Walt Whitman

Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me,

why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?





I read this Walt Whitman poem on a NY subway advertisement thhis morning, way cool.




Cheers,
Dean

Red Herring Asia Top 100 Awards for 2007

The Red Herring Asia Top 100 Awards for 2007 have just been announced.

Unfortunately Cognation didn't have any clients entered this year (http://www.tractionplatform.com/ was awarded the 100 finalist list last year)

Check out the list below for this year as there are some amazing companies listed there with some really innovative products.


Cheers,
Dean



004U
http://www.004u.com/
China

3Alogics
http://www.3alogics.com/
South Korea

3G Portal
http://wap.3g.cn/
China

A8 Music Group
http://www.a8.com/
China

ACANETTV
http://www.acanettv.com/
South Korea

AcuLearn
http://www.aculearn.com/
Singapore

Amethon Solutions
http://www.amethon.com/
Australia

Aogos Network
http://www.aogos.com/
Malaysia

Armorize Technologies
http://www.armorize.com/
Taiwan

Ascent Networks
http://www.ascentnet.co.jp/
Japan

Automotive Exchange
http://www.carwale.com/
India

Aware Electronic
http://www.aware.com.tw/
Taiwan

Beijing Chemclin Biotech
http://www.chemclin.com/
China

Beijing Kaitone Information Technology
http://www.mobilemedia.cn/
China

Beijing Wireless China Network Tech
http://www.wichina.cn/
China

Beken
http://www.bekencorp.com/
China

Boro Networks
http://www.boronetworks.com.cn/
China

CALUMO Labs (SPF)
http://www.calumo.com/
Australia

Chinese All
http://www.chineseall.com/
China

C-motech
http://www.cmotech.com/
South Korea

ComiAsia
http://www.comiasia.com/
South Korea

Cosmic Circuits
http://www.cosmiccircuits.com/
India

CTS Media Information Technology
http://www.clicktosee.com/
China

Digifriends
http://www.digifriends.net/
South Korea

Digital Check
http://www.digitalcheck.co.jp/
Japan

Downjoy.com
http://www.downjoy.com/
China

ENT Quest
http://www.fifthmedia.biz/
Malaysia

First Meta
http://www.firstmeta.com/
Singapore

Fugumobile
http://www.fugumobile.com/
China

Funshion Online Technologies
http://www.funshion.com/
China

Gameshastra
http://www.gameshastra.com/
India

Green Tomato
http://www.gtomato.com/
Hong Kong

Honest Technology
http://www.honestech.com/
South Korea

Hoodong.com
http://www.hoodong.com/
China

Horizon InfoVentures
http://www.realacres.com/
India

iGene
http://www.infovalley.net.my/
Malaysia

Incesoft
http://www.xiaoi.com/
China

iPart
http://www.ipart.cn/
China

IPEVO
http://www.ipevo.com/
Taiwan

i-Vision China
http://www.ivisionchina.com/
China

iVolta
http://www.ivolta.com/
South Korea

iWOW Technology
http://www.iwow.com.sg/
Singapore

Kanghui
http://www.kanghui-international.com/
China

Maxscend Technologies
http://www.maxscend.com/
China

MeritTrac Services
http://www.merittrac.com/
India

mGine
http://www.mgine.com/
South Korea

Miaxis Biometrics
http://www.miaxis.com/
China

MNBT
http://www.mnbt.co.kr/
South Korea

Mobile Healthcare
http://www.lifewatcher.com/
Japan

Mobile Leader
http://www.mobileleader.com/
South Korea

Mobile Multimedia
http://www.mm2u.com.cn/
China

Mobile Solution Services Joint Stock Co.
http://www.mss.com.vn/
Vietnam

Mocre
http://www.1d.com/
China

Mosh Century Technology
http://www.mosh.cn/
China

MTRON
http://www.mtron.net/
South Korea

National Grid
http://www.ngridcorp.com/
South Korea

NetAlter Software
http://www.netalter.com/
India

Netian Concierge Group
http://www.netian.com/
South Korea

New Digital Noise
http://www.ndn.com.hk/
Hong Kong

NVLsoft
http://www.nvlsoft.com/
South Korea

Ohanae
http://www.ohanae.com/
Singapore

Pandora TV
http://www.pandora.tv/
South Korea

PayMate India
http://www.paymate.co.in/
India

PCT Filer
http://www.pctfiler.com/
Australia

PeaceSoft Solutions
http://www.peacesoft.net/
Vietnam

Peering Portal
http://www.peeringportal.com/
South Korea

Phoenix Microelectronics
http://www.phoenixme.com.cn/
China

PPStream
http://www.ppstream.com/
China

Qunar.com
http://www.qunar.com/
China

RadioPulse
http://www.radiopulse.co.kr/
South Korea

Recruit.net
http://www.recruit.net/
Hong Kong

Red Oxygen
http://www.redoxygen.com/
Australia

Regalix
