Subtitle: On the dark psychology of token scarcity, the $200 plan that still isn’t enough, and why Anthropic’s usage bar is the most stressful thing on the internet

It’s 11:47 a.m. on a Saturday and I am staring at a message in my beloved terminal that has become the most familiar sentence in my life:

While artists argue about whether algorithms can create “real” music, somewhere right now a producer is learning to use AI the way J Dilla used the MPC 3000 - and that person will define the next decade of sound. The industry already settled the authenticity debate without you: Warner and Universal turned billion-dollar lawsuits into licensing deals, the Beatles won a Grammy for an AI-assisted song, and Apple just embedded machine learning directly into Logic Pro 12. The philosophical question is over. The practical question is everything: who masters this instrument first, and what will they make that nobody has imagined yet? Every revolutionary music technology births a genius who uses it differently than everyone else - Dilla turned off quantization and put his MPC in the Smithsonian, Bambaataa made “Planet Rock” with an 808, Q-Tip sampled jazz and invented A Tribe Called Quest’s entire sonic language. The tool never makes the art, but the right tool in the right hands at the right moment can birth an entirely new form of expression. AI is the most powerful musical instrument ever created. The only question that matters is who picks it up.

These guys have an entire library of old Apple ][ programs online that run within the browser. They use an ActiveX control that’s an Apple ][gs virtual machine emulator running within the IE… Sweet!

[with Virtual Apple]…”you can now relive, play, and enjoy old Apple 2 games and other disks through the internet and web browser. This web site uses an ActiveX application and Apple IIgs emulator to automatically download and play most Apple 2 disk images online. To play a game, just select the disk from the menu and click on Yes to automatically download the ActiveX emulator and disk images. (Note: Requires Internet Explorer and Windows) Don’t worry, there isn’t any spyware to worry about, and it’s completely free!” (via Boing Boing)

I said it last year around this time and the year before too. Now Ev is saying it and of course Anil had said it way before anyone, but PLEASE let us make sure we rid the world of the bloody fax machine!

Please! Let’s make 2004 the year we retire the wretched fax machine!

This is despite some of the valid points Paul Rubens of the BBC NEWS makes in his article Fax – the technology that refuses to die (via Gizmodo)

“The fax machine is an ancient piece of office equipment – it was invented in its earliest form by one Alexander Bain in 1843. It transmits the contents of pieces of paper, but these days the chances are high that anything on paper started as an electronic document. So why print it out and fax it when you can e-mail the digital version?”

IO2 Technology has demonstrated a 42″ prototype of what they are calling “Heliodisplay- Interactive Free-Space Display“, which is essentially display without a “screen” …

“The Heliodisplay projects full color streaming video into free space (i.e. air). It is plug-and-play compatible with most video sources (TV, DVD, computer, etc.). These non-holographic images can be fully interactive, allowing a hand or finger to select, navigate and manipulate — as if it were a virtual touch screen.”

I was reminded of this great special report in InfoWorld about IT on the cheap via Lockergnome

“From refurbished hardware and eBay deals to do-it-yourself setups, everything you need to know about buying equipment on the cheap.”

It’s certainly worth a read or bookmark.

It’s always good to keep HOWTO guides like this around.

“Killed a hard drive without backing up? This guide helps you recover the data ” (link via Lockergnome)

Of course you can never find them when you need’em because the system you bookmarked the guide is the one that’s dead. So I’ll just post it here :-)

An early release of the CXBX XBox Emulator looks very promising — Although no games play just yet.
(via Lockergnome)

Detailed write up of swapping logic boards on a dead hard drive to recover data. (via Slashdot)

Great quote by Don Park:

Using open source tools and libraries is like playing with mud.

But I’ll add; as a kid, I always enjoyed playing in the mud :-)

Jim Gray of Microsoft Research has an interesting paper on the economic viability of distributed computing.

Some quotes:

“Put the computation near the data. The recurrent theme of this analysis is that “On Demand” computing is only economical for very CPU-intensive (100,000 instructions per byte or a CPU-day per gigabyte of network traffic) applications.”

“If telecom prices drop faster than Moore’s law … [snip] … it could completely alter the arguments here. But there is no obvious sign of that occurring.”

I’m certainly feeling nostalgic with all the retro talk lately about early experiences with computing technology.

Given the reflective talk, it’s not surprising to see a mention of some of my favorite computing magazines like
Softside,
Antic and of course Creative Computing

In fact, I still have a few issues of Creative Computing and Softside from the late 70’s early 80’s. Perhaps when I post my “Newly Digital” experiences, I’ll include pictures of these zines.

Feeling old? Check out some “cool” Gadgets from 1983.

