Monthly Archives: December 2005

SMS text messaging on the other hand is established, understood, and used by almost all. Hey, my mom replied to a text message I sent her, she’s in her mid 50’s I mean, she looks 28 tho (hi mom).

So Yahoo! has decided that meshing the two together would be a nice means to get RSS into the public’s eye. SMS meet RSS, WTH, OMG, BRB!

What do all these 3 letter acronyms mean? Continue reading →

Only a year ago, podcasting was an arcane activity, the domain of a few techies and self admitted “geeks.” Now you can hear everything from NASCAR coverage to NPR’s All Things Considered in downloadable audio files called “podcasts”. Thousands of podcasts are available at the iTunes Music Store, and websites such as iPodder.com and Podcast.net track thousands more. That’s why the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected “podcast” as the Word of the Year for 2005. Podcast, defined as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player,” will be added to the next online update of the New Oxford American
Dictionary, due in early 2006.

So this is what dictionary writers get excited about! My favorite runner-up is “lifehack (a more efficient or effective way of completing an everyday task: ‘I found a great lifehack for getting a cheap hotel room.’)”

I’ve always lived near the coast, and as a result have fished most of my life. I even took up spear fishing a few years back. Spear fishing is great, you swim around with the fish, and shoot only the ones you will take home and grill.

That’s why this new term, “Spear Phishing” has really got me worried. Phishing is a tech based form of conning individuals into revealing sensitive information like passwords, account numbers, etc. Spear Phishing is a newer, more malicious form phishing.

Imagine an email from your bank, or what appears to be your bank, asking for your account number and pin. Some spear phishing attempts may look like your employer, or a bank/payment service you use. The “spear” is a spoof of your existing relationship with a sensitive company.

Instead of getting a realistic email from “Bank of the United States needs your Visa Check card number and PIN”, you’d get one from what looks like your actual bank!

What’s next? Bomb Phishing? Net Phishing? Harpoon Phishing? Out of season Phishing?!

Play all your favorite classic games with the Ultimate Arcade by the Chicago Gaming Company. Made by a real coin op game company the Ultimate Arcade has all your favorite games from Atari, Capcom, Midway, Golden Tee Golf and Universal. It even has a deactivated coin door so you play for free!

Features legendary arcade games, authentic in every detail, including Asteroids, Battlezone, Berzerk, Centipede, Millipede, Missile Command, Mortal Kombat, Mr. Do!, Street Fighter ll, Tempest, Mega Man, Super Breakout, 1942, and more.

Features:

* Commercial quality cabinet
* Commercial quality 19” monitor
* Tempered safety glass protects the monitor
* Lighted marquee
* Bar tough finish
* Coin door is permanently deactivated (Commercial use prohibited)
* Arcade quality controls for 2 players
* Dimensions: 2’ W x 30” L x 5’ H

Now this would make a fine Christmas present, although with the 250 lb weight, your local UPS guy won’t be begging to deliver it unless they want to cash in some sick time. For those of us that fed more than our share of quarters into a Pac-Man, Seawolf or Asteroid machine, the $2300 price tag seems more than reasonable! If I could get those quarters back, I’d own two, at least.
Available at Costco.

Not too long ago there was an AP story about Wal-Mart and RFID technology. With RFID technology Wal-Mart has found ways to keep stores stocked up in an efficient and productive manner. While that’s great for Wal-Mart it means nothing for smaller business’ because none of them can buy RFID chips and software in bulk packages the way Wal-Mart can. RFID can do a lot for a business (Wal-Mart has proven that), but right now only a mega-business can afford it.

Enter: Open Source RFID
A group RadioActive is the first and only open source platform for RFID applications. Currently in the design stages these applications will allow for RFID technology to reach its fullest
potential. “We have a philosophy that RFID technology..is going to be as big as the Internet where RFID tags are like URLs.

The consequences of an effective open source application for RFID
would be pretty interesting. Here are some things I would do for fun.

On a serious note, it would greatly increase the ability of regular people to have RFID technology (is this a security issue of any kind?). But more practically, open source RFID would help small business’. Now your local hardware store could use the same tech as Wal-Mart, and don’t they deserve the same technological advantages.

So there’s no shortage of Xbox 360 content out there since the console’s launch on November 22, but I wanted to give a shout out to the fellas at ArsTechnica; they put together a superb review of Microsoft’s latest gaming console, addressing many of the questions mulling around in the heads of us who weren’t part of mob scene out last week.

Aside from the spate of media coverage surrounding unit problems (crashing, not connecting to Xbox Live, etc.), the piece hits a number of important points any prospective buyer should consider. I know I’m on the fence for several reasons; you should definitely check it out. Some points:

• The role of the HD display – if you don’t have a fancy screen you won’t come close to experiencing the console’s potential.

• Xbox Live is a great, intuitive, stable (eventually!) service. Offering cheap online games is a major plus. There are negatives, however, like being kicked out of games when live disconnects (even if you’re not playing a network game).

• Overheating is a serious concern. Just look at the power brick. Give the thing plenty of ventilation.

• Launch library – decent but not groundbreaking. Project Gotham Racing & Call of Duty 2 are two of the best.

• Backwards compatibility – this is something of a toss-up as the console gets more time in the wild. Currently MS lists 200 games as backward compatible.

Conclusions? Check ’em right here.

These specialists estimate that 6 percent to 10 percent of the approximately 189 million Internet users in this country have a dependency that can be as destructive as alcoholism and drug addiction, and they are rushing to treat it. Yet some in the field remain skeptical that heavy use of the Internet qualifies as a legitimate addiction, and one academic expert called it a fad illness.

Skeptics argue that even obsessive Internet use does not exact the same toll on health or family life as conventionally recognized addictions. But, mental health professionals who support the diagnosis of Internet addiction say, a majority of obsessive users are online to further addictions to gambling or pornography or have become much more dependent on those vices because of their prevalence on the Internet.

But other users have a broader dependency and spend hours online each day, surfing the Web, trading stocks, instant messaging or blogging, and a fast-rising number are becoming addicted to Internet video games

Here at Live Digitally, we’re definitely hooked!
From Doc To Doc.