I wish I could come up with a catchy title like TWiT (This Week in Tech) but Leo Laporte already has most of the acronyms in use on his Netcast Network. Oh, well guess I’ll have to stick with The Wandering Lunatic.
Lots of stuff going on this week. First off is a move by the Cell Phone Industry (except Apple) to adopt a universal phone charger based on micro-usb. If you own a Blackberry or Razr, among others you are already familiar with this kind of connector. It’s a green initiative coming out of the Mobile World Congress this week. No more bazillions of chargers floating around the house and not remembering which one is which. We will have “One charger to power them all…”. Okay LoTR references aside this is a beautiful thing and I am a bit surprised that an industry is getting together to do something that makes sense.
Michelin comes out with the e-wheel and not that I think this is the end-all-be-all for future drive train replacement but it is a step in the right direction. The old gear boxes and drive shafts served a purpose but may no longer have relevance in the coming world of electric cars. I hate to use old Apple marketing slogans but isn’t it time to “Think Different”? Operating on the status-quo needs to come to a screeching halt. The automobile industry is one great example. They (all US car makers collectively) have done very little to innovate and make serious use of new technology or deliver product that makes sense for the changing world and all of the people that live in it. Oh wait, they did start to use robots to make cars… 30 years ago! Now the US taxpayer has to spend billions to dig these companies out of the holes they have created.
I can’t find the link for it now nut apparently Verizon is thinking about offering a $5/month inbound only (except 911 and support) service. How this differs from the “metered” line that they have had for years, I am not sure. A “metered” (charged for every call) line cost about $8 a month although I’m not sure that Verizon liked people knowing about it. One day soon consumers will figure out that they don’t need to pay for internet and phone and TV. All we need is Internet and all the rest is readily available. I just hope that consumers figure this out before the phone/cable/satellite companies do, so that they don’t have a chance to weasel their way into the equation when they are no longer needed or financially feasible for consumers.
I also have a note here to check out Elisa, the free media player. I have played with Boxee and I really like it even more than Xbox Media Center (XBMC) even though Boxee is based on XBMC. Unfortunately Boxee is in an invite only alpha stage right now.
