Regis & Kelly

There's nothing like consumer electronics to get you into the holiday spirit. So to get into the mood I did a couple of segments on LIVE with Regis & Kelly on Tuesday (December 4).

JQ On Regis and Kelly

Running through 20 different gift ideas from HD TVs to remote controls on a live show with a studio audience is a challenge. But the whole crew--including about 20 stage hands moving sets and equipment around--was great. From a state-of-the-art Pioneer plasma to MTV Games' Rock Band, Regis & Kelly played along. Even though I had to follow Ben Affleck and the shirtless Mario Lopez...

For folks looking for a complete rundown on the products and gift ideas, I'll be posting a complete list at J-Q.com this week, including items we missed because the show was heavy (Turtle Beach Ear Force headphones that Kelly really liked and Guitar Hero III, which I was going to play for them, honest).

To kick out the show, the R, K, and JQ trio played "Mississippi Queen" on Rock Band with Regis on drums, Kelly on vocals (she knows all the lyrics!), and your's truly on lead guitar. I was the one who didn't need a wig.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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IPaq 510

Leading this morning's tech news and rumor mongering is word that at 10:30 EST Verizon Wireless will announce that it's opening its network and allowing any compatible device and any compatible application to run on it.

It should mean that consumers can choose the phone they want and not be locked into a contract that ties the phone and service together. In the face of Google's open source push for its so-called Android software to run on phones next year and calls by handset makers (okay, they've always screamed about the problem) to open up standards so that new features could be offered to consumers, perhaps Verizon has finally seen the light.

Wall Street analysts will doubtless fail to notice, however, that the technology behind Verizon Wireless is inherently less open than that used by AT&T, uh, Cingular (for example, I regularly swap phones between the T-Mobile and AT&T networks simply by switching out SIM cards, something that is not possible with Verizon). So how much good this will do Verizon in the long run remains to be seen.

Maybe now they are finally regretting their decision to turn down the iPhone.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Kindle Sideways

At a press conference in New York City, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos debuted the company's e-book dubbed Kindle. Smaller and thinner than previous e-book attempts, the most noteworthy thing about Amazon's device is that it includes free wireless access via the cellular data standard known as EVDO so that owners can download books, magazines, and--yes--blogs, directly to the Kindle.

It's an interesting model for high-speed (or relatively high-speed) data service: don't charge a monthly fee, just charge for the content (hello, AT&T and Verizon, are you listening?). This is an approach that could work, even if the Kindle isn't ultimately successful.

One high point of the press conference: "The best encyclopedia is Wikipedia," said Bezos. And he wasn't joking. Honest, didn't even crack a smile. And we wonder why all those college papers have such egregious errors of fact in them....

For more on the Kindle, and less snarkiness, see "Amazon's Kindle."

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Free Rice

"There are things in life other than money: hunger, poverty, misery." -- BB Gabor

At this time of year many people's thoughts turn to doing good for others. 

John Breen, a Bloomington, Indiana, computer programmer recently turned his thoughts to the issue of global hunger and came up with a novel idea: A vocabulary game on the Web called FreeRice that uses advertising to pay for rice to be distributed in impoverished areas by the.United Nations World Food Program. (The UN program works with organizations in over 75 countries and when possible buys food locally to support local economies.)

Every correct answer you make at the site generates 10 grains of free rice in the form of advertising dollars paid by the site's sponsors. Ten grains a question may not sound like much, but consider what advertisers pay for clicks, and then consider the effect if millions of people play the game

Quesions have been raised--as they always should be--about who gets what money and where the donations actually go. According to FreeRice, simply by playing the vocabulary game, rice (in the form of money from advertisers) is donated for every correct answer. And the site's operators claim they make no money from the Web site. However, some sceptical folks in the philantrophy business have wondered about who gets the ad revenue when a visitor clicks directly on an advertisement in FreeRice: Does the site's creator receive the money or does it too go toward combating world hunger?

