Israel Raps U.S. on Planned Talks with Geneva Authors

Grok Headline matches for Israel Raps U.S. on Planned Talks with Geneva Authors

US raps Israel over settler plan

US raps Israel over settler plan 08/02/2004 08:48 PM
Washington criticises Israel's plans to build 600 new homes in the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Israel Raps Europe Over U.N. Resolution
(AP)

Israel Raps Europe Over U.N. Resolution
(AP) 07/22/2004 06:22 AM
AP - During a visit to the Jewish state, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday said Israel's West Bank separation barrier violates international law.

Annan Raps U.S. on Global Court; Council
Talks Begin (Reuters)

Annan Raps U.S. on Global Court; Council
Talks Begin (Reuters) 06/18/2004 03:21 AM
Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan rebuked the United States for trying to get another exemption from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court and urged the Security Council to oppose the measure.

Mideast Peace Plan Co-Authors Encouraged
After U.S. Talks

Mideast Peace Plan Co-Authors Encouraged
After U.S. Talks 12/06/2003 10:57 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 6 2003 9:32AM ET

Israel: no attack planned on Arafat now

Israel: no attack planned on Arafat now 04/25/2004 11:12 AM

Israel poised for coalition talks

Israel poised for coalition talks 07/14/2004 06:38 AM
Israeli parties will discuss broadening the coalition government during formal talks set for Sunday.

Israel Confirms Secret Talks With Syria
(AP)

Israel Confirms Secret Talks With Syria
(AP) 01/11/2004 03:45 PM
AP - Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago — well before recent Syrian overtures — but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israel's foreign minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was ready to open negotiations if Syria "stops helping terror."

Egypt, Israel, US push Gaza talks

Egypt, Israel, US push Gaza talks 07/22/2004 09:47 AM
Details are emerging of plans for a Middle East peace conference being arranged by Egypt, Israel and the US.

Israel, Libya Reportedly in Secret Talks
(AP)

Israel, Libya Reportedly in Secret Talks
(AP) 01/07/2004 03:23 PM
AP - In a sign of a possible thaw between longtime Mideast enemies, Israeli and Libyan officials reportedly held secret contacts in Europe last month, and an Israeli legislator said he met several months ago with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son.

Israel Says Palestinian Deal a
Non-Starter for Talks

Israel Says Palestinian Deal a
Non-Starter for Talks 12/06/2003 07:57 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 6 2003 6:40PM ET

Israel Held Secret Talks With Syria (AP)

Israel Held Secret Talks With Syria (AP) 01/11/2004 10:27 PM
AP - Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago — well before recent Syrian overtures — but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israel's foreign minister said Sunday. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was ready to open negotiations if Syria "stops helping terror."

Israel Foils Settlement Attack Before
U.S. Talks (Reuters)

Israel Foils Settlement Attack Before
U.S. Talks (Reuters) 04/12/2004 07:28 AM
Reuters - Israeli troops killed at least two Palestinian gunmen inside a Jewish settlement on Monday as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to go to Washington to seek U.S. approval for his plan to withdraw from Gaza.

"Authors proposed introducing a
system requiring libraries to compensate
authors financially according to the
number of books they lend."

"Authors proposed introducing a
system requiring libraries to compensate
authors financially according to the
number of books they lend." 11/17/2003 04:22 AM
Japanese authors are asking Japanese libraries

yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031115wo31.htm
track this site | 6 links

EC raps MS over interoperability - again

EC raps MS over interoperability - again 03/19/2005 02:46 AM
Not keeping its promises

JGraph Geneva (v2.1) released

JGraph Geneva (v2.1) released 03/19/2003 10:44 PM
JGraph is the most powerful, lightweight, feature-rich, and thoroughly documented open-source graph component available for Java. It is accompanied by JGraphpad, the first free diagram editor for Java that offers XML, Drag and Drop and much more! Moved all GraphCell dependencies to the GraphModel, added multiple grid styles, new font attribute, and the API is now ready for combined port/vertex cells. Bug fixes include improved live-preview, better zoom/grid integration, handling of negative coordinates, and minor bug fixes. Java 1.4 is the default version.

