One thing I love about music is that it goes so well with technology. A few weeks ago, I spent about 10 minutes and set up Shoutcast server on my home network so I can broadcast my MP3 collection and listen to it at work (or wherever I am). If you want, listen to my stream. It consists of a random sampling of around 10,000 MP3 tracks that I've ripped from my personal CD collection (yes, it's all legal). Interestingly enough, if you listen continuously 24 hours a day to this stream, you'll have to wait nearly a month before you hear a repeated track. Note that you'll need either Winamp or Real Audio player to listen to the feed. Enjoy!
March 2003 Archives
My next television is going to be either LCD or OLED, it's going to be HD (of course), 16:9 format, and it's going to be at least 40 inches diagonal. Today, you can actually consider buying that, as the largest consumer LCD TV is now a newly announced 40 inch model from Samsung. As the major LCD makers (Samsung, LG Philips, Sharp, et al.) keep upping the maximum size of working prototypes (currently at a massive 54"), my hopes are buoyed that I may not have to wait all that long for my dream display to become both a technical and a fiscal reality.
So, why don't I just go grab a plasma TV? I mean, heck, you can pick them up at Sam's Club now for not much more than a crummy RPTV. Well, it has to do with two issues. First, there's burn-in. Plasmas have a tendency to burn in if you watch a lot of 4:3 format programming (like most network and cable television), which we do. I'd consider just stretching the 4:3 content to fit the 16:9 format, thus alleviating the black bands, but I don't want to have to explain to my wife why the kids on Felicity look much wider and bloated than usual.
Second, there's the issue of copy protection. Right now, in the US Congress, there is still debate over what kind of digital protection scheme is going to be used to make sure that Joe Consumer can't record his digital perfect HD broadcasts onto DVD and sell bootleg copies. Is it going to be DHCP? Could be. Is it going to be something else? Hmm...maybe. Don't know yet, and until that's decided, anything you purchase today could have an effective usage life of about 5 years or less.
So, I think I'll hold off. Of course, if plasma gets down around $1000, that might change the whole value proposition. But, for the time being, I'm waiting on my bright, vivid, no-risk-of-burn-in, sub-15 millisecond response time LCD/OLED television with a full bore of standards-compliant inputs. I don't think it will be that long before we have these replacing tube sets, but then, CRTs have shown to be an amazingly stubborn technology to get rid of.
I just saw Catch Me If You Can, a fairly interesting and entertaining film. It takes some dramatic licenses, but generally describes some of the interesting and clever frauds and cons perpetrated by Frank Abagnale in the late 1960's. Throughout the movie, Abagnale is shown creating fake documents of all types -- checks, diplomas, etc. He does this using a variety of manual techniques, such as stenciling, forgery, press-printing, and so on.
What occurred to me at some point during the movie was how very differently so much of the identity theft and fraud happens today. Granted, there is still a lot of check forging and so on, but many of the techniques and scams that Abagnale used are now either completely impossible or very unlikely to be effective on any significant sums of money. So many financial networks employ interlinked information systems that the detection of suspect behavior is likely to be found much sooner. Recently, I bought airline tickets to Australia. My credit card company thought that was a bit strange, so they called me the next day. You think a person is looking these things over? No way -- some fraud detection routine found this transaction fishy and flagged my account for checking up.
Better technology also contributes to this reduction in the efficacy of Abagnale's traditional tricks because the delays in handing off information from one entity/corporation/government body to another in the chain have been greatly reduced. What used to take 2 weeks just to transfer (physically) can now be transmitted, processed, and reconciled in just a few days, if not hours. Relying on this "float" time to commit fraud is getting harder and harder to do.
However, these same systems that have eliminated a lot of the opportunity for traditional fraud schemes have opened up new opportunities -- the occurrence of digital fraud is increasing rapidly and a lot of it can be done from the convenience of a living room, a dorm room, or a public library. Wherever Internet-accessible computers can be found, fraud can be attempted, if not committed. From the rather pathetic emails we all get to the semi-intelligent attempts at stock manipulation to the theft of credit card information, the opportunities for large-scale fraud are greatly expanded as everything becomes digital. While Abagnale had to print each physical check out individually, today's digital thieves can steal and/or manipulate thousands of records/transactions/accounts almost simultaneously and from nearly anywhere on the planet.
The opportunities for "really bad things" happening are impressive. While I'm nowhere near keeping my money under the mattress or in the cookie jar, I am fairly careful about dealing primarily with companies having reputations for decent security. While "your friend Bob" might be a great investor and a Certified Financial Analyst, if he's keeping your portfolio details on the PC in his home office, which also happens to be attached to a cable modem, and he doesn't know what a firewall is, you might think twice before handing him a big ol' check, your social security number, and your mother's maiden name. Just a thought.
I want some Miss America/World/Universe contestant to say that her dream for a better world is ubiquitous high-speed wireless service across the globe. I'd vote for her in a second.
Wireless networking is just about the best thing since...um...home broadband access. If you don't have some flavor of Wi-Fi in your home or workplace or your local coffee shop, you are missing out on a truly amazing experience. This technology has gotten so cheap now that there's nearly no cost-based reason to wire a home for a LAN. Security? Sure, wired is safer. Speed? Sure, wired is faster, but with 802.11g hardware now available, the speed differential isn't likely to matter to most folks. Simplicity? Sure, wired is easier, but the gap is shrinking pretty quickly as new Wi-Fi hardware and OS's become better able to lead even the most thick-headed novice through setup in a few minutes.
What I don't understand is why more mobile devices don't have some form of wireless built in. Laptops surely have jumped on the bandwagon, with nearly every manufacturer offering built-in Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth in many models. Some Pocket PC PDAs, like the Toshiba e740 and the iPaq h5450 also have Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth as part of the hardware. So what the heck is keeping Palm OS device makers from doing the same thing? Sure, Sony has a Compactflash Wi-Fi card with proprietary drivers for its NX and NZ lines, and HandEra has long since offered Wi-Fi drivers for its PDAs, but if you want Wi-Fi, that's it. A few SecureDigital Wi-Fi adapters were announced at CES 2003, but so far none have made it to shelves. The Palm Tungsten T has integrated Bluetooth, but so far, I've yet to find any evidence that Bluetooth is being heavily used for anything on any widespread basis. So, if you're a Palm OS devotee, your options are limited to add-on cards. Why can't somebody release a device with Wi-Fi built in??? OK, enough ranting.
The other prominent option for wireless data is over a cellular network, and the options for devices like this have exploded recently. For example, in my household, we have both a Treo 270 from Handspring and a Kyocera 7135. These are pretty amazing devices for different reasons. The Treo acts and feels very much like a wireless PDA with secondary voice functionality, whereas the 7135 feels like a cellular phone with PDA capabilities grafted on. When people see them, they react in two ways: PDA users like the Treo and phone people like the 7135. I like both...a lot, and more so every day I use them. More on them another time.
To sum up, wireless is good and more device makers need to realize that some form of wireless is almost necessary from this point on, at least in mid- and upper-range devices. Let's hope that's not news to anyone making decisions in any consumer electronics firms.
Welcome to my blog. I'm not sure exactly what this will become, but it's pretty likely that most of my posts will be about something related to technology -- that wonderful combination of science, engineering, art, and business that brings interesting devices and innovative concepts to our everyday lives. At times, I'll likely wander into other areas of discussion, such as travel, world events, food, business (in general), and a host of yet-to-be-determined topics, but you'll notice that a lot of those topics somehow relate back to technology, with which I'm hopelessly and eternally intrigued.
Should you want to learn more about me (not sure why you would), feel free to check out either my brief self-written bio or my professional profile. Both of those are physician-recommended cures for insomnia.
More later...
