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Regulating in the face of digital disruption
Having studied policy and regulation at university, Zeitgeist is often compelled to look at many issues facing companies today through a regulatory lens. But even the most dispassionate fan of rules and laws would have to concede that as digital innovation disrupts multiple sectors around the world, the way these new innovations and businesses are governed is an important consideration. In this piece we'll be looking at regulatory concerns for disruptors like Uber and Netflix, as well as how regulation effects legacy companies like Microsoft and Comcast. As with many of our articles on this blog, we'll be taking a particular look at the TMT sector. (Bitcoin will have to wait for another article).
Regulators often find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Should the emphasis be placed ex-ante, to ensure compliance, or ex-post to apply punitive measures and fix problems once they have become apparent? The former seems wise as it sets initial goals for companies. But it also risks opening loopholes, as well as being overly prescriptive and thus failing to adapt. It can also lead to the development of overly-familiar relations between regulator and industry, leading to what is known as 'capture'. Currently, the US favours an ex-ante approach, but as Edward Luce detailed recently in the Financial Times, this has led to a "creeping impulse to micro-regulate". The FDA's recent announcement that they would regulate e-cigarettes, despite no proof it encourages the take-up of smoking tobacco, is such an example. Ex-post – regulating after an event – seems just as bad, mostly because the damage has already been done at that point. While it means that all problems addressed are real-world and practical, they can also be applied with too much emphasis. Above all, regulation ultimately risks stifling innovation; Edison moved to the West coast because he was fed up of the stringent regulations in the East. A recent lead article in The Economist asserted that, far from too little regulation, the global recession was caused by too much state involvement in the wrong places. Too little oversight though, and companies can be allowed to run wild.
Earlier this month, The New York Times featured an op-ed on regulating the online world. It is written by New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman. As might be expected, he quickly attacks online start-ups saying it is "amazing" that they think just because their business is online, that "somehow makes them immune from regulation". This is all well and good, but it masks the fact that clear regulations have not been established. Schneiderman is right to point out that just because a business now has an app instead of a high street store doesn't mean its responsibilities to the law have changed. It is an apt analogy. But in practice the story is different. As with most innovations, from film to Napster and Airbnb, regulators must constantly be playing catch-up. The complaints of new businesses are not that they should be subject to regulation, rather that those rules are onerous or outdated, applying to a different time. The sharing economy works because it has found cheaper, more efficient ways of offering services that hitherto were more restricted; regulations need to be appropriately dispensed. Sadly, many cities in the US have simply blocked allowing such services to operate. Uber – a car pickup service – is probably not wholly repulsed by the thought of regulation, but they are resistant to rules put in place by entrenched interests and unions. Airbnb might violate the letter of the law, but not the spirit surely. People have always let out their living space to others. The only thing that has changed is scale. Why does scale suddenly make something legally problematic? Schneiderman points out that some lettings are so large, with multiple rooms let at once, that they are essentially hotels. True enough, perhaps, but Zeitgeist has certainly never come across such a property, and they are certainly small in number, and no more represent Airbnb's ethos than any hotel violating its own (regulated) terms. A recent article in The Economist argued for "adaptation, not prohibition". Schneiderman's sentiment is that these start-ups need to work more closely and proactively with regulators, but this fails to recognise that regulators need to also fundamentally change their approach.
Regulation in China has been a hot topic for a while now. This is principally because the region has a low tolerance of free speech. But it extends to cultural concerns as well; the Google Play store, Twitter, and most of Hollywood's annual product do not make it onto Chinese shores (legally, anyway). What this creates is a secondary tier of companies who take Western business models and run with it. That's why there are multiple Chinese Android app stores, why Sina Weibo is a fantastically successful service, and why many poor remakes of US films flood the Chinese market. It has been pleasing then to see two recent developments in the way China regulates the TMT sector that should be good news for consumers and Western companies. Today saw the announcement that Microsoft's Xbox One is to be sold in China. It will be the first foreign games console to go on sale in the country, lifting a fourteen year ban. This would open up the company to the half billion active gamers in China. Additionally, as Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities pointed out,
"The middle class in China is pretty large, and positioning the box as an over-the-top TV receiver gives it a lot of appeal to wealthier Chinese."
Earlier this week, Warner Bros was the latest film studio to partner with Chinese site Tencent. The film 300: Rise of an Empire, is available to rent through the site, while it is still in cinemas in territories like the US. The points of the deal were very interesting. Zeitgeist has for a number of years now advocated an increased flexibility to film platform release windows. Such a rigid structure as the industry has in the US is not as apparent in China. This could help alleviate piracy in the country and separately could pave the way for a relaxing of the quota of US films that are let into the Chinese market every year. Hopefully this will be a precursor to more such moves in Western markets. As someone commented on the news when it was published on the Financial Times website,
"Maybe they can do the same in the rest of the world as well?
Or I could wait 2 months for something to come out on Bluray in the UK compared to the US. Or just pirate it when the US version is available since they won't let me buy it in my country, but will let other people buy it in other countries."
While China is taking steps forward, the US seems to be faltering in its regulatory approach. We mentioned the impending restrictions on e-cigarettes earlier, and let's not even go into then-mayor Michael Bloomberg's crusade against sugar. We've written about net neutrality before. The issue has been of interest to Zeitgeist since university days. It was thrust into the spotlight this year when a US court ruled that the FCC had "overstepped its authority" after a legal challenge from Verizon. Last week, new rules were proposed that will undermine the original purpose of the policy of treating all traffic the same, allowing ISPs to charge companies like Netflix more in order to reach consumer with greater quantity or quality, but only on "commercially reasonable" terms. These terms have yet to be defined. These moves touch on a related matter that has also been greeted with consternation by those who favour fairness. This is Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Netflix recently publicly came out against the move. It is easy to see why. As The Economist recently elaborated, such a deal would limit competition and reduce any incentive to innovate. It is also one more example of the assumption companies have that their problems can be solved with size. Comcast have admitted they will raise prices for the end user, while as much as conceding there will no be no discernible benefit to them. One might argue there is little more for such companies to do, but average internet speeds in Tokyo and Singapore are ten times as fast on average as in the US. Even the Financial Times, which can often be counted on to be a bastion of support for capitalists, compared Comcast to the Railway Barons of the past.
The sharing economy is creating difficulty for many sectors, and regulatory agencies have not escaped this. Such forces have been to slow to adapt to fundamental changes in the TMT sector, particularly in print, music and film industries. There certainly seems to be a tendency for over-regulation today, particularly in the US. Returning to an article we mentioned at the beginning of our piece, Edward Luce laments that America "no longer feels unusually free". Perhaps this is part of a cyclical trend. Like the causes of the recession, perhaps the problem is a stifling caused by over-regulation in the wrong places, coupled with a lack of innovation in areas where sensible rules that do not cater to the established are in dire need. It is good to see rules and regulations around consoles and release windows are being relaxed in China, but the furore around regulating the sharing economy needs a similar dose of innovative thinking.
UPDATE (17/9/14): We've included some nice examples in this post of innovative thinking paired with light touch regulation going on in China's entertainment sector. Sadly the pendulum swings both ways; though shows like BBC's 'Sherlock' were made available with authorised translations mere hours after their original broadcast in Blighty, the state is cracking down hard in other ways. The Economist reports that last week, China's TV regulator said that, from April, any foreign series or film would need approval before being shown online. It is looking for "health, well-made works" that "showcase good values". This sounds like a vague excuse to arbitrarily censor content it doesn't like. Explicitly, banned subject matter includes, according to The Economist, "superstition, espionage and—bizarrely—time travel".
TV's bloody disruptions
Last night, Zeitgeist eagerly devoured the first episode of the new season of Netflix's House of Cards, a series that has received lavish praise – not least from us – both for its content and its position as vanguard of a new wave of television distribution, production and consumption. The series lead, Frank Underwood, takes on his competition with a ruthless lack of morality that is unlikely to jar with those in the cutthroat television industry. The New York Times recently featured an excellent piece on the series, focusing on the showrunner Beau Willimon, the unique nature of doing such a show with Netflix, which among other things guaranteed 26 shows upfront, and the new mood of "post-hope" politics. Is traditional linear TV entering its own post-hope state?
Such talk of impending doom makes for nice editorial (which Zeitgeist is not averse to), but how true is it? To some extent, such new forms of consumption are being hampered by externalities as the platforms make the switch from early adopters to the everyday consumer. Indeed, Netflix's sheer popularity is proving to be a thorn in its side. In November last year, Sandvine reported that the content Netflix provides now accounts for almost a third of internet traffic in the US. This staggering figure no doubt accounts for at least part of why internet speeds take such a distinct hit during primetime viewing hours (see chart below). As Quartz has the insight to point out, such issues are less to do with intentional throttling and more to do with peering agreements between ISPs and content providers.
Such issues are likely to be ever more prevalent as the notion of net neutrality continues to come under attack. At the end of last month, a federal appeals court overturned the Federal Communication Commission's Open Internet Order, which had stipulated that ISPs could not prejudice one type of internet traffic over another. The fear of any such policy being overturned has always been one of the creation of a two-tier internet, where people who can afford faster internet get preferential access, and companies are free to charge distributors differing amounts based on the type or amount of content they are delivering. Such consternation was also felt in government, where five US senators called on the FCC chairman to "act with expediency" to preserve the open internet. The news immediately caused concern for Netflix, as shareholders fretted that ISPs might start to charge the company for the traffic it takes up. CEO Reed Hastings responded categorically,
"Were this draconian scenario to unfold with some ISP, we would vigorously protest and encourage our members to demand the open Internet they are paying their ISP to deliver."
Consolidation and the narrowing of choice took a further hit on Wednesday this week when Comcast announced it would buy all of Time Warner Cable for $44.2bn. The choice on cable landscape is already limited for the US, so it will be interesting to see what regulators make the deal. Chad Gutstein, former COO of Ovation, an independent arts-focused cable channel, penned an article in Variety saying that any concerns over the deal should be restricted to the possibility of abuse of a dominant position, rather than simply market share.Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, writing in The New Yorker, rightly points out that the FCC should be approving such mergers only if they serve the public interest. He sees no such possibility in this instance, where the most pressing need for cable customers is lower prices. Last year, he writes, Comcast collected about $156 a month on average, per customer. For cable. Professor Wu contends that the merger would put Comcast in a position that would make it easier to raise prices further. This, despite the fact that conditions created via the merger would technically put the company in a position where it could create savings, both through economies of scale and more advantageous negotiating positions with programmers like ESPN and Viacom. Of course, Comcast is probably keen on preserving if not extending margins as it faces increasing competition from players like Netflix and Amazon. Cord cutting may be in vogue now, but Comcast will try to combat this by creating what is called 'lock-in'. Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group, is quoted in the New York Times; "Comcast and the new, giant Comcast are going to do as much as they can to stop you from unbundling. In order for you to get content you like, you're going to be pushed to pay the cable bill, too". Such tactics will test the limits of customer inertia, but only if they have somewhere else to go as a viable alternative.
The switch to online viewing is also raising issues of policy change in the UK. Public service broadcaster the BBC has long left it unclear as to at what point requiring a TV licence is mandatory, leaving citizens to infer that simply owning a television set is reason enough. Recently though, the broadcaster finally clarified that owners can use their TV, with no fee, to play games, watch DVDs, basically do anything that doesn't involve watching live television. For the moment, this also includes their IPTV offering, iPlayer. In an article earlier this month, The Economist said the fee was "becoming ever harder to justify". Antonella Mei-Pochtler of the Boston Consulting Group, quoted in the article, believes the increasing trend of young people to timeshift their viewing is likely to become ingrained. Coupled with the growth of internet-connected TVs, this is bound to accelerate a shift away from traditional linear consumption. The BBC is soon to begin developing premium content for its iPlayer service in order to seek additional revenue streams that may offset a decline in fees paid. But as The Economist points out,
"[T]hat would suggest, dangerously, that the BBC is like any other optional subscription service. Folding on-demand services into the licence fee could also amplify calls for the BBC to share its cash with other broadcasters, not least because such consumption may be precisely measured."
When we look at the market for television sets and set top boxes, the news isn't that superb either. The curved TVs debuted at CES in January are surely little more than a distraction. Last week, Business Insider reported that Sony is to finally spin off its TV operations into a separate unit, amongst news of $1.1bn in losses and 5,000 job cuts. But while we've talked of consolidation and narrowing choice, we also need to recognise this is also a period of unprecedented choice for consumers. As a recent article on GigaOm points out, there are millions of channels on YouTube alone. There are growing pains. As consumption of such content moves "to the living room", the article details various sub rosa negotiationsby retailers like Walmart with their own video market, or players like Netflix willing to pay top dollar to put branded buttons on remote controls. What is clear, with all the issues described in this post, is that consumer choice needs to be preserved in an open market with plenty of competition. Such an environment will always foster innovation. This may breed disruption, but that doesn't have to mean devastation. The age of linear TV viewing may be at the beginning of its end, but that doesn't mean there's still a lot to fight for, even if it's a scrap. Frank Underwood wouldn't have it any other way.
UPDATE (22/02/14): The New York Times published an interesting article comparing Netflix and HBO recently, showing how the two companies are faring financially (see image above), as well as their approaches to developing content, which started off as opposing ideologies but are slowly starting to meet in the middle as they borrow from each other's playbook. The article quotes Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer: "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."
UPDATE (22/02/14): Of course, commercial network television in general is also going through a period of consternation, slowly building since the day TiVo started shipping. At the end of last year, the Financial Times reported that share of advertising spend on television is set to end after three decades. This is partly due to a proliferation of new devices and platforms – not least of which is Netflix – but also partly due to the amount of people time-shifting their viewing and skipping through the ads along the way. Thinkbox, a lobbying arm for the television industry, recently published a blog article with accompanying chart. It illustrated how many people time-shifted a particular programme depending on the genre. For example, fewer people time-shifted the news than drama shows. But one of the key points made in the article is "that there is no significant difference in the amount of commercial TV which is recorded and played back compared with BBC equivalents. To put it another way: TV is not time-shifted in an attempt to avoid ads". This is specious reasoning at best. While it may be true that, yes, people do not discriminate between whether they time-shift a BBC show or an ITV show, it would be totally wrong to infer that those viewers are not avoiding ads when they do appear. The article's author is guilty of confirmation bias, not to mention grasping at straws.
Is the price right? Battling consumer perceptions in the arts
"Wine is valued by its price, not by its flavour"
– Anthony Trollope
It would be difficult to argue today that attendance and appreciation of Shakespeare's plays are not, for the most part, restricted to the large niche of the middle classes. This is a pity, and interesting, given that his works are ridden with ribald language, iconoclastic storylines and slapstick humour. In his time, the plays were attended and enjoyed by the masses, ageless and classless. Such reach is the envy of productions performed today. High ticket prices charged by theatres – in a quest to secure enough funding every season to recoup the cost of production – must bear some of the blame. But does price, apart from acting as an immediate barrier to entry for some customers, also act as its own signifier of what the event entails, and the audience it is appropriate for?
In 2009, BBC's Question Time hosted writer Bonnie Greer and, among others, Nick Griffin, chairman of the radical BNP. The ordeal was such that Greer was inspired to write an opera chronicling the evening's events. Performed at the end of 2011, Greer hoped Yes would make an effective contribution to the UK debate on both immigration and racism. Such substantive content is what media like opera need in order to maintain relevance."It's relatively recently that opera has been seen as an entertainment for the elite", Greer commented. "It used to be a populist medium – I'd like to play some role in reinstating that status". This runs counter to other contemporary productions, such as Stockhausen's operatic sci-fi saga Licht, recently performed in Birmingham. At one point, a string orchestra ascends into the air in helicopters, while later a cellist performs lying on the floor. It would be remiss not to mention the climax of the production, which, Alex Ross, writing for The New Yorker, fails to describe: "Space does not permit a description of the scene in which [a] camel defecates seven planets". It is hard to imagine such fare being everyone's cup of tea. Indeed, it is this sort of seemingly self-interested, arcane and intellectually challenging art that is likely to turn people off an entire medium. Some institutions recognise this. Earlier this month the Royal Opera House hosted what they called the "first in a new series of live-streamed events to feature debate, performance, and audience questions", around the question 'Are opera and ballet elitist?'.