Stowe raps it out - "it's about the
Context of SNS!"

Stowe raps it out - "it's about the
Context of SNS!" 06/22/2005 02:41 AM

Stowe Boyd has an excellent rap on "Social Networks: Boring, Broken or off-track?".

He points out that many people feel that keeping their profiles up to date is tedious and boring at best and that big players like 6A should start building SNS features into their blog tools.

I hope most people know how MySpace got there:

- by focusing on music
- by throwing Raves and parties
- by providing lots of coolio, compelling activities for mating kids to keep themselves busy.

But be clear - MySpace is a dating site. Everything that Jonathan Abrams wanted Friendster to be - MySpace is. But that's a fairly limited context - for the rest of us.

Social Networking systems need to apply themselves to niche targeted audiences. That's where they'll monetize.

WTO raps EU over sugar subsidies

WTO raps EU over sugar subsidies 08/04/2004 08:49 PM
EU subsidies given to sugar producers violate trade rules, a draft World Trade Organisation ruling says.

Novell raps SCO claims

Novell raps SCO claims 02/11/2004 04:21 PM
The software maker offers new evidence regarding the SCO Group's Unix rights and demands that the company drop its suit against IBM.

Matt Haughey raps it out....

Matt Haughey raps it out.... 07/23/2004 04:34 AM

TiVo: you can only innovate if the NFL and MPAA say so

Today's Washington Post carries a jaw-dropping article about TiVo's latest fight [via waxy]. Tivo ToGo was announced at CES in January of this year, with a planned Fall release, but if the Movie Industry and the NFL get their way, it will never see the light of day.

What is most shocking about the objections is that TiVo ToGo is an already crippled version of something TiVo hackers and users of software PVRs like Windows Media Center and Snapstream have been doing for years now. See that huge ugly plastic dongle pictured in the upper right? That's your user "key" that makes sure only your TiVo programs can play on your PC or laptop. I haven't seen or tested this functionality out, but I'm sure those programs are encrypted to the point that they are unplayable on any device that doesn't also have the hardware key plugged in. I wouldn't be surprised if the video format is a proprietary one as well. TiVo is also talking about adding a show swapping feature, which is great news, but you will have a limit of ten other devices that you can share with (ReplayTV used to let you swap with an unlimited amount of other users, which got them sued until they went bankrupt and removed it).

Simply put, compared to how Microsoft's offerings work, and a slew of small software packages for the PC and Mac that record TV, the TiVo ToGo feature is a crippled lockbox. You won't be sharing shows on Kazaa anytime soon with TiVo ToGo features.

The NFL and MPAA are attacking both the show extraction feature, claiming it will allow programs to propigate online, and the show sharing features, claiming TiVo owners will share them with more than their friends. Their nightmare scenario is that maybe, possibly, someday someone you don't know might ask for a copy of an obscure program you happened to have recorded and saved. Oh, the horror of it all!

For no other reason than it points out how insane this is, here are some priceless quotes:

TiVo was one of 13 companies that asked the FCC for approval, arguing that its copy-protection system met the requirements. The Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's lobbying arm, and the NFL then filed objections to TiVo's plan.

First off, how much does is suck that TiVo can't just think of new features and build them, but they have to ask for permission from the FCC? Can't a company innovate without asking everyone if it is ok first? Also, why is the MPAA and NFL going after TiVo when Microsoft's Media Center Edition allows you to not only share your programs with other PCs and laptops, but it also spawned an entire market for portabl e TV devices like this one? Where were the movie industry goons when those products were announced and released?

This other quote puts a light on how screwed up the NFL is:

The NFL, meanwhile, is concerned that a user could send a copy of a game to someone in another time zone, where the game is blacked out.

