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August 24, 2006

N. Y. Times's 'river of news'; Google as everybody's free Internet, phone and TV provider?; PC Mag readers rate hardware, service

I'm very busy with work and family -- just a few quick links:

News River, wider than a mile...: : Bookmark the N.Y. Times's river of news. It's a continuous feed of just headline links, as they publish. Dave Winer wanted a feed that worked in mobile devices, so he wrote the code for this, and offered it to the Times and BBC, according to Paid Content:

Winer Navigates RSS River Of News On Mobile Devices; Starts With NYT, BBC

It works really well as a no-frills index to the now, as well. If you're local: Would you like to read projo.com this way?

'Basic societal change': John C. Dvorak in P.C. Magazine, on Google's installation of free wi-fi for a California town: The Google Ploy—A Revolution?

Google actually has lit up Mountain View. Anyone driving through the town can pull off the road and do e-mail for free. It cost Google a million dollars to pull this stunt off, but that's chicken feed for Google—a fact we cannot overlook....

But here is the killer. What if suddenly—from this experiment—Google discovers that localized service combined with localized search and local advertising (specific to the target community, aka Mountain View) can not only pay for the system but provide a new profit center? What happens if that turns out to be an unintended consequence? If the numbers work out, we're talking about a new gold rush. And Google wouldn't be the only player. Microsoft would have to do this, and so would Ask and Yahoo!...

...And since Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and a lot of other players have already toyed with VoIP, what would it take to give people free phone service along with free Internet access? After that—and this is very possible with 802.11n—there is no reason Google couldn't offer an IPTV package and cut out the cable companies, too.

Of course access should be free. Don't lock the door to the marketplace and electronic town square.

Just looking: PC Magazine's 19th Annual Service and Reliability Survey. See what tech stuff others recommend.

Catch up: Video of last night's Chafee-Laffey debate is on the projo.com cover. (It's a javascript link, so I have to send you to a page with the script on it.)

The last of the four debates is Saturday (that's a change -- originally it was to be tonight) at 7:30 p.m on WJAR Channel 10 .

Dylan is in Pawtucket tonight, playing the PawSox's McCoy stadium. Check out the Decades of Dylan photos.

Grigory Perelman declines award, as expected, turning down a million bucks:

“He was very polite and cordial, and open and direct,” Dr. Ball (Sir John M. Ball, president of the International Mathematical Union, said in an interview.

But he was also adamant. “The reasons center around his feeling of isolation from the mathematical community,” Dr. Ball said of Dr. Perelman’s refusal, “and in consequence his not wanting to be a figurehead for it or wanting to represent it.”

Background is here.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:28 AM | Permalink