Nokia expects to sell WiMAX phones by 2008, Reuters reports. The mobile devices could be used with traditional cellular networks as well with WiMAX hotspots. From the article: "Nokia said its WiMAX base stations will be commercially available for broadband operators in the 2.5 gigahertz band at the end of 2007 and for 3.5 gigahertz in the first quarter of 2008."

Watch five different commercials of five different wireles networks, and you will hear five different claim about having the largest wireless network in the United States. Call up the carrier, or ask the sales rep about the square miles each network has, and they will be clueless - all claims about wireless coverage are based on the number of people that have access to the network in densely populated areas. Which really means the competition is pretty much about reaching the largest amount of customers with the lowest amount of towers, and hence even the largest wireless network will have quite a few dead zones in the United States.

OpenSSL security can be compromised by forging digital signatures, according to a Bell Labs researcher. The article quotes OpenSSL advisory: "If an RSA key with exponent 3 is used, it may be possible to forge a PKCS #1 v1.5 signature signed by that key. Since there are (certificate authorities) using exponent 3 in wide use, and PKCS #1 v1.5 is used in X.509 certificates, all software that uses OpenSSL to verify X.509 certificates is potentially vulnerable."

David Berlind of ZDNet says the time has come for small and medium businesses to outsource their IT operations: "Call me crazy. But, it seems to me that the industry has finally evolved to a point where selling infrastructure (including storage) to SMBs should be like selling regular gasoline to the driver of a truck that runs on diesel fuel. Whether you're at an existing SMB or about to start one up, it makes almost no sense to insource any IT. Especially IT infrastucture like servers and storage." Nicholas Carr agrees: "I would call it more a habit than a myth - the ability for companies to jettison most or all of their in-house IT infrastructure is a recent development - but I think he's right. Ironically, even as many smaller companies are embracing hardware hosting, software-as-a-service, and other forms of utility computing, many others are currently building up their IT assets, drawn by low component costs. I think those companies are going to end up regretting a lot of the investments they're making. They'll soon find that the highest IT costs aren't component costs but labor costs, maintenance costs, electricity costs, and other secondary expenses - and that owning your own gear ends up reducing your flexibility rather than increasing it." With the proliferation of hosted storage, hosted email, hosted Web sites, hosted project management tools, hosted time tracking utilities, hosted calendars and hosted billing services, should a small business owner forget about ever purchasing a server?

I think it's time someone held a contest.

A slash fiction writing contest.

The stars?

George W. Bush and Victor Ashe. Georgie's nickname of "The Shrub" should of course be part of the story.

Why?

Let me quote Wolfbear's Blog

Leola McConnell, Democratic candidate for Governor of Nevada (who has been endorsed by WMR). McConnell is a one-time professional dominatrix.
 
"President Bush's speech to the nation Monday. If he doesn't say he's a gay American or at the least a bisexual one then he shouldn't be making one at all. And the notion that it would be in regards to writing bigotry into our nation's Constitution is reprehensible. Too bad it isn't me doing the rebuttal because in 1984, I watched him perform (with the enthusiasm of homosexual male who had done this many times before) a homosexual act on another man, namely Victor Ashe. Victor Ashe is the current Ambassador to the nation of Poland who should also come out like former Governor McGreevey of New Jersey and admit to being a gay American. Other homo-erotic acts were also performed by then private citizen George Bush because I performed one of them on him personally.

A lesson to all you kids out there. Get a degree. Yes, it may be beneath you. But it might not be beneath the unimaginative overlords who will rule your world one day.

That is all.

Eight Valentine's Day since puberty and I still have yet to have Valentine's Day fall on a day when I have a woman in my life.

It looks as though quoting favorite poetry can actually be of incalculable benefit. Not to mention theraputic. Here goes nothing,

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I turned to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

--Yeats

I'm almost done acquiring enough gear to record my music...need to find a place to host it though.

Normally I shun such strong expressions of emotion, but lately I've come to realize that I have to lose my cold, remote disposition, and try and connect with humanity.

Taking a cue from Squiggleslash, I posted a troll on todays story about Microsoft wantint to compete in the cluster market. Funny thing is, I was modded up.

How messed up was that? I'm sick today, and couldn't even think straight...

A blog! That is so 2005! How quaint. I mean who would want to read social commentary about Gangstas & Hugs?

