Tech

Goodbye Google Reader Feed

2011-10-31T17:23:00.000-04:00

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If you came here looking for my Google Reader Feed, please be aware that Google has just shut it off.

Google Announcement About Shutting Off Google Reader

This is not something that I have done... it is something that THEY have done!

It doesn't mean that I have stopped sharing interesting articles... it just means that Google has put them on Google Plus.

Google Plus is a great resource... I use it every day myself... but I am not enthused by them suddenly shutting this off.

I apologize to you, my readers, for this unfortunate change.

If you have any questions or comments, please DO feel free to tell Google what you think (boo!):

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/reader?hl=en

And, of course, if you are having difficulty finding where all the great articles that I normally share here have gone, please contact me directly:

lawyer.dan@gmail.com

Remember... this WASN'T my idea!

See you over on Google Plus (I hope!)

Google+

2011-07-26T12:27:00.001-04:00

So far, I've really enjoyed using Google+.

The biggest challenge I've had is that the people I'd like to interact most with are not currently using Google+, which depresses its overall utility for me.

On the other hand, I've been able to utilize Circles effectively to spotlight the content that I want to see most of all.

Yes, I DO worry that any outfit like Google can instantaneously erase all of your online content, for any reason or no reason at all, particularly with the lack of any appeal mechanism, but I cautiously continue to use, and like, the service!

Social Network - The Movie

2010-10-16T11:35:00.000-04:00

OK, I saw the "Social Network" movie last night!

I must say that it was more interesting than I anticipated.

Of course, I approached the movie from a very different perspective from the vast majority in the audience. You see, I was an employee of a company that was a forerunner to Facebook, launched 4 years prior to the events depicted in the movie.

Thus, I really wasn't a disinterested theater-goer. My team SHOULD have won the prize, but obviously didn't get it.

Were these Facebook college kids really THAT much better? Were they more technically sophisticated? Better managed? I really don't think so.

There are many, many reasons why one company pulls away from the pack, leaving many others in the dust. Timing has a lot to do with it. Luck has a lot to do with it. And yes, some decisions are just "right".

For example, in the movie, the Zuckerberg makes a big deal about the site not going down. If it does, even for a few minutes, restless users will just naturally migrate to something more stable. Absolutely correct! Our web site was sometimes up... and many times down. Those restless users who did give us a try moved on elsewhere. We never had a chance, although we had plenty of money and supposedly experienced management.

Perhaps the sex and drug scenes in the movie were overdone for theatrical effect. Perhaps not. All I know is that my own experiences at a similar Ivy League school some 35 years before this time period were entirely different. Although I'm definitely not a prude, I'm not really sure that I envy today's college students if those scenes were even remotely correct. People who act that way may be having "fun" in the eyes of the world, but in my own eyes, people like that are pampered, morally weak, and ultimately self-destructive. Not the kind of folks I would be comfortable hanging around with.

I have read that the movie provokes two very different reactions in audiences.

Older people are appalled with the ethical blindness of the main character, while younger people greatly admire what he accomplished, no matter the twists and turns he had to navigate along the way.

Somehow, in my mind, the "price" just isn't worth it for the people involved, the company and ultimately the society it represents. I keep thinking that all this will ultimately come out badly for all those involved. After all, these people are still very young, and in a real sense, the movie is only "Act 1".

Aside from the fact that I don't really admire these people (no, I really don't want to be "just like Mark"!), I have a feeling that the social networking scene will evolve over the next ten years or so away from the closed, proprietary approach of Facebook, to something more detailed, open, and personally more valuable. In my case, if Facebook disappeared tomorrow morning, it wouldn't greatly affect the conduct of my life one way or another. Social Network Version 2, 3 or 10 will be such a vital part of my daily life that I'd pay almost anything to keep access to it. I feel that way today towards Google Voice. I really personally care less about Facebook.

So, it will be fun to re-visit this movie in, say, 20 years, to see how things have changed.

If I'm right, Facebook will be known then as the AOL of the 21st Century.

Until then, my friends, be safe... and socially connected!

Anatomy of a Failure

2010-06-19T08:40:00.000-04:00

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It's often said that "Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan." (John F. Kennedy)

Once in a while, you find a post about business failure from someone who's been there and done that.

