General Computer Stuff

US Changing Wiretap Laws

by

From the New York Times: The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

…

Albert Gidari Jr., who represents technology companies on law enforcement matters, criticized that proposed procedure. He argued that if the United States started imposing fines on foreign Internet firms, it would encourage other countries, some of which may be looking for political dissidents, to penalize American companies if they refused to turn over users’ information.

“We’ll look a lot more like China than America after this,” Mr. Gidari said.

See the NYT article: U.S. Is Weighing Wide Overhaul of Wiretap Laws

Hope for Virtual Worlds

by

Forbes has an article out today: After Second Life, Can Virtual Worlds Get a Reboot? The article is an interview with Jacki Morie, a virtual world designer in telehealth care. She has been working with injured returning soldiers.

We see people interested in virtual worlds and 3D imaging in many places. People are finding uses never thought of. There is little consensus as to where it is going, just that it is going.

 

Mixamo Promo

by

I’m NOT promoting Mixamo… I am not using any of their products but, they do have a fun new promotional video out for their upcoming Webinar: Bring Your Game to Life. They sell animated characters and tools to help build them.

[youtube kH_LMyJIepw]

I think the illustration of a radically different user interface is great. I think that is something that could be done with LEAP Motion. It is something like what a new user interface for building with Oculus Rift might look like… or so I imagine.

Freedom of Information

by

The two countries most active in asking Google to remove content are Brazil and the USA.

Google has expressed the sentiment: The United States, too, has its fair share of censorship requests. While Google can’t be specific about legal matters, it appears that at least some of the requests come from overly-reactive local authorities.

Governments’ Attempts To Censor Google Have Doubled Since 2011

More details: Google Transparency Report

The Transparency Report

If you think Google, Yahoo, and Bing are providing equal access across the planet, think again. There are videos on YouTube that can’t see seen in some countries. There are search results that are not shown in some countries. It is not always the countries we may think of that are censoring our information.

More Second Life Oculus Rift

by

Hamlet Au has an article titled: Oculus Rift Integration Coming to Second Life, Linden Lab Staff Confirm (Both Officially and Unofficially). I think in that article and in a previous article (ref) he makes several good points. And, it does look like Oculus Rift (OR) is coming to Second Life™. But, Hamlet doesn’t combine it with the LEAP Motion controller I think is needed to go with OR.

You are not going to be able to get a retail OR headset until at least 2014.

The video shows the OR with an omni-directional treadmill. That is NOT the kind of control system I am hopping for… but it might be good for me… but… how would that work in Zindra?

Read more