Related link: https://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200110/msg00477.ht…

Let a little humour bloom: “This past fall semester, at Duke University, two sophomores…”

Related link: https://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7716497.html?tag=tp_pr

Next season will see the start of streaming game-time baseball delivered right to your PC — peanuts and beer not included. The league is proceeding carefully so as to avoid stepping too heavily on the toes of network television; in fact, “The upcoming live video streams also will be re-purposed from local broadcasters that purchase rights to carry the games. Thus, if MLB.com decides to show a New York Yankees game online, it will stream the local MSG Network’s broadcast.” The feeds, aimed at fans in the broadband-enabled workplace, will extend the already-popular subscription-based MLB.com / RealNetworks audio offerings.

EchoStar, the number-two satellite TV provider in the U.S., will make a run to acquire DirecTV, its bigger rival. Some news reports pitched the acquisition as a struggle between master dealmaker Rupert Murdoch, who wasn’t able to convince DirecTV’s corporate parent to take his cash, and EchoStar’s penny-pinching chairman, who flies coach.

Here are the main points:

• EchoStar will try to acquire DirecTV by buying its parent company, Hughes Electronics.
• General Motors, which owns 30% of Hughes, approved EchoStar’s bid of $24.6 billion on Sunday. EchoStar’s chairman, Charlie Ergen, predicted it would take a year to get the deal approved by the Feds.
• Combining the two companies would create a virtual monopoly in satellite TV service in the U.S. But Ergen says the two companies have to merge to compete with the larger cable TV industry. Together, the two satellite TV companies have 22 million subscribers and $15.2 billion in annual revenue.
• One reason lawmakers, regulators and consumer groups say they oppose the deal is that it would mean that rural pay TV customers, beyond the reach of cable, would have only one option. But Ergen counters that most cable TV subscribers have only one option, too.

The jilted party in all this is Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. has been courting GM, Hughes, and DirecTV for 18 months. In spring of 2000, there were even rumors that Murdoch might buy GM itself, just to get his hands on DirecTV.

Murdoch never made the terms of his offer public, but he says he had the cash in hand. Last Saturday he threw up his hands and walked away in frustration after GM’s board said it couldn’t decide. Shortly thereafter, it came to a decision, opting for EchoStar.

Murdoch offered a catty reply to this. The International Herald Tribune, drawing on reports from AP and Reuters, had him saying News Corp. had “no option but to withdraw our fully negotiated and financed proposal” and that they were “disappointed with the [GM] board’s inaction in the face of an as-yet unfinanced counterproposal.”

Some analysts say he may get a second shot. A bid by News Corp., which doesn’t have a satellite TV operation in the U.S., wouldn’t carry the same monopolistic baggage that threatens the EchoStar deal. And, as Murdoch was quick to point out, Ergen appears to be still putting the finances of his offer together.

Meanwhile, Ergen is also putting together his campaign to win the approval of regulators and lawmakers. High on their list: Billy Tauzin, the Republican Congressman who chairs the House Commerce Committee. The Wall Street Journal reported that General Motors’ chief executive Rick Wagoner met with Tauzin on Sunday night, and Tauzin spoke on the phone with Ergen the same evening.

Lately, my Titanium PowerBook has been acting up a bit. Apparently with the early run of TiBooks, there was a battery contact problem that would cause power loss to the system when you flexed the case. This problem manifested itself in my TiBook only recently, even though it was one of the first ones made. There’s nothing like loosing power when you pick up your laptop to run to a meeting. However, I didn’t want to give up my laptop for any amount of time to send it in. So, I decided to pay the newly opened local Apple Store in Palo Alto a visit and see if they could help.

This was the first time that I had made it down from San Francisco to check out the store, and I was impressed with what I saw. Like some of the online reviews have said, it shares a resemblance to the Gap. Clean wood floors. Nice displays. And lots of Macs and accessories to play with. But I was on a mission to get my TiBook fixed, so I walked back to the “Genius Bar” to see if they could help.

