Ed Zander, Motorola's CEO is stepping down. Here's why.

It's the RAZR - Motorola's One-Trick Pony.

It's official: Google's going to bid on the 700 mhz spectrum. Here's why you should care.

It's not like there was really any doubt that they would, but today the G-men made it official: they're going to try to buy up the highly coveted 700 mhz spectrum the FCC is putting on the auction block come January.

For those of you wondering why the crap you've even read this far, bear with me a little longer and I'll try to break down the (potential) significance of this.


Background
In 2009 every analog TV in the US will cease to work because broadcasters will be required to shift from an analog signal (on the 700 mhz spectrum) to a digital signal. This leaves said spectrum open for the FCC to auction off.


So what?
Without getting into the technical details (mainly because I'm not smart enough to know them myself), this particular frequency has the ability to travel long, long distances (much further than cell phone towers) and can penetrate walls with little problem, as we know from decades of watching TV using rabbit ears.

Think wireless, high-speed Internet everywhere.

This makes wireless/cell phone carriers salivate at the possibilities. They're already charging people an extra 20-50% extra to access the Internet/e-mail from their phones on a slow, crippled network (ever tried to browse the web on a phone, other than the iPhone?) and an extra $60/mo to use the Internet wirelessly from a laptop. Think of what they could offer, and charge for, having ubiquitous wireless broadband coverage!


The catch
The FCC ruled (thanks to much lobbying from Google and others) that whoever owns the spectrum must support "(1) open applications, the right of consumers to download and utilize any software applications or content they desire; and (2) open devices, the right of consumers to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer."

Consumers - 1, Big, Bad Wireless Provider - 0


Still not sure why I should care
Google is now going to be bidding on the spectrum (which has a $4.6 billion entrance fee). This is, essentially, making the wireless providers wet themselves because Google appears to be all about giving people the choice to do whatever they want, with whatever equipment they want. Think of this as not having to buy a new phone every time you switched cell phone carriers - any phone would work with any carrier.

And that one phone can run any kind of software you want. You won't be restricted to "T-Zones" from T-Mobile to browse the web, or "V-Cast" from Verizon to watch your TV shows (and the subsequent fees from those carriers).


The real kicker
And what if Google made all that wireless spectrum free to access? Many speculate Google will provide free wi-fi for everyone. You can use any phone or mobile device on it. You can access it, and use as much of it as you want (no 5MB/month limits, for example) without cost.

So if you can use any software on any device with better coverage than your cell phone, can you think of any reason to sign a two-year contract and pay $100 a month to a wireless carrier?

Or how about shelling out $60 a month for DSL or cable Internet?

That's why the big Telcom companies are a bit worried.


But what's Google's motivation?
Google has billions in its coffers because it has become a very effective advertising medium. (I've written about this before.) By offering free WiFi, and providing an easier way to use your phone and search from it, Google will be opening up an entirely new, highly lucrative revenue stream.

Not only are you able to target ads by specific location, but theoretically the number of searches would skyrocket if the Internet is available, for free, everywhere.

What restaurant owner, for example, wouldn't pay for an ad to come up when anybody searches for "restaurant" on their phone, within 10 miles of his business between the hours of 3 and 9pm?

You can't get much more targeted than that.

Thoughts? Am I off my rocker? Did I miss something? Leave word in the comments.


For more reading, see a CNET article here.
Thanks to Engadget for the pic.

Maybe you know a guy

I have this friend/Internet acquaintance I met through my other blog who runs a very popular site and is in search of some advertisers.

And when I say "very popular" I mean to the tune of over a million page views a month and ranked in Technorati's top 60 most popular pages. It really is a great site. I'd recommend checking it out. (And if you're going to check out his site, check out my site, LivSimpl.) :)

His readership consists of people "trying to improve their lives by becoming more productive, more organized, healthier, fitter, calmer, saner, better off financially, and happier with their families."

People who need to be saner, calmer and healthier. Sounds familiar.

I figured I'd put the word out and see if you knew a guy or had a friend of a friend or some relative who's looking to reach such people. The rates are more than reasonable and ads can be purchased in one-month chunks with discounts for multi-month purchases. And he said he'd give me a commission if I found anyone. :)

Let me know if you have someone in mind or, if you prefer to contact him directly, just let him know that I sent you.

For more details, click here.

Yet another new Gmail login screen - more evidence of a new UI

Gotta give credit to my hot, intelligent, loving, caring, tech-savvy wife for snagging this screenshot of a NEVER BEFORE SEEN GMAIL LOGIN SCREEN!!

I totally would have put some starbursts and violator in here if I knew how.

As you can see, said screen is touting the benefits of Google Docs, Google Calendar as well as a host of other Google products. All this the day after rumors started flying again regarding Gdrive and Google's desire to store ALL your information.

A stretch? Perhaps. But you gotta figure that if people at Google are sitting around designing/testing new login screens, there's gotta be something just around the corner.

Ta-da

I don't know if it's as short as everyone thought it was going to be, but my wife certainly thinks it's short enough. :)

So there it is. Or there I am. Whatever.

Sorry about the cheesy pose. I must have knocked myself on the chin at some point today because I have some weird mark/spot on there now. The pose is my vain attempt at covering it up.

The people have spoken

It would appear that 65% of citizens of the world wanted me to shave my head. I had my doubts. But then people took to the streets (see above photo, taken in the streets of the Holy Land). You may not be able to read that sign in the background, but it says, "Dave shave! Dave shave!"

I have heard you my loyal followers. I have heard, and I have acted.

My head is shaved/buzzed/whatever. Pics coming soon.

Thanks to my peaceful followers for the picture.

Turkey bikini - the only way to be thankful

I didn't know Pilgrims even had bikinis. Shows how much I know.

I'm guessing some light-hearted pilgrim probably laid this turkey out on the table but not for the First Thanksgiving - that would have been tacky. Definitely for the second though.

So he's just placed the bird on the table and he has some stupid grin on his face that basically says, "Get it? Get it? It looks like the turkey went tanning with a bikini on? Get it? Funny, huh?" and he's looking around, waiting for the laughter to erupt but everyone just sits there looking at him like, "Frigtard. You just screwed up Thanksgiving. Again." (The previous year, this same individual thought it would be funny to welcome his Native bretheren with the first ever "arrow through the head" gag.)

Speaking of shooting people with arrows, I wonder how the Natives would have reacted. Maybe on the Third Thanksgiving they would have taken it a step further by only putting a bikini bottom on the bird, thus effectively presenting a topless turkey to the conservative pilgrims (by this time the original prankster would have long since been ostracized for something involving his mother's wedding dress, the mayor's best horse and an ear of corn. See picture right. Minus the dress and horse).

Anyhoo, I'd be willing to bet the Pilgrims were pretty ticked off because they thought they'd put an end to all this immoral turkey business with the ostracising and now the Natives thought this new culture the white man* brought was freakin' hilarious and how every Thanksgiving from that time forth (until they got fed up and stuck the Natives on reservations) would involve scantily-clad turkeys.

Great. So the early, violent history of our country was all because some wise-@$% pilgrim decided to bake a bikini on the second-ever Thanksgiving turkey.

If you want to have an authentic, Second Thanksgiving Turkey, you can prevent it from cooking in strategic places by putting aluminum foil on said places. If anyone would care to experiment with their bird today, e-mail me a pic so we can share with all the other kiddies.

Happy Thanksgiving.

*I use the term "white man" loosely. Who's to say there weren't some mult-racial pilgrims coming from Puritan England during the 1700's? It's best to equally represent all people in this day and age. Happy Kwanzaa.

Bikini turkey courtesy of here.
Arrow through the head courtesy of here.
Pilgrim picture courtesy of here.