September 30, 2004
Japanese Schools Use Computer Chips to Keep Tabs on Children
17:34 UTC » Japanese Policy - Wireless and Mobile
But student safety is still MUCH better than the rest of the world. Elementary school first graders still take public transportation to school by themselves. I think tagging is a bit over the top.Technology ReviewJapanese Schools Use Computer Chips to Keep Tabs on ChildrenTOKYO (AP) - Cutting class just got harder but schools are safer thanks to computer chips that help track students, Japanese officials say.
Some schools here this month began trial runs in which students carry chips that have tiny antennae and can be traced by radio, with some of the kids attaching the tags to their backpacks.
The chips send signals to receivers at school gates. A computer in the system shows when a student enters or leaves.
School officials say rising concerns about student safety prompted the idea.
"And the kids love it - they think it's cool," he added.Yeah. Right...
And when are they going to start tagging everyone else...
via Smart Mobs
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ACLU and EFF strike down part of PATRIOT Act
10:59 UTC » Japanese Policy - Japanese Politics - US Policy and Politics
Once again I wish we had the EFF and the ACLU in Japan. Or rather, the kind of people and government that would encourage the creation such organizations. The US government is capable of insanity like the US PATRIOT Act, but it also has corrective mechanisms which work. Anyway, good going folks!Cory @ Boing BoingACLU and EFF strike down part of PATRIOT ActEFF has helped the ACLU overturn one of the worst elements of the USA PATRIOT Act, the "National Security Letters," which were secret warrants that the Justice Department could write for itself without judicial oversight and then bind the recipients to indefinite silence. That's right: secret, no-oversight warrants with perpetual gag-orders. The ACLU brought suit against the DoJ on this one, and we filed briefs on their side, and today, a federal court struck down this part of PATRIOT as unconstitutional. BooYAH.
"Today's ruling is an important victory for the Bill of Rights, and a critical step toward reigning in the unconstitutional reach of the Patriot Act," said KurtLink
Opsahl, EFF staff attorney. "The Court recognized that judicial oversight and the freedom to discuss our government's activities both online and offline are fundamental safeguards to civil liberties, and should not be thrown aside."
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September 29, 2004
Uncovered: The War on Iraq - Interviews Torrent
12:37 UTC » Media and Journalism - Video - Warblogging
Yay! Thanks Gary! And hats off to Robert Greenwald for actually doing what Moore talked about with F 9/11. I think that P2P and political documentaries is an amazing new channel for political activism and free speech.Gary LerhauptUncovered: The War on Iraq - Interviews TorrentIn a follow-up to the licensing of the Outfoxed movie under a Creative Commons license, Robert Greenwald has also agreed to release the interviews from his previous movie, Uncovered: The War on Iraq under the Creative Commons. The files can be downloaded directly (also available in higher quality format) from archive.org, or you can join the torrent hosted on Torrentocracy.com at uncovered_interviews.torrent.
Hopefully we can match the over 700 downloads of Outfoxed that its torrent has already generated. Either way, the truth is free.
(free as in beer AND as in freedom)
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September 27, 2004
Cornelius and Joi photo by Kishin Shinoyama
20:17 UTC » Joi's Diary - Music - Photo
resolution on flickr
I just got my picture taken with my second cousin Keigo. Keigo is aka Cornelius and is a pretty well known musician. The picture for a magazine called Brutus and the series is about cool people and their relationship with someone else. So I was the "someone else" for this article. The photo was taken by Kishin Shinoyama who is well known for his portraits. His confidence and efficiency were quite amazing. He found this cool spot to take the photo in our offices in 5 minutes. Then he set up his 8X10 camera took polaroids of three poses. He seemed to only take one or two actual photos of each set up. It was all over in like five or ten minutes.
He gave me one of the polaroids and signed it for me upon request and said that I could post this on my blog.
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First day of school
Today was my first day of school. The requirement for getting an university email, intranet and wifi account requires a course in netiquette. The course focused on "don't spread viruses." OK.