I was met by a employee who was friendly and listened as I described my problem. After hearing enough information to diagnose the issue, he pulled out a tester battery from a drawer and had me try it out with my TiBook. Sure enough, it worked. No matter how I held the laptop, the power stayed on. Problem solved in less than 5 minutes. It only took another 10 minutes for the person helping me to get a replacement battery and to fill out the paperwork required for the warranty process.

Did I like that my TiBook had a problem? Not at all. Did I like that I could walk into a retail store, talk with somebody that knew about Macs, and walk out again in 15 minutes with everything fixed? You better believe it.

What do you think about Apple’s new retail stores?

When you look at Apple’s “i” product line, you see success. The iBook is a runaway best seller because it is a tremendous piece of hardware that can be purchased for less that $1,400. iMovie, iTunes, and iDVD all represent innovation and affordability. And let’s not forget the mother of all iWare, the iMac that you can buy brand new today for $799.

But the iPod breaks rank with this tradition of reasonably priced Apple iWare. That doesn’t mean it’s not an appealing device. The iPod is close to irresistible.

I have a similar gizmo right now in my briefcase — a 6 GB VST portable FireWire hard drive, and I love it. It’s bus-powered like the iPod, and it copies files faster than lightening strikes, just like the iPod. I paid $399 for it a while back, and the 10GB models are currently selling for $279.

Yes, I know that the iPod is much more than a 5 GB FireWire drive; it’s an extreamly cool MP3 player that can hold more than 1,000 songs running off a 10-hour rechargeable battery and incorporating 20 minutes (not seconds) of skip protection. Plus it looks great, really great.

The problem is that it should be $299. That’s the magic number right now. Top of the line MP3 players run between $249 and $299. Portable FireWire drives are priced about the same. Even 1.3 megapixel digital cameras by the likes of Olympus and Sony can be purchased for $299 or less.

We all know that it’s not what the item cost to make. It’s what people will pay. And this holiday season they will pay up to $299.

If Apple is determined to get $399 for the first release of this device (R&D is expensive afterall), then they should have coated it in pure Titanium and dubbed it the “TiPod” — just like they did with their top of the line PowerBook. Then, at MacWorld SF in January 2002, they could release the real iPod in an ice-colored polycarbonate enclousure for $199. They would sell thousands of them right there at the show.

After giving today’s iPod announcement careful consideration, I’m left with one lingering question: “Where the heck are the branding and marketing experts when you really need them?”

What do you think? Am I missing something here or should the iPod be the TiPod?

Some time ago, I signed up for wireless Internet service with Verizon Wireless. When I signed up, I opted for the Novatel Wireless SAGE serial modem. Sure, it’s clunky and doesn’t plug into a compact flash or PCMCIA slot. But, it has a big antenna, can be reoriented easily, and has its own battery pack. Plus, it’s a standard 9-pin serial modem, so it can work with laptops, desktops, and handhelds.

I use this modem with my laptop a lot. You can read all about that right here. I recently started wondering if I could use it with the random collection of handheld computers I have. My handhelds aren’t particularly new - I have a Palm III, a Compaq PC Companion, and most recently, a Diamond Mako (which is, to the best of my knowledge, a rebranded Psion Revo).

The first handheld I tried my modem with was my Palm III. If you try this at home, don’t bother with the cradle - it will work, but it’s too easy to knock the Palm out of the cradle, so it’s no good for surfing the web while you hold the Palm. Instead, get your hands on a hotsync cable. It grips the Palm quite well, so you can move the Palm while you’re using it. You’ll also need a null modem adapter (9-pin male to 9-pin male), and then you can plug your Palm into the SAGE modem.

To create the connection between the Palm and my CDPD service:

1. I first opened the Prefs applet and chose Connection from the menu in the upper right. Then, I created a new connection called “SAGE” that uses “Serial to PC” as the Connection Method. I clicked the Details button and set the speed to 19,200 bps and enabled Flow Control.
2. Still in the Prefs applet, I switched over to Network and set up a new service called “Sage”. I left the username blank (since there is no user name for my CDPD service), and set the Connection to “SAGE” - the connection I created in the previous step.
3. Next, I clicked the Details button and specified PPP as the connection type. I disabled Query DNS and keyed in the name server address that Verizon gave to me. I did the same with my IP Address.
4. Next came the all-important script. The CDPD modem doesn’t use a phone number - instead of something like ATDT555-1234, I dial its internal PPP server with AT\APPP. Listing 1 shows the contents of my script (note that I had to escape the \ in the AT dial command). This script was inspired by the chat script from Tramm Hudson’s Minstrel Hacking Page.

Send CR:
Send CR:
Delay: 1
Send: ATE1V1
Send CR:
Wait For: OK
Send: ATS57?
Send CR:
Wait For: OK
Send: ATS202?
Send CR:
Wait For: OK
Send: AT\APPP
Send CR:
Wait For: CONNECT
End:

Listing 1. My CDPD connection script

After I saved the script, I was able to connect by returning to the Network preferences, choosing the Sage service I had created, and clicking the Connect button (hint: to watch the progress of your login script while you are connecting, press the scroll down key after you click connect). It generally connects OK, but sometimes I have to turn the modem off and on to disconnect and re-connect again.

So, what can you do with a Palm III once you are connected to the Internet? Qualcomm makes an excellent web browser and email client that are part of the Eudora Internet Suite. A free download is available if you don’t need to sync with your desktop email program.

My only gripe with this setup is that I can’t use a keyboard with the Palm at the same time I use a modem. This is because both the modem and the keyboard have to connect using the Palm’s only serial port. I wonder if anyone has developed a keyboard for the Palm that uses the infrared port?

Related link: https://www.macrumors.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=491

iPod rumours abound! It’s a hair tonic. No, it’s a salad dressing. Apparently Apple’s device-to-be has Airport (802.11b), Firewire, iTunes, and Quicktime. “What is known: This coming Tuesday, Apple invites you to the unveiling of a breakthrough digital device, (Hint: it’s not a Mac).”

Related link: https://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2001/p10182001_p233-01.html

The DoD’s new GPS standard brings accuracy to 36 meters (from the current 100) and promises various QoS improvements. Launches start in 2003; the service is expected to be fully operational in 2014.

Related link: https://arstechnica.com/reviews/01q4/macosx-10.1/macosx-10.1-1.html

Ars Technica continues its fantastic in-depth technical review of Mac OS X, covering everything from installing to enhancing, page swapping to UI.

With both houses of Congress having signed off on legislation to fight terrorism, the enactment of the anti-terrorism package of laws — now called the USA Act — is all but assured. No one’s expecting a presidential veto.

The evolved anti-terrorism package, which has also been called ATA (the Anti-Terrorism Act) and The Patriot Act, includes a wide range of statutes, including border controls, rewards for informants, money for victims and law enforcement agencies, rules for detaining suspects and freezing funds, and changes in electronic surveillance.

But some of the most disturbing statements in earlier versions of the bill — those that had hackers worried they would go to prison for life because they hacked the school web site when they were 15 — appear to have been yanked out.

“They’ve taken out a couple of the really obvious egregious things,” said Le Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “and they’ve reworked it so that they have to be associated with attempts to influence the government or retaliate against government conduct, which limits the scope of their effect. It won’t apply to the garden variety computer crimes against a company that have nothing to do with government action.”

So black-hatted hackers can go back to attacking some of their favorite corporate targets without fearing the death penalty. (Even so, they may want to steer clear of cracking the digital rights management properties of Adobe’s e-book software, for obvious reasons.)

More significant than penalties against hackers — who are kind of asking for trouble anyway — are the relaxed restrictions against electronic surveillance contained in the USA Act.

The EFF’s Tien says “a huge aspect” of the Act is that it expands investigators’ abilities to gather information on people, even before they’re suspected of a crime.

“There’s a difference … between surveillance for the purposes of law enforcement, investigating a crime, and counter-intelligence investigation.”

Under current wiretap laws, agents need to convince a court of probable cause that a suspect’s criminality. The USA Act enables wiretap and other electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under FISA, Investigators don’t have to convince the court that they’re target is probably a criminal; they just have to convince the court their target is probably an agent of a foreign power.

In this season’s atmosphere, that looks like a good thing. In our current state of psychological seige, many Americans would want the FBI to be able to monitor the movements and communications of someone with suspected ties to al-Qaeda, whether or not the Feds can prove a criminal act.

But the sweeping coverage of the Act extends beyond such suspects to the agent of any foreign power, which could include a secretary at the Japanese embassy or a program manager with the Swedish office of tourism. Would a court approve those wiretaps? Probably not. But it has the power to, under the USA Act.

This is just one example, but the big question in all of this seems to be, how many liberties should we give up, and how long are we willing to do it? A few members of Congress managed to insert a sunset clause in the USA Act, so all these special provisions expire in 2004, unless the president decides to renew them for two years. By that time, we may know the law reached too far. On the other hand, by then we may be completely comfortable with levels of surveillance that we would have railed against before September 11.

While I was teaching a mobile multimedia class at CMP’s recent WEB2001 conference in San Francisco, I alluded to Apple’s “Digital Hub” concept. I was actually trying to make a point about how easy it is these days to move digital images from device to device.

But a number of people in the class wanted more information about this “hub” concept … so off we went.

In case you haven’t tripped across this term lately, it’s the notion that the PC is alive and well, and that it resides at the center of your digital universe. Through high speed connectivity such as FireWire, USB, PC cards, and 802.11b, you move multimedia files from cameras, DV recorders, scanners, and MP3 players to Apple (or Sony) computers.

When Steve Jobs first pitched this concept at a MacWorld keynote in 2000, I thought is was mostly marketing hype to assure us that it’s OK to continue to buy Apple hardware. But in the ensuing months, both Apple and Sony have proved they are committed to this concept, and even more important, it does seem valuable to consumers.

How has Apple walked this talk? It started with their putting FireWire and USB connectivity in every computer they make. Then they released, free of charge, software to connect digital devices to their computers. iTunes, iMovie, and iDVD are easy to use and handy. I can move digital photos, movies, and music easily from my devices to my Mac.

Now it looks like Apple is ready to add another device to their digital hub — the rumored iPod will most likely be announced early next week. Some people think it is a FireWire portable that interfaces with iTunes for MP3 playback on the go. We’ll see.

What is clear is that there seems to be some merit to having an Apple or Sony computer (depending on your OS preferences) at the center of your digital universe if you’re a gadget fan who enjoys these toys.

OK, Sony … what do you have up your sleeve?

Do you think Apple and Sony are on to something here?

Related link: https://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7469998-0.html?tag=vid

Scott McNealy and Steve Ballmer took to the stage (separately, mind you) at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2001, continuing their all-too-familiar game of dis and dismiss.
Ballmer: “I think the Sun [Liberty] thing has absolutely zero probability of mattering to the world…and that’s my non-emotional view of the topic.” McNealy: “.NOT, er, .NET — there are _so_ many terms out there.”

Responding to Ballmer’s claims that Microsoft was not invited to participate in the Liberty Alliance, McNealy countered they were indeed invited by United Airlines’ CIO Eric Dean but “may have some email down situation or whatever.” As for AOL’s conspicuous absence from the Liberty roster, McNealy’s response was bumbled avoidance at best.

News.com video has the blow-by-blow.

One of the tools that comes with Visual J# is jbimp, the Java Binary to .NET Assembly Converter. It turns Java bytecode into MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language). Sounds like an innocent tool to help Visual J++ developers expose their .jars and .classes to .NET applications.

As of this writing, .NET doesn’t support applets: I can’t develop a .NET application and run it in my browser. But I am sure that such a thing will come to pass. A .NET applet would look more like an ActiveX control than a Java applet, since there is no VM per-se (IL is JIT-compiled to native code and enjoys extensive runtime support from .NET).

Consider this:

1. J# only supports JDK 1.1.4. This may seem like a major shortcoming, but see #2 and #3.
2. Microsoft is already shipping versions of Windows without a Java VM. If you want to, you can install Microsoft’s VM into IE. That Java VM is also limited to JDK 1.1.4 (the plot thickens).
3. When someone writes a Java applet for general consumption, they want it to run on Internet Explorer and Netscape. Per #2, that applet is going to be targeted to JDK 1.1.4, since that is the latest Java version that supports both browsers!

