WirelessDoc

This week: Python, Cobbler, Rocks and RNA

Where I'm going this week:

Tomorrow: New York Linux Users Group (NYLUG) Python Workshop

Wednesday: NYLUG General mtg--Subhendu Ghosh on the Cobbler Provisioning System, and Robert Rusinko on Using Rocks to build Linux Clusters.

Thursday & Friday: From RNA to Humans--two full days of speakers looking at evolution from the point of view of molecular biology at Rockefeller University. This I'll cover on my other blog, Lexicillin QD.

"For immediate release" e-mail filter

I forget where I read it, but I followed the tip that suggested you create a filter for your e-mail so that if the body contains the standard press release phrase "For immediate release," it goes into a hidden folder.

Tonight I looked at the contents of this folder, and it sure was scary. Plenty of devices and services guaranteed to save patients' lives and and the hospitals' money. One even claimed that it would "prevent deaths in hospitals."

Wouldn't it be great if a company could say that their product was so good that they didn't have to spend money on PR?

Quick links - general business news

From The Economist, "Everywhere and nowhere: social networking will become a ubiquitous feature of online life. That does not mean it is a business."

Video interview of Mike McCue on the Mobile-Device Market: McCue, founder of the Tellme Network (now a subsidiary of Microsoft), talks about speech recognition technology and challenges to expansion in the U.S. mobile-device market. To point out the need for speech recognition, McCue talks about the iPhone: "It takes six steps to change the song you're listening to."

Palm Still Loves Businesses

Amid all the talk of BlackBerrys and how Apple is turning its iPhone more towards businesses, one of the former leading smartphone players has been relatively quiet: Palm. On Thursday, the maker of the Treo smartphones said it’s still in the enterprise smartphone game.

From WSJ:

Palm Inc. swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss on declining revenue despite strong sales of its new low-cost Centro smart phone.

HTC names Google phone 'Dream'

FierceWireless is speculating that: "the handset makers and carriers involved in Google's Open Handset Alliance are probably going to start releasing launch dates and device specs for Android-powered phones at next week's CTIA Wireless conference."

India set to overtake US as the country with the second largest number of cell phone accounts.

India counted 250.9 million wireless users at the end of February, while the U.S. counted 260.5 million users at that time. China counted 540.5 million users. Despite China's monstrous figure, India has it beat in terms of growth: India added about 8.53 million new subscribers during February, while the U.S. added 2 million new users.

Amazon Laphamized

"FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY"

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist considering the home team won in a tremendous upset.

To understand "Laphamized," see this Wiki entry for Lewis Lapham.

FCC testing “white space devices” for possible low-cost, ubiquitous broadband connectivity

According to the DeviceGuru:

The unoccupied radio spectrum between broadcast TV channels may soon become a source of low-cost, ubiquitous broadband connectivity. Earlier this month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission began Phase II testing of prototype “white space devices” (WSDs), to determine whether they can operate without interfering with the wireless devices commonly used in homes, offices, and public locations.

In the current round of tests, prototype WSDs submitted by Adaptrum, Microsoft, Motorola, and Philips, will be field-tested to evaluate their performance under real world conditions. This phase of the tests is expected to last between two and three months.

Discussion on Slashdot.

Ipowerweb hosting service is offline?

A phone call gives me a recorded phone message about "network issues."

This takes my Wireless-Doc.com and Lexicillin.com Web sites offline, but I can't find any mention of this on the Web yet. I did find this report by Ethan Zuckerman of malware being distributed through this hosting service.

Moving: too busy to blog

See you on the other side.

Very viral: Microsoft designs iPod box video

The minimalist design with good function typifies the Apple brand strategy.

It works.

Other handheld manufacturers take note.

Technorati: iPod; Wikipedia: iPod

Apple Store 5th Ave NYC

When I got there about 5:30pm, I had to wait in line for 15 minutes to enter. I made it for the very last drawing for a macbook. They did 24 drawings each hour. It's spacious enough to try out the products, and enough help to answer questions, but that's it. There's nothing special to see there unless you're in the market for an Apple product. It's not like a book store where you could browse for something new while you're sipping a latte.

I thought that I'd try out the YouTube.com service. The embedded player is below. This company is supposedly laying out >$1 million/month to host this free service. There's no clear idea on how it will make a profit at this burn rate.

Technorati: Apple Store; Wikipedia: Apple Store

Need a new gadget bag? Bring some beer

If you're here in NYC between June 3rd to the 11th, you'll be able to pick up a variety of Crumpler bags in exchange for a specified quantity and quality of beer.

This is the link to their Beer for Bags program (be prepared for an audio file). If you've never been to their Web site before, you'll see something unlike the usual corporate site with the copyright-free clip art and dry ad copy.

Gizmodo calculates a $30 savings on the Crumpler products.

Technorati: crumpler; Wikipedia: crumpler