Lego's big gamble

Like many little boys, I grew up playing with Lego.  I remained a big fan and currently have a Lego robot that I enjoy programming.  Lego's next step is apparently expanding into the video game arena.  Lego has developed a massively multiplayer game called Lego Universe.  Lego wants a piece of the $20 billion children's game market and has made an estimate $20 million investment in Lego Universe.  Whether Lego can convert the popularity of their building block and robotics toys into a computer game remains to be seen.   To learn more: http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gaming/building-the-lego-universe-online

The cost of bad publicity

The sales of the iPad have been phenomenal.  I wonder if publicity from the recent lawsuit will dent those sales.  The plaintiffs are claiming that the iPad overheats so quickly that it cannot be used in warm weather or direct sunlight.  One of my colleagues has a iPad and only has good things to say about it.  I am skeptical about the claims and worry that the publicity hype may exceed the reality.  Technology sales are so dependent on the hype these days that reality gets left behind

Commercials on YouTube

I just bought a new hardened flash drive.  The manufacturer's Website pointed me to YouTube to watch their commercial for the product.  While I was watching the drive being driven over by a truck and beaten with a hammer I realized what a stroke of genius this was.  The company completely transferred the overhead of serving their video to YouTube.  Instead of paying the bandwidth overhead, they let someone else do it.  I wonder what percentage of YouTube content is commercial advertising?

This is a vacation?

The Washington Post (July 4, 2010) recently ran an article on how we take our technology on vacation with us.  Many hotels and resorts provide video game consoles along with television and Internet connections in every room.  Some hotels have switched to wireless connections because so many guests needed more than one connection per room.  Americans are now posting their vacation activities on social networking sites and cannot conceive of not constantly using their phones.  My memories of going to the cottage with the family are as outdated as my old Commodore 64 computer.

Legal Settlements

dell just paid an enormous settlement to end a legal situation about their chip selection several years ago.  http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/technology/dell_sec/?iref=NS1

Clean out your car

Many people who sell their cars are unknowingly leaving behind their personal data.  Cars with Bluetooth synchronization or GPS computers need to have their memory purged or the new owner can glean a great deal of information about the previous owner.

Contrasting Lifestyles

I just spent a couple of days at Shippensburg State University.  The school is located near a Mennonite community.  It was quite a contrast to drive past a community on horseback and in horse-drawn buggies to get my diet soda to drink while working on my laptop.  It is possible to live without laptops and the Internet but I am not certain that I want to :)