It’s interesting to note how long it took many of these to catch on en mass and then to apply that logic to some products that we are just starting to see in the consumer markets. (e.g. PVRs, WiFi and even Blogging in the relm of social acceptance)

Just in case you have too much free-time while driving, it might be nice to get in a quick game and a movie or two, with this.

“PSX will offer a DVD recorder, a 120GB hard drive, a TV tuner, an Ethernet port, a USB 2.0 port and a Memory Stick slot.” (via CNet)

Add in a TiVi-like service and I’m sold!

Some good quotes from Kevin Werbach article on CNet titled, “Anticipating a post-Web, post-PC world”

“If you want to know where you are, you don’t study a map to determine where you’re going. You trace back the steps from where you’ve been. Over the past several years, “where we’ve been” in the technology world has changed. While we were all focused on the dot-com bubble and the subsequent bust, “yesterday” shifted. It used to be the PC revolution and client-server computing in the enterprise; now it’s the Web.”

What’s next? Cop cars that run on powdered sugar?

From an
article in the NY Times: “He will then start the vehicle on regular
diesel, and after a few minutes, when the vegetable oil becomes more viscous
in the heater, a manual switch will direct it to the diesel engine. From
there, the only detectable difference will be the faint odor of French
fries, and a noticeable lack of diesel stench.” (Thanks for the link John)

Interesting article in eWeek about IT business
analyst:

“…an IT business analyst acts as a liaison between non-IT
employees who have a business problem to solve and the IT department, which
is charged with finding the solution.”

Of course this is a self-serving comment from me, but I certainly agree that
this is a key position in the enterprise.

(Thanks Ted for sending me the link [where’s your blog ;-])

In a follow-up to my post about the Evolution of interfaces I found this article in ExtremeTech (via BoingBoing) about a vertical keyboard that helps prevent Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI):

“… the vertical placement of the keyboard allows the user to type while keeping the forearms in a neutral position (with the thumbs up). With a standard flat keyboard, in order to type the hands are rotated so that the palms are parallel with the floor (this is called a “pronated” position). In the pronated position, the bones in the forearm twist with the wrist and scissor. This scissoring of the bones causes extra pressure to be forced upon the Carpal Tunnel.”

Perfect or those times when you need to send in your laptop for repair or need to recover data from you laptop hard drive. (via 0xDECAFBAD)

Wired news article about Using Visible Light for Data Transfer.

“Ultimately this technology will make it possible for households in small communities to reach an enormous amount of information, at the speed of light, of course.”

More interesting discussions about this on Slashdot (Thanks for the links John)

Patrick from TechTV tries the “Switch”

“The biggest problem with switching isn’t the Mac or OS X. It’s when you have to deal with the Windows-centric parts of the world. If you can avoid them (most folks don’t need compatibility with odd applications in the office), you could be all set right out of the box with your Mac.”

The Slashdot thread about the article is also interesting

Yoz reviews Microsoft’s Three Degrees Beta, which is a new IM/chat/P2P/MP3 player designed for and apparently by teens.

Great quote: “As you’d expect, it’s all wrapped up in the kind of huge lurid skinnable UI that will have Alan Cooper wandering around the Redmond campus with a rifle.” (link via Ben)

Wired News: “The human gene pool should be incapable of producing enough idiots to financially support the vast number of spammers whose scat litters so many inboxes. ”

“…most spammers make money selling e-mail addresses to other spammers, who then sell those same addresses to others. It’s like the legendary snake eating its own tail. “

According to this Cnet article, I may someday soon be able to download my dreams and review them later (TiVo style) <grin /> (via Slashdot)

Wei-Meng Lee and Brian Jepson over @ O’Reilly detail how to convert your Laptop into a Tablet PC (cheaply!)

Today Doc posts about retiring an old “1980-vintage Panafax PX-100 fax machine”.

However, I have a bigger request. When will we rid the planet of fax machines entirely? I mean, technically do they really have a purpose these days?

It seems that the workflow for faxing is ridiculously wasteful for most fax transmissions.

Basically, I print something just so I can fax it. Why waste the paper? When all I really need to do is email or “remote print” the document.

Quote pulled from a Slashdot thread about Engineering
Careers Short-Circuiting:”The computer pond is shrinking, but
that’s because it’s been overstocked for quite a while. The talented,
smart, crafty, dedicated fish will always be in demand, the ones who are
simply looking for a paycheck will be walking an unemployment line.”

I’m not sure if this MPEG Movie is a real XBox commercial, but either way it’s just plain bizarre.

UPDATE: Well, I guess this is old news, because the commerical was banned in the UK back in June.

Oh man! It would be such a coup to route all my telemarketing calls through MIT’s new AgoraPhone

Sigh … Thanks to R-Studio, I was able to recover a corrupted disk partition on my laptop. It didn’t hurt that I had a recent back up too.

