NewsScan Daily, 22 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 22 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       TV on Your Cell Phone
       Descent From Privacy: A 'Slippery Slope'
       Intel Cancels Plans for Projection-TV Chip
       Number of Domestic Robots to Increase Seven-Fold
       Google on a Global Mission
       Ballmer Says Hackers Getting Smarter

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Tacitus
       Mailbag: The World As We Find It

TV ON YOUR CELL PHONE
     A new Texas Instruments chip for cell phones will allow viewers to
watch live TV broadcasts on their handsets. Industry analyst Neil Strother
of InStat/MDR thinks that TV phones could prove popular in mass transit
systems, airports and among young consumers, who might pay for subscriptions
or pay by the minute. "We know that Americans love TV, and if this is
delivered at the right price, it will be a winner. I think people will graze
in smaller chunks -- maybe they'll look at a weather forecast or they'll
check sports reports."
(AP/USA Today 21 Oct 2004)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2004-10-21-talk-and-watch_x.
htm>

DESCENT FROM PRIVACY: A 'SLIPPERY SLOPE'
     Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, warns: "Most
consumers don't fully understand the tradeoffs they're making with privacy."
As an example, she argues that the potential widespread use of the VeriChip
-- a tiny radio transmitter inserted under a person's skin -- is "a
nightmare situation" for privacy, because at first workers might be induced
to wear the devices simply to get high-security jobs but that eventually the
transmitters would be much more broadly required: "All of a sudden it
becomes mandatory for certain classes of people. I just see this as an
extremely slippery slope."(Christian Science Monitor 21 Oct 2004)
<http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/1021/p13s01-stct.html>

INTEL CANCELS PLANS FOR PROJECTION-TV CHIP
     Intel has canceled a project to develop a liquid-on-crystal silicon
(LCoS) chip for projection TVs. Intel executive Bill Calder says: "We looked
at the investment required, the returns and the timetable to get to those
returns, and we decided it's better for us to focus our resources in other
areas." Analysts say that Intel's move into the market would have made
big-screen TVs less expensive, and might have had the same kind of market
impact that microprocessors had on the spread of personal computers over the
past 30 years. (AP/Los Angeles Times 21 Oct 2004)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology10oct21,1,5987065.story?
coll=sns-ap-toptechnology>

NUMBER OF DOMESTIC ROBOTS TO INCREASE SEVEN-FOLD
    The U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey predicts that the use of robots
for such domestic chores as mowing lawns and vacuuming floors will surge
sevenfold by 2007, as the result of steadily dropping prices. Sales of
window-washing and pool-cleaning robots are also set to take off. Colin
Angle of iRobot says, "We are just at a point where robots are becoming
affordable... and some of them can actually do real work." The World
Robotics Survey predicts that by the end of this decade robots will "also
assist old and handicapped people with sophisticated interactive equipment,
carry out surgery, inspect pipes and sites that are hazardous to people,
fight fire and bombs." (AP 22 Oct 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041022/D85S6N380.html>

GOOGLE ON A GLOBAL MISSION
     Google is reporting that sales and profit more than doubled in the
third quarter, despite a one-time expense of more than $200 million.
Explaining the company's success, co-founder Larry Page says: "We have the
world's greatest engineering talent. Google has the means to innovate
rapidly. This infrastructure is a competitive advantage to Google across all
of our existing products." He says the company's business strategy "is about
solving problems that matter to many people on a global scale. We have only
begun work on our mission to organize the world's information to make it
more accessible."
(Washington Post 21 Oct 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53146-2004Oct21.html>

