March 19,2008

Continental Airlines To Test Cell Phone Boarding Passes

Most airlines have done away with paper tickets, and some airlines have allowed for cell phone check-in, which allows customers to arrive at the airport and show a text message with a barcode to obtain a boarding pass, but Continental is about to do away with all paper! They have started the testing of passengers using cell phone bar codes for boarding. The Transportation Security Administration appears to be open to approving the Continental electronic pass because it uses a two-dimensional bar code instead of the present form of boarding passes printed on paper. And, of course, a picture ID would still be required as you board. Airlines are very interested in moving to this system because the savings will be in the millions. They want to increase the mobile connection by sending customers flight information, delays, gate changes, baggage information and more directly to their passengers’ phones.  For more information, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/technology/18check.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Free Songs on iTunes? It Might Be In The Works!

It is rumored that iTunes is in discussions with music companies to offer a deal that would provide buyers of iPods and iPhones, free access to iTunes music library. The way it would work is that Apple would pay the music industry a set fee, $20, for each iPod and iPhone that is purchased, and those new customers would then have unlimited access to download songs. Nokia did a deal like this with Universal Music last year, offering buyers of their MP3 players to download 80 free songs. Rumors have it that at this time it is the price that Apple is offering that is being negotiated. For more information, visit http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-23882310.htm

MacBooks Are Overheating

If you have seen a MacBook, you have to be impressed. However, a super thin computer is not worth the impressive thin look if it can’t do what you need it to do. The latest complaint is that it over heats, particularly if you are trying to view a video such as those on YouTube. Users have been complaining about the heat, and their computers have been locking up, or shutting down, because they are overheating. Apple released an upgrade that, through software management in the chip, is supposed to help the fan and power work better together. However, early reports are coming in and complaining that this has not solved the problem. The MacBook has a lot of different limitations that were part of the process in creating such a sleek and slim design, such as a low battery life, and the battery being hardwired into the machine thus not allowing a user to swap out a dead battery for a fresh one. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9068400&intsrc=hm_list

March 12, 2008

“Free WiFi Here” May Soon Pass Away

I said it over a year ago, now the Chief Marketing Officer for Ericsson Telephone has also stated that the growing success of EVDO, or mobile broadband, will pass the use and need for WiFi, stopping the growth of future WiFi “hotspots” popping up across the nation. Finally hotels are providing WiFi for their traveling business persons, only to find that many are not using the system, but are instead depending on their mobile broadband since they have already paid for unlimited access, and there is nothing to re-configure. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=wireless_networking&articleId=9067479&taxonomyId=79&intsrc=kc_top

Personal Note – Kudo’s to Hilton

Recently when I flew to Houston to speak at a conference, I needed to print out a document. I discovered that Hilton had a special system in their hotel that allowed me to print the document to a file, visit a special website, enter the hotel’s personal code and upload the file I wished to have printed. Then I could simply go down to the business center whenever it fit into my schedule, enter the personal numeric code into a handy touchpad, and my documents printed out. The service was FREE and very handy.

TV on Your Computer? Everyone’s Doing It and  the Opening of Hulu.com Is Going to Help

More and more people are watching their favorite TV shows on their computer.  This is what the recent writer’s strike was all about, writers wishing to get paid for distribution on the Internet, something that was not included with their previous contracts. Surveys are showing that some shows released just a few years ago have more viewers watching the re-runs online than watched the original show when it originally was broadcast on TV a few years ago. Certain shows do better online than others, simply because a show with a lot of extra effects, for example Heroes, is a better watch on TV than the sitcom Office.  Hulu opens with 250 full length TV shows available, as well as 100’s of movies including titles such as Ice Age. The shows are free, and the site hopes to make revenue from advertisements. This is one of the reasons why there has been a crackdown on copyrighted clips that have been made available on sites such as YouTube. The TV industry is moving forward by offering shows via the Internet, but they want to be sure it is in their control and with their advertisements. For more information, visit http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080311/D8VBD1582.html

March 5, 2008

Game Headset Will Read Your Mind

  We have reported for several years the advancements being made in the ability for technology to read a person’s mind. Who know that the first real commercial application would be for video games! However, Emotiv Systems Inc, has demonstrated the first such headset at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. By wearing the headset, a computer can, “detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as "non-conscious emotions" by reading electrical signals around the brain.” While it will be able to detect emotions such as anger or excitement, it can also detect cognitive actions like pushing and pulling objects. Some of the first applications might be to participate in video boxing with an opponent without pushing any buttons or engaging any physical actions (such as with the Wii.)   For more information, visit http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gF_N0kp0MVQjqXNEeWIRFBW-h7FQD8UUAING2

