Top 10 Reasons to Not Shop On Line

AskTog: "With all the hype at the coming of web commerce, web sales still pale in comparison to bricks-and-mortar, and for good reason. Commercial websites are still, in the main, scary, difficult, and undependable.

Responsibility for many e-commerce problems lies with designers. Responsibility for others lies with engineers, marketers, managers, and executives who are willing to accept mediocrity or worse.

I’m confident these companies' sales outcomes reflect the poor quality of their sites. I’m amazed that their sales divisions continue to put up with it, but perhaps, with so many bad examples out there, they think their companies are doing the best they can. They aren't."

New alcohol tests...

New Scientist: "A battery of new tests on blood, urine and hair can reveal how much someone has drunk not only in the past days, but also in the past weeks and months. Doctors are likely to be the first to employ some or all of the new tests, to monitor patients with alcohol problems. But they are also likely to attract the interest of employers, insurance companies and forensic scientists. Airlines could, for instance, identify pilots who are heavy drinkers by testing their hair. A urine test might allow police to prove many hours or even days after an accident that someone had been drinking."

Who owns the media in any town in America?

The Center for Public Integrity: "This nonpartisan organization aims to "provide the American people with the findings of our investigations and analyses of public service, government accountability and ethics related issues." Topics of recent reports include the privatizing of public drinking water systems, the PATRIOT ACT, who owns the media in any town in America, and who bankrolls Bush and his Democratic rivals. The Center for Public Integrity has been awarded the first George Polk Award for Internet Reporting, Long Island University announced today. The Center won the award for its report, 'Windfalls of War,' a six-month investigation of American postwar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan"

In 1971, I called it the Marin Food Conspiracy,,,

GOOD FOOD BOX: "The Good Food Box is a box full of top-quality fresh fruits and vegetables. The box is delivered to a depot in your neighbourhood twice per month. You pay for it a week in advance and pick it up on delivery day. We buy local, in season, BC produce whenever possible to support local farmers and reduce the distance that your food has to travel. Local suppliers, bulk purchases, and the energy of our spirited volunteers all combine to make the Good Food Box a good deal. Generally you save about 35% compared to a regular supermarket."

The Marin Family Food Cooperative and the later the Marin Food Conspiracy were started in the 1970s by Caroline Davis and myself when I lived on Marin Avenue in Mill Valley. Within a few weeks we had over a hundred families enjoying both lower cost and much higher quality produce and cheese and juices. Within a few months we had to move from my small cellar to a large garage graciously offered by the Presbyterian Seminary.

Each Thursday cars and pickups would launch from Southern Marin to all points north, east, west and south until we had found some of the most serious and affable farmers and producers.

Later some business folk started raising concerns that this could be a negative for their supermarket cashflow and sought to have our club regulated. There were a several newspaper articles exploring the pros and cons.

In the end, Marin citizens developed firm relations with local farmers and similar to all generations the Farmer's Market concept has again truly become an important asset.

Urban Farming site...

Cities Feeding People Program: "In the mushrooming cities of the developing world, farming is a growth business. Figures from the United Nations Development Programme peg the number of urban farmers at about 800 million worldwide. Most of them are poor or middle class. They raise livestock and grow produce to feed their families and, where possible, to generate income. In the process, they recycle wastes, reuse water, and put idle land to productive use. Many governments now recognize the contribution urban farmers make to cleaner, healthier cities. Most, however, lack policies to integrate urban agriculture into sustainable urban management practices. IDRC's Cities Feeding People (CFP) Program Initiative is trying to bridge that gap by supporting research and development activities that increase the food security and incomes of the poor "

kick it up a notch

Boston Globe Online: "Gene injections in rats can double muscle strength and speed, researchers have found, raising concerns that the virtually undetectable technology could be used illegally to build super athletes. "

SYMBOL ADDED TO MORSE CODE 02/17/04

Topeka Journal: "Morse code is entering the 21st century -- or at least the late 20th. The 160-year-old communication system now has a new character to denote the '@' symbol used in e-mail addresses. In December, the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees the entire frequency spectrum, from amateur radio to satellites, voted to add the new character. The new sign, which will be known as a 'commat,' consists of the signals for 'A' (dot-dash) and 'C' (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space between them. The new sign is the first in at least several decades, and possibly much longer. Among ITU officials and Morse code aficionados, no one could remember any other addition."