Whatever the answer, trying to do good is its own reward, not to mention the fact that you might actually improve your vocabulary.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Net Neutrality

The issue of who controls the Internet--whether it remains as it is with open access or can be controlled by private telecommunications companies--moved to the fore again this week when a San Francisco subscriber to Comcast launched a suit against the company. The suit alleges that the largest cable company in the U.S. misleads customers and uses unfair business practices by interfering with file sharing programs.

Naturally, lawyers for the plaintiff are looking to form a class action suit (now that's one way to recoup those inflated broadband access charges). So get in early and often by contacting the representing law firm.

Already, a collection of consumer and legal organizations have asked the FCC to prevent Comcast from interfering with legitimate file sharing. One proposal is that the FCC should fine Comcast $195,000 for every subscriber whose Internet access has been restricted.

For its part, Comcast says it does not block programs on the Internet---it just delays some traffic. Right.

To read more on this issue see "Comcast Hijacks the Internet" and "Verizon and AT&T: Web 2.0 Killers."

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Leif and Cathedral

What could motivate over 1,000 people to travel to one of the most remote (and frosty) places on the planet simply to meet people who like to play the same game? EVE Online.

EVE is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that revolves around intergalactic corporate wars. In other words, you play this game along with thousands of other participants in a virtual world that includes not only galaxies and spaceships, but also a full-fledged economy comprised of large and small companies. In terms of depth and complexity, EVE is regarded by many MMO players as the most advanced of its ilk. And it allows players to become anything from a fighter to a CEO in charge of hundreds of employees (which are actually fellow players).

The Fanfest is held annually in Reykjavik, Iceland, the home of EVE developer CCP. The game now boasts nearly 200,000 paying players. So it's not the size of, say, World of Warcraft, but these players are much more devoted. And much more diverse. In my travels I met families who play the game, as well as people from every walk of life.

I had an interesting discussion at the beer-soaked EVE party with an Austrian social worker who talked about how people could express a part of themselves in the game that they could not in real life (such as becoming a captain of industry with hundreds of employees), and he thought this could be therapeutic.

EVE Flags

There was the woodworker from Liverpool who was exhausted after a few months acting as the CEO of his EVE company. It turns out his predecessor had to step down because he had to do a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy. The Liverpudlian also emphasized to me that his company included employees from all over the world, representing different political and cultural points of view. A truly global enterprise whose members work in concert. 

There was the British accountant, who in addition to taking advantage of Iceland's lifting of its ban on beer in the '80s (he was apparently trying to make up for all that lost time single-handedly), was intent on meeting as many of the attendees on the darkened streets of Reykjavik as possible.

And there was the librarian from the midwest whose laid-back Owen Wilson demeanor belied a ruthless corporate fighter.

In general, the Fanfest is an opportunity for players to discuss the game, compete, and meet with the company and learn about future plans. For example, there were presentations on introducing a more democractic governing structure to the game, more advanced graphics (quite impressive), and new features, such as ambulation (which is just what it sounds like). I had the opportunity to chat with CCP's CEO Hlimar Petursson about "harnessing sentiment" and with the newly hired economist who left his post at a university to oversee EVE's economic structure (more about that in the future).

Iceland's Momentary Sun

One of the most interesting presentations at the event was given by John Galt Games' CEO Trey Ratcliff. Trey debuted his company's forthcoming game, WebWars: EVE. The small auditorium was jammed for the talk, and response was enthusiastic, with words like "brilliant" being bandied about. For more on WebWars, which I think has some remarkable repercussions for online gaming, go to J-Q.com.

By the way, if there's one thing the guide books don't tell you about Iceland, it's that the most popular sport in the country seems to be driving over curbs. Apparently, Icelanders don't believe in curbs or keeping their cars in alignment. So if you're walking around Reykjavik, stay on your toes.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Recently, I had an opportunity to ride the only full-scale magnetic levitation or maglev train operating in the United States. It's a lot more exciting than the video attests, so for the full story, see the cover story in the December issue of Popular Mechanics magazine.

JQonMaglev

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For those who wonder what all the fuss about so-called net neutrality is about, witness what Comcast has done to subscribers of its "Internet" service.

