EMIce - Slashdot User

New Multi-Touch Interface Rivals Apple's iPhone

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EMIce

on Thursday January 18 2007, @05:26AM

EMIce writes "The excitement over last week's Apple iPhone debut was tempered a bit for me by Steve Jobs' proclamation that Apple had "filed for over 200 patents for all the inventions in iPhone and we intend to protect them". But an NYU Researcher has recently demonstrated a similar interface at TED, the annual Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference. He states that multi-touch has been around since the 80's and that research in it is booming right now. There is an article at FastCompany and a video on youtube. The demo is breathtaking. So did Apple invent the impressive multi-finger zooming and scrolling that Mr. Jobs so bluntly demonstrated?"

Electricity prices are soaring, is broadband next?

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EMIce

on Tuesday November 21 2006, @10:58PM

EMIce writes "The New York Times is running an article entitled Flaws Seen in Markets for Utilities. The following excerpt is telling — "Unlike the stock market, where vast numbers of strangers buy and sell, the electricity markets involve a relative handful of buyers and sellers...Critics of the current system have found ammunition in a study at Carnegie Mellon University by Sarosh N. Talukdar, who used computer models to simulate a market in which 10 utilities bought electricity and 10 producers sold it. In that experiment, the buyers and sellers learned to manipulate the price within 100 rounds of bidding, capturing from 50 percent to 90 percent of the prices an unregulated monopoly would have charged. Instead of falling, prices soared." There are striking parallels here to the broadband market — one could certainly argue it is even more restrictive to competition, at least electricity distributors are kept separate from the producers. Apparently though, that approach too has failed. The thought of regulating prices makes me uneasy, but what other end is in sight, when only a few are allowed to string up the cables for distribution? What happens when those few begin tiering the internet?"

The Internet needs closer surveillance?

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EMIce

on Sunday September 10 2006, @08:31PM

EMIce writes "Two Harvard Law professors have written an op-ed in the New York Times supporting closer monitoring of internet communications. They write, 'The same technological changes that help terrorists plot to deliver weapons of mass destruction, including low-cost information and communication over the Internet, also make it easier for the government to monitor and pre-empt terrorist plots. Libertarians overreact to the new technology, stoking fears of an Orwellian surveillance state. But properly designed programs can produce large gains in security in return for small losses of privacy and liberty.' How effective would this be, say, against a determined foe, and what specifically would prevent abuse? Any ideas on how to 'properly design' around that? And to just what extent would such monitoring take place?"

The Internet needs closer surveillance?

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EMIce

on Sunday September 10 2006, @08:19PM

EMIce writes "Two Harvard Law professors have written an op-ed in the New York Times supporting closer monitoring of internet communications. 'The same technological changes that help terrorists plot to deliver weapons of mass destruction, including low-cost information and communication over the Internet, also make it easier for the government to monitor and pre-empt terrorist plots. Libertarians overreact to the new technology, stoking fears of an Orwellian surveillance state. But properly designed programs can produce large gains in security in return for small losses of privacy and liberty.' How effective would this be, say against a determined foe, and what specifically could prevent abuse? Any ideas on how to "properly design" around those that? What exactly does "closer monitoring" entail?"