I showed up a few minutes late as Professor Takeuchi was talking about how tardiness would not be tolerated. (Sorry Professor Takeuchi!) Strike one. I sat in my student chair feeling very guilty.
Next was the session where we were going to get our accounts.
Instructor A: "So does everyone have have ICS IT Handbook?"
I didn't have one.
Me: "No. I didn't get one. Can I have one?"
Scarier instructor B: "Why don't you have one?"
Me: "I didn't get one. Where do we get one."
Scarier instructor B: "Sit down and share with someone." (scowl)
Me: "Umm.. OK."
So we were instructed on how to log in, change our password, etc. I finished a bit early and was messing around with my profiles. I noticed a place on the intranet where we could upload our picture. I started googling around for a good image to use when...
Scarier instructor B: "Are you following the instructor?"
I had clearly been profiled as a problem student by this point.
I turns out that there are only 3 DBA students and I was the only one attending today so I was put in another class. That's why I didn't have the handbook. Scarier instructor B didn't know this so I guess it's not her fault for scowling. But sitting in a classroom being scolded by instructors brought back a lot of memories. ;-) I'm going to have to get used to it and try to fit in a bit better... for now.
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September 26, 2004
I'm investing in flickr too
16:56 UTC » Cool Web Sites - Photo - Social Software
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last.fm
14:25 UTC » Cool Web Sites - Music
During Ars Electronica in Linz, I got a chance to hang out with Michael from last.fm. I would have blogged about this earlier, but they have been having server problems and they wanted me to wait until they had stabilized the situation.
Last.fm has been around for awhile now and they've even been covered in Wired so many of you may already know about them. It is a music site based on collaborative filtering. Using one of the many Audioscrobbler plugins, you can set your music player to upload the titles of the music you are playing to their site. This starts to create your profile. You can also go to the site and browse songs and artists and add them to your profile. It will recommend similar artists and also show other fans of those artists. You can browse the profiles of those fans as well. Eventually, you will have enough songs in your profile for it to calculate your neighborhood. These are other members with similar taste. It's quite uncanny how similar some people's taste in music can be. You can visit these people, see what they are listening to, send them messages or add them as friends.
Once you have a healthy neighborhood and profile, the next thing you do is start listening to the radio. Last.fm is MCPS/PRS registered and has a paid license to broadcast music internationally from the UK. Only music registered with MCPS/PRS or registered directly with last.fm will be streamed, but you can listen to your own music collection, anyone else's music collection or your profile neighborhood as an mp3 stream. The web based player window will show the name of the artists, the track, the cover art, the person who's profile it is coming from and a button for "love", "ban", "skip". Anything you like will be added to your profile.
You can configure last.fm to use your local Amazon.com. You can buy most of the albums you browse on Amazon. In addition, labels can sign up on last.fm and sell music directly via downloads. Labels can set their own price. The collaborative filter allows labels to target new songs into the clusters that are most likely to be receptive to a track and the collaborative filter takes over after that.
I think this is an amazing synthesis of traditional business models from the music industry and collaborative filters. I also love how your music becomes your identity. My last.fm page shows what I'm listening to and what I kind of music I like most.
DISCLOSURE: I don't have any official relationship with last.fm yet, but I'm currently talking to them a lot and giving them my feedback and thoughts.
Michael, let me know if I got the facts right.
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Anti-bootlegging booted
03:56 UTC » Intellectual Property
Lessig blogs about a very important case:
A district court in the Southern District of New York has struck down the anti-bootlegging provision of the copyright act.
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September 25, 2004
Video of strike on group of people in Fallujah
17:14 UTC » Media and Journalism - Warblogging
Here's another Iraq war video. This one appears to be a strike on a group of people walking down a street in Fallujah. Does anyone else have more information on this video? Has it been aired on any TV network?
If they are civilians, it's quite disturbing. The "aw dude" in the audio doesn't seem like a very appropriate reaction.