Essentially, Comcast is secretly blocking certain Internet requests and Internet traffic in the same manner that hackers hijack computer systems with false messages. Comcast does not inform customers that it is blocking Internet traffic; indeed, it intentionally hides its hacking activity from users.

Comcast's behavior raises several issues: Is the company guilty of deceptive advertising by claiming it offers high-speed Internet access when in fact it only offers access to some parts of the Internet? Can it now be sued by users--including the possibility of a class action suit--for such practices? Is it trying to censor Internet traffic in the same way that government officials in China and Burma censor Internet access? Will the company begin censoring sites that differ from its corporate political views? (In fact, several analysts point out that there appears to be no specific law to prevent Comcast  from blocking or hiding, say, republican or democratic sites from its customers.)

Now that Comcast has been caught deceiving its customers and ducking questions about its behavior--questions that were raised as long ago as last August--it may represent a turning point in the battle over net neutrality. Until now, companies such as Verizon and AT&T claimed that there was no reason to enact laws protecting Internet access as it exists because no one was blocking access to customers or planning to do so.

But now the telecom oligopoly has in fact started to hijack the Internet, which may finally spur people and the politicians that represent them into action.

For more on net neutrality, see: Verizon and AT&T: Web 2.0 Killers

For more on Comcast's actions, see: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Airblade

Testing a new product is one thing. Seeing it in action out in the real world is something else, a fact I was reminded of yesterday in the Time Warner Center perched on the corner of Central Park.

Between meetings I happened into one of New York City's rarest of commodities, a public bathroom (and you thought I was going to say "courtesy" or "good manners" or "proper grammar"). I wasn't loitering in the men's room, unlike some politicians we know, honest. Nature called, so I followed a long line of tourists into the facilities. The first thing I noticed in the room was a pair of Dyson Airblades stuck to the wall.

For those unfamiliar with the Airblade, it's a rapid hand drying machine made by the snooty Dyson vacuum cleaner company (for a complete description see, "Blow It Off"). It's not unlike the machines in public restrooms in Japan and elsewhere (not that I'm on a world tour of men's rooms or anything). It's better than the hot air blowers because it doesn't make your hands chapped and it's faster. It also saves trees because it obviates the need for paper towels--although if you wash your face...you have to go back to paper towels. But I digress.

Seeing the Airblade for the first time in a public space I was intrigued to notice a few things. First, no one else in the men's room even noticed the devices; they clearly didn't know what they were. Second, I was the only person to use them in the crowded facility. (This is not intended as some crack about how people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. People did wash their hands while I was there--especially the tourists--but they used the paper towels provided.) Third, the Airblade worked, but it took two passes of my hands through the machine to get them really dry.

So clearly Dyson has to spend some marketing money if the Airblade is going to really going to take off (you didn't really think I was going to pass up on that obvious pun, did you?). And my experience proves once again that the greatest technology in the world won't make a wit of a difference if no one knows what it is or what it does.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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Which Disc?

If you thought that the consumer electronics industry would finally settle on a standard for high-definition DVDs by at least this holiday season, you were sadly mistaken. So was Sony.

During the summer, Sony clearly thought that its Blu-Ray format had prevailed (winning support from Target and Blockbuster) and that it was all over but for the Best Buy hawking of discontinued HD DVD players. Then it was broadsided by Paramount and Dreamworks Animation announcements that they were switching to HD DVD and ditching Sony's format.

So when Shrek the Third comes out on DVD this November, the only high-def format it will be available in will be the Toshiba supported HD DVD format (and Netflix will have it, while Blockbuster won't). And since it's all about the content, a couple of hit movies like that could tip the balance.

HD DVD players are still hundreds of dollars less than Blu-Ray players ($300 vs. $500), but it's still too early to pick a winner and settle on one machine or the other. So, if you want to completely go high definition, what are you supposed to do? Get a multi-format player. There are models from Samsung and LG out this fall, although prices are still around the $1,000 mark. 

The rest of us who can't afford to spend a grand on a disc player, well, we'll have to wait until next Christmas.

FOR MORE OF JQ'S NEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT J-Q.COM

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