The CDT folks have real expertise in that strange place known as the intersection of law, technology, and policy. A good way to stay current with legislation regarding technology. A well done blog about the niche topic of radio frequency identification technology (RFID). In addition to the daily posts, it also offers plenty of background and archival info about RFID. A student at Georgia Tech, Paul Stamatiou is concerned with all things techie. Learn, for example, why you shouldn't ignore Amazon's FPS, and how to display the number of your del.ico.us saves, as well as many other geeky things. Let's take a look at LinuxWorld and desktop Linux, the new iMacs and Leopard, chat a bit about Windows 7, and look at what Google and Cisco appear to have in store for us. LinuxWorld: Embracing Microsoft and Giving Desktop Linux a Chance. The global economic environment has changed since then, but we do not see Chile's strong economic position as being greatly affected.

The recovery from the unexpected slowdown in the third quarter of last year remains broad based. And we believe growth will reach close to 6 percent in 2007 and remain around the potential rate of 5 percent next year. Let me close with a brief discussion of structural reform. Chile is already an example for structural policies in many areas, resulting in an enviable record of growth and considerable success in reducing poverty. Planned reforms of the pension and education systems will further strengthen the foundations for long-term growth while also addressing key social concerns. Likewise, we welcome the creation of the President's Commission on Labor Market Issues and Social Equity, as we see scope for improving labor market flexibility and also reducing labor informality. Last but not least, we remain impressed by the speed with which the financial sector in Chile has developed.

Past reforms have already created a vibrant market that is increasingly integrated with the rest of the world. Planned reforms, such as the liberalization of investment rules for pension funds, should further enhance the effectiveness of markets, raise returns to pensioners and savers, and provide improved access to financing for entrepreneurs, large and small. I should probably also mention that what you're now seeing in terms of the documents, the staff report and accompanying selected issues paper have been provided to the Board for the discussion of the Article IV Consultation back in July. The outcome of that discussion was contained in the PIN, in the Public Information Notice, that has already been published on the IMF's Web site, but now we are releasing the report. And these reports are somewhat shorter than in recent years, because we have done what the Fund called a streamlined consultation, which means that we have used somewhat fewer resources than in the past because of the absence of any systemic issues in Chile and the continued excellent performance of the Chilean economy.

A phone made specifically for conference calls. A conference call is a telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call. The conference calls may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call, or the call may be set up so that the called party merely listens into the call and cannot speak. It is often referred to as an ATC (Audio Tele-Conference). Conference calls can be designed so that the calling party calls the other participants and adds them to the call. In most cases, the participants are able call into the conference call themselves, by dialing into a special telephone number that connects to a "conference bridge" (a specialized type of equipment that links telephone lines).

Usually, most companies use a specialized service provider who maintains the conference bridge, or who provides the phone numbers and PIN codes that participants dial to access the meeting or conference call. Three-way calling is available (usually at an extra charge) for most customers on their home or office phone line. To three way call, the first person one wishes to talk to is dialed. Then the Hook flash button is pressed and the other person's phone number is dialed. While it is ringing, flash is pressed again. This will put the three people together. This option allows callers to add a second outgoing call to an already connected call. One of the strategies that Microsoft has used to great advantage is the strategy of embrace and extend. For some time they seemed to forget about what got them dominance on the desktop to begin with, and they were having a lot of difficulty with Linux.

Certainly programs like "Get the Facts" were horridly flawed and seemed only to further accelerate Linux adoption. However, Microsoft has had a rather solid change of heart, and if you were at LinuxWorld you likely saw it in action. They are actively embracing Linux and, for once, it seemed like Linux was embracing back. This could work for both sides, on Microsoft's side it should allow them to move into more large scale server deployments, and for Linux it should provide for an easier path to the desktop. In both cases it gives IT buyers a less artificial choice between real alternatives as opposed to near religious beliefs. In fact the near religious behavior I've come to know and hate about Linux and Open Source was largely unnoticed at LinuxWorld where people primarily seemed less focused on being Linux cheerleaders and more focused on making vendors actually prove they could do more than simply share code.

Critical buyers help create better products. And if what I observed is any measure, the folks at LinuxWorld are likely going to be building some amazing things going forward. And, as strange as it seems, in that group is now Microsoft. I still see one big problem for Linux on the desktop though. Red Hat is the most financially viable vendor, Novell has the best enterprise offering, and Ubuntu is the product we'd likely all prefer to use. Typically IT buyers are risk adverse and want one choice with all of the above, the financial stability of Red Hat, the product of Novell, and the user experience of Ubuntu.