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Dave Farber | 1 Dec 2003 01:11

iPod's Two-Year Anniversary - The Guts of a New Machine (New York Times Magazine)


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 01:04:40 +0100

The Guts of a New Machine
By ROB WALKERFrom: the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow <geoff <at> iconia.com>
Subject: iPod's Two-Year Anniversary - The Guts of a New Machine (New York
  Times Magazine)
To: Dave E-mail Pamphleteer Farber <dave <at> farber.net>

Published: November 30, 2003

Two years ago this month, Apple Computer released a small, sleek-looking
device it called the iPod. A digital music player, it weighed just 6.5
ounces and held about 1,000 songs. There were small MP3 players around at
the time, and there were players that could hold a lot of music. But if the
crucial equation is ''largest number of songs'' divided by ''smallest
physical space,'' the iPod seemed untouchable. And yet the initial reaction
was mixed: the thing cost $400, so much more than existing digital players
that it prompted one online skeptic to suggest that the name might be an
acronym for ''Idiots Price Our Devices.'' This line of complaint called to
mind the Newton, Apple's pen-based personal organizer that was ahead of its
time but carried a bloated price tag to its doom.

Since then, however, about 1.4 million iPods have been sold. (It has been
updated twice and now comes in three versions, all of which improved on the
original's songs-per-space ratio, and are priced at $300, $400 and $500, the
most expensive holding 10,000 songs.) For the months of July and August, the
iPod claimed the No. 1 spot in the MP3 player market both in terms of unit
share (31 percent) and revenue share (56 percent), by Apple's reckoning. It
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Dave Farber | 2 Dec 2003 00:34

Nettle vs ACLU -- great news


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:26:56 -0800
From: Brian Dear <brian <at> birdrock.com>
Subject: Nettle vs ACLU -- great news
X-Sender: birdrock <at> mail.meer.net
To: dave <at> farber.net

Dave,

I'm very happy to announce that my battle with the ACLU is over, and the 
ACLU has implemented changes to their website just like I recommended.

Back in September and October, I began a series of commentaries about one 
person's experience signing up as a new member of the ACLU.  I'd used their 
website to sign up, and was shocked to find my mailbox full of junk 
parcels, flyers, and personalized merchandise from dozens of nonprofit 
organizations like People for the American Way, Sierra Club, Americans for 
This, Americans for That, yadda yadda.  I complained to the ACLU, having 
suspected that they had given out my contact info.

They denied it.  I investigated.  I proved that they had.  They admitted 
it.  They promised they wouldn't any more.  But to this day I still get 
junk mail because ACLU gave out my name and address without my permission.

So I wrote about the situation on my Nettle.com blog:

  http://www.nettle.com/archives/000059.html  and
  http://www.nettle.com/archives/000060.html
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Dave Farber | 2 Dec 2003 15:33

Op-Ed Columnist: Hack the Vote


Op-Ed Columnist: Hack the Vote

December 2, 2003
  By PAUL KRUGMAN

Inviting Bush supporters to a fund-raiser, the host wrote,
"I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes
to the president next year." No surprise there. But Walden
O'Dell - who says that he wasn't talking about his business
operations - happens to be the chief executive of Diebold
Inc., whose touch-screen voting machines are in
increasingly widespread use across the United States.

For example, Georgia - where Republicans scored spectacular
upset victories in the 2002 midterm elections - relies
exclusively on Diebold machines. To be clear, though there
were many anomalies in that 2002 vote, there is no evidence
that the machines miscounted. But there is also no evidence
that the machines counted correctly. You see, Diebold
machines leave no paper trail.

Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, who has introduced
a bill requiring that digital voting machines leave a paper
trail and that their software be available for public
inspection, is occasionally told that systems lacking these
safeguards haven't caused problems. "How do you know?" he
asks.

What we do know about Diebold does not inspire confidence.
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Dave Farber | 2 Dec 2003 17:52

FCC ramps up Internet-related activity

Missed the event (Turkey time) DJF

Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 11:29:44 -0500 (EST)
From: Andy Oram <andyo <at> oreilly.com>
Subject: FCC ramps up Internet-related activity
To: Dave Farber <dave <at> farber.net>

(I was surprised you haven't posted something about the VoIP
session and this new development already.--Andy)

http://www.fcc.gov/ipwg/

Pushed by vendors and states to make policy in the area of
Voice over IP, the FCC held a session today which filled
every available room and was broadcast on CNN. Clearly, the
Internet is going to be occupying an increasing amount of
the FCC's time. Just after the VoIP forum, therefore, it
announced a new Internet Policy Working Group. Now, let's
not hear any kvetching from the libertarian set about how
the Internet should stay unregulated--there are important
issues that government has to address and this development
is a good thing. The current FCC is, if anything, weighted
against regulation. It's up to Netheads to keep it well
informed and steer it toward rulings that are good for the
public.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Oram  O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.        email: andyo <at> oreilly.com
Editor     90 Sherman Street                       voice: 617-499-7479
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Dave Farber | 2 Dec 2003 19:39

FCC Chairman Powell and VoIP regulation


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 10:03:03 -0800
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne <at> warpspeed.com>

