Internet Changes Everything

Current software apps - my web lifestyle

Hardware:

• Lenovo X60s notebook, (with 2 gig's of RAM) - Win XP
• Blackberry 8700r

email & Calendar

• gmail for company mail and personal email, both read within the same inbox, and managed by labels.
• Google Calendar including personal, and shared company calendars, all managed in one central calendar view (sounds complicated but dead simple)
• Gcalsync to pull Google Calendar into Blackberry - its open source, and new.  Its alpha, and development activity is quiet.  I will stick with it until something better appears, or they re-activate. 

To do

• Basecamp from 37 Signals - all sync' d by rss for updates
• Greatnews for secure RSS updates from Basecamp
• MyInfo for GTD - this software is very handy, and used daily.  It sits in the system tray.
• Moleskine for notes
• Filofax for holding my pen :-) and GTD stuff, for those times, when you just need paper in front of you

Software - general

• Google Docs and Spreadsheets for personal items
• Microsoft Office 2003 - I happen to own a personal copy, but I also use ...
• OpenOffice for desktop stuff - its free and open source.  I just wish and hope they will work more on the interface, which is very 2000' ish still.  Simpler and cleaner would be good
• Del.icio.us for bookmarking/ tagging
• Amazon S3 for backups.  Jungle Disk is the web service used to manage the sync
• Google Desktop Search

Blogging

• Wordpress for blogging.  Free, although I paid about $50 for CSS editing, and 1 gig of storage to cover uploads.
• Windows Live Writer for posting (although I love it, MS have gone silent on this tool for three months - I sense someone at Microsoft got their knuckles rapped for making a free, extendible product)
• Wordpress mobile (m.wordpress.com) for Blackberry access to blog app
• Gliffy for online png diagrams, for the blog
• Google Reader for RSS reading
• Google Reader mobile for Blackberry ( google.com/reader/m )

Total cost:

 Monthly

• Backpack                             $    5
• Amazon S3 back up service -   $    1  (for 7 gigs)
• plus usual internet and cell fees

Altogether, pretty reasonable given the quality of these superb services.

 

January 6, 2007 at 09:24 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Airline Tickets, Booking Class & Abbreviation

Airline Ticket Abbreviation - Booking Classes - Airline Code

Booking Class
The following codes are used on airline tickets to identify the class of service
and the associated fare structure:

First Class Examples: A, F
Business Class Examples: C, D, J
Economy Class Examples: H, K, L, M, O, N, S, V, Q & others

Detailed Booking Class

* A - First Class Discounted
* B - Coach Economy Discounted
* C - Business Class
* D - Business Class Discounted
* F - First Class
* H - Coach Economy Discounted
* J - Business Class Premium
* K - Thrift
* L - Thrift Discounted

* M - Coach Economy Discounted
* P - First Class Premium
* Q - Coach Economy
* R - Supersonic
* S - Standard Class
* T - Coach Economy Discounted
* V - Thrift Discounted
* W - Coach Economy Premium
* Y - Coach Economy

Double Digit Airline Abbreviation

These codes, which appear in front of the flight number on the ticket, identify the airline:

* AA - American Airlines
* AC - Air Canada
* AF - Air France
* AI - Air India
* AB - Alaska Air
* AZ - Alltalle
* A3 - Amtrak
* BA - British Airways
* CO - Continental Airlines
* CP - Canadian Pacific Airlines
* DL - Delta Air Lines
* ET - Ethopian Airlines
* HP - American West
* JL - Japan Air Lines
* KL - KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines
* LH - Lutheran German Airlines
* LY - El Al Israel Airlines
* ME - Middle East Airlines

* MG - MGM Grand
* NW - Northwest Airlines
* OA - Olympic Airways
* PK - Pakistan International
* PR - Philippine Airlines
* QF - Quantas
* SA - South African Airways
* SK - Scandinavian Airlines
* SN - Sabena
* SR - Swissair
* TB - Trump Shuttle
* TW - Trans World Airlines
* UA - United Air Lines
* US - US Air
* WN - Southwest Airlines
* YX - Midwest Express
* ZV - Air Midwest

Ticketing Abbreviation

Ticketing Abbreviation Meaning/Explanation
Non-refun or Non-refundable No refund value
Non-rerte or Non-reroutable No changing of destinations
Non-endor or Non-endorsable No changing of airlines/carriers
Stopover Break journey in that country
Transit Stopover and change plane
Inbound Return Sector
Outbound Outgoing Sector
Ex-SIN Departure from Singapore
No Show Passenger no show on departure date
Pax Passenger
Child Fare Age range from 2 to 11 years old
SATA ticket Students (ISIC) under 35 years old and Youth (IYTC) under 26 years old
ISIC Card International identity Student Card
FOP Form of Payment
TCP Traveling together
N/A Non admissible
TTL Ticketing deadline
GV 2 Minimum of 2 passengers to travel together. Must depart and return together
GV 4 Minimum of 4 passengers to travel together. Must depart and return together
GV 10 Minimum of 10 passengers to travel together. Must depart and return together
W2A With 2 adults
PTA or Prepaid ticket Advice Prepaid ticket advice. Ticket collect from country of departure, payment
PNR Booking reference number
STNP, s/o Stopover
ow One way
Dep Departure
YRT 1 year ticket
Add-ons Extra flights at extra costs
Amendment Changes to your booking
Backtracking you cannot go back from whence you came
Cancellation Penalties involved if you cancel your ticket
Carrier Refers to the name of the airline you are travelling on
Changes Penalties involved if you change your ticket
Child Person 2-11 years
Class Letter used to book your flight reservation
Codeshare A flight operated by another airline
Combination Permitted add on fares allowed to be used with the fare you are on
Conditions Rules pertaining to this airfare
Destination The final stopping place before turning around to come home
ETA Estimated time of arrival
ETD Estimated time of departure
E-tickets Electronic ticket, full payments must be made before E-tickets can be issued
Farebasis The name/code of the faretype you are travelling on
Fares The cost of the airfare
Infant Child up to 23 months at time of the flight departure
Interline Transfer Transfer from one airline to a different airline
Longhaul An overseas flight of some distance i.e Sydney London
Mileage The amount of miles permitted to be flown on an airfare
Minimum stay/Maximum stay The shortest and longest times you can stay at your destination
MPM Maximum permitted mileage-the maximum distance you can fly in air miles
Nominated Carrier The airline you can fly
Open Jaw Fly into one city and out of another city at no penalty
Open-Dated No return date set
Origin Point you start from
Outbound Flight from USA or point of origin
OW One way journey
PNR Passenger name reference - used for computer reservations
Reissue Changes requiring a new ticket to be issued
Rerouting Changes to flight routing
RT Fares Return journey fares
Season Different times of the year for travel have different fares
Stopover When you leave the airport for more than 24 hours
STPC Airline pays for your accommodation at a stopover
Surcharges Extra costs involved
Surface Sector You make your own way between two points
Turnaround point The furthest point on your return journey
US Pass Airpass within the USA
V.V. Vice versa
Validity How long a ticket is valid e.g. the minimum and maximum times you can be away
Waitlist The flight is full you are waiting for a cancellation to be confirmed

March 19, 2006 at 10:35 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (53) | Top of page | Blog Home

Your personal wiki, at your service - Stikipad

I have tried to work with wiki's but its just too hard and too much coding to learn.  I know a little html, but I want to create, not code.  So when I looked at this new app, stikipad I was blown away. 

Welcome to Your StikiPad.