Only the NFL would go so far out of their way to make sure their most ardent fans can't see the football games they want to see.

I sincerely hope TiVo weathers this legal storm, the products are already loaded with enough protection to keep the movie industry's worst fears from taking place, though I suspect if the show sharing features get into TiVo, the maximum number of shareable devices will most likely be something like 3 other boxes instead of 10.

[PVRBlog ]

BolinOS at Geneva University Hospitals

BolinOS at Geneva University Hospitals 05/28/2004 06:36 PM
Submission by j In order to integrate all computer-based resources used into a standard and versatile multimedia package, we chose to co-develop a multimedia authoring environment using worldwide standard open-source software packages: Apache, PHP and MySQL.

UN raps Iran over nuclear stance

UN raps Iran over nuclear stance 06/18/2004 06:17 AM
The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has failed to co-operate fully with an inquiry into its nuclear activities.

France raps 'US Aids blackmail'

France raps 'US Aids blackmail' 07/13/2004 03:25 PM
In a veiled attack, President Chirac takes issue with bilateral trade deals that deprive poor states of drug production rights.

Ruling raps broadband definition

Ruling raps broadband definition 08/13/2004 12:26 PM
The UK's ad watchdog rules over which net connections can be described as full speed broadband.

9/11 panel raps response to hijackings

9/11 panel raps response to hijackings 06/17/2004 10:00 AM

Russia raps UK over unruly exiles

Russia raps UK over unruly exiles 09/16/2004 07:16 PM
Moscow summons a senior UK diplomat to complain about the activities of London-based Russian exiles.

Phil Torrone raps out NetFlix 2.0

Phil Torrone raps out NetFlix 2.0 07/19/2004 01:22 PM

This is brilliant.... I sure hope Chris Darner is listening. This is exactly what I was telling Chris the other day (well my version of it - but Phil hits it right on the head!)

And thanks to Engadget for providing this to us!

Netflix, Open up or die…

Posted Jul 19, 2004, 4:43 AM ET by Phillip Torrone
Related entries: Features

For the gadget lover, the DVD is often the end result of what we do with these super-light laptops, LCD TV screens, brushed metal- translucent exteriors and one of the main reasons companies continually push the capabilities of devices, to watch movies. Since 1999 I have been a member of Netflix in some way, and I am worried, I am worried Netflix isn’t going to make it.

Now, this isn’t an article about Netflix going out of business, this is about Netflix “making it” and by that I mean, making a platform and community, something Blockbuster and Walmart can’t do.

Netflix backgrounder…

Netlfix started in 1999, and according to their fact sheet page, they reached 2 million subscribers faster than AOL.

For $21.99 a month, you can rent as many DVDs as you want via the website, keeping 3 out at a time. The benefits are:

- no late fees, no due dates and you have access to around 20,000 titles.
- The DVDs are sent out via Postal Mail, usually
get to you in a day or so and when your done, you put it in the same envelope it was sent in, bang- you’re done.

Two giants enter

Well, after 5 years of Netflix humming along, Blockbuster and Walmart jumped in to the online movie rental biz.

Wal-mart, the world’s largest retailer, offers 3 DVDs out for $18.76. They don’t have as big of a selection of DVD as Netflix, and of course, it’s Wal-mart, the same Wal-mart that has banned selling certain CDs being sold in their stores and “offensive” magazine like Rollingstone and Cosmopolitan. For now, Wal-mart won’t make a big deal out of having some “questionable “movies, after all- they need to build a subscriber base, but once they have that, expect to see them not carry certain DVD titles that they deem offensive. In fact Wal-Mart who has over 10% of the domestic CD sales even gets publishers to make a special “sanitized” version for their megastores, a “Wal-mart cut” of a movie
might be coming soon.