The embedded Windows Media Player window didn't work for me in Firefox on OS X, but worked fine in Internet Explorer. You can also use this link to view it directly in Windows Media Player.
Via Paul
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Wikipedia inacessible from China
13:17 UTC » Global Politics - Information and Media - Wiki
As of yesterday, Wikipedia is inaccessible from most of China. It appears to be inaccessible from 11 out of 12 points in China. It was blocked for a few days back in June or so, but this block appears to be broader than the last one. Hope this one gets resolved quickly too.
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Plazes and wallop
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How to take digital photos from a kite
Ever wanted to take digital pictures from a kite? Phillip Torrone who brought us the Search Engine Belt Buckles shows us how. He makes it sound so easy.
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September 24, 2004
Back to Japan
In a few hours I'll be leaving New York to go back to Japan. Met so many interesting people this trip and the weather was beautiful. Thanks!
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September 23, 2004
The Horn Guy
Sorry about the light blogging. I've been a bit busy in New York. Here's something to to fill the void. Presenting, The Horn Guy (Windows Media Player)
from eBaum's World via Scott
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Wired/Creative Commons concert
04:41 UTC » Creative Commons - Joi's Diary - Music
The concert tonight was amazing. I hope people got a chance to watch the video feed. Gil/Byrne were amazing and were eventually able to get a house full of somewhat tired old people on their feet and dancing. It was also amazing to realize how much Talking Heads songs were a part of my DNA... anyway. Maybe more when I'm less tired. Need to go to bed.
Oh, and David Byrne dedicated "Road to Nowhere" to the Repbulicans.
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September 21, 2004
Commons-based peer production is not communism
20:38 UTC » Economics - Sharing Economy
Adina has a nice essay about why participants in what Benkler calls commons-based peer production are not necessarily communists. If you don't have time to read Benkler's 80 page Coase's Peguin paper, I suggest you read Adina's essay which picks up some important points that you don't get in the abstract.
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Wired Creative Commons compilation CD
20:07 UTC » Creative Commons - Music
The CD will include:Wall Street JournalThis Compilation CD Is Meant To Be Copied and SharedBy ETHAN SMITH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 20, 2004For more than a year, the music industry has held firm on its zero-tolerance position on online file swapping, suing 4,679 alleged digital pirates to drive its point home.
But now, 16 high-profile artists, many of them signed to the same global music companies that have brought the lawsuits, are participating in a project that will allow music lovers to freely copy and trade some new songs without risking legal retaliation.
Next month, songs by the Beastie Boys, David Byrne and 14 others will appear on a compilation CD whose contents are meant to be copied freely online, remixed or sampled by other artists for use in their own new recordings. "The Wired CD: Rip. Sample. Mash. Share." was compiled by the editors of Wired magazine, of San Francisco, as an experimental implementation of a new kind of intellectual-property license called Creative Commons. About 750,000 copies of the disc are to be distributed free with the magazine's November issue. The disc also will be handed out to audience members at a benefit concert by Mr. Byrne and others tomorrow night in New York.
Beastie Boys - 'Now Get Busy'
David Byrne - 'My Fair Lady'
Zap Mama - 'Wadidyusay?'
My Morning Jacket - 'One Big Holiday'
Spoon - 'Revenge!'
Gilberto Gil - 'Oslodum'
Dan the Automator - 'Relaxation Spa Treatment'
Le Tigre - 'Fake French'
Paul Westerberg - 'Looking Up in Heaven'
Cornelius - 'Wataridori 2'
Matmos - 'Action at a Distance'
Thanks to Chris and everyone at Wired for pulling this together. See you tonight at the concert!
via Lessig
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September 20, 2004
Packing
I also LOVE the Eagle Creek Pack-It Folders that keep your shirts together and has this cool plastic thing that helps you fold your shirts.
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Off to New York
I'm off to New York today to attend the Creative Commons board meeting and go to the Creative Commons benefit concert organized by Wired Magazine. Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: At airport now. It was very crowded getting through. I was looking through my passport while waiting in line and I noticed that on my last trip the old U.S. Immigrations stamp I used to get when entering the US changed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Similar, but definitely has a different ring to it.