These are hard earned truths, and deserve our careful attention.

So it is with "Out with the Old business in with the New", a post by Stuart Roseman.

He identifies five success factors and admits that he violated each one of them:

Parameters of a successful business:

1. Serve a need actual people have RIGHT NOW

2. Implement in such a way so that users don’t have to do ANY work or expend ANY energy except for paying

3. Avoid user interfaces like the plague.

4. Be able to field something really quickly: not years, not months, but weeks.

5. Get the product into users hands quickly and iterate on their daily needs often

This post is worth reading... and I hope you do!

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R.I.P. Wolfram Alpha

2010-03-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

The idea behind Wolfram Alpha was amazing!

Imagine a web site that understood natural language queries?

But the concept was even better than that. The site was powered by Mathematica software. Thus, the web site could perform all sorts of complex mathematical manipulations free of charge. What a God-send for my finance graduate students!

And it really worked... at first.

Yes, I know the name is lame... and the guy behind it is impressed with the sound of his own name. But still, the site was useful and had potential.

I came up with a demo page showing my graduate students how to calculate pertinent finance expressions, such as Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, etc., using Wolfram Alpha. It worked perfectly during 2009.

Then I started teaching the same course in 2010, and the calculations that worked perfectly in 2009 stopped working... at all.

The great search engine that was supposed to understand natural language queries fell dumb.

When, for example, presented with:

Solve n=-10000+2000/(1.1)^1+2000/(1.1)^2+4000/(1.1)^3+4000/(1.1)^4)+5000/(1.1)^5

(which worked perfectly in 2009, and returned the correct answer of n = +2312.99)

Wolfram Alpha now returns this great reply:

"Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure how to compute an answer from your input"

"Are you an expert on this topic? Find out how you can help."

Wolfram Alpha doesn't have a Customer Service point of contact that I could find, so you are expected to post your problem in their Online Forum, and hope that some other poor soul will solve your problem for you for free, so that your issue costs Wolfram Alpha nothing. Can you say "cheap"?

In any event, I posted my problem in the Forum, but, of course, nothing could be so simple. A question posted to the Forum must be "approved" by a nameless, faceless moderator somewhere. I guess that person didn't like my question, because it has never appeared in the Wolfram Alpha Forum.

So much for help!

And sadly, so much for Wolfram Alpha!

Actually, I must admit that I saw this type of problem coming. When the site first opened for business, I contacted various employees and suggested that they really did need help appealing to the higher education market. No interest was expressed whatsoever. So it doesn't really surprise me that no other professor I know uses or recommends Wolfram Alpha. Come to think of it, neither do I.

One thing does surprise me. Why a calculation that worked last year doesn't work this year is a bit of a mystery to me. Many times, web sites don't actually improve, but they usually continue to do the same things well. Unfortunately, this can't be said for Wolfram Alpha.

So... Rest In Peace once almighty Wolfram Alpha.

We hardly knew ya!

Where the web is going...

2009-03-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

http://kwout.com/cutout/8/qf/4r/wdc_bor.jpg

Facebook is a Toy

2009-02-22T19:25:00.002-05:00

Facebook really isn't an enterprise-grade social networking tool.

Want proof?

Jack Canfield is a famous author and lecturer. Try to befriend him on Facebook...

You'll get the following error message (and I'm not kidding!)...

"Jack already has too many friends."

Can you imagine a silly piece of software telling you THAT?

Which is why... Facebook is OK as a free web front door... but don't EVER consider it serious social networking software for serious professionals!

Prof. Lawrence Lessig

2008-11-24T17:39:00.001-05:00

Charlie Rose has another great program with Prof. Lawrence Lessig.

The topics range from his personal friendship with Obama, to copyright law and even child abuse. (Apparently, Lessig was sexually abused as a child in Princeton, New Jersey.)

The most interesting part of the show, in my mind at least, centered around his comments about the potential of the re-mix society and its natural clash with copyright law as it currently exists. But never fear! Lessig comes down as a strong proponent of copyright law, though he feels it requires substantial reform.

This is yet another program that will reward your time and attention!

If you want more, check out Lessig's other video files, which are available on Blip TV.

