May 2004 Archives

I don't usually just point to someone else's story, but Brighthand's summary of notable lawsuits over the past 10 years or so in the handheld industry is as fascinating as it is disappointing. The legal wranglings involving nearly every major player in that space have threatened to tear it apart from the inside for a good, long while.

The Toyota Prius (yes, the hybrid car, shown) tracks your gas mileage over time. As you drive, your driving habits (lead-footing it, slow acceleration, etc.) affect your gas mileage. Wired recently had an article about how different drivers' driving styles can affect their resulting MPG significantly.

So, I was thinking...what we need is a high-score uploader! Imagine that your Prius, using its Bluetooth technology, can connect to the Internet through your mobile phone. When it does, it uploads to a secure server your fuel efficiency for the last week, month, year, and the lifetime of the car.

Then, just like console and PC games, you can go online and check out how you fare compared to all the other Prius drivers out there. Or, you could compare yourself with all the other drivers in your state or your city (I'm guessing San Francisco drivers might be at either an advantage or a disadvantage due to the hills). Perhaps even better would be the ability to pull up the "high scores" right on the Prius' in-car display. Perhaps this would be the first actual reality-based driving game.

Suddenly, it becomes a competitive activity to try and get the most fuel economy out of your car. Every time you drive, you're trying to maximize your distance while minimizing your gas usage. Prius drivers who just want to "win" at the game end up saving gas and being environmentally friendly, regardless of their eco-political perspective.

No, this doesn't exist yet, but I think it would be a pretty cool idea. I know that it might just sell some more Priuses as well and would be pretty inexpensive to do.

China has issued a travel ban to the US for its citizens and is blocking visitation from US citizens to China and its territories. Chinese officials stated that a recent World Health Organization statement condemning the US for "an epidemic of obesity" is primary motivation for the ban.

Chinese government health officials hope to reduce the risk of obesity infecting its population as prevalently as it has in the US. "During the SARS outbreak, we learned the value of being proactive and taking preventative steps," said Wu Xinhua, a government health official. "Restricting our population's exposure to this new, widespread obesity epidemic from the West is very important."

When asked why a travel ban was necessary when obesity isn't communicable, an unidentified government health official scoffed. "Of course obesity is communicable. One need only look at certain families to recognize that fat mother and fat father have infected their fat children with the disease. Why do you think obesity is a "growing epidemic" if it cannot be passed on from one person to another?"

"We think this misunderstanding is most unfortunate," said Greg Carlin, a representative from the US Dept. of Commerce. "We hope to clarify the situation with the Chinese government and get the travel restrictions lifted." When asked what the DoC was doing to address the problem long-term, Carlin replied, "We've instituted a ban on chili fries in our cafeteria."

Other countries reported to be considering joining the ban on US travel and travellers are North Korea, Malaysia, Cuba, and Indonesia. The WHO has not yet made a statement about the travel restrictions.

Cicadaville contains lots of useful and apparently highly scientific information, such as these FAQs:

What do Cicadas eat?
Human children are the primary source of nutrition for Cicadas.

Are Cicadas poisonous?
Yes, Cicadas have a deadly venom that is injected through a small bone like tube known as the "Cicada deadly venom tube". The venom can kill a human being instantly. In 1987, the last time the Cicadas emerged in the United States, over 7 million people died from Cicada injections. Many people escaped but most perished.

How do Cicadas mate?
The female cicada injects her eggs under the skin of a small human child. The cicada pupae then grow inside the child until they reach maturity. Unless you protect your children they may become host to thousands of deadly Cicada pupae. The government calls this Chicken Pox.

Good to see somebody coming out and setting things straight.

Who is Gary Shapiro, you ask? He's the President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, an industry trade group.

Why am I suddenly so fond of him? Because he wrote (or at least signed) a positively brilliant response to a letter from the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America, a.k.a. the spawn of Satan). The RIAA letter was asking why the CEA didn't want to back its efforts to get the FCC to mandate a copy-protection flag for digital radio transmissions (as it has with digital TV signals and that goes into effect next summer).

