WCIT 2012 - ITU the big loser

After WCIT 2012 - the debacle in Dubai - one thing is clear, the big loser was the ITU itself:

Confusion on Internet Future After UN Treaty Split | SecurityWeek.Com: ". . . James Lewis, who follows Internet governance at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said backers of the treaty distorted the facts. "They (ITU) were lying," he said. "It was totally about the Internet." Lewis told AFP the ITU lost credibility because "they swore up and down there wouldn't be a vote, that a decision would be by consensus, and then they took a vote." The outcome underscored a deep divide between the US and its allies, which seek to keep the Internet open and unregulated, and authoritarian regimes that want to impose controls over online use and content. Russia, China and Saudi Arabia have been among countries seeking such changes. .. . ."

How different countries of the world restrict the Internet - Tech - IBNLive
IBNLive
Dubai: Envoys in Dubai signed a new UN telecommunications treaty on Friday that a US-led delegation says endorses greater government control of the Internet. The US and more than 20 other countries refused to ratify the accord by the 193-nation ...

IBNLive

Google Dropping Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync: What Do You Do? | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: " . . .Worse, new users looking to connect up to their Gmail accounts will have to use IMAP following Google's changes, which can introduce significant delays (compared to instantaneous receipt) between when an email reaches one's Gmail account and when one's Windows Phone is notified of this fact. And with Google representatives going on record earlier this month to state that the company doesn't appear to have much of an intention to develop apps for Microsoft's platform at this point, that leaves Windows Phone users in a bit of a lurch. . . ."


Want to Download All of Your Tweets? No Problem! | News & Opinion | PCMag ...
PC Magazine
We had previously chatted about Twitter working on an "archival" feature for the service, one that would allow its users to more easily access their litany of tweets from their earliest days of blasting 140-character messages across the Web. It appears that ...

Can Microsoft Surface, Best Buy Save Each Other? - Hardware -
InformationWeek
Microsoft needs to get its Windows 8 tablet in front of as many eyeballs as possible, and the retailer needs hot products to drive in-store sales. | Paul McDougall | December 15, 2012 09:06 AM. Microsoft Surface Tablet: 10 Coolest Features. (click image for ...

Section of Panama Jungle Holds Over 25000 Bug Species
Fox News
It's census time in the Panamanian jungle for the millions of insects that call the region home. A multinational group of scientists, including one from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., just completed the first ever census of insects in the Panamanian ...

5 Ways Google Maps Beats Apple Maps - Mobility - Smartphones -
InformationWeek
Google Maps' triumphant return to the iPhone exposes just how bad Apple's app really is. By Eric Zeman · InformationWeek. December 15, 2012 09:06 AM. 10 Best Business Tools In Google+. (click image for larger view and for slideshow). Google published ...

Walmart selling third-generation 16GB Apple iPad with Retina Display for $399 ...
ZDNet
Summary: The iPad deal will be sweetened starting Monday, when it includes a $30 iTunes gift card. Sean Portnoy. By Sean Portnoy for Laptops & Desktops | December 15, 2012 -- 01:02 GMT (17:02 PST). Follow @teklust ...

Ford Fuel-Economy Controversy: Is EPA Test to Blame?
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Ford Motor Co. is trying to turn the tables in a controversy over fuel economy ratings for some of its new hybrids, suggesting the problem is how the government's ratings for such cars are calculated. The company's C-Max hybrid wagon and Fusion hybrid are ...

Wall Street Journal (blog)

Ray Kurzweil joining Google
PCWorld
The 64-year-old, whose work includes computer and machine intelligence, neuroscience and virtual reality, revealed the move on his blogon Friday. Kurzweil said his work at Google would focus on new projects involving machine learning and language ...

PCWorld

Three New Slow Loris Species Discovered in Borneo; Rare Venomous Primates ...
Scientific American (blog)
Kayan loris Protecting the adorable but endangered slow loris—the world's only venomous primate—from the illegal pet trade suddenly got a little harder. According to a paper pending publication in the American Journal of Primatology, what was once ...

