TECH: Open Source & Open Standards … the nerd’s way out of the licensing swamp!?!

Friday, July 28, 2006

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/07/four_big_ideas_about_open_sour.html

***Begin Quote***

The architecture of participation beyond software.

Asymmetric Competition.

How Software As a Service Changes The Points of Business Leverage

Open Data. One day soon, tomorrow’s Richard Stallman will wake up and
***End Quote***

I’m not sure I’d say it that way. Here are the dimensions that I would use.
(1) “Open Source” kills the expensive software license business model. Think Open Office as opposed to Microsoft Office. The BSA can take a hike.
(2) “Open Standards”, the xmil-izing of the planet, kills locking people in by holding their data in a proprietary format. An example is how OPMLs have launched RSS readers with easy transfer of reading lists between readers. Think of your Outlook Contacts  exported into a series of VCF files and import into any contact manager.

(3) “Participation” allows an ordinary store of data (e.g., book titles) to be developed into a store of knowledge (e.g., what do others think and say about a particular title). If there was reputation, then it’s be wisdom (i.e., who is knowledgeable about the topic).   Think Amazon as opposed to Barnes & Noble.

(4) “Service” that satisfies any user’s need at a reasonable price can be turned into a lucrative revenue stream. Think Mozy as opposed to doing your own backups when you remember. The more transparent you can make it then bigger the hit. It doesn’t even have to be cheaper. Think GoToPC as opposed to Microsoft’s Remote Desktop.

(5) “Micro payments”, that is the ability to charge a hundreth of a cent for something, will blow the lid off the marketplaces of content or service. Notice that suing the Customer like the MPAA is doing is so counter productive that it has to be a jugundo blunder.  If I had a virtual credit card that would allow me to pay hundredths or a thousandth of a cent, then I wouldn’t care about paying for certain services or content. Then, when you get a million page hits, you are not depending upon advertisers.

(6) “Crypto” is over due. My email should automagically establish a private conversation with my counterparts. It could allow, for example, bank statements over email with zero risk. It could put spammers out of business. The ISPs have to help support the key exchanges. People can exchange keys personally to jumpstart the process. Lame attempts like Vangard’slogon change wouldn’t be necessary.
IMHO

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Medicine as an exact science

Friday, July 28, 2006

Frau Reinke in the hospital relates the following tale:

***Begin Quote***

They gave me my morning meds, and they told me that they don’t stock the 320 mg version of diovan, so they gave me six 60 mg pills.
***End Quote***

Hmmm, 6*60=320?

Interesting what a precise science medicine is!

2 Comments | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Cops, our servents, don’t like their pix taken!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.lp.org/yourturn/archives/000396.shtml

***Begin Quote***

Snap a picture and get arrested? It just happened to Philadelphia’s Neffy Cruz.

***End Quote***

We need IMMEDIATE legislation at all levels of gubamint to reinforce that the police have no expectation of “privacy”. If our servants, our employees, and our politicians are immune to supervision, then we are on the road to serfdom!

Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH: VWBBie (Verizon Wireless Broad Band)is getting bad press.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/verizon_unlimited.html

***Begin Quote***

unlimited

***End Quote***

Interesting that “unlimited” is really limited!

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Is there a bigger rip off than tv and phone rental in the hospital?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Saint Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick New jersey charges 450 cents per day for the TV rental. That works out to 135$ per month. The TV ain’t nothing grand. The content provision is poor. Talk about sticking it to some poor people. Phone service is unavailable in the ICU. But, I suspect it will also be 450 cents per day for unlimited incoming and unlimited local outgoing calls. It can’t cost anywhere near that. I wonder how much this all adds to the bottom line of the hospital? For laughs, I think I’ll complain to the BPU. That should be a real waste of time.

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Hospitals are no place if you are sick or need a rest.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Frau is in the hospital. Once again, I take up my keyboard to rant about what passes for “health care” today. Of course, I blame it ultimately on the gubamint. I have some direct and indirect reasoning. My rant goes like this:
(1) A hospital is basically a hotel for sick people. One should get “sicker” by something you catch in the hospital. I remember reading that Doctor’s ties were a residual source of infection, reinfection, and cross patient infection. Seems like we need a new “uniform” for doctors, nurses, orderlies, and housekeeping. A suit and a tie doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence. In my hospital, I’d have turtlenecks. And, colors to differentiate roles.

(2) When I go to Marriott, Hilton, or such, everyone is falling all over to satisfy me. When I pay at the checkout, they are interested if I’ll be coming back. Hotel rates are very competitive. At the hospital, no one much gives a rip. It’s an a la carte process with no holistic care. If a nurse needs to take everyone’s bp, then wake up the patient sleeping to get one’s tasks done. That wouldn’t happen at the local Marriott. Meals, cleaning, testing, doctor’s visits, all revolve around the service provider; not the client!

(3) The gubamint’s wage and price controls in WWII led companies to offer “medical insurance” as a back door way to evade the controls. That one thing has done more to mess up American medical care than anything I can think of. I remember when my Mom had to pay cash for my appendix operation. Care was first rate. Everyone was so helpful. That’s the thing we forget, the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules. In this case, it’s the gubamint and the insurance companies making the rules.

