For the last few weeks, it seems a lot of people have been searching for the phrase “fridge convergence,” and end up on my site as a result of an article I wrote a few years back. I’ve always thought the idea of the so-called “Internet fridge” was a dumb one. The article explains why. [ article ]
Caskets and e-commerce
For years, I’ve used an example on stage during my talks that has involved, of all things, caskets, I’ve done so to explain how ‘Net commerce will run roughshod over the ability for jurisdictions to try to protect local markets through legislation. Seems my story has become true.
I explained that in certain US states, it was illegal to transport caskets across state lines. Why? Because of legislation that prohibited this — legislation that was put in place to protect the powerful funeral home operator industry. Yet I indicated that it was often an impotent law — after all, what can we expect if someone sets up a web site that sells caskets? State police on the border, intercepting cars, looking for a coffin or two?
Well, it now seems that a couple of court cases are showing how such state or local jurisdiction laws are rendered irrelevant in the Internet economy. Any industry that tries to use legislation to protect its market is rendered obsolete — yet many industries are still blind to this fact. [ story ]
“IT Users in password hell”
The average PC user has five or more passwords — and they are all easily guessable. Is it any wonder why we have so many security problems?
[ ZDNet article ]
What’s due in 2003?
I offer my thoughts and observations in my annual look at what’s coming for the world of business. [ Adobe Acrobat file ]
CNN – “CD players becoming a thing of the past”
But in this case, CNN gets it wrong.
CNN notes in a story that DVD players are coming to replace CD players in homes. No problem with that : DVD players are the fastest growing consumer technology ever in terms of adoption rate, and since all DVD players can play CD’s, they’re replacing them.
But DVD’s are just a transitional step. The real home of the future will be just like mine today — with a central server storing thousands of MP3 or other format music files, accessible through a home-ethernet from a consumer audio device. You’ll have a network-based jukebox through which you’ll access your vast music library; will change the tunes that you play through your Web browser or palm-like device; and will find that CD’s have become a relic of the days of old.
The fact is, that is a future that is already here today.
I’ve been doing this for years, as have thousands of other people, with a magical device known as the Turtle Beach Audiotron.
I wrote about this in my article, “Is This Guy Crazy or Just Way Ahead of His Time?” which appeared in Link Magazine, July 2002. There’s also a video on the page that links to this article which explains why my 8 year old son thinks that CD’s are from the ‘olden days.’
[ My article ]
Always an optimist
It hit -15C (or about 5F) last night here in Toronto. We’ve got a neighborhood rink — volunteer run — and I’m on the flooding committee. I was out yesterday working on it, and again at 5:30this morning. I’m about to head up to see how the ice is coming along, and will give it another 1/2″ or so of water. Some might think you can’t make a rink in December, but they don’t have the constant optimism that I carry with me about anything and everything.
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