The US Department of Defense knew about Al Qaida cell in 2000.

Associated Press writer was in a position to see documents in the US Defense department that were classified before. It's related to the September 11th attack.
The documents mentioned military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger'' who was esthablished with the purpose to identify potential al-Qaida operatives for U.S. Special Operations Command. And they did it. It was year 2000., one full year before attacks and they found out:

Able Danger identified Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi as members of a cell the unit code-named "Brooklyn" because of some loose connections to New York City.

Let's remember that The September 11th Commission did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to 9/11 of surveillance of Mohammed Atta or of his cell. Now, asked about it, Mr. Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana said

"Had we learned of it obviously it would've been a major focus of our investigation."

The Commision spoke with military personnel during investigation, and it seems that officals could recall Able Danger story, but can't remember The military said them about Al Qaida cell and connections. So, military was silent on that part in front of offical investigators.

Does that mean The September 11th commision should arrange reviews of their conclusions and findings? Some 9/11 widows think so.

Latest evidence is pointing out on the fact that some officials inside Defense Department had a knowledge of Al Quaida cell in the US way back to 2000.

The latest revelation came last monday when Goverment Security News run a story that was later picked up by New York Times.
Congressmen Weldon is very vocal about the issue, and spoke this summer with local newspaper in Pa., and spoke on the Congres floor in July.
Weldon's sorces are former defense officials who worked for Able Danger team in Florida during 2000., and speak on the condition of anonimity. Weldon briefed representative Hoerkstra, the Michigan Republican.

The information about this development wasn't allowed ( DIA units ) to be shared with law enforcment agencies ( FBI) . They could be shared technicaly, but as Weldon says ( R-Pa., vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees) , ''Pentagon lawyers rejected the recommendation because they said Atta and the others were in the country legally so information on them could not be shared with law enforcement ''.

FBI hadn't got information about the group at that time ( 2000. ). Why this piece of information wasn't forwared since the members of the cell were in the country on the visas and were not ''US persons'' ?

Whom was the information on the cell delivered ? They knew (DoD) they had to deal with potential enemies, so they must be put under some form of surviellance.

If FBI hadn't traced four young men of islamic descent during 2000. and 2001., then who did ?

FOLLOW UP:

Taipei Times Taiwan reports
The Times of India
St.Petersburg Times
Brad Blog
Deseret News
Asbury Park Press
Newark Star-Ledger

Apply this to the ''old'' world

I wonder, what one gets mixing hacker's philosophy , global value chains, and Creative Commons licences .
Things to remind us of productive collaboration via this story about manufacturing Danish beer . The recipe of the beer is free for sharing and modification under CC .

As some bright minds of the world recently discussed about creative explosion not seen since industrial revolution.
Quote>

Just because something is created by anyone with a net connection and some sort of know-how, existing outside of formal, does not make it any less accurate or useful, say the digital thinkers of our times.

"For the first time since the industrial revolution, the most important means and components of core economies are in the hands of the population at large," explains Yale Law professor Yochai Benkler.

Yuan's slow devaluation

The news of the month is that China today ends yuan dollar peg. It's not as broad as some expected but instead very gradual move.
Having in mind political and economical consequences , this is one of the most important events for the global financial markets this year.
Will see how far chinese policy makers will go.
This quote is very telling:

"It's just a gesture. The question now is whether there will be continuing speculation that China may revalue even more," said Ben Kwong, an analyst from KGI Asia in Hong Kong.

Web 2.0 roses

These two sites were unknown to me.

Start.com - Microsoft is experimenting with ''personal web'' concept.

PixelPass.com - Allows hight valuable bloggers to recive micropayments.

Let's talk about Start.com first. Nice ajaxed web app, surprisingly agile team from Microsoft and seems they are onto something. Not completely unseen but could be powerful and nice service in the future.
Search is main component as far as I can tell. Oh, rss reading too.
I am playing only few moments and immediatly write my thoughts here.

After writing search query, Start.com scans web, news and rss places. My first query was '' Croatia''. The response is good and the results are relevant. Now I can choose to look at recent news and rss feeds only with ONE click !

Amazing, the buttons for subscribing to some rss feeds about Croatia is at hand, instantly .
Left pane of the site gives me opportunity to categorize these feeds . Woh ! I got deja vu now ! I't's exactly what I thought about croatian rss feed service ( potential ) for average internet users.

Up to the point.
I can't write any more. I discovered my legos :))

Later more on that.

P.S
When this service comes out in beta , Feedlounge will be somehow obsolet.
I think this is web based rss reader for the masses. Yes, Start.com.
They need to put social bookmarking too. MS team has a blog from the START.com ;))

Read and come

Beautiful article in today's New York Times about Croatia , its islands and tourism in general.
Great to see again such praise for my country in NY Times online edition.
Let the magic roll and words blossom ;)

Nowhere is the tourist board's touted "Magical Croatia" brand more fitting than on Hvar, where they give names to the wind but not the streets, where children are said to fly and the richest man in the world has to wait for his latte during fjaka, when the island tucks in for its afternoon siesta.