In the past though, the Royal Opera House and other institutions have been too focused on short term gimmicks, with a focus on price, to get people through the door. The thinking is broadly logical: Why don't more people come to the opera? / The opera is expensive / Lowering prices will attract more people to the opera. These three thoughts have plausible connections, but in reality little in common. Like 'vulgar Marxism', such an approach reduces the problem to its most simplistic attributes. It is a fallacy. Despite this, The Sun newspaper has in the past partnered with the ROH to offer tickets from GBP5-20. The scheme was a lottery system, guaranteeing few winners. It provides little opportunity for conversion into a regular customer. Meanwhile, both The Sun and the ROH achieve their aims of shifting brand perceptions. But there is far more that could be accomplished. The BBC reported positive reactions from those that took up the offer, "What The Sun is doing is fantastic – opening the opera up to people who wouldn't normally be able to come". This despite the fact that opera tickets are consistently available for GBP10 at the ROH, every season. Away from price, the English National Opera tried their own tactic in October last year, inviting people to enjoy the opera in "jeans and trainers". But does the problem of democratising opera really have its answer in allowing people to wear denim? It seems absurd to think that a one-off event of such a nature could really attract new, long-term audiences. Indeed, The Telegraph reported on the affair, saying the ENO was missing the point, that in fact it was the "alluring glamour" of the medium that was what attracted audiences the world over; "It turns opera into an everyday thing, rather than something exceptional and magical", wrote Rupert Christiansen. He elaborates on the problem,
"[Opera] can make for an atmosphere that outsiders and newcomers find exclusive and intimidating: it's as though there's a set of rules that nobody is going to explain or even admit the existence of. This… rubs up the wrong way against the Arts Council's understandable insistence that the granting of subsidy via taxpayers' money should mean open access at reasonable prices. Squaring this circle is a formula that nobody has yet managed to crack."
The outgoing director of the ROH, Tony Hall – on his way to assume a new post at the BBC – wrote diary entries published last weekend in the FT. He wrote about the recent partnership established with the Theatro Municpal in Rio. Like the ROH, they are also looking to attract new audiences: "An idea I particularly like is where every seat in the house for a day a year is sold on the day for a real (about 33p)". On the face of it this sounds noble and effective. Who wouldn't want to see any form of entertainment, let alone an extravagantly produced opera, for a mere 33p? But let's think about it. Doing this one day a year is miserly. It hardly encourages upselling, or long-term commitment. What it most assuredly encourages is that one day a year the opera house attracts plenty of press coverage as people line the streets queueing for such cheap tickets. Cheap tickets for one day a year is an act that smacks of condescension. And what of the price itself? Zeitgeist has written before about the power of behavioural economics. McKinsey have an interesting article on the study. To wit, for most people, consciously or otherwise, price is an overriding symbol of value. Price is used often, especially by premium brands, as a means of framing the product versus its peers. We often make irrational purchases on big-ticket items (a car being chief among these). Conversely, when something is cheap, especially when perceived as 'too' cheap, the consumer questions why it is at such a price, acting with suspicion. At its simplest, pricing tickets to the opera at 33p implies that it might not be something you would enjoy. The first reaction – often the most powerful – instilled in the consumer is one of trepidation.
Just as with the current government's wrangling over minimum pricing policies for alcohol, the approach from the arts to occasionally allow the unwashed masses into their buildings misses the point. In the case of alcohol, the scheme was mainly invented to curb youth drinking, especially among the 'working class'. But, as The Economist points out, "People on the lowest incomes, who are most price-sensitive, are surprisingly abstemious anyway; those in rich parts of the country, such as the south-east, consume copiously". Shakespeare's Globe does a good job of making the Bard's plays accessible, with standing tickets for GBP5, something that Zeitgeist has taken advantage of several times over the years. It is one of the few artistic houses to have preserved this manner of watching a performance. It upholds tradition while at the same time ensuring the plays have access to a broader public. The Royal Court Theatre in London's Sloane Square offers a few standing tickets for every performance for a mere 10p. It's a great idea to have this option as a constant as, apart from anything else, it increases the likelihood of having returning customers who can be upsold to – or cross-sold to in the bar downstairs. Zeitgeist imagines however that the theatre could easily get away with charging ten times the amount for a standing ticket, with zero depreciable effect.
There is no doubt that a certain amount of price elasticity indeed exists with items like tickets to the opera. But occasionally releasing cheap tickets is not the whole answer. There are larger questions here on arts funding and the absence of dedicated, large-scale philanthropy in the UK that have not been discussed here, but will be important in encouraging accessibility to the arts. Earlier we mentioned the recent debate the ROH hosted asking whether people thought opera and ballet to be elitist. The problem with such a question is it immediately consigns the word 'elitist' to a pejorative category. One of the greatest points Jon Stewart ever made – now some years back – on The Daily Show, was that the word 'elite' should in some contexts be a good thing, something to be embraced. That some people excel in a certain discipline is something to be celebrated. That some art transcends others, is beautiful, challenging, creative and stimulating is something to be cherished. Instead the word and concept have become uniformly demonised. Though one could easily question 'canon' texts in any medium, there should be no need to mask something that is perceived as being 'high art', rather attention should only be paid to debunking any preconceptions about its exclusivity. Quick price gouges are most certainly not the answer to improving access to these forms of art. It takes time, relevance and above all a security in the knowledge that not everyone has to enjoy every type of entertainment. Just provide them with opportunities to be sufficiently exposed to it, without making it seem like you're deigning to include them.
Netflix: House of Cards and Castles in the Air
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."
– Henry David Thoreau
Though the brouhaha over the series House of Cards has been building steadily since its announcement almost two years ago, through rumours of budget battles between director and studio, it was upon the release of the series this week that the media meta-echo chamber really went into overdrive. The first season, with a budget far north of $100m, debuted to ebullient praise from critics. But what does it signify for the trail-blazing company's future?
Aside from the mostly positive reviews, the series piqued the media industry's interest for other reasons too. It is the first to be created and screened exclusively by Netflix, a company previously known for striking deals with studios to distribute and stream their content. Not satisfied solely with such (sometimes pricey) deals, the company also saw an opportunity for greater brand visibility and a separate revenue stream – assuming it eventually licenses the show regular TV networks – in fully-fledged independent production. What is also interesting is that the entire first season was made available for instant viewing, all 12 hours. By doing this the company recognised and capitalised on a trend that has been accelerating for almost a decade; people like to watch multiple episodes at once. This has never not been the case, but the weekly episodic installments of shows on network television have allowed the audience little say in the matter, and thus no room for such a habit to develop. This changed dramatically with the arrival of the DVD, specifically with affordable boxsets, as those that had missed the zeitgeists of West Wing, The Sopranos and 24 were able to quickly catch up with their obsessed brethren. Critics have often noted how the viewing of multiple episodes at once – which is how such reviews are often conducted as they usually receive a disc with several shows to consider – particularly for shows like Lost, improves the structure and narrative flow. With the arrival of boxsets, such opportunities were available to all. Indeed, marketers leveraged this enthusiasm for consecutive viewing, creating events around it. Netflix saw this with absolute clarity and allowed viewers to watch as much or little as they desired. Many, it seemed, chose to devour the whole first season in one weekend, which entertainment trade Variety covered with humourous repercussions to the viewer's psyche, across now fewer than six stages of grief. Zeitgeist has written before about the increasing popularity of streaming, and the complementary preference that audiences have for the type of films (action, romcom, broad comedy) they like to watch when choosing such a distribution method. It is interesting to consider then just how much the viewing experience differs between a 12-hour marathon over two days, and a one-hour slice over a period of three months. As the article in Variety half-jokingly posits, "Is tantric TV viewing a thing? If it's not, should it be?".
Of course, Netflix aren't alone in seeing an opportunity to delve into developing complementary products and assets. Microsoft are using the functionality of Kinect to pair with their own content development, letting children "join in" with Sesame Street, for example, and are in the process of setting up a dedicated studio for production, in Los Angeles. Amazon, which owns the streaming service LoveFilm, is also getting into the game, recently setting up Amazon Studios for original content production. At the end of last year, The Hollywood Reporter announced Amazon would be greenlighting twenty pilots, all of which were "either submitted through the studio's website or optioned for development". YouTube recently launched twenty professional channels on its UK website, Hulu is following suit… It really is quite startling to see such fundamental disruption and turmoil in environments where incumbent stalwarts (such as 20th Century Fox in film and Walmart in retail,) have long been accustomed to calling the shots. Could the model become completely inverted, such that the Fox network and HBO become the "dumb pipes" of the TV world, showcasing the best in internet-produced television? Maybe so, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The Economist this week argue that one of the most important factors in Liberty Global's recent purchase of Virgin Media was the avoidance of paying corporate tax for "years" to come. If content is still king though, a problem remains for those incumbents. The New Yorker astutely points out,
"An Internet firm like Netflix producing first-rate content takes us across a psychological line. If Netflix succeeds as a producer, other companies will follow and start taking market share… When that happens, the baton passes, and empire falls—and we will see the first fundamental change in the home-entertainment paradigm in decades."
Netflix must tread carefully. Crucially, what seems like competitive differentiation and all-quadrant coverage now can quickly shift. Amazon's ventures into content production will be backed up with a sizeable and perpetual stream of revenue that it derives from its e-commerce platform, which isn't going away anytime soon. The BBC are publicly welcoming new entrants, and is devising its own tactics, such as making episodes available on iPlayer before they screen, if at all, on television. Interesting but hardly earth-shattering, and likely to make little difference to viewer preference. Netflix will have to do better than that if it wants long-term dominance of this market. It will have to be increasingly careful with its partners, too. Recent, though long-running, rumblings of discord with partners like Time Warner Cable, though seemingly innocuous, tend to be indicative of a larger battle ensuing between corporate titans. Moreover, though the act of providing a deluge of content seems new and sexy now, what about when everyone starts doing it? Chief content officer for Netflix Ted Sarantos told The Economist last week, "Right now our major differentiation is that consumers can watch what they want, when they want it, but that will be the norm with television over time. We're getting a head start". Fine, but about when that is the norm, what is the strategy for differentiation then? Netflix have made some lofty, daring, innovative moves here, exploiting consumer trends and noticing a gap in the competitive environment. But they will need firm foundations to support this move into an adjacent business area, of which they know relatively little, in the years to come. As President Bartlet of West Wing was often heard to say, "What's next?".
Olympic Winners and Losers – Empty Seats and Byzantine Ticketing
What a fantastic ad from Channel 4 advertising their showcasing of the Paralympic Games, beginning soon. Meanwhile, what of the Olympics? Though there have been tales of Tube and travel chaos, Zeitgeist has not personally experienced problems with public transport, either for commuting or for travelling to the Games themselves. And while our mayor may have been left dangling like a pinata the other day, he certainly seems not to have left London in the lurch in its preparedness for the Games.
LOCOG, however, have had to face two severe lines of questioning since the Games opened last Friday. The first, which became immediately apparent to anyone watching the first few days of events, was that thousands of seats were unoccupied, including for events LOCOG had deemed sold out. The fault, it seemed, lay mainly with the Olympic Family, who weren't turning up to events. Seb Coe tried to shrug off the incident, saying it was normal for the few first events of an Olympic Games. It must be particularly galling for him though after the same thing happened in the 2008 Games in Beijing and he pledged to avoid such an occurrence in London. It is unfortunate then for all concerned then that, despite releasing more tickets, the problem is still not resolved as of today.
Moreover, this brings us to the second big problem. The selling of tickets. The whole balloting system originally set up was pretty arcane and inefficient to begin with. But now with tickets being released on a rolling basis throughout the day, the chaos is all the more apparent. Yesterday, eConsultancy published an excellent article with a blow-by-blow account of just why "the Olympic ticketing website is so bad". Worst, for Zeitgeist, was firstly not having a mobile version / mobile-optimised site. Secondly it was not having anything informing users of when certain tickets became available. Thankfully, as in any well-functioning democratic society, where there is a market failure, substitute products or competitors will come in to correct the situation. Such was the case at the weekend, when the completely unofficial @2012TicketAlert account was launched on Twitter, which used automated tweets to alert followers when any Olympic tickets became available. It was a fantastic idea, and seemed much in keeping with the 'hack' trend we see nowadays, when companies like Microsoft and Transport for London open up their APIs for users to develop their own programs. Such examples clearly had not occurred to LOCOG though, and earlier this evening, after amassing over 8,000 followers, LOCOG denied the @2012TicketAlert account further access. As the administrator of the account, Adam, wrote,
"[I]t seems someone at LOCOG has taken exception to our idea (or the publicity it is getting) and instead of reaching out to us or addressing the lack of a notification system, they have simply blocked our access to their server. This means we are unable to check or post any new ticket alerts… we would point out that the alert was not against the Terms of Use of the http://www.london2012.com website, nor have these terms been updated to make it so."
It seems a poor PR move on LOCOG's part, and more importantly a poor operational move because it makes it that much harder again to check for newly available tickets. Taking into account the immense budget that must have been allocated to the ticketing website, the result is severely lacking, and many thousands of people have been put off the Olympic experience because of it. Ticketmaster, which has branding on the website, has also come under fire. These acts, as we predicted in an earlier article, may well be the undoing of those involved, for, once lost, a good reputation is hard to recover.
An Olympic Reputation
Dost thou know what reputation is?
I 'll tell thee,—to small purpose, since the instruction
Comes now too late.
Upon a time Reputation, Love, and Death,
Would travel o'er the world; and it was concluded
That they should part, and take three several ways.
Death told them, they should find him in great battles,
Or cities plagu'd with plagues: Love gives them counsel
To inquire for him 'mongst unambitious shepherds,
Where dowries were not talk'd of, and sometimes
'Mongst quiet kindred that had nothing left
By their dead parents: "Stay,' quoth Reputation,
'Do not forsake me; for it is my nature,
If once I part from any man I meet,
I am never found again.'
– Duchess of Malfi, III, ii
Zeitgeist went to see Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic last month, a brilliant production, and was reminded of this fantastic quotation when thinking of the upcoming Olympic Games soon to descend on London. Though arguably less ephemeral than the brand of today's salubrious celebrities – written about recently in Vanity Fair – the Games can hardly be said to provide any quantifiable burgeoning of brand to host countries of the past (except perhaps for Barcelona). As The Economist adroitly put it the other week, "When asked why the United States is a fine place, few would instinctively mention its hosting of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta."
Are Britain's current economic woes related to anything that might be solved by hosting an Olympics? Probably not. Will the Games, much like the bloody affairs of ancient Rome, serve to please and distract the hordes? More likely. The Games themselves will have to be good enough to overcome the pre-event controversies of massive over-spending, Zil lanes, anti-missile protests and Olympic torches on eBay. Otherwise, as the above quotation describes, the reputation of many will be lost forever.
One big Hitch
While the rest of the world quickly comes to grips with the passing of Kim Jong-Il, master of North Korea, Zeitgeist is still pausing for thought over the death of Christopher Hitchens, master of the painfully incisive, devastating epithet. Zeitgeist has had the pleasure of reading several of Hitchens' essays over the years, mostly from Vanity Fair. Christopher Buckley, writing in The New Yorker, delivered an excellent obituary on the man. As well as managing to anger pretty much anyone, no matter what their political or religious creed, Hitchens also had some thoughts on his own oeuvre. Writing more than ten years ago in his book No one left to lie to, Hitchens wrote of Drudge (of Drudge Report infamy),
"Drudge… openly says that he'll print anything and let the customers decide if it's kosher. This form of pretend 'consumer sovereignty' is fraudulent in the same way its analogues are. (It means, for one thing, you have no right to claim you were correct, or truthful, or brave. All you did was pass it on, like a leaker or some other kind of conduit. The death of any intelligent or principled journalism is foreshadowed by such promiscuity)."
Something for anyone who writes a blog to bear in mind. It certainly points to a larger trend, which, ten years on, is still a problem for those writing online, that of a lack of regulation. Not that any such regulation has prevented widespread abuse of power in 'legitimate' journalism, either. The problem with tougher rules and sanctions – ex ante or ex post – is the worry that such pressure will negatively impact on the quality of stories journalists deliver. It was the press, after all, who broke the story of the phone-hacking scandals. The dilemma will not be an easy one to solve, especially at a time when most newspapers continue to experience financial losses and a resultant brain drain of staff to more stable and lucrative lines of work. The loss of luminaries like Christopher Hitchens will not help matters.
Serving up a good online experience
As with every summer, the tennis season kicks into high gear with the French Open (aka Roland Garros) in Paris in May, and the Championships at the All England Club (aka Wimbledon) just two weeks later. Brand Republic today published their list of the 10 Best Tennis ads. The sport's popularity pales in comparison to other pursuits in the UK, and questions always abound at this time of the year as to the country's woeful showing at the majors. It's an especially sore point when one looks at recent successes in golf.
Demand for tickets however at the four annual Grand Slams has never been higher. Getting a seat at such events then is a tough ask. Recently, the French Open began making tickets available online for direct purchase. This included being able to select specific days, courts and seats. Of course, having such an easy route meant that there were one or two people who had the same idea as Zeitgeist. Even accessing the website on the stroke of the hour the tickets became available put him behind 3,560 other eager tennis fans (see picture at end of article). Prima facie then this democratisation of ticket availability – rather than having a lottery and corporate hoardings – is a good thing. From a practical perspective however, does it make sense to do it this way? Can or should there be priorities given, based not just on how much people are willing to pay for tickets? Why not give those who actually play the sport more of a priority, or using Foursquare, see how many other tennis tournaments people have attended and judge their passion for tennis based on that. Can they have ticket giveaways to those who "like" Nadal, Federer, etc. on Facebook? It's a thorny issue; perhaps the route the French Open has taken is the least worst option.
All the slams provide diverting iPhone apps too. However, if you're going to the effort of providing a service, better make sure it works. Zeitgeist was presented with the below image on their phone while sitting on Court 1 at Wimbledon on Monday, June 20th.


