NEW NET Issues List for 17 Feb 2009

Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 17 February 2009, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 pm weekly gathering. This week we're upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

The ‘net

1. How to find how-tos on the Web http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10163564-2.html “…there are a slew of sites across the Web that provide articles and videos that can help us complete any project…5min.com…eHow…Expert Village…Howcast…Instructables…”

2. The Real Trouble With Search Engine Optimization http://www.seoaly.com/real-trouble-with-search-engine-optimization/ “…I…take exception to virtually every word of Mr. Dvorak’s rant, which is based entirely upon his own ignorance - without a shred of fact or truth. The advice he was given, particularly with regard to the permalink structure of the URLs of his blog, was absolutely CORRECT. The problem lies, not with the suggestion his unnamed “SEO Maven” friend offered, but that this individual gave him only part of the information necessary in order to make the changes properly… Mr. Dvorak also neglected to edit the individual permalinks to include only the most pertinent information regarding the post’s topic…Another thing not taken into account when Mr. Dvorak changed his URLs was: what will happen to any existing links to the old post URLs? You see, when permalinks are changed it will break the existing links to the old URL. Someone who fully understands SEO, rather than thinking they can glean all of the information needed from a brief IM conversation, would have understood that installing a plugin - like Redirection - would be necessary in order create a 301 redirect and to prevent any existing links from breaking as a result of the changes to the post URLs. Immediately creating a new sitemap and submitting it to Google would help to make them aware of the changes to the URL structure of the blog, as well…”

3. Link Building: Crawl Before You Walk http://www.canadianseo.com/2009/02/linkbuilder-born-learning-crawl-walk/ “…She’ll be blogging here about her experiences, as she learns from scratch, one of the most challenging aspects of search engine optimization – organic link building…a recap of our first lesson. Examining Competitors for Relevant Backlink Opportunities…Perform a search for the client’s keyword on Google.com. These sites are the ones that Google considers most relevant to “SEO Canada” and are our client’s direct competitors. Visit each of the top 20 competitor websites and look for backlink opportunities. It may be in the form of a blog comment, a product review, a directory submission, a play list, content submittal, a profile page etc…Using Yahoo’s Linkdomain Command. Perform the following search on Yahoo, substituting the url for a competitor’s (the one’s within your word doc): linkdomain:www.competitorswebsite.com This shows you the majority of websites that link to this competitor. Start visiting these sites and keep a sharp eye out for backlink opportunities…”

4. The Great Video SEO Frontier http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090212_136831.htm “…people are only starting to seriously consider the value of video optimization for search…we found an average of 16,000 videos vying to appear on results pages containing an average of 1.5 video results—giving each video about an 11,000-to-1 chance of making it onto the first page of results. By comparison, there were an average of 4.7 million text pages competing for a place on results pages with an average of just 9.4 text results—giving each text page about a 500,000-to-1 chance of appearing on the first page of results…there are far fewer videos than Web pages…”

5. Video SEO for Google, Youtube and Beyond http://dailyseotip.com/video-se/55/ “…Online videos are 53 times more likely to appear on the front page of search results than regular pages, according to Business Week and a study of the front page rankings of 40 of the most popular keywords in Google…when optimizing a video for keyterms, make sure relevant keyterms are used in the video titles, descriptions, tags, keyterms and even the video file name…”

6. Local Advertising Isn't Jumping Online http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090213_028329.htm “…Web startups have spun visions of conquering local ad markets. Their dream is to tap that vast array of attorneys, lawyers, dentists, shoe shops, restaurants, and other close-to-home businesses that tend to advertise in the yellow pages. No single local business spends a lot on ads, but in aggregate, they represent a lot of money…Local interactive advertising is headed for a big slowdown this year, according to Borrell Associates…Bright spots in the local market are rare. Even Craigslist, arguably the most successful of the handful of Web companies specializing in local advertising, has taken off in only a few cities and monetizes less than 1% of its users. Yelp, the online review site, has outlasted peers, but Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Stoppelman concedes it hasn't been easy…”

7. Hyperlocal Is Happening http://searchengineland.com/hyperlocal-is-happening-16533 “…newspapers and television and radio stations are latching on to a trend of going “hyperlocal” with their content…to counter the problems of falling ad revenue…The catch is that, so far, a hyperlocal focus of content isn’t being backed by a hyperlocal breakthrough in ad sales. Forrester Research’s recent report…found a “disconnect between the source consumers rely on for local news and information versus those they rely on for business listings.” The majority of these consumers are still using traditional means of locating the goods and services they desire. The report discovered that 74 percent of offline consumers and 66 percent of online consumers still turn to the Yellow Pages directory for local business listings. Meanwhile, the report found Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) results were almost identical to Internet search engines with 31 percent of online consumers using IYP to find listings for local businesses versus 34 percent using search engines…Newspapers aren’t the only ones looking to a hyperlocal approach to improve their product…The latest step forward comes as R.H. Donnelly launches its new DexKnows IYP platform…”

8. Twitter gets $35 million in new venture funds http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-twitter14-2009feb14,1,7007792.story “…San Francisco's hottest start-up…Twitter Inc. closed a $35-million venture capital round…Co-founder Biz Stone said the micro-blogging service still had money in the bank from two earlier funding rounds, which totaled $20 million, but Twitter received "an offer we couldn't refuse." "Our strong growth attracted interest, and we decided to accept a unique opportunity to make Twitter even stronger with a very attractive offer…”

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

9. Houston municipal courts shut down by virus http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6258583.html “Houston Municipal Court will remain closed until Friday while workers make sure that a computer virus which shut down courtroom operations earlier this week has been eradicated…workers need to check and recheck the system to make sure the bug is gone. The virus is W32/Virut.n, a variant of Virut, a family of viruses that has been known for years…City officials said the virus was preventing employees from logging into the system and accessing information. Because the virus is new, the city’s antivirus software didn’t catch it, city officials said. Its antivirus vendors — Panda and McAfee - now have the information they need to prevent and disinfect the virus. The virus was isolated to 475 of the city’s 16,000 computers…”

10. Microsoft Puts Up $250K Reward For Conficker Creators http://www.crn.com/security/214200404 “…Microsoft, Symantec and other security industry and academic leaders will be cracking down on the Conficker/Downadup worm by putting up a $250,000 bounty and disabling domains that enable the spread of the botnet…the newly formed coalition is offering a $250,000 bounty for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of malware authors responsible for launching the Conficker worm over the Web…One new approach, Weafer said, will be to nip the problem in the bud by collaborating with domain registrars to ensure that they're not leveraged by botnet creators…One of the features that distinguishes the Conficker worm is that it patches its own vulnerability on the machines that it infects, possibly to prevent the machine from being infected by competing malware…”

11. Nothing New About Malware Spreading Through Autorun http://tinyurl.com/aeu6xg (PCMagazine) “…Much has been made in the press recently about the ability of the Conficker worm to spread using removable storage devices like USB thumb drives. The implication is that this is new an innovative and therefore somehow especially threatening. I don't think any of this is true…W32/Magold-D from September, 2003 was described at the time so: "The worm may attempt to copy itself to all local drives, shared network drives and floppy disks…The description doesn't say USB drives, but in 2003 they wouldn't have been much of a consideration. It's highly possible that Magold-D would find and attack them anyway…Like thousands…other malicious programs, Conficker spreads through a variety of means. This is called a blended attack. USB and Autorun are only two of them…Conficker contains a password dictionary and uses it to attack shares with weak passwords in them…”

12. Pennsylvania Bill introduced to ban all portable gadgets in school http://techdirt.com/articles/20090213/1835443768.shtml “…It's perfectly reasonable to have rules within the classroom where students are told not to use the phones during class time, but a full ban makes little sense. In fact, many parents have protested such rules, as they feel safer when their kids have mobile phones. However, it looks like some politicians in Pennsylvania are going even further. Dan Callahan, a 6th grade teacher in Pennsylvania wrote in to let us know that a state legislator has introduced legislation for a blanket ban on students having portable electronic devices in schools…”

13. Pirate Bay Trial: The Hottest Ticket in Stockholm http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/pirate-bay-tria.html “…Few believe that the defendants in The Pirate Bay case will face particularly harsh penalties in the criminal lawsuit even if they are convicted…their criminality is alleged to be indirect: "Assisting in and preparing to committing copyright infringement." But it is more difficult, both legally and politically, to go after the "real" infringers: the Pirate Bay’s claimed 22 million strong users…Media interest is intense. The largest Swedish newspapers have bloggers covering the trial live as the top front page story…The prosecutor claimed the gross revenue to their operations amounted to the equivalent of $150,000 before the raid in May 2006. He asks that this amount, as well as a lot of servers and equipment, be forfeited, in addition to sentencing the defendants to fines and jail time. Most in the crowd seemed to disagree…Record companies are seeking some damages but the Hollywood studios are going for the big kill and asking for about $10 million for five movies that has been shared…”

