peer-to-peer cellular trace from a GSM ID
establish a secure VPM
connecting through a DNA node
Monday, April 6, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Carlin Wing's Squash photographs
by Sarah Cortes
Photography show at Anthony Greany gallery, 460A Harrison Avenue, South End, Boston, Massachusetts, US, until May 16, 2009. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-6pm and by appointment. 617-482-0055.
Friday night finds us at the hip Anthony Greany Gallery opening reception for Carlin Wing's new show, "Hitting Walls (V.VII)." Located in the ultracool SOWA district (for SOuth of WAshington Street) in the South End of Boston, here in the US, we astonish ourselves by finding parking right across the street. This bodes well for the evening, as any Bostonian knows.
Michaela Larsen's upscale Rocca Restaurant a few doors away and Gaslight, an Alsatisn bistro, on a nearby sidestreet, give a feel for the experience-what could be more fun on a Friday evening?
For the four hundred or so people who filtered in and out of the two rooms, capacity 75, in the SOWA gallery complex between 6 and 10pm, apparently, nothing.
For those who don't live in Galaxy Squash, here's what the artist looks like:
Once inside, along with the wine, cheese, crackers and strawberries on offer, we are struck by the clean, white space and the bold placement of two enormous photographs, 57" x 70", about 6'x7'. To squash enthusiasts, the images are immediately unmistakable as one of the most prestigious and fun events on the circuit, with one of the most coveted titles among the pros, John Nimick's Tournament of Champions. Even non-squash players will recognize the stately proportions of New York's Grand Central Station, captured vividly in Wing's work.
Over and over again throughout the evening, we find our eyes drawn to the photographs and the little details. The distinct silhouettes of certain famous players and spectators, and characters in the insular squash world can be picked out of the crowd. Suddenly, one realizes, the players themselves are invisible on court. Wait a minute, we check the list of works, which clearly states, Willstrop vs. Abbas. The seats are full and the spectators fixated on invisible action apparently taking place between these two famous top ten players on the glass court before them. It's a kind of trompe l'oeil. One keeps looking back.
I had to check my own photos of the event to be sure there actually were players on court during that match. Yup, here's what they looked like by an ordinary photographer (not Wing's work, clearly):
Juxtaposed cleanly with the large photographs on exhibit are smaller ones, almost postcard-sized, and a video, around which visitors tended to cluster, from which emanated the familiar "whack..whack" sound of a squash ball against a wall. Only a former world-class professional squash player like Carlin, Harvard-pedigreed, could successfully capture the intersection of sport, art and event buzz. We can only hope these works find a home here in Boston, rather than, say, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they would seem, curiously, equally at home.
copyright 2009 Sarah Cortes
You can read Sarah's other tech columns at IT Knowledge Exchange
Photography show at Anthony Greany gallery, 460A Harrison Avenue, South End, Boston, Massachusetts, US, until May 16, 2009. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-6pm and by appointment. 617-482-0055.Friday night finds us at the hip Anthony Greany Gallery opening reception for Carlin Wing's new show, "Hitting Walls (V.VII)." Located in the ultracool SOWA district (for SOuth of WAshington Street) in the South End of Boston, here in the US, we astonish ourselves by finding parking right across the street. This bodes well for the evening, as any Bostonian knows.
Michaela Larsen's upscale Rocca Restaurant a few doors away and Gaslight, an Alsatisn bistro, on a nearby sidestreet, give a feel for the experience-what could be more fun on a Friday evening?
For the four hundred or so people who filtered in and out of the two rooms, capacity 75, in the SOWA gallery complex between 6 and 10pm, apparently, nothing.
For those who don't live in Galaxy Squash, here's what the artist looks like:
Once inside, along with the wine, cheese, crackers and strawberries on offer, we are struck by the clean, white space and the bold placement of two enormous photographs, 57" x 70", about 6'x7'. To squash enthusiasts, the images are immediately unmistakable as one of the most prestigious and fun events on the circuit, with one of the most coveted titles among the pros, John Nimick's Tournament of Champions. Even non-squash players will recognize the stately proportions of New York's Grand Central Station, captured vividly in Wing's work.
Over and over again throughout the evening, we find our eyes drawn to the photographs and the little details. The distinct silhouettes of certain famous players and spectators, and characters in the insular squash world can be picked out of the crowd. Suddenly, one realizes, the players themselves are invisible on court. Wait a minute, we check the list of works, which clearly states, Willstrop vs. Abbas. The seats are full and the spectators fixated on invisible action apparently taking place between these two famous top ten players on the glass court before them. It's a kind of trompe l'oeil. One keeps looking back.
I had to check my own photos of the event to be sure there actually were players on court during that match. Yup, here's what they looked like by an ordinary photographer (not Wing's work, clearly):
Juxtaposed cleanly with the large photographs on exhibit are smaller ones, almost postcard-sized, and a video, around which visitors tended to cluster, from which emanated the familiar "whack..whack" sound of a squash ball against a wall. Only a former world-class professional squash player like Carlin, Harvard-pedigreed, could successfully capture the intersection of sport, art and event buzz. We can only hope these works find a home here in Boston, rather than, say, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they would seem, curiously, equally at home.
copyright 2009 Sarah Cortes
You can read Sarah's other tech columns at IT Knowledge Exchange
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
webcasting the webcaster.
Harvard Law School's Berkman Center has long been the home of ubercool technology movers and shakers. When Wirecast on an Apple Mac platform emerged as its preferred webcasting technology, inquiring minds wanted to know: how's that working out for you, Berkman?
On Tuesday, March 24, 2009, we find ourselves at Berkman with Doc Searls, Berkman Fellow. Doc's bio on Berkman's website sheds light on why he is being webcast today: "In addition to his work here at Berkman, Doc is co-author (with fellow Berkman Fellow David Weinberger and others) of The Cluetrain Manifesto (the 10th Anniversary Edition of which is due out this summer), Senior Editor of Linux Journal, and one of the world's most familiar and inveterate bloggers. His work as a journalist, speaker and advocate of the Internet led to a Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Communicator in 2005. In "The World is Flat," Thomas L. Friedman calls Doc "one of the most respected technology writers in America." Doc is also a Fellow at the Center for Information and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where his work focuses on Internet infrastructure issues." Wow.
The incomparable Daniel Jamous is behind the impressive-looking consoles just off-screen. Though the cameras never capture him, he is one of the most critical individuals in the room. Before the crowd arrives, he is testing sound levels and adjusting camera angles, as you might expect.
As soon as introductions begin, Jamous is manually selecting the closest microphones to each speaker. He had previously explained that without manual selection for each and every speaker, the sound is easily lost.
Jamous has also queued up the slides for today, which he also controls. He keeps them faded while the audience shuffles in, manually turning on the dual screens when he judge the speaker ready to start the formal presentation.
This technology is decidedly dependent on jacques' skill and human intervention, is my first impression.
Doc's presentation, by the way, is a fascinatingly simple idea of a website service that simply allows anyone to put out an "RFP" for anything they want, and allows everyone to bid to fulfill the request at whatever price they choose. Like a giant eBay or craigslist, but more flexible. Doc is an interesting speaker with a pleasant, well-modulated voice, and he wisely keeps the formal presentation short, allowing more time for interactive Q&A.
Twice in the first 5 minutes, staffers listening in from the spillover room downstairs pop in and advise jacques to adjust the sound level, he is picking up too much background noise. Jamous cuts back and forth between tight shots of Doc, wide shots of the room, close-ups of questioners, and the slides. Reaching for the controls requires his full-time attention.
With a few clicks, he superimposes titles over the bottom of the screen, identifying the speaker and event. An auxiliary device that looks like a TV remote control allows him to pan accross the room, zooming in on questioners.
On Tuesday, March 24, 2009, we find ourselves at Berkman with Doc Searls, Berkman Fellow. Doc's bio on Berkman's website sheds light on why he is being webcast today: "In addition to his work here at Berkman, Doc is co-author (with fellow Berkman Fellow David Weinberger and others) of The Cluetrain Manifesto (the 10th Anniversary Edition of which is due out this summer), Senior Editor of Linux Journal, and one of the world's most familiar and inveterate bloggers. His work as a journalist, speaker and advocate of the Internet led to a Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Communicator in 2005. In "The World is Flat," Thomas L. Friedman calls Doc "one of the most respected technology writers in America." Doc is also a Fellow at the Center for Information and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where his work focuses on Internet infrastructure issues." Wow.
The incomparable Daniel Jamous is behind the impressive-looking consoles just off-screen. Though the cameras never capture him, he is one of the most critical individuals in the room. Before the crowd arrives, he is testing sound levels and adjusting camera angles, as you might expect.
As soon as introductions begin, Jamous is manually selecting the closest microphones to each speaker. He had previously explained that without manual selection for each and every speaker, the sound is easily lost.
