Why Wal-Mart Isn't Smiling

The fortunes of Wal-Mart are supposed to be a bellwether for the rest of the US economy. So when the retail giant turned in a lame November sales increase forecast of only 0.7%, observers grew concerned. However, other retailers are reporting post-Thanksgiving sales in line with the more optimistic 3 to 4% growth numbers.

So what's up with Wal-Mart?

An article in Slate suggests that Wal-Mart may have reached the limit of its ability to cut costs and undersell the competition. Minus that, it must compete on quality, customer service and the overall shopping experience -- factors that level the playing field a bit.

Some have suggested that a Wal-Mart backlash might be in the works. But I see an even more fundamental problem, as does the Slate article.

When I compare my local Wal-Mart with my local Target, I see two "big box" discounters that couldn't be more different.

I truly enjoy shopping at Target. The store is bright, clean and organized. The goods are every bit as attractive and stylish as what one would find in a more upscale store. Yet the prices are right, and I can find everything from toothpaste to printer paper to lawn fertilizer. Rarely is anything out of stock. Even their store-brand items are packaged with panache.

Contrast this with the Wal-Mart not a half-mile away. The store is filthy. Half the time, even common items are out of stock (despite the chain's much-touted inventory control system). Boxes and other junk block the aisles, so much so that some are completely impassable. Much of the merchandise is shoddy; I've bought clothes there that have fallen apart on the first wash. The store is crowded, noisy and chaotic, and checking out takes forever.

But Wal-Mart's low prices make the hassle worth it, right? Often, the prices I pay at Wal-Mart are no better than -- and are in some cases higher than -- other stores. At any rate, who needs more hassles, especially this time of year?

Granted, my Wal-Mart is in the process of expanding, and perhaps they'll correct some of these shortcomings in the process. But it stands to reason that I'm not the only one who notices this contrast. This holiday season, where would you rather shop?

The Wireless City

Are cell phones and other wireless devices changing the way we relate to the urban landscape? An article in Salon suggests that, as wireless devices penetrate our "communal spaces," people become more isolated from one another even as they remain in close proximity.

This is true to a degree, as people typically spend more time on their cell phones when out in public than conversing with one another. But I doubt that mobile devices are totally to blame for this. We have whole generations that were raised not to talk to strangers, so there's a reluctance among many to strike up conversations with people we don't know.

Devices sometimes have the opposite effect, causing people to unintentionally intrude on others. Consider someone talking very loudly on a cell phone; it's hard for one to ignore what may well be an intimate conversation. In another time, that person could have gone into a phone booth and closed the door for some privacy. Now, there seems to be no concern that others will hear details of one's personal life. Once, I sat next to someone -- a manager of some kind -- discussing the specifics of having fired a subordinate!

Another widely publicized phenomenon has been that of people watching X-rated movies on DVD players in minivans and SUVs. As weird as this might seem, it's another form of intrusion. Ever pull up behind a minivan in traffic where the DVD player was clearly showing SpongeBob Squarepants? Imagine a family pulling up behind the same minivan and inadvertently seeing images of nudity or explicit sex...

Part of the problem is that we might need to re-learn how to use and behave in public spaces. This might sound strange, but many of us did not grow up with public spaces. We grew up in suburbs where public spaces were rare at best. Malls were an exception, but there, people were expected to shop and eat, not socialize. Cities had more public places, but many of these were unsafe and best avoided.

Source: Future Now

Cheap Hydrogen?

One of the biggest hurdles on the way to the much-touted "hydrogen economy" -- in which hydrogen would replace petroleum as our primary fuel -- is the enormous cost of generating hydrogen. Now, researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory have teamed up with Salt Lake City-based ceramics firm Cerametec to create a process for cost-effectively producting hydrogen.

The process involves generating hydrogen with nuclear reactors, which can heat water necessary for the process with greater efficiency than can other kinds of heaters. Indeed, one of the drawbacks in generating hydrogen is that it requires more energy than the resulting hydrogen yields.

The obvious drawback to this plan, of course, is the need to build more nuclear reactors. As well as being politically risky, this has environmental and engineering consequences -- after all, no new reactors have been built in the US in 30 years.

Source: KurzweilAI.net

Genetic Testing for Athletic Performance

Wonder if Junior is going to be the next NFL superstar or Olympic gold medalist? An Australian firm, Genetic Technologies, has developed a genetic test that they claim will determine athletic potential.