Also, I've been stuck waiting in line enough these days and have started always choosing lines where if possible both adjacent lanes are closed. I've found that I have a 50/50 or so chance of having the lane next to me open up and shorted our particular line by 1/2. In many airports like Narita, there are two lanes per block and it's worth it to check whether a line is a double line or a single line since sometimes they get mashed together...
Anyway, at least I'm on free wifi with a power cable.
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Wikipedia reaches one million articles
Wikipedia has just announced that it has reached one million articles. Congratulations Wikipedians! Wikipedia is in more than 100 languages with 14 currently having over 10,000 articles. It is ranked one of the ten most popular reference sites on the Internet according to Alexa.com (trumping Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times). At the current rate of growth, Wikipedia will double in size again by next spring.
Wikipedia is a volunteer effort supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Please contribute to their fundraising effort.
Coincidentally, this is the 3000th post on this blog.
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September 19, 2004
Kamelopedia en launched!
via Jimbo
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Trucks
09:42 UTC » Gadgets - Heckling - Japanese Culture
Seth and Xeni write about this new American monster pickup truck, the CXT. According to Xeni it is "about 2 feet taller x 4 feet longer than the honkin' Hummer H2. Which, btw, it could tow along with that yacht, if need be." (MSNBC article and debut site)
I just bought a 10 year old Daihatsu HiJet pickup truck. I got it because it's small enough to drive on the narrow paths between the rice fields. It can carry as much gravel or dirt as I would be willing to move on any given day. Just about every single neighbor has one of these little pickup trucks. And no, I didn't buy it just to fit in... although I think it helps. I think my HiJet is about 130" long and about 45 horsepower. (approximately 1/2 the length and 1/5 the horsepower of the CXT)
That CXT would be completely useless in my village. So you can keep your gas guzzling monstrosity and whatever weird culture that created it. I'm happy with the spartan aesthetics of my little HiJet. (Web page about Kei class Japanese trucks)
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September 18, 2004
Tighter screening in US airports starting Monday
10:22 UTC » US Policy and Politics
Just in time for my trip to the US next week...USA TodayFliers face tighter screening for explosivesWASHINGTON — Starting Monday, the government will intensify airport screening...
More discretion. TSA screeners will be given greater authority to refer passengers for extra scrutiny if clothing looks bulky, misshapen or otherwise suspicious. Some passengers also will receive expanded pat-downs when screeners consider it warranted. Currently, they concentrate mostly on arms and legs. Now, they'll be able to pat other areas if they look suspicious. TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark would not elaborate, citing security.
...Critics say additional pat-downs could make some people, especially young women, feel uncomfortable.
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September 17, 2004
Google and Iowa Electronic Markets say Bush
11:34 UTC » Economics - US Policy and Politics
The Iowa Electronic Markets are real-money futures markets in which contract payoffs depend on economic and political events such as elections. These markets are operated by faculty at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business as part of our research and teaching mission.Jimbo told me about IEM when I met him in Linz. A paper (PDF) describes the past elections and how the markets have been amazingly good at predicting their outcomes. IEM has a current market quote which is updated every 15 minutes. As of this posting, it is 40.6%/59.4% Kerry/Bush.
On IRC, crw, just pointed out a blog post on The SaltwaterPizza that used Google to see how many people said they were voting for one candidate or the other. The sample size was 104,789. This gave 46.8%/53.2% Kerry/Bush.
The results are disappointing for those of us who are hoping Kerry will win, but these alternatives to traditional polls are very interesting none the less.
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Iran cracks down on reformist web sites
09:43 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Global Politics
Hoder reports government crackdowns on reformist websites and bloggers.
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September 16, 2004
P2P over SIP
22:49 UTC » Network Technology - VoIP
Dr. Mark Petrovic and David Beckemeyer at Earthlink R&D have developed a proof of concept P2P application using SIP called SIPshare. SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is one of the key technologies for the open standards around Voice over IP (VoIP). This application is pure P2P use of SIP. It is completely decentralized. According to David Beckemeyer this project is quite important.
