- More analysis of Apple iPOD; RIM counters with Blackberry assault.
- Virgin Atlantic announced 3G handset.
- nVidia under assault with shareholder lawsuit.
- Google going to link the world to satellite ISP. This is not a new idea.
- DTV switch-over craps out as predicted.
- 911 will access cam phone.
- Yahoo skidding.
- Microsoft may buy Citrix while selling Greenfield.
- New York Times asks, “Who uses AOL? And Why?”
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
Google to publish games?
Oh, John, John. Did you rely on CNET for your info on the Wilmington switchover to DTV? They offered the 2nd worse/least competent reporting on the whole deal.
Go check out websites from the city, the FCC, local TV stations. After reading a couple dozen of these, there was one guy (yes, the same guy quoted in every article) who didn’t know it was happening.
The other couple hundred people who called – out of a market over 300,000 – with problems were the same people who never figured out how to set the clock on their VCR either. They were told to RTFM and set the channel selector on 3 or 4.
The city is paying firemen $15 a pop to go to peoples’ homes and push the button for the boxes to program themselves. Ain’t much of that happening either.
TV stations which got 60 calls the 1st day – got 5 calls the 2nd.
Now, the local stations did the sort of screen-plastering job they needed to do in the last few weeks. As I imagine will the locals in your neck of the woods next January. Stores like WalMart and Best Buy sold out daily in the set-top boxes and UHF rabbit ears in the run-up.
It was practically a non-event.
And the 03b project is completely unrelated to the mapping satellite launched the other day.
Speaking of AOL and RIM => you can now download software for your Blackberry so you can use AOL mail, AIM, and ICQ on the device.
That should excite 3 people in the continental United States.
There are millions of people stuck with dial up if they can even get that or satellite.
There ought to be some way to make money out of that and in fact some people I know are using satellite.
Most of the people I know young and old are never going to know when the switch occurs because they don’t get over the air broadcasts.
911 click can give a clue as to where you are and what is going down that you called about.
I don’t think muggers are going to like learning the cops have the photo.
Of course the medics can see the wreck and victims and the firemen the fire.
Next: slide shows followed by live video!
“911 will access cam phone”
And you really think this is only to help people? Since when did our government care about people?
Huh, just like the GPS in the phone or OnStar in the car is only used to help people?
A 2003 lawsuit revealed that systems such as OnStar can be used for eavesdropping on passenger conversations. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did ruled the FBI is not legally entitled to remotely activate the system and secretly use it to snoop on passengers, because doing so would render it inoperable during an emergency.
OK, therefore it’s legal to remotely activate a camera and/or microphone with GPS locator if it doesn’t interfere with use during an emergency? That should be technically easily feasible.
It would really help the CIA/NSA/DoD if it could just turn every phone on remotely, at the sometime, then record everything/everyone into one of the many massive NSA supercomputer centers, so the Dark Lords in our government could get a “normal” baseline of American behavior.
That makes me feel better about our United police State of America mentality.
But who in America cares?
The N.Y.C. 911 cellphone camera system could be a trojan horse to help bring in different cameras. That place has a $90 million proposed surveillance plan. They already have surveillance cameras, of course, but some want more, a lot more.
Did you ever find out who HSBC’s largest account holder is? If you want to know, call me.