Harmless Computer Practical Jokes

I have to admit I love to play a good practical joke on my friends as long as its harmless. The problem is, how do you make sure that you don't hurt the victim, computer, or its data.

Below are a few suggestions for some computer practical jokes. If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments:

Note: Perform these practical jokes at your own risk, I am not responsible for the results.

Keyboards and Mice:

• Remove the ball from the computer's mouse on the older mechanical mice. If its the newer optical mice, stick a small piece of tape over the optical sensor.
• Unplug the mouse and/or keyboard from the back of the computer. If its a wireless keyboard or mouse remove the batteries from the device.

Cables

• Almost every computer is a rat's nest of cables, removing the right cable (power, network, keyboard, etc.) can cause frustration for the computer user.
• Any good computer user will have a surge suppressor power strip where their computer is plugged into. Some of these power strip have a breaker, sometimes they manually allow you to blow the breaker. This will basically make the power strip a useless piece of junk until the breaker is reset.

Desktop

• This trick will drive the end-user mad, they will try to click on the desktop and believe the computer is frozen when nothing works. I have seen people reboot their computer several times before they figured out what is wrong. Use with caution, save all the user's work before using this trick.
  
• Take a screen shot of the computer's desktop (press PrtSc screen button). You might want to try taking the screen shot with open application windows, it might add to the realism.
  
• Then open a graphics program like MS Paint (under Start menu | All Programs | Accessories) and Paste the image into the application. Save the file into the C:\WINDOWS\ directory as a bitmap file (.BMP) and set it as the desktop background. (Note: if you're using MS Paint there is a command under the File menu to do this.)
• Then remove the icons from the users desktop, put them in a folder under the user 's'My Document' folder. You can right-click an empty space on the user's desktop, and uncheck 'Arrange Icons By > Show Desktop Icons' (Note: you may have to cycle through [press Alt-Tab] an application that fills the screen to force the desktop to refresh it self)
  
• For extra realism, you can hide the taskbar at bottom of the screen. (Hover the mouse over the top edge of the bar until you see the up/down arrow, then click and drag the taskbar to the bottom of the screen)

Miscellaneous:

• Turn the speaker volume up real loud on their computer and walk away.
• Try playing with the computer settings, such as the monitor, cursor, mouse and keyboard configuration in the Control Panels.
• Change the startup or other event sounds (such as changing the new mail sound, to something like the sound of someone passing gas [you know what I mean])
• Embed the following link into an email, and send it to your friends (http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/891/3dtetris8yi.swf). I promise they will hate you after you send it.
  

Phishing fraudsters aim to outpace site shutdowns (Article)

The Register reports: "Cybercrooks have developed new techniques in response to increasingly aggressive moves to identify and shut down known phishing sites. In a move designed to ensure potential phishing victims always link to a live website, fraudsters have developed so-called 'smart redirection' attacks."

The 'smart redirection' technique is designed to foil anti-phishing tools by making it difficult for the good guys to keep up with them. Read the article for more information.

Google G Drive is not a rumor (Article)

ZDNet.com reports: "An interesting article by Greg Linden points to some slide comments from Google's Analyst Day Power Point presentation last week. The presentation was removed from Google's website but the text is still available in Greg's post. These notes clearly state efforts have been put towards 'infinite storage' in terms of GDrive. In September I ran across compelling evidence that suggests a product by this name was either in the works, or at least being considered — at that time it was nothing more than speculation. Now, according to these notes it isn't far from reality."

Research Warps into Hyperdrive (Article)

Space.com reports: "Take one part high-frequency gravitational wave generation, then add in a quantum vacuum field.

Now whip wildly via a gravitomagnetic force in a rotating superconductor while standing by for Alcubierre warp drive in higher dimensional space-time."

Here is the latest information on possible new space engines that may one day take us to the stars. There is more speculation on advanced new technologies that may one day be a reality in this article, versus real technology.

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (Trailer)

Are you an X-Men fan, you can now watch the new 'X-MEN: THE LAST STAND' trailer. Also, here is the official web site.

High-Res Images of the Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights

The National Archives is making available high-resolution images of the Charters of Freedom documents.

Extreme Survival Quiz

This is a fun test to see if you can survive extreme situations. For example what you should do if your caught in quick sand, a lightning storm, and more. Its a multiple choice test, so you have to pick the best answer. Just remember what you're instincts tell you can help or hurt you half the time in this test.

Is there going to be a 'Google Office' suite?

Google announced on Thursday that it will be acquiring a company called Upstartle, which makes a web-based word processor called Writely. With all the speculation going on about Google Calendar, there's now new speculation that Google might be trying to create a online office suite.

WowWee Unveils First Robot Media Hub (Article)

PC Magazine reports: "Looking unlike any robot I've seen before (or any of WowWee's previous products, SCOTY stands roughly two feet tall and consists of an ABS plastic metal frame with a series of illuminated rectangular panels affixed to it. The two uppermost panels are articulated so that the integrated camera can watch you and the room . Built as part of a joint venture with Philips Electronics, SCOTY is many months from release. Still, the prototype we saw used its head-mounted video camera to recognize us, microphones on top of the uppermost panel to hear us, and speakers to greet us and respond to our commands."

This is a real cool product, its unlike any robot that you may have seen in the past. It kind of reminds me of an interactive desk lamp (read the article and you will understand what I mean).

I would love to have one of these devices after they come out on to the market. Although, I don't know what I would do with it, but I think it would be cool to have.

Windows Live Search Goes Live as Beta (Article)

PC Magazine reports: "Microsoft today announced the availability of Windows Live Search beta which presents a new look along with more search categories and ways to organize, sort, and make use of your search results. You'll also find an updated version of Live.com and a Windows Live Toolbar beta as well. According to Microsoft, 'it's all about experiencing the next generation of unified services today.' To that end they've also bundled in Web clipping and RSS-related features which they acquired with their purchase of Onfolio. This is an exciting development from our perspective, and should make for a whole new level of interaction with Web content from within Microsoft's various apps."

Windows Live.com is really taking off, I am really impress with Microsoft's progress is making on the site. I am a big fan of Google, but I am going to start checking out Live.com more often.

Some of the new features of the site are: search preview, scoping tools, smart scroll, and more. Plus there are new search categories, such as: image, news, RSS feeds, mail, local search, shopping, and MSN Spaces.

Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar

This site claims to have exclusive screenshots of the much publicized 'Google Calendar' known as CL2. Currently CL2 is in a closed beta that has only been opened to about 200 participants.

Some of the new features of CL2 are suppose to be:

• Integration into Gmail
• Public and shared calendars (for individuals, families and groups)
• Integration with iCal and other desktop calendars, event creation, search, notifications (including SMS) and more.

AT&T to buy BellSouth for $67 billion (Article)

CNET News.com reports: "AT&T said Sunday it will acquire fellow phone company BellSouth in a stock deal worth $67 billion, creating a telecommunications giant that dwarfs its nearest competitor, Verizon Communications.

AT&T became the largest phone company in the United States after local phone company SBC Communications acquired long-distance carrier AT&T last year for $16 billion. The company, which changed its name after the acquisition was completed, serves 13 states, mostly throughout the western and southwestern parts of the country."

In 1984 the government split up AT&T into the smaller Bell companies to promote competition between all the carriers. Now it looks like AT&T is reassembling itself.

SBC was a power house all by itself before it acquired AT&T in 2005. Now we will have to see what the new AT&T will become after it aquires BellSouth in 2006.

Top 10 Strangest iPod Accessories

There are tons of useless accessories available for your iPod that you can waste your money on. Generally I would not even bother talking about this junk, but this site shows how much crap is availabe for this device.

Fun for about 5 minutes

Want to plays some cool games that will keep you interested for about five minutes? Both of these sites have cool little applets (that are Java and Flashed based) that will keep you interested for a very short period of time.

You can play a 'Massively Multiplayer Pong'. You and lots of your closest friends whom you don't know try to work together over the Internet to play a game of Pong. All the moves that all the players make are averaged, then the paddle is moved accordingly.

You can also play a cool 'Magic Cube 4D Applet' game. It's a Rubik's Cube in the forth dimension.

Have fun...

Life in the Googleplex Photo Essay

Time magazine has an interesting photo essay, it's a day in the life a Google employee at the Googleplex (Google's headquarters). It kind of reminds me of the pre-dot-com boom companies.

Windows OneCare Live

Microsoft recently released a new security subscription service called 'Windows OneCare Live'. This new security service is currently in beta testing phase. Some of new features of the service are: an improved software firewall, anti-virus, data backup and cleanup tools for your computer.

