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Saturday, 30 April 2011
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Video: Calm down, dear: David Cameron's 'sexist' taunt to Labour MP - Telegraph
Mr Miliband appeared to call across the Dispatch Box for an immediate apology, but Mr Cameron instead told him: "I said calm down, calm down, dear. I'll say it to you if you like. I'm not going to apologise. You do need to calm down."
Downing Street said the "humorous" remarks should not be over–interpreted. But a spokesman for Mr Miliband said they were "patronising, sexist, insulting and deeply un–prime ministerial".
Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader, said: "David Cameron's contemptuous response to Angela Eagle MP at Prime Minister's Questions today shows his patronising and outdated attitude to women. Women in Britain in the 21st century do not expect to be told to 'calm down, dear' by their Prime Minister."
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, who is married to Miss Cooper, accepted that Mr Cameron's remark was a joke but said his wife would have "clocked him one" if he had made a similar remark. "Look, he was making a joke but it was pretty silly of him and he'll regret it," he said.
Miss Eagle said: "I don't think any modern man would have expressed himself in that way."
Mr Winner called on Labour to "get a sense of humour" adding: "There's enough gloom in the world."
He said: "It's ridiculous that people should talk about this seriously. It's a comedy phrase I wrote about 10 years ago. What planet is Harriet Harman on if she thinks this is demeaning women?
"I'm quite flattered he used the phrase but then everyone uses it. There's nothing remotely sexist about it. To call someone dear is not sexist unless to politically correct lunatics. There are a lot of things defiling women, such as prostitution, domestic violence. Harriet Harman should deal with them first."
Downing Street said Labour "stoked" the row after Mr Miliband performed badly at Prime Minister's Questions. A source said he needed to deflect attention from good economic figures.
Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the Prime Minister had been making a joke but that if it caused offence, it was "not right" to have said it.
via telegraph.co.uk
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
DFAT advice to daughter of dying man: use Facebook - Local News - News - General - The Canberra Times
28 Apr, 2011 06:57 AMForeign Affairs officials told the daughter of a dying Australian man stranded in China to use Facebook to raise money for her father's medical expenses.The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade bureaucrat included the suggestion in an email advising Canberra woman Tracy Woolley that the Federal Government would not help with her stricken father's plight.
Ms Woolley's father Thomas Barry Moore, a former air force serviceman, has been in a coma in a Chinese hospital for 118 days after suffering a stroke on December 31 in Zhengzhou in north-central China.
Ms Woolley contacted DFAT on January 4 asking for help because she could not afford to visit her father or cover the estimated $160,000 for his repatriation to Australia.
When it became apparent MrMoore was likely to remain in a vegetative state, she asked doctors to turn off his life support but was told ethical concerns prevented them.
Ms Woolley is currently sending the hospital $770 a week to keep her father alive but said she could not afford to meet these payments beyond next month.
On March 4, an official from the consular operations branch of DFAT sent Ms Woolley an email suggesting she collect money to cover medical expenses from online ''friends'' who had joined a Facebook ''causes'' page she created for her father.
''Perhaps [use] your friends on the social networking site you are using to alert people to your father's plight may also be able to provide funds to further extend your father's care,'' the email said.
Earlier in the email he wrote, ''despite our best intentions and our embassy speaking with the hospital and Mr Zhang on many occasions, there is no further action we can take to improve your father's situation.''
DFAT has not shifted its stance on Mr Moore since The Canberra Times broke the story of the man's plight on Tuesday. The department now says Ms Woolley never made a request for financial assistance, despite emails revealing otherwise. A DFAT spokeswoman said financial assistance for medical evacuations was only provided in special situations. She said these were limited to, ''medical evacuations where medical facilities are inadequate to treat their condition satisfactorily or their condition is so severe there is no time to consider other funding sources''.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Veterans' Affairs said while she couldn't comment on Mr Moore's case for ''privacy reasons'', veterans who travelled overseas should take out insurance.
Ms Woolley said her father had funeral insurance and was covered for six weeks of medical care, excluding repatriation, by the Henan University of Technology, the place where he had worked for two years as an English teacher. Ms Woolley said her father was unable to take out travel insurance because he had lived overseas for more than a year.
RSL NSW offered to pay for airfares to help Ms Woolley travel to China but she asked that the money be allocated to his medical expenses instead. ''I said that was very nice but I need more than that. My father would never have wanted what is happening to him.''
Serious flaws found in NASA computer network - Technology & science - Security
NASA’s internal computer network is full of holes and is extremely vulnerable to an external cyberattack, an audit by the agency's Office of the Inspector General has found. Even worse, it appears that several of the vulnerabilities were known about for months yet remained unpatched.
“Six computer servers associated with IT [information technology] assets that control spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that would allow a remote attacker to take control of or render them unavailable,” the audit report released Monday by Inspector General Paul K. Martin said.
"The attacker could use the compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses we identified, a situation that could severely degrade or cripple NASA’s operations," the report continued. "We also found network servers that revealed encryption keys, encrypted passwords, and user account information to potential attackers."
NASA networks long known to be weak
It is not unusual for previously unknown network security holes to be found in large organizations. In that light, Martin’s audit might have been seen as positive for revealing the vulnerabilities.But it’s long been known that security on NASA networks is weak. Martin’s office released a previous audit report nearly a year ago, but nothing had been done to remedy the situation.
“In a May 2010 audit report, we recommended that NASA immediately establish an IT security oversight program for this key network,” Monday's report reads. “However, even though the agency concurred with the recommendation it remained unimplemented as of February 2011.”
“Until NASA addresses these critical deficiencies and improves its IT security practices,” it goes on to say, “the agency is vulnerable to computer incidents that could have a severe to catastrophic effect on agency assets, operations, and personnel.”
A Government Accountability Office report in October 2009 was similarly critical of the agency, finding that “NASA has not yet fully implemented key activities of its information security program to ensure that controls are appropriately designed and operating effectively.”
NASA’s servers have been broken into many times in the past. Martin’s new report mentions two serious breaches in 2009, during one of which intruders stole “22 gigabytes of export-restricted data from a Jet Propulsion Laboratory computer system.”
British hacker Gary McKinnon is awaiting extradition to the U.S. for allegedly hacking into NASA’s networks, as well as those of the Department of Defense, in 2001 and 2002.
Martin’s office recommends that NASA "expedite implementation of our May 2010 recommendation to establish an IT security oversight program for NASA’s agency-wide mission network."
Scanning for vulnerabilities
The inspector general's report was based on an audit of the agency-wide mission network, using a program called NESSUS that scans for vulnerabilities. Investigators found 54 computer servers on the network that were accessible via the Internet, and six of those servers had high-risk vulnerabilities to a cyberattack. Six other servers that were not directly accessible via the Internet also had high-risk vulnerabilities.The report said one of the Internet-accessible servers could have fallen victim to an FTP bounce attack, "a highly effective form of cyberattack, widely known since 1998." If such an attack had been exploited, "a cybercriminal could have significantly disrupted NASA's spaceflight operations and stolen sensitive data," investigators said.
The report did not identify the locations of the computer servers, but noted that NASA managers have fixed all of the security holes that were brought to their attention. NASA's management team has promised to implement a strategy for an agency-wide network risk assessment by the end of August, and work up a comprehensive approach for identifying and addressing risks by the end of September.
"We consider the chief information officer's proposed actions to be responsive to our recommendations," the inspector general's office said. "Therefore, the recommendations are resolved and will be closed upon verification that management has completed the corrective actions."
You can read the full report here.
- Elizabeth Taylor’s Death Sparks Global Spam Scam
- Sophisticated Hackers Hit European Commission in Cyberattack
- Internet Security Suites Software Review
This report was supplemented by msnbc.com.
© 2011 SecurityNewsDaily. All rights reserved
via msnbc.msn.com
TED Blog | Tiny battery made of self-assembling viruses
TED Blog
« An unlikely master of card magic: Lennart Green on TED.com | Main | Dog-friendly dog training: Ian Dunbar on TED.com »
20 August 2008
Tiny battery made of self-assembling viruses
MIT reports today on the work of professors Yet-Ming Chiang, Angela Belcher and Paula Hammond, who’ve developed a way to build tiny batteries about half the size of a human cell to power tomorrow’s equally tiny devices. The electrolyte of the battery is made of polymers stamped onto a rubbery film. On top of this, a genetically altered virus goes to work, self-assembling to form wires that act as the battery’s anode.
