Monday, October 10, 2005

Yeah, where’s the talking robot?

Everyone at school says it’ll be a video iPod. Contrarian that I am, and going for the long shot, I’ll say OSX for the PC. Video is too obvious. Even if in time for Christmas.

Hell, just last year it might have leaked. Those were the days…

Bodog has odds on what will be unveiled at Apple’s press conference on October 12th, which has tech geeks all frothy with anticipation. So far, the heavy favorites are a video iPod at 3/2, iPod upgrades at 2/1, and updated versions of Mac and Powerbook at 2/1. Longshot odds go to an OSX for the PC at 9/1, which sadly, we have no idea what that means. Aren’t we at the stage where Apple can make a talking robot that does houshold chores? Weren’t those things supposed to be in every home by like 1994?

How about a web-enabled iPod?

UPDATE: Here’s a waffle making-robot… But can it play 99¢ songs?

We all have cameras now

In a room of 4 students here in rural Georgia I asked how many had video cameras in their phones. One did.

Police departments everywhere had better wake up. This was AP but it could have been your phone or mine:

Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations.

How about a law that makes it illegal to interfere with a citizen photographing a newsworthy event?

The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.

Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.

Katrina aside, the department is “long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption.” The video (via CNN) is profoundly disturbing.

Terrance asks: “Maybe it’s me, but is being publicly intoxicated on Bourbon Street really that much of a big deal?”

Federal antispam laws

CNet’s Declan McCullagh argues the feds should do nothing about spam; leave it to the states. His argument is persuasive:

Five spyware-related bills exist in Congress, namely S.1004, H.R.744, H.R.29, S.687, and S.1608.

Three of those--including Rep. Mary Bono’s H.R.29, already approved by the House of Representatives--would explicitly override state laws, even if the state laws are more consumer-friendly than the federal law.

Many are. Last year, Utah enacted an anti-spyware law that was so strict that WhenU sued to block it even before the measure took effect. WhenU is one of those ethically challenged companies that tread the line between adware and spyware--its software is surreptitiously installed when unsuspecting Windows users download file-sharing programs like BearShare. Some 87 percent of WhenU “customers” are unaware where that constant stream of pop-up ads comes from from.

No wonder WhenU CEO Avi Naider says that his company “supports anti-spyware legislation at the federal level.” It would eliminate the possibility of state legislators taking a harder line.