Tom's Tech Blog

2008-04-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

DF Splash - Home Theater quality video over the Internet

The demo is here, the demo is here! Pop your popcorn and pull up a desk chair.

Digital Fountain's DF Splash streaming video CDN (VCDN? VDN?) makes a real TV quality experience possible over the Internet using DF's forward error correction technology.

The demo is stunning, particularly on a wide screen monitor with a good set of speakers. At the moment, the demo is only available on Windows XP using a client software download, with a minimum of 1.5Mbs broadband connection (check the minimum requirements on their web site).

DF Splash is running on Amazon Web Services infrastructure and delivers a flawless video transmission to my computer more than 4,000 miles away from US shores. The video quality of P2P video services (at least the ones that I have seen) pales in comparison to the full motion, TV quality picture from DF Splash.

DF Splash is in beta and is offering free 90 day trials of streaming video to content owners. The demo has only been up for a few days, so there is only a smattering of posts about people's experience with the demo, so give the demo a spin and let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://www.dfsplash.com/demo.html

2007-10-09T05:37:00.001-07:00

Clocks: Lightning Alarm Clock Gets You Out of Bed at Lightning Speed - Gizmodo
Another loony alarm clock to try to get you out of bed that much more reliably... though you wouldn't want to smack the thing as a result of an instinctive hit the snooze bar maneuver.

The Looting of Patagonia Has Begun, Say Chile Dam Opponents - Worldpress.org

2007-08-17T04:40:00.000-07:00

The Looting of Patagonia Has Begun, Say Chile Dam Opponents - Worldpress.org

The latest article from The Santiago Times about the rush of hydro projects targeting rivers in Chilean Patagonia. The Aysen Project, if it goes ahead will pave the way for further devastation of Patagonian wilderness.

2007-07-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Follow up to the Elevator Technology post below

Funny thing is that my wife now works in a high tech building in Prague with this same system. Reportedly it is only the second such elevator system in the world.

In addition to the usability bug mentioned in Joel's blog (the receptionists in her building don't tell visitors about the system!), she has some other experiences:

1. The computer system crashed a few days ago, resulting in complete chaos. There are 9 elevators in this "smart" elevator bank, so in order to get on one without the instructions from the central computer, you had to position yourself in the middle in a race-starting crouch position, listen keenly for the chime and make a run for it-- literally. Then, you had to wait until the elevator happened to open its doors on a floor near yours (and depending on your patience, walk up or down the stairs a couple of floors). Getting out of the building required waiting for an elevator too because the exit from the stairs is locked. Mind you that there are floor buttons in the elevators, they are just not functional. Wouldn't you think that if there was a fault in the central computer, that the logical approach would be to default to the buttons in the elevator instead of sending elevators on a random pattern?

2. The elevators are programmed to be efficient, so at rush hour, the elevator waits until it is optimally full before departing for it's optimized route. Sometimes this process can take minutes, so the clever (and impatient) elevator riders have taken to kicking past the door sensors 5 or 6 times until the elevator "thinks" it's full.

3. Scooting into a closing elevator the other day, my wife thought, "well, these elevators are so high tech, they must have sensitive door sensors." So, as the doors are beginning to close, she steps in-- only to be crushed like a nut by the doors-- the bone bruise on her arm still hurts 4 days later.

Maybe there is a reason that there are only two of these systems installed in the world...

2007-06-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

New elevator technology
This item ran on the Joel on Software homepage on Monday, April 30, 2007
I had a chance to visit 7 World Trade Center today, the newest office high rise to open in New York.

Instead of having up and down buttons outside the elevators, there's a numeric keypad, where you key in the floor number you're going to. Then an LED display tells you which elevator to wait for. Once you get in the elevator, you don't have to press any buttons (and there are none to press).

This is more efficient than the old system, in which two people who were going to the same floor might have taken separate elevators, adding an unnecessary trip. Presumably, during the early morning rush, it is able to clump people going to nearby floors into the same elevator, thus getting more people to their destinations faster by intelligently optimizing elevator schedules on-the-fly, instead of letting any arbitrary person force any arbitrary elevator to take them to any arbitrary floor.

Can you guess the usability bug?

People who aren't used to the new system come into the lobby and see an elevator with an open door. They jump into it, and then get stuck going to some random floor because they can't key in their destination once they're inside. (end)

The Patagonia Times - Patagonia News - DAM OPPONENTS ASK GOVT TO REPSECT 1992 WATER TREATY

2007-05-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Patagonia Times - DAM OPPONENTS ASK GOVT TO RESPECT 1992 WATER TREATY

Interesting article on the Patagonia dam controversy. Sounds like the treaty of 1992 should be involved in the process:

“In the case of shared waterways,” the 1992 treaty reads, “the use of water resources in the territory of one (of the two countries), must not in any way harm their shared water resources, a common waterway or the environment…The actions and projects involving the use of the shared water resources must be carried out in a coordinated or joint manner via general use plans.”

