October 28th, 2004
Not to worry, this story by the editors of CIO Insight has nothing to do with terrorism or Iraq. It’s a report from the IT sector that basically insinuates in the headline that those guys are quivering in their boots. But here’s the rub: “Just 83 percent of IT executives believe their company’s security is adequate, compared with 90 percent in 2003.”
“Just…?” 83 percent think things are fine and the first sentence of the piece is, “Sorry to say, the answer is no.” I realize there’s been a HUGE 7 percent drop, but an overwhelming majority, a super-majority as it were, think things are just ducky. This is what the media does best.
Did your father ever tell you, the way mine did me, that figures never lie but liars often figure?
October 27th, 2004
If this isn’t a technological marvel, nothing is or ever will be. (And I’m a Yankees fan…)
October 27th, 2004
The search wars are heating up and Google is doing a little spending now that it is flush with cash. Today, it announced it was buying Keyhole, a company the specializes in digital mapping.
According to The Inquirer, “It didn’t say how much it paid for the firm. But it did say it would help Google extend its search facilities, letting people view 3D images of any spots on earth, as well as databases of roads, businesses and other features on the planet. The Keyhole tech uses a multi terabyte database of mapping info and images from satellites.”
Why You Should Care: 3D mapping is definitely amazing and I have loved keyhole for years. When you can zoom in and see your own home or office live from a satellite, it is a very fine day indeed. As this gets more accurate, people will literally be peeking at property for sale, locations of an address as well as getting directions.
–Try Keyhole Now (free for 7 days and very cool)
October 27th, 2004
We Were Ahead of Our Time Dept: Steve Jobs just announced the digital boxed set (see story below) and may have accidentally stumbled onto something new and even better for musicians with huge song catalogues - the one-time mega download of an artist’s entire album lineup.
But guess what? We did the same thing over ten years ago. To celebrate our column’s anniversary we jokingly created the “Alice and Bill Digital Box Set” and put it in a zip file on CompuServe. Users could download the whole year’s worth of our column and every year after that we simply pasted in another 12 issues.
Wish we had those files…Anyone out there have a copy?
But keep this in mind: Jobs (and us — Bill) has created a whole new way to package music, and eventually electronic books, back issue of magazines, and I’m sure movies, games, and on and on. This is only the beginning.
October 27th, 2004
Why Bill Is Horrified:You’ve probably seen this story already but no one, so far, seems to have any opinion about it except that it’s great gee-whiz-golly-wow technology. It’s closer to technological masturbation. Are we really so self-absorbed that we have to manipulate the natural characteristics of a cat because nature has made us allergic and therefore says we can’t own one? Has technology come to the point where anything is fair game simply because we can do it?
Sorry, but there has to be a limit somewhere.
October 26th, 2004
Ever wanted every song U2 ever performed plus 25 demos? You can get it through Apple. The U2 Digital “Boxed Set” can be downloaded for $149. Doesn’t sound like a bargain? The package includes 450 tunes! Oh sure, you could hunt down the lyrics to all of U2’s songs and hum them to yourself for free, but why bother? This is the bargain you’ve been waiting for! (You might have to wait just a little longer while the process is being set up. We’re really fast here at aliceandbill.com)
October 26th, 2004
Determined to keep that healthy MP3 marketshare, Apple unveiled and is selling a new iPod Photo edition for the Mac and PC.
40GBs for $499 and 60GBs for $599, sounds pretty pricey, just like the Macs are. Some things never change. But it sure sounds cool:
“iPod Photo’s menu is easier to read than ever. That’s thanks in part to the clarity of the display — it offers 220×176-pixel resolution — and in part to the new Myriad typeface. Both sizes feature a razor sharp LCD display that lets you see your photos in vivid color — 65,000 colors, to be exact. And with its built-in backlighting, you’ll be able to admire those photos indoors or out.”
“Like its famous siblings, iPod Photo sports the touch-sensitive Click Wheel. You’ll use it to navigate iPod Photo’s new photo menu scroll effortlessly through dozens of playlists, hundreds of albums, or thousand of songs.”
October 26th, 2004
Why Are We so Far Behind Dept: Um, don’t bother answering, we all can guess at the reasons, but here’s the cool fact, this guy on PenguinSix.com had this to report:
“In Tsim Sha Shui, just over the Star Ferry from Hong Kong Island, I came across this new vending machine in the subway station of all places. It’s selling SIM cards for mobile phones, both the GSM and the CDMA variety (for those visiting China and wishing to have CDMA). Cards cost, mostly $98HK which is about $13 USA. Almost all Hong Kong phones are sold ‘unlocked’ meaning you can switch SIM cards at will. I was able to unlock my USA T-Mobile phone before I left, and now have SIM cards for the US, UK, Germany and Hong Kong. I think there is a market for a SIM card holder as they are always bouncing around in my wallet.
“Will we ever get to this point in the USA where a phone is as easy a pack of gum? I hope so, but as long as the big carriers ‘lock’ mobile phones most Americans won’t know that getting a cellphone can be this easy.”
Why indeed….