The test measures the gene ACTN3, which produces a protein necessary for powering fast-twitch muscles. Athletes typically have a high level of this protein, so it stands to reason that anyone with it would have at least some athletic prowess. However, the test is controversial because, critics say, it would close the door on less genetically endowed athletes who have other characteristics (stamina, coordination, mental discipline) that would compensate for the lack of that protein. Similarly, an individual with strong ACTN3 might lack the capability -- or even the desire -- to be a great athlete. There is also the risk of putting children on a "fast track" toward athletics against their will, while discriminating against kids who don't test as well yet have a true passion for sports.

This is yet another clear case of technology jumping ahead of society. We have the means to make these kinds of measurements, but we don't yet know how to handle the consequences.

Source: FuturePundit

Glut in Flat-Panel TVs?

Planning to buy a flat-panel TV this holiday season? If so, you may want to wait. Because several new factories are set to come online within the next few months, we may see a glut of plasma and LCD TVs, cutting prices in half by the end of 2005.

Source: The New York Times

Blogosphere Doubling Every Five Months

A report by Internet marketing firm ClickZ has found that the number of blogs has doubled every five months ove the last year and a half... harking back to the explosive growth of the Web during the mid- to late-'90s.

Among the other interesting statistics ClickZ cites are:

• A new blog is created every 5.8 seconds, resulting in 15,000 new blogs being created every day.
• By the end of this year, 10 million blogs will exist online... but only 1 million will be updated regularly.
• Active bloggers post nearly 300,000 posts daily.
• 11% of all Internet users -- 50 million individuals -- are regular blog readers.
• As most bloggers and blog readers are aware, blog activity spikes during key news events or controversies, though it has been on a sharply upward trend since this summer's political conventions (see chart below).
• The vast majority of bloggers are under 30, with over 50% being between ages 13 and 19.

Source: unmediated

Microgenerators Can Run Electronics, Outlive Batteries

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a miniature generator that could power small electronics (such as cell phones and PDAs) and last up to 10 times longer than conventional batteries.

Such microgenerators, each the thickness of a dime, contain tiny spinning magnets that serve as their energy source -- a technology called a microelectromechanical system, or MEMS. The faster the magnets spin, the more energy they produce.

GIT hopes that its next generation of microgenerators will be powerful enough to power laptops, radios and GPS devices.

Source: GeniusNow.com

Thanksgiving Break

This may be my last post for several days, as I'm taking some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Next week I plan to attend an emerging technologies conference, so I hope to be able to post from there with some interesting insights.

To all our U.S. readers, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Subjective Software

For all it's capable of doing, modern computer software is remarkably stupid at times. For instance, while a word processor can spell check and even offer grammatical help, it can't understand what you're writing, and can't distinguish subtle nuances in language. If you say something is "cool," the software can't tell whether you like that thing very much or it's at a cold temperature. Or, in the case of your favorite ice cream, you might mean both.

Now, researchers at Cornell University are attempting to develop software that can understand context and interpret subjective statements. The software will search for subjective words such as "wonderful" or "terrible," and separate subjective from objective statements. The end goal is to produce software that can detect human emotions that come through in speech and text, such as irony, sarcasm and humor -- prerequisites for artificial intelligence.

Source: TRN Newswire

Smart Yarn

Researchers at the UTD Nanotech Institute have developed a "smart" yarn made from carbon nanotubes. Aside from being strong and flexible, the yarn has the potential to conduct electricity, be hardened for added protection, contain sensors, and in general act as a "soft" exoskeleton. The yarn's creators believe that commercially viable production might not be far off, especially as more uses are discovered for it.

Source: Slashdot

Keylogging Not Prohibited by Wiretap Laws

A federal judge in California has thrown out criminal charges against a man accused of using a keystroke logging tool to spy on his employer. The judge declared that "keylogging" did not fit the criteria for communications protected under the Wiretap Act because the information did not travel over a network.

Rest assured that this is only a temporary situation. Industries of all sorts will certainly lobby Congress to close this loophole, and the current business-friendly legislature will comply. In the meantime, beware of what you type over a LAN... and especially be careful when using wireless keyboards and mice, as those signals can be intercepted very easily.

Sources: SecurityFocus, Slashdot

An Electric Car With Muscle

Who says electric cars have to be for wimps? The Japanese-built Eliica (short for Electrical Lithium-Ion Battery Car), can go from 0 to 60 in four seconds and can hit 230 MPH -- faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo!

Driving this bad boy will definitely get you noticed. In addition to its power, the Eliica features smooth handling. However, you'll need 10 hours for every recharge.