Jamous has also queued up the slides for today, which he also controls. He keeps them faded while the audience shuffles in, manually turning on the dual screens when he judge the speaker ready to start the formal presentation.
This technology is decidedly dependent on jacques' skill and human intervention, is my first impression.
Doc's presentation, by the way, is a fascinatingly simple idea of a website service that simply allows anyone to put out an "RFP" for anything they want, and allows everyone to bid to fulfill the request at whatever price they choose. Like a giant eBay or craigslist, but more flexible. Doc is an interesting speaker with a pleasant, well-modulated voice, and he wisely keeps the formal presentation short, allowing more time for interactive Q&A.
Twice in the first 5 minutes, staffers listening in from the spillover room downstairs pop in and advise jacques to adjust the sound level, he is picking up too much background noise. Jamous cuts back and forth between tight shots of Doc, wide shots of the room, close-ups of questioners, and the slides. Reaching for the controls requires his full-time attention.
With a few clicks, he superimposes titles over the bottom of the screen, identifying the speaker and event. An auxiliary device that looks like a TV remote control allows him to pan accross the room, zooming in on questioners.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Cellphone Surveillance Techniques and TV's 24
by Sarah CortesThanks to the TV show 24, cellphone triangulation is now a household term. When you want to find the bad guy, or save your friend, you just triangulate. Like, on your laptop. It seems. According to the show.
So cool.
The flip side, that's not so cool, is that it provides yet another way to invade privacy and control innocent people and even, in the wrong hands, make their lives miserable. For example, police have found human traffickers use this technology around the world, including here in Boston, to to keep women forced into sexual trafficking from escaping their sad and all-too-common plight, while claiming that "they are not prisoners, they are free to come and go."
Of course, back in the unrealistically black-and-white world of 24, everyone knows who the good and bad guys are. And everyone knows that when you want to triangulate on 24, you call not for Jack Bauer, the ostensible hero. Nope, when it comes to the hard-core tech stuff you call for - Chloe, the straight-talking, rocking techno chick. You go, girl!
In real life, locating people using their cellphones involves multiple technical options. Cellphone "triangulation" is just one of several available techniques. LBS, or Location-Based Systems, fall under one of three categories:
•Network -based (of which triangulation is one approach)
•Handset-based (GPS)
•Hybrid
Network -based Cellphone "triangulation" is a technique that falls under the "network-based" category. It is considered the most accurate of all methods. But you might want to think twice if you're Jack Bauer and you need a helicopter to drop you an escape ladder into a precise location - because triangulation is also one of the most challenging techniques. Like landing a drop shot from the back of the squash court, it requires hours of practice and has a lower percentage of success. But when it works, it's sweet.
In general, network-based LBS utilizes a service provider's network infrastructure to identify handset location. The advantages is that it can be implemented non-intrusively, without affecting the handset. The disadvantage is that you have to ask the carrier to provide you the data based on a signal in relation to its towers.
Handset-based On the other hand, handset-based LBS requires installation of client software (GPS) on the handset. The advantage is that you don't need to ask carriers for tower information. But you still need to be able to read GPS, or request reading from GoogleMaps or an application that does.
Here's how handset-based LBS works:
•First, it calculates:
1) Location by cell identification
2) Signal strengths of the home and neighboring cells; or
3) latitude and longitude, if the handset is equipped with a GPS module
• The calculation is then sent from the handset to a location server like GoogleMaps.
Network-based LBS Challenges:
• Accuracy varies. Cell identification is the least accurate, triangulation, the most accurate
• Accuracy is closely dependent on concentration of base station cells, with urban environments achieving highest accuracy
• Requires working closely with service provider because it entails the installation of hardware and software within the operator's infrastructure.
•A legislative framework, such as E911 is required to compel service providers to cooperate and to safeguard privacy
Handset-based LBS Challenges:
These center around the necessity of installing software on the handset, which:
• Requires the active cooperation of subscriber
• Requires software that can handle the different handset operating systems
• Typically, only smart phones, such as Symbian or Windows Mobile are capable
• Proposed work-around: manufacturer installs embedded hw/sw on handset
These issues are coming up more frequently these days with the advent of a plethora of Privacy Laws. Understanding them can help avoid trouble for your organization and in your personal life. And., like Jack and Chloe, it makes you --so cool.
copyright 2009 Sarah Cortes
You can read Sarah's other tech columns at IT Knowledge Exchange
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Technology
by Sarah Cortes
A major crossroads for technology trends, trendsetting individuals and thought regarding freedom, responsibility, and the law, Berkman is a unique and valuable place. Today's gathering reviewed Berkman's report to the 50 US states' Attorneys General entitled "Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies." John Palfrey, professor and librarian at Harvard Law, Berkman founder and general all-around respected person on these topics, presented, along with other task forced members.
