Bloglet Update

I would like to apologize for a lapse in the email reminders that go out when I write a new story. A couple of weeks ago I changed the blogging tool that I use to post the stories to my website. I did not realize that this required that I also make some changes at bloglet.com which is the service I use to notify my subscribers of new stories. Thanks to a number of you for telling me you had not received any updates for awhile and wondering if I had stopped writing. I don't see that day coming anytime soon. I really enjoy writing and I have a long queue of things that I want to write about. Most of my stories fall into one of sixteen categories.  (read more)

Blogging July 31, 2003 10:44 AM

Bocho Update

On Thursday, July 3, 2003 The Times showed a picture of the 21,529,464th "Beetle" built worldwide. It rolled off the production line in Puebla, Mexico and will be shipped to a car museum in Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. (read more)

Travels July 31, 2003 09:34 AM

Not As Easy As It Looks

I have been looking for a long time to find a motorcycle trailor that is really easy to use. On occasion it would be really nice to be able to tow a motorcycle somewhere and then ride it back home or visa versa or to tow it to a destination and then take a local motorcycle trip. I have a flat trailor made by Haulin which I bought at Home Depot. It was inexpensive and seemed like just the right thing. I made sides for the trailor from 2 x 6 planks with the idea that one of them would then serve as a ramp to drive a motorcycle onto the trailor. I found a bracket somewhere on the Web that mounted to the trailor bed which was designed to hold the front wheel of the bike in place. The final step in preparing this home made bike trailor was to have tie-down rings welded to the sides of the trailor. All set -- ready to use. What a disaster! (read more)

Motorcycles July 30, 2003 11:02 PM

Flying The Flag

Shortly after September 21st, 2001, more Americans flags began to appear than ever --it was obviously a good idea. It always feels good to ride through the small towns of America on a motorcycle and see an American flag on every house and telephone pole. I decided to attach flags to my motorcycles and found some nice ones at a local hardware store. They lasted for quite a while, but eventually the poor stitching and meager attachment to a wooden stick were bound to fail. One day, I got off the bike and there was a flagpole, but no flag.  (read more)

Internet Technology , Motorcycles , WiFi July 29, 2003 10:47 PM

Adios, bocho!

The New York Times ran a story by Phil Patton this morning about the demise of the Volkswagen Beetle. This is a nostalgic moment for many people -- myself included. I first became acquainted with the Beetle in engineering school, when a good friend of mine had one that he used as a "transport service" for many of his fraternity brothers. On a recent trip to Mexico City, I was surprised to see brand new "1967" Volkswagen Beetles. In Mexico, they call them the Bocho. I saw them in every imaginable color. Here is a collection of the ones I saw -- from the photo gallery.  (read more)

Travels July 27, 2003 08:57 PM

Around The World

It was not my original plan but after learning about the British Airways labor problems, I decided to come back from Singapore through Tokyo instead of London. I didn't realize until thinking about it just now that I had traveled around the world this week. Here is a view of the path and distances (thanks to Great Circle Mapper). It is amazing that you could go more than 20,000 miles in about 40 hours (not counting ground time). In spite of occasional delays and aggravations, the travel system is a marvel that I greatly appreciate and do not take for granted. (read more)

Travels July 26, 2003 09:59 AM

Singapore - Back to America

My original return flights were Singapore to London and then to JFK. However, when I heard about the British Airways labor actions, I decided to change routes and come back via Tokyo. The United Airlines 777 left Singapore on time for the seven hour flight. We headed northeast, south of Vietnam and over Manila in the Philippine Islands -- that was the first 1,600 miles. From there we continued northeastward south of Shanghai, and on to Tokyo. Just another 1,800 miles from the Philippines. Then it will be another 6,700 miles to New York. This is a big world, and Singapore is very far from home. I was anxious to get a WiFi connection at Narita Airport -- but it was not to be. (read more)

Travels July 25, 2003 10:57 PM

Singapore - Day 5

The last day in Singapore started very early in order to get a 6:55 a.m. flight to Tokyo. Check-in was smooth and efficient as most things in Singapore are. The SATS lounge offered a strong WiFi signal provided by StarHub and the most selections for payment I have ever seen. They accepted roaming arrnagements of various kinds, membership with several WiFi providers and a "walk-in" plan with a credit card. The price was $$6.00 which is approximately $3.50 in U.S. dollars. There is no reason to expect WiFi to be free and I think we will see many different pricing models evolve.

Travels July 24, 2003 06:18 PM

Singapore - Day 4: part 2

I first met Alonso Carral telecommunications industry converence in Mexico City in early 2002. He has now moved to Singapore. We met for dinner at the Mexican embassy where his brother is ambassador to Singapore.

CIO Insight hosted a Roundtable conversation on Youth, IT and the Future of the Workplace at 10 a.m. EST in New York. I participated from Singapore where it was 10 p.m. This made for a very long day but I am glad I could be part of the roundtable.

Travels July 24, 2003 02:20 PM

Singapore - Day 4: part 1

The IBM Forum 2003 is over now but I am continuing to meet with IBM customers to discuss Internet technology directions including WiFi, web services, blogging and e-business on demand. My first visit today was at Singapore Airlines. The airline industry is a difficult one but Singapore Airlines has claimed a very distinctive place in terms of both their level of service and their business performance. Their senior IT management is impressive also. We discussed many dimensions of Internet technology in which they had a keen interest. The next stop was at the Monetary Authority of Singapre (MAS). The lobby of the building was typical of a large office building but the new experience for me was to get my temperature taken by the security guard. It was 36 degrees. (read more)

Travels July 24, 2003 05:55 AM

Singapore - Day 3

The IBM Forum 2003 presented a number of excellent speakers on Wednesday morning. I was not able to hear them because I was meeting with IBM customers, including the Ministry of Defense, to discuss Internet technology directions. After lunch it was my turn to give a talk. The audience was large and there was a lot of interest. I talked about The Future Of The Internet with emphasis on WiFi, web services, and blogging and did my best to relate these key areas to e-business on demand. Tomorrow will be another day of meeting with IBM customers. (read more)

Travels July 23, 2003 06:24 PM

Singapore - Day 2

The IBM Forum 2003 started at 9 AM this morning with an opening talk by Janet Ang, managing director of IBM Singapore. Next was an address by Frank Lavin, the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore. He gave a somewhat positive view of the U.S. economy and a bullish outlook for the impact of the Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The keynote talk was given by Dr. Soumitra Dutta, Dean of Education at INSEAD. As the conference continued throughout the day, I was honored to meet with various IBM customers, including the Infocom Development Authority and Pacific Internet, to discuss the direction of Internet technology. (read more)

Travels July 23, 2003 07:30 AM

Singapore - Day 1: part 2

The Swissotel was kind enough to move me to a room with high speed Internet access. That enabled me to upload pictures from the day into the Singpore section of the photo gallery. Since I arrived at the hotel before 8 AM and my first meeting was not until 5 PM I had a choice of taking a nap or taking a walk. I took the latter. This is my third time to viisit Singapore but there are many things I had not had time to visit in the past. Funan The IT Mall is Singapore's largest shopping area dedicated to IT. The six story building houses 178 retail outlets. I visited many of them -- like a child in a candy store. I picked up a few essentials that were on my list including a Smart Media PCMCIA adapter and a USB hub. Speaking of USB, I have never seen so many USB accessories before. The most unique was the USB fan. I could not resist. As I type this story, the new USB fan is keeping me cool. (read more)

Travels July 22, 2003 10:22 AM

Singapore - Day 1

Travels July 20, 2003 09:19 PM

Singapore - final leg from Frankfurt

II have been fortunate to have made quite a few trips to Southeast Asisa. In every case, until now, the route of flight had been from east to west -- New York to Tokyo and then south southwest from Japan to the South China Sea. This trip was west to east. After departing from Frankfurt, Germany we headed South of Prague, north of Vienna, north of Istanbul across the Black Sea toward the Caspian Sea with Baghdad to the south. From there north of Tehran and then south of Delhi and acorss the Bay of Bengal to pass over the Andaman Sea toward Phuket, Thailand which is on the west side of the South China Sea. The final leg was near Penang west of the Strait of Malacca and then south over Malaysia. Singapore is south of Kuala Lumpur and north of Jakarta, Indonesia. (read more)

Travels July 20, 2003 05:57 PM

Singapore: first stop

This is going to be a very long flight but, if you have to spend a lot of time on an airplane, Singapore Airlines is the one to be with. The Boeing 747 departed late from JFK but strong tailwinds got us into Frankfurt, Germany ahead of schedule. For security reasons, everyone had to depart the plane. We will be re-boarding the same plane in an hour for the final, and longest, leg of the trip. The Lufthansa lounge was full of people and a number of them were using their laptops. A very strong WiFi signal was present, and upon starting a browser, the following message appeared. "Try out the new innovative technology and enjoy the comfort of a mobile high-speed office. The catch: during the trial period this service is free of cost." The service was being provided by Vodaphone. It remains to be seen where WiFi pricing will settle. There are interoperabililty issues too, but one thing is certain. WiFi is extending the reach of the Internet to more people in more places more often.

Travels , WiFi July 20, 2003 05:21 AM

Getting Ready To Go To Singapore

In a few hours I will be on the way to Singapore.  It has been a busy day getting packed and organized for the trip.  As of 11:10 a.m. this morning, I had already received 83 spam emails.  Fortunately, every single one of them was automatically placed in my "junk mail" folder and I did not have to look at them. I see no possibility that the pending legislation can solve the enormous spam problem, but I am quite optimistic that technology can solve it.  SpamNet from Cloudmmark works incredibly well.  Not only did it catch the 83 spam emails, but it did not move any email that it should not have.  I'm really pleased with how this is working.  That is in contrast to how well I think the National Do Not Call registry will work. The problem is the exceptions.

If you register your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, will it stop all telemarketing calls? No. The exception section of the registry says, "Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most, but not all, telemarketing calls. Some businesses are exempt from the national registry and still can call you even if you place your number on. Exempt businesses include the following:

Long-distance phone companies
Airlines
Banks and credit unions
The business of insurance, to the extent that it is regulated by state law.
Political organizations
Charities

Public Policy , Travels July 19, 2003 04:49 PM

Technical Update

The conversion to Movable Type is complete now and I would like to thank those who have sent me feedback. In particular I would like to thank those who have caught some things that broke in the process. I am finding Movable Type very powerful and it offers me new featues for the blogging. Some of the naming conventions and file structure are different and that is where a few difficulties came in. Thanks to David Leip for pointing out that my RSS feed was lost. For those who use the RSS feed directly, the new feed is at http://patrickweb.com/weblog/index.xml, but I have also restored the original RSS feed at http://patrickweb.com/weblog/index.xml The two feeds are identical and both will be maintained. For those who prefer to get an email when a new story is posted, you can just subscribe.

Email this story to a friend (send a short email with a link to this story)
Subscribe to patrickWeb (receive a short email when a new story is posted)
Send me feedback on this story

Blogging July 18, 2003 10:20 AM

Conferences

Conferences

July 17, 2003

On Saturday I will be heading to Singapore to participate in the IBM Forum 2003. IBM has invited strategic business decision makers and operational decision makers such as the CIO and IT managers. I'll be giving a talk there next week. Being on-line is critical but being in-person at conferences is important too. In 1992 I went to the Agenda conference for the first time and have not missed it since then. Conferences are a way to keep in touch with industry colleagues and key industry trends. There are many good conferences but the ones that I have attended regularly for more than ten years include Agenda, Demo, and PC Forum. There have been many others that have provided great value including Vortex and Telecosm. Sometimes I speak at these conferences; sometimes I just listen. One of the newer conferences is Pop!Tech. Every autumn, in the seaside village of Camden, Maine, more than thirty of the world's most intriguing visionaries, innovators, leaders, scientists, intellectuals and artists come together to present their views about the future.

Favorites July 18, 2003 08:04 AM

IBM Earnings - 2Q/2003

IBM Earnings - 2Q/2003

July 17, 2003

I don't normally post IBM news reports, but the current earnings report got me thinking about the information technology industry more broadly so I decided to share my simple observation. In my travels to conferences around the world I have heard people say that spending for information technology is not growing, or is flat, or is down, or even non-existent. I have even heard it said that "there are absolutely no IT projects happening"! IBM is in the information technology business -- that is where nearly all of it's revenue comes from -- services, software, and hardware. If customers don't spend, there is no revenue. IBM's revenue for the the second quarter of the year was $21.6 billion. No matter how you slice it, dice it, adjust for currency, reorganizations, acquisitions or deacquisitions, it comes out to more than $200 million per day. Per day!

IBM July 17, 2003 04:22 PM

Extreme Blue

I got ready last night – set the Garmin StreetPilot GPS to point to 1 Rogers Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts and topped off the Harley gas tank. The ride began at 6:30 AM and was met with heavy fog along Route 7 and on Interstate 84, but as the morning unfolded, things cleared up and it was a beautiful 168 mile ride. I stopped just inside the Massachusetts border to get an Egg McMuffin, a cup of coffee, and check my email using 1xRTT. WiFi was not available -- I know it will be soon. But, this story is not about WiFi or motorcycles. It is about students and technology – a la IBM’s extreme Blue.

Blogging , IBM , Motorcycles July 15, 2003 11:04 PM

Moving to Movable (Type)

This was my week to make the conversion to using Movable Type for my weblog. My motivation to make the switch was not in any way a dissatisfaction with Radio Userland. I have been using Radio for a long time and it has served me well. Dave Winer deserves a great deal of credit for many innovations that have gone into Radio and which have found there way into the blogging community at large. I would also like to acknowledge that Lawrence Lee has provided really outstanding technical support. The impetus to move to Movable Type started with Joichi Ito. Joi has been a friend of mine for nearly ten years.

Blogging July 13, 2003 11:00 AM

Cable Distribution

Today was the day to get some home automation projects wrapped up. There is a lot to write about on the subject of home automation, but that will be for another day. This story is about the impact of the Internet on manufacturing and distribution. Completion of the home automation project required a very special cable -- DB9 Serial with some wiring modifications on one end and RJ-11 on the other end. The cable is not the center of the story (for those interested in details about the cable, click here). The story is about how to procure this arcane cable. I was going to go to Radio Shack, buy a blank DB9 connector and make the cable myself but when I realized how long it would take to get to the store, do the splicing, test it out, and probably do some re-work, I decided to look on the web and see if I could find the cable and get overnight delivery. (read more)

e-Business July 9, 2003 06:48 PM

Fond of Opera

I am very fond of Opera. Yes, I love Così fan tutte (and Mozart's other 19 operas) but that is not what I am referring to. The Opera I am fascinated with at the moment is the browser alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer called Opera. Like many of you, I have had a long history with browsers. In the summer of 1994, a team of four brilliant programmers from IBM developed a browser called the "Web Explorer". It was integrated with OS/2 which was the best desktop operating system in the market at that time. It was also integrated with the IBM Global Network which was the best Internet Service Provider at the that time. Why OS/2 is not talked about much anymore and the Web Explorer nor the IBM Global Network exist today is a long story. It is a book someone will surely write at some point. Putting history aside, the best browser available today is Opera and I really enjoy using it. (read more)

Internet Technology July 6, 2003 10:55 PM

Visiting Mom

July 3, 2003

Mom was 84 on Monday and hopefully our visit made it special for her. It was a special day for my brother and me too because we took a 300 mile motorcycle trip to get there. It could have been a 185 mile trip but riding down the New Jersey turnpike is no fun. After last year's trek to Pennsville, I wrote a story about whether we need interstate highways. One of the points was that there are many interesting things to see while driving on "back roads". This year I decided to stop and take a look at some of them. My brother lives in New York State. He left home at 5 AM. I left home at 7 AM and we met at Skytop Lodge in Canadensis, Pennsylvania for breakfast and to plan the balance of the trip. (read more)

Motorcycles July 3, 2003 10:52 PM