WEB INVENTOR FEARS FOR THE FUTURE
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is concerned about future of web

Nov 2 2006 BBC report says Sir Tim Berners-Lee is concerned about the future of the web. Excerpt:

The British inventor of the internet says he is worried about the way it could be used to spread "misinformation and undemocratic forces".

The web has transformed the way many people work, play and do business.

But Sir Tim Berners-Lee told BBC News he fears that, if the way the internet is used is left to develop unchecked, "bad things" could happen.

As a result he wants set up a research project to study the social implications of the web's development.

The changes experienced to date because of the internet are just the start of a more radical transformation of society, he says.

But he is concerned about the way it could end up being used.

His new web science research initiative will be more than just computer science, he insists.

He wants to attract researchers from a range of disciplines to study it as a social as well as technological phenomenon.

Sir Tim, who developed the web in the late 1980s, says of his invention that he was "in the right place at the right time".

NETRESULT EMAILED WARNING TO BLOG
ISP can act upon receipt of cease and desist email

BBC report leads to interesting story at 101greatgoals.blogspot.com

THE HARD DRIVE IS 50 THIS YEAR
Smashing drives is the most efficient method of destroying data

This report tells us 1,000 terabytes is a petabyte, and to remember we're going to hear a lot more of those two words in the next few years.

Oct 7 2006 BBC news report - Future of the hard drive 'secure': The hard drive is 50 this year, we have seen yet more growth in the technologies around it. The one terabyte drive is more or less here, we have perpendicular recording and they are getting smaller all the time.

Without Daniel Bernoulli we would not have a name for the effect that we rely on to make the hard disk work.

The Bernoulli Effect is what happens when a wing moves through the air - it floats. Just like an aeroplane's wing, the read head of a hard disk floats across the top of the disk.

"As the disk spins this lifts the head up off the media," explained Ian Keene of hard drive manufacturers WD.

He added: "Many people think the head is actually touching the media, but the distance between the head and the media is in the distance of 100 angstroms; to give you some idea of what an angstrom is, a human hair is about one million angstroms."

Perpendicular storage

Liam Rainford of hard drive makers Seagate, believes that the operation of a disk drive is quite unique in computer terms.

"The disks spin at up to 15,000 revs per minute. The data is stored on the disk in magnetic form, and each code on the disk has got magnetic poles, north and south.

"In the traditional sense this was stored in longitudinal form, which meant that north and south were side by side on the surface of the disk.

"New breakthroughs have brought us the ability to store that data perpendicularly in the surface of the disk, meaning we have a north and south pole embedded into the surface of the disk."

This new "down through the disk" rather than "along it", perpendicular recording technique has changed the game when it comes to the amount of storage we are going to get from a hard disk; look out for a one terabyte hard disk early next year.

However, perpendicular recording is not the only new technology about. We now have a new and much faster way to connect the disk to the computer - serial ATA (SATA).

It has been around for internal drives for a while but now external SATA, or eSATA, is the hot new way to connect external drives, and will compete with USB and Firewire.

"The capabilities and bandwidth of SATA are significantly greater than those of USB or Firewire," said Liam Rainford.

"I still anticipate that the three are going to co-exist happily together for the foreseeable future."

This is going to be a relief to all the people with USB and Firewire drives, and there are an awful lot of them out there. In the UK alone there is an astonishing amount of storage being sold.

Safety concerns

"Every day we sell one million gigabytes of storage, that is 1,000 terabytes - the equivalent to 1.6 billion digital photographs," said Katie Cohen of computer retailer PC World.

Just in case you do not know, 1,000 terabytes is a petabyte. Get used to those two words because we are going to be hearing an awful lot of them in the next couple of years.

With all this storage, and the opportunity to never throw any of your data away, the issue of security grows.

It is surprisingly difficult to clean your data off a hard disk, and while there are lots of software out there on the web that claims to overwrite all your sensitive data, a lot of people in the business say there is only one way of making the hard disk unreadable - smash it to pieces!

With all this storage comes the responsibility of looking after the data, and that does not simply mean backing up, it means defragmenting, or defragging to the cognoscenti.

"Effectively, what you're doing when you're defragging is you're putting all your data blocks next to each other," said Mac Motraghi of Hitachi.

"[This means] your hard disk doesn't have to go to several different locations trying to find bits of the same file. It improves the ability of your hard disk to supply the right data to the operating system."

Twenty or so years ago a 40 megabyte drive was about the biggest capacity you could buy.

