Cheers all .. Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sun Aug 12 10:54:49 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sun Aug 12 11:02:32 2007 Subject: [LINK] Second Monday? Message-ID: As far as I'm aware, Ed Valauskas has always got the editions of First Monday out, on time, on the first Monday of the month. But August 2007 (Vol 12 Issue 8) was due on the 6th and isn't there yet: http://www.firstmonday.org/ Has anyone picked up any hints of problems there? -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From gdt at gdt.id.au Sun Aug 12 11:22:24 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Sun Aug 12 11:25:23 2007 Subject: [LINK] OOXML making a farce of ISO standards process Message-ID: <1186881744.7629.5.camel@andromache> Hi folks, I've been closely involved with the standards-making process in IETF and IEEE for a very long time. Both of those organisations look to the processes of ISO as the "gold standard". That seems to have broken down badly, with the process for ISO's consideration of Microsoft's new document format being a farce of what a standards development process should look like. I've become upset enough to put in a submission myself. Drafts are at Comments are welcome. It might download a bit slowly since they are on my home ADSL link. Cheers, Glen From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Sun Aug 12 12:13:16 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Sun Aug 12 12:14:22 2007 Subject: [LINK] NSI = Not Suitable Infrastructure Message-ID: Not just http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp but everything at http://www.networksolutions.com/ is currently out of action for "scheduled maintenance"!!?? We are updating our Web site. As part of our efforts to improve your experience we are performing scheduled maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience. Our site will be available shortly. We look forward to serving your needs soon. Thank you for visiting our site. -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Sun Aug 12 12:33:24 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Sun Aug 12 12:38:20 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard Message-ID: <20070812023806.0A1199BC@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> I wrote Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:01:53 +1000: >... I had a telephone call from SA on Wednesday to say that there >was no committee considering OOXML. Instead SA are hosting a forum >on the proposed Draft International Standard ISO/IEC 29500, >"Information technology - Office Open XML file formats" standard in >Sydney on 9 August. ... There are at least two reports on the meeting: * Rick Jelliffe's "Report on Standards Australia industry forum on DIS 29500" . * Lee Welbur's "Report from Australia - the OOXML Forum": . Rick refers to my excerpts from the Standards Australia agenda for the meeting to clarify the purpose of the meeting . The comments show a number of shortcomings in Standards Australia's processes. But I suspect that much of the controversy about the meeting is due to a misunderstanding over the fast track international standards process used. Rather than asking "is this good enough to be a standard?" the process essentially says "is this so bad it should NOT be made a standard?". Rick seemed to be supporting OOXML and says it is not difficult to implement. But, like the reported position of National Archives of Australia (NAA), I think it will be more difficult to support an additional international standard format (OOXML), than it would be to just use the existing one (ODF). Rick argues that government agencies, such as NAA, don't have to implement OOXML, as Standards Australia is not a government body. However, SA is a government endorsed body for making standards and so its advice is likely to influence Australian government agencies. If agencies send NAA documents in OOXML, then it will have to accept them (and most likely convert them to ODF for long term storage). Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From georgebray at gmail.com Sun Aug 12 15:38:31 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Sun Aug 12 15:38:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique Message-ID: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find anything wrong with the new ABC News site. http://www.abc.net.au/news/ To my mind it's a superb example of a fast, light and immensely rich site. Looks good in all the browsers I tried on Mac. Really, very very fast to fetch and render. Modern user interface with in-page switchable tabs, nice layout and colouring, advanced search engine and human-grokkable URLs. Customisable media delivery options per user, the in-browser defaults worked for me. Great use of tags to "stick" me to the site, making me come back for the news in my areas. Invites community submission of media for news items captured by the public, and has a level of discussion above the news using blogs and comments. Not to mention delivery to mobile devices using RSS feeds. Excellent re-use of broadcast TV and radio assets. Easy-to-use media players, they've made optimal use of the Flash video format squeezing a decent frame rate into a small-ish bandwidth. Aunty has multiplied the value I get from my news staples on radio and TV by giving me a sophisticated tool that makes news research and consumption easier, and more compatible with my timetable. Eleven out of Ten. George -- George Bray - University of Canberra, Australia From eleanor at pacific.net.au Sun Aug 12 15:54:11 2007 From: eleanor at pacific.net.au (Eleanor Lister) Date: Sun Aug 12 15:54:20 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <46BEA083.3050805@pacific.net.au> and here i was thinking of bagging out the new site. it shows one or two news items, then won't play the rest. Firefox / Ubuntu regards, EL George Bray wrote: > Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find anything > wrong with the new ABC News site. > > http://www.abc.net.au/news/ > > To my mind it's a superb example of a fast, light and immensely rich site. > > Looks good in all the browsers I tried on Mac. > > Really, very very fast to fetch and render. > > Modern user interface with in-page switchable tabs, nice layout and > colouring, advanced search engine and human-grokkable URLs. > > Customisable media delivery options per user, the in-browser defaults > worked for me. > > Great use of tags to "stick" me to the site, making me come back for > the news in my areas. > > Invites community submission of media for news items captured by the > public, and has a level of discussion above the news using blogs and > comments. Not to mention delivery to mobile devices using RSS feeds. > > Excellent re-use of broadcast TV and radio assets. Easy-to-use media > players, they've made optimal use of the Flash video format squeezing > a decent frame rate into a small-ish bandwidth. > > Aunty has multiplied the value I get from my news staples on radio and > TV by giving me a sophisticated tool that makes news research and > consumption easier, and more compatible with my timetable. > > Eleven out of Ten. > > George > -- ------------ Eleanor Ashley Lister South Sydney Greens http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au webmistress@ssg.nsw.greens.org.au From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sun Aug 12 15:56:34 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Aug 12 16:02:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.co m> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 03:38 PM 12/08/2007, George Bray wrote: >Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find anything >wrong with the new ABC News site. Yeah, here's one I came across yesterday and submitted to their feedback form. I wanted to find an article about the Angus and Robertson changes that will disadvantage small publishing houses, causing the publishers to PAY A&R to carry their books. I did the search on ABC news, got the hits, but the links were wrong. Not just for the two stories that related, but other non-related stories on the results page. The story was only 2 days old, but gone. I have no idea why, and doubt I'll hear back from ABC (might). So I'll give it 9 out of 10 because I do like the new site (The Age, too), but it still needs to function properly. I'm using firefox 2.0, so that shouldn't make any difference. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au Sun Aug 12 17:15:43 2007 From: sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au (steve jenkin) Date: Sun Aug 12 17:15:56 2007 Subject: Paying for shelf space Re: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46BEB39F.9020702@canb.auug.org.au> Jan Whitaker wrote on 12/8/07 3:56 PM: > causing the publishers to PAY A&R to carry their books. Mention on the ABC blog: Jan > > > Jan Whitaker > JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria > jwhit@janwhitaker.com > business: http://www.janwhitaker.com > personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ > commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ > -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~sjenkin From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sun Aug 12 17:23:36 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Aug 12 17:31:15 2007 Subject: Paying for shelf space Re: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <46BEB39F.9020702@canb.auug.org.au> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BEB39F.9020702@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4ustkp@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 05:15 PM 12/08/2007, steve jenkin wrote: >I'd love to agree with you and express outrage at this latest folly or >excess of our economic system... But Borders, Bunnings and Woolies >would not be thriving if people didn't flock there... They are doing >enough right for consumers and producers that we are stuck with the >model. Personally I hate it - the extra benefits are small and the loss >of decades of passion, experience and knowledge is irredeemable... > >Lets form a resistance movement and make a difference. Uh, I know what being verballed feels like now. :-) Here's what I said in response to a faulty search engine at ABC, only as an example (one out of 7 sentences in the post): "I wanted to find an article about the Angus and Robertson changes that will disadvantage small publishing houses, causing the publishers to PAY A&R to carry their books." I wouldn't call that outrage, merely commenting on positions stated in the articles I did find elsewhere. You gotta admit, though, that charging the publisher of this year's Miles Franklin winner is a bit odd. Seems like a bit of nose cutting in this case. And the articles that I did find in the online newspaper sites said that smaller houses would be disadvantaged and that few books from smaller groups like Indigenous writing could be economically offered to A&R shops because of the ultra-small margins they have, in fact, being most likely no margin items. this probably belongs on unlink if the discussion about publishing in the print world is going to be the focus. Cheers, Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From rick at praxis.com.au Sun Aug 12 19:58:14 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Sun Aug 12 19:58:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46BED9B6.2070009@praxis.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 03:38 PM 12/08/2007, George Bray wrote: >> Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find anything >> wrong with the new ABC News site. > > Yeah, here's one I came across yesterday and submitted to their feedback > form. I wanted to find an article about the Angus and Robertson changes > that will disadvantage small publishing houses, causing the publishers > to PAY A&R to carry their books. I did the search on ABC news, got the > hits, but the links were wrong. Not just for the two stories that > related, but other non-related stories on the results page. The story > was only 2 days old, but gone. I have no idea why, and doubt I'll hear > back from ABC (might). > > So I'll give it 9 out of 10 because I do like the new site (The Age, > too), but it still needs to function properly. Here is an interesting exercise in searching ABC news. First I thought I'd try googling. Here is the search string: Angus and Robertson charge small publishers stock books site:http://www.abc.net.au/news/ (all of the above in one line into the search box please) Result: *** two matches *** one from 2005 and one from this week. The relevant link is as follows: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/08/2000147.htm Probe urged into book store 'blackmail' By Emily Bourke Posted Wed Aug 8, 2007 7:43pm AEST So I thought I'd try exactly the same search criteria on the ABC news site, i.e. "Angus and Robertson charge small publishers stock books" Result: Documents: *** 30665 fully matching *** plus 0 partially matching Hrmmmm ... "fully matching" ? Let's try that again,using the ABC's recommended advanced search: Query: +Angus +Robertson +charge +small +publishers +stock +books -- Refine this query Documents: *** 0 fully *** matching plus 0 partially matching Okay, one more try, since the word "charge" is not on the page: Query: +Angus +Robertson +small +publishers +stock +books -- Refine this query Documents: 1 fully matching plus 0 partially matching Which produces the same link that google found. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/08/2000147.htm Obviously the search algorithms in use by google and the ABC news site are quite different. Google has erred on the side of plausibility and finds the page, even given that one word was not found on the page. The ABC first errs on the side of inexactness and finds 30665 matches. Refining the search by explicitly specifying all words as "required" (+word) and then removing a word that I know not to be on the page finally finds the same page. Google 1 ABC News 0 This is quite typical. I often cannot find what I am looking for on a website using its own search facility. I then use site:whatever.com in google and do find what I need. cheers rickw -- _________________________________ Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. -- Mark Twain From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Sun Aug 12 20:44:06 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Sun Aug 12 20:51:15 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <46BED9B6.2070009@praxis.com.au> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> <61fg7n$4us7o9@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BED9B6.2070009@praxis.com.au> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4uulde@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 07:58 PM 12/08/2007, Rick Welykochy wrote: >Google 1 >ABC News 0 > >This is quite typical. I often cannot find what I am looking for on a website >using its own search facility. I then use site:whatever.com in google and do >find what I need. In my example, I got the results, but the links given said Sorry, the link doesn't exist. just to clear that up since I wasn't clear in my first post. Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Sun Aug 12 23:14:17 2007 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Sun Aug 12 23:17:07 2007 Subject: SMH site was: Re: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> References: <635bd2180708112238o38e0bca1r65a2a427cd2c0105@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <46BF07A9.9010208@optusnet.com.au> George Bray wrote: > Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find anything > wrong with the new ABC News site. > > http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Yes. The new ABC site is as good as the new SMH site is bad: http://www.smh.com.au/ Of course for the refugees of this web site revamp there is always (the bit austere): http://www.smh.com.au/text/ Brendan From stephen at melbpc.org.au Mon Aug 13 03:43:10 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Mon Aug 13 03:43:21 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique Message-ID: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> George writes: > Here's a challenge for critical linkers, see if you can find > anything wrong with the new ABC News site. > > http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Agreed George, technically the ABC site seems very well done. >From a news perspective, the ABC, arising from an audio / visual technology, needs quick and punchy sound bites. The newspaper websites have the measured analysis of news. The ABC primarily quotes experts or witnesses while newspaper sites analyze detail. Of course there is a place for both, and both need good site-design For example, compare coverage of the same item at two websites: Cheers, George Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From stephen at melbpc.org.au Mon Aug 13 06:38:55 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Mon Aug 13 06:39:05 2007 Subject: [LINK] residency cards Message-ID: <20070812203855.2AEBD168D6@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People By KEITH BRADSHER Published: August 12, 2007 SHENZHEN, China .. Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens. Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card. Security experts describe China’s plans as the world’s largest effort to meld cutting-edge computer technology with police work to track the activities of a population and fight crime. But they say the technology can be used to violate civil rights. The Chinese government has ordered all large cities to apply technology to police work and to issue high-tech residency cards to 150 million people who have moved to a city but not yet acquired permanent residency. Both steps are officially aimed at fighting crime and developing better controls on an increasingly mobile population, including the nearly 10 million peasants who move to big cities each year. But they could also help the Communist Party retain power by maintaining tight controls on an increasingly prosperous population at a time when street protests are becoming more common. “If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future,” said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology. -- Regards people Stephen Loosley Victoria Australia From georgebray at gmail.com Mon Aug 13 08:26:13 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Mon Aug 13 08:26:24 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> On 8/13/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > >From a news perspective, the ABC, arising from an audio / visual > technology, needs quick and punchy sound bites. The newspaper > websites have the measured analysis of news. The ABC primarily > quotes experts or witnesses while newspaper sites analyze detail. That's a good point, Stephen. There's much more depth from the broadsheets. Probably something to do with the attention span of the audience. It feels like the ABC are trying to cover everything that comes through their news feeds. George From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Mon Aug 13 09:00:23 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Mon Aug 13 09:00:14 2007 Subject: SMH site was: Re: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <46BF07A9.9010208@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133723@cal066.act.gov.au> Brendan wrote: > Of course for the refugees of this web site revamp there is > always (the bit austere): > http://www.smh.com.au/text/ I'd change "austere" to "brilliant". They took it down some time ago, but then replaced it - I assume after a deluge of protest. Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rick at praxis.com.au Mon Aug 13 08:59:58 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Mon Aug 13 09:00:30 2007 Subject: [LINK] residency cards In-Reply-To: <20070812203855.2AEBD168D6@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070812203855.2AEBD168D6@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <46BF90EE.8060302@praxis.com.au> stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People > By KEITH BRADSHER Published: August 12, 2007 > th&emc=th> [SNIP] > Both steps are officially aimed at fighting crime and developing better > controls on an increasingly mobile population, including the nearly 10 > million peasants who move to big cities each year. But they could also > help the Communist Party retain power by maintaining tight controls on an > increasingly prosperous population at a time when street protests are > becoming more common. Yes, yes, yada yada yada. But will this make children's toys made in China free from lead paint? Will it make exported Chinese food stuffs safe to eat? These are the real concerns ;) cheers rickw From pbolger at gmail.com Mon Aug 13 09:38:15 2007 From: pbolger at gmail.com (Paul Bolger) Date: Mon Aug 13 09:38:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> References: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: > That's a good point, Stephen. There's much more depth from the > broadsheets. Probably something to do with the attention span of the > audience. Or that it would take about half an hour to read out loud a broadsheet feature story. Next time you have a dinner party try reading out a two thousand word feature article from the SMH. I suspect you'll find that the 'attention span' of your friends is not too good either. ABC news online is run by their 'news' as opposed to 'current affairs' section. In broadcast terms news produce the radio and television bulletins, but not AM, PM, 7.30 Report etc. News Online do attempt to incorporate or cross link to the current affairs material, but the producers of these programs are reluctant to let their work be 'rebranded' as generic 'news'. If you want in-depth stories you'll generally need to look on the individual program sites. When the online news service started there was a hope that online would be funded as a complete news section, and would have feature writers, 'break' stories etc - but the reality has always been that it's much cheaper and easier to put up the stories from the news service than it is to produce new material, or to repurpose material as text. The broadsheets don't actually do much with their online content other than to chuck it into the CMS. If you take a look at the transcripts of a program like Background Briefing you'll notice that a feature radio piece often makes pretty bad reading. And television is even worse. For my money the worst 'feature' of the new ABC site is the 'also of interest' section. It uses keywords to try and select other items which are similar to the one you are reading. I was reading "Bear kills boy at campsite" (this was a few weeks ago). Apparently that means I'm also interested in: Grizzly bear kills couple in Alaska Leopard kills 4-year-old in Bombay Biologist survives second bear attack Julia Roberts gives birth to baby boy Alligator kills Florida man in canal Spot the odd one out! From cas at taz.net.au Mon Aug 13 09:45:44 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Mon Aug 13 09:45:53 2007 Subject: [LINK] residency cards In-Reply-To: <20070812203855.2AEBD168D6@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070812203855.2AEBD168D6@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <20070812234544.GN4898@taz.net.au> On Sun, Aug 12, 2007 at 08:38:55PM +0000, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > "If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot > get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control > the population in the future," said Michael Lin, the vice president for > investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company > providing the technology. sounds remarkably similar to Howard's "it's not an ID card, honest" Access Card. craig -- craig sanders From lucychili at gmail.com Mon Aug 13 10:23:15 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Mon Aug 13 10:23:30 2007 Subject: [LINK] Fwd: Response from Janet Hawtin on OOXML proposal to Standards Australia In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Vote no with comments This is an open letter which I would like to be considered in the Standards Australia review of the ooxml proposal. I have not been sent information by Standards Australia about the required format and would be happy to adapt this material to a format when provided. While I appreciate the original scope of the process around technical concerns I also am writing about the proposal process and feel that the primary problems with the proposal are process related. I am writing more broadly because I feel the broader concerns are important to our Standards organisation and would avoid similar proposals using the same process. Overview: Double standards are counter productive In this issue there are two kinds of double standards. The proposal and its counterpart existing ISO standards, and the open or closed processes which the different projects have followed. Microsoft's OOXML replicates functions covered by the Open Document Format standard and other standard XML formats. Duplication of standards reduces the value of the original openly developed standards. Microsoft supporters in the Australian meeting suggested that "OOXML was enough of a standard, that we should expect there would always be proprietary material in Microsoft formats, and that their clients understand this." The MS OOXML proposal is not 'enough of a standard' to make it useful for all developers and users because it is undefined both legally and technically. This will devalue a standards based approach in information formats. The process for the OOXML format has been closed in its development phase and structured to reduce meaningful review. The result is a vendor centric document which is inward looking in its implementation. Standards usually are developed to enable consolidation of current best practices and they need to be written and legally framed so that they are reliable and safe to use. ODF provides this function. OOXML undoes that work by approximating a standard but being sufficiently noncompliant to provide data compatibility problems with material matching existing standards. Competing standards I feel that standards organisations need to take a stand to recognise the value in the work they have done on ODF XML SVG and to stand firm to support them. In each case where there is a multiple standard there is a cost to the wider community in accommodating multiple approaches to the same function space. Forking the market into two separate standards to cover the same material is not a step forward. The market in documents has been vendor oriented for many years. Open Document Format was developed as a common format two years ago. The purpose was to agree on a way to make information accessible regardless of vendor. The effect of the OOXML proposal is undo that commonality. Document specification is a core requirement in our information and computing based economies and therefore the cost of multiple standards in this fundamental space is an expensive outcome. In any case where an information format is as fundamental as this there will be increased temptation for vendors to try to find ways to gain control of the space. ISO has approved a standard which has worked through this space and is continuing to develop and refine functions. Introducing a vendor based standard at this point would compromise all that work in negotiating common ground. While the market might include many products which match specific vendors, the role of the standard in that space is to share information regardless of vendor. A single vendor standard on the other hand operates as a kind of franchise over a sector of the market. >From Andy Updegrove: "The best reason for not approving OOXML/Ecma 376 as a global standard is that it will encourage other vendors to push for multiple, unnecessary standards rather than achieving consensus on a single standard that will best serve the needs of all stakeholders, and not individual proprietary vendors." http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070629070544217&mode=print The Australian Commonwealth memorandum of understanding with Standards Australia is certainly written around these kinds of values related to public benefit and national interest. I understand that in negotiating a useful and meaningful standard there will be competing and challenging choices to make and that there has been a move toward accepting plural standards for different vendors, possibly to reduce contention in these processes. However I feel this move shifts the contention into the marketplace and reduces the value of standards to the wider community. Existing standards which are contradicted by the material included in the OOXML proposal include - ODF (document xml) - OOXML doesn't use the stablished SVG (vector based xml) but on the contrary two private and exclusive formats, one of them legacy: VML and GraphML - OOXML doesn't use the stablished MathML (mathematical markup) but its proprietary format (already rejected by scientific editorials which make deep use of that feature for Nature and Science) - OOXML doesn't use the International date and time (ISO 8601), the basic of all economic, legal and political transactions in world. On the contrary uses two calendars, one limited to start recently, in 1904, and other the one used by the Roman Empire thousand of years ago, the Julian Calendar. Rather than passing a proposal which conflicts so fundamentally with standards practice Microsoft should be encouraged to participate in constructive collaboration on the development of those projects. This would better serve the standards process than initiation of a second set of materials which non-Microsoft people would have trouble interoperating with, and which would undo our ability to share information using conforming standards. OOXML is not functionally open The name of the proposal OOXML is Office Open XML, this is a misleading name as the proposal is not fully open, its development has not been open, process for new versions is suggested to be through ECMA's closed process, the legal access to "enough rights to implement the standard" are not clearly provided. Wording inside the proposal includes 'wordwrap like Microsoft97' which is subjective and unimplementable language and would be unlikely to pass in a proper ISO process. The format includes proprietary binary material which is not open. This is perhaps a work which contributes to better documentation of existing Microsoft formats in terms which are useful for Microsoft related developers but it is not outward looking or well integrated with ISO standards which it is likely to interface with. Clients who believe they are moving from a closed format to an open format will find it is only comparably more open but is not drafted in a way to make it transparent or easy to avoid vendor lock in. Making this a standard in my opinion makes the standards bodies complicit in duping customers into adopting a format which is not truly representative of the criteria which are normally recognised as ISO. The value of formal standards Standards are increasingly important as our economies and information becomes more transnational. We cannot afford to be imprecise with data working at the scales which are now possible. Working with live transactional data would be a situation where explicit single outcome processes would be most important. Mapping those sensitive projects to a format which is built on a single vendor retrospective is not a recipe for safe eCommerce. "[A] document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context NOTE Standards should be based on the consolidated results of science, technology and experience, and aimed at the promotion of optimum community benefits." -- ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004, Definition 3.2 The value of formal standards is to find a best practice approach to common agreed functionality. To use that as a unifying reference point in order to ensure developers of systems have a way to map to an exact and accessible reference. And that customers of products are able to choose from solutions by a range of vendors and to move their information from one to another without prejudice. This makes it possible for multiple providers to participate in a market and for consumers to make flexible choices about the formats and applications which suit their needs on an ongoing basis. I feel that Australian and other standards bodies need to take this opportunity to review their function in society and to consider that the point of difference they offer is to contribute a means for finding negotiated best practice. This is a craft in the truest sense. It involves people developing skills in understanding systems objectively and in working through issues to find a useful and reliable outcome. Companies which have a large market share already enjoy a kind of default standard status through cost to change, skill base or in some cases through data lock-in. Formal standards processes need the ability to attract quality participation in collaboration of standards development by using processes which do not marginalise collaborative processes and goals in favour of competitive processes. ie. Without a focus on common interest and collaboration the formal process will only be able to mirror market share and will not be able to move Australia forward in a flexible and broadly useful manner. ECMA fast track process The ooxml proposal is a very large document(6000pages) and has been pushed through in 6 months. It has been suggested in the Australian meeting that this made it impossible to review. The volume/time compares poorly with usual standards which are 50 pages and take approximately 2 years to review thoroughly. ODF is 1000 pages itself and is considered large for a standards document but at least it was processed in an open way and there was room for all parties to contribute to its definition as well as a standard process of review. The ECMA fast track process is structured in such a way that it does not honor aspirations of public benefit and national interest. The value that ECMA offers its vendor customers is to "offer a path which will minimise changes to input specs" http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/OOXML_Forum.pdf The process is a product offered to vendors by a provider who benefits from being able to push through many projects. This means the original relationship between the vendor and the ECMA organisation is based around momentum and single source material with no benefit to either party in providing real and rigorous review or participation in development. This together with the idea that multiple vendors offering vendor specific 'standards' is a workable approach are the underlying assumptions which derail the rest of the process. While it is expected that there may be different approaches to technologies and products, it is the role of a standards group to identify points of best practice around which an industry can integrate and offer flexible choices to consumers. This relies on access to a process where the craft of standards writing is core, where the considered and 'hands-on' input of many participants in the given standard is facilitated and where the proposal is thoroughly tested for its interoperability with existing standards. Open review and participation in developing the standard is the means by which unifying and consolidating outcomes are made. This is the role which all groups interested in long term safe access to knowledge look to standards bodies for. Australian process and responsibility I sense a 'good faith' spirit in the efforts of the Standards Australia staff. However I feel that the fast track process applied to this proposal, both in Australia and internationally, is structurally not able to deliver outcomes in the Australian and public best interest. We need to address these procedural issues prior to processing this proposal so that it can be considered in a way which does address the goals of the Commonwealth in applying these standards processes to proposals. Difficulty in finding out information about the process has not helped, including meeting information and formats for responses. Australia as a country with an important role in these proceedings should not take an uncritical role in these processes. There needs to be a method for identifying when a new approach to processing standards is disfunctional. It is in Australia's national interest to understand the core function that open standards play in enabling all businesses and organisations to safely participate in working to or adapting from a standard format. Accessibility and accuracy are prominent requirements within the education sector. As James Dalziel pointed out in the Australian meeting, Australia leads on technologies for the education sector. Access to knowledge is an increasing piority and being able to share information developed with public funds is becoming an important issue. Organsiations which are able to develop once and distribute the value across the sector offer efficiencies which are valuable. Australian companies and developers would find it expensive to accommodate two complex and incompatible approaches to documents requiring two approaches to each project they deliver. We need to be more sophisticated in our choices because we need to be able to make better value from smaller projects. Australia has many smaller players which means we need to be able to do things in a develop once use flexibly kind of way. Developers who produce technologies which help with accessibility also need to be nimble and flexible to cater effectively to small markets. The University of Toronto recognises these issues "This paper undertakes a preliminary analysis of the OOXML format with respect to its accessibility, with emphasis on accessibility to persons with disabilities. We will demonstrate that the OOXML format fails to adequately support accessibility of documents." http://atrc.utoronto.