CAT | Uncategorized
Two things are on my mind, and tweeting about them just isn’t enough.
1. The new government Copyright Treaty. This article from Wired sums it up very well. The Obama administration has been so obsessively secretive about the drafting of this legislation, and the leaked memo shows why. It’s as if all the RIAA lawyers have teamed up with the Department of Justice to determine how much they can screw the internet companies. Now, I don’t advocate for piracy and copyright infringement, but give me a break. The treaty would require ISPs to actively employ policies to “combat the flow of unauthorized copyrighted material through their pipes”, and the implement a “graduated response program.” At issue here is the ability to remain in business. In case you didn’t know, piracy exists, and there is a ton of pirated material out there. Further, there is a large amount of infringing content that is unintended. So when you place the responsibility on the ISP to check all material flowing through their system, you are placing an undue burden on a company and will likely drive them out of business. Innovation, as usual in Government regulate, will be stifled, and we, the consumer, will be harmed. The problem here is that the RIAA spends more money that I can comprehend fighting to keep the world of technology status quo, rather than adopt new technologies that would lead to a larger revenue stream for them. And the US government gladly becomes their lackey because of the money they spend.
2. Net Neutrality has been in the news a lot quite recently. I won’t spend a lot of time here talking about it, but check out savetheinternet.com. John McCain has recently introduced legislation titled the “Internet Freedom Act”. Wow! Definitely can’t vote against freedom, right? Wrong! McCain has received more money than any other Congressman from the telecommunication industry. Just over $900k. His bill would take the regulation of the internet from the FCC and allow large telecommunication companies to deem what we, the consumer, should have access to. The problem here is that it isn’t in their, the large telecommunication companies, best interest to allow me to make calls of Skype (free) or have access to podcasts (free) or use the internet for gaming or bit torrent. Rather, they want to control which content I receive (theirs) and charge me if I want more. The internet has been the largest technological innovation and has had more impact on freedom and democracy that any technology I can think of. It is an open architecture that is agnostic to the type of content shared. People around the world can learn in a heartbeat what is happening in the news. Ideas are shared instantly. Learning and growth is fostered. But yet, our all-knowing government believes that we should allow the internet to be controlled by entities that have a vested interest in limiting our access to content. Seriously?!? Please visit savetheinternet.com and let your voice be heard. This is a fight we cannot let go, or all the innovation and flow of ideas will be negatively impacted.
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Cell phone plan and features for families – my wishlist
0 Comments | Posted by bjvan75 in Uncategorized
I was recently talking with a co-worker about cell phones, plans, features, etc. See, she has teenage children, and we were talking about the needs of parents when it comes to cell phones, plans, and features needed in this day of technology enabled youth. I’ve got a few kids of my own, and they will soon be approaching the age where my wife and I will have to make a decision on getting my kids phones. With the advances in technology, as well as the concerns about the safety of my children, I wanted to make a list of what I would like to see a carrier create.
Shared Minutes:
While most, if not all, carriers have shared plans, I’d like to see the ability to allocate and share plans amongst the family. I have three children, all of which will be teenagers at the same time. I’d like to be able to allocate minutes to devices, or even group the minutes. Ideally, I’d like to buy a set of minutes for the family, say 3000 minutes. I’d allocate a group for my kids, and then split the rest for my wife and I.
Text Message Logs:
I know many would tell my I’m invading the privacy of my kids, but I want to know who my kids are texting and what they are saying. With the new phenomenon of ’sexting’ coupled with the lack of maturity that comes with the teenage years, there are too many issues that can come up if I don’t have my thumb on the pulse of what is happening in my kids’ lives. I’d love to see the carriers offer me the ability to download or view online the last 30 days of text messages of any device I specify in my family plan. I would hope that I have a relationship with my children where I wouldn’t need to view logs to check up on them, however I’m not naive enough to forget how I behaved as a teenager.
GPS Location and Tracking:
It seems like every phone you buy now is GPS enabled. I’d like to see that put to use for my kids. I’d like there to be a site I can go to in order to see where my kid’s phones are, and thus where they are. Call me archaic or controlling, but if my son tells me he is heading to the school for an extra workout with the team, I want to be sure he is there. The issue here is trust, and that it is earned. I remember my years as a teenager and I went through stages of being trusted by my parents and then not so much. This feature would allow me to occasionally check in on where my kids are, and that they are doing what they said they would. Of course, if this was enabled you would need to remove the option for disabling the GPS on the phone.
Time of day functionality:
I believe this is already available with some carriers, however I’d like to turn on and off features based upon the time of day. For example, no texting during school hours and between 10 pm and 7 am. Or, disable the phone during the same time excluding emergency hours.
I’m still a few years away from needing to worry about these features, however I’d like to see a carrier think a bit more about the need of parents when it comes to family plans. It needs to include more than just shared minutes, but create an opportunity for parents to better control usage
I got a cold this weekend that the rest of my family has had. I thought I had fought through it and then it hite last night. This sucks…memorial day weekend and all. I’ve got too much to do to be sick. Doesn’t it aleta work that way?
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Interesting solution for Green Energy in the existing infrastructure
0 Comments | Posted by bjvan75 in Uncategorized
I stumbled across this article today and found it very interesting. The idea of wind energy is appealing to me from it’s clean nature as well as the prevalence of wind. Check out this design. Should be a no brainer, shouldn’t it?
Why does the Federal government continue to make stupid choices with taxpayer funds…my money??? If companies don’t run themselves properly, if investors don’t make good investments, why do my tax dollars go to bail them out and put properly run and capitalized companies at a disadvantage? Check out the article here.
I have wanted to get a motorcycle for a while now, and though I’m looking more for a cruiser type, this BMW racing bike is pretty incredible. 193 horsepower and a mere 455 pounds. zero to 62 in 2.9 seconds, and they want to offer it mainstream, competing with other bikes in the $13,000 range. That is very cool. Check it out the article as well as the video below.
I didn’t vote for the current president. I don’t like his policies, or economic mentality. With that said, however, I do hope and pray for him and his administration that they can help this country out of the economic mess that we are in. However, I don’t think he is going in the right direction. Articles like this confirm that. Why would Larry Summers still be in such an influential role when his loyalties obviously lie elsewhere, or at least he is conflicted. Check this out…
This article states pretty clearly the insanity that these bailouts with the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Why do we keep companies and their incompetent managers in business. This crap about systemic risk and that we can’t afford to let business fail is ridiculous. I’m not saying that a failure of a company like Citi or B of A wouldn’t cause issues, however aren’t we just pushing out the inevitable. If the CEOs and board of directors can’t run the company now why will they be able to in the future. This circumvention of capitalism drives me nuts. Liquidate the assets to people who can manage them and let’s move on. Click here to read the article.
I just came across this article in the NYT. Great thoughts about what the Government should do with GM. Sorkin does a great job summarizing the situation with GM and why Chapter 11 is a better job. Check it out.
