Google will eventually be completely replacing all the routers with its Aruba gear. It expects the process to take 18 months. Cisco would not confirm if it was the exclusive supplier for AT&T’s 7,000 store deployment, but it’s safe to say it will be getting the boot from several Starbucks locations, in the least
via Aruba Networks Replaces Cisco in Starbucks | Light Reading.
There are plenty of chief executives and wealth creators at Burning Man too, in love with their own micro-celebrity, hosting (that’s tech-speak for picking up the check) dire imitations of excess. I’ve seen more genuine decadence in unknown Berlin clubs than in that entire face-painted, drug-soaked annual festival of self, but to hear these “Burners” rabbit on, you’d think they’ve reinvented the profligacy of Nero’s last days. Yet somehow it’s become unacceptable to criticize this celebration of mutual congratulation.
I didn’t know Burning Man turned into a geek trade show like SXSW.
“The patents system doesn’t work for software because it is almost impossible for genuine technology companies to create new software without breaching some of the hundreds of thousands of software patents that exist, often for very obvious work,”
Storage and data-mining have come a long way in the past 35 years, Felten notes, and metadata is uniquely easy to analyze—unlike the complicated data of a call itself, with variations in language, voice, and conversation style. “This newfound data storage capacity has led to new ways of exploiting the digital record,” writes Felten. “Sophisticated computing tools permit the analysis of large datasets to identify embedded patterns and relationships, including personal details, habits, and behaviors.”
via In ACLU lawsuit, scientist demolishes NSA’s “It’s just metadata” excuse | Ars Technica.
I remember Ed Felton as being one of the leading researchers who uncovered the Sony rootkit fiasco. Many years ago Sony included a rootkit installer that would install whenever someone played one of their CDs on a Windows PC. Felton’s blog at the time covered that situation well.
Unfortunately, ArrivalStar’s many targets in the private sector are going to have to continue to grapple with the litigious patent-holding company. ArrivalStar has never taken its patents anywhere near a trial, and hardly any of its lawsuits even go beyond early stages of litigation. With today’s settlement, ArrivalStar can continue avoiding any rigorous testing of its patents.
via Patent troll backs down, agrees to stop suing public transit agencies | Ars Technica.
One such company, Lenddo, determines if you’re friends on Facebook (FB) with someone who was late paying back a loan to Lenddo. If so, that’s bad news for you. It’s even worse news if the delinquent friend is someone you frequently interact with.
via Facebook friends could change your credit score – Aug. 26, 2013.
Google has not released any official statement about breaking the playback feature, but if Google is deliberating doing what Amazon, Microsoft of Apple do with their devices to break the 3rd party features then it doesn’t sound very good.
via Google breaks ChromeCast’s ability to play local content | Muktware.
Doggyloot, which offers deals on pet products for members and sells other items on a subscription basis, grew out of Dashmob, a now-defunct Sandbox company focused on highlighting real-time, location-based deals at nearby merchants.
via Chicago startup Doggyloot raises $2.5M in funding – chicagotribune.com.
Interesting how this article hardly gets into specifics as to what Doggyloot actually does.
XaaS is a collective term said to stand for a number of things including “X as a service,” “anything as a service” or “everything as a service.” The acronym refers to an increasing number of services that are delivered over the Internet rather than provided locally or on-site. XaaS is the essence of cloud computing.
via What is XaaS (anything as a service)? – Definition from WhatIs.com.
Rest assured that we only collected metadata on these people, and no actual conversations were recorded or meetings transcribed. All I know is whether someone was a member of an organization or not. Surely this is but a small encroachment on the freedom of the Crown’s subjects. I have been asked, on the basis of this poor information, to present some names for our field agents in the Colonies to work with. It seems an unlikely task.
If you want to follow along yourself, there is a secret repository containing the data and the appropriate commands for your portable analytical engine.