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Thursday, May 16, 2002 |
Connecting Gadgets, Without Wires
"Bluetooth is an inspired idea. It represents nothing less than a grand vision to devise an invisible, universal cable that connects anything to anything. Infrared can't do that job, because it has a very short range and requires a direct line of sight between appliances. Wi-Fi (also called AirPort or 802.11b), a popular wireless networking system, isn't quite right for the cable-elimination mission, either. It costs too much and consumes too much juice for low-powered hand-held gear like palmtops and cellphones.
For many technology watchers, though, Bluetooth is the technology that cried wolf. Hope and hype erupted nearly three years ago, as electronics industry representatives described a future in which the space behind our desks was no longer a dusty snake pit. Bluetooth products, however, took forever to appear, and the earliest ones sometimes spoke incompatible dialects, negating the whole purpose of the exercise. In short, the rumors of its birth were greatly exaggerated. Millions of technophiles lost hope, having found renewed truth in the old adage, 'Never buy version 1.0 of anything.'
Bluetooth 1.1, however, is a different story, and this season seems to be its coming-out party....
For example, equipping your Mac or PC with a Bluetooth adapter (in the form of a U.S.B. plug or PC card) lets it perform five useful stunts. It lets you HotSync your pocket organizer without a cradle, transfer files between Bluetooth computers, go online through a cordless base station, go online using a Bluetooth cellphone and (in Windows) print to a Bluetooth printer.
On paper these may sound like stupid wireless tricks, but in practice they can be truly life-changing, or at least routine-changing. For example, you no longer have to pack your Palm or Pocket PC's sync cradle when traveling. Furthermore, when you come home, you just take the palmtop out of your pocket, tap its Sync button and toss it onto the counter with your keys. Bluetooth is fairly slow — about one-tenth the speed of a Wi-Fi wireless network — so synching takes a while. Still, you may not care; the palmtop sits on the counter, working silently while you're going through the mail.
That cellphone idea is huge, too. Once I upgraded my cellphone plan to include Internet access, my Mac laptop, PC laptop and Palm were all able to navigate the Web through a tiny Sony Ericsson T68 cellphone that never budged from its place in my pocket. In fact, the palmtop's address book can serve as a glorified speed-dialer for the phone. Business travelers can look forward to abandoning special wireless modems, separate phone and laptop access bills, and $4-a-minute hotel-room phone charges.
They can also look forward to a new era of Mac-Windows détente. Bluetooth, a high-minded technology, lets Mac and Windows machines exchange files as casually as you'd scratch your nose, without wires or special software. Once unthinkable laptop-to-laptop exchanges in hallways and meeting rooms, without regard to operating system ('Here, want a copy?') can now become casual events.
Palm's tiny plastic Bluetooth card slides into the SD (Secure Digital) slot in current models. Not only does it permit wireless synching, but it also comes with two software programs that hint at a glorious future. One, cleverly called BlueBoard, turns the screens of up to four Palms into shared whiteboards. Whatever you draw on your screen instantly appears on the other three. Similarly, a program called BlueChat permits private electronic note-passing among the four of you. A new social phenomenon is sure to emerge: secret, simultaneous shadow meetings conducted by the bored participants of real ones....
All those technological strengths have inspired some very big thinking. Toshiba has exhibited Bluetooth cash registers that accept wireless coupons from Bluetooth cellphones. Kenwood is working on Bluetooth stereo headphones. An I.B.M.-Citizen Bluetooth watch prototype synchs with your PC whenever it's in range. Microsoft plans to release a cordless, battery-powered Bluetooth keyboard and mouse later this year. Car companies may soon offer a universal hands-free cellphone holder in every car, linked by Bluetooth to the car's sound system — something previously impossible, thanks to the number of mutually incompatible phone brands and models." [NY Times: Technology]
Maybe this will be the summer that finally sees a viable, affordable way for me to use Bluetooth. I'd love it just to synch the phone numbers on my Palm, cell phone, and PCs! I think this will help in libraries, too, when printers can be moved around without having to worry so much about cabling. It would be nice if barcode scanners at the circulation desk could be freed from their cable tethers. I wonder if Bluetooth can be used for desensitizing security strips, too....
11:51:57 PM Permanent link here
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"Terren writes 'The 'Dinotopia' miniseries (that is now going to be a regular series) on ABC features a dinosaur character named Zipppo who is ... a librarian! In fact, the first word this character spoke in the miniseries was 'librarian.' Here's a short article with a picture captioned "Zippo the dinosaur librarian.' " [LISNews.com]
5:25:51 PM Permanent link here
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Two Can Play that Game
"Microsoft apparently was planning to cut prices first as a way to turbocharge sluggish sales, which prompted Sony's pre-emptive strike.