There is no doubt that the dams would harm the environment. I am not sure what "general use plans" involve, but unfortunately I would guess that Argentina would not be opposed to the Aysen dam project since they could potentially benefit from the proximity to the energy. I would guess that Endesa has studied the 1992 treaty carefully and would expect to gain Argentine support by diverting a small fraction of the generated energy to Argentina.

2007-05-10T01:07:00.001-07:00

Check out this podcast with an interview with Karen LaMonte talking about her artwork. Her exhibition "Absense Adorned" at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma was spectacular. Karen's life sized cast glass dresses sculptures are both monumental and intimate, treading delicate lines between interior and exterior, presence and absence, naked and clothed, confident and vulnerable. Photographs do not do justice to Karen's work (no matter how expertly photographed), so do try to see her work in person to get the full effect.

The podcast was produced by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington where Karen's cast glass sculptures were exhibited. ( http://www.museumofglass.org/exhibitions/absence-adorned/ ). Karen LaMonte's website can be found at www.karenlamonte.com

2007-05-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

Flying Alarm Clock

From HotGuyGadgets.com on Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Are you one of those guys who oversleep because you keep hitting the snooze button over and over? I might have found the perfect alarm clock for you. The reason I say might is from personal experience. There is a certain person I live with that believes the Flying Alarm Clock is a torture device. This alarm will harass you until you get up. If you have a temper like hers, you might want to skip this, or perhaps buy a second one to have on hand after you smash the first one. They cost forty bucks a pop, but if you are on shaky ground at work or school because of tardiness, it very well could be worth it.

When the alarm is triggered it launches a rotor up to 9 foot into the air that flies around the room as the alarm sounds. The alarm clock will sound every seven minutes until the piece is placed back on the alarm base. You will have to get up, hunt for the piece and put the piece back on the alarm. Trust me, once you do this, you will be awake.

The Flying Alarm Clock has an easy to read LCD, and a six-button control panel for ease of programming. It features a lifetime warranty, but is not covered if your enraged girlfriend throws it out the second story window, then runs over it with her Toyota Camry. She really is not a morning person!

Slashdot | New Jersey Turnpike As a Power Source?

2007-05-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

From Slashdot: New Jersey Turnpike As a Power Source?
'New Jersey, home of the eponymous Jersey barrier, is considering wind turbines powered by the breeze generated from traffic on the Jersey Turnpike. The wind turbines won't be built on the side of the highway. They will be built inside — what else? — the Jersey barriers. By replacing sections of solid concrete with Darius turbines, they might be able to harvest enough energy to power a light-rail line.'

2007-05-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Fring update (see review below)

While I still stand by the enthusiasm of my initial Fring VoIP application review, I need to update my review since Fring seems to have been too much for my phone. I think they still have some memory management issues (hey, it is a beta). The timing may be a coincidence, but after uninstalling Fring, my E70 simply stopped working and required a firmware upgrade and a total fresh start. Though I was keen on the Fring functionality, I can't afford to risk normal functioning of my phone for now, so I have not reinstalled it. Bottom line: make sure you have a full backup before testing new applications.

What I'd really like is an efficient Skype client on my E70. I guess I'll keep waiting...

2007-04-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

An early (and small) victory in the fight to save Patagonia

The Endesa project will inevitably commission another impact study, so please consider supporting the efforts to oppose this environmental disaster in the making. Here is a link to the Biogems page (NRDC) and a little summary of the latest news from their website. Thanks for your time. Now, we return to our regularly scheduled gadget programming...

http://www.savebiogems.org/patagonia/

"Far to the south, Chilean environmental officials have rejected a deeply flawed study of the impacts of a proposed hydroelectric dam in one of Patagonia's most pristine areas. The officials announced their decision less than a week after receiving more than 10,000 protest messages from BioGems Defenders. In March, NRDC BioGems advocates joined Ecosistemas -- one of our main partner groups there -- and the internationally renowned Chilean rock musician Beto Cuevas on an expedition to the region. They met with environmental leaders and local community activists and visited Chile's biggest river, the Baker, which has been targeted for two dams by the country's largest utility. "

http://www.savebiogems.org/newsletter/

From the Santiago Times:
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=13361&topic_id=15

NRDC MEETS DAM OPPONENTS IN SOUTHERN CHILE

(March 30, 2007) Representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an influential U.S.-based environmental group that is opposing plans to build large hydroelectric dams on several Region XI rivers, spent this week on a fact-finding mission in southern Chile.

On Tuesday the NRDC team – headed by International Programs Director Jacob Scherr – met in Coyhaique with a wide range of local dam opponents, among them leaders of the Citizen Coalition for Aysén Life Reserve (CCARV), representatives from the National Organization of Young Tehuelches and Aysén Bishop Luis Infanti.

During the meeting, Scherr, a senior environmental attorney, reiterated his organization’s support for the mounting anti-dam campaign, pointing out that Region XI – an area also known as Aysén – is recognized on a global level as one of the planet’s great natural resources. Scherr also insisted that before making decisions about whether to approve the proposed dam projects, Chilean authorities should take into account both local input and alternative energy sources.