SIP has been waylaid in regulatory and execution problems in the past and many people have written it off as a non-starter. I'm seeing more and more companies who are actually using it for cool stuff and proving that it's ready for prime time now. If you written off SIP and haven't taken a look at what people doing with it for the last six months, I suggest you take another look.David Beckemeyer in emailThis may not sound like that big of a deal, as file sharing has been done, but I think this is a really big event. It's not about file sharing. Nobody is really going to use the demo app Mark built. It's about demonstrating that pure P2P can be done over SIP and that SIP is about more than just voice and video.In some sense, the SIP wars to me are about sneaking in some aspects of the original "stupid network" baack into the NAT hell we've created. If we can do what it takes to get NAT boxes to support SIP (be consistent in how they do NAT so the edges can use STUN et al), then we have reclamied the ability to have individually addressable nodes, where we use SIP as the new IP network almost. This may be getting carried away, but anyway...
via David Beckemeyer
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September 15, 2004
Feeling like a cog with a rubber stamp
18:43 UTC » Japanese National ID - Japanese Policy - Japanese Politics
Two years ago I marched in protest against the Japan National ID. Last year, after we failed, a few cities and prefectures resisted. Yokohama took the position that the bill was illegal because it required privacy protection and the privacy bill had not passed. They allowed citizens to opt out and an whopping 24% of their citizens opted out. Now that the privacy bill of the central government is in place, Yokohama is being forced to "normalize" with the central government. Last year, I accepted an appoint to the Yokoyama personal information protection committee which would oversee their integration of the national ID system with the hope that I could help them in their resistance. Today, almost a year after the first meeting, I spent the afternoon in what was basically a rubber stamp session. We voiced our opinions, but at this point there really wasn't much choice. These inquiry committee are constitutionally defined organs for people to interact with the law making process, but I felt more like a cog with a rubber stamp than a participant in a democracy.
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Metroblogging Tokyo launched
17:54 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Japanese Culture
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Outfoxed interviews available under CC license via Bit Torrent
17:44 UTC » Creative Commons - US Policy and Politics
Here's some serious substantial non-infringing use of P2P. I bought the DVD and watched Outfoxed. Definitely worth buying the DVD, but being able to download and use the interviews from the documentary is a great contribution to the commons. It will be interesting to see how people remix this stuff.torrentocracy - blogOutfoxed Torrent (torrentocracy exclusive)In working with Lawrence Lessig, Robert Greenwald has agreed to release the interviews within Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism under a Creative Commons non-commercial license (press release). This means that among the rights now granted, interviews balancing out the fair journalism of Fox News can freely be used as anyone sees fit. To see the full movie, you can purchase the Outfoxed DVD or check it out in theaters.
Torrentocracy (along with archive.org) has exclusive initial access to distribute these interviews in their digital form due to the work undertaken to promote a TV-connected, public domain, internet based media distribution network. The torrent file to start your Outfoxed download can be found at http://www.torrentocracy.com/files/torrents/outfoxed_interviews.torrent. For more information on how to use bit torrent peer-to-peer filesharing to download this, go here. If you were a Torrentocracy user, you could already be downloading Outfoxed to your television.
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Creative Commons Developing Nations license
This is a very important development. People have been asking for this. Many people choose non-commercial use because they worry about NBC or CBS ripping off their work. This provides the ability for countries with less Internet penetration to allow local entrepreneurs to print and distribute things that would not reach many of these people otherwise.Creative CommonsDeveloping Nations license launchedToday the Creative Commons launched a new standalone license, dubbed Developing Nations. The deed lays it out simply: it's an attribution-only license that applies within developing nations. The legal code defines developing nations as "any nation that is not classified as a 'high-income economy' by the World Bank." which according to the World Bank's site means it does not apply in these countries.