StikiPad is a hosted wiki solution (What's a Wiki?) that gives you an easy way to organize and share information with others. We run completely in your browser with no downloads and easy administration, letting you take your StikiPad wherever you have access to the Internet. But don't be fooled by the word easy - it's only as easy as you want, and as powerful as you want it to be. StikiPad is like a blank piece of paper - you decide what you're going to make of it.

Whatever Web 2.0 is and whether you agree with the nomenclature, this is a brilliant example of Web 2.0.  Its a simple easy yo use hosted application that seems at first glance to eliminate the coding frustration, and allow you to get on with creating your wiki.

I am thinking that a wiki is idea for the research that supports my Bankwatch blog, because its fluid, and inter-related, whereas the blog is linear.  So by moving the research into a wiki, that frees up the blog for analysis, and witty intelligent commentary.

February 12, 2006 at 08:00 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

New blog

Turns out that there is just too much data in this blog and my simple attempts at comments both get lost in the morass, and get mixed up in the other content, and frankly I can't easily find them myself!

So I have set up a separate blog "why". Its also accessible from the sidebar way down at the bottom right.

July 10, 2004 at 01:21 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (9) | Top of page | Blog Home

Major Internet sites attacked

This story smacks of "keeping things quiet". My home page "my yahoo" was down longer than indicated here. I suspect this was a very big deal.

TheStar.com - Major Internet sites attacked

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Several major Web sites, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, were inaccessible at times early yesterday due to what the company that distributes them online called an attack.

The problem began about 9 a.m. Eastern and lasted less than two hours, said Jeff Young, a spokesperson for Akamai Technologies Inc., whose network of servers mirror some of the Web's top destinations to improve their performance.

Young called it a "large scale, international attack on Internet infrastructure." However, there was no evidence that non-Akamai infrastructure was affected.

Amit Yoran, head of the U.S. department of homeland security's cyber security division, declined to comment on the alleged attack and its scope, deferring questions to Akamai. The government-funded CERT network emergency response team did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Keynote Systems Inc., a Web performance measurement service, said the only sites where it saw trouble yesterday were those served by Akamai.

Young said he had no immediate information on the nature of the alleged attack, nor did he know where it originated or other Internet infrastructure companies that might have been targeted. Keynote said the availability of the top 40 sites it monitors dropped from 100 per cent to just over 80 per cent during the outage.

associated press

June 16, 2004 at 07:56 AM in @ My Views @, Security | Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Top of page | Blog Home

The return of the branch

The move to branches is over-estimated. but this article does a pretty good job at rationalising that move. I worry that organsitons are making the move and not concurrently developing self service so that the branch focusses on revenue and only for those customers that choose the branch.

touchpoints - The return of the branch

27 October 2003
By Gillian Scott
The life of the bank branch has been turbulent over the last decade, to say the least. While the advent of online banking opened up an additional service channel for banks, often resulting in lower budgets for the retail branch, the emergence of internet-only banks provided a leaner, competitive threat to banks with traditional bricks ‘n’ mortar infrastructure for the provision of convenient financial services. Once banks looked at these channels as complementing one another, the bricks ‘n’ clicks model evolved.

But now the branch is making a comeback. According to a Finextra survey of 58 senior IT decision-makers at retail financial institutions worldwide, banks are currently looking to an investment in branch renewal and Internet activity as their delivery channel priorities, with the call center and other alternatives being relegated to a secondary supporting or experimental role. Moreover, spending on channels and customer-facing technology is expected to swallow up almost half of the IT budget in 2004.

Europe in particular looks likely to be a region that will witness considerable levels of branch renewal. According to Datamonitor’s March 2003 report Branch Renewal in European Retail Banking, spending on European banks’ branch renewal is predicted to undergo a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of almost 10 percent in 2005.

Why are financial institutions undertaking this change in strategy? One of the main drivers it appears has been a shift in approach and understanding of the role of the branch as a revenue-generating channel. Traditionally, it has been regarded as a transaction center, but increasingly the branch is seen as a retail center. Self-service technologies are being integrated into the branch environment to service the routine (high volume, low value) transactions, so that staff time is freed up for customer relationship building. What is clear is that the needs of the customer within the branch are paramount. Key elements include:

Convenience – such as 24/7 access to personal accounts at the ATM

Comfort – designated customer areas such as sitting areas to browse through literature or have a beverage

Personal touch – through the availability of face-to-face advice, particularly for high-value products such as mortgages and insurance. Furthermore, since most of the cash tends to be housed in the ATM at the branch, it means that there is less need for physical barriers between staff and customers, thereby allowing a less ‘formal’ relationship from the start.

To become more customer-centric and accessible, new branch designs and service styles have been implemented by leading financial institutions around the world, such as Multibank in Poland, where financial seminars are held in the branches after normal banking hours, thereby extending the value of the location and the relationship of the bank to its customers.

One issue facing banks is that it is difficult to measure the collective impact of the changes that are being made within the branch. Increasingly, banks need to be able to perform operational and quantitative analysis in order to justify change, and it appears that there is an increasing awareness and movement toward achieving ‘hard results’. Over time this will result in targeted spending determined by customer behaviour and interaction with all channels available at the branch.

Banks are also using their branches to differentiate themselves from their competition. In a recent article for Bank Systems & Technology, Anjalee Davis, Banking Analyst, Celent Communications, describes this growing phenomenon:

“Pressure on banks to [distinguish] will only increase with further market concentration and as core banking products (savings, loans) become pure commodities. . . it is difficult to differentiate products and services through pricing alone. As a result, banks are redesigning their branches and building new branches. This will support continued investment in next-generation branch applications and enterprise technology for at least the next five years.”

Finally, a less obvious driver of branch renewal: Celent also predicts that a few leading banks are utilising the need to replace their obsolete branch technology as an opportunity to begin “integrating their siloed channels” (Branch Renewal & Channel Integration: A Case Study on Citizens Bank), most likely to a Web-based platform. The result is clear, as Davis concludes: “Even with a return to a bull market, banks will continue investing in their branches.”

May 27, 2004 at 08:37 PM in @ My Views @, Financial Services | Permalink | TrackBack (23) | Top of page | Blog Home

Consumer concern about online security is increasing

This quote below from an article on the volume of phishing attacks over the last few months validates an emerging trend that consumers are becoming more concerned about online security rather than the reverse.

Providers of online services, particualry banks and online shops will need to look for other and better ways to authenticate customers, or risk loss of customer loyalty.

Billions of "phishing" e-mails sent monthly

"The phenomenon is weighing on consumer confidence in e-commerce, anti-fraud firm Cyota said.

According to a recent Cyota survey of online bank account-holders, 74 percent said they were less likely to shop online due to the threat of phishing attacks."

May 6, 2004 at 12:30 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (30) | Top of page | Blog Home

Gmail accounts go up for bid

I am liking Google less and less. Can't put my finger on it yet, but the whole thing smells like a dotcom bubble about to burst.

Gmail accounts go up for bid | CNET News.com

Beta testers invited by Google to take part in its new free e-mail service also received invitations to give to another person, but many are being auctioned on eBay, so far fetching bids as high as $61.

May 4, 2004 at 10:01 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (21) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dark Age Ahead

This book title, and the undernoted suporting comments about it make it sound very interesting in terms of understanding our times.

