Says the Anonymous Coward.... (Whom probably has an agenda, and is too afraid to post whom he is)....

Spam lists are not just for email. If you are forum admin (or a slashdot admin), spam posts are the bane of many a website.
A good, verifyable, public, and accountable spam list means admins of such sites can spend more time on being productive, rather than wasting time deleting hundreds and hundreds of useless posts and users.

Considering this is slashdot, and the majority of people here prefer technology to work for our benefit, a good spam blacklist makes a hell of a lot of sense !

If only I had mod points, I would mod you up :)

Agreed ! Your phone is not based on open hardware, so yes, if you just wanted a small form factor device that you could program, that had a screen, network capabilities, some form of input, etc, then yep, an existing phone solution would be perfect for you !

However if you wanted to access raw IO busses such as GPIO, I2C, Serial data lines, etc, then you will be facing an uphill battle trying to reverse engineer a closed hardware solution. (Not that it isnt possible, its just your time would be better spent elsewhere)..

The cool thing is that there are lots and lots of options out there, depedning on your needs, each one has its unique pros and cons.
The hard part is deciding what you want, and how much time you are willing to invest in getting what you need !

Video analytics can only help out so much.
Realistically, video analytics can and often does present a lot of false positives, so its not the be all and end all to security.
I would not rely solely on CCTV for any half decent security solution, purely because it only offers after the fact protection.

What I would be asking is what events are you specifically looking for ?
I would honestly suggest you use CCTV as part of a security plan, and not using it as your only plan.

Access Control systems can log who, when and where people have attempted to and gained access.
Alarm Systems can detect motion in areas and respond based on arming status and schedules.
You kind of get the idea.

Using other methods of physical security can help you determine when events may or have taken place.
This in tern aids you in searching for video footage, as if you know roughly when an event has taken place, searching through a couple of hours of video footage for one or a couple of cameras, (At 8x, 16x or 32x speed) becomes a whole lot easier than trying to get the perfect video analytics configuration that wont waste your time with thousands of false positives that you will need to watch for a weeks worth of video footage.

If your after simple CCTV security, and you dont have a lot of traffic (pedestrians, vehicles or other movement), then motion detection can also make life
a lot easier, as it tends to cut out a LOT of video footage during quiet times (Night time for example).

Quote from Piriform "As this is against our terms of use, we kindly request that you remove this feature."

Did you even agree to their TOS, or even download, install or execute their software ?
Im not a lawyer (Just another Slashdot nutbag Lol), but I thought that you are not using any of their closed source code in your open source product,
nor are you using their dll's or their data.

Isnt this kinda like a Musician saying please remove the mp3 capability in your player, as this violates the TOS of our music ?

I understand the spirit of the law, I.E. someone that has worked out an XML or database schema, and uses that same schema would not be accountable for copyright infringement.

If a program used another programs data for its own use, then that program / program user would not be infringing on copyright either...
But if a copyrightable item is encoded in to a format that in no way resembles the copyrighted works (I.E. encoded in some bizarre, lossy, crappy method)
that no other software supports, and the decoding method is not published or known, could that data in theory be except from copyright in the sense that it is just data, and no longer resembles the copyrighted works ???

(I know this will not be the case, but its just a thought)....

For the past Olympic games, the hosting country just made do with fireworks....
To step up to actual missiles, now that is going to take a lot of effort to top for future hosting countries !!

Considering IBM is now a service oriented company, chances are that if OS/2 didnt loose out to Windows 95, it would have been spun off, sold off, and or forgotten about a looooong time ago....
(Some examples include Lotus Notes, Lotus smart suite, IBM Anti Virus, Tivoli, AIX, DB/2, REXX, etc, etc)....

I had a lot of love for IBM back in the 80s, 90s and early 00s....
Unfortunately upper management of the company are too concerned with burning out their employees for profit, and seem no longer concerned about innovation.
The company seems to be very mismanaged at the moment... It may be highly profitable, but I don't think we will see any thing innovative like OS/2 for quite some time....
Most of the highly skilled highly experienced company's grey hairs have long moved on, and all that is left is drone workers in India and China, pushed to the breaking point.

Very very sad....

Its hard to get owners to check basic maintenance requirements such as fluid levels, tyre pressures, and warning lights on instrument clusters.

To get an owner to swap an engine out is a HUGE leap from that.
Even if the process was made as simple, and painless as possible, there are a lot of car owners that wont even take a car for routine maintenance until the car fails, and requires costly repairs.

Taking a car to a garage for even minor work can be painful exercise in terms of taking time of work, having no transport whilst the car is off the road, costs involved, and the anxiety that the mechanic could be a complete idiot, and screw something up, or damage the car.

Unfortunately, I cannot see this ever becoming mainstream, even though the idea is very very sound.

Ive been working on this for the past couple of months, and I have had success.
(Search for VE Commodore HVAC Radio Hacking on google).

Simply grap a SOP Clip, and an EEPROM programmer.
The VIN number is stored as plain text on the Radio, Cluster, BCM, and a few other modules....

The main reason why Manufacturers have been integrating the radio in to the vehicle, is because the radio is no longer just a radio, its an info/tainment center.
HVAC controls, Sat-Nav, Park Assist, Reverse camera, radio, Bluetooth Audio connectivity, Video in Motion prevention, etc....

On GM vehicles, there are two separate buses, the high speed GM LAN, which is used for critical stuff such as engine, transmission, brakes, stability management, etc....
Then there is the low speed BUS which is used for stuff like HVAC, Radio, Instrument Cluster, Body Electronics, etc.

