Gregarius » May 15, 2008

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(177 unread)

May 15, 2008
23:54
Email Marketing for Nonprofits by MarketingProfs
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Nice article

23:31
Military Wives Fight Army to Help Husbands
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

Spouses of troops suffering from postwar mental trauma have made it their mission to force the military to give soldiers the treatment they need. Military wives — traditionally known as "the silent ranks" — have transformed into unexpected activists.
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23:08
Polygamy Cafe Feeds the Hungry and Curious
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

The Merry Wives Cafe is owned and operated by members of a polygamist group with a sense of business, humor and public relations. The Utah cafe opened last year to give locals and travelers a place to eat. It also allows owners to gently confront polygamy's battered image.
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23:01
Moment of Anger Haunts Father
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

Bob Chase Sr. can't shake the memory of a spanking he gave his son 50 years ago. Though he views it as one of his greatest failings, his son urges his father to let the memory fade.
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Permalink for 'Google_News___Online_campaigning/2008/05/15/CBS_in_Deal_to_Buy_CNet_to_Increase_Online_Ads___New_York_Times'

21:29

CBS in Deal to Buy CNet to Increase Online Ads - New York Times

» ‎ Google News - Online campaigning

21:22
Don't try to talk me down! I can't go on without an IT line item in our nonprofit's annual budget!
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Don't try to talk me down! I can't go on without an IT line item in our nonprofit's annual budget!
21:17
Open source software . . . it's free, as in "free kittens"
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Open source software . . . it's free, as in "free kittens"
21:15
On LOLnptech.Org, no one knows you're a dog
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

On LOLnptech.Org, no one knows you're a dog
21:13
Oh hi. Just wondering how many whales you saved with your Web 2.0 widgets.
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Oh hi. Just wondering how many whales you saved with your Web 2.0 widgets.
21:09
We're in your 501 Tech Club, showing your geeks how to party
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

We're in your 501 Tech Club, showing your geeks how to party

21:06
Streamlining and Testing RFID Technology
» ‎ Slashdot - Your Rights Online

Multiple readers have written to let us know that an experiment at the upcoming Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference will use RFID to track the movements of at least 1,500 registrants for the duration of the conference. Those movements will be transmitted onto screens which "show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often." The system will also be used for games which involve manipulation of the available data. Meanwhile, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a method for testing large quantities of RFID tags, which may serve to greatly speed distribution.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.

20:23
Union Station, West Hall
» ‎ Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth

Low-res version of a giant panorama photo I took at DC's Union Station. View the high-res version.

19:32
This week's fun photos from around the world
» ‎ CNN.com - Most Popular

18:54
And Finally... Bra Power
» ‎ Reuters Video: Most Watched Videos

May 15 - Odd and green stories, the fifth Beatle, and a Kung Fu legend's finger retires.

18:52
Plaxo and Comcast
» ‎ Phil Windley's Technometria

I'm still trying to make sense of the news that Comcast is buying Plaxo (reported value of the deal between $100 and $200 M). I can't tell you how happy I am for Plaxo and especially Joseph Smarr who I have great respect for (see our Technometria interview with Joseph Smarr here).

Still, the discontinuity between what Plaxo is and what Comcast does is jarring--at least on the surface. I believe there is a fundamental conflict o interest between a company that does both transmission of traffic and sells other Internet services. Yeah, I know they all do it, but if the FCC wants to do something useful, they ought to separate those functions.

The fact that they have little real competition leads to problems like not treating customer fairly and throttling BitTorrent. That's a problem--but one that I believe will work itself out with more competition--and that's going to come one way or another. But the real problem is that Comcast offers many services that directly compete against the traffic they carry. Do we expect them to act in an unbiased manner in that regard? Sorry, I don't. Where's the Anti-Trust Department when you need them?

Tags: media internet itconversations

17:56
T4C Tools Wiki : Tags
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

A resource on tagging for communities of practice. This page needs a lot of work! Will draw from Beth Kanter's nptech example to summarize and enlarge
17:50
TechSoup.org - The Technology Place for Nonprofits
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

TechSoup.org - The Technology Place for Nonprofits

17:47
Does NBC Control Your TV?
» ‎ Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reports are coming in of digital video recording systems refusing to record NBC programs - both on digital cable and over-the-air transmissions.