Amazon.com: Editorial Reviews: Dark Age Ahead

In Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs identifies five pillars of our culture that we depend on but which are in serious decline: community and family; higher education; the effective practice of science; taxation and government; and self-policing by learned professions. The decay of these pillars, Jacobs contends, is behind such ills as environmental crisis, racism and the growing gulf between rich and poor; their continued degradation could lead us into a new Dark Age, a period of cultural collapse in which all that keeps a society alive and vibrant is forgotten.

But this is a hopeful book as well as a warning. Jacobs draws on her vast frame of reference -- from fifteenth-century Chinese shipbuilding to zoning regulations in Brampton, Ontario -- and in highly readable, invigorating prose offers proposals that could arrest the cycles of decay and turn them into beneficent ones. Wise, worldly, full of real-life examples and accessible concepts, this book is an essential read for perilous times.

May 4, 2004 at 09:53 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (25) | Top of page | Blog Home

Future of the Internet and Web

I have been thinking about what internet will look like in 2010. This prediction from 2000 is exactly what it won't look like ... this type of natural extrapolation will have some validity, but doesn't account for legislation, online crime, and spam.

I am starting to think the internet will have some different flavours that we haven't expected, and it won't necessarily be as easy as we expect. It will almost certainly cost the consumer more than we expect. I am not thinking of internet access, which will probably go down in price ... the cost will be in what you need to do online.

Future of the Internet and Web An Introduction to the Internet -- in 2010

(This material last modified 11/16/2000 21:51:26.)
True Mobile Computing
Internet will be faster, more easily accessible
Now standard computer connected to Internet via wire into wall or telephone connection
Will begin to give way to transmitters mounted on side of computer sending and receiving information to and from reception station
Will work like cellular telephones work now
Will allow computers to be re-positioned as necessary within office or entire building with no need for re-cabling
Will also allow Internet access while walking or driving

Better Internet Accessibility for All People
Research work proceeding at rapid pace to make Internet and World-Wide Web truly accessible to vision impaired, hearing impaired, or individuals with other impairments
Software and hardware hold great promise for solving such problems

Telephone Calls
Internet is becoming truly global communications medium
Many computers now equipped with audio and video playing and recording devices

Entirely possible that "telephone" calls of future will be transmitted over the Internet

Entire phone system as we know it (including local and long distance calls) may some day be viewed as simply one of features of the Internet

Handset could be computer peripheral, hands-free operation, access to databases, auto-dialing, video phone, conferencing, video conferencing

Merging of the Internet with Radio, Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Books
broadcast.com -> radio and TV broadcasts
World-Wide Web beginning to look a lot like television with animated images and streaming audio and video

Why not simply combine the two?

On Monday, Sept 27, 1999 abcnews.com and Sam Donaldson launched first Web-only newscast by major network

Watch television programs either "live" or at any more convenient time

No reason to use VCRs if television programs can be accessed at any time desired from the Internet

Paper versions of newspapers, magazines, books ... might have to print yourself

Digital newspapers, magazines, books with Web links

Replacing CD-ROMs and DVDs with the Web
CD-ROM (Compact Disk - Read-Only Memory) and DVD (Digital Video Disc) store tremendous amount of information and make it available quickly to computer
But, information on CD-ROM and DVD become out-of-date

CD-ROMs and DVDs are stopgap measure until bandwidths and computer speeds get so good that anything now on CD-ROM or DVD can be accessed just as quickly over the Web

Using the Web as a Book Supplement
Nothing will ever replace the satisfaction of touching, holding, and ultimately reading a good book!
But, books get out-of-date

Supplementary Website for book with information constantly updated so that combination of book and Website are as current as possible

Will allow detailed information on a Website that an author might think is not worth putting into the book because only a few people might find it interesting

Electronic books (ebooks) replicate the look and feel of a book but can use information from the Internet

The Postal Service Goes Almost Completely To Email
Why bother to carry a piece of paper from Canton, Ohio, to Paris, France?
Only information on that paper are what recipient in Paris really needs to see

Large portion of what is now sent as mail will be able to be delivered just as well, more cheaply, and much more quickly via email

Post Office and magazine publishers are already exploring this

E-Commerce
E-Commerce will become commerce
Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) continue to expand

Digital signatures become as legal as actual signatures

"Bricks and mortar" businesses will learn better how to use Internet and Web and succeed in this environment

Software and Data Files
Application Service Providers (ASPs) make services available on Web (tax preparation, calendars, home thermostat control, ....)
All your files (addresses, letters, recipes, ...) are kept on one computer -- accessible from all others -- making every computer "your computer"

Distance Learning
Teaching and learning may get turned upside down by the Internet
Internet (especially Web) permits all course material -- readings, assignments, supplementary materials, and exams -- to be available on computer network

Great advances being made in digitizing audio and video

Lectures, discussions, and even labs could be made available on the Internet

Student in rural Indiana could "attend" Purdue University via the Internet

Challenges in getting such a scenario to work

Student discussion ("chat") rooms hold tremendous promise

"Unlimited office hours"

Quality of education is terribly important and may be able to be made even better with use of Internet and Web technology

March 28, 2004 at 12:47 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (22) | Top of page | Blog Home

Coming Soon: TypeKey Authentication Services

This is a step forward for internet computing. Its along the same lines as the benefit which your homegrown Chevrolet gets from Formula 1 Racing development. This is a real step forward in blogging, which provides a centralised authentication authority to provide permission to comment in a blog.

But where it gets interesting is that same authority is available for use in commercial authentication also. The concept is bang on, and one which really only Microsoft have promoted with their Passport product ... mmmm do I see another Microsoft purchase impending, which would fit niley with the research work they are doing on mywallop.

TypeKey

The basics about TypeKey:
TypeKey is a free, open system providing a central identity that anyone can use to log in and post comments on blogs and other web sites.

Why should I use TypeKey?
TypeKey helps ensure that people who comment on a site have a verified identity, keeping conversations on track and helping to prevent abusive or offensive content (comment spam) from being posted. Sites that enable TypeKey have better accountability for the content that's being published.

As a TypeKey user, you get your own free TypeKey Profile Page, displaying only the information you choose to share. Those who are interested in finding out more about the person behind the comments on a site can visit the identity page to see what information is publicly available. You can even publish a TypeKey Profile Page while remaining completely anonymous.

Why should I enable TypeKey comment registration on my weblog?
Enabling TypeKey on your site lets you control who can post comments while only requiring a single sign-in for your commenters. A lower barrier to comment registration means your commenters won't encounter any barriers while expressing themselves. And all weblog comments and other data still live on your server.

Plus, TypeKey gives weblog authors more control over managing comments that have been posted, prevents comment spamming (junk comments) and prohibits unauthorized comments. This is accomplished by requiring commenters to log in with a verified account before they can post, and by offering weblog authors the power to approve or ban a commenter's ability to post on the site.

What about my privacy?
We're committed to providing a service that respects user privacy. Therefore, we will not publish information that you have not chosen to make public, nor will we share your information without your explicit permission. We're not in the business of selling email addresses, and we give users the option to choose whether they'd like to send their email address to the sites which they are commenting on.

Where can I use my TypeKey identity?
We expect that you'll be able to use your TypeKey login to post comments on thousands of weblogs when Movable Type 3.0 is available later this Spring. And TypeKey will work with TypePad weblogs as well as other tools and services soon after that.

How much does it cost?
TypeKey is free to use for both personal weblog authors and commenters, and only requires registration.

