] This site provides live scanner audio of DeKalb County,
] Georgia Police, Fire, and EMS radio communications. Click
] on one of the links below to listen to the scanner.

ScanDeKalb: Live DeKalb County Police, Fire, and EMS Radio

] Amid rising hopes for a high-tech turnaround, there's
] this sobering sign: Martin Pichinson -- a man who has
] buried nearly 150 failed startups since 1999 -- has
] swooped into Silicon Valley like a vulture lurking over a
] pack of wounded animals.

CNN.com - Liquidator: 6,500 tech firms among 'walking dead' - Jan. 7, 2004

This is interesting. Run the program that NASA uses to plan mars rover missions. Data from the current mission is available. The software is cross platform!

Maestro Headquarters

] Check the year-end reports from the various sectors of
] the entertainment industry, and it's clear that DVD
] stands alone as an unqualified sensation. It's such a
] success that it might even be eclipsing - and
] cutting into - other leisure pursuits.
]
] Each DVD amounts to a consumer devoting money and time to
] watching a movie at home, sometimes in lieu of going to a
] theater or watching TV or listening to a CD.

Are you listening to this RIAA? Its *NOT* only peer2peer trading that is responsible for your sagging sales. There are a number of factors, and probably the biggest is that other entertainment avenues are taking a larger slice of the pie.

If you'd listen, you'd hear consumers voting (with their cash) that other entertainment avenues currently represent a better value for the money then a mediocre CD with 2 good tracks.

LB

DVD's success steals the show

The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March.

US Withdraws Weapons Hunters From Iraq

Decius's response: The US IT industry cannot employ the people domestically that it has available to it today, and it has no plans to employ more people domestically in the future. That is the reason that it is beginning to fall under political pressure. Their response is to pretend that this problem does not exist by quoting statistics developed during the dotcom boom, and then, with a straight face, request assistance with moving money across international borders, assistance with R&D expenses, and the training of EVEN MORE engineers ("We can't use the resources we have, so please give us more resources.").

This country does not produce as many Engineers as China because Engineering bears a stigma in this country of being an undesirable profession. Numbers increased in recent years because that perception began to change, but its going right back down again. This is because the IT industry has failed to make a compelling case that people should WANT to be Engineers. If they wish to see the US produce more and better engineers, they need to sell teenagers on the idea that being an Engineer is worth all the work. They need to demonstrate to people that there are real opportunities.

How many of those 61,000 Engineering graduates from the class of 1999 do you know who have been underemployed or unemployed in the last 3 years? What kind of message is that sending to people who are considering following in their footsteps? If the IT industry really wanted more Engineers domestically they would be addressing that concern directly instead of getting up in front of Congress and asking for lower taxes. The fact that they chose the later option further contributes to the idea that this is all a big crock. It should surprise none of you that this is the same industry group that cuts deals with the RIAA to sell DRM into your house.

This sort of complete leadership vacuum does not bode well. Leadership vacuums get filled, inevitably. Sometimes by dangerous people.

Choose to Compete - What the IT industry told Congress today

] Intel chief executive Craig Barrett said the United
] States "now has to compete for every job going forward.
] That has not been on the table before. It had been
] assumed we had a lock on white-collar jobs and high-tech
] jobs. That is no longer the case."

They are smarter. They are hungrier. They have a better work ethic. Their dollars go futher, and they are used to having less stuff. Their labor regulations are looser. This isn't about tech jobs, this is about service/knowledge jobs. This is only the beginning. American dominance is over. There are too many skilled people, no one knows how to utilize all of them, and you are far from the most attractive of them. Ever wanted to know what life was like in the 30s? You will.

Tech Firms Defend Moving Jobs Overseas (TechNews.com)

Turns out it was a Volvo all along...

At Volvo Car Corp. in Sweden, a group of women has spent the past year trying to figure that out. Last March, the company announced it was launching a concept car project to be developed exclusively by women, an industry first.
...
Volvo says the project is top secret, but last month USA Today revealed some of the dream car features. Such as: the car has no hood. Said the paper: "The front end is designed as one large section, meant to be lifted only by the mechanic. The reasoning is women don't want to be bothered by maintenance."

What women really want...

This is fun to watch, and doesn't take up *too* much bandwidth.

NASA TV used to be piped into the cable system at GaTech. Its a little boring most of the time (there isn't enough programming, and its mostly oriented toward elementary school students), but I rarely watched TV, so I left it on often. Everyone once in a while you'd look over and see live views of the Earth from Space. I'm sure there will be lots of interesting programming over the next two months.

Live stream from NASA TV

When people heard about the iPod mini they were thinking mini means smaller means cheaper. Unfortunately, thats not at all what Apple was thinking. In this case mini apparently means more feminine, while also being less useful, for about the same price. This is the Paris Hilton of iPods. You can pay $299 for a 15 gig hard drive, or $250 for a 4 gig hard drive. Really a no brainer unless you care more about pastel colors then you do about your money. A real disappointment. There is a significant market segment here for people who want a well designed device that holds enough music for a plane flight but doesn't cost more then the ticket. Apple has missed the boat. I don't think these are going to sell very well.

Apple - iPod mini - Smaller, Dumber, but not Cheaper