BREAKING SURF
| Lessons in Good Net Behavior |
| New Jersey Historical Society |
| Have Wi-Fi and a Will to Travel? |
| Atari Adventure Lives Online |
| Absolut Advertising |
| The Allegedly Top Albums of the 1980s |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Grid Computing News |
| Textbook Accuracy |
| NASA's Visible Earth Repository |
| Amazing Optical Illusions |
| Left Brain vs. Right Brain |
| In Praise of Plastic |
| Solaris 9 for x86 Systems |
| 17th Century Korea Moves to 20th Century Korea |
| BOOK REVIEWS |
| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| Contact and Subscription Information |
| Credits |
BREAKING SURF
The US's Total Information Awareness System
News of the US government project to combine information on citizens and foreigners into one giant database - the Total Information Awareness (TIA) System - made the media this month. The system has been described in general terms, but few reports have detailed what it would look like and how it would work. The TIA program is being developed by the relatively new Information Awareness Office (IAO), which in turn is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (which was, by the way, instrumental in the development of the Internet). A broad overview of the TIA system is available at the IAO site. The system is ostensibly meant for counter-terrorist applications, but it's not difficult to see it being used for any number of political or ideological abuses. Politechbot has a transcript of a Pentagon briefing about TIA for those who want more information on the subject.TIA: http://www.darpa.mil/iao/TIASystems.htm
IAO: http://www.darpa.mil/iao/
Politechbot: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04186.html
DARPA Rejects Online Person-Tracking
eDNA sounds like a SF title, but in fact it's somewhat more disturbing. eDNA was to make anonymity impossible in certain parts of the Internet, had the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) not recently rejected it. DARPA director Tony Tether expressed an interest in digital identification that would track individual activity as surfers gained access to certain services - for example, you'd have to undergo a fingerprint scan to enter a secure Web site. DARPA, however, has concluded that such a program's costs outweigh any benefits. Two articles, one from CNET and one from the New York Times, do a fine job discussing eDNA and its tortured history. A second Times article is somewhat more problematic. It argues that since Sept. 11, 2001, citizens are far less concerned about government intrusions into their privacy than they are about commercial infringement. If that really is the case, it explains why the new DARPA TIA and its dragnet information gathering strategies are not causing an uproar, save among privacy advocates. Perhaps privacy really is dead.CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966894.html
Times 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/22/politics/22TRAC.html
Times 2: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/weekinreview/24LIPT.html
Another Interview with Wayback Machine Director Brewster Kahle
This New Scientist interview of Brewster Kahle, the inventor of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, opens a window on a grand dream - to make man's knowledge available to everyone, anywhere, anytime. The Wayback Machine is concerned only with the Web - pretty limited, eh? More precisely, its primary role is to provide access to the Internet Archive, which has been taking a snapshot of the Web every 60 days since 1996. The dream is heady and visionary, with an inevitable and deserved bow to Vannevar Bush, but implementing it requires big bucks, manpower, and lots of hardware. Hardware-wise, the Wayback Machine consists of about 150 desktop computers running four drives each. So far, the project has collected 100 terabytes of stuff, and is adding another ten terabytes a month. Kahle figures it's important because much of the material on the Internet would otherwise be lost. While it may seem to some that the Wayback Machine is just a way of preserving junk, one man's junk is another man's treasure. Only time can sort out what's great and what's not, and the value of information depends on context and circumstances. We think it's important work, and worth knowing about.http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp?id=ns23701
Microsoft Battles Opera to Place Device Browsers