I've already gotten a decent amount of response from it, albeit only naysayers. Quite a bit of fun though. Interesting how posting to a blog and knowing that someone is actually reading and thinking about what you wrote can be kind of exciting.

Still wish slashdot would lose some of the attitude though. Pretentious geeks are the worst kind. They demand "Open Software & Standards", but when it really comes down to it they're all pretty closed-minded.

Well, its been over a year (1 year and 27 days to be exact) since I last posted in my Journal. Not a big I guess... except that when I read what I last wrote I get all fired up again. Oh well... guess I'll try and stay more moderated with my postings. Probably a lot easier for other users to read when I'm not up on a soap box with every Journal entry.

The reason I haven't posted in so long was my last job. It was in a public school system and the proxy blocked most popular message boards (including Slashdot). I could read posts, but couldn't respond or post my own.

Thankfully I'm in a new position with a government association that doesn't have that kind of blocking on internet surfing. Probably one of the biggest perks of the new gig... besides benefits and a real retirement plan!

On March 3, 2005, ABC Online ran an Associated Press story about the "Teddy" prototype on display at Microsoft.

Slashdot.org also has a discussion about this story

On the surface, it's a baby monitor on Steroids, but as any imaginative soul can see from reading the article, there are a number of far more sinister implications afoot.

The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. ... "The vision behind this is to be two places at once,"

My mind began to whirl with ideas. How would this change the way we parent? How can something like this be abused? How would controlling parents use a device like this? How would something like this change our society?

What kinds of children will we be dealing with when parents use devices like this in place of their actual physical presence, or for pervasive monitoring?

A few years ago I saw a Mocumentary from the BBC that postulated what the future might hold, and one of the segments depicted a mother planting a tracking device in her daughter's arm that was part of a birth control implant, thus giving the mother the ability to track the daughter's motions 24/7.

So I propose a contest. Write a story involving "Teddy". Make it positive, negative, hopeful or pessimistic. Encase the hardware in different shells if you like (A clown or a Jack in the box spring to mind). Is it a gift from parent to child? Is a workaholic parent using it to "Spend time with the kids" while at the office? Is an obsessive individual or a stalker using it to monitor their prey? Is it being used as nothing more than a cuddly baby monitor, sort of a remote control Teddy Ruxpin?

Is the child's sense of "What's alive" being messed with? Does the distinction between human and machine blur, and what is the result?

Ask and or answer any of these questions.

Categories, judging criteria and prizes will be determined later. For now, just post your ideas and links to your stories.

Feel free to spread the word about this little contest, and get others involved. The topic fascinates me, and I'm intersted in reading what other people have to say about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=545978&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
By ALLISON LINN
The Associated Press

REDMOND, Wash. Mar 2, 2005 -- The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection.

The plush prototype, on display at Microsoft Corp.'s annual gadget showcase Wednesday, is one of several ideas researchers have for robots. The idea is to create a virtual being that can visit the neighboring cubicle for a live telephone chat even as its owner is traveling thousands of miles away, or let the plumber into the house while its owner enjoys a pleasant afternoon in the sun.

Plenty of companies are already building robots for the work place, and toy companies have created plush dolls that know a child's name or can incorporate other personal information. But Steven Bathiche, a research and development program manager with Redmond-based Microsoft, said his company's projects go further.
Top Stories

"The vision behind this is to be two places at once," Bathiche said.

The "Teddy" project was one of about 150 projects on display at Microsoft's TechFest, a two-day event that gives Microsoft's worldwide team of researchers the chance to show product developers their sometimes far-flung creations, and perhaps find a fit for the projects in a future, marketable product.

TechFest opened Wednesday, mainly to full-time Microsoft employees. The company expected about 6,000 to attend, including Chairman Bill Gates and other executives. A few government officials, academics and journalists also were allowed.

Raman Sarin, a Microsoft development engineer, was just looking for a way to learn more about programming smart phones when he decided to create a program to monitor traffic a constant complaint in the car-clogged Seattle area. The result is SmartPhlow, a program that not only monitors current traffic patterns but also uses real-time and archived data to predict when the next backup might occur.