Today we have smaller, faster 500 gigabyte drives. Next year it will be a terabyte - that is a lot of storage, and it is all down to Bernoulli, apparently.

VIRTUAL SCHOOL BEATS REAL THING
I'm just surprised it's taken so long to catch on

Here's a great idea. From the BBC 28 Sep 2006:

Back in January, Shan Jayran and her husband John Davies opened First College, an online high school.

Among its 22 students is 12-year-old Zack from Grimsby.

He was home-educated from the age of seven after suffering panic attacks and bullying at school.

Now he logs on to his computer at 0900 BST, Monday to Thursday, chats in the "main hall" with classmates before entering his virtual classroom, protected by a password, half an hour later for his first lesson.

"It's different from normal school. I'm quite enjoying it," he said.

"Like any other kid, I don't like the homework. But the teachers are nice and I just make sure I have a good internet connection."

Classmate Natalie, 13, was taught at a private school in London until last year.

She loves her new school - the teachers, new friends and using her computer.

"At my previous school, teachers were bullies and kids were bullies in the playground," she says.

"I didn't learn much. I used to be afraid of maths because my teacher was really horrible.

"Now you feel more confident because it is texting instead of speaking out loud and standing up.

"My old friends thought it was really cool but their parents thought 'internet school? - I don't know about that'."

"I don't think I would ever go back to real school again."

There are other obvious appeals - no uniform, no school journey, shorter days, Fridays off, no rushing, no heavy bags and not being bustled about by large, intimidating crowds.

TIMETABLE
0900 Log on to the internet, chat to classmates in the "school hall"
0930 Classes start
1030 Break
1100 Lesson 2
1200 Lunch
1300 Last class
1400 "Home time"

"It puts them in control," said Ms Jayran, who sees the focus of the £594-a-term school as being as much about creating a courteous community and building confidence as about teaching subjects.

But it is neither a school for problem children nor a tutoring service, she says.

"It's a substitute. I'm not saying that ordinary schools are going away, but there are certainly going to be a lot more of these schools."

She sees it as an option for:

bullied children who need their confidence rebuilding
families living abroad who want an English education for their child
children with physical or personal health barriers
children who have been home-educated
On the curriculum is English, maths, history, geography, combined sciences and French with the option of taking International GCSEs.

In addition, they study philosophy and society, art and web design and Spanish is about to be introduced.

There are four teachers who teach up to eight hours a week and can work from home or anywhere with access to a computer.

It may sound straightforward, but Ms Jayran admits she has already had to sack two teachers for being "too boring".

"They were just copying stuff off the internet. We demand a great deal. If people wanted standard school teaching, they would not be coming to us."

Methods for rewarding, disciplining and resolving conflict are among the peculiarities that come with teaching online.

For good work, teachers might ping across a picture of a cute kitten or a robot.

They have the option of reprimanding a student privately - by clicking on their username only - or in public in a shared access window where everyone can read his or her excuses.

Resolving conflict takes on a whole new dimension as every interaction between students and teachers is on record.

But while students seem happy at virtual school and parents say they are pleased with their progress, sitting at a computer for five hours a day does have some side-effects.

There is no physical exercise or eye contact, little verbal and physical communication and no chance to learn how to handle the bustle and bullying in the playground.

Ms Jayran said there were plans to encourage more use of microphones in English and French, even to introduce webcams.

So far though, these have been met with some resistance by students, happier quietly texting and retreating from the pressures of speaking up in class.

There were plans too for a summer camp but poor take-up meant it was cancelled.

Ms Jayran said a lot of the issues to do with socialising and physical exercise fell to the parents.

Natalie's mother Hilary, who also has a son at the school, said it had not proved difficult for them.

"They have got a lot of friends who live locally and they get exercise at weekends.

"I can't really think of any problems with it. To be honest, I'm just surprised it's taken so long to catch on."

SONY MYLO
Shinto ritual for pruning Shii Tree

Joi Ito's Web: It's mylo:

The Sony mylo ships in the US September 15. You can pre-order them on Amazon.com for $349.99.

Also, see Joi Ito's beautiful blog entry:
Shinto ritual for pruning our Shii Tree
September 01, 2006

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
From an American blogger

Here is a copy of a blog entry by Casey the Great, a 21 year old male living in Asheville, North Carolina, USA, June 05, 2006. I am filing it here as an example of an interesting way to present facts to people who do not like to spend time reading heavily worded material relating to complex matters and issues.

Stole This From a Friend of Mine... Food for thought

NOW IF ONLY THE MAIN PRESS WOULD PICK THIS UP

Possibly John Glenn's Finest Moment

Regardless of your political views, this certainly gives us all food for thought.

