Sandhill Trek

Freedom to Connect

Over the last ten years, Andrew Odlyzko has been writing about a pricing algorithm that would assure reasonable service levels at reasonable prices.  If you're going to F2C, you might want to read that brief article or this slightly more complex one to learn (or refresh your sense of) PMP - Paris Metro Pricing models to deal with network congestion.  You'll also get a sense of why throwing bandwidth at the network will not be sufficient.

Here's a great article from 1995.  Standing tall on the pedestal of ISDN and analog modem engineering limits Bill Frezza predicts what the wireless landscape of 2000 might look like.

Last summer Leon Erlanger argued persuasively that the days of the "fat dumb pipe" are over.  Besides addressing the very real concerns of latency in global networks, Elanger says that a smart network is necessary for security:

The proliferation of XML and SOA promises to magnify performance and security issues. XML is verbose and inefficient, bringing new security issues. In fact, Cisco, HP, and vendors of network-based XML acceleration and security devices, such as Sarvega and Reactivity, will tell you that the network could offload a lot of XML processing, translation, and security from beleaguered servers. It could even take over some of the classic application and data-integration burden.

I feel a little bit like I'm riding a pendulum of indecision.  Some really smart people argue persuasively for the stupid network, while some really straightforward analysis suggests that building in intelligence can improve throughput, improve utilization of bandwidth, improve application performance and so forth.  Stuart Cheshire argued long ago that not all intelligence at the edges is really that smart.  I feel a little retro including links to articles about modems and ISDN and such, but the fact remains that most USian connectivity sux anyway... most of our broadband isn't that broad, and that is an issue we should be addressing with our connectivity providers.

For me, connectivity bespeaks end-to-end, and the only way I know to get from one end to the other is through the pipe, and if the pipe is crowded and/or my access to it is slow, then my ability to move my bits to your place, and vice versa will suffer.  While it is fine to think of the network of networks as a cloud, to ignore the wizard behind the curtain, there are huge enterprises at work providing that connectivity through the pipes.  This is a public service, no differnet from highway construction and maintenance, no different from electrical power generation and distribution.

The Reagan era spelled doom for public service regulation.  Our highways, our schools, our networks, our power systems are all at risk because of lack of adequate, ethical oversight.  For me, the opportunity at the F2C conference will be the opportunity to spike the koolaid of the stupid network with the intoxicating rush of populist control.  How can we intervene with decent legislation and empowerment of regulatory agencies, to prevent duopoly price fixing and content control?  How do we avoid a cultural devolution into Disneyland, or worse - into Singapore (described by William Gibson as Disneyland with the death penalty).

Meanwhile, on the planet earth...

Channel 9 represents an island culture that the likes of boyd and Golub would probably find interesting.  Or perhaps they would be best served by a casting agent for a reality TV series?

Phil Jones in dialog with Dave

An interesting inter-blog conversation between Dave Winer and Phil Jones has just about played out.

Puppy mover...

By James Horecka

ego surf

Thanks to Doc Searls for the link...

Apple Patents Syndication

Thanks to Dave Winer for this link...

[0010] The present invention provides techniques for detecting, managing,      and presenting syndication XML (news feeds). In one embodiment, a web      browser automatically determines that a web site is publishing      syndication XML and notifies the user. The user is then able to access      the feed easily. The user can be notified, for example, by displaying a      badge in the address bar of the browser window. The user can access the      feed, for example, by using the badge to toggle between viewing the web      page and viewing the feed.

[0011] In another embodiment, a web browser automatically determines that      a web page or feed is advertising relationship XML. The web browser then      determines that the relationship XML identifies a feed or web page. The      user is then able to access the identified feed or web page easily. In      one embodiment, when relationship XML is found, information about the      people identified in the relationship XML is displayed. For example, a      person's name can be displayed and can link to her syndication XML or to      her homepage.

[0012] In yet another embodiment, a web browser automatically determines      whether a file contains syndication XML. If it does, the web browser      enables the user to view the feed in a user-friendly way. For example,      the web browser can open the feed file in an application handler to      display the feed. As another example, the web browser can display the      feed in its content window. In one embodiment, the web browser converts      the feed to HTML and then displays the HTML.

[0013] In yet another embodiment, a user can bookmark feeds and organize      the bookmarks using folders. In one embodiment, a user can aggregate      multiple feeds by selecting a folder containing multiple feed bookmarks.      In one embodiment, a bookmark displays the number of "read" or "unread"      items in its associate feed. A user can also subscribe to feeds.

[0014] In yet another embodiment, a user can modify how a feed is      displayed. For example, the user can specify which content is to be      displayed. In one embodiment, the user can control the order in which      articles are displayed. In another embodiment, the user can specify which      articles are to be displayed. In yet another embodiment, the user can      control the amount of each article that is displayed. As another example,      a user can modify the format in which a feed is displayed. A format can      specify which information is displayed (and in what order) and how the      displayed information should be formatted. In one embodiment, a      modification regarding how a feed is to be displayed is stored so that it      can be used again at a later time.

