Archive for July, 2009

It’s always interesting to see who is converting to “electric” vehicles. Whether it’s bikes, cars, or what, it seems most people in other countries do so to avoid the high cost of gasoline or avoid traffic jams, while here in the U.S. people go electric to “save the planet”.

If we had traffic issues here like they have in China, I would shudder to think of how high insurance would be. Can you imagine what auto insurance quotes would look like if we had the number of people on the roads that they do each day?

It’s a simple pleasure, but Xu Beilu savors it daily: gliding past snarled traffic on her motorized bicycle, relaxed and sweat-free alongside the pedal-pushing masses. China, the world’s bicycle kingdom — one for every three inhabitants — is going electric.

Workers weary of crammed public transport or pedaling long distances to jobs are upgrading to battery-powered bikes and scooters. Even some who can afford cars are ditching them for electric two-wheelers to avoid traffic jams and expensive gasoline.

I wonder if they have enough electrical outlets to power all those new bicycles?

What will happen to the browser wars when Microsoft has to open it up to choice?

Microsoft Corp. will offer computer users a choice of Web browsers to ward off new European Union antitrust fines, EU regulators said Friday.

The European Commission has charged the company with monopoly abuse for tying the Internet Explorer browser to the Windows operating system installed on most of the world’s desktop computers.

Only time will tell, but I bet Internet Explorer won’t be on the top of the heap much longer.

Some not so good news from Qualcomm today. Everything keeps shrinking. The economy, the job market, the chip business. It’s almost like our economy has been taking diet pills. We’re looking thinner, but now we sure are hungry.

Wireless chip and technology supplier Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) issued a revenue target for the current quarter that was below Wall Street expectations, sending its shares down about 5 percent.

Qualcomm, which also posted a small drop in fiscal third-quarter profit, forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $2.55 billion to $2.75 billion, implying a midpoint of $2.65 billion, which is well below analysts’ average estimate for $2.72 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

How soon do you think it will be, until things really start to turn around?

With all the steel and concrete in Las Vegas, is the WiMax service going to be dependable enough to penetrate even the deepest parts of the Las Vegas Strip? Seriously? If you ran a WiMax network outside of some steel buildings can people still access the network deep inside?

Residents of Sin City now have a speedier network. Clearwire Communications said residents of Las Vegas have hit the jackpot with the company’s soon-to-be available WiMAX mobile Internet service.

Beginning Aug. 1, the approximately 1.7 million residents of Las Vegas will have wireless Internet access at speeds faster than 3G networks, according to the company.

It will be interesting to see if this works out for Clearwire and the people of Las Vegas.

Do you remember the days when kids cared more about what clothes they were wearing and what shoes they were wearing? We’ve come a long way from designer jeans and Dansko shoes, haven’t we?

Young kids are getting online at a faster rate than their parents and older siblings.

A new study from Nielsen Online found that nearly 16 million U.S. children ages 2 to 11 were online in May. They made up about 9.5 percent of Internet users.

Okay, so the shoes are still a big deal, but not as much as cell phones I would imagine.

It’s tough enough raising four kids, you know with food costs, clothing costs, medical costs, and all that. Even clipping coupons, shopping at thrift stores, and taking advantage of dental care discounts, it’s tough. How did the jury come to this decision anyway? $80,000 per song!?! Were they crazy?

Attorneys for Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota mother of four slapped with a $1.92 million fine by a federal jury last month for illegally downloading 24 songs, have filed a request for a new trial.

They’re right to request one because the judgment against the music-sharing mom was ridiculous.

The award for damages — which comes out to $80,000 per song — “shocks the conscience and must be set aside,” Thomas-Rasset’s lawyers wrote.

With the current rates on iTunes and places like that, a fine of $5 per song should be suffice, don’t you think? Hopefully this mother of four will receive a proper fine so she can put this behind her.