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Comment This article is kind of superficial (Score 1) 96

It ignores things like: Telesat: http://www.circleid.com/posts/... OneWeb: https://cis471.blogspot.com/20... China: https://cis471.blogspot.com/20... High margin customers: https://cis471.blogspot.com/20... Political problems: https://cis471.blogspot.com/20... Tech problems: https://cis471.blogspot.com/20... etc.

Submission + - The Future of Free and Open-Source Maps

Submitted by Grady Martin
Grady Martin writes: Former OpenStreetMap contributer and Google Summer of Code mentor Serge Wroclawski has outlined "why OpenStreetMap is in serious trouble," citing unclear usage policies, poor geocoding (address-to-coordinate conversion), and a lack of a review model as reasons for the project's decline in quality. Perhaps more interesting, however, are the problems purported to stem from OpenStreetMap's power structure:

In the case of OpenStreetMap, there is a formal entity which owns the data, called the OpenStreetMap Foundation. But at the same time, the ultimate choices for the website, the geographic database and the infrastructure are not under the direct control of the Foundation, but instead rest largely on one individual, who (while personally friendly) ranges from skeptical to openly hostile to change.

Submission + - MPEG2 patents expired (mpegla.com)

Submitted by jabuzz
jabuzz writes: Unless you live in the Philippines or Malaysia, then MPEG2 has now joined the likes of MP3 and AC3 and gone patent free with the expiration of US patent 7,334,248.

Submission + - Google Global Cache coming to Cuba

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: The Associated Press reports that on Monday Eric Schmidt will be in Havana to sign a deal bringing Google Global Cache to Cuba. This will be a win for the Cuban people, Google and the Obama administration.

Submission + - A real-names domain-registration policy would discourage political lying.

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: The Internet was a major source of news — fake and real — during the election campaign. The operators of fake sites, whether motivated by politics or greed, are often anonymous. We avoid voter fraud by requiring verification of ones name, age and address. A verifiable real-names domain registration policy would discourage information fraud.

Submission + - Sci-Hub, a site with open and pirated scientific papers 1

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: Sci-Hub is a Russian site that seeks to remove barriers to science by providing access to pirated copies of scientific papers. It was established in 2011 by Russian neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan, who could not afford papers she needed for her research and it now claims to have links to 48 million pirated and open papers. I tried it out and found some papers and not others, but it provides an alternative for researchers who cannot afford access to paid journals. After visiting this site, one cannot help thinking of the case of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide as a result of prosecution for his attempt to free scientific literature.

Submission + - The telecommunication ball is now in Cuba's court

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: The FCC dropped Cuba from its exclusion list on January 25, so there are now no restrictions on US telecom company dealings with ETECSA, the Cuban government telecommunication monopoly, or any other Cuban organization. Last week the US sent our second high-level telecommunication delegation to Cuba. The delegates were FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and other government officials plus representatives of Cisco, Comcast and Ericsson. Some of the news — there are at least 6 proposals for an undersea cable between Havana and Florida; Cisco has proposed a Network Academy at Cuba's leading computer science university (Chinese infrastructure dominates today); 4G mobile connectivity was discussed and Google was conspicuously absent. The time for Cuba to act is now — while President Obama is still in office.

Submission + - Cuba's nationwide sneakernet -- a model for other developing nations?

Submitted by lpress
lpress writes: Cuba has little Internet infrastructure, but they have a well-organized sneaker net called El Paquete Semanal (the weekly packet). El Paquete distributes a terabyte of digital entertainment nationwide every week using portable drives. The system is reliable and the organization is said to be Cuba's largest private employer, but it is technically illegal and the content is pirated. A legitimatized Paquete would save scarce Internet resources for other applications. El Paquete is also a possible model for other developing nations.

Comment Today nearly all Cuban traffic is over the cable (Score 1) 64

by lpress (#50844089) Attached to: Cuba's Internet Routing Is Messed Up
This study was done last spring, when significant amounts of Cuban international traffic were routed over satellite, but in July nearly all international traffic moved to the undersea cable, significantly improving performance. Furthermore, the study used the only RIPE Atlas probe in Cuba, so may not have been representative of the entire island at that time. For details on the transition in July and the situation today, see http://laredcubana.blogspot.com/2015/11/before-and-after-cubas-shift-to-alba-1.html.

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