Next up is Blockbuster, they just released their “public beta” site earlier this month.
Blockbuster has about 48 million members for their over 8,500 physical stores, they rent DVDs, videos and game titles. Blockbuster’s pricing is $19.99 for 3 titles, with a selection of 25,000 (according to their website) and as a bonus 2 free in-store rentals per month. Anyone can sign up now during this public
beta.

The 2 in-store rental thing is a big deal, there are lots of time when you don’t front load your Netflix playlist and just want to rent something that just a came out. Also, Blockbuster has video game rentals in-store, it’s only a matter of time until they use their online video rental site to rent out video game titles. There is a service now called gamefly which does that now, Blockbuster might be hanging back to see how they do.

Blockbuster has also had some controversy with censoring what movies can be rented, there’s even a “Boycott Blockbuster” movement that come and goes every so often.

And don’t forget, Blockbuster is owned by Viacom, who owns and operates about 1,400 movie screens, Paramount Pictures, Paramount theme parks, many broadcast television and radio stations (Infinity Broadcasting) , outdoor billboards, cable channels, two broadcast networks, and Simon & Schuster books.

So there’s the overview of the other guys, Wal-Mart as usual has the lowest price, but not the best selection and Blockbuster having a slightly lower price with the added bonus of 2 rentals from their stores per month. They all mail the DVDs out and for the most part, the services seem pretty similar.

That’s the problem, sameness.

Netflix present

Last week Netflix got

slammed in the market, share dropped almost $9 (or 28%) to $23.02 on NASDAQ.

Analysts sited fulfillment expenses as well as an incredibly high cost per new customer ($35.12). That means it costs over $35 bucks to get a new customer on average, and that’s up from $30 from the second quarter of 2003. Add to that, they’re reporting this is going to go up even more ($37 to $39) as they increase their marketing spend, on TV, TV? They also mentioned spending more on online ads, which we think is a good idea, but it’s all about being surgical and going where the most likely new customers are going.

I am a Netflix customer and I know that it’s the best service with the best selection out there, but that doesn’t mean anything, a lot of people are going to go after price (Wal-Mart) and a lot of people are going to hammered over the head with the reach and marketing Blockbuster has (plus the in-store rental deal). When everyone does the same thing, price tends to win, so Wal-Mart might make some gains this year.

But isn’t what Netflix did pretty novel? Almost patent worthy? Netflix does in fact have a patent, in fact there were tons of stories about “the patent” but none of them actually said what the patent was.

So I looked it up, there might be others, but the one I found was the patent on the envelope used. That’s right, that self-addressed envelope that Netflix uses is patented, I am pretty sure Blockbuster, Wal-Mart and even Gamefly uses the same thing, so maybe Netflix will cash in on that later, but that’s not hard to get around.

Here

< br /> it is.

Netflix future

So as a customer, a marketer and a developer…I ‘m going to outline what I think Netflix needs to do. Yah, Blockbuster and Wal-mart could do this too, but they’re too big, but hey- If they pull this off, that’s cool too.

Open up. Google did it, Amazon did, Apple did it, Netflix— expose your API so people out there can use www.netflix.com  the way they want to, in new ways, in ways you haven’t imagined. What do I mean by that?

RSS Feeds. See that little XML or RSS button on every site out there? That’s RSS feed, the quickest way to deliver updated information to folks. No one wants to log in to the Netflix site all the time, let folks subscribe to RSS feeds that have new releases, reviews and more. Netflix has a newsletter, sure, but that stopped getting to me about 2 years ago when I started using spam filters.

My DVD “playlist”. If you go to TextAmerica, or use BlogRolling, millions of people add can add a link to their site(s) which is updated from someplace else. For Netflix, it would work like this. A blog site, like this one, or a personal one could easily add their DVD list, what they’re watching, what they’ve watched, and what they’re going to watch. Technoraiti tracks about 3 million blogs, these people all index really high in all the things your focus groups are likely telling you. Give them the tools they need to distribute your message for free.

There’s a reason Apple make the playlist feature, folks upload their playlists, send to friends, everyone has a music mix their proud of, it’s really important that Netflix let’s folks expose their movie list.

