ferikoy.net

Rod Beckström, 47, is expected to be appointed to the post Thursday and report directly to Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The secretive center was created by a national security directive signed by President Bush in January.

A Silicon Valley entrepreneur has been chosen to run the new National Cyber Security Center, an agency charged with coordinating efforts to protect the federal government’s computer networks from cyberattacks, according to published reports.

In the book The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, which he co-authored with Ori Brafman, Beckström wrote about the power of decentralized networks in organizations. He has gone so far as to say the concepts he outlined in the book could help the U.S. government in its dealings with al-Qaida.

Beckström co-founded CATS Software, a derivatives and risk management software company, in his garage when he was 24, according to his Web site. He recently co-founded Twiki.net, a company that supports open-source wikis.

The company has developed a process that treats carbon dioxide gas with heat and pressure, then mixes it with other chemicals to produce calcium carbonate. For a video of the equipment in a solar-panel equipped van, click here.

Carbon Sciences on Monday announced that it intends to target its carbon recycling technology toward paper manufacturers.

Technologies to recycle carbon dioxide waste are being seriously pursued. Large polluters, such as factories or power plants, are anticipating regulations to restrict their greenhouse gas emissions.

McLeish said that the main competitor to carbon recycling is carbon storage underground, an approach that has raised concerns over safety and costs.

Several routes are being pursued, including growing algae at power plants and making baking soda. Government research in the U.S. is focused on pumping carbon dioxide underground at power plants.

On paper, it sounds pretty good. You take the carbon dioxide pollution from paper production and transform it into a paper additive.

“We believe that by focusing our efforts on the existing multibillion-dollar PCC industry, we will be well-positioned to be a major player in the even larger $400 billion CO2 mitigation market in the future. This strategy is in line with our corporate mission of enabling a carbon-neutral world by transforming CO2 into high value products, one industry at a time,” company CEO Derek McLeish said in a statement.

Carbon Sciences’ strategy is to start with the paper industry and then optimize its technology for power producers. It also envisions using its equipment at mining operations which can use calcium carbonate.

Calcium carbonate, or chaulk, is used in many many industrial processes. Precipitated Calcium Carbonate, or PCC, is used to add gloss or brighten paper.

Update 12:40 p.m.: Robert’s blog is now live and available here.

Colleague Robert Vamosi will have a hands-on look shortly and I’ll post a link here.

A Microsoft representative said the company won’t update boxed copies of Windows XP with the service pack, though it will be an option for computer makers that are still offering XP on new machines. Large computer makers have only until June to sell XP on standard systems, though some low-cost, low-memory machines can be sold with XP until 2010, as can some PCs aimed at emerging markets.

Microsoft said on Monday that it has wrapped up development of its long-awaited Service Pack 3 update to Windows XP.

Microsoft has been testing Windows XP Service Pack 3 for some time. The product was planned to be released as early as 2006, but was pushed back several times as Microsoft focused on developing and updating
Windows Vista.

The update, which consists of previously released updates and a few new bug fixes and changes, will be available for download via the Web on April 29. Microsoft said it plans to start pushing out XP SP3 this summer to “home users” who have Automatic Updates turned on.

For anyone who’s ever listened to Oracle founder Larry Ellison talk about his company, or on any topic for that matter, it can be entertaining. The dude is humorous, has great punch-line timing, and at times will make outlandish comments that send his public relations team into major damage control.

So, it was painful to listen in on the company’s audio Webcast (registration required) announcing its $8.5 billion acquisition of BEA Systems.

It almost makes one wonder whether BEA had negotiated the uncharacteristically scripted press conference as part of its buyout agreement.

But Larry was gone.

The tightly scripted press conference, which had Ellison reading off a piece a paper, conjured up images of a tiger in a tight cage. His comments, which generally flow fast and freely, were so plodding in the press conference that occasionally he stumbled over his words, and, at one point, said “let me try that again” as he took another stab at reading off the script.

He had left the proverbial building.

Alfred Chuang, BEA’s co-founder and CEO, followed up Ellison’s presentation, sounding comfortable with the task of reading off a script. And, in his relaxed tone, he wrapped up his comments with: “And back to you, Larry.”

HP iPAQ 210

(Credit:
Marvell Technology)

PDAs aren’t dead yet. Nor is Intel’s XScale chip technology. Hewlett-Packard’s new, attractive big-screen handheld packs an application processor that still includes plenty of Intel’s XScale DNA.

Marvell also makes a PXA320 that can achieve a clock speed of 800 MHz. (See graphic below.)

Marvell PXA320

Though Intel sold the business that made XScale processors to Marvell more than a year and a half ago (June 2006), Marvell is still making processors based on Intel technologies. Marvell states that the PXA3xx processor family “is the third generation of applications processors based on Intel’s XScale technology.” The PXA310, made on a 90-nanometer process, includes Intel SpeedStep technology, Intel Wireless Trusted Module encryption technology, and an Intel Wireless MMX 2 co-processor.

(Credit:
HP)

The iPaq 210 features both compact flash and a SDIO (Secure Digital Input/Output) slots. SDIO cards, more advanced than typical SD memory cards, can house a Bluetooth adapter, Wi-Fi adapter, Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, television tuner, and a number of other devices.

HP is now shipping production units of the long-awaited iPaq 210 (originally slated to ship last year) that features a 4.0-inch, 640×480 (VGA) resolution screen. The 210 (which is rebranded internationally as the 211, 212, and 214), comes with a Marvell PXA310 processor running at 624MHz, 128MB of memory, and 256MB of flash ROM.

Whitt said that what Verizon is doing with the Open Device Initiative is commendable. He applauds the company’s efforts to embrace openness as a business model, but he said that it’s too early to tell if the initiative will live up to the rules that the FCC has mandated for C Block licenses in the 700MHz spectrum auction.

Google contends that Verizon has argued previously that the rule should apply only to devices that consumers bring to the network and should not include devices that Verizon sells to its customers.

According to FCC procedure, Verizon has an opportunity to file its reply to Google’s petition within the next two weeks. A spokesman for the company said it would be doing that, but he didn’t seemed alarmed by Google’s petition.

“We want Verizon to acknowledge their responsibility to comply with the C-Block license conditions,” said Richard Whitt, the Washington telecom and media counsel for Google who signed the petition. “In other words, we want them to live up to their side of the bargain. And we want their interpretation and implementation of the rule to be consistent with the spirit and intent in which the FCC adopted those rules.”

“What a surprise,” he said in an e-mail. “Google submits yet another regulatory filing to the Federal Communications Commission. Google’s filing has no legal standing.”

Google wants reassurance from Verizon Wireless that it will comply with open access rules that were part of the Federal Communications Commission’s recent 700MHz auction.

If Verizon responds to the petition and reiterates its position or decides not to address the issues, it will be up to the FCC to decide what it will do next. It is within the FCC’s right to deny Verizon access to the licenses, Whitt said. But considering what is at stake, it’s likely that won’t happen. I’ll be following this drama as it unfolds to see how Verizon responds.

Verizon has not specifically said since the auction that it won’t live up to its obligations under the rules of the auction. Whitt said that Google doesn’t necessarily mistrust Verizon, but he said that the company is taking Ronald Reagan’s advice to “trust but verify” that Verizon will do what’s expected.

Google filed a petition with the FCC on Friday asking the agency to make sure that Verizon really plans to adhere to these rules before the FCC officially grants the company the licenses in the C-Block of the 700MHz auction.

Google, which also bid on the spectrum during the auction, was one of the main proponents of the open access rules and helped effectively lobby the FCC to include the rules as part of the auction.

Verizon Wireless was the winning bidder in the auction of an important sliver of spectrum licenses in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, which raised a record $19.6 billion for the U.S. Treasury. As part of the rules of the auction, the winner of the C-Block licenses is required to allow any device to connect to the network and is also required to allow any application to be downloaded on devices that use the network.

Verizon, which plans to use the new spectrum to build its 4G wireless broadband network, initially opposed the open access rules. And once the rules were adopted, it filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to find those conditions unlawful. It eventually withdrew its appeal after that court denied Verizon’s request for an expedited review.

