I Am Borg?

For those of you who aren't Start Trek fans, the Borg are an alien race that is part human, part machine. They live in a collective and are incapable of independent thought.

That being said, I'm starting to worry that we are on our way to becoming Borg. The latest tell-tale is the Bluetooth headsets so many of us are wearing. I bought mine because a) my phone is a bit clunky to hold to my ear, and b) I use my phone in the car a lot.

At first I thought it was cool, but the more I see people walking around seemingly talking to themselves I start to worry. These things are maybe not so cool. Especially to the uninitiated. Not only do I hate it when people come up and talk to me when I'm on the phone while using a Bluetooth headset, I hate it when I have to point to my ear and silently mouth "I'm on the phone." Some people still don't get it and continue to chatter away at you, then give you a funny look when you say something totally out of context for the discussion they think you're having with them.

So who's the rude one? The person talking on an invisible phone or the person trying to talk to the person on an invisible phone? I've got to admit it's most probably the person on the invisible phone. And that person is often me. But I always try to let anyone I'm with know I'm taking (or making) a call, just as I would if I were using a regular phone. If the person I'm with still feels the urge to carry on a conversation, I think the shoe's on the other foot.

Whichever side of the fence you're on, more and more people are plugging these devices into their ears. They're light, and some are even stylish (in a geeky sort of way). Mine's so light I sometimes forget to take it off sometimes, which really tickles my wife. Everywhere you go you see people having conversations with the air. And I think the ease of answering calls with these nifty little ear buds makes people forget just where they are and who's around them. In other words, people carrying on conversations about things you don't know or don't care about while you're trying to carry on with your business. Rude?

You've got to admit there's a lot of potential for humor in these situations. I'm surprised there hasn't been more attention given this phenomenon by comics. But it really isn't all that funny to me. I try to turn mine off and put in my pocket or at least take it off my ear when I'm in meetings or in a situation where I wouldn't normally answer a call. Is that proper?

Share your thoughts on Bluetooth etiquette or your funny story about a conversation or situation you've run into.

Really Fast Internet

I remember when I went from dial-up to DSL. I was simply amazed. Then I upgraded from DSL to cable. Once again I was amazed. Now I get to play with customer networks connected to fiber and T-1. Very cool stuff. Now it's all about streaming media and downloading songs. I can download a song in seconds and an entire album in minutes. Who could need more speed? I had gone from Kbps (thousands of bits per second) to Mbps (millions of bits per second).

Well, I read an article in the paper a couple of weeks ago about Internet2. It's being developed by academics for academics (and government and big businesses). At least for now. It has a theoretical limit of 10 Gbps (that's 10 billion bits per second). You could download a full-length movie in about 30 seconds. This Internet 2 parallels the existing Internet and was largely completed this past August.

But wait, there's more. There is now a 100 Gbps backbone. Downloading The Matrix just went from a butt-dragging 30 seconds to about three seconds. It's all done with fiber optics. Multiple strands using multiple colors allowing much more data to be sent simultaneously over the same cable.

With more and more content on the Internet, more applications becoming Internet-based, the need for consumer bandwidth is going to keep growing. With TVoIP (high-quality streaming video over the Internet) just over the horizon, I don't think it will be too long before average folks like you and me are going to start looking back at Mega bit speeds as quaint. Where do you see the Internet going as the speeds increase expopnentially?

Surprise! New and Improved!

I just read an article. More of a rant, really, by Stephen Manes of PC World in their November 2007 issue. In this article he goes off on the recent change Comcast made to their DVR software. The I-Guide software on the Motorola DVR's is actually worse than the old Microsoft-based programming guide. I didn't think that was possible. The system is often unresponsive. If, in your frustration, you press multiple buttons you will likely find all of them responding at once several seconds (or more) later.

Comcast gave us a little warning - a vague note that the change to I-Guide would occur sometime in the fall timeframe. Oneday we came home to watch a show and POOF there it was. Our saved shows were pretty much gone, scheduled shows erased and new ones (Jerry Springer and Tales From the Crypt) scheduled daily ad infinitum. Which only served to reinforce the weaknesses of their system. Trying to see what is scheduled and when involves scrolling through the daily schedules looking for shows that are or are not scheduled. Not very helpful - especially with some of the casble stations that re-run shows at unpredictable times.

