December 2007 Archives

Perhaps sleep elimination aid is more like it.

Many friends and colleagues have shared the fact that keeping up with all the information in the technology space can be difficult if not impossible. Perhaps this is why in the last decade many parts of the world have coffeehouses on virtually or even literally on every street corner.

But still, keeping up with with information overload remains a problem when the writers also have access to caffeine allowing them to be ever-more productive.

Now there is a new weapon in the war against sleepiness - one which you inhale. Check out this story for more on the miracle hormone Orexin A.

Blogged via wireless handheld

I have often heard the expession regarding time standing stil... Now, it seems some scientists think it eventually will.

Blogged via wireless handheld

From the same people who brought you the alternative minimum tax comes something all new for 2008. It's what you have been waiting for. It is the equivalent of the tax code for gadget freaks. It is - virtual drum roll please, the new airport battery rules for 2008.

If you thought the security procedures weren't confusing enough, just wait… 2008 promises to be full of surprises, starting with the first time you encounter a TSA agent who starts to ask you probing questions about the lithium content of your batteries.

Yes, we now have new limits on the batteries we can take with us on flights. How many, what sizes and the rules - in typical government fashion are so confusing, you will likely need an attorney and CPA to decipher them all.

After starting at the government's DOT web page for far too long I think I may be able to share some wisdom with you.

From now on, you can no longer take individual batteries with more than 8 grams of lithium content. Moreover you can only have 2 spare batteries with 8 grams of lithium each. Total lithium content must be below 25 grams.

Lithium metal batteries can have no more than 2 grams of of lithium metal. How many of these can you have? No matter how many times I read the government's site, I still can't figure it out.

Worse yet, you cannot pack spare batteries in checked bags.

Which sort of batteries do you have? Who knows? Will the typical TSA agent know? Will there be lithium detectors, scales and burly rubber glove-laden agents ready for us at airports nationwide?

These rules will just make life more confusing for those who travel and the person who wrote this web page can do us travelers all a favor and go back to writing IRS tax code to keep the fine people at H&R Bock busy.

I for one am not looking forward to my next business trip where I suppose I will have to trash at least some of my batteries.

What's your take?

I have always wondered why the entire PC market is just so inept. Apple routinely designs better looking computers and charges a premium for such products. Not so for PC makers who think if they keep designing commodity looking products they will do better. Well surprise, this is not a winning strategy.

To drive this point home in fact, Dell has done what I suggested back in a March, 2007 column where I asked if any PC maker can just copy Apple. Even if PC makers can't innovate, I imagined that copying Apple should be easy enough to pull off.

Although Gateway tried to copy the iMac a while back, it took Dell to do a good enough job that The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg took notice and actually complemented their efforts. This is a big deal for Mossberg and for Dell.

In the end, Mossberg suggests Apple over the PC but this is partially because the PC uses Microsoft's much maligned Vista operating system. Oh -- and one last point, The Dell is more expensive than the Apple!

 

In "The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret," journalist Seth Shulman argues that Bell -- aided by aggressive lawyers and a corrupt patent examiner -- got an improper peek at patent documents Gray had filed, and that Bell was erroneously credited with filing first.

 

Shulman believes the smoking gun is Bell's lab notebook, which was restricted by Bell's family until 1976, then digitized and made widely available in 1999.

The notebook details the false starts Bell encountered as he and assistant Thomas Watson tried transmitting sound electromagnetically over a wire. Then, after a 12-day gap in 1876 -- when Bell went to Washington to sort out patent questions about his work -- he suddenly began trying another kind of voice transmitter. That method was the one that proved successful.

I think I want internet access when I fly. I really do. Yes, the plane is usually a quiet time to reflect and write compelling content… Still, I can now feel comfortable flying during the business day from the west coast to east because I will not miss anything that is happening. While in the air, I can participate in decisions and stay on top of the latest news without missing anything.

JetBlue's LiveTV subsidiary paid the Federal Communications Commission $7 million for wireless spectrum that one test JetBlue aircraft has been using since Dec. 11 to communicate with about 100 cell towers spread across the continental United States. The one-megahertz frequency band allows that aircraft to offer free email and instant-messaging services on laptops and handheld devices through Yahoo! Inc. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.

AIRCELL -- Delivering high-speed Internet services using a 3-megahertz frequency band licensed from the Federal Communications Commission for $31 million in 2006. Initial service over continental United States, with plans to expand to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Service on some flights of AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Virgin America to begin in 2008. Prices expected at about $10 a flight, though Virgin may offer cheaper, la carte services on seatback computers. Aircell LLC is based in Itasca, Ill.

Now the fun part begins. I already get upset when I am on an American Airlines flight which has no power on it. Some of the older TWA planes didn’t have this capability. Now I need to worry about Internet access as well?