Joining the NRDC delegation on the week-long foray was veteran ecologist Juan Pablo Orrego, head of the Santiago-based environmental organization Ecosistemas, and Beto Cuevas, front man for the Grammy-winning pop-rock group La Ley. Earlier this month the two collaborated in an NRDC-sponsored information tour in California, where Cuevas currently makes his home (ST, March 2, March 20).

It’s important, Cuevas explained, for people in Chile to realize that the plans to construct dams in Aysén are still very much pending. “The companies, with their strong lobby, give off the impression that it’s already decided. Almost everyone, therefore, considers it a done deal,” he said. “My goal is to take advantage of my celebrity as a musician to inform the people otherwise.”

The pristine Aysén region of northern Patagonia, in many ways Chile’s “last frontier,” boasts some of the only remaining virgin wilderness left on the planet. Home to numerous unique plant and animal species – huemules (South Andean deer), Araucaria (Monkey Puzzle trees) and Alerce (a South American cousin of the Redwood), to name a few – Aysén also has some of Chile’s biggest rivers.

Which is why the country’s largest utility company, Endesa, has by its own admission been eyeing the region for the past 40 years. Those powerful, glacier-fed waterways, the company calculates, represent a windfall of potential electricity.

Now, with the country’s supply of natural gas (used for electricity production) threatened by ongoing availability problems in neighboring Argentina, and with domestic electricity consumption growing at an alarming 6.8 percent-year, the time is finally right, according to Endesa, to begin tapping Aysén’s vast water resources.

In collaboration with Colbún, another of Chile’s major energy companies, Endesa is working on its so-called Aysén Project. By far the biggest hydroelectric venture in the country’s history, the Aysén Project is a US$ 4 billion plan to build two dams on each of the region’s two largest rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together the dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 MW, equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available in central Chile.

A Swiss mining company called Xstrata has also presented plans for an Aysén dam. Earlier this year Xstrata – formerly Falconbridge – submitted an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for a US$600 million, 600 MW hydroelectric dam it plans to construct on the Cuervo River (ST, Jan. 5). Just last week, however, the regional office of Chile’s National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) announced that as it stands, the company’s EIS is insufficient. In order to proceed with the plan, the Xstrata must now go back to the drawing board, conduct more research, and resubmit its EIS – a process that according to the CCARV, could take as long as a year (ST, March 22).

“This is a zone with huge hydroelectric potential that has been studied for more than 40 years, going back to the time when Endesa Chile was state-owned,” HidroAysén, a joint entity formed by Endesa-Colbún, explained in written statement.

“Its development is closely linked to Chile’s medium and long-term energy needs. We’re using a renewable and competitive resource that’s clean and available domestically. (Also) the Baker and Pascua Rivers basin is much more stable than two located in the central part of the county, which allows for energy production that is not as subject to the arbitrary nature of seasons and the climate.”

Opponents, nevertheless, argue that the dams would be environmentally devastating. Not only would they involve widespread flooding, but they also call for building a 2,000-kilometer transmission line – the world’s longest – that would literally cut through acres upon acres of both protected and unprotected wilderness area (ST March 14).

“There are a ton of alternatives,” CCARV activist Peter Hartmann recently told the Santiago Times. “One option is smaller scale hydroelectric alternatives, in which there are a lot of megawatts available. (Those potential megawatts) also happen to be located much closer to where they’re needed. There are a lot of megawatts available in wind energy, which could also be generated closer to where the energy’s needed.

“Why don’t the mines that are earning billions of dollars with the high price of copper invest some of that money and generate their own solar energy, up there in the north, instead of waiting for Endesa to come here and then transport the electricity 2,000 kilometers? That’s just crazy. It’s the most unsustainable thing imaginable” (ST, Feb. 28).

By Benjamin Witte (benwitte@santiagotimes.cl)

2007-04-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

Engineers create 'optical cloaking' design for invisibility

This is pretty wild- the idea is to bend light around an object such that the observer sees the projected image of the backgound instead of the object being cloaked. The invisibility cape is coming! Ok, so it still only works on one wavelength of light (namely red today), but they are working on a version which will work on all visible wavelengths. They say it is theoretically possible and that the size of the cloaking could be arbitrarily large - the size of a person or aircraft for example. How cool would it be to be able to cloak skyscrapers or power lines? Now, if they could only just work on getting the Star Trek transporter to work...

2007-03-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Patagonia Under Siege from NRDC: OnEarth Magazine, Fall 2006

Chile is moving ahead with a devastating and short-sighted hydro power project that will scar one of the last truly wild landscapes on earth. OK, they are not planning on submerging 1,200 villages, but the destruction of the natural habitat of Chilean Patagonia will be permanent and constitute a real loss for the planet. The glaciers, lakes, and wild rivers are a real natural treasure, despite showing the scars of the the misguided "colonization" policies of the early 20th century that led to the wholesale burning and destruction of primeval forests. Please consider supporting efforts to prevent this looming devastation. Thanks.