Service Pack 3 for Windows XP Is Coming Soon

     SP3 is in its final stages of testing and those using it seem to be happy with the improvements. In the past, many Service Packs had changes that were visible in how the OS worked. However, with SP3 for XP, users will probably not see anything, yet it appears it is going to be worth the download. Most of the improvements are in the area of security. For example, it has been discovered by an Israeli researcher that there was a security issue in XP with random number generators. A program could be used by hackers that would predict what the random number would be. Also, security issues with WiFi are addressed. Whenever Service Packs are released, it causes a lot of concern for people, because inevitably someone will install the SP and their computer will crash. It is also an ordeal to download and install (around 30-60 minutes). However, the security fixes are going to be worth it, and some are reporting that system speeds actually improve. As always, before installing SP3, do a complete backup of your data files. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9064498&intsrc=hm_ts_head

FCC Rules on ISP Traffic Management

     Comcast got caught controlling the access speeds of certain customers because they didn’t like the fact that certain customers were hogging much of a local neighborhood’s bandwidth by streaming and downloading large video files. Complaints were filed with the FCC, and they have issued a warning to ISP’s that are initiating traffic management. Basically they have stated that IF an ISP does not practice Net Neutrality, they will step in and issue fines, regulate, etc.  However, they did rule that an ISP had the right to take whatever steps they felt was needed to insure that their customers receive the best Internet access, including different regulations for high-end users. But with the stipulation that ISP’s make this information public to their users so that they know that the service speeds they are receiving are what they are paying for. For more information, visit http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080225/D8V1JT6G0.html

CrimeReports.com May Make Everywhere A High-tech Crime Watch Neighborhood.

     A new site offers an inexpensive solution to police departments everywhere to provide technology crime mapping just like big cities provide. Several cities such as New York and Washington D.C. use crime mapping to help better identify trends in crimes and in some cases provide that information to the public. Now CrimeReports.com has established a service through Google Maps to allow any city to allow their crime data stats to be directly uploaded. This would provide citizens the ability to see if certain types of crimes are beginning to be committed in their neighborhood. This would allow an entire city to be informed of specific things to watch for, and allow citizen participation to help stop and solve crimes in their town. In my own case, last summer my wife and I observed a group of young people running around a few blocks near our home. As we turned onto the street, they all seemed to head for a drain culvert. Something about they way they seemed to avoid our seeing their faces, and the way the quick activity that was taking place immediately stopped, caused us to be suspicious. However, there didn’t appear to be any crime taking place. This was just two blocks from our home. It was six months later, after reading a newspaper article, that we discovered there had been a crime wave in our town with young people running down a street of houses looking for unlocked cars. If one was found, everything in the car of value, including the trunk was quickly stolen. If there was a garage opener, they would quickly use it and grab and run with anything of value in the garage. It was reported that if anyone surprised them, they would quickly run to the nearest drain and throw the items down for retrieval at a later time. IF we had had this information and been informed of what was going on in our neighborhood, we would have paid more attention, tried to remember faces, and definitely called the police. The cost for this new service can be as low as $100 a month for a city. For more information, visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22999412/

Ministry Technology Institute Begins First Charter Class

     Last week students and administration met for the first student orientation for the Ministry Technology Institute. Students from across the USA were present, as well as a student from Brazil and China. The meeting took place in a virtual class room where everyone could talk via their phone or Internet using a microphone and headset (as did the international students.) Ministry Technology Institute is a virtual school. There is no building or physical classrooms, yet everyone in the class was able to participate in the discussion, as well as answer questions using a live online chat feature. Our first group of students are well into their first course unit (24 are needed to gain their certificate). For more information, visit www.ministry-tech.com

Employees May Monitor Your Mental Awareness While At Work

     Microsoft has filed for a patent for a software system that will allow employees the ability to monitor their deskbound employees, determining their attitude, attention span, and ability to stay on track. Software programs have been in development for several years that would use face recognition software to evaluate your “mood” based upon how you appear to the computer you are using. However, this new software system may go so far as to monitor heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and movements, all sent wirelessly to your computer, with reported generated and sent to your employee. Employees might argue that if they could tell that stress levels rose during certain assignments, they would be able to help with additional training or support. Privacy and Union representative feel that employees might be held back from advancement, or even fired, based upon their stress and emotional reports instead of their productivity. For more information, visit http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,323101,00.html