Several TEDTalks delve into the wonders of self-assembly at the microscopic scale. The first half of Neil Gershenfeld’s talk is a quick primer on self-assembly, and its uses in what he sees as the coming world of ubiquitous computing — tiny processors in doorknobs and lightbulbs, doing useful things and talking to one another. (Look for the little blocks that move on their own to spell out “M I T.”) Saul Griffith talks about the elegance of self-assembly — taking advantage of the form that natural materials want to take. Then watch Paul Rothemund twist and fold DNA into triangles, stars, and smiley faces.
Image: An array of microbattery electrodes, each only about four micrometers, or millionths of a meter, in diameter. Image courtesy / Belcher Laboratory, MIT
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Henk Poley
Anybody has a link to the PNAS paper? I could find “Virus-enabled synthesis and assembly of nanowires for lithium ion battery electrodes” (doi:10.1126/science.1122716) which was published in 2006 in Science, and describes the same battery system, though possibly more rudimentary.
via blog.ted.com
Safer Photos: How to Remove Location Information from Mobile Images
Posted by MelissaUlbricht on Mar 10, 2011
In a previous post, we described how to add location information to mobile content, including images and stories. For some reports, location information adds value, context, and interest to venue-specific reports. But today, we talk about how to remove that same location information. This is also detailed, step by step, in this screencast.
There are many reasons why one would not want to include location information on images, but at the top of the list is the need for security and privacy. Careful planning and strategic considerations are required for journalists, citizen reporters, and activists to be secure in insecure regions, especially when reporting in repressive media environments. All mobile phones have a small amount of storage space on the SIM card. It is used to store contact information, call history, SMS messages, and photos taken using the camera phone. Most phones store the time the photo was taken and may also include location information such as latitude and longitude coordinates.
Step One: Check to see if location information is being captured
The first step is to see if location information is, indeed, being captured and stored with your images. Most pictures from camera phones today have location information stored in the metadata.
To see whether there is location data stored in your photo, you will need to use a tool that reads location-based EXIF data. On most smartphones, you can check this via the photo gallery. From the gallery, press Menu to get details. If you can’t tell from your camera or smartphone alone, you can also check on your computer.
On a Mac, open the image in Preview, click Tools, select the Inspector tab, and go to the GPS section where the latitude and longitude of the image are (potentially) shown. In Windows, right click on the image, click Properties, select the Details tab, and scroll down to the GPS section, where location may be shown.
If neither of these options work, you can also use an EXIF viewer. Just upload the image in question, and the viewer can determine what, if any, location information is available. Again, if specific latitude and longitude information is available, it will be shown here. Another one is IrfanVew.
Step Two: Remove the location data
Once you know whether your image has location information stored, and in the case that it does, you may want to remove that info, depending on your privacy and security needs. The safest way to remove EXIF data is to upload your photo to the computer and remove the data using software.
One option is free or trial tools. You can downloaded a tool for Mac called PhotoLinker, for example, which is designed to let you edit and remove location information on images. For Windows, EXIF Cleaner is another option. EXIF Cleaner can remove files in a batch
On a Mac, open the photo in the PhotoLinker program and you will be able to see the location information. You will also see a detailed map and a list of all other tagged data including a timestamp. From here, you can remove or change the information under Photos/Remove GPS location. Then, re-save the image before sharing or publishing it. (Watch this in action on the screencast above.)
EXIF data, in addition to location information, may also reveal other data about your phone such as the make and model and the time an image or video was taken. There may be instances where you want to want to retain certain information, while removing other specific data. For instance, there may be a situation where you want to leave in the make and model of the phone as well as the date and time of the photo, but remove the location information.
Such selective editing of this EXIF data can be done. There are some apps available on iPhone and Android that offer EXIF manipulation on a device, such as EXIF Wizard and others. EXIF Cleaner, mentioned above, can handle files in a batch and allows for selective deletion of data.
Step Three: Check your defaults
Another way to remove location data is to have your photo sharing site scrub the location information for you. The two most popular sites in the U.S., Facebook and Flickr, both do this. As of last year, it was the default policy on each service. The Flickr policy can be accessed here.
Under “Defaults for New Uploads,” make sure that “Import EXIF location data” says “No.” This will ensure that the default for new photos is to not import any location information that may be on the metadata for the photo.
However, do take note that for sensitive photographs, importing to Flickr still contains risks. The location data removal is done at Flickr’s servers and anyone able to access your photograph while it is being uploaded to Flickr will be able to access it’s embedded location information. The same is true of Facebook, which strips location data off all images.
The screencast is also available on YouTube.
Prabhas Pokharel contributed research and writing to this post.
