Mobile Blogging - The future is here

Mobile blogging is the current trend from Europe to Asia! With camera/video phones becoming a permanent accessory in US phones (though it's been available in Asia for the past 6), real time multimedia blogging is here to stay. Case in point is this post, being written and submitted via my Treo 650.

Earlier today, on my Live Journal blog (for my family), I posted my son's birthday party pics & video clips. My family is scattered worlwide and we truly stay connected via our mobile phones.

In Asia, there is no excuse for not reaching anyone, because cell phone coverage there is ubiquitous. The cost of PC's is still very high for the working class and the electric grid so unreliable, that it's useless to invest in a desktop. Seeing a golden opportunity, Telco's capitalized on cell phone solutions, and used them to fill all their customers needs.

Today, in many countries around the world, the primary device for user connectivity is wireless internet connectivity - mainly through cell phones. The main reason has always been lack of a reliable infrastructure (for both land lines & electricity) and high cost of existing wired solutions.

In a report I read recently I learned there are over a trillion (yes, that's right) a trillion cell users in Asia w/online capability. That number is expected to double by 2010. Just to give you an idea of how advanced their mobile infrasturcture is, when I lived in the Philippines a 5 years ago, I was able to pay ALL my utilities via my cell. That's right: my elec, gas, tel, cell, pvt postal service, cable,...and even my rent (through a wireless bank transfer between accounts)!

In the last 3 months my most consistent medium for commuinication has been my cell. I'm currently not able to access close to half of my Bad Example Family from most, if not all, public internet places due to their content. As a result, I've been forced to either read them on my PDA or not read them at all.

A great example of this situation is my adoptive blog dad Harvey, of Bad Example. Due to content safe software and word filters the only place I can read him is at home. While my pc is being repaired I can't read him anywhere and so I tried on my pda. Unfortunately, I failed because his 3 column site is so complex & link rich, it's too large & slow to load. As a result, I've been forced to miss his naughty & very wity humor.

This JUST IN

Prime Minister Chirac has officially raised the French terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide ” .There are only two higher levels in France -they are ” Surrender ” and “Collaborate ” .

The rise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France’s white flag factory - effectively crippling their military capability.

[via Xset]

The New Aushwitz

Eighteen months ago, I started writing about corruption at the highest levels in the United Nations organization, which extended to vendors and subcontractors. I would link to some of those posts now, but when my old blogspot site was hacked into, I lost most of them. In those posts, I wrote about the corruption involving Kofi Annan’s son and Boutros Gali’s son, as well as other high-ranking UN officials in the Oil for Food program.

On Monday, Paul Volker released a full report on Part 1 of his investigation on the Oil for Food program’s bribery and corruption scandal, which is believed to involve a number of senior officials. One official, Alexander Yakovlev, has already pleaded guilty in Federal court to charges of bribery, after being stripped of diplomatic immunity. Benon Sevan, the former head of the Oil for Food program, continues to be in hiding somewhere in Cyprus, he is expected to receive indictments this week.

As the investigation continues, the focus will now move to the Security Council staff and members. The committee has already requested Annan’s notes, as well as Security Council meeting minutes related to sanctions against Iraq in the years before the 2003 Iraq invasion, for possible conflict of interest.

Here’s what angers me the most, the failure of the UN to live up to its responsibilities and charter time and again, especially in the face of dire human crisis. We began to see their disregard for human life in Uganda. We continued to see their ineffectualness in Somalia. We are now seeing the UN's analysis/paralysis in Nigeria, where thousands have already died, and where it is expected that hundreds of thousands more will starve to death over the next few weeks. This is in spite of the self-delusional attempt to end poverty and famine through the world-wide Live8 concerts, which featured Kofi Annan as one of its speakers.

The true crime here, and the crime no one will be prosecuted for, is the continual victimization of the youngest victims through greed, corruption, abuse of power, and in-action. In doing so, the UN secured an Aushwitz-like death for thousands of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children.

Update On My Appearance

With the help of our illustrious Pixy, Paul, Ogre and Phin, I was able to get my sidebar up (when you’re viewing my site in a maximized screen). THIS WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED! WOOHOO! ALL HAIL THE MUNUVIAN GENIUSES WHO VANQUISHED THE EVIL MERCURIAN FORCES!

Can you tell I’m happy? Well, heck yeah. Now I will boldly go forth, defying once again the Mercurian forces, to finish:
- adding my category archives (which eventually will be in a drop down list)
- creating a PDA format of my site (so I can check up on Colin’s posts)
- creating an Atom RSS feed format (so I can be read as easily and widely as the Instapundit!)
- fixing color schemes for active and visited links
- fixing all font sizes (my description size is driving me nuts!)
- creating drop down lists for some of my link sections (like News Briefs & On the Left)

There’s more, but that should take care of my idle time till the end of August. In the interim I'll try to find time to do some sports blogging about:
- Larry Brown coming to coach the NY Knicks (yes, good for us!),
- Hockey season (finally!) resuming and Gretzky coaching the Phoenix ___?
- Bertuzzi returning to the NHL
- The NJ Devils loosing 2 of its top players, causing it's post season chances to look bleak at best!

Pardon my appearance

As you might have noticed, I've been trying to use that "computer high geek" knowledge to finish the vision I had for the site a while ago.

Unfortunately, every time I implement a new phase of my changes my carpel tunnel acts up, so this will be slow going. I'm currently working on getting my sidebar back up on the right side of the screen again (right now it's at the bottom). What I had intended to do was to adjust the Index Template so that I could easily set up both, an Atom RSS feed and PDA version of my site, to make it more accessible for readers to view my site in different formats.

So, till I get everything fixed up and/or Mercury retrograde cycle ends and begins to move forward again (8/15), we'll have to live with my bar being at the bottom.

If you ask me, it's karmic retribution for my hubris of posting my "high geekiness" score. This post will remain at the top until things are fixed

Britain Bans & Will Deport Extremists

Here, here! It's about high time this was done somewhere. Tolerance of these individuals has only netted the spread of hatred through out the world.

AP has has the story here and Reuter's story is here

PC Police Searches?

Kudos to "Ian Johnston, the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police," who having been taken to task by a local human rights lobby group for saying "his officers won't be wasting time searching 'little old white ladies' on the Tube," has gone ahead with detainments and searches.

Unfortunately here in NYC the NYCLU has filed a federal lawsuit to stop searches of riders as they enter the NYC subway system.

"A plaintiff in the suit, Joseph Gehring, says the searches have forced him to fear the police." Interesting, I guess he either fears terrorists less or wasn't living in NYC on 9/11.

I'll keep you posted as things develop.

It's official, I'm a Geeky Gal!

[Via Laughing Wolf]

Blogger's Mobile Blogging - a review

Blog Daddy, Harvey of Bad Example broke the news about blogger supporting photos (with some major limitations) in this post. Now I'll break the news about Blogger's Mobile Photo/Blogging feature, which I've been using for the past few weeks now, since my computer has been out of commission. [I'm currently visiting with my mom's and I'm using my sister's computer to post this.]

Anyway, being that I had a camera phone w/video capability I decided to test both my camera-phone and their hosting capabilities out. So I decided to resurrect my old blogspot spite temporarily to engage in an experiment of sorts. Well, after only a few tries I loved it. Espeically since my pc accessibility at the moment is limited as Colin explains in this post

So far I love it. I just snap, email or mms with a subject line (which is the post's title), then write as long or short a text message (which is the body of the post) as I want to and then send it to blogger... they do the rest. Later I can go in and edit what I've written or delet the picture from the HTML code. Now the question that's not addressed in their info is size capacity of photos and/or total photo storage capacity. Hmmm, must explore!

To view my first efforts please visit: lettersfromnyc.blogspot.com. Feel free to leave a comment there.

A Prescription for Big Media’s Salvation?

In the Spring ’05 issue of The Wilson Quarterly, an international opinion magazine published by Princeton University’s Center for Int’l Relations & Diplomatic Scholars, William Powers writes a lengthy article on the 7 Steps to Big Media’s Salvation (free). I summarize his views here for your consideration, and then take issue with his viewpoint.

1. Relax. Nobody likes a whiner, particularly one who doesn’t know how lucky he is. You’ve been around for centuries, and you’re more powerful now than ever before.

2. Enjoy yourselves. …traditional news outlets have become joyless things. Most American [broadcasts and] newspapers are dull, fearful creatures. In contrast, blogs and other online news sources often possess an attractive, intelligent vibrancy… because it connects us to the great throng of humanity.

3. Be natural. Enough already with your pretensions to objectivity and neutrality. Everyone has leanings, passions, and, yes, biases. By claiming to be superhuman—bias free—you come off as weirdly subhuman. In all honesty, sometimes you have the public personality of an android. Striving for perfect fairness is a fine goal. Just don’t act as though you achieve it on a regular basis.

4. Don’t patronize. One reason young people say they avoid newspapers and other traditional news media is that what’s offered by those outlets has no apparent connection to the world they live in. To them, the news doesn’t look or sound like life but rather like some false approximation of it. Swear off demographics. Hire journalists of all ages, and deploy them in unexpected ways. In journalism, there’s no such thing as generationally correct work. Have an octogenarian cover blogs. When David Broder retires from The Washington Post, give his column to the sharpest 27-year-old you know. The results could be strange and wonderful.

5. Make trouble. It’s a fact: Nobody respects a suck-up. Why did it take the surprise attack of 9/11, and a war launched partly on the basis of bad intelligence, for you to wake up to the problems in the U.S. intelligence agencies? That story was an investigative journalist’s dream, and you missed it. You were probably in a strategy meeting about how to regain all those eyeballs no longer trained on you.

What's up with this pic?

Guest: You see, Miles, if you gently apply pressure to the shaft while lightly grazing its base, the rocket will launch rather effectively.
Miles: But what about the danger of another explosion?
Guest: Oh, I am sure of it.

Earlier: Is That a Rocket in Your Pants or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

[via Gawker]