Al Gore promotes the use of green energy. Al Gore uses a lot of green energy. Critics call that hypocrisy. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_re_us/gore_electric_bill_10) Did the definition of "hypocrisy" change? Yeah, his mansion uses a lot of electricity, but he gets it through Tennessee's green energy program (http://www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch/). He's putting in solar panels too. He's proving that going green does not mean living like a Luddite. If we can find the right home, I hope the wife and I can help prove it too.
Nixon opened talks with China. Reagan and Bush Sr. settled the Cold War without bombing the Soviets. One would think opening discussion with unfriendly nations was a strategy valued by Republicans. Yet, it took a costly conflict and a shift in Congressional power for President Bush to see the light.
Not only is the Bush Administration negotiating with North Korea (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070228/pl_nm/korea_north_usa_dc;_ylt=AnjqrJZgpLi9BfPKruoVRRSyFz4D), but they're going to sit down with all of Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070228/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq;_ylt=At5Q4rxbJf342G6bFtNrBRayFz4D), to discuss solutions to the conflict there. sure, folks have been calling for talks since before the assault on Iraq, but all those guys were pessimists who thought we'd get bogged down there without regional cooperation. W doesn't deal in defeatist terms. Hence, he now aims to get us out of this quagmire by calling for regional cooperation. See the difference?
Perhaps realizing a thousand bucks is a bit steep for a Blu-Ray player, Sony announced it would be selling a model for a scant $600 (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070228/tc_nf/50373). This means I'd only save a hundred bucks if I bought a PS3 (the $500 version) to play Blu-Ray discs. BR and games for $500 or BR only for $600? Still looks like a no-brainer to me.
"There is mounting evidence that cellular service companies are going to do whatever they can to kill Wi-Fi." Or so claims John Dvorak of PC Magazine (http://tinyurl.com/3bofxj). True, it is possible wifi may supplant cellular service, but it's his gross generalization of cell companies that makes his claim laughable.
T-Mobile certainly isn't threatened by wifi. AT&T, which now owns Cingular, also sells wifi hotspot service. Sprint announced they would sell routers that allow their customers to share their 3G connection via wifi, and I have no doubt their WiMax plans account for sharing and networking via wifi. Seems the only company unwilling to deal with wifi is Verizon.
Dvorak goes on to specify that the real threat to these companies is free municipal wifi. He seems to forget that the provider does get paid for that service and the big guys all have the means to bid on and fulfill those contracts, which also allows them to charge for commercial use and faster, higher-tier service.
Finally, Dvorak has the audacity to claim that municipal wifi will be faster than 3G. That will be true... someday. But in the near term, the free wifi in San Francisco will peak at 300 kbps (http://tinyurl.com/td7fw). My test of the free service in Waikiki showed speeds around 800 kbps (http://one.revver.com/watch/122716). That's a far cry from the 54 mbps misleadingly cited by Dvorak (that's LAN speed, not Internet speed). Furthermore, WiMax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX) is just a year away with range measured in miles and potential speed up to 40 Mbps. And rather than compete with wifi, current iterations of WiMax indicate it will be implemented in conjunction with wifi to provide wider wireless coverage. Who's leading the WiMax charge? Sprint Nextel (http://www2.sprint.com/mr/news_dtl.do?id=12960).
Honestly Dvorak, don't you have an editor or fact-checker or something? Or does everyone at PC Magazine think 802.11g lets them surf the web at 54 Mbps? Mentioning it was either misleading or ignorant, take your pick, as was your lumping of all cellular providers as being wifi-phobic and your broad reference to wifi when you really meant *free* wifi, and obviously no business wants to compete against free.
On a side note: who are you calling a jerk? Two "jokers" working outside on their laptops on a lovely day in the park? We should all be so lucky (and using tablets instead). When the weather's nice, I love to be outside (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/11/lunch-outside-with-my-r25.html) taking care of my personal computing. Haven't had much opportunity to do actual work outside, but I do now. When the weather improves, I'm going to do just that because I'm a "jerk" and because I can. But I'll probably do it via wifi because, as you failed miserably to point out, it doesn't require signing an oppressive contract of servitude service, which is an advantage of free wifi that cellular providers should truly fear.
