From time to time things come across our inbox that we feel compelled to share. As a father of two any cause that seeks to help children who are forced to face situations that most adults would have difficulty dealing with are prime examples.
Today we are taking a brief interlude from our August Spread Your Warmth nominees to ask for some help for a friend of mine. A cause very dear to him, CureJM, is currently in the running for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh project.
Our final nominee for April's Spread Your Warmth campaign comes to us from my good friend, and fellow dad blogger, Steely Dad. I first found out about Alex's Lemonade Stand from Steely's post "If Life Gives You Cancer Make Lemonade" where he talked about how his family sponsored a lemonade stand last year.


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Perfume Genius, Van Morrison, Billy Bragg, Prince, Bears
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl
SLOAN PETERSON shares a video for the catchy "Rats."
PERFUME GENIUS plays a Tiny Desk Concert.
JAY SOM plays a Tiny Desk Concert.
ALL SONGS CONSIDERED features new tracks from Protomartyr, Waxahatchee, Michael Andrews and more.
VAN MORRISON covers Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me."
BILLY BRAGG shares "The Sleep of Reason."
PAUL WESTERBERG shares "2HAWK_1″ and it's...odd.
ARIEL PINK shares "Time To Live."
SOAR shares "Fatigue."
METZ shares "Cellophane."
PRINCE's estate has uploaded classic videos to the Tube, including live performances.
NICK LOWE talks to Aquarium Drunkard about his 80s LPs, his marriage to Carlene Carter, pub rock, punk rock, hanging out with Lemmy's pre-Motörhead band Hawkwind in the early days, and a lot more.
ELVIS COSTELLO's My Aim Is True turns 40. Get off my lawn, Paste.
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: Friends Forever.
LORD BUCKETHEAD shares the soundtrack of his like at NME. Ni!
WONDER WOMAN 2 will be a period piece, with Princess Diana facing off against the Soviet Union during the 1980s.
JENNIFER GARNER confronted Ben Affleck's girlfriend Lindsay Shookus in person after she found out about their affair in 2015.
IDRIS ELBA: What he really wants to do is direct. And not to remarry.
MARVEL'S NEW WARRIORS has found its cast, including a familiar face as Squirrel Girl. (Think smartphone ads)
ALADDIN: Guy Ritchie and the studio are trying to wrap up a months-long search to star in the live-action remake.
JOHNNY DEPP still faces legal claims of promissory fraud filed by his former managers, but they have to try to replead a declaratory action regarding his alleged big-spending ways.
CHARLIZE THERON suffered for her craft in Atomic Blonde.
JESSE WILLIAMS & MINKA KELLY are an item.
AMELIA EARHART: Claims made in a US documentary that the pioneering aviator crash-landed on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean and was taken prisoner by the Japanese appear to have been proved false by a photograph unearthed in a travel book.
THE SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS told Reuters on Tuesday that it had "confirmed information" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.
A TEENAGED COLORADO CAMP STAFFER woke up at around 4 a.m. Sunday to a "crunching sound" with his head inside the mouth of a bear, which was trying to pull him out of his sleeping bag.
A MAN out on his morning run was chased by bears in Auburn, Maine.
A MYSTERIOUS BEAR DANCE, explained.
A RUNAWAL CAMEL was trapped on an Aussie golf course.
Jon Pratt. Also, the Dog Days of "News."
Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - 08:00 AM
TAKING A PERSONAL/WORK DAY because there's not a ton happening. I do have these:
WAXAHATCHEE is advance streaming Out In The Storm.
DANIEL CRAIG is back as James Bomd...if you can believe the Daily Mirror.
JON PRATT, Pate's frontman, made the Washington Post: "If Jon Pratt were an international criminal mastermind, he would fly to Paris, don an all-black suit and ski mask and sneak into the elegant French baroque building that serves as headquarters for the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures..." There's also more at Science Friday.
Pixies, Real Estate, Allison Crutchfield, Wolfgang
Monday, July 10, 2017 - 08:00 AM
THE MUPPETS get mashed-up with the Beasties' "Sabotage."
THE PIXIES played a mini-set for World Cafe Live.
REAL ESTATE played a mini-set at the 2017 NON-COMMvention in Philadelphia.
ALLISON CRUTCHFIELD stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.
SHOUT OUT LOUDS share "Jumbo Jet."
THE HOLLIES: "Have You Ever Loved Somebody", courtesy of the Beeb.
SONIC YOUTH: Diffuser celebrates Sister's 40th anniversary.
PERFUME GENIUS: Mike Hadreas discussed his fave albums at The Quietus.
JARVIS COCKER interviews PETER SAVILLE on how Joy Division and New Order influenced modern art. (Thx, Frank Yang.)
THE TOP 25 LPs of 2017 (So Far), according to Consequence of Sound.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Spider-Man: Homecoming easily tops the chart with 117MM, well above projections near 90MM and a tribute to the power of bringing an extremely valuable, but declining franchise under the umbrella of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despicable Me 3 places with 34MM on a 53 percent drop from its debutframe; it is a head of the orginal, but lages the others in this franchise. Baby Driver shows with12.8MM on a leffy 38 percent drop (esp leggy given that Edgar Wright fans likely frontloaded the debut). This will be Wright's biggest and most profitable picture to date. Wonder Woman hands on to the fourth slot with another 10.1MM on a 36 percent drop; it is gaining on the Guardians sequel for the second spot overall this year. Transformers: The Last Knight rounds ou the Top Five with 6.3MM, but plummets 63 percent in the process, cementing it as a franchise surviving on toy sales foreign grosses.
DUNKIRK: Christopher Nolan writes about the difficulty that went into trying to get the movie made and the pitch that sealed the deal with Warner Brothers.
DONAL LOGUE's child is "safely back home" after being missing for more than a week.
BEN AFFLECK reportedly started a relationship with SNL line producer Lindsay Shookus during his marriage to Jennifer Garner. Shookus left her now ex-husband, Kevin Miller, to be with Affleck.
BAYWATCH is getting rescued overseas.
MARRYING WITH THE STARS: Julianne Hough married NHL star Brooks Laich; Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy married each other.
JEREMY RENNER has broken both his arms in a stunt that went wrong while filming Avengers: Infinity War.
JAMES CORDEN and his wife Julia are expecting their third child.
SHIA LeBEOUF was arrested in Georgia for being wasted and losing control of himself.
NELSAN ELLIS, who starred in HBO's True Blood as Lafayette Reynolds, has died at 39.
IRAQ: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate Iraq's armed forces for wresting the city from the Islamic State. The victory marked the formal end of a bloody campaign that lasted nearly nine months, left much of Iraq's second-largest city in ruins, killed thousands of people and displaced nearly a million more.
WOLFGANG rescues all sorts of animals.
PRAYING MANTISES are killing birds and eating their brains.
GOATS clearing a lot at Western Michigan University have drawn a union grievance.
AN ARMED 11-YEAR-OLD saved a fishing party from a charging brown bear in Alaska on June 18.