Scientific American (blog)

How To Gift Apps From The iOS 6 App Store
Forbes
Something seems to have changed in iOS 6. It used to be easy to gift an app to others, but I can't for the life of me see how to do it now. Any help? Please!?! Thanks in advance. Actually, up until recently it hasn't been possible to gift apps from the iOS 6 app ...

Forbes

Uncle says woman stunned with Taser wants to pursue charges against Nashua ...
Nashua Telegraph
NASHUA – The Newton, Mass., woman on whom police used a Taser in the middle of the Pheasant Lane Mall on Tuesday says she did nothing wrong and plans to file a complaint against police, according to her uncle. David Chen, owner of Thousand Crane ...

Scientists pinpoint the age of cheese: 7000 years old and counting
Science Recorder
Scientists have reportedly discovered pottery fragments that suggest cheese-making is a much older process than previously thought. The pottery pieces, which have small holes throughout, are thought to be more than 7,000 years old and may have been ...

Science Recorder

IPCC Leaked Draft Prompts New Internet Flap
Mother Jones
On Thursday, someone posted part of a draft version of the forthcoming report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) online, prompting a new round of internet freak-out over the report and the panel. The IPCC's fifth assessment report ...

Mother Jones

Texting and Walking Really Not a Good Idea
Mashable
We know you've heard over and over about the dangers of texting and driving. You've gotten yourself a fancy Bluetooth headset and now have a glowing blue light in your ear. Or perhaps you ask Siri to make phone calls for you, limiting the need to take your ...

Space Travelers Need Medical Clearance : Space & The Future : Science World ...
Science World Report
(Photo : Reuters) Clinicians will be asked to provide medical clearance for these people. For this purpose a team of experts from North America provided certain advice to the clinicians who required direction when advising patients on space travel.

Science World Report

App Brings TV to Phones, Tablets
HispanicBusiness.com
Comcast, one of several TV channel providers that lets subscribers stream TV shows on their mobile devices via WI-FI, has begun offering an app to download shows from four of its pay channels, so subscribers can take the shows and movies with them to ...

Snapchat Releases Video-Sharing, Is Prototyping Monetization Features (Oh ...
TechCrunch
Android_Release_CamScreen (1) Snapchat, the popular impermanent photo-sharing mobile app, is rolling out a major new feature: video sharing. Users can now share 10-second videos the same way they share pictures — by taking the picture or video, ...

Speeding Ticket For Motionless Car: Traffic Camera Epic Fail
The Inquisitr
Baltimore, MD – An automated police camera issued a speeding ticket for a motionless car. In what is being called a “perfect storm of errors” the city of Baltimore issued a citation for a stationary vehicle, which was validated by a human police officer and not ...

The Inquisitr

Maine birders take part in Christmas Bird Count
Boston.com
FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) — Bird enthusiasts are fanning out across Maine to record their bird sightings as part of the National Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count. The event, now in its 113th year, kicked off nationally on Friday. Bird-watching ...

iPhone 5 to outsell iPhone 4S: Taiwan's telecom operators - CNA ENGLISH NEWS
Focus Taiwan News Channel
Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) The sales peak for the iPhone 5 should be able to last over three months in Taiwan, and the latest Apple phone will ultimately outsell its predecessor iPhone 4S, mainly due to its bigger upgrade and more significant changes from the ...

Hailing Taxis via Smartphone Comes to New York City
Businessweek
Catching a cab in midtown Manhattan at 4:30 on a weekday afternoon is the closest most New Yorkers will ever get to hunting. You have to know the patterns of your prey: its favorite haunts, its preferred routes, its tendency to vanish when your need is most ...

McAfee 'not out of the woods' legally - SFGate
San Francisco Chronicle
Software developer John McAfee is a free man because he managed to elude police in Belize and slip into Guatemala, from where - like any run-of-the-mill illegal immigrant - he was deported. Whether he stays free in the United States or is sent back to Belize...

San Francisco Chronicle

LEAP OFFERS FINANCING FOR TOP-TIER CELLPHONES
U-T San Diego
Leap Wireless has begun offering financing for customers in hopes of easing sticker shock for smartphones that the San Diego wireless operator now sells to its Cricket customers. Leap, which provides no-contract wireless service, has teamed up with ...

A 'hubble'ing view
Khaleej Times
Are you a space enthusiast, who often wonders what the universe looked like millions of years ago? Have you ever wanted to know how stars and planets emerged? The Hubble telescope's deepest-ever view of space can provide you with awe-inspiring ...

McAfee warns of Project Blitzkrieg hack attack on US banks
Register
Security firm McAfee warns that there is a credible threat of a coordinated Spring offensive against at least 30 US banks next year by Eastern European fraudsters. Talk of Project Blitzkrieg started after a message in September on a hacking board from a user ...

40 Years Ago – Apollo 17 Begins Trip Back to Earth from Moon
klyq
Earth from Moon Apollo 17 orbits the Moon and sees the Earth. (NASA Goddard Photo and Video) During their time orbiting the Moon, the Apollo 17 astronauts had a view of the Earth that only a dozen people have shared. When you look out the window of a ...

Delightful geological puzzles for Mars rover
Brisbane Times
The gift that keeps on giving ... everything from Opportunity over the past eight years has been a bonus. Photo: NASA. WHILE many obsessed over speculation that NASA's newest Mars rover, Curiosity, had dug up signs of life – it had not – it is the agency's ...

Brisbane Times

Dell Drops Android and Quits Smartphone Business
The Droid Guy
As one of the big manufacturer of personal computers, Dell had been trying to compete in the smartphone business over the past few years. But recently, they had just announced that they are going to drop Android and will quit in the smartphone business ...

New milestone for China: Probe snaps close-ups of asteroid Toutatis
NBCNews.com (blog)
By Alan Boyle. Follow @b0yle. China's official news agency is reporting that the country's Chang'e 2 deep-space probe made an amazing flyby of the asteroid Toutatis this week, snapping a series of pictures as it passed just 2 miles away. The achievement ...

NBCNews.com (blog)

Government Agency Will Give RIM Another Chance
New York Times (blog)
Thorsten Heins, the chief executive of Research In Motion, discussing the BlackBerry 10 in Robert Galbraith/Reuters Thorsten Heins, the chief executive of Research In Motion, discussing the BlackBerry 10 in September. Perhaps there's hope for the ...

New York Times (blog)

NASA to play demolition derby with moon, moon likely to win
msnNOW
Is this NASA meets Jackass? The space agency will deliberately crash two probes into the moon on Monday, hitting the rim of a lunar crater at over 3,000mph. The space nerds in Houston say this isn't a destructive prank, but the safest way to dispose of the ...

Long Lasting Motorola Droid Razr MAXX HD Hits Amazon Wireless Sale List
Mobile bloom News
droidrazrmaxxhd A recent recipient of the much ballyhooed and long-awaited Jelly Bean 4.1 Android operating system, the Droid Razr MAXX HD recently hit the Amazon Wireless seasonal holiday sale. Retailing for approximately $149 on contract at the ...

End of the World Poll: Is the Apocalypse Coming Dec. 21?
Patch.com
Apparently, there's an apocalypse coming. Seriously, though, even NASA is getting in on the action. The agency created a page on its website devoted to debunking the Mayan apocalypse idea—not least because the Mayans never predicted any such thing.

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) Wins In Apple Lawsuit
ValueWalk
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been found guilty by a Delaware Court of infringing on three Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Nokia Corporation ADR (NYSE:NOK) patents for its iPhone. MobileMedia Ideas LLC, a Sony-owned holding company, MPEG-LA and Nokia...