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Safer Photos: How to Remove Location Information from Mobile Images data sheet 3091 Views Author: Melissa Ulbricht Abstract: This article and screencast shows you how to remove location information from photos taken on a mobile phone.
Global Regions: Asia, Australia and Oceania, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa
via mobileactive.org
You can also reverse this and make sure image data is displayed if you want media to know the whens and wheres of a situation - DON'T USE YOUR OWN PHONE IF YOU WANT YOUR OWN PRIVACY
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SYNC | About SYNC
About SYNC
SYNC* is an easy-to-use in-car connectivity system that allows you to make hands-free calls and control your music and other functions with simple voice commands.
SYNC features allow you to 27:
- Access your phone, compatible mp3 player or USB drive with voice activated commands
- Be connected directly to a 911 operator after an accident in which an airbag deploys 28
- Generate Vehicle Health Reports that provide vehicle diagnostics, maintenance and recall information
- Receive audible text messages
- And, much more
The newest SYNC features include 29:
- Send to SYNC using Google® Maps and MapQuest®
- Personalized information including horoscopes, stocks, movies
- Travel Services which gives access to airline and hotel contact information
*SYNC is available on most vehicles. Features/functionality vary by vehicle/model. See dealer for details. Not all SYNC features will be compatible with all mobile phones. SYNC features for previous model years available at the SYNC Owner Center Website.*SYNC is available on most vehicles. Features/functionality vary by vehicle/model. See dealer for details. Not all SYNC features will be compatible with all mobile phones. SYNC features for previous model years available at the SYNC Owner Center Website.
Questions about new SYNC features? Search and browse Frequently Asked Questions at the SYNC Owner Center website .
via ford.com
What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?
- Oxford Journals
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What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?
- *Dr, Drug Policy Modelling Program, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW, NSW, Australia, 2052; caitlin.hughes@unsw.edu.au.
Abstract
The issue of decriminalizing illicit drugs is hotly debated, but is rarely subject to evidence-based analysis. This paper examines the case of Portugal, a nation that decriminalized the use and possession of all illicit drugs on 1 July 2001. Drawing upon independent evaluations and interviews conducted with 13 key stakeholders in 2007 and 2009, it critically analyses the criminal justice and health impacts against trends from neighbouring Spain and Italy. It concludes that contrary to predictions, the Portuguese decriminalization did not lead to major increases in drug use. Indeed, evidence indicates reductions in problematic use, drug-related harms and criminal justice overcrowding. The article discusses these developments in the context of drug law debates and criminological discussions on late modern governance.
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Online ISSN 1464-3529 - Print ISSN 0007-0955
What are the Outcomes of a more Liberal Approach to Drug Policy? http://www.beckleyfoundation.org
On the 1st of July 2001 Portugal decriminalized the use and possession of all illicit drugs. Now, ten years on, with the need for drug policy reforms becoming increasingly evident, countries are looking closely at the lessons learnt by Portugal’s policy experiment. In Portugal decriminalization did not lead to major increases in drug use, instead it fostered a reduction in problematic use, drug-related harms and criminal justice overcrowding.
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The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme is dedicated to providing a rigorous, independent review of global drug policy. Its aim is to reduce the harms associated with the misuse of drugs, and encourage objective and open debate on drug policy issues at the national and international level.
To investigate the lessons that can be learnt from Portugal the Beckley Foundation commissioned Alex Stevens to write an article that discusses Portugal’s developments in the context of drug law debates and criminological discussions about the current approaches to drug prohibition.
The full article can be read here
On one side of the road, addicts openly inject heroin in the wasteland between bricked-up houses. On the other, elderly women go about their grocery shopping while a young girl plays in the street. A police car cruises by without stopping.
Here, in the Casal Ventoso area of Lisbon, the visitor treads gingerly across a carpet formed by the detritus of drugs: vials, wrappers and packets — but no syringes.
Portugal has decriminalised all drugs, in a bold experiment that is attracting attention around the world. But that does not mean that addicts are ignored. Teams of health workers exchange new needles for old, chatting and advising users as they do so. The Times listens in on a lengthy discussion of the merits of a new design of crack pipe being piloted by the Ministry of Health.
“Our intervention is based on the relationship we create. We exchange syringes, we talk about their lives and the risks they take. We talk about treatment and what they want from life,” explained Elisabete Moutinho of the Crescer Na Maior street team. “We have taken people to hospital when they could have died on the street. There are almost no needles on the ground. That didn’t happen years ago. It’s working.”
