|
 |
Thursday, April 25, 2002 |
Googlewog, or This is Why We Love the Web.
Doc writes:
Our little boy, age 5, brought home a tadpole from preschool yesterday. While we were sitting outside looking at the stars in the evening, he said "I love my tadpole." I told him as gently as I could that the little creature's chances of survival in a cup of pondwater parked in the bathroom were not large. He grew quiet.
"Are you sad?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Are you afraid your tadpole is going to die?"
"Yes." After a pause, he added, "What can we do?"
"We could let him go out in the stream out back." This wasn't an encouraging idea. The "stream" is a trench that runs between culverts. And it's dry. This is Southern California.
"Look on Google," he said. As it happened we had a laptop with us, which we were using to track satellites in the sky. So I looked up "tadpole care." There was an abundance of advice. As I began to read it out loud, I saw the kid was asleep. Now it's the middle of the night and I'm boiling lettuce for a pet the size of a booger.
Hope it works. [Doc Searls Weblog]
This is why we love the web. In less than 200 words, Doc has told me a story that is packed with meaning and information. Because of this story, I now know:
-
Doc Searls, a man I'n not real likely ever to meet in meatspace, but one whose work (insofar as I know it) I admire, is a full-fledged Human Being. In fact, he's Dad to a five-year-old, just like I am. I think that's cool.
-
If my kid ever brings home a tadpole, I now know that I can get some advice from the Web, and that Google will help me find it. (Of course, I'll do just as well if I just call up my own Dad. Come to think of it, he's likely to be the source of the tadpole!)
-
There's a fantastic site called Heavens Above that will be an enormous boon when my kid's interests reach skywards.
I not only have gained information, but I've also been touched and amused by a very short, very well-written snippet of narrative. All of this, first thing in the morning, because I opened up my web browser, and my default start page is my Radio Userland news aggregator page.
Weinberger has it exactly right:
Now, if connecting and caring are what make us into human people, then the Web - built out of hyperlinks and energized by people's interests and passions - is a place where we can be better at being people.
And that is what the Web is for.
And it's why we love the Web. [The Boulder Inquisition]
8:01:00 AM 
|
|
"Going a stage further - if you could persuade, say for example, a number of UK based Criminal Justice or legal librarians & researchers to collaborate on one weblog, imagine how good a resource that would be. Imagine the networking opportunities. Most of the blogs I have seen from the UK seem to be created by individuals, so it is not too surprising that some very worthwhile blogs run out of steam, like Catherine Ebenezer's Mental Health Information UK blog. I'm sure Catherine is not the only Mental Health Librarian in the UK, perhaps if more people were involved the blog would be a bit more up-to-date." [infoblog]
Collaboration is difficult, though, as we're finding out in Illinois. It will take some time for blogging to burn into daily routines. We're not quite there yet, but I like the idea of a collaborative blog between experts in a field and librarians (one step further than what is mentioned above). [The Shifted Librarian]
8:00:36 AM
|
|
Writing within constraints.
Anytime Jon Udell writes about writing and weblogs, I sit up and pay attention. Today Dave Winer pointed to a post of Jon's in which he noted how blogging gives rise to new forms of writing i.e. "forms in a technical sense -- literary forms, or patterns of writing."
In this context, Jon mentioned both haiku and David McCusker's stanzas (comprising five fixed-length lines). This stanza comes close to describing my eventual experience of his writing:
When I write, I must trust you to make a jump to grasp meaning.
This is basically necessary in all writing. But I actually work at it.
Not everything can be said. (And if we try, it tends to be boring.)
My writing has frequent gaps you must somehow bridge yourself.
This happens so regularly, you might have no idea you're doing it.
My initial response, earlier in the day, was to dismiss McCusker's writing as monotonous (a reaction to which I'm sure he is accustomed). Tonight I returned to his weblog and spent a long time reading. To my astonishment, I found that I adjusted to the rhythms of his prose so that it rapidly sounded natural and I was able to forget the form and focus on the ideas and experiences he describes.
While I wouldn't care to emulate McCusker's prose style, his weblog makes for absorbing reading (I even found myself reading a few of the programming-related posts, of which I understood hardly a word). He offers a marvellous explanation of correct chopstick technique. I've always regarded myself as mighty handy with chopsticks but David McCusker's method—using two fingers and a thumb to hold the upper chopstick—offers significantly enhanced dexterity.
