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 contributions
Search 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