Cells can grow on silicon

CNEW: "Researchers at the University of Calgary have found that nerve cells grown on a microchip can learn and memorize information which can be communicated to the brain. 'We discovered that when we used the chip to stimulate the neurons, their synaptic strength was enhanced,' said Naweed Syed, a neurobiologist at the University of Calgary's faculty of medicine. The nerve cells also exhibited memory traces that were successfully read by the chip, said Syed, co-author of the landmark study published in February's edition of Physical Review Letters, an international journal. "

Little Brother is watching!

TagandScan: "In big cities people find interesting places and then try to find them later with no success. With TagandScan you can Tag it and Forget it! Cruise and Tag: Walking down the street and see a new bookstore or a perfect little bistro? Tag it so you can find it next time you're in the area. Personal City Guide: How long have you lived in your city? How many great places have you found? How many have you forgotten? Now you can create your own City Guide AND share it with whomever you choose. Shopping Lists: Looking for a new flat? Out shopping for the holidays? Take a picture of what you find, tag it, and put it in a new personal grid. When you've finished your shopping just delete the grid.

Various services for locating, searching for, and tracking poeple view their cells have been developed and launched including FindAMobile, TraceAMobile, ChildLocate, mapAmobile, and more!

Wavemarket WaveAlert unveiled WaveIQ, its location-based software suite. WaveAlert is infrastructure software that generates alert notifications based on user movement. Applications range from fleet tracking and “true” geo-fencing -- keeping personnel productive and safe -- to buddy finder notifications, mobile dating, and family safety alerts. WaveAlert notifies users based on locations and times they specify. Users also can receive blog or user-generated alerts ranging from celebrity sightings to emergency safety information. "

SilkWare.com -- Home

SilkWare.com: "SilkBlogs is an Enterprise Blogging solution that provides a people-centric means for sharing thoughts, ideas, information, and documents on the web. SilkBlogs offers organizations a simple, yet powerful, means for users to autonomously create and share content and information spaces that facilitate and centralize collaboration and communication. The advantage is the capturing and dissemination of tacit knowledge within an organization that is sticky, searchable and accessible from anywhere."

RFID network infrastructure tools...

blueVector Systems
The X-3000 RFID Configuration System is a web-based interface that is launched from the Operations Dashboard. The Operations Dashboard is a window into the RFID network, allowing customers to centrally manage and control their RFID network by providing a real-time view and system status of the entire RFID network. The structure of the Dashboard can be customized to suit the needs of the customer.

The RFID Configuration System allows customers to map their actual physical supply chain network into a logical representation that they can RFID-enable. It essentially allows businesses to convert physical structures such as dock doors or warehouse shelves into logical entities that can be configured, modified, and outfitted with RFID.

The System includes a large library of behaviors that can be readily used to create or modify parameters, assign functionality to certain network elements or develop new functionality. Functionality such as EPCglobal’s ONS and prototype EPC Information Services solution from VeriSign is pre-integrated taking the form of a behavior that can be dragged and dropped into any implementation. An instant click and connect is all that is needed to access the EPC Network.

The RFID Configuration System simplifies RFID network and device provisioning to a drag-and-drop functionality, with the ease of replicating a configuration by simply copying and pasting it across a business’ entire distribution network. This powerful capability enables customers to scale their operations from a single dock door in a warehouse to a nationwide deployment across their supply chain.

Lab Notes: Research from the Berkeley College of Engineering

* Weaving flexible transistors into textiles! * Self-diagnosing buildings! * Swarm mechanics!

Electronic Paper

E-Ink, Electronic Paper, Gryicon, And The Future Of Delivering Information Researcher Nicholas K. Sheridon of Xerox subsidiary Gryicon LLC is convinced that true digital paper is at most five years away, and predicts that the technology will go mainstream with a six-inch tube that fits into anyone's pocket. Paper will roll in and out of the tube like a window shade, with the tube's innards serving as a writing mechanism, pixels will be rearranged on ultra-thin plastic screens, and a satellite will beam signals to the tube so that people can read their e-mail and surf the Web. Sheridon says, "I can see everyone on the globe having one of those." Washington Post

Wi-Fi changes virtually everything

USATODAY.com: "Wi-Fi is taking off fast. More than 64 million Wi-Fi systems are expected to be sold this year, up from 24 million in 2002, says researcher IDC. "