Bug Blogger

Teen Security: S.H.A.R.K.

When I was an early teen, the issue of security was of paramount concern to me.  Not computer, social, national, or even homeland security.  No, it was Room Security.  My room.  The one in the basement.  The mostly unfinished basement that smelled like concrete and pine 2x4's.  I wanted to build an early detection system for parents.  I called it S.H.A.R.K..  It began simply enough with some parts from Radio Shack:  Some infrared diodes, a relay or two, and a piezo electric speaker.  I had a lot of time for this project, and naturally the system requirements exploded.  I didn't really see it that way at the time (thankfully), but I ended up drawing master plans for a general purpose computer.  While not yet introduced to Alan's machines, I knew S.H.A.R.K. needed memory and some sort of execution system.  I envisioned a tape with rows, each where a hole could be cut.  Through a hole light would cause a relay to trip, closing some circuit that was paramount to Room Security and the prevention of unannounced parental intrusion (UPI).  See the tape allowed me to have a modular, dynamic approach to security.  Swap in a fresh roll and have a brand new security strategy.  Brilliant.  Kind of like programming, or modular hardware, or..well BUG.  Sadly my imaginations never actually worked in practice, but I had a bunch of wires in a shoebox and it did something.

This week I have the honor of speaking on Bug's behalf at Maker Faire.  I'm a huge fan of the publication and when reading it get the same stimulating, awesome feeling of creating that I did when S.H.A.R.K. was fresh in my mind.  I'm really looking forward to seeing all the freaky cool things people are doing, and hope BUG makes a few people smile.

BUG+Austin?

So Peter and crew will be in Austin next week for SXSW 2008, and even though it's our first year at the festival, we know it's going to be hectic. But we thought we'd pop the question - if we threw a BUG+Austin, would you attend? We'd love to get to know the Austin community, and share battle scars with SXSW first-timers and veterans alike.

Let us know by leaving a comment below, sending a self addressed stamped envelope, or pinging us on Twitter or Jaiku. If we get enough responses by this Thursday morning, we'll pick a place and time and let you know by later this week.

Regardless, if you see us among the rabble, feel free to stop us and say hey.

Vote for BUG in Linux Journal's 2008 Readers' Choice Survey

Just a quick reminder: Bug Labs has been nominated as "Product of the Year" by Linux Journal for its 2008 Readers' Choice Survey. Take a look at the contenders, and you'll see why we're excited to be selected among such a great list of nominees.

As always, we're looking to the Linux and OSS community to help us spread the word about BUG. So head on over, show your support for Bug Labs (question #36), and vote for other notable for Linux/OSS contributions. Voting ends tomorrow, February 14.

Microsoft blinks

Lots being said about this Fortune article regarding Microsoft taking the gloves off in its battle with FOSS.  But who exactly is the enemy?  It looks like it's their own customers. 

I'm no history expert, but to draw a gross analogy, it would seem that when governments start to treat their citizens as the enemy it doesn't take too long before a revolution erupts.

And revolutions are funny things.  They bring out the best in people with the most to gain and the absolute worst in those with everything to lose.  I truly hope the battle is never seriously joined.  It's not hard to imagine a Patent Dark Ages, which would be a disaster for everyone, especially customers. 

Death of Proprietary Culture

The title is a snippet of the article entitled "Freeing the Mind: Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture" by Eben Moglen.  I highlight the second half of the title because I believe we tend to overlook the fact that the whole spirit of open source extends far beyond Linux, the GPL, and all the other software applications and activities.  It's really more about information where ever it is and how no one has the right to restrict access to it.  It's a huge message.  Read the article and I think you'll be enlightened - as I definitely was.

In Support of Sustainability, Part 2

Al Gore's next ethical spectacle will take place on 7/7/07.  The event has it's conceptual roots in Live Aid, a cross-continent rock concert held in 1985 to help raise funds and awareness about the famine in Ethiopia.  This new event, 22 years later, is called Live Earth.  Live Earth is a massive, 24-hour, multi-venue, global concert to raise awareness of environmental issues and in particular those issues related to climate change.

This is truly an ethical spectacle, yet it is very different than the spectacle of An Inconvenient Truth.  A rock concert, first of all, can never be as didactic as a documentary film.  However, little in the world is so deeply rooted in spirituality than music.  Whereas you'll never learn a whole lot from a music event, it will probably touch you at a more fundamental level than a documentary ever could.  A music event alone, however, doesn't constitute spectacle.  But one on this scale surely does.

Besides the largeness of the event and the spiritual significance of music, there are other aspects of Live Earth that are promising.  The event will be held in 7 continents on a date represented by three sevens.  The significance of this seems entirely manufactured, but the effect is as if there was some deeper meaning than just dates and numbers.  There will be over 100 performers and, judging by the marketing from Live Earth's partner MSN (unfortunately), viewers will be able to watch any of the acts live on the internet.