Microsoft also announced the pricing of the new service will be: $49.95 per year to protect three PCs. Currently now while its in beta, its free to try until April 30th.

Google Page Creator

Google recently announced a new service called 'Page Creator' that allows you to create and publish web pages easily. The site claims no technical knowledge is required to use this service.

Although, due to heavy demand they are currently not accepting new accounts right now. If you want, you can add your name to a waiting list by submitting your email address.

The woodpecker that destroyed the world... (Macintosh Security)

If you ever talk to a Mac user about security, they will sing the praises of their operating system. They will let you know how impervious it is too attack. I am exaggerating this point a bit, but there is truth in what I say.

Take for example a close friend of mind who is a Mac user. I am forced to listen to his rhetoric all the time about how much better the Mac is to other OSes.

I will agree that the Mac OS X is a great OS. It has a great GUI, and overall it appears to be fairly secure. I will also give the Mac high marks for being very powerful, and stylish.

Being a Windows user, I run several different layers of security on my home computer, and I make sure that I keep all my software up-to-date. I have been hit by a few viruses over the years, but never had my machine infected or any damage caused by it (Thank God).

I have also cleaned several systems that belong to friends of mine that have been infected by viruses. To be honest, after your system has been compromised by malicious software, you are better off to backup your data, format the hard drive and re-install your OS and applications.

The one big mistake that I have seen companies and individuals make over and over again is a claim that their operating system, application, etc. can't be hacked, or compromised. Fairly soon after the claim has been made, someone generally manages to penetrate these defenses.

For example, Larry Ellison once declared his company's databases were 'unbreakable,' until one day somebody managed to break it. My only point is that if you have a secure product don't flaunt it, it only brings trouble. Hackers love to prove companies wrong very publicly.

I don't have any recollection of Apple ever making any outlandish security claims. Although, as the Mac gains more popularity Apple will need to address its security problems more quickly.

In a fairly recent article from ZDNet, the opening paragraph states: "OS X contains unpatched security flaws of a type that were fixed on alternative operating systems more than a decade ago, according to a security researcher credited with finding numerous bugs in Apple's increasingly popular platform."

There also was an article in CNET News.com: "Just a day after experts warned of what is believed to be the first Trojan in the wild to target Apple Computer's Mac OS X, alerts are being published on a new worm that exploits an 8-month-old vulnerability in the operating system."

I want to be fair in saying that most of the attacks that I have seen against Mac OS X have been pretty benign. Although, I really believe that there is a false sense of security in the Mac community about how secure their OS really is.

Just remember, according to Weinberg'’s Second law: 'If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization'

Will Apple Adopt Windows? (Article)

John C. Dvorak reports: "The idea that Apple would ditch its own OS for Microsoft Windows came to me from Yakov Epstein, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University, who wrote to me convinced that the process had already begun. I was amused, but after mulling over various coincidences, I'm convinced he may be right. This would be the most phenomenal turnabout in the history of desktop computing."

This article will probably have every Mac owner cursing at Dvorak. Personally I don't believe Steve Jobs would ever let it happen. Although, it's an interesting idea...

Software pioneer Bricklin tackles wikis (Article)

CNET News.com reports: "In 1979, Bricklin released VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet for personal computers. Now he's close to finishing the beta for WikiCalc, an open-source, browser-based collaboration tool that mimics the functionality of a spreadsheet while leveraging the technology of wikis, which let anyone, anywhere manipulate data across the Web."

It will be interesting to see if this technology takes off. I think its a great idea, I would like to see how people will use it.

For more information about VisiCalc, check out the following web page. For more information about Wikis, check out the following web page.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Teaser Video

I have no idea where this came from, but its suppose to be a Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 teaser video. I don't think its a real Microsoft video, but its still funny.

CryptoKids America's Future Codemakers & Codebreakers

The NSA (National Security Agency) has created a kid-friendly website, which uses games and cartoon characters to introduce kids to the exciting world of cryptography.

There are seven CryptoKids, which include Crypto Cat, versed in Navajo; Decipher Dog, a cryptanalyst; Joules, an engineer; Slate, the mathematician; T. Top, the computer scientist; and Rosetta Stone is the language analyst.

New Microchips Shun Transistors (Article)

Wired News reports: "For the first time, researchers have created a working prototype of a radical new chip design based on magnetism instead of electrical transistors."

New transistor-less microchips that use magnetism may one day replace conventional transistor-based chips. Because these devices don't use wires, these chips are suppose to be: faster, smaller, and less power-hungry (which means less heat) when compared to modern microchip technologies.

These devices also have a few advantages over the conventional micro-electronic chips, and that they're suppose to be less susceptible to power fluctuations, and they may also one day allow your computer to boot almost instantly.

Cool Product of the Week: WashDryIron

Do you like washing your clothes (I don't know anyone that does)? Well technology is getting ready to come to your rescue to make this tedious core much easier.

Oliver Blackwell a University of Plymouth (UK) graduate has created the ultimate washer, dryer, and ironing machine. It's called WashDryIron and it can wash, dry and iron your clothes, up to 16 items at once, including king size bed sheets. Blackwell expects his WashDryIron machine to retail for around US$1,400.

Intel shows off its quad core

CNET News.com reports: "Just as the bragging rights for dual-core chip supremacy are dying down, Intel gave the first glimpse of a quad-core chip coming next year."

First there was the Megahertz/Gigahertz speed war with AMD to see who could produce the fastest CPU. Now, we are entering into the multiple CPU core wars, to see who can put the most cores on a chip.

The only problem with running multiple cores is just because you have the extra cores doesn't guarantee you a huge increase in speed. For example, the speed increase you will get going from one core to two cores will be much greater then what you will get from going from two cores to four cores.

True 3D Display Technology Demonstrated in Japan (Article)

DailyTech reports: "By creating plasma in open air with lasers, Japanese scientists are working on a true 3D display"

This device is not the first of its kind, another company introduced the Helio Displays last year that offer a similar functionality. The article is brief and light on any real details about the device, but is still interesting.

PC Industry Looks to Transform Firmware

eWeek reports: "In a move that experts say promises to lead to fewer headaches for IT staff by creating more stable and manageable desktops and notebooks, the PC industry has begun transitioning to the United Extensible Firmware Interface. Dubbed UEFI, the interface offers a standardized way for a PC's firmware, the underlying software that controls its hardware, to interact with the operating system. The new interface offers a standard method for loading an operating system, as well as running pre-boot applications."

One of the leftovers from the original IBM PC that's still in most modern personal computers is the system BIOS. The BIOS (which stand for Basic Input Output System) is what your computer uses to load the OS into memory after it is turned on.

The technology that the current BIOSs is based on is more then 20 years old, in PC time that is prehistoric. The new UEFI specification will allow the creation of new features that's not available in modern the BIOS.

Google's new version of Gmail (Video)

Watch a video by a reporter from CNET News.com demonstrating Gmail's new chat feature. The new Gmail Chat feature is currently only available for Internet Explorer 6.0 (and higher) and Firefox 1.0 (and higher) and in the U.S. English interface only. Even though the chat features of Google Talk are integrated into Gmail now, you still must download the Google Talk client application to make voice calls.

Google Testing PayPal Killer GBuy (Article)

WebProNews reports: "Several retailers have been quietly testing a Google payment system called GBuy, and users will see a GBuy icon next to AdWords paid search ads. PayPal has dominated the online payment field for some time. It has been a profitable business, one which eBay purchased in October 2002."

Advantages of Being a Mother

Did you know that during pregnancy the fetus and the mother's blood mix, and that blood will stay in the mother's system for decades (this is known as 'physiologic microchimerism')? At first this was thought not to happen because the placenta acts like a biological filter preventing the blood from mixing. Later they found out this was wrong too.

After they discovered that the mother and child's blood mix, they thought this might cause problems in the mother making her more susceptible to certain types of disease. Actually, they now believe that the fetus's blood will help the mother by being able to repair tissue and possibly fight off some forms of sickness.

ref: (Khosrotehrani et al. JAMA. 2004 July 7;292:75-80)

Product of the Week: TeraStation Home Server

ExtremeTech reviewed the TeraStation Home Server. They ask the question whether you should buy a pre-built system, or D.I.Y. it.

If you build it yourself there several components that you will need to get started, such as: motherboard, case (with high wattage a power supply), drives, RAID controller (if its not already built into the motherboard), gigabit Ethernet card, and OS/NAS software (there are some prebuilt Linux distro that can handle this). After you have all the parts you have to worry about setting it up and configuring it.