Analysts say Sony has sold 30 million PlayStation 2's worldwide, compared to an estimated 2.5 million Xboxes.
Hmmm, that makes Sony the Microsoft of the game console business, and puts Microsoft in a situation very familiar to Apple. Outgunned more than 10 to 1 in both installed base and available software titles, Microsoft can survive in the game console business only by having the most innovative hardware and the coolest software. ...
For game aficionados, $100 is a big deal. It's the equivalent of two new games, which are invariably priced at $50 (where are the antitrust investigators when you need them?) The price cuts undoubtedly will spur sales of both PlayStations and Xboxes.
Microsoft knows that software can be wildly profitable. If it can get enough Xboxes into customers' hands, the software -- and the profits -- will follow. They'll sell the consoles at a loss, and make it up in volume.
The pressure is now on Nintendo. I'm guessing it will cut the price of the GameCube to $149 to retain its title as the lowest-cost game console.
Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and Sega all know that software, not hardware, is the key to success in this business. Consumers spend more money buying video games than they do at the box office for Hollywood films.
Gamers often base their choice of consoles on the availability of cool games." [The Fortune Weblog]
Which is why we'll see a surge in cell phones and gaming PDAs when cool - and affordable - games start showing up in that sphere. The first winner in the race to that goal line that gets that combination right will gain untold reputation, loyalty, and revenue numbers.I was going to note that Net Gens will drive this revolution and while that's true overall, my generation (Gen Xers) are big video game nuts, too, and we have even more disposable income than they do.
3:57:44 PM Permanent link here
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"I went to see the 12:01 AM showing of 'Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones' (or if you are in China, 'Copy People Attack') and I was surprised just how much of it is about Librarianship. Well, okay, it isn't about Librarianship, but it really does raise some interesting issues about customer service and the integrity of archives. If I were a LIS prof, I'd use a scene in the film (perhaps risking litigation from Mr. Lucas) to demonstrate how not to treat patrons....
P.S. There are things that kind of resemble books in the Jedi Library. They glowed blue, which makes them seem like eBooks, but there were stacks full of them, so I'm not really sure what to make of it.
You may have heard about Jedi Librarian, Jocasta Nu. In 'Attack of the Clones' she 'helps' Obi-Wan as a patron....
If *I* were the Jedi Librarian (um, no, I've never thought about this before at all), after being stumped I would have sent a hologram to some expert on geography I knew, or at least consulted another source. Perhaps the total of Jedi knowledge is contained in a single archive. Bad idea. We see what occurs when libraries don't have a diverse collection of materials!" [LISNews.com]
1:08:23 PM Permanent link here
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"Updating a story first posted here earlier today, the media onslaught of Ozzy Osbourne's clan will roll on next month with the release of 'The Osbournes Family Album,' due June 11 via Epic. The set, a soundtrack of sorts to the hit MTV reality series "The Osbournes" and featuring songs personally chosen by each member, is led by daughter Kelly Osbourne's cover of Madonna's 'Papa Don't Preach.'
As previously reported, she was backed on the cut by Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger and drummer Jose Pasillas II. A video was recently shot by Marcos Siega (P.O.D., Blink 182). 'This is never something I really thought I'd ever do,' the 17-year-old Kelly admitted at a press conference today in New York. 'I guess things just change.'
The family is further represented on 'Family Album' by the Ozzy tracks 'Dreamer,' 'Mama, I'm Coming Home,' and the immortal 'Crazy Train,' which is also covered here by one-time Osbourne family neighbor Pat Boone....
As previously reported, the Osbourne family has signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster to publish a paperback and a hardcover memoir. The motley troupe has reportedly agreed to participate in two additional seasons of 'The Osbournes,' but remained mum about any official confirmation.
Here is the tracklist for 'The Osbournes Family Album':
'Crazy Train,' Pat Boone
'Dreamer,' Ozzy Osbourne
'Papa Don't Preach,' Kelly Osbourne
'You Really Got Me,' the Kinks
'Snowblind,' System Of A Down
'Imagine,' John Lennon
'Drive,' the Cars
'Good Souls' (live), Starsailor
'Mirror Image,' Dillusion
'Wonderful Tonight,' Eric Clapton
'Mama, I'm Coming Home' Ozzy Osbourne
'Crazy Train,' Ozzy Osbourne
'Family System,' Chevelle " [Billboard]
11:08:55 AM Permanent link here
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"News.com Kazaa getting support from telecommunications companies like Verizon. Why? They recognize that downloading large media files drive DSL sales. Without available content, this need dries up. New terms for those catching up on this issue: 'compulsory licensing' and Intellectual Property User Fee (IPUF)." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
John is right about this, but there's another angle that he doesn't include that goes beyond DLS sales. Verizon and the other telcoms want to work out the issue of content distribution because it makes cell phones and wireless PDAs tools for accessing that content over their networks in a high-speed, always-on wireless world. In their ideal world, everyone has a cell phone and you access The Heavenly Jukebox through it. Suddenly, there is a reason for the average person to care about increased bandwidth, and you can't get that access unless you subscribe to a cell phone plan.
