Webremix Articles

Three Buzzwords That Every CIO Hears but One They Should Listen To

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Anyone that's managing an enterprise IT with aging or outdated client/server systems is starting to feel the heat. Soon, their systems and applications will be obsolete and unsupported. At the same time, the industry as whole is seeking the fastest gateway to the latest .NET, HTML5 and mobile deployments including SaaS models. Right about now, there will be a knock on your door with team members offering their advice as to what you should do to ‘keep up' with the latest trends and supported architectures. Here are three of the buzzwords they will have probably used, and what they actually mean.

The EU Commission's Repressive Plans Beyond ACTA

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:45:44 GMT

Paris, February 6th, 2012 – The EU Commission is relentlessly defending ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which faces widespread opposition in Europe and beyond. Falsely portraying ACTA as an acceptable agreement, the Commission is paving the way for its ultra-repressive copyright enforcement agenda, as revealed in documents just released. Citizens and their elected representatives across Europe must denounce this dangerous drift of the policy-making process, which is bound to undermine freedoms online and the very architecture of the Internet, and instead require a thorough reform of copyright.

Last week, Neelie Kroes (EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda) and Viviane Reding (EU Commissioner for Justice, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights) have both expressed their support for ACTA, assisting Karel De Gucht, Commissioner for International Trade, in selling this infamous agreement to the EU Parliament. Commissioner De Gucht has been spending a lot of time last week lobbying in the EU Parliament, meeting with various political groups to convince them that the opposition to ACTA is based on misinformation and that Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) should accept it.

Seeing both Neelie Kroes and Viviane Reding so oblivious to the many criticisms against ACTA is extremely worrying. As La Quadrature points out in a participative document1, the arguments put forward by EU Commissioners in favour of ACTA don't resist scrutiny.

More disturbingly, without even waiting for the European Parliament's decision to accept or reject ACTA, Commissioner Michel Barnier, in charge of the Internal Market, is already pushing for new repressive copyright enforcement measures similar to those of the SOPA/PIPA bills in the US. A recently published roadmap document on the revision of the “Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive” (IPRED2) confirms that the Commission specifically wants to tackle online infringements, using ACTA to implement private censorship mechanisms in European law3.

The document suggests that expeditious, extra-judicial take-down of online content, financial lock-down of allegedly infringing websites and even filtering measures of Internet traffic could be considered4 under the guise of cooperation between Internet actors and the copyright industries5. Furthermore, there is a clear will to extend the scope of sanctions through a definition of "commercial scale" that would include any activity which can be said to result in losses of revenues for film and music majors6.

"The European Commission is trying to bypass democracy to impose repressive measures that will be made inevitable by ACTA. While Michel Barnier is already working on implementing ACTA's repressive measures in EU law in the IPRED revision, commissioners De Gucht, Kroes and Reding are asking the Parliament to accept ACTA as if it were a harmless trade agreement. The truth is that the Commission is trying to impose the industry's agenda to enforce outdated copyright, patent and trademark policies through tough criminal sanctions and extra-judicial measures." said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

"What is needed is not tougher enforcement, but an open-ended debate to positively reform a copyright regime that is increasingly running counter to fundamental rights and innovation. If ratified, ACTA would create new and significant obstacles to reform. EU citizens must continue to urge their elected representatives to reject ACTA. It is the only way to block this repressive arms race and develop a positive framework for creative activity in the digital environment and new cultural practices." declares Philippe Aigrain, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net

Get in touch with Members of the EU parliament and make sure they know what ACTA is really about. Visit our dedicated campaign page.

1. https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Counter-Arguments_Against_ACTA
2. See our webdossier on IPRED: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/anti-sharing-directive-ipred
3. According to this document, "the relative anonymity of the internet, its cross-border nature and its consumer- and user-friendly services accessible from all around the globe have created an online environment where the infringers cannot be easily identified, digital evidence is hard to preserve, damages from internet sales are difficult to quantify and, after having been discovered, infringers quickly “re-appear” under a different name". See: http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/planned_ia/docs/2011_markt_006_rev...
4. Like ACTA's article 27, IPRED already provides measures to “deter further infringement”. It seems that the Commission wants to impose ad hoc measures to prevent infringements.
During a EU Parliament hearing on trademarks in mid-January, Jean Bergevin, head of unit for IPR enforcement at the EU Commission, pointed out that DNS blocking was being considered as a last resort measure when civil enforcement fails to stop the infringement.
5. Cooperation is a make-up word for extra-judicial measures. ACTA encourages such cooperation to tackle allegedly infringing content online (article 27.4). The roadmap document reads:
“Complementary measures in soft-law instruments designed at disrupting the business/value chain of counterfeiters and at increasing the cooperation between intellectual property rights holders and intermediaries (e.g. internet service providers, shippers and couriers, payment-service providers etc) could not be excluded”.
This clearly echoes the provision of SOPA and PIPA. Upon notification by the entertainment industries, search engines as well as payment providers and advertisers would have been prevented from providing services or contracting with targeted websites, without any judicial decision. For a detailed analysis of these provisions, see: http://benkler.org/WikiLeaks_PROTECT-IP_Benkler.pdf

See how “cooperation” has become a buzzword in copyright enforcement policies: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Cooperation
6. See counter-arguments to the EU Commission's claim that ACTA is only about large-scale counterfeiting: https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Arguments_Against_ACTA#.22ACTA_does_no...

