From: Randall <rvh40@insightbb.com>
Date: September 9, 2010 5:03:00 PM PDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>, David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Sustaining the Internet through Hyperbolic Mapping

<http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n6/full/ncomms1063.html>

Sustaining the Internet with hyperbolic mapping

Marián Boguñá, Fragkiskos Papadopoulos & Dmitri Krioukov

Nature Communications 1 , Article number: 62 doi:10.1038/ncomms1063

Received 06 April 2010 Accepted 06 August 2010 Published 07 September 2010

Abstract

The Internet infrastructure is severely stressed. Rapidly growing overheads
associated with the primary function of the Internet—routing information
packets between any two computers in the world—cause concerns among Internet
experts that the existing Internet routing architecture may not sustain even
another decade. In this paper, we present a method to map the Internet to a
hyperbolic space. Guided by a constructed map, which we release with this
paper, Internet routing exhibits scaling properties that are theoretically
close to the best possible, thus resolving serious scaling limitations that
the Internet faces today. Besides this immediate practical viability, our
network mapping method can provide a different perspective on the community structure
in complex networks.

[SNIP]

From: Randall Webmail <rvh40@insightbb.com>
Date: September 9, 2010 6:08:47 PM PDT
To: johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com, dewayne@warpspeed.com, dave@farber.net
Subject: That was fast!

“iOS 4.1 has been jailbroken”

[[One day after its release, it's been pwned. And the beat goes on ...]]

<http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/09/09/ios-4-1-has-been-jailbroken/>

<http://snipurl.com/12c7l0>

Connected Planet Online
By Dan O’Shea

U.K. research firm Analysys Mason says in its latest report that network operators should put the brakes on fiber-to-the-home builds and reconsider the copper alternatives. The report argues that there has not been enough service and device innovation yet at the end of that FTTH connection to warrant the expense. Analysys Mason thinks we’ll start to see some FTTH projects scale back and that carriers should continue to test FTTH while rolling out more VDSL.

<http://blog.connectedplanetonline.com/unfiltered/2010/09/08/move-over-ftth-coppers-back-in-style/>

Telecompetitor.com
By Bernie Arnason

The rural telecom industry is in the midst of a $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program which aims to bring broadband to unserved and underserved communities, while also creating jobs in those same communities. Among the many ‘rubs’ with the current program, some argue $7.2 billion can only put a small dent in a universal broadband goal. Some important people may be listening to that argument.

On Monday, President Obama announced his intention to devote $50 billion to additional infrastructure projects, broadband included. The Hill website quotes Obama as saying “We’re talking about the smart grid…and broadband Internet,” arguing that the U.S. should have the best infrastructure “in the world.” The Obama administration says the new funding would come from the scaling back of current oil and gas industry tax incentives.

<http://www.telecompetitor.com/is-a-second-broadband-stimulus-program-on-the-horizon/>

NY Times
By John Markoff

Dr. Alan Shatzel’s pager beeped at 9 on a Saturday morning. A man had suffered a stroke, and someone had to decide, quickly, whether to give him an anticlotting drug that could mean the difference between life and death.

Dr. Shatzel, a neurologist, hustled not to the emergency room where the patient lay — 260 miles away, in Bakersfield — but to a darkened room at a hospital here. He took a seat in front of the latest tools of his trade: computer monitors, a keyboard and a joystick that control his assistant on the scene — a robot on wheels.

He guided the roughly five-foot-tall machine, which has a large monitor as its “head,” into the patient’s room in Bakersfield. Dr. Shatzel’s face appeared on screen, and his voice issued from a speaker.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/science/05robots.html?sq=robotic>

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Date: September 2, 2010 7:19:13 AM PDT
Subject: Broadband 2010: A Big Slowdown

Broadband 2010: A Big Slowdown

by Aaron Smith, Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American Life Project

August 11, 2010

After several consecutive years of modest but consistent growth,
broadband adoption slowed dramatically in 2010. Two-thirds of
American adults (66%) currently use a high-speed internet connection
at home, a figure that is not statistically different from what the
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found at a
similar point in 2009, when 63% of Americans were broadband adopters.