Now that the auction is over, Google claims that it wants to make sure that Verizon will really comply with the rules so that software developers can begin working on new innovative applications. It wants Verizon to state publicly that it plans to adhere to all aspects of the open access rules, including a provision the company opposed in written and oral arguments to the FCC as well as in court papers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals. Specifically, Google wants Verizon to say that it will allow any application to be downloaded on any device using the C-Block network.

This reasoning appears to be similar to how Verizon has set up its Open Device Initiative, a program announced in November that will expedite the certification process for device makers to get new devices on Verizon’s network. This program is separate from the 700MHz rules, but it could provide some insight into how the company interprets open access.

“We’re not trying to delay the process,” he said. “And we aren’t trying to block Verizon from getting those licenses. What it comes down to is we want to make sure that Verizon Wireless acknowledges and accepts the conditions put on these licenses by the majority of the FCC.”

Tiobe Programming Community Index, August 2008

commentary

Data from O’Reilly book sales suggests a similar decline for Java and other traditional programming languages over time. Cause for alarm? Not really. It’s just a matter of the web assuming a more vital importance to programming, a trend that will continue to grow. It will, however, take a very long time to make your Java or C skills irrelevant.

Java has its detractors, but according to a recent reading of the Tiobe Programming Community Index, it’s still the dominant programming language, with little change in its overall popularity since August 2007. Runners up? C, (Visual) Basic, C++, and PHP.

That’s the short-term view of the past year. Looking at the longer-term view, however, Java, C, and other “traditional” languages appear to be on the decline while PHP and its ilk are on the rise:

(Credit:
Tiobe)

Texas Instruments has a new OMAP chip to set upon the world, and this time around it’s eyeing more than mobile phones.

The new chip, like the Nvidia APX 2500 also unveiled Monday, can record and playback 720p high-definition video. It uses ARM’s Cortex A8 core running at 800MHz and can be used with any modem. TI hopes to have samples out for customers to start testing in phone and MID designs by the end of the second quarter.

TI sells standalone applications processors like the 3440 to customers such as Nokia for use in high-end smartphones, but it is also talking up the potential for the 3440 as a chip for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). That’s Intel’s name for an evolving class of handheld computer that’s a bit more powerful than a smartphone but smaller and longer running than a notebook.

TI isn’t willing to give Intel any ground when it comes to portable handheld devices. Intel has already tried to gain ground against chipmakers like TI, Samsung Electronics, and Freescale Semiconductor with its XScale program. The XScale chip did fairly well as a standalone applications processor, but attempts by Intel to also get into the cellular modem business flopped, and the company offloaded the division in 2006 to Marvell Technology Group.

The new OMAP3440 made its debut in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2008. This is the latest in TI’s line of OMAP applications processors, which are the equivalent of the CPUs inside PCs.

John Heidemann was skeptical about what the movie industry was saying about campus piracy.

She credits a greater emphasis on educating incoming students about copyright infringement. UC Berkeley has programs called “Learn Before You Burn,” and “Think Before You Click.” Students who receive a takedown notice are immediately booted from the network for a week. A second notice and the student must appear before a peer-review board before getting their Web privileges back.

For two years, the film industry has relied on an erroneous figure to persuade the public that college students are thieves. The MPAA acknowledged Tuesday that a survey it released in 2005 overstated the damage caused by piracy at the nation’s universities. The MPAA now says that instead of 44 percent, students account for 15 percent of domestic losses, or about $195 million.

This was an example of a university not relying on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to tell it what was happening on its network. But USC is the exception rather than the rule.

But how did the error go unchallenged for so long? Why weren’t network managers from UCLA to Harvard the ones to sound the alarm? Observers say that many schools were probably afraid to do their own studies.

A researcher in the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, Heidemann had heard the film studios’ claim that college students downloading movies on campus were responsible for 44 percent of the industry’s domestic losses to piracy.

There was no way for Heidemann to discern whether the information being transferred was pirated. But even in a worst case scenario, 13 percent indicated that only a small minority of USC students were engaged in illegal file sharing. Heidemann’s research flew in the face of the MPAA’s claims.

