Wikipedia -- Exposed

I have noted before here that I am no fan of Wikipedia. It can be and has been used as a voice of propaganda, misinformation, and controversy. Why? Because it is completely anonymous, which means that posters have no real responsibility for what they write. People can lie, and often do. One of the more egregious examples was last spring, when one of the more respected "editors" of Wikipedia turned out to be a fraud -- faking his credentials.

I personally don't think it should be shut down -- more power to it -- but I do not trust it, and do not expect any entry in it to be correct. If I want to do a quick lookup of something and I only need about 50-80% accuracy, I will sometimes use it for that.

I will admit that there is one area in which Wikipedia excels: if you want to know if something is or is not controversial in the web world, Wikipedia is truly excellent at that. For example, the entry on "Gun" has had eight edits today (August 21, 2007). One edit replaced a whole section with "HA HA", another added a paragraph on an English usage. So, here is a subject that changes almost hourly as people with competing agendas fight over the entry.

Another example: an edit for Elvis Presley from, again, today has someone asserting that he is still alive.

I say that Wikipedia allows anonymous posts, and that is correct -- except that each entry has as part of its entry the internet address from which the entry was posted. In other words, Wikipedia tracks the IP address of each posting.

IP addresses for most home users are assigned to them by their internet service provider (ISP) on an as-needed basis, when they log in. The IP address is "owned" by the ISP.

However, most institutions have permanent IP addresses which are assigned to them. Anyone in their offices using the web will be using an address from their range. You can find out what institution an IP address is assigned to using ARIN (the American Registry for Internet Numbers) Whois. Type the address there, and you will see to whom it is assigned.

This kid from Cal Tech (where else?), Virgil Griffith, created a tool to scan Wikipedia and show the edits made by IP addresses. This has created quite a storm! All of a sudden, we can easily see what edits were made from people at the ACLU, Apple Computer, Microsoft, the NRA, Fox News... All sorts of places. It is enlightening, and really, confirms my criticisms of Wikipedia.

We have entries by an ACLU address user making derogotory comments on the Pope. We have another entry in which the some using an NEA address deletes criticism about the NEA.

What astounds me is that articles on this are either missing the point by pointing out self-editing by companies such as Apple, Microsoft, or others, or are amazed that "anonymous" is not really anonymous.

But, really, what else can we expect from Wikipedia? That's the point.

Robocop is Real!

This, from Wired. The new SWORDS robot that is just about ready for field use in Iraq, and is the real-life version of the ED-209.

An armed robot that is directed by radio. Thus, it is to some degree vulnerable to viruses, or commandeering. When I look to the future, I see these in civilian use for police departments -- crack-house and meth-lab raids, for sure -- and with ubiquity and relatively lax security inherent with having these in hundreds of police precincts instead of one army, there will be an attempt at infiltration.

In any event, sci-fi continues to show that it is closer to reality than one might think!

Apple iPhone Released Tomorrow!

I have been a busy man the last few weeks (months?), but one cannot leave the iPhone phenomenon uncommented.

Being an IT executive, I will not automatically issue iPhones to our company's people, and the reason is not the one cited by "industry experts," to wit, that it is "incompatible with our systems." No, the reason we will not issue it is because it costs a lot of money - three times or more than what I would pay for our standard BlackBerry, and virtually infinitely more expensive than the "free" voice-only we generally get for people who just need a phone. Currently, the iPhone is a really cool toy that does a lot of things well, but which goes above and beyond a business user's requirement for an email-enabled mobile phone.

I say "currently" because if trends go the way they go in Tech, the iPhone could end up a replacement laptop, and then that makes it interesting as a business tool.

Here are my iPhone predictions:

It is a category killer. It will not flop. There is a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) going around that it is too good to be true, it is too expensive, and therefore, disillusionment will follow, the hype will not be realized, and the iPhone will be a low-selling toy. That is not true. Apple's goal is 1% of market in 2008. They will meet the goal, and therefore, it will be a success. That is ten million units.

I think that if the iPhone stays married to Cingular, it will basically hit that goal. But, I have other predictions (and no, I do not have friends or insight into Apple).

Short Term Prediction:

Lots of sales tomorrow and for a while after, a lull until October, then a surge as Apple releases an updated version. The updated version will use the EDGE 3G network, which is much faster than EDGE. Other updates might include searching and voice recognition. It will easily meet Apple's sales expectations.

Longer Range Predictions:

There will be a "VoIP" version that will NOT use a cellular network, and only runs on WIFI, and will spark the end of Cellular/wireless phones as we know them. Anything that goes to IP drives the cost down to "free." Why pay $60+ per month when you can go to any wired city or Starbucks or Barnes and Noble or home, or anywhere in major cities and converse for FREE? Mark my words, this will happen: 2008 or 2009. Sooner if AT&T/Cingular upsets Apple's customers. To me, this is obvious, and will enable the phone to break free of all mobile networks. Apple may align with a "VoIP" provider, such as Skype, but it won't have to. It could create its own.

The iPhone capability will increase, and will eventually be good enough to be used as a laptop computer. The configuration I see is that people will have a "home based" computer (desktop or laptop) and then the iPhone. Since the iPhone runs OS X, it is a Mac. The later versions will expand on this obvious advantage.

If they do these two things, I see iPhone sales (and successors) well beyond the ten million mark.