ValueWalk

Rockstar Wants A 'Grand Theft Auto' That Features All Of The Previous Cities
MTV.com (blog)
Imagine if Rockstar made a "Grand Theft Auto" game that combined all of the cities featured in past games in the franchise. It could be a beautiful thing and recent comments hint that this is something Rockstar wants to accomplish. In a recent interview with ...

MTV.com (blog)

Google makes it harder to find porn pictures
TrustedReviews
Search giant Google has altered its image search algorithm, making it harder for users to stumble across porn pictures accidentally. Bringing Google Image search in line with the company's web and video services, both of which already filter out pornographic ...

TrustedReviews

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The Internet’s Future At Risk in Dubai

Internet Freedom, the ITU, the WCIT--great read in the MIT Technology Review (excerpt below):

The Internet’s Future Depends on Maintaining Its Free Spirit | MIT Technology Review: " . . .Perhaps the most profound observation made about the early Internet was that it was unlikely to spread across the globe. And yet, slowly at first, and faster with the advent of the World Wide Web, the Internet has found purchase on every continent–even Antarctica. This penetration is a consequence of the independent decisions made by hundreds of thousands of Internet operators whose business models range from nonprofit to for-profit to government operated and every other variation you can imagine. But a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), taking place in Dubai this week, threatens to stifle further Internet expansion and innovation. The protocols that fuel the Internet emerged from research sponsored by the U.S. Defense Department and later the U.S. National Science Foundation. Eventually, research and development found support from the private sector and non-U.S. governments around the world. The standards that underpin the Internet created an interoperable platform and framework that allowed anyone to implement a piece of the network and try to find someone willing to interconnect. One secret to the Internet’s success has been its “loosely coupled” character. In other words, no one was coerced to join or use it or to implement it. Interconnection of the networks of the Internet was accomplished under bilateral or multilateral agreements among the implementing entities. The freedom to choose the equipment, software, services, and business models has been key to the widespread . . . . "

In other words, we don't want or need the ITU, WCIT, or any UN agency controlling, regulating, or otherwise ruining the most successful communications network ever developed by humankind!

US drops 'net regulation bombshell, threatens WCIT exit
Register
As the ITU's WCIT conference rolls on in Doha, the head of the American delegation Terry Kramer has pointed to the big red button, threatening to veto any new treaty it believes puts the Internet at risk. America's delegation has become increasingly ...

Reuters: ITU: Russia Backed By China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and the ...
TheDomains.com
Reuters, is reporting that Russian is backing a proposal with the support of China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates at the ITU is calling for sweeping new powers to regulate cyberspace. The United States, Europe and other ...

Crovitz: Would-Be Internet Regulators Need Deleting - WSJ.com: "Instead, authoritarian governments want to legitimize government censorship, tax Internet traffic that crosses national boundaries and mandate that ITU bureaucrats replace the nongovernmental engineering groups now smoothly running the Internet. . . . "

Leaked: ITU's secret Internet surveillance standard discussion draft
Boing Boing
Yesterday morning, I wrote about the closed-door International Telecommunications Union meeting where they were working on standardizing "deep packet inspection" -- a technology crucial to mass Internet surveillance. Other standards bodies have refused...

Boing Boing

ITU's DPI standard leaks after email SNAFU
Register
A moment of inattention has allowed the ITU's proposed deep packet inspection (DPI) standard to escape. The slip-up happened when an Australian CryptoParty activist Asher Wolf put out a public call on Twitter asking for a copy of the text. The ITU duly ...

ITU approves deep packet inspection standard behind closed doors
Inquirer
That the first act by the ITU members at this meeting was to approve the Y.2770 standard entitled "Requirements for deep packet inspection in next generation networks" should send a shiver through every internet user who is concerned about their privacy.

Inquirer

Velcro Feline: "ITU and WCIT off-track -- US Ambassador threatens veto . . . "December 10 2012 - Head of the American delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications, Ambassador Terry Kramer, has promised to veto revised international telecommunications regulations if they go anywhere near content. He told a Dow Jones reporter that the US delegation could walk away from the conference. The threats came as revelations emerged that the World Telecommunications Standards Assembly held in Dubai immediately prior to WCIT approved a 66 page standard for how to track and block Internet communications.""