Microsoft - New Development Strategy

2008-10-18T16:52:00.000-04:00

From a blog post at CrunchGear...

"it seems that MS has changed up the strategy for putting things together, emphasizing smaller teams with less higher-up input. Teams called “Triads” — one developer, one tester, and one program manager — chisel away at problems and work independently. The poster says this leads to a more integrated approach to creating a feature, and more transparency in management means decisions can be made in good time with enough visibility for the teams to accommodate them.

He says they’re also not afraid to lean down in order to ship faster, which can only be a good thing considering how enormous Vista has gotten. In fact, it looks as if the time it’s taken to get Vista to a real working state may be enough that you can skip right over it with their blessing. Make this something people can put on a netbook, people. Make it something people want to upgrade to. Whether you look on Vista as a qualified success or an utter failure, we can all agree it was more of the same. We’ve really had the same Windows for a decade now. We want to love it, give us a reason!

2008-09-05T14:31:00.000-04:00

New Game Business Model

What do you get when you cross a venerable war-game franchise with cartoon graphics, a massively multiplayer approach to combat, and free distribution?

If you're Electronic Arts, you call it Battlefield Heroes and you hope to make your money from advertisements and micro-transactions in which players pay a small fee for upgraded equipment. In fact, Battlefield Heroes is the trial run for an entirely new business model that EA has dubbed Play 4 Free.

I suspect that you'll see more like this in the future!

2008-09-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

IBM Goofs

If I were a tech company, I'd make darn sure that my tech works right... every time... all the time.

Not so apparently at IBM.

The Sunday New York Times carried an interesting story about a new visualization technology from IBM. Here it is the following Tuesday, and the related IBM web site keeps spewing out error messages... which I have been seeing since the weekend.

Who in their right mind would want to trust their important corporate information to folks who can't seem to properly maintain their own web site?

Here are the error messages I've seen so far...

If you're a new user, you may experience a delay of several minutes to an hour before you can log in.
This is a problem that is currently affecting some IBM websites. If the problem persists, please contact the
IBM Registration Helpdesk.

Our apologies: something might be broken.

get is not valid without active transaction

Help us improve Many Eyes: report a bug

show
stacktrace

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or
misconfiguration and was unable to complete
your request.

Please contact the server administrator,
farl@us.ibm.com and inform them of the time the error occurred,
and anything you might have done that may have
caused the error.

More information about this error may be available
in the server error log.

IBM_HTTP_Server Server at manyeyeshost Port 80

So far, I haven't been able to get the web site to offer up anything remotely useful.

What's that error message you sometimes see when your email won't go through?

"I'm sorry your message didn't go through. I'm giving up..."

And IBM... so am I!

2008-08-29T16:57:00.000-04:00

Broadband Speeds

Time's up. Pencils down.

How did you do on the SpeedMatters.org speed test?

Believe it or not, you had one of fastest connection speeds in the country – and you're probably paying a pretty penny for it. The majority of people who took the test didn't come close to scoring as high as you did.

But fact is, even some of the fastest internet connections in the United States pale in comparison to many of our global competitors like Korea, Sweden, and Japan. These countries have average speeds that are almost ten times faster than the United States -- at about 1/12 the cost to the consumer.

FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps has admitted "America's record in expanding broadband communication is so poor that it should be viewed as an outrage by every consumer and businessperson in the country."

It's time to fix this problem, and the first step is determining exactly where our current high speed networks reach -- and who is getting left behind.

You've already helped us begin to gather this crucial data by testing your Internet speed.

So what's next? Now you can help grow our movement and educate as many people as possible about the importance of improving our country's high speed Internet access. That way, when we demand our elected representatives take action, they'll hear us loud and clear.

Forward the message below to everyone you know, and ask them to join you in getting the U.S. up to speed.

Thank you,

Beth Allen
speedmatters.org Online Mobilization Coordinator

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for our weekly SpeedMatters.org blog update email to stay up-to-date on the nationwide effort to expand high speed Internet access and the amazing things that people are doing with the improved technology.

http://www.speedmatters.org/blogsignup

Dear Friend,

Americans are charged more for slower internet speeds, and our current high-speed networks don't even reach millions of households. It's time for that to change -- and you can play a part. Testing your own speed will help make our new community research project, SpeedMatters.org, a success.