Eli's Coming. Sheer Mag, Offa Rex, Boris, Flowers of Evil, Baby Rhino
Friday, July 07, 2017 - 08:00 AM
THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
...with THREE DOG NIGHT! Once again, I'm enjoying the guilty pleasure of enjoying "Eli's Coming" with fellow fans of the late, lamented SportsNight. That, along with memories of The Service's cover of "Shambala" led me to compile a few more, including "Mama Told Me Not to Come," "Joy To The World," "One," "Liar," and "Celebrate."
SHEER MAG advance streams their widely-anticipated debut, Need To Feel Your Love.
OFFA REX advance streams The Queen of Hearts.
BORIS advance streams Dear.
FLOWERS OF EVIL streams City Of Fear.
TED LEO shares "You're Like Me."
RAINER MARIA shares "Suicides And Lazy Eyes."
DEE-LITE finds that "Groove Is In the Heart," with a little help from Bootsy Collins and Q-Tip.
THE BOOMTOWN RATS are releasing a new album - their first in over 30 years.
ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: New tracks from Mogwai, Benjamin Clementine, St Vincent, and more...
LENNON & McCARTNEY, 60 years later.
THE TOP 25 AMERICANA & COUNTRY LPs of 2017 (So Far), according to Rolling Stone.
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is this weekend's sole wide release, scoring 93 percent on the ol' Tomatometer. It was a project in which Marvel Studios essentially proposed taking over the creative part from Sony and incorporating Spidey into the MCU following Captain America: Civil War. It has also been described as Marvel's John Hughes teen movie. And Homecoming executes on both of those things well, right down to its soundtrack and Hughes homages. Tom Holland captures the Peter Parker of the early comics and the first movie adaptation by Sam Raimi (skipping the origin story except in passing dialog tho); the rest of the younger cast is generally fresh and natural. The screenplay makes The Vulture (never one of my fave villains) interesting and former Batman and Birdman Michael Keaton makes the most of the material. Marisa Tomei continues to age like a fine, fine wine -- so much so that it's a running joke; she may also get the best line in the movie, though you have to wait for it. And then there is the cameo contingent from the MCU, most particularly Robert Downey, Jr, who is, as always, Tony Stark and Robert Downey, Jr. Marvel movies with him tend to make more than Marvel movies without him, so this was as much commerce as art, but the relationship (which you've seen in the trailers, perhaps) works well enough and the screenplay is careful to not let him overshadow Holland. And yes, you'll want to stay past the credits, even if you curse me for it in the moment.
PATTON OSWALD and actress Meredith Salenger are headed down the aisle.
LILITH FAIR: An Oral History.
MEATBALLS: An Oral History.
VALERIAN director Luc Beeson had some of his film school students shoot a version of one particularly strange sequence in order to explain it to his pro crew.
THE BATMAN: Director Matt Reeves talks about Alfred Hitchcok and Chritopher Nolan.
GAME OF THRONES is hitting the road.
A BABY RHINO gets a lullaby.
A GORILLA enjoys watching gorilla videos.
A CAT and a fidget spinner.
STRANGE SEA PICKLES are surfacing in Alaska.
Thingsday, incl. Real Estate, The Kills, Weak Days, Goat Yoga
Thursday, July 06, 2017 - 08:00 AM
FOO FIGHTERS debuted "Dirty Water" in Paris.
REAL ESTATE played a mini-set at at the 2017 NON-COMMvention in Philadelphia.
THE KILLS are streaming their Echo Home – Non-Electric EP.
THE WEAK DAYS advance stream Tight.
CHANCE THE RAPPER covered Stevie Wonder during his Tiny Desk Concert.
ARCADE FIRE debuted "Chemistry" in London.
R.B. GREAVES: "Take a Letter, Maria."
PRINCE: Duane Tudahl, author of Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions (1983-1984), walks you through the reissue's bonus tracks. ALSO: John Blackwell Jr., drummer for Prince's New Power Generation, has died at 43, after being diagnosed with "brain tumours" in 2016.
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN: Ten of Their Best.
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCAST's J. Willgoose, Esq. talks to Morning Edition about the band's artistic process.
THE BEST of 2017 (So Far), according to Pretty Much Amazing.
BABY DRIVER: I forgot to mention yesterday that I caught Edgar Wright's latest flick over the holiday weekend. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it helps if you think of it more as a musical than a gangster/heist movie (that level of suspension of disbelief will help quite a bit). The weak link may be Ansel Elgort in the title role; he's good, but perhaps not up to the level of performance you get from Jon Hamm or Jamie Foxx here. Or perhaps he plays it a bit more real than he should.
BRAD PITT & SIENNA MILLER have been "spending some time together."
ROB KARDASHIAN & BLAC CHYNA had another dramatic falling out, this time involving explicit photos and allegations.
TUPAC broke off his sexual relationship with Madonna because she was white.
LAUREN CONRAD and her husband, lawyer William Tell, are proud parents to a son.
AMELIA EARHART, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, may have survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands.
VALERIAN: The early buzz is generally good, if a bit mixed.
GOAT YOGA is banned from the Congressional Cemetery.
MOM? DAD? There's a bear in my bedroom.
AN ELEPHANT checked out Baraboo, WI, after esacaping from Circus World.
CANUCK THE CROW interrupted mail service at several addresses in East Vancouver.
< 1 – 11 – 21 – 31 – 41 – 51 – 61 – 71 – 81 – 91 – 101 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 124 – 125 – 126 – 127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 153 – 163 – 173 – 183 – 193 – 203 – 213 – 223 – 233 – 243 – 253 – 263 – 273 – 283 – 293 – 303 – 313 – 323 – 333 – 343 – 353 – 363 – 373 – 383 – 393 – 403 – 413 – 423 – 433 – 443 – 453 – 463 – 473 – 483 – 493 – 503 – 513 – 523 – 533 – 543 – 553 – 563 – 573 – 583 – 593 – 603 – 613 – 623 – 633 – 643 – 653 – 663 – 673 – 683 – 693 – 703 – 713 – 723 – 733 – 743 – 753 – 763 – 773 – 783 >
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Displaying items by tag: Deployment
Vodafone announced switching on 5G in seven UK cities, including London, in partnership with Ericsson. This step puts the UK among the first to launch the fifth generation technology and sheds light on how Europe is lagging behind because of regulations.
Published in Telecom Vendors
Swisscom partners with Ericsson to launch Europe's first large scale 5G networks
Swiss telecommunications operator Swisscom has launched the continent's first large scale 5G networks in partnership with Swedish vendor Ericsson.
In a statement released by the Swedish telecommunications behemoth it confirmed that the 5G network was launched in 54 cities across Switzerland after the operator secured a license to operate a 5G network in the country.
Ericsson has seen its financial coffers significantly boosted by its success in the North American market following the publication of its Q1 results.
Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm expressed his delight at the launch of the 5G networks in Switzerland and predicted that the company would up the ante in relation to 5G in the large parts of Asia by the end of this year.
Ekholm said, "To date we have publicly announced commercial 5G deals with 18 named operator customers, which, at the moment, is more than any other vendor. The company would continue to incur costs for field trials and we're expecting large-scale deployments of 5G to begin in parts of Asia by the end of 2019. Combined, this will gradually impact short-term margins but strengthen our position in the long term."
