Yearly Archives: 2005

I’m familiar with Boeing’s Connextion inflight internet connection service, but I hadn’t been following it closely enough to know about some of the details behind the lagging of U.S. airlines in bringing the technology stateside. According to Information Week, 12 overseas carriers offer the service on 70 aircraft, some of which hit 13 U.S. cities on one end of their route. But domestic carriers still aren’t biting. Carriers remain hesitant due to factors including the cost of retrofitting aircraft (purportedly $500,000 each) and an unknown level of interest in the service, and they do make a valid point about two U.S. airlines in bankruptcy, more flirting with it and the disappearance of free meals, pillows and other goodies. Ironically, American, Delta and United were all original investors in Connexion, but pulled out in the wake of 9/11. In June, United became the first U.S. carrier to get FAA approval for wireless networks on their planes – they plan to introduce service in 2006.

In related news, Qualcomm is teaming with Connexion to test and demonstrate the successful use of CDMA and GSM mobile phone technology over onboard networks.

Sadly, this might mean that before too long we’ll all be within earshot of idiots squawking on their cell phones. All I can say is that by that point I hope I have the ability to quietly get some surfing done on my laptop.

So the rumor mill is working once again, according to this Wired News article, published this morning, Via clues gleaned from job postings on the company’s job site, Amazon is apparently looking for engineers to work on an online DVD rental service.

Having entered both the UK and German online DVD rental markets already, it’s likely only a matter of time before Bezos & Co. start battling with Netflix, Wal-Mart and Blockbuster online.

Any guesses on when we’ll see those Amazon-themed mailers?

Ars Technica has an interesting article discussing the potential future of Wikipedia, timely due to the fact that Wikimania has been going since Thursday (it ends tomorrow). According to Yahoo! News, Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales says the system needs to find a way to both protect information from abuse and allow open access.

Apparently one way to do this could be through “stable contents,” Wales says – pages that are frozen after their quality is deemed undisputed. Citing an example in which a Wikipedia user substituted a picture of Pope Benedict in April with one of Star Wars’ evil emperor Palpitine, Wales is obviously feeling pressure to increase Wikipedia’s credibility while simultaneously trying to give individual visitors the control that makes the system so powerful.

Having experimented with Wiki myself and even suggested it to prospective employers and friends as a way to facilitate communication between groups of different sizes, it will be interesting to see where this one goes.

According to this CNN article, it will be a good long while before the folks at Google will be talking to any reporters from CNET. Not until July 2006, to be exact. A CNET story, dated July 14, tried to make a point about the importance of privacy concerns by giving an example of the type of personal information easily available online. The sample victim? Google CEO Erick Schmidt. See for yourself. Writer Elinor Mills found Schmidt’s estimated net worth, where he lives (with his wife, Wendy), some of his hobbies and even political donations…all via Google searches.

The article goes on at length to address the larger issue of privacy and the type of personal information readily available via the internet, including through other search engines like Yahoo! and MSN. Citing Google’s motto of “doing no evil,” as well as the company’s reputation as a good corporate citizen, the piece also includes commentary from some individuals with less faith in Google’s ability to simultaneously meet the demands of shareholders, other economic incentives and safeguarding mammoth amounts of personal information.

It’s not news that we’ve grown accustomed to and greatly enjoy the benefits of the digital age. The lesson here? For now, it’s…don’t mess with CEOs.

Congratulations, Longhorn Windows Vista! The birth of your first virus!

And so it begins.

According to Info World, an Austrian hacker whose aliases include “Second Part To Hell” and “Mario” wrote viruses designed to take advantage of a new command shell in Windows Vista, code-named Monad. Published on July 21 in a virus-writing tutorial for the underground hacker group called the Ready Ranger Liberation Front, the viruses are considered to be proof-of-concept, and appear to be the first for the new OS, whose beta was released mere days before.

I don’t know about any of you, but I’m still trying to figure out what/where the First Part To Hell is.