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US now 'totally unified' in opposition of UN Internet governance

US now 'totally unified' in opposition of UN Internet governance
ZDNet
Summary: The U.S. House of Representatives has unanimously approved a resolution to oppose U.N. intent to govern and regulate the Internet at its WCIT-12 conference in Dubai, currently underway....

ZDNet

Amazon and Google start e-book sales in Brazil
Reuters
SAO PAULO | Thu Dec 6, 2012 8:08am EST. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc both opened their digital bookstores in Brazil on Thursday, hot on the heels of e-book offerings by local booksellers in a fast-growing online retail market.

Trainers teach dogs to drive cars
Fox News
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks -- a trainer in New Zealand is teaching man's best friend to drive -- really! MyFox Tampa Bay reports that the SPCA in Auckland thought it would be a good way to showcase how smart rescue dogs are and ...

Ford Resurrects Lincoln: What This Luxury Relaunch Really Means
DailyFinance
2013 Linclon MKZ (Courtesy Lincoln) Ford (F) unveiled a surprise this week: It's relaunching the Lincoln brand. The company is committing more than $1 billion for a slew of new Lincoln models, a robust promotional campaign, and even a Super Bowl ad -- a ...

BMW Concept 4 Series Coupe previews mid-range lust magnet
SlashGear
You can tell a lot about a company from its concepts, and judging by the Concept 4 Series Coupé, BMW is ready to go big in mid-range sports models. Slotting in just about the 3 Series, and continuing BMW's even-numbered specialist model strategy, the ...

SlashGear

Andreessen-Horowitz injects $30M into encryption startup CipherCloud
VentureBeat
If you're only protecting your enterprise's perimeter, you're not doing enough. Cloud encryption company CipherCloud, which just announced a $30 million first round of funding from Andreessen-Horowitz today, knows that it's the data inside that ...

VentureBeat

Instagram move affects Twitter photo display on platforms
BBC News
Instagram has removed support for a feature on Twitter that ensures photos are properly displayed on the site. Twitter's cards feature meant pictures were uncropped as part of a tweet, but now some users say certain images are being cut off. Instagram's chief ...

BBC News

MetroPCS Chief Says Stock Undervalued, Sees More Mergers
Bloomberg
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) Chief Executive Officer Roger Linquist said the company's stock is undervalued as investors focus too much on its pending merger with Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)'s T-Mobile USA unit. MetroPCS stock, which has ...

Microsoft strategy 'killing' Surface sales
Telegraph.co.uk
Detwiler Fenton, a Boston-based wealth management firm, said yesterday in an analysis that Microsoft may sell 500,000 to 600,000 Surfaces by Christmas, far below its previous expectation of one to two million. The report described a lack of distribution as ...

Telegraph.co.uk

Nasa unveils 'black marble' images of the world
Telegraph.co.uk
The cloud-free pictures, taken with a high-resolution visible and infrared imager aboard a Nasa and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, capture the night lights of Earth in unprecedented detail. The sensor can capture the equivalent of ...

New Facebook rules aim to force developers back onto the social network
Gamasutra
Facebook isn't happy that some game developers are launching titles outside of the social network with Facebook's social integration options built in -- so much so, that it has launched two new policies that aim to bring them back. Up to this point, video game ...

Gamasutra

Casio G-Shock: The Smartwatch Craze's Less-Crazy Cousin
TIME
Casio has come up with a more traditional and less ambitious answer to high-tech smartwatches like the WIMM One, Sony SmartWatch and Pebble. It's called the G-Shock GB6900AA, and it uses Bluetooth to connect with an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. It doesn't ...