text:
Air Button adds handy shortcuts to NFC-enabled phones
The idea of customizable add-on buttons for smartphones isn't exactly new. First we had Pressy (whic...
Nexa3D needs your cash to make its 'ultrafast' 3D printer
The company claims it can print a one-inch high object in three minutes flat.
A newsletter a day keeps the FOMO at bay.
ICYMI: Buzzing blind guide, lab-grown voice and more
Guide dogs are practically unnecessary with this headgear
The Dojo gateway secures your smart TV and other home devices
A hub that actually makes IoT better.
ICYMI: Robotic cats, Kickstarter fails and more
NASA's humanoid robot may be 6 feet tall and scientifically important but the latest robotic cats are purrrrrfect
The Apple Watch looks like it's getting an official dock
Leaked images suggest the Apple Watch is getting an official dock soon.
Figment VR is an iPhone case that turns into a VR headset
This phone case turns your iPhone into a VR headset.
Lowe's updated connected home system is built for your phone
The hardware store wants to be your connected home solution.
The best photo inkjet printer
Epson wins. (And Canon makes runner-up.)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
2012 Air Jordan 6 (VI) Golden Moment Navy Blue
|Air Jordan
|Air Jordan 6 (VI)
$145.00 $80.00
|In Stock, shipping in 24 hours. Free Shipping!
First teased just last month, today we have our first whole look at next seasons release of the 2012 Air Jordan 6 (VI) Golden Moment Navy Blue.All right, will probably like take a list to demonstrate all of New Air Jordan 6 (VI) 2014 November release below this type of weekend, we will baby animals one of most in addition to hottest model Air Jordan 6 (VI).While this is absolutely not an official confirmation, ought to see here is in line with previous jordan 5 shoes, and tremendously honestly, isn't a good deal of surprise considering so what happened in Holiday season old!And now, you too will get a chance to own a try.
Other Air Jordan 6 (VI)
$145.00 $80.00
$140.00 $79.00
$140.00 $77.00
$140.00 $79.00
$135.00 $74.00
$140.00 $77.00