The lack of growth in broadband adoption at the national level was
mirrored across a range of demographic groups, with African Americans
being a major exception. Broadband adoption by African Americans now
stands at 56%, up from 46% at a similar point in 2009. That works out
to a 22% year-over-year growth rate, well above the national average
and by far the highest growth rate of any major demographic group.
Over the last year, the broadband-adoption gap between blacks and
whites has been cut nearly in half:

* In 2009, 65% of whites and 46% of African Americans were broadband
users (a 19-point gap)

* In 2010, 67% of whites and 56% of African Americans are broadband
users (an 11-point gap)

By a 53%-to-41% margin, Americans say they do not believe that the
spread of affordable broadband should be a major government priority.
Contrary to what some might suspect, non-internet users are less
likely than current users to say the government should place a high
priority on the spread of high-speed connections.

…

<http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1694/broadband-adoption-slows-dramatically-except-african-americans-little-interest-among-non-users>

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Date: September 7, 2010 5:42:13 AM PDT
Subject: The Home Phone Is Back! / Google’s new Gmail phone service makes calling anywhere from home cheap and crystal clear.

The Home Phone Is Back!

Google’s new Gmail phone service makes calling anywhere from home
cheap and crystal clear.

By Farhad Manjoo

Posted Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010, at 5:15 PM ET

Among the many prophecies that techies take for granted, none seem
more certain than the death of the home phone. Just look at that
sorry thing, if you even still have one: Your landline remains fixed
in a single spot; it can’t text, take pictures, access the Web, or
play games; and it’s plagued by telemarketers and robocalls. Since
most people find it impossible to navigate modern life without a cell
phone-and because it’s expensive and somewhat redundant to have both
a landline and a cell plan-it’s no surprise that people are ditching
their home phones in droves. In 2003, according to the National
Center for Health Statistics, fewer than 5 percent of American adults
got by with only a cell phone. By 2009, that number was nearly 23
percent-and the agency found that the rate at which people are
abandoning landlines is increasing.

I suspect, though, that many people who cancel their landlines
experience pangs of regret. The cell phone, after all, has its own
problems. There’s a good chance it doesn’t work very well in your
home or office. Even when it doesn’t drop calls or take 30 seconds to
connect, the quality of voice calls can range from “guy stuck in a
car wash” to “guy stuck in a car wash with the windows rolled down
and the radio blaring.” In these moments, it’s hard not to miss the
trusty old home phone.

That explains why I haven’t joined the ranks of the landline-less.
Instead, I pay the phone company about $20 a month to get a very
basic plan, and then I use the home phone in conjunction with various
Internet services to make very cheap calls. The service I use most
often is Google Voice, which does several amazing things. It gives me
a single number that rings all my phones, it transcribes my
voicemail, and it lets me respond to text messages in my e-mail. Best
of all, it lets me make calls through my home phone over Google’s
servers, which is cheaper than dialing directly. There’s no charge to
sign up for Google Voice, and it lets me call anyone in the United
States and Canada for free; international calls are very cheap. (I
also often use Skype on my iPhone, which, in my house, sounds much
better than my iPhone.)

On Wednesday, Google merged Google Voice with Gmail, building a phone
in your inbox. After downloading a small app, Gmail users in the
United States will now be able to dial standard phones from their
e-mail. (The feature is rolling out gradually, so you may have to
wait a few days for it to work on your account.) You don’t need a
phone to do it; instead, Gmail turns into a speakerphone using your
computer’s microphone and speakers. (You’ve probably got all the
necessary hardware built into your laptop; if you’re on a desktop,
you can get a USB headset.)