Either way its your choice. If you you're in the market for this type of storage this might be a good place to start. Read the article for more information or check out these pictures.

Quote of the Day...

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things."
- Henry Ward Beecher

Send an SMS Message from Google

Google now allows you to send SMS text message to any SMS phone that supports this feature. This is a a cool technology if you're friends, family or colleagues have this service on their phone enabled, and you don't have any other way to send these messages.

The interface for the site is pretty barren, but functional.

Moving Beyond a Petroleum-Based Economy

I was listening to Science Friday on NPR, and they had a great program about alternative forms of fuel for our vehicles. The hot topic was how much petroleum America is consuming, and alternative forms of energy we can use to replace it.

It was discussed that the U.S. consumes about a thousand barrels of oil a second. At this rate, we are not going to have enough petroleum for current and future generations. Our country is very dependent on oil from other countries, and these countries are starting to use it as a political weapon against us.

We need to start changing our energy dependency on petroleum now, and not later. Although any significant changes can take a decade or more for it to happen. If we wait until the last minute, we will be in real trouble.

Two things need to happen for us to begin moving to a non-petroleum based economy. First there has to be a lifestyle change where we reduce our fuel/power consumption, commute more or use public transportation, buy more smaller and more fuel efficient cars and energy saving appliances. Second, we have to invest in the science and technologies required to create the new fuels, and to make the current technologies cleaner and more efficient.

There have already been big advancements in the types of alternative forms of energy and technologies that are available. Below is a brief list covering the most popular of these technologies:

• Ethanol: made from biomass (made from waste saw mills, farm product residue, switchgrass, etc).
  
• Biodiesel: made from soybean or vegetable oils (include wasted vegetable oils).
  
• Hybrid Cars (electric/fuel): cars engines that run on electricity from batteries or from fuel.
  

Future technologies:

• Hydrogen: creates energy by breaking down a fuel (such as gasoline, or water) into some type of energy.

By removing our dependency on petroleum, a lot of great things can happen to help our economy to flourish if we do it right. We can create new jobs, economic prosperity, and lead the rest of the world in the advancement of these technologies. We can also reduce our dependency on foreign countries for a major resource that we rely on to keep our country going. Finally we can make these technologies cleaner and more efficient to sustain ourselves.

Google at work on desktop Linux (Article)

According to the Register: "Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business - desktop software. ... A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as 'Goobuntu'."

There has been lots of rumors, speculation, and denial about this subject, but this is the first real article that I have seen that talks about the subject in any real detail.

25 words that hurt your resume

Did you know that there are 25 words that can hurt your resume? CNN.com reports: "Often, when job seekers try to sell themselves to potential employers, they load their resumes with vague claims that are transparent to hiring managers, according to Scott Bennett, author of 'The Elements of Resume Style'"

Ariel Atom 2 (Incredibly Fast Street Cars)

I recently watched a video on the Ariel Atom 2, and I was very impressed by this ultra stripped down track car for the road. Because of its powerful engine and light body, it can beat just about any motorcycle or car (yes even the Ferrari).

The car is powered by a supercharged Honda i-VTEC 2.0 engine putting out 300 horsepower on a body that weights about a thousand pounds. What makes this car fast is its power to weight ratio. For example, the Ariel Atom 2 produces about 600bhp per 1000kg, while a Porsche 911 Carrera produces about 237bhp per 1000kg.

Make a 3D Dodecahedron Calendar

Do you want to make your own 3D Dodecahedron Calendar? For those of you who don't know what a Dodecahedron is, its a 12 sided object. This seems like a great project for kids, or something to do when you're bored.

To make your calendar, follow the instruction below:

• Select the calendar you want to create (either: the regular dodecahedron [which requires glue], or the rhombic dodecahedron [no glue required].
• Select the year, language, and the day (Sunday or Monday) in which your week starts.
• Finally select the format (PostScript or PDF). If you don't know which to choose, select PDF. Note: You can modify the PostScript file if you want to add birthdays to the calendar.
• Press the download button, to get the file.
• Then print it out, make sure to legal size paper, letter size paper may be too small.
• Cut out the template, only cut on the solid lines.
• Fold along each dotted line. Then apply glue to each folded tab and paste the tab underneath the 'petal' next to it.

Cool Product of the Week: MicroOptical

There is a company that I read about at CES that I thought I would like to highlight. Its called MicroOptical, and they make ultra portable wearable displays that you can wear on your glasses.

I have been a big fan of wearable computers for a long time, but have seen them as very impractical, because the display and the hardware was much too bulky. I have watched this equipment shrink in size over the years, and have seen the capabilities increase to a point where its becoming more practical.

The MicroOptical head-up displays are very small, and light (they weigh about 1 ounce), and can accept standard VGA, NTSC, PAL, RS170 and RS-232 signals.

Google Local for mobile

This is one service from Google that I totally missed since it was announced at CES, its called 'Google Local for mobile'. The web site for the service states, "Combining directions, maps, and satellite imagery, Google Local for mobile is a free download that lets you find local hangouts and businesses across town or across the country — right from your phone."

I have not tested it on my mobile phone yet (it's a Nokia 6230, that supports J2ME which is required), primarily because I don't pay for the data services (which is also required). The main reason why I don't use the data services is that IMHO there have not been any worthwhile applications for it until now.

Scientists develop bird flu vaccine (Article)

PhysOrg.com reports: "University of Pittsburgh scientists say they've genetically engineered an avian flu vaccine that has proven 100 percent effective in mice and chickens."

This is great news for our livestock, but what about us humans? The vaccine currently only protects the livestock, which is important because hopefully we can stop that virus at its source. Although, if the virus mutates and passes to humans, were in trouble.

The bright side is that our livestock will live long and healthy lives.

Is the Earth's Magnetic Field Weaking? (Article)

Nova Reports "Like the plot of a sci-fi B movie, something weird is happening deep underground where the constant spin of Earth's liquid metallic core generates an invisible magnetic force field that shields our planet from harmful radiation in space. Gradually, the field is growing weaker. Could we be heading for a demagnetized doomsday that will leave us defenseless against the lethal effects of solar wind and cosmic rays? 'Magnetic Storm' looks into our potentially unsettling magnetic future."

This is an interesting article that discusses the consuquences of the Earth's magnetic field weakening. Which range from the end of the world, to the magnetic field reversing itself.

Disney buys Pixar (Article)

CNET News.com reports: "Walt Disney announced Tuesday that it's paying $7.4 billion in stock to acquire Pixar Animation Studios--a deal that puts Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Disney's board of directors."

Cool Product of the Week: Wallet Flash

I am starting a new section in this blog that I am going to be calling the 'product of the week'. These will be products that I find or hear about during the week that I will highlight here.

I am generally amazed about how innovative some USB products have gotten lately. There is a product from Walletex called 'Wallet Flash' that is a USB flash drive about the size of a credit card that can fit into your wallet.

I carry a flash drive with me just in case I need storage. Although I find a I rarely use it, like a boy scout my motto is always be prepared. This wallet flash drive I think is a great idea.

File Your U.S. Taxes for Free File

When the new year begins all of our thoughts turn towards April 15th, the day the tax man comes. Some people look forward to this time of the year because they know that they're going to get money back, and others dread it because they know that they owe money.

Whether you're getting a refund or owe money this year, did you know that you can file your taxes for free online? The IRS has provided a list of sites where you can file your taxes for free. Although there appears to be a catch, 'Free File services are limited to taxpayers with Adjusted Gross Income of $50,000 or less; or otherwise as noted.' (accourding to the IRS site)

If you're just looking for tax advise or tax forms (requires Adobe Acrobat), the IRS has a lot of free information on their web site. This site has become more useful over the years. I remember using it back in the early 90s, the only useful thing on the sitewas the forms that you could download.

Are virtual assets taxable? (Article)

CNET News.com reports: "...virtual-world community buzzing over a new question: Should online game players' assets--the weapons, characters, clothing and such--they've accumulated but not yet sold for real-world cash be taxable by the IRS?..."

I was kind of shocked to see this article, I didn't know how to deal with the fact that virtual assets can now be taxable. I believe in everyone paying his or her fair share, but part of me wants to think this tax is getting excessive when it comes to virtual items. Most of us are used to paying sales tax on the items we buy (unless you live in a state that doesn't have it), but having to pay a tax on an item that only exists as lines of code a server somewhere is a difficult concept for me to deal with.

Whether the items are real or virtual, real money is being used to pay for these virtual items. So taxing these items makes sense, but this doesn't mean that I have to agree with it.