Children's internet safety has become a high profile IT Risk Management and Security area these days. The report resulted from a consent decree entred into by MySpace.com and judicial entities as a result of series of horrific incidents relating to children's internet use. Some questions that arise are how the report addresses: 1) sexual predation by and of minors, 2) sexual solicitation by and of minors, 3) exposure to harmful content by and of minors, including violent and pornographic content.
It's interesting how language can be used to obscure what's going on. The report clarifies:
1) sexual predation by adult men of minor girls
2) sexual solicitaiton by adult man of minor girls
3) exposure to harmful content by adult men of minor girls, including content reflecting vacts iolent and degrading to women and girls, by adult men.
Even the word "predators" kind of depersonalizes things and makes them more comfortable. The uncomfortable reflection in this report is that the men engaging in these acts and practices are, for the most part, otherwise regular guys like our dads, brothers, husbands, and co-workers. How harmful and abusive behaviour against women and girls has become part of mainstream American culture is beyond the scope of this report, but there it is for all to read.
Viewed in much the same way as we view our daily squash match against a hapless opponent, sexual pressure and coercion are part of the daily sport, according to this report, of countless man and boys around the world. Although not attacking the roots of the problem, which seem to be entitled beliefs and attitudes among boys and men, social networking sites are neverthess beginnig to act, taking a detection and documentation approach, using age verification and Sentinal among tools and strategies to identify and screen out these predatory men and boys.
A technical advisory board comprised of representatives of 29 technology companies reviewd products and offerings of 40 submissions in response to the Berkman task force's RFP. It was, quite sensibly and not surprisingly, decided not to recommend any single technology or approach to protect minors on the internet. Some feedback from the 50 states' Attorneys General is that the victim and predator profiles in Berkman's research are inconsistent with actual arrest records of internet predators. Berkman has sought access to the arrest records, but so far none has been provided. Another objection was that Berkman's data must be outdated. In fact, John Palfrey elucidated, the data is consistent with the most recent data set, that from September 2008.
Berkman Center has once again performed a service with its excellent research on this important topic. A next step might be to step back and consider solutions that go to the root of the problem as numerous organizations who work with violent, exploitative, abusive men and boys have recommended. Ironically, a lot of money and effort is being spent on technical solutions which allow us to keep re-detecting the same problem, which is simply grouwing over time. Like preventive health care, money would be well spent on prevention of abusive, predatory behaviour by men and boys, and all abusers, not just money spent on detection and documentation of their crimes after girls lives have been ruined.
copyright 2009 Sarah Cortes
You can read Sarah's other tech columns at IT Knowledge Exchange
A major crossroads for technology trends, trendsetting individuals and thought regarding freedom, responsibility, and the law, Berkman is a unique and valuable place. Today's gathering reviewed Berkman's report to the 50 US states' Attorneys General entitled "Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies." John Palfrey, professor and librarian at Harvard Law, Berkman founder and general all-around respected person on these topics, presented, along with other task forced members.
Children's internet safety has become a high profile IT Risk Management and Security area these days. The report resulted from a consent decree entred into by MySpace.com and judicial entities as a result of series of horrific incidents relating to children's internet use. Some questions that arise are how the report addresses: 1) sexual predation by and of minors, 2) sexual solicitation by and of minors, 3) exposure to harmful content by and of minors, including violent and pornographic content.
It's interesting how language can be used to obscure what's going on. The report clarifies:
1) sexual predation by adult men of minor girls
2) sexual solicitaiton by adult man of minor girls
3) exposure to harmful content by adult men of minor girls, including content reflecting vacts iolent and degrading to women and girls, by adult men.
Even the word "predators" kind of depersonalizes things and makes them more comfortable. The uncomfortable reflection in this report is that the men engaging in these acts and practices are, for the most part, otherwise regular guys like our dads, brothers, husbands, and co-workers. How harmful and abusive behaviour against women and girls has become part of mainstream American culture is beyond the scope of this report, but there it is for all to read.