In the CEA's response, Shapiro basically cuts off at the knees every claim the RIAA makes and dismisses every hope it expresses. It's just a great letter...here's the last paragraph:

"In closing, let me again reinforce that non-commercial recording of freely broadcast over the air radio programming is a fundamental consumer right, and one that has consistently been given great deference by Congress. Any discussion of curtailing that right, prior to even the most minimal showing of harm, is ill conceived and premature."

If you want to read it yourself, first read the RIAA's letter and then read the CEA's response. And thanks to boingboing for the lead.

As a final thought, let me just say once and for all that I truly, honestly, and with every ounce of my being, hope the RIAA is soon sued into oblivion and every one of its greedy, soulless and foul-smelling executives sent to prison on 317 consecutive life terms for wanton abuse of consumer/citizen rights and its ongoing, wholesale assault on culture.

The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) has announced that it is putting together a directory which will contain 75% of the 163 million mobile phone numbers in the USA.

The CTIA is positioning the directory towards real estate agents and other mobile professionals who want people to be able to find their mobile numbers.

However, critics fear that publishing the directory will undermine privacy and open phones to a flood of unwanted calls. In addition, the numbers make it easy to deduce addresses of phones that receive e-mail since usually the number is the user name part of the e-mail address, opening users to e-mail abuse.

One major carrier, Verizon Wireless, has vowed to keep its 39 million subscribers out of the directory, calling the initiative misguided.

There are big numbers at stake. Consulting firm Zelos Group estimates that the directory could generate an estimated $3 billion in annual fees and additional minutes by 2009.

Since cell phones were introduced, mobile numbers have remained private because in the US, recipients of calls pay for air time, and so are reluctant to distribute numbers. Furthermore, 30% of users change carriers each year, making an accurate directory difficult to compile. That changed when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed the portability of mobile numbers.

It's just sad and sickening what some will do to promote their websites and/or businesses. Yesterday, I was hit with a mini-flood of comment spam here on GearBits. However, this was different -- instead of promoting a pr0n site, it was promoting (and this boggles my mind) an Internet security website called Secure Root.

If you visit the SR website (at www dot secureroot dot com) you will notice it seems as if it is actually trying to provide Internet security-related information to some audience. So if it's trying to establish trust in its advice, why the hell would it engage in such a despicable manner as bombarding GearBits with 30 comment spams in a period of 20 minutes? It took me over an hour to clean them all out.

So, while we're still working on the Movable Type upgrade, comments are going to stay off. I'll announce when they're back on. In the meantime, if anyone has any good ideas about how to make Secure Root aware that its blatant asswipe-like behavior is not appropriate, I'm all ears. Send me an email at .

P.S. Why didn't I add a link to the Secure Root website? Well, that would accomplish for the asswipes exactly what they were trying to achieve through their spamming -- added links that improve their Google ranking. Isn't it odd that one of the best tools on the Internet has also fostered an entire range of distasteful practices? I wonder if the net benefit of Google is approaching zero as more and more practices like this get thought up.

palmOne today announced that the lawsuit filed against it by Xerox claiming infringement of its 'unistroke' input method has been summarily dismissed. The overly broad patent and the existence of prior art invalidated Xerox's lawsuit.

MILPITAS, Calif., May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- palmOne, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLMO) announced that summary judgment had been issued in its favor dismissing Xerox Corporation's claim that palmOne's former text-entry system, Graffiti(R), infringed a Xerox patent. In a decision released today, Judge Michael A. Telesca of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York held that the Xerox patent was invalid.

The summary judgment ruling will result in the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Xerox in 1997 against Palm, Inc. and its former parent, 3Com Corp. Palm, Inc. has since spun off PalmSource, Inc., maker of the Palm OS(R) platform, and acquired Handspring, Inc. to form palmOne, Inc. palmOne had retained liability for the Xerox matter.

"We firmly believed that the broad interpretation of the patent, as it evolved in this case, would render the patent invalid," said Mary Doyle, senior vice president and general counsel for palmOne. "We are very pleased that this court has agreed."

"This is a terrific outcome," said Todd Bradley, palmOne president and chief executive officer. "We've persevered for years to achieve this result and the vindication palmOne deserves."

The Xerox patent in question is U.S. Patent No. 5,596,656, which covered unistroke symbols. The court held that the patent was invalid because, "The prior art references anticipate and render obvious the claim," or that the unistroke system was not a unique invention.

We're glad that the judicial system seems to have taken the most rational view in this case. It would be nice if some other patents awarded for blatantly obvious "innovations" got invalidated as well.

Now, palmOne, how about offering the original Graffiti on some of your devices for those Palm OS users who can't stand Graffiti 2?

This /. comment made me laugh so hard I very nearly wet myself:

NEW STARBUCKS OPENS IN RESTROOM OF EXISTING STARBUCKS

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Starbucks, the nation's largest coffee-shop chain,
continued its rapid expansion Tuesday, opening its newest location
in the men's room of an existing Starbucks.

"Coffee lovers just can't stand being far from their favorite Starbucks
gourmet blends," said Chris Tuttle, Starbucks vice-president of
franchising. "Now, people can enjoy a delicious Frappuccino or espresso
just about any time they please ...."

The new men's-room-based Starbucks, the coffee giant's 1,531st U.S.
location, will be open to both men and women when not "in use." In
addition to offering specialty coffees from around the world, it will
serve freshly baked pastries, Italian pannini sandwiches and soups, as
well as the rest room's usual selection of toilet paper and soap.

According to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, the new location represents the
beginning of a long-term expansion plan. "Eventually, Starbucks rest rooms
everywhere will sell coffee," Schultz said. "But that ambitious scheme is
at least five years down the road. In the meantime, we plan to open an
additional location in this Starbucks' ladies' room within months, and are
already drafting plans for a fourth restaurant along the corridor leading
from the main seating area to the rest rooms. At some point a 'Star-bucks
Express' window will eventually open in the walk-in closet of the men's
room Starbucks."

"Drink our coffee," Schultz said. "Drink it."

I hope /. doesn't mind me duplicating it here...

OK, this is nothing related to technology (but I may yet discover a connection), but these are some wicked photos of the cicada invasion happening in Cincinnati right now.

This first picture is the base of a neighbor's tree. Those hundreds/thousands of little brown things that look like peanuts are actually the skins shed by the cicada larvae when they molt. Remember, this is just one tree...

This next photo is a close-up of the trunk of the tree. It gives you an idea of the density of the cicadas that have emerged in just the past 24 hours. After a day or so of hanging onto the tree and drying out, the newly molted adults fly (clumsily, I might add) to some nearby bush/shrub/car antenna/screen door/etc. to chirp.

This last photo is a macro showing the four stages of these critters' emergence.
(1) is how they look when they emerge from their burrows in the ground and climb up some nearby plant or telephone pole or whatever to molt.
(2) shows the cicada in mid-molt -- note how the back splits and the ghostly white new adult emerges.
(3) is the newly emerged adult. The fake black eye-spots are only temporary, since they are extremely vulnerable to predators during this short period before they're able to fly (those little stubs will unfurl and harden into transparent wings).
(4) shows a fully transformed adult. At about 1-1.5 inches long and pretty thick, they are substantial bugs. When they fly into you (or your windshield), it's quite noticeable.

Estimates are that roughly 5 billion cicadas will emerge during May here in Cincinnati. Their sheer volume tends to make a mess of sidewalks under large trees. In a few days, their calls will reach max volume -- supposedly a whopping 90 decibels can be produced by a single adult male. Thankfully, this Brood X invasion only happens here once every 17 years.

As you probably know, getting an accout on Gmail (Google's new email service with 1GB of storage) is incredibly hard -- you basically have to be invited by someone who only gets a couple of invites him- or herself.

So, some folks set up gmail swap, a place where you can post your offer in exchange for a gmail account invitation. Some of my favorite offers posted today include "A bag of dry Arizona air..." and "I'll paint your portrait badly" -- classic.