Why else would the Washington Post of all companies include an MP3 section on its web site? Who is going to think of going there for online music? At one point, back in the crazy heyday of MP3 euphoria of 2000, I read somewhere that they were going to let their customers bank their own MP3 files on the WP site. Why? To sell ads (and eventually subscriptions to the service) to wireless customers who would eventually have the necessary hardware and bandwidth to access them from anywhere. The telcoms want to be the middleman in that scenario.
Of course, now I can't find any reference to this. Does anyone else remember hearing or reading about this? I'll have to try researching it in some subscription databases.
9:40:07 AM Permanent link here
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"Santa Clara, California-based SONICblue said federal Judge Florence-Marie Cooper halted the April 26 order in which a federal court ordered SONICblue to install tracking software on ReplayTV and report viewing results to movie and TV companies.
Among features the studios and networks object to are the ability to skip commercials and a broadband connection that allows users to exchange recorded programs with others.
The company said the order has been stayed until June 3, at which time the judge is expected to address SONICblue's motion to throw out the magistrate's order. It first requested that the order be overturned on Monday....
The company, which said it would take $400,000 and four months to effectively design the program, had asked the court to either throw out the order or modify it to allow the data to be collected in aggregate, rather than by individual user.
Consumer advocacy groups have strongly opposed the court's order, saying it was tantamount to an invasion of privacy." [NY Times: Technology]
12:50:27 AM Permanent link here
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Family Politics Shift to the Keyboard
"Someday sociologists will look back on the age of the single family computer and wonder how families all got along.
The answer is, they didn't....
With four siblings, all students, the McIntoshes were used to squabbling. But the single computer in their home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, not to mention a shared e-mail account, was turning into the object of a raging territorial dispute. They all needed access, whether to send instant messages to their friends or do research for their homework on the Internet. But they were spending more time in line than online, leading to sharp words and frayed nerves.
And that was before Davis, then 16, used foul language on America Online's instant messager, violating AOL rules. AOL promptly cut off the entire household, leaving the McIntosh siblings with nothing to fight over except what to do next.
'We screamed, we quarreled, we had a real falling out,' said Lyee, now 17. 'We all needed the Internet to do our homework, and Davis just took that away from us. We would have done anything to get back online....'
Once students have dinner and go online, they are loath to sign off. AOL's 34 million members spend an average of 70 minutes a day online, according to Mr. Graham. He estimates that 2.5 million users are online during peak evening hours and that 1.4 billion instant messages are traded daily over the AOL network. Many of the users are under 18." [NY Times: Technology]
At my house, we have two computers, a laptop, and four family members (one of whom is eight and one of whom is six) and we still run into the occasional traffic jam. Thank heavens for wireless access! It's funny to think that the kids will have internet access problems the way I had telephone access problems when I was a kid! I wonder how many parents ground their kids from using the internet as a punishment, the way adults used to ground kids from using the telephone?
12:33:44 AM Permanent link here
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"People who don't blog don't understand how the world is literally changing because of blogging. I talk to my friends about blogging and they look at me with eyes that say 'Poor Scott, He's gone just plain loopy again'. I honestly don't talk to non-bloggers about blogging in a personal context (for business, I'll talk your ear off). But blogging is changing everything." [The FuzzyBlog!, via McGee's Musings]
With all of the ringing endorsements this book got today, I'll have to add it to The Shifted Reading List! I'm boring people left and right going on and on about blogging in general and RSS in particular, especially the combination as implemented in Radio. With every presentation, a few more light bulbs, a few more converts....
12:24:34 AM Permanent link here
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"Worthington Libraries (Ohio) are partnering with the Worthington Historical Society to build Worthington Memory. The goals of this collaborative project are to provide greater access to local history materials through the creation of a digital library, and to enhance public awareness of Worthington's rich history." [Library News Daily]
This is a good model for what I want my home library to do. We have some interesting history in my little town (John Lane invented the steel plow here and David Kennison died here), and none of it is really online. In fact, most of the folks that live here don't know the history, and it certainly isn't an integral part of the school curricula.
I want the Library to lead the way in this area because part of the Library's district incorporated last year, and I don't think anyone is really documenting the changes we're seeing. Convential wisdom was that we needed to incorporate in order to slow down development and keep some of the rural atmosphere. But we're also getting to watch the birth of a village and a real community. The Library is central to that community, and this would be a great service for them to provide!
12:07:01 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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