Speaking of re-runs, they did keep one feature: recording shows that you've recorded previously, even when it's clearly marked as a repeat.

The Comcast forum is full of complaints about this no-choice "upgrade" that we got without any opportunity to weigh in. And it would certainly appear no one at Comcast tried it before it was deployed. The scary thing is that so many of our programs and products connect to the Internet and install updates with little or no input from us (think AOL).

Have you been surprised by an unwanted or unexpected update? Tell us all about it here.

BlackBerries Everywhere

I was just reading that RIM (Research In Motion), maker of the infamous BlackBerry phone, email reader, etc. all-in-one device just broke the 10-million subscriber mark in the second quarter of this year. And the company's prediction is that sales will continue to be brisk for the rest of the year. Given there are plenty of other similar devices such as the Treo, the Q, the Dash and others, that means that there are a lot of people checking their email or browsing their favorite Web sites from virtually anywhere.

I'm sorry, but that scares me. That means people walking - or driving - down the street might be so absorbed in their virtual world that they might not see that car, that tree, or you. It was bad enough when you had to worry about the idiot talking on the phone while trying to drink coffee and drive a car. Now you have to wonder if the person next to you is trying to read (or even worse write) an email.

And let's not forget that person at the end of the conference room table staring at the tiny screen of their handheld device, thumbs flying across the miniature keyboard. Instead of being a part of the meeting, he or she is now off at some other place and totally missing the point of what you're saying. Or maybe that message is to one of your competitors. You just don't know. Even if it's just a love letter to a spouse or a quick check of the stock ticker, I think it's just plain rude (although I'll cop to checking mail during the drier parts of a meeting).

So what's your pet peeve about those that choose to be on line all the time?

XP Lives On

There was an announcement earlier this week that Microsoft is going to keep Windows Xp alive - as in still selling it until the end of January 2009. While retailers and manufacturers such as Dell will probably stop selling XP earlier than that, it seems strange to me that the folks in Redmond would be willing to launch what appears to be a vote of no confidence in its long-awaited and highly touted new operating system.

Most companies pull the older version of a product off the shelves when the new product is launched. I can understand that they may want to give the general public a chance to learn and embrace the new product, but it's unheard of (at least to me) for a company to keep offering an older product for more than a year after the new one is released.

Of course, if you read my article in the Snohomish County Business Journal about Vista, you know where I stand on the subject. And I can guarantee you won't find a single copy of Mac OS X Tiger on shelves for a moment after Leopard is released.

What do you think?

Car Prowls Are A Big Deal

The popularity of the latest portable vehicle navigation computers, or GPS (Global Positioning System) units is making these handy units a popular item on a car prowler's shopping list. Certainly the best advice is to simply take the gizmo with you when you leave the car. Unfortunately it's becoming more and more common to find your window broken out if it eve LOOKS like a GPS unit might be hidden somewhere in the car.

Authorities in Florida say Global Positioning Systems have replaced portable compact-disc players and radios as the hot item for thieves, mirroring a nationwide trend. The ownership of these nifty little devices has grown more than 600% over the last four years. They're small and easy to pawn. That makes them great targets for someone looking for quick cash.

The greatest draw for thieves - other than seeing your GPS out in the open - is the indication that you do have such a device that MAY be in the car. I see cars parked with the suction cup mounting bracket stuck to the windshield or cars parked in mall and park and ride lots all over town. What thief would be able to resist the thought that a GPS unit might be hidden in the console or glove compartment?

But even if you unstick the mounting bracket and hide it, there's probably a tell-tale ring where the suction cup was attached. I read in one story that a police department back east gave out more than 1,000 micro-fiber cloths people could use to remove the rings (I've found personally that this doesn't work so well - I keep foil-wrapped eyeglass wipes in my car for this purpose).

The worst thing is that even if you take all these precautions you might still find our window smashed - even in your own driveway (as happened to me) - because there is some tell-tale sign you over looked.

The best bet, in my opinion, is to take as many precautions as possible. Then make sure you have a low comprehensive coverage deductible. You may also get some small satisfaction if your device allows you to lock it with a PIN. At least the thief won't be making any money off your device.

New Blog for Business Topics

I decided that this blog would fill up pretty quickly with business discussions unless I limited myself to talking only about technology. But since I love talking about business and things related to business I decided to start another blog dedicated exclusively to my thoughts (and yours) about running a small business. You can view it here.