Survey of College Students “Stealing” Online Movies Was in Error

     In 2005, the MPAA announced that they had done a study and found that 44% of their losses were due to college students downloading and distributing copyrighted materials. They put pressure on colleges to begin campaigns to expel students who were caught with any copyrighted materials, AND implied that they might begin to bring legal pressure on the schools themselves if they didn’t start enforcement programs. Now, three years later, new studies have shown that this figure, and the accusation that went along with it, was in error. It may be that college students only accounted for 15% of all such downloads. The MPAA suggested “human error” in their accusations. SO, feel good about the youth of America in college, they are not as bad as some would have you believe. For more information, visit http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-01-23-mpaa-college-downloading_N.htm

Microsoft Offers $44 Billion for Yahoo

     Yahoo just laid of 1,000 employees, and the value of the stock is on the decline. So why is Microsoft offering $44 billion to purchase Yahoo? Because Microsoft needs to have a venue to present online computer solutions to compete with Google. It seems that Google is seeking to put Microsoft out of business, as they continue to offer online office products for free, all of which compete against Microsoft’s office suite. Google can afford to offer such products as the word doc, spreadsheet, calendar program, etc., because they are generating revenues based upon online advertisements. Microsoft needs to combine with Yahoo in order to gain their experience in presenting online services that can also be supported via online advertisements. There is a shift in technology that is being brought about by the Internet, and Microsoft NEEDS to make this deal. Advertisers are expected to double their spending on the Internet in the next three years, as more people become to trust online SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions instead of desktop software. For more information, visit http://origin.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8139058

Comcast Slows Service to Heavy Users

     Comcast has decided that, in order to provide the best service for all of its customers, to slow the download rate of their heavier users. It was discovered that Comcast began a practice of using a “reset” package to break connections with customers with it is discovered they are downloading large amounts of data. The practice sends a code to each computer, the customers, and the file sharing source, fooling each computer into believing the other has broken the connection instead of Comcast. Comcast has defended this policy because everyone in a specific area can be affected by their neighbor’s use of the Internet, and those that are trying to receive large streams of video and movie files, is having a negative impact on other customers. Customers that have discovered Comcasts practice, are logging a complaint with the FCC. Once this was done, on Jan 25, Comcast published their practice and defense. So far the FCC has not interfered much with Internet traffic, so this will be a test case. For more information, visit http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxRiQSVfgK4sLbVRE_X4MOlM9q0AD8UP4VUG3

We Can Rent Movies and Video Games Over the Internet, Now Toys?

     A new service is opening up on the Internet allowing parents the opportunity to shop for infant toys online. Certainly not a bad idea since if you are the ones taking car of your children, you know how hard it is to have them with you when you are trying to pick toys that feel will  hold their interest and provide some opportunity to help them grow and learn. However, just as adults do not like to watch the same movie over and over again, children seem to become bored quickly with many toys. So, why not simply rent them for a month and then return them for something new? That was the brainchild of Lori Pope who, after searching for a toy rental site on the Internet and couldn’t find one, decided to create one herself.  She started the site and named it babyplays.com. It is sort of like netflix for parents and children. Customers pay $28.99 a month to get four toys a month for three months and $35.99 a month to get six toys a month for three months. Families willing to sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99. The service seeks to provide toys that are easy to clean and simple to repair, and pays attention to research on the value of specific toys based upon research. All toys meet US and European safety standards. For more information, visit http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080210/D8UNLLB80.html

In Case You Didn’t Get It Yet, Blu-Ray IS The Standard

    Not only has major movie producers and distributors announced that they are going to provide Blu-Ray copies of high-def DVDs instead of HD-DVDs. Netflix has also announced that they are going to offer Blu-Ray only. They had stocked both, but after Sony and others announced they had selected Blu-Ray as their exclusive, others are quickly following suit. In addition, while Best Buy is still selling both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD boxes, Best Buy has announced that they are telling their employees to openly recommend Blu-Ray. For more information, visit http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSWNAS040320080212

Cell Phones Of the Future? Folding Screens

     One of the problems of hand-held devices is the size of the screen. A new phone that will hit the market in the middle of this year will have a folding screen that will wrap around a device that is the size of a cell phone. The screens are made by Polymer Vision and the clarity is equal to printed text on paper. Presently the screens are about the size of two business cards, and will only be black-and-white. And, the phone will only receive text and Internet images but will not include the ability to have a keyboard .The device will also serve as a cell phone. The company believes that within a few years, they will have a small cell phone device that will have a foldable screen that will display 8 by 8 inches in color. For more information, visit http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-01-21-folding-phone_N.htm