Let people add items to my playlist, have “always send me new popular releases” each month, things like that really matter.

Integration with Moviefone and Fandango would also be possible. If you’re like me, when you buy a ticket to see a movie, you’re likely going to one day rent that movie - with an API that others can use, that would all be possible when
you buy your movie tickets online.

Social Networks. If the Netflix API was exposed when Friendster, Orkut and all the other social networking sites were released, it would have been easy for millions of people to add their movie list (past, present and future to their profile). Heck, in ALL of these social networking sites they have “Favorite movies”. Heck, I might even go visit a pal if I knew they had a specific movie at their how, now that’s some real peer-to-peer networking in action.

AOL Netflix Buddy. People IM more than they email now, there are lots of reasons for that, from Spam to more computers being on all the time. So why wouldn’t Netflix have buddy anyone can add to their buddy list where they can query the Netflix database and also rent from there. Then they could even send it along to a buddy on their list. Again, this is part of the “Open up” theme, Netflix needs to provide ways
for folks to use its service in ways like this.

Here’s an example: Add “RecipeBuddie” to your AOL/iChatAV list and tell it you have chicken, it’ll give you a bunch of recipes and links to products to buy as well.

One year, $199. One month $19.99. The economics of this are tough, but Netflix has gotta stay below the $20 mark per month and they’ve gotta have a deal per year. It’ll lower
churn and keep the price sensitive folks from getting sticker shock. Or hey, at least give this deal to people who have
been a member for at least a year.

No TV ads. That’s right, don’t spend money on TV in the traditional sense. 30 second ads aren’t going to reach the
best prospects, really. Sponsor a show and make it “commercial free” so it’s more like a DVD.

If it cost Netflix $35 to add 583,000 trial users (as reported) that means they spent $20,405,000 in marketing (at least). That’s some good media buys.

With the summer movie season here, it’s cheap and easy to get some movie slides in specific markets around the USA before the movie comes on. And if Netflix needs to do TV in some way, do a 30 second commercial before a movie, they have those now. It’s a great surgical way to educate folks on what Netflix is while their in the movie mood.

Community. Netflix needs to get their best customers on an advisory board, maybe even pick some well known folks out in the web world and have them out. What Netflix can’t do is piss off their biggest fans,
like this guy.

Wal-Mart and Blockbuster will totally own the whole “ignore the customer” thing with their girth, but Netflix, you can
be different, you can be something that folks can rally around. Sponsoring blog sites and sites that talk about movies
wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Netflix as a platform. Last up, the big one.
Anyone can call up Amazon and make a deal to re-brand their platform (like Target has) same goes for google, Amazon
made a deal with them to use google’s search for A9, Amazon’s search engine. If Netflix made the move to make their
system a plaform, anyone could come along and rent any type of DVD media. Video games, specific movies, instructional
courses, you name it- it’s possible. And in the end, Netflix makes money while still sticking to their core
business.

More?

Sure, there’s lots more which would really get Netfix away from the pointless street brawl they’re in with the 2 big
guys—from leading the charge in downloadable movies, to partner deals with iTunes + Netflix integration, to working out
a system of movie viewing on the new Portable Video Players— all these things will happen in time, maybe with Netflix,
hopefully not Wal-Mart, but probably Blockbuster.

No matter what, Netflix can open up and should—what’s the point of all this unless more people can share their favorite movies with each other, in better ways, using all of what technology has to offer. Movies are just as much a part of our lives as childhood memories and shape our culture, even defining it at times, it would be good to see the company that has fueled my movie addiction for the last 5 years continue to do so in amazing ways for more people.

