Fort Washington Hospital

Information may not be reliable

In terms of this case, we handed over the IP address of the Blogger after an Israeli court order required us to do so. Google has not blocked the blog or taken it down. Google gave the IP address to the court (the court handed it over to the complainant).
This isn’t going to get any easier as time goes on. Queue up the lawyers.
The defamation case centers on allegations against three members of the Shaarei Tikva council posted on Blogger, including posts that suggested the council members took bribes, pretended to be disabled to gain tax advantages, and that the councilmen have links to organized crime. The councilmen asked the court to order Google to hand over the IP address details of the anonymous blogger but the court did not order Google to do so. Instead Google entered into an arrangement where by they would contact the blogger and give him or her 3 days to respond anonymously to the allegations. There was no response from the blogger so Google handed over the IP address to the court and plantiffs despite there being no legal requirement for them to do so.
Less good…
Google has provided the IP address of an anonymous blogger to an Israeli court voluntarily as part of a defamation case.
UPDATE at 9:37 am. November 28: My intrepid editor here at CNET pointed me to a post by News.com’s Declan McCullagh on what appears to be Google’s involuntary request for information.
But Google says:
On the positive side Google announced a new effort the “Highly Open Participation Contest” to get young people involved in open source development. They’ve teamed with a bunch of open source projects to get kids involved early. Big thumbs up!

Warning: include(D:\wp\2\fortwashington-hospital.com/wp-content/themes/default/social.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in D:\wp\2\fortwashington-hospital.com\wp-content\themes\default\functions.php on line 152

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'D:\wp\2\fortwashington-hospital.com/wp-content/themes/default/social.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php5\pear') in D:\wp\2\fortwashington-hospital.com\wp-content\themes\default\functions.php on line 152

Assailed by several DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks, ShoZu (review), a mobile and Web media-sharing service, switched from the 6 to 8 character authentication system to a series of encoded glyphs you have to translate in order to pass the I’m-a-human qualification required of ShoZu account holders.
While uploading and downloading media feeds between the mobile phone and Web doesn’t seem like such a security risk, ShoZu CEO Mark Bole explains that for companies like his, the more complex system reduces financial risk.

“To make things simpler for the user, we’re sending invisible SMSs to verify the device,” said Bole, a cost ShoZu shoulders. The more false accounts are created by bots or dedicated cyberhooligans, the more expenses ShoZu has. Just be glad ShoZu also provides a key.
ShoZu’s cryptogram proves you’re human, and can follow directions.
Forget Descartes and his classically profound notion of human existence, “Cogito ergo sum.” These days, cracking a short cryptograph is what proves hominid status.

Red, red, I like it red.
Sammy Hagar must be smiling: Microsoft is adding red to its line-up of 80GB hard-drive Zune players. They’re marketing it as a tie-in to Valentine’s Day, complete with Valentine-themed playlists, including one that features all Barry White songs with spoken intros. 20 new engraved designs are also available from ZuneOriginals.net.
I said it before, I’ll say it again: great device, poor software. Seriously, Microsoft, can you imagine this kind of post appearing on an
iPod fan forum? Here’s hoping Microsoft sends

“This initiative represents a great opportunity to reach out to the media buying world in order to secure more mobile budget from big brand spenders,” said Neil Andrews, head of portal at 3.
In a bit of a shocker, the U.K.’s five biggest mobile operators have formed a working group to collaborate on a common mobile advertising system. This endeavor could, of course, go absolutely nowhere, but the fact that it’s even being considered is an exceptional move for an industry not known for collaboration.
Funny, that. Sometimes cooperation is necessary to individually make more money. That’s the story of open source. Nice to see the mobile world using its collective brain in a similar fashion.
Now the international operations of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3 have formed a working group to define a common mobile advertising audience measurement system, similar to what already exists for other mediums such as TV and press.
Of course, the operators aren’t holding hands for the sake of friendship. It’s all about the money. From the Guardian:

CNET News.com)
Farmers get caught in a negative cycle where they use less fertilizer, get lower crop yields, and thus have even less to spend, he said.
“No,” Gates said and stopped speaking. “Steve (Ballmer) might give a more nuanced answer.”
I asked him about whether the spike in gas prices is helping in some ways by drawing more attention to the energy challenges.

