Observations

Here are some brief comments (really notes on shared items in Google Reader) that are interesting to me but don’t really merit a full post. It’s one way for me to comment on things outside the normal topics for this blog and either ASDworld or ThoughtStorm’s Simplifying Complexity.

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts. Should I write a full posts on something that you see here? Let me know in the comments or by email.

• Is inflight videochat in the US illegal? United Airlines thinks so
  My comments: Plotting or coordinating an attack is illegal even if you use legal tools to do it. Using a theoretically illegal tool (videochat) for a legal purpose should fall into the officer/prosecutorial judgment category. No harm? No foul.
• Notebook Makers Bet Convertibles Will Soar Where Tablets Fall Short
  My comments: I've been using a convertible for probably 4 years now. I'm on my second Fujitsu T4000-series (4220 or 4420 or something memorable like that). It's a fine laptop and the tablet features just blend right in. I don't know why anyone who is a mobile professional or marks up documents regularly would want anything else. Plus, I can flip the thing into tablet mode to work easier on a crowded bus or train.If Apple made one, I'd have switched already.
• Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book
  My comments: Since when are royalties an "expense?" Aren't they a division of profits? Of course, it's entirely possible that publishers account for royalties as expenses so they can inflate revenues. In other industries, this results in a "net revenue" situation, which is a bit more honest.
• SeatGeek Indexes Stadium and Venue Seats to Bring You Best Values [Tickets]
  My comments: This or one of its competitors will be on my bookmarks toolbar soon. Seatguru is the cat's meow for flights, and this sounds close.
• Disney's Fast Play is the slow way to the DVD feature
  My comments: And I thought it was just me! Maybe the difference is that if you hit "fast play," it plays all the crap and then automatically into the feature whereas if you hit "menu," you have to then hit "play." (Of course, no one will every know because it takes so long -- like how many licks to get to the middle of a Tootsie pop.)So "fast" means the time it takes you to start the babysitting effect of the movie not the time until the movie starts.
• Police tape and element spectrum scarves
  My comments: I wonder if there are any particularly brilliant gels that would show the discovery of certain genes. Gray on black may not appeal to some, but maybe I can steal a picture from my wife's dissertation and have one made. Hmmm.
• Plan Would Let Students Start College After 10th Grade
  My comments: Because the best place for a smart 16yo is in community college, where she can learn from her peers.
• Microsoft's profits, by division
  My comments: My colleague Harry Wong has been pointing this out for years; what's even more interesting is when you compare the cost of obtaining those profits. Office is a shockingly cheap business to run, with nowhere near the ongoing investment of capital of some other projects.It's this discrepancy alone that has me questioning whether Microsoft has sufficient long-term viability to justify the expectations embedded in its stock price.
• Google Maps Labs Adds Experimental Features to Maps [Maps]
  My comments: Rotatable maps -- good idea. One of the best mapreading tips I learned in the Army was to "always orient the map to the ground." You do this by turning the map around until what you see by looking out at the world matches what you see as you look at the map in front of you. Put more simply, you can look at the map and say "we have to turn left" and that will actually be how you have to turn in real life. Trust me -- this tip is a keeper.
• Cheap Chinese appliance imports drive British burglars to switch to iPod muggings
  My comments: Not in this blurb but far more critical is the shift from crimes against property to crimes against people. Bad fallout from those things, which is why robbery is worse than burglary: the increased risk that someone will get hurt.
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