We're still investigating whether these involved over-the-air digital TV, which would mean that NBC was the first broadcaster to attempt to revive the abandoned ATSC "broadcast flag" (as opposed to cable and analog copy control signals like CGMS-A which have been used before).

Thanks to the activism of thousands of concerned tech users, hardware and software manufacturers that handle over-the-air digital TV do not need to obey the digital TV broadcast flag. There is no "broadcast flag" copy control requirement for these tuners, since the courts overturned the FCC's plans to enforce it in 2005; and despite the entertainment industry's bluster, it does not look like a broadcast flag law will be passed before the digital switch-over next year.

However, hardware and software could voluntarily obey the flag. Rightsholders are almost certainly lobbying behind the scenes to get tech companies to agree to obey copy controls for over-the-air digital TV. Software like Vista is already designed to comply with rightsholder restrictions when working with standards like CableCard which contractually require copy protection. Turning the same restrictions on when a message is received from an over-the-air tuner is just a small coding step away.

At this point no one knows which tech companies have sold out their users in this way. For understandable reasons, manufacturers keep their compliance details quiet -- which is why customers are so angry when they encounter it. ATI has previously reported that they will support the broadcast flag, but this news was buried in a driver change log.

Companies that implement the over-the-air digital broadcast flag are under no obligation, contractually or due to FCC regulation, to do so. They have a choice. And so do their customers.

Millions of dollars will be spent in the next few months as America switches to digital television. Prosumers like those at "The Green Button" are often the first to be bitten by TV's copy restrictions, but they will not be the last.

Perhaps electronics magazines and online reviews should look into exactly how digital TV equipment is dealing with the rightsholders' demands, and publicize which companies still obey the redundant and user-unfriendly broadcast flag -- and which still listen to their customers.

17:11
Syrian blogger gets 3 years in jail for undermining state
» ‎ Mikhail Doroshevich's Information Policy

A human rights group says a 24-year-old Syrian blogger has been convicted and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of undermining the prestige of the state and weakening national morale. In a statement sent to The Associated Press yesterday, The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria condemned Tuesday's verdict as "outrageous" and called for Tarek Bayassi's immediate release.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_9256708?nclick_check=1
16:54
ICELE makes nine recommendations for local petitioning
» ‎ Mikhail Doroshevich's Information Policy

The Governance of Britain Green Paper (July 2007), said that petitions can provide an important way for communities to express their views and generate local debate, boosting the relationship between residents and councils. It also announced the government's intention to consult on people's right to 'call for action' and the strengthened role of councillors in that process.
A recent consultation sought views on how arrangements for local petitions can be strengthened and how the new system might operate.
The focus of our response was around the concept of electronic or 'e' petitions, as highlighted in point 28 of the original consultation. This includes the way that electronic petitions and paper petitions should converge.
http://www.edemocracy-forum.com/2008/04/in-uk-the-natio.html

16:53
Berkman@10 Conference
» ‎ Citizen Media Law Project -

We are all at the Berkman@10 Conference at Harvard Law School today and tomorrow, so postings will be a bit light. The conference, subtitled "The Future of the Internet" (based on Jonathan Zittrain's engaging new book of the same title), includes a number of Internet luminaries such as Jimmy Wales, Esther Dyson, Joshua Micah Marshall, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Michael Fricklas, and Reed Hundt.

You can see the agenda for the conference here and many of the events are being webcast live.

16:36
Comcast, Cox Slow BitTorrent Traffic All Day
» ‎ Slashdot - Your Rights Online

narramissic writes "A study by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems found that Comcast and Cox Communications are slowing BitTorrent traffic at all times of day, not just peak hours. Comcast was found to be interrupting at least 30% of BitTorrent upload attempts around the clock. At noon, Comcast was interfering with more than 80% of BitTorrent traffic, but it was also slowing more than 60% of BitTorrent traffic at other times, including midnight, 3 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time in the U.S., the time zone where Comcast is based. Cox was interfering with 100% of the BitTorrent traffic at 1 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice downplayed the results saying, 'P-to-p traffic doesn't necessarily follow normal traffic flows.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.