Who runs TypeKey? Is it safe?
TypeKey is a service of Six Apart. We're a well-established weblog software company, with hundreds of thousands of users and offices in the U.S. and Japan. We're committed to making sure TypeKey is reliable, safe, and secure, and we've made sure our privacy policy is as protective as you'd expect: We don't want to send junk mail to you any more than you want to receive it.

TypeKey never shares your password information with site owners, and comment information is only retained on the site you've commented on, not on the TypeKey service. TypeKey is a service for authentication and, in the case of comment registration, we leave it up to the weblog owners to decide who can post to their own weblogs.

Can I use this in my own web application?
We'll be providing documentation on how to integrate TypeKey authentication into your own applications shortly after the service launches. At that point, there will also be information about what is required to make use of TypeKey services in commercial applications.

March 20, 2004 at 07:14 PM in @ My Views @, My Blog | Permalink | TrackBack (21) | Top of page | Blog Home

AOL Signs Covad Deal to Market High-Speed Internet

AOL continues to wrestle with its business model, and continues to use self-fulfilling prophesies to rationalise their actions.

This quote below ".... and reflects a broader industry trend to unbundle programming and access". What are they talking about? The industry never bundled access and programming; thats what only AOL have been doing, and it obviously doesn't work, so they should just acknowledge that, and get on with it.

Yahoo! News - AOL Signs Covad Deal to Market High-Speed Internet

Thu Mar 11,12:38 AM ETAdd Technology - Reuters Internet Report to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America Online on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with Covad Communications Group Inc. (OTC BB:COVD.OB - news) to sell high-speed Internet access and services that it hopes will be more profitable than earlier deals.

The world's largest online service, owned by Time Warner Inc.(NYSE:TWX - news), said the new agreement will allow it to offer Covad's high-speed access at the same time new customers sign up for AOL's own high-speed online programming.

AOL stopped offering high-speed access in January, saying earlier agreements with Covad and other high-speed access providers were not economically viable due to billing and customer service costs.

The latest partnership is part of AOL's goal to focus more on services that offer such features as streaming video and music, and reflects a broader industry trend to unbundle programming and access.

Yahoo Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news) in December began offering premium service, which includes news and entertainment videos as well as online videos and games, for $5.95 a month for consumers who already have their own Internet connections.

Since 2002, AOL has offered AOL for Broadband, a service that includes music, radio and video programming features for customers with high-speed Internet connections of their own.

The Covad partnership differs from older deals in which AOL purchased high-speed access from telephone and cable providers and resold it to new customers, as well as provided customer service. Customers were billed directly by AOL.

The cost of providing back-end services like billing and customer services made such agreements less economically attractive, it said.

"We took a look at that business model and we were realizing what we were trying to do here was a variety of activities ... where we had much less expertise than the broadband providers," said Lisa Hook, president of AOL for Broadband.

The new agreement splits up the duties. Covad will bill the customer directly for access. AOL will bill subscribers for the programming portion of the offering.

Hook said the profit margins for the new agreements will surpass older deals, but declined to go into details. AOL said it planned to strike similar partnerships with more high-speed Internet providers.

AOL, which saw 2.2 million dial-up modem subscribers leave its service in 2003, has attempted to heavily market the new broadband offering. The company has about 25 million subscribers in total.

It will begin selling the new bundle with Covad's access for $34.95 a month with a 12-month contract.

AOL added 1.2 million new members to its AOL for Broadband service last year and now serves about 3 million in all.

March 11, 2004 at 11:07 AM in @ My Views @, Portals | Permalink | TrackBack (49) | Top of page | Blog Home

Spam filters are tricky!

I have been trying for a week to send an email to my cousin's family, and kept getting error messages, "error 550". Turns out it is because I had "hello" in the subjet line, and the freeserve ISP automatically blocks any email with that subject. Presumably they do this due to the frequency of that subject line with spam.

So now a normal family email has to be configured to beat spam! Yet another nail in the email coffin .... at least email as we know it today. I shouldn't have to figure this out, nor would my cousins family have the faintest idea of what I went through to figure this out.

There has to be a way to develop trusted email, and even if it costs, I will pay for that just as I pay for regular post. The cost of a stamp is a guarantee of delivery, and Bill Gates suggestion might just be the right one.

March 8, 2004 at 10:35 PM in @ My Views @, Spam | Permalink | TrackBack (23) | Top of page | Blog Home

Blogging for Brain Augmentation

Amy's post perfectly sums up the reason I set up my own blog. There is no way to remember everything, and when you do need it, you can't recall the context, or where to look. Sorting things out in my own blog, as my own personal research medium still has limitations, but its paid dividends for me.

So now my blog should be renamed "my back-up brain".

Blogging for Brain Augmentation: Contentious Weblog

My brain is not enough! Too often, thoughts occur to me, or connections become apparent, that I very much wish to remember and use... but then along comes a flood of additional thoughts, and distractions, and minutiae, and so my moments of clarity dissolve into the infohaze.
I hate that.

March 2, 2004 at 12:37 PM in @ My Views @, Blogging & feeds | Permalink | TrackBack (19) | Top of page | Blog Home

Internet is just a marketing brochure

There is nothing new in this Yahoo news where it appears that content will be made available based on willingness to pay Yahoo. This is already the case with Google.

Unfortunately this type of things as it becomes better understood will either limit the credibility of today's www, or it will limit the value in the traditional portal/ search engines.

March 2, 2004 at 09:08 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (15) | Top of page | Blog Home

Broadband

My DSL service was just upgraded, and now im getting close to 3 Megabits. The web experience on dial-up which i had occasion to use recently just is not even close to being the same. Its not just slow versus fast. Something else takes place with high speed internet. There is a smoothness and immediacy when download time is eliminate that transcends into a different expectation level.

March 1, 2004 at 10:35 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (11) | Top of page | Blog Home

Fourteen Years of Pain

A personal anecdote from Tim Bray which totally supports my rant about Microsoft interfaces the other day.

ongoing · Fourteen Years of Pain

I’m busily editing a fairly complex tech spec written in Microsoft Word. (Word generally sucks for tech specs except for this one is being team-edited with little infrastructure, so we needed the revision-marking feature.) When I first ever used Word it was in 1989 on a Macintosh; this first brush with competent WYSIWYG changed my thinking about interfaces and documents. There was a problem: back then the handling of numbered lists in Word was buggy and fragile.

Today, fourteen years later in a recent rev of Office, numbered lists are still buggy and fragile. Innocuous changes—simple cut/paste, joining paragraphs, applying the formatting palette—intermittently send Word into psychotic spasms, in one case renumbering the list starting at 65, in another mysteriously removing the colour-coding from all the text in the doc, in another re-indenting dozens of apparently randomly-selected paragraphs. I suppose if it hasn’t gotten fixed in a decade and a half my grandchildren will probably be stuck with it. But I have hopes that the world will learn the valuable lessons Word taught us all about the interfaces between humans and texts, and for God’s sake move on to something better.

February 28, 2004 at 01:09 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (19) | Top of page | Blog Home

More on XP Evangelism or lack thereof

Seems there is quite the debate going within Microsoft, which seems to net out that they have been so focused on Longhorn, which is due out in 2006, that they forgot the issues customers are having with XP, notably that most have no idea of what XP does. Similar concerns are being expressed about Office and the lack of knowledge about the functionality therein.

This is an intersting concern. Software is supposed to be seamless; or is it. Reality is that software training doesn't happen. We all get MS Office and XP on our company laptops, but most people probably use 5% of the available functions.