text:
Category:Banyans (clothing)
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
A banyan (through Portuguese banian and Arabic بنيان, banyān, from the Gujaratiવાણિયો, vāṇiyo, meaning 'merchant') is an at-home robe or informal coat worn by men in the 18th century influenced by Persian and Asian clothing.
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
- ► Denis Diderot (L.-M. van Loo) (6 F)
Media in category "Banyans (clothing)"
The following 15 files are in this category, out of 15 total.
- Newton 25.jpg 14 KB
- Jan Dobrogost Krasiński.PNG 4.39 MB
- Man's fitted banyan 1750-1760.jpg 12.08 MB


text:
Indian Health Service Medical Officer (Family Practice), (Internal Medicine) or (Pediatrics) in Lawrence, Kansas
Indian Health Service
Few vacancies in the following locations:
- Lawrence, KS
- White Cloud, KS
- Anadarko, OK
- Carnegie, OK
- Claremore, OK More Locations (6)
Work Schedule is Full Time - Multiple Appointment Types
Opened Saturday 10/1/2016 (146 day(s) ago)
** Closes Tuesday 2/28/2017 (4 day(s) away)
Job Overview
The Indian Health Service (IHS) is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). The IHS goal is to raise Indian health status to the highest possible level. IHS provides leadership and direction to programs and activities designed to improve health outcomes to over 1.9 million AI/AN through a system of IHS, Tribal, and Urban operated facilities and programs.
The IHS is required by law to give absolute preference to qualified applicants who meet the Secretary of the Interior's definition of Indian for appointment to vacancies within the IHS in accordance with established IHS policy as outlined in the Indian Health Manual Part 7, Chapter 3. The IHS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
This position serves as a Medical Officer in one of the Indian Health Service Clinics or Hospitals throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. This position reports to the Clinical Director of the facility.
This position is being announced concurrently under ESEP/MP procedures. Please review vacancy announcement number IHS-17-OK-1812199-ESEP/MP; for eligibility requirements. NOTE: Applicants must apply separately for each announcement in order to be considered.
Current vacancies at the following locations :
Claremore Indian Hospital Clinton Indian Health Center Lawton Indian Hospital Pawnee Indian Health Center Watonga Indian Health Center
*This Open Continuous Announcement (OCA) allows acceptance of applications throughout the year with eligible applicants being placed on the register and referred for consideration when vacancies occur.
*Your application will expire in 3 months from application date and you must reapply to keep your application active.
- Serves as a Medical Officer by performing diagnosis and treatment of patients commensurate within his/her specialty training, education and experience.
- Provides direct medical services including diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic services within the specialty.
- Ensures appropriate medical records are maintained and updated.
- Communicates effectively with patients and families with multiple health problems and of different backgrounds.
Travel Required
- Not Required
Relocation Authorized
- Yes
- Relocation expenses may be authorized and will be paid if approved. You will be required to sign a one year service agreement. Failure to fulfill the one year service agreement may result in repayment of relocation expenses.
Job Requirements
Key Requirements
- The selected applicant will be subject to a pre-employment background
- investigation, which will include a fingerprint check.
- If applicable-Selective Service registration (Males born after 12/31/59)
- U.S. Citizenship is required
- ### Qualifications
To qualify for this position, your resume must reflect sufficient experience and/or education, to perform the duties of the position for which you are applying. Your resume is key in evaluating your experience, as they relate to this position. Therefore, we encourage you to be clear and specific when describing your work experience.
Basic Requirements A-C: A. Doctorate Degree in Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy from a school in the United States or Canada approved by a recognized accrediting body in the year of the applicants graduation. [A Doctor of Medicine or equivalent degree from a foreign medical school that provided education and medical knowledge substantially equivalent to accredited schools in the United States may be demonstrated by permanent certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) (or a fifth pathway certificate for Americans who completed premedical education in the United States and graduate education in a foreign country).] Must submit official or unofficial copy of transcripts (official transcripts must be provided before EOD) showing doctorate degree conferred. If applicable, must supply ECFMG or fifth pathway certificate. AND B. Medical License: A current, non-temporary, full, and unrestricted license to practice medicine in a State, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States. AND C. Residency Certification: At least three years of supervised experience providing direct service in a clinical setting (i.e., a 3-year internship or three years of a residency program in an institution accredited for such training). Include only those internships, residencies, and fellowship programs that are approved by accrediting bodies recognized within the United States or Canada. Must submit copies of internship, residency, and/or fellowship certificates totaling three years. Applicants that are currently enrolled in their 3rd year of internship, residency, or fellowship program and are within 9 months of graduation may be referred out. In this circumstance applicants must submit a letter from their internship, residency, or fellowship program stating they are in good standing and their expected graduation date. Applicants must qualify within 6 months of submission of application.
In addition to the requirements listed above you must meet the following qualifications at the grade level(s) you are applying to:
The residency requirements for residency certification listed above meets the requirements for the GS-13 grade level.
To qualify for the GS-14 grade level: In addition to the residency requirements listed above, you must have at least one full year of experience independently performing in-depth care of patients by examining, diagnosing, and treating patients of age group(s) appropriate to your specialty of medicine including, reviewing medical history, interpreting results such as electrocardiograms, documenting care in an electronic health record and preparing patient's records for transfer to a referral hospital.
This position has an education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcripts (or a list of your courses including titles, credit hours completed and grades). Unofficial transcripts will be accepted in the application package; however, official transcripts will be required prior to entering on duty. For information on Foreign Education click here http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html
You must meet the requirements of the job by 11:59 (Eastern Standard Time) of the closing date: Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Security Clearance
Q - Nonsensitive
Additional Information
What To Expect Next
Once the online questionnaire is received you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful. Applicant MUST verify the completeness and successful submission of their applications by logging into the USAJobs Application Manager to check the Status. Your qualifications for the job will be reviewed against other applicants to determine, if you will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interviews. We will notify you of the outcome after each of these steps have been completed. After making a tentative job offer, we will conduct a suitability/security background investigation.
You will no longer need to call the HR Office to determine your application status. USAJOBS has added an alert setting to their system to provide status updates for applicants. You can elect to activate the status updates from your USAJOBS profile at any point during the application process.
If all required documentation is not submitted with your application you will lose consideration. It is the applicants responsibility to verify that information and documents entered, uploaded, or faxed is received, legible and accurate. HR will not modify answers submitted by an applicant.
Indian Health Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer
You can review our benefits at https://help.usajobs.gov/index.php/PayandBenefits
Other Information
A one-year probationary period may be required upon selection/placement.
Recruitment Incentives: Incentives may include a recruitment or relocation incentive up to 25% (subject to eligibility and approval) and Supplemental or National Student Loan Repayment incentives.
Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses are authorized and will be paid. You will be required to sign a one year service agreement. Failure to fulfill the one year service agreement may result in repayment of relocation expenses.
- Security Clearance: If you are selected for this vacancy, you must undergo a pre-employment fingerprint check and background investigation. Fingerprint results and background investigation documentation must be cleared prior to hire. You will receive instructions on how to obtain and submit fingerprints and background investigation documentation. After you begin your employment, your continued employment is contingent upon the outcome of a complete background investigation as determined by the sensitivity level of your position. The investigation must find that you are suitable for Federal employment in your position. If you are found not suitable, you will be terminated after you begin work. If you make a false statement in any part of your application, you may not be hired; you may be fired after you begin work; or subject to possible criminal charges.May work an alternative work schedule, call back, standby, rotating shifts, nights/weekends/holidays.
- Measles and Rubella immunization required for selectees born after 1957.
- Seasonal influenza immunization is required for civilian health care facility staff working in Indian Health Service health care facilities.
- The selected individual is required to obtain and maintain medical staff clinical privileges, including any licensure requirements. If privileges are not obtained or maintained during employment, the employee will be subject to adverse actions, up to and including removal from Federal service.
- This position is covered under Section 408 of the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act, Public Law 101-630 and is considered a Child Care Worker position. The Addendum to the OF-306 (Childcare Worker Form) is required for all applicants and can be found under required documents.
- May work an alternative work schedule, call back, standby, rotating shifts, nights/weekends/holidays.
IHS - Operated Properties are tobacco free
Salary Range: $100,957.00 to $225,000.00 / Per Year
Series & Grade: GS-0602-13/14
Promotion Potential: 14
Supervisory Status: No
Who May Apply: United States Citizens; PHS Commissioned Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps MUST apply to the merit promotion announcement in order to receive consideration.
Control Number: 452252800
Job Announcement Number: IHS-17-OK-1812200-DHA


