Console owners spend more time playing games than watching rented videos and going to movie theaters.

Computer games are set to outsell music

Jeff Harlow writes about the rapid changes taking place in high-tech industries. It's freely available and is published twice monthly. The latest issue, about intellectual property, is entitled "The Copy Conundrum."

"Insight, analysis, and commentary on the innovations and trends of contemporary computing, and related technologies. An ongoing journey towards understanding, and profiting from, a world of exponential technological growth!"

The Harrow Technology Report explores the innovations and trends of many contemporary and emerging technologies, and then draws some less than obvious connections between them, to help us each survive and prosper in the Knowledge Age.

The Harrow Technology Report

Link and excerpt from Ditherati:

Freedom of the Press Belongs to the Guy With The T-3 Connection

"Sure I want to be the biggest telecom company in the world, but it's just a commodity. I want to be able to form opinion. By controlling the pipe, you can eventually get control of the content."

    -- IDT chairman Howard Jonas, on his plan to be Rupert Murdoch without the subtlety

For IDT, the Big Flameouts Light Its Fire | NYT

John Markoff in Monday's NYT.

News from the IEEE ISSCC suggests the rate of growth is increasing, not decreasing. Intel has room-temperature subsystems at 10 GHz, and feature size is down to 0.09 micron. IBM and Analog Devices also have spiffy new stuff to show off. Tidbit: Intel's McKinley will include 221 million transistors.

For a taste of the conference taking place right now is SF, check out these PDFs.

Advance Program
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/ap/ap/AdvProg.pdf

Plenary Session
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Session01_OV.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_1D.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_2D.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_3.pdf

The Increase in Chip Speed Is Accelerating, Not Slowing

"Global Crossing Ltd. on Monday said it filed for bankruptcy protection as business partners in Asia agreed to pay $750 million in cash to assume control of the high-speed communications services company as it reorganizes in the fourth-largest insolvency in U.S. history."

I ask: how does this evidence compare with Roberts' claims of a strong and rapidly expanding market for network capacity?

"Global Crossing struggled with the debt incurred from building its global network, which links more than 200 major cities in 27 countries. The one-time Wall Street darling suffered further from a glut of fiber-optic network capacity, slack demand, and declining rates for voice and data transmission services, particularly on its undersea routes."

Global Crossing Files Bankruptcy, Gets Investment

Here's another story, this one from CNET News, about Intel's plans for a 64-bit alternative to Itanium. It offers another sales report: "Interest in Itanium remains weak. The first version of the chip debuted in May of last year. In the third quarter of 2001, only 500 servers containing Itanium were shipped, according to IDC." A senior VP at Dell says customer interest in Itanium is "effectively zero."

Intel moves forward on Itanium backup

The rumor mill is running at full speed with news of a secret project at Intel designed to keep pace with AMD should customers continue to ignore the Itanium processor. In short, it's Intel's answer to AMD's Hammer technology.

It appears there are two competing, divisive "camps" within Intel, split between the Itanium promoters in Santa Clara, California and x86 promoters in Hillsboro, Oregon. (Is this just healthy competition, or does it reflect an absence of strategic vision?)

Interesting sales figures on Itanium: in the first quarter they were available (May 2001 to September 2001), only 162 Itanium CPUs were sold (if you exclude a large special-purpose order by IBM).

Intel's Plan B chip stirs internal debate

Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits provides a contemporary snapshot of technologies, strategies, and policies for improving our communications and information infrastructure. It explores the potential benefits of broadband, existing and projected demand, progress and failures in deployment, competition in the broadband industry, and costs and who pays them. Explanations of broadband's alphabet soup -- HFC, DSL, FTTH, and all the rest -- are included as well. The report's finding and recommendations address regulation, the roles of communities, needed research, and other aspects, including implications for the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits

Satellite Start-Up for Apple Co-Founder
By John Markoff

These days, most entrepreneurs may be having some trouble acquiring enough venture capital to start a new business. But if you're Steve Wozniak, they've got lots of money, plenty of excitement, and one John Markoff waiting to tell the world about your great idea.

That said, the company could introduce some cool products. The DFJ web site lists them as a "wireless" start-up with the description "next-generation geolocation platform", but the start-up has no web site yet. WheelsofZeus.com was registered on October 25, 2001 to a law firm in Palo Alto, but nothing is there yet.

A high-flying start-up amidst the downturn?

"What's Really Behind Microsoft's New Commitment to Data Security"

Robert X. Cringely takes a stab at explaining Microsoft's latest media campaign, and he does a passable job of getting it right.

My theory: MS will focus on security because there is nothing else left to do. After two-plus decades of development, virtually every desirable feature has been implemented for both the operating system and the office productivity suite.

Bruce Schneier and other will discredit the new campaign, pointing out that security is a process, not a product, and that no amount of code review can make up for a lack of wisdom on the part of the user. Nearly any useful system can be misused by the foolish and/or determined, despite the protective measures of the designer.

'Trust me, I'm From Microsoft' | Bob Cringely's The Pulpit