This is very cool, from el Reg:

A little-known company called BCM used Computex to show a multi-format VoIP Wi-Fi phone based on the Windows CE kernel. The WLAN800I is compatible with Skype, SIP services, MSN Talk and MSN Messenger….There’s no need for a PC for it to function, all you need is an 802.11b/g wireless access point connected to the internet. Claimed battery life is 60 hours in standby and up to three hours’ talk time. It’s charged via a mini-USB connector and has a stereo headphone jack as it can also be used for streaming music since it features a built in media player.

Noticed this media release on one of my Google feeds this morning, this goose is trying to flog 600 names for “blog portals” that include the name BlogSpot….yep, the very same name trademarked and owned by Google, and he wants $699 USD per domain for each one….I can feel Google’s lawyers sharpening their pens already 🙂

The US Congress today failed to support a vote to enshrine net neutrality into law. Why does this matter to me you may well ask? well think about it this way, who owns the trans-pacific cables? If I visit a page hosted in the states, how does it get there? it’s got to go via the gateways of the big US Telcos, so any attempt to mess with page speeds in the States doesn’t just affect Australia, it affects the entire world. Not only that, this sets a dangerous precedent for other countries to follow: imagine Telstra implementing a similar scheme, we’d not only be bound by Telstra playing gatekeeper, but most likely AT&T as well, a double gateway in which only the rich can benefit, and start ups, like my own b5media stand to lose. The internet as a level playing field is what has made it the wonderful place that it is. Thanks to the US Republican Party, the days of the internet being free for all is soon going to end. Thanks America….f*ck you.

More at CNet.

Tags: net neutrality

Aggressive advertising thanks to Fark, the best photoshop contest they’ve held in a long time. My two favourties as follows:

Latest news on Microsoft is that Windows XP communicates with Microsoft once a day…yep, basically Microsoft has been secretly spying on computers and hasn’t owned up to it until now.

Personally I’ve got nothing to fear as my two computers running XP (one is XP MCE) both have legit copies (and yes, they are registered as well), but the fact that I’ve paid for this software means that Microsoft shouldn’t be spying on my activities in ANY SHAPE OR FORM.

Robert Scoble has so far been silent on this one, I’ll be interested to read what he has to say if he decides to comment on this, because despite all the good work Microsoft has been doing to clean up its act, it seems that the old, evil guard at Microsoft is still at play.

Now if only I could get an Open Source OS that runs Windows Software…..I’ll have to keep dreaming I guess.

Tags: Microsoft

Caught this song on the radio yesterday, it’s apparently No. 6 on some commercial radio chart. Catchy, and interesting lyrics, and apparently MC Lars is touring Australia at the moment, with a visit to Bunbury as well!

Download This Song

It’s 2006, the consumer’s still pissed
Won’t take it anymore so I’m writing a list
Don’t try to resist this paradigm shift
The music revolution cannot be dismissed
$18.98 Iggy Pop CD?
What if I can get it from my sister for free?
It’s all about marketing Clive Davis, see?
If fans buy the shirt then they get the mp3
Music was a product now it is a service
Major record labels why are you trying to hurt us?
Epic’s up in my face like, “Don’t steal our songs Lars,”
While Sony sells the burners that are burning CD-R’s
So Warner, EMI, hear me clearly
Universal Music, update your circuitry
They sue little kids downloading hit songs
They think that makes sense
When they know that it’s wrong

Hey Mr. Record Man
The joke’s on you
Running your label
Like it was 1992
Hey Mr. Record Man,
Your system can’t compete
It’s the New Artist Model
File transfer complete
Download this song!
Download this song!
Download this song!

I know I’m rhyming fast, but the message is clear
You don’t need a million dollars to launch a career
If your style is unique and you practice what you preach
Minor Threat and Jello both have things to teach!
I’ve got G5 production, concept videos
Touring with a laptop, rocking packed shows
The old-school major deal? It makes no sense
Indentured servitude, the costs are too immense!
Their finger’s in the dam but the crack keeps on growing
Can’t sell bottled water when it’s freely flowing
Record sales slipping, down 8 percent
Increased download sales, you can’t prevent
Satellite radio and video games
Changed the terrain, it will never be same
Did you know in ten years labels won’t exist?
Goodbye DVD’s, and compact disks!

Hey Mr. Record Man,
What’s wrong with you
Still living off your catalogue
From 1982
Hey Mr. Record Man,
Your system can’t compete
It’s the new artist model
File transfer complete
Download this song!
Download this song!
Download this song!

You know, we just wanted a level playing field.
You’ve overcharged us for music for years, and now we’re
Just trying to find a fair balance. I hate to say it, but?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭ¶
Welcome to the future.

Download this song!
Download this song!
Download this song!

Hey Mr. Record Man
The joke’s on you
Running your label
Like it was 1992
Hey Mr. Record Man,
Your system can’t compete
It’s the New Artist Model
File transfer complete

Darren has a post over at Problogger on how to kill your blog. Personally I don’t believe in killing blogs these days at all. Two reasons:

1. Although you might not be posting to it anymore you could still be getting traffic (say from Google) and this traffic can still equal revenue.

2. You can always sell your blog on eBay or somewhere like Sitepoint. I’ve sold a number of blogs I didn’t want to keep any more on Sitepoint. These were blogs on topics I wasn’t interested in any more, or where originally set up as a bit of experiment to see how they’d work. I got reasonable financial returns for all of them, and I know the work I did is now going to live on in someone elses hands.

So here’s my advice: ignore Darren, never kill a blog. Do a Jason Calacanis/ Weblogs Inc style play and leave them up (ever wonder why Jason Calacanis doesn’t kill old blogs…it’s because he knows they still bring in revenue), or flog them off, after all, wouldn’t you rather have $100, $200 or even more for your blog then just deleting your hard work?

Big Brother is watching you, at least if you are in the US. In Australia, the Privacy Act would technically prohibit this sort of activity to some extent. You’d think though that companies could make better use of their resources though (from WYTV)

In its annual study of outbound email and content security issues, messaging security company Proofpoint, Inc. found that email and other outbound messaging streams (including webmail and blog postings) continue to grow as a source of risk for companies.

The study found that 38 percent of companies with 1,000 or more employees hire staff to read or analyze outbound email. 44 percent of companies with more than 20,000 workers employ staff for this purpose.

Companies appear to have good reason to worry — more than 1 in 3 investigated an email leak of confidential or proprietary information and 36.4 percent investigated a violation of privacy or data protection regulations in the past year.

Not being American I don’t know enough about 911, but this film certainly asks some interesting questions.

Looks like the Newspapers may have had a win here. Just went to bugmenot to get a login to the NY Times to read an article about the soon to be launched Google Spreadsheet program and found this: