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Get ready for the Wireless MAN, baby. Or short for Wireless Metropolitan Area Network.
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Spam Overload Dept:
According to a recent survey, about 65 percent of Net users spend 10 minutes or more a day dealing with spam. About 37 percent of respondents get 100 junk messages a day, and 63 percent get 50 or more.
Source: Symantec and Insightexpress

Alice Hill's Technology Watch

Friday, April 23, 2004

Netflix Via Web by 2005
Now that's what we call forward thinking. According to Reuters, "When Netflix launched in 1999, some 'digerati' were surprised to find that while they could select movies they wanted to see on the Internet, they would have to wait for their selections to arrive by mail. Netflix built a good business on the back of postal workers, collecting $272 million in revenue last year by delivering DVDs to 1.5 million subscribers. The rapidly growing online service added another 445,000 subscribers last quarter and now boasts 1.9 million customers.

But next year Netflix plans to begin offering movies for download via the Internet, a business model that has felled many entrepreneurs in recent years. Hollywood movie studios continue to be in quandary over just how big a business movie downloading on the Web can be. "Hastings said he anticipates his service will have 5 million members paying $22 a month by 2006."

Or you could just go to MovieLink right now.
# Posted at 4:43 PM

Goodbye Gigahertz?

Count Us Out Dept: Maybe it's just us, but what is wrong with clock speed? Intel has been trying to abolish it for years, and yet it just announced another confusing numerical scheme. What gives?

Technology Review put it best: ""Initially at least, consumers might have a harder time deciphering the processor names than they did comparing clock speeds. Intel warns explicitly against using the numbers, which will be phased in between May and July, to compare processors in different families. '710 is not better than 510 simply because 7 is greater than 5,' a company statement says. But over time, Intel says, �these processor numbers will allow end customers to intelligently and accurately distinguish among individual processors by taking into account a broader set of features that contribute to the overall user experience.'"
# Posted at 8:43 AM

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

DRAM Shortage?

Reminds Us of the 80's but Not in a Good Way Dept: PC World, had this to say about a potential DRAM price hike, "A three-month rally in memory prices is causing discomfort among PC makers and may lead to cuts in the amount of DRAM shipped with some low-end PCs if prices continue upward, industry observers say. If memory prices rise too much, PC makers will be faced with a choice of reducing the amount of memory in some systems or raising PC prices."

But don't manufacturers want to raise prices on low-end machines? Hmmmmm...
# Posted at 11:39 PM

First Lead-Free Motherboard

According to Extreme Tech: "Via Technologies Inc. has teamed up with Yamashita Systems Co. Ltd. to develop what the companies claim is the first lead-free motherboard. In traditional manufacturing processes, lead is used to attach the chip to the motherboard through tiny solder balls on the underside of the package, according to Via. With Via's's lead-free manufacturing technologies, the solder balls now consist of a tin, silver and copper composite. Eliminating lead allows boards to disposed of without the fear that the toxic lead will creep into groundwater."

Do we even need to say that it's about time somebody got the lead out?!
# Posted at 11:39 PM

USB Pooh Bear

USB devices keeps getting more and more strange, but this one takes the cake. The first-ever MP3 player and Flash drive unit embedded in an illegal Winnie the Pooh Bear.

We can say more, but let's leave it at this, why only a 1.1 USB interface? A Pooh bear should be USB 2.0 at least, don't you think?

# Posted at 8:43 AM

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Paper DVDs on the Horizon

Blue-Laser DVD technology will not only increase storage capacity over a red laser's 4.7 GBs, but a blu-ray disc will hold a whopping 25GBs and can be made of paper. Sony, Philips, Hitachi and Samsung are jointly developing this technology, which means it will take five times as long to actually hit the streets, but we like the 51% paper disc idea because they remind us of those scratchy 45s they used to print on the backs of cereal boxes.
# Posted at 1:29 PM

Mother Offers Daughter for Sale on eBay

A German mother and her boyfriend caught some serious heat when they posted the woman's 8 year old daughter for sale on eBay. Nearly 100 people clicked on the girl's picture, but we can't decide what is worse, the fact that the mother thought it was a rip-snorting joke, or that the highest bid was only 25.50 Euros.
# Posted at 1:19 PM

"Toothing" Craze Continues
We covered this a few months ago, but apparently the pracitce is spreading to England. Here's what Reuters said, "'Toothing" is a new craze where strangers on trains, buses, in bars and even supermarkets hook up for illicit meetings using messages sent via the latest in phone technology. Toothing is a form of anonymous sex with strangers -- usually on some form of transport or enclosed area such as a conference or training seminar,' says the "Beginner's Guide To Toothing" on a Web site dedicated to the pursuit. It is made possible by Bluetooth technology which allows users to send phone contacts, pictures and messages to other Bluetooth-enabled equipment over a range of about 10 meters (yards)."

# Posted at 1:07 PM

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