Posts by Maria Helm

RENEW people, RENEW

It says to RENEW the license. So, these are people who have ALREADY BEEN APPROVED to have one, and probably DO have one. This does not make it easier for someone who doesn't have a license to get one. Don't Panic.

choices aren't that simple

The choice to support/not support 'consumery' devices and services isn't that simple. Some of the issues IT departments face which might drive them to ban such things are:

* management attitude (They don't need that. They are here to work, not fool around on the internet.)

* Repair issues. (If you're using a work laptop and it breaks, we just hand you another and send yours off under our less-than-a-week warranty agreement. But if you're using your device and it breaks...it is up to you. Or is it?)

* Security issues. I can't tell you how often we've had an exec come back from vacation with a virus on his work laptop, because he was connected to hotel wifi, but never connected to our system to get his AV pattern updates. I can only imagine what that would be like with people's home laptops not loaded with our AV.

* Liability issues. (You installed that corporate software on my personal laptop, and now my itunes doesn't work. - Even if they have nothing to do with each other, the user will blame the IT department for 'breaking' their machine.

About the only way using home kit makes sense is if you let them use their own air card and come in over your VPN or Nfuse. Then you are not installing anything on their machine, and they are not running their stuff on your network.

How about changing ring volume?

I turn my ringer off when I arrive at the office, on high inthe car, and on low at home. It seems to me if the phone could tell when I'm at home (and when I'm in the car/office), then it could take care of that for me. I might also want it to disable my web browsing while in the office...mmm...maybe not...

current technology is not mature enough

It sounds to me like the problem is not that it would be impossible to use biometrics, but that the current technology for it is not mature enough. It is the reliability of the technology used to record and to check the biometrics that poses the problem. Perhaps it is a problem that could be fixed by making it record more points, or be more sensitive. Or maybe we find ways to measure multiple biometrics, or different biometrics, to obtain more reliable results. Then the assertion that you could use biometrics for a national identity system becomes more likely.

However, the issue of scale, as mentioned in the beginning of the article, is still problematic. And the problem is not just that so many people would need to be loaded into the system, but also that so many "individuals, public services and businesses" would be using the system constantly for so many transactions. We're either talking about one massive supercomputer, or one huge network. It's not going to be something that one could download and run onsite. And if you're not connected for some reason (ie local power/network outage), then it ceases to work completely, and you either stop making money or go back to the old system.

The author asks "do politicians and civil servants all over the world continue to advocate the use of biometrics when the evidence simply doesn’t support them?" The answer is because your biometrics are very, very much harder to fake or steal than a passport, driver license, or any other current ID method. Even if you consider that someone could potentially hack into the system and swap your data with theirs to assume your identity, this is still a lot harder to do. But even then, we have to get the security right on multiple levels to prevent hacks and abuses.

The bottom line is not that it is impossible, but simply that the current technology is not mature enough.

other uses

Now I won't miss an important play when watching the game just because I was distracted by my email.

Now millions of teens can email AND babysit at the same time.

How long until someone posts a picture of them using email-and-walk to view another iPhone using email-and-walk, viewing another iPhone using email-and-walk...etc...

NOTICE, people, that it is NOT Email-and-DRIVE.

Windows Live Mobile OK

Windows Live Mobile OK , East Coast US. Just checked it and sync'd it. I wonder if it's the sites or something DNS. Probably some routing changes working their way across the internet.

As to who would use it: I got it before MS bought the company, and have had the same email address since 1993. Need I say more?

switchgrass lawns

Seems much of the complaint is over converting food crop land or converting non-farming land. The solution is to convert to switchgrass all those 1-acre ChemGreen lawns in the McMansion subdivisions that keep popping up everywhere in the US. Nobody lets their kids out to play in those neighborhoods anyway, and they could get them 'mowed' for free by whatever business collects the switchgrass for fuel...possibly receiving fuel credits in return. All you have to do is convince them it's an *upscale* landscaping option...perhaps charge them 10k to have it installed when the house is built..

It'd almost be worth it

Depending on the fine, it'd almost be worth it to get your name in the paper as having done 172mph. I imagine he'll have something to brag about for quite a while.

that explains it...

"...charged particles of dust can form themselves into life-like structures that appear to be capable of reproducing ..."

That SO explains what happens in my house between cleaning days.

"The next step is to go hunting for a real environment where such structures could have emerged. "

You're welcome to investigate the space behind my couch, or on top of my TV. Just so long as you take all the little aliens with you!

RE: Er

How would you feel if you were passed over for promotion, because of the political beliefs you hold being stated in a blog comment, say? Or losing your job due to your sexual orientation, discovered from your profile on a social networking site?

That would stink - BUT - How is that different from political beliefs you stated while standing at the water cooler, or when a co-worker came over for dinner, or that were revealed by the fact that you regrularly schedule vacation days when certain protests occur, or because someone saw you on TV? How is discovering your sexual orientation on a networking site different from discovering it because a neighbor gets hired at the company, or someone you went to school with outs you to your boss, or someone you work with sees you at the mall with your date? And checking out someone's cache or search history isn't so different than checking their library book records, (and those have been used as evidence in the past).

The point is that what you do online is PUBLIC. It is just as public as what you say at work, what you do in a restaurant, where you go on vacation, or what you publish in the newspaper. And just like anything public, it is discoverable by people who weren't there at the time. Offline, we call this gossip. The only difference is the online version sticks around a lot longer. And, just to make you even more paranoid, with the proliferation of camera phones and Flickr, there are probably already pictures of you online even if you didn't post them. I don't see any way of stopping it. What are you going to do, take away everyone's cameras?

For those who are concerned that the data can be skewed to make you look guilty when you aren't, remember (1) that's been going on forever, regardless of if the data was digital or not (2) it can also be used to clear you.

The bottom line here is that we're all going to come back to a small-town level of accountability for our actions, consideration of the future implications of our actions, and honesty about who we are and what we do... even when we're miles away from home. I'm not saying if that's a good or bad thing...I suppose it will be both in different circumstances. The take-away here is don't do anything online that you wouldn't do in public, or that you wouldn't want anyone else to know you are doing. Just because you are sitting in your living room when you go online doesn't mean you aren't on the "World Wide Web" for all to see.