Privacy in the World Today

Do you worry about your privacy, according to Sun's Scott McNealy, "You have no privacy, get over it." Sometimes it feels like we have no privacy, so I wonder if I should 'get over it'. Here is a funny video about what the world could be like if we truly have no privacy.

Google Launches Personalized Homepage For Mobile Devices (Aticle)

InformationWeek reports: "Mobile users can set it up to automatically display information including stock quotes, news headlines, GMail, local weather, and selected RSS feeds. ... The mobile homepage also provides at-a-glance access to Google Web mail, local weather and handpicked RSS feeds. The content is optimized for the smaller screens and low bandwidth associated with mobile devices."

Predictions for 2006 and Beyond

The future is so bright, you will need a flashlight to see it. The future outlook doesn't look too bright anywhere in the world. It seems that we are running out of a critical resource that drives all the world economies and that is oil (no new news here).

I really believe their might be bright futures in other forms of energy production. I also see continued growth and advancements in consumer electronic products.

Below is a break down of my of what I see happening to following industries:

Technology:

• The once powerful gaming industry will start to slow down. Although if you read this Google News page, you might think different. Personally I don't believe that it can keep the momentum it has had over the last several years.
  
• PC industry maybe slowing (or its just Dell), and processor companies will continue to confuse customers with their new branding? (I am really begin to miss the days of Ghz ratings, at least you knew what you were buying)
  
• Computer attacks (virus, worms, exploits, etc.) will continue to increase and grow in sophistication.
• The music and movie industry will continue to publish garbage, and then blame pirates for their profits.
• As consumer audio/video equipment becomes more sophisticated, there will be a lot of confusion among consumers about what hardware to buy. There are several competing hardware standards (i.e.: HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray) right now, and its only going to get worse. People want to buy technology and want it to work well. They don't want to be forced to choose a standard that might not be supported in a few years.
  

Energy:

• We should have put more money into alternative energies after the 1970/1980s energy crisis. We would be much farther a long in finding alternative forms of fuel to power our vehicles and industries.
  
• Oil rich countries will use their resources for political purposes.
• There should be an increase need for nuclear power production. This might scare a lot of people, but right now it might be one of our best alternatives.
  
• There should be an increase spending public transportation and ride sharing programs.
  
• There should be increase spending on alternative energy production.

World (generally more of the same...)

• The environment: more natural disasters to come.
• The older population will continue to rise, and the birth rates will continue to fall in most modern industrialized countries.
• The population will continue to increase in poorer countries, causing increased war, disease, and shortages of food and other resources.

Mobileplay Advertises Outside the Box to Offer Free Content (Article)

PC Magazine reports: "Mobileplay Inc., a venture backed by Los Angeles-based Rustic Canyon Partners, announced Monday that it has launched a beta version of its ad-based service offering free access to downloadable multimedia content for many mobile device users."

Mobileplay offers a free software download that allows you to access a variety of content on your mobile computing device such as: BlackBerries, PocketPC/Windows Mobile, and Palm OS. This multimedia content includes: news, games, weather, and more. Mobileplay supports itself by running small banner ads within the content. For more information, read the following article.

Google Pack Software

Google made an interesting announcement at CES, they unveiled a new package of software called the 'Google Pack'. This software bundles together several popular applications that you might use everyday into one package, and then helps you keep it up-to-date. Most of these applications are available free by themselves, but what is great about this package of software is that it all comes bundled together.

Below is a a complete list of the applications that are included in the Google Pack:

• Google Earth
• Google Toolbar for IE
• Ad-Aware SE Personal
• Google Desktop
• Google Pack Screensaver
• Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE
• Picasa
• Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
• Adobe Reader 7
• RealPlayer
• Trillian
  

To download the the 'Google Pack' software, go to the following site.

Bye-bye hard drive, hello flash (Article)

Hard drives can consume up a lot of space and power, suck the energy out of your notebook's battery. Flash memory could soon offer a storage alternative for laptops. Cnet reports ,"By about the turn of the decade, NAND (flash memory) could even replace hard drives entirely in some mini notebooks because of the increasing amount of data the chips can hold". For more information read the entire article.

Hard to Find 800 Numbers

Some companies that you do business with don't publish their 800 numbers publicly or they make them hard to find by burying them deep in the bowels of their web site. Well stop pulling your hair out trying to find these numbers, and check out a site called 'Hard to Find 800 Numbers'.

Ipod My Baby

I recently came across a site called 'Ipod My Baby', were parents dress their children up as their favorite MP3 player. This is taking people's obsession with technology too far. The pictures are adorable and disturbing at the same time.

Would you dress your own child in one of these getups?

Simon Sez Santa

I like to post something fun for Christmas each year, and here is my submission for this year. Check out 'Simon Sez Santa'. Give Santa instructions like (jump, sit down, etc.), and watch what will happens.

Computers Then and Now...

Anyone who has used a computer for a little while can tell you how much these devices have changed over the last several years. If you have been using computers for a long time, and you sit back and think about the first computer you touch verses today's modern personal computer there is an amazing quantum leap forward in several orders of magnitude in processing power.

The first computer I ever used was an Apple ][+, with 48K of RAM (with a maximum memory size of 64K), a color monitor (basically a TV without a tuner), and two floppy drives. This machine had a 1Mhz 6502 CPU (8-bit), and cost about US$1000 at the time.

The first home computer that I could afford (it cost about US$100) was the Timex Sinclair 1000, I think it also had a 1Mhz 6502 CPU, 16KB RAM (with the expansion pack), and tape drive for storage (which never work). To be honest, I don't even think my 16KB RAM expansion pack worked. But I was still happy to have my own home computer.

Then in the early 80's IBM changed the personal computer market by introducing the IBM PC (specs: Intel 8086 4.7Mhz 16-bit CPU, 640KB RAM [max.], 2 floppy drives, keyboard, CGA graphics video). This was an okay machine for its time, but because IBM created it this gave it a market advantage over the competition.

A little while after the IBM PC was released, the clone makers started producing copies of it because IBM used off the shelf technologies. Soon the clone makers surpassed IBM in innovation of the technology that they created.

Then in 1984, Apple release the Macintosh (specs: Motorola 68000 8Mhz 16/32-bit CPU, 128KB RAM, keyboard, mouse, built-in monochrome monitor) and the world changed again. For the first time consumers were introduced to a functional Graphics User Interface (GUI).

Now let's fast forward to the modern day, today's computers are much different from the days of yore. For example, recently I found a site that allows you to run Apple ][ software from inside your browser (this site has been taken down). It’s really amazing to think that the state of the art home computer 20+ years ago can now be emulated in a browser (although, at the same time technically its not that amazing).

Let’s consider today's hardware; we will start out with the basics and work deeper into the computer:

• Computer cases: As far as the PC industry goes, the biggest advance in cases was made when the tower case was invented. Otherwise, they're relatively the same style as about 15+ years ago. If you want avant-garde case designs, buy a Mac. Note: There has been some innovations in computer form factor designs recently, but none of them have really gone mainstream.
• Power supplies: These devices have steadily increased in power output over the years. I think the original IBM PC power supply provided under 100W of power. Modern PC power supplies can now output 1000W of power.
• Motherboards: The basic look of a motherboard has not changed radically in base appearance, but looks can fool you. Modern motherboards are light years ahead of their predecessors; they're faster and more advanced.
• CPUs: have radically evolved over the last few decades. The modern CPU now has the ability to process 64-bits of data at time (along with the ability to address terabytes of RAM), and as have the ability to run multiple cores on the same chip. These chips also have multi-megabyte level 2 caches of fast RAM. Although, since these devices now run so fast (almost 4Ghz), they also run much hotter then they ever did. So we have had to resort to air, and in some cases liquid cooling to keep them running as fast as we do.
• Video Cards: Like CPUs have evolved radically over time, and are continuing to advance at a breakneck pace. Video cards can process more graphics information then previous generations, and create semi photo-realistic 3D virtual environments in real-time. These cards now have their own dedicated GPU (Graphic Processing Units), memory (up to 512MB of fast RAM), cooling and power requirements. These cards also have the ability to drive multiple monitors at high resolutions.
• Hard Drives: When the IBM XT came out there was an 20MB hard drive option for it (about 20,000,000 bytes, 1 byte = 1 character of information). Over the years, these devices have gotten smaller, cheaper, faster, and higher capacity. Modern hard drives are now approaching a 1 terabyte of storage capacity (about 1,000,000,000,000 bytes/characters of storage).
• Hard Drive Interfaces: This is the technology that connects the computer to the hard drive. There have been many significant advances over the last few decades in this technology sector. The original IBM PC-XTs used an MFM technology to talk to the hard drive. So after that there was SCSI (and its variants), ATA (and its variants), and now there is SATA (Serial-ATA). External hard drives can be connected to the computer through its USB and Firewire ports.
  