For an entertaining look at gmail swap, check out this Wired article.

Oh, and by the way, gmail swap really works -- I got myself hooked up with an account just today.

Since we are running "pain" entries this week, I will add a few of my own:

1. The hard drive in my Scientific Atlanta DVR just conked out. I have had the unit for less than 2 months! Time Warner is sending the service personnel tomorrow to fix it (my guess is that they will have to replace the unit). I'm not sure how reliabile this DVR is going to be--we will have to wait and see, but my confidence is low right now. In the meantime, I lost several recordings that I didn't get a chance to view (that's pain).

2. Pain is grading hundreds of papers with poor writing styles. I'm not talking about grammar or spelling mistakes. I'm talking about poorly organized or incoherent papers I have to read. Those papers take about 3 times longer to read as compared to well-organized and coherent papers. I'm just glad that I'm done with grading.

3. Pain is getting old. I tried to play ping-pong, tennis, and golf all in one day. I could hardly walk afterward. My knees, shoulders, elbows, and hips all hurt. I've learned my lesson here.

BTW, I'm playing with the new Zire 72 and the Sena T3 case right now, and my PalmCorner Weekly will return with those reviews next Monday (now that I'm done with my end-of-the-semester grading rush).

...filling a 512 MB MP3 player via USB1.1.

Pain is also tuning the FM dial to 97.7 and hearing tripe like Hoobustank and Linkin Park where I should be hearing my beloved 97X.

Pain is also finding out that my swanky new $100 DVD±RW drive has failed after less than 2 months and has to be RMA'ed back to OptoRite.

I'm fascinated by how consumers categorize their technology. For example, what's the difference between a phone with PDA capabilities and a PDA with phone capabilities? Yet, for some reason, consumers make these distinctions. What's really troubling is that the consultants and pundits (e.g., Gartner) seem to have latched onto certain categories and are pitting one against the other as if it were an illegal dogfight...last one standing wins.

So, let's recap what can be observed out in the marketplace today. What features seem to drive name/image dominance for handheld and mobile devices?

1. Phone -- If a device can be used as a voice phone on a cellular network, it is generally first and foremost considered a phone. Some exceptions to this include the Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, which people generally regard as PDAs, and the Palm Tungsten W, which people generally regarded as a piece of crap. So, the phone feature seems to dominate all other features...generally.

2. Gaming -- Second behind phone is gaming. If a handheld has significant game-playing capabilities, but is not a phone, it will essentially be labeled a gaming device. An example of this is Nokia's n-Gage -- it's a crappy phone and a decent gaming device, yet people still refer to it as a phone. However, consider the Tapwave Zodiac. The Zodiac is considered a gaming handheld despite it having significant PDA capabilities. Were it to have phone functionality, I posit that folks would refer to it as a phone (a la the n-Gage).

3. PDA/PIM -- Personal Digital Assistant or Personal Information Management functionality seems to be third on the influential feature list. If a device has this, but is not a phone or a gaming device, it is generally considered a PDA. There are relatively few exceptions, with the iPod being the most (only?) noteworthy one. The iPod's PIM functionality is crude at best, so perhaps this isn't really even that much of an exception.

4a. Camera -- Camera functionality (both still and video) seems to have no dominance over any other feature. The Sony Clies and the Palm Zires that have cameras are still primarily considered PDAs, and my Treo 600, which has a camera (albeit a lame one), is still considered a phone. Only devices that are strictly cameras (i.e., have no other significant capability) are regarded as cameras. The only exception I've found in this regard is the Panasonic series of multi-function devices (e.g., their D-Snap line) that combine a still camera, video camera, MP3 player, and voice recorder all in one. In that device, the camera dominates the MP3 functionality.

4b. MP3/Media Player -- Being able to play music or video clips is a laudable objective for a handheld. However, it is fairly undistinguishing if this is all a device can do. Most other features (e.g., phone, gaming, and PDA/PIM) overshadow music and video playing if those features are present on the device. Consider (again) the Tapwave Zodiac. It's an excellent multimedia device, yet folks think of it first as a gaming handheld and then as a PDA, with audio and video as an "oh, yeah, it can do this too" feature. Only dedicated devices like the forthcoming Samsung Yepp YH-999 Portable Media Center are known for their audio/video playback capabilities. Were these to have phone functionality or gaming controls or established PDA/PIM functionality, they wouldn't be nearly as lauded for their A/V features. At least that's my guess.

Note that I have Camera and MP3/Video as tied for fourth. It seems there are a lot of examples of cameras that can do the audio/video playback thing and A/V devices with built-in cameras, so I don't see a clear precedence here. Maybe that will emerge as dedicated A/V devices get better and people start considering camera functionality as almost an assumed feature for mid- to upper-level electronics.

OK, I'm interested in hearing what you all think about my theory here. What are the exceptions (gadgets) to my rules that you've seen?

Archaeologists have announced that they have discovered the site of the Library of Alexandria.

A Polish-Egyptian team has uncovered what look like lecture halls in the Bruchion region of the city. The 13 lecture halls uncovered could potentially house 5,000 scholars. A conspicuous feature of each of the rooms is an elevated podium, where it is presumed the lecturers stood.

Two thousand years ago, the Library of Alexandria housed works by the some of the greatest philosophers of that era, including works by Plato and Socrates. Also reputed to be the world's oldest university, the Library of Alexamdria was destroyed by fire, possibly by Julius Caesar as part of a campaign of conquest.

At the Library, Archimedes invented the screw-shaped water pump still in use today; Eratosthenes measured the diameter of the Earth; Euclid expounded on the rules of geometry; and Ptolemy wrote the Almagest, the most influential treatise on the nature of the Universe for the next millennium.

Alexandria started life as tiny fishing village when Alexander the Great chose it to be the site of his empire's capital. As its influence grew, the city built two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, including the Lighthouse at Pharos, and the Library of Alexandria.

Within 10 minutes of enabling comments, 20-some more spam comments were posted to GearBits. Either we've put someone's panties in a bunch and they've just pointed a script at us or there is someone with a lot of time and desire to promote a rape/pr0n website using any means possible.

Too bad that one or a few jackasses can ruin the fun for everyone. Spam really makes you rethink that whole premise about all life being precious...

According to Mashby, Six Apart, makers of the nice blog software Movable Type (which powers this site), has started charging enormous fees for the next version of its software.

These fees are such that, since I make no money from GearBits, I can't justify upgrading to the next version of MT. Without upgrading, the options available to us to limit comment spam (a real scourge to blogging) are few and limited. We'll be weighing our options, but this could be the end of GearBits.

I'm turning comments back on now and we'll see how things go.

Today, GearBits and my moblog have been attacked with over 150 porn-related comment spams. In order to stop the flood, I've had to disable commenting until I can delete all the spam comments and figure out the best preventative measure to this vile practice. Sorry for the disruption folks...some people just have nothing better to do than turn an otherwise decent planet into a dung heap.

I'm all for electronic voting. I think, if it's done correctly, that it can be a valuable tool and a positive step in getting more people to vote and vote more thoughtfully (yeah, I've been accused of being an idealist more than once).

However, it seems rational to me that, at least in these early days of electronic voting, we should expect some form of paper-based backup system. A physical audit trail would be invaluable if there are any disputes (and you know there will be, especially this year with all the rankor).

A friend passed on this online ACT petition to me, which seems like a pretty reasonable request:

Today I’ve taken action to protect the vote in Ohio, where electronic voting machines are set to be in place in 31 counties without a paper trail verification of each votes. The 2004 election is going to be very close - and could come down to just a handful of votes in this key state.

Please join me in signing the “Paper Trail Petition” today and pass it on to everyone you know.

http://actforvictory.org/act.php/home/petitions/diebold_ohio

What's your take on electronic voting?

..for not posting for several days. I have been caught up in the waning life of 97X, the best alternative rock station ever, which went off the air forever last night about midnight. My stomach knots up even now just thinking about it.

Now that this drama has ended, I should be back on the horse. More or less...

Universal Display Corporation (UDC), is presenting a collection of new product concepts for Wired's NextFest, being held this weekend in San Francisco.

UDC is a developer of organic light emitting devices (OLED), with applications for flat panel display screens and other applications.

UDC will be showcasing three innovations, a high-efficiency, phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) technology, for energy-efficient, solid-state OLED lighting products; and flexible OLED (FOLED) and transparent OLED (TOLED) technologies, which are adaptable to new design opportunities.

The Portable Light exhibit at NextFest features design applications in architecture, textiles and other areas, based on UDC's proprietary flexible and transparent OLED technologies.

One striking application is an ultra-portable handheld personal digital assistant based on a FOLED screen, which rolls up into the size of a pen.

Casio Computer Co has announced that it has developed the world's smallest fuel cell.

Large-scale polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) are already in development for use in automobiles. What Casio has succeeded in doing is to miniaturize a PEFC so that it is similar in size to a conventional lithium-ion battery.

However, the PEFC battery has a capacity nearly four times that of a lithium-ion battery. Laptop computers should be able to run on PEFC power for 8-16 hours.

Casio hopes to introduce its fuel cell to the market after regulators are expected to allow PEFCs on the market, around 2007.

I stopped by the WOXY studio (photo) today to say good-bye and thank the folks there for two decades of awesome music. I got to have a nice chat with Bryan Jay, WOXY's resident tech guru, about the situation facing the online side of the station's operations.

In a nutshell, and an oversimplified nutshell at that, to maintain the current online listenership would require a few hundred thousand dollars a year in bandwidth (they chew through several terabytes each month). Unlike my previous take, which is that the big barrier was royalties, it's these bandwidth expenses that are the largest hurdle. The good news is that there may be a way they can cut some of these expenses down, but that alone isn't enough.

The next hurdle is the fact that an actual online radio station (as opposed to someone just streaming music) would require about 4 full-time staffers. Salaries and benefits for those peeps would come out to just under $300K a year.

The final hurdle is indeed the royalties that an Internet broadcaster of this size would have to pay the artists and composers (unlike terrestrial radio, which only has to pay composers). IIRC what Doug Balogh (former owner) mentioned today, that would be a bit over a $100 grand a year.

Add up those figures and you're talking about $650 thousand or so each year that the station would have to generate through advertising and other revenue streams. And that's just to break even. Obviously, this isn't a trivial business model to make work on a for-profit basis.

97X's tagline is 'The Future of Rock & Roll.' To me, it has always been just that; I could depend on it to show me what's new and on the horizon. Today, 97X still represents the future, but no longer in a positive way. As 97X looks to go off the air this Thursday, the future of rock & roll seems to belong entirely to corporate radio and the RIAA. They are the ones with the lobbyists and the economic/political power. What do we consumers and music lovers have to look forward to? From here, it looks to be the death of independent radio and the ever-increasing homogenization of our culture. Yippee...I can hardly wait.

The Register has a short, but tantalizing, piece on this forthcoming tablet-style PC from Sony.

With an 800x600 screen, integrated 802.11g wireless, and a 1GHz processor, at just 1.2 lbs. this will be one impressive device. It's operated with a stylus, but it will run on plain-Jane Windows XP (not Tablet PC). Sony will have its own software to handle pen input.

This could put a lot of pressure on the Pocket PC (er, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC) market, since nearly all of the functionality in a Pocket PC can be replicated on this device yet it enables scads more that your run-of-the-mill Pocket PC can only dream of doing. Planned accessories include a charging/display dock and a collapsable mobile keyboard.

The lobbyists working for the RIAA and the biggest few radio companies have convinced enough of our elected federal officials that the price of broadcasting a song over the Internet should far exceed the price of broadcasting a song over the airwaves to make it law.