Here is a link to the Patagonia (company) Environmental Activisim page

2007-03-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Patagonia dam project looming

Wednesday's decision by CONAMA was just the latest twist in an ongoing battle surrounding not just the Cuervo River plan, but also the much larger Aysén Project.

By far the biggest hydroelectric venture in the country's history, the US$ 4 billion Aysén Project is a joint endeavor being developed by two of Chile's principal utility companies: Endesa and Colbún. The two companies, now working under the name HidroAyén, plan to build two dams on each of the region's two largest rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together these dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 MW, equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available in central Chile.

Opponents of the Xstrata and HidroAysén projects - among them local activists and environmentalists, the influential U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and even famous rock star Beto Cuevas (ST, March 20) - insist the dams would be environmentally devastating for the pristine region.

The Aysén Project, for example, not only calls for flooding approximately 93 square kilometers of wilderness, but will also require the construction of a 2,000-kilometer transmission line - the world's longest - that would literally cut through acres upon acres of both protected and unprotected wilderness area (ST, March 13).

"Beyond what's being said about the Cuervo River project," the CCARV stated, "what's clear is that having dams, reservoirs and a high-tension power line crossing all of Patagonia, is and will always be bad business for Aysén and the country as a whole."

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page31?oid=18626&sn=Detail
This story was originally published with the permission of The Santiago Times - www.santiagotimes.cl

Coldwell Banker's Second Life - Mar. 23, 2007

2007-03-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

Coldwell Banker's Second Life - Mar. 23, 2007

Embassies, now real estate companies. Will be interesting to see what the housing bubble looks like in 3D. . . sub-prime second life mortgages, anyone? Thanks to David Kirkpatrick at Fortune for picking this up.

2007-02-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

Fring - my quick review of VoIP via cellphone handsets

OK, so I have been reading about Fring for a while. Every time I search for "Skype Symbian" to find out if there is any new information about when and if Skypebay will release a Symbian Series 60v3 version to allow me to take advantage of my unlimited data plan (in the Czech Republic) and wifi hotspots (when roaming), I get stories about Fring. So finally, I took the plunge, schlepped over to their website, signed up, downloaded and installed the fring-ware from the SMS link they sent me, put in my Skype settings, and voila! Now I'm using Skype from my mobile phone (Nokie E70) over free 3G connection. The default setting seems to be "keep data connection open all the time" which I imagine would drain a battery pretty fast, but you can turn off the "always on" feature.

Like Skype, Fring has their own echocall test feature so you can test that the call is working. My first test call was a toughie: Fring-3G-Skype-dialup_user_in_Armenia_with_thinkpad_speakerphone ... the end to end voice quality was pretty lousy as you might expect, however it did work; the conversation was halting and garbled, but possible. Next up, Skype across town to a broadband user with a headset- call quality was very good. I could hear perfectly, though the recipient of the call on the other end said that my voice sounded "metalic," i.e. tinny. Overall, a very satisfactory test experience via my free 3G connection.

Next I switched to my home WiFi network, setup the WEP key (thank goodness for the thumb keyboard on the E70), and tried a test call to the echocall number-- call quality was significantly lower than via 3G, but nonetheless understandable. Until Skype comes out with a native Symbian client, this is the way to go for free calls from your Symbian phone. Please let me know what you think.

2007-02-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Is AT&T U-verse Doomed? (via VOIP & Gadgets Blog)

Interesting blog post from Tom Keating about the architectural issues that ATT's U-verse is facing, both with its physical architecture (needing neighborhood DSLAM boxes, which require permissions from the municipalities) and with its network architecture (based on proprietary MSFT set top boxes as opposed to any open standards). Those are substantial issues, but if they can be solved, U-verse sounds much more likely to generate profits than the Verizon FTTH trillion dollar extravaganza (I guess trillion is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture).

2007-02-12T01:07:00.000-08:00

Massive Off-Shore Wind Turbines Safe for Birds (via MIT Technology Review)

A new Danish infrared-activated camera system appears to have provided the first effective measurement of risk to birds from massive "wind farms." The data looks impressive with only one small bird impact measured in 100 days of observation (the concern was that the wind farm lies in the migration path of some large birds. Apparently, the birds either avoided the whole farm altogether or flew down the 500m wide corridors in between the rows of turbines. One would think that birds would be highly sensitive to wind currents and that birds would instinctively avoid the wind farms (as strange or unknown wind patterns).

2007-01-29T03:03:00.000-08:00

Sweden the First Country to set up an Embassy in Second Life (via Notes from Sweden)

Looks like Sweden is looking to broaden their tax base! Does IKEA already have a store in Second Life? I admit it's a stretch to call this technology news, but you have to admit it is a tasty tidbit.

2006-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Shameless Plug: Check out TripConnect, a Travel Social Networking Site started by a friend of mine (affiliate link)

TripConnect is fun to use and it's easy to post reviews of places you've been. The groups feature enables groups (like family travelers) to exchange tips and recommendations as well as to seek advice from the community. I like the idea, and with more and more content becoming available from a growing user base, the site will keep getting better.

