Dec 04 2008
From time to time, people who don't use the Internet (gasp!) will ask me why it's such a big deal. Usually these folks are of an older generation and/or are a little afraid of computers and technology. My stock answer is that you can find literally anything you want on the Internet, and I try to liken it to the biggest, most up-to-date World Book Encyclopedia that anyone has ever seen. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.
Discussions of this nature would be more easily settled if I had a list of great things you can do with the web. Real world things. Things people do everyday, over and over, all over the world. I've decided that it's time I constructed such a list.
Starting with this post, I'd like to begin a List Of Great Things To Do On The Web (or LOGTTDOTW for short). Here's the first entry:
1. You can lookup the owner of a class ring that you find inside an 8-pound bass
BUNA, Texas - The one that didn't get away
held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring
of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound
bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.
"My first reaction was — you gotta be kidding," he said Wednesday.
The
fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted
Richardson on Nov. 28 in Buna, about 100 miles northeast of Houston,
after tracking him down with help from the Internet.
I think this is a fantastic use of the Web and will be a big help to fishermen and clumsy graduates everywhere. Be sure to run and tell Grandma what you've learned here today.
(Source: MSNBC)
Nov 30 2008
The NYT's John Markoff has an interesting article about collective intelligence - the emerging field that uses data from Web surfing, smart phones, GPS etc. to assemble a picture of the life of a consumer. This could be used to predict buying habits or for more nefarious purposes.
Nov 30 2008
Every year (well actually this is the second year) TechMan makes a holiday tech gift wish list. And every year he doesn't receive any of the items on the list.
Last year, TechMan handed Santa a list totaling just under $200,000. What he found under the tree Christmas morning were gifts totaling $0.
So it is time to change tactics. This year I am appealing to patriotism.
We have been told that the problem with our economy is that consumers have stopped spending. So spend. Of course, since no one has any money except car company CEOs and the heads of failed investment banks, we'll have to take on debt we can't afford, using credit we're sure to default on.
Wait, isn't that what got us into this in the first place?
So think not what your country can spend for you, but what you can spend for your country. Price is no object since you won't get any of this stuff anyway.
Last year, TechMan requested an Asus EEE ultramobile PC. Did he get one? This year he still wants a small light "netbook" meant for Web surfing, e-mail and other everyday tasks. And this year there are more choices.
Asus has added to its line with larger screens and more memory. A model in the 900 line for about $330 would be fine. But the Dell Mini 9, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, or the MSI Wind are all fine netbooks. Any one would do.
When times are tough, people tend to nest -- and part of that is getting their entertainment at home. But that does not mean we can't still spend. TechMan would like to make the movies, music and TV programs that reside on his computer available to all the devices in his house. For this he will need a media center extender.
One of the first widely popular ones was the Apple TV and it is a fine device for about $320. But there have been others coming out to work with the Media Center in Windows Vista and XP. Of those, the HP MediaSmart Connect in the $300 range would be fine. The XBox 360 with 60 GB hard drive (about $250) is a good media extender and you get a gaming machine to boot.
With all those movies and TV programs to store, TechMan needs some additional hard disk space. Being a loyal Pittsburgher and knowing that Seagate has a facility in our fine city, the Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme 1.5 terabyte (1,500 gigabytes or 1.5 trillion bytes) external drive (about $250) would be just the ticket.
Of course, TechMan needs something to watch all this media on. Although Samsung has shown a 102-inch plasma TV and an 82-inch LCD TV, they are not on the market yet. So TechMan will have to settle for something a little smaller. The Pioneer Kuro 60-inch Pro-151FD for an MSRP of $6,500 should do the trick.
A good home theater setup needs a good sound system. The Bose 3-2-1 GSX Series III for about $1,350 looks like a good one.
And there are times when TechMan will need to leave the nest and go out into the cold cruel world. That would be a lot more enjoyable with a pair of Sennheiser MX W1 in-ear wireless earphones. Eliminates getting the cord caught in your zipper, a problem TechMan constantly has.
Finally, the most expensive of last year's gifts that TechMan didn't receive was the Bentley Continental GTC convertible at $190, 000.
In recognition of hard economic times and worry about the planet, TechMan will back off on that a little. Instead, he'd like the all-electric Tesla Roadster. With a top speed of 125 mph and 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, it is sporty and green (about $109,000 of green). Right now they are taking orders for cars a year in the future, so don't delay.
So there it is, a complete list of gifts that TechMan won't get for the holidays. Maybe this will give our readers some ideas for gifts they won't get.
Nov 29 2008
If you already have an LCD monitor that is pre-drilled for wall mounting, then something like this could be a cool way to put an unobtrusive PC in your kitchen or some other small space.
Not a bad idea, really. It was announced in France and hopefully we'll see this or something like it here in the U.S. very soon.
(Source: Gizmodo)
Nov 27 2008
An interesting post on advances in facial recognition technology. While I realize that this sort of stuff is necessary in the modern world (particularly in light of what is going on in India), still the fact that machines will be able to find me and report on where I am freaks me out.
Nov 26 2008
New Yor
k Times technology writer and reviewer, David Pogue, whom TechMan respects as one of the best in the business, put out a review savaging BlackBerry's new smartphone, the Storm. The Storm became available on the Verizon network last Friday.
Nov 25 2008
The $100,000 bag of tools that floated away from astronat Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper last week has been spotted by ground-based (are there any other kind?) skywatchers, and with a pair of 10x50 binoculars, no less.
After sunset on Saturday, Edward Light, using
10 x 50 binoculars, spotted the bag in space while he scanned the sky
from his backyard in Lakewood, N.J., Spaceweather.com reported. On the
same night, Keven Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, video-recorded the bag
as it passed by the star Eta Pisces in the constellation Pisces.
More bag-viewing opportunities are expected.
The
tool bag can be seen through binoculars, a few minutes ahead of the
space station's orbit. The satellite tracker predicts that the bag will
be visible from Europe and western North America during a series of
passes this week. By late next week, the tool bag should appear in the
evening skies over most of North America.
How would you like to be the Snap-On tool salesman that has to drive up there and replace these tools? And I wonder if you'd get your mileage reimbursed after the trip...
Nov 23 2008
Paul Thurrott, usually a measured guy, really takes off on the new Apple ads. Although they don't bother me as much as they do him, there is a certain smugness that irritates. But I forgive all for popularizing John Hodgman, who plays PC.