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=371&Itemid=94 Backwards compatibility Work on translating the legacy document formats into an xml based format is a worthwhile project. If Microsoft have a reliable tool for mapping material out of those formats into parsable XML that is a great step forward for their clients and for the ongoing relevance of their applications. Unfortunately it is my understanding that the technique for translating the documents involves embedding binary material in the XML. OOXML is also a new-'old format', the time, date, vector, math models used in the new format are still reflective of historical choices and do not represent current best practice. In order to truly be facing forwards the material from the closed formats should be parsable XML and to match existing ISO standards. If the OOXML approach is not able to deliver on these outcomes then it is a great step forward from opacity to translucency but is not the full journey. Security, transactions and XML with embedded binary material Transactions are not a point of difference to existing standards for OOXML. Transactions are the normal function of XML and the specific focus of EBXML. The OOXML approach to formats includes binary material. Embedding binary material in transactional secure XML is likely to cause security issues. The transactional material has been developed only to work with MS Internet Explorer which is the browser of choice for internet based exploits. Designing a transaction solution around embedding unknown content in an eCommerce context, to match only a singler vendor's formats and applications would be unlikely to pass a regular standards process. Vote Australia's Standards organisation should vote no with comments. The comments should reflect our concerns with the principles and process of Fast Track standards development using ECMA. The proposal should be put on hold until a review of the goals, responsibilities and processes for formal standards are completed. This to include establishing a standard independently known and safe scoping for legal safety of any material which is ISO accredited. We cannot rely on unseen information and vendor assurances. There should be a known legal scope for all ISO standards. The proposal could then be reconsidered, including whether a second standard in this space is a useful project for good standards practice. These factors to be considered first before any further work and consideration is given to working through the body of the proposal. It is possible that after reconsidering the processes and overlap between existing standards and OOXML that it might be possible to use aspects of the translation from legacy formats to map to Open Document Format and to translate from other non standard models to match other ISO standards. >From that point forward it could be also useful to look at the way Microsoft have worked with transactions, to compare those with existing standards and practices and to see if there is any scope for finding unity in those approaches. 6000 pages is too large. Breaking the proposal into - retrospective work mapping to ODF or other standards. - new work starting from an ODF and ISO standard compliant base would help to make the size of the standard less of an obstacle for implementation. Specifications for non standard implementations of vector, math, time and date, could be included in the retrospective work but should not need to be a part of the forward looking standard format. Further to the action on this proposal and on the international Fast Track process I would suggest that Standards Australia, and if applicable other nations, review their own processes and advice around the role of participants in the review process. The memorandum of understanding between Standards Australia and the Commonwealth is written in terms of public benefit and national interest. This contrast with the participant information on the Standards Australia website which talks about representing specific groups and their own interests. This generates a tension between the overall goal of developing unifying standards in the national interest, and a process which encourages people to view the process as a partisan practice. The process for any standard being considered should be clearly available on the website. The phases and formats required for public or industry participation should be available throughout the process. Criteria for evaluation of a good standard for a given function should be identified and agreed in order to give a focus to the conversations. Existing standards which may overlap should be identified. If the criteria are listed and available this makes it far more likely that people will be able to anticipate missing concerns or concerns which are not core. It provides a purpose which enables collaboration as well as competition around meeting known objectives. I feel it would be useful to provide some workshops or communication around what kind of skills resources and time are required to participate. ie Australia needs to consider how it resources the process of standards development in order to produce outcomes which have vision beyond vendor interests. I value very much the role that standards bodies have to play for our innovative and social function and hope that Standards Australia feels that OOXML is NOT "enough of a standard" and that while it might be true that Microsoft formats will always have proprietary components, that kind of fancy footwork is not compatible with ISO and Standards Australia branding. Thankyou for the opportunity to participate. Janet Hawtin From marghanita at ramin.com.au Mon Aug 13 10:28:56 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Mon Aug 13 10:30:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] It's baaack---net filtering In-Reply-To: <46BCEDF5.8070208@lannet.com.au> References: <61fg7n$4tq215@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BBBD8D.9080902@praxis.com.au> <1186710419.27562.63.camel@karl> <46BC0B1F.7080700@ramin.com.au> <46BCEDF5.8070208@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46BFA5C8.9040509@ramin.com.au> > 10 August 2007 > Libraries' commitment to internet safety already evident > > [ pdf 396KB ] > > The Australian Library and Information Association has rejected the description of public library filtering efforts as an "abject failure" made by The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the Hon Helen Coonan this morning in her announcement regarding new moves to enforce internet filtering through the 'NetAlert - Protecting Australian Families Online' program. Howard Lowndes wrote: > I had to deal with one of these religious families a while back. > > They decided that they would apply very strict controls on their kid's > web browser and would allow only material that was certified (PICS ??) > to be viewed, and they then wondered why nothing was getting through. > > I don't think much material of any type is rated... > > Marghanita da Cruz wrote: >> Karl Auer wrote: >>> On Fri, 2007-08-10 at 11:21 +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote: >>>> It is wrong to assume that net filtering systems can be maintained >>>> in a secure manner by parents. >>> >>> "Kids interpret censorship as failure and route around it" :-) >>> >> ..... >> Every Australian family will be provided with a free internet filter >> and the >> federal Government will enter an unprecedented partnership with service >> providers to filter pornography at the source. >> >> Communications and Australian Federal Police resources will be boosted >> immediately to expand checks on internet chat rooms to detect child >> predators, >> and privacy laws masking sex offenders on the net will be altered. >> >> The Prime Minister unveiled his new net commandments last night on a >> webcast to >> more than 700 churches and thousands of churchgoers around the >> country....... >> >> >> > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Mon Aug 13 11:22:47 2007 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Mon Aug 13 11:23:25 2007 Subject: SMH site was: Re: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133723@cal066.act.gov.au> References: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133723@cal066.act.gov.au> Message-ID: <46BFB267.6000102@optusnet.com.au> Pilcher, Fred wrote: > Brendan wrote: >> Of course for the refugees of this web site revamp there is always >> (the bit austere): http://www.smh.com.au/text/ > > I'd change "austere" to "brilliant". They took it down some time ago, > but then replaced it - I assume after a deluge of protest. It also highlights the relative prevalence of "entertainment" news. Brendan From gdt at gdt.id.au Mon Aug 13 11:37:00 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Mon Aug 13 11:35:59 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <20070812023806.0A1199BC@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> References: <20070812023806.0A1199BC@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <1186969020.3296.48.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> On Sun, 2007-08-12 at 12:33 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote: > The comments show a number of shortcomings in Standards Australia's > processes. But I suspect that much of the controversy about the > meeting is due to a misunderstanding over the fast track > international standards process used. Rather than asking "is this > good enough to be a standard?" the process essentially says "is this > so bad it should NOT be made a standard?". Tom, I'm afraid the Fast Track process actually work the other way -- there is procedurally no mechanism to stop a draft standard launched on the ISO JTC1 Fast Track. The current ISO ballot allows three possibilities - abstain. - approve -- the draft is published as is. - disapprove with comments -- the draft will go to a Ballot Resolution Meeting where all comments will be resolved until a consensus to approve the draft standard is reached. My feeling is that Standards Australia want to vote "approve, with comments" at ISO but as NIST noted when voting "disapprove, with comments" in the USA National Body, such a choice does not exist. An "approve, with comments" is precisely the same as "approve". If there is a truly bad standard launched down the Fast Track there is no procedural mechanism to abandon it. Yet this is what really needs to happen with OOXML and its authors send back to the drawing board, probably asked to improve ODF rather than propose a second format. This is partly the reason Standards Australia are feeling such pain on this one. Many of the participants want an outcome that ISO's processes are not set up to deliver. And SA are trying to avoid defending such a broken process. > Rick seemed to be supporting OOXML and says it is not difficult to > implement. Considering Microsoft paid Rick to write the Wikipedia page on OOXML, I'm not surprised. I was surprised that he didn't disclose this up-front at the Forum. As for difficult to implement it depends what you want to do. If you want to pull some fields out of a form then ODF and OOXML are much of a muchness, although ODF fully complies with the XML specification whereas OOXML may break some XML parsers, especially in non-Latin countries. My understanding is that Rick's comments applied to parsing a document for field extraction (or what we might call "work flow processing" if we were sales people). But if you want to build a competing word processor, spreadsheet, etc then you are bound to examine each of OOXML's sometimes insanely complex fields in order to achieve compatibility. Worse still, OOXML references a heap of other Microsoft-specific file formats. So math formula are in Microsoft's OMML rather than in MathML, vector drawings are in Microsoft's DrawingML rather than SVG, bitmaps are in Microsoft'e EMF rather than PNG. So a competing product can't build on other people's work, by calling an existing MathML, SVG or PNG library. It has to construct supporting libraries for the Microsoft-unique formats too. In short, OOXML sets a really tall hurdle for a competing product. This was Lars from Google's point at the Forum. If he were to support OOXML in Google Apps and Docs then it would be a "career ending job" -- he would work on OOXML compatibility for the rest of his career. Apps and Docs supports ODF today, it was about a six month job to convert to ODF from the previous proprietary format. > But, like the reported position of National Archives of > Australia (NAA), I think it will be more difficult to support an > additional international standard format (OOXML), than it would be to > just use the existing one (ODF). It's not clear to me if the Fast Track process can cope with an irreconcilable comment such as "OOXML duplicates the field of application of ODF". I don't think it can. Microsoft's response has been to claim that OOXML has a wider field of application than ODF -- it claims OOXML can be used as part of a XML workflow. This is true, but it is also true of ODF. As you would expect, since ODF was written by OASIS, who's major goal is an interoperating set of XML workflow standards (SOA, SAML, etc). > Rick argues that government agencies, such as NAA, don't have to > implement OOXML, as Standards Australia is not a government body. There's a MoU between the Commonwealth and SA: 4.2 The Commonwealth recognises Standards Australia as the peak non-government standards development body in Australia. Noting that there is no comprehensive governmental standards development body. The quasi law-making power of Standards Australia is recognised by the Commonwealth: 5.4 Where Government seeks the development of Australian Standards for regulatory purposes, Standards Australia will endeavour to ensure that they are drafted in a form suitable for referencing in legislation/regulation and that they represent a minimum effective solution. > However, SA is a government endorsed body for making standards and so > its advice is likely to influence Australian government agencies. If > agencies send NAA documents in OOXML, then it will have to accept > them (and most likely convert them to ODF for long term storage). It's the OOXML-->ODF conversion that is the problem. As long as OOXML is a vendor-specific format then that vendor has an interest in achieving compliance with international standards by allowing simple document export to ODF. Once OOXML is also an international standard the motivation for Microsoft to support ODF at all disappears. Supporting ODF only reduces the friction of a company moving away from Microsoft, and that isn't in Microsoft's interest. What really hacks me off is that ISO are so close to getting what they want. Everything supports ODF today -- even Office has an exporter. Nearly every product has adopted ODF as its native format -- the only major exception is Microsoft Office. Making OOXML a standard is a step backward from where we are today. There will no longer be a common format for moving office documents between applications. Cheers, Glen PS: I'll be writing to ACS shortly to encourage then to request a vote for "disapprove" from Standards Australia. From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Mon Aug 13 11:31:43 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Aug 13 11:39:58 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: References: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <61fg7n$4v7arn@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 09:38 AM 13/08/2007, Paul Bolger wrote: >Grizzly bear kills couple in Alaska >Leopard kills 4-year-old in Bombay >Biologist survives second bear attack >Julia Roberts gives birth to baby boy >Alligator kills Florida man in canal > >Spot the odd one out! Must be the one about the leopard. The rest are in the US, and those *must* be the most important stories. Makes one wonder what Julia did to the kid, doesn't it? ;-) Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From cjsvance at gmail.com Mon Aug 13 11:56:03 2007 From: cjsvance at gmail.com (Christopher Vance) Date: Mon Aug 13 11:56:13 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: <1186969020.3296.48.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> References: <20070812023806.0A1199BC@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> <1186969020.3296.48.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: I understand the problem to be that there are only two possible outcomes: OOXML becomes an ISO standard, substantially as it is now OOXML remains an ECMA standard, as it is, but fails to become an ISO standard The question is merely yes/no, with no ability on ISO's part to adopt stuff significantly different to the existing ECMA standard, beyond minor editorial changes. It is quite common for ECMA and other standards to be adopted as ISO standards, but the process only allows certain kinds of changes. The underlying assumption of the mechanism is that substantive weaknesses are resolved before the other organization finalises its version of the standard. I leave it to you decide whether ECMA failed to do this, or whether it can be excused on the grounds that ECMA have different purposes and methods compared to ISO. (Before you whinge at ECMA, I will say that you can get ECMA standards for free, while ISO charges like a wounded bull.) To do it "right" would require an ISO SC and WG doing significantly more. But why would JTC1 bother allowing this, when there's already the other standard? -- Christopher From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Mon Aug 13 12:39:42 2007 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Mon Aug 13 12:41:16 2007 Subject: [LINK] Apple beats Microsoft at its own Open XML game Message-ID: http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=933393484&eid=-4152 Apple's release of iWork '08 last week is "embarrassing," an analyst said Friday, not for its maker, but for Apple's rival, Microsoft. Tuesday, Apple rolled out a refreshed iWork that added a spreadsheet, dubbed Numbers, to the earlier mix of a word processor/page layout Pages and presentation maker Keynote. But it was iWork's ability to handle the Open XML file format -- the new native format for Microsoft's own Office 2007 application suite -- that Michael Gartenberg of JupiterResearch talked about. "This was the ultimate insult to injury," Gartenberg said. "Not only has Microsoft not delivered the ability to read and write Open XML in its Mac Office, but at the end of the day, Apple was the one who delivered." Gartenberg referred to Microsoft's problems developing Office 2008 for Mac, which the company announced last week would be delayed until mid-January. Among the roadblocks, said Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MBU), is the shift to Open XML as Office 2008's native file format. The company has also been slow in releasing conversion tools that let earlier editions of its Mac suite work with Office 2007's Open XML documents. "This is embarrassing for MBU," Gartenberg said. "It has said that the shift to Intel has caused [its] problems, and changes in development tools, and the file format, too. But every other major vendor has pretty much managed to get their apps over to Intel [on the Mac]. Microsoft is one of the oldest Mac developers out there, so it's not like it doesn't have experience [on the platform]." IWork '08 applications can open the OpenXML formats churned out by their Office 2007 counterparts -- Pages with Word, Numbers with Excel, Keynote with PowerPoint -- but cannot save in those formats. Currently, Office 2004 