Shares of Ericsson rocketed on the Stockholm stock exchange with the company reporting an increase of 3% which represented a four-year high for the vendor.
Ericsson, one of Chinese telecom giant Huawei's main rivals in the 5G market, said earlier this year it hadn't felt any effects from US pressure on countries to ban Huawei's equipment amid fears that it could compromise the security of the mobile phone networks.
US campaign against Huawei faces resistance from European operators
The US-led campaign against Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei is now facing resistance from a number of major European operators.
Washington has been engaged in a sustained offensive attack on China's major telecommunication vendors Huawei and ZTE over the last number of years.
However, that has heightened in recent months, with the United States labelling Huawei and ZTE as a severe threat to national security. US President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order later this week which would prohibit both Chinese vendors from being involved in wireless networks in the US.
In addition to this, lobbyists on behalf of the US convinced its allies Australia and New Zealand to prevent either company from participating in the rollout of their respective 5G networks. The US is now pressuring Europe to follow suit. Earlier this week, comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added further fuel to the ongoing saga when he said that countries that use Huawei technology could hurt their relationship with the United States.
However, that has been met with resistance from major European operators who have discovered that they will have to fork out more to replace equipment from Huawei and ZTE, and that a blanket ban on both companies would significantly impact its ability to launch 5G services in the next twelve months, as Huawei is the global leader on 5G equipment.
A number of prominent executives from Europe's top operators told The Wall Street Journal that Huawei hardware was much better than the rest on offer and often cost less; not using it could well mean that Europe would lag Asia and countries in other regions that use gear from Huawei for their 5G rollouts.
In addition to this, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Group, was quoted as saying in January that a total ban on the carrier's use of Huawei equipment "would have significant financial cost, would have significant customer disruption and would delay 5G rollout in several countries". The UK's four major wireless operators — Vodafone, BT Group, Telefonica and CK Hutchison Holdings' Three — were all against a ban.
But it is not only big carriers who prefer Huawei equipment, with Jersey Telecom, a publicly-owned company operating in the Isle of Jersey, also expressing a preference for Chinese equipment.
The company sought bids from both Chinese and Western companies in 2014 for its wireless network and while Huawei's bid 20% below the lowest Western offer, ZTE was 40% cheaper. Jersey Telecom chief executive Graeme Millar went with ZTE, and commented: "I have a genuinely high-class, low-cost supplier with ZTE, who haven't let me down yet."
The US stands accused of using Huawei and ZTE as political pawns in the ongoing trade war standoff between Washington and Beijing.
Published in Telecom Operators
Ericsson launches critical communications broadband portfolio for service providers
Ericsson has launched its critical communications broadband portfolio for service providers. This will enable service providers to meet the business-critical and mission-critical needs of industries and public safety agencies as digitalization and modernization of land mobile radio communications increases.
When communication is disrupted by minutes, seconds, or even milliseconds, it can have huge consequences for business operations, or serious implications for public safety. The need for fast and reliable communication is therefore paramount.
Such critical communications are used in many areas: from first responders and nationwide emergency services to workforce safety in enterprises. There is a growing demand for business and mission-critical broadband for such use cases. Service providers need to deliver the highest level of availability, reliability and security to meet this demand.
To meet critical communications users' needs, Ericsson has developed a new portfolio comprising three offerings: critical network capabilities; critical broadband applications;\ and flexible deployments for both local private networks, and nationwide mission-critical LTE networks.
Per Narvinger, Head of Product Area Networks, Ericsson, says: "We see growth opportunities for service providers and government operators by addressing new segments with LTE/5G networks. Our critical broadband portfolio will enable our customers to effectively secure the critical communication needs of sectors such as public safety, energy and utilities, transportation, and manufacturing."
Critical network capabilities
This offering includes advanced features for critical network performance and covers the following: high network availability; multi-network operation with spectrum sharing techniques; and coverage and capacity for critical applications. It also includes network security capabilities that ensure network services are maintained even when the infrastructure is under attack. Finally, quality of service, priority and preemption all guarantee latency performance and capacity requirements during high load and congestion.
The critical network capabilities include new features that simplify the rollout of broadcasting services across nationwide areas. Another new feature enables radio access sites to operate in fallback mode, should the network connection fail. This offering also includes deployable systems that allow temporary coverage for disaster recovery and operations in rural areas without existing coverage.
Critical broadband applications
This offering covers Ericsson Group-Radio that provides mission-critical push-to-talk, data and video services. This will enable, for example, blue light personnel such as the police to be more effective in performing community services that require advanced mobile broadband.
Flexible deployments for private networks
New business models are emerging for industries. From owning and operating their own networks, critical industries are now procuring private networks and services that leverage service providers' existing network assets and operations – without compromising required local control.
Ericsson's flexible deployments for private networks range from network slicing to fully dedicated networks, enabling service providers to offer scalable, critical broadband network solutions and services for critical industries.
Ericsson also offers managed services for private networks, with solutions based on AI and automation that predict and prevent events while reducing OPEX. These solutions enable service providers to reduce time-to-market and onboard new industries, while securing critical service level agreements.
Critical broadband will enable industries to increase efficiency through the following: enhancing workforce productivity and safety; massive onboarding of devices and sensors; real-time location of assets and equipment; and data collection to boost equipment and personnel performance and avoid downtime.
Japanese operator deploys new ultra-broadband solution from Nokia
Written on Tuesday, 05 February 2019 09:00
KDDI, a leading telecommunications operator in Japan, is deploying Nokia's G.fast solution to apartments and multi-dwelling units (MDU) buildings to deliver ultra-broadband services to customers.
Reducing the need to install new fiber, Nokia's technology will enable KDDI to use existing copper lines in MDU buildings to deliver 830Mbps combined uplink and downlink speeds to customers.
To support customers' ultra-broadband needs, Japanese operators are using fiber where possible along with new technologies like G.fast for a large number of MDU locations where copper is already installed.
Developed by Nokia Bell Labs, G.fast uses vectoring technology to effectively reduce cross-talk interference that typically impacts data speeds over copper networks.
Providing support for Japan's VDSL2 specifications, Nokia's G.fast solution will minimize the impact to existing VDSL systems and enable operators to quickly upgrade their high-speed internet service to gigabit class through a simple CPE (customer premises equipment) replacement.
KDDI has been deploying Nokia's G.fast solution and has started its rollout of 'au Hikari MDU Type G'.
Teresa Mastrangelo, principal analyst at Broadband Trends said: "G.fast continues to be a preferred choice for operators seeking to deliver gigabit broadband services to MDUs as it eliminates many of the issues found with FTTH deployments such as building types and access. However, in Japan, deploying G.fast can be just as challenging as fiber due to the unique VDSL ecosystem and standards in place.
As one of the few vendors capable of supporting both the global and local Japanese VDSL standard, Nokia has been able to help KDDI capitalize on the benefits of G.fast and seamlessly scale and migrate their network with minimal disruption. This win is another great example for how G.fast technology is being used to quickly address customers need for greater broadband speeds."
