Niall Kennedy's weblog, newest first. Page 59 of 72.
Microsoft has set up Xbox Live connections at U.S.O. centers around the United States as well as overseas bases. Not only does this allow for good rest and relaxation time, but Microsoft gains loyal users. Using the same product every day in the helps sell products back home when those troops are on leave. It has helped Jeep and Coke, and should help the Xbox as well….
Economist.com reports on an article in the January 15 edition of Nature. “The robot scientist developed by Ross King of the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, and his colleagues, does everything a flesh-and-blood scientist does?or, rather, it does what philosophers of science say that scientists ought to do. That is, it formulates hypotheses from observations, conducts experiments to test them, and then formulates new hypotheses from the results. And worse, from the point of view of the human researcher, it does so as effectively as a person.”…
New from Takara Co, the company that brought you bowlingual and meowlingual to translate your pets, comes Yumemi Kobo dream workshop. Look at a photo of what you would like to dream about, record a story line, and the device helps to direct your dream….
Today is Personal Firewall Day. Visit Microsoft’s Protect site to make sure you are doing everything you can on your PC. I use Norton AntiVirus 2004 on my computers. If you plan on using tax software this season there are often deals combining tax preparation software and antivirus solutions. Resolve to keep your computer and others free up-to-date and clean!…
Intel announced the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG network connection, a 802.11g compatible part for their Centrino bundle. It supports WiFi Protected Access (WPA) and can be updated via firmware to handle future standards such as 802.11i….
Paul Falstad has some sweet math and physics Java applets. Demonstrate the kinetic theory of gases, a 3-D quantum harmonic oscillator, and lots more!…
Eric Rudder, Senior VP of Developer and Platform Evangelism at Microsoft, will be speaking at the Commonwealth Club of California on Thursday, February 5 at 6:00 P.M. $10 for members, $18 for non-members….
Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe writes about the underworld of The Sims Online, complete with mafia justice and underage brothels….
TunesAtWork is a specialized server for Mac OS X allowing you to stream your iTunes music collection to the world. Great idea and it is free….
The Philips eXp5371 is a MP3-CD player with a LCD screen capable of playing Java games downloaded to the device via a USB connector. the eXp5371 can store up to five Java games at a time, in addition to the built-in games on the unit….
Topix.net is a targeted news site using artifical intelligence algorithms to read stories from over 2,000 sources and classify them into 30,000 US cities and towns, 5,500 public company and industry verticals, 48,000 celebrities and musicians, 1,500 sports teams and personalities and more….
The Chicago Cubs will receive 17% of the gross revenue from rooftop businesses surrounding Wrigley Field, according to a report on ESPN.com. An extra $2 million a year for the club, or 2.5% of last season’s opening day payroll of $80 million….
RipDigital will take your entire CD collection and send you back DVD-ROMs full of 224kbs MP3s. $129 for 100 CDs, postage included. You can also have all of your music placed onto an external hard drive or music player….
Bobby night has added advertising to his coaches’ sweaters and Adidas now has larger logos on their shirt collars. ESPN examines the new trend of advertising placed on coaches, and which coaches may benefit the most….
TiVo is coming out with software in the fall which will allow you to move your recorded shows from your TiVo to a PC. A hardware key is required to view the files. You will also be able to program your TiVo from a cell phone or PDA. I am guessing that this software is written in J2ME….
David Pogue of the NY Times reviews MSN Direct. “[T]he Microsoft Smart Watch is, to put it bluntly, for gadget freaks. It’s for early adopters, guys who love “because it’s there” technology, people whose pupils dilate at the mention of the word “wireless.” Others are likely to give these watches the backs of their hands – and not in the way Microsoft is hoping.”…
Microsoft officially released their MSN Direct watch line after some delays. The current incarnation of the device delivers news, weather, stock quotes, calendar, and instant message capabilities as part of the subscription fee of $9.95 a month or $59 a year. The $150 watch will still tell the time and sync itself to local time servers without service activation, but you lose all of the personalization and data. There are tens of choices of watch faces (ways of displaying time and date) to choose from, and an option to receive a new face monthly is available. You must dock your…
According to NY Times analysis the Sugar Bowl had 16 minutes and 28 seconds of live action, or 7.3% of the 3 hour and 43 minute game time. In the NFL the Colts vs. Broncos had 12 minutes and 18 seconds of action in a three hour broadcast. (6.8% of the game was action, not counting replays) Soccer gives you close to 90 minutes of action in a 120 minute broadcast….
Intel plans to invest $200 million in companies that are creating digital home entertainment technology….
NY Times article covers low cost carriers adding frills to their flights. Simpsons episodes, gift baskets, Kate Spade uniforms, all to spruce up economy class….
Apex to roll out game console with a 1.2 gigahertz Via C3 processor, and an Apex DVD drive for about $300. Interesting idea for competing with the consoles, until PS3 and Xbox 2 take it all away again….
Caption: “Japanese businessmen hold a service aimed at fending off viruses and glitches for their computers in a purification ceremony conducted by a Shinto priest according to Shinto rituals at Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo January 6 2004.” Where are the Macs in this picture? Are they pure of virii and glitches?…
NY Times reviews a new Encyclopedia of Economic History….
According to Nielsen//NetRatings (PDF) Windows Media Player is the top non-browser based Internet application for the month of November. 48 million unique users. AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger are surprisingly close at 28.3 million and 27 million respectively. Why is Yahoo! the top instant messaging program in the workplace? It installs without administrative privileges and easily bypasses the corporate firewall. Why does MSN Messenger have 37% market share? According to WebSideStory Windows XP is used by about 35% of Web users worldwide. 42% of Google users in October and November 2003 used Windows XP. Windows XP just happens to…
FedEx announced the purchase of Kinko’s for $2.4 billion in cash. This move seemed inevitable if FedEx is to compete with UPS and its UPS Store footprint after the Mail Boxes Etc. purchase in 2001….