animeclasicos.net

“The future is about more than just gender or race,” Obama said when asked about the fact that the two Democratic front-runners are a woman and an African American, and then quipped, “If it were about race, I wouldn’t have to…(campaign). I could just show up.” The young audience, receptive to a bit of humor in an otherwise serious event (minus the red-and-blue lightning bolts on the walls) cheered and applauded.

NEW YORK–Right before Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the MySpace-MTV “Closing Arguments” event via videoconference from Minneapolis, one of the young studio audience members whispered, “He’s the whole reason why we’re here.”

(Credit:
Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

But as with Paul’s “dialogue” earlier in the evening, technology policy was wholly absent from the conversation. Maybe it just isn’t high-profile enough for the crowds tuning in via MySpace and MTV; Obama has become famous for a broad-based message of sweeping change. Geek policy might just seem too narrow in focus.

Obama might not have the online cult following that Republican candidate Ron Paul does, but he has arguably amassed the most significant online following out of all the Democratic candidates; he was MySpace users’ favorite candidate from the party, and let’s not forget the “Obama Girl” online video sensation. (Okay, so that was unofficial.)

And those of us inside the studio could hear enthusiastic cheers from outside in Times Square, where dozens of Obama supporters had gathered before the event.

When (or if) classical music can be deciphered by these types of services it will probably be a great engineering feat. Progress, if this is ever attempted, would probably be incremental. First, identifying a particular symphony, concerto or quartet is, in itself, very difficult. Next, identifying the particular recording will be staggering. All those ensembles and conductors perform pieces many times over leading to various versions and editions that would be a morass of data to sort through. While there’s probably not a market demand for this type of service or application, it may serve as Shazam or Midomi’s Everest.

Sending the sample for off-site sonic analysis, querying the proper artist remotely, album art and sending a response back to your iPhone in less than 10 seconds is pretty dang slick. The sample time itself is only about 12 seconds! Once you get your result, you can bookmark it, and, if you’re in a WiFi hotspot, launch iTunes to buy the song. Most popular songs are on these services. Shazam doesn’t work in loud places like clubs, bars or restaurants, but works well in
cars or at home.

What these services haven’t been able to do, however, is to analyze classical music. I’ve tried a few times. Shazam says the Beethoven Fifth Symhony is “unrecognized.” What would Ludwig say? After humming the piece into Midomi, I got the strangest country folk song in response. This isn’t surprising. There are very long phrases in classical music and it makes even die-hard fans puzzle as to “what was that piece?” Having these services decipher classical music presents a lot of challenges. First, recordings of pieces are almost nearly indistinguishable especially if you only had a 12-second sample of them. Also, unlike pop music, where there is one artist performing one song (sure there are cover versions), with classical you have hundreds of ensembles, conductors and performers spanning 50 years of audio recording doing the same ’song’ over and over again. For example, there are more than 200 recordings of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony alone!

Instead of trying to scrawl down lyrics, doing a search on Google (only to be lead to some bizarre lyric website repository that may or may not work, all the while offering me free ringtones and ceaseless pop-up ads), with Shazam’s app, I’ve actually found songs by, well, listening to them. Shazam is slick. You hear a song, start the app, hold your
iPhone’s mic up to the sound source and viola! It’s been ‘tagged’ and identified like a wild bird you caught on Animal Planet. Another app by Midomi even lets you hum a tune in, search by title, artist and even lets you listen to samples.

Current, the edgy news and culture channel co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, has come up with a new way to broadcast the presidential debates: show Twitter commentary on what people are saying.

Last year, MTV featured Twitter as a promotion platform for the Video Music Awards, and featured some popular tweets on-air, but did not incorporate them into a live broadcast.

Current has not said how the tweets will be selected for on-air display, but it’s likely that they will be hand-picked to provide a range of perspectives and serious commentary. So expect more about the candidates’ differing views on the economy…and less about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s hair.

Through an official partnership with the microblogging service, Current will broadcast “Hack the Debate,” which will live-stream on Current.com as well as air on the network. Twitter updates, or “tweets,” will be shown in real time for all four debates (three with the presidential candidates and one with the vice presidential candidates), which begin on September 26. It makes a whole lot of sense, given Current’s slant toward young and tech-savvy news hounds (i.e., the people who use Twitter) and heavy focus on user-submitted content.

“The debate stage is only set for two candidates, but Current was founded to make room for millions of participants,” Current CEO Joel Hyatt said in a release. “We’re thrilled to work with Twitter and take advantage of their extremely powerful communication platform, giving people a chance to speak directly to Current’s nationwide television audience.”

