The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.
Bruce Sterling is heralding the Washington Post's recent interview with author William Gibson as one of the best ever and I would have to agree. If you haven't read his latest novel Spook Country, I highly recommend it. I am still trying to sort out what the implications are now that our top cyberpunk authors are writing about the recent past.
That's the problem with his game, he says. "If I had gone to Ace Books in 1981 and pitched a novel set in a world with a sexually contagious disease that destroys the human immune system and that is raging across most of the world -- particularly badly in Africa -- they might have said, 'Not bad. A little toasty. That's kind of interesting.'
"But I'd say -- ' But wait! Also, the internal combustion engine and everything else we've been doing that forces carbon into the atmosphere has thrown the climate out of whack with possibly terminal and catastrophic results.' And they'd say, 'You've already got this thing you call AIDS. Let's not --'...
"And I'd say, ' But wait! Islamic terrorists from the Middle East have hijacked airplanes and flown them into the World Trade Center.' Not only would they not go for it, they probably would have called security." Link--->
The Apple iPhone Early Adopter Tax
Is apparently $200.00. Reaction amongst the Apple fan base has not been pleasant. Thanks Apple!
Another Node in the Network
Haven't spent the better part of 3 years working to expand the TEW Network, it is nice to see another strong node firm up despite DHS's best effort to kill the initiative off.
The St. Louis Terrorism Early Warning Group (TEW) is a public safety partnership consisting of law enforcement, fire, public health, emergency management and private sector agencies. As a regional intelligence fusion center, The TEW provides a multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary approach to the collection, analysis and dissemination of information. Additionally, the St. Louis TEW works with government and private organizations to identify and protect the region’s critical infrastructure and key resources through the implementation of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. This public/private partnership is committed to sharing and protecting information in order to enhance the near and long term preparedness capabilities of the St. Louis area for disasters both natural and deliberate. Link--->
The Future of the Workplace: No Office, Headquarters in Cyberspace
Increasingly true it would seem:
Imagine a work world with no commute, no corporate headquarters and perhaps not even an office in the physical world at all.
For Bob Flavin, a computer scientist at IBM; Janet Hoffman, an executive at a management consulting firm; and Joseph Jaffe, a marketing entrepreneur, the future is already here. Link--->
Home Studio Diagram
For those asking, here is a diagram showing how my home studio is set up (Download the PDF to zoom - homestudio.pdf)
Overview:
iMac 24" - Runs all web apps for audio input (Skype, iTunes, GarageBand, etc.) and encodes ShoutCast stream via NiceCast
Stanton Mixer receives the following inputs:
Heil PR40 Mic, Sirius Radio, XM Radio, Pioneer CD deck, iMac Audio
Stanton Mixer outputs to:
Marantz audio recorder, Stanton headphones, Apple HiFi (serving as studio monitor), and Rolls PreAmp
Rolls PreAmp - Amplifies signal into iMac line in
M-Audio Keyboard - MIDI controls for GarageBand
Drobo - USB storage
Once You Go Mac
I've finally eliminate the last remaining Windows machines in my office. As of this week, my audio PCs (three of them) have been replaced with a single iMac that is handling the encoding of my ShoutCast stream will all audio looped through my Stanton mixer. Now maybe I can do those podcasts that Tanji and Bazerghi keep asking about.
Grand Central Screws Up
Doesn't this defeat the purpose of a unified number? When you sign up it is to have one number for life that you can put on business cards, etc. Now they are killing mine...
We are sorry to inform you that your GrandCentral number (703) 552-xxxx will need to be changed as of August 25, 2007. As part of our beta testing, we are continually evaluating different solutions and partners to create the best quality service possible. Unfortunately, a very small number of users have been assigned numbers that are not performing to our quality standards and are being replaced with higher quality services. To ease the transition to a new number, we have already added (703) 942-xxxx as a replacement number to your account. Both of these numbers will ring your GrandCentral account until the 25th of August, at which point only the (703) 942-xxxx number will remain active. Your login and everything else regarding your account will remain the same, including all your settings, voicemails, and contacts. If you have any questions or would like to request a different number, please reply to this email and we'll do our best to accomodate you.
Update: I sent an email to GrandCentral expressing my frustration. I was impressed when one of the founders of the company replied:
Matt,
I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. I certainly understand your frustration and share it, but this is partly out of our control. The carrier who provides us with your number is stopping servicing this number and none of the other carriers we use can port it, otherwise we would have done it. We're working on making sure this does not happen again in the future.
Thanks for your understanding and i hope we can keep you as a customer.
Vincent
I am my Avatar...
Interesting article in the NYT about an academic that proposes that we are living in a computer simulation. Interestingly, I wrote a paper looking at that same concept in 1993 (email me if you want a copy). I took it one step further and argued that such a reality, or lack thereof, was perfectly supported by several Eastern philosophies.
But now it seems quite possible. In fact, if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation. Link--->
Why the iPhone Fails as an International Business Phone
I am currently on travel in Amman, Jordan. Prior to my departure, I contacted AT&T to see if they had an international data roaming plan for the iPhone similar to the one I have had for Blackberry devices for several years. With my Blackberry devices, I paid a flat fee for unlimited international data on my device (no tethering, etc). However, AT&T offers no unlimited international data plan for the iPhone. Instead, I was offered a data plan that caps out at 20meg per month and then charges for incremental data after that.
After three days of use only checking my mail (no web browsing, no stock or weather checking) I had reached the 20meg mark which resulted in me turning of the email checking on the phone and eliminating one of the key functions of the phone for the remaining 7 days of my stay.
As an business user that travels internationally, I can't recommend the iPhone over the Blackberry to those that require international email on their phone. AT&T needs to release an unlimited data plan or at least implement reasonable rates for incremental data used internationally so customers don't wind up like this guy.