Case in point: how may people use styles within Word to create reports? I would guess 1 or 2% maximum. Yet styles have been a core part of Word for several versions. Who knows what is being missed in Word 2003. And the the most common accolade I hear for XP is that its stable, and doesn't crash! Ouch .....

Either we all get training on Microsoft products on a regular basis, or the new functionality will continue to be lost on 98% of the users. The addition of new complexity coming within Longhorn and the paradigm shifts anticipated within that platform with regard to browsers, for example, could generate an enormous demand for training ..... or companies will choose to not spend that money, and will avoid the upgrade. Worse they will upgrade just to keep current with the enterprise license, and users will contunue to use the product just as they used the first version they encountered, probably three or four back.

This is going to be a challenge for Microsoft - the world is getting very complex, and maybe its time for simplicity and seamless functionality. How about customer user-testing of the interface just as we do with web sites?

The Microsoft evangelism approach is fabulous, and I happen to be a Microsoft fan. But the model needs work, and the strategy re-thought. Microsoft is too big to just be a software developer. They need to get outside that box.

Michael Gartenberg: More on XP Evangelism or lack thereof

Allchin was bemoaning the fact that few users were using MovieMaker 2 and other Windows XP features. I suspect the reason is no one told them they were there.

February 26, 2004 at 11:17 PM in @ My Views @, Microsoft | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home

Belinda Stronach hs an opportunity to learn from Deans mistakes

Stronach can learn from Howard Dean following the launch of her internet site. Internet is not a strategy in and of itself. Its a tool, albeit a powerful one, but it must reflect the overall strategy of the Stronach campaign.

It is all to easy to get carried away in the design of a web site, and the result might look great, and resonate with the audience, but in this case Stronach is an unknown (just like Dean). So the web site will create an impression, and then later when people see her on television, the reality had better match up with the original impression.

This is what did the Dean campaign in; when he started campaigning in Iowa, and people saw him nationally for the first time, even before "the shriek", he came across as awkward, and not the smooth articulate leader which the web site presented.

So when I look at www.belinda.ca I have to admit my impression is somewhere between Martha Stewart, and Niglella Lawson. The Stewart metaphor is unfortunate, but compare the sites for yourself. Secondly, this is a play on her as a woman, and her personality .... so I have never met or even seen her, but that will be the true test when we all see her regualrly on television.

February 22, 2004 at 01:46 PM in @ My Views @, Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

New factor in customer loyalty breakdown

An interesting study, which uncovers "Overly aggressive marketing, especially telemarketing" as the biggest contributor (76%) towards damage to trust in an organisation. This is interesting and reflects those annoying calls at dinner time, from people who are expertly trained to not take "no" for an answer.

A close second at 49% is online security fears. While the first factor is an evolutionary one, online security has been an issue since day one, and refuses to budge. Either it is generational and will go away eventually, or it will have to be addressed by strong security measures, including biometrics and supported by new tools such as smart cards, and strong digital identities.

I believe the latter is what is required, because the next generation are likely to be more sceptical about security, because they understand the potential problems with current technology even more.

February 21, 2004 at 11:49 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (4) | Top of page | Blog Home

Self Service isn't technology

Self-service is not about technology. This is a paradigm shift in how we think about technology acceptance.

When customers visited their local bank in 1970 to make a deposit, they would take their money to the teller, who wold complete the deposit form, and hand back to the customer for signature. In the 80's banks' put the deposit slips into the customer area, and began to encourage customers to complete the form themselves.

This was the origin of self-service. Today, banks do not train customers in use of computers: that would be like teaching customers to wrtie write before we ask them to self prepare the deposit slips in the 80's.

February 20, 2004 at 12:39 PM in @ My Views @, Financial Services | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

The Colluding Press

An interesting backdrop to the Kerry story, and whether it was true or not something has gone on here in the US press, which is not playing fair to all parties.

It appears now that there is no story and the whole thing was made up .. or was it. We shall see what happens once Kerry is finalised as the Democratic nominee.

This whole thing smells bad to me.

The Michigan News

Judson Cox
The Colluding Press
By Judson Cox
Feb 18, 2004, 00:01

Our Founding Fathers envisioned the press as almost another branch of government. It was to be free and nonpartisan, and would serve as a check on governmental power; it would expose scoundrels and keep politicians honest. It appears that things are not going as planned.

Were the “alphabet” channels to spend much time covering sleeper cells in America, or al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts in U.S. prisons, it might make the Democratic Presidential candidates look bad when they rant against the Patriot Act. If they were to cover the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, it might reflect negatively on those same politicians who condemn President Bush for the war in Iraq. If they were to discuss Libya, it might undermine those who claim that America is no safer since we began the War on Terror. Gaddafi says that he decided to cooperate with the United States because of our overthrow of Saddam; Ted Kennedy claims that President Bush invaded Iraq for political gain – Kennedy goes unchallenged.

Last week, Matt Drudge revealed that Sen. John Kerry had an extra-marital affair. Boston newspapers have reported similar stories since the 1990’s, the “National Enquirer” ran a cover story in 2000 detailing allegations of multiple affairs and frequent drug use and the European newspapers have given extensive coverage of his adulterous lifestyle. Last Thursday, talk radio covered the story. By Friday, Fox News had mentioned it briefly. Finally, on Monday, the Associated Press reported that the alleged mistress denied the charges. The other networks followed suit, all reporting her statement as if they had covered the allegations before hand – they hadn’t.

I wish I could report that the press had made a conscious decision not to report scandal for scandal’s sake. However, the allegations of Kerry’s philandering are not easily dismissed. Several witnesses have reported seeing him with intimate female acquaintances other than his wife, and the father of the young woman who is the subject of this story verified the allegations and called Kerry “a sleaze ball.” ( The Sun 2/16/04 ) Former Democratic Presidential nominee, ret. Gen. Wesley Clark and Clinton/Gore operative Chris LeHane divulged this information to the press – that, in itself, is reason for a news story.

The press has shown no hesitation in repeating unfounded allegations that President Bush was AWOL during his National Guard Service. The White House has released pay stubs, dental records and over 400 pages of documentation from his time in the National Guard. The press claims this vast collection of validating documents “raises more questions than answers.” CBS Radio News went so far as to quote a Democratic spokesman who said, “This only proves his teeth were in Alabama.” A bigger story may be the paranoia or arrogance of a Democratic Party that either believes George W. Bush was capable of shipping his teeth to Alabama for the purpose of fooling the country 30 years later, or that thinks Americans are stupid enough to believe so ridiculous a charge!

I sincerely hope the allegations of Kerry’s extra marital affairs will prove false, for the sake of his family, and because I am tired of the Clinton goon squads and their “politics of personal destruction.” I would prefer this election to be a battle between competing ideologies. I believe that liberalism would lose on the issues, as it did for McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis. Such a competition of ideologies would be far better for our nation than another round of got’cha politics.

The press prevents an honest competition of ideology. A Republican, like President Bush, can serve honorably in the National Guard and be called a draft dodger and a deserter. A Democrat like Bill Clinton can dodge the draft and demonize the military in writing, and his actions are irrelevant. A Democrat can even kill someone, as Ted Kennedy did, and still be the darling of the media, a revered and heroic figure whose drunken rants are taken as the gospel. The goal of our Founders was an adversarial press, what we have now is a biased press, actively colluding with the Democratic Party.