What the article is trying to point out is that FORD for example, uses wifi to program its Ford SYNC (Windows CE) system at the factory.
Whether a wifi module is plugged in on the line, and removed later is anyones guess. However, all the Low speed (Non critical stuff) is usually accessible via the low speed can bus, such as locking/unlocking doors, and remote starting of the car (via the Body Electronics Modules) etc.....

Huh ! Who on earth said ANYTHING about wanting having or even needing Telstra copper ??????

You have been drinking the labor cool aid for far too long, and it is clearly rotting your brain !!!!!
Laying fibre for Strata style units IS going to cost $$$$$$....

So as a taxpayer, I'm already helping foot the bill for something that I DO NOT NEED, DO NOT WANT, WILL NOT USE, and WILL NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD !

I can, and already have said NO to telstra copper. For a complete and utter moron its very easy to do.
Simply tell Telstra to shove their bill, and thats the end of it !
Many properties do not even have copper, and as such are using wireless technologies, and are getting along just fine.

Also another problem with FORCING everyone on to the NBN is many of these Strata properties have already paid $$$$$ for Coax / Cable Networks.

Seriously, your over zealous and ignorant comments just go to show how little stupid Labor FANBOYZ like yourself know about anything that is slightly technical.
Go back to sucking on Conroys Cash Cow tit, and stop wasting our time with your useless comments

Your assuming that the NBN is going to be accessible to everyone
You will notice the NBN roll out so far is in low density areas.

Have you ever tried to get cable in to an apartment / unit / business park ?
You will find that Telstra / Optus will force the strata of the apartment / unit / office park to foot the bill for each individual unit connection, as well as some of the costs incurred for the connection off the street.
This connection can cost up to and over a thousand dollars per each individual unit, which will be borne by the unit owner.

The NBN is going to be no different in the sense that there is going to be a significant cost for strata units to connect.
And with using Fibre, it means the average electrician / data cabler with their open cablers license will not have the necessary equipment to do this cheaply.

And with everyone being forced to use the NBN infrastructure, these poeple will be effectively blackmailed in to paying huge setup costs, as well the associated cost of fast data plans, for what ??? Checking email ? Posting on facebook ? A bit of online shopping on eBay ?

The NBN is a farce. Labor is betting everything they have on the NBN, and the tax payers are going to foot the bill !

A better doorbell has already been invented....
Its called an intercom.... This in the Slashdot crowd that keep up to date with technology may have heard of these things.

Some of the fancy new ones allow you to actually use a phone line, a PBX extension.
Some even support SIP and IAX2.

Two simple letters... N.Z.

Love Mono or Hate it, many small software development companies and even some small businesses use mono to help port existing C# winforms applications to run on Linux.
These are the kinds of apps that aren't publicly available, or may be highly specialized.
To rewrite these apps from scratch for a tiny market segment is just not economically viable for many small operators.

(I love LINUX to bits and despise windows, but you have to agree most businesses run Windows desktops for the plebs).
Mono meant that you could write all your heavy lifting C# code to talk to web services, SQL databases, and business backends once.

You could then write your front end for GTK#, winforms, and Cocoa Sharp and have that software look like a native C or C++ application, regardless if you are running Windows, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, or Andriod device.

Realistically, I have found that only a tenth of the code for a typical business application needs to be changed when using Winforms or GTK#.
If support for mono ceases to exist, as a software developer that has been pushing hard to release Linux versions of my companies software I am going to find it almost impossible to convince management that the tiny market for Linux is worth a the required man hours to complete re-write the software in some other language.

Trust me, the loss of Mono will not bode well for Linux Desktop usage in business.
If small development companies are forced to choose a platform for desktop software front ends, then Linux will be the very last option.

There are a number of reasons why ASIAL is sooking loudly about this.
Removing Copper PSTN lines from a house precludes the following...

1) Alarm monitoring rebates on calls. Yes, alarm monitoring companies do get rebates from Telco companies based on incoming calls. (You will notice that in Australia all alarm monitoring back to base numbers are 1300 numbers, and are charged accordingly by the telcos...)
The rebates are not much, actually they are only a couple of cents a call... But a typical alarm system makes 3 calls a day (Arming, Disarming and a test report).

2) GSM modules for alarm panels are available. Yes, you can easily add a GSM module to any existing alarm system which allows the alarm to make GSM calls to the monitoring station.
This solution though is expensive for the consumer.
(I.E. paying for 1300 calls on a mobile plan...) You will find only commercial clients are willing to do this.

3) Existing infrastructure for the monitoring company is rendered obsolete. Monitoring companies need multiple incoming lines, multiple alarm receivers, redundancy and fail-over systems just like large IT departments. The most expensive equipment for alarm monitoring companies is the Alarm Receivers, followed by the software... (Old Ademco receivers can cost $10,000 for a 2 line system... You will need two of these at least for redundancy)....

IP Alarm solutions are starting to become viable... Contact ID over ID is available on some of the more premium systems...
The problem is the protocol itself is not greatly standardized.
An example, Paradox systems require a propriety Paradox IP Receiver, and the monitoring software must support the receiver as well...
This situation will become better once more and more products support Contact ID over IP, how ever, there is no opportunity to receive kickbacks from telcos using this system, (Unless you are using proprietary VPN GPRS solutions from Telstra / Optus which is expensive for the station and the consumer), and the investment required for Contact ID over IP is quite substantial.

Basically, like all industries, Alarm monitoring companies will need to adapt, or they will face extinction.