http://www.regalix.com/
India

RF Window
http://www.rfwindow.com/
South Korea

Roboo
http://www.roboo.com/
China

Saora
http://www.saora.com/
Japan

SatNav Technologies
http://www.satnavtechnologies.com/
India

Shanghai Jietu Software
http://www.city8.com/
China

Shenzhen Botian Technology Development
http://www.botian.cn/
China

SM Onyomo Infotech
http://www.onyomo.com/
India

SoftRun
http://www.softrun.com/
South Korea

Somode Holding
http://www.somode.com/
China

Summit Life Sciences
http://www.summitbio.com/
China

Synamatix
http://www.synamatix.com/
Malaysia

Team and Concepts
http://www.editgrid.com/
Hong Kong

Theta Networks
http://www.thetanetworks.com/
China

Thin Multimedia
http://www.thinmultimedia.co.kr/
South Korea

TNC
http://www.tnccompany.com/
South Korea

TOBESOFT
http://www.tobesoft.com/
South Korea

UCC Community
http://www.uccc.co.kr/
South Korea

Vembu
http://www.vembu.com/
India

Vinapay
http://www.vinapay.com.vn/
Vietnam

vJive
http://www.vjive.net/
India

WhereScape
http://www.wherescape.com/
New Zealand

Worldviewer Dot Com India
http://www.kerala.com/
India

Xcome Technology
http://www.xcome.com/
China

Youku.com
http://www.youku.com/
China

Zero Global
http://www.zeroglobal.com/
China

Zhanzuo
http://www.zhanzuo.com/
China

Zhejiang Flyasia Electronic Business
http://www.5fad.com/
China

America kicked out of the WTO

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070829/180423.shtml
In breaking news today the USA has been kicked out of the WTO by Antigua.

The USA's repeated defiance of international court rulings in favor of Antigua has led up to this event.

President Bush said in an earlier press conference that he didn't realise the USA could lose a case in the WTO and thought it only applied to those Damned Ruskies.


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Search my blog for WTO if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

CBS makes Dell deal for Wallstrip

For those of you that dont know Wallstrip is a daily internet video show with some fairly reasonable production values that made a splash a few months ago for being acquired by CBS for an unknown but widely reported figure of $5m.

Now whilst the rights to a tv show for $5m is small it was a huge splash in the internet video space and made a lot of people revalue the content they were delivering.

Well yesterday CBS announced they had signed a major deal with Dell for sponsorship (in other words within a few months they already turned this into a cash cow).

Read the article - it's cool to see how irreverently they handled the new deal :)

Go check them out http://www.wallstrip.com/theshow/

While I'm at it I wanted to draw your attention to another video I came across last week. I have no idea who is behind it or who Kurt Kuenne is or even how they are making money from it (or even if Iklipz are paying for the content) but check out this amazing black and white production. I know it starts off really weird but trust me stick with it - will steal your heart by the end.

http://www.iklipz.com/MovieDetail.aspx?MovieID=6e3c13c3-6921-4c04-8aab-b799ef4d729a


Cheers,
Dean

20,000 Views

Finally cracked the 20,000 views for this blog. I pretty much have no idea who reads my site or why.

I just started this as a way of keeping in touch with friends back in Australia about what life in New York was like and the projects that I was working on. Of course being a geek I'm often throwing in bits of the news I find interesting - or new developments I think my friends would like to read about.

But either way thanks for reading all those pages - all 41 of them per day on average apparently :)

Cheers,

Dean
P.S. Check out some of the older posts - there is a ton of stuff back there in the archives. (click the links on the right of this page)

Wireless HDMI

Woohoo 1080P wireless HDMI is finally coming.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/no-more-hdmi-cables/wireless-hdmi-on-the-way-amimon-ships-whdi-chipset-to-manufacturers-293937.php

I cant believe how long this has taken (or why it has taken so long) but this is going to change a lot about how/where we install our home theatre equipment.

And placate my wife who hates the amount of cables we have running from the front of our living room where the tv, hd tuner, amp, dvd player are to the rear where our projector and rear speakers are located.

There is no reason why your plasma/lcd cant be mounted on a front wall only connected to a power point but everything else operating from a closet and no actual cables to your speakers (either front/center or back) and everything just being delivered via wireless.

Or even better, new products such as portable display devices you can carry with you or whole of house content delivery which allows you to watch a dvd upstairs from a dvd player located in the living space.

Looking forward to the future, even if it's just an opportunity to trade up from my 110" projector screen to a 140".


Cheers,
Dean

Second Life level heads

I just came across this article this evening;
http://news.com.com/Second+Life+The+promise+and+paradox/2100-1043_3-6204524.html?tag=st.num

Not a lot of news in there (especially since one of my Cognation associates was at the event and I already had a briefing this morning on the more interesting aspects of the event).

However I wanted to draw people's attention to this quote;

"Second Life is still very early and very small," he said, hinting at his disapproval of the media buzz that swarmed the virtual world several months ago. "Everyone in the media (jumps ahead) a lot more than the people here," he said, gesturing to the audience of loyal metaverse residents. "Everybody wants to jump ahead and say, 'Oh my God, the future's alive!'...It's the natural myopia of emerging systems like this."
Then the idealism came back. Outsiders "don't appreciate how big this is going to get," Rosedale said.
It's that disconnect between enraptured mass-market idealism and a 'wait, don't overhype us!' cautiousness that makes the current state of Second Life somewhat difficult to grasp. If anything, the negative press about supposedly fruitless corporate marketing efforts and overhype in Second Life has energized enthusiasts, made them eager to focus on progress.

This is why Second Life is going to be successful - very smart level headed people.

Watch this space SL is going to be a very big very pervasive application that touches area of your personal and commercial activities in ways you may not even have thought of.


Cheers,
Dean

73rd/74th street demolition

Does anyone living in NY know whats happening to the 73rd/74th St waste transfer facility (next door to our apartment between York and the river)?

I know from speaking to someone there about a year ago (I was complaining about the noise at 3am) that it was up for 'development' but I just got back late last night from holidays and was woken this morning to see that demolition on the chimney stack has begun.

The jackhammers aren't too bad as they are those small handheld units but thankfully my lease is up in 2 months so I wont have to put up with the construction noises for the next 3 years.

This is going to be a major square footage site so surprised I haven't read anything yet about whats being built."

Cheers,

Dean

Mark Cuban is wrong (....again)

So I've been on holidays for a few days and was just catching up on my reading (live.com is my rss reader -works great)

I came across a post on Mark Cuban's blog from last week
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2007/08/24/the-internet-is-dead-and-boring/

Dude...what are you doing? Are you crazy we haven't even scratched the surface of what a permanent omnipresent network can do for our lives.

Yeh sure it's easy to point to the web and say 'whats new' (and I totally agree about your comments on web 2.0 - it's just a change of fonts and some java & ror programming tricks) but saying that this is it 'as far as you personally can see' is like saying once Rome settled on a standardised road format that all roads here and ever after will be more or less the same (and yes I think even the Italians will agree that some other countries evolved on the original concept and produced something even better).

I know for a fact that once the internet evolves from a person to machine transaction platform to a machine to machine fabric we will be able to implement far more radical applications into our lives.

It may not seem like a big difference but think of it like going from Atomic Fusion to Atomic Fission. Pretty much the same thing but with radically different outcomes and even bigger ramifications to the wider world (global warming, world peace, less reliance on middle east oil etc).

We here at http://www.cognation.net/ are working on some amazing web application concepts that hopefully will change your mind about what the internet 'will finally evolve into'.

Mark I know you have to make 'wide sweeping statements' to get peoples attention but you need to choose your targets more widely.


Cheers,
Dean

Great BMW Advertisement

I'm not really a BMW kind of guy but I loved this advertisement.

Trust me if you were coming back from a long trip away and then had to stand in a stinky taxi queue at JFK this pulls at your emotional heartstrings (even if the car would probably sitting in it's garage in Connecticut anyway).

Cheers,

Dean

R2D2 mailboxes

One of the other things I saw in Chicago for the first time was the new R2D2 USPS mailboxes.

To be honest wasn't as impressive as I thought but at least they are thinking outside the box. (ha ha)


Cheers,
Dean

Segway's are coming

Oh Ginger you held such promise, we were going to change the way cities were built around you.

I guess Segways are still uber cool and although I see one in Central Park on a regular basis I still hold out hope we move to a 'segway'd life' until then it's nice to see them being used for practical purposes by Chicago police (and this wasn't a promotional unit - we saw quite a few of them zipping about .... normally just as they were disappearing around a corner before I could pull the camera out).

Cheers,

Dean

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

So for years I had heard about this Chicago "Deep Dish" pizza, and being a pizza maker extraordinaire (ask me nicely sometime and I'll make one for you when you come over for dinner) I had to try one out while in Chicago.

So not knowing the best place to get one we walked to the corner of the block our hotel was on and asked a cop :)

Gino's East was the place to go and it was only 3 blocks walk away...unfortunately it had a line out the front of about 30 people.....a good sign I guess, so we took turns standing in line before getting a seat.

Interior was 'interesting' - little bit dark with 'purposeful' signatures and graffiti writing on the wall....hmm ok


So we ordered house special medium size 'meaty lovers' and a small vegetarian for Jodie.....only to be told the wait would be 45 minutes...hmm ok

By the time it came we were starving only to gasp oh my god when it landed on the table. These guys aren't kidding when they say deep dish, it was about 3" thick.

The various different types of meat pieces were top quality and tasty, the cheese was perfect, tomato sauce spicy - it was perfection...it was....way too much food. lol we didn't even finish half of it. (in other words if you are planning on visiting a small for 2 people is plenty).



It was sensational and highly reccomended - I'd definately visit again next time I'm in chicago. URL links and address below.


View Larger Map


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. Ok so Jodie would kill me if I didn't tell you this part of the story, so when we ate as much as we could and just could have another slice (eg there was at least two half pizza's left) we asked them to box up the leftovers into two seperate boxes.

On the way back I saw a homeless guy on the street so I gave him one of the boxes and he said thanks.

We then walked around the corner and then there was a woman and her 6 or 7 year old son sitting on the sidewalk with a sign that said "So Hungry" and a cup for change - I thought perfect I can give her my last box.

When I asked her if she would like it she said "oh no thanks - I already have two here" and showed me two boxes sitting next to her stuff on the floor. hmmm so much for "So Hungry".

Reversing the River

So one of the aspects of Chicago that just blew me away was the history of Chicago and how it has been built up vertically 3 levels over time (lol read this link about the Chicago flood).

Even more amazing was the story about reversing the river flow. As most people know Chicago is on Lake Michigan. There is a river through the middle of town called the Chicago River.

Now what i didn't know is that the Chicago River used to flow east into Lake Michigan but because of the lack of water flow within the lake it used to poison and make sick the people of Chicago because this was also their fresh water supply.

So what they did was dig a canal some 26 miles to the south west to connect it into another river system - actually taking out more soil than the Suez canal.

This actually changed the direct of the river flow from heading east into Lake Michigan to heading west (technically it could actually drain Lake Michigan except for the introduction of 21 locks along the way).

It blew me away that you could get into a boat in Chicago and sail/float all the way eventually south west eventually coming out the Mississippi river in New Orleans via St Louis and Memphis along the way (sounds like an adventure that has to be done).

Cheers,
Dean

Chicago

Just got home from a week in Chicago.

Will post a couple of separate posts after this over the next few days as I upload various photos and thoughts but just wanted to share a couple of initial thoughts on the city.

Wow. Chicago is a gorgeous city and blew me away with how amazing it looks. I was totally caught by surprise and was not what I expected at all - did you know Chicago has beaches? They are lake beaches but still with amazing facilities (the lakeshore drive has an end to end 26 mile running/bicycle path).

Friendly people, amazing food, super amazing architecture (yes it's because it all burnt down etc so had a chance to start from scratch - but it leaves NY for dead).

All I can say is the stories about how cold and windy it gets in the winter must be true as I cant understand why more people don't live there.

Oh and New York ....while I'm on the topic....nice clean, well maintained streets.

Cheers,

Dean

Niagara Falls

So I finally went to Niagara Falls last weekend because my mother is in the USA travelling all over the place for the next 5 weeks and this was one of the places she wanted to visit that we had never thought of going, considering Jodie and I have been in the USA for the last 3 years and never been this was a good enough excuse.

Worth the trip - though seriously you only need a max of 2 days (and one of those can be a fly in/out day).

What was surprising was how hypnotic it was watching the water flow along and then just fall off gracefully. Apparently people throw themselves into the river and just float off to their death on a regular basis.

Lots of photos in the album at www.collins.net.pr/photo

We stayed at the Doubletree which was ok but seriously it's an epicurean wasteland up there so don't go looking for anything worthwhile to eat.

Would highly recommend the boat tour and the walk behind the falls apart from that - don't you think that having this 'water fall'

next to this one

that the irony is lost on most people?


Cheers,
Dean

JFK Airport....you suck

Ahh JFK airport what can I really say that captures the ambience the mood the....'flavour' apart from "JFK You Suck".











Wake up New Yorkers - you are living in a third world city and it stinks that you are just accepting it.


Cheers,

Dean

P.S. How about implementing this kind of 'do you fit' if not please diet rack for public places.

Sticking it to the 'judges'

LOL - I love this article.

The plastic Trunki case is designed to allow youngsters aged three to six to take their own bag on holiday - and to sit on it when they are tired.

But when Mr Law appeared on Dragons' Den last September, he was given short shrift by the famously stern panel of investors.

Businessman Theo Paphitis, chair-man of the Ryman chain of stationers, ridiculed the product after managing to pull off one of the straps. His colleague Deborah Meadon, head of a holiday firm, declared bluntly that there was no market for the case. DailyMail Article URL



Having now sold 85,000 of them in the last 12 months at $25 a piece.... how happy does this inventer look (below) - his company is now valued at more than $1m.

















Dont let anyone tell you what you can or cant do.


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. My personal motto "Power to the ambitious baby-It's the only way to live, anything else is just wasting oxygen until you fill a box."

Banksy

I came across this photo today and loved the quote.















Click http://www.banksy.co.uk/ for his website - there is some amazingly thought provoking material on it.


Cheers,
Dean

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'

In todays Washington Post is a report that says

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'
The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan

In other news........Iran has labelled the US Marines a Terrorist Threat because of their involvement in invading...Iraq and Afghanistan.

Think about it people.


Cheers,
Dean

Jalbum

http://www.jalbum.net/ is one of those applications people just love.

I've been using it for about 3 years for my www.collins.net.pr/photo photo album and have never found anything simpler or better.

Basically it's a java application that can build a html photo album ready for upload to your hosting site. By easily allowing you to select layout, look and feel or other control items you can quickly manage your photos into a really professional looking layout.

Best part is it's free or rather paid for via paypal tips.

So get out there - try it and if you like it throw $10 or $20 the developers way.


Cheers,
Dean

Must find ants......

http://www.unixsource.org/Picture200708100844401.jpg

















LOL - This is what happens when an architect builds a parabola shaped building....and forgets what direction the sun comes from.

In case you are wondering check out the Google street view of the building 55 S Almaden, San Jose, CA here http://tinyurl.com/23gax7

Now all they need to fix this is some form of ornamental stone sculpture stonehenge to create an amazing sun calendar - but the costs should definitely come from the architects commision.


Cheers,
Dean

Neo handset developments

I thought this article would make a nice follow up to my earlier posts about the Neo1973.
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/080207-portrait-of-a-linux-iphone-killer.html?page=1

If you haven't read my earlier posts (search for them in the top left search box) basically the Neo1973 is a new all linux, open source, gsm mobile phone. Everything with the exception of the gsm chipset is totally accessible to the user.

What does this mean?

Well among other things it means you can write your own code to pretty much control everything on the phone - if you want to write an application that ignores phone calls when you are travelling at more than 20kph (eg driving) then you can write this software.

If you want to write an application that tracks calls and on a real time basis send them to an external database you can.

And there is the kicker - this device is really just a mobile extension of anything you want to interact with. Because this phone runs desktop Linux any application that works on the desktop will pretty much compile onto this tiny mobile handset.

From the article it discusses how enterprise customers are looking at this handset as a possible tool to create "custom" versions of their own software eg. If you work as a sales rep for coca-cola it will have all your sales tools built directly into the handsets (also keep in mind the neo1973 is the first model - they are already working on a multi-device unit, think something similar to the Palm Folio or the HTC Shift product) and because it's Linux you wont need any special developers to create the code (eg no learning Symbian or Windows Mobile code).

If you think the i-Phone web apps were cool you haven't seen anything yet.

The only downside however is I've never know developers to understand UI so for this reason the apps will probably all look as ugly as sin - not necessarily but probably. lol.

I've posted earlier how it 'hit' me when consulting to Savaje (an earlier all java mobile phone OS-search for past posts) that an untethered device with access to the external world was so important (lol then spent 24 hours writing up a really cool matrix of various applications along with the complexity issues - if you are a developer and want to partner get in touch for some thoughts).

It also made me realise how restrictive our current mobile phone 'offerings' actually are. Obviously a 1000 other people thought so as well because the initial beta trial run of 1000 Neo1973 handsets has already sold out.

Either way will be interesting to see what issues or successes comes out of this.


Cheers,
Dean

Super Producer to Super Consumer

when do super producing countries get to be super consumer countries?


"dont they deserver their quarter acre suburban dream as well"?




Cheers,
Dean

Sotheby's Exploitation

Lol - someone working for this union is wasting his potential and should be in marketing - how cool is this for public pressure.

So I'm walking the dog this morning - turn the corner from my apartment and see a 20ft pig sitting in the back of a pickup.

lol - the story just gets better.

Basically Sotheby's is building some additions to their HQ on York Ave but they have been hiring non union labour at under priced rates.

So the union is parking this massive 'porker' pig in a legal parking space 20ft from the front door and handing out leaflets to draw this to peoples attentions.

Classic - I love it.

Cheers,

Dean

Trixbox Pro

From Email:

You’ve been hearing about it for a while. And now it’s finally here. Introducing the next evolution of the trixbox product family: trixbox Pro.
What exactly is trixbox Pro, you ask? We’ll tell you…next Monday.
Sign up for the Webinar where we’ll show you trixbox Pro in action and all the possibilities it brings you. We can only accommodate the first 1000 trixboxers on the webinar so sign up today and call in early!
August 13 @ 9:00 AM PDT(16:00 UTC/GMT)
Link to signuphttps://www.gotomeeting.com/register/204288432

Hmmm This cant be good.

(For the non geeks in the room some definitions below )
Trixbox is an ISO compilation of Asterisk;
-An iso is like a package or version of installation.
-Asterisk is an opensource application for IP Telephony (go to www.cognation.net/asterisk for a 60 second overview).
-Trixbox owned by Fonality is totally separate to the owners of Asterisk which is Digium (and still very Pro-OpenSource and Free).

Trixbox was 'licensed' by Fonality recently and as I've been using this product since the very beginning when it was called Asterisk@home (well even before that when it wasn't even an ISO but just an installation guide for AMP .....but hey Andrew why let the truth get in the way of a good story).

This iso makes it very easy to install Asterisk and I couldn't have run my business for the last 4 years without it.... which is why Monday seems very ominous.

Not saying it's a bad thing everyone has the right to make a living but when you have 10 open positions on your job board you really are setting yourself up to be in a position that sponsorship or advertising revenue just isn't going to cut it any more.

Guess I'm off to download the latest version before it gets pulled from sourceforge.


Cheers,
Dean

"What Do You Think Is Missing From The Internet"?

My recent post about Mark Cuban being wrong got me thinking (it's about internets versus intranets) http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/mark-cuban-is-wrong.html .

Apart from a move to web services (via xml and lets for arguments sake include rss even though thats a stretch), there hasn't been anything 'revolutionary' rather than just plain 'evolutionary' in the last few years.

So that got me thinking
"What Do You Think Is Missing From The Internet"?

I'm going to post some ideas later this week but in the interim take a minute or two to post what you think is 'missing'.


Cheers,
Dean

China threatens 'nuclear option' of US dollar sales

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/07/bcnchina107a.xml
The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

&
"China is unlikely to follow suit as long as the yuan's exchange rate is stable against the dollar. The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars once the yuan appreciated dramatically, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar," he told China Daily.

&
foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.



All I have to say about this is well what did you expect - you've been mortgaging yourself to the hilt for toys and lattes for too long and now someone has your nuts in a vice. A nice squeeze once in a while might make you consider the wisdom of your choices....but we'll see.


Cheers,
Dean

NY Subway Advertising

Truth in Advertising :)
(well in New York anyway).



Cheers,
Dean

Got RAID?

With more and more 'content' being stored on hard drives I expect to hear more hard luck stories of "we lost every photo of the kids between 0-9 years old" or "I lost every receipt for my house renovation and the tax department wants me to pay" etc.

I know you are all backing up to disc or dvd every month correct :)

(lol and storing secondary set of backup disc/dvd at an offsite location - thanks mum).

Having said that it's painful to write to disc even with 4.7gb dvd (or even 20gb BlueRay drives which I haven't bothered to buy yet).

So for the home user backing up to an external drive is more and more important, only problem is drives fail (every 3 years on average) so you have to have copies of copies of hard drives....which is why it just doesn't happen.

The way you get around this is something called RAID which basically means all data is stored across multiple drives (normally 4) and when one fails you just put a new one in and then off you go like normal and it self copies across the new drive.

However the problem is that even though RAID is available on most new motherboards setting them up requires a phd and when things go wrong they can go really wrong.

Eg. Check out how many different versions of RAID there are at this link

Anyway if this sounds like you then maybe Drobo is for you.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/storage-robot-at-your-service-a-review-of-the-drobo.ars/1

I especially love the feature that allows you to have different size drives (this is the first raid box I've seen that can do this), so basically you can throw whatever spare drives you have laying around and then as you need more space replace what you have with the largest 'economical' drive of the day.

It's a little bit expensive but...considering how much you don't need to know and yet have a tier 1 top quality reliable raid service might be something you might want to invest in. Lets face it if all your data went blink tomorrow how much is that worth to you?

Cheers,

Dean

NBC Mole outed

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/media-mole-at-d.html


LOL what a classic - NBC reporter outed at Defcon.

Will be interesting to see what happens to this story - I'm sure we haven't heard the last of it.



Cheers,
Dean

'Crack'berry Speak

Are you sick of getting 1 or 2 line nonsical replies to your carefully crafted emails?

You read the reply - and then re-read it to work out what was that customer/boss/colleague trying to say. I mean didn't he/she read your comments in the 4th paragraph that explained that question already.

Then you get to the end of the short email to read
"Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device"

Oh that explains it - the dickhead didn't read my email as much as much as scanned over it while drinking their iced latte frappucino and listening to a conference call. And then sent a 'reply all' 2 line message (with spelling mistakes) to show that they are 'participating'.

Hey dickhead!!! want to do business with me - then better pay attention to what I say.

Oh and ask your 5 year old how to remove that stupid tag at the end of your Blackberry emails - it's 2007 already - you're not special because you own a Blackberry.


Cheers,
Dean

700 Mhz Spectrum Auction

The most important meeting probably globally regarding the future of wireless communications happened yesterday.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070731-fcc-sets-700mhz-auction-rules-limited-open-access-no-wholesale-requirement.html

Whilst it probably doesn't mean the start of a whole new breed of communications devices (see another post of mine here http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/home-brew-startrek-communicator.html ) it will be interesting to see what happens over the next 6 months before bidding starts.

I think the FCC concentrated a little bit too much on voice (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20060516) as I'd like to see more innovative data services but I guess that's up to the bidders to decide.

It will be interesting to see if Google actually follows through on their bluff now; and how that works out for them as a PR campaign.

Either way interesting times ahead - I know Australia is freeing up their analog spectrum a short time after the USA 2009 time frame so I'm wondering how many other countries will announce similar moves to take advantage of standardisation of equipment (Canada obviously but I also think you might see a consensus in Europe as well - though like always with so many countries jockeying for advantage it will probably take twice as long).

Any thoughts or comments?


Cheers,
Dean
P.S. I think Kevin Martin's use of the two handset example was pure genius. I fully expect that the mobile carriers were about to come out with some swinging rhetoric this week and opening with that just shut them up quickly and cleanly. Good to see government in action sometimes.

Bloomberg's Daily Subway Ride

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/nyregion/01bloomberg.html?
Ok so it turns out his 'subway riding' escapades are a bit of a charade but can you imagine John Howard riding the train from Kirribili to the city?

In case you are wondering Bloomberg's townhouse is about 7 blocks from our place (lol I think it's about the 3rd or 4th question I get from visitors from Australia after where is Rupert Murdochs place which is about 8 blocks away).

Now if only he would use the 68th St subway station once in a while and see how disgustingly dirty it is.


Cheers,
Dean