The result is hundreds, if not thousands, of diverse and otherwise viable Internet-based radio stations have been forced out of business because Internet broadcasters have to pay not only higher per-song fees based on listenership, but they are required to pay both the original copyright holder (i.e., the songwriter) and the recording artist (terrestrial stations do not have to pay recording artists royalties if they are not the original songwriter because playing their recorded songs is akin to free advertising for their albums). This effect has hit me personally due to the forthcoming death of 97X, the best alternative rock station ever because, despite it being a profitable terrestrial radio station for well over a decade, it cannot afford to pay the onerous and unfair webcasting royalties.

Why? What is the rationale for this disparity?

Surely there's no benefit to consumers or the public, yet isn't that the primary mission of our government?

So, while I am but one person with a conscience and a blog, I will henceforth make it a personal goal to see the RIAA go down in flames (or at least be so radically changed that it can no longer act out in this despicable and anti-consumer fashion). Please...if you care at all about the evolution of culture in America, or even just about the music you're allowed to hear, read up on the issue. My suggestion is to start with Lawrence Lessig's latest book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. It serves as a good intellectual property law primer, history lesson, and summary of the status quo and why it needs to change.

As the saying goes, "if you aren't outraged, you haven't been paying attention."

I've noticed a disturbing trend. Laptop makers, when listing their products' specs, have started just saying "802.11b/g" -- that doesn't help me at all. Is it the slower 802.11b (which is compatible with 802.11g networks) or is it the faster 802.11g (which is, well, faster)??

Is this some grand marketing conspiracy to "sell up" aging Wi-Fi (802.11b) components using the appeal of the faster 802.11g standard? Or, am I the only one being confused?

TechDirt and Engadget have stories about the world's fastest phone text typer. Using a standard mobile phone keypad, James Trusler tapped out "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." in just 67 seconds (try it...I doubt you can do it in twice as long the first time).

Of course, I was curious how long this would take me on my Treo 600. Turns out that my second try (first try was interrupted by a phone call...go figure) took me 59 seconds, 8 seconds less than the world's fastest keypad poker (and I'm not a stellar thumb-board typer). Makes me realize again why I would hate to have to go back to a regular mobile phone.

So, how long does it take for you to enter this phrase on your device using your preferred method?

Jordan Ellenberg, an assistant math professor, penned a column in Slate where he outlines some numerical arguments against being concerned about grade inflation:

One of the most powerful and popular arguments against grade inflation is that it makes it difficult to tell one student from another. Harvey Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard and a vocal grade-inflation foe, puts it this way: "Grade inflation compresses all grades at the top, making it difficult to discriminate the best from the very good, the very good from the good, the good from the mediocre."

That sounds reasonable. But it's wrong.

An interesting discussion is attached to the article. Myself, I'm still not convinced that grade inflation should go unchecked. But then, I don't use a +/- grade system, so if you don't get an A in my class, you wind up with a B, C, D, or F. Does anyone really think that everyone should be "excellent" (the evaluative interpretation my institution associates with an A)? Hardly.

Optware Corporation, a Japanese firm specializing in holographic storage media, has demonstrated a practical holographic recording and playback device.

Its system is based on polarized collinear holography, as opposed to conventional holographic recording and playing devices. This system multiplexes the signal and reference beams used for recording and playing of holographic media with just one objective lens.

Conventional technology requires a two-beam axis, a more complex system with precision issues, including positioning the media with each optical axis.

Prototypes shown used a blue-violet semiconductor laser for the signal beam and reference beam, a red semiconductor laser for the servo, and a CMOS image sensor for detection of the playback signals.

Optware says it is on track to introduce a commercial product storing up to 300-GB on a 12 centimeter holographic disc by 2005.

Sharp Electronics and Instant802 Networks have announced a partnership, bringing video distribution into the wireless age.

The partnership has resulted in the Sharp Galileo Personal Video Recorder (PVR), one of the first devices to leverage 802.11-based wireless systems for video distribution.

Instant802's wireless software platform is used for range of data networking devices. The Sharp Galileo PVR is one of the first consumer electronics devices using the platform. Instant802 also provides residential gateway solutions integrated with security solutions.

The Galileo PVR is available immediately in Japan, and is expected to hit North America later this year.