Expressing Opinions

Are you or someone you know interested in bicycling and/or bicycle racing? If you know someone who is one of those people who ride a bike and follows the races, you could be their hero by passing along this information. Here is are links to an article from Wired about and to Adobe Tour Tracker.

Currently the Amgen Tour of California is taking place, so now with some excellent technology you can follow the race live with Adobe Tour Tacker. Tour Tracker has live commentary, route map, course profile, live rider tracking, and you can choose between cameras. And you can do this all live in real time online.

Think of the potential trickle down effect of this technology to the consumer level is amazing. Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.

I am an old school Internet person. When I started on the net none of my friends knew of email, there was no World Wide Web, let alone Yahoo, Google, or blogs. We did have Gopher, Veronica, and Archie. No point and click. Everything was done with keystrokes (command line). The net was a virtual community with a unique cast of characters who governed themselves and shared everything. It was fun, creative, and for the most part everything was free. Including software and help from just about everyone. Everyone participated in a gift economy. Wikipedia describes part of the gift economy as:

Typically, a gift economy occurs in a culture or subculture that emphasizes social or intangible rewards for generosity: karma, honor, loyalty or other forms of gratitude. In some cases, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within a community.

The Internet was first designed to be used when we were being attacked by the Soviets. It was designed to withstand a nuclear attack during a time of war; enabling commanders to still have communications with their forces. The main protocol this communications was built on is TCP/IP, which was developed by Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. The amazing part of this history is they gave away the technology.

Today it is a different story. The Internet is seems to be motivated by money and greed, and a good portion of the gift economy which was, is now gone. As part of a current project I read in the neighborhood of 50 to 100 blogs and respond to several on a regular basis. Not always the same sources, but still enough to get the big picture and state of the virtual community. The overwhelming majority are monetized with all sorts of advertisement. If I respond to a posting on a monetized blog I start getting offers to be entered in a free drawing if I continue to visit and comment.

I know these blog owners are watching the traffic to their site and get more money from advertisers if they can increase the amount of visitors. These web sites try to entice you with invitations to be their friends, have your web site link to theirs, giveaways of gifts, contests, and the list of enticements goes on and on. But what are they offering in exchange for your time? Is there any kind of content you find useful?

Like I said before, I am an old school Internet person. No advertisement, no gimmicks or give aways. Just something out there for you to read and maybe find useful or humorous at times. Do you want to make your online world and the world around you a better place? Find a way to participate in the gift economy, a true free giveaway. What goes around, comes around.

Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.

How many of you have digital picture frames? Did you know the Insignia 10.4-inch photo frame has a virus built into it during the manufacturing process? During my morning reading I came across a posting on Engadget about the problem. Here is a portion of a memo Best Buy sent out to it’s stores regarding the problem.

Earlier this month, it came to our attention that some units of the Insignia 10.4-inch digital photo frame (SKU 8483866) have a known Trojan virus. This virus was pre-installed during the manufacturing process. It affects only Windows applications and will only be initiated if the digital picture frame is connected to a PC via a USB cable. Customers who have not connected the digital picture frame to a PC, or those who have updated anti-virus software should be fully protected.

While the virus is old and is easily removed from the picture frame by up-to-date anti-virus software, all units were pulled from shelves the first week of January as a precautionary measure to protect our customers. Those units will be returned via the standard warehouse send back process and the model is now discontinued. Once a solution has been tested and confirmed, a letter will be sent to customers who purchased the product. Geek Squad employees have instructions to resolve the issue in the meantime. If a customer returns one of these units to your store or has questions or concerns about a virus, please direct them to the Geek Squad. Please note: No other Insignia digital picture frame products are affected by this issue.

What kind of crap is, “Once a solution has been tested and confirmed, a letter will be sent to customers who purchased the product.” In the meantime you may have a virus on your computer and who knows what kind it is or what kind of damage it will cause? Do think Best Buy could be more pro-active and go public immediately?

So much for customer service! Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.