The upshot is we have a spiritual event of mythological proportions (has there ever been anything so big?) where individuals get to participate at their discretion from their own homes.  It's nearly the perfect synergy of myth, inclusiveness, and connectedness that a fully-realized ethical spectacle calls for.  Perhaps this is the type of thing that only someone like Al Gore can pull off, but in my search for more spectacles in support of sustainability, I see the beginning other, more bottom-up movements that have the requisite mythological undertones, promote inclusiveness and individual control, and advance connectedness and sustainability.  I will discuss these movements next time.

In Support of Sustainability, Part 1

Last week in Slate there was an article about a book called Dream, by Stephen Duncombe, which looks at the failings of the contemporary progressive movement. According to the article, Duncombe argues that modern-day progressives need a "spectacle" rooted in "story and myth, fears and desire, imagination and fantasy."  Bush's "Mission Accomplished" aircraft carrier show is used as an example of conservatives' understanding of this need.  Similarly, progressives of the past seem to have understood this idea.  The author discusses Rosa Parks for instance--how the act of disobeying a racist law had myth-like consequences.

Al Gore and his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, are also mentioned in the Slate article.  In a way, Al Gore's personal story is similar to the hero myth--The underdog suffers a humiliating defeat and disappears from the public eye for a period of time, presumably to reflect and learn, and then returns to share what he's learned in the hope of helping the world. His documentary is a true example of the type of spectacle Duncombe describes.  The film juxtaposes Gore's personal story with the story of the planet.  The shared mythological undertones demonstrate the connectedness of the planet with human life and the uniqueness of humanity.  Yet, for better or for worse, the film plays on our darker emotions such as fear.  How powerful fear is!  A point reiterated by the chilling spectacle of Gore raising himself up on a lift to show us how carbon dioxide levels are literally off the chart.  He shocks us with before and after pictures of receding glaciers and then asks us to imagine what will happen if our sea levels rise 20 feet.

Clearly, spectacle can be a powerful way to promote whatever ideas one wishes to further, provided that in some way the spectacle is tied to mythology and our collective dreams.  Duncombe might call a spectacle like one that promotes sustainability and environmentalism an ethical spectacle, one that furthers inclusivity and openness as opposed to hiding the truth, one that perhaps removes fear from the equation.

I sometimes feel a mythological and dreamlike connection to the natural enviroment which I attribute to growing up in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains so I feel there must be a better way to affect change in the way we live without resorting to scare tactics.  Fear seems to add fuel to the political fire for an issue that I would like to see less politicized.  Perhaps the ends justifies the means, but I'm looking for signs of a different kind of spectacle.

Marketers Hate You

It's ok, they hate me too.  I can tell that marketers hate us because they are constantly attempting to distill whatever demographic we belong to into simple slogans, product lines, and ad campaigns.  To them we are merely consumers: giant wallets with tiny brains and no free will; sheep, to be herded into groups and manipulated en masse.

Case in point is Calvin Klein's new fragrance for hip twenty-year-olds called CK in2u, which I read about in the New York Times last week.  CK in2u is the successor to the wildly successful CK-1 which was popular in the mid 90's.  Calvin Klein is courting a demographic they call the technosexual.  It's a self-serving label. Sex is easy to wrap up and sell.  Calvin Klein has access to beautiful models and can capitalize on the implicit promise that if you use CK in2u, you'll get some. According to the New York Times, "A typical line from the press materials for CK in2u goes like this: 'She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It’s intense. For right now.'"  This is fantasy and the DIY generation, the "technosexuals", won't buy it.

Technically savvy twenty-somethings are just too well informed for such an obvious and insulting ad campaign.  They can learn about Neil Postman with a quick search of Wikipedia and corporate viral ad campaigns are old news.  They will not have their consent manufactured by ads featuring gaunt teenage models.  They want to think, not to be thought for.

Mostly, though, they want control--control over the product, the style, and the message.  This is something that we will talk a lot about in this blog.  The technically savvy are all about control.  It's not about group or demographic ownership, but personal ownership.  They blog because they want to get their voice out there. They think they are unique.  Their community participation is bottom-up whereas ad campaigns like that of CK in2u are top-down.

How you open up a fragrance line, I don't know.  I write software and in software it's easy (open source and public API's for example). However, one way to get started in both product categories is to be less hostile towards the purchaser.  Treat them more like producers than consumers.  Don't distill their motivations into sex and only sex.  Let them create their own real groups instead of joining some make-believe idealized club.  Finally, don't hate the people who you want buying your products.  They know all the tricks and they can smell the hatred a mile away.

