May 2005 Archives

Doing something that no terrestrial radio station can do, 97X WOXY.com has just added a parallel broadcast called WOXY Vintage. WOXY Vintage is a 24/7 broadcast stream dedicated to, well, vintage alternative rock. The folks at WOXY actually sum it up best:

Welcome to WOXY Vintage, the first new 24/7 streaming channel from WOXY.com dedicated to the history of Modern Rock, Alternative and Punk music. You'll hear nearly 30 years of adventurous, innovative and influential music from The Velvet Underground, The Clash, Talking Heads, The Smiths, Depeche Mode and much more. Consider it your Modern Rock primer.

Sound good? Well, it is. In fact, the Vintage stream just finished broadcasting the 16th annual Modern Rock 500, a Memorial Day tradition on 97X where they play the top 500 alternative rock tunes in reverse order, counting down to #1 (this year it was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana). The new Modern Rock 500 will be re-broadcast this week, Tuesday-Thursday 11a-8p and Friday 11a to completion.

According to this eWeek article from 2004, roughly 700 people attended the 2004 PalmSource Developer's Conference. This year, there were around 1,000 attendees at the conference (which ended yesterday), an increase of nearly 50%. Not bad considering there was no major announcement this year.

Also, LinuxDevices.com has a nifty interview with two PalmSource execs about what the whole "Palm OS for Linux" thing really means. Read it here.

Nokia has announced an interesting device, the N770. In a nutshell, it's a Wi-Fi-enabled web browser and media player. It is barely pocketable, runs Linux and is expected to cost around $350.

CNet has an interesting overview about it.

Tales of the demise of Palm, sometimes referring to PalmSource (the OS company) or PalmOne (the hardware maker) or both, seem to crop up in batches every once in a while, yet there's rarely ever any significant reason for the speculation.

One of the persistent rumors that has been hanging around since some comments from a PalmOne exec last year about possibly releasing devices based on operating systems other than Palm OS. My best guess on the situation, based on the latest information and news, is that there won't be a non-Palm OS device from PalmOne for at least three years, if ever.

First, PalmSource has agreed to sell the name "Palm" back to PalmOne for $30 million. That means that PalmOne will go back to being called Palm and PalmSource will be renamed to something that doesn't include "Palm" in the name (in fact, Palm OS will have to be renamed as well). That suggests that PalmOne believes there is huge brand value in the Palm name -- at least $30 million worth -- and a non-Palm OS device being sold under the Palm brand would be incredibly confusing and deleterious to the value of that brand.

Second, PalmOne has renewed its long-term licensing agreement with PalmSource. In that deal, PalmSource will get minimum royalty payments of nearly $150 million over the next four years, including $65 million for 2007 through 2009 if PalmSource meets certain development milestones. That is no trivial agreement, and really cements a commitment to Palm OS on the part of PalmOne. There is no reason they would have bought such a long-term relationship with Palm OS if they were looking around. To make a bad analogy, giving someone a key to your apartment usually doesn't happen if you're thinking at the time "we should see other people."

These two issues suggest to me that PalmOne won't be coming out with devices that don't run Palm OS for a long time, if ever. As Palm OS evolves into Palm OS for Linux, which will be happening over the next 12-18 months, the value proposition for PalmOne (and for PalmOne's customers) becomes even more compelling, so I don't expect significant changes to these reasons any time soon.

Here at the PalmSource DevCon, there's an air of enthusiasm and optimism that, frankly, I haven't sensed since the early days of the PalmPilot (mid-late 1990s). With the recent management changes and the switch to Linux and the increasing success of the Treo smartphone, people generally feel optimistic that Palm OS is well-positioned to be an even bigger and more significant player in the mobile market moving into the future. Before I came to PalmSource and heard all the announcements and saw the demos, I was in a bit of a funk -- I really didn't have a lot of confidence in Palm OS' ability to survive to the end of the decade. Now, I'm not only confident it'll be around, I think that its future is as bright as it could possibly be.

Regardless of your preference of mobile operating system (even if you have one), you have to admit that it's good for everyone to have competition in the market -- this forces innovation and evolution at a far faster pace than if there's just one player (the lack of improvement in Internet Explorer over the past 4 years, and then Firefox's pressure for Microsoft to increase IE's functionality and robustness, is clear evidence of this). So, root for Palm OS (and Palm OS for Linux) even if it's only to make your own preferred mobile OS adapt and improve faster than it otherwise would.

There's a PalmSource DevCon group photoblog hosted by the folks. Most of the photos are crummy, but at least there are lots of them.

I'm outta here to attend the PalmSource Mobile Summit & DevCon 2005 in San Jose all this week, so forgive if posts are even more sparse than usual. But then, there might be nifty new stuff there that'll get my blogging blood pumping fast. We'll have to wait and see...

I don't use a wallet, at least not in the traditional sense. You know, that bi-fold or tri-fold piece of leather in which you keep your cash, credit cards, insurance cards, pictures of the wife and kids, etc.

About 10 years ago, I got increasingly annoyed at the fact that I spent so much of my day sitting on a wad of leather, plastic and paper. Not only was it uncomfortable, it seemed so...well...unnecessary. I didn't carry a lot in my wallet, and the wallet itself made up the majority of the mass of what went in my hip pocket. "What a waste," I thought, and I started looking for an alternative.

I tried various solutions, but the one that I've used now for nearly 9 years is a variation on the money clip concept. However, instead of just keeping my bills in the clip, I keep the entire contents of what would otherwise constitute my wallet.

The above picture is the actual device I use -- a Clippie from Levenger (size Large). If you haven't before seen a Clippie, it's meant to be used as a high-tech paper-clip. It's basically two U-shaped pieces of metal. The inner pieces grasps the paper and the outer sleeve slides over the inner piece and produces the clamping power.

These two photos above show my implementation of this Clippie-based alternative wallet. As you can see, it's quite compact -- it measures just 3.5" long (the length of a credit card), 2.7" wide (the width of a US bill), and a mere 1/4" thick. The whole assembly weighs just about 1 ounce. I challenge anyone to demonstrate that their traditional wallet alone comes in under these measurements.

To be honest, the use of the Clippie is really only half the story. I've had people ask me about this practice over the years and most of them are convinced that their wallets contain just too much necessary stuff to fit in a Clippie or similar device. Here's what my "wallet" contains:
 •  Typically, 3-5 paper bills (4 shown)
 •  2 credit cards
 •  Car insurance card
 •  Health insurance card
 •  Driver's license
 •  Work photo ID card
 •  ATM card

Usually, when I ask skeptics what they have in their wallets, they start producing handfuls of traveller cards (frequent flier cards, car rental cards, etc.), various pieces of paper with scribbled notes, dry cleaning receipts, photos, and the list goes on.

Here's the secret to getting rid of all that stuff: get yourself a PDA or smartphone and USE IT. Enter all your frequent flier data into it so you have it when the agent asks you for it (I've never had to have my actual cards with me). Put the photos in your PDA as JPGs and show them off in a handheld slideshow (bonus points with your tech-head friends). Put all those "notes to self" in the PDA and, becaue you can set alarms for them, you actually might remember them! And, finally, do you really need more than two or three credit cards on you at all times?

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I think a lot of people could put their wallets on a serious diet just by cleaning them out and thinking critically about each item they contain. Add an appropriately used handheld to the mix and all those slips of paper and other odds-and-ends really start disappearing quickly.

I'm not trying to convince anyone that this is the solution for everyone -- this is just a description of what works for me. If you try it out and you like it, great! Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Alternately, leave a comment why this absolutely couldn't work for you -- that might be even more interesting. :-)

Update: The Levenger site now shows Clippies as no longer available. How distressing! Since I get about 2 years out of each clippie, and I still have about 6 left in my original tin, I guess I'll need to start looking around for a new solution in about a decade.