Mobile Computing & Communicating

14. Android Warned Not to Use Phone's Web Browser http://tinyurl.com/cothfj (ReadWriteWeb) “…security researcher Charlie Miller presented a new vulnerability in Google's mobile OS Android which allows hackers to remotely take control of the phone's web browser and related processes…hackers could gain access to the saved credentials stored in the browser and browser history. They could also snoop on your web transactions, even if encrypted…Since it would allow a hacker full control over the browser and related processes, Miller recommends that Android owners actually "avoid using the browser until a patch is released. If this is not possible, only visit trusted sites and only over the T-Mobile network (avoid Wi-Fi)…Google's Rich Cannings, Android Security Engineer has now responded with the following statement…The Android Security Team responded by contacting PacketVideo, T-Mobile, and oCERT, a public Computer Emergency Response Team. PacketVideo developed a fix on February 5th, and they patched Open Source Android two days later…We offered the patch to T-Mobile when it became available, and G1 users will be updated at T-Mobile's discretion…”

15. LogMeIn and Android http://tinyurl.com/cgb3nb (InformationWeek) “LogMeIn is expected at next week's Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain, to debut software that will help IT shops and service providers remotely manage and technically support Android-based smartphones…The growth in smartphone technology adoption is going to put a significant strain on support organizations as high-level operating systems accommodate ever more advanced applications…LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile also provides a "dashboard" that gives phone status and allows for diagnostics and chat with the customer, a company official said. With the new version, support technicians have the ability to remotely access a user's computer to solve related issues involving Wi-Fi and Bluetooth setups, as well configuring a user's e-mail…”

16. Skyfire mobile brower at 0.9 beta http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10162353-2.html “…Skyfire (coverage), the plucky mobile browser that could, inches closer to a full-version release on Thursday with version 0.9 beta for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones…Many more developments pack on greater browsing power, like the capability to download some MP3s and videos…after zooming in on an article, Skyfire will automatically reformat it to fit the screen's width. The best way to deal with text articles has been an ongoing debate in the mobile browser world for some time…”

17. Microsoft Recite provides voice storage, search, and retrieval http://blogs.zdnet.com/cell-phones/?p=696 “…Microsoft Recite is a search technology for your voice that runs on Windows Mobile (v6.0 and higher) devices…Press “Remember” to record a thought. Press “Search” to retrieve your thoughts…Recite’s voice search makes it easy to retrieve your stored thoughts and notes by using voice pattern matching. It analyzes the patterns in your speech and finds matches between two recordings – the notes you stored on your phone, and the search you do using your voice. With Recite you can store hundreds of spoken notes, and then later retrieve the notes you want you want based on a match with your search term …”

18. Nokia Will Ship N97 Loaded With Skype http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10165241-2.html “…Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97…goes on sale in June…Skype will be integrated into the N97 address book, enabling users to see when Skype contacts are online. It will also let people use Skype's instant-messaging client. Most importantly, N97 users will be able to make free and low-cost phone calls over the Internet whether they are on a 3G cellular network or a Wi-Fi network…the two smartphone makers Skype has announced as partners here are manufacturers that are already struggling to get their high-end devices on American mobile networks…adding Skype won't do much to convince these operators to offer these phones and subsidize them so that American consumers will buy them. The reason is pretty simple. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA know that a wide-scale deployment of Skype on their phones could cannibalize their international voice services and potentially hurt their domestic voice service…”

19. Second Android phone is unveiled http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7894516.stm “…A new phone based on Google's operating system Android has been unveiled by Vodafone…The touchscreen HTC Magic will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS, but no slide-out keyboard. The first "Google phone", called the G1, was launched in September by HTC and is exclusive to T-mobile. The Magic will feature new Android firmware, known as "Cupcake", with changes based on G1 user suggestions…”