February 18, 2004 at 11:47 AM in @ My Views @, Journalism | Permalink | TrackBack (16) | Top of page | Blog Home

Kerry: Democratic dirty tricks ready to explode, following no US mainstream coverage

This from the Dean blog, comments. Whoever Tim is, doesn't matter ... this issue isn't dead and with the sudden rise of Edwards in Wisconsin following his convenient complaints about NAFTA, the dirty tricks will only just begin now.

Blog for America : "We Are Not Done." | February 17, 2004

THE KERRYING ON CONTINUES!
Kerry may think his bed partners, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX AND NBC have stopped the intern scandal, but they have not!

Here are excerpts from today's news reports. If we don't get it all out in the open now, Bush and Rove will do it this Summer!

"A woman at the center of John Kerry intrigue dated longtime Kerry Finance Director Peter Maroney, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT."
"A Columbia University classmate of Polier told The News that Maroney introduced her to Kerry in 2001 at an economic summit in Switzerland. "She met with [Kerry] again when the forum came to New York in 2002," the classmate said."

"When pressed by media outlets in recent week, the Kerry campaign confirmed the relationship, according to top sources."
"She would joke that she was dating the next president of the United States, says a source."
"Polier's flippant remarks and flirtatious manner, according to friends, fueled the intrigue."
That concludes tonight's Kerrytales bedtime story.
Posted by: KEVIN SCHMIDT STERLING VA at February 17, 2004 10:41 PM |

February 18, 2004 at 08:41 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (9) | Top of page | Blog Home

Google, how good are they and will they last?

This milestone for Google is significant for the company, and for the internet. Google have been around only since 1998 - thats six years; a mere wisp of time, in the scheme of business and economic cycles.

Couple of background points, which I will get back to at the end:
- the web (www) as we know it has been with us only since 1992
- many forces promise to change the web as we know it today
- security, phishing, spoofing etc
- demographic change; not internet usage which includes everyone, but internet expecations, which is generational

So when looking at Google, it also worth remembering the old adage that what goes up must come down. The Google premise is pretty flaky if you consider that internet users think they are searching the internet, when in reality, Google are playing back their search criteria based on complex and frequently changing algorithims.

I would bet that the majority of internet users assume a search result is based on a pure "search" of what is out there. Everyone should read this and this... they are a bit obscure the way they are written, but in essence it says that Google will play back to you what they think you want to see. In fairness to them they need an algorithim, because unscrupulous advertisers try to fake the search engine into believing their site is more popular than it really is, and therefore move themselves up in the ranking.

So Google has to ensure some credibility by competing against people trying to beat Google.

Next is the influence of change to the algorithim. While for valid reason to beat cheats, and maximise the results, the fact they change means, a ranking of 9th today, can be much further down tomorrow. The Google algorithim is like the coke recipe, and changes are not public.

The final influence for Google is judgement which is the most non-objective influence. This includes Government influence, with the example of certain French sites excluded at government request.

Search is one arena, where there has to be a better mousetrap. While the logic behind the approach is valid, improved mathmatical formulae is no way to seek information effectively. Then layer over the fact that search results display hasn't changed at all since internet began. There are no more basic looking sites out there, than search engines.

Internet is so new and the players are so new, that more evolution and change is assured. Yahoo and MSN have stated publicly they will go after Google, which brings me back to my background points, security, and demographic expectation. These factors will produce exponentially more demand for better quality in searches and search results. Future users will understand the limits of current searches, and wonder why they cannot find what they are looking for (Grokker is the only novel approach using data visualisation). There will be more change in this arena than any other over the next few years.

February 17, 2004 at 11:26 PM in @ My Views @, Internet evolution, Portals | Permalink | TrackBack (167) | Top of page | Blog Home

The trouble with email

I haven't ranted about email for a while. This recent piece just reminded me of that.

Everyone has their own way of using email, and its utility for communication, either work, or family & friends is indisputeable. However, I continue to be sure it is not useful for marketing purposes. A key reason is TRUST:

The one common theme for work or family /friends email is trust. You know who is sending it; you recognise the email address, and the topic isn't out of the blue. Most of the time the content is specific enough that you intuitively recognise the nuances, and in essence you validate the sender.

Spam on the other hand, is usually a surprise. You probably didn't expect that advertisement for resume prepration, careers, mortgage rates, or selling strange items.

Thats one reason I don't believe email works well at all for confidential business dealings, say with eCommerce providers, such as financial institutions, wholesalers, or retailers. Context for such interactions is closely tied to the relationship between the consumer and the eCommerce vendor. So the communication is better placed in a web environment, with the item aligned with the customers overall affairs. This keeps the communication relevant, and in context. It also keeps the communication confidential, and under login/ password.

Email can never achieve this level of trust. Even aside from the matter of lack of security, email can never be viewed satisfactorily in context of the affairs of the consumer. This problem is exacerbated by phishing, which makes email links a non-starter for any organisation serious about customer security.

FTC Warns of No-Spam Registry (TechNews.com)

February 16, 2004 at 11:08 PM in @ My Views @, Financial Services, eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (12) | Top of page | Blog Home

Alex Polier - no news is good news

I continue to be more and more amazed that the US media is ignoring the story on Kerry, while the rest of the world continues to talk about it. The lower part of this piece displays the coverage around the world (full sumary from The Times), and its a geographically skewed story to say the least, considering this is a US story, not a European, Australian story.

The only place its showing up in the US is in blogs, and even Deans blog is covering it, yet Dean doesn't mention it in the debates.

There must be something about this ... perhaps the Democrats don't want another Monica, particularly just when they have found someone who looks like he could give Bush a run for his money in November.

Alex Polier Links

About Alex Polier

Alex Polier the daughter of Donna and Terry Polier of of Malvern, Pennsylvania is 27 years old. Alex is a graduate from Columbia University in New York. She was a Associated Press correspondent.

News Articles about Alex Polier

MichNews 2/16/04 Questions and Answers

BBC 2/16/04 US campaign begins to get dirty

East African Standard 2/17/04 Kerry lover holed up in city house

Telegraph 2/16/04 Intern denies affair with Kerry
World Net Daily 2/16/04 Woman denies affair with Kerry

Men's News Daily 2/16/04 John Kerry's Alleged Paramour Issues Denial

Guardian 2/16/04 Statement From Woman About Sen. Kerry

Ananova 2/16/04 Woman denies having affair with Kerry

Guardian 2/16/04 Woman Denies Rumors of Kerry Affair

The Scotsman 2/16/04 Kerry Shrugs off Intern Claims

Men’s News Daily 2/16/04 Kerry's Alleged Intern Identified, Taped Interview with Major TV Network

News Journal 2/16/04 Internet can lift campaign, send rumors flying

Mirror.co.uk 2/16/04 Affairs Of States

Femail.co.uk 2/16/04 Kerry: intern's TV confession

Opinion Editorial 2/16/04 Questions and answers

This is London 2/16/04 'Kerry scandal woman reveals all to TV station'

Femail.co.uk 2/16/04 Kerry: intern's TV confession

Columbia Spectator 2/16/04 Journalism Students Rule Out Rumors
Washington Times 2/16/04 U.S. Newspapers tread lightly in rumor on Kerry infidelity

Axis of Logic 2/16/04 Drudging it up again: did Kerry really have an affair with an intern?

