Inside View

Looking Ahead

TIME -- The cover story from Time magazine deals with the future. The prognosticators offer up some interesting visions.

• Peter Schwartz sees talking ads, animated cereal boxes and self-updating newspapers. He rolled that vision into Minority Report.
• Sherry Lansing, the chairman of Paramount Pictures Group, sees a long life for SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Touchscreens will be replaced with interactive images projected on walls.
• Volvo is introducing a blind spot warning system for most of its 2005 models.
• In April 2005, Irish kitchen shops should begin selling antimicrobial countertops containing a germ-fighting property.
• The new fashion black will be aqua blue. It comes from the Aegean Sea.

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Peter Schwartz -- The Art of the Long View
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Why I take the 0630 bus

KILKENNY -- It's dark outside when I walk 20 minutes to catch a JJ Kavanagh bus at 0630 on Fridays. I ride 2 1/2 hours to Dublin on Fridays to learn about creative visual things. On early mornings like these, I hear the words of Don Miguel Ruiz. "Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art. " I get to Dublin an hour before the action starts inside Studio 6 upstairs in Temple Bar Gallery & Studios.

Doc's Concept of Net Space

DOC -- The Irish government needs to adopt the Searls Net View. It's a perspective about the way the internet manifests itself "in the world, and the way it supports all kinds of activities, and especially the way it allows markets to grow — where everybody is in a position to supply as well as demand, to produce as well as consume — demands appropriate conceptualization. We won't find that in the basket of words provided by transportation."

TV-B-Gone Review

I LIKE USING technology that returns a sense of control to the user while injecting a dose of randomness into daily life. As a teenager, I used to drive around expansive housing estates with my over-boosted CB radio and open garage doors. (Just messin'!) A few years ago I discovered that I could open the electronic locks on some 1990s BMW 530 sedans with my Palm m505. (Really--just messin!) Today, when incessant and ignored car alarms bother me, I wish I could turn them off. They violate public space. And more than anything, I want sanctity of conversation in Irish pubs, not the infestation of Sky news or MTV videos interrupting my space. So the pocket terminator made by Mitch Altman appeals to me. He can turn most TVs off with a handheld doofer that he carries in his pocket. And that he does--he shuts down annoying televisions that blare their mindless waffle at unsuspecting members of the public. I know this is not viewed as a civilised reaction to an uncivilised parade of talking heads in public space, but it's enabling to have an electronic device that returns power to the user.

Reach of the Google Desktop

CLONMEL -- The Google Desktop is saving webforms. While that's helpful when finding blog posts, it's a little unnerving seeing my credit card saved in cache. And if my Google Desktop is part of a public network, I have a public credit card. GeekNews groks this too.

Evolution of social software

CHRISTOPHER ALLEN traces the evolution of social software in a peer-reviewed online essay that may become a cornerstone of discussion in the field of blogging and electronic collaboration. Along the way, his discussion meanders into spaces familiar to anyone who has used computers in communications, including PLATO and groupware. He omits BBS communities and the reach of the first generation of CompuServe users.

Handelaar on DAB

HANDELAAR -- John Handelaar offers two really good reasons to steer clear of Digital Audio Broadcasting because it loses the first round in any fight between 3G or WiMax. From his perspective:

Personal and confidential

CLONMEL -- If you need to keep your private things well-clear of Google's reach, then stay away from Google Desktop search, don't store your email cache on a web server and never put drafts of working papers into an internet location without encrypting the files and password-protecting the online file directories.

Paypal Alternatives

POLITECHBOT -- There are several viable alternatives to PayPal. Charities that care should investigate them. And microsites that care should read PayPal Warning before setting up shop online. DISCLOSURE: I have $810 caught up in a PayPal dispute and will probably lose the money because PayPal will not disburse it into my bank account.

How to get off the do-not-fly list

CLONMEL -- I tell college students that sometimes they make such a mess of things that they should seriously consider changing their names. That way, they can distance themselves from failed brands, stupid behaviour that got widespread coverage or even the US government's "do not fly" list. Declan McCullagh confirms the last part.