Hot Spots vs. the Cellular Carriers … one possible scenario …
I was sitting here tonight reading, and started to wonder if the slow and limited data bandwidth that the cellular carriers are going to provide is simply going to be used to locate the next high-speed 802.11x Hot Spot that you’re going to use … 😉
WLAN Hotspots to Grow Fast: Report. Says handhelds will benefit most [allNetDevices Wireless News]
Art and Music … very cool article and site …
This is a “must keep” web site … this guy is extremely creative. Not only is he modifying toys and other sounds producing devices in artistic ways, he is adding jacks and pitch controls so that they can be used by bands! You too can plug a noisy kids toy into your amp and add a whole new dimension of sound to your bands music!
Web Services and Information availability …
I really liked reading about this project since it truly shows the level of information that can be obtained via the web. This raw information, and making raw information available, is what will allow wide ranges of web services to be made available … and whole new generations of distributed applications to be created.
Imagine the web service that uses this weather data to automatically suggest outdoor (or indoor) activities in a city based on the temperature and weather. Or even forecasting the likelyhood of star gazing that evening, and suggesting what to wear.
Web services are going to be massively distributed applications which build on the raw data, and eventually provide a user interface – through a browser or other visual/audible notifications. In between these two ends will be more services built on top of other services and raw data … massive networks of objects communicating with each other using standardized protocols.
So this is a cool raw data source … 😉
GoWeather 2001.10.24. Graphically displays current conditions and 5-day forecast for a location. [freshmeat.net]
More mapping software …
As location based services become more and more a part of our lives we are going to want to know where important things are located – including ourselves!
I like this project due to the “moving map” capabilities, and also the support for BSB charts. These are a format used in the Marine Navigation market … something that I love … being out on a boat!
Hugo 1.2.1. GPS-capable moving map software. [freshmeat.net]
Lapse from posting …
I have been swamped lately … living in complete overwhelm. With the various consulting opportunities that I have, and creating a 802.11 wireless network, and creating a digital identity application, and assisting with some local conferences, AND continuing my R&D into memetics and ontology … I have been quite busy. In addition, I am committed to my house and my family.
So as of today I am continuing my reading and posting … and I also promise to update to Radio v8 soon … within the next week or so.
And so Gattica begins …
For anyone who has not seen the movie Gattica, I can only suggest they they rent it and watch. It includes a wide range of very interesting perspectives on the implications of our advances in understanding genetics, and some of the social and community issues that will develop. One of the core conflicts is that of unstoppable genetic discrimination …
We are on the verge of having some of the technology to create many of the scenarios that are shown in Gattica … at one point in the movie they even show a “corner store” that provides instant genetic analysis. Although this seems sophisticated and a ways off, the ability of a corporation to do this type of analysis – even if it takes days – is just around the corner. The article below shows that this is something coming quickly … and Gattica explains why these types of laws are going to be difficult to enforce. Go rent the movie …
Insurers barred from using genetic tests. The Times Oct 23 2001 6:32PM ET [Genetics news]
New form factors of the personal computer …
For years we have witnessed the slow evolution (or fast evolution?) of the personal computer. We started with the first IBM PC that was a large box with full-height 5.25″ floppy disks. That machine has not evolved into a variety of desktop and tower designs, and of course we now have laptops and notebooks of all shapes and sizes.
We are about to watch as people become aware of new form factors that computers are taking … and Microsoft is again going to lead this revolution. This article outlines what Microsoft is creating for the future … and what they are guiding other companies to develop. I believe that we are going to see more and more “Human Integrated” computing in the near future … and it will surprise a lot of people …
InfoWorld: Microsoft’s Tablet PC a year away. Microsoft’s super thin portable computer, called the Tablet PC, will be available in the second half of 2002, Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Tuesday, and the company has begun giving developers the software they need to build applications for the device. [Tomalak’s Realm]
Indoor Location Systems are coming … via 802.11b?
I am truly impressed with this project out of UCLA. It is addressing a very powerful area of “Indoor Location Services” … allowing a user to locate themselves within a building similar to how GPS can tell you your location outdoors.
Ok … so the technology and techniques are quite different, but the capability of locating yourself within a building – accurately – is now becoming a reality. And how are they doing it? With Orinoco 802.11b access points and cards!
This project is using the statistics available from a Orinoco 802.11b wireless card to create a “map” of locations and the associated access point signals detected at those locations. As a user roams around they can create a “fingerprint” of the signals detected at that location. Later, as they roam around the building, the application can tell where they are by the map that they created.
This is very impressive for a number of reasons, and gets me interested in downloading and running this. I’m downloading it now …
RSS continues to grow and be recognized …
This is a cool little application that was created to support RSS new feeds. It allows a user to specify a set of feeds to monitor, and then gathers the new articles and provides an interface that can launch a web browser to read the full article.
This is yet more information indicating the growing interest and support for RSS format publishing.
HotSheet 0.90 alpha. A cross-platform RSS news reader with a friendly GUI. [freshmeat.net]
It’s all about replication … genetics is a good example!
When looking at the classic argument about centralized control and storage vs. distributed approaches, it’s easy to fall into the “trap” about the supposed benefits of the centralized approach. People will often talk about the “single copy” and “only one play to go for access”. They will also talk about “having to manage all of those copies” as though this is an issue.
What is interesting is that there are many lessons around us that show the disadvantages of centralized approaches … from the former Soviet Union to stories about the companies that centralized all of there computer data in the World Trade Center … backing it up to the other tower.
In looking at this situation I often reflect on the biological evolved systems all around us … and I have to say that one of the most sophisticated of these indicates that replication and copies is a valuable implementation … the Human Body!
Where does your body store the “blueprint” for the body? In one centralized place? No … it stores this in the genetic material in every single cell. Storing a copy of this critical information in every cell in the body could be looked at as inefficient, wasteful, and potentially dangerous. Another way to look at this is that it offers the most effective way to empower any cell to become anything that contributes to the whole. It prevents the cells from having to reference some “central authority” to determine their purpose.
To me … synchronization and replication are the way to go … and some folks at MIT seem to agree that the net is mirroring this direction.
MIT Technology Review: Super Sync. Instead of ubiquitous connectivity to centralized databanks, we are instead building an infrastructure that’s optimized for data replication. The same information is getting copied to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of places throughout the world… [Tomalak’s Realm]