In my tests, the new service worked easily and flawlessly. You simply
type a number or contact’s name into the new Gmail calling-pane and
hit “Call.” Google’s engineers built a sophisticated
echo-cancellation algorithm into the system, so calls sound clear
even when you’re not using a headset. You don’t need a Google Voice
number to make outbound calls from Gmail, but if you want to receive
calls, you’ll need to be a Voice user. (Sign up here.) When someone
calls your Google Voice number, you can answer in Gmail in addition
to all your phones. All of Google Voice’s call features work inside
Gmail-you can jump into a call while someone is leaving you a
voicemail, you can record your calls, and you can switch calls
between Gmail and another phone while you’re in the middle of a call.
(For now, the service is available on the desktop version of Gmail,
not the mobile version; it also hasn’t been rolled out to anyone
outside the United States or to Google Apps, the business version of
Gmail. Google has hinted that it will make the service available to
these other users at some point.)

…

<http://www.slate.com/id/2265201/>

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Date: September 7, 2010 12:24:37 PM PDT
Subject: iPhone 5

<http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz141/stepperfixer/Bizarro.gif>

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Date: September 7, 2010 5:42:13 AM PDT
Subject: The Glut of Shows Unwatched

The Glut of Shows Unwatched

By DAVID CARR
September 5, 2010

The great thing about modern technology is that you never have to
miss anything on television. That’s also the terrible thing about it.

Last Sunday, I was traveling and did not see “Mad Men.” As someone
who cares about being in the know, when I got back on Monday, I
wanted to catch up on the episode. Because I spend time on Twitter, I
already knew that the episode included a creative session conducted
in the nude, so I wanted to see it for myself before I came across
other spoilers.

Having set my DVR – I subscribe to the FiOS television service from
Verizon – for just such a circumstance, my wife and I plopped down on
Monday night for a little time with Don and Peggy. I hit play, and
then the screen went blank. After several more attempts, I called in
the household’s chief technology officer.

“You recorded the high-def channel,” said my 13-year-old daughter
Maddie, adding that seeing as I own a cheap set from Costco, it
wasn’t going to play.

Check, but not checkmate. Verizon has an on-demand service, but as it
turns out “Mad Men” doesn’t show up for a few days. Starting to feel
desperate, I thought for a moment about hopping on the laptop and
searching BitTorrent for an illegal copy, but given that I make a
living creating original content for a large media company, stealing
from another one did not seem like a good idea.

Then I remembered iTunes. Right there for $2.99, Season 4, Episode 6,
“Waldorf Stories.” As I took the iPad downstairs to put it closer to
the wireless signal, I told my wife it was going to take about 30
minutes to download. When I got back upstairs, she was already asleep
and I shrugged and settled in for a little me time with the Mad Men.
I woke up in the middle of the night with the iPad perilously
balanced on my less-than-flat midsection, wondering what I had missed.

That was Monday. By Wednesday, Steve Jobs, the sensei of all consumer
desires, had announced the resurrection of Apple TV. For $99, I could
buy a new geegaw from Apple that would allow me to rent, not buy,
television shows for 99 cents that would play on devices that won’t
fit on my stomach, like big flat-screen televisions. (Then again, for
the time being only Fox and ABC are doing television business with
Apple, so it would not have ended my search for “Mad Men.”)

Apple is hardly alone. Amazon, Netflix and Google are getting in the
television game. And all of them want to make sure that I have the
means to dial up the programming I want at a time of my choosing on a
device of my selection. Everyone wants to make sure that I never miss
a thing.

…

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/business/media/06carr.html>

From: Randall Webmail <rvh40@insightbb.com>
Date: September 6, 2010 12:14:30 PM PDT
To: johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com, dewayne@warpspeed.com, dave@farber.net
Subject: At least they didn’t lose a laptop (this time)

“‘Anti-terror data’ found in the street

By Kim Pilling, PA

Sunday, 5 September 2010

Police were today investigating the contents of a computer memory stick said to contain sensitive anti-terror material which was reportedly found in the street outside a police station.

The four-inch USB storage device was alleged to have contained more than 2,000 pages of confidential information, including strategies on combating terror attacks.

The memory stick was found by a 36-year-old businessman on a pavement outside the station in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, said the Daily Star on Sunday.” [SNIP}

<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/antiterror-data-found-in-the-street-2071214.html>

<http://snipurl.com/11m39v>