It's been a while...

...since I actually took the time to write anything on my blog, but I figured it was about time to jump start things again. Postings will likely be just a stream of consciousness. Whatever I'm thinking of when I actually have time to write something down. Maybe someone, other than me, might find things relevant, but if not, at least I'll have an ongoing record of my own ramblings to laugh at in future years. Enjoy!

Luke and his pickle

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Authors Guild Sues Google

I predicted this several months back. While I totally agree with Google's defense as articulated in this post, there is clearly a fine line here. This issue is not so dissimilar to copyright issues surrounding music. Is it OK to copy a book, as long as you don't distribute it? What about using the underlying information from copyrighted materials to answer questions? I do wonder if the Authors Guild has adequately thought through their issue with this...on the surface, it seems to me that authors stand to benefit significantly from Google Print.

Motorola Unveils Nano Emissive Flat Screen Technology - 5/9/2005 - Electronic News - CA600183

There are lots of new Flat Screen technologies out there, but Motorola's Nano Emissive Flat Screen Technology is interesting for 2 reasons: 1) it's using nano technology and 2) it's cheap! The article highlights that Motorola's nano emissive display technology could enable the manufacture of 40" HD flat screen TV's less that 1" thick that are comparable to plasmas for only $400. That's about 1/10th of current pricing without sacrificing any of the picture quality or performance. I don't fully understand the technology and there’s a big difference between building a tiny panel in the lab and mass production (as Intel would be happy to not be reminded of), but the possibilities are cool. Motorola is positioned to release more details towards the end of the month at the Society for Information Display International Symposium

On another note, while in business school I met with Jim O’Connor, VP of Motorola technology incubation and commercialization, to discuss Motorola's technology incubation strategy and I was a finalist for a position in his group. It didn't work out, and Motorola has continued to struggle with performance, but they have some really cool next generation technology under development. Check out the Motorola Labs website for a description of some of their research programs.

Alcohol Without Liquid??

Check out the new technology Alcohol Without Liquid designed to allow users to inhale instead of drink their alcohol. Sounds pretty crazy, but it's supposedly hangover free. Part of the hangover free aspect may be the fact that it takes considerably longer to absorb the liquor. The website suggests that it takes about 20 minutes to inhale the equivalent of 1/2 a shot of alcohol...at that pace, you need to spend hours on the machine to get the same impact of 3 or 4 regular drinks. Plus, for $299 it may be a bit pricey for the mainstream drinkers. Regardless, interesting concept.

Google Maps

I know I've written about Google Maps before, but if you haven't used it yet, you really should. It's by far the most user friendly GUI interface I've seen for directions. It's very easy to use and even offers satellite imagery of the actual streets. Put in you address and zoom in. The detail is simply amazing.

Google Maps and craigslist Combine

Google's new map service (which is cool in it's own right) has joined forces with craigslist (Listings) to show properties for rent/sale by location. Craigslist is limited to only selected cities, but the idea and user interface is still very cool.

Google Q&A

Google recently announced a new question answering service. There's lots of other search engines that offer similar functionality (Ask Jeeves for one), but they typically just show links to sites with potential answers. In contrast, google actually shows the answer itself with a link to websites that could provide additional information. According to an InfoWorld article:

Google feeds this service with information from Web sites it considers reliable, but it hasn't established formal relationships with any content provider whose information is being used for this feature, Norvig said. Google doesn't expect that the owners of the Web sites will complain over the possibility that this new service will steal traffic away from them, Norvig said. On the contrary, being featured at the top of Google's results list will give these Web sites great exposure, and will likely result in increased traffic, he said.

Seems to me that Google is dangerously close to some very serious content ownership issues. Based on the InfoWorld explanation, it sounds as if Google is taking proprietary, unauthorized, content from "reliable" sources and publishing it on its website in answer to users questions. While this probably isn't an issue for most fact based questions (e.g., what's the capital of California?), who determines what the cut-off is?

AntiSpyware

I figured I had some spyware running on my home PC because pop-up ads were getting out of control (despite using Google's pop-up blocker). Anyway, I downloaded Microsoft's AntiSpyware free (Beta) software to test it out and try and clean things up. While I knew I had a problem, I was shocked to find that over 20 spyware programs were running on my PC. If you don't have anti-spyware protection I would definitely recommend getting some...you'll probably be surprised by what it finds.

Monday, Jan. 24, called worst day of the year

A U.K. psychologist has definitively determined that Monday, Jan. 24, is the worst day of the year. I guess everyone should focus on enjoying this weekend because the bottom is going to fall out come Monday. Apparently, this guy specializes in "seasonal disorders"...who knew that was even a legitimate specialty? My favorite part of the article is the formula...which definitely gives the analysis an air of legitimacy!