This license can be used in a few ways. It can be combined with something currently licensed under a more restrictive license, so that your photographs could be protected from commercial use in the United States, but if it also carried a Developing Nations license, those same photos could be used commerically in say, Brazil. You might also be a musician or photographer that wants to maintain full copyright in North America and Western Europe, but welcome use by others in the countries of Southeast Asia. More information can be found in today's press release.
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Creative Commons benefit concert will be webcast
09:20 UTC » Creative Commons - Music
For those of you who can't make the Creative Commons benefit concert in New York next week, WIRED will present a Webcast of the show by David Byrne and Gilberto Gil, LIVE from the Town Hall, at 8 pm EST on September 21st.For those of you who WILL be there. I'll be there too.
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September 13, 2004
Our web cam from 1995
Insert-Coin blogged a time lapse movie of our Eccosys web cam which was in my apartment in 1995. Talk about a walk down memory lane.
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Moving Joiwiki
My new wiki using Socialtext (based on the open source Kwiki) is up and running. We've implemented a login if you want to edit as a short term fix for wiki spam. We will convert it to self-registration soon, but for now, if you want an account, email Adina and she'll set you up.
The old Moin Moin wiki is eventually going to be shut down and is already being infested by spam as the attention on it wanes. If there is anything on the old wiki that you'd like to keep, please move it over to the new wiki. Jon L will be doing the Emergent Democracy pages so contact him if you can help on those. For other pages, if it is going to take a long time, just put a note on the Moin Moin page that you're working on moving it over so people don't step on your work. Lets make this an opportunity to refactor some of the stuff.
There is a script and some help on converting Moin Moin pages to Socialtext on my wiki.
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September 12, 2004
Lian ai zhong de Bao Bei - Baober in Love
Last night, I saw Lian ai zhong de Bao Bei, or "Baober in Love" directed by Shaohong Li. It was a shocking, emotional and amazing love story set in Beijing. The movie captures the stark contrast of the rich and ultra-modern with the poor and traditional parts of the city. Having just spent a few days wandering from ultra-modern buildings to streets with bombed out buildings and meeting some of the young and rich in Beijing, the movie seemed to capture the strange cultural situation that people must be facing in China right now with the explosive growth in the economy. The love story is extremely painful and I think many of my peers had a hard time with it, but I thought the intensity set a tone that I think represents the whiplash the culture must be going through.
The movie reminded me a bit of one of my other favorite films, Swallowtail Butterfly, which is also a story of a young girl raised by hookers in a multicultural/chanpon underground part of Tokyo.
If you liked either one of these films, I would recommend the other.
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September 11, 2004
Nokia Lifeblog to use TypePad
14:06 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Moblogging - Wireless and Mobile
From Christian Lindholm who is in charge of Lifeblog at Nokia:
Yay!ChristianLindholm.comLifeblog will blog to TypePad - some reflectionsOur team today announced that we are partnering with Six Apart to make TypePad the preferred destination when you blog from Lifeblog.
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September 10, 2004
The Chinese Firewall
19:28 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Global Politics
I was wondering why so many of my favorite feeds weren't coming into my news reader and I realized (duh!) that I'm in China and Blogger and TypePad are blocked. It's one thing blogging about it from Japan, it's another thing actually being blocked and realizing how much of my world just sort of disappears. There are proxy servers, but I hear that even then, if you use one for too long, they get tracked down and blocked literally while you're surfing...
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Email jam
It looks like my backlog of email has reached a critical level. I will try to get to it in the next few days, but apologies to people waiting for replies from me.
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Michael Song on Chinese music industry
We just had a very interesting meeting with Michael Song, managing director of Taihe Rye Music. He is Chinese, but spent six years at Texas A&M and returned to China in 1996 to work in the budding music scene in China. He is in the agency business and represents the #1 male musician in China.
He explained that the legal music CD business in China is about 5%. In other words, 95% of the CDs on the market are pirate copies. He said that it was the teenagers who were passionate about the artists and liked to hang out in the record shops that tended to buy the legal CDs. Even in the top artists, CD sales only represented 30% or so of their income, while less known musicians actually lost money on CDs. The CDs are important, however, as a marketing and promotion vehicle.
