Stations not ready for digital. More than 30% of commercial TV stations tell regulators they may miss May 1 broadcast deadline. [USA Today : Front Page]

Catch 22 - No one is buying HDTV sets, so why should we broadcast in HDTV? Nevermind that the standard may change soon, inorder to give content providers better control over what and how you can recored, so all exisiting sets and converters will need to be replaced/updated.

Bah.

10:06:14 AM    

Slippery Slime Developed to Control Crowds [Slashdot]

Makes it hard to riot when you cannot stand up. Non-lethal/less than lethal technology is the next "big thing" in both warfare and law enforcement, along with the precision bombs that we are already using.

10:03:16 AM    

Ridge: Armed pilots a bad idea. Homeland security director's opposition makes it unlikely guns will be allowed in cockpits Science [USA Today : Front Page]

Ridge's arguement centers around the idea of where do you stop arming? Bus Drivers? Train engineers? I don't know. I do know that it was a set of planes that caused all that trouble back on 9/11.

What about the issue of bullets going through a plane and making it rip apart from the pressure differential? This is why there is frangible ammunition (that is one ugly page) for said applications.

9:34:31 AM    

Adobe Adds Web Services Capability to AlterCast. A new update to AlterCast gives designers and developers the ability to dynamically update Web images and automate production tasks. [Product News]

This looks to be a great tool for use in outsourced content management. This would also tie in nicely with a workflow that involved managing a large number of images that were to appear in a variety of formats across a product line (print, web, CD.) 

For data tracking, being able to automate the generation of graphs is way cool, as is the automated image creation and labeling.

9:11:19 AM    

Morpheus: Blackouts and bill collectors. The Dutch company that provided Morpheus' software says unpaid bills are to blame for the service's shutdown. Plus: Morpheus tries to regroup with new open-source software. [CNET News.com]

Any time I see that a company that has personal information of mine, even just an email address is going under, I go through a short but neccessary ritual to insure that my personal information is not being sold to the next company that takes over.

1. I change my email address to something that does not work that should be obvious to a human: Ryan@leavemealone.com, or Not@themoment.com
2. If I have filed my mailing address with them, I change it as well: 
   
   1313 Mockingbird Lane
   Notatown, NJ, 07862 (making up the postal code)
3. I remove my credit cards from their database.

Now admittedly, they can find my old information if they want to, but why make it any easier for someone who I don't know to contact me with an offer I didn't ask for?

8:39:46 AM    

Study: IP-based services slow to grow [IDG InfoWorld]

I forsee a time when IP based telephony is standard in people's homes, with cables running through the house to serve your video,  data and telephony needs. This is already starting in some areas, but with the roll out of the Moxi media center, gigabit ethernet and WiFi, I can see a host of home and neighborhood services just around the corner:

• IM Video the kids wirelessly to call them home for dinner.
• Videoconference at holidays in the living room with your retiree parents who are out of state (or country) in their wired old age home.
• Distance learning with access to univerity classes for those who cannot travel (bedridden patients, remote areas who need specailized training)
• Serving different music to different people, and having it follow them around the house. I realize that Bill Gates has something similar in his home, and is planning to roll out something for the homes of others soon as well.
• IR cameras mounted with your outdoor lighting that feed into your home server/PVR. Set them to record when the motion detector goes off so that you can track just when it is the deer are munching your garden, or when a break in occured.
• Wire the fridge with a UPC scanner and a touchpad so that you can make a shopping list automatically. Tie that in with your recipie book and you an plan your meals for the week. While this was a part of the functionality of 3com's failed Audrey product, if it is embedded in an appliance you are already buying, adoption will be easier.

12:28:45 AM