Here's their pitch: TripConnect allows you to get travel advice from a network of friends and others who share your tastes and interests. The truth is, most people don't know the majority of places to which even close friends have traveled, and indeed, someone in your larger network of acquaintances and friends of friends has probably been to almost any place you can think of. TripConnect allows you to tap into all the travel knowledge that exists in your network, to get the best advice from the best source: friends, family and people who share your tastes and interests. Why Join TripConnect? By joining TripConnect you can take the work out of finding just the right place to go and just the right place to stay. Why be dependent on advice from strangers? Join TripConnect and you can get the one recommendation you need from someone you trust.

Enter a Chance to Win a $500 Travel Voucher for registration. (affiliate link)

2006-11-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

Rebtel Rocks! Creative, cost effective, and easy international mobile-mobile calls (affiliate link)

OK, so a month ago I get a call from a friend who is living in Japan for 6 months. He was calling me in the Czech Republic via Rebtel and despite being halfway around the world (which amounts to a heapload of latency for our voice packets traversing the Internet), the voice quality was great. I then proceed to the Rebtel website, sign up with a $10 balance and start setting up numbers for people to call. Now I talk to my brother in Patagonia, Chile using Rebtel in addition to my parents in Virginia and my colleague in New York. All mobile-to-mobile for a few cents a minute. I'm diggin' it (and so is Rebtel since I've spent $7.65 in a month). I also am a huge fan of their $1 a week subscription fee (which they only charge you if you use the service in that week)- clever way to get $50 a year out of people without them thinking that they are getting gouged.

When I first read about this company on TechCrunch, it just seemed too complicated with all the mentions of call backs, etc. However, in reality it is not that bad since you save the custom numbers for the people you want to call in your phone contacts anyway. Given the viral nature of this service, look for it to snowball once it achieves some critical mass beyond the early adopter crowd. Funded to the tune of $20mm by Index and Benchmark, they should have the staying power to make it. Their business proposition is compelling, and I suspect they are looking creatively at the question of how to take on roaming charges... That is another *huge* opportunity that should be addressable by number pairing (but they'll have to come up with a better solution than my having to have -rebtel-FR -rebtel-UK -rebtel-DE entries for everyone in my phonebook...).

Please note that the headline link of this post contains my Rebtel affiliate ID as does the ad on the right. I encourage you to check it out...

2006-11-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

Geesee Launches Cross Site Chat - via TechCrunch

This is potentially interesting application, so let's try it out right here, right now. Scroll down to the bottom of this page, Jump in and join a chat about gadgets. Seems like a nifty service. The ad targeting does not seem to be working right, though. It keeps showing ads for Plastic Extrusion.

(UPDATE: the page contextual ad targeting is now working much better than the regular Google ads at the top of the page. Too bad about that since Geesee makes the money on clicks...)

2006-11-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

YouTube Sued By UTube » via InsideGoogle

Siliness from the owners of the UTube.com domain. Watch out YewTube, you're next!

2006-10-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

New Illinois robot seeks and destroys pesky weeds - Engadget

Ok, here is another robot story for you. I like the idea and know a couple of people who need this thing desperately if it is effective in challenging terrain.

2006-09-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

TV Anywhere to push the borders of U.S. television - via CED

Here is an interesting announcement from a Denver based startup that is going after the American-culture-craving-expat community. They will be competing with SlingBox which is an affordable hardware+broadband solution, but requires that you have a physical location, cable/satellite TV, and a broadband connection available. Sony just upgraded and reduced the price of their "TV anywhere" device which is competing directly with the SlingBox. TiVo announced an internet-feeding capability, but so far I have not seen any additional details on that.

The whole space-shifting space is going to get more and more competitive and, ultimately, commoditized. I imaging the licensing hurdles for TV Anywhere will be tough to get over, but I do hope they are successful especially for out of market (or even out of country) sports programming delivery.

Good luck to these guys.

2006-08-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a test
Nathaniel's Blog: "brrreeeport
an interesting test from Scoble regarding the methods of seeding a search engine/tag engine and the relative power of the major competitors. By adding the term brrreeeport to a page, you can participate too. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get this page into the google, etc. search engines and to see where in the growing list it falls.
posted by Nathaniel McNamara"

2006-06-09T01:39:00.000-07:00

SoonR: Skype via Mobile Phone and remote document access (via TechCrunch)

SoonR rocks! You sign up for an account, download the software "desktop agent," load it on your PC, and login. From then on (depending on what permissions you have given the SoonR agent), from any web browser you have access to Skype, documents on your hardrive, Google Desktop search, Outlook, etc. This includes the web browser on your mobile phone. When you "call" someone via SoonR, the SoonR agent tells Skype (which is running on your PC) to do a conference call, first dialing the mobile number that you setup as your number and then, once that is connected, then dialing the other user via Skype or SkypeOut depending on the number you choose.

