Orb Networks

Orb is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. It's a service to access your media (music, video, pictures) remotely. On any device, handheld or PC! The device variety initially got me interested. My new PocketPc Phone...Audiovox 6601 is perfect as a connected PDA to take advantage of this device. I had no problem accessing my mp3's and Divx video. It is beautiful.

Then today, Russell Beattie picks up the news that the service is now going to be **free** (Ad driven). Now that's good news. I hate using something temporarily and not be able to afford the monthly fee. Especially when the technology is this good. The whole idea of the service reminds me of the Prismiq device except this acheives access to your media via software and allows access on multiple PC devices.

--Brought to you by Spell with flickr

Classical Education: Chesterton on Blogs (ok, sort of)

I have heard men talk contemptuously of private gossip; and I have heard men talking proudly of the dignity of the Press. But I have come to the conclusion that if you never believe the Press and if you always believe private gossip (within reason) you will probably be right.

G.K. Chesterton is one of my favorite authors. I agree that he'd probably be a blogger. Nice find, Joi!

100 Years of American Pizza

After seeing a statistic over at Fast Company about 61,000 pizzerias in the U.S., I learned about the trade magazine of the industry, Pizza Today, and ran across the above recent article about my FAVORITE food. By the way, my favorite pizzeria/pizza...
Chicago-style Giordano's!

Newsmashing - The new technique that will change blogging forever. By Paul Boutin

Mr. Boutin seems confident that newsmashing will take off. I'm not so sure. The technique requires software, extra overhead which normally isn't needed for blogging. Additionally, instead of a nice, coherent piece which properly quotes sections from the web or other blogs to support or critique an original post, this more graphical approach seems more confusing and cluttered. It fits with our powerpoint generation but is that a good thing? Don't get me wrong, I'm used to seeing this on my work when I print it out but do I really want to have regular fare of this on the web? I won't. For others, time will tell.

Take the quiz: "Which LOST character are you?"

Locke
You are Locke You are the Ambassador of the island. You can be a wierdo at times, but you know more than anyone else.

In case you didn't figure it out, this is who I turned out to be. Sorry, David.

Lucas plans 3-D Star Wars - Yahoo! UK & Ireland News

This is fascinating news. Could 3-D be the next generation of theatre experience, leaving 2-D behind? Remember black & white, silent movies? I'd love to see Lord of the Rings like this!

SciScoop || Star-Trek Style "Replicator" Ready For Beam-Up

Are we this close? Let's see the prototype.

The Buzz Report: Good-bye, computer; hello, world! - CNET.com

Molly Wood, senior editor at CNET.com, sketches a vision of where she thinks Google is heading with its strategic acquisitions and deployments of web-based products. I have to agree her vision is compelling in many respects. I've long thought that Google was developing a desktop operating system (OS) but her outline of how it would be delivered is equally compelling. The only issue I see is that to access this web-based environment involves requires a Windows, Mac or Linux OS. This OS needs to address all of the security headaches like spyware, viruses, firewalls and the like in a simple, robust way. People are still going to surf the Internet with a browser, placing them at risk to the pitfalls of the Web. So let me go a step further than Molly.

Google needs to customize a Linux distribution which takes advantage of all the vision laid out in Molly's article. It would include Firefox, optimized for the Google environment, DVD-burning capabilities, built-in antivirus, spyware, firewall applications with free updates to keep it secure. The GUI should be simple, Windows-esque, with plenty of automation. It could be distributed with new PC's as an option and provide the local storage options for privacy which Molly mentioned. This combination would provide what a majority of people would need and use.

Support for this OS would be one concern I have. Who would provide it? Would there be a Google Desktop Knowledge Base? Would there be paid for engineers?

Another concern would be websites which rely on Internet Explorer and ActiveX for functionality. Could a "sandbox" environment be created to virtualize the IE functionality without exposing the underlying OS to the security risk? What if Microsoft release IE 7 as stand-alone application for all OS's, including Linux? What solutions are these problems?

I can see how this vision can be attained. I'm anxious to see if it will be tried. If anyone can do it and do it right, it's Google. They are the biggest threat to Microsoft.

Giant spiderbot - Engadget



Now this is wild!

retroCRUSH: The World's Finest Pop Culture Site

Rising on the Daypop charts, I must point out this site too. I love TVLand and retro TV. The show theme songs seemed to encompass each show's spirit. Now you can enjoy the music from the top 100 shows by taking this walk down memory lane.

The New York Times: Think of a Number ... Come On, Think!

How good is your memory? If you are like some people in this article, you're relying more than ever on technology to stay in touch and keep up with phone numbers. The lesson here is always have a backup. Backup your cell phone...if it didn't come with a PC sync cable, buy one. Backup your Outlook or handheld that has these numbers. Backup your important information on your PC in case the hard drive dies. I also recommend the ultimate backup...a printed copy of you contacts. I do this at least once a year, printing an updated list to use with the old analog handset I still use.

Consumer/Technology: Parking by cell phone

I hate carrying change in my pocket just for parking. Nice solution to this problem.

Start.com - Home

Microsoft's "sandbox play area" take a stab at a web-based RSS reader. Interesting feel. It actually works better right now in Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. The online buzz is claiming the opposite...not my experience.

Mark's Blog

Mark Russinovich is very smart guy. He's also provided a lot insight and tools with his partner, Bryce Cogswell, at Sysinternals for Windows users. Now you can hear from Mark more often via his blog. And to start out, he's not pulling any punches about the new Google Desktop search.

Blogging Clicks With Colleges (washingtonpost.com)

Wiki's, blogs, podcasts, moblogs...they're taking universities by storm. More student who use technology means more opportunities for collaborative interactions. Read about what's happening.

WI governor proposes state sales tax on downloads

Now here is a silly proposal. My question becomes how does a person value a 5% tax on something intangible like a download. Does one make up a retail price for Edith Nesbit's The Railway Children even though it is free and in the public domain? Or how about something like Cory Doctorow's Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom? Do I go with the Amazon's price or the retail price? Doesn't this violate the Creative Commons copyright in some sense?

BostonHerald.com - the Edge: Don't Spike `Enterprise' just yet!

Should I get my hopes up? Is it possible that SpikeTv will pick up another season of Trek? Folks, the jury still out on this one. It's not over till...

Everyone's talking about Google's new weather feature. I agree it's another great addtion to Google. I find the quickest way to use it on Google is to search weather:your zip code... eg. weather:29201 

TheDoctorDementoShow.com

I used to listen to Dr. Demento in the mid-'80's at college on Sunday nights. A couple of us in the dorm were really into the wacky and weird. His Top 5 songs were especially entertaining. I even have tapes of some of those. It's incredible to see an archive like this made available. This is how the Web should be.

Yahoo! Netrospective: 10 years, 100 moments of the Web

This is pretty cool. Lot's of memories here. Has it really been 10 years??!!

Invisibility Shields Planned by Engineers

Star Trek has always provided us with a vision of cloaking technology. It's interesting to see this being pursued and made a distinct possibility.

LiveScience.com: World's Ugliest Animals

I'd never seen or heard of an almiqui until I saw this. Now I won't forget it. It looks like something from another world.

Amazon.com: JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank

Hey, Star Wars fanatic. Forget Humvees, PT Cruisers, mini's and the like. This is what you really want. Be sure to click "see more pictures".