The statistics seem to agree. In July it will be ten years since Portugal adopted the developed world’s most liberal drug laws. Fewer young people are trying drugs. New HIV cases among drug users are down from 907 in 2000 to 267 in 2008. Overdoses and drug deaths are down, and Portugal has one of the lowest usage rates in Europe.
A study published in British Journal of Criminology last year, concluded that Portugal was “a model for other nations that wish to provide less punitive, more integrated and effective responses to drug use”.
Officials from Britain and numerous other countries have beaten a path to Lisbon to see how decriminalisation — which opponents predicted would lead to plane-loads of drug tourists descending on the country — has become a quiet success.
João Goulão, who was part of the group that developed the reforms and now runs Portugal’s drug agency, said that the law was the least important part of the country’s approach to drugs. “If you had decriminalisation without doing anything else, it probably would have been a disaster,” he said.
He argues that the essence of their approach is to see drug use neither as a crime, nor as a harmless diversion, but as a medical problem.
“The way we think about this has changed completely. We look at this problem as we look at diabetes for instance. It’s a chronic relapsing illness and you try to keep people in balance,” he said.
“Thinking about drugs is still too much linked to moral approaches. It’s seen as a self-inflicted disease. But obesity and diabetes are also linked to behaviour and you don’t have the same moral charge when looking at those health problems. We proposed decriminalisation because it made sense for [addicts] to be in healthcare rather than the criminal system.”
Experts still debate how much impact the law actually has had — evidence from around Europe shows little correlation between laws and drug use. But almost all agree that Portugal disproves the argument that liberal drug laws must lead to more drug use.
In Casal Ventoso, young addicts are strikingly rare. All those approached by The Times had begun using in the 1990s, before the law was changed, and all had been offered treatment.
Maria Manuela Pereira, 37, who has been using heroin for more than 20 years, said: “I used to see young people and teenagers. Now I don’t. It’s older people.” Police are a much less visible presence, she says.
Like many others, Ms Pereira had stopped using drugs for years before personal problems brought her back to the streets. “I’m taking methadone as well, and it helps,” she said. “We get treatment if we need it. But if I don’t want to stop, there’s no treatment.”
For those who do want to get better, detox, rehabilitation and therapy are widely available.
Miguel Vasconcelos, a psychiatrist at the Júlio de Matos Hospital in Lisbon, argues that the Portuguese approach is effective because it integrates prevention, treatment, harm reduction and rehabilitation, without the criminal law getting in the way. If doctors and addicts seem happy with the system, so too do the public.
“In polls, drugs was the first concern in the late 1990s. Now it is thirteenth,” Dr Goulão said. “We feel very comfortable with what has evolved.” The opposition parties, who decried decriminalisation in 2001, made no move to reverse it during a spell in power in the mid-2000s.
José Sócrates, the outgoing Prime Minister, even made a speech during the 2009 election campaign boasting of his role in introducing the reforms.
The police, initially sceptical, now back decriminalisation. “We feared an explosion in consumption and the rise of drug tourism. It didn’t happen,” said Chief Inspector José Figueira of the anti-trafficking unit in Lisbon. He says that leaving users alone frees up more resources to chase smugglers and dealing, which remain illegal. Petty crime is down, and the pressure has also eased on Portugal’s prisons.
Exact figures are unavailable, but some argue that the reduced burden on the criminal justice system compensates for the annual €75 million (£66 million) cost of the health programmes.
Unlike in the Netherlands, where the sale of cannabis in “coffee shops” is tolerated, drug dealing remains a crime punishable by long jail sentences. In theory, police too are not meant to ignore users but refer them to “dissuasion boards” run by the Ministry of Health, which educate users about the risks of drugs, refer addicts to treatment, and can fine or impose ASBO-style orders on persistent recreational users.
Nuno Portugal Capaz, the vice-president of the Lisbon commission, argues: “It’s better than the criminal system. The judicial system works on the basis that if you are given a penalty you won’t do it again. Drug addicts aren’t like that.”
He believes that for many addicts the commissions can be a springboard for treatment. “It’s quite rewarding when people say that we were the push that they were waiting for.”
Chris Smyth Health Correspondent in Lisbon
Follow the views and work of the Beckley Foundations on twitter or facebook !