From CNET: “Information technology professionals, once rewarded with fat salaries and enticing stock options, are having a tough time finding work, and a new study shows little relief ahead.”

Seems to conflict with this keynote speech at Comdex last week … sigh …

From CNET: “Using complex mathematical models, neural networks, historical patterns and an eye toward current events, Halla–with a dose of Vegas showmanship–predicted in a keynote speech at Comdex Fall 2002 on Tuesday that the tech industry will be at the apex of a wild growth swing on June 21, 2003, primarily driven by embedding radio and semiconductors into a wide variety of items.” … I’ll believe it when we’re there.

Interesting Slashdot thread about downloading the human mind … I can never remember my dreams, and I’ve always wanted to be able to download them so I can review them later — kind of like a Tivo for the mind!

Looks like Mitch Kapor is up to something again: “The software is being designed to securely handle personal e-mail, calendars, contacts and other such data in new ways, and to make it simple to collaborate and share information with others without having to run powerful, expensive server computers.” [more here]

Wow … IBM’s ‘Millipede’ Project: “Store the equivalent of 25 DVDs on a surface the size of a postage stamp”

Something for when the trails are too wet to ride … “Building a Home Theater PC”

DAMN! This is so true … My room was exactly the same (including the Atari 800!) and the author must have been in a near-by ‘hood’ because those prefixes look awfully familiar …

“Back in the day, phone prefixes mattered. Flat rate local calls meant the boards in your local zone were free — not phree, which was different. I had a list of them posted on my wall, for a while, but soon enough I never really needed it. I knew my zone. 992, 667; 665; 464 — they were my ‘hood.”

Fun for the entire family …
http://www.audiovisualizers.com/madlab/lcd_proj.htm

Ban Donuts!

Ok, this is my kind of PDA …
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/04/17/modular.computing.ap/

Interesting … Sentient Computing Project: “What could we do if computer programs could see a model of the world? By acting within the world, we would be interacting with programs via the model. It would seem to us as though the whole world were a user interface."

“A full-size fully functional virtual keyboard that can be projected and touched on any surface is shown by Siemens at CeBIT”

Funny! “Here’s how WaterNet works — We’ve developed a unique client-side nozzle (CSN), which functions just like a conventional modem. It connects an ordinary PC to a regular household water faucet, providing an always-on Internet connection.”

“what woman couldn’t resist a nice terminal server built into a toaster oven?” [more here]

So cool it gives me heartburn …“If you can eat a big can of stew, you can make a high performance antenna” [more here]

i always wished there was a search engine-like system to help me find my keys. now it seems like Woz’s new company might be able to pull it off using inexpensive GPS … Satellite Start-Up for Apple Co-Founder

Corporate spending on technology is expected to inch ahead 3 percent in 2002, Merrill Lynch said, as companies refocus their priorities amid ever-tightening budgets and a heightened emphasis on security.

From: Merrill sees 3 percent IT spending spur – Tech News – CNET.com

NY Times article talks about how “the current confluence of crisis and technology appears to be prompting a reassessment of old thinking about the way big organizations should organize people.”

for example, “Procter & Gamble aims to use alternative workplace arrangements to save $300 million annually in reduced real estate costs and higher productivity …”

and it’s comforting to know that our skills are sill “marketable” :-)

“Failed dot-commers are moving into the online porn business”
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2094687,00.html

i’d like to believe this is true: “…venture capitalists say for the first time since January they expect the technology investing climate to stabilize and set the stage for more investment activity”
From: VCs: Tech-investing gloom to clear – Tech News – CNET.com

will there be any consumer focused broadband providers left?
“Excite@Home and its accountants said Monday that the company may not be
able to continue operations, especially if the Nasdaq Stock Market delists
its shares.”
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-6928152.html?tag=mn_hd

no shit … “According to a paper released last month by the School of
Information Management and Systems at the University of California at
Berkeley, the regional Bell operating companies … have maintained
‘unreasonable delays’ in providing D.S.L. connections to Internet service
providers while charging wholesale prices that are ‘unjustifiably high.’”
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/06/technology/06DSL.html

From Doc Searls BuzzPhraser ™

hey … i think i know this guy … found on Slashdot: jfruhlinger writes: “The San Francisco Chronicle ran this story about the very first laptop, and the fact that it’s still in use by non-hobbyists. It’s biggest selling point is apparently its indestructable nature.”

found on Geeknews: “Stephen Chou …a Princeton University electrical engineer has created CDs that can concentrate data 800 times more efficiently than current discs.” [more here]

from CNN “Memory prices drop by 85 percent”

From: InternetWeek: “What will separate the winners from the losers going forward will be the integration of this buffet. Which company will be able to connect a company’s travel and entertainment application with HR? And what about CRM with general ledger?”

ya know you want one of these … too bad you can’t use it during a concert encore ;-)

try this one while driving … “British mobile phone developer iFone is planning to put versions of classic Atari computer games on future mobile phones.”

