Ryan Greene: Technology of Today

It's Later

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 13:42:41 GMT

OK, I foresee a time when you walk around with about 10K Gigs of storage on your person. You have your medical records, all your music, entertainment, personal correspondence, contacts, EVERYTHING with you ALWAYS.

Too much, you say, why would I want to lug all that around with me? I'd need it to be secure so that no one could rip my data from me. There is a simple solution. You have a Personal Area Network (PAN). There are three to five layers to it, as follows:

WAN - Wide Area Network - This is the equivalent of today's cellular networks, wide coverage, easily/always connected, relatively small amounts of data/information being sent around. Information that you don't really mind others hearing/accessing can go over this, and normal privacy rules apply. Communication is point to point, and you have control over who you send to at any given time. It would be slow to upstream/downstream large media files over this, but because you have such a large amount of data on you at all times, it would rearely be needed.
NAN - Near Area Network - This is a 100 meter range around you, for accessing media intensive applications and light duty file sharing, everything from music to actual binaries and programs, good for when you are going to be in one spot or on one network for a period of time. I can forsee a time when food courts in shopping malls offer time on this type of network. Usage could be metered based off of the dollar value of items you have bought. Around the holidays you could really rack up some time on the account. New home developments might also offer it as a part of the cost of your home.
CAN - Car Area Network - You have a massive amount of storage in your car, a couple of drives that live in the trunk probably. They hold songs, movies, TV shows, maps and directions. Mount an antenna on the car itself and it can serve as a mobile access point for the passengers.
LOS - Line of Sight - I can see you, and now we can send lots of data very quickly. The closer we are, the more secure we become, as it gets harder and harder for someone on the fringe of out LOS to read off the edge of our signal.
TAN - Touch Area Network - This is when I make contact with someone (or something), as a means of sharing data. No more PINs, simply touch the person and share very small bits of data, or passwords that allow for much larger amounts of data to be sentvia any of the above technologies.

I hate to tase about this, but I have to run, I will finish all these thoughts and wrap them up into a cohesive whole soon, I promise.

Reference:

wide spectrum laser networking

Wed, 12 Feb 2003 14:43:49 GMT

Hmmm, Let's take Jenny's toy, and put it together with John's toy, and see if we can get them to talk to each other eh? Now, where would you keep that fat drive in your house? In case of fire, you want it to be something that you can grab and run with (Kids/pets/photos, right folks?) So that leaves out the basement. In the hall closet, grab it on your way out the door? Now you have all your photos, TV shows, and any movies that you've archived in one handy unit. A great way to take them with you on the road, and as a means of remote storage.

More later tonight, I have to run to work.

Lucky Guys...

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 13:58:10 GMT

Brighthand has a review of the new Sony PEG-NZ90 with a built in 2 megapixel camera. It looks to be pretty sweet, though the battery life is lacking. C'mon fuel cell batteries!

Sony's flagship PDA.

Extensive review over at Brighthand of Sony's new flagship PDA, the PEG-NZ90, which comes out on the 16th and is the first handheld to boast an integrated two megapixel digital camera. At $800, the NZ90 isn't cheap, but for your money you get built-in Bluetooth, an MP3 player, an integrated keyboard, and a 320x480 pixel 16-bit color display.
Read Amazon

[Gizmodo]

Some thoughts on RF tags

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 11:56:33 GMT

I was thinking about RF tags and possible uses for them that are not too intrusive. FOr vendors, you want to be able to restock someone that you have a contract with quickly and easily, so that they never run out and need to call you for an emergency delivery. For users/business people, you want your items to work and always be there when you need them.

Solution: For disposable items and inventory, embed the RF tag in the wrapper of a disposable single serve item (a roll of toilet paper, pens, notepads) so that when the wrapper is taken out with the trash, the item no longer shows up in inventory.

But how will you do inventory? Servers are getting smaller and smaller, as are wireless solutions. Place multiple stations throughout your facility so that the inventory system simply consists of playing "Marco Polo" with the tags, you could do an inventory every shift change. Compare/contrast that with the numbers you get from the running totals of your picks/restocks and you've got a great means of tracking theft.

