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Though previously I wrote (a bit tongue and cheek) that I was writing reviews because I had nothing else to write, that’s not the complete truth.  Granted it is part of it, but here I am writing about writing reviews and not actually writing a review, I’m just writing (I wanted to see how many times I could use the word writing and make the sentence coherent).   The other side reason I have for writing reviews is there are some other communities I’ve wanted to contribute to that I haven’t.  Most of these are review sites.   The main two are All Consuming and Amazon.   Though there are some other sites I’ve wanted to contribute thought and effort into such as Netflix and Google Books.   

Reviews are a mainstay of communities, especially online ones.   The old psychological study on mirroring proves we relate better with people like ourselves.  When someone shares the same thoughts and ideas we have an attraction to them, a kinship.   Writing reviews and contributing to these other communities give me a bound and a vested interest in these communities.   I think moving into movie, book, and game reviews were a natural progression for me after signing up for Yelp.   I joined Yelp to check it out and I find it intriguing.  Review the restaurants you go to, sharing the experience with the world.   

In the new era of personal publishing and media, we’ve all become food reviewers, movie critics, book analysts, and game raters.   The power is to the people.  Our voices may not be strong, but they exist.   When we find people with similar tastes in the areas that we love, we trust their reviews.   I’m not saying I’m an expert, I would never pretend to know what you like or you enjoy in your heart.   I can show you what I enjoy and maybe we’ll have a mirroring relationship.   One that spurs on conversation and gives us a two way street in which we can share and trust reviews from one another.   Not everything will be a perfect match, but I’m sure it will lead to some interesting discoveries.

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A couple years ago we removed cable from our house.  We didn’t watch anything really besides Law & Order and it’s spin offs.   Law & Order was not worth $80.00 per month.  While we’ve gotten our TV fix from either Netflix or legal streaming from teh major networks something was missing, Law & Order.   We were both always annoyed that Law & Order was not on NBC‘s website, but endured.  We could have received Law & Order disc by disc from Netflix, but that would have been a pain in the butt.

Recently we discovered that Law & Order is available for streaming from Netflix’s site , we are on season 4 of SVU – thank you Netflix for bringing back the normal TV fare to our lives.

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So I’ve taken over the position of webmaster for the VCMA (Vermilion Community Music Association).  This is going to start a new series as I’m going to use them as guinea pig’s for what I’ve felt non-profits need to do to survive and thrive in the web 2.0 world.   They are not a big organization, and I’m sure I received this position for my background and not my witty personality.

I’ve been working on the site for a couple of weeks and here is what I’ve found so far.   They had a private member’s section on the old site to share files and personal data.  This section was password protected, but the username field was just a front, as long as you nkew the password anything you put in the username field was accepted.  Since I’m a security engineer, this just wasn’t going to work for me.  I’ve ranted before the illusion of security and how illusionary security wasn’t worthwhile at all anyways.  The other problem was that their member page “password protected” section was just a javascript that rewrote the “HTTP GET” to a file named a combination of the requested page plus the password.   So if the page was index.tml and the password was “password” the ending HTTP in the “HTTP GET” command would be indexpassword.html.   Since it was still a plain text file without any encryption on it, in theory it could still be spidered and stored by google, thereby completely undermining any security it was giving them.

I’m working on a better and more secure solution while maintaining the balance of ease of use.   I don’t want to burden them too much on the security side.  I’m sure some of the older members would blink at me with a blank stare if I handed them secureID tokens to access their newsletters.

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The next thing I discovered is that code each web page by hand, ugh.  There was no way I was going to maintain each HTML manually and hope for any semblance of style and continuity between pages (an issue they had in the past).   They had been using FrontPage and offered to buy me a copy.  First no, no and no – currently I’m using Linux on my main computer (Ok I dual boot into XP and between WoW and Netflix streaming I don’t get into Ubuntu as much as I should), so Frontpage was out.  They were insistent at first that this is how it was done, I however readjusted things.  I moved them to WordPress which I’m not using as a blog but rather as a CMS (Content Management System).

