DIY Implantable RFID Tags

DIY RFID human implants are on the rise. I have found over sixteen instances of midnight engineers implanting RFID tags in their hands. The general excuse is for automation purposes. Examples such as unlocking a computer screen saver or opening doors that have been outfitted with electric deadbolts. In my own case the idea of implanting technology that I have researched and spec'd out was very appealing. The fact that it can actually do something useful is quite secondary. The most rewarding part of this project was learning about RFID at a much deeper level.

I would put this in the category of the "Time-Life Home Surgical Series." At first, I thought this was joke. When I saw the list of supplies, I was intrigued. There is a Quicktime video that shows the implant in all of its gory detail. Personally, I think this is dangerous. It's really not even a safe place in the body to implant a device into (there are reasons why doctors put pacemakers where they are, for example). I hope that noone is stupid enough to try this!

New Intel Logo

Watch Nova Online

With nothing new on TV for the next week or so, I was interested to see that we can view many NOVA episodes online, from the PBS website. They are streamed in a choice of formats, including QuickTime, RealVideo, or Windows Media Player to accomodate a wide variety of users. You also view by chapter, making it easy to skip over segments that are not of interest. Unfortunately, no downloading to your Video iPod.

iPod Clothing

Amid an otherwise lackluster year for holiday clothing retailers, one bright spot was clothing designed to work with Apple's iPod. Apparently, while electronic sales were up, clothing was down on the whole. This was even more noted for full price mall clothing.

In the meantime, perhaps we'll see Job's starting a clothing line, with the iPod logo of course. Maybe they should include iPod wear in every iPod box purchased. Why? I'm sure more than a few iPods will bite the dust somewhere between the washer and dryer!

Music Downloads Increase

VISITS to music downloading websites saw a 50 per cent rise on Christmas Day as hundreds of thousands of people began loading songs on to the iPods they received as presents.

According to figures from Hitwise, the online intelligence company, visits to music download sites, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, rose by 50 per cent between December 24 and 25.

Hitwise also found that visits to download sites were 15 per cent higher than last Christmas.

Even before the Christmas increase, the BPI, the UK record companies' trade association, said download sales had topped 23 million this year, five times the 4.7 million sold in 2004.

Weekly downloads already exceed 650,000 and may pass the one million mark for the first time this holiday season.

The figures reflect the growing popularity of MP3 music players such as the iPod, which were among the most popular Christmas gift items this year.

Isn't this always the way. The music companies whine and moan about the CD's they're not selling, but we don't hear them rejoicing about this.

Blu-Ray Officially Announced

Pioneer Electronics Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a high-definition Blu-ray DVD disc drive for personal computers in the latest twist in a multibillion dollar battle over next-generation DVD standards.

Pioneer is part of the Blu-ray consortium, led by Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research), which is vying against a rival high-definition format known as HD-DVD, championed by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research). Both camps are hoping the next-generation discs and players, set to be introduced to consumers in 2006, will help offset a slowdown in the $19 billion prepackaged disc market.

Hollywood studios are expected to announce names and dates of title releases for the new DVDs at the upcoming Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, where consumer electronics makers are also set to release launch details.

This is the first shot in the next wave of format wars.

Keeping Track of Santa

This is the 50th Anniversary that NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa. The tradition began after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special "hotline" included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first "Santa" call on Christmas Eve 1955. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa's position. Thus, the tradition was born. In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States decided to create a bi-national air defense command for the North American continent called the North American Air Defense Command. Canada and the U.S. believed they could better defend North America together as a team instead of separately.

The Command carried out its first Santa tracking in 1958 after inheriting the tradition from CONAD. Since that time, Canadian and American men and women who work at NORAD have responded to phone calls from children personally. Additionally, media from all over the world call NORAD on Christmas Eve for updates on Santa's location. Last year this Website was visited by millions of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts. This year, the information is provided in six languages.

NORAD relies on many volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Many people at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force Base spend part of their Christmas Eve with their families and friends at NORAD's Santa Tracking Operations Center in order to answer phones and provide Santa updates to the many thousands of children who call in.

This is a lot of fun for the little ones on Christmas Eve. They can't stop checking the computer to see when Santa will arrive!

Mr. Fix It: Palm Edition

IF I TOLD YOU that a single-man company from Mankato, Minnesota beats the hell out of the official repair services provided by the wealthy corporations that make them, would you believe me?. Well, you better do, because that's exactly what I discovered when I ran into Chris Short. He's a man this river town southwest of Minneapolis, who advertises his services on eBay and not only that, he actually delivers what he promises.
It's no surprise then that he enjoys a 100% positives rating on the popular retail site. Here's my story, which will show you why I don't hesitate to recommend his services, which allowed me to get my PDA back in working order while spending one third of what the official Sony service wanted to charge me.

In our dispoable society, it's refreshingly nice to see someone that can still fix something. When my Handspring Visor Deluxe died a few years back, I had to exchange it with the company. Not even they would try to fix it. This guy will have a bright future ahead fixing the Palm handhelds that we all use.

1st Yonah Notebook Announced

NEC Corp. disclosed plans on Monday for its first laptop computer based on Intel Corp.'s Yonah dual-core mobile processor.

Yonah is the code-name for the dual-core version of Intel's Pentium M processor for laptops and small desktops. The chip is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2006 and is expected to be one of Intel's main new products for next year.