Since the SkypeOut rates for calling mobile phones are not super cheap (around 23 cents a minute for calling my Czech mobile number), SoonR is not about to put mobile operators out of business, but it does provide a way of cutting international long distance bills via easy access to a Skype "line" on demand. As with Skype, you can call contacts you have already loaded into Skype or any PSTN number (via SkypeOut). It is also quite a party trick, for those of you who have friends impressed by such uber-geekness. Combine that with showing someone their house from the air using Google Local satellite maps on your mobile phone and you will have them in awe (and shock?) . . .hopefully you have an unlimited 3G data plan, because finding your way around Google Local Mobile is like crawling around in the dark.

Back to SoonR… the other cool feature and one that is very handy (though it does raise a whole slew of security issues) is the remote access to documents that are stored on your PC. I used SoonR this week to read a Word document while I was on the road. You select the document that you want to open and have the option to select how you want to view it—I wanted to see it as a text file (SoonR does the format translation on the fly), but there is also an option to view it as PDF (though I am not sure how that would work on my Symbian phone without Acrobat reader). Another super cool feature is that you can instruct SoonR to email the document to the email address of your choice, meaning that you can access desktop files from any browser in the world (it worked fast when I tried it).

Overall, this is a very nifty bit of wizardry, making the mobile phone platform with its limited text input capability a much more powerful tool. The latest beta version has been stable and working without problems since its release several days ago (the earlier version was a bit unstable). Even in its early form, I’d have to give SoonR a 10 out of 10 rating. Nice work!

2006-04-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Advertiser Counts on Sheep to Pull Eyes Over the Wool - New York Times (subscription required)
Now the Trib is picking up on this yarn, spinning the PR wheels faster and faster for Hotels.nl. I like the comment about the guy looking to drape sheep in locations with a lot of traffic jams... With revenues up 15%, it looks as though their viral campaign has been a success.

2006-04-12T03:18:00.000-07:00

Baaaahd Idea for Baaahdvertising or Shear Brillance?
Actually pretty amusing. It does seem as though this viral campaign is working for the sponsor. Courtesy of Gizmodo.

2006-04-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

From the bizzaromorphic department: check out BigDog (courtesy of Gadgetopia)
This is a pretty wacky looking robot from Boston Dynamics. When I first saw the picture it looked like a joke, but it is a pretty impressive bit of engineering despite being pretty noisy in its prototype stage...

2006-03-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

Flickr photo uploading from Symbian- a review of the options from Chris Heathcote
This is a great overview of the options available for uploading photos to Flickr (and other photo sharing sites) from your Series 60 Symbian Phone (I have a Nokia 6680, but am looking out for the E70 when it is released in the "1st Quarter 2006").

I use ShoZu and I must say that it totally rocks. For free software (at least for now), it does everything I want it to, and since I am on a 3G network with an all-you-can-eat data plan, it is amazingly speedy. The fact that it is clever enough to recognize when you are roaming and automatically postpone the heavy uploading until you get back to your home network is pretty cool. If you have a S60 Symbian phone, go to ShoZu and get the software. You'll be glad you did. I give it a 9 out of 10 overall.

2006-03-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

Google Eyes TV . . .
The Radioactive Yak speculates that Google TV development is heating up with the addition of some job postings for Interactive TV types. Google TV OS plus mediaFLO from the Q or iBlast/iBiquity = next gen off air TV capability. Or, using Digital Fountain Raptor codes, Google could send a trickle bit stream to your DVR via the soon-to-be-ubiquitous Google-metro-wifi.

2006-03-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

The Squeezebox from Slim Devices-- a thing of beauty

The Squeezebox from Slim Devices is a thing of beauty. It has a sleek, ipod-ish design that will be at home in a home stereo environment. I had been looking for a bridge from PC based music to my stereo—for a time, my iPod served this purpose, but it died recently. I heard about the Squeezebox from the Pandora blog, checked it out online, read the reviews, and ordered two Squeezeboxes that day.

The Squeezebox installation took a bit of fiddling because of my hex WEP WiFi key and bad firmware on my cheapo WiFi access point. I updated the firmware in my access point, turned off the DHCP server in the access point (which was conflicting with the DHCP server of my DSL router), and adjusted the positioning of the access point (walls in 100 year old apartment buildings in Europe are not conducive to WiFi signal strength) and the Squeezebox has been working like a charm. With connectors up the wazoo, the Squeezebox can connect via optical or coaxial digital connector to your stereo or via the old standby RCA jacks (which I use to connect to our little kitchen stereo unit).

I found the interface easy to navigate and was able to find music and play it right away. Great products should not need user manuals and the Squeezebox passes that test (at least for me). The remote control is functional and effective, however it is a bit 90’s looking and a tad clunky compared to the design of the Squeezebox itself—you would expect something a little sleeker (it is obviously a generic programmable off the shelf remote). My biggest beef with the Squeezebox is the remote control needs a “Browse Music” button that would take you directly to the browse function. There is a “Search” button, but that is not how I like to navigate music on the Squeezebox. For that matter, the Squeezbox firmware could allow an advanced user to “remap” the remote control buttons to their specific favorites.

