THE MOBI CAM
We're going to be doing a review of THE MOBI CAM this week. Here's a preview of this really COOL product:

The MOBI Cam. Compact, portable and multi-function color handheld wireless monitoring system. It's a wireless digital camera with color screen, infrared night vision, and audio. Color monitor with 2.4 GHz signal penetrates walls, floors, and ceilings up to 300 feet. Battery life 13 hours on camera, 4 hours on the monitor. Option - hook it up to a computer w/ USB connection to turn it into a security system and access the image from the internet. There is also a setting which will alert you by calling your cell phone if there's movement or anything unwanted that's happening in the camera's field of view. You can also hook up to 3 camers and monitor them from one monitor. $199-249.99
VERY COOL!

http://www.getmobi.com

CYBER BLACK HELICOPTERS
News.com has a fun little diddy on TECH CONSPIRACY THEORIES. My favorite is Bill Gates is the Devil.

BLACKOUT
Due to a mass coronal ejection from the sun, Cellphones and Satellites are going to have trouble around Noon (PT) today.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Gizmodo reports on a study that bad cell reception mainly due to networks, not phones.

TABLET PC COSTS
Acer complains that the reason Tablet PCs cost so much isn't the hardware, it's Microsoft's license for it's Tablet PC version of the Windows XP operating system.

WHITELISTING
Hotmail is turning to "whitelisting" in an effort to stem the tide of SPAM. The age old practice will only show email from accepted email addresses that the user approves of on its contact list. Other email is still there, only in a separate folder or screen.

Meanwhile, AOL has been quietly tweaking Windows Settings of it's users to prevent SPAMMERS from using MSMessenger to deliver an annoying popup message. Afterall, AOL wants that market all to itself.

YOU GOTTA GET `EM YOUNG
The MPAA is turning to education as a front in the war on piracy as they use teachers to get the message out ... piracy is wrong. Hollywood is even offering student incentives such as free DVDs, DVD players, movie tickets and trips to Hollywood for writing essays about why file sharing is bad.

DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT
Organization to offer "I Am Not a Terrorist Card" after free background check.


SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY
Google may go public.

SPAM, WONDERFUL SPAM
On the run, and desparate to clog up your internet experience, spammers are turning to posting in BLOGS!


THE SHORT GOODBYE
The Concord took off for London today on it's last flight. Tickets were $9,000 but you get there before you left.


COOL TECH OF THE WEEK

A TabletDVD player. As thick as a picture frame, widescreen 7inch TFT display, stereo plug in, optional slimline lithium-ion travel battery, which will give you about 2.5hrs playback, and it plays DVDs, CDs, Kodak Picture CDs and MP3 CDs.
I'm drooling!


James Bond Digital Camera. Fresh out of "Qs" lab comes this cool digicam in a zippo lighter case.
Cue Bond Theme.


You know you don't need to know what's on TV, you need to know what ELSE is on TV! This Wind up remote control. No batteries, just wind it and flick it.


How about a Watch/Walkie Talkie! With a 250ft range, it's better than tin cans and string.
Calling Dick Tracy.


Emergency cufflinks. Keep like a credit card in your wallet for those times when you just can't find your links!
The ultimate stocking stuffer for dad.

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN
ATT has released the results of it's anti-piracy survey and the results are most telling. It seems that video piracy is an INSIDE JOB.

The study also showed that DVDs which are available commercially do not contribute significantly to video piracy - a result which bodes well in 321 Stiudios lawsuit against the Studios over it's DVDXCOPY software.

I WANT MY DVD TV
ShowbizData reports that with the success of the selling of TV Shows on DVD, and the popularity of direct-to-video movies, producers are trying a new concept - DIRECT TO VIDEO TELEVISION SERIES. Producers of the Fox hit "24" will release a direct to video DVD series with similar concepts, but revolving around separate casts.

Isn't that called "LAW AND ORDER?"

PHASERS ON STUN
Space Daily thinks that laser warfare and shield technology is just around the corner.

TOP TEN TECHS THAT SHOULD DIE?
An overtly liberal list at msn.com ...

Here's a list. I have one to add. Top Ten Tech Critics.

RIAA HITLIST EXPANDS EXPONENTIALLY
TechTV reports the list has reached over 1200. That's a lot of lemonade and social security checks.

CAN'T HAVE MY MTV
Mazingo, a service lets you download TV Programs to your PocketPC, has stopped operation due to licensing costs.

There's always LIKE TELEVISION.


PLUG AND PLAY
Gizmodo makes mention of an air purifier that plugs into your USB port. Who says clean air can't be done on the go?

#1 WITH A BULLET
APPLE is releasing iTunes Producer, an application which would allows users to encode their own music (enter album, song and artwork information) and send the files directly to Apple for sale on the iTunes Music Store. iTunes Producer releases in a free "beta" version October 31st.

QUICK FIX
Apple releases it's first patch to iTunes for Windows today. Get it here.

SPAM, WONDERFUL SPAM
The Senate voted 97-0 yesterday to approve legislation which would adopt a national no-spam registry similar to the do-not-call list for telemarketers. Though Wired and The Post is of the opine that it can't work.

Meanwhile,
Slashdot also reports that according to a recent survey, 'about a third of people responded to a spam, seeking more information. And 7 percent actually bought a product or service.' WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!


STICK TO IT
Sony's PEGA-VR100K Video Recorder records TV shows onto Memory Stick media (up to 16 hours!) and plays them on the Sony CLIE handheld. $299.00 at Amazon.com.

WORDPLAY
Speaking of Amazon.com, starting today, book buys can now find their favorite books by searching for ANY word inside that book!