BALLMER SAYS HACKERS GETTING SMARTER
     Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer says the battle against hackers
has gotten harder because the hackers have gotten smarter, too. However, as
a sign of the company's progress in the fight, Ballmer points to Microsoft's
planned security enhancements to Windows Server 2003: "I think we've learned
a lot more about security basically than anyone else in the world. That's
kind of the good news and bad news, being the position we've been in with
our kind of market share."(AP 21 Oct 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041021/D85RQQJ00.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "A bad peace is even worse than war." (Tacitus)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: TACITUS
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Roman orator and public official
Cornelius Tacitus (c.56-c.115), who was probably the greatest historian and
one of the greatest prose stylists who wrote in the Latin language.
     He was a member of the Roman senate during the tyrannical rule of
Domitian and the golden age of Trajan. He was praetor in 88, consul in 97,
and governor of the province of Asia (circa 112). His short monographs
"Germania" and "Dialogue on Orators" and the Life of Agricola are important
sources for knowledge about ancient Germany, Roman oratory, and Roman
Britain.  His two major works the "Annals" and the "Histories" deal with the
empire in the period from the death of Augustus in 14 to the death of
Domitian in 96. In his succinct and pointed style, Tacitus contrasts the
often imaginary liberty of the Roman republic and the tyranny of such
emperors as Tiberius and Nero.
     Nothing is known of his parentage. Though Cornelius was the name of a
noble Roman family, there is no proof that he was descended from the Roman
aristocracy; provincial families often took the name of the governor who had
given them Roman citizenship. It is known that he grew up in a well-off
family and was given a good education, sufficient to prepare him for a
career in public service. He studied rhetoric, which provided a general
literary education including the practice of prose composition. He also
studied the law under the two leading orators, Marcus Aper and Julius
Secundus, after which he became a "virgintivirate" (one of 20 appointments
to minor magistracies) and then a military tribunate on the staff of a
legion.
     Tacitus married the daughter of the consul Gnaeus Julius Agricola,
later to be governor of Britain. In his public career, Tacitus moved through
the regular stages, a quaestorship followed by a praetorship, and then a
senior provincial post in command of a legion for four years. When he
returned to Rome he established his reputation as an orator, and became
consul in 97 and later served as governor of the Roman province of Asia in
112 and 113.
     Tacitus favored the republican form of government and was extremely
critical of the Roman emperors, condeming them in sharp, unforgettable
phrases. In Germania he left an important written account of the customs and
habits of the Germanic peoples, who would later spread over most of Western
Europe. 

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[To find a library copy of the complete works of Tacitus visit RLG's
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<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACT
ION=EDITION&WORKID=24782362&> -- or to purchase a copy go to:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0075536390/newsscancom/ref=nosim>.
Note: We donate all revenue from our recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

DOES EVERYONE UNDERSTAND?
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11550>
     I love NewsScan! It always makes me think... As someone who has taught
at 4 major universities (Harvard, U of Washington, U of Michigan, and
Indiana U.), I do not need to know whether the student is paying attention
(an input measure); I need to know whether he or she is "getting it" or not.
Full attention may or may not increase the odds; a puzzled expression may
suggest a problem.
     Also, a joy of distance education is that it can separate time as well
as place. So the bottom line for me would be improved mechanisms for showing
understanding (or lack thereof) by the student -- maybe "insta-polls" every
few minutes to gage understanding? Sometimes we teachers stop and ask "Does
everyone understand? Do you have any questions?" Maybe there is a clever way
to automate that process?
     To me, that would be much more valuable than knowing whether my face is
in the foreground or not.
     (Roland J. Cole, Executive Director, Software Patent Institute)

