 Chris Goh's "On the Net"
Changing planes at Los Angeles airport was my first introduction to the US. As a virgin international traveller I wanted to find out whether a number of 'truths' I believed were applicable everywhere.
I watched the dreary passengers sit in the crowded lounge. It was like sitting in a peak hour Sydney train but with the quietness of the library. Many looked glum, and there was a synchronised sigh when it was announced that a plane was running an hour late.
Then there was this little boy of about 3 who ran around as fast as his growing legs could carry him, chased by his mother, and giggling as any child would when they're having fun. And truth No. 1 appeared. The women watched and smiled with an affection and empathy only they could understand. A mother's love is the same where-ever you go.
Truth No. 2 took a little longer to test - whether a sincere smile was an international currency. It is. When you smile, you get it back - sometimes with change. The people I met, from the rich to the homeless, affirmed that humanity minus its irrational moments, tries to do what is right and be happy as part of the process.
Truth No. 3 is more a hypothesis at the moment, because it's relatively new phenomenon. It's whether the ability to access technology is determining the gap between rich and poor. Don't ask me how I ever hoped to find a correlation, especially in the nation of Silicon Valley. But a theme did emerge in my travels.
People who don't have the access, but do have the technical knowledge were more adaptive and innovative in using what they had, whilst rich IT companies took for granted their processing grunt.
Australian engineers and IT personnel are respected for their innovative solutions because we've had to make do with what we had. It provided me with a reality check in my own life, in which I've been less innovative thanks to the technological excesses I've grown accustomed to.
HotNews
HP released sub-$1000 DVD burner last month. The DVD 100I Combo allows you to burn conventional CDs at 12x and DVD 2x. At 4.7 Gigs, I can imagine it takes a couple of hours, but it means DVD burners are becoming more accessible to domestic users.
Mazda in the US has released the first production car containing an MP3 stereo. The Mazda MP3 is a variant of its popular Protégé.
Maybe I was wrong. I read a Wired article about the online world following September 11. Apparently even the online gaming addicts paused for a moment in the wake of the tragedy. EverQuest and Anarchy Online, two of the larger online game hosts bore witness to some suprising acts of solidarity and reflection in a virtual world dominated by virtual gore and shoot-em-ups. Many of the sites held virtual vigils. The players and their avatars carried a candle to a popular spot and simply seated the characters to reflect in silence as an act of recognition or support. The players interviewed said they felt the inappropriateness of virtual violence. Some have stopped playing completely. The main thing they realised was that the Virtual world is not really the significant part of their lives.
But maybe I was right... on EverQuest people spend real money to buy virtual equipment. That's right, people spend thousands of dollars buying virtual weapons for their Armageddon-like characters in order to get the upper hand on gaming opponents (rather than spending countless hours finding the equipment in the game). It's so bewildering that even the game developers are scratching their heads - when they're not laughing on the way to the bank.
Pocket PC 2002's appearance has halted Palm's market dominance and made some serious inroads (though I'm sure there will be a niche for Palm's little fellows for a while yet). Pocket PC's new mobile operating system has been designed to look like XP and has been well received.
Telecommunications company Dingo Blue is facing increased criticism and customer complaints following attempts to rationalise its services, which degraded both its Internet Service Provision and Mobile coverage. It comes after the recent dismissal of a number of their staff.
Hotsites
www.improbable.com/ig/ig-top.html
Once again the IGNobel prizes have been awarded for those feats and achievements that shouldn't be repeated. As a send up of the Nobel prize, this site rewards scholarly work that is unusual with the suggestion: don't go there again.
www.idiotboxtv.com
If you just want to veg out at a site that is fun and entertaining, Idiotbox should do it for you - although it's not suited to younger people. The site is very well done in Flash and I found, quite humorous.
www.factmonster.com
The fact monster is an excellent trivia source for kids that is well presented and has excellent content. There are Almanacs on varied topics and educational information on history, science world events and more. It's great.
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