Category: Technologies

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Search: “translators without borders” scam telelanguage fraud

Methods & Process, Technologies, Tools

This pair of searches is of concern.

To the best of our knowledge, both Translators without Borders and Telelanguage.com are reputable organizations and have nothing to do with fraud or scams.  We happen to think very highly of Telelanguage.com, which among many other innovations made its software “open source” for potential future expansion.  Both of these organizations are positioned to replace–bury–the antiquated US and NATO translation systems that rely on “trusted” citizens with clearances.  No such thing–indeed, trusted citizens with clearances usually screw up the translations and create more dangerous problems in so doing.

The “scam” that gullible Americans are rocketing around the Internet is more of an urban myth and also a very well known scam going back through the ages, of the “overpayment” in advance and then the request.  Few people seems to realize that cashing a check provides little protection against the check being rescinded.  In any event, there is no connection between these two reputable companies and the gossip-fraud report that is circulating, as far as we know.

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Journal: Cellphones, Your Brain, and Spectrum

Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Technologies, Tools
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Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health (GQ)

Christopher Ketcham
Ever worry that that gadget you spend hours holding next to your head might be damaging your brain? Well, the evidence is starting to pour in, and it's not pretty. So why isn't anyone in America doing anything about it?

Phi Beta Iota: This is “old” news that is still news because neither the government nor the public actually pay attention.  We've known since the 1980's that Soviet emission controls were ten times tougher than ours, and now in Afghanistan as we find UAVs and all other devices conflicting with each other across old “dumb” (assigned) spectrum, we are learning, AGAIN, why spectrum consciousness matters.  Open Spectrum and smart devices are the way to go, along with public truth-telling about electromagnetic emissions as part of the “true cost” of all devices.

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Journal: Real Time Intelligence in Two Way Energy Grid

Earth Intelligence, Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Technologies

NEW METER

Eltel Networks Smart Meters A Good Example for Middle East Countries to Follow

For those who are not aware of this technology, a smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology to control appliances at consumers’ homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency.

NEW METER

It includes an intelligent monitoring system that keeps track of all electricity flowing through the system. A smart meter enables accurate electronic measuring of energy being used, and are much more accurate than standard meters which simply estimate the amount of energy being used. They enable the calculation of flexible energy tariffs that measure consumption over set time periods.

They also enable the capability of selling unused energy back to the supplier, i.e. the utility company, and will enable better usage of renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Phi Beta Iota: It will probably take another twenty years, but “smart” grids are coming along.  The real break-through will be when “true costs” of every product and service are clearly visible at the press of a button on one's cell phonoe.  Open Spectrum is also inevitable, along with Open Money.  See the  Graphic: Open Everything.


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Journal: 4 countries clear hurdle for non-Latin Web names

Technologies
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NEW YORK (AP) — Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to win preliminary approval for Internet addresses written entirely in their native scripts.

Since their creation in the 1980s, Internet domain names have been limited to the 26 characters in the Latin alphabet used in English, as well as 10 numerals and the hyphen. Technical tricks have been used to allow portions of the Internet address to use other scripts, but until now, the suffix had to use those 37 characters.

An announcement Thursday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, paves the way for an entire domain name to appear in Cyrillic or Arabic by the middle of this year. Applications for strings in other languages are pending.

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Journal: Intelligence & Innovation Support to Strategy, Planning, Programming, Budgeting, & Acquisition

Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Ethics, Geospatial, History, InfoOps (IO), Information Operations (IO), Key Players, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Policy, Real Time, Reform, Strategy, Technologies, Threats, Tools, True Cost
Robert David STEELE Vivas

Chuck Spinney is still the best “real” engineer in this town–almost everyone else is staggering after fifty years of government-specification cost-plus engineering.  Also, as Chuck explores in the piece on Complexity to Avoid Accountability is Expensive we in the “requirements” business are as much to blame–Service connivance with complexity has killed acquisition from both a financial inputs and a war-fighting relevance outcome point of view.  The Services have forgotten the basics of requirements definition and multi-mission interoperability and supportability.

The Marine Corps Intelligence Center (MCIC) was created by General Al Gray, USMC (Ret), then Commandant of the Marine Corps, for three reasons:

1.  Intelligence support to constabulary and expeditionary operations from the three major services was abysmal to non-existent.

2.  Intelligence  support to the Service level planners and programmers striving to interact with other Services, the Unified Commands, and the Joint Staff was non-existent–this was the case with respect to policy, acquisition, and operations.  The cluster-feel over Haiti and the total inadequacy of our 24-48 hour response tells us nothing has changed, in part because we still cannot do a “come as you are” joint inter-agency anything.

Continue reading “Journal: Intelligence & Innovation Support to Strategy, Planning, Programming, Budgeting, & Acquisition”

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Journal: MILNET Selected Headlines

08 Wild Cards, Geospatial, Government, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Military, Reform, Strategy, Technologies

Taliban Overhaul Their Image In Bid To Win Allies

Phi Beta Iota: We've known since 9/11 that the asymmetric war is also marked by an asymmetric excellence in public relations, propaganda and perception management–not only do our opponents spend $1 for every $500,000 to $5 million that we spend, but they are better at this than we are.  The USA is spending billions (low billions) on Information Operations (IO) and Strategic Communications, and still has no idea how to do it in languages we still do not speak, from a moral base we still do not have in the context of a Grand Strategy that does not exist because we have a secret intelligence world that is incapable of thinking broadly and deeply or giving the President and the Secretary of Defense what they NEED to know rather than what our expensive ignorant technical systems make possible to give.  We are SO reminded of Catholic Mandarin Ngo Dinh Diem in Viet-Nam with his murderous sister Madame Nhu (Karzai's Brother….), only this time you have drugs, religion, and no competent Afghan military we can pretend we are supporting.  A reprise of Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam?

Continue reading “Journal: MILNET Selected Headlines”

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Journal: InfoTech Gap Between Private & Public

InfoOps (IO), Technologies

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White House meets corporate CEOs for ideas on modernizing government

Because too many government information technology systems are rooted in the 1960s and ’70s, the White House is convening a conference today of 50 corporate chief executives with the hope of generating fresh ideas to help modernize government and improve efficiency.

Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients, who has spent 20 years in the private sector, said that “in my seven months as CPO it has become clear to me that one of the biggest challenges we face is the technology gap that exists between the public and private sectors.”

Phi Beta Iota: Despite the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) effort to find “common solutions,” the reality is that stove-pipe budgets and stove-pipe promotion systems produce stove-pipe minds.  What OMB should be doing is creating a global skunk works to establish the open source trinity: free/open source software, open source intelligence, and open spectrum, amidst deep Multinational Engagement.  Of course, DoD could do this on its own, if it really wanted to, through the Defesne Open Source Center and embedded Multinational Decision Support Center.