text:
Results 9 to 11 of 11
Re: Can Private Orgn implement RTI act internally
Hi Sid
By Internally , I mean that since RTI Is confined to Govt bodies , therefore any Private orgn , if is contemplating to intorduce or adopt RTI act, it would have to be Internally i.e. within the Organizations parameters
By Personal Form, I meant , that in can adopt the spirit of the RTI Act , but would have to convert it into Personal format to implement , otherwise it may pose legal complications..
Besides Friends
I know some NGOs , those have adopted RTI act in similar forms
Woudl soon let you know the details to appreciate such steps
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Re: Can Private Orgn implement RTI act internally
I think there is no harm if any private company or organisation follows the spirit of RTI and uses its framework (after suitable modifications) and opens up to the public at large.
However, the legal backing for such a move will be lacking.
For example, who will take on the role of CIC or SIC ?
What about penalties ? How will they be recovered ?
Re: Can Private Orgn implement RTI act internally
Yes you are right...I myself beleive that LAw is above TRUTH...
But if NGO volunteer to do so and need Govt's or CIC or SIC's supervision and control ...thn?
I know its a Govt policy matter , but still .....
And Even if one has Govt control and Laws an rules ....all of them depend of the sincereity, motivation, dedication and honesty towards the same...
And if some NGOs have them , I think its a great idea...at least if they even after adopting such policies deny RTI abide ...thn they can be brought to court by mentioning their (NGO) constitution, wherein they have enacted to follow RTI Act....
So this can be put to legal mode ...if the NGO enact RTI following and enact them in their constitution while getting registd in O/O Firms and Socities


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It may be a staple in your diet but is rice really that good for you?
A team of scientists at Leicester's De Montfort University have discovered that eating one type of rice in large quantities could have negative effect on your health. However, a bit of variation in your diet could change that dramatically.
BBC Radio Leicester's Kamlesh Purohit spoke to Dr Parvez Haris who led the study.


text:
Learning About Vehicle Maintenance
What You'll Want To Know Before Removing Your Diesel Particulate Filter
Over the past few years, diesel particulate filters have become a common fixture in most diesel trucks. Along with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), DPF technology is targeted towards reducing particulates and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. However, the prospect of reduced performance and fuel economy has driven many diesel truck owners to remove their DPF systems entirely. Before you decide to remove your diesel truck's DPF system, it's important to learn about the potential pitfalls involved in making your ride DPF-free....read more
The Outdoorsman's Guide To Utility Trailer Safety
An outdoorsman's toy box is often his or her utility trailer. Whether you're pulling a fifth-wheel to the lake, horses to your local trails, or ATVs to the desert, you will want to make sure that both you and your favorite toys arrive safely. Here's a quick guide to help you tow your utility trailer safely: Getting Hitched Trailer safety starts by finding the perfect union of hitch for your trailer, gear, and vehicle. The gross trailer weight (GTW) is the maximum weight your vehicle can safely tow. Before you hitch anything...read more
3 Reasons Your Car Barely Starts On Cold Winter Mornings
As the warm weather fades when winter begins setting in, you should not be surprised if you are having trouble getting your car started in the morning. Cold weather can take a toll on automobiles, and this can make it difficult to get your car started. This problem is quite common; however, you might be able to fix it by making a few minor repairs to your car. Here are three reasons your car might be experiencing problems starting in cold weather and some tips for fixing the problems. Engine Oil Is Thick Engine oil is a liquid material, and...read more
Four Important Things To Know About Maintaining The Diesel Particulate Filter In Your Truck
If your diesel truck contains a diesel particulate filter (DPF), then it is important to remember the filter is a maintenance device and will need regular monitoring and care. Damage to the DPF can be costly, and you also run the risk of causing engine damage or violating air quality standards. Below are some important things to know about DPF maintenance and what you should do to keep it running smoothly: Prevent engine lubricating oil from entering the filter One of the most important things you can do to protect your truck's DPF is...read more