Embodiment, Computation And the Nature of Artificial Intelligence

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:10:00 GMT

The notion of intelligence makes no sense without a broader view of computation, argues one of the world's leading AI researchers

One of the buzzwords in artificial intelligence research these days is 'embodiment', the idea that intelligence requires a body.

Data mining made easy with DMF

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:48:11 GMT

Data Mining , a hi-tech buzzword for many years, is about excavating useful patterns which are hidden deep in your data to give you valuable insights you could not otherwise find.

Ravindra Jadeja, the buzzword

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:30:00 GMT

Young all-rounder could reach $2 million mark at IPL auction today, 146 players to go under the hammer.

Special Valentine's Day for Amy Jackson

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:30:00 GMT

Amy Jackson seems to be the buzzword these days. After rocking beau Prateik Babbar's party, and opting to live-in with him, the girl is being much talked about.

Employers' recipes for growth

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:17 GMT

It’s official. Belgium is in a recession. Until recently the buzzword was savings, but it seems the focus has now shifted to economic growth. How do we escape the crisis and...

GetHired Nabs $1.75 Million To Launch Its Video-Centric Recruiting Platform & Job Board

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:46:51 GMT

Paper resumes are -- or should be -- going out of style. They rarely give employers a complete profile of a potential hire, they're filled with abbreviated bunches of value-less buzzwords (or in my case, action verbs), and the thought of them makes trees cry. You don't want to make trees cry, do you? No, you don't. So many companies are turning to alternative, technological means to find the right candidates for job openings, some using algorithms, ranking systems, SaaS solutions like Taleo's , and more. In fact, one in six are now finding jobs on social networks .

What's old is new again at IDS 2012

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:05:04 GMT

It's no secret that words like "reclaimed," "upcycled," and "vintage" are the buzzwords of late when it comes to interior design, but when they're used on the mega-design-platform that is the annual Interior Design Show in Toronto, these words are suddenly given a new notch of credibility.

Enterprise Security and Gaining Insightful Insight into “Insight”

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:14:00 GMT

Security specialists are fond of using expressions like “robust protection” and “multi-layered defenses” when it comes to setting out their stall and telling us exactly how they are able to protect our data and applications. Looking closer at enterprise security, we see that lower down the buzzword pecking order for some reason is the word “insight” in its various forms. It seems insight means more than one thing in information technology these days, but perhaps it’s no coincidence that every meaning or interpretation of the term essentially falls somewhere under the umbrella of enterprise security.

When B2C and B2B Worlds Collide

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Having spent more than 20 years in the tech industry, I've seen many trends (and related buzzwords) come and go. One trend that I continue to see each year is the "consumerization of IT." While it hasn't always been referred to by that label, consumer demand has manifest itself across a variety of sectors in the industry, from PCs and email to the cloud.

When B2C and B2B Worlds Collide

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

SMAP: Solutions Masquerading as Problems

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:51:03 GMT

Solutions! It's been the buzzword of the decade. Our economy thrives on solutions.

PECL/mysqlnd_*: CCC - cloud, cluster, caching!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:00:37 GMT

We are giving PECL/mysqlnd_qc a second chance. PECL/mysqlnd_qc is a query cache plugin for mysqlnd. It can cache any query issued by any PHP MySQL extension using storage handler for process memory, APC, Memcache and SQLlite. Its default invalidation strategy is Time to Live (TTL). Using a more sophisticated invalidation strategy is possible. Of course, its transparent to use and inherits all the other advantages of a driver based approach. Award-winning technology: Oxid loves the query cache View more presentations on PHP and MySQL Cloud and Cluster Albeit quite powerful the plugin came late and is faced with stiff competition from application-based solutions. With everybody talking about cloud and database clusters, there is a new use case for client-side caching. No all-in-one cluster solution for all purposes exsits. MySQL users, for example, can choose between MySQL Replication, MySQL Cluster and an emerging number of third party solutions, which proof MySQL to be alive and rocking. The CAP theorem makes me assume that MySQL users will continue to have multiple choices. Whatever cluster solution will become the dominating force, applications should be enabled to see a cluster as a service. Accordingly, PECL/mysqlnd_ms 1.2 has introduced an API to set the required service level. In version 1.2 the service level option focusses on consistency: Eventual consistency - stale data allows, e.g. when reading from a MySQL replication slave Session consistency - read your writes Strong consistency - every client sees all writes Whatever type of cluster is used, PECL/mysqlnd_ms will try to deliver the requested consistency by selecting appropriate nodes. Caching If the application hints the database driver that eventual consistency is sufficient but data returned shall not be more than five seconds behind, the database driver can replace a slow, eventually remote database access with a fast, local cache access. That’s the second chance PECL/mysqlnd_qc will be given. PHP application Service level: eventual consistency, max 5 seconds old Any PHP MySQL extension (mysqli, PDO_MySQL, mysql) mysqlnd library PECL/mysqlnd_ms –> PECL/mysqlnd_qc | or | Process memory, Memcache, … | MySQL Documentation updates Before we begin with it, I have given the PECL/mysqlnd_qc a second chance as well. You can expect to find an improved Quickstart and Examples section at http://docs.php.net/manual/en/book.mysqlnd-qc.php soon. Have a look during the next days, its a cool plugin thing even without the cloud buzzword bingo… Happy New Year and happy hacking! @Ulf_Wendel PHP 5.4 and APC notes PECL/mysqlnd_qc 1.0.1 is not compatible with PHP 5.4. It has not been updated to the latest mysqlnd API as found in PHP 5.4. Andrey and I have prepared a patch and hope to push a 1.0.2 release soon. Unfortunately, the (private) C API of APC has also changed in the past year. Thus, the cache cannot use a recent APC version for storing cache entries. Of course, you can still use the latest version of APC to boost your PHP scripts even if the scripts use the query cache plugin.

