eBay is Toy Industry Barometer
What is popular on eBay today, will be a toy tomorrow eBay has become a bellwether for behavior
willingness to pay popular trends
Start your own eBay business Find Out Who is Making Polical Contributions
Opensecrets.org catalogs all reported polical contributionsSearch by zipcode, donor, candidate, interest area, and more…. Easy to use and very revealing
Microsoft Bought Off Other Remaining States
Nine States and District of Columbia sued Seven States and District of Columbia accepted settlement Two states (West Virginia and Massachusetts) did not Microsoft offered sweet deal to those accepting
MS would cover all legal fees Provide additional pot of money to enforce settlement
California (which has financed most of appeal) agreed
Robotic for Kids (and for Dads)
Lego Mindstorms
Lego Robotics Inventions System 2.0 ($189.00) Lego Ultimate Accessory Kit ($58.00)
Mindstorms Books
10 Cool Lego Mindstorms Projects, Syngress Press, ($29.00) Programming LEGO? Mindstorms? with Java, Syngress Press ($29.00)
Robot Store — our favorite
UPS (Brown) Uses Both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
Bar Code reader (worn like ring) send data to Wi-Fi radio via Bluetooth Wi-Fi radio (worn on belt) connects to central computer System currently being tested in four package-sorting centers No interference reported
Online Sales Soaring
$6.2B in sales for November Up 22 percent from a year ago 40% of shoppers said price was the key reason
Wi-Fi Sales Continue to Soar
$2 Billion in 2002 Public hot spots wave now supported by Intel, IBM, and AT&T
MS Internet Explorer Security Hole
Version 5.5 and 6 can be exploited Patch available Termed critical by Microsoft (belatedly) Permits hacker to take over computer, alter data
IT Career Trends
Web Applications and e-Business Networking and Security Distributed Computing Long Term Health on Sector
SPAM Not a Problem for Business
Businesses receive substantially less SPAM than personal email accounts Usage pattern differences are the key Personal email addresses are used in ways that facilitate harvesting
discussion groups contests mailing lists personals
A SPAM filled email account probably indicated surfing on the job
Mailbag Stratford News
Orphans Party last weekend (Stratford, ACF, and Epicurians Club) Winter Graduation Held This Morning Next Start January 6th