60 posts tagged “fantastic!”

Earlier this week, the chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, gave a speech affirming network neutrality. Network Neutrality is the concept that carriers (such as your ISP) will carry traffic equality, without blocking sites, or limiting how much bandwidth they can take up. Absent network neutrality, an cable company could, for instance, limit how Hulu would perform for their ISP customers, because it interferes with their cable business.

It is because we have an open internet that many of the innovations we use everyday have come to us and proven full utility. Things like Twitter, Hulu, or eCommerce may not have grown as quickly, or been able to provide a solid value proposition.

Historically, the FCC has held four principles for network neutrality. In this speech, a fifth and sixth principle were added:

1. Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
2. Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement
3. Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
4. Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
5. The fifth principle is one of non-discrimination -- stating that broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications.
6. The sixth principle is a transparency principle -- stating that providers of broadband Internet access must be transparent about their network management practices.

Put together, this means that, so long as a consumer is not acting in an illegal fashion, consumers should have access to content on the internet free of interference from carriers. It's not quite a "dumb pipe," but close.

I was quite happy to see the FCC make such a commitment to an Open Internet. One where anyone can innovate and build applications, whether you are a corporation, or a geek in a garage.

The full speech is worth a read. 

I had to got to Columbus to look at a data center yesterday. I spent more time driving to and from Cincinnati than actually at the site, but that's how these things work sometimes. A colleague asked me to give her a lift to another site on my way out of town. No problem.

She gave me directions to the interstate, then hopped out of my car in order to get on a conference call. I started driving, only to overshoot the street I wanted. I saw what appeared to be a parking lot to some condos on my right. I turned right at the next street, then right into the "lot." I noticed a police car on the street as I did the second turn...

...and again as he had his lights on behind me. What happned? I pulled over, and the officer came and asked for my documentation. I asked what was up as I gathered it. It turns out I actually turned the wrong way down a one way street.

"Oh my gosh," I said. "I'm lost, and was trying to get pointed the right way."

He asked where I was trying to go, and where I had come from. I explained what going on (saying "I'm lost" two or three more times). He went back to his car with my paperwork, and do whatever it is they do when they take your license and registration back to their car. Clearly I was in the wrong.

The officer came back, handing me my paperwork. He explained how to get back on track, and sent me on my way. Perhaps he took pity on me, because I didn't get a ticket. That he took into account that it was a mistake was definitely appreciated.

A guy has severely out-geeked me with his home setup. If I had something like this, I'd probably come close to exclusively working from home. Heck--I might only leave the house to ride my bike!

It's been a rough morning, but I am hoping to rally in the second half of the day.

I decided to go get a salad for lunch. I confess to being in several ruts. Starbucks folks know my order by time of day. At Ingredients, it's a salad on romaine, with five of the following:

• Broccoli
• Onions
• Roasted Red Pepper
• Artichoke Hearts
• Garbanzo Beans
• Crutons

And, it it topped with an addicting chipotle-vinaigrette dressing. I probably go there once or twice a week.

One woman, I'm pretty sure her name is Amber (though I might have mis-read her badge), always seems to do the last step (tossing). Today, she put my dressing on without even asking. I joked about my rut. Oddly, she pulled out a sharpie, normally to indicate anything extra beyond the basic build-your-own deal, and wrote on the lid:

At the checkout, it is revealed: she bought me lunch, for being a regular! That was really nice of her, and definitely brightened a pretty ugly day. Thanks, Amber!

clipped from www.nationalmuseum.af.mil The RFI process is intended to gather market research for NASA to make decisions regarding development of strategies for placement of Space Shuttle Orbiters and Space Shuttle Main Engines. The RFI does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that NASA will follow any particular course of action. The museum is open to receiving any available orbiter; however, we are most interested in "Atlantis" since it has flown five Department of Defense (DoD) dedicated missions, more than any other shuttle, and has also supported other DoD activities. The basic space shuttle design was heavily influenced by Air Force and DoD requirements, and "Atlantis" has included more than 30 Air Force astronauts among its crews. The Air Force and DoD also play critical roles in shuttle launch and recovery operations in a continuous, decades-long partnership with NASA.

I totally missed the Silver Anniversary of the Macintosh, which was yesterday (January 24). I confess I'm an enthusiastic late-comer to the world of Mac. The modern Mac probably has more in common with NeXT than its previous incarnations. That means UNIX under the hood.

That's perhaps what I really dig about them--that I can go to a prompt and be as geeky as I want to be, but, when I just need to deal with e-mail or edit an Excel spreadsheet, it just works.

Many folks are familiar with this commercial, which aired, as a commercial, just once nationally:

Personally, I think JoCo puts the feeling best.

Starbucks is excited about today.

The cold weather in the Queen of Cities has given me plenty of opportunities to wear the new "Freehand" gloves my wife got me for Christmas. I think they are a lot better looking than the (20-year-old) pair they replace.

Pretty neat. One of the things I dislike about wearing gloves is the hit I take when it comes to manipulating small things (like buttons on gadgets). This is especially true on the iPhone, which requires the conductivity of skin. The top part of the thumb and index finger fold back to expose them to enable use of such equipment. It is held out of the way with magnets.
I'm already rather fond of them. I have such a great wife!

I have been helping one of my colleagues arrange tours of one of my data centers for a client of her client. Quite frankly, it was a bit of a PITA, especially in an effort/reward calculation.

When I got back from a meeting today (OK, complaining about something at someone's desk), a package was waiting for me as a thank you.

I had Donna's Gourmet Cookies before--they set up a booth at the Fountain Square Farmer's Market--but it was quite thoughtful to have some at my desk.