Sen. Glenn was so quick on his feet. When you speak from the heart and with passion, you never know what comes out.

SENATOR JOHN GLENN SAID: Things that make you think a little.......

1. There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January.....

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January.

That's just one American City, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.

2. When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following;

FDR...led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did.

From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman...finished that war and started one in Korea,

North Korea never attacked us.

From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy....started the Vietnam conflict in 1962.

Vietnam never attacked us.

Johnson...turned Vietnam into a quagmire.

From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton...went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent,

Bosnia never attacked us.

He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing.

Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

3. In the two years since terrorists attacked us President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya , Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound.

That was a 51-day operation.

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick killing a woman.

Wait, there's more......................

Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty Impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the armed services do.

What they do for a living.

This is a typical, though sad, example of what some who have never served think of our military.

JOHN GLENN ON THE SENATE FLOOR Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:13

Senator Howard Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn: "How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?"

Senator Glenn: "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.

I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions.

I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

I ask you to go with me ... as I went the other day... to a veteran's hospital and look those men - with their mangled bodies - in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold a job!

You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their Dads didn't hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell ME that those people didn't have a job?

I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum; you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men - SOME MEN - who held REAL jobs. And they required a dedication to a purpose - and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.

I HAVE held a job, Howard! What about you?"

For those who don't remember - During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney representing the Communist Party in the USA.

If you can read this, thank a teacher....

If you are reading it in English, thank a Veteran.

PICTURES OF THE $100 LAPTOP
1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

From May 23, 2006 blog entry by Pablo Halkyard at PSD blog - The World Bank Group:

Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel's sub-$400 entry and AMD's $185 version.

Note, at the entry a techie commented: "Awesome. I want one. What is there to stop gringos from buying them all to have their recipes on the kitchen or to use as poolside or beach laptop?"

Click here to learn about One Laptop per Child and view pictures of original green prototype with hand crank.



Photo: 1st working model (OLPC) - taken at 11:45 AM on May 23, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu - Uploaded to flickr by Pete Barr-Watson

WEB INVENTOR SIR TIM BERNERS-LEE
Warns of 'dark' net

Today, a friend emailed me this BBC report with the message: "This is the man you and I are so grateful to/for. I'm always astonished, every day, to consider the ways in which the WWW has changed my outlook on life."

The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said.

Recent attempts in the US to try to charge for different levels of online access web were not "part of the internet model," he said in Edinburgh.

He warned that if the US decided to go ahead with a two-tier internet, the network would enter "a dark period".

Sir Tim was speaking at the start of a conference on the future of the web.

"What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web," he said.

"Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring."

An equal net

The British scientist developed the web in 1989 as an academic tool to allow scientists to share data. Since then it has exploded into every area of life.

However, as it has grown, there have been increasingly diverse opinions on how it should evolve.

The World Wide Web Consortium, of which Sir Tim is the director, believes in an open model.

This is based on the concept of network neutrality, where everyone has the same level of access to the web and that all data moving around the web is treated equally.

This view is backed by companies like Microsoft and Google, who have called for legislation to be introduced to guarantee net neutrality.

The first steps towards this were taken last week when members of the US House of Representatives introduced a net neutrality bill.

Pay model

But telecoms companies in the US do not agree. They would like to implement a two-tier system, where data from companies or institutions that can pay are given priority over those that cannot.

This has particularly become an issue with the transmission of TV shows over the internet, with some broadband providers wanting to charge content providers to carry the data.

The internet community believes this threatens the open model of the internet as broadband providers will become gatekeepers to the web's content.

Providers that can pay will be able to get a commercial advantage over those that cannot.

There is a fear that institutions like universities and charities would also suffer.

The web community is also worried that any charges would be passed on to the consumer.

Optimism

Sir Tim said this was "not the internet model". The "right" model, as exists at the moment, was that any content provider could pay for a connection to the internet and could then put any content on to the web with no discrimination.

Speaking to reporters in Edinburgh at the WWW2006 conference, he argued this was where the great benefit of the internet lay.

"You get this tremendous serendipity where I can search the internet and come across a site that I did not set out to look for," he said.

A two-tier system would mean that people would only have full access to those portions of the internet that they paid for and that some companies would be given priority over others.

But Sir Tim was optimistic that the internet would resist attempts to fragment.

"I think it is one and will remain as one," he said.

The WWW2006 conference will run until Friday at the International Conference Centre in Edinburgh.