TIME

Jeff Gelles: Debate in Washington focuses on Internet privacy protection
Philadelphia Inquirer
How much privacy can anyone expect while surfing the Internet? How much special protection should be provided to children and their families? Those are key questions underlying a little-noticed proceeding in Washington that could have major ...

StarWatch Consumer | Blockbusters now selling mobile phones; feds investigate ...
Kansas City Star
Blockbuster diversifies. Dish Network Corp.'s Blockbuster will begin selling mobile phones in its movie-rental stores as a test for Dish's planned entry into the wireless business, according to a Bloomberg News report. Blockbuster recently started selling ...

MetroPCS announces the Samsung Galaxy Admire 4G: 3.65-inch screen, LTE ...
Engadget
Perhaps it's because the holiday season is well upon us, but MetroPCS decided now was the perfect time to welcome Samsung's Galaxy Admire 4G to its growing portfolio of wallet-friendly handsets. With today's introduction of the overhauled Admire, the ...

Astronomers discover youngest still-forming solar system yet seen
The Space Reporter
Astronomers have discovered an infant solar system that appears to be the youngest still-forming solar system yet found. The baby star, which is more than 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, is encircled by a swirling disk of dust and gas.

The Space Reporter

Will Philippines negotiator's tears change our course on climate change?
The Guardian (blog)
When a senior diplomat at global talks breaks down in public, it is a signal that other countries must pay attention. It happens rarely, but it can have a dramatic effect. On Thursday, it happened in a full plenary session of the COP18 climate talks at Doha.

NASA on verge of losing its edge, report says
Los Angeles Times
Years of trying to do too many things with too little money have put NASA at risk of ceding leadership in space exploration to other nations, according to a new report that calls on the space agency to make wrenching decisions about its long-term strategy and ...

Fun Rumour: Is This The New Apple iPhone 5S?
Forbes
I wouldn't say I am wholly convinced by this particular little rumour, a possible sighting of Apple's next phone. What is being called, but probably won't be if it is released, the iPhone 5S. Via a French site the Mail has pictures which may or may not be that next ...

Why Facebook Just Turned Your Subscribers Into 'Followers'
Mashable
It's been more than a year since Facebook introduced the Twitter-like "subscribers" feature, letting you follow public updates from people you aren't friends with. Well, a year is a long time to go without changing any feature at the rapidly iterating social network ...

App Revenue Dominated by 25 Developers, Mostly Games
PC Magazine
Hoping to strike it rich with your app? Let's hope you have the next Angry Birds on your hands, because according to new stats, approximately 50 percent of app store revenue is earned by just 25 developers. Canalys examined U.S. app revenue for the first 20 ...

Court Decision Upholding FCC Data Roaming Order Is Boon to Small Carriers
eWeek
NEWS ANALYSIS: A U.S. Appeals court finds that the Federal Communications Commission had the legal authority to require data roaming by customers of other competing mobile carriers. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of ...

eWeek

Verizon Patents a DVR That Knows What You're Saying, Doing
PC Magazine
Your cable box is listening. And judging. Yes, that set-top box has become self aware and will be listening to your fights, phone calls, and pillow talk in order to serve up targeted ads. Well, not quite. But it might one day become a reality, according to a newly ...

Avoid Bill Shock With AT&T's Personalized Video Bills
PC Magazine
Understanding your wireless bill can sometimes be a confusing and frustrating task. But now AT&T is aiming to help customers make sense of what they owe. The carrier has launched a new video bill service for wireless customers offering a personalized ...

Windows Phone 8: Challenger Keeps Fighting
InformationWeek
Microsoft exec Greg Sullivan takes a deep dive into Windows Phone 8 on the most recent episode of InformationWeek Valley View. By Fritz Nelson · InformationWeek. December 05, 2012 10:20 AM. Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish ...

A long, long time: N.J. astronaut set for 2 years of training, then a year in space
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com
WEST ORANGE — Astronaut Scott Kelly has several concerns as he prepares to set an American record by spending a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station. The West Orange native said he is thinking about the isolation, the confinement, the ...

