Zmetro.comJim Zellmer's View from MadisonI've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch- June 30, 2008 Bruce Schneier: It used to be that just the entertainment industries wanted to control your computers -- and televisions and iPods and everything else -- to ensure that you didn't violate any copyright rules. But now everyone else wants to get their hooks into your gear. OnStar will soon include the ability for the police to shut off your engine remotely. Buses are getting the same capability, in case terrorists want to re-enact the movie Speed. The Pentagon wants a kill switch installed on...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010869.php "Catch the Spirit Block Party"- June 30, 2008 I have no idea what these "mimes" were publicizing at the corner of Oakland Avenue and Monroe on a Sunday evening.http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010870.php Lake Wingra UW Arboretum Clearing Storm Photo- June 29, 2008 <img src="http:www.zmetro.comphotos200806wingra6282008zmetro.jpg" border="1" width="800" height="533" Border="1" Title="Lake Wingra University of Wisconsin Arboretum Clearing Storm Photo">http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010866.php Verizon's fiber guru talks strategy- June 27, 2008 Marguerite Reardon: Fios also has helped future-proof Verizon's network. While its cable competitors buckle under the pressure of peer-to-peer traffic on their networks, Verizon has enough capacity in its network, thanks to its fiber upgrades, to weather the storm unscathed and work on its own timetable to find more efficient ways to handle peer-to-peer traffic. Mark Wegleitner, Verizon's senior vice president of technology in charge of broadband and consumer services, has helped develop and...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010826.php Midwest Airlines Employees - Between A Rock And A Hard Place- June 27, 2008 Benet Wilson: I had to sigh when I read this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on the draconian pay cuts Midwest Airlines is asking its employees to take in order to survive. Having worked at two airlines during turbulent times, I too faced the decision on what to do when management imposed pay cuts. In the first case, I took a temporary cut at Mesa Air Group after the horror of 911, when airlines didn't know how long it would take to recover from the week-long shutdown of the air...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010825.php Cisco TelePresence Coming to a Living Room Near You- June 27, 2008 Jennifer Hagendorf: co Systems (NSDQ:CSCO) is set to deliver its TelePresence high-definition videoconferencing technology to the home market within the next 12 months, said the company's top executive this week. The technology will be available via the channel, including via retailers the likes of Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Wal-Mart and service providers such as AT&T (NYSE:T), said Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers at the Cisco Live conference in Orlando, Fla. "It will probably evolve. At...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010820.php A Look Back at The Bill Gates' Era; and a few lessons- June 26, 2008 The Economist: Mr Gates also realised that making hardware and writing software could be stronger as separate businesses. Even as firms like Apple clung on to both the computer operating system and the hardwarejust as mainframe companies hadMicrosoft and Intel, which designed the PCs microprocessors, blew computings business model apart. Hardware and software companies innovated in an ecosystem that the Wintel duopoly tightly controlled andin spite of the bugs and crashesused to reap vast...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010816.php Chicago White Sox vs the Cubs: Capturing the "Spirit of the Weekend"- June 23, 2008 Walking around Chicago this weekend, I observed no shortage of White Sox and Cubs paraphernalia (the two teams played one another at Wrigley Field). This couple certainly expressed the spirit of the weekend.http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010788.php Walter Bagehot Was Wrong- June 20, 2008 James Grant: The governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg raised some eyebrows when he questioned the integrity of the fast-growing balance sheet of the European Central Bank. Yves Mersch, a member of the ECB's governing council as well as the Ben Bernanke of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, raised the issue at a gathering of the International Capital Market Association in Vienna two weeks ago. Insofar as a currency derives its strength from the balance sheet of the issuing central bank, the...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010771.php Tammy Baldwin's Office on the Farm Bill- June 20, 2008 Dear Mr. Zellmer: Thank you for contacting me about the 2007 Farm Bill (the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act, H.R. 2419). It is good to hear from you, and I apologize for the delay in my response. As you know, the U.S. House of Representatives recently considered the 2007 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation which touches on a number of agriculture-related issues, including commodity price support programs, nutrition programs, alternative energy, and rural...http://www.zmetro.com/archives/010770.php |