True. Must see.

Aerial images and maps

To me, as a non-american, exploring US from above ( satellite and aerial photos, not driving maps) is more useful using Microsoft's partnership Terra Servers then using Google Maps. Far better, faster, simple; just more to the point. Google can have all blog evangelism of the world ( and those APIs , community and buzz ), but I'll stick to Terra Server database when closely watching some streets :)).
It works for me just as many others. Map my words ;)
Or, shall I say, combine those ( Examples for location: Terra Servers and Google Maps ) two services.

Swik- a collaborative space

As a someone who has experience as lecturer for high school students ( law subjects ) and a long time blogger, I find truly fascinating Swik- combinations of user editing which are using concept of wikis, tags, rss and blogs to enable truly collaborative enviroment for groups who may learn with strong emphasis on searching and adding relevant content.
Swik is doing brilliant job.

OK, Swik's content is related to highly geeky themes, but similar concept could be made for any other subject and topic, or community interest.

Electricity ''pipes'' to deliver high speed net

Google has invested ( besides media titan Hearst and bankers at Goldman Sachs ) in broadband-over-powerline company. I wonder why smart money is chasing these technologies ? I heard somewhere that the biggest value of those systems lays in their ability to efficiently manage power grids. Not delivering broadband.
As CNET wrote about the deal for delivering such a service:

Under its relationship with most power companies, Current runs the service, bills the customers and collects 100 percent of the revenue. Power companies, in return for use of their grid, receive payments from Current.

Another broadband-over-powerline partnering project is located in northern Texas.

UPDATE:

IBM enters BPL deal as well. Interesting.

Our internet, your internet

True, what Joi Ito, japanese blogger, said about ''internets''. I like his thought that average individual doesn't notice internet ( web content ) outside of their country.
Quote:

I would say that the average individual probably doesn't really notice the Internet outside of their country or really care about content not in their native language.

How true; there are numerouse examples where local markets and cultures dictate what web content ( especially which web service ) user will prefer. I mean, does Yahoo, Amazon or Ebay can deliver ( no matter how strong brand they have ) succesfull web service into emerging economies ( Russia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia ) ?
I doubt so.
Very clear to me when speaking about Croatia. As I wrote, before, for example, we had numerouse service available on the web for auctions, but neither of them had successful service and users hadn't care.

They prefer barter trade but with other means, like special ad papers and web editions of these papers to exchange things, and not to ''auction'' things.

But in the end, I don't think such behaviour will hinder proliferation of ideas and global voices on the internet.

Sell or not to sell T-mobile US

When I heard a rumor early this week that T-Mobile plans to sell its US arm , the very first thought that came was skeptical by nature.
Why would they do that ? Deutsche Telekom to sell the most healthier part of their business? No way, I said to myself, just like many analysts and investors.

According to their 1st quarter, the growth rate was 40 %.
The market share of 10 % in US, very healthy subscriber base, and positioning in the youth market. These are all strong DT fundamental in US.

So, the cited reasons in the rumor were that Deutsche Telekom will face huge bill for upgrading its network to 3G ( the investment could top 10 billion ) , so that the released fonds will be used for buying european assets. Sort of strategically rewiring.

The expections are, according to this very same rumors , of at least $ 30 billion for the eventual selling price.

But I doubt german institutional investors would be happy with above mentioned price. It 's still less when having in mind DT entry on US markets with the deal of buying Voicestream at the high of dot com inflated market prices.
Satisfied or not, the financial reality sets market value for the asset price which could be lower in the future.

The question addressed to the management of DT could be are they in the know of something that markets haven't yet figure out ?

If so, there could be strategic deal to get rid of that asset while it's still can obtain such a high price.

But, at least for now, there's no buyer for T-mobile US arm. Vodafon , as potential buyer, declined immediatly such a rumor.

Human brain doesn't work like computer

The Cornell University study concludes that human brain doesn't work like computer. Instead, the mind works like a dynamic continuum.
People can't be programmed like PCs. The mind is more than just a order of 0's and 1's. Even though the humanity likes to call brain ''human computer'', newly released studies aren't on that path. Still, some projects , just like IBM's Blue Brain Project, are under way with a goal to map the brain and unearth its secrets.
It's close to possible that human brain will stay secret to all of us forever. Every human is distinct for itself. In the name of science and health, further scientific research of brain is needed, but it's hardly to expect its complete mapping .
The above mentioned project conducted by IBM engeeners is distinct from all trials befores because it is using raw power of supercomputers and not laboratory studies.
But, at the end, IBM hopes to find how, by the latest theories, brain rewires itself, so that they could use and apply this logic to the new generation of supercomputers.
Qoute>

And it is not just brain research that will benefit from the Blue Brain project. The latest theory is that brain circuitry is in a complex state of flux, the brain rewiring itself every moment of its existence. If the scientists can crack open the secret of how and why the brain does it, the knowledge could lead to a revolutionary new breed of supercomputers. Such computers could make today's supercomputers look like lumbering analog calculators!