RBI seen resetting debt recast rules soon

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:30:00 GMT

With corporate debt restructuring the buzzword these days, bankers expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tweak guidelines on it by the end of this month.

Entering (and Surviving) the Application Transformation Vortex

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:28:00 GMT

Transformation can be a dangerous word if used too lightly in software application development circles. With the global technology media swimming hard against a riptide of hackneyed overused buzzwords, we’re all too easily tempted to pick the most emotive adjectives and nouns we can find to describe the changing IT landscape in 2012. “We’re super-excited to leverage our extreme transformation architectures upon our customers’ customers and their customers,” says every vendor you care to pick, on a daily basis.

How to keep food poisoning from crashing your party

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:50:43 GMT

The number of food poisoning cases goes up at this time every year, but according to Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, you can indulge without worry by following four simple safe-food preparation buzzwords: clean, separate, cook, chill.

The Truth About Immunity-Boosting Drinks

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:16:45 GMT

Knowing that wellness sells, manufacturers slap the word "immunity" on labels or sprinkle them with token buzzwords such as "superfruits" or "natural energy."

Fresh, local, sustainable still buzzwords in food biz

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:43:57 GMT

Fresh, local and sustainable continue to be buzzwords in the food biz, with more Canadians expressing a desire to know where the food on their plate has come from.

Are businesses using 'F-commerce'

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:51:53 GMT

First it was "E-commerce," which meant selling things online. In 2011 the buzzword was "F-commerce" - the idea of companies selling things on social media sites like Facebook.

Digital Trends Best of 2011 Awards (Digital Trends)

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:45:35 GMT

Digital Trends - Itâs never a bad year to soak up new technology, but weâll still go out on a limb and say 2011 has been a particularly good one for gadget fiends. Sure, on the surface, 2011 lacked the many landmark product introductions that have changed the landscape of technology. A year like 2007 brought the first iPhone, first e-reader, and first netbooks. Even the tablet revolution weâre experiencing now started back in 2010. No, the last 12 months canât lay claim to many new buzzwords, but 2011 will stand out as a year many of these technologies reached new degrees of performance, affordability, and practicality.

Are businesses using 'F-commerce'

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:01:53 GMT

First it was "E-commerce," which meant selling things online. In 2011 the buzzword was "F-commerce" - the idea of companies selling things on social media sites like Facebook. ...

Top 10 Cloud Computing Predictions and Implications

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:29:14 GMT

The cloud computing will be the buzzword in 2012 as it would spread to mobile devices, mobile advertising, and wireless equipment.

Developer Year in Review: 2011 Edition

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:00:00 GMT

It's time for our annual look back at the year that was, when mobile ruled the world, HTML5 PWNED Flash, Drupal and Hadoop were the hot buzzwords for your resume, and a new batch of languages tried to become stars.

Palin Hints At Presidential Run, Ruins Christmas [Video]

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:10:00 GMT

When technology, Bollywood walked hand in hand

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:27:34 GMT

Technology was the buzzword in Bollywood.

The big business buzzword for 2012: big data

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:06:28 GMT

Big Data You have probably heard the term this year in tech circles and if you haven't you definitely will in 2012.

Liveability: How Does Phoenix MeasureA Up?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:15:10 GMT

Livability. A recent buzzword imbued with the notion of active citizenship. At first glance, livability seems to imply that residents are not able to live in their current situation.

Ugh! The Most Overused Buzzwords of 2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:38:01 GMT

Did you spend part of 2011 dusting off your resume? Did you try to accentuate the positive and package yourself in the most marketable way? I sure hope you chose your words ...

2011's Most Overused Resume Buzzwords

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:52:20 GMT

Are you highly motivated? A creative, innovative thinker with a successful track record in effective problem solving? What about your organizational and communication skills? Do you have extensive experience maneuvering a dynamic workplace? If any of this sounds familiar, then you've probably used one of the top 10 overused professional buzzwords ... (more)

Zero + Maria Cornejo

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:30:12 GMT

Urban camouflage. Deconstructing her new collection for pre-fall, that's the term Maria Cornejo used. It was an ironic choice, given that this designer has as strong a signature as any in the business (there's no missing the girl in the Maria dress when she walks into a room), but it was also rather apt. There were abstract patterns everywhere you looked—from the striped jacquard of a snug, lapel-less blazer and the pixelated jacquard of the blouson shorts it was paired with to the oversize butterfly and feather prints adapted from iPhone pics that she used on easy silk dresses.