Shigenari Saito, Administrative Officer, General Manager, Network Technology Development Division, Technology Sector, at KDDI said:
"KDDI already provides 10Gbps service for our 'au Hikari' FTTH customers, but the speed we can provide has been limited to 100Mbps service for MDUs where fiber is difficult to deploy. Nokia's G.fast solution enables us to connect existing 100Mbps users and new G.fast users under the same DPU (distribution point unit). This gives us the flexibility and economical path to meet the customer's demands for higher speed. Our decision to deploy Nokia G.fast is based on our long-term relationship and Nokia continues to be our long-term partner for delivering technology innovations."
Sandra Motley, president of Nokia's Fixed Networks Business Group, said: "Operators looking to quickly roll out new ultra-broadband services are increasingly adopting multi-technology strategies that allow them to maximize the use of both fiber and copper technologies. This is particularly true in some cases like inside an apartment building, where more traditional Fiber-to-the-Home solutions can be very challenging to deploy. We are excited to be working with KDDI to deploy our G.fast solution to deliver fiber-like speeds that will enhance the way customers experience their broadband services."
GSMA expected to discuss Huawei issue at MWC
The governing body that represents the world's mobile operators is expected to discuss the ongoing issue of Chinese telecommunications vendor Huawei at this month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The GSMA has proposed to its members that they hold a discussion regarding the possibility of a blanket ban on Huawei from the majority of developed markets within the ICT ecosystem. A number of leading operators have expressed their disapproval at the tactics being used against Huawei, with many feeling it is a politically motivated campaign being led by the United States.
There is also a general consensus amongst ICT stakeholders and major players that any ban on Huawei will significantly impact the rollout of 5G networks. Vodafone CEO Nick Read has already publicly stated that a ban could delay the commercial deployment of 5G in Europe by up to two years.
It has been reported that the GSMA Director-General Mats Granryd has written to its members about Huawei and has said the current situation involving the Chinese vendor should be part of its agenda on its next board meeting in Barcelona later this month.
The GSMA represents mobile operators globally, and united more than 750 operators with over 350 companies as part of a broader mobile ecosystem, which includes the handset and device manufacturers, equipment providers and internet companies.
Huawei has found itself at the centre of intense scrutiny from the US in recent months, and was just like week charged with a number of indictments related to intellectual property theft and fraud. Huawei has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has accused the US of participating in an 'immoral political campaign'.
Diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Washington are strained and officials from both countries are set to meet again later this week to resume trade talks.
However, this isn't the first time the US has went after a high-profile Chinese telecommunications company. Huawei's domestic rival ZTE was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy after draconian measures were imposed against them by the US Department of Commerce.
Huawei has been banned from any role in the rollout of 5G networks in Australia and New Zealand. The European Union has said it will look at the issues that have been alleged by the US.
Verizon's 5G aspirations put on hold
US telecommunications operator Verizon has said its proposed deployment of 5G services remains on track, but its CEO Hans Vestberg conceded that its plans to expand 5G services to the home has encountered issues.
Verizon has planned to invest significantly in its 5G home internet product portfolio, but that has been derailed because of the delay in the release of standards-based equipment.
The US telecommunications behemoth launched its residential 5G product to much fanfare in four US cities in October last year using a proprietary standard – and at the time it had indicated that it planned to transition to 3GPP New Radio standard for its mobile launch and subsequent fixed expansion.
However, Verizon's CEO informed investors and shareholders during an earnings call that it may now take to longer than originally expected for 5G NR home equipment to become available as smartphone launches take precedence.
The CEO said, "As the industry is evolving, the first focus for the industry is actually to do chipsets for smartphones and then secondary the next generation of chipsets comes on the CPE side."
In addition to this, Vestberg said he projects standards-based 5G equipment to become available in the second-half of 2019, with handsets due to appear on the market in Q1.
The US operators' major competitors such as AT&T and T-Mobile US have all outlined their 5G plans - but Verizon's CEO declined to unveil their 5G plans for competitive reasons.
The latest announcement from Verizon in relation 5G comes on the back of disappointing financial results for Q4 in 2018, with consolidated revenue up 1 per cent year-on-year to $34.3 billion. Full year 2018 revenue of $130.9 billion increased nearly 4 per cent from $126 billion in 2017.
In addition to this, it was disclosed that net income attributable to Verizon plummeted to $1.9 billion in Q4 from $18.7 billion in Q4 2017, though it should be noted the latter figure included a one-time tax perk of $16.8 billion.
Verizon's 5G progress isn't expected to have a significant impact on its financials in 2019: it projected only low single-digit percentage revenue growth for the full year. That guidance reiterated previous statements given by CFO Matt Ellis which indicated that 5G wouldn't have a substantial impact on results until at least 2020.
US completes its first 5G auction
Written on Tuesday, 29 January 2019 12:20
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has completed its first 5G auction, with a sale of 28GHz spectrum licensing which raised a cool $702 million.
The chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai expressed his delight at the successful completion of the first auction and said that it represented a significant step towards positioning the United States as a leader in 5G.
In addition to this, he declared that it was the objective of the commission to continue to pursue its strategy of pushing more spectrum licenses into the commercial marketplace. It was also confirmed that a 24GHz auction will take place in the next few months, and that will be followed by three more spectrum bands later in 2019.
The chairman of the FCC said that by that spectrum auctions were critical in helping it execute on its goal which enables US consumers to benefit from the benefits provided by 5G.
He said, "By making more spectrum licenses available, promoting the deployment of wireless infrastructure, and modernising our regulations – the three components of the FCC's 5G FAST plan – we'll ensure that American consumers reap the substantial benefits that will come from the next generation of wireless connectivity.
A total of 3,072 licences offered in 425MHz blocks were up for grabs in the 28GHz auction. Of these, only 107 received no acceptable bids. However, the identities of the winning bidders will remain private and anonymous until the close of the 24GHz auction.
Earlier in the month the FCC had reiterated its desire to continue to work on scheduled spectrum auctions, as it prepared to temporarily close down most of its other operations.
In November 2018, the agency had said it set strict performance requirements for the licences to encourage the swift rollout of 5G services - and will take dim view on any attempt to seek a waiver of the requirements ahead of construction deadlines.
NGMN highlight the 5G services required to build a 'connected future'
Written on Tuesday, 25 September 2018 07:10
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance - which drives and guides the development of all future mobile broadband technology with a focus on 5G - has published its three deliverables on 5G Extreme Requirements entitled "Operators' views on fundamental trade-offs", "RAN Solutions", and "End-to-End considerations", respectively.
Compiled by the Alliance's 5G Extreme Requirements task force, the papers aim to highlight what implications and trade-offs related to the delivery of new 5G services are relevant for mobile network operators.
Ilaria Thibault, task force lead and Principal Researcher at Vodafone commented: "We are very excited to reveal the findings of the outcome of the Extreme Requirements task force, which was to really strike at the heart of what needs to be assessed before the world embarks on advanced 5G services.
This work quantifies and analyses the coverage impact of delivering new extreme 5G services (Ultra-reliable and Low-latency – URLLC) for the radio access network with a theoretical analysis, system-level simulations, and field trials. End-to-end deployment guidelines for meeting extreme requirements at a service level are also provided. Among these guidelines, techniques such as path redundancy and new transport-layer protocols are discussed to improve end-to-end latency and reliability.
For latency-critical services, interworking between the Non-3GPP processing delays and 3GPP processing delays has been assessed."
CEO of the NGMN Alliance Peter Meissner added: "Our task force has highlighted several key challenges that are crucial to the future of 5G's connectivity path - and how the industry needs to adequately deal with these. Consequently, this year's NGMN Conference & Exhibition will see us run a special session where operators are set to share results from their 5G tests, trials and first user experience. Our aim is to uncover the new use cases of 5G and how they will be leveraged in the next few years."
Published in Infrastructure
AT&T set to expand 5G trials to three other US cities by the end of 2017
Written on Monday, 04 September 2017 13:34
US telecommunications incumbent AT&T has announced that it will expand its 5G trials to three additional US cities by the end of the year. The operator has already adopted an aggressive approach to developing the next-generation technology - but its latest statement is indicative of its desire to ramp up operations in its attempts to be in a position to deploy 5G technology by the end of 2018.
In a statement released to the press, the US telecommunications colossus said it would conduct fixed wireless 5G trials in Waco, Texas, Kalamazoo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana in latter half of this year. It made the announcement following the successful launch of its fixed wireless trial in Austin, Texas with a host of local businesses.
AT&T has claimed that it has garnered a lot of useful information and gained new insights into (mmWave) performance and propagation since commencing the tests in Austin, and has disclosed seeing speeds of up to 1GBps and latency rates well below 10 milliseconds.
The US operator now aims to user the additional trials in the US cities mentioned above to increase the number of participants and expand the physical footprint for 5G technology. It has been further disclosed that AT&T strategic plan with the next wave of testing is to reach universities, hospitals, restaurants and other small medium enterprises with the next-generation technology.
The trials in the Waco, Michigan and Indiana will be very similar to those conducted in Texas - as participants will be allowed to stream premium live TV via DirecTV Now - as well as gain access to faster broadband services thanks to the 5G connection.
SVP of AT&T's wireless network architecture, Marachel Knight said moving the testing program away from the lab and into the physical environment is able to convey to them key information and insights into the technology. He said, "Taking our fixed wireless 5G trials out of the lab and into the real world helps us learn important factors about mmWave and 5G.
In addition to these tests, AT&T is collaboration with Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and Intel on other 5G-related projects. A representative of AT&T said it would continue to invest aggressively in equipment - spectrum and technology, which will lay the foundation for 5G, standards for 5G have still not yet been finalized.
Despite the uncertainty in relation to the standardization of 5G, AT&T has claimed it is targeting a commercial deployment date of 2018, with the deployment likely to happen closer to the end of the year.
Its major competitor Verizon is also aiming for a 2018 launch, and is currently conducting pre-commercial trials for fixed wireless 5G in 11 cities.


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SOLOMONS LUSIBAEA DENIED CABINET MINISTER POST
Governor General refused to facilitate appointment by oath
HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Times, April 29, 2011) – In Solomon Islands, the Government House has defended the Governor General's decision to refuse the appointment of North Malaita Member of Parliament (MP), Jimmy Lusibaea, as a Cabinet Minister saying any action by the Governor General on the matter could be regarded as contempt of court.
The North Malaita MP was reportedly re-appointed as Fisheries Minister but Governor General Sir Frank Kabui had refused to facilitate the appointment by oath.
North Malaita MP, Jimmy Lusibaea, was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and nine months but was awarded an early release by the Parole Board and the then Police Minister James Tora through the Correctional Services Act.
In a letter to media outlets, the Government House Deputy Private Secretary, Rawcliffe Ziza, says while section 33 of the constitution requires the Governor General to act on the advice of the Prime Minister in appointing ministers, "the Member of Parliament appointed must also be free from any legal disqualification stipulated in the constitution."
Mr. Ziza says while some lawyers hold the view that the total amount of remission earned reduced his sentence to less than 6 months imprisonment, other lawyers are of the view that the remission simply reduces the time served in custody and does not reduce the original sentence passed by the high court.
"The latter would also argue that only the court of appeal can reduce the sentence and that the parole board is not a court of law to change high court decisions without appeal to the court of appeal," said Mr. Ziza.
Mr. Ziza says only the high court can decide which the correct legal interpretation is, adding that the issue is now before the High court.
He adds that the government house is interested in the outcome of the case because it will clear the way for further action by the government house and would also set a precedent for the future.
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Home » Entertainment » Top 10 Slavery Movies
Top 10 Slavery Movies
Depicting chains, inhumanity and racism, these Top 10 Slavery Movies bring forth the unadulterated realities of enslavement. The diabolical tradition of slavery questioned the very essence of the American Revolution which glorified the liberty of individuals. The American History bears testimony to the barbarous treatment meted out to the people of color and these Most Popular Movies About Slavery expose the hidden facets of this institution. Put your rose-tinted glasses down and watch the impudent dance of despotism that the Africans were subjected to through these mind-boggling Movies About Slavery In America. We have selected these Top Slavery Movies for you to explore the nuts and bolts of the custom of enslavement.
Top Ten Slavery Movies
Check out the list of Most Popular Movies About Slavery that we have arranged for you to go back in the past and soak in the bitter truth of bondage and servitude faced by the blacks throughout history.
1. Glory
The Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman starrer movie, Glory, is a depiction of the Civil War. Released in 1989 and directed by Edward Zwick, we have included this iconic film in the list of Movies About Slavery in America as it brings into limelight all those unsung, black heroes of the war. History has been indifferent to these heroes due to racism, as they are all black members of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Based on Lincoln Kirstein's Lay This Laurel and Peter Burchard's book, One Gallant Rush, Glory has been accredited with awards such as the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for co-star Denzel Washington, Additional Statuettes for Best Cinematography as well as Sound Recording.
2. Goodbye Uncle Tom
The directors, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi venture out to make a trip back into the Antebellum America with Goodbye Uncle Tom. This 1971, Italian movie makes it as one of the Top Slavery Movies as it analyzes the ideologies leading to racism and the derogatory life lead by the enslaved Africans. The directors borrowed heavily from the documents of slavery kept in public record while infusing the facts with an element of fantasy. The film, therefore, is a pseudo-documentary that is often called a shockumentary or even a mockumentary. Goodbye Uncle Tom has had a mixed reception by critics owing to its controversial theme of exploring the monstrosity surrounding the institution of slavery in graphic detail.
3. Sankofa
A Burkinabe drama film released in 1993, Sankofa is directed by Haile Gerima. One of the rare Good Movies About Slavery, the title of the flick is a West African term that translates into the act of reclaiming the past so as to lunge forward. The movie is set in Ghana where an African-American woman travels back into the past and experiences the torments of slavery. Revolving around the Atlantic Slave Trade, Sankofa is a journey into the life and mind of the heroine who is perturbed with challenges that alter her sense of morality. A must-watch, this film has been nominated for the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.
4. Uncle Tom's Cabin
A silent film directed by Harry A. Pollard and released by Universal Pictures in 1927, Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the best Old Movies About Slavery. It is based on a novel written by Harriett Beecher Stowe that has the same title. This version of the movie has majority of white people playing the role of the blacks with an exception of the character of Uncle Tom which is played by James B. Lowe. With a detailed description of the slave culture predominant in the plantations, this movie showcases the panorama of servitude confronted by the blacks in the hands of their racially superior masters.