(4) The gubmint, via its Medicare and Medicaid rules, has inserted itself directly into the medical decisions of everyone’s care. Everyone! Even if you’re not covered by Medicare / Medicaid, they establish a standard of care. The insurance companies use that. They have coding and such that they piggy back on. Needless to say it’s a mess.

(5) So in a Libertarian America, the government would have NO role in medicine. The truly free marketplace would serve us all. You have the GOLD and make your own rules. One can foresee certain OBVIOUS market accommodations. Hospitals would be more like a hotel and less like a prison. Doctors would be holistic orchestra leaders working at keeping you healthy.  Insurance companies would be working to satisfy you, not your employer. Hence, the premiums would reflect your needs; into the government’s; not the employers.

(6) True charity care would be provided. Just not by the gubamint at the point of a gun. Remember that hospitals were CREATED by the religious and fraternal organizations. As were insurance companies. I remember when you bought Life Insurance from the Knights of Columbus. We need to return to that simpler time, when we VOLUNTARILY organized to solve problems.

(7) If one looks at the inefficiency of a government program or a government-regulated industry, one has a HUGE infrastructure cost of checking and rechecking. One analogy for medical care I read was give the government a dollar for 25 cents worth of service that they decide you can have. Let me keep my buck and I’ll bet I can get more than 25 cents worth of service for it. And, it will be the services that I want. And, people will be falling over themselves to have me pick them.

The free market is people having their needs and wants satisfied by greedy people in a very efficient and effective manner. No checking needed. No overhead required.

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: An interesting way to treat the menatlly ill … lie to them, beat them …?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8825

***Begin Quote***

A man was beaten by workers of an electric company after they, together with the police and passers-by, persuaded him off a power tower as he planned to commit suicide, Beijing Times reported today.

***End Quote***

I’m not so sure that if I’m the next nut job there that I’d beleive promises made next time. It such a tragedy the way we treat the mentally ill. If there is such a thing as “mental illness”? Fine line between genius and madness. The validity of the “insanity defense”. It all flows from our lack of respect for, appreciation of, the value of life.

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH: VANGARD changes its logon!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

***Begin Quote***

Protecting your information is very important to Vanguard. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing significant security enhancements to better safeguard your information on Vanguard.com®. These changes will help ensure that only you—or those you’ve designated to act on your behalf—can access your information online.
***End Quote***

They’re basically splitting the  logon and password screens and putting a user selectable picture on the second page. I guess if you don’t see your animal, then you’re not supposed to put in your password. I don’t understand how this prevents a man-in-the-middle attack. It does prevent a dumb phishing but not a sophisticated one. If you present yourself at the phish site, it can quickly open a connect to Vangard, present you credential, take the screen, show it to you, and you’ll give them your password. It’ll probably take a day of a good coder’s time to beat that one. And, it breaks all teh login tools that people, like me, currently use. ARGHH!

2 Comments | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH: “CARDSCAN” … a great tool … is acquired by Rubbermaid. What will change?!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Dear F,

Did you ever hear the expression, “The more things change, the more they stay the same?” Well, once again I am delighted to deliver great news about the exciting changes that are happening at CardScan – and to reassure you that CardScan will remain the company you’ve come to know and trust.

CardScan joins DYMO as part of Sanford Brands, the office products division of Newell Rubbermaid.
After 13 years as an independently owned company, CardScan has been acquired by Newell Rubbermaid, a giant in the field of consumer products and owner of some of the best known brands in the world. As the newest member of its Office Products division, Sanford Brands, CardScan becomes a part of DYMO and joins such famous brands as Sharpie, Waterman, Papermate and Expo.

Greater opportunity for us to deliver even greater products and services for you.
While we are proud of what we’ve accomplished as an independent company, we believe that becoming part of Newell Rubbermaid will give us the best of all possible worlds – the continued freedom to develop better products for our customers and the much larger resources to bring those products to market more quickly and support them more thoroughly. As always, innovation will continue to drive us to break new ground in contact management as we continue to provide our usual high standards of technical support and service.

Thank you for your past and continuing support.
I hope you join us in celebrating our exciting news and that you will continue to turn to CardScan for superior contact management products. As a thank you and a welcome to the Sanford Brands family, we invite you to a special offer from DYMO to CardScan customers. And, as always, if you have comments or suggestions about CardScan, feel free to contact me directly at pweyman@cardscan.com.

Sincerely,

Peter Weyman
President
CardScan, Inc.

Please don’t reply to this email. The mailbox is not attended. To reach me, please send an email to pweyman@cardscan.com.

CardScan, Inc. 25 First Street Suite 107 Cambridge, MA 02141

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH: Changing the model. Change the tech. Change our thinking!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Journalist Dilemma

July 23, 2006
The Journalist Dilemma
***Begin Quote***

I definitely agree with the absurdity of having thousands of journalists all covering one single-dateline story, whether it’s a convention or a Michael Jackson trial. But I wonder, too, how this obsession with new approaches to media — citizen journalism, community interaction, local coverage vs non-local — is going to look a few years down the track. For sure, there’s a lot to be said for breaking down the barriers between newspaper and community between professional and amateur reporter/photographer/editor. But this movement will also have some heavy long term effects that aren’t really discussed in this blogocratic world.

***End Quote***

I find little that is truly “local”. I find a lot of tech that is all over the field. I find little that changes my thinking. That’s the most valuable. In the DIKW scale, I get a ton of D and very little W. But I guess that is to be expected.

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »