CNN.com is running a story about the popularity of unlocked, and expensive, iPhones in Israel. From the article: 

“Z-Tov sells the 8GB iPhone for about 2,600 NIS, or about $753 U.S. The current market price in the United States is $399. The store clerk says the store pays a 50 percent tax to import iPhones from outside the country. 

But the price doesn't hinder iPhone's popularity here, appealing mostly to young men quick to upgrade their 8GB to a 16GB model as if memory size is a barometer of male bravado.” 

As the owner of a 60GB iPod, which features far more memory than I can use, I take umbrage to the reporter’s “male bravado” theory. 

Also quite interesting is the anecdote provided about halfway thr...Read More

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Toshiba will start shipping a micro-sized nuclear reactor for use by small towns or individual buildings later this year. In fact, the company intends to use old HD DVD player parts in the reactor’s construction.

Actually, the latter statement isn’t true, but Toshiba has really, truly developed a small nuclear reactor for commercial use. I’m a little dubious about this concept and I’m sure that if U.S. government does not want Iran to have a nuclear reactor, I think it would have a little trouble with the idea of an office-building...Read More

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I have always felt that the Grand Theft Auto video game series not only adds little to our society, but in fact is terribly degrading.

This feeling is even stronger after having spent half of April sitting on a jury that had to decide whether or not a 22-year-old man should go to jail for killing a 17-year old girl in a drive-by shooting.

Not that the game played any part in the trial or helped cause the murder, but after this experience I’m all for a decision by the Chicago Transit Authority deciding to pull ads for Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest installment in the series.

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A sad story out of Canada, apparently a family dialed 911 over their VoIP line when their toddler was in distress. They were told by the company’s dispatch service that an ambulance was on the way. Unfortunately, the family had moved from their original location and had not updated their profile, so the dispatch sent the ambulance to the family’s old address. The toddler subsequently died.

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USA Today quotes some experts to that effect: 

“You could buy a lot of crayons for $60," says Susan Linn, director of the children's advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of The Case For Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World. "This is the marketing world's push to drive children to digital screens and away from creative play."

Instead of playing with digital cameras, kids 3 to 5 should be playing with sticks, stones and mud, says Joan Almon, chairman of The Alliance for Childhood, a children's advocacy group. "The camera ...Read More

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 The Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) economist Shawn DuBravac notes that about 20 percent of consumers plan to spend some portion of their forthcoming tax rebate checks on consumer electronics. He then asks, “What are you planning to do with your rebate check?” 

That’s easy: I have two kids and I file jointly. That means a nice little chunk of your money is coming my way (it’s also my money too; well, actually it’s China’s money, as this rebate is being financed by debt … but I digress). Unfortunately for the industry and for t...Read More

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Cloud computing is all the rage these days. Microsoft is working on a program to connect your personal data across a multitude of platforms. The so-called “Live Mesh” program “uses the Internet as a data hub, synchronizes files across computers, phones and other devices so a digital picture frame at home could show a picture minutes after it was taken by a cellphone,” Reuters reported.

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Rich Tehrani (via DSLreports) hears rumors that Google will purchase Skype from eBay. Aside from that, Tehrani offers some interesting ways that Skype could improve its business. Skype is viewed as something of a liability for eBay among financial analysts and so, Tehrani asserts, getting their profit-generating house in order is a top concern if the VoIP player is to remain a going concern. 

I don’t have much to add to any analysis of a Google/Sky...Read More

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Like the swallows at Capistrano, or more precisely the dandelions on my lawn, the chorus of investors and analyst types calling for GE to spin off its venerable major appliance division has returned.

For years critics have demanded the head of GE majaps, that odd piece of the puzzle  — along with light bulbs and NBC TV — that doesn’t provide the roaring returns of the conglomerate’s jet engine, medical equipment or finance operations.

But now, following a disappointing quarter sparked by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and peeved by poor earnings guidance, the chorus has returned, only louder and more bellicose.

Even former CEO Jack Welch has joined the fray, admonishing his successor Jeffrey Immelt in a rare public smackdown for failing to give Wall Street a heads up on the profit shortfall.

How quick t...Read More

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We’re all familiar with the trajectory here: Every year flash-memory speeds get speedier. Now it seems the CompactFlash card, used in many consumer and pro digital SLRs, is about to get, yes, faster: 

A faster type of CompactFlash card that is set to boost digital SLR shooting speeds is expected to get the green light next month. 

First showcased in the United States earlier this year, the CFast card is said to be capable of delivering a data transfer rate of 375MB/sec. 

Current CompactFlash cards can achieve a maximum rate of 45MB/sec.

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Slate’s Mickey Kaus sees diabolical ingenuity at work in the rollout of Windows Vista.

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IBM says their experimental “Racetrack” memory could be it, in ten years or so. Hit the link for details.

Short version: it has all the virtues of flash – small form factor, no moving parts, low power consumption – only it will be able to write data much faster, achieve much higher capacities, consume less power and will store data longer than flash over the long-term.

What’s not to like?

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