One word of caution: my wife hates the Squeezebox. Hierarchical tree nested menu structures are not for everyone. With a little training or a diagram of the menu structure, I think we’ll be able to get past this stumbling block, but it will take some time. For her the CD paradigm and even the iPod click wheel were much more natural ways of navigating music. I think I will resort to a sticker on the back of the remote with a “quick guide” to Squeezebox navigation.

The access to Pandora via the Squeezebox is a great thing too. I like being able to setup custom radio stations from Pandora and listen to them in other places than at my desk. Overall, I give the Squeezebox a 9.7 out of 10. At $250 for the Ethernet only version or $300 for the Ethernet plus WiFi version, the Squeezebox is a must have gadget for a music fan who has invested the time to rip his or her CD collection. Buy one now.

2006-02-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

Steve Krause : Blog: Pandora and Last.fm: Nature vs. Nurture in Music Recommenders
For those interested in the battle of the music discovery engines that is raging on the Internet these days, check out Steve Krause's blog post on the subject.

I am a huge fan of Pandora and have not yet gotten around to trying out Last.fm, though it is an appealing idea-- I just like the fact that Pandora is completely self contained in its own little player and that it is available anywhere in the world I want to hear "my radio station" that I built with my own thumbs up and thumbs down.

2006-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Russell Beattie Notebook � Asterisk, Gizmo Project and RadioHandi
OK, so Russell Beattie at Yahoo is getting fired up about Asterisk, the open source PBX for the masses (or at least masses of geeks) solution. I will have to take another look at Asterisk to see if it is ready to compete with the SIPCPE products out there that (at least claim to) do just what I need in terms of VoIP-POTS bridging and call routing. If I ever get the time to check out Asterisk in earnest, I will post my results. In the meantime, let me know what you think about it.

2006-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Russell Beattie Notebook � More VoIP Coolness: VTech USB7200 and GizmoProject Conferencing
Here is an early look at an integrated POTS cordless phone and VoIP (Yahoo IM, Skype, Vonage, etc.). This phone looks like it is just out of prototype phase.

2005-10-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

WSJ.com - Video Comes to the iPodFirst Jobs says that people don't want to own video . . . and now, tada, the video iPod. A little misdirection, I guess. At $2 an episode, that's DVD pricing. I look forward to seeing one in the flesh.

2005-10-11T00:53:00.000-07:00

Sling Media overview from Mossberg at WSJ.
This article is a bit old, but a good summary of the capabilities and performance of the Sling Media Slingbox by Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal (subbscription required).

Space shifting your entertainment is a big deal-- I suspect that Sling Media will get into the business of WiFi'ing entertainment around your house as well since that would seem to be a natural compliment to this product's space shifting capabilities. The one viewer per box limitation is designed to address content owner's concerns and seems like it should work. If they can make this box super user friendly, they could make a play for staking out a beachhead in the AV-IP space.

2005-10-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

Cento Cento Magazine: Martin Zet: Bastard Artist // by J. August Buehler

2005-03-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Vonage VoIP: I'll send you a free first month discount via email
OK, so I have been a Vonage user for a couple years. It has been a great service for me-- cheap, reliable and full featured. In case you don't already have a free month offer, drop me an email to tomstech@gmail.com and I will email you a referral good for a free month (and I get a free month or two as well). Also, check out www.vonage-forum.com (an independently operated forum) for lots of information and reviews about the service.

2005-03-21T23:42:00.000-08:00

Slick widget for VoIP users: VoIP Port Converter from The Voxilla Store
This little $50 box is an ingenious little widget that allows you to (i) dial in via fixed line and access your VoIP line, (ii) dial in via VoIP and access your fixed line, and (iii) forward your VoIP calls via fixed line to any number you want (or vice versa). The box is programmable and enables the use of password protection. For Vonage users outside the US, the box is useful for accessing the Vonage line from a mobile phone via an in-country fixed line call. Basically, it's a mini PBX with the form factor of a box of cigarettes. Very cool. I am still working the kinks out of mine (problems with inbound ISDN dialing).

2004-09-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

Vazu
Check out Vazu. A web-based service to send contacts and snippets of information to your cell phone using SMS messages. It's free for now (though if you're in the US, you might have to pay for the incoming text message). No support for the Palm Desktop contact manager yet, though. Thanks to the MIT Technology Review for the tip.

2004-07-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Google Acquires Picasa
Now that makes sense. Blogger, Gmail, Image Search . . . now online photo hosting, indexing, and organizing.

2004-07-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Big Picture: Microsoft Chasing Google
With thanks to Barry L. Ritholtz.

2004-07-07T02:09:00.000-07:00

Google Conquers E-Mail

2004-07-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Topix.net Weblog: The Secret Source of Google's Power
An interesting post from the Blogosphere about Google's architecture

2004-07-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

Google Modesty?
Does anyone else find it funny that Blogger does not have the word Google in its spell check dictionary?

