All Shows

Show of 2-23-2002

  • eBay in the News
    • Stewart Richardson pulls off largest eBay scam to date
      • Losses may reach 250K
      • Has Figurines sold on eBay for 5 years
      • Has 6,000 rave reviews posted, so he was trusted
      • Held a large auction for many items the first week of January
      • Disappeared with all proceeds
    • Bidding for Segway Human Transporter (HT) reaches $100,000
      • Formerly known as Ginger and IT
      • HT Facts
        • Top Speed 12.5 mph
        • Range: 17 miles
        • Platform height: 8 inches
        • Width: 19 inches
        • Weight: 80 pounds
        • Cost: Initially 8 to 10K
    • Virtual World Grows Real Economy on Ebay
      • EverQuest players create and control characters ? avatars ? within a fantasy world Norrath
      • They can trade using the game?s currency? of ?platinum pieces?
      • Edward Castronova found ?platinum pieces? for sale on eBay
        • He computed that Norrath has a gross national product per capita of $2,266.
        • If Norrath were a country, it would be the 77th most wealthy, just behind Russia
        • Players earn an average of $3.42 per hour
  • Gaming News
    • What is EverQuest?
      • Real 3D, massively parallel multiplayer role-playing game
      • 2,000 players per server.
      • Up to 60,000 online at any time
      • Over 400,000 active users
      • 13 races, 14 classes, 40 skills, 5 continents, powerful deities
      • Very addictive (I read about one EverQuest divorce)
    • Hand Disorder linked to Vibrating Console Controllers
      • 15-year old boy played Sony Playstation for 7 hours a day
      • Hands became painful and swollen
      • Condition cannot be reversed and reappears when he hold anything that vibrates, like a drill
      • Recommend 15 minute break each hour
  • Napster Finally Get a Break in Court
    • Napster contended that label sought to impose anti-competitive licensing terms with online rivals, even as they created joint ventures among themselves
    • Napster calls such actions copyright misuse
    • Federal judge ordered that such practices should be scrutinized further
  • IBM is gaining share of server market
  • LCD Flatpanel monitors may go up in price
    • Raw material shortage
    • Motherglass shortage expected to last until 2003
  • Looking Back at CISCO $2 Billion Blunder
    • Supply chain screw up caused May 2001 $2.2 billion write-down
    • Cisco over produced equipment
    • Multitiered supply chaing did not repond to reduction in demand
    • Many customers ordered multiple times during the shortage.
  • After Global Crossing, Is There Any Hope for Broadband
    • Thanks Dan Benson of the Internet Society for this article
    • Low broadband demand is documented by FCC
    • Fewer than 10% of households have signed up for broadband despite the fact that it is available to 81 million homes via cable and 51 million homes via phone lines. Only 6% of businesses have signed up.
    • Consumers not willing to shell out $45 per month
    • Not needed for email?.dialup works just fine
    • Not enough broadband content on the net.
  • Google eyes IPO
    • Hires insider Sheryl Sandberg to drum up new business
    • Harvard MBA, former World Bank Economist, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers
  • Safeway Expanding Net services
    • Now offering home delivery to 50 neighborhoods in Sacramento area
    • Already testing home delivery in San Francisco area
    • Competing with online rival Albertson
    • Filling the void after WebVan and Kosmo folded and
    • Peapod moved out.
  • Microsoft and Apple alliance
    • Five years ago MS invested $150 in Apple, released MS Office for Apple, and Apple dropped with patent infringement lawsuit
    • Agreement ends this summers
    • Apple opposed the recent settlement to put MS Software in schools and courts agreed.
    • But MS just released Office X, hailed by some as the best version of MS Office
    • While they dance again? Wait and see.
  • Security in the News
  • Exeskeloton Program at DARPA
    • Remember the PowerLoader from the movie Aliens where Leutienant Ellen Ripley battled the monster while encased in the Powerloader?
    • It is about to become real in DARPA execskeloton program
    • Contracts with
      • University of California at Berkeley
      • Oak Ridge National Labs
      • SARCOS Research Corporation
      • Milleninum Jet
  • Monkey Moves Cursor by Thoughts Alone
    • CalTech research project by Daniella Meeker
    • Placed sensitive electrodes in the posterior perietal cortex of a rhesus monkey and trained it to play a simple video game.
    • Used MRI to placed sensors
    • Trained the monkey to think about moving arm and looked for signals
  • Inmates Help with Electronic Recyling
    • Rebuild or Recycle old computers
    • Good training and produces many computers to give away
    • US Penitentiary in Atwater, California
  • Selected Emails
    • Duplicate Palm Entries
      • This is a common problem when using online synchronization on a palm and a computer
      • Take a look a UnDupe to remove duplicate entries
    • Improper Program Deletion
      • Just delete the extra icons on the desktop and remove the entries from the Start Menu. In most cases this will be just fine.
      • However, if you want to completely get rid of the application, use Norton CleanSweep 2002 to eliminate orphan files and remove unneeded registry entries
    • Selecting New Operating System for small office
      • Use Windows XP for the machines with speeds greater than 350Mhz.
      • Stay with 98 for the slower machines.
      • Make certain to ask about the licensing programs. You can save real money if you need five or more licenses.
  • Stratford News
    • Next Start: March 16th for all programs
    • Campuses at both Woodbridge and Falls Church
    • Scholarship Day is Saturday, March 9th Woodbridge 10 AM