Let's drop PDAs on Afghanistan
ShouldExist is a site to post "wouldn't it be neat if" ideas. One such idea
:Dropping Palm Pilot-types of devices around (Afghanistan) with embedded educational content and tests, which reward by paying off digital cash. Make the devices useful as cellphones and they will be highly prized in the countryside.
Via usr/bin/girl.
Voice control? Try grunt control
Brown University's Takeo Igarashi says the real way to interact with a computer is not through simple words, but through grunting and other sounds, such as "ahhhh:"
Advertisement: |
We are developing several prototype interaction techniques based on this idea, such as "control by continuous voice", "rate-based parameter control by pitch," and "discrete parameter control by tonguing." We have implemented several prototype systems, and they suggest that voice-as-sound techniques can enhance traditional voice recognition approach.
The BBC elucidates:
So, for example, when you say "move down, ahhhh", a document on the computer screen would scroll down while the sound continues.
By increasing the pitch of your voice, the scrolling speed increases. When you stop speaking, the scrolling ends.
Via Kuro5hin.
10/18/01
Spam gets back to business
Remember on Sept. 12, how you'd open up your e-mail and it'd be full of dire urban legends and patriotric Flash files?
All is right with America again. The spammers have returned with a vengeance. Only they're no longer just pushing ways to expand various body parts. Now they're selling Cipro and flags and bin Laden toilet paper and all other sorts of patriotic stuff. Salon reports:
Welcome to the "war on terrorism" shopping mall. Individual Americans may be feeling nearly paralyzed with anthrax paranoia, and unemployment is rising while industrial output continues to fall, but at least one sector of the entrepreneurial American machine is kicking itself back into gear. It's time to cash in on the crisis.
A content-management portal
Need to get the content on your Web site a bit more under control? Time for a content-management system then. But which one? They range in complexity from, oh, FrontPage all the way up to complex applications that require multiuple CPUs and databases, and in price from free to seven figures.
Clueful Consulting's CMS Directory is a good place to start your search, with more than 250 links to product info, mailing lists, research and events.
10/17/01
Share your system tray with the world
Systray.org exists solely for people to post screen captures of their system trays. Why? Apparently, some people just like to compare the size of their systrays. Or it's a joke. You decide.
Via Memepool.
Microsoft replaces people with bots at MSN?
This transcript of a chat session between somebody who was having problems with his MSN DSL service and an MSN "representative" makes you wonder if MSN is on auto-pilot. Basically, the guy complains that attachments keep getting dropped from his e-mail and the MSN "representative" keeps trying to get him to install Flash software.
Via CamWorld.
10/16/01
Would you let the recording industry onto your network?
Give the Recording Industry Association of America credit. In its single-minded zeal to crack down on music pirates, it almost got an amendment to a terrorism bill that would have held it blameless for hacking into other people's computers to destroy MP3s and related software.
An RIAA official told Wired:
"If we know someone is operating a server, a pirated music facility, we could try to take measures to try and prevent them from uploading or transmitting pirated documents."
Now, as a good network manager, you try to prevent your end users from breaking the law. But it's one thing for you to block Gnutella traffic across your network - or to talk to a recalcitrant employee's manager. How would you feel if some music company decided to take down your network with a distributed Denial-of-Service attack? Or tried to evade your firewall and remotely delete software on one of your computers? Discuss it in our RIAA forum.
Al Queda's low-tech high tech
This interesting article looks at al Queda's use of the Internet and satellite communications to discuss and arrange attacks and finds that rather than using such stealthy methods as steganography, the group used simple codes to evade Western intellegence services:
The evidence so far is that, when communicating, the terrorists used simple open codes to conceal who and what they were talking about. This low-tech method works. Unless given leads about who to watch, even the vast "Echelon" network run by NSA and GCHQ cannot separate such messages from innocuous traffic. The problem, says Dr Gladman, is that "the volume of communications is killing them [the spy agencies]. They just can't keep up.It's not about encryption."
Via Boing Boing.
9/11 archive
The WebArchive has collected more than 2 terabytes worth of HTML pages showing how Web sites around the world first reacted to the events of 9/11, from government sites to personal Weblogs.
10/15/01
Shoe company gets open source after all
Last week, open-source fans were all agog over a shoe company's "open source" design competition in which all entries became the exclusive property of the company.
Looks like the company, John Fluevog, has seen the light. Bryan Donaldson reports he wrote the company last week and got a pretty lengthy reply that, in essence, says the company has modified the policy so that all designs are now "public domain, owned by no one and with no compensation in any form." And the company's added a page with links to real (i.e. computing) open-source links, along with:
Open Source is both a software philosophy and an important progressive movement. Systems like Linux, Unix,Netscape Navigator and Apache web server are based on a model for development and distribution not possible until very recently. Chances are you're able to read this right now because of the quality and reliability of an Open Source server or operating system. And, presumably, because you went to school. If you're interested in getting involved with Open Source - and they want you to - we've provided some links to help you learn more.
So no jokes today about heels, soul-less corporations or being trod upon, OK?
Pod people, coming soon to a cube near you
Ideo gets paid to think up the future. Or something. For Steelcase, the company that makes components for veal pens, they whipped up a Cube of the Future that not only requires you to be strapped in, but comes with wheels so you can scoot around the office:
Integrating technology into furniture that moves allows for increased flexibility in group and team work. The design accommodates many different postures, allowing the user to change stance or position frequently, feel more relaxed and avoid repetitive stress. These ideas build on an extensive body of research into changing workplace practices, including user observations and video ethnography.
Q moves on its own battery power, controlled by a joystick on the armrest. The user recalls personal preferences by inserting a PDA into a slot, sits in the work chair, and drives to be near to the team members who are sharing the work at hand.
Take a look at the beast, then check out Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle. Then decide which the Pointy Haired Boss would actually choose.
Via Boing Boing.
RELATED LINKS
Compendium archive: Week of 01/21/02 Week of 01/14/02 Week of 01/07/02 Week of 01/02/02 Week of 12/03/01 Week of 11/26/01 Week of 11/19/01 Week of 11/12/01 Week of 11/05/01 Week of 10/29/01 Week of 10/22/01 Week of 10/15/01 Week of 10/08/01 Week of 10/01/01 Week of 9/24/01 Weeks of 9/10/01 - 9/17/01 Week of 9/3/01 Week of 8/27/01 Week of 8/20/01 Week of 8/13/01 Week of 8/6/01 Note: Compendium's entire staff took the week of 7/30 off. Week of 7/23/01 Week of 7/16/01 Week of 7/9/01 Week of 7/2/01 Week of 6/25/01 Week of 6/18/01 Week of 6/11/01 Week of 6/4/01
Tracking down a stolen Mac; Dead C Scrolls; Googlewhacking; How bad is it in the Valley?; Storage lessons from the Wayback Machine; The pub-seeking handheld; Internet gang wars; Outlook XP breaks MIME.
Why should iMac owners have all the eye candy?; Luxo Redux; So you think your job is bad; Google as a DNS replacement? Not so fast; Nokia exec cites stock plunge in speeding-fine appeal; The tragedy of the .coms; The Google parlor game; Some people *like* Steve the Dell Guy; Ban all Microsoft attachments?
Dot-com to bare all; iMac Dance; Wendy's remembers Dave; Search engine bites the dust; Wendy's Web site ignores Dave's death; Geek comic strip; Youngest security expert ever; Spam poetry; Confessions of a hacker; Breathless Apple; Dave Barry does Windows XP.
Dropping everything to vote; The best Apple rumors, ever; Guess Steve Case isn't getting into Harvard; Make your own O'Reilly cover; Boosting your wireless juice; Telnet lives!
This space intentionally left blank (vacation).
The most useless software ever; Is Microsoft getting ready to squash PC vendors?; Excite@Home: The Watergate of the New Economy?; No more 3Com Park. Is CMGI Field next?; Are you an e-bore?; This site'll have you coming and going; Entertainment Weekly's loss of innocence; Ensign Crusher as Entertainer of the Year; Oh, for the old days.
The Museum of Broken Packets; Just in time for Thanksgiving; Tourist Guy found; Why virtual offices suck; A domain ruling that sucks; Hacking the iPod.
Why you shouldn't ship computers via UPS; When .Net requires Java; High-tech grafitti artists; Spam from beyond the grave; New group tries to oversee the whole Internet; Paging Dick Tracy; Students use PDAs to cheat; Windaz for Aussies, Newfies; Another alternative to Passport; A virtual honeynet
Bill Gates: Father of open source; Verizon exec: Monopoly is good; Weird molecule names; E-mail: too much of a good thing?; A cluster of one; More woes for dot-bombers; Spam as weapon in the war on crime; Just when you think the Web can't get any better; Just when you think the Web can't get any worse; More proof I shouldn't be a wiseass; Using your Web logs to ID hacker attacks; Help save the FAQs; Who do you trust, baby?; Powerpuff Girls powerless against virus; Big IP pipe between US, Europe.
The profit of turning thugs into programmers; Work Name Generator; A programmer's lament; The world's best ATM; Are anti-spammers killing people?; Web services and storage; Get your Aerons here; Perl for the XXI-imum century; Microsoft's blocking of non-IE browsers.
Government info taken off the Web since 9/11; Beware hackers who talk too much; A contest you can enter sitting down; Now don't try this in the office; Bob Patterson must die; Finally, a useful 404 page; Tech calls from hell; Teletubbies XP; More XP fun; Anthrax and e-mail; Larry's ID card; World's longest gum-wrapper chain.
Let's drop PDAs on Afghanistan; Voice control? Try grunt control; Spam gets back to business; A content-management portal; Share your system tray with the world; Would you let the recording industry onto your network?; Al Queda's low-tech high tech; 9/11 archive; Shoe company gets open source after all; Pod people, coming soon to a cube near you.
Larry and Scott's dueling ID cards; Cringely: Broadband is dead; The dangers of Photoshop; The dangers of copy protection; Microsoft mining whois for telephone solicitations?; How to REALLY throw a LAN party; Good fences don't make good 'Net neighbors; How Google adapted to 9/11 news; Web services as over-hyped hooey; Why shoe guys shouldn't do open source; Online air hockey.
