Random
LazyWeb Do you have an idea that you think others might be able to solve?Make a LazyWeb request by writing it on your own blog, and then sending a Trackback ping...
What a great idea... Have an idea and don't know how to implement it? Throw it out there for others to help you solve... An RSS feed too, so you can have all the great ideas come to your RSS reader...
New York Times: Forsaking AM and FM for Satellite-Dial Diversity When Michael Scantlen purchased a Sirius satellite radio system for his car, he had to buy not only the equipment but extra gasoline as well. "The first week I got Sirius, I used up an extra half-tank of gas because I didn't want to stop listening to the programming," said Mr. Scantlen, 47, an electrical engineer in Agawam, Mass. "I haven't listened to regular radio since I bought it"
Would like to take a look at this. Would be great for trips up to the mountains...
Wired News: Korean Housewives Want Speedy Net, By Karlin Lillington In South Korea, about 70 percent of households have high-speed connections that many homemakers use to shop and invest, while Internet café users drive the market for online games.
Requiem for the Pay Phone | By Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post Staff Writer - Monday, December 30, 2002;At one time, voices glanced against its metal walls. Dates were made here, secrets exchanged. Once people lined up, shifting from foot to impatient foot, pointedly lifting their watches, Hey, lady, how long you gonna talk?
I remember two summers ago driving across the country with my daughter, someplace in Wyoming, making plans to spend the night in North Platte, Nebraska. Thinking how nice it was not to have to stop and make a call, but rather just use the cell phone...
OpenP2P.com: In-Room Chat as a Social Tool [Dec. 26, 2002] The in-room chat created a two-channel experience -- a live conversation in the room, and an overlapping real-time text conversation. The experiment was a strong net positive for the group. Most social software is designed as a replacement for face-to-face meetings, but the spread of permanet (connectivity like air) provides opportunities for social software to be used by groups who are already gathered in the same location. For us, the chat served as a kind of social whiteboard.
This is an interesting article by Clay Shirky. I often use instant messaging while in meetings. Believe it or not it is usually work related. Checking of facts or seeking clarifying information, but his idea of a digital whiteboard is something I would like to try.
I had the opportunity to see Clay Shirky speak at the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference last spring. He is a great speaker and has great insight into how tools such as blogging, instant messaging and ubiquitous network access are changing how people communicate.
Speaking of the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference, this may be a better venue for a blogging in education get together than the traditional venues such as NCTE, IRA or other such groups...
New York Times | In an Upside-Down World, Sunshine Is Shunned Everything is different here at the bottom of the world, starting with the weather. Before Alejandra Mundaca lets her two children go out, she checks the forecast for the temperature, chances of rain and also the level of ultraviolet rays.
Another test
These billboards are all ears
The billboard is listening.
In an advertising ploy right out of Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," electronic billboards in the Bay Area and Sacramento are being equipped to profile commuters as they whiz by -- and then instantly personalize freeway ads based on the wealth and habits of those drivers.
For example, if the freeway were packed with country music listeners, the billboards might make a pitch for casinos. If National Public Radio were on, the billboards could change to ads for a high-quality car or a gourmet grocery.
The billboards -- in Palo Alto, Daly City and Fremont -- will pick up which radio stations are being played and then instantly access a vast databank of information about the people who typically listen to those stations. The electronic ads will then change to fit listener profiles. [Smart Mobs]
Aerial ISPs: strato-blimp wireless providers
These high-tech blimps could carry up to 4,000 pounds of telecommunications gear and float it up to 13 miles into the stratosphere. At that height, far above any conventional commercial air traffic or turbulent weather patterns, the Stratellite would act as a wireless communications hub to provide wireless voice and data services for an area of up to 300,000 square miles.
"It's perfect for outlying areas that can't get broadband telephone or cable [TV] access," says Sanswire CEO Michael K. Molen. "[Subscribers] just put up a small antenna and they're in business." [Smart Mobs]
Apple - Pro/Photo - Pixel Perfect Africa On February 28, 2002, Cohen deployed a small army of nearly 100 of the world's top photojournalists across the continent for the first-ever all-digital Day in the Life shoot to capture a balanced picture of Africa in pixels.