Fineo

Fineo is an interesting tool to help visualize categorical data.  Using simple tab-separated-values file, you can create diagrams that allow users to select the categories  to explore the relationships between and among them.

A sample diagram is here.

The (sad) state of broadband in the US

Engadget has an excellent article on why the state of US broadband is poor compared to other developed contries.  The video along with the article is definitely worth watching.  While I wont summarize the entire article here, there are some key points:

• Prices in the US are higher and speeds are lower
• Most US markets are served by a duopoly (telco & cable TV company)
• Government has a roll in encouraging competition by opening up the last mile

Specifically, due to the cost and logistics of running infrastructure (wires, cable, fiber....) to each home, there are usually very few providers who have invested in such a venture.  Generally these have been the telephone companies and cable TV companies.  Both of which have done so under grants of monopoly and/or local franchise agreements.

In the European countries highlighted in the video, the governments have forced the incumbent local providers to allow competitors to use the last mile loops going to each home.

Of course, Verizon and AT&T think this is a horrible idea (except when it benefits them by allowing access to the European markets where they have no last mile infrastructure).

Maybe it is time to consider dedicating last mile infrastructure to a quasi-governmental authority like water and in some cases power.  But, in a way, isn't that what we've done by granting (and in many cases maintaining) monopoly status to the duopoly?

(Nearly) Useless Trivia: IEEE naming convention

IEEE standards often have strange names such as 802.1ah.  Ever consider there was a difference between standards that have lowercase trailing letters as opposed to uppercase?  Well, there is a diffreence:

The IEEE project naming convention uses upper-case letters (eg: 802.1Q) to identify standalone standards, and lower-case letters to identify amendments (previously known as supplements) to existing standards. There should never be 2 projects differing only in the case of letters!

Taken from itcertnotes.

EAT MORE CANDY

The candy industry just got a boost from an unlikely source.  Turns out kids who eat candy are less likely to be overweight than their prudish friends.

Time to hit the candy store.

Network Virtualization

Elsewhere on the switching front: virtualizing the network.

Nicira -- looks interesting, not much info on the website.  Something to keep track of

What happens when networks go open source

For a long time (well, probably since forever), software that runs networks was tightly coupled to the hardware on which it ran.  For example, from Cisco, we have CatOS or IOS which has specific versions for specific platforms, leading to an explosion in the number of software images that customers needed to manage.  Other vendors tamed the sprawl, mostly by having a single software image share by the entire product line (this was helped, of course, by the fact that not everyone can follow Cisco's growth model of acquisition).

But what if switching and routing software was decouple from the hardware.  And what if that software was open source.  Two projects to make note of: OpenFlow and Pica8

Switch++ looks similar, but probably not open source.

I haven't had a chance to play with either of these....maybe one day.

Three Articles from the forefront of Your Rights Eroding

Three articles from both the United States and Australia discuss how ISPs are either filtering content or working with private copyright holders to throttle or block traffic just based on an accusation of copyright infringement.

Ars is reporting that the MPAA & RIAA are working with colluding with large ISPs to throttle or limit access to users accused of copyright infringement.  CNet is reporting the same story.  Both explain how the White House is behind this effort to trash the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth amendments.

News from Australia isn't any better: ISPs will start to voluntarily filter traffic based on a list provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

When governments start filtering the information we can access and/or encourage private industry to restrict our access, we need to think about alternate means of communication such as TOR and Project Kleinrock

Lots of visualizations

Nearly 800 visualizations on a plethora of topics.

It will take me a while to get through them all.

Networking in the Apocolypse

 We all should be creating disaster kits in case the unthinkable happens....flood, tornado, earthquake.  But what about communication.  What should you have?  A solar charger, extra batteries?  Sure.

But if the shit really hits the fan, how about a Kleinrock router.  In short, it creates a web of wireless routers in repeater mode.  Of course, content would either need to be hosted on this network or available through some gateway to the 'real' Internet.

WiscNet is dead: Long Live the Bell Telephone Monopoly

Techdirt is reporting that WiscNet is dead because AT&T was able to get language inserted into legislation effectively killing this higher education and community resource.

A litany of disinachting news and articles

Oh, where to begin?

The University of Wisconsin's WiscNet is under attack from corporate service providers.  According to the Ars Technica article, the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association is working legislation through the state house that would force UW to return millions in stimulus money:

Under a proposed new law, the University of Wisconsin system could be forced to return millions of dollars in federal broadband grants that it has already won, spend far more money on network services, and perhaps even withdraw from the Internet2 project.

Universities have traditionally been strong proponents of open and free access to information resources, often partnering with communities and K-12 institutions to ensure low cost internet access. 

However, a federal law being proposed now, PROTECT IP, if passed, is likely to drastically change the land scape of higher education networks.  In short, the act will be onerous burdens on network operators to protect and safeguard the intellectual property rights of copyright owners.  Sounds like a great effort, but in reality, the RIAA and MPAA are shifting the cost of copyright protection from their for-profit members to network operators, all under the assumptions that network traffic is likely to infringe on a copyright.

Along the same lines, the MPAA and RIAA want to give police the power the search without a warrant for potentially illegal optical disc manufacturing facilities.  Again, protecting copyrights is all well and good, but is it so important that we are going to make it easier for the government to infringe on our fourth amendment rights?

As it is, the FBI is lowering the bar for search and surveillance: giving them:

more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

To put another way, it will be easier for agents to work without an formal, open investigation which means less of a paper trail and less supervision, setting up a system that is more vulnerable to abuse.

On a slightly different note, Tennessee has just made it illegal to post offensive images.  The upside is that maybe this would make Weinergate illegal?

Good news all around.  Maybe time to listen to some Joy Division.

Where do we explore in space

Cool infographic showing the scope of human space exploration.

The 'Internet in 1901'

Undersea cable map from 1901.

Write once, run everywhere?

Wasn't one of the main goals of Java the ability to write once, run everywhere? Good luck trying to run different Java applications on the same machine.  I can't imagine a worse technology when it comes to maintaining backwards compatibility, which forces users to maintain multiple versions of Java.

Could Blue Stacks be the solution?

From the Technology Review Article about BlueStacks:

A startup called BlueStacks wants to end all your worrying about whether an app will run on a specific operating system. The company's technology, which it's showing off at trade shows, lets users run apps on operating systems they weren't designed for.
The  software lets Android apps run on Windows, and lets Android apps run within the browser on Google's ChromeOS. It can run Windows on top of Android or vice versa. The company will make the software available for download, but it can also be built into apps, and will come preinstalled on some hardware. "We don't care about the operating system anymore," says BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma. "It's all about apps."

Phase Change Memory

Still in development, better than NAND flash, Phase Change Memory looks really cool.

Pronto Systems

Pronto Systems is offering a super low cost 48x1G + 4x10G ethernet switch.  What is really interesting is Pronto's involvement in the Open Switch Software Alliance:

OSSA is Open Switch Software Architecture which aims to provide an open software environment to increase the flexibility and manageability of data centers. OSSA includes three system layers, including boot loader, operating system, and software application.

There is a lot of interesting working going on the the relatively boring ethternet switching space.

There is OpenFlow which can be described as an API for programming switches' data planes directly.

There is also the (seemingly similar) Open Networking Foundation, a consortium of large network operators created to develop a software defined network.

Brad Hedlund has a good discussion on what problems Open Flow is trying to solve and if they are even valid.