re-nightmares.com

Once I put it down and started working, I was extremely pleased with the new multitouch trackpad, which incorporates a range of gesture controls that will be familiar to
iPhone users. It’s a smart move on Apple’s part; not only are the gestures easy to learn, but they’re difficult to forget, making it far more likely that users will stick with Apple products once they’ve become used to the interface. Writers and students will be pleased as well with the MacBook Air’s keyboard, which is full size and similar to that of the standard MacBook. (It actually feels the same as the keyboard found on regular MacBooks, but I couldn’t quite be sure without a direct side-by-side comparison.) In terms of interaction, the MacBook Air is probably the first 3-pound notebook that hasn’t asked users to make some kind of compromise.

MacBook Air: I've eaten thicker slices of pizza.

The multitouch trackpad uses gestures similar to the iPhone.

Say what you will about Steve Jobs, but when he pulled Apple’s latest laptop out of a standard inter-office envelope I stood in awe–of both his showmanship and of the laptop’s remarkably slim design. Though the MacBook Air is not quite the thinnest laptop ever, it is among the thinnest we’ve seen (the Fujistu LifeBook Q2010 and Toshiba Portege R500 both measure 0.8 inch thick, but neither tapers to 0.16 inch like the Air).

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

You can get the full hands-on experience by watching my First Look video of the MacBook Air at CNET TV.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

That’s not to say users won’t have to compromise at all. Everyone around me seems to have a different take on the MacBook Air’s missing features. For example, I don’t care about the optical drive but bemoan the lack of Ethernet and cellular connections, while my video team is shocked that the laptop lacks FireWire and my business-minded friends can’t believe there’s no expansion slot. But in my mind the MacBook Air is hard to beat if you’re primarily looking for an eye-catching, extremely portable laptop that’s (relatively) competitively priced.

These data can’t really convey the MacBook Air’s wow factor–thus the envelope trick. Yet even with that visual I wasn’t quite prepared for how very slender this laptop would be. When I picked it up, my mind took a few seconds to get past the incongruity of such a broad, bright 13.3-inch display in a package the weight and thickness of a Dr. Seuss hardcover.

I sort of wonder if that is in any way related to a feature that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told me about back in August 2006 that was supposed to make it possible for Wikipedia’s home page to be open to the public again.

Update (4:03pm): I got an email this afternoon from Jimmy Wales who confirms that the flagged revisions feature on Wikipedia is exactly the feature he told me about back in 2006. The only difference, he said, is that back then, it was called “stable versions.” But he said, that name was too confusing.

Among other things, the announcement said the money would go specifically to a new Wikipedia feature called “flagged revisions,” which will “allow experienced editors to publicly and visibly grade the quality status of articles–in effect, functioning as a kind of ‘nutrition labeling’ for Wikipedia content.”

The money will go toward supporting “Wikimedia’s organizational development and help to increase the quality of its content and the reach of its services.”

Talk about hot foundation-on-foundation action.

Perhaps not, but it seems there might be some similarities in the functionality.

On Tuesday, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced it was giving the Wikimedia Foundation–which runs Wikipedia–$3 million.

Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case–including the mere fact that I received an NSL–from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie.

“According to current and former intelligence
officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of
domestic e-mails and Internet searches.”

This builds on what we learned the previous week, when The Washington Post revealed that the primary motivation for the White House’s wiretapping immunity demands is to protect those firms that assisted with illegal, mass-scale surveillance of e-mail traffic.

Careful wording
My original question to Google was, “Is Google sharing ‘huge volumes’ of
search records with the government?” I never asked about the NSA’s
Terrorist Surveillance Program specifically.

Continued concerns

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed the true extent of the NSA’s surveillance system:

However, the biggest problem is search. Google offers no way for its customers to search the Internet without an evil ISP (such as AT&T) from snooping in on the traffic. Google could very easily enable SSL search sessions, but has not taken any steps to do so.

“Google was not part of the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

When asked about the webmail security problem, and which steps customers should take to protect their search traffic from snooping Internet service providers, Google’s spokesperson directed me to the company’s much ridiculed YouTube Privacy channel.