A new IRS Web site that allows taxpayers to check on the status of their refund checks could lead to users being phished.

The new “Where’s my stimulus payment?” site asks taxpayers to enter in their Social Security number, and a few other trivial bits of information before informing the user of the amount of their refund, and the date it will be sent out.

Secondly, the URL, http://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/IRServlet?app=IRACTC is simply horrible. The vast majority of users will have no idea if this is a legitimate Web site or not. Why could they not select something a bit more readable, such as “www.irs.gov/stimulus”.

The IRS is frequently mimicked by phishers. The agency even goes so far as to offer advice on its site, debunking many common phishing attacks. Furthermore, agency has shut down more than 1,600 phishing sites claiming to be the IRS in the past few years.

(Credit:
Christopher Soghoian)

Phishing Site targetting IRS

From a security education perspective, it is a really bad idea to have such a form on the official IRS Web site. The IRS should not be training users (via positive reinforcement) to enter their full Social Security numbers into Web sites. It is bad enough that credit cards and banks require us to do so when signing up. The IRS has an existing relationship with every tax-paying citizen. It does not need to use our SSN to authenticate us, and could use one of many other bits of information.

At the very least, the IRS should authenticate users with additional information (such as the amount of federal taxes paid in 2008). It already does this for users who wish to e-file. This would at least stop the site being used as an oracle to confirm/guess someone else’s SSN.

Screenshot of the IRS Stimulus Website

To see why this is such a bad idea–look at the image below of a phishing scam claiming to be an IRS refund Web site. Now look at the image above, the IRS’s new refund status site. Can we really expect most users to tell the difference?

(Credit:
Laughing Squid / Flickr)

While no doubt useful, this Web site sets a horrible example, and encourages dangerous behavior by users. Furthermore, in the hands of someone who knows the last four digits of a taxpayer’s Social Security number, it could be used as an oracle (by submitting multiple requests) to determine the full SSN of a taxpayer.

If you are looking for “Albany,” you might want to try heading to Circuit City.

The welcome screen for the new Equipt offering lists the products and services available.

“It makes a lot of sense so it’s something you will likely see,” he said.

Also, for now at least, there is no way to upgrade from a OneCare subscription to Equipt, though Gordon said that may be in the cards.

Gordon said some less sophisticated users think they are getting a copy of Office as part of their PC purchase and are disappointed when they come home and find only a trial version of Office. “That’s when a lot of folks will start digging through the drawer for (an old copy).”

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that Circuit City will be the first to offer a new Office subscription service, first known by its Albany code name and now dubbed Equipt.

(Credit:
Microsoft)

(Credit:
Microsoft)

I was curious just how Microsoft accounts for the revenue it expects to get from Equipt–i.e., how much gets counted toward Office and how much toward OneCare. Gordon wouldn’t say, other than to indicate it would be wrong to think that the Office unit only gets the $20 difference between Equipt and OneCare.

Gordon said the company’s research indicates that those who opt for Equipt will be people who would not otherwise buy Office, but added “we are going to keep a very close watch on cannibalization metrics.”

Although Equipt is starting out at Circuit City, the deal is nonexclusive and Gordon sees options to go beyond stores and beyond the U.S. Gordon said Microsoft expects to expand to other retailers later in the year and eventually to offer it through other means, such as through computer makers or over the Web.

The idea behind the subscription service is to convert more new PC buyers into Office buyers. It plays on the fact that although most people don’t buy Office at the same time as a computer, many do purchase a security software subscription.

Equipt bundles a subscription version of Office Home and Student with Microsoft’s OneCare antivirus product for $69 a year–just $20 more than the suggested price of OneCare alone.

Microsoft is trying to tap into the fact that while many people would rather find a copy of Office that they don’t have to pay for (either an older version or a pirated copy) they are willing to pay for security software. “Security is basically the No. 1 thing that gets attached with a PC,” said Microsoft group product manager Bryson Gordon.

On the main page of the Equipt subscriber center, users can see their subscription status and make changes to their account.

In addition to placing Equipt on retail shelves, Microsoft is also looking for it to be installed by so-called tech benches, the generic name for things like Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

(Credit:
Belkin)

Read the full review to find out.

Both Conserve models also come with a light-switch-style wireless remote control that allows you to turn off your components with the flip of a conveniently placed switch (rather than having to bend down underneath a desk and hit an on/off switch on the surge protector itself).

So, how long will the Conserve take to pay for itself?

The idea behind Belkin’s Conserve surge protector is pretty simple. Instead of having your electronics sit there in standby mode and each sip a little bit of power, the Conserve lets you completely shut down components so power drain is cut to zero. At the same time, it leaves two outlets active for those products that you indeed want to keep on (or leave in standby mode)–items such as DVRs, wireless routers, fax machines, and cordless phones.

Complete shutdown: Belkin's Conserve surge protector in action.

Two models are available: a shorter strip with a total of eight outlets and a longer one with a total of 10 outlets and a coaxial RF input/output for cable and satellite TV feeds. Both models have 4-foot cords, and all outlets have a sliding safety switch that closes off the socket when not in use, which is good if you have small children or pets. The Conserve protectors are covered by a lifetime $100,000 connected-equipment warranty as well.

The remote is wall-mountable and can also control multiple Conserve protectors, so you can shut everything down in your house at once. Belkin says the range on the remote is about 60 feet (line of sight is not required), but we only managed to have it work properly within a range of about 30 feet. Additional remotes will soon be available for $13 each.

(Credit:
Intel)

“Milliwatts” refers to chips such as Atom, a tiny low-power, low-cost processor destined for ultramobile devices and low-cost desktops typically running either Linux or Windows XP. The first Atom chips will launch in June.

(See: Intel rolls out five new Atom processors.)

On a slightly more practical level, the Cliffside technology is being demonstrated from the Mobile Products Group; it enables a single Wi-Fi adapter to function like two independent Wi-Fi adapters. The hope is that this technology could sync your MP3 and video files without a USB cable, directly and wirelessly connecting your notebook to your TV to view HD movies. More here.

There is also a demonstration of wireless device discovery and setup. This demonstration shows how to detect and connect to nearby wireless displays, using the familiar FnF7 (Function F7 key combination).

Click here for more stories on IDF Shanghai.

Nehalem boasts increased parallelism, better branch prediction (to move instructions more quickly through the instruction pipeline), and an on-chip memory controller for increased memory performance–what Intel calls “memory latency reduction.” Something, by the way, Advanced Micro Devices already has in its chips.

The specs for Intel’s Dunnington processor

Though more technology and product details will certainly emerge in the next two days in Shanghai, the main chip themes are already out there. Gelsinger spelled them out at briefing earlier this month.

While the marquee processor theme at IDF Shanghai is “milliwatts to petaflops,” Intel is also set to offer a vision of universal connectivity.

On another front, Intel is evangelizing universal connectivity, always a problematic proposition, simply because it invariably promises more (sometimes much more) than it can deliver. Intel puts it this way: “Imagine a day when a single device small enough to fit in your pocket…knows your tendencies and preferences and can adapt and optimize its interfaces to match what you are doing at any point any time…Imagine a day when this device…can dynamically become a hybrid combination of other computing and multimedia devices in close proximity.” You get the picture. Intel calls this “Carry Small, Live Large.”

Larrabee is a graphics processor scheduled for the 2009-2010 time frame. It will include a new vector instruction set to improve the performance of graphics and video applications. Larrabee will be compatible with Intel’s popular x86 instruction set, theoretically making life easier for software developers.

“Petaflops” refers to high-performance computing–what used to be called supercomputing. (”Peta” is quadrillion, or a thousand trillion; “flop” is floating-point operation.) Intel is targeting petaflop supercomputers that would compete with the fastest supercomputer in the world: IBM’s Blue Gene/P machines.

In addition to Atom, the processor spotlight will likely fall on Nehalem and Larrabee. Nehalem is a relatively known quantity; Larrabee, a relatively unknown quantity. So interest should focus on the latter.

The main theme for the event, which starts Wednesday, Beijing time, refers to “very, very big to very, very small and low power,” according to Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel’s digital enterprise group, speaking in a video.

The chip buzzwords are: Tukwila, a new quad-core chip with 2 billion transistors, a whopping 30MB of cache, and a new interconnect technology called QuickPath; Dunnington, a six-core chip for multiprocessor computers that can support four or more processors (in this case, each with six cores); Nehalem, a follow-on to the current “Penryn” processors, it is a new 45-nanometer chip microarchitecture due in the fourth quarter that scales up to eight cores; and Larrabee, a visual-computing architecture that uses many cores (”many” usually means many more than a typical quad-core computer).

