A re-encoding MP3 streamer …
I was just talking with Doc Hodges about this for his web site. He has recently been publishing his MP3 collection (securely for himself and his family) so that they can listen from anywhere in the world. We talked about the fact that his current web interface has the ability to cue up songs for streaming, but at the default encoded rate. This tool could be used to create a lower bit-rate encoding on the fly so that when bandwidth is tight …

Icicle 0.9 (Default). A reencoding streamer for Icecast. [freshmeat.net]

Bluetooth for security …
This is actually a pretty cool application for Bluetooth wireless. They talk about a watch which has Bluetooth, and it communicates with the Bluetooth in your laptop. If you move too far away, then your laptop locks up! Of couse, what do you do if you loose or forget your watch?

reports. Electronic Business reports on Bluetooth security solutions. [The Bluetooth Weblog]

Palm integration for Linux?
This is a valuable cause … Open Source Palm Sync for Linux, etc. … which opens up a whole new line of potential applications for integrating the Palm world and the Open Source world of Linux, etc. I have to say that as I eye the Linux marketplace in corporations, there are a number of software capabilites that I see as really required. Palm support is a good one to have!

ColdSync 2.1.0-20010415 (Development). PalmPilot synchronization tool [freshmeat.net]

So when a laptop becomes a handheld … what then?
I like reading these articles and seeing the conclusions that they make. I agree that the size and convenience are a huge factor … but what happens when a laptop becomes a handheld? Or a wearable computer appears? The PC vendors, and Intel, are not sitting still …

Handhelds gaining the upper hand. Laptop use drops after workers are given BlackBerry e-mail pagers [CNET Tech News]

Very cool … ScriptBasic for Linux …
I have always believed that BASIC is the language for the rest of the people. I learned it at a young age, and still use Microsoft’s Visual Basic to develop quick apps and prototypes … it is a very powerful scripting language … and complies well also. One of the Linux resources that I have wanted for a while is a good BASIC for Linux. If I were able to combine this with Glade … then I’d really be happy!

ScriptBasic 1.0b23 (Default). Linux/Win32 BASIC scripting language. [freshmeat.net]

It was only a matter of time … Metricom just won’t scale …
I have been following Metricom for quite some time, and have kept thinking about how I see things panning out for them. And I have kept going back to the fact that they are building a proprietary network, on proprietary hardware solutions. I just don’t see this combination as ever being successful. On top of this, they have to carry the entire financial burden of deploying their wireless network. It’s a cool idea, but I just don’t see where it fits into the future. The cell service providers are going to try to address the “mid-speed” data market, and I still think that widely deployed 802.11b networks are going to catch everyone off guard!

eWEEK: Compaq banks on rickety Ricochet for mobile. Compaq Computer Corp.’s decision to extend mobile Internet services on foundering Metricom Inc.’s Ricochet wireless network is raising questions about the offering and fueling speculation that Metricom may be ripe for a takeover. [Tomalak’s Realm]

The brain is forming …
This post got me thinking once again about my mission to explore the formation of the ‘brain’ of the human organism. What’s facinating is that I truly believe that Dave, and Radio, are good examples of the first massively distributed neural networks of memetic transfer and replication. Using Radio, you are able to publish a stream of memes, created by the streams of memes that you are receiving on a moment by moment basis. So you can subscribe to meme steams, just as a neuron receives signals from numerous other neurons. And you can create a meme stream which effects other neurons … wow … is the brain of the human organism forming?

DaveNet: The Web is a Writing Environment. [Scripting News]