Wed, 29 Jan 2003 11:41:38 GMT

I love Gizmodo, It's a great looking site AD it has killer tech info as well. Check this out:

Add 7.1 channel surround sound to your laptop.

The sound on laptops is notoriously atrocious, but there's a new box from M-Audio called the Sonica Theater that lets you add 7.1 channel, 24-bit/96KHz digital surround sound to any laptop.
Read
[Gizmodo]

Tue, 21 Jan 2003 12:00:42 GMT

I was stuck in traffic yesterday morning, and I was thinking some of these same thoughts.

Autoblogging anyone?? -> What is autoblogging?

WiFi car-stereos

WiFi car-stereos. A new generation of WiFi-equipped in-car MP3 players is shipping. The possibilities are endless -- imagine a traffic-jam-area file-sharing/streaming net, or synching up with your home PC while your car is in the garage! Link Discuss (via WiFi News) [Boing Boing Blog]

See the USA with a Wi-Fi array

See the USA with a Wi-Fi array: I'm trying to hard to fit the jingle to the story, but automotive Wi-Fi may take off, with units in the car talking to mobile components to transfer music, misc. Imagine having a gateway in your car that provides an Car Area Network (CAN). Imagine bridging the CAN to GSM/GPRS as needed. Imagine bridging the CAN to a hot spot location when you're near one. Imagine that you can do that today with...a Macintosh running OS X or a Windows XP box with the right hoo-ha. But in-car, permanent components would be better. [via TechDirt]

[80211b News]

The WiFi Caravan

The Wifi Caravan is a mobile wireless network comprised of participating vehicles within range of each other using 802.11 networking equipment. A variety of local resources will be present on the network and forwarding to the Internet will be handled transparently when we have an established uplink.

[via TechDirt]

[Audioblog/Mobileblogging News]

Specifically, I had my laptop in my backpack next to me, and I was bemoaning the fact that I had no mechanism to play the songs in it without having to open it up, perch it on the seat next to me, and then listen to it via the little tiny speakers that came with said laptop. I was also mad that there was road construction that started AFTER rush hour, so none of the radio stations were reporting the 1/2 hour delay that it was causing me. lastly, since I was crawling along at 3 MPH, I could have been making follow up calls for my job as a Realtor, if I could have gotten to my contact list that is on the laptop.

My ideal solution? I dock my laptop into the car somehow, preferably via a wireless connection. The stereo can then access the songs on the laptop, and if the car is stopped, a heads up display appears on my windshield that allows me to navigate files and folders as well as running programs. An in car version of the MS Smart Display might do the trick. The controls are all built into the rim of the steering wheel, including a teeny joystick for my mouse. The HUD brightness could drop off rapidly as your speed increased, for safety, but that would make it hard to see what song it is you are playing.

So, how do I keep from running down the battery in my laptop? Simple, the bottom of my docking station is a power pad. That way, I can keep it topped off and still use it. If there is enough space, I could drop in my cell phone and PDA as well, and via bluetooth, make calls and possibly schedule appointments while I'm at it.

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 03:36:38 GMT

Fuel Cells: Japan's Carmakers Are Flooring It [Business Week: Technology]

It's good to see that this is being adopted, but at the same time, the economy of scale issue is a preoblem due to the high cost of some of the current catalysts, specifically platinum.

Personally, I like the idea of the hybrid, with a smooth undercarriage that creates a nice aerodymic profile for the vehicle. That way you have the oomph you need, combined with a vehicle that gets great mileage.

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 13:03:20 GMT

I've been debating about getting a wireless solution for my apartment for a while now, but given that Amazon can get me hooked up with an 802.11g setup for about $200.00 that will let me use my laptop in the living room, I think that it's time I spent the cash.

It is also good to see that the price of 802.11g products is dropping, I wonder if this is a side effect of Apple's new Airport hitting the market?

Linksys 802.11g wireless router on sale at Amazon.