Jajah takes on Skype ?

Newly released software Jajah, for making phone calls over the Internet, aims to gain market share in crowded VOIP industry where Skype dominates. The Austrian based team released last week desktop client available for free downloading which installs onto users PC and enables to make calls between PCs, PCs and landlines, PCs and mobile phones and to SIP phones.

Jajah marks itself as revolutionary web phone whose users can call their buddies on Skype and some other Internet telephony networks .
Some say it's important to have interoperability between VOIP providers but it should be done with consent of participants to safeguard security and privacy issues.
Jajah has many standard features in their software client such as audio and video calls, text messaging, chat, call on landline phones with applicable fee.
Communication expert Robin Good thinks it's killer application for Internet telphony, but some skeptics call Jajah team responsible for unprepared release and advise more work should be done to make a significant impact in the crowded VOIP space.

Skype is the most popular program for making phone calls over the Internet with almost 40 milion users around the world.
In the past few years Internet telephony gain on popularity curbed by wider acceptance of broadband Internet acces and prove that it can lower communication cost for international calls.

Ring my another webphone

Today again in telephony mode. Ever heard about Gizmoproject? Now it's time. It's project backed by Michael Robertson ( The founder of MP3.com, Lindows... ).

The other article is great to read, it's about VOIP fraud, courtesy of Voxilla.

Jajah webphone

Jajah is a killer phone software. I feel it ! If it works just like Robin Good says, it's my pleasure to have calls over Jajah . At the moment, I am still downloading Jajah so haven't tried yet.

Skype was pain in the ass, it drained my resources, bandwith over dial up, voice was distant. The community on Skype is most valuable, and seems that Jajah is interoperable in terms of buddy list.
Must look at Jajah rates for calling on regular phones.

Can't wait to ring my home phone. There are 5 minutes free prepaid.

UPDATE:

Thanks to the Jajah team for contact and warm response. I know they are surprised with the adoption of Jajah and are busy handling the whole operation. Thanks for your additional explanation. Now, I am more convinced that good people are behind these project.
My review of Jajah expect sometime in the future. Currently , I am busy.

Apple +Intel Inside

R.Cringley thinks Intel and Apple are posed for merger. The reason : Microsoft.
Interesting speculation. Apple announced this week that it will use Intel processors, starting 2006.

Super feed cheating

Google is super star on financial markets in US. Impressive indeed. But what then ? Take a look at this - SuperFeedSystem, new type of software available for automatic publishing and syndicating content ( via rss format ) , found over at Svakodnevica blog
How will that fit with various ad programs on the web like Google AdSense etc. ?

Lessons about nuclear weapons

Robert McNamara: Article in June's edition of Foreign Policy.

Robert S. McNamara was U.S. secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 and president of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981.

The crucial words are here:

If the United States continues its current nuclear stance, over time, substantial proliferation of nuclear weapons will almost surely follow. Some, or all, of such nations as Egypt, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Taiwan will very likely initiate nuclear weapons programs, increasing both the risk of use of the weapons and the diversion of weapons and fissile materials into the hands of rogue states or terrorists. Diplomats and intelligence agencies believe Osama bin Laden has made several attempts to acquire nuclear weapons or fissile materials. It has been widely reported that Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, former director of Pakistan’s nuclear reactor complex, met with bin Laden several times. Were al Qaeda to acquire fissile materials, especially enriched uranium, its ability to produce nuclear weapons would be great. The knowledge of how to construct a simple gun-type nuclear device, like the one we dropped on Hiroshima, is now widespread. Experts have little doubt that terrorists could construct such a primitive device if they acquired the requisite enriched uranium material. Indeed, just last summer, at a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry said, “I have never been more fearful of a nuclear detonation than now.… There is a greater than 50 percent probability of a nuclear strike on U.S. targets within a decade.” I share his fears.

Intro podcast

Title: Short intro to my Zec Online podcast [ Listen now ! ]
Length: 0:21
Format: MP3

Description: Acctually, not my first podcast. Nobody knows here in Croatia I've put some of my audio files into RSS 2.0 available format long time ago, but nevermind...I don't expect someone will make big deal out of it. My ego is happy without any media attention. Who cares! Those in the know will...well, know !

Just a short voice intro, let's hear how it sounds. It's my pure real-life voice without any sound effects. The background music is Morcheeba.

Stay audioblogged....

Notes

Some quick reminders on the news I left behind, I need to read them more carefully. Later.

Another RSS format for mass adoption>
Yahoo and its media RSS.

The talk Simon Waldman gave in Seul:

Slashdot:
Internetwork start up companies.

Celebrations

This news got me into deep thinking in the afternoon :D
Here's what happened:

Doctors had to be called to separate the bride and best man after they were caught in the act during a wedding in Croatia.

The couple were trapped together by a muscle spasm after a friend of the groom walked in on them as they had sex in the toilets.

Oh , boy, someone won't get married so soon :-))