So, why does Microsoft need a Java VM for Internet Explorer anymore? They
can just add .NET runtime support to IE, and incorporate jbimp into IE. When
IE downloads an applet, it can convert it to MSIL, pre-JIT it into native
code, and then cache it. There will be a penalty the first time an applet is ever loaded on a computer, but subsequent visits to the same applet will be very fast, even if those visits occur between reboots.

Is this phase one of embrace, extend, and extinguish?

See also A First Look at Visual J#.

Related link: https://www.aol-files.com/

AOL-Files is building building a collection of documentation on the mysterious AOL Protocol. The AOL Protocol takes us inside “how the AOL client and server interact with each other, how data is prepared, how it is sent, and how it can be manipulated.” The UnOfficial AIM/OSCAR Protocol Specification hopes “someday become the cononical source of unencumbered information on the AIM/OSCAR protocol suite.” The authors believe that this effort will actually have the effect of promoting AIM usage by opening things up for third-party developers to create better AIM clients, especially for platforms currently suffering sub-par implementations. Oodles of discussion on the AOL-Files Programming Forum and Slashdot.

Related link: https://www.gpsdrawing.com/

GPS Drawing turns your personal GPS trail into art. Meander their gallery of drawings “on water, over land, and in the air” for the likes of: “Berlin to London,” “Single Line Stills,” “Harwell Face,” and “Cutteslow Snail.”

Related link: https://www.applescriptsourcebook.com/applescript/applescript170.html#newfeatures…

With the much ballyhooed (and rightly so, mind you) launch of Mac OS X 10.1, the 1.7 release of AppleScript went all but unnoticed. Most notable new feature: built-in support for Web Services via SOAP and XML-RPC. And be sure to take a gander at BlogScript, an AppleScript/XML-RPC interface to Blogger.

Microsoft’s JUMP to .NET
promises tools to migrate Java
programs to C# as well as support for the Java SDK class library.
When news of Visual J# reached my ears, I had to check it out (update: The Visual J# Beta 1 page is now live).
The first thing I tried was Hello, World:

public class Hello {
  public static void main() {
    System.out.println("Hello, World");
  }
}

The compiler that comes with Visual J# is jc.exe, and it
compiled the program with no complaints:

C:FirstLook>jc Hello.java
Microsoft (R) Visual J# Compiler Version 1.00.3327
for Microsoft (R) .NET CLR version 1.0.2914
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 2000-2001. All rights reserved.
C:FirstLook>Hello.exe
Hello, World

Curious to see what’s going on under the hood, I examined Hello.exe using
ildasm:

  C:\FirstLook>ildasm /text Hello.exe

[...]

.method public hidebysig static void  main() cil managed
{
  .entrypoint
  // Code size       21 (0x15)
  .maxstack  8
  IL_0000:  ldsfld     class [BJLIB]java.io.PrintStream [BJLIB]java.lang.System::'out'
  IL_0005:  ldstr      "Hello, World"
  IL_000a:  call       class [BJLIB]java.lang.String [BJLIB]java.lang.String::fromConstantPoolString(string)
  IL_000f:  callvirt   instance void [BJLIB]java.io.PrintStream::println(class [BJLIB]java.lang.String)
  IL_0014:  ret
} // end of method Hello::main

[...]

Well, there’s some Java types in there, no doubt about that. A peek at
\Program Files\Microsoft Visual J# .NET\Framework\sdk\bjlib.dll
shows there is a whole lot of Java-compatibility going on:

Figure 1. Some familiar package names.

