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Get ready for the Wireless MAN, baby. Or short for Wireless Metropolitan Area Network.
> All About The MAN

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, August 20, 2004

The SlingBox Media Extender Rocks!

Why is This Not Here Already Dept? Get set for the Personal Broadcaster. According to Sling Media, "The SlingBox Personal Broadcaster extends a user's LIVE Cable TV, Satellite TV or personal video recorder (PVR) experience to any of his or her connected personal devices. SlingBox delivers a complete personal TV experience to networked PCs, WiFi-enabled laptops and PDAs, and even video-enabled mobile phones. Any device. Any network. Anywhere in the world."

When????

# Posted at 4:30 PM

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Google Gaining Ground

After the horror of the dutch auction (see a few stories below) Google is kicking back with a share price that is still going up, up, up. (Or at least not down, down, down, as far as we can see.)

The stock started at $85 a share, well below the $135 the company orginally planned to price the pre-market shares, but it does look like people are buying. Current price: $102.

We predict a lot of up and down over the next few days, but for now, things are looking up.

# Posted at 11:12 AM

Old Microphones

Take a Retro Break Today Dept:There are many reasons why we love the Internet and this is just one of them. A website devoted to all microphone technology from the beginning of time.

Someone must have a lot of time on their hands to do this. But, then again, we can't say it was a wast of time to browse. Enjoy.
# Posted at 11:11 AM

The Dock-N-Talk

Finally, a tech product that doesn't have an unpronounceable name like QIXO or PhOnE MrT or whatever. The Dock-N-Talk lets you doc your cellphone and use your land line to make cellular calls. It's also a universal charger and supports over 250 models.

Unfortunately in the SF Bay Area, I have the opposite problem. My cellphone never works in my house and I have to call my voice mail all the time to see if anyone called. Would love to dock my cell phone and have the calls route to my land line. Oh well.....
# Posted at 10:39 AM

Virtual Gaming Worlds Overtake Namibia
Source BBC: "You may think that when you spend time in online game worlds such as Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies, you are just enjoying yourself. Gaming has economic value too, even if it is virtual. But analysis of how long people spend in the games and what they do there has shown that game-playing has a significant economic value too.

"According to the analysis this gaming activity has a gross economic impact equivalent to the GDP of the Southern African nation of Namibia."

Not sure wha that means, but if I were Nmibia, I would feel oddly disturbed by the news.
# Posted at 8:56 AM

Dutch Auction Disappoints

Where Do We Even Begin Dept:The Dutch auction was designed to be different, and it was designed to let the little guy have a piece of the IPO action. The Google founders wanted something different, something to show that Google was not your average dot com. But after pricing the stock at an outrageous three figure level that scared off the little guy, and thumbing its nose at Wall Street, Google's price has settled into the $85-$90 range and most institutions were left unable to participate around the world, or even in the US.

Much more will follow, and no one knows what the next few days will hold, but the worst part is taking that love for a company almost everyone felt and tarnishing a brand that was doing just fine.
# Posted at 8:51 AM

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

New Trend: Big Screen Gaming

North Logan Utah of all places has stumbled onto a major new gaming trend - big screen tourneys at $60 per team of four or $3 per spectator. They took a movie theater, hooked up some XBoxes and went large.

According to MSNBC: "Cinefour theaters in North Logan started a new trend Friday night in video gaming in Cache Valley. Theater managers took four video projectors, set one up in each of four theaters with a Microsoft XBox video game system connected to it, and then let the fun begin for more than 60 people.

"'Tonight blew our minds,' theater co-owner Calvin Timothy said afterward. 'We're definitely going to keep doing this.'

"The game Friday night: 'Halo' a first-person shoot-em-up game in which four people can play on a team against four others. The evening was set up in a tournament format where 16 teams battled each other until the wee hours of Saturday morning to find out who the kings of gaming are in the valley.

"Rick Shurtliff said he drove to Logan from Bountiful just to play in the tournament. He said he often plays four to five hours a night with his friends anyway, so to play it on a huge screen makes it that much better. 'This is going to revolutionize game play,' he said."

We predict this is only the begnning.
# Posted at 2:11 PM

Where to Dump Your Dead Technology

Finally, a place to dump off your old PCs when even your loved ones know what you are trying to give them is just a bunch of junk. Thank you Offfice Depot!

But don't try and bring in toasters and old vacuums. The program is only for electronics. Source: PC World.
# Posted at 11:56 AM

Intel TV Chip Delayed
Uh-Oh. Looks like there will be no Intel Inside yet when it comes to High Definition large screen TVs based on a new TV chip technology called LCOS (more on that below). According to NewsFactor Network, "It is a disappointing stumble in what was originally a splashy initiative signaling Intel's larger push into the consumer electronics market. Intel originally announced it had developed chip technology for high-definition big-screen televisions at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January as its first tangible move in this direction.

"These television chips are based on a technology called Liquid Crystal on Silicon or LCOS, which promises to deliver large screen TVs at a price point that is half of what they cost today -- similar to the way computers continually drop in price thanks to better and faster chip technology.

"Intel originally expected that it would ship the TV chip by the end of the year. It now declines to say when a release can be expected, although according to statements made by a spokesperson, part of the reason for the delay is the company's desire to better differentiate the chip from those under development by competitors."
# Posted at 11:47 AM

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Harley-Davidson MP3 Player

Motorcycle maker Harley Davidson is going digital with an integrated, handlebar MP3 player. According to HD, "Add the latest digital audio technology to your radio-equipped HD motorcycle. Hours of music can be stored on the removable Secure Digital memory cards, and the electronic design means no moving parts for skip-free operation on rough roads. This unique player is designed for easy fingertip operation, with large back-lit buttons and easy-to-read illuminated LCD display. Four soft-touch buttons control play functions and allow easy operation while wearing gloves."

According to Alice, "Cool!"
# Posted at 5:34 PM

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