Serge Tomé's reasons for the growing importance and relevance of the haiku form sent me back to a marvellous book, Haiku Master Buson, and set me thinking about how the principles of writing haiku and haibun (short prose essays that include haiku) might be applied to writing for the Web. That can be the subject of another post. [Jonathon Delacour]
7:59:55 AM
|
|
16599 » April 24 7:47 AM. Free Words came first, a project of 2000 books stealthily placed in museums, libraries, and bookstores. Next, Sal Randolph spearheaded the Free Biennial during the Whitney Biennial. This week, she spent 15K and Ebayed her way into the contemporary art mega-exhibition Manifesta to present: Free Manifesta. Sal Randolph is single-handedly bringing free art "to the people, man." [MetaFilter]
7:58:04 AM
|
|
Jenny continues the conversation on next gen devices and PCs. I stretched my mind a little more on this topic. The fight is clearly between three hardware platforms: PCs, phones, and TVs. Everything else is peripheral. Only PCs are getting the full benefit of doubling rates in processor power and storage capacity. Here is how I think the battle will evolve in the next five to ten years:
1) A home server. This PC is always on and lives in a closet. It serves multiple users that connect to it using mobile wireless screens and keyboards. Everyone in the house has a profile. It controls all the devices in the home (consumer electronics to standard household items). It is the point of aggregation for content subscriptions and serves as a hub for mobile devices operated by household members that connect to it from outside the home. This server will slowly suck in the functionality of TVs, TiVos, and most consumer electronics.
2) An extremely mobile PC ala OQO. This PC will be attached to a single individual. It will have almost as much capacity as a standard PC (it won't be dumbed down). This mobile PC will have terabytes of storage and 10 GHz processors. It will have extensive battery life (20 plus hours). It can and will connect with services provided by the home server (personal data and content -- also webservice enabled syncrhonization). It can be plugged into keyboards, display devices, and laptop shells. A simple touchscreen will allow access to data will disconnected from richer input/output devices (output will be enhanced by video enabled glasses -- which are rapidly dropping price) It will connect to wireless networks. This device will slowly begin to suck in the functionality of cameras (both still and video), phones, and GPS devices. Over time, this device will act as a means of interacting with "smart" environments that include embedded information (it will bridge the APIs for these environments and personalize the delivery of the embedded information). [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
7:57:41 AM
|
|
Philip Pearson created a PHP implementation of xmlStorageSystem. "This may seem like a completely pointless project, seeing as RCS is already more or less free, and PyCS does everything pretty well already. However, neither of them will run on your $10 hosting account that only allows CGI and PHP. This will."  [Scripting News]
7:56:17 AM
|
|
Their pricing model is inline with the Wayport/Boingo/MobileStar world view: 17 cents per minute walk-up (about $10/hour); $7 for 24 hours; $16 per month for 200 minutes, 8 cents thereafter; $35/month for 500 minutes, 8 cents thereafter. They're allied with NetNearU, which in turn ties them into GRIC. [80211b News]
7:55:57 AM
|
|
16610 » April 24 11:00 AM. Wee tiny stuff never fails to fascinate. Photomicrography makes the commonplace seem outlandish and the beloved seem alien. Sometimes it's just as good as traveling. Do yourself a favor: admire something small today. You may have to count on it tomorrow. [MetaFilter]
7:52:20 AM
|
|
The start of many things to come: "Toshiba Corporation today unveiled a new concept in data storage with the announcement of a compact, lightweight BluetoothTM-enabled mobile storage device able to hold up to 5GB of data. The BluetoothTM Pocket Server opens the way to wireless data transmission across a wide range of digital products and is expected to promote the development of wireless mobile networks." [/.] [ericfreeman.com]
7:50:41 AM
|
|
Hewlett, HP face off in trial. Walter Hewlett says HP's business units were "overly optimistic" about a combined company. Also: A journal entry by Compaq CEO Michael Capellas could bolster efforts to block the merger. [CNET News.com]
7:50:01 AM
|
|
Roland Tanglao, software engineer, Vancouver, BC.
Roland's looking for a new gig.
"A Senior Software Development Professional with 13 years of progressive international experience in software design, team leadership, and internal consulting support for developers. Strong written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills combined with a passion for computers and the Web. Adept at helping different groups of software developers understand each other, as well as software developers and customers, and development and management. Extensive and varied technical knowledge and experience."
The blogger: I enjoy Roland's blog, on my regular reading list; I subscribe via RSS. Nice blend of IT news and experimentation with software technologies. Balanced by wedding photos and slices of BC life (Barb and Roland blog Vancouver dining and cooking on their VanEats site.) Blogging shows his communication skills the way his project history shows his technical expertise.
The search:
Roland's put "I am looking for a job, please check out my Résumé" high in his navigation column, driving traffic.