Are you getting your money's worth? Find out now:

www.speedmatters.org/fastfriend

We're falling behind in the global economy because we won't invest in the technology to bring the benefits of this telecommunications revolution to most of our population. We're the only industrialized country without a national policy to promote high- speed Internet access.

That's why you're getting this email. Testing your connection's speed now will help us better understand the American average -- and craft an effective public policy and awareness campaign.

Take the speed test:

www.speedmatters.org/fastfriend

High speed Internet means more than smooth web videos or fast downloads.

Advanced high capacity communications networks can increase democratic and civic participation, improve the delivery of health care, education, job training, public safety and other vital services.

What are we waiting for? It's time to close the digital divide.

Thanks!

2008-08-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

Be a Gold Farmer!

Becoming a video game hero takes hard work, long hours and a whole lot of gold.

Which might explain why so many gamers outsource it.

A new study by Manchester University estimates that over 400,000 people in developing nations earn wages by making and selling virtual goods in online games like World of Warcraft. The result is an industry worth a cool half-billion.

Dubbed 'gold farming,' the practice violates the terms of service of most online games, which prohibit players from unduly influencing in-game economies by amassing and selling in-game fortunes. But despite the threat of legal recourse, the profitable nature of gold farming coupled with the enormous growth of the online gaming sector has resulted in something of a boom.

According to the study, the bulk of gold farming (over 80%) takes place in China, with workers earning an average monthly income of about $145.

"The Indian software employment figure probably crossed the 400,000 mark in 2004 and is now closer to 900,000," said Prof Heeks. "Nonetheless, the two are still comparable in employment size, yet not at all in terms of profile."

A hierarchy of gold farmers arranged by where wages were lowest was starting to emerge, said Mr Davis. For instance, the low wages gold farmers in Vietnam will accept means they now do for Chinese gamers what many in China do for those in the West.

Games makers have tried to limit the amount of trade in game gold and gear, but few have reported significant success.

You could get rid of it, but you would also get rid of one of the most fundamental parts of player-to-player interaction.

2008-08-25T12:58:00.000-04:00

How Did AOL Start?

Here's the 1986 video about the Internet service that launched it all!

QuantumLink

2008-08-20T18:43:00.000-04:00

New Skyscraper

Burj Dubai Tower

View 1

View 2

Site Plan

Wow!

2008-08-20T13:52:00.000-04:00

Good Support & Bad Support

Tech support can make or break a company.

Most of my personal tech support experiences have been neutral at best... and bad... VERY bad... at worst!

Let's look at the good (or should I say, even fantastic!) first.

I just signed up for a new Web 2.0 service that manages the approval process we must all contend with. You know, your boss needs to sign off on something, then someone in HR, then someone in accounting, etc. etc. etc. A real nightmare, right?

This new service, called Zapproved.Com (maybe for Zapped Approvals?) manages all this painlessly online for you.

You really need to check it out!

But that's not the best part!

When I signed up, I experienced a little hiccup... I'm Irish and my last name contains an apostrophe. Many, if not most, web sites gag on Irish names containing apostrophes. I guess not too many web developers are Irish.

Anyway, I emailed the company support desk and didn't expect much. Usually I'm ignored or have to wait a very long time for a reply, if I get one at all.

But Zapproved.Com... in addition to being innovative... is completely different!

Elise Chandler zapped an email reply back to me in a heart beat! She provided a full explanation of what the problem was, how to fix it, and an expected time frame to expect the fix. But it gets even better! In a few minutes she actually fixed the problem!!!! Can you believe that?

Aside from having a great product (which we all need), Zapproved.Com has a great staff!

As I said, you need to check this company out... because you really do need this service and because their tech support is fantastic!

If you think I'm overstating my case, have you dealt with AT&T or Verizon lately?

Completely different story...

Read the following post:

Has Anyone At AT&T Ever Called AT&T Tech Support?

from the welcome-to-the-soviet-ministries dept

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080818/1746012017.shtml

I think these giant communications companies need to learn how to communicate from the new kid on the block... Zapproved.Com.

