Yearly Archives: 2005

I love text messaging. When my friends tell me how to get somewhere, I tell them to text it to me. Need a phone number? Text it to me. Talking on the phone not only requires 70% of my attention, but it also eliminates my memory from distorting the vital information I retrieve via voice calls. “Was that address 1904 or 1409?”

Text messaging brings evils along with good. I’ve sent personal messages [hey cute stuff? Doing anything tonight?] to Christine my 50ish year old co-worker instead of Christine the cute freshman who I met at summer orientation. Or after a few drinks at the bar I may send a message to that girl who broke my heart last month. You all know how embarrassing that phone call is the next day “Do you know what you texted me last night?”

Samsung has fixed it, or wants to in the near future. Retract your SMS text messages with Samsung’s new patented idea. You’d have to act rather quickly, if the message is already read, then it’s just too late.

Mobiado does not make phones for cretins like you or I. No, they make only the finest of dialing devices for those who sip on champagne and at night have caviar dreams. The phone you see below combines a hardwood cover with stainless steel buttons to create the Grey Poupon of cell phones.

Despite being made of wood the technology is up-to-date. It isn’t anything amazing, but I guess it’s a little bit more classy than the phones with the flashing blue raver lights.

Ever sit in a WiFi café and wonder what that cutie over in the corner is working on? WiFi access points are becoming more and more abundant, which allows more of us to get out of the house and on to the net. “Computers are fabulous at connecting people over a long distance, but they can become a wall between people who are sitting right next to each other.” This quote is oh so true, I’ve been caught a few times doing just that.

Computers are sight, sound, and touch, so unless I’m smelling or tasting the person next to me they pretty much don’t exist. Well there’s a beginning to the end of this as far as Sean Savage is concerned. Bringing people together by the very means that pushes them apart, is his mission. You login and create a friendster-type account with the café’s system, then proceed to asking cute girls for their phone numbers. Great idea, if you ask me.

I have had a ton of jobs, from drive thru, to car wash, and even library security. With each paycheck came a boss. Sometimes I had a bad boss, and sometimes I had a good boss. I came across an interesting article written by Edward Prewitt today, regarding bosses. Prewitt noted something about techies that I found not only very true, but also quite comedic.

They [techies] thrive on challenges, get absorbed in what they are doing and aren’t primarily motivated by money. It follows that to keep these staffers happy, CIOs need only keep the challenges coming and (this is critical) avoid micromanagement. “If you know how to work with techies, they are the easiest kind of employees to motivate,” Jeff Chasney, CIO and executive VP of CKE Restaurants, said in an earlier CIO magazine story. “They don’t need cushy perks, personal recognition or bonuses; they thrive on creatively solving problems.”

I have been an avid IMer (instant messenging addict) since I was big enough to reach the keys on the keyboard. Thing with that is, I’m not the only one. There are tons of people who rely on IM’s to get them through the day.

Heck, I’m at work and I’m logged in to AIM (Aol Instant Messenger) with my mobile phone as well as the PC I’m using. Chalk me up in that 85% of people using IM at work. There’s more information on private vs public chat clients here. Interesting how internet chat was once thought of as teens and creepy old single men with rickety vans.

China has about 1 Billion people, well it did last time I checked. 10 percent of them have joined the digital revolution [read: go on the internet]. That’s 100 million users, no small pickin’s. These virtual surfers are restricted however. There’s now not only 1 great wall in China, but two. The traditional brick and mortar wall that lines the north boundary, and the ‘Great Firewall’ that keeps porn and politics out of the available content. My friend (who lives in Hong Kong -which isn’t firewalled) tells me about friends of hers who blog with words like tib#t instead of tibet. Who’d ever think that blogs would be illegal?

John Battell says it best: Search is no longer a stand-alone application, a useful but impersonal tool for finding something on a new medium called the world wide web. Increasingly, search is our mechanism for how we understand ourselves, our world, and our place within it. It’s how we navigate the one infinite resource that drives human culture: knowledge.

And he should be able to say it pretty good by now, cause he has been working on his book about the search industry for years now. Seriously John, I need this book!

Today I think Yahoo has taken us a step closer to realizing what John was talking about above.

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Everyone knows Billy Shakespeare. He’s the man, the myth, the legend, and now the wireless tour attraction. For 8 pounds you can rent a PDA for a day, and tour of Stratford at your own pace. The town has also popped up some WiFi hotspots for visitors to check their mail or catch the last episode of ‘The Real World’ via their Slingbox (can you tell I’m excited to get one of these).

“Now all the world’s a wi-fi stage as far as this town is concerned. We are sure that the many tourists who like to visit Stratford from across the globe will appreciate how much easier it will be to hit the literary hotspots using the latest technology as your guide,” said Chris Clark, chief executive of BT Wireless Broadband.

AMD has always been biting at the heels of Intel. Today is no different. “Intel today responded angrily to AMD allegations that it has systematically abused its dominant position in the global processor business to drive up prices and stifle competition”, reports vnunet.com AMD has always taken a back seat to Chip leader Intel. It’s a known fact that once you’re the king of the hill, everyone tries to push you off. You’ll stay on top if you push back harder, and intel seems to be pretty good at pushing.

I wonder if AMD is jealous over the Intel/Apple venture?

“Time shifting” has been around since the VCR, which is simply watching a program other than at the time it’s broadcasted (taping it for later). Well if you’re only 20-something years old, then the VCR and time shifting have been around just as long as you have. “Place shifting” is the new catch phrase buzzword. So what the heck am I getting at here?

CompUSA has the Slingbox Personal Broadcaster by Sling Media for presale on it’s website. Place shifting with the Slingbox means watching where you want as well as when you want, “time and place shifting”. With a Slingbox, I can watch my home TV (I have Direct TV), or my TiVo’d shows (I also have TiVo) on my computer, anywhere in the world that has a decent internet connection. This greatly anticipated set top box already has a spot in my entertainment cabinet, it’s just a matter of time now. I would pre-order this beauty, but going down to CompUSA and picking one up would put me in a sling much faster. Keep a sharp eye out for this one.

The iPod is just bigger than big. Grandmothers and toddlers have been seen walking, talking, and gawking about iPods. Well here’s something to yap about: iPods are now 20GB and 60GB selling for $299 and $399 respectively. Oh, and every full size iPod has those intoxicating color screens that we like so much. Goodbye iPod photo (cause every iPod is now a ‘photo’ version) and farewell monochrome iPod.

If that’s not enough for you, iTunes 4.9 has just sprung up. This was a greatly anticipated version of iTunes because it now comes podcast ready. I know what I’m doing later on this evening, let’s see just how ready podcasting is for the world, or the other way around.