2004-07-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

Desktop Dashboard- upcoming desktop data assistant software
Courtesy of MIT Technology Review. I guess this will be different than offerings from Gurunet and the Google deskbar, etc. Talk about raising privacy concerns, though. This guy better have an air tight privacy policy. I look forward to trying it out.

2004-06-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

[video] OQO- a desktop replacement in your hand | CNET News.com
This looks like one promising little pint sized power 'puter. WiFi, Bluetooth, Firewire, USB . . . Not bad. Also check out the video on www.OQO.com

2004-06-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Gmail - Inbox

2003-12-23T01:32:00.000-08:00

WSJ.com - Is TiVo Really All That Great? TiVo features creep into set top boxes.

2003-12-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Airline Meals, Onboard Catering and menus for world airlines
Share your digital pictures of airline meals with these guys!

2003-09-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

Spot the serial killer! Thanks to Anil Dash for the link. I got 9 out of 10.
malevole - Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer?

2003-09-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

Slick Gadget coming from H-P, the DVD Movie Writer
This looks like a pretty handy gadget for transfering videos to DVD. Thanks to Mossberg at WSJ. WSJ.com - Personal Technology

2003-07-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

SAproxy- the SpamAssassin implementation for Windows from BloombaThis is the best spam blocking tool that I have seen. It takes a considerable amount of tweaking to get it optimized, but the basic implementation is well documented and easily doable if you follow the instructions. Thanks to the guys at Bloomba for developing the Proxy that lets us Windows users use SpamAssassin. And, thanks to the people who have contributed to the SA project.

2003-07-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg-- nuff said

2003-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article about media preference personalization from David Kirkpatrick at Fortune magazine Fortune.com - Fast Forward - Drowning in Media?

I have been watching since the demise (well OK, MSFT acquisition) of Firefly to see who would come out with an entertainment preferences engine, and MyBestBets from ChoiceStream looks like an interesting approach. Collaborative Filtering meets Real Time Data Feeds from entertainment providers meets Zip Code.

Collaborative filtering alone, however, can only go so far (Amazon still thinks I am a Harlem Renaissance fanatic because I ordered three books for my wife). Savage Beast Technologies (as in "Music tames the. . ." savage beast) has developed a proprietary database called the "Music Genome Project" which contains sophisticated attribute information entered by a team of music analysts. I have been truly awed by the quality of the resulting recommendations from their music exploration engine (which you can try out for yourself here at the Tower Records Discovery Center.

In fact, as I blog this, I am listening to an album by Veruca Salt, an artist whom I discovered through the Savage Beast. I have bought her entire discography since discovering her music via Savage Beast. Unlike collaborative filtering, the Savage Beast engine enables discovery (and promotion!) of brand new music and emerging artists which are not part of existing preference patterns. I think it is a really powerful model for the music industry, but try it out for yourself.

2003-07-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Google Browser?
Another thread from Anil Dash, picked up by Simon Willison. Interesting food for thought, though a Google browser is probably not in the cards.
Simon Willison: The Google Browser

2003-07-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

No Licky Licky (or Hoard your DNA)
Another article from the same issue of Harrow's Technology Report. The darker side of technology- surreptitious DNA collection. I wonder who has my DNA in their database. I also wonder about the shelf life of DNA in saliva on old envelopes. The moral of the story- don't do evil. . .The Harrow Technology Report for June 30, 2003 - The Info Game.

2003-07-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

GPS+
Here is a little story from Jeff Harrow about his use of GPS plus other technologies to find a tasty Thai dinner while on the road. A taste of things to come. It can't be long before the level of integration that Jeff has on his wish list comes to pass. The Harrow Technology Report for June 30, 2003 - The Info Game.

2003-07-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

Vonage Rocks
I use Vonage with the $26 a month plan. It works perfectly with great rates for international calls as well. I have several friends using Vongage too. The service has been very reliable (more so than my ADSL connection). Here is a Cnet article on the state of play in the VoIP market.
Is VOIP ready for prime time? | CNET News.com

2003-07-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Mossberg reviews rockin' DVD players that double as music & video data players from PCs
OK kids, here is one cool gadget. A real life DVD player that also acts as a front end gateway for your PC into your home entertainment system. That's right, with all the connectors-- coax and optical digital outs. Now that is something good. Sounds like this Digital5 company (that powers these two boxes) has hit on a great platform for crossing the chasm from PC-land into the promised land of TV and Radio. My question is when are they coming out with a Region 2 version so I can ditch my flaky Sony DVD player. Stay tuned. . .
WSJ.com - Mossberg Personal Technology: Two New DVD Players Link PCs to Televisions (subscription required)

2003-07-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Stream of consciousness blog of Google presentations. Thanks to the folks at Google Blog.
Cory Doctorow's transcript of Craig Silverstein's talk

2003-07-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a great resource for LatAm news freaks. Enjoy.
Business News Americas - Daily business news from Latin America

2003-07-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is the first post to Tom's Tech Blog. There may be more from time to time.