2008-08-18T10:48:00.000-04:00

Tech Hype Cycle

2008-07-28T15:43:00.000-04:00

FREE Rondee Conference Call Bridge

I've used Rondee for quite some time, and I am exceedingly pleased with the service!

http://www.rondee.com

I have used it for conference calls both with university professors and with businessmen located in both the US and Canada. It has worked flawlessly!

I would urge anyone who needs a convenient conference call bridge to check it out. It is one of my essential "must have" tools!

2008-07-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

Life on Earth

How did life on earth begin?

Who knows for sure, but you might want to take a look at this interesting theory!

Diamonds May Have Jumpstarted Life on Earth

2008-07-17T11:35:00.000-04:00

3D Internet Will Change How We Live

Great opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal that you MUST see!

Highlights...

Virtual worlds may look like toys for the geekiest of geeks, but they have quietly slipped into the mainstream.

$345 million was invested in 39 virtual world-related companies in the first half of 2008. Last year, Gartner Research predicted that 80% of all active Internet users will have a virtual-world presence by 2011.

What auto maker would be content to put 2D pictures of a new SUV on its Web site when it can offer buyers a virtual, first-person drive down a snowy mountain road? What sculptor will want to display 2D photographs of her work when she can invite collectors on a guided tour of her virtual sculpture garden?

The Internet will evolve into a 3D space, and virtual worlds will become an integral part of human communication. Real life will never be the same.

2008-07-16T14:59:00.000-04:00

Tampa Bay Is Clueless...

Pieces of Wiki keep zipping off into the sunset

By St Pete Times Staff
Published September 26, 2007

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, already moved his for-profit spinoff to California. Now he's sending the mothership there, too. The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit entity that runs Wikipedia and other free-content sites like Wiktionary, confirmed Tuesday that it's relocating to that other bay area, San Francisco. Wikimedia, which handles administrative tasks, has six full-time employees in downtown St. Petersburg. Spokeswoman Sandra Ordonez declined to say whether those employees would move to San Francisco. She also declined to say whether Wales, a St. Petersburg resident informally heralded as the highest-profile thing the Tampa Bay tech scene has going for it, would be sticking around. He was in Japan and couldn't be reached for comment. The foundation said that, because its main servers will remain in Tampa, it will still have a strong presence here. "We're a Web-based company, so the fact that our servers are here is a pretty big deal," Ordonez said. "We only have three (server) locations worldwide: here, Amsterdam and Seoul." In a statement, Wikimedia said it chose San Francisco to be its new home "because it is the technology center of the United States." When Wales moved Wikia to Silicon Valley last year, he offered this explanation: "We're hiring engineers out there and Web people," he said at the time. "You go where the talent is."

For an update, see...

Wikimedia pegs future on education, not profit

Chris Cadelago, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, August 24, 2008

2008-06-04T12:53:00.000-04:00

Design - the Microsoft Way!

Does this appear to you to be a serious design flaw... sort of a Rube Goldberg approach to solve a simple problem... complex procedures that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways?

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June 4, 2008 12:01 AM PDT

"Quick fix" for disappearing system tray icons

Posted by Dennis O'Reilly 16 comments

For whatever reason, the last time I booted my Vista laptop the network icon was missing from its usual spot next to the clock in the system tray.

I right-clicked the Start button, chose Properties, and clicked the Notification Area tab to recheck this option under "System icons," but it was grayed out.

I found the solution on Colin Cochrane's blog. Here are the steps in a nutshell:

Back up the Registry by creating a restore point.
Press the Windows key, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Navigate to and select HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesLocal SettingsSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionTrayNotify.
Delete both IconStreams and PastIconStream in the right pane.
Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select Start Task Manager.
Select the Processes tab, choose explorer.exe, and click End Process.
Choose the Applications tab, click New Task, enter explorer.exe in the text box, and press Enter.

Your icons should reappear.

Now then... wasn't that clear... and obvious?

All this just to put back icons in your systems tray?

Makes you want to run out and buy the VISTA operating system right now, doesn't it?

I guess Microsoft executives just can't figure out what real people really want.

When will they decide to put the adults in charge?

2008-06-04T11:55:00.000-04:00

TV on the Internet!

