The mission will happen in two stages: a rocket delivering the impact payload will send the payload craft at close to 6,000 miles per hour into the crater. The delivery rocket, specially equipped to detect the presence of water will chase behind, fly through the debris cloud, and then smack into the crater approximately four minutes later.  The hope is, that by kicking up enough Moon stuff into the “air,” scientists will be able to detect the presence of water that may be hidden just under the surface.  The crater was chosen as a likely candidate because it lives in the shadows and hasn’t seen sunlight in perhaps millions of years.  It’s cold temperatures may have allowed for frozen water to remain locked away, whereas moisture exposed to the heat and light would have boiled off into space countless ages ago. It’s likely the moisture itself was delivered from violent impacts in the past, when ice laden meteorites crashed into the lunar surface.

So what’s the point?  The discovery of water on the Moon may mean it can support life. Not life native to the Moon of course, but it could help support human life. A “Space Base” on the Moon may some day make use of the moisture for drinking water, and even splitting it into its constituent parts to make breathable air. If moisture is detected, NASA has plans for follow up missions to drill several feet into the Moon to get a better look.

Aside from being able to detect moisture, the chase craft is also equipped with high definition video cameras. NASA has an entire event planned, including a stream of the live footage. The event can be seen on the NASA channel on cable, or live at the NASA LCROSS website. It begins at 6:15AM. The debris cloud from the impact is expected to be large enough that it should be visible to the amateur astronomer with a typical hobby telescope.

Just some final notes: For those of you who spend more time hugging trees than reading science books, please take a moment to put this impact in context. The force of the impact in relation to the size of the Moon is on the order of a mosquito hitting the windshield of a dump truck at highway speed. It pales in comparison to the impacts that have rained down on the surface of the moon for millions of years.  This will not harm the Moon -- how do you think the giant crater NASA is targeting got there in the first place? And… for the conspiracy theorists who think it’s cover to test weapon capabilities -- I’m not even going to try to convince you otherwise. We already know sending things to the Moon is ripe for spinning convoluted tales…

I’ll leave you with this prophetic clip from Mr. Show.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution contended the sites’ co-founders brought in as much as $4 million per year in advertising revenues, while the defense argued no profits were made – hence any illegal activity was actually on the individual users who chose to participate. In an ironic (or is that hypocritical) twist, it looks like the Pirate Bay is about to be sold for a hefty profit. Details are being finalized at this point, with sources reporting Swedish based “Global Gaming Factory X” putting up somewhere between $7.7 and $7.9 million dollars for the acquisition – making that $3.6 million dollar fine look like chump change. [full text press release, PDF]

So what’s a Swedish company to do with an organization recently convicted of illegal activity by Swedish courts?  Legitimize it, of course. Stick with me for a moment folks, if this business plan doesn’t make any sense to you, you’ve got the jist.

First, Global Gaming chief exec Hans Pandeya, plans to license content from media companies for legal downloads. That’s right – they’re expecting the likes of the Sony and Viacom and Fox and Warner Brothers of the world embrace the namesake Pirate Bay to legally tout their digital wares. No, it’s not deja vu… how’s that business plan working out for you Napster? Surely, those 20 million users in search of free downloads will stick around when the site’s offerings are slashed to near nothing and will suddenly see the light and start paying for it.

Next comes some premium advertising. Pandeya and co hope to raise up to $50 million per year in ad revenues on the newly legit ‘Bay. As of now, the Pirate Bay (and sites like it) have difficulty finding advertisers that will even touch potential breeding grounds for digital theft. Advertisers on display range from bottom feeders to downright scammers, bidding at some of the lowest CPMs on earth. But hey – once it goes legit, everybody will forget the past! Large companies will surely see that same light the users do, and will ignore history to put their highly protected trademarks and reputations all over it. (You might want to turn down your sarcasm detectors if you haven’t already; I’m not responsible if they blow a gasket.)

But lastly, we have a real gem of a business idea. The Pirate Bay is going to get in the Internet services biz. They’re going to take the concept of peer-to-peer and leverage those millions of users’ Internet connections… Users can opt in to a program where they share their existing bandwidth with a peer to peer “cloud.”  Internet service providers can rent capacity on this network when they need short term boosts of bandwidth to handle unusually high loads. This new technology is called “Peerialism” and potential uses might be streaming video during major media events (like the great bandwidth drains earlier this year care of studious employees watching the NCAA Final Four on their work computers.) After all, this distributed model has been used by legitimate researchers to do things like search for aliens and seek out a cure for cancer.  Only here, users will be compensated – financially – for participating. Earnings might be paid out directly, or used within the site to purchase music from the afformentioned licensees.