As I sort of watched the Academy Awards show last night (Ellen was funny), I noticed Apple ran an ad for their upcoming iPhone (http://www.apple.com/) (name excluded for legal reasons no doubt). Interesting tactic, airing an ad for a product still more than two months away from release with no mention of its name. Seems entirely reliant on logo recognition to generate response yet the "apple" was small and fleeting. Not a great way to sell phones, but you got some buzz out of it. But how do you measure if that was worth the price?
One great advantage of mobile and portable computers is the built-in power supply. The power in the apartment has been dropping off and on this morning, presumably due in some way to the snowfall, but I've been inking away uninterrupted thanks to my tablet's on-board battery. It's great to not be tied to the grid in this small way, but ultimately my battery-stored power still relies on the grid. As these outages demonstrate, absolute reliance on the grid is less than ideal.
As the wife and I narrow our search for a house, I am mindful of ways to supplement our energy supply with solar and wind sources. Unless we wrangle a good chunk of land, there's no way we can go entirely green. But I wouldn't mind using that hot summer sun to cool down the house or using that snowy bluster to keep me warm... and online.
In looking back on my voting history, I've realized a disappointing divide. Before the turn of the century, my votes had always been for someone, often Al Gore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore). But since the Supreme Court named George W. Bush President, I find my votes have often been against someone, typically George W. Bush.
In '96, my first Presidential vote, I didn't vote for Clinton; I voted for Al Gore for Vice President to support his future run for President. In 2000, Al won more votes across the country (and in Florida), but the Supreme Court handed the election to Bush. Since then, no one I want to vote for, such as Howard Dean, has made it to the final election. Thus, I've found myself casting votes of defiance.
Today, Al Gore is once again awaiting vote counts, as his film, An Inconvenient Truth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth), is being considered for an Academy Award and a Nobel Prize. Were I allowed a ballot, he'd get my vote. Sadly, such is not the case. I miss voting for Al Gore.
Hard to believe a whole year has gone by already, but it has... in China.
Yep, the Chinese New Year is upon us, and I'm celebrating with this blog post. Would be nice if I knew how to write in Chinese. But I don't so here's the English translation of good fortune wishes: Kung Hee Fat Choy!
Man, I'm jaded. I see the phrase "Bald Britney" everywhere, and I dismiss it as smut, like a shot of her bikini wax. Didn't realize she actually shaved her head (as dramatized in this cartoon from Gallery of the Absurd (http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com/14/2007/02/bald_britney.html)). It's a good look. Should keep the paparazzi away. *raised eyebrow*
The guys at Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/leaked-the-apple-iphone-dock-237050.php) got a sneak peek at the dock for upcoming iPhone. However, they can't post a photo without outing their snitch so they posted this mouse-drawn mock-up. Might be about the iPhone, but it also "illustrates" a benefit of pen-input.
Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to give the guys in the Bush administration credit for not giving a rat's ass about the truth. W is so nonchalant about it, he doesn't even think twice about admitting to lying to reporters just to shut them up. Now, they're building a case against Iran for fueling the violence in Iraq. Can't argue with that. According to Michael Isikoff and David Corn, in their book Hubris (http://www.davidcorn.com/book.php), Iran is likely to blame for starting the conflict in Iraq.... by feeding us false intelligence that the Bush administration eagerly ate up in their frenzy to oust Saddam Hussein, an ardent opponent of Iran. What I don't believe is that the Bushies think they can blame Iran without revealing how they've been playing us since day one. Or maybe they'll retroactively blame everything on Iran going back to 9/11. Wouldn't be the first time. But maybe we should win one of our two conflicts before moving forward on a third. Just a thought.
Regrettably, that's what the good folks at TabletKiosk (http://www.tabletkiosk.com/) are doing following a theft at their warehouse. A quantity of their Sahara slate Tablet PCs and eo UMPCs were taken, and they've reached out to the community for assistance. Though they're based in California, stolen merchandise, especially electronics and computers, are often sold online, so they're asking people to keep an eye out on eBay, forums, etc., for any deals on TabletKiosk machines that look too good to be true. And since they're offering a reward, it's a better deal to turn in those thieves than to trust those crooks with your hard-earned money. Full scoop's over at GottaBeMobile.com (http://www.gottabemobile.com/TabletPCAndUMPCCommunityHelpIsNeeded.aspx).
Actually, I think it's a foot rest as I found it underneath the desk at work. But the surface is grippy, the angle is adjustable, and the width is just right. Can't pop open the optical drive without lifting it, but the other ports are accessible. Going to test it further and see how I like it. :)