and Office v. X users can both open Word and PowerPoint Open XML files and save in those formats using beta converters MBU has issued. No such converter has been released that handles Excel 2007's Open XML files, however. Ironically, one of those who praised iWork's handling of the Microsoft file format was a program manager for Office 2007. "[iWork '08] reads the Office Open XML files with very high fidelity," said Brian Jones on his company blog. At the same time, Jones defended his fellow developers at Microsoft in MBU. "The Mac Office folks have a ton of stuff they are working on for the next version, so it's not surprising that you aren't seeing full Open XML support until they reach that point," Jones said in response to a question asking how Microsoft lost the race to Apple's iWork. "Office for the Mac is just not a real priority for Microsoft," said Gartenberg as he spelled out his take for Microsoft's tardiness creating software on the Mac that can handle what are, after all, its own file formats. "And that's not likely to change anytime soon." Asked to explain why Microsoft hasn't been able to match Apple, MBU's marketing manager, Amanda Lefebvre, ticked off the development issues that have delayed Office 2008. "The transition to the new file format is one of several reasons the development cycle is longer with Office 2008," she said. "Office 2008 [for Mac] will run natively on Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs with a Universal Binary [and] this transition necessitated a switch to a new set of development tools as well. The combination of these two technology shifts definitely impacted our schedule." Not quite, Gartenberg said. "What this really shows is Microsoft's inability to ship software on time these days," he said. Apple, meanwhile, is doing the smart thing. "They're making sure that they're not dependent on Microsoft for any of the important software [for the Mac]," said Gartenberg. That strategy, along with the US$79 price of iWork and the window of opportunity because of Office 2008's delay, puts Cupertino in the cat bird seat. "It's going to be hard for Microsoft to get those people who try and buy iWork back," he said. "Microsoft's let down its Mac customers." From marghanita at ramin.com.au Mon Aug 13 12:52:01 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Mon Aug 13 13:03:38 2007 Subject: [LINK] IBM has a vested interest NOT seeing OOXML adopted as an ISO standard. Message-ID: <46BFC751.6060502@ramin.com.au> > IBM has a vested interest NOT seeing OOXML adopted as an ISO standard. Why? IBM's latest collaboration platform, IBM Lotus, and IBM Lotus Notes 8 includes word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software relying on ODF. IBM would love to see ODF exist as the most widely adopted open file format standard: It benefits their go-to-market initiatives for IBM Lotus, especially in developing countries that don't have the Microsoft legacy that the US or Western Europe has. -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Mon Aug 13 13:29:09 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Mon Aug 13 13:32:20 2007 Subject: [LINK] re: Australian consultation on proposed OOXML standard In-Reply-To: References: <20070812023806.0A1199BC@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> <1186969020.3296.48.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Message-ID: <46BFD005.9010806@ramin.com.au> Christopher Vance wrote: > I understand the problem to be that there are only two possible outcomes: > > OOXML becomes an ISO standard, substantially as it is now > > OOXML remains an ECMA standard, as it is, but fails to become an ISO standard I don't think the second option is possible. And changes could be but seem not being proposed. A no vote needs to be accompanied by enough stuff for the working group to consider and enable them to adapt the standard to obtain a yes vote. > > Six questions to national standardisation bodies > The following six questions relate to the application of the ECMA/MS-OOXML format to be accepted as an IEC/ISO standard. Unless a national standardisation body has conclusive answers to all of them, it should vote no in IEC/ISO and request that Microsoft incorporate its work on MS-OOXML into ISO/IEC 26300:2006 (Open Document Format). Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Mon Aug 13 13:33:16 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Mon Aug 13 13:33:05 2007 Subject: [LINK] Apple beats Microsoft at its own Open XML game In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133741@cal066.act.gov.au> Eric posted: > Apple's release of iWork '08 last week is "embarrassing," an > analyst said > Friday, not for its maker, but for Apple's rival, Microsoft. There's an online petition asking Apple to make iWork support ODF. http://www.petitiononline.com/appleodf/petition.html Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From lucychili at gmail.com Mon Aug 13 14:09:07 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Mon Aug 13 14:09:19 2007 Subject: [LINK] IBM has a vested interest NOT seeing OOXML adopted as an ISO standard. In-Reply-To: <46BFC751.6060502@ramin.com.au> References: <46BFC751.6060502@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: On 8/13/07, Marghanita da Cruz wrote: > > IBM has a vested interest NOT seeing OOXML adopted as an ISO standard. Why? IBM's latest collaboration platform, IBM Lotus, and IBM Lotus Notes 8 includes word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software relying on ODF. IBM would love to see ODF exist as the most widely adopted open file format standard: It benefits their go-to-market initiatives for IBM Lotus, especially in developing countries that don't have the Microsoft legacy that the US or Western Europe has. > Many people have vested interests in this process. For me the underlying concern is around what an ISO really means and whether this proposal supports standards in a functional sense or detracts from them. Microsoft is also able to support odf formats and to compete with IBM in an open document format. Using the format as a client fencing strategy is not what standards are about. Janet From kim at cynosure.com.au Mon Aug 13 14:16:19 2007 From: kim at cynosure.com.au (Kim Davies) Date: Mon Aug 13 14:16:37 2007 Subject: [LINK] Apple beats Microsoft at its own Open XML game In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20070813041619.GA21708@malaria> Quoting Eric Scheid on Monday August 13, 2007: | | But it was iWork's ability to handle the Open XML file format -- the | new native format for Microsoft's own Office 2007 application suite -- | that Michael Gartenberg of JupiterResearch talked about. | ... | Ironically, one of those who praised iWork's handling of the Microsoft file | format was a program manager for Office 2007. "[iWork '08] reads the Office | Open XML files with very high fidelity," said Brian Jones on his company | blog. It is hard not to agree with the arguments against the adoption of OOXML as an ISO standard for the substantial variety of deficiencies that have been enumerated on this list. However one of the arguments is that the OOXML format is not easy, or even impossible, to implement faithfully. The fact that Apple was able to churn out a reader -- which is the hard part of implementation -- in about six months is quite an impressive feat. It begs the question how much of the specification they implemented, and how it treats some of the poorly documented aspects of OOXML. kim From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Mon Aug 13 18:47:32 2007 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Mon Aug 13 18:55:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google's photos of Sydney go all fuzzy Message-ID: Much of Sydney's CBD as it appears in the satellite images on Google Maps Australia has been fuzzed out, just weeks before the APEC summit. Google says the imagery was downgraded as a result of a "commercial issue" with a supplier, but the move has aroused speculation it was done at the request of police in order to minimise the risk of a terrorist attack during the September summit, where Sydney will play host to 21 world leaders including U.S. President George W. Bush. -------------- The fuzzification is quite odd - normally, there are blocks you can zoom right in close, and blocks which result in "no image at this resolution", but this fuzzification includes a merging of different resolutions. This is most obvious when zooming in to the boats on in Farm Cove ... the bay they are in are at a low resolution, but the boat itself and the water immediately around it, in a boat shaped area, is at high resolution. Similarly for a couple of the boats in Circular Quay. Clumsy. e. From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Mon Aug 13 19:28:52 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Aug 13 19:42:59 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google's photos of Sydney go all fuzzy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <61fg7n$4vfkif@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 06:47 PM 13/08/2007, Eric Scheid wrote: >The fuzzification is quite odd - normally, there are blocks you can zoom >right in close, and blocks which result in "no image at this resolution", >but this fuzzification includes a merging of different resolutions. If you go in close enough, the Opera House does flip to no image available indicators, while the area to the left is still there. You can tell what's missing by the insert in the lower right. I don't blame them for doing this, but they shouldn't lie about it. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From adrian at creative.net.au Mon Aug 13 20:00:19 2007 From: adrian at creative.net.au (Adrian Chadd) Date: Mon Aug 13 19:59:17 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google's photos of Sydney go all fuzzy In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4vfkif@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4vfkif@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <20070813100019.GT28256@skywalker.creative.net.au> On Mon, Aug 13, 2007, Jan Whitaker wrote: > At 06:47 PM 13/08/2007, Eric Scheid wrote: > > >The fuzzification is quite odd - normally, there are blocks you can zoom > >right in close, and blocks which result in "no image at this resolution", > >but this fuzzification includes a merging of different resolutions. > > If you go in close enough, the Opera House does flip to no image > available indicators, while the area to the left is still there. You > can tell what's missing by the insert in the lower right. I don't > blame them for doing this, but they shouldn't lie about it. Obviously anyone who may be planning an attack has only decided to begin planning for it now and not months ago.. Adrian From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Mon Aug 13 20:05:34 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Mon Aug 13 20:14:38 2007 Subject: [LINK] be careful what the govt bequeaths Message-ID: <61fg7n$4vg66l@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> This is sad and probably what John Howard has in mind with his recent pre-election pork barrels of money. Then he can blame the states (again) for having things fall apart. In Howard's mind: win win: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR2007081201244_pf.html Upkeep Of Security Devices A Burden By Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, August 13, 2007; A01 In 2003, the FBI used a $25 million grant to give bomb squads across the nation state-of-the-art computer kits, enabling them to instantly share information about suspected explosives, including weapons of mass destruction. Four years later, half of the Washington area's squads can't communicate via the $12,000 kits, meant to be taken to the scene of potential catastrophes, because they didn't pick up the monthly wireless bills and maintenance costs initially paid by the FBI. Other squads across the country also have given up using them. "They worked, and it was a good idea -- until the subscription ran out," said Mike Love, who oversees the bomb squad in Montgomery County's fire department. At the local level, he said, "there is not budget money for it." Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the area has received more than $1 billion in federal money to strengthen first responders and secure the region. That money has bought satellite phones, radios, protective suits, water-security monitors and a host of other items. But local officials are grappling with how to maintain the huge infusion of equipment. Like a driver whose 5-year-old luxury sedan has worn-out brakes, cracked tires and engine problems, local governments are facing hefty bills to keep their gear working. The region has a long list of terrorism-fighting items that need parts and service. Officials recently set aside nearly one-fifth of the area's latest federal homeland security grant -- about $12 million -- to cover maintenance over the next two years. The shopping list includes $120,000 in new batteries for emergency radios; $400,000 to maintain chemical and radiation monitors for rivers; and $250,000 in replacement equipment for top officials' videoconferencing system. Wanting to avoid a maintenance time bomb, governments are starting to plan for the end of the decade, when state and local jurisdictions will probably be forced to shoulder most of the costs. "There's an agreement we're going to start weaning ourselves, such that more and more, we'll pick up" the maintenance costs, said Fairfax County Executive Anthony H. Griffin, who heads a committee of local government administrators working on the grants. In some cases, officials are slowing homeland security projects while the question of upkeep is worked out. This year, for example, the region asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for more than $13 million to build a broadband wireless network for emergency workers. In the end, officials decided to spend just $1 million -- on plans that will determine the maintenance costs. Behind such caution is concern that the anti-terrorism dollars that have rained down on the D.C. area in recent years might begin to dry up. Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, warned cities recently that the grants were not like Social Security checks that would arrive year after year. "In fact, as communities begin to build their capabilities, we should see them getting less money," Chertoff said at a news conference. The FBI bomb-kit program shows how even the best-intentioned plans to equip first responders can go awry over the simple question of maintenance. The program was requested in 1999 by Congress, which had been alarmed by a nerve-gas attack on a Tokyo subway that killed 12 people and sickened thousands. Legislators set aside $25 million for the FBI to prepare state and local bomb squads to deal with weapons of mass destruction. The FBI developed a special suitcase of tools that bomb squads could take to scenes. The core of the kit was a rugged wireless laptop loaded with files describing explosives and chemical and biological agents. The kit also included a digital camera so technicians could snap a picture of any strange device and e-mail it to FBI bomb experts for quick advice. "It was a unique communication tool," said FBI Special Agent Barbara Martinez, a top official in the agency's Critical Incident Response Group. The "Cobra kits" were handed out to nearly 400 state and local bomb squads across the country in 2003. Each came with a prepaid three-year service agreement and a one-year wireless card. But apparently, no one realized that the squads might not have the cash to maintain the wireless subscription. Local officials said it could run $60 a month per kit, totaling a few hundred dollars for a squad with several kits. Also, the kits needed periodic updates, which could run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, they said. "It was quite expensive for the local jurisdictions to absorb the cost," said Jerry Swain, bomb-squad commander for Loudoun County. Montgomery's Love said his department had to stop paying for the system in 2005, just two years after getting it. "Basically, we're still dealing with the same budget we had 10 years ago, except for personnel costs," he said. The D.C. and Arlington County police bomb squads also dropped the wireless subscription. The Prince George's County bomb squad chose to replace that system with other technology purchased through federal grants, a spokesman said. Some local squads said they had more pressing needs than maintaining the system, which they described as occasionally helpful but not essential. "To say it's something that's going to make or break us on the scene, I would say not," Swain said. Others said they found the kit valuable because of its wireless connection to other bomb experts and its copious reference material. "We could carry around 10 textbooks, but it's all there" in the computer, said Sgt. Thomas Sharkey, Metro's bomb-squad commander. Metro has continued to maintain its kits, as have bomb squads run by the Fairfax County police and Virginia State Police. Jeff Fuller, a spokesman for the National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board, said that many squads had found the kits too expensive to maintain but that he didn't know how many stopped using it. Martinez, the FBI official, also said she did not know. Martinez said the kits were initially successful in teaching bomb technicians about weapons of mass destruction. Now, though, some of the kits are sitting unused, she acknowledged. "It is sad -- now you've got that paperweight doorstop out there," she said. But the FBI made it clear from the start that local and state squads would eventually have to pick up the maintenance costs, she said. "Maybe people didn't read the fine print," she added. FBI bomb technicians across the country have continued to maintain their kits and can take them to scenes to assist, she said. Was the project a bad use of $25 million? No, Martinez said, but she added, "I wish it came with the maintenance thing." Because of advances in technology, the 2003 kits would need significant upgrades to be effective now, she said. In this year's application for its homeland security grant, the region's bomb squads included a request to upgrade their Cobra kits and pay for wireless cards. But local officials say it is not clear whether they would use their funding award on the project because they have higher priorities for their squads, including protective suits and robots. "The last thing we want to do is put money into something the grant is not going to keep up over time," said Loudoun County Fire Marshal Keith Brower, who heads a regional committee overseeing bomb squads. "We're flagging those issues right now." Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From link at todd.inoz.com Mon Aug 13 21:53:14 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Mon Aug 13 22:57:06 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google's photos of Sydney go all fuzzy In-Reply-To: <20070813100019.GT28256@skywalker.creative.net.au> References: <61fg7n$4vfkif@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <20070813100019.GT28256@skywalker.creative.net.au> Message-ID: <200708131154.l7DBsCfd005530@ah.net> At 08:00 PM 13/08/2007, Adrian Chadd wrote: >On Mon, Aug 13, 2007, Jan Whitaker wrote: > > At 06:47 PM 13/08/2007, Eric Scheid wrote: > > > > >The fuzzification is quite odd - normally, there are blocks you can zoom > > >right in close, and blocks which result in "no image at this resolution", > > >but this fuzzification includes a merging of different resolutions. > > > > If you go in close enough, the Opera House does flip to no image > > available indicators, while the area to the left is still there. You > > can tell what's missing by the insert in the lower right. I don't > > blame them for doing this, but they shouldn't lie about it. > >Obviously anyone who may be planning an attack has only decided to begin >planning for it now and not months ago.. Yep, terrorists haven't had time to worry about checking google maps and other aerial photos. Don't forget for $161 you can buy REALLY REALLY detailed images with overlay maps from Lands :) You can see the bolts on the Operahouse on those images! Jan you are right too, they shouldn't lie about it. From stephen at melbpc.org.au Tue Aug 14 04:17:34 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Tue Aug 14 04:17:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations Message-ID: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> A thought .. Given the interest that a talking-animation seems to generate for a website, (check out her eyes) I'm guessing that in future websites will have animated hosts. It's early days, but I can see a pop-up google-mam animation hosting whole site visits? Cheers people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server From cas at taz.net.au Tue Aug 14 07:20:29 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Aug 14 07:20:38 2007 Subject: [LINK] ABC News Critique In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> References: <20070812174310.AA67E16FB8@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <635bd2180708121526v29ce8b5dx2048c8cf379f0189@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20070813212029.GO4898@taz.net.au> On Mon, Aug 13, 2007 at 08:26:13AM +1000, George Bray wrote: > On 8/13/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > > > >From a news perspective, the ABC, arising from an audio / visual > > technology, needs quick and punchy sound bites. The newspaper > > websites have the measured analysis of news. The ABC primarily > > quotes experts or witnesses while newspaper sites analyze detail. > > That's a good point, Stephen. There's much more depth from the > broadsheets. Probably something to do with the attention span of the > audience. It feels like the ABC are trying to cover everything that > comes through their news feeds. not a lot more depth. none of the news services, not the broadsheets, not ABC News, not 7.30 Report, not Lateline *EVER* go into any detail on any government policies that are being debated. like the tabloids, they reduce it to a clash of personalities - Howard vs Bracks over Murray-Darling (but no details on Howard's proposed takeover), Howard vs Rudd (but no details on a variety of issues). the same on every other issue - it's just personality bullshit. craig -- craig sanders BOFH excuse #60: system has been recalled From stil at stilgherrian.com Tue Aug 14 07:39:46 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Tue Aug 14 07:40:07 2007 Subject: [LINK] My prediction: Facebook will beat MySpace and newcomer iYomu and all Message-ID: Gentle Linkers, iYomu, "social networking for grown ups", officially launched yesterday at http://www.iyomu.com -- with US$1M in prize money up for grabs. I wrote an article for Crikey [subscriber-only content at http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-and-Arts/20070813-Why-MySpace-for-grown-ups-w ont-fly.html] explaining why I don't think it'll fly. I also reckon that in the long term Facebook will win out over MySpace. My argument in the Crikey article is that the key to success on the Internet is massive, uncontrolled growth. That means attracting a lot of users fast -- and then selling out to someone like Rupert Murdoch before it all implodes. The problem is, the very nature of iYomu works against that rapid growth. My article is at http://stilgherrian.com/internet/iyomu_versus_facebook/ and I'd appreciate comments -- especially if you can tear apart my arguments (politely, of course!). At the very least, you'll find a few choice quotes from an essay by danah boyd called "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace" which makes for interesting reading -- you'll find that at http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html -- and one on what "friend" means in social networking sites at http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/ Enjoy! ("Will you be my friend?") Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From ivan at itrundle.com Tue Aug 14 07:51:23 2007 From: ivan at itrundle.com (Ivan Trundle) Date: Tue Aug 14 07:51:47 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> I predict that this will quickly join Microsoft's Clippy in the 'Let The Marketing Department Run The Business' category. iT On 13/08/2007, at 6:17 PM, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > A thought .. > > Given the interest that a talking-animation seems to generate > for a website, (check out her eyes) > I'm guessing that in future websites will have animated hosts. > > It's early days, but > I can see a pop-up google-mam animation hosting whole site visits? From stil at stilgherrian.com Tue Aug 14 08:29:20 2007 From: stil at stilgherrian.com (Stilgherrian) Date: Tue Aug 14 08:29:38 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> Message-ID: On 14/8/07 7:51 AM, "Ivan Trundle" wrote: > I predict that this will quickly join Microsoft's Clippy in the 'Let > The Marketing Department Run The Business' category. Personally, I reckon SitePal is the biggest load of shite. However Ralph E Wilson of Web Marketing Today http://www.wilsonweb.com has done A/B testing -- i.e. half the website visitors get the Friendly Simulated Human and half don't -- and finds that it significantly increases his sales conversion rate. Can't argue with science! He does make the point that it may not work for everyone, though. BTW, Wilson's site is a great source of information for doing business online. Once you get past his mid-west god-bless bonhomie, you'll find that he delivers is quite practical advice based on real-world experience. Stil -- Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/ Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia mobile +61 407 623 600 fax +61 2 9516 5630 ABN 25 231 641 421 From kim at cynosure.com.au Tue Aug 14 08:36:37 2007 From: kim at cynosure.com.au (Kim Davies) Date: Tue Aug 14 08:36:48 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> Message-ID: <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> Quoting Ivan Trundle on Tuesday August 14, 2007: | I predict that this will quickly join Microsoft's Clippy in the 'Let | The Marketing Department Run The Business' category. | | >Given the interest that a talking-animation seems to generate | >for a website, (check out her eyes) | >I'm guessing that in future websites will have animated hosts. | > | >It's early days, but | >I can see a pop-up google-mam animation hosting whole site visits? This all seems like deja vu to me. Didn't boo.com launch to great fanfare some ten years ago with an avatar host just like this, only to cark it in a pool of red ink shortly thereafter? kim From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Tue Aug 14 08:49:21 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Tue Aug 14 08:50:24 2007 Subject: [LINK] OzIT: 'Canberra plans citizen sample blog' Message-ID: [Comments at end] Canberra plans citizen sample blog The Australian IT Section Selina Mitchell | August 14, 2007 http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22238273-24169,00.html FEDERAL plans to enter the world of blogging are well under way, with a discussion paper due soon on the proposed "rules of engagement". The Howard Government wants to avoid a situation in which political or lobby groups infiltrate what should be a blogging site for the public to comment on policy. There are fears that the ease of anonymity on the web could be manipulated. It wouldn't be a free-for-all, but genuine and constructive comment would be welcomed, a spokesman for Special Minister of State Gary Nairn said. Mr Nairn announced that the Government's blogging project would be up and running in March. The aim is to promote a more interactive approach to policy development, via an official government website. At the moment the australia. gov.au website provides links to public consultations only. Some of the agencies using the service include the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Office of the Access Card, and the Office of the Privacy Commission. "I strongly encourage all agencies to take advantage of the public consultation capability," Mr Nairn said last week. In a speech at the Commonwealth Ombudsman 30th anniversary seminar, he said the Government was entering a third stage of engagement with citizens using information and communication technologies, in which "citizens actively shape policy options, but government retains the responsibility for final decisions". "The opportunities for government are to deliver more services faster to the areas that need services," Mr Nairn said. Citizens would be able to get more personal interactions and perhaps a greater understanding of, and involvement in, policy formation through e-consultation. Mr Nairn said the challenges for administration and the Commonwealth Ombudsman were that in some cases the issues that arose may not directly involve human interaction. "It could be the result of some type of automated process with a business rules engine sitting behind it that automates the legislation and regulations that apply to a specific situation." This could require the Ombudsman to have staff with very different technical skills. Mr Nairn said the other challenge for public administration was that, as the use of online services grew, agencies could need to increase the level of technology and resources devoted to e-government. [The Government is mouthing platitudes - and the Ombudsman is aiding and abetting it by pretending that the Government is actually interested in 'engagement'. And the last thing we need is the Ombudsman, a heavily bureaucratised agency, getting in between people and the government agencies that actually form policy and provide (contracts to companies to deliver) services. [Contemporary government is about 'spin', not consultation. The Office of Access Card has completely ignored submissions to it, including those by Privacy Commissioners. The Attorney-General's Dept and DFAT are similarly completely closed shops. Very few agencies provide any scope at all for public participation in policy formation and systems design. [This bit adopts one particular piece of Government spin: "The Howard Government wants to avoid a situation in which political or lobby groups infiltrate what should be a blogging site for the public to comment on policy". [It reflects the Government's acceptance of business associations but dismissal of the submissions of representative and advocacy groups. The justification used is self-interest - even though, unlike business associations, neither the organisations nor their pro bono officers benefit from the outcomes they are seeking. [Another element of this extremist Government's denial of public voice in the polity is its preclusion of tax-deductible status for any public interest organisation that has 'submissions to government' as part of its charter. [See: The Internet and Democracy - E-Politics http://www.agimo.gov.au/publications/2004/05/egovt_challenges/community/democracy/e-politics -- Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/ Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/ Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW From eleanor at pacific.net.au Tue Aug 14 09:06:39 2007 From: eleanor at pacific.net.au (Eleanor Lister) Date: Tue Aug 14 09:06:49 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> Message-ID: <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> Kim Davies wrote: > Quoting Ivan Trundle on Tuesday August 14, 2007: > | I predict that this will quickly join Microsoft's Clippy in the 'Let > | The Marketing Department Run The Business' category. > | > | >Given the interest that a talking-animation seems to generate > | >for a website, (check out her eyes) > | >I'm guessing that in future websites will have animated hosts. > | > > | >It's early days, but > | >I can see a pop-up google-mam animation hosting whole site visits? > > This all seems like deja vu to me. Didn't boo.com launch to great > fanfare some ten years ago with an avatar host just like this, only to > cark it in a pool of red ink shortly thereafter? > > kim > i sure hope this carks it too ... i am getting very tired of setting up sites for suits that have not the faintest clue what's happening or how to use the site; so they demand ever flashier crap on the grounds that they are tapping into a market dynamic, which naturally a mere geek like me is too thick to cope with or understand. grrr regards, EL before coffee P.S: i'll be strangling some suits later .... wanna watch? ------------ Eleanor Ashley Lister South Sydney Greens http://ssg.nsw.greens.org.au webmistress@ssg.nsw.greens.org.au From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Aug 14 09:52:12 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Tue Aug 14 10:02:17 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System Message-ID: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Link Institute Linkgram For immediate release Flexible Architecture Research Center System Canberra, 1 August 2007: The Link Institute announced an advance in enhanced research and teaching for universities today with its Research Quotient Furniture for Flexible Architecture Research Center System (RQF-FARCS). The new system provides a building for researchers equipped with flexible walls which are adjusted based on the researchers productivity. Professor Klerphell, head of the Link Institute said: "Systems such as MIT iCampus have shown the value of flexible learning centers . The Link Institute has taken this one step further with flexible architecture for research. Our new building design literally changes it shape in response to the research undertaken. The Australian Government have introduced the Research Quality Framework (RQF) to better measure the output of Australian universities . At many institutions this is reflected in the promotions and pay of research staff. However this feedback mechanism is too slow for the dynamics of 21st century research. Also academic researchers are not necessarily motivated by money, finding the respect of their peers more rewarding. The Flexible Architecture Research Center System (FARCS) provides a more immediate and visible measure of the worth of each researcher. The system replaces fixed walls in university offices with a set of computer controlled motor operated partitions. Each evening the university electronic repository scans the online archive of academic journals published , citation indexes, media reports and other evidence of academic output. This is combined with a teaching weighting score and research funding attracted by each staff measure to produce a productivity index. During the night the system automatically moves the room partitions to adjust the size of each academic's office in proportion to their productivity. Sizes can range from a PHD "closet" to VC "suite". The next morning each staff member can see how productive they have been as measured against their peers, by the size of their office. The system can also cater for PHD students, adjusting room sizes up from scholarship students to full fee paying size (with allowance for any patent rights signed over to the university). Online universities with staff who work from home are catered for with virtual offices which adjust in size on the university's web site. Staff can also purchase additional floor space, per metre per day, using an auction system to adjust for demand." Further advances in university office design underway. Flat screen displays, already used for teaching rooms, are now displacing bookshelves in offices. "Books take up valuable space and no one looks at them anymore anyway" Klerphell said. The "V-book" (TM) system provides a realistic representation of an academic bookshelf, while freeing up 200mm of space. Staff sharing offices can take their virtual bookshelf with them on a USB flash drive or using a web address. Klerphell said: "Some have criticized numerical measure of academic output as just being about money. In this way we can show that there is more than money that academics respect: there is also floorspace". --- ;-) Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From Evan.ARTHUR at Dest.gov.au Tue Aug 14 10:59:58 2007 From: Evan.ARTHUR at Dest.gov.au (Evan.ARTHUR@Dest.gov.au) Date: Tue Aug 14 11:00:09 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System [SEC=UNOFFICIAL] In-Reply-To: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <8DA55692F752634C955C1DDAF682629801C1B35F@acexp007.portfolio.base> Tom wrote: < References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <46C1006F.4050703@praxis.com.au> stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > Given the interest that a talking-animation seems to generate > for a website, (check out her eyes) > I'm guessing that in future websites will have animated hosts Think back to 2001: A Space Odyssey. I am glad that HAL did not have a facial persona. A few years back in Melbourne at the AV/Arts center near SBS just off Flinders St was an amazing presentation in the basement of the gallery. The artist (cannot remember his name!!) created an *interactive* talking animation. The viewer typed in sentences (usually questions) and the animation answered and kept the conversation going. Way ahead of its time. I got stuck in this gallery for about an hour, talking to this thing. Great fun. > It's early days, but > I can see a pop-up google-mam animation hosting whole site visits? Yup ... it is easier than reading the info, isn't it? I find it slightly amusing and a bit weird that when this thing stops talking it sits there blinking and nodding from side to side, in an attempt to give it a real look. cheers rickw From lucychili at gmail.com Tue Aug 14 11:18:01 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Tue Aug 14 11:18:05 2007 Subject: [LINK] format for comments Message-ID: Have been sent a format for comments from the standards org Happy to forward it to others who might be interested in formatting their comments who might not have had the format message. Janet From rick at praxis.com.au Tue Aug 14 11:23:21 2007 From: rick at praxis.com.au (Rick Welykochy) Date: Tue Aug 14 11:23:36 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System In-Reply-To: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> References: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <46C10409.4000203@praxis.com.au> Tom Worthington wrote: > "Systems such as MIT iCampus have shown the value of flexible learning > centers > . > The Link Institute has taken this one step further with flexible > architecture for research. Our new building design literally changes it > shape in response to the research undertaken. Terry Gilliam and team designed and implemented FARCS in the feature film Brazil some twenty-two years ago. Office space changed size according to unknown parameters, probably related to productivity. As well, Dylan Moran wrote of and implemented a domestic FARCS environment in an episode of the cult TV series Black Books when Fran's flat changed shape according to the activities of her next door neighbour. Neither Gilliam or Moran are or will be available for comment. cheers rickw From kauer at biplane.com.au Tue Aug 14 11:23:32 2007 From: kauer at biplane.com.au (Karl Auer) Date: Tue Aug 14 11:24:00 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System [SEC=UNOFFICIAL] In-Reply-To: <8DA55692F752634C955C1DDAF682629801C1B35F@acexp007.portfolio.base> References: <8DA55692F752634C955C1DDAF682629801C1B35F@acexp007.portfolio.base> Message-ID: <1187054612.14583.22.camel@karl> Tom wrote: > The Link Institute announced an advance in enhanced > research and teaching for universities today with its Research Quotient > Furniture for Flexible Architecture Research Center System (RQF-FARCS) One minor error in Tom's otherwise excellent report: The new body is more properly known as the Flexible Architecture Research Center Extentivisation System (FARCES). "Extentivisation" is a newly trademarked term coined by the Link Institute for this kind of dynamic, thrusting motivation recalibration mechanism, used in this case to dynamically and indeed thrustingly modify the extents of the production spaces made available to sub-managerial personnel. Regards, K. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer (kauer@biplane.com.au) +61-2-64957160 (h) http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/ +61-428-957160 (mob) From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Tue Aug 14 12:19:32 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Aug 14 12:26:48 2007 Subject: [LINK] facebook code leak and privacy concerns Message-ID: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/13/internet Facebook's code leak raises fears of fraud ? Bug blamed for security concerns on popular site ? Networkers in growing danger of identity theft * Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent * The Guardian * Monday August 13 2007 Experts are warning internet users to be more careful with their private information after secret code from the popular social-networking site Facebook was published on the internet. This is the first time that some of the site's secret operational code has been made public. Although it does not allow hackers to access private information directly, it could help criminals close in on personal data, according to one expert. Nik Cubrilovic, of Techcrunch.com, said: "This leak is not good news for Facebook, as it raises the question of how secure a user's private data really is. Facebook has become such a success and has such a high profile that it has become a magnet for attacks against its systems." [snip] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From marghanita at ramin.com.au Tue Aug 14 12:34:00 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Tue Aug 14 12:35:15 2007 Subject: [LINK] format for comments In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <46C11498.4010800@ramin.com.au> Janet Hawtin wrote: > Have been sent a format for comments from the standards org > Happy to forward it to others who might be interested in formatting > their comments > who might not have had the format message. > > Janet From memory, "the comment form" was a word document....has that changed? You could try returning the completed form compliant with ISO/IEC 26300:2006 and see if it makes any difference > The OpenDocument format (ODF, ISO/IEC 26300, full name: OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications) is a file format for electronic office documents, such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations, databases and word processing documents (e.g.: memos, reports, letters). Please do not forward a copy of the form to me. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From brendansweb at optusnet.com.au Tue Aug 14 12:42:45 2007 From: brendansweb at optusnet.com.au (Brendan Scott) Date: Tue Aug 14 12:42:22 2007 Subject: [LINK] facebook code leak and privacy concerns In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> Jan Whitaker wrote: > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/13/internet Facebook's > code leak raises fears of fraud Further down it says: > Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, said: "More and > more consumers are signing up to these sites every day and chances > are they'll put on their date of birth, location, email, job and > marital status. Fraudsters can use this information to steal an > individual's identity and open accounts in their name." This is something which confuses me. If someone is going to commit an identity theft fraud, why do they need to have an identity to steal? That is, why do they need a victim, why don't they just forge the whole kit and kaboodle? Brendan From cas at taz.net.au Tue Aug 14 15:04:43 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Aug 14 15:04:52 2007 Subject: [LINK] facebook code leak and privacy concerns In-Reply-To: <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> References: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <20070814050443.GP4898@taz.net.au> On Tue, Aug 14, 2007 at 12:42:45PM +1000, Brendan Scott wrote: > Jan Whitaker wrote: > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/13/internet Facebook's > > code leak raises fears of fraud > > Further down it says: > > > Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, said: "More and > > more consumers are signing up to these sites every day and chances > > are they'll put on their date of birth, location, email, job and > > marital status. Fraudsters can use this information to steal an > > individual's identity and open accounts in their name." sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. credit reference agencies are one of the biggest sources of identity data being stolen. they're worried because the higher visibility of identity theft these days is making people much more aware about their personal information (which CR scumbags trade in) and much more careful about who they give their info to. of course, people are still willing to enter competitions (whose sole purpose is to gather personal data for marketing) and "flybuys" and similar programs (whose purpose is to bypass the anti-snooping laws for EFT transactions) - just give them a chance to buy incredibly useful must-have items like a silver-plated nose-hair clipper for 10,000 reward points. > > This is something which confuses me. If someone is going to commit an > identity theft fraud, why do they need to have an identity to steal? > That is, why do they need a victim, why don't they just forge the > whole kit and kaboodle? because an identity for a 20/30/40/whatever year old fraudster that has no record of existing before a few months ago isnt very convincing. it's much easier to get government ID (e.g. birth certificate, passport) for someone who actually exists than for a completely made up name. also because part of what is being stolen IS the credit history / reputation of the ID-theft victim. and in some cases, they steal/spend the victim's money, or use their existing credit cards etc. and because people are lazy. if someone checking an identity can see that the ID has a long transaction history, they'll assume that someone else has done all the necessary checking and do a much less thorough job themselves. craig -- craig sanders I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. -- Hunter S. Thompson From cas at taz.net.au Tue Aug 14 15:08:30 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Tue Aug 14 15:08:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> Message-ID: <20070814050830.GQ4898@taz.net.au> On Tue, Aug 14, 2007 at 09:06:39AM +1000, Eleanor Lister wrote: > > P.S: i'll be strangling some suits later .... wanna watch? how much are the tickets? craig -- craig sanders From grove at zeta.org.au Tue Aug 14 15:39:45 2007 From: grove at zeta.org.au (grove@zeta.org.au) Date: Tue Aug 14 15:40:00 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <20070814050830.GQ4898@taz.net.au> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> <20070814050830.GQ4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: On Tue, 14 Aug 2007, Craig Sanders wrote: > On Tue, Aug 14, 2007 at 09:06:39AM +1000, Eleanor Lister wrote: >> >> P.S: i'll be strangling some suits later .... wanna watch? > > how much are the tickets? And is it done with their own ties? rachel -- Rachel Polanskis Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia grove@zeta.org.au http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html Will you tolerate this? Return Hew Raymond Griffiths now... "Who do you trust?" - John W Howard From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Tue Aug 14 15:34:02 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Aug 14 15:41:06 2007 Subject: [LINK] google prediction in 1964 Message-ID: <61fg7n$4vvkv6@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Since the prognostications of Tom have come up lately, check this out. >this is rather nifty ... Google as predicted in 1964 ... > >http://web-owls.com/2007/06/25/google-as-predicted-in-1964/ Amazing! Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From marghanita at ramin.com.au Tue Aug 14 15:45:21 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Tue Aug 14 15:46:43 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <20070814050830.GQ4898@taz.net.au> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> <20070814050830.GQ4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46C14171.6000906@ramin.com.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Tue, Aug 14, 2007 at 09:06:39AM +1000, Eleanor Lister wrote: >> P.S: i'll be strangling some suits later .... wanna watch? > > how much are the tickets? > it seems there may be a market for this kind of entertainment.... > FullCodePress - the "geek Olympics"! > > This weekend (18/19 August) the New Zealand web team, the "Code Blacks" > will take on the > Australian team > in a 24hr > challenge to build a website for a non-profit organisation. > > Each team has 7 members, covering the range of skills needed to build a > website. The teams won't know who they're building the site for until the > competition starts. They'll then face a caffeine-loaded 24 hours, at the > end of which two non-profit organisations will have a fully-functional > website. > > A judging panel will assess each site against a range of criteria, > including standards-compliance, accessibility, copy writing and design. > > Action will be live on the 18th and 19th via YouTube, flickr, twitter and > various blogs, with interviews, updates on progress and pictures of tired > and stressed team members!. Look for the tag "fullcodepress". > > Mike > > > -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From jwhit at janwhitaker.com Tue Aug 14 15:50:43 2007 From: jwhit at janwhitaker.com (Jan Whitaker) Date: Tue Aug 14 16:02:29 2007 Subject: [LINK] XO computer Message-ID: <61fg7n$4vvvdk@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> have a look at the $100 (well, $140 to manufacture we learn in the clip) laptop. I bought a $100 micromicro about 20 yrs ago that had 1kb of memory and not much else called a Sinclair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfV7hZGyGlk&feature=dir Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From link at todd.inoz.com Tue Aug 14 17:49:47 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Tue Aug 14 18:08:25 2007 Subject: [LINK] website animations In-Reply-To: <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> References: <20070813181734.7A7C217031@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <1A9A24B0-31B6-4615-828A-9D3D0C2C4471@itrundle.com> <20070813223637.GA27185@malaria> <46C0E3FF.4040605@pacific.net.au> Message-ID: <200708140806.l7E86NYh002868@ah.net> At 09:06 AM 14/08/2007, Eleanor Lister wrote: >i sure hope this carks it too ... i am getting very tired of setting up >sites for suits that have not the faintest clue what's happening or how >to use the site; so they demand ever flashier crap on the grounds that >they are tapping into a market dynamic, which naturally a mere geek like >me is too thick to cope with or understand. Oh just the tip of the ice berg :) >grrr > >regards, > EL before coffee 11 PM? Brekky? >P.S: i'll be strangling some suits later .... wanna watch? Front Row please! Can we throw confetti too! From georgebray at gmail.com Tue Aug 14 21:10:45 2007 From: georgebray at gmail.com (George Bray) Date: Tue Aug 14 21:17:57 2007 Subject: [LINK] XO computer In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4vvvdk@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> References: <61fg7n$4vvvdk@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <635bd2180708140410s7d4c56br5c040712eb2c72f5@mail.gmail.com> On 8/14/07, Jan Whitaker wrote: > I bought a $100 micromicro about 20 yrs ago that had > 1kb of memory and not much else called a Sinclair. The Sinclairs were great for learning early computing, though with the 16KB RAM expansion pack I had to keep a wet sponge on the heatsink to keep it going reliably. Those were the days. http://computermuseum.50megs.com/brands/zx80.htm George From gdt at gdt.id.au Tue Aug 14 22:16:22 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Tue Aug 14 22:31:41 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System In-Reply-To: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> References: <20070814000203.3A0341AAB@heartbeat1.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: <1187093782.3264.53.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> Less flippantly, one of the major advantages MIT physics staff once felt they had over other universities was that Building 20 was "temporary" so MIT Physical Property didn't care if a wall had to be "adjusted" by academic staff to install an experiment. So stuff could just be done, rather than become bound up in negotiations with the administration. From stephen at melbpc.org.au Tue Aug 14 23:17:07 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Tue Aug 14 23:17:17 2007 Subject: [LINK] Google News 'Right of Reply' Message-ID: <20070814131707.8450017027@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Hi there, Google news is to give a 'right of reply' to news-makers: -- 'Perspectives About The News From People In The News' The Official Blog from the Team at Google News. Tuesday, August 7, 2007 By Dan Meredith and Andy Golding, Software Engineers, Google News Team We wanted to give you a heads-up on a new, experimental feature we'll be trying out on the Google News home page. Starting this week, we'll be displaying reader comments on stories in Google News, but with a bit of a twist... We'll be trying out a mechanism for publishing comments from a special subset of readers: those people or organizations who were actual participants in the story in question. Our long-term vision is that any participant will be able to send in their comments, and we'll show them next to the articles about the story. Comments will be published in full, without any edits, but marked as "comments" so readers know it's the individual's perspective, rather than part of a journalist's report. As always, Google News will direct readers to the professionally-written articles and news sources our algorithms have determined are relevant for a topic. From bloggers to mainstream journalists, the journalists who help create the news we read every day occupy a critical place in the information age. But we're hoping that by adding this feature, we can help enhance the news experience for readers, testing the hypothesis that -- whether they're penguin researchers or presidential candidates-- a personal view can sometimes add a whole new dimension to the story. We're beginning this only in the US and then, based on how things go, we'll work to expand it to other languages and editions. We're excited about the possibilities of this new feature and we hope you are too, so if you've been covered in a news article please send us your comments and we'll work with you to post it on Google News. -- Cheers, people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From link at todd.inoz.com Wed Aug 15 00:21:27 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Wed Aug 15 00:23:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] XO computer In-Reply-To: <635bd2180708140410s7d4c56br5c040712eb2c72f5@mail.gmail.com > References: <61fg7n$4vvvdk@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <635bd2180708140410s7d4c56br5c040712eb2c72f5@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <200708141423.l7EENTGx018250@ah.net> At 09:10 PM 14/08/2007, George Bray wrote: >On 8/14/07, Jan Whitaker wrote: > > I bought a $100 micromicro about 20 yrs ago that had > > 1kb of memory and not much else called a Sinclair. > >The Sinclairs were great for learning early computing, though with the >16KB RAM expansion pack I had to keep a wet sponge on the heatsink to >keep it going reliably. Those were the days. I have two Sinclairs in my garage :) Top little machine :) Really needed to open it up and add some interconnectivity to really do exciting things, but hey - who'd complain! From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Aug 15 01:56:01 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed Aug 15 04:44:35 2007 Subject: [LINK] Online trading .. ASX Seminars Message-ID: <20070814155601.56F891704F@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Hi all A while ago I wrote about a new form of financial market, and that's online CFD trading. It's not your normal share market .. it's instant. Normal share trading is a weekly/monthly activity .. whilst trading in the entirely online Australian CFD market is a second/minute buy/sell process. It's absolutely ideal for the Web2 world .. and, is growing exponentially. Also now that the new ASX CFD site will not be 'propriety' and will allow clients to choose whom they trade ASX CFDs with .. I believe CFD trading will eventually eclipse the longer-term traditional share-market process, simply because instant data/communications and CFDs are such a good match. Home > Exercising leverage - ASX CFDs Exercising leverage Strong market returns in the last few years have resulted in increased trader confidence and have sparked heightened interest in the use of leveraged instruments. Contracts for Difference (CFDs) in particular, with their ease of use and high liquidity, have experienced rapid growth in popularity amongst Australian traders. The boom in CFDs