Cool idea on the bizarro Internet, perhaps. In the real world, the whole idea is perposterous. It’s against the terms of service set by pretty much every single Internet Provider out there. Looking at my own provider’s ToS, I can count at least half a dozen ways this violates my contract. Save yourself the legal jargon – here’s the synopsis, assuming a residential connection. You can’t use the service to make a profit or run a commercial endeavor. You can’t re-sell your connectivity. You can’t redistribute audio/visual content. You can’t charge others in any way shape or form for access to any facet of your service. You get the picture. Ignoring the fact this will either be blocked by your provider or cause your connection to go dark without a refund, it still doesn’t make sense if you consider who the intended customer is: Internet pervice providers. Why again will an ISP essentially buy back the bandwidth it just sold you? It’s like buying a dozen ears of corn at the grocery store and telling your grocer “hey, I just noticed you’re short 12 ears of corn, I’ve got a dozen here you might be interested in!” ISPs already have bandwidth sharing strategies to buy bandwidth from one another when their tubes get clogged… but SURELY they’ll want to go around in circles and buy their own bandwidth back care of their own customers in violation of their own terms of services – from the Pirate Bay, of all places. (OK, you can turn those sarcasm detectors back on, I’m done.)

In summary, so long Pirate Bay. It’s been a good run. And while I’m not a certified financial advisor and you should always read your prospectus first… if Global Gaming Factory X or “Pirate Bay 2.0″ ever goes public, you might want to devise a short sale strategy.

(Updated: The bill has been voted down in the house. More info at the bottom.)

Media reports have been all over the map, with sources suggesting anywhere from 5 million to 20 million US households are unprepared for the transition.  There have also been reports of as many as 2.5 million on the FCC’s waiting list for their converter box coupon program.  13.5 million coupons have been passed out, but it’s estimated that roughly half have not been used.  The coupons carry a 90 day expiration, and as the unused coupons expire those on the waiting list will get a shot at one.

President Obama has called for an additional $850 million as part of his stimulus package to provide additional funding to the FCC coupon program.

The FCC has of course already auctioned off and collected it’s nearly $20 billion dollars to re-license the wireless spectrum that would have been freed in just 3 weeks.  (Why again, does the FCC need another $850 million of taxpayer’s dollars to cover the coupon shortfall? Anyway…)

Major players AT&T and Verizon will have to wait until June to begin using their newly acquired slice of the airwaves, though this morning’s bill includes a 116 day extension to the end of their original licenses as compensation.

(Shameless plug warning: who needs OTA anyway, when you’ve got Artvoice TV?)

Update, Wednesday Jan 28: Despite the unanimous vote and the support from President Obama, it turns out this bill was not a shoo-in after all. Because the bill had been fast-tracked in the House, it required 2/3rds votet here before reaching the President’s desk; however, this morning it was shot down by a 256 to 168 vote. So it’s not over yet folks. The House may vote next week for a second time on the issue. In the mean time, we can say the great digital delay… has been delayed.

Before we get started on the geeky gift ideas, I just wanted to quickly share a few helpful resources.  First, you’ll want to check out Google’s special Holiday Shopping Search.  This is great for tracking down products and comparing prices from different vendors all in one shot.  Also helpful, you’ll see the top searches shoppers are using this holiday season – great to find out what the most popular gifts are (looks like video games, music players, and digital cameras top the list), and may also give you some ideas.  Secondly, you’ll absolutely want to refer to DealHack’s list of Holiday Shopping Deadlines.  There’s over 150 of the top Internet retailers listed with their shopping & shipping deadlines – if you like to wait til last minute as I do, it will come in handy to know you’ll be able to receive items in time.

So on with a couple ideas!

1. Duracell Pocket Inverter 175

The Duracell Pocket Inverter is a DC to AC power inverter.  Basically, it’s a device you plug into the cigarette adapter in a vehicle’s dash that provides you with a standard AC power, like an electrical outlet in your home.  This allows you to plug your gadgets in while on the go without buying special mobile adapters for each one.  This Duracell is one such model, however inverters come in many shapes and sizes from many manufacturers.  What stands out on the Pocket Inverter 175 is a USB port in addition to the AC power outlet.  Lots of devices nowadays recharge via USB power from a computer (like iPods & iPhones, digital cameras, etc.), so those devices plug right in as if you were recharging them at your computer.  Shop around for other models if you wish, however, understand that “bigger isn’t necessarily much better” if you’re looking for something portable – it’s just more expensive and probably overkill.  A typical vehicle cigarette adapter is rated at 15 amps, which can provide 180 watts of power: 12 volts * 15 amps = 180 watts (thanks Dr. Ohm!) So this 175 watt Duracell model is juuust right.  (Larger inverters serve special purposes: larger appliances in boats, motor homes, et cetera… and would just blow a fuse in your car if loaded to their capacity!)  An inverter the size of the ‘175 is perfect for portable games, music players, cell phone chargers, laptops, portable TVs and DVD players, and other such devices.  It’ll only set you back about $40, which in some cases is less than a single specialty adapter for just one device. (Search for it!)

2. Antworks Space Age Ant Habitat

The Ant Farm is a classic educational toy and cultural icon, dating back to 1956 when Uncle Milton’s began selling them.  In 2003, NASA brought ants into space to perform gravity experiments, and devised a nutrient “gel” to meet the food and water needs of their 6-legged passengers.  Back on earth, Antworks combines the nutrient gel and Ant Farm concepts, and we’ve got a space-aged makeover of the classic Ant Farm fit for a new century.  Ant Farm is a trademark of Uncle Milton’s of course, so Antworks instead produces an “Ant Habitat.”  Fill up the container with your nutrient gel, give the tunnels a head start, add ants (yes, they still come in the mail when you’re ready for them), and sit back and watch your colony thrive. There’s even an accessory light to give your colony a cool blue fiber optic glow.  If you’re partial to the original, Uncle Milton still makes ‘em, as well as their own updated gel version too.  $15-25 for the Antworks Habitat (shop around!), $13 for the lighted base.  (Search it!)

3. USB Cell AA Rechargeable Batteries

These are an absolutely ingenious idea sure to score a perfect “10″ on the nifty scale with any nerd.  They look like regular AA batteries, and they are, sort of.  Flip the top back to reveal a USB plug.  The battery plugs right in to a USB port for recharging.  USB Cell managed to fit a rechargable battery, re-charging circuitry, and the USB plug itself all inside the normal form factor of a regular AA battery.  These are NiMH rechargables that work like any other rechargable battery as far as your devices are concerned.  When you’re out of juice, you can plug it right in to your computer or any powered USB port, which are nearly ubiqutous on a lot of electronic equipment these days.  There’s some drawbacks: they don’t last quite as long as normal rechargables, take a bit longer to recharge, and are a little more pricey.  But the geek-chic coolness factor trumps some of that.  They are however a perfect match for battery powered things that hang out near the computer anyway: wireless keyboards, mice, game controllers, and they’d be handy for traveling if you’re bringing a laptop anyway and want to avoid the battery charger too.  $20 for a pair.  (Search it!)

4. Logitech Harmony series Universal Remote Controls

Logitech has a whole series of programmable, universal remote controls.  These can be a little pricey, but these aren’t your typical remote control.  They’re universal remotes, which means they can control every piece of AV equipment in your home – Logitech can boast close to a quarter million different devices supported, and the remotes can “learn” from other old remotes that aren’t otherwise supported.  Unlike cheaper generic universal remotes, these can control several devices at the same time.  There’s no switching between “TV” or “Receiver” functionality; press the volume button, and it controls your receiver volume.  Press the channel buttons, and the channels change on your cable box.  You configure the remote control to your AV environment, so the controls for the buttons go to the right device, every time, the way it should work! The remotes are fully programmable and customizable via a computer interface connected by USB connection (Mac or PC compatible), so you don’t have to worry about punching in all this information on the remote itself.  The best feature are the “activity centered” buttons.  Think of the steps you might take now to watch a DVD: power on the TV, power on the receiver, power on the DVD player, set the TV to “input 3″, set your receiver to “input 2″, whatever your setup calls for.  How about a button that says “Watch DVD” that automates all those different button presses for you?  That’s exactly what you can program these remotes to do.  They’re a great gift for somebody to tidy up their huge collection of remotes, or somebody who struggles with working their complex AV system – but beware, you WILL need a little tech-savvy to set these up, so this might be a gift best given FROM a geek to a non-geek, along with a little configuration help to send them on their way.  The remotes retail from $99 to $499; there’s a whole slew of options, shapes and sizes, even customizable color screens and rechargeable models.  Shop around and you’ll find them for less than those retail prices.  (Logitech Website for Harmony series)

5. An HD Radio

Not sure what an HD radio is?  You’re not alone.  These are the greatest new products that either nobody has heard of, or doesn’t understand what they are.  I’ll try and break it down, short and sweet.  An HD radio is a digital radio, that picks up over-the-air signals, like an AM/FM radio.  An HD radio IS NOT a satellite radio, although it boats similar sound quality and features.  You pick up local stations, that are broadcast for FREE; there is no subscription required.  An HD radio is most similar in concept to the new digital TV broadcast scheme that’s forcing consumers to either upgrade or use converter boxes to keep using their rabbit ears.  Unlike the DTV transition, there’s no deadline set for a conversion to digital radio.  There likely won’t be one set for some time to come – so don’t get worried that you have to upgrade – but if you have a radio afficianado on your shopping list, they sure will appreciate the upgrade.  These radios are all over the charts when it comes to prices and options – they come in many varieties from table top and alarm clock size, to stereo component size, to units for installation in the car.  (Some ‘08 and many ‘09 vehicles will start shipping with HD radios standard… and there’s no portable models as of now, the electronics required haven’t been shrunken down small enough just yet!)  Your one-stop-shop for information on HD radios is the aptly named hdradio.com.  On the site, you’ll find a station locator to see which stations broadcast in HD in your area; in the Buffalo area there’s already about two dozen stations. You can still tune into regular AM & FM stations with these, but when you tune into HD stations you’ll get much better sound quality: AM now sounds like FM, FM now sounds like CD, and there’s never any fuzz or hissing.  Like DTV, some exisiting stations broadcast multiple versions at once, so you can pick between different tunes on the same station, and some are even commercial free.  Pictured is a Cambridge Soundworks Radio 820HD, which is a great choice for a mid-range, entry level, mid-priced table top model.  Retails about $129 – but again, shop around, you might beat the factory direct price.  (Cambridge Soundworks site)

What did you get for your geek this Christmas?  Leave a comment and share your idea with us!

Hacking Democracy

First, we’ll take a look at one of the best kept secrets of the campaign season, from both sides, care of a Newsweek article published just today.  Over the summer, the FBI had its hands full with simultaneous cyber crime investigations: the hacking of the Obama campaign computer system(s), and the hacking of the McCain campaign computer system(s).  While the intrusions have been acknowledged,  little else has been released or confirmed yet.  At this point, it’s known for sure that the FBI was involved, that “a large number of files” were stolen from the Obama side, and that the attacks came from a “foreign entity” and definitely did not come from the opposing sides.  The McCain campaign systems were intruded on in a similar fashion as the Obama systems, but the extent of the compromise on their side was unmentioned.  The rest is speculation of course: security experts have suggested the attacks likely came from China or Russia, and anyone’s best guess is that the goal of such an intrusion was to gain an inside line on procedures and policies used by the campaigns for a leg up in future dealings with the to-be president. (H/T to Newsweek)

This of course wasn’t the only politically motivated cyber-crime this campaign season – I’m sure many recall the Sarah Palin e-mail intrusion back in September.  Though it’s significance is near nil at this point, we’ll remember it as the day our servers felt the shock wave of a web traffic explosion.  If anyone is still interested: David Kernell, a college student in Tennessee, and the son of Tennessee democratic representiative Mike Kernell, was indicted by grand jury in late October.  His trial begins on December 16th, and faces up to 5 years and fines.  Not so “anonymous” now, eh David?  A court has also ordered the e-mails in both of governor Palin’s Yahoo! accounts be preserved for further investigation.

Another dishonorable mention is the state of Ohio election information and registration website that also came under attack, and experienced some brief downtime in late October.  (H/T to Reuters)

Technology Promises

I also want to give a nod back to another item I’ve talked about here: Science Debate 2008.  We’ve got a list of policies and action-items promised to us from pre-president-elect Obama in the realm of technology.  I’ll be saving a copy and keeping score for the next four to eight years.

Along the same lines is Obama’s “Blueprint for Change” video on technology issues.  Maybe you missed it?  Don’t feel bad; for whatever reason, this wasn’t released until the night before the election, effectively burying it in the rest of the 11th hour buzz.

Hi-Tech Election Day Coverage

Election night itself was a grand display of technology as well.  CNN debuted it’s new “hologram” technology – much to the chagrin of pocket protector pencil neck purists who are still complaining two days later that the effect isn’t actually a hologram.  “True” hologram or not, I personally found it a bit silly.  We’ll see if CNN or others bother with this technique down the road.

Ratings speak volumes though, and CNN enjoyed second place of 14 major networks covering the event with 12.3 million viewers.  ABC was the victor, at just over 13 million viewers.  In all, it’s estimated about 71 million viewers tuned in on Tuesday to watch the results unfold.  As impressive at it sounds, it’s still over 25 million shy of this year’s past Super Bowl.  Apparently the world’s couch potatoes are still more interested in the Patriots than in patriotism. (Nielsen’s complete ratings here.)

Nielsen also kept an eye to the web to gauge coverage ratings in cyberspace.  There’s a comprehensive list here if interested; CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo! News being the top three destinations for surfers on Tuesday. The official campaign sites also received a boost on Tuesday, with Obama’s site receiving 1.2 million unique visitors, and McCain’s site receiving 479,000 unique visitors.

The Future

Lastly, let’s look ahead to some new developments that will affect us going forward.

While not related to presidential politics per se, this is still a governmental policy decision that flew under the radar with all the elections buzz, that could mean huge developments in the wireless arena.  On Tuesday, the FCC approved a measure to free up “white spaces” for unlicensed (read: free but regulated) use.  In short, this means unused areas of the wireless spectrum in the general area of digital TV transmissions can be used by consumer devices.  This coveted piece of intangible mathematical electromagnetic real estate means higher bandwidth (faster) transmission of information to and from consumer devices, at greater distances than the current public bands allow.  It’s been a long fought battle mostly centered around issues of interference with licensed bands (at least, that’s the PR friendly argument – it’s probably been a long fought battle because telecommunications companies have sunk billions into competing technologies that may have just been rendered obsolete.)  To appease the interference complaints (some of which are probably valid), devices will have to be extremely smart: they’ll be required to be GPS aware, and to communicate over the Internet with a central database to announce their position and ask permission for an interference free frequency.  There’s a loophole for less intelligent devices, though they’ll have to pass some pretty rigorous interference tests.  You can read more here.  Dell claims to have laptops with “white space radio” already in the works that you can learn about here.

The last “bit” we have to pass on is some news about some technology related appointments to the Obama transition team.  Named to the team include Google philanthropy officer Sonal Shah, and Julius Genchowski who is a former IAC executive and former chief council to former FCC chairman Reed Hundt.  Rumors abound about Google CEO Eric Schmidt may be in the running for U.S. Chief Technology Advisor as well.

First, we’ve got two great bits of news on the e-book frontier:

In the left corner: It looks like photos of the second revision of Amazon’s Kindle electronic book device have hit the web.  Of course, as with any “Internet leak” you have to take it with a grain of salt.  Amazon tried (with mixed results) to buzz up the original Kindle,  but if you’re not familiar with the original device, I can’t really blame you – but you can check it out here.  Could this leak be another attempt at generating some buzz?

The Boy Genius Report has a photo gallery with photos of the purported second version of the device.  It seems to be merely an incremental update: some cosmetic changes, new controls and keyboard layout, and USB charging instead of relying on an AC adapter.  Of course, there’s only so much one can infer from looking at photos, so we’ll have to wait for more official word to hear what other features may be built in.  No word on when this might be available; Amazon has previously claimed there wouldn’t be a new Kindle this year.

The new kindle is rumored to still use EVDO wireless as the first edition did.  This wireless functionality is pretty cool: it works with Sprint’s cellular EVDO network, so you can pick up a signal in nearly any populated area and find and download content to read on the go.  Amazon foots the bill for this; so there’s no need to be a Sprint customer or to pay any monthly access charges.  (Content however, often comes with a cost.)

In the right corner: Sony has announced their new e-book reader, the PRS700, at a press event this past Thursday.  It’s a follow up model to their acclaimed PRS505 reader, and it adds some really cool features.  It’s got a sleek look, a touch screen that lets you flip through pages with the swipe of a finger, more memory, more processing power, and a front light to allow you to read in low light situations.  It has five different font sizes and a new zoom feature to make reading easier on the eyes.  The biggest news out of the press event however isn’t even the device itself, but rather Sony’s new commitment to the e-book market.  They will be carrying the device at 3,000 locations U.S. wide (up from 700 currently), have hired a sales force of 1,000 to give in-store demos, and plan to have 100,000 titles available for download in their digital book store by year’s end.  The device is slated to be available in November, so with Sony’s new marketing position, you can expect to see this around when you’re out shopping this holiday season.

Both of these devices are of course based on electronic ink display technology.  Electronic ink is a ground breaking technology using actual ink particles to display text and graphics on amazingly thin (and even flexible) screens, and the ink particles are controlled by means of the electronics in the device.  It makes for outstanding battery life – the only time power is needed is when you change the page.  You can keep text on the page indefinitely however, without sucking up any more juice.  That means these devices have battery life on the order of days or weeks, rather than hours.  This does means you still need to read under comfortable lighting.  While there have been add-on accessories akin to book lights, the new Sony device brings a built in light to the game (expect battery life to decrease while you’re lighting up your screen.)  Electronic ink displays are black and white only at this time, though the readers out there are getting pretty good at displaying images in grayscale with many shades of gray.

They’re still a niche product – probably because of price – with the current Amazon Kindle clocking in at $349 (no word on pricing of the new version yet), and the Sony device expected to be $399.  This will hopefully change as years pass and electronic ink advances.  Industry experts have been predicting that electronic ink will take over old fashioned paper and ink for years now, but with each new device it seems we’re taking a step closer.  The time is near when Universities will likely mandate or provide these for students, and they’ll be able to carry an entire college career’s worth of textbooks in a single device, with the ability to note-take and annotate as well.  Just think of all the trees we’ll save…

While we’re on the topic of electronic books, I thought I’d give a shoutout to two new software applications I’ve been trying out recently that I’ve found particularly useful.  (Note, my “daily driver” is a MacBook, so these are Mac OS X applications – sorry Windows users!)  More after the jump…

The first is Yep!:

Yep! bills itself as the “iPhoto for PDF.”  I think it’s more like an iTunes for documents… but either way, you get the idea.  Yep! will scour your computer for PDF files, and gather them all in one place, regardless where they are on your hard drive.  It has powerful tagging functionality that allows you to not only find your documents quickly, but can automatically show you which documents are related or similar to the one you’re looking at.  It has search capabilities similar to the already built in OS X Spotlight, and includes a number of ways to organize, categorize, and preview your documents.  My favorite feature (simple but important): it remembers what page you were on, so if you’re reading a document and stop only to come back later, it will open up right to where you’ve left off.  You can try Yep! for free, but the full version will run you $34.

Combine Yep! with a document scanner, and imagine the possibilities.  Take all the paperwork and clutter in your life and turn it digital, allowing you to find anything at the touch of a button.  Imagine being able to check your home theater manual, find an invoice or recipe, check out last year’s water bill, etc, in seconds.  (Remember to back up though!)  There’s dozens of document scanners on the market with some pretty affordable price points these days, so this combination could be a godsend for some folks.  We use a Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M here at the office which will eat a thick stack of papers alive, front and back simultaneously, churning out an indexed and searchable PDF file in a matter of minutes.

Second, we have Audiobook Builder:

This is a super simple to use app that will turn any type of existing audio file, or audio CDs, into “m4b” files.  An m4b file is like a regular AAC audio file, with some extra features thanks to meta-data that can be stored in the file.  An m4b lets you combine multiple files/tracks into one single file that includes markings to delineate chapters.  When played on a supported device, like an iPod, you can then skip around between chapters in a book, view the cover and illustrations in the book, and save your place to pick up listening where you’ve left off.  iTunes and iPods treat these as separate types of media, so you won’t have to worry about transitioning from an upbeat dance tune to chapter 7 of a philosophy book when you’ve got your device on shuffle.  The killer app for me: iPod’s speed feature.  An iPod allows you to speed up playback of m4b audio files by 25%.  Listen to 75 minutes of an audiobook in 60 minutes time.  Don’t worry about the reader sounding like a chipmunk; this is pulled off without changing the pitch of their voice.  (You can also slow down the speed if you’re really trying to absorb the material, but the speech unfortunately sounds a little weird when you do this.)

The speedup feature is pretty little known, and that’s probably because it only works with m4b files.  m4b files are little known, probably because the typical means of acquiring them is to buy commercial audio books through a store like iTunes’.  Audiobook builder bridges that gap and lets you turn anything into an m4b.  Now you can turn any MP3 podcast for example, recorded lectures, radio show recordings, et cetera into an m4b file, and fill your head with 25% more information.

Another plus?  Registering your copy of Audiobook Builder will only set you back $9.95.

HTC's G1, courtesy T-Mobile USA

After about a year’s worth of hype, an Android based phone is a reality.  Google has spearheaded Android as an “Open Handset Alliance” project. Essentially, it is an operating system and application bundle for use on mobile devices.  It’s based on a Linux 2.6 kernel, and the entire project is open source.  This possibly marks a major paradigm shift in the mobile industry, as up until now, most mobile devices are locked down with at least in part proprietary, closed software.  Google’s plan was to develop an open platform that the open source community as a whole could improve and contribute to.  Rather than allowing developers to add applications as an afterthought (*cough* Apple, you listening?), extending support immediately to developers in a free and open manner was goal #1 of the project.

T-Mobile is the first to bring an Android based phone to market, and presented it to the public at large at a press event in NYC this morning.  The first Android phone is being made by Tiawan-based HTC.  The phone features a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and touch screen support (though apparently not the high-tech “multitouch” found on the Apple iPhone.)  It’s loaded with the full array of Google apps such as GMail, Google Maps, and YouTube.  It also includes “Shop Savvy” to help find the best prices on items while on the go, and “Eco Reo,” a calculator of sorts that helps the environmentally conscious consumer track their carbon footprint.  Amazon also announced this morning along side the T-Mobile announcement, that their MP3 application will also be pre-loaded into the device, which is basically a mobile-phone optimized version of their on-line DRM-free MP3 store.  The phone of course doubles as a music player, and MP3s purchased through the Amazon store can be freely transferred to any other device.