• RAM: The IBM PC used to DIPP chips, these were individual memory chips that looked like bugs with metal legs. Every time you put these chips into the computer, you ran the risk of bending the legs. Today, we have SIMM style high-speed DDR2 memory, with storage capacities in the multi-gigabytes. This was undreamed of in the early days.
• Audio: Back in the early days if we heard a few high pitch beeps we were happy. Now computer audio cards support: 7.1 channel surround sound and incredibly realistic audio fidelity. Modern audio cards like video cards are always trying to push themselves to the next level.
• Optical Disks: All the early PCs supported tape or floppy drives for storage, optical drives (such CD and DVD drives) were not even an option until several years later. In fact in the early 90's the early sound cards and CD-ROM drives started the multimedia revolution. Currently there are double-layer read/writable DVD optical drive can hold over 8.5GB of data. Next generation DVD drives (such as Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) will hold 30GB-50GB.
• Expansion Cards: When the IBM PC was available, all you had were 8-Bit ISA slots, later it was expanded to 16-bit. The next PC bus technology to take hold was PCI, which supported a 32-bit data path. The next generation of PCI, is the PCI-X standard which supports a 64-bit data path.
• Ports: When the IBM PC came on the market, all it had was keyboard and cassette ports. Serial and parallel ports were optional, and required an expansion card. Now, all those ports are obsolete, and have been replaced by USB 2.0 and IEEE-1394 (AKA Firewire) ports. The USB 2.0 ports can support data transfer rates of up to 480Mbps.
• Wireless Ports: These ports have been available for sometime (i.e.: Infrared, and RF), but have not really taken off with the exception of maybe Bluetooth (and it's success is limited).
• Monitors: Early monitors were little more then glorified television screens. Which eventually evolved into large CRTs. Now a single computer can have two or more large LCD screens. This was just unimaginable at the time.
• Media Cards: Now that the floppy has gone the way of the dodo, we have media cards and USB drive that come in all shapes and capacities. These media cards allow you to move data quickly from your electronics (such as cameras, MP3 players, etc.) to your computer. The biggest problem with this type of storage is that there are so many standards.
• Networking: Networking personal computers it the early days was very complex. The nightmare was getting the network cards to work properly. Today, its becoming more common for home computers to support Gigabit Ethernet, and brand new homes are now network ready. Let us not forget our friend Wi-Fi (which now support transfer rates at 100Mbps+). Without this technology we would all be at the mercy of some Ethernet jack somewhere.
• Modems: I want to give an honorable mention to our friend the analog Modem. Long before DSL and Cable digital modems existed there was this analog device. The first modem I ever used was a 300Bps on the Apple ][, the last one I ever used was a 56Kbs.
  
• BIOS: One of the few leftovers from the original PC is your computer BIOS. The BIOS (which stands for Basic Input/Output System) is loaded right after you turn your computer on. The information in the BIOS is used to get your computer to load the operating system from the hard drive (or whatever device has your OS). The amazing thing about this technology is how little it has advanced from the early days. The latest innovation in this technology is EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface).
• OS: When the IBM PC first came out, the only real choice of an operating system you had was IBM-DOS (based on MS-DOS). Which was a 16-Bit text based OS that could support 640K, and allow only one program to run at a time. Today, Windows supports 32 or 64-bit applications (depending on which OS you're using), using a graphical user interface, and runs multiple applications and CPUs at the same time. Windows can now also address gigabytes of RAM.
• Keyboards and Mice: These devices like the BIOS have not advanced significantly over the years. There have been some innovations like wireless and optical variants for mice. They have also added some new buttons, wheels, and more ergonomic form factors to these devices.
  
• Media Centers: Inspired by the Tivo DVR (Digital Video Recorder), these computers are targeted to be center of your living room entertainment experience. They will play your music, movies and video, record your TV shows, and more.
  
• Printers: These devices have gone through many evolutionary advances over the years. The original printers were just glorified typewriters, then came dot-matrix, inkjet, then laser printers. The dot-matrix printer was a major evolutionary advancement over the original text printers, because they allowed you to mix graphics with your text. Then inkjet and laser printers, allowed you to do this faster and better. Color has been a fairly recent innovation for these devices. The latest advancements with these devices have been in the multi-function device market, which combines a printer, scanner, and fax functionality into one device.
  
• Cost: Besides advancements in technology, one of the major considerations for buying any of these devices has been the cost of it. I remember when the PCs first dropped under $1000, then a few years later there was the sub-$500 PC market. There was a huge surge in demand for buying these devices. Its now possible to buy a sub-$200 PC from Wal-Mart.
  
• Apple vs. Microsoft: Until fairly recently the Macintosh was always considerably more expensive then the WinTel (Windows/Intel) PC equivalent. Apple has some great technology and software, but it has always had problems competing with Microsoft as far as market share and the amount of available software for the two different platforms.
  

Why Do They Want My Phone Number?

Have you noticed that a lot more businesses are asking you to give up your phone number when you make a purchase. I never really thought about what type of privacy rights I am giving up by doing this until I read this article.

It's kind of scary the information that we are giving businesses about ourselves without realizing what we are doing. Here is an except from the article: "...Hoofnagle said there might be another drawback to providing a phone number at checkout: It could open a person up to telemarketing -- even if they are on the federal "do not call" registry. According to Hoofnagle, giving a phone number while making a purchase may establish a business relationship, and companies can call individuals on the "do not call" list with whom they have prior business relationships. ..."

Ajax Site and Applications Examples

Are you a web developer or just curious about Ajax, what it is, and why it matters? Well you might want to read this article first. Then if you're like me, you will want to see some real examples of this technology in action.

Below is a list of sites that link to other sites that use Ajax technology.

• Example 1 (Fiftyfoureleven.com) Contains code snippets and proof of concepts - the links on this page should help get you started on building your own functions with XMLHttpRequest.
• Example 2 (Emily Chang - eHub) A constantly updated list of web applications, services, resources, blogs or sites with a focus on next generation web (web 2.0), social software, blogging, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, location mapping, open source, folksonomy, design and digital media sharing.
• Example 3 (AJAX Matters) See how others have used AJAX in their web sites.
• Example 4 (Web 2.0 Explorer) Article: The Web-based Office will have its day.
  

Google Music Search

With all the amazing things that you can search on Google, you can now add music to that list. You don't have to do anything special to access this feature. All you have to do is enter your favorite album, group, or artist; then if Google recognize it the request will appear in the search results.

For example, you can try searching for the Beatles, or Sting. The Google search results will generally show some information about that artist, like cover art, reviews, and links to stores where you can purchase the CD or download the music.

Most of the music information is from the U.S. right now, but in the future Google plans on including artist from different countries. Google also plans on expanding how you can download and purchase the music.

Das Blinken Christmas Lights

By now you have probably seen video of the person who synchronized his christmas lights to a musical score. I know personally I have been sent links to this video several times, and I have seen several different copyies of it posted all over the Net.

When you watch the video, you might think it was done with time lapse photography or was digitally edited. Although according to Snopes, the video is real. The background of the this video is pretty interesting and worth the read if you enjoy finding out this type of information.

Well if you like the first choreographed light show, here is a second video that I just came across. This video is like the first video you have seen, but with different music.

Google's Transit Trip Planner

Google recently debuted a service called 'Google Transit' that maps out the quickest route for users of the public transit system. Currently the service is limited to Portland, Oregon, but may eventually be launched on a larger scale according to the web site.

When you use the trip planner you will be asked to enter your preferred itinerary, such as your departure location and arrival destination, plus the date and time you want to travel. The service will then search all available public-transportation schedules to produce a trip planner.

The trip planner provides estimated:

• Walking time to the nearest form of transportation for the desired route.
• Which transit line to catch, and estimated traveling time.
• Estimated cost for using public transportation.

To see an example

If Hackers Ruled...

Worth1000.com asks 'Remember when computer hackers were the big scare?' So they started a Photoshop contest, and challenged people to create images to show what the world would look like if the hackers ruled.

SNARF from Microsoft Research (the Social Network and Relationship Finder)

SNARF is Microsoft's new 'social network and relationship finder'. SNARF is based around the idea that messages might have different levels of importance based on whom they’re from. For example a message from your manager will have a difference level of importance then from someone whom you don't know. Microsoft calls this 'email triage', which handling the flow of messages when time is short and mail is long.