5. Amistad
Directed by the critically acclaimed director, Steven Spielberg, Amistad is a dramatization of the slave uprising of 1839. Released in 1997, this movie depicts how the West Africans were fugitive slaves who were made to travel by ships. This motion picture takes into account the revolt of these slaves who were traveling by La Amistad and the impending International legal battle that took place soon after they were re-captured. The movie has been accredited with numerous awards including four Academy Award nominations.
6. 12 Years A Slave
The Oscar winning movie of 2013, 12 Years A Slave, narrates the experience of Solomon Northup's 12 Years of Slavery. A historical adaptation of Solomon Northup's memoir of 1853, this movie recounts the trials and tribulations of Solomon, whose identity as a New York state-born free man gets sabotaged. Directed by Steve McQueen, this movie depicts the heart-rending and poignant story of enslavement that is validated through various agents inclusive of religion. With the talented actor, Ejiofor playing the role of Solomon, this flick has won numerous accolades.
Based on the novel, Roots: The Saga Of An American Family, this flick was aired on television in 1977. Written by Alex Haley and directed by Marvin J. Chomsky, John Erman, David Greene and Gilbert Moses, Roots deals with the theme of Haley's ancestral descent beginning from slavery to freedom. With LeVar Burton playing the role of Kunta Kinte, Roots has been won 9 Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award.
8. Mandingo
Set in the Deep South in The United States of America, Mandingo is the adaptation of a novel by the same title written by Kyle Onstott. Directed by Richard Fleischer and starring actors like James Mason, Susan George and Perry King, this motion picture has received different types of reviews. While some praise the movie, some condemn it for its savage display of inter-racial relationships. All said and done, it still remains one of the Top Slavery Movies of all time.
One of the most interesting Recent Movies About Slavery, Django Unchained broke into the theaters in 2012 and has been among the favorites of the masses since then. Starring proficient actors like Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, this film is written as well as directed by Quentin Tarantino. The storyline deals with the violent history of African-American slave trade and has won abundant accolades that include nominations in 5 Academy Awards categories.
10. Amazing Grace
Having released in Toronto in 2006 and a year later in the U.S. and U.K., Amazing Grace is a biographical drama film depicting the anti-slavery campaign in the British Empire. Directed by Michael Apted, the motion picture is founded on the life of William Wilberforce who led the protests against slave trade. As widely understood, the title of the movie is an allusion to the hymn called "Amazing Grace," along with the experience of John Newton which influenced him to compose the poem. As a film featuring the abolition movement of slavery, Amazing Grace is, certainly, one of the must-watch Movies About Slavery.
This entry was posted in Entertainment on September 29, 2014 .
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Keelavalavu dalits seek peace, protection after recent clashes
TNN | Updated: Dec 11, 2018, 0:49 IST
Madurai: Dalits from Keelavalavu village near Melur staged a protest at the Madurai district collectorate on Monday demanding that the collector and police higher officials visit the village to ensure their protection and peace. They said that they are living under constant threat after the recent clash between non-dalits and dalits, which left many injured and public properties like buses damaged.
According to them each community in the village has its own temple. However, the Veerakaliamman temple, which is common for all witnesses the dalits taking part in its festival taking place on Monday and Tuesday. The villagers claimed that they received information that the non-dalits are planning an attack during the temple festival.
It all began on December 6, when the dalits observed the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar by installing amplifiers and electrical lightings. But, members of other communities wanted the programme being conducted with police permission to be called off. The next day, a woman from the dalit community lodged a police complaint against the other community members, which further irked them. They allegedly attack the dalits the same day. While cases were registered against members of both communities, a few of them were arrested.
Rajesh, who petitioned the collector on behalf of the villagers stated that one Magesh, who is the brain behind the communal clash, is still at large and sought his immediate arrest. He said that dalits are residing under constant threat. It is the responsibility of the officials to make sure they live in peace.
The villagers withdrew the protest after officials assured of providing them adequate security.


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Lapromol 294 is a product of propylene oxide and water solution of ethylenediamine. Lapromol is used in the production of hard polyurethanic materials as main polyolic components and catalysts.
- shipment in tank-cars, max.


against human cruelty in this tantalizing, unbearable place.
me. She heals my spirit and bodily aches.
of oppression, terror, injustice, tyranny, tears and blood.
without speaking a word to me being so sad.
till I move her heart and eyes with compassion and tears.
"and my comrades dead, forsaking me all alone.


little simpler perhaps since no variable like voltage in the previous example is involved. It is all static data!
// println on ONLY the last one!
Syncing the library software clock: The following function is called initially by setup() to initialize the software clock and later by loop() every SYNC_TIME_INTERVAL minutes to re-synchronize it: What about the Arduino getting data from MakerPlot?
// from the PC via MakerPlot.
!SEND or !READ commands as shown in the following code fragment.
Also shown is how you might then use those results to update text field objects on your user display (Figure 9): As you can see, we first ask MakerPlot to send the PC's current date string (mm/dd/yy), parse it for month, day, and year, converting from ASCII to integer at the same time. Then, we do the same for the time (hh:mm:ss) string. Finally, we call the Time library setTime() function to actually set (or update) the software clock.


The UK tax authority (HMRC) recently confirmed that it has extended the Making Tax Digital for VAT pilot available to members of VAT Groups, partnerships and companies using the flat rate scheme.
During October 2018, the pilot was opened up to the public for testing and this enabled most taxpayers to submit VAT returns using the new system.
As stated in our previous article, MTD will require VAT registered businesses to use special software to provide summary tax data directly to the tax office electronically. This data will then be used to automatically generate tax records, instead of manually calculating and filing a VAT return. Once fully implemented the new system will also synchronise VAT reporting requirements with income tax and corporation tax obligations for resident UK businesses.
In preparation for MTD, Fiscal Solutions have developed a software to ensure compliance when filing client returns.
If you have any concerns about MTD and compliance, please contact us for advice and information.
UK vote to leave the EU, so what happens now?


Screenshot: Google Tells Us to "Give our Mouse a Break"
How's this for a Google Error Screen?
One of our AMs got this while trying to access a campaign in AdWords. It's very sweet that Google's so concerned about the well-being of her mouse, isn't it?
At a time when many of us are indeed working out our 2006 budgets, our friends at AdRants have shared this great article from Creating Passionate Users.
Old Way - Hire a branding expert.
New Way - Hire, no - promote from within - a User Happiness Expert.
OId way - Ads that talk about how you're better than your competition.
New Way - Articles that talk about what you've learned from your competition.
Usabilty Guru Jakob Nielsen has made our creative team very happy today by posting his "Top Ten Design Mistakes" for weblogs.
1. No Author Biographies: Unless you're a business blog, you probably don't need a full-fledged "about us" section the way a corporate site does. That said, the basic rationale for "about us" translates directly into the need for an "about me" page on a weblog: users want to know who they're dealing with.
