Tony Gentile | buzzhit! blog: 04/01/2002

the bloggers four:

dc: deeje.com
sc: earthorbitdesign.com
sm: themanglass.blogspot.com **NEW** (i'm in marketing, could you tell)
tg: tonyg.blogspot.com

http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.niagara.0425w
Niagara, sex in a bottle for women

http://lab.agency.com/
Choice Cuts, the weblog of contributors from Agency.com

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-891325.html?tag=fd_top
buy an iMac and iPod together, save $100 -- 'bout freaking time

GREAT to see this falling. As a marketer, I appreciate and value brand loyalty. As a product manager and consumer, my idealistic side says the "best" product (based on individual needs) is the one that /should/ gain traction.

Consumers Who Try to Stick to
Well-known Brand Names
Age 1975 2000
20-29 66% 59%
30-39 73 59
40-49 82 60
50-59 82 59
60-69 86 65
70-79 93 73
Source: 2000 DDB Lifestyle Study

FINALLY, AN INTELLIGENT MP3 VOLUME NORMALIZER!

Tired of reaching for your volume knob every time your mp3 player changes
to a new song? MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the
same volume. It does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers
do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the
file actually sounds to the human ear. Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are
completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the
program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i13014.html

alright, i definitely don't REALLY think this... but i thought it was cute... and after last nights math-focused GMAT study session, any math that i can actually decipher is a good thing. so...
---

Proof that Girls are Evil:

First we declare that girls require Time and Money

Girls = Time x Money

And as we all know, "Time is Money"

Time = Money

Therefore,

Girls = Money x Money = (Money)^2

And because "Money is the Root of all evil":

Money = sqrt(evil)

thus:

Girls = sqrt(evil)

And we are forced to conclude:

Girls = Evil

http://www.crazyhorsemen.com/secret/org-calc/org-calc.swf
gmat study aid

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/Humor/cat-carrier.jpg
meow?

oh yea... my friend jennifer knows the guys from soulstice from HS (how weird is that). she's checking to see if andy caldwell can dj my bday party. now THAT would rock.

lol

turns out a friend of my friend jody knows oddtodd, of oddtodd.com fame!

http://www.oddtodd.com/index2.html
http://www.oddtodd.com/hw.html

deeje, ya gotta hook up some PT content like this.

short break from techknowtimes

caught a great sunset out at ocean beach last night, followed by a glimpse of the planetary alignment

then we headed up (all the way up, first time for me) to twin peaks, and caught it from there

beautiful! hope i'm lucky enough to catch the next one in 2040, closer to my sunset...

What's more important? The ability to turn the Arab states into holders of worthless crude oil, or, the continuing profits of huge predominately US multinational oil companies? For many years, the later has outweighed the importance of the former, and technology that would allow us to get significantly better gas mileage has been surpressed (yes, I'm all about conspiracy theories these days). Will the US gov't attempt to surpress the significance of VWs latest product, or have the events of 9/11 finally brought sanity to our energy policy?
---
Less than 1 liter/100 km - that's the fuel consumption of Volkswagen's
latest super-economy car, unveiled at the company's AGM, and driven 230 km
to the meeting by outgoing chairman Dr. Ferdinand Piëch.

The world's most economical car, full licensed for road use, and built in
conditions of great secrecy despite many claims that such a technological
feat was impossible, was driven under its own power from Volkswagen's plant
in Wolfsburg to the meeting venue in Hamburg.

Dr Piëch, a great car enthusiast, drove the whole distance along two
autobahns and across the River Elbe bridges to the finishing point at the
Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten on Hamburg's Binnenalster lake, at an average speed
of 75 km/h - despite pouring rain and heavy traffic.

The car's top speed is 120 km/h.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16021.html

PHOTO GALLERY OF CAR

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16022.html

Personal computers that boot up instantly may be on the market in just a
few years, according to some researchers. Researchers at places such as the
University of Houston, Motorola, Siemens, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and NASA are
working to develop nonvolatile memory, because "you can take it to the
moon, and the same information will be there." Alex Ignatiev of the Texas
Center for Superconductivity says that his group as designed a "simple
resistor" that's much faster to access than RAM and can be applied in a
thin film only a few hundred atomic levels thick.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16011.html

then there was MCIs announcement this week about The Neighborhood...

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16005.html

Now, you may at first blush think that about $50 or $60 per month is not so
hot. But, here's a little math exercise. Add up what you're paying now
for local phone service. Then add in what you pay in a month for any type
of toll call within the United States - that includes calls to other
states, calls within your home state, "local toll" or "zone" calls if you
get charged for them - in short, any call that you get charged extra for
within the U.S. For many people, you're over $50 per month already. But
then ask yourself - can I put a value on never having to worry that a call
is costing too much? On never having to yell at my kid to get off the
phone with grandma because it's running up the phone bill? On never having
to stop and think, even for a moment, what a particular call will cost, as
long as you know it's in the United States?

great article by techknowtimes this week on the transformation from telegrams to telephones (past) to those going completely wireless today

they list a couple of sites that sell cradles that allow you to "plug" your cell phone into a regular phone at home, so that you can use a full sized headset vs. a tiny cell phone.

given the trend w/ wireless services (no roaming, no long distance, 3500 minutes a mth for life, etc), this is starting to become very viable for mainstream consumers here in the states...

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16001.html

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i16002.html

--> more thought required on this subject...

http://sports.yahoo.com/pga/gallery/20020421/1019436850lpga_longs_drugs_rcp107.html
juvenile? yes. funny? hell yes.

you'd think they'd think about the design... or maybe they did?! :)

marketing comes to blogs:
http://news.com.com/2010-1076-886773.html

i want to get paid for writing lame articles like this!

http://www.metafilter.com/
community blogging... how this is different than a message board i'm not sure, but i guess blogging is trendier

Sometimes you read something that has no real value to you, other than to make you go "Hmmm"... or in this case, humble you.

Appearantly, rice is more complex than we humans are. Initial reports suggest rice has more than 46,000 genes
while the human genome has less than 40,000.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i14026.html

Haven't followed this all the way through, but dumping it my blog because, well, this is enormous :)

An American firm is poised to show off what it says is the world's first
holographic video recorder.

InPhase Technologies' system will make its debut at a broadcasting industry
show in Las Vegas from April 8.

The company says Tapestry will offer professionals greater storage capacity
and faster transfer rates than currently possible.

First generation disks used will be capable of recording 100 gigabytes on
video, enough for more than 20 compressed feature films on one disk.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i14013.html

For those sharing my GUID fixation... work from MIT may seal the deal:

We're just at the beginning of a new age of products, devices and objects
that talk to us -- and to each other. "We're really talking about the next
50 years of computing," says the executive director of the Auto-ID Center
at MIT, which is one of the organization studying ways of using computer
chips embedded in tiny pieces of plastic attached to just about everything,
including egg cartons, eyeglasses, books, toys, trucks, and money. The tags
are currently known as Radio Frequency Identification Tags (REIG), and the
Auto-ID Center calls the core of its standard "ePC" or Electronic Product
Code. Companies such as Wal-Mart, Gillette, and Procter & Gamble have
committed to using the technology. As for privacy issues? Accenture
scientist Glover Ferguson agrees that privacy will be an issue, and says:
"There will have to be a social discourse about what we want and don't
want. But the technology isn't going away. You can't un-invent it." (

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i15022.html

Interesting that imminent release of XM has brought about technology changes for the existing AM & FM formats. To wit:

A new technology will allow radio stations to supplement analog signals
with digital transmissions by the end of this year. This will allow AM
stations to achieve the same sound quality as FM, and FM stations will
approach CD clarity. iBiquity Digital CEO Bob Struble unveiled the digital
radio technology, saying "Static, hiss and pops all go away...You're
talking about a diametrical upgrade in audio quality." Radio World news
editor Leslie Stimson thinks the new technology, "...could revitalize AM
radio. A lot of AM stations have been forced into adopting talk formats."
FM stations will begin using the iBiquity technology in November. AM
stations will use it during the daytime until tests have confirmed that
night use will not cause interference.

http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i15016.html

AMZN under fire:
http://www.techknowtimes.com/jump/v5i15008.html

Ah yes, so now we hear from the writers as well. I wonder how many of those bitching have bought or sold a used car. Aren't used cars stealing from the mouths of auto manufacturers as well?

The rise of global marketplaces make secondary markets more efficient and practical. IP licenses must be transferable, just as other real-world goods are.

CSCO 'future-proofs' wi-fi:
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-884601.html

BEAUTIFUL. brings a ton of infrastructure investment confidence, exactly what's needed for mass proliferation.

Sexy sexy camera:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-885147.html

Needs 128MB internal + 2megapixels... then it's pretty darn close to perfect

a REAL pocketPC:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-883861.html

lots of vertical application possibilities here

FCC approves Danger HipTop:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-883405.html

hopefully "late Spring" means within the next month or two; i'm itchin for something to replace my startac

The ENUM project continues; one person, one guid (phone number), all comm auto routed:
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1080495

Found the following links over at deeje's blog
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2002/04/11.10.shtml
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2002/01/11/jabber_bots.html

this is actually /very/ interesting, esp w/ the rise of "mobile command lines" via ever more powerful pdas/cellphones/convergence devices

bots have developed in asheon's call, the massively multiplayer online game i occasionally frequent

in ac, the bots facilitate specific game play actions (transportation and "buffing") through the same query-response cmdline interface

in the case of buffing, in game money is used to pay for the serivce (tipping in optional for trans bots) and accounts can be established w/ balances persisted across in game sessions

the bots are all built off a common base class (written by a more experienced developer than the ones that script the bots) called the zycrabot

zycra has also created zycranet, a listing of all currently active bots, the service(s) they offer, etc

even more interesting... because there's almost always a bot active & because they filter all text they receive, they also interact with the environment

some are witty and respond with "STOP THEIF!" any time they see the word "thief" typed (why thievery is such a big problem in a virtual world will be the topic of another blog...)

more powerful yet, and not mentioned in either article... the bots also keep track of globally broadcast messages, persist them, and will report the last time X was heard

other command lines have also been merged into the ac chat/emote/cmd line, including irc & winamp

interesting possibilities

Video game addiction:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-881673.html

is building a game that's so captivating that it becomes addictive a "good" thing from a design perspective?

Mac vs. PC; the propaganda continues:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/17095.html

Interesting that the article sites a dual processor Mac out performing a single processor PC; duh?!

GUIDs GUIDs everywhere:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-876379.html?tag=cd_mh

"that's BABY corn"

STOMP rocked last night; too short though (probably a good sign of how much I enjoyed it) -- I was ready for another hr or two.

The FDA has just approved the first phase of the Mark of the Beast:
http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49559,00.html

Now we need a negotiated Middle East peace, 7 years, and we're done.

What complete BS:
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20020403/D7ILMBBO0.html

$1M and sanctuary in the US for anyone that kills Arafat, Saddam or Bin Laden.

I'd be happy to toss $1 of my tax refund into that collection...

Could a virus cause Parkinson's disease??????
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/04/01/parkinsons.virus/index.html

AMAZING piece on the middle east:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020408/arafat.html

seems sharon and bush have much in common

Researchers Near Human Trials of Multiple Sclerosis Drug

SYDNEY (Reuters) Mar 12 - A hormone that prevents a pregnant woman's immune system from attacking the foetus may hold the key to halting autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Australian researchers said on Tuesday.

The researchers said they hoped to begin phase I clinical trials of a drug based on the hormone in about a year.

An offshoot of Sydney's University of New South Wales and biotech firm CBio Ltd on Tuesday signed a deal to produce enough Early Pregnancy Factor (EPF)--a modified version of the naturally occuring protein--to begin the toxicity tests.

CBio managing director Wolf Hanisch told Reuters commercial production of EPF, if the trials are satisfactory, would be 5 to 7 years down the road.

"This agreement brings CBio Ltd a step closer to commercialising a drug that can solve one of the biggest challenges in medical research--finding a successful treatment for the autoimmune diseases which afflict millions of sufferers around the world," he said.

Hanisch stressed that EPF was not a cure. It halts the effects of autoimmunity rather than by identifying and countering its source.

So far, it has shown good results in animal models of multiple sclerosis, but the researchers have not investigated it as a therapy for other diseases.

The university's commercial offshoot, ACYTE Biotech Pty Ltd, will now develop a production line to manufacture large quantities of EPF, said ACYTE executive director Peter Gray.

A few minutes before the church services started, the townspeople were sitting in their pews and talking.

Suddenly, Satan appeared at the front of the church.

Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil incarnate.

Soon everyone had exited the church except for one elderly gentleman who sat calmly in his pew without moving, seeming oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy was in his presence.

So Satan walked up to the old man and said, "Don't you know who I am?"

The man replied, "Yep, sure do."

"Aren't you afraid of me?" Satan asked.

"Nope, sure ain'! t." said the man.

"Don't you realize I can kill you with a single word?" asked Satan.

"Don't doubt it for a minute," returned the old man in an even tone.

"Did you know that I could cause you profound, horrifying, physical agony for all eternity?" persisted Satan.

"Yep," was the calm reply.

"And you're still not afraid?" asked Satan.

"Nope."

More than a little perturbed, Satan asked, "Well, why aren't you afraid of me?"

The man calmly replied, "Been married to your sister for over 48 years."

kim's quote below is in reference to a discussion she and i had regarding her starting a blog

kim has ambitions to publish and monetize a chronicle of her life, but doesn't want to give it away

this is an on-going challenge in content publishing; marrying broad distribution, with an easy to use publishing playform, access rights, etc.

has anyone created a for-pay read/write access system for blogs yet?

IT LIVES

wow, now THAT was a cold.

still coughing up stuff that can't be discussed in mixed company, but i'm feeling much better.

publishing will resume its unpredictable schedule shortly.