a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
According to this AP report, a province in China is requiring Internet Cafe users to purchase a card which registers them with the authorities and monitors their online usage…
They get an access card, which is swiped on an identifying machine when they go online. That sends a signal to police who continuously monitor the Web for people attempting to reach barred sites. Police can also block access to selected cardholders.
fictomercial
(FIK.toh.mur.shul) n. A work of fiction in which a company pays the writer to incorporate the company’s products into the story. Source: The Word SpyThis site features a host of weird ads for Japanese products starring the biggest names from Holyweird. A good place to start is this crazy clip featuring Arnold.
Seems like a good one… I just added it to my wishlist.
The Six Forces of Marketing Momentum
HBSWK Pub. Date: Oct 28, 2002 by Ron Ricci and John Volkmann101 Things That the Mozilla Browser Can Do That IE Cannot: “101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot….” Source: Blogzilla
Give a man a fish…: “Give Bill Gates a fish, and he’ll buy some tartar sauce to go with it.
Teach Bill Gates to fish, and he’ll build a tartar sauce factory and eventually corner the market. The tartar sauce won’t be as good as some other tartar sauce, but people won’t mind, they’ll just think that that faint hint of mercury is how tartar sauce is supposed to taste. Give Scott McNealy a fish, and he’ll rant about how it’s all Microsoft’s fault. But teach Scott McNealy to fish—and he’ll rant about how it’s all Microsoft’s fault. Give Steve Jobs a fish, and he’ll give it back, being a vegan and all. Teach Steve Jobs to fish, and you’d just be wasting your time, because he really doesn’t eat fish, I just told you. Give Larry Ellison a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach Larry Ellison to fish, and he’ll come up with a better fish, one that can’t be captured or killed. (Leading to ecological catastrophe as the lesser fish are killed off by this new fish.)” Source: inessential.comApparently HDTV signals get downconverted to conform to what the TV can handle which is not ideal, but otherwise this is a great looking set. It is at the lower end, but bang for the buck is very high.
CNET on Gateway’s Budget Plasma TV: “CNET review of that new $3000 plasma TV from Gateway. They say there are some problems with black-level performance, but that overall it is “unquestionably the best value in the 42-inch plasma category.” Read…” Source: Gizmodo
Mitch Kapor : “Announcing a project without…: “Mitch Kapor: “Announcing a project without having code to show, that is, committing an act of vaporware, is generally not regarded as a best practice in the software world. It lessens credibility and heightens cynicism. So why did we do just that?”” Source: Scripting News
If their Broadband partner is scaling back and Yahoo just launched… can’t be good. I guess the premium services they are looking to launch will be based around some other core offering…only time will tell.
Something doesn’t add up: “San Jose Mercury News: “‘We have dramatically scaled down any further deployment of DSL,’ said SBC Senior Vice President Jim Smith. ‘We couldn’t make a good business case to go forward.'” Two years ago, SBC loudly promoted the billions of dollars it would invest in rolling out DSL. What changed? All of the regulatory restrictions on the local phone companies were in place by 1996 or shortly thereafter in the rules implementing the Telecommunications Act. What’s new is that competitors can use use deeply discounted “UNE-P” wholesale rates in many states. If SBC’s argument is that they can’t compete against the cut-rate DSL resellers, where are all those competitors? All I see is Earthlink and a few others offering broadband at rates similar to the incumbents, and a bunch of smaller players targeting business customers. There’s something that just doesn’t add up in the Bells’ arguments about broadband.” Source: WerblogWhat Looms for Satellite Big-Wig?
Source: Wired NewsCharlie Ergen’s not the only one with money, ambition and an eye on the sky. Rupert Murdoch, who previously had designs on buying DirecTV, and whose NDS company has been accused of helping hackers pirate digital TV access smartcards, may well return to the fray.
No love has been lost between Ergen and Murdoch in the past. If a new battle erupts between these billionaires, the scorched TV landscape that could result might make the sorts of merger battles we’ve seen up to now look like weekend picnics.
John Markoff of the New York Times…: “John Markoff of the New York Times writes about Vivato, a smart antenna startup that claims it can extend WiFi to distances of 2,000 feat indoors and four miles outdoors. The exciting aspects of the technology are that it works with the established WiFi standard, and with a point-to-multipoint configuration serving several hundred users. If Vivato’s antennas work as promised (always a big qualifier), they could greatly expand the utility of WiFi as a broadband access technology.” Source: Werblog
If I had a bluetooth dongle and a Palm Tungsten T I might be able to try this… sounds very cool.
Share an internet connection with a Bluetooth…: “Share an internet connection with a Bluetooth device” Source: Mac OS X HintsWatching Saturday Night Live tonight, Ashley and I noticed that it’s like amateur night at the controls. The first four commercial breaks all came back and needed to be extended beyond the length of time either music or actual commerical time was scheduled. Seems silly to even notice or point it out, but if NBC is supposed to be the #1 Network, perhaps they need to hire a few more people to help out.
NYC was named to the final round today for the 2112 Summer Olympics beating out San Francisco…
Source: New York Times
BIll Gross raised plenty of money during the boom, but no one who gave him any seems to have gotten anything real in return. He has a long list of failures including eToys and eve.com while only Overture really made it.
Fortune covers the latest story in They All Want A Piece Of Bill Gross, also providing some historical perspective by linking to an older view, Why Is This Man Smiling?
There was a fantastic infographic which I can’t find that showed the complete Idealab universe. The amazing thing was just the number of failures. Had to be pushing well over 90% and yet in the last round of financing, Bill Gross was able to pull in $9 Billion in a series D round in early 2000.
As I discovered with own cable set-up here in NYC, Time Warner does not actively promote that HDTV is available. It was easy to set up consisting only of a new cable box and some new cables to connect to the component video ports on my HDTV. I had to read about the potential availability through a magazine article, rather than a bill insert or even an email. I have 3 TVs with Road Runner bundled access and the premium package – you’d think I would be a prime candidate for them. Some simple promotions and customer communications would certainly assist the adoption rate…
While most households will own a high-definition-capable television set by 2008, not even half will actually be using the service. Source: CyberatlasThe fact that my alma mater has an honor code (amongst other reasons) cost the president there to resign after his speech writing methods were revealed.
With Cheating on the Rise, More Colleges Are Turning to Honor Codes: “An increasing number of colleges and universities have resorted their honor codes to stem student cheating, turning away from sophisticated systems.” Source: New York Times: NationalMore dangerous toilets [Weird…: “
[Weird News] – Davezilla @ 12:00:01 am
Full story here.
” Source: davezilla.com
Have WiFi will travel…
Lighting up Manhattan with WiFi: “Marcos R. Lara of the Public Internet Project has unveiled an amazing map of WiFi access points in Manhattan, compiled by volunteers who drove along every street. As you’ll see, virtually all of the island is covered. Pretty remarkable for a technology that has been on the market for just three years, operates in unlicensed bands, and is deployed bottom-up by individuals and small businesses. Email Marcos if you want to see the full research.” Source: Werblog