has served to further heighten awareness of the use of leverage generally to maximise trading returns. Traders and investors with knowledge and discipline are recognising the potential of leveraged products. Knowing when and how to use them is an important part of any trading business. Good money management is very important when you are trading with leverage, because you are exposing yourself to greater gains - and losses - than in other forms of trading. This article provides a glimpse into the features of the soon to be released exchange-traded ASX CFDs. ASX CFDs In September 2007, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) will be launching exchange traded CFDs on SYCOM - the trading platform of its subsidiary, the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE). They will be known as ASX CFDs. The initial product suite will include CFDs on the Top 50 ASX stocks, six major global equity indices, eight of the major foreign exchange (FX) crosses, and CFDs on gold and oil. Liquidity and price spreads are to be provided by up to ten designated market makers approved by the ASX. Brokers who intend to offer ASX CFDs to their clients will be accredited and monitored by the ASX. Phase 1 ASX CFD products Equities Indexes FX Commodities Top 50 ASX Listed Equities S&P/ASX 200 AUD/USD Oil DJIA AUD/NZD Gold NASDAQ AUD/EUR FTSE AUD/JPY DAX® USD/JPY Dow Jones EURO STOXX® EUR/USD NZD/USD NZD/JPY Choice The ASX is providing the marketplace for trading ASX CFDs, and brokers will be able to provide and implement trading platforms and a variety of services for their clients. This will allow clients to choose whom they trade ASX CFDs with. Clients of existing stockbroking firms who have hesitated to trade CFDs through another specialist provider may now be able to trade ASX CFDs through their current stockbroker. Transparency and consistency As a range of brokers will offer ASX CFDs, fees and charges will be clearly displayed and publicly available. ASX CFDs will provide consistent product design across the various asset classes - clients will be able to trade a standardised contract regardless of the broker they choose to trade with... Index and commodity trading CFD traders will be able to trade the indices, FX crosses and commodities listed in table 1. Traders will also be able to access and trade these instruments through their existing brokers, based in Australia, from one account. Further developments ASX will provide a series of educational seminars for traders and investors prior to the release of ASX CFDs. There will also be ongoing trader education programs and tools to help improve market understanding amongst potential and existing CFD traders. There will also be ongoing broker education and training, helping to maintain high standards amongst the ASX CFD accredited brokers. The range of CFDs offered by ASX is also expected to increase as the market develops. Trade well. About the author Kel Butcher is a full-time futures, equities and CFD trader. He also acts as a mentor and coach to other traders. He can be contacted by email at kel@tradingwisdom.com.au. This article is an edited extract from 'Exercising Leverage' - originally published in the Jul/Aug 07 issue of YourTradingEdge magazine www.yte.com.au. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2007, MarketSource International Pty Ltd. Free Seminar series - An introduction to ASX CFDs Over the last few weeks ASX has conducted FREE seminars in Adelaide, Perth and Sydney for traders and investors keen to know more about the ASX product range. The seminars have also given traders and investors the opportunity to meet some of the brokers and advisers who will be offering ASX CFDs. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney seminars will be conducted over the next few weeks. The level of response to the seminars has been so strong in each of the cities that ASX has scheduled several additional seminars. Sydney: August 16, 17, 18 Brisbane: August 21 (3 sessions) Melbourne: September 4 (3 sessions) Sydney: September 11, 13 and 15. ASX is now accepting registrations on its website for these free seminars. Registration is essential and seminars have been booking out fast. You are encouraged to register soon to ensure your place. -- Cheers all .. Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Wed Aug 15 08:59:05 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Wed Aug 15 08:58:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System[SEC=UNOFFICIAL] In-Reply-To: <8DA55692F752634C955C1DDAF682629801C1B35F@acexp007.portfolio.base> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133763@cal066.act.gov.au> The Link Instutute today announced that, due to copyright considerations, it had renamed its Flexible Acrhitecture Research Centre System (FARCS) to Flexible Architecture Research - Qualification 2. "The new name is both more descriptive of the maturity of the design and a solution to the copyright issue that we've been grappling with," said Link Institute head, Professor Klerphell. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Tue Aug 14 17:52:44 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Wed Aug 15 09:02:39 2007 Subject: [LINK] format for comments In-Reply-To: <46C11498.4010800@ramin.com.au> References: <46C11498.4010800@ramin.com.au> Message-ID: <20070814230218.4FC8120641@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 12:34 PM 14/08/2007, Marghanita da Cruz wrote: >... From memory, "the comment form" was a word document....has that changed? The comment template for the proposed ISO/IEC 29500 Office Open XML standard was distributed by Standards Australia as a 34 kbyte Microsoft RTF file. If converted to the ISO ODF format, it reduces to 11 kbytes. The draft standard itself is available from the Standards Australia web site, but be warned it is a 46 Mbyte Zip file: . The text of the standard is 5,220 pages of PDF; about seven times the size of the ODF standard. If ISO change in proportion, an official copy of the OOXML standard will cost $US2,000. ;-) I couldn't find Standards Australia's request for comment on the SA web site, so have blogged it, with the text of the comment form, at: . Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From robinstephens at gmail.com Wed Aug 15 10:19:52 2007 From: robinstephens at gmail.com (Robin Stephens) Date: Wed Aug 15 10:45:42 2007 Subject: [LINK] Online trading .. ASX Seminars In-Reply-To: <20070814155601.56F891704F@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> References: <20070814155601.56F891704F@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> Message-ID: <8056c7e90708141719r4f4c7931q8cdea02bfe264a99@mail.gmail.com> On 15/08/07, stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: > A while ago I wrote about a new form of financial market, and that's > online CFD trading. It's not your normal share market .. it's instant. Sounds perfect for pump and dump. Expect more spam. Robin From gdt at gdt.id.au Wed Aug 15 10:12:01 2007 From: gdt at gdt.id.au (Glen Turner) Date: Wed Aug 15 12:31:48 2007 Subject: [LINK] format for comments In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1187136721.3517.9.camel@roma.44ansell.gdt.id.au> On Tue, 2007-08-14 at 10:48 +0930, Janet Hawtin wrote: > Have been sent a format for comments from the standards org > Happy to forward it to others who might be interested in formatting > their comments > who might not have had the format message. I do wish this group of jokers would get their act together. After the Forum, Standards Australia requested comments be submitted ASAP. Now, with a substantial amount of work done, they come out with a form that should have been available at the beginning of the process. And not even in a ISO format. I do understand that Standards Australia are not often in the front line of international standards development like IETF and IEEE 802.3, and I don't expect the same level of hardened experience. But expecting some level of organisation isn't unreasonable. From eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au Wed Aug 15 12:49:29 2007 From: eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au (Eric Scheid) Date: Wed Aug 15 12:57:31 2007 Subject: [LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see? Message-ID: I'm knee deep in organising a conference for web information architecture (shameless plug below ;-) and am interested in hearing from people outside my immediate industry circle of contacts as to what you think are some of the big issues we should be thinking about. Sure, there are lots of issues with web design practice in general. Lots of people don't like all the flashy graphics and stuff. What I'm really hoping for, by asking the Link Institute constituency, are insights that go deeper than just the surface presentation issues, that ask difficult questions about the very structure of how we organise all the many pages of a website. Historically, we've been primarily concerned with making information on a given website easy to find, aligning the structure, navigation, and content labels with the expectations and cognitive models of the primary and secondary audiences. But then there is all this blather about "Web 2.0" being social environments, about designing for the group rather than the individual, about making the content we put out there amenable to repurposing in mashups and such ... and so for the sake of the now, lets say I'm defining 'web information architecture' as the practice of "structuring information for purpose" ... what might some of those other "purposes" be? Well ... what are your thoughts? e. The shameless plug: Oz-IA/2007 A Conference for Information Architecture Sydney, September 22nd/23rd, 2007 Come hear leaders from the IA industry share their insights, come to network with your peers of practice. It's on the weekend immediately prior to the Web Directions conference and expo, so why not come and totally geek out? http://www.oz-ia.org/2007 From mail at ozzmosis.com Wed Aug 15 13:22:41 2007 From: mail at ozzmosis.com (andrew clarke) Date: Wed Aug 15 13:29:35 2007 Subject: [LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20070815032241.GA47572@ozzmosis.com> On Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 12:49:29PM +1000, Eric Scheid wrote: > Sure, there are lots of issues with web design practice in general. Lots of > people don't like all the flashy graphics and stuff. What I'm really hoping > for, by asking the Link Institute constituency, are insights that go deeper > than just the surface presentation issues, that ask difficult questions > about the very structure of how we organise all the many pages of a website. If done properly, web sites that support RSS (or Atom) aggregation are extremely beneficial in allowing frequent users of a site to access new information quickly within their aggregator software (or a web aggregator like Google Reader or Bloglines), without necessarily having to actually visit that site. It can also eliminate some of the presentation and organisational issues of web sites, giving the user more control in how they navigate those sites. I'd especially like to see more Australian government sites support RSS. For example, http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/4A256811001D78BF/WebWhatsNew?OpenView is just asking for an RSS feed. Regards Andrew From cas at taz.net.au Wed Aug 15 13:30:36 2007 From: cas at taz.net.au (Craig Sanders) Date: Wed Aug 15 13:30:48 2007 Subject: [LINK] New technology delivers secret vote to blind In-Reply-To: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> References: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <20070815033035.GR4898@taz.net.au> On Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 01:00:02PM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: > > When does someone get to cast the technical measure over this technology? > > > http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/15/2005708.htm?section=justin > > New technology has been unveiled which will allow blind and vision-impaired > people to cast a secret vote at the next federal election for the first > time. > > The Australian-designed equipment will be installed in 29 locations around > the country and thousands of voters are expected to use it. > > The Australian Electoral Commission's Judy Birkenhead says there was high > demand for a way to cast an independent vote. > > "It works by replacing the ballot paper with a computer screen and the > people can put their preferences into that ballot paper using a > telephone-style keypad, then an encoded ballot paper prints [that] out, and > that's what goes into the ballot box," she said. i really hope that: a) it braille-prints the voter's ballot on the paper as well as a inkjet/laser printout b) all such printed ballots are subject to extra scrutiny to ensure that the printed vote matches the braille vote. c) in case of any discrepancy, the braille printout is regarded as authoritative. otherwise there is NO way for a blind voter to verify that the printed ballot paper matches their intention. i also hope that this technology is restricted to special-purpose voting like this and isn't the thin end of the wedge in getting easily-subverted voting machines into general use in australia. there's just no compelling advantage/reason to be using them and enormous risk. craig -- craig sanders From link at todd.inoz.com Wed Aug 15 14:51:24 2007 From: link at todd.inoz.com (Adam Todd) Date: Wed Aug 15 14:52:12 2007 Subject: [LINK] New technology delivers secret vote to blind In-Reply-To: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> References: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <200708150452.l7F4q1aU005807@ah.net> What the Federal Government finally worked out that Braille can be presented electronically, or even simpler, on paper? At 01:00 PM 15/08/2007, Howard Lowndes wrote: > >When does someone get to cast the technical measure over this technology? > > >http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/15/2005708.htm?section=justin > >New technology has been unveiled which will allow blind and >vision-impaired people to cast a secret vote at the next federal >election for the first time. > >The Australian-designed equipment will be installed in 29 locations >around the country and thousands of voters are expected to use it. > >The Australian Electoral Commission's Judy Birkenhead says there was >high demand for a way to cast an independent vote. > >"It works by replacing the ballot paper with a computer screen and >the people can put their preferences into that ballot paper using a >telephone-style keypad, then an encoded ballot paper prints [that] >out, and that's what goes into the ballot box," she said. > >-- >Howard. >LANNet Computing Associates - Your Linux people >When you want a computer system that works, just choose Linux; >When you want a computer system that works, just, choose Microsoft. >-- >Flatter government, not fatter government; abolish the Australian states. > >_______________________________________________ >Link mailing list >Link@mailman.anu.edu.au >http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link From Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au Wed Aug 15 15:36:28 2007 From: Fred.Pilcher at act.gov.au (Pilcher, Fred) Date: Wed Aug 15 15:36:15 2007 Subject: [LINK] google prediction in 1964 In-Reply-To: <61fg7n$4vvkv6@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> Message-ID: <04BB2ABCD8D07E42ADCF98494C1A2C7208133782@cal066.act.gov.au> Jan said: > Since the prognostications of Tom have come up lately, check this out. > > >this is rather nifty ... Google as predicted in 1964 ... > > > >http://web-owls.com/2007/06/25/google-as-predicted-in-1964/ > > Amazing! 0_0 Absolutely astonishing. Fred ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This email, and any attachments, may be confidential and also privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and delete all copies of this transmission along with any attachments immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au Wed Aug 15 12:12:53 2007 From: pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au (Paul Brooks) Date: Wed Aug 15 16:02:44 2007 Subject: [LINK] digital TV conversion - psychology of the consumer In-Reply-To: <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> References: <560785.65748.qm@web50506.mail.re2.yahoo.com> <20070807005101.GG4898@taz.net.au> <46B8ED4F.7070806@ozemail.com.au> <20070808004529.GH4898@taz.net.au> <46B919BD.4060301@ozemail.com.au> <46B92175.6040804@lannet.com.au> <61fg7n$4sohrj@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46BA2FDB.2030806@praxis.com.au> <46BA5690.1020602@ramin.com.au> <46BA6C8E.5000300@lannet.com.au> <20070810015829.GK4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46C26125.5030203@layer10.com.au> Picking up on an older thread.. Craig Sanders wrote: > wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no sport at all on FTA, not even > the 10-15 minutes that it wastes on the news each night? no football of > any kind, no tennis, no cricket, no interviews with not-quite-retarded > thugs whose claim to fame is that they can kick a ball or ride a bike or > swim etc, no commonwealth games, and bliss! no olympics. > No. I enjoy watching some sport, especially if I can't travel to the place the match is being played. I enjoy getting out with my family, and watching my children get exercise and coordination through sport - and role-models seen on television as well as in live events help get children away from their gameboys and out in the fresh air. I expect that enthusiasm for sport, fostered by seeing it on TV, encourages people of all ages out to participate and become a bit healthier and engage in soical interaction, in a way that no amount of gym memberships and pounding the pavements in solitary jogging can achieve. I find it a bit rich to, on the one hand, advocate expanding the amount of differentiated programming on an expanded number of channels to cater for niche interests, and then turn around and advocate removing an entire genre that the majority of the population (possibly not represented proportionately on this list) enjoys watching. fast-forward, change channels, skip it with your PVR and exercise your personal right to choose not to watch if you wish, at the point of consumption and reception - but don't try to impose your personal preferences on the source - the transmission - and seek to restrict the ability of the rest of us to choose to watch if we wish. Go the Swans. Paul. From pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au Wed Aug 15 12:12:43 2007 From: pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au (Paul Brooks) Date: Wed Aug 15 16:02:58 2007 Subject: [LINK] Link Nomination In-Reply-To: References: <20070808053611.CBB8516FEE@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <46B96891.8080608@lannet.com.au> Message-ID: <46C2611B.8080704@layer10.com.au> Roger Clarke wrote: >> stephen@melbpc.org.au wrote: >> Hi all, >> Link Nomination: "Most Money Spent on an Aussie Web Ad" >> > > Howard Lowndes : >> What a crock of sh!t. It made Firefox totally unstable and gave a >> new meaning to Flash, and nearly caused