RIP VHS

Progress and innovation are not victimless, as shown by the gradual phaseout of VHS video cassette recorders and videotapes. Consider:

• Worldwide sales of DVD players outstrip sales of VHS players 40 to 1
• Wal-Mart sells dozens of DVD player models, starting at $38, as opposed to only a handful of VHS models
  
• When DreamWorks released Shrek 2 on video at the beginning of this month, 12 million copied were sold in the first week... 11 million of which were DVDs
• Pioneer will stop manufacturing VCRs and related products
• The UK retailer Dixons will stop selling VCRs after this holiday season
• Blockbuster has been cutting back its inventory of VHS movies since 2001
• Police report that burglars who break into homes often don't bother to take VCRs, as their street value has fallen so low
  
• Circuit City phased out VHS videotapes in 2002
  

The speed with which DVDs have been adopted is astonishing. A few years ago, DVDs were on the bleeding edge; today, a DVD player can be had for less than a night out at the movies. Expect to see further VHS obituaries after the holidays.

Sources: C|Net, Techdirt

"Values Voters" Still Like Their Sexy, Violent TV

Judging from the outcome of the past presidential election, Americans are yearning for more morally wholesome content from the media. But, according to TV executives, that's not showing up in the Nielsen ratings. The two hottest shows this season -- CBS's bloody C.S.I. and ABC's steamy Desperate Housewives -- top the ratings throughout the country, in "red" and "blue" states alike.

Indeed, what surprises many media observers is the uniformity of the ratings, and how the top shows are so consistent in most all media markets. Even in staunchly conservative Salt Lake City, Desperate Housewives is one of the top hits. And it's the number one show in Atlanta, in the heart of Bush country.

Conversely, shows like Joan of Arcadia with strong spiritual themes, have done poorly in the ratings... which isn't exactly encouraging networks to make more of them.

There is no overarching reason why this is the case. The fact that these racy and violent shows do so well in "red" areas shouldn't be a surprise given that despite the electoral map, political leanings don't break cleanly along geographical lines. Additionally, media watchers note that despite the occasional uproar over such transgressions as the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" or the more recent Desperate Housewives promo on Monday Night Football (which, they note, was repeated incessantly on news programs), television standards trend toward increasing permissiveness. Remember the Murphy Brown controversy in the early '90's when the main character had a child out of wedlock? Seems quaint, doesn't it?

Source: The New York Times

Global Camera Phone Backlash

Privacy advocates around the world are urging makers of camera phones to act responsibly when marketing their products. They cite numerous privacy complaints about camera phones, as well as their ability to compromise security in government or private business environments.

Camera phones have already been banned outright in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and South Korea and the United States are working to formuate acceptable-use standards for camera phones in their countries. One requirement South Korea is considering is that camera phones make a sound of at least 65dB when snapping a picture. At the very least, this would alert others in a public space that a camera phone is in use.

The camera phone dilemma is clearly a case where technology has outpaced safety and security procedures, as well as the rules of etiquette. Says Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, "We hope that consumers will keep in mind the public responsibility that comes with owning this type of product, and [we] encourage retailers to actively educate their customers about appropriate use of these devices." However, solutions that balance privacy and security with consumers' right to own camera phones may take time to develop.

Source: Silicon.com

Are Flexible Displays Ready for Prime Time?

Flexible displays -- computers monitor that could be made paper-thin and foldable, allowing for literal "electronic newspapers" -- are one of those technologies that always seems to be "right around the corner." But like videophones, is it really a technology that people want, even though it sounds cool?

Philips Research has developed a flexible display that might finally serve as a commercially viable product. Their five-inch diagonal screen has a 320x240 resolution and is only 10 microns thick, allowing it to be rolled into a one-centimeter tube. No word on when the display will be commercially available.

The key advantage to this flexible display is its toughness. All the components are plastic, unlike traditional monitors that contain glass and other delicate parts. This would make the flexible display practical for rough-service applications and in the military, where its light weight would be an added benefit. Philips engineers imagine applications such as "smart pens" that could contain a rolled-up flexible display, and flexible displays as an auxiliary to mobile phones and GPS devices. Unique, specialized functions are going to be the key to flexible display's success in the marketplace, after all.

On a related note, a British/German company called rAndom has developed Watch Paper, which is "a fully functional clock printed onto ordinary paper." rAndom claims that Watch Paper can be integrated into household wallpaper, and that it's the first step toward interactive wall displays.

