Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, December 17, 2007

This is the new politics

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

Forget about YouTube debates.

The future of politics looks just like what Cory did to the Canadian DMCA the last few weeks.

One person, with just a few hard-working people in the field, managed to derail a bill that lobbyists spent millions of dollars on.

Sure, it helps that it was a lousy bill, that Cory co-writes the most popular blog in the world and that the bill was about something that blog readers care about. Doesn't matter. Because as readership grows and issues start attracting loyal readers, what this proves is that Tip O'Neill was wrong. All politics isn't local. All politics is about permission. The permission to share your views with people who want to hear them, people who take action, people who tell their friends.

Nice work, Cory. Who's next?

[Right issue, wrong guy, I'm told! Cory was the one I noticed, but Michael was the point man.]

CradlePoint reveals PHS300 portable hotspot

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Merely months after cranking out the CTR-350, CradlePoint has upped the ante with the even more portable PHS300. This bugger enables a selection of handsets and USB cellular modems to create a "personal WiFi hotspot," and unlike its sibling, this one sports a built-in Li-ion to keep the connection alive (for a few hours, anyway) where there's no AC outlet in sight. Furthermore, you'll find WEP / WPA security features, an integrated firewall and the ability to charge up your phone via USB if necessary. Sound like just the thing you need? If so, you can drop your pre-order in now for $179.99 and patiently await the December 20th ship date. [Via The Boy Genius Report]

Toshiba's new 128GB SATA SSDs -- hello, SanDisk?

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

128GB of SSD. You long for it, you need it, and with any luck you'll have it when Toshiba starts churning 'em out for production by May. The new 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch MLC NAND slabs with SATA interfaces will ship in three capacities: 32GB, 64GB, and the big daddy 128GB. The new SSDs are based on the new 56-nm processes announced back in January. Of course, with Toshiba and Sandisk bedfellows in flash we're also expecting a SanDisk announcement on the quick -- certainly no later than CES in early January. No prices announced, though we anticipate the year-over-year reductions to continue, right boys? [Via Impress]

Everex's Nanobook becomes the Cloudbook, gets gOS

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

While we haven't heard much more about the gOS laptop with the $300 price tag, word is that Everex will be equipping another portable model -- the 7-inch, VIA-based, ultra-portable Nanobook -- with a $400 MSRP and its Google-themed Linux OS. The device -- apparently being referred to as the "Cloudbook" -- is rumored to be launching at the CES in January, and will become available to the public the following week. Specs include a VIA C7 ULV 1.2GHz CPU, a 30GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, WiFi, a card reader, two USB ports, and a DVI out. Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but there seems to be ample information supporting the rumors. Just give us multiple colors, an SSD, and tell us where exactly the trackpad is and we could be in serious like. [Via jkkmobile]

Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus

from Engadget by Evan Blass

Generally we're the type to pass out the second we've stowed our carry-on items safely in the overhead bin, but on a recent test flight for a gang of reporters, photographers, Fortune 500 execs, and the obligatory PR team, JetBlue managed to keep us awake by magically letting us communicate with our friends and colleagues on the ground over IM and email. Actually, it takes a lot more than magic for the Airbus A320 named "BetaBlue" to bring limited WiFi connectivity to properly-equipped passengers throughout the single-class cabin: quite a bit of technical and administrative work went into getting this service off the ground, from snatching up and deploying a rare slice of 800MHz ground-to-air spectrum to effectively managing cell tower connections while traveling over 500mph to developing clients that would maximize the precious bandwidth being shared by so many mobile gadget lovers. Keep reading after the break for all of our impressions from this media preview voyage, and don't forget to hit up the gallery below for glimpses of the entire experience along with some of the screenshots you can expect to see in-flight...

Gallery: Hands-on with BetaBlue, JetBlue's WiFi-equipped Airbus