Keeping My Sanity

Here are some of the articles of interest that have so far kept me awake and from noticing the really annoying people on the subway.

The UAW Isn't Buying Detroit's Blues -- I've previously blogged about GM's woes and how it would really be nice if the union cuts them a little slack. This article is from the union's perspective, and shows why it's just a little hard for the union to budge to help out GM.

Google This: 'Copyright Law' -- Google announced plans to scan the complete text of millions of books from the major libraries, to make them queryable online. Not that Google is about to make the content available -- just the appropriate references for queries. This has got publishers and authors up in arms over copyright infringement. Amazon is already doing the same with their 'search inside the book' feature. So why the trouble at Google? It's the slight of going to the libraries and asking them for their books, instead of the publishers.

$5,000? Sure, Put It On My Cell Phone -- Cell phones already do photos, email, television, video games and a slew of other functions you never thought you could use on a phone. Now, NTT DoCoMo is working in rolling out functionality that will turn cell phones into electronic wallets. You never know -- there may come the day when each new child will be issued a cell phone number that they will have for life. It will serve as the only identification they will ever need. In fact -- why use names at all? You never know.

Might Morphing Power Chips -- Here's a general introduction to the world of reconfigurable chips. IBM, Intel, HP, NEC, Philips, TI and other smaller companies are in a race to bring these new chips to market. These chips promise to move the wall that Moore's Law is heading towards rapidly. What are they? They are chips that can rewrite themselves on the fly -- configuring themselves for the processing at hand -- rapidly -- thousands of times every second. They will boast processing abilities found in today's supercomputers, and will be totally ubiquitous. Think about it a handheld computer that can morph into a cell phone, a wireless computer, an MP3 player, a camera ... all on the fly, all using the same processor. Wow!

Tough Tactics -- Against a Victim -- Here's another reason to not like AIG, and insurance companies in general. Insurance companies are there to make money. They are there not to pay out when you need them to, but to find every excuse to not part with the money you've been paying them for that time when you'll really need them. They're an evil industry. But this story takes evil to another level. A nine year old girl was abused by an employee of Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa. The employee, Bryan Hornby, is sent to jail -- and he doesn't get out early. He's guilty. The parents sue Wyndham for not providing adequate protection for their child -- and there may be other victims. This is where it goes from bad to worse. AIG, the insurance company for Wyndham, isn't interested in seeing Wyndham lose. Neither is Wyndham, as they would be open to other lawsuits. So, AIG is paying the lawyers and employing tactics such as stealing the parents garbage; questioning their ability to parent their children; questioned psychological and medical exams; hired private investigators to check into the parents' business and the child's friendships and behaviour at school. All so that they won't have to pay damages. What's wrong with that picture?

The Lowdown on Podcasting -- Here's a general introduction to podcasting. The online radio version of blogging. I've mentioned this previously -- but the previous post was probably too geeky!