If rAndom can miniaturize Watch Paper enough, another application would be on prescription medicine bottles. An "alarm clock" printed right on the bottle would help patients remember to take their medication on time.

Sources: TheFeature , Beverly Tang

Computers as Authors

So what do you think of this as an opening paragraph?

Dave Striver loved the university - its ivy-covered clocktowers, its ancient and sturdy brick, and its sun-splashed verdant greens and eager youth. The university, contrary to popular opinion, is far from free of the stark unforgiving trials of the business world: academia has its own tests, and some are as merciless as any in the marketplace. A prime example is the dissertation defense: to earn the Ph.D., to become a doctor, one must pass an oral examination on one's dissertation. This was a test Professor Edward Hart enjoyed giving.

Who wrote it? Not me. The question is, what wrote it? The author is Brutus.1, a computer program developed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in conjunction with IBM.

According to an article in the New York Times, researchers are making progress in developing computer programs that can write fiction. The challenge, of course, is giving computers the emotions and life experiences necessary to create anything anyone would want to read. But they've come a long way since the days when programs spewed out gibberish.

So, once computers start writing, how long will it be until they start blogging?

Generation Tech (or, Why Can't Mom Make Her Computer Work?)

Ever since the dawn of personal computing in the late '70s, it's been an assumption that young people are more adept at technology than their elders. The division between the savvy youngster and the clueless older person echoes the old joke about sex education:



DAD: Son, it's time we had a talk about sex.
SON: Sure, Dad. What do you want to know?

A clever article in the current issue of Newsweek illustrates the problems both young and old folks face with today's technology. The author, Brad Stone, discusses how millions of older Americans rely on their children and grandchildren to troubleshoot their computers and other technology. Indeed, anyone under the age of 40 has surely had to come to the rescue of a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or older neighbor who had some gadget or doo-dad that was just beyond their ability to comprehend.

My first experience with this was when I was about 10, when an elderly friend of the family couldn't get reception on the TV in her apartment. I immediately found the problem; it had come disconnected from the central apartment antenna (this was way before cable). Within five minutes she was back in business... but the problem had her completely flummoxed.

The subtext of Stone's piece is the thoroughness with which the Internet has penetrated American society. No longer the domain of young geeks, the Net has become an equal opportunity platform. Hence, the issues that are beginning to ensue.

Stone argues in his article that technology shouldn't have to be so difficult, that our elders should be able to master it just as well as we can. A large part of the problem is that much technololgy is so poorly designed, without regard to the end user. Stone uses digital phones as a case in point:

[T]he headaches keep escalating as digital technology infiltrates new, once simple appliances. Take the newest digital phones. Phones used to be simple and easy to use, didn’t they? Over a year ago, I fell for a new Samsung mobile phone offered by Sprint. The phone, the i500, combined a Palm Pilot into a seemingly well-designed compact handset. It looked great, and I could carry one device around instead of two. Even today, 14 months after I bought it, the silver clamshell gadget elicits amazement from friends.

But the only thing that amazes me now is how crappy it actually is. The graffiti pad on the phone stopped working soon after I bought it. The screen frequently goes on the fritz. And the little stylus that slips into the handset appears specifically made to get lost in the seat cushions of my car. I recently checked a mobile-phone chat page on the Internet and found that lots of other users were having the same problems. We all paid way too much for a gadget whose primary function is to raise its owner’s blood pressure.

Stone is hardly alone in his feelings. A recent survey conducted on mobile phone usability by Wacom Communications found that a remarkable 85% of those surveyed felt that they were "too dumb" to use their mobile devices properly, and that only a third were taking full advantage of their devices' features!

Phones are a perfect example of what's so often wrong with technology. Our parents grew up with a very basic phone -- most likely the Bell System's Model 500, created by legendary industrial designer Henry Dreyfus and considered a masterpiece of clean, functional design. The Model 500 was "the phone" from its introduction after World War II until the dawn of touch-tone dialing.

The Model 500, for its part, was an outgrowth of the equally legendary Model 302:

No one ever needed a user manual or tech support for the Model 500 phone. It just worked. Granted, it had no real "features" to speak of, but for the one function that counted -- making and receiving phone calls -- it was without equal. Same thing with our elderly friend's television, minus the disconnected antenna. She jus turned it on, selected the channel, adjusted the volume... and she was done.

So why can't today's designers get it right? Even one of today's more elegant examples of functional design, the iPod, can be vexing at times. One problem is that everyone wants to develop that "killer device" that's going to do everything, and eliminate the need for any other device. By doing that, these vendors want to be the ones to set the standards, and be everywhere, all the time. The result is increased complexity, illustrated in yet another old joke that imagines a certain well-known software company in the car business.