The Sun 2/16/04 John Kerry girl tells all

The Scotsman 2/16/04 Kerry marches on as scandal rumours fail to ignite

Daily Nation 2/16/04 Kerry intern hiding in Kenya

National Business Review 2/16/04 Senator Kerry's "intern" -- all smoke, no fire

The Australian 2/16/04 No time for affair with Kerry

Broken Newz 2/16/04 Bush Says He Won’t Comment on Kerry’s Godless Fornicating Ways

Worldnet Daily 2/15/04 Kerry's intern tells all to TV network

Guardian 2/15/04 Now Kerry must face up to those tough questions

Charlotte Observer 2/15/04 Political campaigns confront the new reality of the Internet

Chicago Sun-Times 2/15/04 The Kerry case ...

Telegraph 2/15/04 'This won't go away. What happened is much nastier than is being reported'

Herald Sun 2/15/04 Sleazeball hit on my daughter

SMH 2/15/04 Frontrunner Kerry denies intern affair

Telegraph 2/15/04 This time it's personal

Sunday Mail 2/15/04 Affair claim a lie says angry Kerry

Sunday Herald 2/15/04 America gets a taste for mud

Telegraph 2/15/04 So it has come to this - a choice of scandals

Halifax Herald 2/15/04 Sen. Kerry sex gossip a case of friendly fire

February 17, 2004

Woman in Kerry 'sex scandal' breaks silence to deny affair
By Tim Reid



THE woman at the centre of an alleged sex scandal involving John Kerry, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, emerged from hiding yesterday to deny that she had ever had an affair with the Massachusetts senator.
Breaking her silence four days after the allegations emerged on a right-wing internet site, Alex Polier issued a statement from Kenya, where she is staying with her fiancé. “I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry and the rumours in the press are totally false,” she said.

“Whoever is spreading these rumours and allegations does not know me, but should know the pain they have caused me and my family.”

Mr Kerry denied the rumours last Friday. “It’s rumour. It’s untrue. Period,” he said.

Reports of an alleged extra-marital affair concerning Mr Kerry, whose wife, Teresa, is heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune, first appeared last Thursday on the Drudge Report, an online gossip and news site.

Run by Matt Drudge, a self-confessed conservative Republican, the website shot to prominence by breaking the news of President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Although key parts of the Kerry story were quickly denied, it prompted fevered speculation in Washington and raised concerns that this presidential election would be one of the dirtiest.

Miss Polier, 27, a freelance journalist, is engaged to Yaron Schwartzman. They met at Columbia University’s journalism school. She decided to speak after journalists arrived outside the Nairobi home of her fiancé’s parents, where she is staying.

“Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them. It seems these efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them,” she said.

Miss Polier’s parents, Terry and Donna, said from their home in Malvern, Pennsylvania, that the rumours were “completely false and unsubstantiated”. They added that they appreciated the way Mr Kerry had handled the situation and would vote for him.

Two pledged votes in a key swing state will not be the only source of comfort for Mr Kerry. Although the mainstream US media had addressed the rumours gingerly, if at all, the mere suggestion of scandal was causing unease among Democrats.

After a week in which mudslinging from both parties has begun in earnest, from Democratic accusations about Mr Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service to White House allegations about Mr Kerry’s fundraising, the country is preparing for a brutal campaign.

There is no suggestion that the White House had anything to do with the rumours concerning Miss Polier. But anticipating the onslaught by the Bush campaign, Mr Kerry said at a debate on Sunday night: “I am prepared to stand up to any attack they come at me with.”

FAMILY STATEMENTS

A statement released yesterday by Alexandra Polier, who has been the subject of rumours linking her to Senator John Kerry:

“For the last several days I have seen internet and tabloid rumors relating to me and Senator John Kerry.

Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them. It seems that efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them.

I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry and the rumours in the press are completely false. Whoever is spreading these rumours and allegations does not know me, but should know the pain they have caused me and my family. I am in Kenya with my fiancé visiting his family, and we ask that the press respect our privacy and leave all of us alone.”

A statement by Terry and Donna Polier, the parents of Alexandra Polier:

“We have spoken to our daughter and the allegations that have been made regarding her are completely false and unsubstantiated. We love and support her 100 per cent and these unfounded rumours are hurtful to our entire family. We appreciate the way Senator Kerry has handled the situation and intend on voting for him for President of the United States.”

February 16, 2004 at 08:48 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (12) | Top of page | Blog Home

Independence of the news

The Government is considering break up of the BBC.

This is a clear example of misuse of government power. Independence of the news media is critical for a multitude of reasons. These reasons are all tied to freedom of speech, and a free society.

Part of the draft paper released, talks about "wider Ofcom enforcement role". (Ofcom is a Government controlled body, set up under the latest Communications Act as a single regulator of the entire broadcasting and communications industry). Its known that Ofcom is very close to the government, so de facto editorial control is moved to the government.

In this day of internet news, and the ability for consumers to take in all the news as they desire, and, assemble their own view of the world, this would effectively take the BBC out of the picture. Worse, it would remain in the picture, and consumers would get a diluted, and non objective view of the news. Research (exampe1) & (example2), shows the movement of reliance on newspapers, and especially TV towards reliance on internet news. Internet news is important and becoming more trusted than other news sources. Anything which brings into question the nature of the underlying news, brings into question, that which consumers are counting upon.

On the world scale, we have BBC, CNN, FOX and SKY as world scale broadcasters, backed up by reporting from AP, Reuters, and AFP. CNN might be US biased, but they take pretty good shorts at Republicans and Democrats alike.

The tie to free society becomes even more important with internet news. We just have to look at Communist Russia (pre '89 - no comment on today) and North Korea (today) for [extreme] examples of how media is a critical means for them to control and manipulate how people think, and what they know. If western countries all over the world are relying upon internet for news, and we know which sites they count on, then independence of thought, and journalism is critical. If they make occasional mistakes, and the governments' don't like it, that should be just part of the process.

That the BBC screwed up during the Hutton/ Gilligan incident on Iraq WMD is not in question. But the New York Times similarly and possibly more seriously screwed up on their war reporting during the war too.

This doesn't mean we have lost the need for independent thought and new reporting. In this day of "world news" accessible anywhere, independence of the media is all the more important.

February 15, 2004 at 11:08 AM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (5) | Top of page | Blog Home

'This won't go away. What happened is much nastier than is being reported'

Despite these reports in The Times and Daily Telegraph in the UK, the US mainstream Sunday media still hasn't picked up this story? The NY Times & Washington Post completley ignore it.

Telegraph | News | 'This won't go away. What happened is much nastier than is being reported'

By Adrian Blomfeld in Nairobi and Andrew Alderson
(Filed: 15/02/2004)

Alex Polier, the twenty-four year old journalist who could end Senator John Kerry's hopes of becoming the next president of the United States is alleged to have had a two-year affair with the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Last night the rumours were in danger of becoming a full-blown scandal.

Alex Polier, 24, is alleged to have had an affair with John Kerry

"This is not going to go away," one American friend of Miss Polier said yesterday. "What actually happened is much nastier than is being reported."

The allegations come at a crucial time for the senator. Polls showed him leading Mr Bush by 52 per cent to 42 per cent, and aides will be anxious to see if the apparent scandal affects his standing among voters.

Miss Polier, a former intern who also spent some time in 1998 doing work experience at the Houses of Parliament in London, is in Kenya staying with Yaron Schwartzman, her fiance and a member of the country's fashionable young set. The couple have refused to make any comment on her alleged links with Senator Kerry, who is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, an heiress to the food empire.

Senator Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran dubbed the new JFK, has vehemently denied any relationship with Miss Polier, and shrugged off allegations that he had a two-year affair with her from 2001. "I just deny it categorically. It's rumour. It's untrue. Period," he said.