The Lavie RX LR900 laptop was announced on the same day as NEC's 2006 PC lineup. The company disclosed full technical details for the computer with the exception of the processor and chip set, which it listed as Yonah and Mobile Intel 945 Express family, respectively.

NEC said the LR900 will be based on Windows XP Home Edition, come with 512MB of main memory and a 100GB hard-disk drive. It will have a 14.1-in. LCD, DVD Super Multi drive (DVD-R/+R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW/+RW), 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The machine will weigh about 2 kilograms, and the battery will provide enough power to last about four hours.

With the specs they've released, this looks like one fast notebook. I can't wait to see how the chip performs.

Wired's Vaporware Awards

The technology industry is always talking up new products. And every year, it turns out that a bunch of these coming wonders are full of ... steam.

Certain pieces of hardware and software promised for release in 2005 were delayed, detoured or quietly swept under the carpet. Despite feverish press releases and trade-show demos, these unfortunate items were destined to remain vaporware.

Yes, once again it's Wired News' annual Vaporware Awards.

Now in its seventh year, the Vaporware Awards celebrate all those long-awaited technological wonders that were delayed, ditched or discontinued. (And, of course, those that were never more than a racy press release.)

I'm voting for the next generation optical media (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD).

Analog TV Signal To Be Gone In 2009

American households have until the February 2009 deadline to ensure that their televisions are capable of receiving digital broadcasts.

According to congressional estimates, less than 15 percent of households rely exclusively on over-the-air broadcasts. According to estimates by the Federal Communications Commission, that number will drop to 7 percent by 2009.

But advocacy group Consumers Union said that will still leave an unconscionable number of individual sets--many of them operated by elderly and low-income viewers--ill-equipped to meet the changes.

Households that already rely solely on cable or satellite broadcasting should not have to make any changes. Satellite services, such as DirecTV, are already capable of converting signals, and most cable companies intend a seamless transition, such as re-engineering their signals at the source, so that no extra home hardware is necessary.

As an owner of two analog TV's, a DVD recorder, and a VCR/DVD combo deck, I'm a little concerned. If each of these needs one of these converter boxes to get a signal, this could turn into the "leaning tower" of electronics quite quickly. Think you're safe with that new HDTV ready TV? Unless you have an integrated digital tuner, you'll be shopping for one of these tuners as well.

Microsoft/IDSA Design Competition

In case you hadn’t heard, Microsoft and the Industrial Designers of America (IDSA) recently held a competition in which the challenge was to “rethink the Windows-based PC experience and the role it plays in people’s lives.” Contestants were asked to “envision how form factor influences the digital lifestyle” in four categories: personal productivity, entertainment, communication & mobility, and living & lifestyle. There will be be two $50,000 prizes awarded (one judged by Bill G. himself) along with a $25,000 prize based on public voting, with the winners to be announced at CES 2006. The designs submitted range from the practical to the fanciful to the completely untenable, and serve as a glimpse into a possible future for consumer electronics as well as a cheap way for Microsoft to outsource their design department.

Some of the concepts pictured look like they would have some merit. I love the clean lines in the pictures, and best of all, no wires. If this is the future direction for computing, I like it a lot. No word on when we can pick one up at Best Buy.

From Engadget.

500th Post!

In case anyone is counting, this is our five hundreth post! we've got a lot of new things planned for 2006, so stay tuned.

Preloaded USB Flash Drives

Lexar has announced that, beginning in January 2006, its portable JumpDrive USB flash drives will ship with Google applications pre-loaded, including Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, and photo organizer Picasa.

When customers plug in a Google-loaded JumpDrive, they'll be promoted to install the free Google applications. If the user accepts the installation, the Google apps will automatically be installed and then removed from the USB drive

Not sure what you would put on a 1 GB USB flash drive? No worry, Lexar and Google have teamed up to fill it up for you. Why not clutter up that new flash drive with plenty of stuff, so that it's already filled up. Now you need a 2 GB flash drive. That's probably Lexar's goal here, rather than letting consumers put what they want on their drive. Before long, AOL software will be loading each time we stick the drive into the slot!

Read the original press release here.

Internet Over Power Lines

The plan was announced on Monday by Current Communications Group, a service provider that specializes in broadband service over power lines (BPL), and TXU Electric Delivery, the largest electric company in Texas.

The companies estimate that roughly 2 million homes and businesses in northern Texas will be able to subscribe to the new service when the network is complete. Current Communications--which has built a similar network over Cincinnati's power lines with local utility company Cinergy--will design, build and operate the new broadband network. Deployments will begin in 2006, the companies said.

The purpose of the new network is twofold. First, it will allow TXU to monitor the health of its power network. If an outage occurs, the network, which is based on Internet Protocol, can send alerts immediately. Eventually, the utility could even use the network to remotely read meters and switch power on or off.

Secondly, BPL will enable TXU to develop a new revenue stream. The broadband network will be laid on top of the existing power infrastructure, and TXU will then lease this infrastructure to broadband providers such as Current.

"This agreement is a milestone for Current as well as for BPL and illustrates the economic advantages of driving multiple applications across a single large-scale network deployment," William Berkman, chairman and co-founder of Current, said in a statement.

Service speeds and pricing details haven't been released, but Current said the network will have enough capacity to offer customers a "triple play" package, which would include telephony, TV service and high-speed Internet access. Users will be able to access the high-speed broadband network by plugging a device into an electrical outlet in the wall.

I'm curious to see what type of pricing they come up with. It would be great to have the cable and telephone companies competing with the local power company for our business.

From News.com