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Thoughts and things I care to shareMore Fuel for Flying Cellphone
So I suppose this article over at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will add more fuel to those people trying to keep everyone from using electronics on airplanes.
Not a very interesting article, though it will be interesting to see if there is anyting of substance to this study. I’ll not claim that it isn’t possible, but sometimes I think we over analyze things a bit too much. I guess what frustrates me is that several studies in the past 18 mos. or so have indicated that there isn’t much of a problem, that airlines have worked towards “shielding” sensitive equipment, etc… Though with the current financial state of many airlines today, that is a bit hard to believe.
Its kind of like butter – first its bad, then its good, then we’re not sure – or chocolate, same thing. Guess it’ll be one of those confounding mysteries, or urban legends – better call the MythBusters.
T-Mobile MDA Out Of Stock
Still can’t get the MDA – the company still says that it does not have stock available to sell to existing customers (you know the ones who always pay their bills every month). Instead, all currently available stock will be used to lure new customers into 2-year contracts.
Nice.
Maybe I’m being selfish and shallow, but it still makes me a bit upset. I’m one of those darn pesky reliable existing customers. Its a shame that I have this peculiar idea that I should be able to buy a product that a company is selling. Strange, I know. Someday I’ll get over it – probably when I decide to switch phone carriers. The problem with that idea is that all carriers do the same dumb things.
Scripts, WordPress & Other Sidebar Fun
Ok, I figured out what was causing my weird behavior in IE6 – though I’m not sure why it cropped up in that browser and not IE7 or Firefox.
Seems my StatCounter was causing the issue. As soon as I moved the java script from the sidebar of the site to the main portion – the problem when away. Oh well, you can’t figure them all out. 🙂
Anyway – the site should be working fine now in IE6, though I’ll have to wait a few days to see if my stats are working correctly! Again, sorry for any confusion!
Virtual Earth – Streetlevel…
Want to see something cool? Scoble has linked to a very neat prototype site that Microsoft Live.com is working on. An actual street-level view of San Francisco and Seattle (more cities to come), where you can move down most any street and see not only “storefronts” but the actual street-level-views as if you were walking or driving the street. Very cool.
This is the kind of stuff that Microsoft is good at and should leverage more often. My hat is off to MS on this one – very nicely done & performance was quite good as well.
Thank you Robert!
Via: Scobleizer
Frustrating – IE & PHP
Or something in the site code anyway. Interesting results in Internet Explorer here on RickMahn.com. When viewed with IE6, the site’s sidebar is displayed below the last post information (and to the right – that part is correct). When viewed with Firefox and IE7, the sidebar is in the correct position – so I’m not sure what is causing the issue.
Obviously I’m going to have to comb through the code for the body and sidebar sections to really understand what is happening. Strange that it renders correctly in the beta version of IE7 and not in IE6.
IE7 however has a different issue. the top banner is displayed while the page is being rendered, then it disappears when the page is just about completely loaded.
Now I can hear all the Firefox users saying “so, what’s the problem” – and I’d like to leave it at that. However, I do like to have everyting working as it should and I’ll have to admit my main browser (still) is IE, though I’ll admit to using FF on an alarmingly increasing rate.
Anyway – just wanted to let you know that I’ll be working on the sidebar issue to correct the problem. 🙂
Blogging, Old Media & Change
So I’m going to try to not get into the Old Media/New Media thing too much, but I was just reading a post by Kent Newsome over on his blog. In it, he talks about how some “old media” writers/journalists keep predicting the passing of blogging popularity, and how they believe interest in blogging is waning.
Now I understand that over the last several years the buzz about blogging has reached a fever pitch and has some media types running scared. That the trends in readership of information of many types is moving to new media outlets – namely blogs. Tie that in with Richard Edelman’s recent discussion about the Me2 Revolution, and you can see how traditional media types could be concerned that what they have to say is not being heard the way the would like it to be.
Like many industries in our modern age, digital publishing is facing the same comoditization and automation of their product that so many other industries have already experienced. What is hard to see for everyone who goes through this initial phase of change is that the end-product will be better for everyone involved. The writing of all participants will improve, the content of the writing will improve, the thinking behind what we all say will improve, the conversation will improve, etc…
Similarly, look at how the RIAA views digital music as a threat instead of a new distribution model that they could leverage to their benefit (give me $.10/track downloads and a premium “offline” CD-type product option). Or how the traditional telephony companies are running scared at how VoIP is rendering their decades-old voice lines obsolete (don’t worry about content, just sell me the cheapest, fastest internet pipe – do what you do best). What it simply means to these industires, and “old media” alike, is that they need to change. To think anew – come up with a new way to leverage the opportunity in front of them. Realize that the increased competition is worth their effort to change and improve what they currently offer.
Change is a scarry thing – especially when it has the potential to hit the bottom line, but it is also one of the most exciting events that can occur to any industry – how else can anyone improve & expand without going through some sort of change? And how many of us would like a static unchanging world anyway? Change, whether small or large is what keeps us all interested. What keeps us all coming back for more.
RickMahn.com
Cable to compete with Muni WiFi
An article over at The Wireless Report covers some new developments in the Cable vs. municiple wireless “battle”. There are some efforts being pursued by CableLabs (an industry trade group) where they investigate competing in the wireless space.
This is a good thing – the cable industry is taking the correct approach in trying to compete with the new competition rather than continue to lobby against something that is a direct threat to their business model. New competition should always be viewed as a challenge to improve, to become better than before rather than the knee-jerk reaction of protect our market share at all costs kind of mentality.
I encourage the cable industry to keep trying to think further ahead, as well as their competion – it will make the resulting products and services that much more useful and valuable to us consumers.
Via: The Wireless Report
Can you or I be the next free VoIP Provider?
This post over on Om Malik’s blog has me thinking of how simple it has become to start a different spin on practically anything. Take VoIP for example, with open source PBXs like Asterisk anyone could start a new “skype” like service focusing on whatever aspect that they believe to be important to their niche market.
Just thinking of that one possiblility is intriguing in the possibilities of having. For example, a private VoIP system for your social organization like a club, or community. Something that would cater to the unique needs of your group’s requirements.
Another aspect of the open source movement that is now possible, is the ability for anyone to take on the roll of an entrepreneur, building a business using common, high-quality open-source components. The focus of a given business can now be on the services, support, and price instead of the technology underneath.
I have to admit that I’m a big Microsoft fan in most everything that they do, but Om’s article really has gotten me thinking this afternoon. It has opened my eyes to the real possiblilities out there, along with the many high-quality “web 2.0” services that have cropped up lately. From free hosting at Microsoft’s Office Live, to GMail, to free Blogs & Wiki’s, the new business models can be built on standardized blocks and the main thrust of one’s energies can be targeted on your market or audience rather than the parts needed to run the business.
Of course it makes it hard on people like me – I’m a technologist, I’m in the industry for the technology, it is very hard to come up with something new or improved that people will want, or that someone else can do much better.
Still having the opportunities and tools available is a huge improvement over the previous entry-price to startups.
Rough Going…
Sorry for the past 12 hours here – I was finalizing some parts of the site that made RickMahn.com a little messed up. Should all be corrected now – along with the RSS feed through FeedBurner as well. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank-you for your patience.
I hope the leadership of the Republican Party will take his word seriously. Because this is exactly right.
This is very simple: only Americans citizens should be allowed to vote in American elections.
The SAVE America Act is common sense, and we need to pass it now!
I don’t recall you complaining when gas was $5.00 under Biden.
Hypocrisy much?
Please RT!
This Middle Ages bullshit is a cancer on the planet👇👇🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