[Note: This comment comes from friend Jack Unger. DLH]

From: Jack Unger <junger@ask-wi.com>
Date: November 30, 2008 3:56:19 PM PST
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Subject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] NPR’s ‘Planet Money’: Hear Peter Schiff is Warning You!

Dewayne,

That’s a pretty revealing YoutTube video. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw>.

Gosh, how could so many so-called financial experts be so wrong? Kind of makes me wonder how much money the “experts” were paid (and who was paying them) in return for their wrong advice. On the other hand, Peter Schiff had to endure humiliation for expressing his opinions which have now been proved correct.

If there’s a lesson here I guess it would that everyone needs to take the time and make the effort to learn for themselves, to stop taking the word of so-called “experts” and to start forming their own opinions on important issues.

jack

Students Lie, Cheat, Steal, But Say They’re Good

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/30/students-lie-cheat-steal_n_147253.html>

NEW YORK — In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today’s young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.

“The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically,” said Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “They have opportunities their predecessors didn’t have (to cheat). The temptation is greater.”

The Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute, surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private. All students in the selected schools were given the survey in class; their anonymity was assured.

Michael Josephson, the institute’s founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls _ 30 percent overall _ acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23 percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative.

“What is the social cost of that _ not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?” Josephson remarked in an interview. “In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say ‘Why shouldn’t we? Everyone else does it.’”

[snip]

[Note: This item comes from friend Bob Frankston. Bob is referring to the famous 'You Will' series of commercials that AT&T ran in 1993. You find an example here: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8> DLH]

From: “Bob Frankston” <Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com>
Date: November 30, 2008 10:33:03 AM PST
To: <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Subject: Nokia as Bell Labs?

This reminds me of the Bell Labs video saying that one day you will be able to walk into a phone booth and turn on your lawn sprinkler.

I’d like to know more about the protocols. It could be that they are designing very open and extensible protocols but given past experience I’m wary. The choice of “run a bath” is particular troubling since it’s just the update to the “turn on your Jacuzzi” application that has been the hallmark of trophy home examples because of the focus on “high value” solutions rather than mundane infrastructure. So instead of getting building blocks and learning what may be useful we get … run your bath? Like you really want to “run your bath” while you’re on the road. And why a bath versus a more energy efficient quick shower.

My frustration stems from these efforts to sell me “smart” solutions rather than giving me the ability to create my own. But then there’s nothing new – we’ve had many decades of failures to learn from and will like get many more.

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3533444/Nokia-launches-Home-Control-centre.html>

Nokia launches Home Control centre

Nokia’s smart technology will allow you to run a bath using your mobile phone
In searching I did find <http://smarthomepartnering.com/cms/> and the notice “Note: full access to the website at this point requires registeration [sic] and NDA signed with Nokia.” In looking at <http://smarthomepartnering.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/NokiaHomeControlCenter.pdf> history is to be repeated.

Hear: Peter Schiff Is Warning You

<http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/11/hear_peter_schiff_is_warning_y.html>

- Peter Schiff was right — that’s the message on YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw>. The president of Euro Pacific Capital and frequent TV commentator spent the past few years telling anyone who’d listen that America was heading for a recession. Now he tells us what he expects next.

[Note: This comment comes from reader Randall. DLH]

From: Randall <rvh40@insightbb.com>
Date: November 29, 2008 10:49:48 AM PST
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Cc: David Farber <dave@farber.net>, brett@lariat.net
Subject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] Re: Editors note incl. Dangerous Precedence Set – Federal Criminal Charges for Violation of Commercial Online ToS?

You have to consider the source.

Brett is a small businessman gamely trying to make a living running a WISP in Laramie, Wyoming. You’ve gotta admire him for that.

Then it gets a bit complicated: P2P is Evil Incarnate in Brett’s world, and thus this federal prosecutor dragging this idiot woman halfway across the country and convicting her for not abiding by the terms of the click-through TOS that nobody ever reads is not just justified but is actually a GOOD thing.

And look at this! It also gives him a chance to take a dig at P2P! What’s not to like?

[Note: This comment comes from Dave Farber's IP list. Worth reading! DLH]

From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Date: November 29, 2008 7:14:00 AM PST
Subject: [IP] Re: Editors note incl. Dangerous Precedence Set – Federal Criminal Charges for Violation of Commercial Online ToS?

I held this note for a while while I let my temper cool a bit. According to Brett the use of P2P may be a law violation not just a isp s. Many sites are now doing updates using p2p in a non obvious fashion. Will my ISp claim I interfered with a VOIP call (voip is a lousy reliable channel since my ISP does not quote any reliability numbers) end me in jail? and just what is a P2P usage?? .

Still steaming

Dave

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.net>
Date: November 27, 2008 4:08:57 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net, “ip” <ip@v2.listbox.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Dangerous Precedence Set – Federal Criminal Charges for Violation of Commercial Online ToS?

A very dangerous legal precedence was set today.In the case of the 13 year old who committed suicide supposedly over aMySpace hoax, the mother involved was found guilty on three federal counts.What of? Not of a serious criminal act.She was found guilty on three criminal counts (misdemeanors), in afederal court, of violating the Terms of Service agreement.
This is not new. In fact, the splash pages for the hotspots operated by
our ISP for retail establishments and hospitality venues have mentioned it
for many years. “Exceeding authorized access” to a computer network and
causing damage to anyone or anything — including injury or a nontrivial
financial loss — is a per se violation of 18 USC 1030. See

<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1030.html>

for the details.