I am happy to report that we can now access TV programs from around the world on the Internet!

Of course, signal quality might be an issue, depending upon your Internet connection, and I cannot, of course, vouch for any programming that you might see online. But the important point is that you can now see a wide variety of shows from many different countries, at no cost to you (other than your Internet connection).

Here's the lineup....

World Wide Internet TV

Live News Cameras

WhereEver TV

Inner-Live

MyMoldova

MyEasyTV

MediaScrape

Internet TV Stations

And radio stations too!

Radiopaq

Enjoy!

2008-05-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

Killer App? Or DOA?

Am I living in a parallel universe or what?

Microsoft trumpeted today a capability that already exists in the Apple iPhone.

And this "breakthrough" technology will be available in a mere 20 months... or more!

This is what Microsoft calls "innovation"?

How much did you say they pay all those executives up in Redmond?

-------------------------------

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Microsoft Corp. offered a glimpse of the next version of its Windows operating system, demonstrating a touch-screen technology that could spawn a new class of personal computers in coming years.

But the demonstration, coming at least 20 months before the software is expected to be released, also highlights the perception that the current version of the Microsoft software, Windows Vista, isn't living up to the company's expectations.

The new technology, which Microsoft calls Multi-touch, allows a person to use fingers to manipulate software through a touch-sensitive display screen, similar to those used on Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

2008-04-27T16:34:00.000-04:00

Here Comes Everybody!

Great new book about the technology!

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky.

Notes from a review at Amazon.Com...

+ New technologies enable new kinds of groups to form.

+ "Message" is key, what Eric Raymond calls "plausible promise."

+ Can now harness "free and ready participation in a large distributed group with a variety of skills."

+ Cost-benefit of large "unsupervised" endeavors is off the charts.

+ From sharing to cooperation to collective action

+ Collective action requires shared vision

+ Literacy led to mass amatuerism, and the cell phone can lead to mass on demand education "one cell call at a time"

+ Transactions costs dramatically lowered.

+ Revolution happens when it cannot be contained by status quo institutions

+ Good account of Wikipedia

+ Light discussion of social capital, Yochai Benkler does it much better

+ Value of mass diversity

+ Implications of Linux for capitalism

+ Excellent account of how Perl beat out C++

Check out one of the author's video lectures...

2008-04-18T18:48:00.000-04:00

Isn't This Google Docs?

Doesn't this sound exactly like Google Docs?

Ray Ozzie first talked about Mesh in a speech at last month's Mix '08 event in Las Vegas.

"Just imagine the possibilities of unified application management across the device mesh, centralized, Web-based deployment of device-based applications," he said. "Imagine an app platform that's cognizant of all of your devices. Now, as it so happens, we've had a team at Microsoft working on this specific scenario for some time, starting with the PC and focused on the question of how we might make life so much easier for individuals if we just brought together all your PCs into a seamless mesh, for users, for developers, using the Web as a hub."

So much for "innovation" at Microsoft!

2008-04-03T11:31:00.000-04:00

"Printable" Solar Panels

Thanks to Mike Hursh for bringing this to my attention!

"Printable" Solar Panels are now available using inkjet technology!

Available from Konarka Technologies.

2008-03-28T07:29:00.000-04:00

First Recorded Human Voice

Voice recording may be world's oldest

A French recording from 1860 may be the oldest known recorded human voice
A 10-second clip of a woman singing has been taken from a phonautogram
The 19th century machine created visual recordings of sound waves

SAN FRANCISCO At first listen, the grainy high-pitched warble doesn't sound like much, but scientists say the French recording from 1860 is the oldest known recorded human voice.

The 10-second clip of a woman singing "Au Clair de la Lune," taken from a so-called phonautogram, was recently discovered by audio historian David Giovannoni. The recording predates Thomas Edison's "Mary had a little lamb" -- previously credited as the oldest recorded voice -- by 17 years.

The tune was captured using a phonautograph, a device created by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville that created visual recordings of sound waves.

Using a needle that moved in response to sound, the phonautograph etched sound waves into paper coated with soot from an oil lamp.

Giovannoni and his research partner, Patrick Feaster, began looking for phonautograms last year and in December discovered two of Scott's -- from 1857 and 1859 -- in France's patent office. Using high-resolution optical scanning equipment, Giovannoni collected images of the phonautograms that he brought back to the United States.