text:
Ultimate Motocross CoachingSports Motocross Classes & Lessons
1880 Lytton Rd, Lytton, QLD 4178 25-50 km from Brookfield
Best match results for: CATEGORY = Motocross Activities for Kids + LOCATION = Brookfield (4069)
Results include related kids activities and neighbouring locations.
Motocross activities for kids - greater than 5km from Brookfield (4069)
1880 Lytton Rd, Lytton, QLD 4178 25-50 km from Brookfield
Please call us for enquiries, Brisbane CBD, QLD 4000 10-25 km from Brookfield
1880 Lytton Rd, Lytton, QLD 4178 10-25 km from Brookfield
Other motor sport activities for kids - greater than 5km from Brookfield (4069)
20 Mudgee St, KIngston, Kingston, QLD 4114 25-50 km from Brookfield
We had our son's 11th birthday at Kingston Park Raceway a few weeks ago and Saxon just loved the whole day. The staff were fantastic with everyone and showed lots of experience in dealing with the less experienced kids from the group. A special thanks to all for making our day so wonderful and we will definetly be back.
This was the easiest party I have organised for my 12 year old daughter, from the moment I called Kingston Park Raceway and spoke to a lady in the office - she was so helpful and sent me all of the information within an hour and she included everything I needed. I only had to pay a portion of the party which was great as I had another 2 weeks to save the money before the party was held which is when I had to pay for it all. I was worried at first that it was just for boys and they may get hurt but the guys on the circuit were really good with the girls and showed them how to drive, and the other people on with them were all really good. Sorry to go on but this was the best party she has had and still doesn't stop talking about it, I guess we'll be back again next year, but probably earlier with our friends. If you are looking for a great party then you should call these guys.
I took the kids down to the go-kart track for a bit of fun and wow we couldn't believe the facilities they had there. We were meet by very friendly staff and then we went out on the go-karts and had a ball. Thanks to Alan for the driving tips because it helped me beat my son. We will definitely go back when we are back in Brisbane next year.
PO Box 6142, Logan Central, QLD 25-50 km from Brookfield
This business can travel to you.
Grout St, Brisbane, QLD 4000 10-25 km from Brookfield
No Physical Address, Brisbane, QLD 4000 10-25 km from Brookfield
Tivoli Raceway Coal Road, Chuwar, QLD 4306 10-25 km from Brookfield
Tivoli Raceway Coal Rd, Chuwar, QLD 4306 10-25 km from Brookfield
35 Crosby Rd, P.O. Box 201 , Albion, QLD 4010 10-25 km from Brookfield
10 Beaufighter Ave, Archerfield, QLD 4108 10-25 km from Brookfield
Po Box 897, Browns Plains, QLD 4118 10-25 km from Brookfield
Raubers Rd, Nudgee Motorcycle Park, Nudgee, QLD 4014 10-25 km from Brookfield
Mick Doohan Raceway Raubers Road, Northgate, QLD 4013 10-25 km from Brookfield
63 Colebard St West, Archerfield, QLD 4108 10-25 km from Brookfield
8 Gordon St, Level 2, Ipswich, QLD 4305 10-25 km from Brookfield
36 Warringah Grove, Petrie, QLD 4502 25-50 km from Brookfield
Other sport activities for kids - in and around Brookfield (4069) (within 5km)
Lancing St, Pullenvale, Brookfield, QLD 4069
Yarawa St, Kenmore, Brookfield, QLD 4069
Brookfield Showgrounds, Brookfield, QLD 4069
Chapel Hill State School, Chapel Hill, QLD 4069 2 km from Brookfield
Hart Rd, St Peters School, Indooroopilly, QLD 4068 2-5 km from Brookfield
512 Brookfield Rd, Brookfield, QLD 4069
Kenmore High School, Ashgrove Sports Ground Ashgrove Golf Club, Kenmore, QLD 4069 2-5 km from Brookfield
50 Hepworth Street, Chapel Hill, QLD 4069
Hepworth St, Kenmore, QLD 4069


text:
|blood sweat, haematidrosis, hematohidrosis, hemidrosis
|Red tinted sweat (or 'blood sweat') caused by hematohidrosis.
|Classification and external resources
Hematidrosis, also called blood sweat, is a very rare condition in which a human sweats blood.[1] The term is from Greek haima/haimatos αἷμα, αἵματος meaning blood and hidrōs ἱδρώς meaning sweat.
Signs and symptoms[edit]
Blood usually oozes from the forehead, nails, umbilicus, and other skin surfaces. In addition, oozing from mucocutaneous surfaces causing nosebleeds, blood stained tears, and vicarious menstruation are common.[2] The episodes may be proceeded by intense headache and abdominal pain and are usually self-limiting. In some conditions, the secreted fluid is more dilute and appears to be blood-tinged, while others may have darker bright red secretions resembling blood.[3]
While the extent of blood loss generally is minimal, hematidrosis also results in the skin becoming extremely tender and fragile.
Hematohidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress.[4] Severe mental anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system to invoke the stress-fight or flight reaction to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the vessels supplying the sweat glands into the ducts of the sweat glands.[5] It has been suggested that acute fear and extreme stress can cause haematidrosis.[6]
Investigation such as platelets count, platelet aggregation test, coagulation profile and skin biopsy reveal no abnormalities and direct light microscopy of fluid demonstrates presence of normal red blood cells. Investigations also failed to show any vasculitis or skin appendages (i.e. sweat glands, sebaceous glands and hair follicles) abnormalities.[3][7]
A 2015 case study investigated hematidrosis with a patient who has epilepsy.[8]
Effect on the body is weakness and mild to moderate dehydration from the severe anxiety and both blood and sweat loss.[9]
The condition is very rare but there are reports in medical literature of successful treatment with beta blockers (propranolol 10 mg)[10][11] with significant reduction in the frequency of spontaneous blood oozing. The successful use of beta blockers supports the theory that the condition is induced by stress and anxiety yet this etiology is not established yet as the high prevalence of stress and anxiety in the modern era did not change the incidence of this extremely rare disease, suggesting that other co-abnormality also play a key role in this disease.[7] Atropine sulfate transdermal patches have also been used successfully.[3]
Favorable results with psychiatric counselling to reduce stress highlight the relationship between psychogenic causes and hematohidrosis.[5]
The New Testament indicates that Jesus underwent hematidrosis before the Crucifixion of Jesus, during the Agony in the Garden (Luke 22:44).[5][12] These claims are plausible, given that the modern day dermatological research notes the presence of hematidrosis in people awaiting execution.[5] It has also been proposed as a possible explanation for claims associated with stigmata.[13][14]
Leonardo Da Vinci described a soldier who sweated blood before battle. The phenomenon has also been observed in individuals condemned to execution, a case occurring during the London blitz, and a case of fear of a storm while sailing, etc.[13]
See also[edit]
- Haemolacria – blood in tears.
- Hyperhidrosis
- List of cutaneous conditions
- ^ Tshifularo, M. (2014). "Blood otorrhea: blood stained sweaty ear discharges: hematohidrosis; four case series (2001-2013).". American Journal of Otolaryngology. 35 (2): 271–3. doi:10.1016/j.amjoto.2013.09.006. PMID 24315735.
- ^ Holoubek, J. E.; Holoubek, A. B. (1996). "Blood, sweat and fear. "A classification of hematidrosis"". Journal of medicine. 27 (3–4): 115–33. PMID 8982961.
- ^ a b c Biswas, S.; Surana, T.; De, A.; Nag, F. (2013). "A curious case of sweating blood". Indian Journal of Dermatology. 58 (6): 478–80. doi:10.4103/0019-5154.119964. PMC 3827523. PMID 24249903.
- ^ Freddrick Z., Dr "Hematidrosis"
- ^ a b c d Jerajani, H. R.; Jaju, Bhagyashri; Phiske, M. M.; Lade, Nitin (2009). "Hematohidrosis – A rare clinical phenomenon". Indian Journal of Dermatology. Wolters Kluwer. 54 (3): 290–292. doi:10.4103/0019-5154.55645. PMC 2810702. PMID 20161867.
- ^ Holoubek JE, Holoubek AB. (1996). Blood, Sweat and Fear: A Classification of Hematidrosis. Journal of Medicine 27: 115-133.
- ^ a b Mora, E; Lucas, J (2013). "Hematidrosis: Blood sweat". Blood. 121 (9): 1493. doi:10.1182/blood-2012-09-450031. PMID 23570065.
- ^ Shen, H., Wang, Z., Wu, T., Wang, J.; Ren, C.; Chen, H., Yu, Z., Don, W. (2015). Haematidrosis associated with epilepsy in a girl successfully Treated with oxcarbazepine: Case report. Journal of International Medical 43 (2): 263–69.
- ^ Zhang FK, Zheng YL, Liu JH, Chen HS, Liu SH, Xu MQ, et al. "Clinical and laboratory study of a case of hematidrosis". Zhonghua Xue Ye Xue Za Zhi. 2004;25:147–50
- ^ Wang, Z.; Yu, Z.; Su, J.; Cao, L.; Zhao, X.; Bai, X.; Zhan, S.; Wu, T.; Jin, L.; Zhou, P.; Ruan, C. (2010). "A Case of Hematidrosis Successfully Treated with Propranolol". American Journal of Clinical Dermatology. 11 (6): 440–43. doi:10.2165/11531690-000000000-00000. PMID 20666570.
- ^ Khalid, S. R.; Maqbool, S; Raza, N; Mukhtar, T; Ikram, A; Qureshi, S (2013). "Ghost spell or hematohidrosis". Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (JCPSP). Pakistan. 23 (4): 293–94. PMID 23552544.
- ^ Gillis, James Martin (1907). "Agony of Christ". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ a b Manonukul J, Wisuthsarewong W, Chantorn R, Vongirad A, Omeapinyan P. (2008). Hematidrosis: A pathologic process or stigmata. A case report with comprehensive histopathologic and immunoperoxidase studies. Am J Dermatopathol 30: 135-139.
- ^ Kluger, N; Cribier, B. (2013). Stigmata: From Saint-Francis of Assisi to Idiopathic Haematidrosis. Ann Dermatol Venereol 140: 771-777.


