Cool, just turned on comments. given that I have at most 15 reeaders in a day, it should be a lively area. ;)

11:20:21 PM    

Just watched Monk on USA. New detective show with Tony Shalhoub playing a nuerotic (well, Obsessive Compulsive) detective who gets out and solves murders despite his "issues" Both myself and my wofe enjoyed it, and it makes for a modern analog to Columbo. Check it out if you get a chance, I'm sure USA will be playing the hell out of it over the weekend. The only problem that I have is that it's regularly shceduled time matches up with Farscape, so I'll have to tape one. No big deal, and I look forward to seeing the characters develop in the show as it progresses.

Biggest nit: Monk is the only one who ever notices anything obvious. Trained detectiveswould see at least some of the evidence that he notices, other things pop up that one would only know if you were the wrtier, which is somewhat annoying, but plausible.  

11:10:05 PM    

Light therapy tackles eye injuries [New Scientist]

Cool. LED UV lights in the 670 nanometer range promote activity in the mitochondria of cells that have been damaged. Imagine if instead of going into a tanning booth, you go into a rejuvinator to help your body recover from injuries, or to inhibit scarring for people how have been badly burned or otherwise injured. My usual snake oil disclamers apply.

5:36:21 PM    

Man who videotaped police violence arrested [USA Today : Front Page]

Irony: Defined

5:24:08 PM    

Here are my morning coffee notes (ala Dave -- with the same caveats).  Will online customer service quickly become an automated activity?  I think it could.  This is rapidly becomming something this isn't a wild idea anymore (particularly given the low hurdle posed by untrained customer service reps I have had the displeasure of interacting with lately).

Check out the incarnations of the Alice Bot (the engine can be downloaded in multiple forms).  Then check out the animated 2D pictures available via the Pulse Veeper.   Now check out the quality of Loquendo's text to speech engine.  The art of the interaction would be to create a set of responses that cover all classes of customer service inquiries (suprising easy I would suspect given the time I spent doing something similar at my last job), enable access to customer account and inventory data, and combine the three different programs detailed above for an integrated experience. 

After this is done, provide data-driven flash animations of actions taken by the automated customer service rep.  For example: 1) making a credit to an account, 2) transfer of funds, 3) selection of an item for purchase, 4) instructions on how to assemble a product, and 5) instructions on how to send back an item.   Visual animated display of complex actions or info is extremely important for retention. 

In thinking about this, customer service may not be the appropriate place to apply this technology.    E-learning may be a better application.  A free form, seemingling intelligent Q&A bot that incorporates prerecorded bits of audio/animation to walk you through modules of instruction would be very cool.  Add voice to text so you can verbally interrupt a presentation to ask a question and it gets eerie.  Given that home schooling is a large market that is growing by 15% a year, and the basic modules of instruction are well understood, this could be extremely profitable at a low cost of development.

It could also be done in an app that runs on your desktop. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

This would also serve as an excellent version of Higgins, the home network assistant I have been going on about for the past few months.

3:26:05 PM