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I manually migrated the data from the old HTML files, I spent hours converting the front page data to be “clean” data that i can migrate and copy paste anywhere.   I was a dumbass though, I should have just copy and pasted the text into notepad or a generic text editor, then I wouldn’t have had all the background crap.  This is my nore to myself to now be stupid next time.  I added images and a javascript navigation menu, but essentially the page was just a cleaned up (easy to maintain now) version of what they already had.

Now the next step is to migrate them to Google Apps for their member related information……

Somehow I always end up volunteering for Vermilion non-profits, now if only I could get one of them to pay me……

The article does make good points though he wrote it poorly and pulled out data out of thin air.  I don’t argue with some of what he is saying but let’s break it down by his bullet points.

1. Broadband Speed – his assumption that you would buy it anywhere online – in the immediate future as this scales there are two options other then the most obvious update the broadband infrastructure in this country.  The first being it is more likely that major media distributors will have a distribution within your ISP (as long as you use a major one) – since it would be within it’s own network and there would be no connection fees associated with routing traffic over another ISP – all of that ISP’s user would be able to get full speed other then crossing and routing across a partners internet link (which is the real reason ISP throttle you down) – The second is IP multicast which if implemented woudl take most the strain of the ISP – it would take the same amount of bandwidth for hte ISP to send the data to all users on a given subnet/ IP range as it would to a single user – a combination of the two is where this is going.   He also seems to avoid the fact that whenever you watch an “on demand” movie on your cable that it is digital distribution – just on pipes you can’t normally route traffic through.   That works fine for most americans.

He also add that it can take an hour to download a movie – Most movies are 2 hours in length – which means under his assumption that I can watch it streamed no problem – the movie doesn’t have to finish downloading to start watching it (author of the article MUST be using bit torrent instead of a good streaming mechanism so we’ll forgive him).

2. Tiered Download Capacity – addressed this by having distribution points within your home ISP – having this would cost the ISP nothing to give you traffic that stays within their network – it’s when you cross the router that exits their network which costs them fees.  Most logical is that you will see “features” offered from your ISP which state you can do all this within the walled garden (aol style) and the tiered pricing kicks in when you leave the garden.

3.  Media Cost – it’s all dependent on if you want to own something – here is the crux – if you “rent movies” but can get them anytime or anywhere for 3.00 -5.00 dollars a viewing this means you need to watch and pay for it 4-7 times before it actually costs you more then owning it.   He pointed out that it would take 12k to replace his movie collection in blu-ray and stated he could do a trade in – well the trade in would give him 2-3.00 per DVD he traded in – so this would give me at the most 1800.00 – I’m sorry that’s not a large enough dent.   If you do “buy” a digital movie which you can, it does cost about the same as a physical copy – but yet less then current Blu Ray titles – so this really is where you need to decide if you would spend 12k on replacing all your DVDs to Blu Ray.  He also added the full albums cost more if you buy them online versus the store – well radiohead and NIN are both turning that theory on it’s head.   But also how often is it that you want every single song on an album.

4.  Storage Costs – he qouted a number of 8.4 TB that would take to store of all of his data – having ripped enough DVD’s myself I’ll say that 99% of the 200+ dvds I own are single layer – so they max out at 4.3 GB and most don’t even take up all the space on the disk – so 2.5 TB would store all of his DVDs nicely – Ironically I have about 2 TBs at home and it didn’t cost me the 1800.00 he qouted.   I have drives that have lasted for years and yes the storage space is spread out all over the home network – but my server does have over 1 TB.

5. Adoption – a couple things he missed here is that the XBOX 360 and PS3 as well as computers all support streaming media – most blu-ray players are rumored to be able to support it in the next specification lock – so that is something to take note of before he qoutes the 1k media computer.   Actually since home servers are coming to be more common the computer hooked up to your TV can be add for under 300.00.

