Laptops are hazardous to your penis
I sense a Darwin award...

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today in his keynote address at COMDEX Fall 2002, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates announced the company's plan to deliver Microsoft® OneNote, an application designed to allow people to capture notes in one place and then organize and use them more effectively. Scheduled to be available in mid-2003, OneNote will enable people to take typewritten notes on a desktop or laptop computer. In addition, Tablet PC users will be able to capture handwritten notes, pictures and diagrams. This new application is tailored to meet the needs of note-takers who want a better solution for organizing, accessing and sharing notes. OneNote builds on the easy-to-use tools and features found in Microsoft Office to enhance the way people take notes, which is often the first step in creating a formal document.

full article

Making fun of music, one song at a time

Forwarded from my friend Stephanie down in San Diego. We (the U.S.) are hardly innocent and unflinchingly benevolent. Still, unlike most countries, I believe we ultimately do more harm than good in the propogation and manifestation of our ideology.
--
Tony Parsons - Times of London

ONE year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting - the mass
murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty
of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of
skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi
concentration camps.

An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that
surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate.
Surely there could be consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the
perpetrators truly evil.

But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's
comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.
There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country -
too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than
Europeans - but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me.
More than that, it turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are
bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a
century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well
as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands
of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of
countries - were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so
quick to betray them?

What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the
planes was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's
son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives. And children. Some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for
their meticulously planned slaughter?

These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or
Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The
anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the
Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from
power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes
without having to ask permission.

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since
September 11.

Remember, remember.

Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say,
"I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping
to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers.


Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of
that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum.
Remember, remember - and realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11
in anything like the way it could have.

So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass
the Kleenex.

So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired
their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe
next time they should stick to confetti.

AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot.
That it didn't is a sign of strength.

American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's
what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's
silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will
have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?

When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving
Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and
didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most
powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not
provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism". A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell", if
America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like
you wouldn't believe.

The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of
the earth.

The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned
war on Iraq may be misconceived.

But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched
countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the
Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you
haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle.
But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above
all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich,
free, strong, open, optimistic.

Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is
the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.

Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved
ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.

Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked
planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper.

And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the
New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than
Saddam Hussein.

Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and
set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save
me the orange centre, oh mighty one!

Remember, remember, September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human
history was committed against America.

No, do more than remember. Never forget.

Pinnacle said NO

Haven't been able to track down Michelle yet, which obviously doesn't bode well

Looks like it's time to move home

Pioneer Car Audio CD/MP3/10GB HD Receiver
Ando and I talked about this (abstractly) yesterday. Interesting that Pioneer is opting to go with a 10GB HD in-car, versus simply supporting line-in from a portable MP3 player. I would much rather have a single portable hard drive than have disparate data stores in my car, portable player and home computer. Are line-in/out the solution? Bluetooth?

Well, today is D-Day with both Overture and Pinnacle. I wouldn't be surprised if I got dinged from both, but I've definitely got my fingers crossed. Update later after I've heard from both companies...

The Movielink Compromise
Video on Demand (VOD) will one day be huge; heck, in an era where consumers don't want to deal with TV commercials in their current format, there's no reason why (from a consumer viewpoint) all content shouldn't be 'on-demand'.

Netflix, one of my favorite online/offline services, uses the USPS as its carrier to deliver thousands of MB of content (i.e., DVDs) in 1-3 days... assuming that it has copies of the title you want in stock. Pricing (for the standard plan) is $19.99/mth (+ tax). No late fees.

Movielink allows you to download an MPEG4 encoded DVD, roughly 700MB, which takes round 2.5hrs, depending on your Internet connection. Titles are always in stock. Pricing seems to average $3.99/title for the 170 titles available. No late fees, as the movie is only viewable for 24 hours from the first time you press the play button. Movies are viewed on your computer (rather than the TV, as is the case for Netflix and Blockbuster), unless you have a TV/video-out card and the requisite cabling.

Blockbuster allows you to walk away with a DVD (or VHS) of one of hundreds of movies at a local store in as much time as it takes you to drive there (and back + there and back to return it...), walk around trying to find the title and stand in line to checkout... that could range from 10 minutes to perhaps 45 minutes, depending on traffic (street and store). Titles are generally $3.99 for 2 to 5 day rentals. Late fees are stiff.

I find all of these options lacking in one way or another, but the increase in choice is greatly appreciated. Continual technology improvements (faster pipes, better comprehension, prioritized packets, etc) will eventually lead computer based on-demand services more attractive... provided the cable companies (ala TimeWarner's iControl VOD system) don't lock-up the market first.

from slashdot.org:

Posted by michael on Thursday November 14, @08:53AM
from the CONSUME dept.
Makarand writes "Technology that renders optical media useless after a short lifespan will soon find its way into stores in the form of perishable DVDs. Retailers in the Southern United States will soon start giving a sample DVD to buyers of a CD (by Nappy Roots, a hip-hop group). This promotional DVD from Atlantic Records will work for only 8 hours. This promotion is aimed at finding if music fans would be interested in buying a package with both audio and video instead of just plain audio. A special dye sandwiched between the layers of the DVD will interact with air making it opaque and unreadable later. If this media catches on you may not have to return your DVD rentals in the future." We noted this 2.5 years ago.

Best biz books of 2002
Note to self: Review this after ya get a job, jackass

Low-level inflamation may be the main cause behind heart attacks
What if you could reliably find out your risk factor for heart attacks via a $50 blood test?

A $0.99 Hamburger Isn't Deflation... TG: Or is it?!
An interesting review of three industries (hambugers, cars and technology), current monetary policy, disinflation in the US, deflation in Japan and the looming threat of China.

CDMA and USB prepare to converge within devices...
I will be purchasing some QCOM at any sign of significant weakness (i.e., if we get another continuous down week or two).

Microsoft shall:

1. Not retaliate or threaten retaliation against personal computer makers that want to ship machines with competing software.

2. Charge computer makers the same price for the Windows operating system, except for volume discounts.

3. Not prevent computer manufacturers from installing and displaying icons for non-Microsoft software.

4. Provide relevant information to third-parties so that their products can inter-operate with Windows operating system.

5. Make it easy for end-users and computer makers to remove access to Microsoft applications.

6. Allow end-users and computer manufacturers to make Windows launch rival rather than Microsoft applications software.

7. Ensure the Windows operating system does not automatically change the computer makers' configurations on PCs.

8. Create a compliance committee made up of three members of the Microsoft board who are not present or former employees.

9. The judgement to run for five years, which may be extended an additional two years if Microsoft has engaged in willful and systematic violations.

10. Continue to dominate the world's software industry for the foreseeable future, realizing that it has obtained a critical mass and importance which makes it nearly untouchable even by the U.S. Gov't. *

(* OK, I obviously added the last one...)

deeje will love this, lol

Software aims to ease Mac switch

Ultimately, not being able to see the senders full address and not being able to open a message without tripping the spam email.state = opened ;) state is what drove me away from AOL's archaic mail system. This new change from MSFT goes it one better; I hope there's just a small "get content" type button within the msg frame... would be nice to have a perm setting for known (address book) sources. AOL_IM = good, AOL_EMAIL = bad.


"MS Outlook 11 Cracks Down on Spam
VentureReporter.net Friday, November 01, 2002, 2:28 PM ET

As part of Microsoft's increasing effort to tighten up security in its Outlook e-mail client, the newest version of the company's software will block external content, such as images, when users preview messages, CNET News reported this morning. Users will be able to turn the feature off, however the default setting will be to block embedded content that is downloaded from an outside source. In the past, spammers have used embedded e-mail content to verify the address, sometimes broadcasting the address to other mass-mailers, as well as to insert cookies that track users' online activity."


Side thought: what if the "get content" button was commerce enabled? with the fall of tv and banner advertising, instrumented, commerce-enabled direct electronic delivery (notice i haven't said "email") could be huge. wonder how much leverage there is between an outlook plugin and an IE plugin... or if IE it's just the IE control embedded in the Outlook msg frame... the lines have blured considerably...

BusinessWeek recently did their annual Bschool review. This week, they published reader leaders responding to their articles. This one, whose sentiment I shared with Deeje some months back, captured my eye. I found it interesting that BizWeek chose to run it as lead commentary for the entire month's Reader Report section:

"One statistic missing from "The best B-schools" (Covery Story, Oct. 21) is their dropout rates. With graduation virtually guaranteed and an inflation in programs (executive, evening, etc.), 20% of graduates will pound the pavement for years to come as long as the hardest part of business school is the getting-in.

The way to restore value to the MBA is through an independent certification process akin to the bar exam or CPA exams - a "Certified MBA" standard. Then business schools would not only produce graduates who are more likely to succeed (i.e., land a job) but would also attract more women and other underrepresented groups."