The SNARF UI is designed to provide a quick overview of all your unread mail, while organizing by the level of its importance. The UI shows a series of different panes with unread mail in them; each pane shows a list of authors of messages. Clicking on the name will show all messages involving that person.

System Requirements
SNARF requires Microsoft Outlook (2003, 2002) as a MAPI source. It has been tested with Exchange and MAPI servers, Hotmail, POP, IMAP, and the OL Connector for Lotus Notes.

Cheaper Veggie Diesel May Change the Way We Drive (Article)

Did you know that "55 billion gallons [208 billion liters] of petroleum diesel consumed in the U.S. last year." That's a lot of fuel. Everyone knows that petroleum drives the U.S. economy more then any one single product.

This fact was made evident by Katrina, and fuel shortages that were created soon afterwards. Several news sources are reporting that we have already hit the 'peak oil' production, and its all down hill from here.

Truth is that no matter how you look at it, we need to start cutting back on our consumption, soon rather then later before its too late. If we don't start converting from a petroleum based economy, as they say there will be 'hell to pay'.

I am a big fan of Biodiesel fuels, for a lot of reasons. Its made from renewable resources, it runs cleaner then regular petroleum fuels, and it can run in diesel engines with little or no modifications.

The following article from National Geographic talks about how they're finding cheaper ways to produce Biodiesel fuels, and the advantages of it.

Shoppers Robbed for Xbox 360

When the XBox was released on Monday, they were soon being auctioned off on eBay for few thousand dollars. Now I am running across stories, where people are getting robbed for their Xbox 360s. This was not an isolated incident, there are stories from all over the country. For example:

• Minot, North Dakota - A 17-boy was assaulted and robbed of his Xbox.
• Tallahassee, FL - A man was robbed at gunpoint of his Xbox.
• Stafford, VA - Electronics Boutique was robbed of two Xbox 360.

Google-Mart (Dark Fiber and Google) (Article)

A few weeks ago I briefly mention that Google is buying up 'dark fiber'. Well Robert X. Cringely sheds some light what Google may be up to: "The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid."

IN2TV (Vintage TV on the Internet for Free)

About thirty old series (such as: Babylon 5, Beetlejuice, Lois & Clark, La Femme Nikita, etc.) that you may have grown up watching on the boob tube will soon be available through the 'AOL Video on Demand' service. This new service will be called 'In2TV', and will be launched sometime in early 2006 by AOL and Warner Bros.

The series will be grouped into channels by genre, including comedy, drama, animation, sci-fi and horror, action-adventure and "vintage TV." In2TV plans to offer more than 100 TV series and at least 300 episodes per month in the first year.

Right now the only system requirement that I can find is that it will require a broadband connection. I am not sure what computing platforms will be supported, or types of DRM that will be used. All the shows will be supported by commercials that you can't fast-forward through, but there are suppose to be fewer then what's on regular TV.

Don't grip about about the fact that there commercials, this is a FREE service and they have to make money to pay the bills. IMHO I think this is a great idea, I am glad to see AOL finally starting to do some stuff right.

All Your 'Google Base' Belong to Us

Google Base is now available to the public. This service from Google allows you to post or find information on a variety of subjects, from parties, to events, to selling cars, and lots more.

The biggest problem with this site is that you can't classify it, like you can other sites (such as Amazon, eBay, TV Guide, etc.). It seems to incorporate a lot of features of a lot different sites into one big mishmash of a site.

Before this site was available people were speculating it was going to compete directly with eBay. Although, the more you dig into it the more you find that its not specifically true. Maybe one day it will, right now its not.

IMHO is more like a big electronic bulletin board that people can post or sell anything that they want. If you want to post, it does require that you to have a Google account.

Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. county (Article)

CNET News.com: "According to a new proposal being considered by a suburb of New York City, any business or home office with an open wireless connection but no separate server to fend off Internet attacks would be violating the law."

IMHO this is a bad law, because you're punishing people for not having the technical savy to lockdown their own networks. You should not use a law to force people to secure their wireless networks, you should use education. This is like creating a law to send people to jail for not locking their doors.

I am not sure, but how does this law address 'HotSpots'. For example, coffee shops that offer free unsecurce WIFI to their customers. They would be now breaking that law if it passed, because these businesses generally don't enable encryption.

Enabling WEP/WAP encryption is not very difficult on a SOHO broadband wireless router with built-in WAP (Wireless Access Point). Although, most people have a 'plug it in go' mentality, and thats how these broadband routers are designed.

The Jet vs. the Bird

This is an interesting video of a jet crashing because a bird gets sucked into it's engine. These jets cost several million dollars each and can protect themselves against fast flying missiles and planes, but yet a bird can take one out.

To see the bird you need to watch the beginning of the video very carefully, then a few seconds later all heck breaks loose. The amazing thing to me about this video is that they were able to recover it, because you actually see the plane crash into the ground from the pilot's prospective.

Official Google Blogs

Below is a list of the official Google blogs that are available for you to read at anytime you want:

• Adwords API
  
• Blogger
  
• Google Adsense
  
• Google Adwords
  
• Google Desktop
  
• Google Reader
  
• Google Sitemaps
  
• Google Video
  
• Official Google Blog
  

Archimedes Death Ray: Idea Feasibility Testing

From the MIT site: "Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire."

Archimedes Death Ray is one of those stories that has been hotly debated over the years, with many attempts to recreate it. I first saw MythBuster trying to recreate this story with limited results. Now, MIT is taking their turn trying to recreate it.

IMHO, in the end the results of both experiments proved that in order for this device to work that there would have to be a lot of ideal conditions. For example, the ship would have to stay perfectly still long enough while the death ray focused the sun's energy on it.

Personally, I would think it would be a much better use of this device to try to focus the sun's light to temporarily blind the crews of the ships or the archers.

Watch the video here.

NASA has a plan for asteroid deflection

The Register reports: "NASA has outlined plans for dealing with an asteroid a quarter of a mile wide that astronomers believe is on a near-collision course with Earth. The agency says there is no need at present to dispatch a radio transponder to the asteroid, but adds that it will be keeping a close eye on the rock's progress through the solar system."

This doesn't appear to be a joke. They believe by 2036 an asteroid about quarter mile long can hit the Earth.

I am going to put my faith in God, and not NASA.

PandemicFlu.gov

If you been listening to the radio, watched TV, or read any news source recently you have been hearing them rant about the possibility of a pandemic flu (or avian influenza). The idea of a pandemic flu sounds like the plot of a modern movie or book.

To help keep everyone inform the government has created the following web site PandemicFlu.gov to address this subject. This site calls itself the "The official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza".

The site is broken down into several sections: General Information, Health & Safety, Monitoring Outbreaks, Planning & Response Activities, Travel & Transportation, and Research Activities. Then each section is broken down into sub-sections.

This site has a lot of great information, so check it out.

Mazda Sassou (video review)

CNET does a video review of the Mazda Sassou. This is a small high-tech concept car from Mazda. Its really has some neat features and gadgets, like a USB key, and cool air induction system just name a few. Watch the video for more information.

GeoNews = GNews + GMaps

This is a cool site, it combines Google Maps with Google News. The cool thing about this site is that it shows where the news is happening in the world as you move through.

'Its the way news should be presented...'

Google Flight Search

Try out Google's new flight search service. Type in two airports (i.e.: sfo lax, nyc sfo, etc.), or two destinations (ex: 'san diego to las vegas') in the field and press the search button. It doesn't show you any prices or flight information, but it can redirect you to a travel site which will. I am sure that these travel sites will pay a premium for this service.

Google Base

First Google announced its Wallet service, which would put it in competition with PayPal (note: Paypal is part of eBay). Now it looks like they have set their sights directly on eBay. Google is working on a new service is called "Google Base".

Here are screen shots of the service. In order to access this service it looks like you have to be invited. There is really not too much information available about the service right now, so it looks like we will have to wait and see.

Purdue Sensor and Printer Forensics

I don't like to admit this, but on the way home today I was listening to NPR. Personally I don't care for the station, but sometimes its the only station that has talk radio. I can rant about why I don't like NPR for hours, but I want to get to the subject at hand.

Once in a while, the program 'All Things Considered' covers an interesting story. This time they had a story about ink watermarks embedded into a document when you print it. This watermark is used identify the printer or copier that it came from.

Synopsis: "Robert Siegel talks with Purdue University Professor Edward Delp, one of a team who devised a way to watermark pages from copiers and printers. This technology allows for the tracing of documents to specific printers or to a certain model of printer."

