Change is in the air

Change beats experience and the two Democratc contenders beat the sole Republican Presidential candidate. This, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. It says Obama's lead over McCain is bigger than Clinton's, thus far. Even among independents, change wins over strength by a 9-point margin (47-to-38).

Wireless providers balk at backup power requirements

Sprint Nextel Corp and the cell phone industry as a whole is fighting FCC requirements to provide at least 8 hours backup power at all its cell sites, a move that would ensure reliable emergency communications when it's needed most -- which was not the case in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Sprint Nextel Corp says the requirement would lead to "staggering and irreparable harm" and present a huge economic and bureaucratic burden for the company -- and that costs couldn't be recouped through legal action or passed on to consumers.

I did some math. An AP article states there are 210,000 cell sites in the country and upgrades would cost up to $15,000 per site. Assuming there are 100 million cell accounts, then the total upgrade cost would be $3.2 billion or $31.50 per customer. That amounts to only about $2.63 per month per account for the first year, and significantly less thereafter. Hardly "staggering and irreparable harm".

Some think SDK isn't enough

Not everyone is enthused about Apple's iPhone SDK release.

Tomothy Lee writes for Tech Dirt tech dirt and he suggests the SDK announcement was a huge disappointment due to its "walled garden" model:

- No voip
- No data exchange between apps
- No multitasking (3rd party apps quit when switching to another)
- Apple approval required for apps and can block any
- Chilling affect for casual tinkering (how email/web were developed)

Daylight Saving Time

The notion that extended Daylight Saving Time by several weeks was based in energy savings, but in fact, while lights may have burned fewer hours, there was more gas and electricity expended as a result. DST now starts three weeks earlier and ends one week later.

On a related subject. We know that one day is equal to one rotation of the earth, which is divided into approximately 24 hours. Time is either added or subtracted to or from the atomic clock to make period corrections due to the inaccuracy of that time standard.

What about the year? Are there precisely 365.25 days in one spin around the sun? I doubt it. How long does it take to notice that the sun is not in the same position on January 1 of every year? Are there periodic corrections make in this measurement? I don't know!

Obama: forget VP

After Hillary all but said she'd take Barack as a running mate in the '08, he fires back with a big "not so fast". "Hey, I'm running for President here, not VP!" He's basically saying it's too soon to tell. We should be waiting for the convention, if it comes to that, to ask who gets the ticket's 2nd billing.

Bush: Torture is OK

In a landmark veto, Bush tarnishes American values, insisting that CIA's use of waterboarding and other forms of torture shouldn't be banned by the US Congress. Apparently playing good cop/bad cop and general deception, a couple of the 19 methods allowed, aren't enough for this administration.

Java for iPhone

One of the top ten annoyances with the iPhone will move down the list if Sun's plan is even moderately successful and they're indeed able to construct a decent Java platform for Apple's wireless handset.

Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's

Click to Play

Deep Blue Something set to play at People's Court in Des Moines tonight, but first they hit Capital 106.3's Studio C and play a couple familiar songs.  This one's Breakfast At Tiffany's, which got a lot of local airplay following its '96 release.  It hit #1 in the UK and #5 on this side of the pond.

Spam Blog?

I'm not sure how they decide this at Google, but they tell me this "...blog has characteristics of a spam blog..."

Interesting. The company also told me my adsense account could hurt their advertisers -- without divulging why they think that.

Romney update

Considering Gov. Romney bowed out of the Presidential race and I don't have the resources to take the fight to an out-of-state Federal Court, I let this go and I have been informed that the video
has been restored to the Governor's YouTube account.

Free Advertising

It's possible to get advertising that doesn't require a cash buy. Not that it's completely free, but more so than the "buy one get one free" and "after mail-in rebate" offers.

Many of the local half price deal offers put on by radio and TV stations allow you to exchange marketing for gift certificates. If you can afford to issue a few thousand in high-interest product, you can get some airtime without jumping through the traditional billing hoops.

But use caution here. Inasmuch as nothing's really free, this can be costly to you and your core customer base if such as offer would stretch your resources -- or you don't have the ability to perform as promised.