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Urgently for unlocking project
- Status Closed
- Budget $200 USD
- Total Bids 1
Project Description
I am looking for a programmer as I need to unlock Huawei E173z-1 USB Modem (3G Modem) - the modem is locked to Mobinil Network in Egypt
Hint: I can help a lot as I have a sampled unlocked modem Huawei E173z-1A and E173z-1A
I tried to read the EPROM for the unlocked modem ( E173Eu-1 ) and write it to the Locked modem EPROM ( E173z-1 ) but the modem power was not working - looks like the boot loader need to be correctly programmed
If any programmer can work on this project please contact me ASAPGet free quotes for a project like this
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Consistency is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, right? But how do you know when it's time to change your routine? While consistency is good, here are a few signs that may indicate that it's time to change your current workout.
It's important to have a strong core, and not just to look fit and healthy. Our core helps us move throughout life with grace and ease. Integrate these six ab exercises into your routine and you'll notice yourself moving more mindfully both in your workouts and in everyday...
About one-third of all Americans take multivitamin/mineral supplements, but not all supplements are created equal. Here are 10 tips for managing your multivitamin/mineral supplement use.


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Heterozygous germline mutations in BRCA2 predispose female carriers to breast cancer and also lead to increased risks of ovarian, male breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers. Biallelic germline BRCA2 mutations cause the D1 subtype of Fanconi anemia (FA-D1). BRCA2 is a very large protein that functions, at least in part, as a guardian of genome integrity. We recently identified a novel protein of 1,186 amino acids, which we named PALB2, as a major BRCA2-binding protein, and established that PALB2 is required for BRCA2 functions in the DNA damage response. We further discovered that the PALB2 gene, like BRCA2, is also mutated in breast cancer and Fanconi anemia (FA-N). Thus, we hypothesize that PALB2 functions as a tumor suppressor by enabling BRCA2 functions in the genome integrity control and tumor suppression. We have shown that PALB2 plays an essential role in tethering BRCA2 to chromatin structures and thus enables BRCA2 functions in the DNA damage response, e.g. HR, S phase DNA damage check point, and interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair. However, the mechanistic details as to how PALB2 carries out its functions and how its functions are regulated remain to be elucidated. In this proposal, we plan to carry out comprehensive structure-function analysis, including biochemical purification, cell-based assays, and in vitro assays, to further define the mechanisms of PALB2 DNA damage response functions. Furthermore, we propose to generate conditional PALB2 knockout mouse models to directly test our hypothesis that PALB2 functions as a tumor suppressor in mammary epithelial cells by regulating the function of BRCA2. The following questions will be asked: 1) Does PALB2 inactivation in breast epithelial cells lead to mammary tumor formation? 2) Does p53 play a role in PALB2-mediated tumor suppression, given that p53 and BRCA2 function synergistically to suppress breast cancer? 3) Is PALB2 a haploinsufficient breast cancer suppressor, given that little evidence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has been found in PALB2-associated human breast tumors? 4) Does PALB2 suppress tumorigenesis in the mammary gland solely through its support of BRCA2 function?
The proposed studies will generate important insights into the operation of the BRCA1-PALB2- BRCA2 genome integrity control pathway that is crucial for the suppression of breast cancer and a number of other malignancies. The knowledge that will be gained from the proposed efforts may potentially translate into new therapeutic strategies to selectively target and eliminate cancer cells by exploiting their inability to repair certain types of DNA damage, e.g. double strand breaks, interstrand crosslinks, etc. Finally, in the longer term the mouse models generated and characterized here may prove useful for pre-clinical testing of cancer drugs.
|Cicchini, Michelle; Karantza, Vassiliki; Xia, Bing (2015) Molecular pathways: autophagy in cancer--a matter of timing and context. Clin Cancer Res 21:498-504
|Simhadri, Srilatha; Peterson, Shaun; Patel, Dharm S et al. (2014) Male fertility defect associated with disrupted BRCA1-PALB2 interaction in mice. J Biol Chem 289:24617-29
|Anantha, Rachel W; Alcivar, Allen L; Ma, Jianglin et al. (2013) Requirement of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C for BRCA gene expression and homologous recombination. PLoS One 8:e61368
|Huo, Yanying; Cai, Hong; Teplova, Irina et al. (2013) Autophagy opposes p53-mediated tumor barrier to facilitate tumorigenesis in a model of PALB2-associated hereditary breast cancer. Cancer Discov 3:894-907
|Ma, Jianglin; Cai, Hong; Wu, Tongde et al. (2012) PALB2 interacts with KEAP1 to promote NRF2 nuclear accumulation and function. Mol Cell Biol 32:1506-17
|Tischkowitz, Marc; Xia, Bing (2010) PALB2/FANCN: recombining cancer and Fanconi anemia. Cancer Res 70:7353-9
|Buisson, Remi; Dion-Cote, Anne-Marie; Coulombe, Yan et al. (2010) Cooperation of breast cancer proteins PALB2 and piccolo BRCA2 in stimulating homologous recombination. Nat Struct Mol Biol 17:1247-54


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Newegg.com - A great place to buy computers, computer parts, electronics, software, accessories, and DVDs online. With great prices, fast shipping, and top-rated customer service - once you know, you Newegg.
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This review is from: OCZ ZS Series 750W 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom
Pros: Great PSU, owned for over a year now - not a single problem.
Cons: None
Other Thoughts: When I first purchased this PSU, I wasn't too sure about OCZ products. They make a quality product and it definitely reflects on how well the company is doing today.READ FULL REVIEW


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Video: Code Pink removed from Petraeus hearing; Update: Video — Skelton calls protesters a**holes
posted at 2:23 pm on September 10, 2007 by Allahpundit
First the MoveOn ad, now this. You stay classy, liberal America.
I want this to be true but I can't find it in either the Fox or CNN recordings. FYI, Medea Benjamin interrupted Crocker immediately after this clip ended but went pretty quickly and quietly.
Update: St. Cindy was led out earlier.
Update: Star tipster RLW to the rescue. Dan Burton warns Skelton at around the halfway point that Code Pink's going to act up and Skelton gets snotty with him. The hot mike moment comes at around 3:30 if you're counting down.
Breaking on Hot Air
Dem senator: Let's confirm Neil Gorsuch and Merrick Garland together
Spicer: Special prosecutor? For what? Update: Issa backpedals
- Michelle Malkin » Showdown in the House: Petraeus/Crocker testimony Update: Dems pounded for MoveOn ad; Update: Fiasco…mirophones broken…hecklers run amok; 1:45pm Eastern update: Petraeus interrupted by hecklers whom Dems refused to remo
- LOTUS blog » Blog Archive » "This is my testimony…I wrote this testimony myself."
- NoisyRoom.net » Blog Archive » Video: Code Pink removed from Petraeus hearing
- The American Princess
- Transcript of Gen. Petraeus' Testimony at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » The long-expected hit on "General Betray-us"
- Kerry: MoveOn Is "Over the Top" : The American Pundit | News and Opinion With A Conservative View
- Transcript of Petraeus Testimony at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
- Captain's Quarters
- Welcome To Petraeus Theater at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
- Right On Cue | MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
- Petraeus Betrayed in the New York Times « Wolf Pangloss
- Villa Julie College Republican's-Blog » Hilarious clip of the day: Code Pinko Throws temper tantrum.
- Six Meat Buffet » Cowards and Traitors and Liars, Oh My!
- How Sh*t Works » Blog Archive » Petraeus Betrayed in the New York Times
- Right Angles » Blog Archive » American butchers student with axe for peace
- Neocon News » Petraeus Testimony: House Edition
- Conservatives Can Go Straight to Hell Then. | Hitting Harder Than Jerry Falwell Playing Halo 3.
- Iraq .::. The Current Truth About The Iraq War
- Cao's Blog
- f0d8177e7f62f6485917
- field dressing
- 2a2a8bad4bdc0d0750fc
- The Petraeus Report |
- Independence Day | hillbillypolitics.com
- Independence Day - Susannah's blog - RedState
- Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism….. | hillbillypolitics.com
- Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism….. | RedState