I figured I’d try compiling one more program, so I grabbed the NervousText
applet from the Java distribution and added some scaffolding so I could
compile it into an executable. For good measure, I called into the .NET
Framework Class Libraries to determine the operating system version:

public static void main() {

  Frame f = new Frame(title);
  NervousText n = new NervousText();
  n.init();
  n.start();
  f.add(n);
  f.pack();
  f.show();
}

It worked - freaky! Although the .NET Framework Class Libraries are similar in some ways to Java, this seems like quite a feat to me. At the very least, it was probably a ton of work; writing hundreds of wrapper classes doesn’t seem like the most exciting chore to me. Still, this is weird, a bit useful, and sure to stir up some healthy controversy. For some insight into the work that went into this, see this link. The Microsoft India site has more details.

Figure 2. Jumpin’ Java!

What do you think of Visual J# and its potential impact on luring more Java developers to the Windows OS. How might this affect the use and development of C# as well? Share your thoughts.

Related link: https://www.dotcomscoop.com/riaa1003.html

Yesterday the dynamic RIAA/MPAA duo filed suit against FastTrack, MusicCity and Grokster. In one of two supposedly legitimate memos obtained by Dotcom SCOOP, Hilary Rosen calls for industry action: “It is time to get coordinated and aggressive with the new round of peer to peer services . . . With the imminent launch of legitimate subscription services we have to get our customers back.”

My greatest concern about the flight I had scheduled for Vancouver, BC, had to do with the new airport security rules enacted after the
events on Sept. 11, 2001.

Pamela and I arrived at SFO two and a half hours before our departure
time, and we immediately noticed that there was no activity in front of
the terminals. No more Sky Caps or curbside services — only passengers
moving in and out through the sliding glass doors.

Quiet Inside the Terminal, Too

Once inside the building, the noise was noticeably quieter. SFO today
reminded me more of some of the smaller European airports I’ve passed
through, such as in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the atmosphere was more
subdued.

Tighter Security Than Ever Before

Check-in was easy because our flight wasn’t crowded, but going
through security was more time consuming than usual. We had to show
photo IDs at the check-in point, then go through a much more detailed
search than usual. The line for inspection was the longest I’ve ever
seen at SFO, but we did move along at a reasonable pace.

Those carrying laptop computers, which I wasn’t, had to pull them
out of their cases and have them inspected separately. As before, it’s
always best to keep the computer in sleep mode so it lights up quickly
for the inspector. There’s nothing worse than waiting for a full boot of
Windows just to pass security.

But not having a laptop didn’t spare me completely from scrutiny. The
security people wanted a closer look at my backpack that contained two
Visor handheld computers, a digital camera, a few small boxes housing
accessories, and my two-way text pager.

As luck would have it, my pager received a message during
inspection. The security officer pulled me aside and said, “Sir, I
believe your backpack is vibrating. ” I had taken the pager off my belt
and put it in my backpack so as not to trip the metal detector and draw
too much attention to myself. Obviously my plan had failed.

The message was from a well-wisher hoping that I had a hassle-free
trip through the airport.

A softer, gentler atmosphere

Finally, I was cleared to proceed, and strolled to the boarding area.
Once again I noticed a much softer, gentler atmosphere within the inner
confines of the terminal. We had to show our photo IDs again when
boarding the plane. That was the third time — once at initial check-in,
once while passing through security, and once again when boarding the
plane.

In all honesty, the security on this trip has been at the level I
would have preferred in the first place. Sure, the lines were a little longer,
but we had planned ahead and had plenty of time. I liked the fact that
everyone had to be accounted for inside the airport. I’m under no
illusion that this is a perfect or foolproof system — because it isn’t.
But certainly it prevents easy boarding access by unidentified persons.

Once on the flight, I was able to relocate to a more comfortable seat
that was unoccupied. I hadn’t been able to do that in two years. The
flight attendants were very helpful and in good spirits. They even
served lunch at 2:00 pm. Now when’s the last time you received lunch on
a flight that took off well past lunch time?

Overall, I sensed a return of civility to flying. I think over the
last few years we had revved ourselves up to such a fevered pitch that
we were willing to crush anything or anyone that got in our way. We had
stopped saying “please” and “thank you.” We had stopped looking each
other in the eye. It’s easier to be rude when you don’t make eye
contact.

Not that everything is suddenly rosy in the air. It isn’t. But it is
more human, more accountable, and less taken for granted.

At least that’s the way it seemed today.