Texture is becoming a buzzword this season, and Cornejo had one of the most riveting so far: a feathery silk/poly fringe that looked like Mongolian lamb from a distance but happens in actuality to be almost weightless. "It's a bit mad," she said, and indeed it was on an asymmetrical shift dress. But it wasn't the collection's only trick-of-the-eye. Cornejo's denim tunic and cropped pants were in fact cut from a Japanese indigo viscose—not denim at all—which means they'll have a good chance of flying off the racks when they arrive in stores just in time for high summer in the city.
—Nicole Phelps

All euro eyes on Germany

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:13:49 GMT

Stagnation is the buzzword in Europe.

Nuxeo Teams with TEMIS to Make You a Little More Web 3.0

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:32:00 GMT

Open source enterprise CMS provider Nuxeo announced a new integration with TEMIS. TEMIS’ semantic content enrichment tool Luxid can now be used to enrich content stored in Nuxeo with domain-specific metadata. No, I didn’t just type a bunch of techno buzzwords. Well, I did, but I promise this is cool.

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Rebound seen, but cautions the buzzword

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:30:00 GMT

The week witnessed a weak undertone as the bulls continued to exhibit a lack of buying conviction.

Tech Buzzwords Make Shortlist for Word of the Year (Mashable)

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:28:47 GMT

Mashable - The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen its (two-word) word of the year: Squeezed Middle. Last year's word of the year was big society, and the word of 2009 was unfriend. Those who spend time on Twitter might have guessed that OWS, occupy or 99% would have come out on top this year. They didn't come out on top, but they did make the shortlist, alongside some notable tech buzzwords. Gamification, clicktivism and crowdfunding made the U.S. shortlist, while hacktivism, sodcasting (playing music on your phone's speaker in a public place) and -- not surprisingly -- phone hacking made the UK list.

The eBook (r)evolution takes hold

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:18:59 GMT

"Disruptive" is a much abused buzzword at the moment. The biggest offenders are clueless corporate types trying to sound as if they've got a handle on the latest trends.

Does Digital Asset Management Belong On Your Server or in the Cloud?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:00:00 GMT

Digital asset management has traditionally been a premise-based solution, meaning the IT department is responsible for setting up and maintaining the hardware inside of their server room or data center. While the buzzword cloud is relatively new, the idea of letting someone else host parts of your company’s IT infrastructure is not. Hosted services have been around before the dot-com bubble, which almost everyone uses to run their websites or other IT applications. Cloud services typically differ from hosting services by using multiple computers instead of one to provide a specific service or application — in this case, Digital Asset Management.

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Let’s make Nov 27 a special day, says Bipasha Basu

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:47:28 GMT

Running is the current buzzword in Delhi, what with the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon just around the corner.

Gamification, when Games meet Brands

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:44:00 GMT

Translated from the article by Théo Saunier, Emakina.FR Gamification was one of the “buzzword” of last year and it is becoming a new important reality in communication. The concept refers to the integration of mechanics from the gaming environment – especially video games – in other areas. Brands can use it to engage with their [...]