The phone’s web browser is based on WebKit, which is the same technology found in Apple’s Safari, the Apple iPhone browser, and the newly announced Google Chrome browser.

The phone will set you back $179 with a 2-year contract, and has two tiered data plans at $25 and $35; a voice plan is bundled and priced separate and is required.  3G connectivity is only available in select markets at the moment, but T-Mobile is announcing that coverage should reach 80% of their customers by November.  The United Kingdom can expect to see the phone hit their streets around the same time in November, and availability will reach Europe wide into 2009.

Though we can probably expect the open source community to fill in some of the gaps where the phone lacks, some drawbacks named off at the press conference this morning include: the phone CAN NOT be used as a tethered modem, to provide connectivity to a laptop, regardless of your data plan.  It’s mail support is also limited and does not yet support Microsoft Exchange.  The phone is also going to be locked to T-Mobile, so despite hyping up the “open” nature of the software, they’re still going to dictate which provider you can use it with (which seems a little hypocritical to me!)

Much of this phone’s success, and Android phones in general, will depend on the community of users developing new applications for it.  In that sense it’s a bit of a gamble, but my money would have to go down on Android; I’m betting we’ll see some pretty creative and innovative ways to use a mobile phone in the coming months.  Whether or not this can take a bite out of Apple’s iPhone momentum?  We’ll have to wait and see.

As a group, they’ve come up with a list of 14 questions that they felt were most important in the science and technology fields, given the current political climate and challenges we face as a nation.  They include topics like climate change, energy, genetics, stem cell research, space, and so on.  They then submitted the questions to the candidates to see where each side stands.

Obama’s campaign had supplied answers about two weeks ago – and the McCain campaign has submitted theirs just this morning, so now we can see the responses quite literally side by side.  With all the mud-slinging and lack of actual issues talk that’s been going on since the conventions, it’s pretty refreshing to see both of the candidates talk policy for a moment.

Believe it or not, the candidates actually agree on some of the topics.  They give very similar answers to the climate change question, are both big proponents of NASA, and surprisingly have some of the same ideas on national security (at least in this context), but they differ on energy, and most obviously, on stem cell research.  Rather than “spoil” any more, why not head over to ScienceDebate2008 and read it yourself?

This has a few important implications.  Above the Earth’s atmosphere, solar power is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The energy is available in its most concentrated form, without any of it having been diffused, absorbed, or reflected by our atmosphere.  There’s no such thing as cloud cover above the atmosphere.  With the ability to transmit it wirelessly, it can theoretically be beamed down to any location on Earth, powering up otherwise hard to reach places, underdeveloped areas, or potentially restoring emergency power during a disaster.

The NSS has created a 2 minute video demonstation of the wireless transmission technology:

The downside of course, is having to launch massive objects into space that would dwarf even the International Space Station.  NSS is confident this will be possible, and possible soon.  With the issue of wireless power transmission solved, the last major hurdle is cost-effective and efficient launch vehicles.  Just a few days ago, another commercial enterprise SpaceX was granted license to use the Cape Canavral launch site.  It’s nice to see private enterprises pushing space technology forward, looking for ways to put it to practical use, and most of all, to see that for a change the government isn’t hindering the process! So while we’re not 100% there, there are pieces falling into place that might make big ideas like this a reality.

The NSS conference this morning was to raise awareness of the technology, and to plug Discovery Project Earth: Orbital Power Plant, which airs on the Discovery channel tonight at 10PM EST.  If you’re interested in seeing more about this tech, you’ll probably want to tune in, as the NSS project will be the topic.

NASA has also published an informational DVD about solar power in space that you can watch in its entirety free of charge here care of NSS & Google Video.

So this had me thinking – if Wilmington is already there, where does Buffalo stand?

There’s millions of dollars allocated to raise public awareness on the switch in the coming months – so expect to hear more about it.  There’s also over a billion dollars allocated to help you cope… and a lot of them have gone un-spent so far.

Here’s a couple tips and things you want to know if you haven’t gotten up to speed on the switch to digital yet.

Q: Do I need to take any action?

A: If you’re a subscriber to a paid service like cable or dish, you’re all set already.  Your cable box or dish tuner is digital capable, and perhaps has been for years.  If you’ve purchased a new television in the past few years, you’re probably OK too.  Just about every HDTV manufactured is digital (DTV) capable – but not ALL – so if you jumped on board the HDTV bandwagon early on, you may wish to double check the manual if its DTV capable.  Lost the manual?  Try Google – there’s lots of people asking the same questions.  To to those of you with an older TV who receive your programming via antenna: YOU will need to act to keep watching TV.

Q: Wait, is DTV the same thing as HDTV?

A: No.  DTV stands for “digital television.”  HDTV stands for “high definition television.”  All HDTV is also DTV, but not all DTV is HDTV.  The switch here isn’t entirely about HDTV – its about the way the signals are actually transmitted from station, through the air, to your home.  The signals are now going to switch from basic analog to digitally encoded and compressed for transmission – much like your computer receives video over the Internet, or like how video is written to a DVD disc.  Also much like a computer, you need to have some processing power at the receiving end to turn these digital streams back into something you can actually watch.  That’s why cable boxes, dish tuners, and new televisions solve this: they already do that converting.  Your older analog television doesn’t have the “brains” to interpret these new signals though, so you need to get a converter box to act as a middle man between the digital world and your analog TV.  As for the HDTV issue, some stations will (and already have begun) broadcasting in DTV-HDTV, but you will need an HD television to watch these in full quality.  Though, if you have an older “standard definition” television, you should notice a marked improvement in the picture and sound quality on DTV.

Q: OK, so I have to buy a converter box to continue getting free TV with my rabbit ears?

A: Yes, you will.  Luckily, this is where that “over a billion dollars” I mentioned earlier comes in.  The government & FCC is offering a $40 coupon for qualifying converter boxes.  It’s our lucky day because guess what?  Basic converter boxes don’t cost much more than $40 (and lots of places on-line are selling them for exactly $40), so there’s really no major investment to worry about – other than a little time to pick one up, and set it up.  You can apply for your coupon by calling 1-888-388-2009, or you can do it on-line at dtv2009.gov.  The website explains which converters are covered, and helps you locate where to buy them as well.  There’s a catch with the coupons: you can only ask for one, and if you don’t use it within 90 days, it expires.  So only ask for one once you’re ready to use it!  If you have multiple TVs, you will need multiple boxes – but each family member may request a coupon in their name.

Q: What about antennas?  How does the reception work?

A: This will be one area where you’ll notice a difference with DTV.  With analog television if you tune into a weak signal, you might experience a fuzzy or “snowy” picture.  If you don’t mind the “snow,” you can watch the channel.  With DTV, it’s more of an all or nothing situation.  Either you get the picture tuned in at perfect picture quality and sound, or you don’t get it at all.  The only in-between that occurs is kind of like watching a video clip on the Internet over a slow connection.  The video might skip, jump around, and freeze up.  As for antennas, the vast majority (and so far ALL stations in the Buffalo area) are using the UHF spectrum to broadcast – so if you want the best reception possible and are looking at picking up an antenna, be sure to focus on its UHF performance.  As a basic rule of thumb though, if you’re located in the city, or near by, and already pick up a decent picture on an analog station, it’s likely going to work just fine in DTV.  If you’re further out and watch those snowy pictures on a regular basis, you may be out of luck picking up a DTV signal without the help of an antenna upgrade.

Q: So what actually happens on February 17, 2009?

A: There will not be any more analog television, plain and simple.  Some channels may stop before the deadline, as they did in Wilmington, but February 17th is the absolute deadline.  If you didn’t get your converter box yet and fall into the group that needs one, you won’t be able to pick up a single channel, period.  The only possible catch might be for emergency broadcasts – if there is a major emergency in the near future, you might still see and hear about it on the analog airwaves.  That’s not an episode of must-see-TV I’d look forward to though.

Q: Do I have to wait until February 17 to start using DTV?

A: Nope!  The following stations in Buffalo are already broadcasting in digital:

• WUTV FOX, digital channel 14, UHF
• WNLO UPN, digital channel 32, UHF
• WGRZ NBC, digital channel 33, UHF
• WKBW ABC, digital channel 38, UHF
• WIVB CBS, digital channel 39, UHF
• WNED PBS, digital channel 43, UHF

There’s a lot more information available on the web if you’d like to read even more:

• DTVTransition.org
• dtv2009.gov’s frequently asked questions
• Q&A from the FCC
• SiliconDust’s DTV database (See *all* the channels that are possible to pick up in your area, both analog and digital.  Note: This includes low power stations and signals, so don’t expect to necessarily tune in to all of these unless you have some heavy duty antenna & amplifier equipment!)

Lastly, if there’s any readers out there who have already picked up their converter box (or has a DTV capable set) and is picking up digital stations via broadcast, what has been your experience?  What’s your approximate location and what’s the reception there like?  Are there any other channels you’ve been able to tune in besides the ones mentioned above?  Any tips for the rest of us?  Please share in the comments below!

P.S. Don’t forget, if you’re at a computer with a broadband Internet connection, you could be watching Artvoice TV right now, converter box free! (yep, a shameless plug!)