16:20
Policy (and maybe Politics) events: Week of 5/15/08
» ‎ Personal Democracy Forum

Berkman@10, email to Congress, and wireless - events of interest.

read more

16:13
RIAA ordered to shell out $100k for P2P witch hunt
» ‎ The Register - Internet and Law

Pigopolists pay for 471 hours
How many work hours does it take to fight off a false accusation of copyright infringement from the Recording Ass. of America?…

16:03
NMC announces $100K (yes, real US dollars) for innovative learning & virtual world projects
» ‎ Rik Panganiban's Click Heard Round the World

Just got this off the SL educators list. The amazing New Media Consortium is offering US$100,000 in prizes to 20 projects that use virtual worlds in innovative ways for learning. Projects must be conducted in Second Life or Sun Microsystem's new Project Wonderland virtual world platform:
The New Media Consortium (NMC) today announced the call for proposals for the NMC Virtual Learning Prize, a $100,000 competitive program of awards intended to create a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment. (Download the full press release.)...

...As many as 20 NMC Virtual Learning Prizes will be awarded in 2008. Each of the US$5,000 awards will provide a cash incentive paid to the awardee of $500 as well as $4,500 in expert development assistance from the NMC Virtual Worlds team to create the learning experience. The range of inworld services available to awardees to actualize the proposed ideas includes professional building, scripting, design, animation, avatar design, and/or related services.
For further information, see [www.nmc.org] or send questions to virtual-learning-at-nmc.org.

Also, just a reminder that USC's Second Life "Community Challenge" grants are open for submissions until June 1st. See the Network Culture Project website for info.

16:00
Kaufmann's Law
» ‎ DevGateway - ICTs for Development

Kaufmann's Law

15:53
New RSS Feeds
» ‎ Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF is making some changes to the site's RSS feeds. If you subscribe to EFF.org with RSS, you've probably been using either our Blog Feed or our Press Release Feed or our Action Alert Feed or some combination of those three. To simplify things, we've consolidated them into one place: The EFF Updates Feed.

We've also just relaunched the long-dormant Line Noise Podcast. Line Noise has two feeds for your favorite podcast aggregator, depending on your audio-codec of choice: MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. Check out our latest episode, in which EFF designer Hugh D'Andrade speaks with Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry about The Lost Art of Orphan Works.

15:50
The Architecture of Participation
» ‎ DevGateway - ICTs for Development

The Architecture of Participation

15:49
Nonprofit Internet Toolkit and Resources — Davis Community Network
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

Nonprofit Internet Toolkit and Resources — Davis Community Network

15:48
Knight News Challenge Announces New Winners
» ‎ Dan Gilmor et al - Center for Citizen Media

The Knight Foundation has announced the winners of its Knight News Challenge 2008 competition:

Sixteen ideas to fund innovative digital projects around the world were awarded $5.5 million dollars today from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, accepted one of the awards for a project that will create a technology to give users more information about the origins and sourcing of digital content.

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15:47
Online Quiz As a Gateway to P2P
» ‎ Slashdot - Your Rights Online

Andy Guess points out an interesting approach taken by a Missouri university to limiting (and limiting legal exposure because of) on-campus, on-line copyright violations, as described at Inside Higher Ed: "In order to download (or upload) files on any peer-to-peer network whatsoever, all on-campus users at Missouri S&T have to pass an online quiz on copyright infringement. But not just once. Passing the test — with a perfect score — enables peer-to-peer access for six hours on the user's on-campus registered machines."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.

