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I was sitting outside two days ago drinking a coffee and waiting for a friend. A young lady sat down next to me. And then a moment later a very confused looking family ("you're not from around here, are you?") dragging lots of luggage stopped in front of us asking if we knew where the 4 points Sheraton Hotel was located. I just shook my head, but the woman next to me offered to call and find out. Who says New Yorkers aren't helpful?

Anyway, she calls information, gets connected, but the number is busy. At this point I'm still doubtful, but I click to the browser on my Treo 600, point it at google, and go. About 10 seconds later I have the address (luckily I got the address right on the google results page without having to click through.) And I got it *before* she was able to get her voice call through!

After they left she looked at my phone and asked, "Is that the Treo? Mine is on order, but it's taking forever to get here."

:-)
- jim 5-12-2004 7:16 pm [link] [add a comment]

I've never been very interested in video games, but there is no doubt they have been a major driver of computing technology. And now more than ever. Sony recently unveiling it's much rumored PlayStation Portable (PSP) at the E3 2004 conference. What a beautiful device! (Full sized picture here. In action - and multicolored - here.)

It's not going to be out for quite some time (after 1/1/2005 in the U.S.,) but it really looks worth the wait. Technical details are here, but the highlights include: 16:9 wide screen display, 32 megs of RAM, a 333 mhz processor (very similar to what is in the PS2 right now!), and a custom-created 1.8 GB UMD optical disc drive (it is Sony afterall, so of course there is proprietary storage.) In other words, games on this thing are going to be much closer to top of the line home console games than to anything we've seen in a portable.

But it gets more interesting from there. The PSP ships with 802.11b (WiFi) wireless networking built in. It can connect in client server mode (like with your broadband wireless basestation, so you could play games against people anywhere on the internet,) or in peer to peer mode, so you can strike up a game with everybody on your subway car.

And then there are the accessories, said to include a camera, a GPS unit, and a keyboard. These give you a sense that Sony has a lot in mind for this device. Sure it plays games, but it also plays music, and movies, and can be a wireless web cam. I'm sure voice over IP is in the cards too.

Hopefully they can price it right.
- jim 5-12-2004 6:54 pm [link] [8 comments]

I've been trying to tighten the focus on this page. Lately I have been feeling that the technology I've been waiting for since the very early 90's is finally at hand. Ubiquitous, wireless, pocket sized computers with the power of traditional desktops but the ease of use of traditional consumer electronics. In other words the "next step" for computing. I'm working toward a larger write up, but I haven't been able to produce it yet. Still, my hope is that the links on this page all point to specific pieces of this one puzzle.
- jim 5-12-2004 6:34 pm [link] [2 comments]

Boeing will introduce in flight wifi internet access on Monday on a non stop flight from Munich to L.A.. Cost will be $30 for the entire flight, or $10 for 30 minutes. Boeing hopes to have this service, called Connexion, on 300 planes by 2006. Singapore Airlines has plans to also deploy the system, but other major U.S. carriers are still dragging their feet.
- jim 5-12-2004 6:20 pm [link] [12 comments]

Very informative article on the near future of camera phones:

Component and handset makers are gearing up to ship mass volumes of camera phones worldwide in hopes of sparking new markets in mobile imaging. They say they can resolve looming design hurdles for 2-megapixel and higher-resolution images as well as real-time video...

...Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., for one, wants "to push quickly toward the 5-megapixel camera phone and push digital still cameras to become something only for professionals. That's our ideal"...

...Next-generation lenses are also incorporating better autofocus, digital zoom and higher-resolution video capabilities. The enhancements already have doubled the bill of materials for a CMOS sensor module, from $5.50 at the VGA level to $10.10 for a megapixel unit, because of more expensive lenses and manufacturing costs. Samsung hopes to produce a 2-Mpixel CMOS module with MPEG-4 video for less than $20 by year's end....

"At Epson, we are working on 5-Mpixel graphics engines for 2005.... We believe that when the 2- to 5-Mpixel camera phones become mainstream, they will replace a huge percentage of digital still cameras," Lyons said. "In 2005 to 2006, we're looking at 2-Mpixel phones going mainstream"....

"We will support videoconferencing over circuit-switched and IP networks, but our long-term strategy is video-over-IP," he [Nokia senior VP Juha Putkiranta] said. "And carriers agree, because they see the efficiency benefits."
Moving fast.

The article also expresses some worry about the networks being robust enough for lots of 2+ MP image file transfers. I still think the solution is to have the phone save two copies of every picture, one at full resolution and one at some fraction. The full resolution shots stay on the phone and then sync to a paired computer over bluetooth whenever in range. The reduced versions can be sent right from the phone over the network. This is better all around. 2 megs is too big. Even if I could I wouldn't want to fill someone's mail box up with 2 meg images. Just seems rude. (But, again, I want those full res shots in case I get one I want to keep.) My guess is this would be trivial to implement, since a DSP that can manipulate jpegs is already in the phone!
- jim 5-11-2004 11:26 pm [link] [add a comment]

Interesting. Looks like redacted information can be (often) recovered by counting pixels:

The technology employed is, at first sight, nothing revolutionary. The two researchers measured the inclination of the text, deformed at the time of its digital reproduction - the inclination was an angle of 0.52°.

They then used a character recognition software to determine the width of the Arial-font text which provides the number of letters per unit of length. Simple recourse to an English dictionary then helped establish a list of possible words.

- jim 5-11-2004 7:59 pm [link] [3 comments]

Incredibly long technical post on the history (and possible futures) of software development on the Mac. Short version: "The value is in the frameworks, not Obj-C."
- jim 5-11-2004 7:37 pm [link] [add a comment]

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