"What Scott was trying to do in 1861 was establish that he was the first to arrive at this idea," Giovannoni said. "He was depositing with the French Academy examples of his work."

"We took those images back to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and found that (Scott's) technique wasn't very developed," Giovannoni said. "There were squiggles on paper, but it was not recording sound."

So Giovannoni, who collaborates with many other audio historians, including scientists at Berkeley, asked the French Academy of Sciences to send digital scans of more of Scott's papers. Those scans arrived on March 1.

"When I opened up the file, I nearly fell off my chair," Giovannoni said. "We had beautifully recorded and preserved phonautograms, many of which had dates on them."

While Giovannoni was excited by the images, they still needed to be translated into sound.

Creating sound from lines scrawled on sooty paper was a job for Berkeley lab scientists Carl Haber and Earl Cornell. Haber and Cornell had previously created sound from phonautograms that Edison had created in 1878 of trains.

The scientists used optical imaging and a "virtual stylus" to read Scott's sooty paper. They immediately got sound, but because phonautograph was hand-cranked its speed varied and that changed the recording's pitch.

"If someone's singing at middle C and the crank speeds up and slows down, the waves change shape and are shifting," said Cornell. "We had a tuning fork side by side with the recording, so you can correct the sound and speed variations."

On March 3, Haber and Cornell sent audio back to Giovannoni, and another engineer further fine-tuned the recording to bring the voice out more from the static.

"When I first heard the recording as you hear it ... it was magical, so ethereal," said Giovannoni. "The fact is it's recorded in smoke. The voice is coming out from behind this screen of aural smoke."

Scott never intended for anyone to listen to his phonautograms, but the result of this work will be played in public on Friday at the annual conference of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections at Stanford University.

2008-03-22T00:24:00.000-04:00

Yahoo Email

Definitely NOT cool, folks!

It's the first time I've seen this...

Not good...

On Thursday April 3, 2008 I received the following error message when the Calendar function would not work:

Yahoo! Calendar Problem (code -100) Yahoo! Calendar encountered an unknown error. Please try again.

Seems to me something is going on at Yahoo... something I haven't seen before since I first signed on with Yahoo email when it first opened. Maybe the Microsoft buyout offer is distracting them, or maybe their techies are bailing out for better job offers elsewhere.

For whatever reason, this is a sign that something, which is not good, is going on at Yahoo.

2008-03-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Two Great Conversations

Are you interested in the future of technology?

The Charlie Rose Show offers two great conversations that you're sure to enjoy!

Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine

and...

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch

By the way, Anderson provides misleading information about getting a copy of his magazine for free... don't bother looking. I guess it's another example of saying one thing while doing something else. But otherwise, his comments are interesting.

2008-03-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

New Japanese Broadband Satellite Launched

The Internet is now an integral part of our lives; but its infrastructure levels vary. In general, urban areas with a large population have a better Internet environment, whereas some mountainous regions and remote islands are not well-equipped with Internet infrastructure due to its costs.

The KIZUNA (WINDS) satellite does not require costly ground equipment. If you install a small antenna (about 45 cm in diameter) at your house, you can receive data at up to 155Mbps and transmit data at up to 6 Mbps. With a larger antenna of about 5 meters in diameter, super high-speed data communications of up to 1.2 Gbps will be available. (Such a service is mainly for organizations and companies.) Therefore, even in some areas where major ground infrastructure for the Internet is difficult to establish, people can enjoy the same level of Internet service as that in urban areas.

Using an antenna for South East Asian countries, KIZUNA is aiming to achieve super high-speed communications with nations in the Asia/Pacific region with which Japan has close ties.

Large-volume and high-speed communications provided by the KIZUNA (WINDS) are expected to be useful in various areas. For example, we will be able to contribute to "remote medicine" that enables everybody to receive sophisticated medical treatment regardless of time and location by transmitting clear images of the conditions of a patient to a doctor in an urban area from a remote area or island where few doctors are available. In academic and educational fields, schools and researchers in remote areas can exchange information easily. To help cope with disasters, information can be swiftly provided through space.