"Revolutionary Spirit"

In the February 19, 1996 issue of Newsweek Steve Wozniak is quoted as saying:

" Our first computers were born not out of greed or ego but in the revolutionary spirit of helping common people rise above the most powerful institutions"

Great stuff.  And who were those "most powerful institutions"?  They were the mainframe and mini-computers vendors of the day - IBM, HP, Digital, Prime, Wang, Data General, Control Data, etc.  Most people don't remember those days too well because the micro-computer (or PC as it came to be known) has insinuated itself into just about every part of our lives.  And in the same way, it's hard to imagine a world bereft of all the innovation the PC-revolution sparked.  For example, can you really remember a world without spreadsheet applications or the browser?  All of which points to something I think about all the time.  Ten years from now, what will we look back on and say "how on Earth could we have lived without...[fill in appropriate invention here]"?  Revolutionary possibilities are all around us.  There are many "powerful institutions" that are holding up innovation.  The key is finding those most vulnerable and then doing something about it.  I think the spirit Wozniak describes is alive and well and there are plenty more revolutions to be had.

Ain't Democracy Grand

This blog is not about politics.  It is, in part, about the benefits of putting power in the hands of people to decide things for themselves.  This link with the slightly misleading title "Vermont Votes to Impeach Bush/Cheney" is a terrific example.  Where else on Earth could this happen but here?  I almost wrote - what other country on Earth would allow... - and then caught myself.  In America we are not ALLOWED our freedoms.  They are ours from birth.  We, the people, allow the government to administer the country.  Democracy is bottom up.  There are so many things in life where we've been trained to believe that certain things are "allowed" us when in reality the power is all ours to begin with.  Anyone who's ever gardened knows what I'm talking about.  "You mean I'm not just stuck with the crap I can buy at the supermarket??"  We've just been brainwashed.  The power to take control of things in your life is yours (to take :)).  And it's addictive.

Apple Tempts the Fates

You have to love a company that is so full sure of itself that it can get up in public and say something like this:

"If we offer something that has tremendous value, that is sort of this thing people didn't have in their consciousness -- it was not imaginable -- then I think there's a whole bunch of people that will pay $499, $599.''

From the Bloomberg article here.

Not in my conciousness?  Not imaginable?  It's a cell phone for God's sake.  Sure, it's got some cool features but don't try to tell me it won't live or die based on it's success at doing one thing - making phone calls.  That's all people really want.  Forget the other fluff.  If it can't do that one thing well, game over.

Is it inevitable that market power translates into unbearable hubris?  Or is it really just a reflection of who's running the show?  Personally I think it's the latter.  Quick, who's the CEO of Proctor & Gamble?  Of course you have no idea.  Forget the fact that P&R have immense market power.  They're a little more humble. 

Apple has come a long way over the past few years, cheered on by the weary, MS-oppressed masses (including me).  They used to be the radicals.  But now, their autocratic attitude is starting to feel very un-Apple.  Like Google, it they're not careful, they'll lose the prestige they've always enjoyed as the underdog.

ARRL - Power to the People

I got my ham radio license a few years ago (KC2JZR) and was surprised to find myself joining a network of over 3 million people worldwide (700,000 in the U.S. alone). I got my license because I am a geek. But what really piqued my interest was the organization that supported me - the ARRL. The American Radio Relay League is the voice of Amateur Radio (or ham radio operators, "hams"). This not-for-profit group represents a fascinating hybrid of DIY energy and enthusiasm working effectively with big government, in this case the FCC. Here's a snip from their website:

Today ARRL, with approximately 152,000 members, is the largest organization of radio amateurs in the United States. The ARRL is a not-for-profit organization that:
• promotes interest in Amateur Radio communications and experimentation
• represents US radio amateurs in legislative matters, and
• maintains fraternalism and a high standard of conduct among Amateur Radio operators.

And this isn't some little outfit running on a shoestring budget:

At ARRL headquarters in the Hartford suburb of Newington, a staff of 120 helps serve the needs of members. ARRL is also International Secretariat for the International Amateur Radio Union, which is made up of similar societies in 150 countries around the world.

If you visit the FCC's website and look up Amateur Radio you find a whole section on it. The hams of the world get serious respect. This is from the FCC web site regarding the role of Amateur Radio:

• Promotion and enhancement of the Amateur Radio Service as a voluntary noncommercial public communications service.
• Continual advancement of the art of radio communication.
• Expansion of the reservoir of trained radio operators and electronic experts.
• Enhancement of international goodwill at the grass roots level.

This is a stunning example of not just the power of these "amateurs" but how the U.S. government has encouraged, accommodated and cooperated with the public in ways that most people don't appreciate or even know about. But it's easy to find out more. Just check this out.  I can't think of any other national, volunteer organization that has such systematic impact on things so important.