Is that enough to reassure you?

Google has now taken the interesting step to become the first major Internet company to deny helping the NSA. In an on-the-record e-mail with a company spokesperson on Friday, I was told that:

The owner of an ISP who received one of these secret orders explained the significant restrictions placed upon him in a letter to The Washington Post back in 2007.

I spent a few minutes browsing through the channel, but couldn’t find any specific advice on protecting myself from illegal wiretaps and government surveillance. YouTube seems to be a great place to find videos of skateboarding dogs, but not such a great source of privacy tips.

If Google was obligated to give up search/e-mail records, it is likely
that this request would be made via a Patriot Act authorized National Security Letter. A recent Journalarticle confirmed as much, stating that
the information gained from National Security letters ended up in the
gigantic NSA databases. But recipients of those letters may not be
allowed to tell anyone about it, and may in fact be forced to lie.

In any case, on January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that the Terrorist Surveillance Program would not be reauthorized by the president, but would be subjected to quasi-judicial oversight. So the Terrorist Surveillance Program, at least by that name, no longer exists, and Google could be actively handing over millions of e-mails, while the statement made by its PR people would be completely true.

It’s worth pointing out that Google has stood up to the feds when they
demanded search records a couple years back–but this was the DOJ, not
the NSA.

Google has stated it didn’t help the NSA search your e-mails. More
specifically the company denies participating in the NSA’s Terrorist
Surveillance Program. But the company’s carefully worded denial might not be enough to reassure savvy readers.

What if Google’s PR people are telling the truth? What if Google really didn’t help the NSA, and that the spooks are collecting millions of search records via wiretaps placed on the Internet backbone?

As Salon’s Glenn Greenwald has explained, the Bush administration has been very careful with its use of the term “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” Many snooping activities, some of which were clearly illegal, do not come under this definition. Simply put, Google could have handed over a copy of every search request and every e-mail sent by a Gmail user to the U.S. government and it would still be able to quite correctly deny participating in the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

The problem remains that Google is not doing a single thing to protect its customers from this kind of large-scale surveillance. While the company supports SSL-encrypted Webmail sessions, it does little to advertise it, and has taken no steps to turn it on by default.

If this poor gentleman had to lie to his girlfriend and family, it’s
possible that Google, if it did receive a FBI National Security
Letter, might be placed in a similar position.

Google is now the first of the major search engines and e-mail providers to make a firm statement on the issue of the National Security Agency’s wholesale surveillance of Internet content.

For those of you who care more about your privacy than cute YouTube videos, I highly recommend the Tor anonymous web proxy, as well as the Customize Google Firefox browser extension.

“Silverlight for the
iPhone is, of course, interesting,” he said. “I can’t say there’s been extensive discussion with Guy’s old boss.”

“We’ve licensed ActiveSync for a while. That’s been an option that’s been available to Apple,” Ballmer said. The company has already licensed the technology to other rivals, including Palm and Nokia. “It was certainly an option we knew Apple might take advantage of.”

“It’s a good business, if you can make it,” Ballmer said.

Ballmer was also asked to reprise his Monkey Boy dance, this time touting Web developers. He complied. (Watch the video here.)

The session concluded with Kawasaki saying he knew Ballmer really wanted a MacBook Air. “If you ever want a discount, I have friends,” he said.

At Mix '08, Ballmer was asked to reprise his famed 'Monkey Boy' dance, this time touting Web developers. He complied.

He was asked whether, given Apple’s iPhone announcement, Microsoft was trying to get Silverlight on the Apple phone.

Ballmer brings back the Monkey Boy dance.

(Credit:
Ina Fried/News.com )

(Credit:
Ina Fried/News.com )

LAS VEGAS–If the jabs from venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki weren’t enough, Steve Ballmer took a bunch of no-holds-barred queries from the audience at Mix ‘08.

He also said it was unclear whether Apple’s business model, which takes 30 percent of iPhone application revenue, would allow for royalty-free distribution of Silverlight. (Apple has said it will allow free applications.) He also noted that Apple might be taking too large a slice, grabbing “30 percent of every bit of revenue.”