Global transaction ID support for PECL/mysqlnd_ms

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:58:05 GMT

The catchy theme/motto of the PECL/mysqlnd_ms 1.2 release will be Global Transaction ID support. Hidden behind the buzzword are two features. We will allow users to request a certain level of service from the replication cluster (keyword: consistency) and we will do basic global transaction ID injection to help with master failover. Failover refers to the procedure of electing a new master in case of a master failure. Global Transaction ID support is the 1.2 motto/theme The two features are somewhat related, thus the theme. In very basic words, the idea of a global transaction ID is to have a sequential number in a table on the master. Whenever a client inserts data, the ID/counter gets incremented. The table is replicated to the slaves. If the master fails, the database administrator checks the slaves to find the one with the hightest global transaction ID. Please find details, for example, in Wonders of Global Transaction ID injection. What the plugin will do is inject a user-provided SQL statement with every transaction to increment the global transaction counter. However, there is also a client-side benefit to global transactions IDs. If you want to read-your-writes from a replication cluster, you usually query the master. You won’t go to the slaves, because you do not know if they have replicated your writes already. In case you need read-your-writes, set the master_on_write config setting in version 1.1. In version 1.2 we can offer more, if you want and need it. We can search for a slave who has replicated the global transaction ID of your write to reduce the read-your-write load on the master. The keyword here is consistency and the background posting is Consistency, cloud and the PHP mysqlnd replication plugin. However, consistency is not nearly as nice as a motto as the catchy global transaction ID theme. Of course, the day the MySQL Server has built-in Global Transaction IDs, we don’t need to do the injection any more. Meanwhile, we give it a try… a report from the hacks of the past two days. Feedback is most welcome. Warning: this now becomes a posting for hackers, not users. If you are not after implementation details, stop reading. The big news is the theme, nothing else. If you don’t trust any software you have not developed yourself but you like the idea of a replication and load balancing plugin, continue reading. First try: injection … our first attempt on global transaction ID injection is straigt forward. By default, injection is done only for queries that go to the master. By default, all PHP MySQL APIs use auto commit. In the most basic case we just inject SQL before the query from the user. Doing it first avoids hassle, if the users statement returns a result set. Injecting before the users statement also means, we increment regardless of the success of the users statement. $mysqli->query("SELECT 1"); $mysqli->query("INSERT INTO test(id) VALUES (1)"); SELECT -> slave -> auto commit on -> query(SELECT) INSERT -> master -> auto commit on -> query(INJECTED), query(INSERT); Optionally, we allow doing the injection on slaves as well. It can be configured if errors caused by injected SQL are ignored or reported, e.g. if the global transaction ID sequence table is unavailable. If not in auto commit mode, we do the injection when the user invokes the user APIs commit() function. This is possible as of PHP 5.4. We do not monitor all statements to catch query(COMMIT) calls. Same constraints as for 1.1’s trx_stickiness config setting. Andrey, the king of mysqlnd, proposed to consider query(INSERT), ..., query(INJECTED). In this case we would not increment the global transaction ID, if the users INSERT fails. However, its something for the king himself to evaluate. In other words: its beyond my skill level to do within hours. I’m somewhat sceptical its worth the efforts. We also started looking into using multi statements. In this case, we prepend the users statement with the SQL to maintain the global transaction ID and run the resulting statement as a multi statement. Shown is a prefixing example. Its implemented as a hack for buffered non-prepared statements. We need to benchmark, if its worth the complicated logic over the initial approach. $mysqli->query("INSERT INTO test(id) VALUES (1)"); INSERT -> master -> set_server_option(MULTI_STATEMENT_ON) -> query(INJECTED; INSERT) -> more_results -> next_results -> store_results -> set_server_option(MULTI_STATEMENT_OFF) First try: service level In the area of "consistency" and service level, our first approach looks promising. The time Andrey invested into the 1.1 release to implement the filter logic starts to pay off. In short, filter mean that we have a sequence of independent tools to find a node for running a statement. A bit like Unix command line tools that are connected on the command line with a pipe. query(SELECT) -> all masters, all slaves -> filter(LOADBALANCING) -> certain slave We now have a new quality-of-service or "consistency" (qos) filter. For background information on the idea, see Consistency, cloud and the PHP mysqlnd replication plugin. If, for example, the quality-of-service (consistency level) you need from the cluster is read-your-writes, you can set it in the plugin configuration file and create a filter chain like this: query(SELECT) -> all masters, all slaves -> filter(QOS, STRONG_CONSISTENCY) -> all masters, no slaves -> filter(LOADBALANCING) -> certain master This is not much of a win over the already existing master_on_write configuration setting. However, together with the new filter, we also introduced a new API call to change the filter chain at runtime. You don’t have to configure read-your-writes (master_on_write) when setting up the plugin, you can set at runtime - on demand. Let a filter chain like this be given: query(SELECT) -> all masters, all slaves -> all masters, all slaves -> filter(LOADBALANCING) -> certain slave Then, at run-time you place an order in your shop and you need to read-your-writes for a short period, you do: mysqlnd_ms_set_qos(MYSQLND_MS_STRONG_CONSISTENCY); $mysqli->query("SELECT id FROM orders"); /* ... do more queries that must not return stale data ... */ This will change the filter chain accordingly on-the-fly. query(SELECT) -> all masters, all slaves -> filter(QOS, STRONG_CONSISTENCY) -> all masters, no slaves -> filter(LOADBALANCING) -> certain master Once you are done with the consistent reads, you can go back with one API call to eventual consistency (use masters and slaves, which may or may not serve current data. That can save you a good number of SQL hints required in 1.1, if not using master_on_write. … and back to the beginning With the new filter and the new API call, we can also allow things like this: $mysqli->query("INSERT INTO orders(...)"); $global_trx_id = mysqlnd_ms_get_global_trx_id($mysqli); mysqlnd_ms_set_qos(MYSQLND_MS_SESSION_CONSISTENCY, $global_trx_id); $mysqli->query("SELECT id FROM orders"); /* ... do more queries that must not return stale data for table orders... */ In this case we can read from any master and any slave which has replicated a certain global transaction ID. This is where we get back to the beginning. And, we open up for the future. Imagine, with a distant release (not 1.2!), you could ask for data that is no older than 2 seconds. The plugin would either read from the master, or a slave lagging no more than 2 seconds, or fetch the result from a local TTL cache, such as PECL/mysqlnd_qc, with a TTL of 2 seconds… mysqlnd_ms_set_qos(MYSQLND_MS_EVENTUAL_CONSISTENCY, MAX_LAG, 2); $mysqli->query("SELECT id FROM news"); Happy hacking to all of us… @Ulf_Wendel

'Supercalifragi-what?' Buzzword trips up star

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:45:10 GMT

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" wasn't super easy for "Mary Poppins" musical theatre star Nicolas Dromard when he first joined the cast, admits the French-Canadian Ottawa native.

Cloud Computing - New Buzzword, Old Legal Issues

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:56:23 GMT

As an observer of the IT and Internet industries for several decades, I watch with great amusement as new buzzwords surface for old concepts. Not too long ago, the term "cloud computing" appeared on the scene. The technology concept behind cloud computing has been around for more than 50 years, and the legal issues are equally old.

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:51:51 GMT

It's taken me a few years, but I've come around to this buzzword. It highlights an important characteristic of a particular sort of Internet attacker. A conventional hacker or criminal isn't interested in any particular target. He wants a thousand credit card numbers for fraud, or to break into an account and turn it into a zombie, or whatever. Security...

