Tag Archives: internet

The iLoo

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Before I start, I just want to say that I love the technological age we have going right now. All the great devices and services for connecting to people and information is wonderful. That being said, I do have think that people need to remember that it’s ok to be away from the internet for a while. The reason I mention is because of an abandoned idea from Microsoft’s UK branch. They called it the iLoo. It’s a public restroom with internet capabilities. Why was this considered a bad idea? Let’s look at it from a sanitation standpoint. Public restrooms get notoriously abused. People do more than just the business for which these are designed. Second, there is a chance for microscopic bacteria to get onto the installed computer. Microsoft claimed to have a vacuum suction technology to prevent this, but is thing something you really want to take a chance on? I don’t know about you, but if my computer is going to get bacteria on it, its going to be from me only.

The big issue for me is that we need to remember there is a reality that we need to interact with just as much as the virtual one. As a global culture, we spend more time on the internet than doing almost anything else. Like I said earlier, I love all the information I have access to, but I don’t need it every waking minute of the day. When I’m in the restroom, I should really be able to survive without the internet for the time it takes me to do my business.

The next big thing in TV

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Is probably going to be the next big thing in internet use. Google unveiled Google TV, software that will integrated into certain TVs as well as some satellite TV companies. They’re calling it “smart TV.” This will help people surf the internet, especially if they can’t get really fast internet access. This should be an interesting development to watch when the TVs become available in the fall. Google appears to have Apple in its cross hairs. The best part is that the consumers, us, are going to benefit the most from this. Any time companies innovate with the intent of offering better value to customers, we win.

Broadband internet solutions

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There’s a story about small cable companies not receiving money from the government with the intention of bringing broadband to rural areas. Larger companies got the lion’s share of the money. Smaller cable companies are worried about being able to compete for customers.  Here’s what I say about this. I live in a rural area and my wife and I run a web design business, so we have to have  cable internet. Fortunately, we do live close enough to a larger town to get a cable company to come out here and provide service.  I’ll tell you this though, if we didn’t need it, we wouldn’t have it.  We would rather run on air cards. Air cards run off of cell phone towers, and depending on the strength of the cell phone signal, you can get just as fast an internet connection as anything else out there. Cell phone towers have a better reach, but the only issue is the data.  The data plan for most air cards is only 5GB each month. After that, you pay through the nose. And running a web business requires a lot of data transfer. So, if you live in a rural area and want good internet, try an air card.

Let’s Get Ready to IT Rumble

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Ben Kunz posted an article on the Business Week website where he details what he calls the “splinternet.” Basically, all the mobile devices that are flooding the market each have their own applications that are not real compatible with other devices.  Kunz mentions the iPod and the Droid phone along with Amazon’s Kindle reader.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have one device that would work in conjunction with other operating systems.  I love technology, but we as consumers need to start figuring out what we want and what we will tolerate.  Do you want to have 5 different devices just so you can take advantage of the internet?

Things that make you go…

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he really said that?

Mark Cuban, as a guest contributor to MSNBC, has written an article concerning an upcoming merger between Comcast and NBC Universal. The question originally comes from Al Franken who wants the merger to include offering all of their TV shows over the internet. Mr. Cuban explains, in some not so subtle ways, why doing this would actually hurt consumers.

I have found Mark Cuban to be the type of entrepreneur who compensates for his lack of finesse with a huge amount of ego, he’s second only to Donald Trump. But here he makes some really good points; he seems to understand the situation.

Bill Gates is a Tweeter

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I almost want to just leave the title with no text. Seriously, what do you say to this? Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, arguably the richest man in the solar system, philanthropist extraordinaire, is on Twitter.

Personally, I’ve never understood the value of personal twitters, corporate twitter accounts are great for promotions. Personal twitter accounts just seem like an opportunity to engage in more vain behavior.

Top 10 Downloads of the year

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This list comes from Cnet.com and is the top 10 downloads from the past decade.

  1. ICQ
  2. Winamp
  3. Napster
  4. Firefox
  5. WinZip
  6. iTunes
  7. Ad-aware
  8. Skype
  9. RealPlayer
  10. Adobe Acrobsat Reader

While most of these are choices that I would not argue with, I do have to take issue with Napster being #3.  Considering the backlash from the music community and the subsequent lawsuits, Napster is a bit of a black mark.  In my opinion, to be on this list, the download should be one that introduced something new to the internet and had enough staying power to be useful and popular to the present day.  Napster’s concept was improved by iTunes.

So what’s to come?  What’s the next big thing for the internet?  What will become world wide necessities during the next decade?  Will live video streaming services be the next big thing we think of as not that uncommon in the year 2020?  Time will tell.

Anyone using high speed satellite internet?

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I’ve been thinking about my Internet connection and can’t help but wonder if there’s a better way. I have a mate who uses high speed satellite internet and he just wouldn’t stop talking about it. Apparently he gets really high download speed and it’s the best way to watch movies and download new distros for his Linux box. Dunno, not a decision to be taken lightly, but something worth thinking about.

Cuba getting expanded internet?

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Wow, so we’ve gone from Bay of pigs to watching Youtube online in the great underworld of Cuba? my how times have changed. With brother Castro in office technology has been in the forefront of the government mind. People have access to simple items like Cell phones and microwaves at costs low enough that an average wage earner can afford. Now it looks like Castro has decided to give the people access to the Internet. ‘m always the skeptic but this surely looks like great advancement for the country and it will surely open up many jobs in the IT fields…just have to move to Cuba to get the job!