Okay, this may be inappropriate but it is too funny to pass!

Im looking for an investor for my new product “the handjobber”. There are plenty of dildos for women out there, but there are no good masturbators for men. until now. The masturbator is designed using precise aluminum machining and plastic molding. I figure it would retail for 299$. this isnt some stupid blowjob toy with an air pump, this is a true handjobber!

(via Blog Maverick)

Yes, it is real and absolutely serious. Hey, being entrepreneur is about finding a niche and fill it right? Gosh, someone should submit this for Asian Innovation Awards. :-)

The common misconception is the Internet is all de-centralization. It is actually both; Above IP, it is and should be absolutely decentralize but when you dealing with core infrastructure (IP & DNS), like it or not, that’s is centralized.

Another misconception is ITU is all about the ‘old worlds’ and didnt ‘get it’. Regardless of the history, look at some of the issues that has been discussed in the recent WTSA and it is obvious they did get it.

Back to topic, there are some fundamental problems with ICANN. Here are some of what I think:

1. Building trust among stakeholders – particularly governments around the world is extremely important yet lacking. The reality is that many governments play a big role in developing Internet in their countries (especially outside US) and not engaging them is silly. Transparency is important to build trust, not the other way round. ICANN been a US corporation is also not helpful to towards this end.

2. Speaking of trust, it is also related to the arcane root server operation. Be more open about it – that all the root servers (including those shared-anycast ones) takes the zone file from “A” Root Server, which is operated by Verisign. Verisign in turns takes the zone file changes order from ICANN/IANA signed off by US DoC. The US DoC link is bad. Hiding it wont make it go away.

3. ICANN is bloated; for the amount of work they are chartered to do, they have too many highly paid executives doing too many travelings and too many committess bloated by lawyers & etc. They should look at ways to cut-cost and ‘delegates’ more to the community. All they just need to do is ask and RIRs and regional Internet organizations would be more then happy to help. Not engaging these existing organizations and having more committees of their own only increase cost yet adding little value to the whole.

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ICANN has just announced the nominations for ICANN board and Joi Ito was “selected” as the representive for Asia Pacific.

I play a small role in recommending Joi to the nomination committee and also providing advises to him during the process. I am glad he was selected by the NomCom. Congulations and welcome to ICANN. :-)

WTSA is the meeting to layout workplans for ITU-T for the next four years. So even though ITU-T is supposing a technical group in ITU, the issues discussed here are more politically, like elections of chairs for various SGs, telco issues like callback and also several Internet issues.

I wasn’t able to stay for the conclusion for WTSA as I need to fly back to Singapore for N+I Asia. But here are some of the Internet issues that was discussed at this meeting.

1. Spam

There are two proposals on spam: one for ITU-T (working with IETF) to develop definitions and recommendations for spam and the other is a recommendation for ITU Council to propose to the Member States for a multiliteral MoU on spam.

Many of the developing countries see ITU-T as the organization to provide guidances for spam. One even expressed that if the world has adopted X.400, then spam would not have existed in the first place (ha!). As it stands, the first proposal didn’t get much resistance but the second one is not going through easily. Even countries who have sign MoU on spams aren’t prepared to do a multilteral MoU and many arent sure if ITU is the right place to do this.
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I totally screwed up on the IDN presentation yesterday. Jetlag hits me pretty badly so my brain is totally blanked out. I remember looking at the confused look at the audience and wanted to dig a hole right there. (I did much better on my IPv6 presentation which went very smoothly)

Anyway, as I mention, this is an extremely political meeting. I witness political maneuvers by different Member States both publicly and also privately in getting their positions through. Every words said in public, every private conversations, who has been whispering to who and even who tapped the shoulder of who have different layers of meanings and implications.

Case in point: after my presentations, a friend approached me and congulate me of the job well done. I was very embrassed until she told me that I did a good job of confusing the audience. And that, apparently, is a good conclusion.

(No, I am not going to explain why. It is a long story.)

Update: I was told I was too harsh on myself. Even though I dont remember what I said, apparently, I didnt screwed up too badly.

I love Japanese food. I used to spend my weekend hunting around Singapore looking for good Japanese restaurants. I am also pretty picky about Japanese food. Because Japanese food are often served raw, it taste horrible if it is little bit not fresh! Unfortunately, good Japanese food are also pretty expensive but I think they are worth it..

Now, there is one more reason why you should not eat cheap sushi (via Joiito).

Carbon monoxide, a gas that is also a component of wood smoke, prevents the flesh from discoloring. It can even turn chocolate tuna red, according to some who have seen the process…The Food and Drug Administration says the process is harmless. But Japan, Canada and the countries of the European Union have banned the practice because of fears that it could be used to mask spoiled fish.

Scarly isn’t it?

My god!.The 36 hours flight from Singapore to Brazil is still giving me nightmare! My throat, lips and even eyes is complete dried up due to low humility humidity in the plane. Drinking more water isn’t helping either. By the time I landed in Florianopolis, the only thing on my mind is ‘Oh dear..I am going to do this again on my way back’. Already, I feel regret making the trip at all…and pissing off my boss who has been trying (unsucessfully) to ground me for the last two months.

Thanks Anatel, the Brazilian regulator and host for the event is taking care of us pretty well. They actually sent a bus to pick me (and others) from the airport. Meeting the chief of the france regulator, the swiss regulator and director of ETSI on the bus and the conversation we have on the bus once again reminded me I am at an ITU event, where there are more politic then engineering problems.

The hotel is yet another nightmare. While the hotel (Port Da Ilha) booast of Wireless Internet access in the lobby and ADSL in every room, the reality is that the wireless internet is not accessible and the ethernet jack in my room aren’t even connected. *sigh* On the bright side, I am pretty impressed with the friendly Brazilian. Everyone I met, even strangers, are eager to help.

Dinner last night was hosted by Embratel. Have a lot of fun catching up with old friends and meeting new cool people. (Yes, there are cool people in ITU too). More about them later…

I am packing my stuff now going to Florianópolis, Brazil for World Telecommunication Standard Assembly. WTSA is held once every four years which then layout the working plan for ITU-T groups in the next four years. I was invited to speak at a technical briefing session on IDN and IPv6.

First time I attending this WTSA which is held once every four years and first time I am going to Brazil. Looking forward to this trip :-)

The Future of Ideas – Lawrence Lessig

I “found” this book in my bookshelf. Yes, “found” because I didn’t remember receiving the book which is autographed by Lessig. I think Lessig send me this book because I made a donation to Creative Commons a couple of months ago when he made an appeal on his blog.

Thanks! Just in time for my trip to Brazil on Monday …

…because traditional media like WSJ will never publish article like this, even though it is written by its top reporter: (via Dewayne-Net).

Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.

Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people’s homes and never walk in the streets. I can’t go grocery shopping any more, can’t eat in restaurants, can’t strike a conversation with strangers, can’t look for stories, can’t drive in any thing but a full armored car, can’t go to scenes of breaking news stories, can’t be stuck in traffic, can’t speak English outside, can’t take a road trip, can’t say I’m an American, can’t linger at checkpoints, can’t be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can’t and can’t.

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