Open Source

20. Linux Version of Chrome To Use Gtk+ http://osnews.com/story/20980/Linux_Version_of_Chrome_To_Use_Gtk_ “…A major complaint about Google's Chrome web browser has been that so far, it is still not available on anything other than Windows. Google promised to deliver Chrome to Mac OS X and Linux as well, but as it turns out, this is a little harder than they anticipated, Ben Goodger, Google's Chrome interface lead, has explained in an email. It has also been revealed what toolkit the Linux version of Chrome will use: Gtk+…The Mac version is coming along nicely, and Google hopes to deliver both the Linux and Mac versions somewhere in June…”

21. Lenny has landed! http://www.tuxradar.com/content/lenny-has-landed “…After almost two years of work since the release of Etch, the Debian team has finally released Debian 5.0 "Lenny" to the world - their tenth major release. When we spoke to Steve McIntyre, the Debian Project Leader, he said "we basically decided that if we were happy that stuff looks and is legal, as in there isn't any source missing or anything like that, then…we'll go with that." To find out what he was talking about and see our initial views on the new release, read on…”

22. Snakebite network readied for open source projects http://tech.yahoo.com/news/infoworld/20090211/tc_infoworld/125559 “…Developers soon will have a network to go to for developing principally open source projects and testing their software on multiple platforms…Snakebite network is intended to "provide developers of open source projects complete and unrestricted access to as many different platforms, operating systems, architectures, compilers, devices, databases, tools, and applications that they may need in order to optimally develop their software…The brainchild of Trent Nelson, a committer on the Python language project, Snakebite still is under development; it is expected to formally debut in a month or so…”

23. Novell Delivers Moonlight 1.0 http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2009/Feb-11.html “Moonlight, the open source implementation of Silverlight for Unix systems has officially reached its 1.0 level. We are feature complete, we pass all the Microsoft regression test suites and we shipped support for Microsoft's Media Pack for x86 and x86-64 architectures. Moonlight is available as a Firefox plugin that can be installed with a single click from the moonlight download page…”

24. Mozilla Labs: Introducing Bespin http://osnews.com/story/20970/Mozilla_Labs_Introducing_Bespin “…Bespin is an experimental in-browser text/source-editor created by Mozilla Labs. Using any modern web browser (that means no IE, obviously), you can edit your projects from any computer, or with the added flexibility of the web - such as online collaboration, decentralisation, and extensibility…Bespin is without question one of those "Wouldn't it be great" ideas. Wouldn't it be great to be able to edit code, in a decent editor, from anywhere, just using a browser? Yes it would; but I have to say, most "wouldn't it be great" ideas are spur-of-the-moment things, and the finer details have to be worked out over time. I certainly have reservations which I will proceed to address…”

SkyNet

25. Google Maps Edges Closer To MapQuest http://tinyurl.com/d6hlbg (Hitwise) “…I was getting ready to announce that Google Maps had caught up to MapQuest in share of US Internet visits. I decided to wait a week to be sure things held. Since then, MapQuest has regained its lead and is widening the gap on Google Maps…in late December, it looked like Google Maps was ready to overtake MapQuest. Last week, MapQuest had regained an 11% lead over Google Maps…”

26. We're not the bad guys: Google Earth boss http://tinyurl.com/ammv87 (Sydney Morning Herald) “…Hamas militants in Gaza, who have been firing rockets into Israel, and the Pakistan-based terrorists, who stormed Mumbai late last year, are among several radical groups that have reportedly used Google Earth to help in the execution of their missions. The Google program marries a swathe of aerial and satellite photography of varying resolution, giving users a bird's eye view of large parts of the Earth' surface - a type of perspective that until a few years ago was available only to handful of scientists and military officials…In December, a petition entered at the Mumbai High Court alleges that Google Earth "aids terrorists in plotting attacks" and asked that Google be directed to blur images of sensitive areas pending all full hearing. The Jerusalem Post reported in December that a documentary called The Field of Death posted on the Hamas military wing's website showed terrorists using Google Earth to plot a rocket attack on a fuel depot inside Israel last April that killed two men…”

General Technology

27. USB Computer Repair Utility Kit http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/a_computer_repair_utility_kit.php “…Technibble, the Australian site for aspiring computer techies, recently released the second version of its popular Computer Repair Utility Kit, a collection of 57 hand picked tools to help you diagnose and repair your Windows machine. While all of the utilities are freely available online, this all-in-one kit saves you the trouble of searching for and downloading them individually…”

