Anybody who read Walter Mossberg's column in the WSJ last week (or any for that matter) understand that he has focused on technology for humans. His chronicle of the advances in the past were well documented in this decade long summary column, released on the same day as XP was released. He prophetically cautions near the end of the column and his predictions for the future that "But there are obstacles to this future. Until and unless high-speed wired and wireless networks are ubiquitous, none of this can happen. So, the technology advances I foresee are hostage to two of the most sluggish, hidebound industries in America: the phone and cable companies." amen.

Good web cam from a bar in Santa Barbara, CA.

I probably mentioned this in an earlier post, but it was a RedHerring article on Dan Bricklin and his mention of blogs that was the spark behind using this service. Well, to go a bit further, the article mentioned how many digital photographs he took during dinner with the journalist. That hooked me. I love digital cameras and believe absolutely that they will drive broadband internet connections, sharing images, windows XP (which I installed this weekend) and much more. I noticed that Dan has a link to Webphotojournalist, which is not aptly name since they focus on sharing photos of non-journalists in particular. Whatever. It is an incredibly addictive hobby. The failure (yes, failure) of WAP is a testimony of how easy it is to get boerd reading text from a 2x3 inch LCD screen. I don't care if it's porn, it's still not going to be too exciting on a little b/w screen.

The weekend. What a concept. With kids and work to do there is a different pace, not altogether healthy, but fun. Gone are those salad days of sleeping in, reading the paper, going biking then dinner and drinks with friends, followed by more of the same on Sunday. But this path can be as much fun as the old one - most of the time. I got to workout at the 24 hour fitness on Saturday (after soccer). The big sister helped feeding the baby too! In the film "the Family man" with Nicolas Cage the movie starts out great from a guy's standpoint. He has it all. And then his life changes radically through the miracle of Hollywood and he is transformed into, well, a family man. Without spoiling the ending, the audience is shown the new lifestyle that seems like his worst nighmare turn into a dream come true throgh the course of time. I don't know. He looked pretty happy in the beginning. And what he had was more than most. I want to see this film in reverse where the family guy turns into the power broker with the 5th ave. park view appt and the Ferrari (and the extras) and see how that plays out.The only way I'd improve my weekend would be to have less sick people in the house! These stomach viruses are vile!

Well we all agreed that the trip to the Chopin concert was a success. This series should turn out to be great.

So we were all sitting around thinking about how to best put multimedia on a handset...but cheap. i-mode's wcdma launch has shown that it is possible to do this with a $500 phone that has a 100 page manual and drains the battery 4X faster than normal. Great. Costs more to use per/minute too! bonus! but not to be discouraged, I believe this image transfer - if only a single image - is where it's at. Fuji announced that they can do this with bluetooth. This will solve so much. Last night some folks were laughing at the idea that ANYBODY would ever want to do that. I discount their pessimism based on their average age, but they had a point that it will take longer than most people, including me, think. They were all smart, none of them had ever managed to download a digital image to their computer yet...maybe someday their kids will have to do it for them.

I love Japan. I have a good friend there who is one of the leading experts on Japanese pottery. He has his own web site that you can order some great pottery from. He brought me to a sake tasting party in Tokyo the last time I was there and it was fantastic. Great sake! I was thinking of this last night while watching a fantastic film - well - one I really love called Mishima. I recommend it. Goes well with sake.

I've always thought that one really useful application for mobile devices would be to track your progress in the gym. Once packet data networks are up an running, you just launch your mobilefitness program, and then enter the number of reps/weight that you do on each exercise. The phone is small enough to take around the gym - in fact you need it anyway in case you get a call. This system would also allow you to enter your progress, along with weight and aerobic activities too. It should be a feature of health clubs. They could then weigh or check on your body fat level periodically against your plan. Now, if you really wanted to do this all the way, you could enter the food you are eating all the time too...with voice recognition inputs the system could just ask about the food during the day and you could tell it. Well, maybe that's going too far...

Everybody who knows me has heard a rant about why there is not a wireless web cam network. some think that this is an invasion of privacy - to have wireless web cams, which could for a fraction of the price of a Close Circuit TV system like the have everywhere in the UK - and if the web cams were in my home that would be true. But that's not the idea. I'm not talking about nutty things (yet) like a wearable wireless web cam, but of a network that will help ensure saftey for individuals in public places.

I cannot tell you, as a geek, how excited this email -which was waiting in my in-box at home made me: Greetings from Amazon.com We thought you'd like to know that we shipped your items today...The following items were included in this shipment: Star Wars - Episode I, The Ph $22.95. Finally! George Lucas had held out for soooo long on the DVD front...

The audacity of some groups never fails to amaze. Recently, in the aftermath of the WTC disaster, the recording institute (RIAA) thought they could pull a fast one by adding language to anti-terrorist legislation that essentially allowed them sweep users hard drives to look for "napsterized" mp3 files without any fear of reprisal. Strange but true.

Concert Review - I was surprised at the layout of the venue. The location was the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, in what looked like their central dining room or club room area. In this area, they had shoehorned in a symphony orchestra and a grand piano! Despite the fact that we were sitting in the third row, the acoustics were such that the music was delightfully sparkling and not too loud or soft. In particular, the piano almost seemed quiet. I've heard that Chopin himself, who loathed public concerts and indeed gave only 30 in his lifetime, was criticized for playing too softly. So I imagined that Gustavo Romero was Chopin himself! The program was interspersed with readings about the life of Chopin, which was refreshing and created a whole experience that exceeded my expectations. The food afterward was suitably light for dinner at 10:00 pm. I'm looking forward to the next performance! Today's photo - above - (soon to be archived) is my betorthed and I just before heading out the door to the concert.

Tonight's a birthday party for my betrothed that will be fun. We are attending a great concert that I've been looking forward to for months.

Part of the wireless community will be more wizard-of-oz behind the scenes wireless technology development. For example, there could be location specific zones - either implemented via location based telemetry, or, through some form of ISM band technology, that would broadcast dynamic speed limits based upon traffic conditions. Many accidents occur because traffic conditions are changing so dynamically that drivers are caught unaware. For fixed speed limit area - like neighborhoods - the 25 mph limit could be sent as a reminder to drivers, in their cocoon, who's "in-vehicle" brain may still be back aggressively on the freeway instead of their neighborhood or a school zone. A reminder - sent in a child’s voice when they are 25% over the limit - could eventually change their speeding habits in people-oriented zones.

Did you ever want to talk to the drivers around you on the freeway in a sort of "waiting in line" camaradarie? What if location based sysem could let you opt-in to be on the temporary community list of the "interstate 5" club? You would not even have to identify who you were. you could have pseudo-anonimity.

While the industry in the US forges ahead with implementing highly accurate E911 based mobile solutions, the non-government mandated countries are, ironically, putting up location services that are laser focused to meet commercial demands. In Sweden, Botfighters is a game where you can start "messaging" somebody to death as soon as they are actually physically near you. I think the privacy police would outlaw that here in the US, unless the opt-in approach proves to meet the privacy concerns.

The blog concept, as expanded to the mobile lifestyle, enhances both. The mobile device (was "phone") will be so much more, so will the continuity of the thought process associated with it. Photos are a key, as are songs to this experinece.