Microsoft kingpin Bill Gates made it abundantly clear in his COMDEX address that the future lies not so much in PCs as in enabled appliances. Think phones, watches, and other ubiquitous devices. Obviously, Microsoft would like the default browser in all these gadgets to be Internet Explorer. It has devoted years to production and improvement of that free product, and while Netscape and Mozilla have been gamely hanging in there, a more threatening challenge may come from an upstart Norwegian company that has the audacity to charge users for its browser. They call it Opera and, unbelievably, it's making some headway. Even worse for Microsoft's plans, Opera just released a new browser designed for small devices like cell phones. Worse even than that, it works on just about anything. If you thought Microsoft had the browser competition all mopped up, you can be forgiven because its products do dominate the desktop. But the battle over small and personal devices has just begun, and Microsoft has no advantage, here. Salon has the story and whether you love or hate Microsoft, it's sure to tingle.http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/11/21/microsoft_cellphone/index.html
Apple Switcher Ellen Feiss Was on Drugs
For Ellen Feiss, clearly it like just happened. She went with her friend Hamilton to scarf some free eats on the switch ad set because Hamilton's dad was the director and like they made some ads for Apple about Macs and hers and Hamilton's got chosen for the campaign. It was no big deal until rumors started going around that she was a bit out of it and red-eyed and possibly stoned while doing the ad and then wow - suddenly she's on the cover of the NY and LA Times, David Letterman and Jay Leno want her on their shows (she's not interested), and MTV is doing something cool about her. Apparently, the reason Feiss has red eyes and a spacey demeanor is that she was on drugs during the filming - allergy drugs, Benadryl specifically. Some folks still don't believe it was all over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Somehow, the Brown Daily Herald scooped an interview with Feiss, in which she sounds... - well, like a teenager, and she seems to have her head as screwed on as you could expect from a 15-year-old exposed to all this attention. Like whatever. We can't stop chuckling at the last interview question and answer. Slashdot has more fun.Brown Daily Herald: http://www.browndailyherald.com/post/stories.asp?ID=269
Slashdot: http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/02/11/22/1318247.shtml
There's Money in Them Thar Spam
There's money to be made as a spammer, unfortunately, and Alan Ralsky is living proof. He may have promised Verizon he would not route spam through its servers anymore, but this spam king is far from through with us. His new luxury home is a high-tech computer command post from which he controls a far-flung operation that encompasses 190 servers, mostly in the US but with a few in Canada, India, Russia, and China. Spam has made the 57-year old netrepreneur decidedly rich. Still, with a business background that's decidedly seedy - although he draws the line at porn or sexual messages - Ralsky is nobody's vision of a squeaky clean good guy. Now, with a 250-million-address database in hand, Ralsky is planning new assaults on the mailboxes of the spam-weary through the cables and optical fibers of the world. In the face of complaints from anti-spam outfits, Ralsky claims his work is entirely legal, and his operation is technically nimble enough to avoid most attempts to shut him down. Right now, he's working with a couple of Romanian whizzes on a kind of stealth spam that flashes pop-up ads to computers that are online. We can't help wondering about the legality of that, not to mention the nuisance value. The Detroit Free Press has the details.http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm
AOL Blocks New Form of Windows Pop-Up Spam
Pop-up spam is a relatively new form of annoyance that exploits flaws in Windows to pop up spam messages on computer desktops. The flaw takes advantage of a legitimate Windows service that lets system administrators send messages to users on a network, normally to notify them about things like maintenance or downtime. Spammers discovered how to exploit this hole for their own nefarious ends. Now, AOL has taken swift action to block this kind of ad from being sent over its network - clearly a big win for anti-spam fighters. AOL's action comes on the heels of its earlier decision to stop serving its own pop-up ads to users. Meanwhile, makers of the software which can send pop-up spam feel confident that they can eventually get around the AOL restrictions. CNET looks at the arms race in the making.http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975298.html
"Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam..Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam... lovely Spam, wonderful Spam...," went the Vikings in the old Monty Python sketch. Alas, hardly anybody would cheer for our nearly ubiquitous form of electronic spam. To help combat the plague, researchers at CipherTrust want you to donate your spam to SpamArchive. The goal is to build a comprehensive public spam database against which anti-spam algorithms can be tested. Give your spam so others may not receive it. It may be the best gift you give this holiday season. CNET has a bit more.