28. Tesla Motors Taking Orders For Roadster Sport http://tinyurl.com/aspc8y (InformationWeek) “…Tesla Motors, a maker of luxury electric cars, on Thursday announced that it has started taking orders for its Roadster Sport, which should be available this June. The car, which is slightly faster than the standard model, is expected to reach a speed range of 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds…the Sport model, which the company plans to start delivering in late June, starts at $128,000…Tesla plans to unveil a prototype of its long-awaited Model S four-door sedan March 26 at the company's design studio at an invitation-only event. Production of the vehicle, which is expected to be relatively affordable in comparison to the Roadster, has been repeatedly delayed. It's now scheduled for production in 2011…Musk said the company won't fill its current orders until early November and eventually expects to be sold out of all 2009 production…The company has produced more than 200 Roadsters and has more than 1,000 awaiting delivery to U.S. and European customers…”

29. Microsoft Sued Over Vista-To-XP Downgrade Fees http://tinyurl.com/ah4m4j (InternetNews) “…Microsoft's…under antitrust attack again, this time for the fees PC vendors charge to consumers who buy PCs preinstalled with Vista and then "downgrade" to Windows XP…Alvarado claims that she bought a Lenovo PC last June that came with Vista preinstalled, and had to pay an additional $59.25 to have the system "downgraded" to XP…The suit claims that Microsoft knows it can charge extra for XP downgrades…Microsoft had said it planned to halt access to XP for system builders and OEMs…then extended that availability several times…These extensions were likely due to the tremendous profits that Microsoft has reaped from its 'downgrade' option," Alvarado's suit alleges. "To date, nearly one in three consumers purchasing a new computer has paid to downgrade the operating system from Vista to Windows XP…Microsoft is trying to kill off XP, because the system is already more than seven years old and still requires maintenance…Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster did tell InternetNews.com that the company doesn't get any of the money from Vista-to-XP downgrades…”

30. Asus `kitchen computer' does the job http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090212/ap_on_hi_te/tec_tech_test_eee_top “…AsusTek Computer Inc. upended the laptop market when it brought out the tiny, cheap Eee PC a year and a half ago. As a follow-up, the plucky Taiwanese company is trying something harder: conquering the kitchen. Many manufacturers have tried and failed to create a stripped-down computer that's usable in the home's second-least computer-friendly room...Asus doesn't call the Top a "kitchen computer," but that's the most obvious application for this type of device…The Top looks like a 16-inch LCD monitor — the computer part is built into the back of it…the screen is touch-sensitive and works well enough that I never had to use the mouse and broke out the keyboard only a few times…The Top's software has a couple of touch-friendly features to it, including an application menu with large buttons that replaces the standard Windows Start menu…By making the touch interface usable (if not stellar), I feel Asus cleared the biggest hurdle for a device like this…Having the Top run Windows XP makes it versatile, too…The Top's greatest failing is that it's bad at video. It lacks a DVD drive. It will play Flash video from YouTube or Hulu in a slightly jerky fashion that gets much worse if you try the high-resolution modes. Skype video calls using the built-in webcam are blurry and stuttery…the Top packs the same Intel processor as the Eee PC line: the tiny Atom. It's cheap and power-thrifty, but lacks the horsepower to show high-quality video…Video chatting is also great for the kitchen — you don't want to be tapping out a lot of e-mails on that screen. Much better to be able to wave a bunch of herbs in front of the camera and ask "Which one is the coriander again?…”

31. The End of Alone http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/02/08/the_end_of_alone/ “…Don't get me wrong. I love technology. It's magical how it makes the world closer, and more immediate…Technology also makes life infinitely more manageable. It's what allows me to begin writing this essay from a packed coffee shop on a snowy winter afternoon while still being connected with my editors and finish writing it from my kitchen in the middle of the night…So please don't confuse what I have to say for that tired Luddite screed about how technology is ruining us. It isn't. Except it just might. Because of technology, we never have to be alone anymore. And that's the problem…I was sitting in the "quiet study" section of my local public library when a middle-aged woman wearing an annoyed expression plopped down in the green upholstered chair next to my table, her teenage daughter in tow. She flipped open her cellphone and dialed her daughter's therapist. After giving the therapist's secretary her full name and slowly spelling her daughter's -- loud enough for every soul in that wing of the library to hear -- she said, "We have an appointment for next week, but I want to know if he has any availability before that. She is really not doing well." I looked up from my laptop, incredulous that a mother could be so blase about violating her daughter's privacy…I know what you're going to say. There have always been boors blabbing in places where they should be quiet…Yes, only technology has vastly expanded this bad behavior, eroding much of society's stigma against it, and making it everybody's problem. But here's the real point: It is dulling our very capacity to ever be alone, or alone in our thoughts…We've gone from an American ethic that championed the lone guy on a horseback to an ethic of managing multiple data streams…McEwen found in her University of Toronto study that college students are constantly connected to the point of having no concept of a truly unplugged life…British writer and psychiatrist Anthony Storr made a persuasive case for the value of deep, uninterrupted alone time…”