His "Hire Me!" minisite is easy to read and does a great job of spelling out what he wants and describes his accomplishments in plain English.
This page links to his resume in HTML, PDF, and Word 97. Recruiters still use the html version to find you via Google. But they also ask for your résumé in Word these days, easing import into candidate management systems and to blind your contact info when passing your quals on to their clients.
rtanglao@telus.net
[bloggers for hire] [a klog apart]
7:32:12 AM
|
|
Free Agent Nation gets Pulped..
It's out in trade paperback.
 Some business books are seminal. This ain't. That's OK.
It names the trend (30 million U.S. free agents, 15 percent of the US workforce) and describes the obvious economic and business implications.
But that wouldn't be enough to make this a best seller.
It is a fun, easy, engaging read. After all, the guy was a White House speechwriter.
And it has a point of view; the worker's. Do you think of yourself as a consultant, contractor, free-agent, freelancer, temp, soloist? This is the starting gate: how it works, how to get the basics right, how to leverage the big trends in your microbusiness.
Pink is starting to dive into deeper waters. Finding freedom in free agency. Fulfillment through work. You gotta read his his column at Startup.WSJ.com.
Kinda fun looking at how Dan Pink turned an article into a free agent career of his own. His Free Agent Nation site chronicles a string of appearances, interviews, articles, reviews, derivative work.
I give it 4 Resumes. [a klog apart]
7:29:13 AM
|
|
More playing with Amazon.
I've got my scripts working to produce an Amazon item image linked to the the Amazon item page.
My macro call looks like this:
<%amazon.macros.linkedItemImage("Colson Whitehead Intuitionist","0385493002")%>
but I'm still playing with the scripts to get it "just right."
(By the way, it's a great book.) [The Boulder Inquisition]
7:02:27 AM
|
|
Breaking News - LA Times
CIA Warns of Chinese Plans for Cyber-Attacks on U.S.
 Defense: Analysts fear government and private efforts to sabotage federal Internet sites.
By ERIC LICHTBLAU, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence officials believe the Chinese military is working to launch wide-scale cyber-attacks on American and Taiwanese computer networks, including Internet-linked military systems considered vulnerable to sabotage, according to a classified CIA report.
Moreover, U.S. authorities are bracing for a possible wave of hacking attacks by Chinese students against the United States in coming weeks, according to the analysis. The confidential alert, which was reviewed by The Times, was sent to intelligence officials a week ago.
Although U.S. officials have voiced concerns about individual hackers in China who have defaced federal and private Web sites, the United States has resisted publicly linking the Chinese government to those attacks or to broader cyber-style warfare.
The new CIA report, however, makes clear that U.S. intelligence analysts have become increasingly concerned that authorities in Beijing are actively planning to damage and disrupt U.S. computer systems through the use of Internet hacking and computer viruses.
Although the assessment concludes that China has not yet acquired the technical sophistication to do broad damage to U.S. and Taiwanese systems, it maintains that this is the "intended goal" of the People's Liberation Army in China. "The mission of Chinese special forces includes physical sabotage" of vulnerable systems, the report says--which some analysts said is driven by China's hostility toward Taiwan.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington insisted Wednesday, however, that Beijing is only conducting computer research that is strictly defensive in nature.
"It is not the Chinese government's policy to disrupt the computer system of any other country," said Larry Wu, an official in the embassy's science and technology section.
"We do research on the security of computers, of course--self-defense to understand how a hacker can get into our computer systems so we can defend it," he said. "But China has never assumed an offensive stance with regards to computer technology."
But several specialists in Chinese security and military affairs said the CIA's conclusions jibe with their own observations about China's research into offensive-minded cyber-tools.
"We should be very worried about this issue," said James Mulvenon, a China analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank who has done extensive studies into Chinese computer capabilities.
Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province, appears to be the driving force behind the Chinese interest in hacking and viruses, Mulvenon said. Under one scenario, if China were to make good on its long-standing threat to invade Taiwan, the Chinese military could then seek to deploy widespread computer disruptions against American and Taiwanese military systems to slow any effort by U.S. forces to intervene in Taiwan's defense, he said.
The issue threatens to inflame what are invariably tense relations between the United States and the Communist regime in China, relations already frayed by a volley of charges and counter charges during the last several years over alleged nuclear, military and political espionage.
Relations hit a low point last year after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter, triggering an international standoff over the return of the plane's 24 Navy crewmen. China detained the crew members for 11 days and returned the disassembled plane months later.