Because the mass media is state owned, it is difficult to use the mass media for promoting artists. For this reason, it appears that the successful artists in China tend to be more talented, singer songwriters who tend to be popular longer compared to artists in markets such as Hong Kong and Taiwan where pop idol style artists are highly promoted and often lack talent or long term potential.
He told us that his artists got revenue share deals with percentages a bit worse than their counterparts in the US, but much better than in Japan. Most of the revenue comes from advertising/endorsements and concerts, but he is aggressively working on new business models involving alternative media such as the Internet and mobile devices.
My "take-away" was that in a market where the record industry basically doesn't function, artists and agents are going to be pushing the cutting edge of music business models and might in fact discover the post DRM/RIAA business model before Hollywood does. Obviously, it helps to have a huge growing market such as China, but I think it would make sense for artists and music industry people to keep an eye on China for breakthroughs in the music business.
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September 9, 2004
My favorite applications
When I was at Linz, a bunch of people made me provide a list of all of the applications that I'm running on my Mac. I realize I do this to people too. I've seen people make lists of their favorite applications on their blogs, but I realized that it might be better to do on a wiki. I've made a list of my favorite applications. Feel free to click on any of the application links and comment on the page for the application. Also, feel free to make a similar page for yourself and list YOUR favorite applications. If we can get a bunch of people on the wiki with their lists, it might end up being an interesting resource.
Is there something like this elsewhere already?
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Off to Beijing
It's been nice hanging out in Linz meeting all of the cool people here. I'm off to Beijing today via Frankfurt and Narita. I have a feeling this multi-airport flight is going to suck. Anyway, maybe see you along the way if I can find some wifi.
UPDATE
I said I had a feeling it would suck and it is sucking.
Airport - Linz, AustriaGate Agent: Our computer is broken. I can't check you through to your final destination.
Me: OK, but please check my bag through to Bejing via Tokyo.
Gate Agent: My computer is down. I have to look up the codes by hand. What country is Tokyo in.
Me: Japan
Gate Agent: Beijing is also in Japan.
Me: No, China.
Gate Agent: OK. (scribbles down codes and flights on luggage tag.)
Announcement at GateThe flight to Frankfurt has been delayed
Airport - Frankfurt, GermanyMe: (after running through Frankfurt airport and finding the proper check-in counter after 2 counters forwarding me to another one...) Can you check me through to Beijing. The computer was broken in Linz.
Gate Agent: Your reservation has been cancelled.
Me: ??!
Gate Agent: Let me talk to my colleagues... The computer in Linz was broken.
Me: Yes. I know.
Gate Agent: I will book you through to Beijing.
I'm in Narita now wondering if my bag is really going to show up.Arrival Gate - Narita, JapanGate Agent: Are you Mr. Ito?
Me: Yes.
Gate Agent: Can I see your luggage tag?
Me: Yes. (hands her luggage tag)
Gate Agent: hmmm... (squinting at hand written scribbles) This isn't the code for the Beijing airport. And the flight number is not correct.
Gate Agent2: That's the code for the city of Beijing, not the airport. It should probably be OK. And that SORT OF looks like a "9"... Sir, you'll be fine.
Me: (doesn't look very fine...)
UPDATE 2
My bag and I have arrived safely in Beijing and even gprs seems to work fine!
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September 8, 2004
Stickers on our PowerBooks
06:11 UTC » Hardware - Joi's Diary
As usual, there were a lot of PowerBooks at this conference. Interestingly, Esther Dyson, Lawrence Lessig, Bruce Sterling and I were the only people I noticed who had stickers on our PowerBooks. Other people who I know who have stickers on their PowerBooks are Mena Trott and Cory Doctorow. I wonder what this means? What do those of us who are willing to vandalize our pristine PowerBooks with stickers have in common?
Anyway, just an observation...
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