JQ On Technology

I spoke to several college administrators and professors at the announcement of the new Kindle DX event. There are questions about how much textbooks will cost in electronic form, but more important is what effect--if any--these devices will have on learning, understanding, and retention. For an overview of what all the hype is about (hey, it was a big press conference), watch the video.

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After seeking a private buyer, and finding VC and investment firms too skittish, eBay has announced that it will seek to spin off Skype in an IPO, hopefully early next year.

Skype is the global leader in quasi-VoIP (voice over IP) services with well in excess of 400 million users.And it is remarkable that eBay could not capitalize on it after spending an estimated $2.6 bil

So what to do now? Google should buy Skype. Skype has by far the best global calling service, which is why we all use it. On the other hand, Google is poised to revamp telecom services in the U.S. with Google Voice. Google's new application, which should launch this month, amounts to a universal in-box (voice mail, e-mail, SMS, etc.) and single follow-me number--all for free. It's so good that every journalist that has tried it in beta is still using it (including yours truly). But it's missing one thing: integration with a service like Skype (or Google Talk, but who really uses Google Talk, really?).

For more on Google Voice, watch the video from my Fox Business report.

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It's no joke. Everyone (okay, techies and media types) is in a tizzy about a virus that has infected an estimated 10 million computers worldwide and is designed to do something (no one knows what) on April 1. It could be a massive prank, a giant spam campaign, or nothing. Be that as it may, here are my bets:

5. Empty all of the AIG executives' bank accounts

4. Switch all the pages of The Huffington Post with pages of The Onion (but no one will notice)

3. Start Twittering all of President Obama's private BlackBerry messages

2. Send a post to all of your Facebook friends telling them that you've been secretly in love with them for years

1. Delete every blog on the Web so that people will have to buy a newspaper

Got your own guesses? Comment!
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From pocket protectors to pocket projectors, one of the latest gadgets to fire up geek dreams is the so-called pico projector. About the size of a deck of cards, a pico projector can beam images of up to 60-inches (measured diagonally) on a blank wall or screen.

They're designed to be used with a portable player, such as an iPod or cell phone, to give you a larger image for watching video clips or even delivering a Powerpoint presentation.

Naturally, there are drawbacks to these tiny projectors. To find out what they are watch JQ's segment on the Fox Business channel.

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Bring on the Storage!

Over breakfast with Jon van Bronkhorst of Seagate this morning, we chewed over the opportunities for digital storage ranging from cloud computing companies (not as great as the hype would make it appear), the future of solid state drives (growing, but not there yet), and consumer sales.

I'm always looking for a silver lining in this economy and van Bronkhorst says there is one in retail sales. “We've been surprised on the upside in terms of units sold,” he says. It turns out, perhaps not so surprisingly, that people look at storage as a necessity. In other words, I may not buy a new PC this year, but storage? I could use more. There are drives for backing up, small business network support, stashing media like music, photos, and video, and even DVR extenders. (Regarding the last, beware that if you hang a hard drive off your digital video recorder box and the box fails—as they are wont to do—the stuff stored on the hard drive becomes inaccessible too.)

There's also the magic tipping point. When terabyte drives are just over $100, people start buying them in droves. Naturally, Seagate will have some nifty new options to feed these markets coming out in the next couple of months. The company will even get into the SSD market for corporate customers later this year.

Oh, and about that $1,000 omelet, I did not indulge, tempted as I was to try eggs stuffed with enough Sevruga caviar to pay for my mortgage. I was more in the mood for Ossetra, anyway.

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George Washington

The signs are there: technology is finally coming to the White House.

When Barack Obama insisted on keeping his mobile e-mail device, it was a sign that the times they are a' changin'. Despite security objections from the old guard ("But he'll see the big board!"), the President will be able to use current technology in his job. Indeed, President Obama has sent a message (pun intended) that it is no longer acceptable to be ignorant about technology. If you are serious about your business you must be able to stay connected and communicate with others. Of course, there are many other signs that President Obama has his head screwed on straight when it comes to technology:

- Choosing a new FCC head, Julius Genachowski, who reportedly supports Net neutrality shows common sense (by the way, in chatting with the last FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, it was clear to me that he was for Net neutrality, too).

- Insisting that one of the most backward businesses in the U.S. begin using basic technology: The healthcare industry (okay, doctors) have resisted using computers for more than 20 years. But the truth is  that they kill too many people each year simply through clerical errors (never mind the amount of money that is wasted and information lost and not shared in those walls of useless paper files). Every other business in the country uses basic computer technology (even lawyers), and it's about time Theodoric of York did so as well. Universal use of e-prescriptions would be a good start.

- Spending $9 billion in the stimulus package to expand broadband Internet coverage in rural areas: Many rural areas remain poor simply because they lack Internet access. Why? Because no business--not even the romantic ideal of farming--can communicate properly with clients or suppliers without a high-speed connection (and in this world, a dial-up 46 kbps connection does not mean you have Internet access). I have one friend in the country who keeps an office in town just to use the Internet access (a waste of fuel and time). Others have moved from the country to the city simply because the home-based business they started wasn't feasible without a broadband connection.

Now if someone would just invent a more efficient solar panel and a rechargeable car battery that lasts forever, we might just get somewhere.

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The holiday shopping season is when a technology reporter's fancy turns to video games. So I'm delving into the usual gaggle of games. Check out this segment on Fox Business briefly covering the console wars, with the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 duking it out (okay, it's really more about the anchors duking it out).

Look for more holiday coverage on CBS News and Fox Business....

New Xbox Experience

The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

But seriously, the free upgraded software that will be released to Xbox 360 owners tomorrow is...really good. For a full review from yours truly, catch it at Electronic House.

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Last night when the ungrammatical news came in that Yahoo's co-founder was stepping down as CEO (well, really announcing that he would step down as soon as the board can find some poor soul to take the job), I couldn't help wondering if he felt just a little manipulated by Google. Just a tiny bit.

Okay, completely bamboozled by Google.

Remember, when Microsoft was courting Yahoo it was Google that sailed in braying about the evil empire in Seattle and dangling ad revenue candy in front of Jerry Yang. (Never mind that the rest of us were screaming, "Sell,sell!") Unfortunately, Yahoo took Google's bait, Steve got mad over at Microsoft, and Yahoo's stock began its death spiral. Then,...oh, wait a minute...did I say we were going to share ad revenue? Humm, says Google, I don't think this is going to work. The government wants to regulate. Sorry.

And so, exit stage left, Yahoo co-founder. Thanks a lot, Eric.

Now what? Well, I'm guessing that Yahoo needs a transition team and a CEO who can reach across the aisle to resolve party differences. (And just what was a Google exec doing in Chicago regarding that other transition team? I guess when you control the World Wide Web ad market, people listen.) Of course, I'm referring to the idea of reaching out to the evil empire in Seattle

Steve, it's Yahoo on the phone...again.

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