But he noted that giving away $3 billion a year is a major undertaking.
CARLSBAD, Calif.–Mingling with reporters on Tuesday ahead of his appearance at D: All Things Digital, Bill Gates was asked if he had comment on Yahoo.
The chairman did have a little more to say, such as whether his new job would mean more time with his family.
While there may be some increased attention, Gates said, it pales in comparison with the increased suffering. He noted that while most Americans see higher gas and food prices, the consequences are even greater for the world’s poor.
Gates said he knew the question would come up on stage and that he wouldn’t have more to say. “You won’t see me answer since it’s all up to Steve.”
“In a small way,” he said, saying that in addition to dropping his kids off at school three days a week as he does now, he’ll be able to pick them up some of the time.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer share the stage at D6 on Tuesday in Carlsbad, Calif.

The company is also testing how much charge it can draw from the vibration of vehicles, Rowe said. The amount of charge a generator can make varies a great deal with the amount of motion.
“Someone with an old pick-up truck with no shocks will have a glorious time with M2E technology, but someone with a Mercedes will have to spend more time” charging, she said.
But because those products take a few years to design and develop, it will likely take at least two years before a self-powered cell phone is commercially available, Rowe said.
Next year it expects to release a charger that can harvest enough motion from walking to replenish cell phones or other small gadgets, like GPS devices.
M2E Power's charger, powered by human motion.
The charger unit can be charged by an AC wall socket as well. M2E Power has had discussions with cell phone manufacturers to build the generator directly into a phone.
The technology, developed in part at Boise State University, optimizes that field to match the slow frequency of human motion and draw a usable current.
Inside is a lithium ion battery and a series of coils and magnets. When it moves, an electromagnetic field forms around the coils to generate electricity.
The company also has military grants to explore the use of self-powering devices such as night goggles.
“Handset manufacturers are under pressure to deal with electronic waste issues and show they are looking for more sustainable practices,” Rowe said. “We’ve seen a lot of interest in this as the wave of the future.”
The idea is to place the charger inside a purse or backpack and let it charge in the background, said Regan Rowe, director of business development at the company. When fully charged, M2E Power’s device stores enough to recharge a phone at a speed comparable to an AC outlet.
M2E Power, a company formed last year to charge electronic gadgets with human motion, has reported back that its system actually works.
It says that six hours of cumulative motion can add 30 to 60 minutes of talk time to a cell phone.
Long term, the company is looking at placing self-charging devices in hybrid and electric
cars. Putting a self-charging device near windshield wipers or door locks could significantly cut down on a hybrid car’s electrical load and extend its driving range, Rowe said.

More cynical observers might characterize Blu-ray as just the industry’s latest attempt to make money on the same movies yet again. But the industry didn’t introduce DVD out of the kindness of its heart–it did it to make money–and few people look back on successful formats like DVD and CD as a devious scheme by motion picture studios.
Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray, but less people care.