[Note:  This item comes from reader Chuck Jackson.  I attended the VoIP 
hearing yesterday.  While it is true that Powell did say that he didn't 
think that VoIP regulation was currently necessary, that was not the case 
with the remarks of his other four fellow Commissioners. Some of them 
clearly seem to feel that some sort of regulation is necessary moving 
forward.  DLH]

At 12:10 -0500 12/2/03, clj wrote:
>From: "clj" <clj <at> jacksons.net>
>To: <dewayne <at> dandin.com>
>Subject: FCC Chairman Powell and VoIP regulation
>Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:10:53 -0500
>
> From today's USTA Daily Lead:
>
>FCC opposes VoIP regulation
>FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell yesterday said VoIP regulation is not yet
>necessary, a sentiment to which some groups have expressed opposition.
>Powell suggested that increasing regulation could force VoIP providers
>offshore.   The Washington Post (12/2)
><http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26729-2003Dec1.html> ,   The
>Philadelphia Inquirer/Reuters (12/2)
><http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/7391134.htm> ,   Telephony Online
>(12/1) <http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_fcc_urged_show/index.htm>,
>Broadband Daily (subscription required) (12/2)
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Dave Farber | 3 Dec 2003 15:43

Rumsfe1d's unknown unknowns take prize


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 14:21:02 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell <at> newcastle.ac.uk>
Subject: Rumsfe1d's unknown unknowns take prize
X-Sender: nbr <at> popin.newcastle.ac.uk
To: dave <at> farber.net

Dave:

I thought you (and IP) might like this story, which got quite a bit of 
national publicity here yesterday.

cheers

Brian

====

 From yesterday's (UK) Guardian newspaper:

              Rumsfe1d's unknown unknowns take prize

                          John Ezard

The new governor of California came within a hair of victory with his 
observation "Gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a 
woman."

A Tory party ex-chairman got close by noting "Having committed political
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Dave Farber | 3 Dec 2003 16:21

Google always surprise us


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 11:49:48 -0300
From: Claudio Gutierrez <cgutierrez <at> improvement.cl>
Subject: Google always surprise us
To: dave <at> farber.net

Go to Google, type "miserable failure" into the search field and hit I'm
feeling lucky.
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Dave Farber | 3 Dec 2003 16:24

Consortium Works on Improving Internet

[No comment djf]

       Consortium Works on Improving Internet
       - Dec 3, 2003 03:39 AM (AP Online)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- A University of Michigan professor is
leading a nationwide team to develop the next generation of the
Internet.

Concerned about the future of the World Wide Web, almost three dozen
colleges joined up in 1996 to look for solutions. They were troubled
by how much the flood of commercial traffic on the Internet slowed
the flow of information between universities and researchers, The
Detroit News reported in a Tuesday story. They envisioned a
super-fast Internet capable of handling huge amounts of data, and
which is free from pop-up ads, spam and other commercial intrusions.

Michigan State and Wayne State universities are among the 204 U.S.
colleges that are part of the nonprofit consortium, also dubbed
Internet2. The consortium is working with 70 corporations, such as
Ford Motor Co. and AT&T, and about 40 organizations and federal
agencies, including the National Science Foundation.

...

       - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=36711624
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Dave Farber | 3 Dec 2003 18:39

Michael Geist's study of governments and domain names


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 10:06:53 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan <at> well.com>

---

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 10:28:22 -0500
To: declan <at> well.com
From: Michael Geist <mgeist <at> pobox.com>
Subject: Global study on governments and domain names

Of possible interest to your readers -- my regular column features coverage 
of the results of a global study jointly conducted by the ITU and myself on 
the role of national governments and their national domains.  The study, 
which covered 56 countries from every global region and a broad 
cross-section of developed and developing countries, finds that virtually 
every government that responded to the survey either manages, retains 
direct control, or is contemplating formalizing its relationship with its 
ccTLD.  The column concludes that the debate at next week's World Summit on 
the Information Society is not whether governments should be involved in 
Internet governance, but rather how they will be involved in the issue.

Governments and ccTLDs: A Global Survey at
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/geistgovernmentcctlds.pdf
Column at
<http://shorl.com/fastokobruhako> [Toronto Star]

Think Web's virtually government free? Think again
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Dave Farber | 3 Dec 2003 18:40

Largest prime number ever is found


Delivered-To: dfarber+ <at> ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 01:41:07 -0800
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne <at> warpspeed.com>

[Note:  This item comes from reader Mike Cheponis.  DLH]

At 12:12 -0800 12/2/03, Mike Cheponis wrote:
>Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:12:27 -0800 (PST)
>From: Mike Cheponis <mac <at> wireless.com>
>Subject: Largest prime found
>
>                         Largest prime number ever is found
>
>
>15:11 02 December 03
>NewScientist.com news service
>
>
>A 26-year-old graduate student in the US has made mathematical history by 
>discovering the largest known prime number.
>
>The new number is 6,320,430 digits long. It took just over two years to 
>find using a distributed network of more than 200,000 computers.
>
>Michael Shafer a chemical engineering student at Michigan State University 
>used his office computer to contribute spare processing power to the Great 
>Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). The project has more than 60,000 
>volunteers from all over the world taking part.
>
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Gmane