There is a critical issue facing us today, especially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Katrina disaster in NOLA. How much are we going to rely on government to take care of us and how much are we going to do ourselves? Thomas Paine said in "Common Sense" that "Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness", and all too often over the past few days I've been feeling that distinction. My confidence in government to do the "right thing" is at an all time low. I know I'm not alone. The digitally enabled masses are speaking up via blogs, SMS, forums, etc. and big media is paying attention, alerting the public at large of the discussion. All this is a good start. But it's only that.

One of my themes on this blog is the power of DIY, not just as a way to build things, but as a way to view the world, as a way to live. In a way, if you had to categorize it, it's sort of libertarian. But it's really more about control - over your life, over your world. In ceding all control over our safety to the government we are, in effect, forfeiting a huge chunk of our freedom. We expose ourselves to all sorts of potential problems - big ones. So what do we do? I find the existence of the ARRL enormously encouraging. Clearly, the public at large can not just shoulder the burden of public safety, but I do think that technology, designed creatively, distributed economically, and used cooperatively with government can, and absolutely should, play a key role in helping all of us sleep better at night. The ARRL is a perfect example of this. I anticipate much more discussion in the coming months and years as we try to deconstruct what happened in NOLA. I'm hoping the ARRL gets the credit they deserve but more importantly, I hope that it inspires our leaders to issue a call to arms. All of us need to take more responsibility for our own, as well as our communities' safety. And I strongly believe technology can play a crucial role.

I got my ham radio license a few years ago (KC2JZR) and was surprised to find myself joining a network of over 3 million people worldwide (700,000 in the U.S. alone). I got my license because I am a geek. But what really piqued my interest was the organization that supported me - the ARRL. The American Radio Relay League is the voice of Amateur Radio (or ham radio operators, "hams"). This not-for-profit group represents a fascinating hybrid of DIY energy and enthusiasm working effectively with big government, in this case the FCC. Here's a snip from their website:

Today ARRL, with approximately 152,000 members, is the largest organization of radio amateurs in the United States. The ARRL is a not-for-profit organization that:
• promotes interest in Amateur Radio communications and experimentation
• represents US radio amateurs in legislative matters, and
• maintains fraternalism and a high standard of conduct among Amateur Radio operators.

And this isn't some little outfit running on a shoestring budget:

At ARRL headquarters in the Hartford suburb of Newington, a staff of 120 helps serve the needs of members. ARRL is also International Secretariat for the International Amateur Radio Union, which is made up of similar societies in 150 countries around the world.

If you visit the FCC's website and look up Amateur Radio you find a whole section on it. The hams of the world get serious respect. This is from the FCC web site regarding the role of Amateur Radio:

• Promotion and enhancement of the Amateur Radio Service as a voluntary noncommercial public communications service.
• Continual advancement of the art of radio communication.
• Expansion of the reservoir of trained radio operators and electronic experts.
• Enhancement of international goodwill at the grass roots level.

This is a stunning example of not just the power of these "amateurs" but how the U.S. government has encouraged, accommodated and cooperated with the public in ways that most people don't appreciate or even know about. But it's easy to find out more. Just check this out.  I can't think of any other national, volunteer organization that has such systematic impact on things so important.

There is a critical issue facing us today, especially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Katrina disaster in NOLA. How much are we going to rely on government to take care of us and how much are we going to do ourselves? Thomas Paine said in "Common Sense" that "Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness", and all too often over the past few days I've been feeling that distinction. My confidence in government to do the "right thing" is at an all time low. I know I'm not alone. The digitally enabled masses are speaking up via blogs, SMS, forums, etc. and big media is paying attention, alerting the public at large of the discussion. All this is a good start. But it's only that.

One of my themes on this blog is the power of DIY, not just as a way to build things, but as a way to view the world, as a way to live. In a way, if you had to categorize it, it's sort of libertarian. But it's really more about control - over your life, over your world. In ceding all control over our safety to the government we are, in effect, forfeiting a huge chunk of our freedom. We expose ourselves to all sorts of potential problems - big ones. So what do we do? I find the existence of the ARRL enormously encouraging. Clearly, the public at large can not just shoulder the burden of public safety, but I do think that technology, designed creatively, distributed economically, and used cooperatively with government can, and absolutely should, play a key role in helping all of us sleep better at night. The ARRL is a perfect example of this. I anticipate much more discussion in the coming months and years as we try to deconstruct what happened in NOLA. I'm hoping the ARRL gets the credit they deserve but more importantly, I hope that it inspires our leaders to issue a call to arms. All of us need to take more responsibility for our own, as well as our communities' safety. And I strongly believe technology can play a crucial role.