(Credit:
Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Times have changed, of course. Like most kids, I moved on from D&D and hadn’t even looked at a D&D book in decades, until a former colleague of mine brought his son’s old gaming books into the office. While we may have been oddball hobbyists 25 years ago, role-playing games are now mainstream, thanks to gaming consoles and the Internet. World of Warcraft is a billion-dollar enterprise, and D&D lives on in various forms. But without D&D paving the way, it’s hard to imagine WoW would even exist.

I was saddened earlier Tuesday to hear that Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and the father of modern role-playing games, has died. He was 69 years old. My CNET Reviews colleague Will Greenwald has already written about Gygax’s role in the gaming community.

For many of us who grew up before PCs became ubiquitous and long before it was cool to be a geek, Gygax’s creation meant Friday nights spent playing games with your friends, not wishing you were someone else. Instead of finding creative ways to break the law, we were busy rolling 20-sided dice and doing battle with Orcs and other evil beasts.

It was a fantastical world for adolescents. Gygax managed to mix The Lord of the Rings and mythology with comic book adventures. Naturally, there were absurd D&D-related scares in the early-1980s regarding kids delving into Satanism and disastrous episodes of real-life sword fighting. (I always thought if kids were dumb enough to fight with real swords, they had bigger issues than the influence of a role-playing game).

Gary Gygax helped keep me out of trouble when I was in junior high school.

My own memories: Before moving on to the decidedly autocratic role of Dungeon Master, my favorite D&D role was a long-sword-wielding ranger named Toranaga (I think the miniseries Shogun was big at the time and that’s where I got the Japanese name). He had a magic girdle of strength and ran a speakeasy on the side. For the record, Toranaga was Chaotic Good, had a 17 strength (that’s non-magic girdle-enhanced), had a sturdy constitution of 14, but was a bit clumsy due to his 9 dexterity. For those of you who never played the game, well, sorry, this probably doesn’t mean much to you. Let’s just say 17 is good (18 is the highest you can get); 9–not so good.

So let’s pay our respects: You have to wonder how many of today’s writers, computer programmers, video game creators, and other creative sorts wiled away their winter nights playing D&D. Thanks, Mr. Gygax. You allowed us to use our brains.

I also seem to recall my ranger/barkeep met his untimely demise at the hands of an Ochre Jelly monster that made a home in his bar. It was an ignominious death for a guy named after a mighty Japanese warrior.

My one major pet peeve with the MacBook Air is that no matter what I do, it seems that this machine never goes fully to sleep. Somehow the battery is being drained (albeit at a slower rate) when I set the computer to “sleep” or when I close the lid.

This has become an incredible annoyance as my main purpose for this laptop was to be able to use it on the fly. Lately I’ve found that I have run the whole battery out in about 8 hours with less than one hour of actual usage. At first I thought it was because the Airport was constantly scanning, which often drained my old MacBook Pro.

My two theories are that if you bump the machine it somehow triggers the hard drive to spin up or that there is a software glitch that needs to get fixed.

A next step would be to index the Web, which would be of great interest to Google rivals. Powerset has garnered $12.5 million in Series A funding from Foundation Capital, Founders Fund, and angel investors. Given the cost to scale up a semantically rich index of 20 billion Web pages, Microsoft would be a good match for Powerset. Then again, so would Google. Stay tuned…

Powerset uses a sophisticated natural language parser (licensed from Xerox PARC) to find subjects, verbs, objects, synonyms, and other elements for indexing.

Powerset raises the bar on search based on a preview that I had of the service last month. Powerset differs from the Google in that it extracts and indexes concepts, relationships, and meaning, rather than keywords. It’s able to create connections and pivot in some cases in ways that elude Google’s proficient engine, which favors more of a statistical approach.

While Powerset is preparing for the public rollout of its unique, semantic search engine, Microsoft may be interested in acquiring the start-up, according to sources.

I asked Barney Pell, Powerset co-founder and CTO, whether there was any truth to a Microsoft-Powerset deal rumors. He said, “No comment,” and noted his policy of not commenting on rumors. Microsoft also declined to comment on rumors.

(Credit:
Dan Farber)

Bringing Powerset, which has no revenue and a tiny user base at this point, into the fold would be spare change for Microsoft compared with spending $45 billion to $50 billion on Yahoo. But, it could bring something useful to Microsoft–and Yahoo, if their union were consummated–in the battle for search users with arch rival Google.

Initially, Powerset is performing its magic on the 3 million pages of Wikipedia content, enabling a new kind of search and navigation experience on the popular information resource.

Powerset co-founder and CTO Barney Pell