It offers a more personable impression of the author. You enhance your credibility by the simple fact that you're not trying to hide. Also, users relate more easily to somebody they've seen.
It connects the virtual and physical worlds. People who've met you before will recognize your photo, and people who've read your site will recognize you when you meet in person (say, at a conference).
3. Nondescript Posting Titles: Sadly, even though weblogs are native to the Web, authors rarely follow the guidelines for writing for the Web in terms of making content scannable. This applies to a posting's body text, but it's even more important with headlines. Users must be able to grasp the gist of an article by reading its headline. Avoid cute or humorous headlines that make no sense out of context.
4. Links Don't Say Where they Go: Many weblog authors seem to think it's cool to write link anchors like: "some people think" or "there's more here and here." Remember one of the basics of the Web: Life is too short to click on an unknown. Tell people where they're going and what they'll find at the other end of the link.
5. Classic Hits are Buried: Hopefully, you'll write some pieces with lasting value for readers outside your fan base. Don't relegate such classics to the archives, where people can only find something if they know you posted it, say, in May 2003.
6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation: A timeline is rarely the best information architecture, yet it's the default way to navigate weblogs. Most weblog software provides a way to categorize postings so users can easily get a list of all postings on a certain topic. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs.
7. Irregular Publishing Frequency: Establishing and meeting user expectations is one of the fundamental principles of Web usability. For a weblog, users must be able to anticipate when and how often updates will occur.
For most weblogs, daily updates are probably best, but weekly or even monthly updates might work as well, depending on your topic. In either case, pick a publication schedule and stick to it. If you usually post daily but sometimes let months go by without new content, you'll lose many of your loyal -- and thus most valuable -- readers.
8. Mixing Topics: If you publish on many different topics, you're less likely to attract a loyal audience of high-value users. Busy people might visit a blog to read an entry about a topic that interests them. They're unlikely to return, however, if their target topic appears only sporadically among a massive range of postings on other topics. The only people who read everything are those with too much time on their hands (a low-value demographic).
9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss: ...Think twice before posting. If you don't want your future boss to read it, don't post.
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service: Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously.
This is a great article, and I have to recommend that all bloggers and skin designers go over to UseIt.com and read the whole thing. Nielsen is widely accepted as the king of usability -- even though his own site is no great miracle of design!
...and secretly, I'm glad a few of Nielsen's points also appear on our own blogging best practices list!
You've just left work and have five minutes to run into the food store to pick up some string cheese before you have to be at little Johnny's Soccer Tournament of Champions. You run in the store, run down the cheese aisle and go to grab it when you suddenly realize the cheese aisle isn't the cheese aisle anymore. It's now the Stationary/ Paper Goods aisle. Where did the cheese go? Why did they change it? It's your turn to bring the team snack, and string cheese is perfect. It's low fat, high protein, easy to eat and not messy … you need your string cheese! You now have to search for the string cheese. You're now annoyed. Suddenly your five minute quick stop turns into a twenty minute harried hunt.
Change - some people like it, some people don't. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes it's for the worse. And then sometimes, even though it's really for the better, it appears to be for the worse. Don't let this be the situation with your Web site.
Human beings are funny about change. Tons of psychological studies have been done on how people react to it, and why. Just like the food store example above, your web users are used to certain things being certain ways and in certain places. When you switch on them, even if it's for the better, they may feel negative about it, even with something as slight as a new background color (just ask eBay). They have to take the time to relearn your site. They get disoriented. They get frustrated. And they leave. Here you've spent time/money to make your site great and your users are abandoning it.
Tell them when it's coming. You don't even have to use an exact date, but let them know changes are on their way. "Look for our new design in November 2006!" Post the news on your site, include it in your enewsletter or email campaigns. Spread the word!
Tell them why it's coming. Point out the benefits they will reap from this change, and be specific where you can (e.g. "… a shorter checkout process, 360 degree product views"). If you're making changes based upon feedback from your users, tell them this!
Get their support. When we built a new application for one of our clients, we conducted some user testing using leaders from the group of employees the app was being built for. Not only did they provide us with great input, they felt like they had a part in making it great and became internal evangelists, driving excitement and making the acceptance cycle much easier and shorter.
Give them support. Offer them tools that assist them in getting used to the new setup. Use a demo, a special HELP section. Provide redirects for pages, remind them to set new bookmarks. Deliver in-person training. You get the idea.
Give them the reins. If you can, (this often depends upon what types of changes you are making), let them choose when they want to switch over, or add the changes in using a phased approach. The feeling of control or time to adapt will go a long way towards acceptance.


Well, so much for liveblogging, but I wanted to share some final thoughts on the H+ Summit at Harvard that I recently attended.
The lineup at the summit included several dozen presenters over the course of two days, most given only ten minutes to speak. As a result, almost all of the talks felt rushed. Also, most of the speakers seemed rather unpracticed, and few were very focused or informative. There didn't seem to be much of an overarching structure or purpose to the conference, and its "citizen scientist" theme ended up barely a footnote. There was both too much and too little going on to really engage the audience's attention.
Whereas last year's Singularity Summit had a clear eye towards grandeur and popularization, with better organization, longer, more focused lectures and a stronger sense of audience-presenter relationship, the H+ Summit had a very collegiate feel. While this could have worked to its advantage, it mostly didn't. The conference was held in a college lecture hall, where the presenters stood almost directly beneath the slide screen and had to crane over their shoulders awkwardly to appear engaged with their slides. The lack of a stage further diminished the presenters. These factors combined with the overall lack of a focus made the proceedings feel rather like sitting through a series of informal college lectures by teaching assistants whom the students haven't been given much reason to respect or pay attention to.
Moreover, because the proceedings were constantly running about twenty minutes late, every scheduled Q&A session was skipped. Every single one. The organizers had decided to have attendees submit questions solely via Twitter (a strange idea to begin with, considering that the conference was held in person and that some people had traveled quite a distance to attend) but even all of those Twitter questions went unasked and unanswered. Instead, audience members often took to shouting out comments at the presenters as they talked. This was mainly instigated by the person who did the most shouting — who, weirdly, I believe was Alex Lightman, the executive director of Humanity+ (I might be wrong that it was him, but it was definitely one of the organizers). He clearly meant it to be friendly, but given how rushed the presenters already were, these shouted interjections mostly had the effect of throwing them further off rather than creating a sense of audience participation, and I felt it led the audience to take the talks less seriously.
Among the other reasons for my sense that the audience didn't take the proceedings entirely seriously was the large number of low-level presenters. A remarkable number of them gave talks plugging some small project or product of theirs, but attempting because of the context to force some sheen of larger significance on it. I talked to Kevin Jain, a conference presenter, and founding president of the Harvard College Future Society. He claimed that his group handled much of the organizing for the conference. If that's true, the conference was actually quite an impressive logistical accomplishment for such a small organization (though it's strange that the Humanity+ organization would put their name on it without doing the work themselves).