Recent months have seen a warming in relations as the Bush administration secured China's cooperation in the war on terrorism. But China has become upset by what it sees as the White House's increasingly favorable overtures toward Taiwan.
The CIA's assessment discusses Taiwan and the United States, revealing that U.S. intelligence officials believe both are targets of the Chinese military.
"The People's Liberation Army does not yet have the capability to carry out its intended goal of disrupting Taiwanese military and civilian infrastructures or U.S. military logistics using computer virus attacks," said the CIA's report, which was included in a broader national security assessment that authorities distributed to intelligence officials.
"China's virus attack capabilities are similar to those of sophisticated hackers and are limited to temporary disruption of sectors that use the Internet," the CIA review said. "A Chinese virus attack is capable of reaching e-mail communications, lap tops brought into China, and U.S. Internet-based military computers."
A U.S. intelligence official who was briefed on the issue but asked not to be identified said analysts believe that, although the most sensitive U.S. military databases are secure from hackers and viruses, Internet-based military systems that are used for communications with bases around the world and with outside military vendors could be vulnerable.
"These aren't the keys to the kingdom we're talking about," the official said. "There's no danger that the Chinese are going to hack into our nuclear launch codes, but there is the danger they could gather useful intelligence from penetrating some of the less sensitive networks that the Department of Defense utilizes all over the world."
Recent U.S. intelligence indicates, the official said, "that the Chinese government is actively and aggressively working on their cyber-war capability. They have a lot of people and a lot of brainpower, and they're smart enough to appreciate that a significant aspect of any future armed conflict is going to be cyber in nature."
Another government official who asked not to be identified cautioned, however, that the immediate threat posed by Chinese computer disruptions is fairly limited.
"This is something we're certainly concerned about. But in terms of their being able to disrupt Taiwan or U.S. military and civilian infrastructure, they can't do it yet. That's the story."
The concept of nations launching cyber-attacks against their enemies is a relatively new phenomenon, but it is drawing rising concern from U.S. authorities as they assess vulnerability in the national computer infrastructure. In an effort to beef up security, budget planners are projecting an increase of more than 50% next year in overall computer security, bringing the total to more than $4 billion.
The CIA report does not reveal how intelligence analysts arrived at their conclusions, and Jonathan Pollack, chairman of the strategic research department at the Naval War College, cautioned that there are still many unanswered questions about China's plans.
"China is still an issue that worries Americans deeply, and sometimes the intelligence community gets a head of steam on these things and can go off on tangents that may not be substantiated," he said.
Last year, the spy plane confrontation triggered an avalanche of about 1,200 attacks against U.S. government and commercial Web sites that were disrupted or defaced. Many of the attacks appeared to have been generated by students in China, with private hackers leaving patriotic pro-China messages or vowing revenge for the death of a Chinese pilot in the plane collision. Several hundred attacks on Chinese Web sites were blamed on American hackers, although some U.S. technology experts discounted that explanation.
The CIA assessment said China's "nonstate hacking community continues to pose the most immediate threat to U.S. computer networks."
It went on to warn that hackers in China "appear to be organizing for cyber-attacks again this spring, particularly during student breaks early next month and around the anniversary of the EP-3 [surveillance plane] incident."
The anniversary of the EP-3 collision passed uneventfully this month. But private security groups say they too have picked up on possible Chinese-based attacks in coming weeks--tied to the plane episode as well as China's national youth day on May 4 and the May 8 anniversary of the U.S.'s accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999.
"We're warning our people about it and making sure everyone has their Web sites updated with the proper patches" to guard against denial-of-service attacks and other hacking, said Michael Cheek, director of intelligence for iDefense, a security intelligence service that has government and corporate clients around the world.
The U.S. intelligence official said that analysts suspect last year's hackings had the "tacit blessing," and even perhaps the active involvement, of the Chinese government.
Indeed, a report due out next month from Mulvenon and the Rand Corp., which does research for the U.S. government, will allege that the Chinese government was directly involved in at least one round of hack attacks.
After a spate of attacks against Web sites in the United States, Australia, Canada and England maintained by the Falun Gong religious movement--which China considers an "evil cult"--Mulvenon said his investigation unearthed evidence showing that at least one U.S. attack originated with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
"It's very clear to us that this was the ministry's doing, and it was a deliberate attempt to smear Falun Gong," he said
While I'm rarely reactionary on these things, this one smells legit.
So--Buckle up kids. Get backed up and all the patches loaded. . [Mary Wehmeier's Blog Du Jour]
6:47:53 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2002 Mark Oeltjenbruns.
|
|
|
"I am in 