He is right about how the distribution is going to happen and hte problems it faces.   The recession if anything is going to help spur this.  One friend because of my arguement is getting netflix and dropping his cable – his cable costs 800.00 a year on top of his internet.  Streaming will replace cable before it will replace straight purchased movies – but once the public becomes comfortabel with one the other will follow.

Also don’t forget one thing – Sony is betting on both Blu-Ray and streaming.   They realize that it’s a good thing to hedge their bets.

The other is on Palantir and there analysis platform which after worrying about my posts because of all the Washington D.C. hits and the hits from Palantir had me very curious. The reason is I didn’t put out anything that was more technical or more scathing then some other sites I saw after the fact when I wrote that.

It seems some of my hits seem to be from people more interested specifically in Palantir and looking for more information. I would assume that the Palantir hits were part of a bot program – but it seems some of these links originated from e-mail accounts – so they are sharing my humble story.

I do applaud Palantir on updating their screenshots – it seems they are showing off some of what they have accomplished now. The only thing I have to say to Palantir is the website has moved and some articles are now cross-posted – but I haven’t written anything new and it’s the same article you were tearing through months ago when I originally wrote the article.

The other posts that are huge is my review on the Symantec Endpoint Protection, my “Hulu – Another good Tv-Links Replacement“, and My link to TV-Links replacement sites.

I’m hoping with the launch of my new site in the next 24 hours that I start to receive a wider variety of people reading a wider variety of stuff. Until then welcome those in public servant space, in the need for Symantec help, and those looking for online video. You help keep up my readership.

I was a creature of habit that even when I wasn’t watching TV it was on and would watch TV “settling” for shows – I mean there are very few people that watch the Magic Johnson Show or Becker before they went to bed just because it was on and something to watch.

One of the major changes has been technology, both the advancement of it and the lack there of. When we purchased our new house about a year and a half ago we picked up cable immediately and the gluttony of television kicked. After the introductory period of 29.99 a month ended and the bill went up to 59.99 a month we sat and questioned if we really needed it.

It seemed that we were only watching law and order 99% of the time – since it was always on. Since I was a big DVD purchaser I looked at this as being 1-2 box sets of other DVDs that I cuold buy that month instead of cable. At that point we ditched cable. Our house is far enough from the major cities that we get one stations and even that is 75% snow. This meant no more live television for us. We started watching the shows we liked via streaming media on the computer we have hooked up to the television or via our laptops.

Slowly I got out of hte buying a girth of DVD’s and subscribed to netflix – this saved my money since in the 5 months I’ve had netflix I have only purchased 3-4 DVDs that I really want compared to the 10-15 I would have purchased otherwise.

Netflix and streaming mean that there are no more late nights watching Becker or Sisters because nothing else is on. I no longer have to settle and the process of going to a website and multitasking is a little bit more active then traditional TV viewing.

So by using streaming and netflix I watch more shows that I want to watch when I want to watch them. I also save money. Netflix is 16.99 a month compared to the 59.99 for cable and the other 100.00 a month I would have spent in DVDs. My quality of life has actually improved since I don’t waste time on shows like the Magic Johnson talk show any more (yes I realize that was canceled long ago but I wanted and apt comparison to the bottom rung of television I was on).

Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov from The University of Texas at Austin on November 11, 2006 released a paper on how to break the anonymity of the Netflix dataset. This information is aggregate and the method is quite complex. There is however the fact that this data can be found and linked back to you with the correct tools. Palantir releases tools for the intelligence community and having tested it I have no confirmation but since it’s public data at this point has no reason not to include it in their sample data set they provide to costumers.

Before I go further I would like to say I don’t think Palantir has done anything wrong. The problem is that Netflix has released this data to the public even after they learned that the anonymity can be broken. With Palantir’s strengths there is very little effort to link these rentals to you in your private records. Now I will be the first to dismiss government paranoia but in this case with such little effort would the intelligence community really pass up this information? Data by itself is meaningless, but data in aggregate can be very powerful.