Currently the number one selling item on Amazon is the new 802.11g wireless router from Linksys, which is on sale for just $133.99. 802.11g, as you may recall, is five times faster than 802.11b (54 versus 11Mbps) but is still backwards compatible with its slower cousin.
Amazon

[Gizmodo]

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:44:34 GMT

SanDisk Adds Wi-Fi to Flash Memory Cards.

Wow. The PAN (Personal Area Network) is coming. I can see pro photographers using this with a5 MegaPixel digital camera so that they can shoot and shoot with no need to ever reload the camera (except for batteries, that is).

PC World - Compact Flash and Secure Digital cards will offer built-in wireless connectivity and storage for devices with only one slot.
CES: SanDisk integrates Wi-Fi, memory into single SD card InfoWorld
SanDisk Wireless SD Card Has Memory allNetDevices
CW360.com - and 5 related » [Google Technology News]

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:39:42 GMT

SonicBlue Says Development of New Devices on Track Yahoo News

It seems that SonicBlue is actually holding off on releasing some products and features due to copyright concerns. This is a huge shame as I'd love to see just what this innovative company could do if left unfettered.

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:36:38 GMT

TiVo Gets Networked.

This is pretty sweet, although you will not be able to share or archive shows to your PC.

PC World - Owners of TiVo's Series 2 Digital Video Recorders will soon be able to add their unit to a home network, so they can share content among PCs, Macs, and other networked TiVo units in the home.
TiVo pitches DVRs as home network hub The Register
TiVo Enters Home-Networking Space Yahoo News
allNetDevices - Hollywood Reporter - and 9 related » [Google Technology News]

Welcome to Long Beach, Here's Your Free 802.11 Connection

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:01:20 GMT

Long beach is planning on providing local free 802.11 connections in the area surrounding their convention district.

80211b News -> Municipalities plan free wireless access: The New York Times's John Markoff reports that several municipalities are looking into deploying free wireless networks as glue for businesses and people. Long Beach, Calif., is one of the first larger ciites, but more are on the way. Tim Pozar, a microwave and Wi-Fi expert, also announces in the article the availability this week of a strong signal from San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco. [80211b News]

[Audioblog/Mobileblogging News]

Man Alive This Makes me Angry

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 03:26:21 GMT

It seems that they are at it again...

Entertainment Cartel Gearing Up to Ban Time-Shifting TV. New York Times: Studios Using Digital Armor to Fight Piracy. Lying dormant in virtually every digital cable box in America... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

"We need to put in speed bumps to keep people honest," said Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, which is lobbying federal regulators to require many devices to incorporate technology that prevents consumers from sending digital media files over the Internet. "If we don't, our future is bleak."

Oddly, Jack, the courts found it to be legal for end users to tape programs to watch later, so why do we need speed bumps?

Sometimes I wonder if his middle name is Ass... Regardless, dig this next bit of info:

Gary Merson, who reviews equipment for consumer electronics magazines, found last week that his state-of-the-art high-definition television system would not display several channels, including HBO and WCBS. Instead a message flashed on the $8,000 screen: "Notice — Copy restrictions prevent the viewing of this program in the high definition format. For more information see the owner's manual for your satellite receiver."

DirecTV, Mr. Merson's satellite provider, said no one was available to comment on the company's policy on copy restrictions last week. But Mr. Merson said he was told by a customer service representative that the message was intended for television studios that want to activate anti-piracy measures.

If DirecTV detects that a customer's equipment would allow certain shows to be transmitted over the Internet, the viewer is informed that the material can be seen only in standard format. In Mr. Merson's case, the message appears to have been a technical glitch, which did not make him any happier.

"These copy-protection schemes are a bill of goods," said Mr. Merson, who wrote about the experience in his Internet newsletter, The HDTV Insider. "The program providers get the higher profits and we get stuff that doesn't work right."

I imagine I'd be pretty steamed if I had just spent $8000 on my TV and found out that I couldn't watch the shows I wanted to because of a glitch. How would that make you feel?