15:46
How to reach and engage the renaissance generation | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

How to reach and engage the renaissance generation | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

15:42
How to innovate right now
» ‎ DevGateway - ICTs for Development

How to innovate right now
15:35
Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008 : Executive Summary
» ‎ DevGateway - ICTs for Development

Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008 : Executive Summary

15:28
Oldest known bust of Caesar found
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Divers have found the oldest known bust of Roman ruler Julius Caesar in the River Rhone, officials say.
15:28
Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama interprets a speech by President Bush as an attack on his foreign policy.
15:28
China quake toll 'to top 50,000'
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

China's government fears more than 50,000 people may have died in the Sichuan earthquake, state media say.
15:28
California lifts gay marriage ban
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

California's top court overturns the state's ban on same-sex marriages in a ruling expected to reignite debate.
15:28
CCTV shows fans attacking police
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Police release CCTV images of football fans chasing officers and attacking one of them after the Uefa Cup final.
15:28
Day in pictures
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Some of the most striking images from around the world on 15 May 2008.
15:28
Lagos pipeline blast 'kills 100'
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

At least 100 people are killed in an oil pipeline explosion in the Nigeria's city of Lagos, the local Red Cross says.
15:28
Abbas pledge on 'catastrophe' day
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vows to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
15:28
Farc rebel link files 'genuine'
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Colombia did not fake computer files which it alleges connect rebels to Venezuela and Ecuador, Interpol says.
15:28
Chicago overturns foie gras ban
» ‎ BBC News | Most Popular Stories | World Edition

Chicago's city council overturns a ban on restaurants serving foie gras, angering animal rights activists.

15:24
NMC Virtual Learning Prize | nmc
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - nptech - Non-Profit Technology

NMC Virtual Learning Prize | nmc

15:22
McCain Predicts War Can Be Won by 2013
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

In a speech in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain says he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013 and that he envisions Osama bin Laden will be dead or captured during his first term as president.
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15:20
Kraft Launches Oreo Ad Blitz in Land of Biscuits
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

Kraft, the maker of Oreos, is unveiling a big advertising campaign in Britain. Stuart Payne runs the Web site Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down, where he reviews cookies (or "biscuits" in the Queen's English). He tells Michele Norris the Oreo may have a hard time in Britain.
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15:17
The Lost Art of Orphan Works
» ‎ Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF designer Hugh D'Andrade speaks with Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry about the Orphan Works Act of 2008.

read more

15:16
Online Customer Satisfaction Improves Despite Economy
» ‎ ClickZ CyberStats

Even in a down economy, online retailers drive loyalty and satisfaction.

15:16
Association for Progressive Communications | Internet and ICTs for social justice and sustainable development
» ‎ Del.icio.us Links - ict4d - ICTs for Development

Association for Progressive Communications | Internet and ICTs for social justice and sustainable development

15:11
Dems fire back at Bush on 'appeasement'
» ‎ CNN.com - Most Popular

Democrats on Thursday condemned President Bush's insinuation that they would be appeasing terrorist states by holding talks, with one going so far as to call his remarks "bulls**t."

15:11
Action Needed to Halt Staggering Cost of Beer
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

The world's most important liquid is more expensive than it used to be. No, not oil. Beer. The cost of two of beer's main ingredients have skyrocketed over the past year. Microbrews and imports are often $3 more per six-pack than a year ago. Our leaders must step in.
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15:09
Mom indicted in deadly My Space hoax
» ‎ CNN.com - Most Popular

Read full story for latest details.

15:08
From Jay-Z's Web Book to Khatami's Blog (Berkman10 Dispatch)
» ‎ Personal Democracy Forum

Blogging from the most important Internet gathering in the country.

read more

15:01
Shot-Putter Changes Technique Ahead of Olympics
» ‎ NPR Most Emailed: NPR Most Emailed Stories

U.S. shot-putter Adam Nelson is training for the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials, where he hopes to qualify for his third Olympic Games. But in his quest for a gold medal, he's tweaking his technique in what may be a risky move.
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Permalink for 'Google_News___Online_campaigning/2008/05/15/Internet_Gurus_Flock_to_Harvard_Conference___The_Nation.'

15:00

Internet Gurus Flock to Harvard Conference - The Nation.

» ‎ Google News - Online campaigning

15:00
China aftermath: Total chaos, small miracles
» ‎ CNN.com - Most Popular

iReporter Ben Geisler rode his motorcycle into some of the areas hardest hit in Monday's earthquake.

Gregarius » May 15, 2008

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