From: BBC News | SCI/TECH | Back to the future for Atari games

an interesting link i found on slashdot about a new technology that utilizes the flicker of flurescent bulbs to create a LAN.

bizarre … “A US company has produced a gadget that reacts to audio signals embedded in TV programmes and tells your PC to surf over to webpages related to that show.”

From: BBC News | SCI/TECH | From goggle box to chatterbox

“The entertainment industry is learning new tricks from the Web that could dramatically reduce costs and recast a widely used Net animation technology as a significant offline production tool.”

i’ll be on the lookout for “The Martoon Channel” on my cable system soon!

Then help fight “The Big Casino” with Your Mom!

an interesting article at Infoworld about how P2P will be used in the enterprise. there is also a sidebar, "Client or server? Peers at last" by Ray Ozzie of GrooveNetworks

“Putting p-to-p to use in enterprises means blending it with client/server networks”

“A recently released study from Gartner concluded that … by 2003 30 percent of corporations will have at least experimented with Data Centered p-to-p applications”

i have to admit, as a happy user of ofoto, i like this deal. maybe now i’ll be able to pickup my digital pictures at the local kodak shop…

“Kodak.com will be the corporate site and Ofoto.com will be the provider of the services on all of Kodak’s online properties” …

From: Kodak snaps up online photo site – Tech News – CNET.com

ted sent me this: Are cable access fees headed up?

“After remaining virtually unchanged for the past several years, the cost of monthly Internet access via high-speed cable modems could be headed higher. Millions of cable-based Internet customers have grown accustomed to paying about $40 monthly for access. But that fee could become just a fond memory for two recent developments: Leading provider Excite@Home is under extreme pressure to raise cash, and the competition from the DSL (digital subscriber line) industry has already started to raise prices.”

sorry john “@Home, the nation’s largest provider of high-speed Internet service over cable lines, said Tuesday that it needs to raise $75 million to $80 million by the end of June to stay afloat, and that it will report lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue next week…”

Rhythms looks for a way out …

but without the mess … “In the game being released this spring by a start-up called It’s Alive, players will track and shoot each other with their cell phones in a kind of high-tech paint ball.

it doesn’t look like the NorthPoint / AT&T DSL debacle is getting any better!

more fallout from Northpoint’s bankruptcy … “Some of Northpoint’s larger ISP customers, like Telocity Inc., are in the process of switching to other wholesale carriers. But the uncertainty is leading some ISPs with smaller DSL operations to get out of the business.”

From: Quicken.com NewsCenter

I’m not sure what this is, but aparently Adam Curry is trying to create his own version of MTV with the Personal Television Transceiver: The FreedomController

Build a community wireless network! A mention of it on GeekNews led me to some interesting “open source-ish” projects where by groups of people are connecting their SoHo WANs together to create P2P wireless backbones. Sweet!

eek … time to find a new DSL provider: AT&T Acquires Assets of NorthPoint Communications

from the Economist.com “Rumours are circulating of a superconductor that works at room temperature”

sweet! … “A Swedish company says it’s created the first P2P software for wireless. The Bluetooth-based software aims to let a roomful of people swap files with no strings attached.”

it’s both! check out the Uproar Wireless Phone/MP3 Player

$70 to broadcast your mp3s from your desktop to your home stereo sounds like a good deal to me … [more here]

i want one of these … Kerbango!

from dave … Steve johnson talks about ’ swarm logic ’ and the next wave of publishing.

interesting … Macromedia announced Tuesday a $360 million merger with Allaire

from slashdot: jon katz’s second in a series of essays on Open Media Take Two: The Sensemakers
some interesting quotes:
“Sensemaking — organizing and transmitting data via the distributed architecture of the Net — is the big idea behind the rise of Open Media.”
“Connecting information consumers with information may become one of the defining elements of successful media in the 21st Century.”
“…help people keep up with the information most relevant to their interests”

TAZ Servers and the Rewebber Network Enabling Anonymous Publishing on the World Wide Web by Ian Goldberg and David Wagner

The Eternity Service

looks like wireless access and handheld devices dominate PC Expo this year. umm, maybe they should think about changing the name of the show … for example, PC Week just realized that PC isn’t “PC” anymore :-)

kevin kelly has released his book Out of Control to the web … i’ve only briefly looked at it, but the chapters on Bees do it: distributed governance and The collective intelligence of a mob seem very relevant.