The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

Missing 'Find Duplicates' feature in iTunes 11 to be restored
CNET
Some of the features Apple has removed from iTunes will see a return, but others may indicate changes to come elsewhere in Apple's product lines. Topher Kessler. by Topher Kessler. December 5, 2012 11:26 AM PST. The latest version of Apple's music ...

Review: Sand, surf, blood in thrilling 'Far Cry 3'
The Associated Press
The travel brochure that enticed Jason Brody and his friends to book their spring break-style trip to the Rook Islands probably left out the pillaging pirates, aggressive bull sharks and lunging leopards. The picturesque setting of "Far Cry 3" (Ubisoft, for the Xbox ...

Australian PM spoofs Mayan doomsday prediction
CBC.ca
In a spoof video posted online by an Australian radio show, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Mayan prediction of the end of the world on Dec. 21 is right. "My dear remaining fellow Australians. The end of the world is coming. It wasn't Y2K, it wasn't even ...

Apple iPad's share of tablet market slips as demand grows, IDC says
Los Angeles Times
First, the good news for Apple: The tablet market continues to surpass all projections as the iPad and iPad Mini are exciting consumers. That's according to IDC, which on Wednesday released its latest projections for tablet shipments this year Wednesday.

AT&T on track for record smartphone sales in 4th quarter
Computerworld
Computerworld - AT&T is on pace to sell a record number of smartphones in the fourth quarter, with strong sales of the iPhone 5 and Android phones such as the LG Optimus G and HTC One X, AT&T Mobile CEO Ralph de la Vega said today. AT&T sold 6.4 ...

New space pics show 'battered' moon
BBC News
Scientists know more about the early history of the Moon, thanks to new data from two Nasa satellites. The Ebb and Flow satellites - known together as the Grail mission - have mapped the slight differences in gravity across the Moon's surface. The results ...

BBC News

Mean-Spirited Jokes About the World's Oldest Dinosaur
Vanity Fair
“Just when you thought dinosaurs couldn't get any older, the oldest dinosaur has been found in Africa, a new study says. The fossils push back the dawn of the dinosaurs to around 240 million years ago—about 10 to 15 million years earlier than previously ...

Vanity Fair

Social media continues to grow, exits 'infancy'
DVICE
According to the Nielsen and NM Incite's 2012 Social Media Report, social networking is no longer a considered a passing trend as consumers are spending more time on social networks than on any other category of sites. Social media graph.jpg ...

DVICE

United States and European Union Closing In on Google: Settlement or Antitrust ...
Windows IT Pro
Regulators from both the United States and the European Union (EU) are wrapping up extensive antitrust investigations of online advertising giant Google. The only question now is whether Google settles these cases or is formally charged with abusing its ...

Windows IT Pro

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ITU Dubai Debacle: Does It Matter?

Read the full article (excerpt below) for the truth about the disaster taking place at the WCIT conference in Dubai sponsored by the UN's ITU--

The Dubai Debacle: Does It Matter?: " . . . The bottom line, however, is the existing ITU-T being relied upon here has no clothes. If one actually reads the technical content of ITU-T or General Secretariat material including proposed work over the next four years, it largely runs the gamut between clueless and ludicrous. With just a couple of minor exceptions, no one goes to its meetings anymore or actually uses any of its material. Everything it has done over the past two decades to stem the degeneration has failed. It is not clear how testing and certification could be done against vaporware standards. Arguably the WCIT represents the seeds of substantial ITU self-destruction — as it is only likely to further accelerate the decline and participation by industry or Western governments. Technically competent organizations and companies — which already regard the ITU as institutional malware — will further shun them. So what if some set of countries obligate themselves to abide by ITU-T promulgations? This was tried at WCIT-88 and it totally flopped. The only entities that suffered were the ITU-T itself as industry started to leave, and the countries which obligated themselves to standards that utterly failed in the marketplace. And, that was in the days that some of the ITU-T standards were actually capable of being implemented. In the near term, users in some countries — probably largely developing countries — may suffer from relying on products and services purporting to be based on ITU-T standards and suffer poor network performance, diminished security, and content restrictions. Some nations mak make bad choices based on ITU Snake Oil. In the long-term, however, these kind of bad choices tend to be self-corrective.--By Anthony Rutkowski, Principal, Netmagic Associates LLC"

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ITU and WCIT keep your hands off the internet!