Best Buy Digital Picture Frames Had a Virus

     As if there weren’t enough ways to infect your computer, Best Buy has had to admit that some of the digital picture frames they sold last year had a virus installed on the frame. Whenever you connected it to your computer the virus would be passed. The good news is that it wasn’t a new virus, and most virus protection software would have stopped it, if the user had virus protection software running.  The 10.4 inch digital picture frames were sold under the Best Buy house name Insignia. The frame has now been discontinued. Best Buy will not confirm the type of virus, nor how many framers were sold. They are also not offering to exchange the frames, but instead have posted instructions on their website on how to remove the virus (basically, connect the frame to your USB connection and while it is connected, do a virus scan using a popular virus protection software program.) For more information, visit http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E18002573D9007CF01E.html?em&ex=1201410000&en=93b9e908ae671a69&ei=5087%0A

Is the Music Recording Industry About To Open Another Can of Worms

    According to a recent lawsuit that was filed against a person in AZ for allowing files to be shared over a peer-to-peer network, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit also charged the person with “unlawful” copying of music from purchased CD’s by converting them to MP3’s. In the past, it has been understood that converting songs from a purchased CD for use as an MP3 in order to listen to them on a MP3 player, has not been considered illegal. However, now that many songs are being sold as MP3’s it may be that the recording industry is going to try to force people to purchase the same song in MP3 format that they already own on CD’s. Hopefully this idea will get squashed quickly because it would make criminals out of most of us. For more information, visit http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319276,00.html

2007 Sets New Record For ID Theft

      More than 79 million US citizens had their person ID information, such as their social security number or credit card information, compromised as a result of data theft. This figure is four times higher than 2006 and represents a concerted effort by organized crime to obtain our person ID information for illegal use. Personal ID information was lost in 200 due to an increase in the theft of notebook computers, the use of malware to capture ID information from our computers, and the ability to hack into sensitive databases. More and more organizations such as utilities and credit card companies are retaining our social security number, so the potential breach of such information is increased. For more information, visit http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ip0gRFSz0t677cXwg2z4WRKJ0TgwD8TRVTI00

GPS Units Will Soon Provide More Features

    This might be the beginning of GPS units doing much more than just telling you where you are and/or planning a route to your destination. At the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this year, many vendors are talking about adding some exciting services to “beef up” what present systems can do now. The first step is to add more voice activation to GPS systems. Not only can you ask it to give you directions to a location, you could have it access your email and read it to you over the speaker, and allow you to dictate a response and send. Calendars will be added for example, helping you to maintain the time needed to drive to specific appointments based upon traffic and weather. Many new additional cost services are being explored. One company is actually developing a system to direct you to an empty parking space in heavy traffic sites. For more information, visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22559721/

Security Experts Warn Of “Virtual’ Boyfriends and Girlfriends on Chat Sites

    A company in Russia is advertising a new program that can be used in popular dating chat sites that simulate a virtual flirting person that can keep communications open with up to ten different people at once, without the person they are communicating with ever realizing that they are not chatting with a real human. The program is designed to get phone numbers and person information from those it communicates with. The company claims it is designed to help men get phone numbers from women through online chat, but security agencies are already warning it will quickly turn into a new type of ID threat as variations will be set up to communicate in chat rooms, make friends and glean personal information. The company reports that in testing, none of the people communicating with their virtual friend ever realized they were chatting with a computer. For more information, visit http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=russian-computer-program

Apple Issues Major Security Update

    Security updates for Windows has become a regular part of most computer user’s lives. However, many Mac users are not aware that their OS is also in need of updates. Apple released their latest security update Monday, with 41 important fixes for Leopard as well as some previous OS versions. This brings the number of security fixes to 196 this year. As with Windows security updates, this doesn’t mean that all of these security holes were exploited, but it does mean that they could. If you have a Mac, be sure to download and install these important updates this week. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9053358&intsrc=news_ts_head

Do You Search for Yourself?

    A new study has been release that shows that about half of us Google ourselves. It isn’t just a matter of vanity, it might be a good idea to see what others might have posted about you on the Internet. For more information, visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=15&articleId=9053304&intsrc=hm_topic