32. Stimulus package to expand Net's reach http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/14/BUFJ15SAO4.DTL “In Annapolis, a town of 700 in northern Sonoma County, Doug Simmonds has been on the cutting edge of Internet service - as much as he can be for the isolated community 2 1/2 hours north of San Francisco…DSL and cable modem have never been an option. But the new $787 billion stimulus bill should help bring rural residents such as Simmonds into the modern age of broadband. The stimulus package sets aside $7.2 billion to fund broadband grants that target underserved and unserved areas, primarily residents in rural and remote areas…The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will hand out $4.7 billion, while the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service will administer $2.5 billion in grants…”

Leisure & Entertainment

33. Mindflex- moving a ball with mind control http://tinyurl.com/cvxtv5 (jkOnTheRun) “…Mattel is getting ready to show off Mindflex, a game that puts your mind to work in a unique way. Mindflex was on display at the CES this year…Mindflex has the gamer don a lightweight headset and then move a foam ball using just brainwave activity. You concentrate on raising and lowering the ball and it just happens. What makes this so unique is that it’s a game, and a great use of technology in its own right…Check it out in the following video…”

34. Why I won’t touch the Kindle 2 with a ten foot pole http://tinyurl.com/dmtwsg (Masukomi) “…I’m all for e-ink books. I hate reading on a computer screen, but e-ink is awesome, and just as easy on the eyes as paper. I’m also totally into the idea of a book-sized device that’ll have access to my whole lib…But, there is no way…I’m going to buy a Kindle…Why? Simple. I have books in my library that are over a century old. They may be beat…cracked deteriorating bindings, but they’re still totally usable. But, you are guaranteed to be screwed sooner or later with any DRM encrypted e-book device. Your device could break, and then you can’t read anything you bought on it until you buy another one. The manufacturer could stop supporting it (and then it’ll break). The manufacturer could switch to a different DRM for future sales, abandoning your old device, or charging you to convert each item you already bought…I want any book I buy today to be readable in 20 years, or more. This isn’t an unreasonable request when you’re talking about books…And twenty isn’t an upper bound. I want to be able to pass those books on to my kids…”

Economy and Technology

35. Microsoft to launch its own retail stores http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-microsoft14-2009feb14,0,6850234.story “Microsoft…plans to open a series of retail stores to show off its goods…the idea is to make it easier for customers to buy and check out Microsoft products, such as the XBox game console, Zune digital media player and Surface tabletop computer -- as well as computer gear made by partners that run its software. Microsoft named David Porter as corporate vice president of retail stores late Thursday. He spent 25 years at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. before joining DreamWorks Animation SKG in 2007, where he was head of worldwide product distribution…Microsoft is putting the cart before the horse," analyst Allan B. Krans with Technology Business Research wrote in a research note. "Stores do not draw consumers to products; innovative products bring consumers into stores." The beginning of Apple's store strategy coincided with the launch of the iPod…Microsoft's halfhearted attempt at opening a San Francisco store in 1999 was short-lived…”

36. How to Get Funded in the Recession http://tinyurl.com/c9pge8 (Xconomy) “…Seattle-area startup Frugal Mechanic closed a round of seed funding from Founder’s Co-op, an early-stage investment fund for Internet companies. Frugal Mechanic is an online search engine for auto parts, so people can find the best price for an air filter or muffler, and get the right part to match their car quickly and easily…The key to their success so far has been their revenue model. (Hint: not much advertising.) For each auto-part transaction on the site, which averages about $100, Peters says, Frugal Mechanic collects a fee of 8 to 15 percent. Because the company connects buyers with sellers, Frugal doesn’t have to worry about managing customers’ credit card information…They then connected with Founder’s Co-op in October, and found the fit as snug as a synchromesh transmission. The peer-to-peer investment firm is now helping the entrepreneurs with its considerable startup expertise and extensive network, Peters says. “They’re bringing a lot of contacts, from a LinkedIn standpoint…”