Later on, he was asked about Apple’s license of the ActiveSync protocol that connects mobile devices to Microsoft’s Exchange Server.

Getty will keep the Jupiterimages brand and will augment its collection of imagery with Getty stock, the company said. It’s unclear, though, what will come of the two companies’ royalty-free microstock sites, iStockphoto and Stockxpert.

The consolidation reflects tough times sweeping the stock-art business–times that led Getty to go private earlier this year in a $2.4 billion acquisition by Hellman & Friedman.

And the times aren’t getting any easier. Gary Shenk, chief executive of Getty’s top rival, Corbis, said Saturday at the PhotoPlus Expo that it will cut the royalty rate it pays photographers for rights-managed images, according to Photo District News.

“We’ll be able to discuss questions like that when the deal closes,” said Kelly Thompson, iStockphoto’s chief operating officer, in a forum posting after the acquisition plan was announced.

In one of the larger consolidation moves that have been sweeping the stock art business, Getty Images has agreed to acquire Jupiterimages, a subsidiary of Jupitermedia, for $96 million in cash, the companies said.

I had the opportunity to see Wynton Marsalis perform with the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last night in Seattle, and it was an absolutely stellar performance, with great song selection (Marsalis’s own “The Holy Ghost” was a standout) and some of the most incredible technical playing I’ve ever heard–they did Duke Ellington’s “Braggin’ in Brass,” which contains a trombone part in which each player plays a note or two in sequence, together creating this fast complicated line. (Listen here–that part starts around the -2:06 mark.) I’ve heard from some jazz fans that Wynton’s a little too stiff or formal for their tastes, but that wasn’t my experience at all–he even walked back on stage for an impromptu second encore vamp with only the piano, bass, and drums backing him up.

Jazz performances lend themselves to live recordings–setlists change nightly (Marsalis announces his setlist from the stage as the show goes on) and improvisation is the rule rather than a rarity. I would have been happy to buy a recording of this show or last month’s Return to Forever performance. But so far, I don’t see jazz musicians embracing the practice of recording their shows and selling them–something that’s become pretty common with jam bands like Widespread Panic. A few acts, like Willie Nelson, even sell USB memory sticks containing a recording of the show right at the door as you’re leaving.

I would have been happy to buy a recording of last night's performance by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (shown here).

Rights clearance might be one problem: most of the Marsalis set consisted of songs by other composers, some from the orchestra, others long-passed like Duke Ellington. Figuring out how to split the sale proceeds from a live performance among all these rights holders might be a problem–something that rock bands, who tend to perform mostly their own material, don’t face. Then again, every Widespread Panic show contains at least one cover, and they seem to have figured out how to disburse the proceeds. So I hope the jazz world will begin to embrace on-the-spot live recordings soon–I want to give them more of my money, if they’ll let me.

(Credit: Wynton Marsalis Web site)

Zoomii reminds me a little bit of Shelfari, a bookmarking tool to show other people what you’re reading. The difference is that Zoomii skips your friends and goes straight for the wisdom of the crowds–aka the estimated 15 percent of the book-buying public who go to Amazon to get their reading material.

If you’re not one of the cool kids with a Kindle, the good news is that paper books are still quite popular and less likely to be taken at gunpoint by muggers. The sad truth is that browsing through them on the Web is not nearly as fun as loitering in a bookstore (or on the Kindle), which is why Zoomii was created.

One thing to note is that the site is running pretty slow with
Firefox 3 for some reason. If you have an earlier version or are using another popular browser it’s wicked fast.

Zoomii is a virtual bookstore with simple bookshelves that highlight Amazon.com’s massive collection. It’s set up to work just like Google Maps. You can zoom in and out, and simply drag your mouse around from shelf to shelf. Included are best sellers, sci-fi, and every other conceivable book genre. When you find something that looks attractive you simply click on it and it’ll grab all of the info it can through Amazon’s API. To actually read the reviews you’ll have to click off-site and back to Amazon; the same goes for payments.

