Why video surveillance has little to do with security and everything to do with our obsession with voyeurism.

September 24, 2007

Almost two years ago I wrote a story for eWEEK about how the LAPD is using video surveillance and image recognition to empower police officers. They have video cameras in parks, PDA-based mugshot books with facial recognition software, and license plate recognition cameras mounted on top of patrol cars. LA’s police force is extremely aggressive […]

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Start sending birthday video greetings

September 20, 2007

I just started doing it via Facebook, as mentioned in the previous blog post, and now I’m simply just trying to spread the word so everyone does it whether they’re on Facebook or not. Make sure you read the previous post, How to send Web-based video mail.

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How to send Web-based video mail

September 20, 2007

I have become an enormous fan of video conferencing and video email for quite some time. The problem is not many people share that feeling so I engage in few video conferences. While not appropriate for all communications, every time I receive or send a video email or engage in a video conference, it’s extremely […]

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Facebook privacy isssues – Interview on CBS-Channel 5 in San Francisco

September 13, 2007

Sue Kwon, technology reporter for CBS-channel 5 in San Francisco, came by to talk about privacy issues of Facebook as it’s opening up its network to be indexed by search engines like Google. This is becoming a big story but for all the wrong reasons. Facebook’s competitors LinkedIn, MySpace, and Friendster already allow their content […]

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Where to catch TV and movies you want to watch

September 5, 2007

One of the major problems with the deluge of video and video sharing sites is that it’s an overwhelming amount of crap. There are actually great shows that have appeared on TV and in the theater that are available online. Here’s some advice on where to find some of the coolest and best programming on […]

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Can media companies overcome iTunes' stranglehold on music and video pricing?

September 5, 2007

Napster introduced the concept of downloadable media. Viewing this behavior as theft rather than an opportunity, media companies’ reaction was to shut it down rather than quickly offer a viable alternative legal solution. Even after Napster’s shutdown, users moved over to alternative peer-to-peer (P2P) programs like Kazaa, iMesh, and Bittorrent. Media companies, the RIAA, and […]

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How to make cheap-to-free phone calls

August 29, 2007

About two months ago I interviewed someone for about 45 minutes. Forty minutes into the call I realized the person was from Canada. I didn’t realize the 519 area code was in Canada. Uggh I thought, I’m going to get dinged on that. While I have unlimited U.S. calling, that’s not the case for international […]

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Where do the SF digerati hang out?

August 20, 2007

Gridskipper has an interesting top nine list of hang out joints for San Francisco’s dotcommers. Honestly, I thought we stopped using the term “dotcommer.” Wasn’t that term supposed to die with the boom? We’ve replaced dotcom with Web 2.0. How do we identify those people? Gridskipper also has a list of top San Francisco bars […]

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How to change your Wikipedia entry, ethically

August 20, 2007

A lot of companies came under a lot of heat recently for clandestinely editing their Wikipedia entries. Most of this behavior was discovered thanks to WikiScanner, a site that translates IP addresses to business locations of all edits. The blogosphere and the NY Times have jumped on this story with essentially the message, “Ha ha, […]

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How to get political online

August 17, 2007

John Scott, the host of “The Progressive News Hour” on 960, The Quake, asked if I could focus this week’s Spark Minute segment on how listeners can get involved in politics online. Getting involved in politics online is kind of a catchall. There’s so much going on in so many different directions that I didn’t […]

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