Civilian Aerospace

37. Elon Musk of SpaceX calls out the troops for COTS D http://tinyurl.com/ajm4xl (Orlando Sentinel) “Elon Musk, the enfant terrible of new rocket entrepreneurs, is calling on supporters to press Congress to make available $300 million to fund the human spaceflight option of NASA’s commercial space flight program, better known as COTS D…the dotcom millionaire owner of SpaceX, said his company’s Dragon capsule meets all of NASA’s human rating requirements, such as redundancy of critical systems. All that is missing, he says, is an escape system that would blast the capsule off the top of his Falcon 9 rocket in an emergency. But that, he says, can be developed within two years if the money is available. That would mean, in theory at least, that SpaceX could have a rocket and spacecraft ready to fly to the international space station by mid to late 2011 – four years ahead of NASA’s current plans for its Ares I rocket and Orion capsule…Falcon 9 rocket has yet to successfully fly; its first test launch will be later this year. But assuming that SpaceX is successful, Falcon 9 and Dragon could resolve a lot of problems for NASA…F9/Dragon would cost less than $20M per seat and it is 100 percent manufactured and launched in the United States,” Musk says, adding that his program will also create thousands of jobs in Florida, California and Texas. He estimates the total cost of his Falcon 9-Dragon capsule program will be $1.5 billion over a five-year period. “Since COTS Capability D is an existing option in an already competed contract, NASA could exercise it right away, resulting in immediate job creation,” he says…”

38. Space: Insurance's New Frontier http://tinyurl.com/br8qoc (Forbes) “…Imagine an object the size of a pea with the potential to destroy a satellite, and you'll get a sense of the potential new risks posed by Wednesday's collision of an Iridium satellite with an inactive Russian military satellite. The scale of the damage is still being assessed, but so far the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center has identified 600 pieces of debris greater than the size of a tennis ball that were thrown off in the crash…Most commercial insured satellites operate in geosynchronous orbit, around 22,400 miles above the Earth, where there is hardly any debris, and onboard control ensures that collision risks are small. For these satellites, the main risks covered tend to be mechanical troubles, or a failure at launch…Underwriters have so far been unwilling to predict the impact that Wednesday's collision will have on the space insurance industry, which generates around $800.0 million a year…”

39. Simonyi going to ISS again http://tinyurl.com/avy3he (Popular Science) “…Charles Simony, a computer software executive…announced in September 2008 that he had booked a second flight with Space Adventures, currently the only company providing orbital space tourist flights to the International Space Station (ISS). Simony is currently training for the upcoming flight, which is scheduled to launch on March 25, 2009…I’ve read that you are planning to conduct scientific experiments during your time at the ISS. What sort of experiments? They are not my own; they are experiments that need to get done but fall to me because the astronauts’ time is so valuable. Some of the experiments are truly simple, and I am more of a subject than an active participant. But you can do a lot of good medical research just by people looking at your bones before and after the flight to see if there is bone loss. Osteoporosis and the causes and effects can be researched because in space it is much worse, much accelerated…most good science in space flight has to do with the behavior of the human body in space. That is where we are lacking info, and where info can only be obtained by flying in space…There is a symptom called Space Adaptation Syndrome, and I did not suffer from that. That is part of the study of the human body that can be done while in space—there is still a mystery as to what is causing this, and there are many theories, but we need to do more experimentation…”

Supercomputing & GPUs

40. India's Movie Business Booms http://tinyurl.com/cvlvhs (Advanced Imaging Pro) “Most everyone's heard of Bollywood, the burgeoning Indian movie industry. If not, the success of the recent film, "Slumdog Millionaire," should do the trick. As the nation's imaging technology grows, the film industry grows with it, becoming more fascinating and attractive…Indian filmmakers are increasingly using digital filmmaking technologies for visual effects, animation and in post-production. "What's happened is, the Bollywood folks are starting to take notice of what's going on worldwide," says Laura Dohrmann, Digital Film Group Marketing Director for NVIDIA (Santa Clara, Calif.). One of the technologies making a difference is the advance of the GPU, including NVIDIA's Quadro GPU accelerator cards…adds Mumbai-based Dohrmann, "Folks are really committed to making India a real global force in the film community. The energy is amazing. We do lecture series [on our technology] and it's not uncommon to have 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 people show up…”

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