Verdict: Same argument now used against Blu-ray.
And now we get into the most controversial aspect of the entire DVD debate. Picture quality, or the lack there of. When DVD was first announced, it was claimed to offer D1 Master Tape quality. A short while later, the companies said it was much better than VHS but worse than LD. Now they have swung the other way again and are claiming D1 quality again. Quite simply, this will be impossible on commercially prepared, feature-length films.
It seems insane to argue that DVD isn’t a huge leap over VHS in terms of image quality, but it’s less crazy than you think. It takes content makers a while to fully understand how to use new technology, which is why many first-run CDs and DVDs are surprisingly mediocre. The same thing happened with Blu-ray–anyone who saw the first version of The Fifth Element on Blu-ray can attest to that. But now that we’ve seen a steady flow of exceptional looking Blu-ray discs, it’s going to be harder to find people who aren’t impressed by the image quality of Blu-ray on a big-screen HDTV.
They will be the same tired movies that everyone already owns and will be loathe to buy again. [...] Because the titles available will be ones that people already own, they will naturally sell less than a new release that is still hot from the theaters. This will result in even a bigger cost for companies because the less they sell, the more each feature costs to implement on each title.
3. Can’t record
When any type of new format launches, early adopters are stuck with a pretty limited initial selection. It happened with DVD, and it happened with Blu-ray, which still only has about 650 titles available two years after its release. And we’re seeing it all over again with criticism of the selection on online movie services, such as iTunes, Vudu, and the Netflix Player. This argument seems pretty shortsighted overall–if a new format offers a new compelling experience, the content will follow.
This point has been made about Blu-ray right here on CNET, in Executive Editor David Carnoy’s Fully Equipped column. While I tend to agree that special features aren’t a big draw for DVD or Blu-ray, it tends to be the icing on the cake, rather than the main draw of the format. DVD didn’t succeed because of special features–and neither will Blu-ray–but they’re a nice extra.
4. Nobody cares about special features
Consumers will look at DVD and see that it doesn’t record. That will instantly arouse suspicions in their mind that if the movies they want to watch are not available on the DVD discs, then the machine will be useless to them and a waste of money.
2. Not enough movies
DVD recorders are old technology now, but when DVD first came out one of the knocks against it was that it didn’t record like VHS–which was a killer feature before DVRs became ubiquitous. Blu-ray recorders are available now in Japan, but we haven’t seen any signs of them coming to the U.S. in the near future. But the real issue is that Blu-ray recording just doesn’t matter as much with high-def DVRs and so many TV series being released on high-quality DVD and Blu-ray sets.
All the companies involved with DVD are promising a catalog of 250 titles at the launch with maybe 50 to 100 actually available in the stores in the beginning. [...] And even if they do manage to finish 250 movies in time for the launch, what will those movies be? Top Gun? Rocky?
Right. Just like nobody repurchased their albums on CD or VHS tapes on DVD. This one seems to get dragged out for every new format and is quickly ignored once it takes off. We’re not saying that people will rush to replace their DVDs with Blu-ray discs, but it seems obvious consumers eventually give in and repurchase media if the new format is worthwhile. The only difference we’d note is that well-kept DVDs don’t deteriorate after use like VHS tapes did, so perhaps consumers will be somewhat less likely to replace their DVDs that still look as good as the day they bought them.

So, since the same arguments that didn’t matter with DVD are now being used against Blu-ray, does that mean Blu-ray is destined to be as successful as DVD? Not quite. The simple fact is that Blu-ray’s main draw is that it offers significantly better image quality than DVD, and whether consumers think that’s a worthwhile upgrade will make or break the format. All the other arguments essentially don’t matter, just like they didn’t with DVD.

It’s hard to imagine now, but when DVD first launched, its success was far from guaranteed. Back in 1996, there were even anti-DVD fanboys, and recently we ran into a rant–sarcastically retitled as “Why DVD would fail”–that struck us as eerily familiar to the current arguments against Blu-ray. Considering that DVD was such a huge success, it’s worth looking at exactly how similar the two formats are at this early stage, and what that means for the future of Blu-ray.
1. Consumers aren’t willing to rebuy movies
Another question is, how many consumers actually want and use all the special features that DVD might offer? CD players offer all kinds of special programming and playback options, yet most people never touch these features. A cheap VCR is seen as too intimidating to most Americans. They just want to watch the movie, not select different versions, languages, and such. The LD market has proven that these extra features are desired, but only by a small segment of the population.
6. The industry is just greedy

DVD is just a bad idea. It is being forced upon a uncaring and unwanted public and is an inferior product that simply isn’t needed or desired. DVD exists only for one reason. Greed. Motion picture studios are always looking for a way to sell the same stuff over and over again and they think DVD is the answer.
What do you think? Are Blu-ray critics lobbing the same weak arguments as DVD critics did back in 1996? Or are the same arguments against Blu-ray more convincing in the current marketplace. Sound off in the comments.