AT&T waives 9/11 wireless charges for some; Shifting gears; Craig Burton on the Novell/Microsoft suit; In search of the post-PC interface; Vibrating PDAs and wearable phones; Gary Condit's Web site; No, that isn't a real photo of a WTC tourist; How to throw a LAN party; How sucky is your intranet?
For grizzled 'Net veterans; UK ISP forced to pull deceptive ads; Pretty Good encryption controversy; Are you as smart as Miss America?; Really securing your computer; Still lots of insecure IIS servers; Kids, don't try this at home; Anthrax Kills; Larry's national database; Nimda hysteria?
Attack and post-attack items.
999,999,999 bottles of beer on the wall; Finally, a wind-up cell phone; Enough with the ringing!; The VoIP calculator; 802.11b insecurity; Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf explains IOS DHCP; Is ENUM the mark of the devil?; AOL gives user permanent demerit; The Ballmer music video; Cleveland news flash: Y2K was last year.
Re-routing around censorship; Us vs. them in scripting; The boss button; Fighting off the hackers for fun; Peer computing as a weapon of war; Unix poetry; The Windows Fatal Exception Decoder; New Fusion widget: Getting rid of spyware; The sound of 200 cell phones going off at once; Taleban Web site hacked; Hey, sysadmin, remember Sircam?
On the importance of flame wars; Bill Gates sees dead people?; A markup language for grunts and groans; Is Microsoft leaking those Ballmer dance videos?; Good Samaritan not so good?; Steve Ballmer works up a sweat; Open-source wireless cracking; When technology goes too far; Another dumb computer arrest?; Is Cisco Communist?
Moron marketers threaten 'Net users; Finding free wireless access; Complete wastes of time; OS holy war flares in North Carolina; Are programmers weird?; Somebody actually buys an X10 camera; We're number, uh, two!; Those after-hours computer discussions; An entire city running on Linux; Distributed spam fighter under development; Could a Warhol virus infect the entire 'Net in 15 minutes?; Tell AOL what to do with its CDs.
Fusion shatters a myth; Bridging .Net and Java?; AT&T Broadband cuts off non-IIS servers to fight Code Red; Bluetoothless; Tennessee town bites into Apple; And you thought TI-99/4A fans were over the edge; Biometrics coming to your local supermarket; Steve Ballmer a-hootin' and a-hollerin'; Speaking of Web images; Just how far PC prices have fallen; Does Starbucks' CEO get his own wireless strategy?
Crackers getting more sophisticated; Sex and Microsoft Office; The wonders of science, part MXXII; Finally, a useful virus; A shocking game controller; Big Ball of Mud school of programming; Two vitally important new resources; Adobe: Ooops; Eudora Welty, dead at 92; Centralizing Unix administration in Perl; Spellchecking the entire Web.
Worm turns on Microsoft Web servers; The day the ISP died; Cell-phone users have no shame; Even Internet consultants can screw up the 'Net; Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers; The ultimate cup of coffee; The solar-powered ISP; Everhost; Internet VCer: Oops; The Lego Palm and the pink fuzzy laptop; The Microsoft-English dictionary; Putting a loved one in the home.
Saving those all important VoIP calls; This site is a bright idea; Could wireless end messy divorces?; How much will that software really cost you?; Ghosts of failed dot-coms; The spy's guide to securing your Cisco routers; Oprah for Internet czarina?; What's Microsoft doing at an open-source conference?; Like a big pizza pi; Cyber-bullies; Better check your phone bill; Have some birthday pi.
How HP wastes energy to save energy; New toy for the bored and lonely; Weird programming languages; When sponsors are speakers; The case of the disturbing backwards monitor; Congress to ICANN: Drop dead; Yet another video game made into a movie; Smile, you're on Candid (Police) Camera; High-speed hotels; Network Solutions blocking name transfers?
One of the fathers of Usenet dead at 45; Are you ready for insta-spam?; Diary of a site collapse; Skirting the issue; Assimiliating the Web; Trolling for help; Software wars; Rating the rater; True tales from the help desk; How about spam embedded in your mail?
Unix diapers; A beautiful waste of time; A P2P taxonomy; This page is too stupid; Homeless dot-commer bogus?; Whee, Linux is fun!; Blue Screens everywhere; Forget viruses: This fungus eats CDs; Microsoft revises Smart Tags a bit; Homeless dot-commers.
Slashdot crashes the NSA; They may be Smart Tags, but they're not Original Tags; What open source and California wines have in common; Jakob Nielsen no tyro; How to make Windows 2000 really, really secure; Where the Internet begins; A useful computer bug; The clothes make the geek; The end of the Internet; Why PDF bites; Novel use of a wireless phone; Hidden info; When Web sites tell too much.
DSL modems are so '90s; Bye-bye Netscape; Get ready to upgrade those mail servers; The anti-.Net; The real reason to buy a Palm; Anatomy of a DDoS attack; Pain is good.