Soon, all of the rock climbers I know are going to thank the kite flyers. A group of Squids (Squid Labs in Emeryville, CA) decided to put some sensors on their four string kite one day. The load sensors led to more sensors and a wire core in the rope. This is when they realized that rope isn’t just used to fly kites, and this technology could be used in a ton of different applications. The rope is smart, and tells you before it breaks, that it will break.

Hopefully with nano technology we’ll get this incorporated into fishing line. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hooked the big one, and broke my line. If only my PDA alerted me right before that “snap”, I would know to let up and allow free Willie do his thing before I start reeling him in again.

If you’re Continental Airlines, providing your customers with free wireless internet access at Boston’s Logan airport could apparently “pose an unacceptable potential risk” to communications gear used by security personnel. This story got some long legs yesterday when the Associated Press, among others, wrote about Logan’s attempt to terminate Continental’s free WiFi node, which is in direct competition to the airport’s $7.95/day service.

According to the AP, Continental’s lounge at Logan has been wireless-ready since June 2004, but it took Logan officials more than 12 months to notify the airline in writing that the antenna for said service “violated the terms of its lease.” Conveniently enough, Massport, the agency responsible for the airport’s operation, then apparently told the airline it could route its wireless signals over Logan’s own WiFi signal. This, of course, could be done at a “very reasonable rate structure.” The FCC is unlikely to rule on the matter before Aug. 29, the deadline for accepting public comments on Continental’s complaint.

At least the article goes on to quote someone willing to call Massport’s bluff. “It’s hard to imagine how this is a security threat,” an industry consultant says. “They clearly don’t want the competition.”

Really?

So apparently last week’s Christian Game Developers Conference was noteworthy enough for Wired’s John Gartner to write not one but two articles on game publishers striving to, according to one CEO, “…shake up the industry in a positive way.” Given Rockstar’s recent avalanche of bad press surrounding GTA: San Andreas, I suppose the timing of such articles couldn’t be better.

Perhaps it’s just me, but one of the games Gartner writes about, Timothy and Titus, from Australia’s White Knight Games, really perplexes me. The simple fact that a company has designed a role-playing game emphasizing increasing love, hope and faith points instead of health or weapon skills kinda leaves me dumbfounded. As an educated, fair-minded and tolerant person I’m not passing judgement on the validity of such concepts in video games, but perhaps because I was raised on car racing, Goomba bashing, ID’s gory shooters or the wonderful work of Sid Meier, Maxis and Blizzard, my mind is not equipped to even process the existence of a game where you can pray for foes or use the “finger of God” to convert them. That’s right…YOU CAN USE THE FINGER OF GOD TO CONVERT THEM. Am I the only one who’s really hoping this topic becomes the subject of a Penny Arcade comic sometime in the near future? If so, just go ahead and use the damn finger of God on me already. I guess I deserve to be purged of my inner heathen.

UPDATE (7:42 am PST 8/5/05): Check the comments for a clarification on Gartner’s article. I guess my inner heathen might be safe after all!

Dearest Vanessa,

I am not in the market for office software, not even at “bottom prices”. I do believe you when you say your software is 2-10 times cheaper than your competitors, but I have all the software I need right now. I also agree that $89.95 is a great deal for Windows XP Professional + Office XP Professional, thanks. I am not sure if I’ll make it to your Web site anytime soon, although your Web address is quite memorable, “http://oeuujgrftcavou98mx.digreceam.info” just flows right off the tongue.

Seriously though, I’ve done the math, I get it, I know spam works. But can’t you let me opt out of the stuff which simply does not apply? I am not in need of a mortgage, a university diploma, larger breasts, viaggra (or viaagra, or even vi-AGRA), and I really don’t have the time to become a secret shopper.

I’ve read a few reports recently which talk about spam emails finally showing signs of decline. I guess it’s possible. All I can tell is two things:
1) I get tons of spam, to just about every email address I have.
2) I no longer have any confidence that when I send an email to someone they actually get it, because their spam filter may have decided I am risky, simply because I attached a picture to the email!

I heard about the Russian spammer who was killed for spamming. This is not a good thing. But maybe it will make Vanessa J Smith and her Windows software, Lonnie Nieves and his replica Rolex watches, and Laurelle Spangler’s pharmacy think twice before adding another million names to their lists.