This technology is designed to stop counterfeiters which is good, but this still doesn't take away from the privacy implications it has.

"Ultimately, as technology increases, privacy decreases." - me.

More Resources:

• Purdue Sensor and Printer Forensics (PSAPF) - Project Overview
• EFF probes printer watermarks

EU says internet could fall apart

Guardian Unlimited reports, "A battle has erupted over who governs the Internet, with America demanding to maintain a key role in the network it helped create and other countries demanding more control."

I am personally very critical of anything that I think is wrong, and the idea of any other country controlling the Internet is a scary idea! Personally I believe that the US has done a great job of managing the Internet over the last three decades.

For this reason, I personally am opposed to any country other then the US from controlling the Internet. The EU or the United Nations, I believe could endanger the Internet. My reason for this opinion is that there are countries that have power in these organizations that don't share the US's same belief in the freedom of speech.

What is Google Up To... (continued)

In a previous article I covered all the services that Google is offering to hopeful decipher where it may be going in the future. Although recently some new announcements have been made by and about Google, about new services and alliances that they have been making:

• Google Reader: Browser-based RSS reader. This is one of the best RSS readers of its type that I have seen.
• Google Wallet: Google's answer to Paypal. Google will need to do something really special if it wants to compete against Paypal's dominance. (Note: This service is not released yet.)
  
• Google and Comcast are talking to Time Warner about buying parts of AOL. This will be interesting to see what parts of AOL that Google really wants.
• Sun and Google forge tactical alliance. I am not sure what will really come out of this.

All I can say is knowing Google, whatever their future is it should be cool...

make your own "PowerSquid Outlet Multiplier" (How To)

Make Blog reports: "A few days ago I saw the "PowerSquid" on ThinkGeek a very cool 5 outlet power strip that allows you to plug in those bulky square adaptors. I was going to order one, but they were out of stock and I also realized I could make my own, with a total of 8 outlets for almost half the price of the PowerSquid, here's the simple cheap version..."

Do you have several devices hooked into your computer, and a few of them have large tranformers that can take up to two to three plugs on a standard surge suppressor? Some inventor created a device called the 'Power Squid' to overcome this problem. Instead of using a set of fixed plugs on a standard power bar, the device uses danling wires. The people of Make magazine show you how to order the parts you need to create your own power squid.

Quotes Of The Week

• "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." -- Isaac Asimov
• "It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." -- David Brin

What Google's Up To...

Several years ago (back in the late 90s, early part of 2000) when Google was still young, it was easy to figure out what it was up to. Google did search, and it did it very well. Then about 2001 Google started to expand and change, but its core business, web search technology stayed its primary focus.

One of its earliest explorations out of search technology was AdWords. Google needed a revenue generation model and this was it. Adwords allows advertisers to buy ads on Google, and on other web sites. Advertisers bid on keywords, and then if they get a click on their ad Google charges a fee. I really believe if it wasn't for the AdWords network, Google's stock would not be worth 300+ dollars a share.

Then in 2000, Google wanted to increase its market share, and created the Google Toolbar. I am not sure who created the first Search engine toolbar (Google, MSN, or Yahoo), but soon every search engine started to create their own search toolbar.

In 2001, Google acquired Deja.com's Usenet Archive which it now calls Groups. Groups lets you search the Usenet posting dating back several decades (before the World Wide Web, there was the Usenet). Recently Google has added announcement lists, mailing lists and public discussions as part of this service.

Other things that happened in 2001 were:

• Zeitgeist: Shows the hottest topics that people are searching on Google.
  
• Image Search: Allows you to find specific images based on your search request.
  
• Catalog Search: Allows you to search through printed catalogs. It seems like this application has been left to die on the vine, and never really took off.
• Google Translate: Provides text and web page machine translation services.

Then in 2002 Google released its Search Appliance (This was really nothing more then a 1U WinTel class server running Google's software). Then opened up its Labs to let people preview new technologies that their engineers were playing with. Note: New and interesting technologies are always showing up on this site.

Other things that happened in 2002 were:

• Google Programming Contest: A competition that Google sponsored for the best programmer. Google's Local technology could have been conceived from this contest. The winner Daniel Egnor, created a program that searches web pages within a specified geographic area.
• Google API: API stands for Application Programming Interface, which allows developers to incorporate Google search into their applications.
• Google Compute: This was Google's experiment into distributed computing. It seems that Google recently abandoned this technology (see the following post).
• Google News: A great resource for up-to-date news. [Still in Beta]
• Froogle: A product/price search engine. [Still in Beta]
• Google Answers: An extension of its conventional search, where humans provide answers to visitor questions for a fee.
  

In 2003, Google acquired Blogger and created the Google Deskbar. The Blogger acquisition was a logical expansion of its core business, and considering how Blogs are still maturing it will be really interesting where Google goes with this technology. The Deskbar in my humble opinion was a toy when they first released it, but in its recent carnation its now one of my favorite pieces of must have software (I will explain why later).

Google also enhanced its News service by adding the Google Alerts feature. This features sends you an email when new news articles that matched your search criteria are found. This feature was later upgraded to also monitor other Google content areas.

In 2004 Google began to add a lot of new features and made some very aggressive moves into new territory. For example: Google introduced it's Local Search, GMail, and filed for its IPO with SEC (more on this later). I have to admit I am a big fan of GMail, I have using almost since they released it. GMail was so radical for its time by offering a gigabyte of email storage that they forced a huge changed the free email world. Currently, GMail is on track to offering 3GB of storage by 2006.

Other things that happened in 2004 for Google were:

• Google Scholar: This service indexes and searches academic literature. [Still in Beta]
• Google acquired Picasa (this is an awesome program for managing digital images on your hard drive.) Part of the acquisition was the Hello service (a strange little program for posting images to Blogger, and offered some IM services), but I have never seen this technology take off.
• On August 19 Google's IPO hits the market, its symbol is 'GOOG' on the NASDAQ exchange. In typical Google style, it uses a little-known Dutch auction process to attract a broader range of investors.
• Google Desktop Search was released. Like GMail, this technology started a desktop search war between the other major search Engines. All of them were competing for the customer mind share, to drive more traffic to their site.
• Google SMS (part of Google Mobile services): If your cellphone supports SMS, you can search Google by sending and receiving SMS messages. This is a great idea with a lot of short comings, but its better then not having it.
• Google acquired Keyhole Corp., a digital satellite image mapping company. When Google first acquired this company, I was trying to figure out what they were going to do with this technology. We had to wait a little while to see what they were up to.
• The Google Print program is announced, with agreements to digitally scan books from the private collections of large libraries (such as: Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, the New York Public Library, and the University of Michigan).
• Google created Orkut: Google's experiment into the Social Networking fad. What is interesting is that you will find very little information about this service on Google's site.
  

Then in 2005 Google's future expansion continues to grow. Google improves some of it's search technologies like announcing the new Google Mini (search appliance) and Desktop Search. It also introduces two new services called Google Video (searches closed caption text from TV broadcasts), and Google Maps (similar to MapQuest only better) [Utilizes satellite images from Keyhole].

Other things that happened in 2005 for Google were:

• Desktop Search for the Enterprise: Allows companies to search across it's networks.
• My Search History: Saves a history of everything that you searched.
• Personalized Homepage: Allows you to personalize Google's home page with content.
• Google Sitemaps: Allows site owners to specify which pages on their web site they want crawled more often by the Google index spider.
• Google Earth: Allows you to zoom in on just about any part of the Earth. [Utilizes satellite images from Keyhole]
• Google Deskbar (updated): This is the most significant update to this program, adds a new plug-in technology (that allows you to receive news, photos, weather, RSS feeds, and more), and incorporate the Google Desktop Search functionality.
• Google Blog Search: Allows you to exclusively search blog content. Google wants to pull blog content out of it's main search engine to avoid 'link spaming'. Link spaming is where people put hyperlinks in into a blogs content (generally in the comments sections) to drive up the page rank of another site.
• Google Secure Access: Free VPN software for communicating in public hotspots.
• Google Talk Allows you to voice chat or send instant messages to other people.
• Google Web Accelerator: Serves up cached web pages over a broadband connection.

Eating Yahoo's Lunch
Google has always been out to eat Yahoo's lunch since it first started. Its first volley into this arena was the inclusion of the Google Directory to compete with Yahoo's directory. The data for this site is from the Open Directory Project (ODP), which publishes a parsed version of its database for other sites to use.