[0015] In yet another embodiment, feed state information is stored in a      repository that is accessible by applications that might be used to view      the feed. In one embodiment, if the state of a feed changes, an      application notifies the repository, and the repository updates the state      accordingly. In another embodiment, a feed is parsed and stored in a      structured way.

[0016] In yet another embodiment, a user can create a custom feed through      aggregation and/or filtering of existing feeds. Aggregation includes, for      example, merging the articles of multiple feeds to form a new feed.      Filtering includes, for example, selecting a subset of articles of a feed      based on whether they satisfy a search query. Aggregation and/or      filtering can be performed server-side or client-side.

[0017] In yet another embodiment, a user can find articles from feeds that      she has not bookmarked or subscribed to. The user can enter a search      query into a search engine that searches feeds, which will identify one      or more feed articles that satisfy the query. Once the articles that      satisfy the query have been identified, the search engine returns the      results. In one embodiment, the results are presented to the user in the      form of a web page containing one or more links to feed articles. In      another embodiment, the articles that satisfy the query are assembled      into a feed, which is then presented to the user.

Bitch Globally, Act Locally...

The emergence of a dominant and repressive ideology is the biggest threat to human welfare on this planet since the plague years of the middle ages.  The ideology is all the more dangerous for its lack of a label more descriptive than "Globalization."  In the twentieth century three big ideas fought it out to determine which set of national values would dominate.  Communism, capitalism, and national socialism each took the stage in a competition for the hearts and minds of the people.  (And was it Lyndon Johnson who said "When you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow?")  Whatever...

In fact the Nazi paradigm won out, but given the excesses of World War 2, public relations affirmed the need for a certain amount of repackaging of the peculiar alliance between corporate wealth and big national governments.  Voila, the multinational corporations and "globalization."  But let's step back from name calling.  It's tasteless at best to compare common criminals like Ken Lay and Dick Cheney with competent administrators like Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco.  Wait... that may not have come out right.

Here's the point...  today Dan Gilmor encourages us to write our congressvolken regarding the AT&T buyout of Bell South.  I'm here to tell you that a letter to congress is spit in the ocean.  However, we do have a chance to affect the local market.  During the nineties the Wisconsin Public Service Commission was emasculated by ideological buffoonery in the guise of free market economics, but the PSC is the agency that can make a difference in terms of services and rates and market control in my community.  Working to strengthen the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's role in public utility regulation and governance is where I can be most effective.

So sure, I'll register my concern on a macro scale with the Democrats who represent me nationally - Baldwin, Feingold, Kohl.  But I'll also be working to see that a regulatory framework is restored that will prevent the excesses of multinational corporate greed from spoiling the place where I live.  And I have to work to grasp an understanding of just what a government of, by and for THE PEOPLE means, as distinct from a government in partnership and service to large corporate bodies.

Worch Hawkers

We've come a long way boobie.  From there to here, at least.

Podcasting and meta-meta-meta

Thanks to former Badger Dave Winer for linking to the University of Wisconsin DoIT Podcasting site.

But wait... there's more.  I was reading a meta blogging post by Doc Searls about who he reads and about the paring of blog rolls and I felt inclined to reflect.

My blog reading falls out into four categories... the Regular-Reads (which includes the Dailies, the Frequents, and the Less-Frequents), and the Serendipitous.  The dailies include Winer, Weinberger, Locke, Madame Levy, Isenberg, Sessum, Jenson, and Searls.  The frequents include Powers, Moffatt, Matrullo, Golby, Bennett, Bruce, AKMA, Landsman, and I'm sure I'm leaving a few out.  I can't stand to use the aggregator, so this isn't a simple matter of transcribing a list.

The Less-Frequents include a whole lot more.  You can see them on the blog-roll to the right.  Occasionally someone like Anne Zelenka appears on the horizon.  Anne started as a "Serendipitous," and turned into a "Frequent."  Or, take Chris Pirillo... please!  (No, just kidding), but I haven't read as much of Chris recently as I did a few years ago.  Chris has moved from a "Frequent" to a Less-Frequent."  Why?  Well there's only so much time in the day, I guess.

Robert Scoble ingests huge volumes of blog-script every day.  I can't do that.  But I do read a lot of bloggers.  There is that old saying that you never step in the same river twice.  Same goes for blog streams, tributaries, the rivers of information flowing into the ocean of the world-wide-internecks
(WWiN). I know that there are a lot of streams that I'll pause to drink from.  I wonder who's reading me?

Pherotonal Proof of Concept

Here's a video that proves Dr. Vandenhood's pudding...

Download ResearchVideo_1a.mov