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 16:02:23 GMT

This is nice. Especially the resolution (1920 x 1080), which would allow you to use it as a computer monitor as well as to watch TV. Price has not been announced at this time, but I i8magine that it will knock a few grand off the cost of current (smalller) LCD screens once it ships.

InfoWorld: Samsung to unveil 54 inch high-definition LCD at CES. [Hack the Planet] [lawrence's notebook]

As an aside, I spent new years day watching the Court TV NYPD Blue 3rd season marathon. What a great show. During the commercial breaks I flipped t to ESPN2's World's Strongest Man marathon. I was in heaven. My wife, on the other hand, was wishing that I had the TV in the bedroom working so that she could watch one of her shows. This brings me to my point, many of the HDTV units that are on the market now have a dual tuner built in that allows you to display two channels side by side. If you can adapt to having two shows on at once, I imagine this could end the disputes over what show to watch, as well as allow one person to watch two shows at the same time.

I better order this soon then

Sat, 21 Dec 2002 02:44:27 GMT

Hollywood targets DVD-copying upstart. The movie industry is training its legal guns on a new target: small start-up 321 Studios, which lets people make copies of their DVDs. [CNET News.com]

Sweet!

Fri, 20 Dec 2002 01:24:02 GMT

SonicBlue is making an 802.11 accessable DVD player, so you can stream your media (photos, movies, possible PVR'd shows) over your wifi connection.

DVD Player as 802.11b Peripheral [Slashdot]

A Means of Bookmarking For Audioblogging?

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:56:52 GMT

If this could be inplemented with regards to audio files (and play the files seamlessly in the order they are included) it would serve as a great means of marking up audio files so that a listener could get to the part of the program that they are interested in, instead of having to listen to the entire stream.

Scripting News -> "With all the talk about outlines these days, perhaps I should rev up the evangelism jets for a couple of ideas from the past, one implemented and one not. The one that's implemented is OPML-based directories, like the directories on Yahoo. We have all the software written, and it's ready to be cloned in PHP, server-side Java, Cold Fusion, you name it. It basically takes an outline, in OPML, and turns it into a browsable hierarchy. It's got a zinger in its design, called inclusion, which is like inclusion in C. In C, you put a #include in a program where you want the contents of another file to appear. Unfortunately the HTML Web doesn't have inclusion (big missed opportunity, imho) but the OPML Web does. It allows the author of a directory to delegate branches of the directory to other people, and the suggestions for new links go the author of the sub-directory. For the reader the connection is seamless. For the author it's a matter of right-clicking on an outline node and entering a URL in a dialog. It's even more decentralized than DMOZ is, and like the Web, is open to many home pages, not just a few. The other outline-related idea that I never got around to implementing, but do know how to implement (I think) is what I called "timeless weblogs". Basically you'd route a weblog post to a section of an OPML directory, as described above, using the element that's been in RSS since 0.92. Then it would appear in a news box on that category, so you'd get persistent links on the left hand side, and new bits that are not permanent, in the news box. As with all these things, if you have an idea, the time may not be right. Maybe it's right now for these ideas. Just a Sunday morning pondering." [Audioblog News: The Next Big Thing]

The PAN is starting up..

Tue, 03 Dec 2002 13:26:47 GMT

Check it out:

The Hopbit. A Bluetooth-enabled 5GB hard drive Toshiba. The Hopbit is about the size of an iPod and can connect wirelessly to Bluetooth-enabled handhelds and digital cameras. It's a great idea. It means you can have access to tons of music, movies, etc on your Palm or Pocket PC while your Hopbit is in your bag or just somewhere nearby. The only problem is, as Jason Dunn over at PocketPCThoughts points out, is that the bandwidth of Bluetooth (just 768 kbps) is just too pitifully small for moving big files around quickly. However that is just enough to stream most audio and video, which is what I suspect a good many people would use the Hopbit for. Only available in Japan in the moment, but hopefully it will hit the US sometime early next year. Read [Via PocketPCThoughts]... [Gizmodo]

So you can now stream from your camera to a local storage drive, so long as you have a bluetooth card. I suppose the next brak will come when we see low priced ($25.00) compact flash bluetooth cards that you can slip into your cameras.