ORWELL GOES TO SCHOOL
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11550>
     Two things come to mind - the obvious Orwellian humor:
     "Hey, you, Winston Smith -- WAKE UP WHILE I'M SPAMMING YOU! And stand
up straight -- I can't see you on my telescreen."
     "Hmmm -- my GoodCitizen SelfMonitor indicated distraction while reading
this (I need to reduce the voltage level on the wakeup setting, too -- or is
that burned popcorn?)."
     But more importantly, the need to monitor attention suggests a rather
narrow definition of distance learning: the synchronous kind, where (like
face-to-face events) the message is ephemeral and thus attention is
critical, lest you miss something. But most distance learning (like the kind
we do here at FSU -- online.fsu.edu) is asynchronous. Sure, a student must
attend to the material at some point, but it's stored, archived, recorded,
or otherwise presented so that one has multiple opportunities to attend,
perceive, comprehend, and apply. While I agree that synchronous two-way
interaction is improved if you have a clue whether the other person is
paying attention, it's only an issue in one particular form of distance
learning. Rather than wait for technical solutions to mimic the conditions
of ephemeral face-to-face interactions, instructors and students should
attend to desired outcomes. Until we have broadband immersive holography,
it's rather silly to try to replicate the wide spectrum of stimuli and
responses in a traditional classroom -- and distance learning is teaching us
to remember that the F2F classroom is, itself, only one technology solution.
(Joe Clark, Tallahassee)

HOORAY FOR RLG'S REDLIGHTGREEN!
Re: <http://www.redlightgreen.com>
     I found a book I'd been trying to find for a while to share with my
husband, and which is (boo hiss) out of print. It's in my local library and
I've reserved it ... what a cool site. (Rosalind Bell-Stitt)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING AND SELLING
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11548>
     "We're obviously going to spend a lot in marketing because we think the
product sells itself." is a great Flash Card quote. On the off-hand chance
that anyone thinks the quote is humorous because it is (apparently)
contradictory, I would assert that to understand the quote one must
appreciate the difference between marketing and selling. Allchin is saying
that most of the company's combined marketing and selling budget for the
product can go into marketing, because once potential customers become aware
of and interested in the product, just experiencing it will be enough to
convince them of its value, with no selling needed.
     Thanks, guys. I look forward to every issue. (David Dorman, US
Marketing Manager, Index Data)

COME ON, COMCAST
In June I started an email campaign to get ISPs to add virus scanning to
their mailservers, see;
<http://www.newsscan.com/cgibin/findit_view?table=newsletter&dateissued=2004
0609>. It has been quite successful, and is becoming a part of modern ISP
business practices. Though I was embarrassed to find that my ISP is busier
positioning itself as technologically superior in TV ads, when in fact it
has fallen way behind.
     Until recently I have enjoyed Comcast's Broadband Internet service, but
lately it has shown itself to be reckless with its customers' security in
regards to the vital issue of proactively scanning incoming email for
viruses before delivering them.
     For months I've tried to talk them into adding virus blocking software
to their mailservers, but they have been steadfast in describing their
"Liability Position," which is that it's not Comcast's responsibility if a
virus is passed on through their mailservers, that it was my sole
responsibility to address these issues on my computer. So in other words:
they can be the conduit of infection for us and not even bother trying to
protect us from becoming sick, and when we do become sick it's our fault --
even when we do use the latest anti-virus software. I believe that scanning
on their side would add a critical level of protection. So after months of
trying to get them to see reason, it is now quite clear that Comcast only
has a "Liability Position" to protect itself, and will not even try to
protect its customers when it can.
     Strangely, now that the landscape has shifted towards this strategy,
this is not requesting that Comcast go the extra mile for its customers,
it's simply requesting that they bring their service up to speed with modern
ISP business practices. The fact is that if Comcast doesn't scan emails for
virus signatures like AOL, EarthLink, Netscape, Verison, MSN, Yahoo! does,
then it is behaving with reckless disregard for its customers security.
Fortunately, unlike cable TV Comcast Internet doesn't have a monopoly, so
now my feet must do the talking and find a responsible ISP that looks out
for both its customers' security as well as the ISPs bottom line. (Corl
DeLuna)

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We call our news section "Above The Fold" to honor the tradition of the
great "broadsheet" newspapers in which editors must decide which news
stories are of such importance that they should be placed "above the fold"
on the front page. The NewsScan Credo: Be informative, have fun, and get to
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