Mira and Windows XP incompatible. Mira, a portable wireless flat-panel display designed by Microsoft for home users, will not be compatible with the Windows XP Home Edition, a company executive says. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Um, Ooops? I was looking forward to having a third LCD here in the office that would allow me to roam and still connect to the internet etc, especially so that I can sit in the living room with my wife and spend time with her, without being isolated here in the office. Get it together MS! This is inexcusable!

1:05:49 PM    

The secret ingredient is no longer beef. The secret ingredient is now a mixture of love and fear of the courts.. McDonald's will pay out #6.85MM to vegetarian and Hindu groups by failing to report on the beef tallow used to flavor their french-fries. More suits are pending. Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

If you go into McDonalds, I don't care if you are ordering a salad, figure a cow is somehow involved in your eating experience.

10:47:33 AM    

The Video Reference Interview 101.

"MX Executive Presentation is more than just a telling of the expected return-on-investment from MX technologies... it's also a demonstration of the upcoming Flash Communications technology. We're playing this pretty low-key right now, using this presentation in part for load-testing on the servers, but please do take a critical look at it to see the technical problems that are being addressed.

On a related note, I was hunting wristwatches the other day and came across this experimental videoconference wristwatch. It's not in production, but various wristwatch digital cameras are already mass-market items.

I've been trying to think how video communications will change when you can casually broadcast images from your computer's cam. The availability of portable video recorders made everyone a potential reporter, and mass-market TV shows which featured amateur video consequently changed the aesthetics of mainstream video shooting. Low cost and portable digital cameras now let bystanders beam crime-scene details directly to investigators while the trail is hot. There are unintended benefits from making it more economical to connect.

I have a feeling that this Flash Communications technology, when coupled with client-side interactivity and server-side connectivity, and with the prevalence of portable devices, sensors and effectors, may have unintended benefits greater than previous revolutions.

What happens when video changes from a presentation technology, to a communications technology...?" [JD on MX]

An excellent point. If you're hesitant about dipping your foot in the pool of instant messaging, just wait until it includes video.  :-)
[The Shifted Librarian]

So we will soon have our videophones, if we want them. Flip the cover down and you've got a speakerphone, on video. Nice. 

10:41:14 AM    

Blue Skies for Bluetooth Now?. "Texas Instruments has announced the BRF6100, the 'first single- chip Bluetooth(TM) solution to integrate a digital Radio Frequency (RF) processor and Bluetooth baseband on one chip.'

By designing a digital RF CMOS architecture, TI has removed many of the challenges associated with current RF devices. The BRF6100 Bluetooth chip will consume as little as half the power of current solutions and will occupy the smallest board area of any product available today. The BRF6100 will allow mobile device designers to easily integrate Bluetooth functionality -- a high value-added feature -- for a total system cost below $4 in volume quantities." [The Bluetooth Weblog]

This may be the drop that overflows the river banks because price point has been such a huge obstacle to Bluetooth adoption. Getting the price of a chip below $5 was a necessary step to mass production.
[The Shifted Librarian]

Great news. Can't wait for the bluetootch card for my Clie.

10:20:56 AM