I must buy one

Sat, 23 Nov 2002 16:56:13 GMT

Breathing Fire(wire). The coolest 4-port Firewire Hub on the planet! Firewire Dino is stomping through town and he means business. With piercing red eyes and an open mouth that lights up when plugged in to the Firewire bus, Firewire Dino is as... [Jeremy Zawodny's blog]

Sat, 23 Nov 2002 13:26:44 GMT

Ars Technica had a great article earlier this week on the future of solar cells. Researchers have found that indium nitride is a far better material for the conversion of light to electrical power than previously thought.

The serendipitous discovery means that a single system of alloys incorporating indium, gallium, and nitrogen can convert virtually the full spectrum of sunlight -- from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet -- to electrical current.
"It's as if nature designed this material on purpose to match the solar spectrum," says MSD's Wladek Walukiewicz, who led the collaborators in making the discovery.
What began as a basic research question points to a potential practical application of great value. For if solar cells can be made with this alloy, they promise to be rugged, relatively inexpensive -- and the most efficient ever created.

This is great news, as it should drive down the cost of manufacturing solar cells as well as increasing the efficency of them at the same time.

Dozens of different layers could be stacked to catch photons at all energies, reaching efficiencies better than 70 percent, but too many problems intervene. When crystal lattices differ too much, for example, strain damages the crystals. The most efficient multijunction solar cell yet made -- 30 percent, out of a possible 50 percent efficiency -- has just two layers.

Hmm, I wonder of the same tech that Foveon is using can help in that situation?

Like Father Like Son

Mon, 18 Nov 2002 02:30:39 GMT

Yesterday was my niece's third birthday party. A good time was had by all, and I got to have a conversation with a guy who now owrks where I last did, doing work more on the opublishing than web side, but in the same department. Small world. Regardless, I also go to spend some time talking to my father, who has been touring the country for the better part of the past two years with my stepmother in their motorhome.

Now, Dad is as much of a geek as I am, and in many ways morso, as he had a GPS system for his laptop long before I did, as well as various pagers and other cool devices. I'm just starting to catch up now. All that said, one of the devices that he wants to get/see made is a digital camera that has a built in GPS system. This will let you take a photo of a national park and when you download it, automatically embed the time, date, and location (either as long/lat deg/min/sec compass heading or as a text string [Yellowstone Park, near Old Faithful]) in the photo. I pointed out how this would work with a bluetooth set of tools on a utility belt, and Dad jus smiled at me and said "Yeah, but I'd rather just have the one tool."

Sometimes simple is best I suppose.

It's late, I'm tired, here's a quickie

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 03:14:50 GMT

Smart Objects. You knew something like this was coming sooner or later. At Comdex next week Microsoft is planning to unveil Smart Objects, a whole line of household items like alarm clocks, kitchen appliances, and stereo equipment that can connect to the Internet. In theory this means alarm clocks that can wake you up earlier if there's particulary bad traffic that morning. Read... [Gizmodo]

Also, this article at Gizmodo talks about what Sony is up to. man, do I ever want to work for them, if only to have first access to the altest and greatest toys and gadgets.

This I Could Use.

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 11:58:17 GMT

I'd love to have a monitor that I dragged with me to the living room, allowing me to surf there without the bulk of my laptop, or having to buy a tablet PC.

ViewSonic picks up Microsoft's Smart Display. The monitor company plans to announce details for its first two devices using the software behemoth's Smart Display software, technology intended to extend the reach of PCs. [CNET News.com]

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 12:01:19 GMT

I think I've found what everyone was looking for in an MP3 player. 20 gigs, built in FM tuner to send to your stereo, heck, all the details are here. Thanks Slashdot!

It's all been done...

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 22:19:24 GMT

Sweet.

A Canadian Personal Robot. It's not quite a robot butler, but Canadian company Dr Robot has a new personal robot that can keep an eye on your house, play chess with you, and keep track of your appointments. Set to retail for around a few thousand dollars. Read [Via Slashdot]... [Gizmodo]

Price range: $1500-$3100.