2008-02-01T14:23:00.000-05:00

Thinking About Tomorrow...

How will technology change the way we shop, learn and entertain ourselves?

How will it change the way we get news, protect our privacy, connect with friends?

The Wall Street Journal January 28, 2008 edition looks ahead 10 years, and imagines a whole different world.

Listen to a podcast about future studies.

Why should we care about tomorrow's technology?

That's where you and I will spend the rest of our lives!

How will all this affect YOU?

2007-12-18T13:47:00.000-05:00

Know What a "Torrent" Is?

A global standard for delivering high-quality files over the Internet!

Find out more, from Ashwin Navin, the President and Co-Founder of BitTorrent, Inc., here !

2007-11-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

Storage

2007-11-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

Job Trends

Where are the cities with the most Web 2.0 jobs per capita?

Check this out!

2007-11-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

Math Help From India?

A big "thank you" to former MBA finance student Sherri Sklepko for bringing the following New York Times article to my attention...

Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math...

2007-10-26T13:01:00.000-04:00

What Do Students Think?

A Kansas State University student class polled themselves about what they are doing and what they are thinking...

They used Google Docs to gather information... 200 students made 367 edits...

Here is what they found....

2007-10-19T18:21:00.000-04:00

Do you love '60's music as much as I do?

Have a look at this!

2007-10-18T13:41:00.000-04:00

Goople - The Computing Environment of the Future?

There was an interesting blog post today that suggests that Google and Apple will combine strengths to produce and deliver the computing environment of the future.

This is a "must read"!!!!

2007-08-07T12:43:00.000-04:00

2007-08-01T17:53:00.000-04:00

John C. Dvorak at PC Magazine has an interesting article claiming that the business boom built up around Web 2.0 ideas is about to burst.

He calls this "Bubble 2.0".

"You can come up with your own theories about the next collapse. Your guess as to the cause will be as good as mine. All I can tell you is that it's a sure thing." he says.

I know that something just doesn't feel right to me either... but my own culprits tend to be arrogant managers, overly greedy investors and technology that just doesn't exactly fit user needs.

In the end, I suppose, it really doesn't matter what the cause may be, and I'm certain that, whatever it actually is, commentators will come up with a wide variety of theories.

The sad thing is that so many of our problems are correctable and/or avoidable.

Too bad no one seems to be paying attention... or care.

2007-07-10T10:39:00.000-04:00

Ruby on Rails... in your future?

I have always been impressed with the potential of object oriented programming. I was giving college lectures about this 15 or more years ago, and I've always wondered since if any of my students then payed attention, or took advantage of the insights that I was offering them. Somehow, I really doubt this was the case. But object oriented programming is now the star of web development, so it may be time to re-emphasize the benefits of this programming approach.

Not that I'm a programmer myself, mind you. It's just because the concept makes so much sense to me... a modularization of software, so to speak, with many possibilities for code re-use. And ease of maintenance isn't far behind as a sensible feature, either!

But WHICH object oriented language? HOW to learn it?

There are many possibilities, such as Ajax, PHP, Java, and Python, just to name a few.

My favorite lately has been Ruby on Rails, mainly because I see so many Web 2.0 developers using it. That means there must be plenty of job opportunities!

How to learn it? Everyone has quite different background and experience levels, so it really isn't possible to suggest only one way, suitable for all, in every situation and circumstance. But here are some possibilities...

Online Course - Ruby/Rails Certificate Series (in development)

O'Reilly School of Technology

http://www.oreillyschool.com/courses/

Books -

Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days

by Mark Slagell

Ruby Cookbook

by Leonard Richardson, Lucas Carlson

Ruby on Rails: Up and Running

by Bruce A. Tate, Curt Hibbs

Ruby in a Nutshell

by Yukihiro Matsumoto

Ruby On Rails Essential Training

by Kevin Skoglund

Other Ruby on Rails links -

http://rubyonrails.org/

http://www.workingwithrails.com/

http://rubynow.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_on_Rails

http://rubylearning.com/

2007-07-09T17:12:00.000-04:00

This is the place to find new tech information................

I am fascinated with the potential of Web 2.0 technology!

This is the place that I will be posting my thoughts on new developments.