If you are concerned with the government or anyone else tracking your rental history I would suggest leaving netflix as soon as possible.

From a side note while we are waiting for this to start Palantir, according to wikipedia, is an artifact from the Tolkien mythos. specifically: A palantír (sometimes translated as Seeing Stone but actually meaning “Farsighted” or “One that Sees from Afar”) is a stone that functions somewhat like a crystal ball.

Webinar started

They start with the standard thank you to their host carahsoft.

Palantir was started in 2004 by Alexander Carr (sp) and the paypal team. They pointed out that the main part of Paypal was anti fraud and that’s how they relate to the intelligence community. They spent sometime discussing Paypal and their competitors. The reason paypal succeeded compared to their competitors was that they had analysts to sort the data compared to using pure computer work. The analyst then built tools to work with the data at the conceptual level compared to the data level. This allowed the analysts to help fight fraud better then the competition which allowed them to succeed.

Paypal then looked at what areas they could fit these types of tools. They recognized that they would fit best in the high finance and the intelligence community. They worked and created tools and today’s webcast was about the intelligence community tools. Planatir is a front end and backend tool

Data Integration – takes all your records and puts them into one unified view that allows an analyst to have an easy view of unified data.

Search and Discovery – see who the user communicated with – persistent search which alerts the analyst when new information becomes available.

Link Analysis- the database includes historical and auditible revision analysis – I assume this is it help ensure the integrity of the database. Includes meta data for source, who added it, and where it came from, who updated it, essentially every step of change and data you could want. This also allows the revisioning database to look quickly at the data history. They then go on to show different views and history tracking they can utilize.

He shows how you could do different information extractions to track terrorist activities (once again using the terrorist threat to try to drive the point home /rolleyes). While this would be a great tool in general I think this could have been done another way instead of driving the terrorist angle. The data set that it can pull from is quite large and very interesting.

Very interesting drag and drop interface for entity resolution and analysis. Very Web 2.0ish but yet seems they put too much emphasis on the fisher price like interface. It’s not a bad thing just overly rounded – but I assume this may help things work faster – I have nothing to compare it to though. They are offering a video at the end so I’m not going to describe all of the interface and his interaction with it.

This does make Jim Cropcho’s discovery of a flaw in the ohio voting records a very trivial discovery for this software and makes how we maintain our records especially our voting and documents that should be private (no your phone is not really considered private sorry) otherwise data discovery with tools like this is trivial.

The platform does support plug-ins.

When asked how many entities they can handle they stated over 100 million entities – they have pulled in all of IMDB, Wikipedia – and NETFLIX!!!! – so this company is looking at user checkouts and ratings on netflix – I’m going to follow up with netflix and find out what of my private data is available to these other companies.

More links

here
here
Flash Demo

For more carahsoft webinar’s go here for sign up.

My first computer that did this was 8 years ago when it was a novelty and now it’s becoming standard in more and more homes across the world. Well my latest PC is a bit loud for my taste in my newest setup – what to do, what to do?

We recently canceled cable service to the house – it’s not worth 50 bucks a month to watch Law and Order 7 days a week when Netflix is a much better alternative for my lifestyle – I can get box sets and movies whenever I want compared to the normal cable service.

For my existing movies – ripped and home – I tried hooking up my computer to an RF modulator in the basement – unfortunately the computer’s video output did not have enough juice to trigger the RF modulator’s automatic on switch. Well to work around this the computer goes into the video input of an old VCR I have – from here it hooks up to the house coax wiring where the main cable feed hooked to the rest of the wiring. Because of this the computer now streams on Channel 3 to every computer in the house. I can remotely control the computer via VNC from either the laptops or the PDA’s in the house – haven’t tested from the cell phones yet.

This whole scenario is another that shows the benefits of central cable feeds in a house. The quality however is about VHS quality – not as good as it is hooked up directly to a TV via an S-Video cable. The benefits of this set far out weigh the loss of video degradation in my mind – but then again I’m not an HDTV junkie.