Update #2: Levenger says they have a few sets of Clippies left, but the product is indeed being discontinued. So, if you want to try out this wallet alternative, might want to order soon (1-800-544-0880).

From Rotten Tomatoes come excerpts of some interesting news regarding movies I'm excited about:

"Sith" Breaks Single Day Record with $50M Debut
"According to Exhibitor Relations, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" did a record-breaking single day gross of $50M at the box office on Thursday. This includes the $16.5M from midnight screenings, which is also a record."

I'm glad because, you know, it breaks my heart to see Lucas bumming smokes outside the 7-Eleven.

Kelsey Grammar to play Beast (in X-Men 3)
"...TV's Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) will be playing the fan-favorite Beast in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men 3." Those who doubt the connection between TV's longtime psychiatrist and a 400-pound hulking blue brute need only remember that Beast (a.k.a. Dr. Hank McCoy) is the resident super-genius within the X-Men lair."

As long as Stewart and McKellen come back, it should be good. I'm not sure about Vaughn as director, so we'll just have to wait and see. While the Dark Phoenix storyline isn't a bad choice, I'm disappointed that there won't be any Sentinals roaming around (how I loves them big robots).

PalmOne has announced the LifeDrive, a biggish handheld with integrated 4GB hard drive, dual wireless (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), big screen (480x320), and other stuff. Incremental, but possibly interesting as a combo PDA / mobile media device.

Some reviews:
- Brighthand
- Palm Infocenter
- PDAGeek
- InfoSync World

Requisite photo:

I'm becoming increasingly impressed with Wikipedia -- the latest well-written entry I've read there is this one on Democracy (there's a high probability you don't know as much about that topic as you've been lead to believe).

I'm sure you've heard all the uproar about how Kansas is working on redefining what science is to make the concept of "intelligent design" (a.k.a. Creationism) more easily taught in public schools. The new definition opens up the realm of explanation for things to those outside "natural phenomena," which of course means miracles and all sorts of magic and supernatural ideas can be discussed as reasonable explanations for otherwise scientific issues. "Today in biology, children, we'll be discussing how God created mitochondria." Of course, that begs the question "which god?" There are so many to choose from around the world...maybe they can only afford one in Kansas.

Yes, this is happening in the same state that just recently amended its constitution to prohibit gay marriage. So how are these two stories related? One possibility is that the forces behind the gay discrimination legislation are scared not only of "activist" federal judges striking down their laws as unconstitutional, but also of the mounting science providing evidence that homosexuality is an innate trait, akin to hair color or personality type, rather than supporting their view that it is a consciously adopted lifestyle. Here's what one recent study found:

A compound taken from male sweat stimulates the brains of gay men and straight women but not heterosexual men, raising the possibility that homosexual brains are different, researchers in Sweden reported on Monday. ... "These findings show that our brain reacts differently to the two putative pheromones compared with common odors, and suggest a link between sexual orientation and hypothalamic neuronal processes," Savic's team wrote.

If homosexuality is innate, it would be completely against our expectations of individual freedom and equality for any laws to discriminate against those having the trait. That would quickly undermine the new no-gay-wedlock constitutional amendments Kansas and other states have passed.

But, with a revised definition of science, those supporting anti-gay measures can simply shrug off the new findings as being but one of many possible explanations. By virtue of this definition, they could more easily point to the Bible, the only science textbook true believers apparently need (I guess that would help balance the Kansas state budget to only have to buy a single book for every class students might take), to respond that "intelligent design" has crafted a scenario where our brains change based on the lifestyle we choose. Of course that's bunk, but that's why they call it "faith" -- you believe what you believe even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Of course, some might just call it ignorance.

So, dear Kansas, 34th member of the union, please put down your Bibles and read, for once, something that actually employs those scientific methods you ascribe -- measurement, experimentation, hypothesis testing, etc. You might find out that while faith and science can indeed co-exist, they are certainly not substitutes for one another.

So on our way back from Chicago today, Lori and I stopped at McDonald's to try their new Fruit & Walnut Salad, which actually looks pretty good on the billboards. The ad copy on their website sounds pretty tasty too:

McDonald's Fruit & Walnut Salad Wow, McDonald's has really done it with their new Fruit & Walnut Salad. it's just what a girl wants. a heavenly combination of fresh, crisp apples...juicy, seedless grapes...creamy, low-fat yogurt and sweet candied walnuts. and the best part? it's perfect for breakfast, lunch or snacktime, so i can get a "fruit buzz"...whenever. finally, fresh fruit is at McDonald's! i don't think it gets any better than that.

So it was with no small amount of gusto that Lori dove into the bag to revel in the fruity goodness. She came up a little disappointed.

Here's a close-up of what the bag promises:

Here's what actually was in the bag (besides a miniscule cup of yogurt about the size of those little paper cups you put ketchup in):

A few of the apple slices were pretty mangy looking, so we tossed those. Also, there was none of the candied walnuts featured so prominently in the name of this dish. Are they supposed to be in the bowl, or do they come in a separate little baggie, or what? Oh, and where's the darn green fork we're supposed to get?

For $2.99, my expectations weren't exactly high, but it looks like McDonald's, at least the store in East Nowhere, Indiana we visited, needs a little work on its fruit execution. At least they trademarked yet another insipid catchphrase.

CNN.com has an interesting and surprisingly well-written story about how tagging is making headway in improving the usability of computers.

In case tagging is new to you, it's essentially labeling things -- files, documents, photos, movies, etc. -- with one or more keywords or phrases so that you can find similar things more easily later. Searching for text documents based on their contents is easy, but searching for movies or photos based on their contents isn't. Tagging hopes to change that. Extending tagging to communities of users has interesting implications, but the threats to tagging's widespread adoption pointed out by the article are significant:

Engineers recognize the shortcomings and are working on better tools.

Search for "automobiles" of Flickr, and you're given "cars," "car" and "porsche" as related options. Enough people tag photos both "automobiles" and "cars" that clustering software can tell they are related.

Another drawback lacks an easy solution, though. Once tagging takes off, marketers are bound to add irrelevant tags to hijack you to the latest Viagra ad.

Warns Danny Sullivan, editor of the online newsletter Search Engine Watch: "The noise and deliberate manipulation will probably just bring the system into a crashing halt."

Read the entire article.

According to PCWorld, PDA sales increased a lot in Q1 of 2005.

The first three months of 2005 were kind to companies that sell PDAs, with demand for wireless e-mail leading to a sharp increase in unit shipments during the period, according to market analyst Gartner.

Worldwide PDA sales during the first quarter totaled 3.4 million units, compared to sales of 2.7 million during the same period last year, Gartner says. The 25-percent gain in shipments was the largest ever percentage gain for PDA sales during the first quarter, it says, noting that it did not count sales of smart phones, such as PalmOne's Treo 650.

Full story here.

From the Associated Press via MyWay:

Officials Probe Source of Severed Finger

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - State officials are trying to determine how a worker cut off part of his finger and how the severed piece wound up in a customer's ice cream at a shop that was cleared by the state after a similar accident last summer.

Clarence Stowers said he bought a pint of frozen custard at the Kohl's Frozen Custard shop on Sunday and opened it at home. He saw an object in the custard and put it in his mouth, thinking it was a piece of candy, a Wilmington television station reported Monday.

"I thought it was candy because they put candy in your ice cream ... to make it a treat," Stowers told WWAY. Stowers said he spit the object out, but still couldn't identify it. He went to his kitchen, rinsed it off with water - and "just started screaming."

Read the entire story here.