Jain said that the idea had been to try to open up the conference to include a wide variety of presenters, instead of just the usual luminaries. That's a worthy goal, but in the future, the conference would benefit greatly from emphasizing quality over quantity, by choosing presenters and the lengths of their talks based on substance rather than the speakers' reputations, and by more clearly separating big-picture talks from low-level project and research presentations. I would have liked to see a lot more time given to the likes of James Hughes, George Dvorsky, Patrick Lin, and Lauren Silbert to develop their ideas, whereas Stephen Wolfram and Ray Kurzweil would have benefited greatly from shorter time slots that forced them to focus their talks. Without naming any names, several of the other talks might have been safely left off the schedule until they were more well-developed.
One way that the collegiate feel actually improved the proceedings was in the planned extra-conference activities. The most heavily promoted was a party held after the first day of the conference at a private off-site location, what appeared to be a converted-garage workspace for a small company. The place was a sort of paradise for a particular species of tech nerd of the Radio Shack variety, complete with a wide variety of electronics equipment for designing circuits, and whiteboards with diagrams of circuits and finite-state machines. And, best of all, there was a keg and plenty of cans and pitchers of beer, and, as David Brent would say, el vino did flow.
The party was packed with all manner of conference attendees, organizers, and presenters. I saw Ben Goertzel, Natasha Vita-More, Jessica Scorpio, and Patrick Lin hanging around. I talked to young Harvard undergraduates in the Future Society, who seemed to have joined more out of curiosity and excitement than a dead-set belief in a posthuman vision. (One fellow I talked to, wearing a Zildjian cymbals shirt, had handled the sound equipment at the conference, and between the shirt and his constant running about on stage, he looked a bit like an H+ roadie.) I asked Aubrey de Grey how long it took him to grow his beard. Two years, he said, though that was a long time ago, and he fidgets with it enough that it's reached an equilibrium where he doesn't have to trim it.
I spent much of that party in long conversations with a few people — presenter Ramez Naam and a smattering of other attendees who may not want to be named. (Naam amiably pointed out to me that I mischaracterized his talk in my post; see my update to it.) There seems to be so little common ground and so much mutual suspicion that these conversations can be difficult at first. But once I made it clear that not everything I say is a front for a secret desire to pass laws and regulations restricting other peoples' freedom, I found that the conversations opened up remarkably.
Of course, it was still slow going in interrogating each other's ideas and getting to basics, much less basics on which we might agree. I did arrive at two tangible if somewhat random agreements with two separate interlocutors. One converser and I came to agree that there might be value in not living in permanent pharmacologically-induced bliss. Another (Naam) and I came to agree that there are higher and lower ways of living, and in particular, that the life of Albert Einstein is a better sort of life to lead than the life of a person who simply eats ice cream, even if Einstein's work had never been shared with society and so never benefited any other people. Hey, common ground! As Carl Sagan put it: small moves.
As struck me at last year's Singularity Summit, all of these conversations reminded me of just how human are the transhumanists and their proceedings. Throughout all of this, I was struck by the contrasts between their pristine vision and the earthliness of their lives. There was, first of all, the mundanity of the conference itself. There was running into Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey in the men's room. There was Kurzweil, spry and ruddy, his face part anticipatory, part fatigued, distractedly checking his e-mail as he stood a few feet away from me waiting to take the stage and deliver a speech that has clearly become routine. There was a conference organizer plugging his iPod into the sound system during a break and playing, of all lofty things, Fleetwood Mac.
There was sharing burritos, salads, sandwiches, and conversation at an Au Bon Pain over the lunch break with several conference presenters and organizers. When I noted how funny it was that we still had to take time at a transhumanist conference to eat, there was an organizer who agreed that, indeed, we still haven't solved the problem of sustenance. (Don't you like eating?, I asked. Yeah, he said, but I like learning and improving myself more, and I could be spending my time doing that.) There was watching conference presenters mingle about the beer party, looking with a hint of nervousness for someone to talk to. There was the sheer enjoyment everyone clearly took in interacting face-to-face with members of a movement usually connected only online, with hanging around someone's cool workspace garage, munching barbecue and glugging beer and getting to talk to luminaries and leaders, and even being pleasantly surprised to discover that people they disagree with are nice and personable but just have different ideas.
Of course, these are all very ordinary human aspects of just about any conference. But the strange thing is that this particular conference and its attendees are devoted to doing away with this sort of humanity. Perhaps not all the conferencegoers — maybe some of them endorse only intermediate stages of enhancement. But the posthuman world of beings who don't need to eat, drink, travel, engage in the trials of conversation, experience the peculiar anxieties and joys of attempting to know another person, or participate in anything that at all stinks of the everyday — that world is not one in which any of the experiences had at the conference could occur, or in which the concepts we use to understand them could even retain any coherence or meaning.
It's hard to believe the conferencegoers and I could both inhabit the same world, both seem to discern the same pleasures in it, and yet they want it to end. There are greater joys to be had, I know they will say, over the horizon — a grab-bag of every fulfilled wish you could dream of. But it's hard to believe they really understand clearly what those are, and just what it would and wouldn't be like if they got them.
Pardon me for being utterly unsurprised that transhumanist icons are in fact quite human. I think it's a bit presumptuous to predict a complete discontinuity of experience through upgrading. Those who wish to become posthuman won't necessarily leave eating, drinking, and conversation behind. It should be trivial for such potent intelligences to retain more mundanely human aspects and have them inhabit limitless virtual worlds. Furthermore, the transition may be gradual and thus feel seamless. The prospect does raise legitimately distressing questions about identity and values, but I see no cause for great alarm at present.
Paradoxical conferences happen all the time. You see libertarians who've benefited from state interventions into the economy attending conferences about abolishing the state; and socialists who benefit from the goods and services sold by private companies attending conferences about using the power of the state to bully those ventures.
Very true, Mark. Those are good reasons to question the aims of libertarian and socialist conferences too.
I'm going to disagree with you there, Mark. Libertarians holding a conference at a public space, or with the benefit of government grants, would be hypocritical, as would a socialist conference with a corporate sponsor. But your argument would render every libertarian, anarchist, and socialist a hypocrite for existing in the same world as governments and capitalism. Such a position discredits radical philosophy by the sheer fact of its radicalism.
I'm an incrementalist, by and large. I think radical philosophies that seek to destroy the state or the market are wrong. However, they're not wrong because the organizers once paid their taxes or bought a thing.


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Q: toggle switch to enable and disable my listbox I am new to developing for window phone and I am trying to use a toggle switch to enable and disable a list box. Below is my code.... I am trying to use a toggle switch to enable and disable my listbox but I cannot get to work. Please, what am I doing wrong here?
public Page1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    mylistBox.Items.Add("");
    mylistBox.Items.Add("5 seconds");
    mylistBox.Items.Add("10 seconds");
    mylistBox.Items.Add("15 seconds");
    mylistBox.Items.Add("20 seconds");
}

private void listBox1_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
    this.ListBox1.DisabledItemSelected += ("");
}

private void ToggleSwitch_Tap(object sender, System.Windows.Input.GestureEventArgs e)
{
    e.Handled = true;
}

A: This will switch the enabled status of your ListBox each time you fire this event.
private void ToggleSwitch_Tap(object sender, System.Windows.Input.GestureEventArgs e)
{
    ListBox1.Enabled = !ListBox1.Enabled;
}

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