Just what impact the MPAA’s goof will have on the proposed legislation remains unclear. A spokeswoman for the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, which has already passed the higher-education bill backed by the MPAA, said Wednesday that the committee has asked the MPAA for more information and “we plan to review it.”

In the future, perhaps the universities can add their own notice: learn the truth before you cower.

“Look at them, the universities were running scared. They probably didn’t do the research because they were afraid about what they would find.” — Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne

The MPAA has backed proposed legislation that would require universities participating in federal student financial-aid programs to consider offering “alternatives” to illegal downloading or “technology-based deterrents” to piracy.

In the meantime, perhaps college presidents should chat with their IT chiefs to see what’s going on.

Correction: This blog initially mischaracterized the statistics that Heidemann commented on. He was referring to claims made about overall P2P use and not specifically about the MPAA’s allegations.

DeGuzman acknowledges that all she has is anecdotal information, but she’s noticed that the number of “takedown” notices she has received from entertainment companies has been falling significantly. The notices are legal documents that typically notify the school that someone on their network is pirating content.

CNET News.com’s Anne Broache contributed to this story.

That added up to about $572 million. So, working with a team of researchers last summer–the famous Hollywood sign on the mountain clearly visible from his workplace–Heidemann and the group came up with a way to track file-sharing use on USC’s network. Following a 14-hour monitoring of the system, the team concluded that between 3 and 13 percent of those on the school’s network (PDF) were using peer-sharing technology and accounted for between 21 and 33 percent of overall traffic, he said.

“Look at them, the universities were running scared,” said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, a company that tracks peer-to-peer traffic. “They probably didn’t do the research because they were afraid about what they would find. (Colleges) have been singled out as the enclave of the most egregious piracy.”

If Tuesday’s revelation from the MPAA did nothing else, it should serve to teach college presidents that they shouldn’t rely on the word of a third-party to say what its students are up to–especially one that has spent the past two years telling Congress that college students are responsible for almost half of all movie piracy in the U.S.

Had anyone at the University of California at Berkeley ever asked Vanessa DeGuzman, a technology support manager for a 7,000-person campus dorm, about the MPAA’s estimates, she would have told them, “It definitely seemed like their numbers were high.”

Mark Luker, vice president Educause, an organization representing college information technology departments, said plenty of people were skeptical and asked to see the data. But the schools “did not run their own surveys,” Luker acknowledged. He added that college administrators should have at least “insisted that we see the study.”

MPAA Washington general counsel Fritz Attaway told reporters last November: “I think it’s perfectly legitimate for Congress to say, ‘Wait a minute. If we’re giving you money, we don’t want it to be used to help college kids infringe copyright.’ ”

But service providers have been cautious about adding advertising too quickly, because they are afraid that bombarding customers with ads will result in a backlash. But the Nielsen report offers some encouraging news that should help ease these worries.

Nearly a quarter of all cell phone users in the U.S. say they’ve seen an advertisement on their phones in the past 30 days, according to a report from Nielsen Mobile, which tracks these trends.

According to the report, almost a third of people who use data services such as text messaging or Web surfing say they don’t mind advertising so long as it lowers the cost of their overall bill. And roughly 13 percent said they were in favor of advertising if it improved content. And 14 percent of those responding said they didn’t mind ads if they were relevant to their interests.

Big Internet companies, such as Microsoft and Google, are already adapting their advertising products to work on mobile devices. In December, Microsoft launched mini banner ads optimized for cell phone browsers and screen size when people visit mobile MSN portal. And in September, Google launched AdSense for Mobile, which will allow marketers to place contextual ads on sites viewed via mobile devices.

Mobile operators and content providers have been talking about the promise of mobile advertising for more than a year. The hope is that advertising can help boost revenue for both operators and content providers. Consumer advocates also hope it will mean more content for users at a lower cost.

About half of those who saw advertising on their mobile phones in the past month responded to an ad, the report said. In the fourth quarter, there was a big jump in the number or people reporting that they had spotted advertisements on their mobile phones. In fact, this figure rose 38 percent to 58 million users who said they saw advertising on their cell phone, compared with only 42 million who said they saw advertising on their phones in the second quarter of 2007. Nielsen surveyed 22,000 active mobile data users in its fourth-quarter survey.