My broken button.
So last week, when I was waiting to receive a new phone that I had ordered, I dusted off a spare 6126 that we had around the office. Unless I’m on vacation, I’m one of those people who has a hard time going without a cell phone.
The Nokia 6131 always seemed liked a decent cell phone. I never got the chance to actually review it, but when I examined its AT&T cousin, the 6126, I gave it a “very good” rating.
Update: In response to the naysayers below, I’m quite responsible for my own actions. But a phone’s hinge should not break after one drop, even after bouncing off my shoe onto a concrete floor. I’ve seen the
iPhone drop on a sidewalk and come with just a few scratches. And if a button is designed so that it can interfere with the phone staying closed, then that is a design flaw.
Both the Nokia 6133 and the 6126 also feature the hinge button. Have any Crave readers encountered the same problem? I doubt I’m alone but even if I am, that button and the spring-loaded hinge seem to be design flaws.
For the first few days, the 6126 worked fine. Though it’s not the fanciest handset around, it delivered on call quality and battery life. But that all came to a crushing end two days ago when I dropped the 6126 (as I tend to do). It bounced off my shoe and hit a concrete floor. While it continues to make and receive calls as normal, the flip phone will not stay closed. Each time I try to close it, it just pops back open. That means I have to carry it around in the open position, which needless to say is more than inconvenient. The problem seems to be with the small button on the hinge that you can use to open the phone. The button is stuck in the “pressed” position and I’ve been unable to pry it free.

I’ve been using the tool on and off since I wrote about it in September of last year. I prefer its mail UI to Fuser, a similar service that’s recently begun to integrate a slew of third-party services like Facebook’s news feed and microblogging services like Twitter. Orgoo has taken a slightly more focused approach, expanding its compatibility with e-mail services and IM networks. Most recently, it dipped into multi-user video chat, which launched back in March.
Like online financial services such as Mint and PageOnce, Orgoo requires you to put a whole bunch of login credentials in the hands of a third party, something I don’t think most people are comfortable with. The upside to that is you can manage and use five or more e-mail accounts and talk with all your chat buddies in one place–all without any software. You can read our original hands-on with the service here.
Awesome Web 2.0 communications de-cluttering tool Orgoo is set to open its doors in the next couple of months. Its creators wouldn’t pin down an exact date to me, but they have been nice enough to give Webware readers 500 invites to use the system in full before it’s open to all (go here to get yours). The expansion of the beta is the last step before going open, and is for both scaling servers and getting more user feedback.

Rebecca MacKinnon reports that the lists were down when she checked, and offers a guess as to what happened:
Yahoo has an especially public history of aiding Chinese authorities in a much more proactive way, most famously in the Shi Tao case, when Yahoo gave authorities identifying information about online comments led to Shi Tao’s imprisonment. Yahoo has scarcely heard the end of that, and its representatives, as well as some from Microsoft, have been called before U.S. Congressional committees. (Now the company’s blog has called for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to push for his release.)
Wherever you stand on these issues of cooperation with law enforcement, companies would be wise to think before they post.
Yahoo China and MSN China both briefly posted a “most wanted” list with photos of people Chinese authorities are trying to track down surrounding the recent events in Tibet, a French TV website reports.
UPDATE: Xinhua reports that portals including Yahoo had published the material.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the local editors just automatically ran it because everybody else in China was running it, then got over-ridden by management in the U.S. who realized how badly this would play outside of China… Such is the disconnect between China and the West on the Tibet issue.