Keep the Internet free and open.

Crovitz: The U.N.'s Internet Sneak Attack - WSJ.com: " . . . Having the Internet rewired by bureaucrats would be like handing a Stradivarius to a gorilla. The Internet is made up of 40,000 networks that interconnect among 425,000 global routes, cheaply and efficiently delivering messages and other digital content among more than two billion people around the world, with some 500,000 new users a day. Many of the engineers and developers who built and operate these networks belong to virtual committees and task forces coordinated by an international nonprofit called the Internet Society. The society is home to the Internet Engineering Task Force (the main provider of global technical standards) and other volunteer groups such as the Internet Architecture Board and the Internet Research Task Force. Another key nongovernmental group is Icann, which assigns Internet addresses and domain names. The self-regulating Internet means no one has to ask for permission to launch a website, and no government can tell network operators how to do their jobs. The arrangement has made the Internet a rare place of permissionless innovation. As former Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard recently pointed out, 90% of cooperative "peering" agreements among networks are "made on a handshake," adjusting informally as needs change. . . . Regimes such as Russia and Iran also want an ITU rule letting them monitor Internet traffic routed through or to their countries, allowing them to eavesdrop or block access. "The Internet is highly complex and highly technical," Sally Wentworth of the Internet Society told me recently, "yet governments are the only ones making decisions at the ITU, putting the Internet at their mercy." She says the developers and engineers who actually run the Internet find it "mind boggling" that governments would claim control. As the Internet Society warns, "Technology moves faster than any treaty process ever can." Google has started an online petition for a "free and open Internet" saying: "Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct its future.". . . "

Make your voice heard.

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Internet Freedom at stake in Dubai at WCIT

What upcoming event has the potential for the greatest negative impact on the future of the internet? The upcoming WCIT conference where the ITU (a UN agency) is going to attempt to take control of the internet and allow countries like Russia and China destroy internet freedom. Read more below--and to take action go to Take Action – Google: "A free and open world depends on a free and open web."

Euro MPs: Do not let the ITU take control of the internet | ZDNet: "The ITU is hosting the World Conference on International Communications (WCIT) in Dubai between 3 and 14 December. -

The European Parliament warned the revisions would be a mistake and urged EU member states to reject changes to international telecommunications regulations (ITR) in place since 1988. "Some ITR reform proposals being presented by the ITU member states would negatively impact the internet, its architecture, operations, content and security, business relations, internet governance and the free flow of information online," Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake and other lawmakers said in the motion for resolution. In addition, "the ITU, or any other single, centralised international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over either internet governance or internet traffic flows," lawmakers said. At the moment, large, primarily US-based organisations such as ICANN and IANA have oversight of parts of the internet.

In advance of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), the European Parliament has issued a resolution stating that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) should not have control over the web. The ITU is a United Nations agency responsible for telecommunications. It works to establish worldwide standards, coordinate shared global use of the radio spectrum and improve telecommunications infrastructure. December's WCIT has been organised to bring together governments from all over the world to renegotiate the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), first signed in 1988. Since 1988, communications have changed enormously, and the ITU wants to make sure that its regulations cover the internet effectively. As outlined in our guide, more than 100 organisations including Google, have raised concerns about the event, believing that the ITU should stick to covering telecommunications and not encroach on the web. However the ITU argues that telecommunications is defined as "any transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wired, radio, optical or other electromagnetic systems", which implies that the internet might also be covered.Source: The European Parliament opposes ITU control of web (Wired UK)

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