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Skype 5.3 for Android Supports Emojis, Speech-to-Text
Updates bring Skype's unified chat interface to Android, with support for emojis, speech-to-text and a sign-in process for users with multiple accounts.Chatting on the Android flavor of the Skype app now more faithfully reproduces the PC and iPhone experience, courtesy of a new update from Microsoft. "With Skype 5.3 for Android, we've made some big changes to make the chat experience more consistent and more fun," Eric Lin, Tom Huang and Lara Kingwell, Microsoft product marketing managers, announced in a jointly-authored Skype Garage & Updates blog post. "You'll see a new bubble style chat layout, similar to the Skype apps on desktop and iPhone." The accompanying screen shot indeed displays Skype's new, more modern take on chat with an uncluttered design, blue text bubbles, crisp fonts and picture-based avatars. Also new is the ability to pepper Skype chats with emojis. "We haven't just improved how your chat looks, but also what you can say," said the Skype staffers. "We added support for emoji, so you can go beyond Skype's emoticons and triple the number of ways you can express yourself without typing a single word." They also revealed that they are rolling out a feature that displays a larger, animated version of a Skype emoticon if it constitutes the entire message.
Skype 5.3 for Android users can also now utter their chat responses. "We support messaging via speech-to-text when connected to an Android Auto experience," they added.
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Node.js module to trigger Linux Commands
This project received 7 bids from talented freelancers with an average bid price of £19 GBP / hour.Get free quotes for a project like this
Project Budget£10 - £15 GBP / hour
Total Bids7
Project Description
Module scope:
To trigger a third party software based on data queried from a Mongo DB. The module should check from the MongoDB at regular interval (this should be configurable) for orders which are in a status of "PDF Ready" and not currently being processed by another thread.
If any order is found in that state, the PDF name, and preflight profile name (please note that if no preflight profile name is found against that particular item, then the profile information should be retrieved from the client config) should be retrieved for that particular item to be parsed in the Linux CLI.
On successful download of this data, the module should create a command line for the Linux CLI which contains the static path to the relevant profile file, the static path to the PDF file to be preflighted and the destination folder path for the processed file.
Once the command has been passed to the Linux CLI and the pdfToolbox engine returned a report xml, the status of the item is updated in the Mongo DB as "print ready".
A report xml file will need to be processed and certain namespaces within the xml ingested back into the Mongo database so that we can enable some reporting services to the end user.
Sample of a Linux CLI command to be triggered:
./pdfToolbox /"root/preflightprofiles/[url removed, login to view]" /"root/dropbox/PDF/[url removed, login to view]" –report –outputfolder /"root/dropbox/preflighted/site1" –suffix "pref"
This should be written in Javascript and use [url removed, login to view], we need to have the ability to multithread up to 8 instances of the pdfToolbox engine.
Skills Required
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Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
During this nasty flu season, I've been increasingly diligent about washing my hands. Sometimes though, this task has been downright challenging, especially in public restrooms equipped with high-tech automated fixtures.
You know the ones I mean: the automated faucet that turns on when it senses motion, the dispenser that spits out sandpaper towels with a wave of your hand and the absurdly loud hand dryer.
Well, that's how the public restroom devices are supposed to work. The problem is that time after time, these gadgets — and their cousins, automated toilets — don't work properly. So instead of leaving the restroom feeling clean, refreshed and germ free, I often find myself walking out feeling frustrated, foolish and with a fear that I'll catch the flu.
(MORE: How You Can Survive the 2013 Flu Epidemic)
Common Restroom Tech Troubles
I'm sure I'm not alone. Chances are, one (and probably more) of the following experiences have happened to you at a public restroom in the not-too-distant past:
- At the sink, you thrust your hands repeatedly toward the faucet, hoping to catch the automatic eye that will turn the water on. But no water comes out. You move closer, hoping that will work, only to get your face — and possibly your clothes — doused.
- Standing in front of the automatic towel dispenser, you frantically wave your hands to trigger the infrared eye that'll cause paper to shoot out. Nothing happens, no matter where you wave or how vigorously you try. So you're forced to walk away with wet hands. Then, the ultimate insult: You see the next user waves and successfully retrieves a towel.
- You're able to use the hand dryer, but it's either so weak that it doesn't dry your hands or so ear-splittingly loud that you rush out with wet hands just to flee from the noise. And how often have we've been told that these machines are hygienic because wet hands are more likely to spread germs than dirty ones?
- While sitting on the toilet seat, the automatic flusher goes off before you're finished and your bare bottom gets splashed. Or conversely, the flusher fails to go off, leaving an embarrassing mess for the next user. (There's usually a little hard-to-find button you can press to make the automatic toilet flush on command, but that means you have to touch it, negating the whole value of the automatic system.)
"Oh, God, haven't we all had these experiences?" groans Christopher Berl, president ofRestroom Direct, a distributor of commercial restroom fixtures based in Huntersville, N.C. Describing the automatic towel dispenser that won't work for you, Berl says: "It's like the dispenser is sticking its tongue out at you."
Why Don't They Work Right?
Yes, I realize there are more pressing issues in the world, but I still have to ask: Why have public restrooms become so exasperating?
It comes down to a combination of the public's growing concern about hygiene and imperfect bathroom technology that's cheaply built and poorly maintained.
(MORE: How to Get the Best Hotel Rooms and Service)
"There are a lot of germaphobes out there" who don't want to touch anything in a public bathroom, Berl says. And although restroom technology, like infrared triggers, has improved in the past few years, many builders and contractors have become, to put it euphemistically, "cost conscious."
Translation: They're opting for the least expensive fixtures, which often means the least reliable versions.
One other culprit: Restroom designers who pay more attention to style than function.
Robert Kravitz, president of AlturaSolutions Communications, a Chicago public relations firm whose clients make bathroom cleaning products, cites a San Francisco bank building that opened several years ago. Its restrooms had, among other things, paper towel dispensers built into mirror frames that were placed over the pedestal sinks.
The restrooms looked beautiful, but the towel dispensers were so well hidden that users had to "feel" their way to find them behind the mirrors, leaving smudges, handprints and germs. On top of that, since towel dispensers had to fit behind the mirrors, they were smaller than conventional machines, which meant they ran out of towels two to three times a day.
Batteries on the Blink
High-tech fixtures also require high maintenance. That can be a problem when building managers don't have the necessary staff to keep restrooms in working order or are unaware the faucets, dryers or toilets are on the fritz.
The automated machines are often battery operated and batteries wear out. So the machines sometimes just quit, remaining unusable until the manager realizes there's an issue. (Ever seen a place to leave a complaint in a public restroom?)
Most of the new-fangled fixtures need to be replaced every few years but that isn't happening, Kravitz says. "Many building owners have postponed renovating bathrooms as much as they can," he says. "So we are now probably seeing systems getting old and not working as well as they should."


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Wireless Broadband, The Virtualization Crowd
6. Wireless Broadband Gains Ground Wireless broadband-the last mile separating users from the PC experience on mobile devices-took great leaps forward and grabbed a foothold on reality in 2008.However, at Google's urging and with some trickery in the auction process, the FCC will require Verizon to allow legal devices and services to connect to the network that will be built out of the spectrum. But there was more to come from the spectrum and the FCC: Over the strenuous objections of broadcasters and wireless microphone makers, the FCC approved the unlicensed use of the interference buffer zone spectrum between television stations. Google, Microsoft and others claim the FCC's decision will open the airwaves for innovation as much as or more than the FCC decision to approve Wi-Fi. But the spectrum remains theoretical until it is built. In the realm of reality, after years on the drawing board, WiMax technology made its U.S. commercial debut in Baltimore as Sprint Nextel rolled out the 4G, all-IP broadband network. The debut comes after Clearwire and Sprint Nextel agreed to merge their 4G wireless operations in hopes of building a nationwide WiMax network to compete with rivals AT&T and Verizon and their 3G networks based on LTE (Long Term Evolution). Backing the WiMax play with $3.2 billion are Google, Intel, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. 7. Virtually Crowded The former one-man party that was x86 virtualization got crowded in 2008. With its June release of Hyper-V, Microsoft presented x86 server virtualization leader VMware with what may prove its toughest challenge to date. That's because while Hyper-V trails VMware's ESX Server in core features, management options and guest operating system support, Microsoft's new virtualization offering boasts a pair of significant-and familiar-advantages: Hyper-V is bundled with Windows Server 2008 and carries no additional charge. At the very least, the entrance of Microsoft and Hyper-V into a market in which Xen-based offerings are already giving VMware a run for its money means that the days of VMware as the "no-brainer" option for server consolidation and similar virtualization-based tasks are over.
Early in the year, Verizon won the battle to use the 700MHz band of spectrum being abandoned by television broadcasters moving to HD signals. Verizon, the nation's No. 2 carrier, captured prime swaths of spectrum for its next-generation wireless broadband service.
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AT&T emailed its customer base over the weekend to apologize for last week's embarrassing iPad hack. They described the hackers, Goatse, as "malicious," and Goatse has just responded angrily.
AT&T's letter starts as bland and smooth as any corporate blather possibly could be: "Dear Valued AT&T Customer, Recently there was an issue that affected some of our customers with AT&T 3G service for iPad resulting in the release of their customer email addresses. I am writing to let you know no other information was exposed and the matter has been closed." The letter does go on, however, to describe the "unauthorized 'hackers'" who "maliciously exploited" a function that was supposed to simplify the AT&T authentication process.
This bit is where things get odd, because AT&T did indeed have a large vulnerability in their process. Any hacker, anywhere, could've exploited these holes for far more serious and nefarious gains than Goatse Security did. This is the thrust of today's response from Goatse. You can read the whole text of the angry open letter (available here), but we'll digest it down to the main important points for you:
- AT&T was too slow to inform the public after Goatse revealed the leak. "It is theoretically possible that in the span of a day (particularly after a hole was closed) that a criminal organization might decide to use an old dataset to exploit users before the users could be enlightened about the vulnerability."
- AT&T is being dishonest about the degree of harm that may have been possible. Goatse believes that unsophisticated hackers could have even worked out iPad locations, and more skilled hacks could've exploited it to "takeover" an iPad, or grab personal data from it. Given the list of high-ranking people revealed in the original hack, this could be extremely serious.
- To drive this point home, Goatse knows of a Safari loophole that could still expose much user data, and alerted people to it months ago. The Safari loophole that permits this kind of attack is still open.
- AT&T is trying to portray the hack as difficult, to allay customer fears that much damage was done, or that future hacks aren't likely. This is false, says Goatse, as the hack attempt took just a single hour of effort by a single person. With huge hackers networks known to be in existence, who knows what these coders "in the thrall of evil" would get up to?
So who's right? Goatse's staff defend themselves by saying they did the right thing as "a service to our nation" because they "love America and the idea of the Russians or Chinese being able to subvert American infrastructure is a nightmare." The company's stance is that AT&T first had a security loophole, and then lied about it afterward, leaving customers exposed to yet more harm. AT&T's stance is that some bad guys broke into its system and it's all okay now, and that it's slightly sorry this fuss happened. It's a classic white-hat (we assume) hacker versus corporate America stand-off, and the matter seems far from closed—especially now the FBI is involved. The only thing we can say for sure is that as more and more of us carry more sophisticated connected devices around all the time, this sort of news article is going to be more prevalent.
To keep up with this news, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter. That QR code on the left will take your smartphone to my Twitter feed too.


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