Viewed in much the same way as we view our daily squash match against a hapless opponent, sexual pressure and coercion are part of the daily sport, according to this report, of countless man and boys around the world. Although not attacking the roots of the problem, which seem to be entitled beliefs and attitudes among boys and men, social networking sites are neverthess beginnig to act, taking a detection and documentation approach, using age verification and Sentinal among tools and strategies to identify and screen out these predatory men and boys.
A technical advisory board comprised of representatives of 29 technology companies reviewd products and offerings of 40 submissions in response to the Berkman task force's RFP. It was, quite sensibly and not surprisingly, decided not to recommend any single technology or approach to protect minors on the internet. Some feedback from the 50 states' Attorneys General is that the victim and predator profiles in Berkman's research are inconsistent with actual arrest records of internet predators. Berkman has sought access to the arrest records, but so far none has been provided. Another objection was that Berkman's data must be outdated. In fact, John Palfrey elucidated, the data is consistent with the most recent data set, that from September 2008.Berkman Center has once again performed a service with its excellent research on this important topic. A next step might be to step back and consider solutions that go to the root of the problem as numerous organizations who work with violent, exploitative, abusive men and boys have recommended. Ironically, a lot of money and effort is being spent on technical solutions which allow us to keep re-detecting the same problem, which is simply grouwing over time. Like preventive health care, money would be well spent on prevention of abusive, predatory behaviour by men and boys, and all abusers, not just money spent on detection and documentation of their crimes after girls lives have been ruined.
copyright 2009 Sarah Cortes
You can read Sarah's other tech columns at IT Knowledge Exchange
Friday, January 16, 2009
Harvard Business School Series: Branding and Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs)
by Sarah Cortes
Branding in 2008- Cheat Sheet
It turns out that understanding and controlling Search Engine algorithms is where the future of marketing is headed, and is influencing branding by incorporating aspects that can affect SEO.
Tonight Harvard Business School hosted a CEO Roundtable called "Creating Best-Selling Brands That Drive Long-Term Growth. 5 CEOs Share their Marketing Insights on creating long-term brand equity." It provided "30 Minute Breakout Session w/ each CEO after Panel Discussion." It was described as a "Leadership Track Event," and said, "Enjoy a one-of-a-kind evening with 5 CEOs as they share their insight, vision and strategies to build sustainable, leading brands that drive business growth and increase shareholder value. In today’s ever-changing competitive landscape, it takes dynamic leaders to innovate, inspire, and motivate their teams to focus on innovative marketing and business strategies and drive revenue, build brand equity, enhance loyalty and drive growth to a new plateau of success." The CEO Panel Included:
Torrence Boone, CEO, Enfatico, a cool ad agency, we learned, whose first client was Dell
Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar, a pretty cool company
Ralph Crowley, CEO of Polar and Adirondack Beverages. Cool drinks.
Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace, which, we learned, provides cool online customer focus groups
Charles J. Kravetz, CEO of NECN-TV, which we all know as "the news." Pretty cool.
Invited were members of the HBS Association of Boston, of whom 172 registered and 150 showed up. Pretty impressive turnout, but small enough to be intimate, in a fascinating way. Like viewing a squash match with its small and intimate gallery.
We did not learn much about how these awesome brands were created. Rather, we learned about what’s on the CEO’s mind at present, which, as it turns out, is mainly customers and customer experience.
A question about search engine optimization sidetracked everyone for quite a while. It seems CEOs are discovering search engines provide free advertising, in a sense. But they are focused on purchasing “key words.” SEO is so much more. Torrance Boone pointed out that SEO doesn’t end with your firm popping up at the top of Google’s list. It begins there, because where your customer lands when he clicks on your Google link can make all the difference.
Forgot what “branding” and SEO are considered, exactly, these days? Here’s a cheat sheet:
The following definitions of "branding" and “SEO” were found:
"From a shallow point of view, brand is what's given by a company to its merchandise so the manufacturer can be identified by consumers. Yet, after an increasing evolution on the production systems that allows almost any manufacturer to make high quality and satisfactory products, brands became a way of distinguishing simple commodities and their manufacturers by status, emotional characteristics and subjective qualities. A well-built brand gives the company or product personality, and evokes emotional and subliminal characteristics that are not necessarily found in the company or product themselves." - Yardeena Sherry, How To Understand Branding.
Wikipedia tells us the following:
A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies" - Birkin, Michael (1994). "Assessing Brand Value," in Brand Power.
Search engine optimization (SEO) -As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.
Yet another way that the world keeps changing under your feet.
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