Warmongers Eager for More Blood-letting

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:46:11 GMT

By Stuart Littlewood

You can read about it on a British government website.

'The UK and many other countries have serious concerns about the Iranian Government’s policies,' says the Foreign Office, 'its failure to address serious international concerns about its nuclear programme; its support for terrorism and promotion of instability in its region; and its continued denial of human rights...'

I really thought they were talking about Israel and had got the names muddled up. But no... "On Iran’s nuclear programme, we are actively seeking a solution through diplomatic engagement and sanctions to encourage compliance by Iran with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and six UN Security Council resolutions."

Wow, does this means that Israel, which Iran is supposed to be threatening, is an innocent victim of Iranian aggression, is a menace to no-one, is suddenly co-operating with the IAEA and is now in full compliance with all those UN resolutions?

This is hot news!

The Foreign Office goes further: "Iran’s backing of Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and other Palestinian Rejectionist Groups..."

Just a minute. What exactly is a "rejectionist group"? I had to look it up in the Oxford dictionary. A rejectionist, it says, is a person who rejects a proposed policy, especially an Arab who refuses to accept a negotiated peace with Israel.

Ah. So what are we supposed to call an Israeli who rejects a perfectly reasonable Arab peace deal… like “get off our land and there’ll be no trouble”? What do we call an Israeli who defies international law and denies the human rights of others? An Israeli who treats UN resolutions with contempt?

“Rejectionist” Israel

Rejectionism is an Israeli thing; it’s what they do, they specialise in it. Israel, let’s face it, is king of the rejectionist business.

All this sabre-rattling and talk of pre-emptive strikes against Iran is getting on everyone's nerves. Iran, after all, is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Israel is not. What does that tell us?

The Treaty dates back to 1970 so Israel has had more than enough time to show good faith and come on board with the other 189 State parties. The NPT has more signatories than any other treaty of its kind. The only refuseniks – OK, let's stay with the Foreign Office's new buzzword – the only rejectionists are India, Israel and Pakistan.

The British government says the international community must be prepared to "respond robustly" when a country withdraws from the NPT... "The NPT is not like any other treaty and the risks associated with its abuse are uniquely dangerous. We recommend immediate discussions at the UN Security Council if a country announces its intention to withdraw. The IAEA should be required to report immediately on the nuclear activities of that country."

It’s common sense really. So what about countries, like Israel, that have stacks of nukes and refused to sign up to the NPT in the first place? What about the "uniquely dangerous risks" in Israel’s case? Where’s the robust response? Is the UNSC addressing Israel’s rejectionism? Has the IAEA reported on Israel's nuclear activities?

As a matter of fact the IAEA is quite bothered about Israel. The BBC reported yesterda... "On 18 September 2009, the IAEA called on Israel to join the NPT and open its nuclear facilities to inspection. The resolution said that the IAEA ‘expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities, and calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards’...

"Israel refuses to join the NPT or allow inspections. It is reckoned to have up to 400 warheads but refuses to confirm or deny this."

I've seen the 400 “deliverable” nukes figure before – it’s nearly twice Britain's arsenal – also that European cities were targeted.

Israel is the third or fourth largest nuclear force in the world and the only one in the Middle East. A 2006/7 report by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission says: “Most unofficial estimates claim that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal numbering in the hundreds, possibly larger than the British stockpile. Israel is widely believed to possess both fission and fusion bombs. It has an unsafeguarded plutonium production reactor and reprocessing capability and possibly some uranium enrichment capability, along with various other uranium-processing facilities."

It is the only state in the region that is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. As regards biological and chemical weapons, Israel has not signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention.

So why is the focus on Iran and not rejectionist Israel? Israel’s incessant foaming at the mouth over Iran has nothing to do with the alleged remark by Mr Ahmadjinadad to “wipe Israel off the map” – a remark he never made anyway. Long before that, back in 2002 and 2004 Israel was urging the international community to target Iran as soon as it had finished in Iraq and to strip Iran of WMD.

Are we expected to believe that Israel's leaders, given their lawless and belligerent track record, are saner than Iran’s Ahmadjinadad? Washington and London may believe such tosh but I doubt if anyone in the Middle East would. Or anyone else in Europe for that matter. A European Commission survey finds that the public believe Israel to be the biggest threat to world peace, greater than North Korea, Afghanistan or Iran.

Eighty per cent of Conservative MPs preach that Israel's enemies are our enemies but who is listening?

War-war Not Jaw-jaw

Perhaps the looniest thing I have heard lately is the passage through Congress of the ‘‘Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011’’. Hidden away where it wouldn't be noticed, under "General Provisions - Denial of Visas for Certain Persons of the Government of Iran" (Section 601), is this gem...

“(c) RESTRICTION ON CONTACT. -- No person employed with the United States Government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity any person that -- (1) is an agent, instrumentality, or official of, is affiliated with, or is serving as a representative of the Government of Iran; and (2) presents a threat to the United States or is affiliated with terrorist organizations. (d) WAIVER. -- The President may waive the requirements of subsection (c) if the President determines and so reports to the appropriate congressional committees 15 days prior to the exercise of waiver authority that failure to exercise such waiver authority would pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the vital national security interests of the United States.”