This is, in fact, a very good thing. Now that disrupting a computer network
can easily endanger life and limb (e.g. when someone needs to make a VoIP
call in an emergency), it’s important that an ISP be able to prevent, say,
someone who is using P2P from disrupting the operation of the network,
preventing that call from going through by creating excessive jitter or
hogging bandwidth. The statute is fair in that the person can’t be
charged for causing a “de minimus” loss or injury. Someone actually has to
be substantially harmed, and in this case of fatal online bullying that
threshold was certainly exceeded.

–Brett Glass

[Note: This item comes from friend Janos Gereben. I've been seeing a lot of words on in the blogsphere of late on this topic. Use folks in the Mac community would like to see Apple do one. However, I have to say that my iPhone is starting to take over that role for me. Take a look at Apple's 'iPhone Your Life' site to get an idea of what I mean: <http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-your-life/> DLH]

From: janosG <janosg@gmail.com>
Date: November 29, 2008 9:04:16 AM PST
Subject: Netbook ‘mystery’ solved

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/29/BU3E14BCHU.DTL>

This otherwise fine article repeats several times that nobody knows which way the new sub-notebook (now with the moniker of “netbook”) market is headed, ignoring the *one* reason that made me join the rank of buyers (an Acer, still in transit) – WEIGHT.

Price was the only thing holding me back from replacing the 4-pound primitive and troublesome Dell 2100, which died years ago. (It could not be fixed, upgraded, nada – but it was soooo portable!), and traveling with an eight-pound laptop is way too much trouble.

So, I think the netbook market will be driven by me and my ilk – those who want a 2-pound device for under $400. D’oh!

[Note: This item comes from friend Janos Gereben. DLH]

From: janosG <janosg@gmail.com>
Date: November 29, 2008 8:35:22 AM PST
Subject: ‘World TV’

<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6d4d1ae2-bca2-11dd-9efc-0000779fd18c.html>

Get the bigger picture
By Paul Taylor / FT.com

Life was so simple when my cathode ray tube television set pulled broadcast images out of thin air to display on its big curved screen. Now, to the chagrin of both my wife and mother-in-law, our living-room Pioneer high definition flat screen television is surrounded by “set-top” boxes nowhere nearly small enough to fit on top of it.

Aside from the home-theatre audio visual system and cable/satellite boxes, such boxes typically fall into one of these categories:

- “Time-shifting” devices that enable us to record and play back programmes at a more convenient time. They are video recorders and DVD and hard-drive-based digital video recorders such as Tivo (www.tivo.com).

- “Place-shifting” devices that let users watch and control live home television from a broadband internet or data network connected PC or mobile phone. They include SlingBox (www.slingmedia.com), Hava (www.myhava.com) and the LocationFree device from Sony (www.sonystyle.com).

- Network media servers that pull multimedia content and downloaded YouTube video clips off networked PCs and Macs to stream to a television. Examples are Netgear’s Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000 (www.netgear.com) or DLink’s DSM-520MediaLounge Wireless HD Media Player (www.dlink.com).

- Internet video service dev ices that enable users to watch movies downloaded or streamed over the internet, such as Roku’s Netflix Player (www.roku.com), Vudu BX100 (www.vudu.com), or BlockBuster’s MediaPoint device (www.blockbuster.com), launched this week.

Some devices cross categories. Apple’s AppleTV box enables users to stream iTunes music and video clips to a television. It provides ac cess to on-demand high definition movies and also lets users rent or buy stan dard definition movies (www.apple.com/appletv).

Similarly, Tivo has added features to its broadband-connected set-top boxes, enabling users to watch YouTube video clips and movies from a range of internet services. The latest software forMicrosoft’s Xbox 360 video games console lets users download and watch Netflix movies.

One of the most exciting set-top devices is the new SlingCatcher from Sling Media, which introduced the pioneering SlingBox video-place shifter.

<snip>

MICHAEL POLLAN

Bill Moyers sits down with Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, to discuss what direction the U.S. should pursue in the often-overlooked question of food policy. Pollan is author of IN DEFENSE OF FOOD: AN EATER’S MANIFESTO.

<http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/profile.html>

[Note: This item comes from friend John McMullen. DLH]

From: “John F. McMullen” <johnmac13@gmail.com>
Date: November 29, 2008 7:05:11 AM PST
To: “johnmac’s living room” <johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: “Dewayne Hendricks” <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Subject: Cyber Monday

From Wikipedia:– <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday>

Cyber Monday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. [1] Whereas Black Friday is associated with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, “Cyber Monday” symbolizes a busy day for online retailers. The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online that they were not able to make in stores. Although that idea has not survived the test of time, Cyber Monday has evolved into a significant marketing event, sponsored by the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org division, in which online retailers offer low prices and promotions.

Origin of term

The term “Cyber Monday” is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation.[2]. It was first used within the ecommerce community during the 2005 holiday season. According to Scott Silverman, the head of Shop.org, the term was coined based on research showing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.[3]

[snip]