INFINITE JUSTICE
Slashdot reports that X-10.com - that annoying pop-up ad selling webcams - is filing bankruptcy.


SINGING IN THE BATHTUB
Casio has a Water-Resistant Wireless TV.

FOLLOWING SUIT
Gator threatens to sue and forces a company to stop calling it "spyware." Okay. Fine. How about EVILware instead?

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT EM ...
IOmega's DVD drive embraces ALL 7 formats

Well, if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, them Mohammed will come to the mountain. Iomega has shipped an external 4x Super DVD drive that burns in ALL SEVEN formats!

That's one way to have a standard.

Review forthcoming.

PAY OR PLAY
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Internet radio royalty rate which must be paid in addition to performer royalties and publishing royalties. The RIAA says that's because Internet radio has "no promotional benefit to the artists." Yeah, that's why every station on the planet wants to stream.
Thanks to LEOVILLE for this one.

A CINGULAR LIABILITY
A lawsuit has been filed against NEXTEL for sending notices to customers via text messaging and then charging them for it. Cingular is getting nailed for bad service.


BETTER ... STRONGER ... FUNNIER?
Daily Variety is reporting that the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN has cast Jim Carrey in the role of Steve Austin. The move is the latest in the trend to take popular television dramas of the sixties and seventies and turn them into blockbuster comedies.


What's next? Sandra Bullock as Bionic Woman Jamie Summers? Hey, wait a minute! I'd pay $10 to see that!

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
This month, WIRED MAGAZINE has an inside story about the Wachowski Brothers and how The Matrix films made them the "it team" in the `Wood.

HI-FIDELITY
Stereos can now download music for all to enjoy. I bet the RIAA loves that.

MAINSTREAM MODS
Companies like Memorex and CompUSA are now selling mod supplies. With each passing day, the E-R analogy of cars in the 50s to computers in the new millenium is truer than ever.

Next up, hot rod CPUs.

WHAT NOT TO DO
On the heals of the mod story comes this about how NOT to upgrade your computer.

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
Hollywood is split on the MPAA decision to disallow screeners of Academy Award winning films in an effort to stem the flow of film piracy on the internet. Studios are protesting that smaller films and performances worthy of Oscar won't get noticed unless they can send out tapes and DVDs to Academy members. The MPAA argues that the screeners always get copied and end up on file sharing services within hours. A likely compromise is either to allow studios to send awards-season screeners to members of the Academy and thereby divide the film community between screener haves and have-nots, or to place markers on each screener print in order to determine which screener recipient had them copied.

THIS TAPE WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FIVE SECONDS
New Microsoft Office suite has an interesting feature ... SELF-DESTRUCTING DOCUMENTS! Email and office files can be set to have a time-stamp which can make a message or file unreadable after a certain date. It was designed to act as a barrier against sensitive information being copied or leaked.

Another feature will determine whether a file can be allowed to be opened by certain people and not opened by others.

BETTY DAVIS EYES
High focused laser scans have detected carvings on Stonehenge that can't be seen by the naked eye.

TIME FOR TIMER
World's most famous watch in lunar tug of war

Cosmic Log has a blurb about Buzz Aldrin's watch. The one he wore on the moon. The Omega Speedmaster disappeared nearly 4 decades ago while on it's way to permanent display at the Smithsonian Air/Space Museum in D.C. Today, the watch is worth MILLIONS.

Now a retired clerk claims he bought it 30 years ago from "someone" and wants to go to court to prove he should own it and not the American people. Buzz would like it to go where it belongs.

Uncle Sam's opinion? "... if the watch is the one worn by Buzz Aldrin during his moon walk, the watch is the property of the government".

Technically, that watch should be government property and the government can simply demand it back. Much like a sunken Navy ship still belongs to the Navy.

Absent that, it's an Historical Artifact. It was on it's way to the Smithsonian. Mr. Morely would do well to shut this trap, and join Aldrin in donating the watch to the Smith. His name would then be forever associated with it. Though he doesn't deserve to be in the same plaque as the second man to walk on the moon, that much is certain.

What a JERK.

I hope a judge slaps him silly (in the legal sense, of course. Buzz can do it on his own).

WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?
Geek Horoscopes.

ALL IN A GAME
Nokia's new Cellphone Gamepad

Okay, it's time for an intervention. IT'S A CELL PHONE! You want a GameBoy, GET A GAME BOY!

Don't make me evoke Uncle Machete.

EPISODE 7,8, & 9?
Will they be coming soon to a theater near you (or a pirated p2p site) The Rumors persist.

SAY CHEESE
Polaroid has a "self portrait" digital camera. Can't all cameras make self portraits? I mean, my brother has been doing it for years.

HOME GROWN
Sanyo has developed a corn-based biodegradeable CD. Here's hoping that it makes more of an successful impact on our environment than ethanol has.

THINK DIFFERENT ABOUT WHERE YOU WANT TO GO TODAY
iTunes Music Store for Windows does in 3 1/2 days what it took the original Apple variant weeks to accomplish: selling 1 million downloads.

And while Microsoft warns that iTunes for Windows is "too restrictive," Bill Gates wins either way since he owns around 10% of the company. And ironically, Bill may also be in trouble as new versions of XP that come with an installed link to "buy music" from Microsoft's own music service may violate the terms of their Anti-Trust settlement.

Will be back to our regular electronica coverage tomorrow. Our film, SEARCHING FOR INSPIRATION, was completed at 5 a.m. It shipped moments ago via UPS to the National Film Challenge in Washington D.C.

What a ride. More later.

Would I do it again? Well, let's just say it's a game for the young.