Niall Kennedy's weblog

Niall Kennedy's Weblog

Page 64 of 72, covering posts published in October 2003.

PublicRadioFan.com

PublicRadioFan.com indexes public radio programs' audio feeds….

The new car senses

Car manufacturers are starting to pay attention to fine tuning the roar of an engine or the smell of its interior, according to today's New York Times….

Aeron wheelchair

There is now an Aeron wheelchair….

RFID tracking school children

Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, New York has started using radio frequency ID tags to scan their students. If this had happened to me while I was in school I would have invented a way around it so it should be interesting to see how it all turns out. """ The charter school's 422 students wear small plastic cards around their necks that have their photograph, name and grade printed on them, and include an embedded RFID chip. As the children enter the school, they approach a kiosk where a reader activates the chip's signal and displays their photograph. The…

Google considers online IPO auction

Google considers online IPO auction "Google executives, led by George Reyes, chief financial officer, met a number of leading investment bankers last week to sound them out about an IPO. The meetings marked the start of a process that is likely to lead to a stock market listing by about March next year, a person familiar with the IPO said."…

In Berlin they have porno karaoke

In Berlin some clubs have started showing porn and allowing patrons to add their own soundtrack. Fun idea!…

Acer : Tablet PC fees hard to swallow

Acer President Wang Chen-tang recently commented about why Acer's Tablet PCs account for only 5% or its notebook sales. It's due to the price of the OS. "The cost of a tablet PC is $200 (7,000 Taiwan dollars) more than its notebook counterpart. Of this difference, the hardware cost is only between $30 and $60. The majority of the difference comes from the OS license"…

eWeek : Microsoft Opens Windows Source Code to Its MVPs

eWeek : Microsoft Opens Windows Source Code to Its MVPs Microsoft is giving its Most Valued Professionals access to the more than 100 million aggregate lines of Windows source code….

Computerworld: Free hot spots pay dividends

An article in Computerworld finds that free hot spots pay dividends. For Schlotzsky's Delis "Wi-Fi service brings in more than $100,000 per year per outlet in return for an investment of about $8,000 per restaurant for wireless infrastructure." That's for a T1 connection too!…

Microsoft Office 2003

Microsoft Office 2003 is now available. I have already ordered my upgrades and I eagerly await the chance to upgrade and develop….

Career Anchors

What is your career anchor?…

Knowledge @ Wharton : A View From the Developing World

Knowledge @ Wharton article details some specifics about outsourcing to developing nations: specifically India. "According to a NASSCOM-Hewitt Associates survey, the average salary of a call center worker in India is $180 a month. This is five times the country's per capita income. For a fresh college graduate, a call center job pays about 2.5 times as much as other job openings."…

Sexual identity hard wired into our genes

A recent article in Molecular Brain Research claims to identify 54 genes in mice that determine our sexual differences. The study discounts the idea of homosexuality or transgendered persons facing a choice and favors gene determination….

RollingStone.com: News: Carlton Goes Dark on New LP

According to Rolling Stone Vanessa Carlton's new album will be "goth." ""I'm twenty-three now, and I think I'm more evolved, more secure in who I am. I'm beyond the diary-confessional chapter of my writing." Should be interesting at least. I saw Vanessa play 3 times last year and I was always pumped to see her play Rolling Stones' Paint It Black….

BBCi – The Big Read

BBCi – The Big Read. Which is the best loved book in Britain?…

FeedDemon 1.0 RC1

The first release candidate of FeedDemon is now available….

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad OIC speech

There has been a lot of press today over a speech given by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at the opening of the tenth session of the Islamic Summit Conference. The Prime Minister's office has the full speech available online. While the world media has focused on Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's comments regarding the Jews, in a larger context his speech is about the power of the Islamic world today and the abilities each of them know they are capable of. He uses the issue of Palestine as an world problem to unify his group and something that can be solved…

First iTunes album purchase

I just purchased Sarah McLachlan's Live Acoustic EP 2003 from the iTunes Store. It is an iTunes exclusive, but not listed anywhere on her discography….