Curse of the Blackberry Pearl
My Blackberry Pearl has started failing on me after only 45 days of use. The external speaker no longer works so the phone does not ring and the speakerphone does not work (nor does playing MP3 files without the headset).
I decided that I would move back to a two device configuration and get a really "good" phone and then carry the BB when I needed access to email (e.g. not when I am out to dinner with my wife). The Nokia N95 was at the top of my list, but with a $800 potential price tag and a release date yet to be determined, I looked elsewhere. One model that quickly rose to the top of my list was the Nokia N81i ("i" meaning Internet Edition). This phone has all the features I am looking for, plus one killer application in that it can use 802.11x networks to make SIP compliant VOIP calls. I am a huge VOIP fan and currently use Vonage, VoicePulse, Skype, iChat and Gizmo for a variety of purposes. My Vonage phone saved me so much money when I traveled to Japan that I invested in a wireless vonage phone. It works well, but is cheaply made and I've found I don't often carry it as it represents yet another device to charge and carry with me. The idea of having SIP compliant VOIP in my primary cell phone has a lot of appeal.
One interesting thing I discovered when I was searching the web for info on the N81i was the Nokia Blogger relations program. It turns out that Nokia sends bloggers phones to evaluate and then aggregates their comments on a central blog. This central blog is an essential resource as it saved me tons of time searching on Google and Technorati. To Nokia's credit they link to both the positive and negative reviews which helped establish instant credibility with me. So Nokia, if you or Andy Abramson are listening, send me some phones and I'll do a review from a heavy-user CEO perspective. Link--->
Wow...what a great presentation!
I don't care what side of the fence you fall on regarding this issue....this presentation by Larry Lessig is worth your time. Link--->
Disruptive technology
I'm not posting this because Saddam is dead. That is important, but being covered elsewhere. What I find interesting is how the presence of a cell phone camera disrupts all of the previously held conceptions of his hanging.
The grainy images are believed to have been filmed on a mobile phone. Unlike on the silent, official film showing a subdued Saddam Hussein, the execution is a charged, angry scene. In it people chant the name of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and tell Saddam Hussein to "go to hell", while the former leader mocks their bravery. Link--->
Living in a science fiction world
Interesting post by Warren Ellis today....
...I share a conviction with Steven Shaviro, whose most recent book was CONNECTED, that we live in a science fictional world. Not the one everyone expected, of course — no jetpacks. But good science fiction, challenging science fiction, is never about the future we expect. Sf has never been about predicting the future. It’s been about laying out a roadmap of possibilities, one dark street at a time, and applying that direction to the present condition... Link--->
If you don't get it, you don't get it.
Unabomber's Secret Code Cracked
A decade after the feds tracked him down, CBS 5 Investigates has uncovered exclusive new information about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, including a secret code he developed, and the confessions revealed as the code is broken. Link--->
The Year of Computing (more) Dangerously
Washington Post has a good article about computer security trends for 2006. I'm not going to link to the Washington Post though. I want you to read the version with the Bruce Sterling commentary....
The result is that even if law enforcement or security experts manage to take down the infected PC responsible for relaying traffic to one of the scam sites, the effect of that takedown is only temporary, as the attackers can simply substitute another computer they have gained control over. Such scams make it far more difficult for security experts to find the true location of phishing servers. (((I was actually sitting in an audience when Donn Parker predicted that things like this would be possible someday. I was so impressed that I put it in the last chapter of my book HACKER CRACKDOWN. There's a whole list of the guy's dark imaginings in there. They all came true and then some.))) Link--->