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The Beckley Foundation has recently commissioned a New Draft U.N. Convention, which would permit individual countries to both decriminalize use and personal possession of all illegal drugs, while also permitting those countries to regulate certain substances, such as cannabis, within their own borders.
http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/2011/04/27/what-is-the-outcome-of-a-more-lib...
Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet? | ZDNet
Networking
Steven J. Vaughan-NicholsNetflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | April 26, 2011, 2:13pm PDT
Summary
Netflix is now bigger than any single cable company. What does that mean for the Internet and your ISP bill?
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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Biography
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system; 300bps was a fast Internet connection; WordStar was the state of the art word processor; and we liked it!His work has been published in everything from highly technical publications (IEEE Computer, ACM NetWorker, Byte) to business publications (eWEEK, InformationWeek, ZDNet) to popular technology (Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, PC World) to the mainstream press (Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BusinessWeek).
According to the DVD and online video rental king Netflix’s last quarterly report, Netflix now has more subscribers than Comcast, the largest cable U.S. TV operator. 7% of all U.S. citizens now subscribe to Netflix. That’s great for Netflix but what about the Internet, on which it increasingly relies for its video transport?
Back in October, Netflix, and other video content were already taking up more bandwidth than any other single Internet service Gaming, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing, and Web surfing were all falling behind. It’s only gotten worse since then. When I recently looked at how much traffic IPv6 was transporting on the Internet, I found that Netflix, all by itself, was taking up 20%–the largest single share-of all Internet traffic.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but is there enough bandwidth on the Internet to support this if this video trend continues? I doubt it.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are capping their monthly services, ISPs, like Comcast, are also trying to charge Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), the high-speed Internet traffic backbones used by video services, such as Level 3 extra charges for their traffic.
The cable companies are in the odd place of having their comparatively low-revenue ISP services starting to eat their far more profitable cable TV services. On top of that, to supply the need for more and faster bandwidth, they need to upgrade their backbones to IEEE 802.3ba, the standard for 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) and 100GigE Ethernet.
100GiigE may sound fast–and it is–but it’s not fast enough. Some people are already demanding, not mere Terabit networking, but 1.4Terabit networks. In the meantime, ISPs are still struggling to get 802.3ba up and running. And, let’s not even talk about how much trouble it is to get decent broadband in the last mile from the ISP to your home or office.
So what does all that mean for you? Well, it means you can expect to pay more for broadband and get less of it thanks to bandwidth caps. Someone is going to need to make up the revenue cable companies are starting to lose to Internet video and that someone will be you and me. On top of that, someone is going to need to pay for the network infrastructure and that means, again, we’re going to get stuck with the bill. Adding insult to injury, I expect we’re also going to need less reliable service as the existing Internet bends under the ever heavier demands of video watchers and mobile users.
If we’re lucky the Internet won’t break. But, I can certainly see Internet “brownouts” as a real possibility in 2012.
Lucky us.
Related Stories:
Netflix reports strong Q1 earnings; approaching 25 million subscribers
Netflix anticipates TV Everywhere to be biggest competitor
Netflix may begin offering family plans with multiple simultaneous stream options later this year
The Internet belongs to Netflix
Google TV, Apple TV, & Roku’s Biggest Enemy: A lack of Internet Bandwidth
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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system
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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a freelance writer. He does not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.Biography
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system; 300bps was a fast Internet connection; WordStar was the state of the art word processor; and we liked it!His work has been published in everything from highly technical publications (IEEE Computer, ACM NetWorker, Byte) to business publications (eWEEK, InformationWeek, ZDNet) to popular technology (Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, PC World) to the mainstream press (Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BusinessWeek).
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RE: Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?
Cable ISPs will use this complication to "squeeze" services like Netflix because the cable monopolies aren't competitive with their own offerings.The only thing too big is the pants those cable ISPs wear. Drop the cable monopolies and the network will expand and flourish...bandwidth and speed will increase...and prices will drop as the newbies court your business!
Is netflix bigger then all provider combined?
Yes they have more subscribers then Comcast, yet Netflix is provider independent, meaning that they can work on FiOS, Warner, Cox, ect.What is Netflix's subscriber rate compared to all delivery avenues combind? 2%? 10%.
That would be an interseting comparison, as a metric to gauge overall user interest in the Netflix service (which I am a customer of).
<img border="0" src="http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/plain.gif" alt="plain">
RE: Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?