Do you sort through the masses on Slashdot by defining friends and foes ? I've been on Slashdot for going on 8 years now. In all that time I've never ceased to be amazed at the amount of utter trash and nonsense on these discussion boards. I was quite pleased to see the ability to define relationships added to Slashcode, what 2 years ago? 2 sounds about right. In the beginning though I more or less ignored Slashcode relationships. I started using them eventually to define a handful of complete and total idiots as foes. Since then my lists have grown considerably. As of this writing I have:

Friends : 86

Foes : 47

I also have a sizeable number of fans and even some freaks :

Fans : 64

Freaks : 24

Apparently others and finding the service useful as well. There's nothing like a good debate of some controversial topics to give the nutcases a chance to shine, and us a chance to add them to our foe list. In case you weren't aware of this already, you can effectively block your foes and freaks by giving them score of -6 in your personal preferences (Preferences, Comments section, options listed under "People Modifier")

My questions for the Slashdot community in general follow:

How many people actually use the relationship features found in Slashcode?

Which do you use more, the friend or foe option?

How many of each do you have?

Does a person's foe or foe of a friend rating affect whether or not you read that person's comment? ie, do you skip it?

Have you ever reassigned a foe to neutral or friend? I've removed one foe rating and gave that person a neutral.

***UPDATE*** After careful consideration I've decided that an additional relationship option should be added to the current friend/foe/neutral options. I believe there should be an "Idiot" option. I've encountered a few people over the years that I simply have no desire to ever hear from again. Their posts are irrational, illogical and irrelvant. Since I can control how the score of a person's post is affected with my personal preferences, I'd like to be able to -5 an Idiots post while not necessarily doing the same to my Foes. That would be a nice option.

Now I know what you're thinking. This must be a scam. I thought the same thing too until an online friend of mine got his free iPod. The way these people make money is by connecting online advertisers with people willing to see their advertising. As long as you have a way of shutting off the advertising at a later date, all will be well (ie, use a disposable email account).

Finally someone has put up a freebie offer that doesn't cost you very much. The FreeiPod offer worked in the beginning because you had the option of signing up for a few completely free offers (as long as you canceled in time). However they removed those options, making all the various things you could sign up for cost you a minimum of about $10. However the Mini Mac freebie only costs you $1. That's right. It will only cost you a buck. In fact it will make you $20. Here's what you need to do.

Sign up at the Free Mini Mac site with a disposable email address. You're going to toss this address later because you're gonna get a lot of junk mail. This address will be put on spamming lists and sold and resold more times than you can imagine. You have to use a valid address though because you have to be able to get the account validation email and respond with it. I used an email alias on one of my domains for this task. I'll delete the alias when I'm done with it.

Next click through all the pages of crap you don't want to sign up for until you get to the long page of "offers." Scroll down to the one that says "Complete Home" and choose it. I went with this option because it only costs $1, doesn't require that I stay a member for a given period of time (like the stamps.com offer), and actually gives me money that I can use (I go to Lowe's weekly). If I somehow forget to cancel it will only cost me $8.99. I'll still come out ahead.

Complete the Complete Home signup process and bookmark the terms and conditions webpage (link is at the bottom). This is important because you will need the number on that page to cancel the subscription in a week or so. It's 1-800-232-HOME in case you forgot to bookmark it. Heck, here's a link to their T&C if you need it.

By signing up with Complete Home you'll actually make $19 ($20 gift card minus the $1 signup fee). All my friends are doing this for each other right now. So ifyou mind giving me a hand and signing up for the Free Mini Mac. I'll do the same for you. Thanks!

***UPDATE*** I just heard from another user that the efax.com offer is completely free. I haven't yet verified this yet but that's what the freeminimacs.com blurb says, as well as my source. Note that my first suggestions actually nets you $19, whereas this one costs you nothing. Both are good options. Frankly I prefer the Lowes card because I'm there just about every other day. YMMV of course.

Also, one last thing. After I get my Mini Mac I will be more than happy to help one of the people that helped me by signing up for me get one of their own. I'll remove my referral link and replace it with their's at that time. Because of that you need to make sure to check your disposable email account for a message from me in case I pick you as the one I'll change my referral link to (since I don't have any other means of contacting you or verifying that you helped me out). Thanks again.

***UPDATE*** 1 completed referral down, 9 to go. Woohoo! Thanks, buddy

***UPDATE*** I thought I should also mention that you have to visit a website and fill out a form to get your $20 gift card. Your membership number (needed) and the URL will be sent in separate emails to your disposable account. Don't lose them. And then don't forget to cancel about a week later.