[via The AWS blog]

One of the experts in the article points out that parents often use their child’s identity because of their own bad credit. Strangers pilfer identifying information through mail, trash, and poorly secured forms (say, at a school or doctor’s office).

We need to watch what others are saying about us online, and what information we are giving out. Many websites, even legitimate ones, are not in compliance with COPPA, the law that requires verifiable parental consent to collect personal information from kids under age 13. I am researching this topic in greater depth for a separate post, but in the meantime, it makes sense for us require our kids to ask permission before registering for any web site. If you feel uncomfortable sharing the information, don’t. The extent of data mining, and how that information is used, is not fully known yet.

Everybody should review their credit reports with the three major credit bureaus, which you can do free once year.

The South Carolina Now website has a good article on this topic, with links to many resources.

Some basic precautions start with the idea of paying attention, investigating unusual occurrences such as a young child receiving loan or credit card offers in the mail, and building in precautions like investing in a home office shredder.

Identity theft creates yet another issue for parents to add to their list of important tasks, but this is definitely a case where an ounce of prevention is well worth the effort.

Adults are increasingly aware of the risks of identity theft, but how many of us think about protecting our children’s identities? This is an issue that we should be thinking about from birth, when baby registries, online birth announcements, and even the “Stork News” sign in the front yard expose kids’ personal information–name gender, date of birth, and home address–to the wider world.

Children who get their identities stolen may not know for years, until they grow up and go to apply for a job, student loan, or credit card themselves. You can imagine what a mess that would be. It is important to periodically monitor our kids’ credit reports to make sure there is not any strange activity going on.

Oracle and Intel jump on a cloud

Google releases final Android programming kit

The Android software developer kit will allow programmers to create applications that will run on Android phones, even before T-Mobile starts selling the first Android-powered G1 on October 22.

Senator warns of DTV-transition ‘crisis’

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Today’s stories:

Cisco ramps up collaboration software portfolio

Digg raises $28.7 million in Series C round

Ning closes in on 500,000 users

Digg has raised another round of funding–no mean feat in this economy. But not everyone in the Web 2.0 crowd has had such luck. Webware editor in chief Rafe Needleman explains why there are new clouds hovering over a market that has enjoyed a remarkable run.

‘Mad Men’ star leads Yahoo’s pitch to Madison Avenue

An Oakland Raiders executive went ballistic in front of a room full of reporters–well, no big deal about that. It happens all the time in sports. But wait, we’re in the Internet world where EVERYONE is watching.

Listen now:

Ah, but the on-air talent, well, it’s better than anything on commercial AM or FM, by a long shot. The fire-breathing Liberal political talk channel, “Sirius Left,” crushes its ever lamer terrestrial radio counterpart, Air America, and you conservatives can feast on the Sirius Patriot channel. For everybody else, there’s Howard Stern, Martha Stewart and NASCAR.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Sirius’ programming, but I hate the sound. It’s grungy, harsh, with no actual high frequencies and muddy bass. The music’s dynamics are squashed flat as Kansas so it sounds like a low bit MP3. Digital smigital, Sirius sounds awful, way worse than FM radio.

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)

The Jay Thomas Show blows Howard away; he’s on the Sirius Stars channel. Jay’s show mixes current events and politics with beauty queens and all sorts of wackos. Jay’s a really funny guy.

But squeezing so many channels through a limited bandwidth pipe, the sound suffers. Maybe, just maybe if the XM/Sirius merger goes through the combined bandwidth will give us better sound. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

On the music side I’m a huge fan of Sirius Disorder, their all mixed up, rock, alternate, jazz, world, whatever channel. The morning DJ, Ghosty, is an odd duck, and David Johansen (he of the New York Dolls) serve up wildly disorganized shows. Over on the Underground Garage channel, Andrew Loog Oldham (the Rolling Stones first producer) spews trivia and fascinating stories amidst spinning Nancy Sinatra, the Ramones, Radiohead, Muddy Waters with music from the fifties to the present. Looking for uncensored rap and hip hop, reggae, blues, country, jazz, world music–Sirius is probably playing it, without commercials. Point is, if you have eclectic taste, Sirius has the tunes.