SpamArchive: http://www.spamarchive.org/
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-966768.html
Identity Thieves Set Traps for eBayers
Identity theft has taken a whole new turn in some circles. The thieves aren't using your credit cards to buy microwaves and televisions. They're buying domain names. And they're targeting places like eBay. Why? So they can scam usernames and passwords - enabling them to go on much larger shopping sprees. CNET has the story. Christmas is coming, folks. Be very vigilant.http://news.com.com/2100-1017-966835.html
Panama Court Suspends Restrictions on Net Telephony Software
In NSD 8.44, we informed you that the Panamanian government ordered that country's ISPs to follow technical restrictions aimed at putting Internet telephony out of business. The move apparently came in response to complaints by the local phone monopoly, which worried that it was losing business to the inexpensive voice-over-IP international phone links. This week, we get news that the Panamanian Supreme Court has suspended the restrictions while it investigates the whole matter. CNET has more.NSD 8.44: http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/sub/v08/nsd.08.44.html#BS3
CNET: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-975408.html
Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and in advance, the United Nations has released its latest report about the worldwide spread of the AIDS epidemic. The news at the forefront of most of the report's press coverage is that for the first time about half the people infected with the virus are women. The report says that 42 million people are living with HIV infection. Of the 38.6 million infected adults, 19.2 million - just under 50% - are women. The report contains a great deal of data about the current state of the epidemic. It is available in several languages on the UNAIDS site.
http://www.unaids.org/worldaidsday/2002/press/Epiupdate.html
On the eve of World AIDS Day, Link and Think wants everyone with a weblog, journal, or personal Web site to link to sites with articles or resources about HIV/AIDS or to recount a personal story or comment about AIDS. Link and Think presents one link you can use to register your site or blog and another to an alphabetical list of those who already have. The idea is to get involved, spread the word, and help fight this scourge - by emphasizing the importance of finding a cure or at least better, cheaper therapies.
http://www.linkandthink.org/
Find Love with Instant Messaging
Instant messaging (IM) has been clawing out a foothold as a sort of online dating service. IM technology has advanced beyond business use and teen gossip straight into the matchmaking scene. Adding cams to real-time chat would be a next step, and it's already happening. You can only deal with singles bars for so long, you know. CNET has a short take on the phenomenon. At least you and your potential mate have computers in common....http://news.com.com/2100-1023-971030.html
ONLINE CULTURE
Spammers abuse your e-mail. Script kiddies spew viruses. Advertisers use scripted banner ads to make rude intrusion banal. Strangers frame your Web site without your permission. What ever happened to netiquette? To many, "netiquette" evokes a mannerly, archaic affectation in a world where politeness often seems quaint. OnlineNetiquette.com says netiquette relies on "knowledge, understanding and courtesy." The site is a tool to help you help newbies. You can direct newbies - without flaming them, of course - to Netiquette 101, which many Net vets would do well to review as well. (For example: "Do not use Return Receipt Request (RR) for each and every personal email you send....") One way to direct persons here is to use the online recommendation form. You might suggest someone visit another area of this site: Dr. Internut's Internet Resource Clinic. There, you can read a FAQ for newbies, visit the acronym and emoticon wards, and browse a glossary with about 40 terms (from ARPA to UUEncode/UUDecode). Perhaps the most concise advice offered is the following: "As a courtesy to your fellow Netizens, use the education you received in grade school." Played hookey, did you? At least try to put yourself in someone else's shoes.http://www.onlinenetiquette.com/
ONLINE TRAVEL
The New Jersey Historical Society offers a huge archive of historical papers, photographs, and objects, many of which can be viewed online. The society began in 1845, although its oldest material predates it. The archives are especially strong on late 19th and early 20th century material. The last 50 years of New Jersey history is only briefly covered - insert joke here - and, overall, social history is covered in far more depth than industrial history. Recent events, like the waves of Cuban immigration that began in 1960 and that have resulted in the largest Cuban-American community outside metro Miami, might as well not have happened. The society does mount exhibitions (viewable on the site) of more contemporary interest, but the real strength is in the archives.http://www.jerseyhistory.org/
Have Wi-Fi and a Will to Travel?
You have the hardware - a mobile computer with an Ethernet card - for wireless networking with the 802.11 series of specifications. (You may never need to know much about those specs, but we mention them for a reason obvious in a moment.) All you need now is a wireless network to use to get on the Net. How do you find one if you're away - even far away - from your usual point of access? Before you roam, look for an access hotspot at, say, your destination airport or hotel with a search at 802.11Hotspots.com. We searched Chicago and found nodes at five hotels, two airports, and two public facilities, each of which is listed with a street address, phone number, and wireless protocol. (OK, you will need to know what protocol your equipment uses to get connected.) Someday, your notebook or handheld may have its own database of access points but for now 802.11Hotspots.com will do the trick. If your destination has a hotspot that's not listed here, do your fellow Wi-Fiers a favor and submit the location so that it can be listed. The search facility is surrounded with links to other Wi-Fi resources. Unlike your handy hardware, this finder is free.http://www.80211hotspots.com/
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Atari's famous Adventure game has been reborn, this time in Macromedia Flash. It has the classic big-pixel old-school look and feel you remember from the Atari 2600 gaming console. You use arrow keys to move, and the spacebar to drop objects. It's odd that you don't use your mouse, since the Atari 2600 did have one-button joysticks, but we assume the designers drew inspiration from the first games on pre-mouse computers, which typically relied on the arrow keys and spacebar to prompt action. Either the Flash emulation of this version is very much in keeping with the capabilities present in systems of 20 years ago, or the programmers were lazy. Either way, you're presented with a mock TV screen, no instructions, and a lot of blooping and bleeping. Figure it out, just like everybody else had to.http://www.scottpehnke.com/programming/flash.htm
Broadband users will likely enjoy this blatantly (meta-)commercial site. As you might expect from an Absolut vodka site, the music and graphics are very well done, so they tend to keep you right in front of the screen, where they want you. In some senses, this is similar to the BMG adsite, wherein images and sound are projected to the viewer in a tightly scripted, yet highly engaging manner. The site requires that you signify that you are of legal drinking age before affording entry. On the other hand, if you really think about it, they aren't asking if you're of legal age to drink alcohol. Everybody is of legal age to drink something, eh?
http://absolut.com/legends/
The Allegedly Top Albums of the 1980s
The top 100 albums from the '80s are here. Cover shots take a long time to load on a dialup connection, and unfortunately there isn't any easy way to get past it. The descriptives are good, however, and worth the wait for music nuts. No, you can't download and burn the music. This is just pure descriptive. We have a few quibbles with the list - it's far too US-oriented, and the Pixies did not record two of the top seven albums of the decade, for example - but it still stands as a good survey of the time.http://pitchforkmedia.com/top/80s/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
|
Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
For more selections, check out: Netsurfer Books: http://www.netsurf.com/nsb/ Netsurfer Library: http://www.netsurf.com/nsl/ |
Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer That Defeated the World Chess Champion
Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites
The Modern Gentleman: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice
The Millennium Problems: The Seven Greatest Unsolved Mathematical Puzzles of Our Time
Christmas with the Rat Packhttp://www.gridtoday.com/
A sin at least equal to that of not educating children is educating them inaccurately. Inaccuracies abound in school text books, and North Carolina State University has set up the Middle School Physical Science Resource Center to try to put the kibosh on that. Teachers, perhaps hoping to persuade local school boards, can post errors and can request that the books they must use be reviewed. Homeschoolers hoping to choose appropriate textbooks can browse the reviews to find out the pluses and minuses of their options. There's a discussion board for near-real-time question and answer.
http://www.science-house.org/middleschool/reviews/list.html
SURFING SCIENCE
NASA's Visible Earth Repository
Set aside some time; NASA's Visible Earth site is utterly engrossing. We spent more time than we'd care to admit just browsing among the more than 4,000 files - mainly JPEGs, but also some GIFs and movies. Aimless browsing was a joy, but the site is well ordered and searchable in a number of ways, including by location (US states, countries, regions), by geological features (volcanoes, tectonics, etc.), or by specific imaging techniques such as gamma ray, infrared and visible wavelengths. The site's more than just pretty pictures though, as each visualization is accompanied by a pithy description of the imaging processes, the key features, and the import of what is shown. Many of the images are notable for their wow factor - show your kids just how much ass volcanoes or hurricanes kick. Others are more disturbing. Come here to see a graphic illustration of the connection between Amazonian slash-and-burn deforestation and global carbon monoxide pollution, or to see the vast gray fog covering the eastern US.http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
What's behind optical illusion? Perceptual science. Witness 11 quick-to-load and amazing Flash demos based on a chapter of a book by Edward H. Adelson, a professor of vision science at MIT. The checker shadow illusion will have you whipping out your paint software in disbelief - trust us, it's true. The cool and craft of the creators of these images and animations are undeniable. This model of illustration won't prevent speeding tickets but may make you a temporary hero in science or computer class. Wow!
http://www-bcs.mit.edu/people/adelson/illusions_demos.html
Theory suggests that the left half of the old gray matter is concerned with the logical, sequential, rational, analytical and objective, while right brain activity is more random, intuitive, holistic, synthesizing and subjective. Spock versus Kirk if you will. NSD sent a confirmed flaky right-brainer to test out this fun online color test. Said right-brainer lost the site's URL somewhere in the labyrinthine and cluttered hard drive of his computer, found it again by accident, took the test without bothering to read the instructions properly, and failed miserably five times in a row. No doubt about it, this test works.
http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/colortest.swf
Long before compact discs, a reviewer of ours had a professor of English poetry who liked to say the only good things made of plastic are records. Even today, some environmentalists may share that view. Issues of waste and recycling remain. As you might expect, the American Plastics Council cares about public perception. On its Plastics Resource site, the council reminds visitors that plastics "play an important part in cutting-edge technologies such as the space program, bullet-proof vests and prosthetic limbs, as well as in everyday products such as beverage containers, medical devices and automobiles." It makes the case in the "Resource Conservation" section that plastics enable us to use fewer raw materials and save energy. The "Plastics in Perspective" FAQs reinforce that. In its effort to put plastics in a favorable light, the Council has included practical as well as educational resources. Want to get diehard environmentalists flustered? Have them check out Green Living, which includes "Five Major Myths about Garbage and Why They're Wrong." Interesting stuff! If you ever need a heart-valve implant, chances are that lifesaver will be plastic.
http://www.plasticsresource.com/
SOFTWARE
Sun Microsystems has made an early, unsupported version of its Solaris 9 operating system available for Intel x86 processors. Although Solaris is losing market share to Linux in many server markets, it is still a formidable industrial strength operating system which is widely used in major corporate environments. This latest version has typical performance and scalability improvements, as well as numerous new security features and improved system management tools. If you like to tinker with bleeding-edge operating systems, try Solaris 9 on your PC. The software can be downloaded for $20.http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/x86/earlyaccess/index.html
CORRECTIONS
17th Century Korea Moves to 20th Century Korea
We took you along on a virtual tour of 17th-century Korea in NSD 6.14, and now we have to inform you that this virtual Korea has moved. Actually, site host Henny Savenije, a.k.a. Lee Hae Kang, has moved the files from the Netherlands to Korea. Specifically, look for the link to Hendrick Hamel's journal, although the rest of the site is as tasty as kim chee as well.http://www.henny-savenije.pe.kr/