---

Phillip Torrone can be reached at his personal website www.flashenabled.com

[Engadget]

Leaders gather in Geneva for tech summit

Leaders gather in Geneva for tech summit 12/10/2003 11:34 AM
Boston Globe Dec 10 2003 10:42AM ET

"The Jewish Ombudsman: Sippin' Geneva
Juice"

"The Jewish Ombudsman: Sippin' Geneva
Juice" 12/10/2003 03:08 PM

Internet showdown side-stepped in Geneva

Internet showdown side-stepped in Geneva 12/08/2003 08:07 AM
Probably for the best

Sign onto the Geneva Declaration, change
WIPO!

Sign onto the Geneva Declaration, change
WIPO! 09/23/2004 09:26 AM
Cory Doctorow: Last weekend, I represented EFF at a meeting in Geneva of several disparate activit and non-govermental orgs, working to draft a joint doc called "Future of WIPO," (or, more formally, "Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization"). This doc is a call to arms to orgs that would see WIPO revisit its role in the world, to take into account the public interest when formulating and promulgating IP policy. The doc has been finalised and is online -- we're collecting signatories for it, and you're invited.

Humanity faces a global crisis in the governance of knowledge, technology and culture. The crisis is manifest in many ways.

* Without access to essential medicines, millions suffer and die;

* Morally repugnant inequality of access to education, knowledge and technology undermines development and social cohesion;

* Anticompetitive practices in the knowledge economy impose enormous costs on consumers and retard innovation;

* Authors, artists and inventors face mounting barriers to follow-on innovation;

* Concentrated ownership and control of knowledge, technology, biological resources and culture harm development, diversity and democratic institutions;

* Technological measures designed to enforce intellectual property rights in digital environments threaten core exceptions in copyright laws for disabled persons, libraries, educators, authors and consumers, and undermine privacy and freedom;

* Key mechanisms to compensate and support creative individuals and communities are unfair to both creative persons and consumers;

* Private interests misappropriate social and public goods, and lock up the public domain.

Link to declaration, Mailto link for signing on (via Copyfight)

Geneva pioneers Swiss internet voting

Geneva pioneers Swiss internet voting 09/03/2004 02:30 PM
DMeurope.com Sep 3 2004 6:07PM GMT

Convergys Geneva Billing: Telecom
Deployment

Convergys Geneva Billing: Telecom
Deployment 03/14/2003 01:28 AM
BT Retail, one of the UK's largest communication service providers, has selected Convergys Geneva billing software as part of a three-year program to improve customer service.

U.s. Says Saddam Held Under Geneva
Convention Rules

U.s. Says Saddam Held Under Geneva
Convention Rules 12/15/2003 12:48 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 15 2003 11:40AM ET

Sharon Hit by Rare U.S. Rebuke Over
Geneva Accord

Sharon Hit by Rare U.S. Rebuke Over
Geneva Accord 12/05/2003 04:24 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 5 2003 3:48AM ET

U.S. Says Saddam Held Under Geneva
Convention Rules

U.S. Says Saddam Held Under Geneva
Convention Rules 12/15/2003 12:48 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 15 2003 11:40AM ET

"Bush had already decided that the
Geneva Conventions did not apply at all"

"Bush had already decided that the
Geneva Conventions did not apply at all" 05/18/2004 02:44 AM

Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act

Church group raps Bush on Clean Air Act 04/22/2004 07:52 AM

UK Probe Raps Blair's Pre-Iraq War
Intelligence

UK Probe Raps Blair's Pre-Iraq War
Intelligence 07/14/2004 11:50 PM
Reuters via Wired News Jul 15 2004 4:19AM GMT

Kerry Raps Bush on Initial 9/11 Inaction
(AP)

Kerry Raps Bush on Initial 9/11 Inaction
(AP) 08/05/2004 08:59 PM
AP - John Kerry said Thursday he would have jumped into action more quickly than President Bush did on Sept. 11, 2001, raising the stakes in the political fight over terrorism as Bush warned that the United States can't afford to "grow timid and weary and afraid" in Iraq or elsewhere.
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Israel Raps U.S. on Planned Talks with Geneva Authors

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