me to lose 16 open tabs that >> I had been working with. > > Good heavens - it worked fine in Safari 2.0.4 (419.3), albeit with a > couple of pauses that even 1Mbps ADSL didn't seem to cope with. > > I even thought it was quite well done, so maybe my usual scepticism > went missing this afternoon. > Worked fine in my Firefox, but it could have done with some testing and proofing. With all that it must have cost, there was still a glaring error - the labels on the brushes and pencils were swapped over. From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 15 17:07:43 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 15 17:12:01 2007 Subject: [LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see? In-Reply-To: <20070815032241.GA47572@ozzmosis.com> References: <20070815032241.GA47572@ozzmosis.com> Message-ID: <46C2A63F.9080108@ramin.com.au> andrew clarke wrote: > On Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 12:49:29PM +1000, Eric Scheid wrote: > >> Sure, there are lots of issues with web design practice in general. Lots of >> people don't like all the flashy graphics and stuff. What I'm really hoping >> for, by asking the Link Institute constituency, are insights that go deeper >> than just the surface presentation issues, that ask difficult questions >> about the very structure of how we organise all the many pages of a website. > > If done properly, web sites that support RSS (or Atom) aggregation are > extremely beneficial in allowing frequent users of a site to access new > information quickly within their aggregator software (or a web > aggregator like Google Reader or Bloglines), without necessarily having > to actually visit that site. > > It can also eliminate some of the presentation and organisational issues > of web sites, giving the user more control in how they navigate those > sites. It certainly allows for another dimension on and across websites eg I spent hours fiddling around trying to do a style sheet for the XML only to discover that browsers (or at least iceweazel 2.0.1) and email clients (or at least icedove version 1.5.0.9) now recognise the format. Marghanita -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From marghanita at ramin.com.au Wed Aug 15 17:13:35 2007 From: marghanita at ramin.com.au (Marghanita da Cruz) Date: Wed Aug 15 17:18:11 2007 Subject: [LINK] unused US television airwaves would be available for other services Message-ID: <46C2A79F.2070900@ramin.com.au> Correspondents in Washington | August 14, 2007 MICROSOFT has told the US Federal Communications Commission it is confident that vacant television airwaves can be used for wireless services without interfering with broadcast signals. The unused US television airwaves would be available for other services by early 2009, when broadcasters are due to switch from analogue to digital signals. In a document filed with the FCC, Microsoft disputed the agency's recent finding that prototype internet devices caused static on existing broadcasts. -- Marghanita da Cruz http://www.ramin.com.au Phone: 0414 869202 From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Wed Aug 15 18:15:23 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Wed Aug 15 20:32:28 2007 Subject: [LINK] Electronic voting demonstration report Message-ID: <672uje$50nf86@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> This is from someone in the vision impaired community commenting on their experience with the voting machine. Posted today. >I took my first look at the electronic voting machines today. >The machine is a normal computer screen and a telephone type keypad, the >audio was very clear and if I'm not mistaken, it was recorded my the vision >Australia library. > >The one thing the Australian electral comition official advised, is that >you listen to the instructions before making your selection. >They will also have the statuary declaration in vrail and large print. [he means braille of course] Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From mail at ozzmosis.com Wed Aug 15 23:23:27 2007 From: mail at ozzmosis.com (andrew clarke) Date: Wed Aug 15 23:23:41 2007 Subject: [LINK] Wi-Fi hotspot .. access accounts via VPN or SSL In-Reply-To: <20070802105457.GA51383@ozzmosis.com> References: <20070801183321.DD3311640E@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> <20070802105457.GA51383@ozzmosis.com> Message-ID: <20070815132327.GA51760@ozzmosis.com> On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 08:54:57PM +1000, andrew clarke wrote: > I'm not sure about Facebook or the rest of Google, but Google Mail > accounts can be used over an encrypted link using HTTPS. > > https://www.gmail.com/ > > Google also provide an encrypted POP3 service for Gmail users. Just a quick update to say that Google Reader also supports secure HTTP: https://www.google.com/reader/ In theory this should mean that nobody (except Google) can intercept your session and find out what articles you are reading. Unless they can see over your shoulder! It looks like Facebook doesn't support secure HTTP, at least for now. Also, in the mail quoted above I didn't mean to imply that Facebook was operated by Google. Regards Andrew From stephen at melbpc.org.au Thu Aug 16 01:23:43 2007 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen@melbpc.org.au) Date: Thu Aug 16 01:23:55 2007 Subject: [LINK] Flexible Architecture Research Center System Message-ID: <20070815152343.521751705F@vscan42.melbpc.org.au> At 08:59 AM 15/08/2007, Fred writes: > The Link Instutute announced it had renamed its Flexible Acrhitecture > Research Centre System (FARCS) to Flexible Architecture Research > Qualification 2 "The new name is both more descriptive of the maturity > of the design and a solution to the copyright issue that we have been > grappling with," said Link Institute head, Professor Klerphell. In a follow-up announcement Professor Klerphell noted that the Institute will release a Millennium Edition of FARCS & FARQ2, called FARCS ME. As well as apportioning academic staff room-space according to value to the institute the Millennium Edition will also factor travel & catering. For example, travel arrangements will vary between the issue of a pair of thongs, to a bicycle-rack space behind the maintenance sheds, to a free campus bus ticket to a limo-size reserved parking spot next to the faculty main-entrances. The catering research incentives will also vary between a coin-on-a-string for the food vending machines, to tim-tams in the common room, to reserved seating and silver-service for Deans. Munching on a tim tam while thrusting bicycle clips pocket-wise after a sprint to avoid various South American gentlemen, Professor Klerphell said the new research incentives will out-do the hills hoist and victas in terms of local inventions. The Professor was later seen wearing thongs while tidying out his broom closet after today's FARCS ME adjustments. Cheers, people Stephen Loosley Victoria, Australia From drose at nla.gov.au Thu Aug 16 09:31:37 2007 From: drose at nla.gov.au (Daniel Rose) Date: Thu Aug 16 09:31:46 2007 Subject: [LINK] Identity theft [was facebook....] In-Reply-To: <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> References: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> Message-ID: <46C38CD9.3050405@nla.gov.au> Brendan Scott wrote: > Jan Whitaker wrote: >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/13/internet Facebook's >> code leak raises fears of fraud > > Further down it says: > >> Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, said: "More and >> more consumers are signing up to these sites every day and chances >> are they'll put on their date of birth, location, email, job and >> marital status. Fraudsters can use this information to steal an >> individual's identity and open accounts in their name." > > This is something which confuses me. If someone is going to commit an identity theft fraud, why do they need to have an identity to steal? That is, why do they need a victim, why don't they just forge the whole kit and kaboodle? > For the face to face stuff, you can't get a birth certificate for someone who doesn't exist, you have to forge one. This goes right back to Frederick Forsyth's novel 'The day of the jackal'. My understanding is that almost always, the reason scammers want someone else's details is not so much to commit crime in general, but to borrow money in their name. It's more flexible and reliable than draining their bank account, which is more easily traced and you don't know how much is in there. If the name has no history, there's no credit record and not much chance of a gold American Express card. It's much easier to use a real person, you 'leverage' off of the existing databases the institutions hold. The banks won't led to people who don't exist. Once you can get official ID with your face on a card with their details, you can get credit cards, GE money loans, interest free deals and so on, but that's small stuff. On the 'net, you're not face to face. I suspect that some of this mortgage collapse in the USA is due to online mortgages taken out by scammers on other people's homes; that's hundreds of thousands. I can open a bank account over the net with faxed documents with no JP witness, and faxes can be much more easily forged than the real thing. I wouldn't be surprised if I can get credit this way also. The hardest part, as I see it, is laundering the money without leaving a computer trail, and that's why all these spam emails offer you jobs 'processing financial transactions' for up to a grand a week. Overall, if constant debt were an unusual state of affairs then a stolen identity would be much less useful. You'd have to see the bank manager in person and plead your case. In the USA there are amazing things possible with a SSN and no ID. Here we have a 100 points rule and so on. Even still, my wife got approved for $8,000 based on only centrelink income and a driver's licence. She only applied for $1,500! From Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au Wed Aug 15 14:49:44 2007 From: Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au (Tom Worthington) Date: Thu Aug 16 09:41:34 2007 Subject: [LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20070815234120.D5D951C151@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> At 12:49 PM 15/08/2007, Eric Scheid wrote: >I'm knee deep in organising a conference for web information architecture ... Looks good. >... ask difficult questions about the very structure of how we >organise all the many pages of a website ... blather about "Web 2.0" ... Some questions: * Web 2.0 provides for interactive applications which are not really web pages. So should web design be simply subsumed into the traditional computer application design discipline? * Do social network models developed for personal use really suit the workplace and civil society applications? How will they deal with conflict in decision making? * As the web gets used to run just about everything in our society, should it be redesigned to be a "safety critical" system? As an example I propose we provide government, education and housing, in a "box" for remote indigenous communities . With a modest expansion and integration of the online services already available, most of the government, education services and day to day community communication needs could be provided by a web based service. Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150 Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617 http://www.tomw.net.au/ Visiting Fellow, ANU Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml From drose at nla.gov.au Thu Aug 16 09:42:42 2007 From: drose at nla.gov.au (Daniel Rose) Date: Thu Aug 16 09:42:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] New technology delivers secret vote to blind In-Reply-To: <20070815033035.GR4898@taz.net.au> References: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> <20070815033035.GR4898@taz.net.au> Message-ID: <46C38F72.4020602@nla.gov.au> Craig Sanders wrote: > On Wed, Aug 15, 2007 at 01:00:02PM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote: >> >> When does someone get to cast the technical measure over this technology? >> >> >> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/15/2005708.htm?section=justin >> >> New technology has been unveiled which will allow blind and vision-impaired >> people to cast a secret vote at the next federal election for the first >> time. >> >> The Australian-designed equipment will be installed in 29 locations around >> the country and thousands of voters are expected to use it. >> >> The Australian Electoral Commission's Judy Birkenhead says there was high >> demand for a way to cast an independent vote. >> >> "It works by replacing the ballot paper with a computer screen and the >> people can put their preferences into that ballot paper using a >> telephone-style keypad, then an encoded ballot paper prints [that] out, and >> that's what goes into the ballot box," she said. > > i really hope that: > > a) it braille-prints the voter's ballot on the paper as well as a inkjet/laser > printout > > b) all such printed ballots are subject to extra scrutiny to ensure that the > printed vote matches the braille vote. > > c) in case of any discrepancy, the braille printout is regarded as > authoritative. > > > otherwise there is NO way for a blind voter to verify that the printed > ballot paper matches their intention. > > > > > > i also hope that this technology is restricted to special-purpose voting like > this and isn't the thin end of the wedge in getting easily-subverted voting > machines into general use in australia. there's just no compelling > advantage/reason to be using them and enormous risk. Well I reckon it is a first step, absolutely. This was discussed on local radio not so long ago. It seems to me that this could be replaced with either a bucket load of braille-printed ballots, which are completed with a pencil like normal ones, or with a printer which prints braille ballots as required. The predicted argument is "What about the blind people who can't read braille?", which is of course more than a little silly, but that won't stop it being made and any audience thinking "Good point!". -- Daniel Rose National Library of Australia From jwhit at melbpc.org.au Thu Aug 16 10:14:35 2007 From: jwhit at melbpc.org.au (Jan Whitaker) Date: Thu Aug 16 10:23:06 2007 Subject: [LINK] New technology delivers secret vote to blind In-Reply-To: <46C38F72.4020602@nla.gov.au> References: <46C26C32.1010209@lannet.com.au> <20070815033035.GR4898@taz.net.au> <46C38F72.4020602@nla.gov.au> Message-ID: <672uje$51g92s@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> At 09:42 AM 16/08/2007, Daniel Rose wrote: >The predicted argument is "What about the blind people who can't >read braille?", which is of course more than a little silly, but >that won't stop it being made and any audience thinking "Good point!". Not sure why it's silly. Many blind people don't read Braille (as in Louis Braille). People who lose their sight later in life often don't. They compensate with audio. As the population ages, this will increase. Jan Jan Whitaker JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria jwhit@janwhitaker.com business: http://www.janwhitaker.com personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/ commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/ Writing Lesson #54: Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005 _ __________________ _ From lucychili at gmail.com Thu Aug 16 11:05:38 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Thu Aug 16 11:05:51 2007 Subject: [LINK] web information architecture - what are the issues you see? In-Reply-To: <20070815234120.D5D951C151@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> References: <20070815234120.D5D951C151@heartbeat2.messagingengine.com> Message-ID: On 8/15/07, Tom Worthington wrote: > As an example I propose we provide government, education and housing, > in a "box" for remote indigenous communities > . > With a modest expansion and integration of the online services > already available, most of the government, education services and day > to day community communication needs could be provided by a web based service. I think it is great that there is attention being paid to Aboriginal communities and their needs. I do not know enough about Tom's proposal to be able to comment on that directly. Yes government does need to look at what the intersection between traditional approaches to services and software are and what might be important in a situation where people are becoming more reliant on access to infrastructure through software. Especially in disadvantaged communities with variable incomes and no access to local alternative sources and people. If this is pay to play access to a subscription to software then that has some social implications. If it means there are less face to face services available then that also has implications. I think particularly in remote communities we do need to be looking at the implications of infrastructure and service choices from the local end of the process. What do those choices mean for local people in terms of skills, access, leadership, control, voice, local value, privacy and rights to participation and access to services etc. I feel we deliver many ideas from a very vendor centric perspective and need to be a bit more interested in starting from a conversation or engagement in ideas around what makes value in communities and what makes value elsewhere. Not that one or other should 'win' but that especially in provision of essential access to social infrastructure there should be some fundamental considerations which would at least match the consideration we give to public information in other communities, and probably should be more thorough given the impact of remoteness, literacy, poverty, language.. Questions about legally safe/technically reliable interoperability of data formats are also likely to be more important as these technologies become more embedded in our access to society. Janet From lucychili at gmail.com Thu Aug 16 11:17:20 2007 From: lucychili at gmail.com (Janet Hawtin) Date: Thu Aug 16 11:17:30 2007 Subject: [LINK] Identity theft [was facebook....] In-Reply-To: <46C38CD9.3050405@nla.gov.au> References: <61fg7n$4vscna@ipmail02.adl2.internode.on.net> <46C116A5.6090509@optusnet.com.au> <46C38CD9.3050405@nla.gov.au> Message-ID: Mark Pesce takes an interesting perspective on our identity transparency in a networked world. He starts talking about how we network and share, and continues into some life and times experiences of the implications of those networks. http://media.educationau.edu.au/db-MarkP-Melbourne.mp3 That directory contains the rest of the conversations around danah boyd's trip. http://media.educationau.edu.au danah is great and Jennifer Wilson also made a great presentation http://media.educationau.edu.au/dboyd-JenniferWilson.mp3 From Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au Thu Aug 16 12:30:28 2007 From: Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au (Roger Clarke) Date: Thu Aug 16 12:30:53 2007 Subject: [LINK] SMH: 'Wicked pedia: Vatican, CIA edit online entries' Message-ID: