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Buzzword:
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

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Google Via SMS

It wasn't enough to kick at Amazon today by launching book content you can search on, Google is also taking on SMS messaging. This is a MUST-TRY.

Here's how it works:
Enter what you want to find. You can search for either a specific business (Pizza Hut) or a general service (pizza). Make sure to include both a city and state, or a zip code with your search terms. If you want to make sure you get Google Local results, put a period between the business name and the location ('pizza.10013' or 'pottery barn.boston ma')'.

For Residential Listings Try:
first name, last name, city and state
first name, last name, state
first name, last name, area code
first name, last name, zip code
phone number, including area code
last name, city, state
last name, zip code

Then just send your query to 46645. If you forget all this, save the 46645 and send the word help. Nice. They even have a wallet sized-tip sheet. The thing will do dictonary definitions, prices from Froogle and on and on. Click here for more info.
# Posted at 5:07 PM

Belkin Ups the WiFi Ante With 802.11n Adapter

Standards take a long time to come to market even in the faster than normal world of WiFi. In late October Belkin is going to jump the gun and introduce an 802.11n WiFi card and router that will take wireless transmission rates from G's current 54 Mbits per second to a blazing 135 Mbits per second.

According to Tom's Hardware, "802.11n proposals were submitted by 61 organizations in August and discussed by the TGn. The majority of papers were divided in groups supporting the currently used 20 MHz bandwidth (Airgo, Broadcom, Conexant, Mitsubishi, Motorola, STMicro, Texas Instruments) and groups who favor to double the bandwidth to 40 MHz (Atheros, Intel, Matsushita, Philips, Sony). Some, such as Agere, have submitted ideas to support both bandwidths for bandwidths of up to 540 Mbit/s.

"The key advantage of using the 20 MHz band is seamless backwards compatibility with existing 802.11 b/g networks. According to Belkin, Pre-N can be easily integrated in existing networks and - other than g - will operate at full speed - which means that data throughput will not drop to the lowest common networking speed in mixed-mode environments."

Routers will be priced at $180 and add-in cards for $130. And as always, going pre-standard is playing at your own risk, but here's to the companies that drive the standards forward as quickly as they can.
# Posted at 5:06 PM

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

ASUS WL-330 Pocket Wireless Access Point

Gadgeteer has a great and very detailed review of another pocket WiFi access point. If you travel as much as I do (Just did San Francisco to Dallas, to Berlin, to Aspen, to NY where this is being written --Alice) then you know that hauling even a small WIFi router like my trusty Linksys is cumbersome and hard to lug around.

From the review: "The WL-330 not only can be used as a wireless access point, it can also be used to replace an Ethernet cable on a system that does not have a WiFi card. All it takes to switch to this mode is a quick flick of the mode switch on the bottom of the module and some setting changes. The settings changes are accomplished through another utility that was installed from the included CD: the Device Discovery tool. When you launch this application it will display the connected access point and allow you to configure it using your web browser. This utility can actually be bypassed if you just bring up a browser and point it to 192.168.1.1."
# Posted at 4:27 PM

TomTom GO GPS System Pre-Loaded with US Maps

I'll admit that I lust after GPS systems for my car. I rented a car in the south of France that somehow came with one, and it found obscure wineries and what exit to take in those endless traffic circles, and basically saved the day every time we left the house.

Today TomToM GO (what is with that name?) has announced a US version that comes pre-loaded with US maps and voice guided assistance. "TomTom has leveraged its expertise in navigation solutions to make TomTom GO the easiest to use navigation device available today. TomTom GO can be easily mounted to any car windshield or dashboard in seconds with the supplied car mounting kit. Simply turn the device on and you are immediately ready to navigate. Users will enjoy pre-loaded maps of the entire United States, full door-to-door navigation capabilities, color 3D navigation views, as well as voice-guided routing instructions."

Only downside - it's $999. Or in other wiods....that's a lot of PayPal donations...sigh.
# Posted at 4:25 PM

New Features in Yahoo Search

Another sign that the search engine wars are heating up, Yahoo announced a new search feature that will enable you to save your favorite search results on a custom web page with comments, and even share your search results with a friend via email.

How is this useful? For example, someone just asked me abut a new DVD/TiVo recorder. I did a few searches, but it would have been great to just send the results page to her with the sites I thought the most valuable to her questions and not the hundreds of junk sites that also work their way in. Very nice. Expect Google to get in gear soon, but hats off to Yahoo for taking the lead in some search innovations.
# Posted at 4:24 PM

Home Photo-Stamp Experiment Cancelled
Looks like someone took advantage of a great new technology twist and spoiled it for the rest of us. Stamps.com had a great idea when it rolled out a program called Photo Stamps that allowed you to upload a digital pic of your dog or family or whatever, and make a legal US stamp out of the image. Fast, easy to order, and truly customizable.

We of course were quick to order up a few sheets, but now the service is no more thanks to people using the service to, shall we say, depict more unsavory images including the Unibomber, Osama bin Laden and of course many more adult-themed snaps. Oh well. Hopefully they will find a way to bring this service back, because custom stamps actually made us want to write and mail letters instead of using email for everything.

Fine print add-in: The USPS plans to make a decision on the future of the PhotoStamps program within the next 90 days. If you wish to express your interest in seeing the program continue, it would be extremely helpful to write to the following person:

Nick Barranca, VP Product Development
United States Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 5012
Washington, DC 20260-5012

# Posted at 4:23 PM

Netflix TiVo

It's official, DVD-by-mail rental house Netflix and TiVo are teaming up to create a new on-demand video download serivce. According to Reuters, "The movie industry has been extremely cautious about online distribution of its products, fearing that a false step could lead to the widespread piracy that has hurt the music industry. TiVo last month won U.S. regulatory approval for technology that would permit users to send copies of digital broadcast shows over the Internet to a limited number of friends, despite concerns by the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Football League about the risks of unfettered distribution of copyrighted shows and airing regional games outside of their markets. TiVo Chief Executive Mike Ramsay, who resigned from the Netflix board, said that no merger or acquisition was in the works between the two companies."
# Posted at 4:21 PM

LCD Monitor That Turns into a Handbag

BenQ has just created a monitor that doubles as a handbag. Call us crazy, but why on earth would any woman want to walk around hauling a 17 in LCD panel all day? Don't you also need a laptop to go with that or some sort of CPU?

It's scary enough to worry about purse-snatching in large cities like NY, but this just upped the ante big time.
# Posted at 4:19 PM

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