Mr Kerry, 60, has won 12 out of the 14 Democratic primaries and has looked all but certain to seal the nomination to take on President George W. Bush in November's elections.

His aides have blamed a dirty tricks campaign for bringing the allegations about Miss Polier into the public eye; they first surfaced last week on a Right-wing internet site, the Drudge Report, which famously first broke the news of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Miss Polier's parents, Terry and Donna, from Malvern, Pennsylvania, added fuel to the fire by claiming that Mr Kerry did pursue their daughter.

"I think he's a sleazeball. I did wonder if she didn't get that feeling herself," said Mr Polier. "He's not the sort of guy I'd choose to be with my daughter.

"John Kerry called my daughter and invited her to be on his re-election committee. She talked to him and decided against it."

The Drudge website also quoted retired Gen Wesley Clark, one of Mr Kerry's rivals for the nomination, as having told journalists off the record: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue."

Mr Clark later dropped out of the race and endorsed Mr Kerry.

Miss Polier, a journalist who once worked for Associated Press, is a graduate of Columbia University, New York. She apparently met the senator as she was beginning her media career. Miss Polier and her fiance were believed to be hiding yesterday at the Nairobi home of Mr Schwartzman's parents, who moved to Kenya from Israel.

She appears to have few friends of her own in Kenya: she has never lived in the country and makes only occasional visits. "She seemed perfectly nice, although she was a little cool," said a Schwartzman family friend.

"She didn't seem to be very willing to open up but whether it was because she was aloof or just shy, I couldn't work out."

February 15, 2004 at 01:59 AM in @ My Views @, Journalism | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

John Kerry rocked by infidelity allegations

I am less interested in the content of this story than I am how it is evolving. Its gradually spreading across the news media, but in different ways. The UK press were first to pick it up, and name Polier, but since then her name has been removed.

A quick search of here name identifed her as an AP employee, so I ignored it as co-incidence the first time, but turns it she is one and the same.

Then a further review of the UK press showed her name had been removed, and after a bit of searching her it is again on the Political Star site (Arizona, US). During this search, and on some blogs, it seems there is someting to this story.

But still the mainstream US media haven't picked it up at all ... why is that?

John Kerry alleged mistress scandal - Drudge reports alleged infidelity, affair with intern

Senator Kerry: "I just deny it categorically."

WASHINGTON DC -” The presidential campaign of democratic hopeful John Kerry is threatened by infidelity allegations. The media flurry surrounds unconfirmed reports that Senator Kerry was recently involved with a young journalist - an allegation in which the Senator flatly denies.

The Philadelphia Daily News reports that several news trucks and assorted gawkers have been loitering outside the home of the parents of 27-year-old Alexandra Polier after her dad was quoted in a British tabloid that Senator Kerry was "a sleazeball" who had shown an interest in his daughter.
News of an alleged affair first surfaced online on Watchblog.com last week [February 6, 2004], where it was reported that TIME Magazine would be one of the early mainstream media to break the story.

The center of the storm revolves around a woman who allegedly fled the U.S. at the urging of Kerry, according to a Drudge Report story filed Thursday. The woman is now said to be in Kenya, Eastern Africa with another man who reportedly may be her fiancé.

In light of Kerry's substantial lead in delegates for the presidential nomination, Time Magazine, ABC News, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press are said to be investigating the woman's disappearance, and the nature of the relationship.

Reached for comment, AP spokesman Jack Stokes said, "We simply don't comment on stories we are pursuing or not pursuing."

Michael Sneed, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times stated he was told the real reason former Dem presidential nominee Al Gore did not select Kerry as his veepmate was because of allegations of women problems, or marital infidelity involving Kerry's marriage to Heinz, heiress to the HJ Heinz Ketchup fortune, whom he met in 1990.

"Kerry was the favorite to be Gore's veep, but they worried a female problem could erupt, so U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was selected instead," said Sneed's source.

More recently, a top source told Mr. Sneed that Al Gore was talking about Kerry's sexual baggage "with a young woman" as recently as late last week.

Despite his recent endorsement of Kerry, in an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark allegedly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue," according to Drudge.

Sources told the Drudge Report - who previously broke the story on Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky in 1998 - that these allegations are the reason why Dean decided not to drop out of the race after Wisconsin and turned increasingly aggressive against the frontrunning rival in recent days.

Friday morning, Don Imus on Imus in The Morning asked John Kerry in a telephone interview if there was any truth to the allegations. Senator Kerry said "there is nothing to report... there's nothing to talk about... I'm not worried about it... the answer is 'no.'"

When confronted again in Wisconsin, Kerry told reporters "I just deny it categorically. It's rumor. It's untrue. Period." The Senator then added, "And that's the last time I intend to [deny it]."

February 14, 2004 at 11:56 AM in @ My Views @, Journalism | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dave Winer, RSS vs Atom - sometimes he forgets we don't really care

Tony Gentle makes a pretty compelling argument but he is only half right.

We don't care unless it is inconvenient. People with ATOM feeds can't be read consistently in my newsreader (Feeddemon), so thats not convenient at all, and I don't need or want to get into a debate about whether the problem is with the newsreader or the standard. I don't trust the new ATOM standard, and author Nick Bradbury is very clear that any feed will work if it is "well-formed". Nick has enough credibility with me and the user commmunity, that his opinion is credible.

His potshots in the "comments section of Gilmours blog, about Winer are personal and apparently missing an important point.

So, yes we do care, and it will take the geek community to figure this out, or we will all lose a major benefits of blogs, through seamless feeds.

February 12, 2004 at 12:19 PM in @ My Views @, Blogging & feeds | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

White Stripes

The world as we know it, slowly returns to normal. Just watched the White Stripes on the Grammies, and finally a move away from rap/ hip hop/ crap, back to real music. Its a small step, but there is a movement towards long haired regular guys playing rock. (Thank you Duarte and Dan for keeping me up to date)

PS ... is it my imagination, or is Jack Whites guitar style reminiscent of Jimmy Page & Pete Townsend. This is not a bad thing!!

PPS ... now we had the Foo Fighters and Chick Corea, followed by ColdPlay beating out some others who I won't name. Not that I care about Grammies, but this is good stuff because it could mean a good new re-direction for music.

February 8, 2004 at 08:38 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Top of page | Blog Home

Deans demise is reminiscent of the dot com bust

As Howard Dean comes in at the low double digits this weekend, his political demise is all but complete. So why did it look so good late in 2003 for him before the first primaries.

This is illustrative of the same problem which hit the dot com companies in 2001. The internet image and marketing got ahead of the real personna, and once he started to get national visibility, the electibility of the man became visible to all, and the mere fact his message was "right" was not backed up by the man - expectations were not met. The parallel with dot com ... the internet message was not backed by by service or marketing hype (eToys failure to delvier the orders on time, etc) ... expectations were not met.

February 8, 2004 at 07:13 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Top of page | Blog Home

New Category

As the site has evolved over the last 8 months, I have found research collection predominates, and I need a space for my own commentary, if for no other reason, than people know what to ignore.

So I have set up this category, "My Views & Analysis" which will be just that, and with no links to other sites. I will link to within this site as appropriate.

February 8, 2004 at 06:12 PM in @ My Views @ | Permalink | TrackBack (86) | Top of page | Blog Home

Thoughts on MP3's

Once I got over the novelty of free music, other aspects become evident. How to catalogue the music for example. MP3 has no naming standard, either for the file name or for the cataloging information. So it becomes a very time consuming and frustrating job to get