What if for once, someone wasn't looking for a payoff? Robert X Cringely makes an interesting case for why a little company named Eolas (the Irish word for 'knowledge') and a patent lawsuit might be the mouse that roars for Microsoft (thanks, Craig).
10:21:38 PM  #   your two cents []

How could I ignore this,er, outstanding item from Boing Boing?!: Sex urged as stimulant for flaccid world economy. Cory D writes: The 7th Asian Congress of Sexology starts today in ultra-conservative Singapore. Some participants are suggesting that having more sex may an effective way to boost the global economy:

Healthy sex lives make happy workers, who will in turn create a more robust economy, said Emil Ng, sex therapist and founder of the Asian Federation of Sexology. "Sexual health is not just about absence of diseases or dysfunction...It is about the ability to enjoy sex...This will improve the whole nation's well-being and productivity. When your economy is down, sexual activity will be lower, not because of sexual problems, but financial problems. This is a vicious cycle."

Link [Boing Boing Blog]
8:05:34 PM  #   your two cents []

Whoa! Cray's king-of-the-hill supercomputer. The manufacturer announces X1 supercomputer that will leave its fastest counterparts in the dust by offering up to 52.4 trillion mathematical calculations per second. [CNET News.com]
8:03:05 PM  #   your two cents []

Comdex: It's a wireless thing. Wireless networking, particularly Wi-Fi, along with the home and office devices that take advantage of these connections, looks to be a dominant theme at the weeklong tech show. [CNET News.com]
1:32:34 PM  #   your two cents []

There's a battle raging in the US over whether to make one of the leading prescription allergy drugs, Claritin, available over the counter. The arguments against doing so get ever more laughably hysterical from the pharma and medical side -- including this story which scrapes the bottom of the barrel by arguing that patients could lose their choice of (expensive) similar allergy drugs (Allegra, Zyrtec) on their health plans and thus might be forced -- forced! -- to use old drowsiness-inducing drugs that could cause more accidents. Nonsense! (and if this argument is confusing in summary, just try it in the full form in the story).

North American readers might be interested to know that both Clarityn and Zirtek (the European spellings for exactly the same drugs at the same prescription strength) have been available over the counter over here for ages. Not only that but Claritin in Ireland costs me less than 1/4th the cost in the US. Indeed I often buy a few packs to take to my parents when I head to California. Having it off-prescription makes these costly allergy drugs MORE available to people who shouldn't have to pay a doctor to get a prescription, then also pay very high drug prices. Might I also point out that my father, who is a (mostly) retired respiratory specialist MD in California, thinks these drugs should be over-the-counter drugs. And if you're interested or curious, my dad wrote an editorial for the Irish Times on Tuesday on Ireland's proposed smoking ban (well, semi-smoking ban). I've made a duplicate of it here. Go, dad!

1:28:28 PM  #   your two cents []

Silicon hogs. A new study tars microchip manufacturing as wasteful and inefficient. Whatever happened to high tech's squeaky-clean image? [Salon.com] Well, disposing of computers and other electronics has always been an issue as well. They tend to go to landfill, though they contain a number of toxic chemicals. There are no Irish requirements about disposal at all, as far as I know.
10:52:37 AM  #   your two cents []

Music label widens door to Net. EMI Group strikes an unusually sweeping set of deals that expand what consumers can legally do with EMI tunes accessed via an online service. [CNET News.com]
10:50:27 AM  #   your two cents []

IT is Africa's Future: Here's an opinion piece I wrote in today's Guardian (in the Thursday technology section, rather confusingly called OnLine. OnLine is also online, but it isn't only online, if you see what I mean...).
10:46:56 AM  #   your two cents []

Start-up to put LindowsOS on sub-$1,000 tablets. StepUp Computing reveals pen-based PC that run Windows and Linux [InfoWorld: Top News]
10:39:10 AM  #   your two cents []

A Heavy Lifter for the Move From Windows to Mac. A cross-platform move may even seem more daunting than a cross-country relocation. [New York Times: Technology]
10:36:06 AM  #   your two cents []

Updated wireless insecurity article: A radically revised article on this site about WEP's weaknesses and securing data in transit in light of the Wi-Fi Alliance's announcement of WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). [80211b News]

10:35:02 AM  #   your two cents []

FTC takes aim at spam, Net fraud. A group of government regulators led by the Federal Trade Commission sends letters to about 100 alleged spammers, warning them to cease sending unwanted and often fraudulent e-mail. [CNET News.com]
10:34:00 AM  #   your two cents []

The Secret to Slimness? Hide the Number Keys. The Stowaway folding keyboard for Palm devices was a hit from its introduction three years ago. More than a million have been sold. New York Times: Technology] I have one of these for my Handspring -- very clever design, never failed to be a showstopper when I popped it open. Unfortunately my Handspring has since died, I'm using a BlackBerry, and my keyboard sits in a drawer! Oh, for compatibility [sniff].

Handhelds seem so likely to eventually fail that I've decided the only way to use them effectively is to keep backups everywhere. If I rely on the PC for my main calendar and see the handheld as a travelling companion -- then the system works. It sure seems awkward compared to paper... I stick with electronics because you can sync things, they're lighter than my old big Filofax, and handhelds don't get so tatty. Plus in a pinch (and I've had one or two) the handheld is the backup for the PC... But it cost me only about €10 to get the new filler for my Filofax each year. I have owned about €1000 worth of handhelds (a long lifetime of Filofax diaries!).

10:32:45 AM  #   your two cents []

Ballmer shows humble side in memo. In an e-mail to the rank and file, Microsoft CEO's sounds contrite for the company's antitrust conduct while predicting a big future for the software maker. [CNET News.com] ?!? I didn't know he had a humble side!
10:24:53 AM  #   your two cents []

Maureen Murphy. "The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces." [Quotes of the Day]
10:23:33 AM  #   your two cents []

From Doc Searls: William Safire in the New York Times: You Are a Suspect:

If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you:

Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."

To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you — passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance — and you have the supersnoop's dream: a "Total Information Awareness" about every U.S. citizen.

[The Doc Searls Weblog] Normally I don't care much for William Safire's political opinions (though I like his columns on the English language!). But this is solid, hard-hitting stuff and perhaps finally a wake-up call to US citizens who have not really questioned the rights and capabilities the govt and surveillance agencies have demanded post 9/11.
10:20:41 AM  #   your two cents []

The new chief executive for the Digital Hub project in the Liberties is Philip Flynn, former Irish manager of Visio (before it was bought by Microsoft) and currently CFO with Irish payment software company Orbiscom. Jamie has the story in today's Irish Times (subscription only).
10:17:05 AM  #   your two cents []

Bejaysus, but the African scam letters get ever more sophisticated, bringing in the subtleties of the current political scenario to tug at your (choose one): a) liberal; b) greedy heartstrings. This welcomed me after my return home from a pleasant dinner with friends. Feel free to invest as I am politely declining.

12:23:52 AM  #   your two cents []