It effectively bans diplomacy with Iran. Neither the President himself nor the Secretary of State nor any US diplomat or emissary is allowed to engage in negotiations or diplomacy with Iran unless the President can convince the "appropriate Congressional committees" (e.g. the House Foreign Affairs Committee whose strings are pulled by AIPAC) that not doing so would present "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the vital national security interests of the United States".

War-war is preferred to jaw-jaw. And it’s no surprise to discover that this nonsense was cooked up by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Howard Berman (D-CA), who both lead the Foreign Affairs Committee.

How clever is it to abandon all the channels of normal diplomacy? Those who support the measure must be desperate for more bloodshed - as long as they personally don't have to act as cannon-fodder. Who can forget the chicken-hawks who casually ordered troops into Iraq and Afghanistan but would never dream of donning uniform and picking up a rifle themselves?

The preamble to this junk piece of legislation states:

“In the 2006 State of the Union Address, President Bush stated that ‘The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons. America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats...’ In February 2009, President Obama committed the Administration to ‘developing a strategy to use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon... Iran is a major threat to United States national security interests.’”

Is it really?

Circulating in the background for years have been rumours speculating on the whereabouts of nuclear warheads dumped by a US B-52 which crashed in 1991. Did freelancers salvage them? Was the nuke exploded by North Korea in 2006 one of these? Does Iran have some? Is this what the panic's about?

Many people are quite sure that if the increasingly unhinged Israeli leadership, with finger on the nuke button, believed their unlawful ambitions in the Middle East were permanently thwarted, they would think nothing of taking the rest of the world to hell with them.

- Stuart Littlewood's book Radio Free Palestine can now be read on the internet by visiting www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

After the Kumbaya

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:51:58 GMT

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Palestine at the United Nations: A Jewish Reaction

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:51:11 GMT

By Edward S. Goldstein

As an American Jew with lifelong involvement in Jewish cultural and religious life, I watched the unfolding of the Palestinian application for UN membership with both admiration and a sense of scandal. Concerning the future, I feel only sadness.

An objective person must admire the Palestinian decision to make explicit to the world what close observers have known for years, that the Oslo “peace process” amounts to peace talks to nowhere except a Greater Israel. President Abbas’ move drops Palestine into the center of international law and dialogue once again after being sidetracked for17 years by the Oslo process. The statehood application did not preclude further negotiations, it merely promised Palestinians increased diplomatic leverage at the negotiating table in the face of overwhelming Israeli power and American bias.

Those who fear that statehood will vitiate refugee rights or disenfranchise the Palestinian diaspora need only look at Israel to see that a state can advocate on behalf of a dispersed people better than any organization.

Shame on the United States for its supercilious and hypocritical scurrying to try and block the Palestinian move. In addition to election cycle subservience to Israel (and it’s always an election cycle in America) one wonders if President Obama’s frantic efforts against his own stated policies stems from anger at American diplomacy being exposed in all its nakedness. Harry Truman twisted arms to obtain votes for partition while Obama twists them to forestall the Palestinian state mandated in 1947. Truman rushed to recognize Israel while today the United States rushes to bully President Abbas and small countries on the Security Council.

The American Jewish community stopped thinking for itself years ago when it comes to Israel. Israel has become an article of faith for my fellow Jews, not a real-world country led by fallible human beings. American Jewish leaders, organizations and synagogues filter news and interpretation of Israel reaching the typical Jew. The community understandably condemns Palestinian terrorism but knows nothing of settler terrorism. Concerning the UN, the community failed to appreciate the nonviolence of diplomacy. It condemned when it should have applauded a Palestinian embrace of nonviolence.

One of the great tragedies of American Jewish life is that the leadership keeps the rank and file in a state of perpetual anxiety, easily converted to hysteria, teaching that Israel at any and every moment stands on the verge of annihilation. Israel is helpless. It is like 1938, Netanyahu tells us, as if Israel’s existence in itself is not a vast, fundamental difference from 1938. A basic purpose of Zionism, to create a “new Jew,” a self-confident, self-reliant person has been jettisoned in favor of the politics of fear. How many Israelis internalize and how many American Jews even know that Israel is the world’s fourth strongest conventional military power and also a nuclear power, with an economy doing better in the world recession than America’s and, even amidst growing isolation, enough diplomatic muscle to keep the U.S.A. in diplomatic thrall and to push Greece into scuttling the latest Gaza flotilla. Of course, a pitifully weak Israel, its apologists conveniently argue, cannot be expected to take risks for peace…not even prudent ones.

The Jewish community condemned Abbas’ UN move for specious reasons: it was allegedly an act of unilateralism …but relentless settlement expansion in contravention of international law is not unilateralism. Settlements, unlike Abbas’ application for UN membership, are worse than preconditions that Netanyahu says he opposes…they prejudge the outcome of talks.

Over the summer, the Jewish community coined a new buzzword (the last was “delegitimatization”) – “True Peace,” apparently in contrast to False Peace. Abbas was pursuing False Peace while the American Jewish Committee and its sycophants were upholding True Peace. But what is false about a peace based on elemental fairness and international law? What is true about a peace sought after by coddling mosque burners? In a crescendo of inconsistency, the community proclaimed that the UN overture was foolish and irrelevant while simultaneously decrying it as disastrous for Israel.