As I stated earlier, Google created services like: Google News, Gmail, a Personalized Home Page, Local and Image searching. They have also released products like the Toolbar, Desktop search, and more. All of these services are designed to establish Google as more then a search engine, but an Internet portal site.

Google is also not resting on its plurals, there are rumors that it wants to become an nationwide wireless ISP, and its building it's own network. Here is some of the proof that Google is thinking about building this network:

• Google announced the hiring of Internet pioneer Vint Cerf.
• Google has also been buying up all 'Dark Fiber' (unused fiber optic cables) it can get its hands on (see this article for more speculation 'Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet').
• Google is sponsors free Wi-Fi in Union Square in San Francisco.

Here is the scary part for privacy advocates. The reason Google is doing this, it wants to precisely target advertising at a user’s location. Plus, they will have a huge amount of user traffic data that they can parse and use anyway they want.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

The rock group R.E.M has a song called "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." I think this song title captures the current state of the world. I don't literally believe the world is coming to an end yet, but what I am trying to say is that a new paradigm shift is happening.

The word 'paradigm' has been over used these days, but it does a great job of describing what I see is happening in the world. One of the definitions of this word from The American Heritage Dictionary, defines a paradigm as: "A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline."

Consider this, when many of us were growing up one of our greatest fears was an all out world Nuclear war. Russia was considered an evil empire, and we had to stop the growing spread of communism. Terrorism was something that happened in other countries. America was the police force of the world, and petroleum was plentiful and cheap.

Now fast forward to today. The threat of Russia and the spread of communism is no longer considered a threat, but has been replaced by the threat of terrorism. America is still the police of the world, but our ability to fight this new threat is limited. Then there's the subject of petroleum, it doesn't seem plentiful anymore and I don't think anyone thinks it is cheap.

The Treat of Terrorism
When Russia was one of our greatest threats, we somewhat knew how to deal with it. We (the world) spend decades planning and preparing for what to do just in case they attacked us, so we kind of knew how to deal with the problem.

The greatest threat that terrorism poses is a psychological threat. We allow it to play on our fears, and let it incapacitate us. We have every right to be concerned, but if we let our irrational fears rule us then the terrorists have already won.

If we beat communism, I know we can overcome this threat. The only issues are what will it cost us in lives, human rights, and finances to stop it. The loss of one human life is too great. The loss of one human right is too much. The only problem is that there could be several casualties before this war is over.

Some of the greatest damage a terrorist can cause, is not the physical damage to buildings or transportation systems. But, the liberties and rights we relinquish in the name of fighting this threat. To quote Benjamin Franklin "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

We should not allow anyone to take away our rights, in exchange for a perceived sense of safety. By this I am advocating that we need to let our government representatives know what we want, and we need to vote the right people in to office that can, and will make a difference.

America's war on terrorism, is kind of like a war on drugs. These are wars that you have to fight, but doesn't always mean that you will be able to win them. Currently all we have been able to do is make it difficult for the drug suppliers to deliver their products, but we have not been able to stop them. Personally, I believe the best that we will ever be able to do, is make it difficult for terrorist to cause harm. Although, I am not sure if we will ever be able to stop them all together.
If terrorists were large armies coming to attack us, I know we could stop them. Although, terrorist don't use conventional means to fight. They will use conventional and unconventional weapons to make their point (whatever that might be).

So you may ask the question how do we stop them, the answer is not very easily. Our options are limited, maybe at best we can stop the larger more organized groups. The main problem with this stragey, is that is very easy to overcome. So, the best answer that I can provide right now is that you don't let them win the psychological war.

Everyday we face some threat of harm or death, be it from sickness, accidents, criminals, etc... We don't allow this to prevent us from living out our everyday lives. We are all taught that if we take some basic precautions, that we have a very good chance of living a long and healthy life.

The reality is that for right now, we are going to face new threats of terrorism. We don't have a magic weapon that is going to stop every terrorist who wants to cause some sort of harm from succeeding. All we can do is make it difficult for them to succeed, and not give them the psychological victory that they want.

The Cost of Petroleum
The second part of the paradigm shift that we are encountering, is the world petroleum supply. Petroleum is one product that can affect the cost of just about everything that is manufactured or shipped. If these prices go up, then there is a domino effect that causes the cost of just about every other product to rise as well.

In the 70's we had the first major petroleum shortage, this was our first wake up call. For a short time we started to explore alternative forms of fuel and energy, but we quickly lost interests in these technologies once petroleum was in regular supply again.

In my humble opinion, we should have never stopped putting energy into these alternative forms of power. We have been relying on petroleum for too long, and now we need to find something different before we totally run out.

Old Habits are Hard to Break
As the cost of energy goes up, whether we like it or not we will all somehow be incorporating more environmentally correct habits. Such as taking public transportation, driving less, buying smaller more fuel-efficient cars or ones that use some type of alternative form of energy.

I don't see incorporating these new habits as a bad thing, I just hate the fact we are forced to heed the rhetoric of the tree hugging hippies that have been preaching this for years. The whole American attitude for the last several decades has been that 'excess is better'. This is going to have to change to 'less is better'. Although I am not holding my breath.

59 and Pregnant (Joke)

A woman went to the doctor's office. Where she was seen by a young, new doctor. After about 4 minutes in the examination room, the doctor told her she was pregnant. She burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall.

An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down and relax in another room.

The doctor marched down the hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 59 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?"

The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

Google now allow you to search blogs...

Do you read a lot of blogs, or RSS feeds? Well, Google has recently released a new blog search feature that allows you to search just about any blog and their associated site feeds (i.e.: RSS or Atom).

It’s Google so it has be good...

Technologies That Changed the World

Below is a brief list of technologies that I believe changed the world. This list is in no way complete. Although, it makes me think about things that can start with simple ideas in design, and that can be evolved into other things.

Take for instance the Wright brothers, without their first flight we would not have air travel like we have it today. Then there is James Watt and his steam engine, with out that invention modern boats, trains, and other inventions that we take for granted would not exist.

• 868 The first printed book is published in China, known as the Diamond Sutra.
• 1765 James Watt (England) invents the steam engine.
• 1783 The First hot-air balloon is developed in France.
• 1804 The steam power locomotive is created.
  
• 1876 The first Telephone was invented.
• 1888 Nikola Tesla designed the first practical system of generating and transmitting alternating current (AC) for electric power.
• 1894 Guglielmo Marconi develops a prototype of the wireless telegraph in Italy.
• 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright from Ohio at the site, near Kitty Hawk, N.C., realized true flight for 12 seconds.
• 1908 Car maker Henry Ford introduces his "Model-T" automobile for $850.00.
• 1925 John Baird in United Kingdom transmits the first moving television image.
• 1943 ENIAC was world's first electronic digital computer was developed by Army Ordnance to compute World War II ballistic firing tables.
• 1945 The U.S. Army conducted its first atomic bomb test at the Trinity site in the New Mexico desert.
• 1948 The first public demonstration of the transistor by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
• 1969 ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking (Beginning of the Internet).
• 1970 Intel introduces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
• 1971 Ray Tomlinson invents the first email program to send messages across a distributed network.
• 1978 VisiCalc for the Apple II, becomes the first compelling business program for a personal computer.
• 1981 IBM enters the personal computer race, they releases their IBM PC.
• 1990 Tim Berners-Lee developed the first web server
• 1993 The Mosaic browsers takes off.

Machinima (New Form of Animation)

Have you ever heard of Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah)? I only recently discovered it, but Machinima is film making using real-time 3D video-game technology.

It's really kind of interesting to see creative uses of the video game engine technologies to create animated videos. One Machinima animated series that I found I like was one called 'Red Vs Blue'. Its very funny, but it contains a lot of profanity. If this bothers you then I would not recommend watching it.

The Machinima animation quality is good but low end. Although, I can really see this film technique taking off, and the animation quality increasing very quickly. I look forward to see where it goes.

Free Credit Report (This is not a scam...)

Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act), which became effective December, 2004. The big three credit reporting agencies (EquiFax, Experian, and TransUnion), are required to make your credit reports available to you free once a year.

The program was not rollouted all at once, it was broken up into four phases. If you lived in the Western part of the US, you were first (December, 2004) to get your free credit report. Then the central Northern and Southern parts of the were second and third (March and June, 2005). The east coast just came online as of September 1, 2005...

The reason for the free credit reports, is to allow consumers to discover errors or other problems in their credit reports (such as identity theft). If problems are found, consumers can place alerts on their credit files, to notify potential lenders, that their identity has been compromised and to proceed with caution when granting lines of credit.

Other resources:

• www.ftc.gov/credit