Now that NetFlix is relying more and more on internet bandwidth, IMO, they are doomed. It's inevitable that eventually there will be low bandwidth caps that will hurt NetFlix. And consider that they are using 20% for low quality video. I personally don't get these customers watching this low quality stuff. 1080P TVs but they just want to watch something they've most likely already seen before in lower quality. No wonder this country is getting so fat.I have to say I'm up in arms over whether or not ISPs should be allowed to throttle. It IS their infrastructure after all. Nobody is stopping the wireless providers from doing stuff like this with their wireless networks. I personally can't believe it hasn't come to home internet access already. I think it eventually will.
No issues for ATTWireless offering unlimited calls to other ATT phones. So why would ComCast have a problem offering unlimited access to ComCast movies? The goverment doesn't force ATTWireless to offer unlimited calls to/from outside phones for free.
Time will tell....
RE: Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?
@happyfirst low quality video?? compared to what - bluray?
if so, I can understand your point of view, but honestly dvd quality videos that I get through netflix is very very adequate considering I am only paying 8 bucks for.
As far as saying it is for stuff you already seen... says who? Don't buy the service then if you happened to already seen the thousands and thousands of movies offered for streaming. I know I haven't seen them all so it is worth it to me.RE: Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?
Low quality video doesn't begin to cover it. Not only do they use about the worst compression I've seen (the Starz section is especially bad) but I've yet to see one of their movie streams make it more than 20 minutes in without developing a terrible case of hanging/buffering.Frankly, I can't understand all the Netflix hoopla. They'e got to have the crappiest overall streaming quality of anything on the Internet. And they want to introduce multi-family streaming? Give me a break!
If you want to see streaming done right (and looks spectacular even on a 1080P set) check out the 2nd Gen Apple TV/itunes. This is apparently a secret the masses have yet to discover, and it's what Netflix should really be worried about. Yes, you're locked into Apple's box/infrastructure, but don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
BetaMark04/26/2011 08:47 PMWhich is why I don't buy bandwidth from a cable company...
"Someone is going to need to make up the revenue cable companies are starting to lose to Internet video and that someone will be you and me. "
Maybe someone should consider moving to a service that does not use network technology that's only found on cable networks and history books aka bus networks. I may have just missed it but I don't see VZ talking about the same restrictions and additional fees that Comcast has been pushing for years starting well before Netflix was an online service. Or to be blunt Comcast is a crooked company anyway this is just an excuse.
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
via zdnet.com
Dale Farm Eviction - A picture paints a thousands words
A case of misrepresentation?
It looks seriously imposing and a major threat to the beauty of the acres of green that surrounds it...
But zoom out and
Spot Dale Farm... if you can.
The games that can be played with the right cropping of a photograph, as is showed by the first photo, help to blacken the story of a group of people who took over a scrap yard and sorted themselves a place to live...
Have a look at http://www.jewify.org for another way of reading the articles about this fight
IBM Research: Why SmartCamp: spotlight on CareCloud
In 2010, IBM started SmartCamp, a global initiative for entrepreneurs and start ups that build solutions to make the planet smarter. Participants work with advisors, investors and business mentors from IBM to gain access to venture capital.“Our mission is to revolutionize healthcare through better technology, so having the chance to engage with an industry leader like IBM was a great way to spread the word and meet with other innovative companies looking to build a smarter planet,” said Albert Santalo, president and CEO of CareCloud, the 2010 Silicon Valley SmartCamp co-winner.
CareCloud’s SmartCamp experience, with President and CEO Albert Santalo
What did CareCloud learn from participating?
“To be recognized by IBM, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, and to receive all the insights of the brilliant people attending, it was an incredible event. SmartCamp helped illuminate some of the key areas for us to focus on to successfully upend an industry resistant to change.”Has CareCloud experienced an increase in general recognition and business since participating?“Winning IBM's SmartCamp gave us access to the resources and connections of a global leader in the technology industry.“It further validated our goal to change the face of healthcare through better technology, recognized us as an innovator in our industry and boosted awareness for our brand. Winning IBM’s Smart Camp was one of the best things that could happen to CareCloud.”
Where and how to participate
In each location, five companies will be selected to spend one day networking with 25 world-class entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts. Applications for the New York City SmartCamp are open until June 3. Apply here.
New York City – June 28, 29 (deadline: June 3)
Tel Aviv – September
Istanbul – October
London - November
China – November
Rio – NovemberFollow IBM SmartCamp on their blog and Twitter feed @IBMSmartCamp.
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