I am scandalized at the intellectual slovenliness (and, therefore, moral irresponsibility) of Israeli and American Jewish polemics. Consider the assertion, bought into by so many newspapers and organizations, that the UN application was ruinous because it would lead to abrogation of Olso, violence and a diminished likelihood of peace talks. These dire outcomes were invoked like a law of nature: UN application leads to negatives. Would you ever know that all such outcomes depend entirely on how Israel chooses to respond to Abbas’ move?

Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest blocking tactic, never a diplomatic demand until the last few years, is that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as “the Jewish State.” This too is an intellectually specious formulation. Israel is a country without an eastern border. Should Abbas immediately, as the prime minister demands, recognize the West Bank as part of the Jewish state and abandon Palestinian statehood claims to the very area in dispute? Does a Jewish state mean that non-Jewish citizens have lesser rights than Jews and are not an integral part of the society? Is a Jewish state Jewish in the Orthodox Jewish sense with non-Orthodox Jews to remain legally and ritually disenfranchised as they are currently? Netanyahu told the UN that Abbas wants a state without peace. Actually, it is Netanyahu who wants a “Jewish State” before its borders are fixed and all its Jews, let alone non-Jews, are assured of equal rights.

Netanyahu’s assertion that Abbas wants a “Judenrein” (Netanyahu’s chosen term) Palestinian state is designed to win gentile sympathy and to stoke Jewish fear. But it, too, is an absurd argument. Abbas is not opposed to Jewish good neighbors living in Palestine under Palestinian law like Americans live abroad under foreign law. He is opposed, and should be, to having settlers in his midst – residents who arrive and maintain their presence at the point of a gun, often living on stolen Palestinian land, using stolen water, exploiting Palestinian labor and traveling on segregated roads. In addition, a violent percentage of settlers regularly terrorize their Palestinian neighbors. And the settlers, though not living in Israel, insist on living under Israeli law. Visa and pilgrimage treaties, allowing movement between Israel and Palestine in both directions, should be negotiated between the two states after settlers withdraw and the states develop a track record of living side by side peacefully.

I believe in the two-state solution although it will be understandable if the Palestinian struggle transforms into a civil rights movement in a Greater Israel. The two-staters have not faced the reality that we, like the Palestinians, have nowhere to go. For Israel’s Greater Israel adherents and “Israel-right-or-wrong” Americans there is never a good time for peacemaking and compromise means doing only what you want, not what you should. Settlement expansion, including in East Jerusalem, render negotiations meaningless while the United States is systemically incapable of serving as an honest broker.

I am saddened that American Jews, kept ignorant and anxious by irresponsible leaders, turn intellectual somersaults to justify Israel’s policies. Living in denial of Israel’s strength and obligations and of the just elements of the Palestinian cause, and misled into thinking that the Holocaust confers unassailable virtue upon Jews and Israel, American Jews will soon stand dumbfounded as more of their young and more of the world turn away from them and from Israel.

I am filled with unspeakable sadness that the understandable cause of Israel as refuge and locus of cultural renewal – which could have been reconciled with Palestinian sovereignty over most of the land – has become a dynamic of land fever and mindless muscle flexing that will bring upon my beloved people curses, not blessings, from heaven.

As for Palestinians, your greatest asset will continue to be sumud, steadfastness…the refusal to forget or to cease striving for self-determination. Jews preserved their dream of Zion for 2000 years but seethe at the reality that you have not jettisoned your dream after six decades. Ben-Gurion said of the Palestinian refugees, “the old will die and the young will forget.” He was wrong. Some Palestinians claim Jews have no real ties to the land. They too are wrong. Unfortunately, with friends like John Boehner and Bashar Assad the parties are unlikely to achieve mutual understanding any time soon.

- Edward S. Goldstein, a public affairs professional, has served as a lay synagogue preacher and cantor. He taught Jewish Studies before entering the business world and has lived in Israel. In this article, he speaks solely for himself. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

Marquez seeks vindication from third fight with Pacquiao (Reuters)

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:32:37 GMT

Reuters - Vindication is the buzzword for Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez as he prepares for the concluding chapter in his trilogy of bouts with Manny Pacquiao next week.

Building Great Enterprise 2.0 Communities

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:20:00 GMT

We technologists, business executives and marketers are fans of a well-crafted buzzword that means nothing but embodies everything. Phrases like "the cloud," "web service" and "web 2.0" escape easily through our lips and effortlessly from our keyboards to fill pages of blogs and hours of conferences. Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be another term to stir those feelings, enterprise 2.0 is growing up and taking center stage.

Read full story...

Who Coined "Cloud Computing"?

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Now that every technology company in America seems to be selling cloud computing, Technology Review decided to find out where it all began.

Cloud computing is one of the hottest buzzwords in technology. It appears

PRACTICE: Irrational's Gaynor On Better Storytelling, Player Freedom Through Gating

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:50:00 GMT

The immersive simulation genre is defined by a specific set of values, says Irrational senior level designer Steve Gaynor: they're games in which you seamlessly inhabit an avatar, mine stories out of an exploration, grow abilities to become more capable in the gameworld, and become fully invested in an imaginary space. "Immersion is a common buzzword in game development, but there's a more universal term for it: It's suspension of disbelief," Gaynor describes, speaking at ...

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