“News Bits” offers up an admittedly quick and somewhat glancing look at the latest breaking news and bits of information concerning the ever emerging technology scene. There is more qualitative and quantitative coverage throughout this site, but as many, if not most of us no longer have much time to do in-detph reading, we mostly rely on quick scans. So in that light, I hope these news bits and briefs prove useful to you.
High tech zap cane prevents iPhone theft and mugging of disabled man.
Last week I was sitting in a urban neighborhood park near an urban school surfing the web on my iPhone when I was scoped by a rather thuggish-looking young man who must have harbored a whole-hearted desire to easily acquire a free iPhone and apparently I looked like an easy victim. He started by asking me a stupid question, probably to gauge my attitude and awareness. When he “nerved up” to make his move I readied a defense, my brand spanking new “Zap Cane”. When I bought it I hoped to never have to use it, but as fate, fortune and circumstance would have it, there I was and there he was “it was ON” When he realized this literally wasn’t going to be a walk in the park” he broke into a sprint and lit out of there.
NetApp, quickly rising
For a lot of companies rising to near the top of Fortune Magazine’s list of “the Best 100 Companies to work for” is a far-off desire. For NetApp this has become reality and should go a long way towards attracting talented starry-eyed job-seekers hoping to settle in and find workplace paradise.
Nokia + Microsoft
This new partnership around Windows Phone 7 leaves some hopeful and many others are quite not sure that this is a good move for either company, developers or consumers. The complex implications to the open-source MeeGo/Linux/Intel-centric, QT and KDE communities are being debated. MeeGo in addition to being a phone OS, it supports multiple devices including automotive systems, netbooks, tablets, and set-top boxes
Gadget Dispensing Kiosks
I remember nearly going into shock seeing a new fangled type of kiosk/dispenser in the “Sony Style” store in S.F. It was sizable machine dispensing iPods and other high-end gizmos like candy bars and cherry sodas. I wondered then as now if that was a sign of the future technology retailing. I knew that there were major security challenges, but with a big-pocket player like Amazon behind it I thought those issues could successfully be addressed.