It's a myth that all young people are tech savvy while all older people are tech ignorant. The reason why younger people are generally more comfortable with technology, I think, is that we have to understand it in order to survive. PCs and networks are just as much a fact of life in the workplace as phones and Rolodexes were in our fathers' and grandfathers' offices. If you can't master them, you can't do your job. Our elders never had to learn about all this technology; aside from certain career paths, their lives were largely technology-free.

But those days are over... and it would benefit IT vendors to more carefully consider the products they develop. Following the example of the Model 500 phone, they should strive to:

• Focus on one function and get it right.
• Keep the technology "under the hood" as much as possible.
• Make usage intuitive. Can a small child use it? Can great-grandma?
• Don't just make it idiot-proof. Make it life-proof.

This way, Mom and Dad can enjoy their technology... and won't have to rely on their kids for tech support!

Thanksgiving Travel May Set Record

Despite record-high gas prices, Americans are planning to travel more than ever this Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA. Always one of the busiest travel times of the year, this Thanksgiving will see an extimated 37.2 million people travelling more than 50 miles from home -- up 3% over last year, and surpassing the record set in 2000.

The travel industry is particularly excited about these numbers, as they reflect high consumer confidence and an increased comfort with post-9/11 air travel. About 12% of expected travellers will travel by air this Thanksgiving, up by 4% over last year.

The industry also expects more travel over Christmas and New Year's, in part because of the calendar. Both holidays fall on weekends this year, so people may be encouraged to travel on those long weekends.

[FOLLOWUP] TiVo to Offer "No Skip" Ads

Following up on the theme of DVRs being a disruptive media technology that will change the nature of TV advertising, along comes a report from the New York Times that TiVo is planning to introduce "fast-forward tags" that will allow advertisers' logos to appear on the screen when a viewer skips over ads in recorded programs. TiVo is also planning to offer interactive tags that will allow viewers to "drill down" for more information on an ad that interests them... not unlike clicking on a Web ad banner.

DPA: The New Security Threat

Think you're secure because you use a "smart card" to access online resources, and encrypt all data that you send over the Net? Well, think again. A new technique is emerging that could allow intruders to intercept and read even the most securely encrypted communications.

Differential Power Analysis (DPA) work on the principle that encrypted communications "leak" minute amounts of electrical power, and that encryption keys can be found by measuring changes in these leaks. Using DPA, even encryption techniques unknown to the hacker can be reverse-engineered and broken. Cryptography Research, Inc. discovered the DPA technique several years ago, and has patented a number of anti-DPA techniques that it is now licensing to vendors. Most of these techniques involve either lowering the amount of energy leakage in transmissions, or generating "white noise" to cover up the fluctuations. CRI has also published white papers on the topic, and markets testing devices for measuring the amount of power leaking from various devices.

DPA is surely going to be of great interest on both sides of the security issue. As word about DPA spreads, vendors will have to assure their customers that their security is DPA-resistant. The government and the military will also certainly express interested in DPA, both as a defensive and an offensive tool.

Source: eWeek

Fading Ad Gallery

I'm a firm believer that anyone interested in the future has to be mindful of the past. To that end, I'm fascinated by urban relics -- abandoned buildings and the like. They say a lot not just about where we've been, but where we're going as well. After all, there was a reson why these places were left for dead, and that reason impacts our lives today and tomorrow.

Also, as a former (or recovering) advertising copywriter, I'm interested in vintage advertisements. And so, when I came across the Fading Ad Gallery, I couldn't resist.

Ever walk by an old building and notice a very old, faded advertisement painted on its side? Some are recognizable today (Coca-Cola ads are common in almost every city), while others clearly evoke another, very different time. Like fossils, they speak to us over a great distance, telling us what life was like long ago, and illustrating how much (or how little) times have changed.

The Fading Ad Gallery is a Brooklyn-based art project designed to "explore our changing urban landscape," and includes photos of vintage building ads from all over the world. You can visit the actual gallery at 679 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, or you can simply browse the website (NOTE: It's a graphics-heavy site that may load slowly on less robust Internet connections).

Warning: Content Under Pressure

There's nothing new about blaming the Internet for society's ills. The sad thing is, the Web continues serving as a scapegoat, long after it has entered the mainstream.

In England, a young man took his own life after frequenting a Dutch-based website that advocated suicide. Said the coroner who was on the case of the site in question, "It is the height of irresponsibility to publish a site which could encourage someone to be tipped over the edge. The internet is there to educate and improve life, not destroy it."

Meanwhile, back in the States, a group of researchers is calling on Congress to investigate online pornography, which they call "more addictive than heroin." And of course, Congressional conservatives are only too happy to oblige. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) chairman of the Commerce subcommittee on science, organized the hearings.

The question in both cases is not whether the Net is inherently "bad" -- an argument made in the mid-'90's when many were new to cyberspace -- but whether content creators are responsible for the actions of those who read or view their content. Also, is the Net being treated differently than other media in this regard?

To be sure, there's a lot of ignorant, antisocial and downright disturbing content out on the Net. But blaming these sites for other people's actions, in my view, is a cop-out. If we are going to hold individuals accountable for their actions, we can't allow ourselves to fall back on the argument that "the devil made them do it." If we're going to ban content that might encourage people to harm themselves, let's repeal the Second Amendment and confiscate all the guns. Or bring back Prohibition so we can save all those alcoholics.

In the case of politics, the Net is an attractive target. Congressfolk will pontificate and criticize online porn till their tongues fall out of their heads, and they'll look like proactive leaders, and no one in their right minds will challenge them for fear of being branded "pro-porn."

Netizens who have been online any length of time are no strangers to this kind of controversy. The best we can do is to educate others about the way the Net works, and the tools available to filter content where appropriate. And yes, there are disturbed individuals out there who need help. Let's focus on getting them the help they need, rather than painting an entire community with a broad brush.

Source: Techdirt

BlogExplosion: My Take So Far

Several weeks ago I signed up for BlogExplosion, the service for bloggers to increase their traffic by looking at fellow members' blogs. Now that I've had some time to get to understand how the system works, I have some thoughts...

Overall, my experience has been positive, though I wonder what surfers who view FutureWire really think of it. If they land on it at random, are they really interested in reading it, or do they just want to move on to the next blog to rack up their credits? A lot of the blogs I come across are (to me) boring as sin... so I'm suspect those bloggers aren't exactly turned on by FutureWire.

The lack of any kind of preference-based surfing -- in which you would see only those types of blogs that interest you -- has both its upside and its downside. On the downside, I see a lot of blogs that don't interest me in the least. Not to say that they're bad... they're not just my cup of tea. On the other hand, I'm being exposed to a lot of different perspectives and approaches to blogging that I likely wouldn't see otherwise. I'm also learning about techniques and tools that other bloggers are employing to increase visibility, or just for fun.

The rating tools have courted some controversy, especially the ability to see who rated your blog and what rating they gave it (a feature that has since been disabled). I like to give high ratings to blogs that are clever and original, even if I don't personally agree with their content. As for blogs I genuinely don't care for, I follow my mother's advice that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything. I've only given low rating a couple of times to blogs that I felt were too stupid or sloppy to ignore.

Perhaps the best indicator of BlogExplosion's success is that, since I've been a member, the overall quality of the member blogs has improved tremendously. The blogs seem to be more focused, and the writing more crisp and compelling. Many others are pushing the envelope with design, with varying results.

Overall, my goal with BlogExplosion was not simply to increase traffic, but to reach out to others who might find what I have to say interesting. To that end, I haven't yet been able to "connect the dots" and learn how many have added FutureWire to their list of must-read blogs as a result of having found it on BlogExplosion. For instance, a reader may only visit a blog's website once, but subscribe to that blog's RSS feed, making him/her a loyal reader who is under the radar. Hopefully, BlogExplosion will add improved metrics to help bloggers learn that.

If you're a blogger, you have nothing to lose by signing up with BlogExplosion. You may not get huge numbers, but that might not be what you're looking for anyway. If you hook up with even a few readers who genuinely like your blog and will read it regularly, that's what matters.

Cars of the Future: Safe and Smart

The online version of Fortune magazine features a look at cars of the future, with a focus on safety features (exernal airbags, collision warning systems, eye monitoring for drowsiness, blind spot and lane drift alerts) and convenience (self-parking, "smart" GPS systems). Conspicuously absent, however, is any discussion of automated driving (gridded highways that would control the car automatically, for example), innovations to increase mileage and performance, or environmental technologies.

UPDATE: EE Times has posted an interesting, fairly technical piece about self-navigating vehicles, which can provide services ranging from collision avoidance to full-blown self-driving.

Red vs. Blue Rift Widens and Deepens

I had promised myself I wouldn't write anymore about the election and the "red vs. blue" divide, but some of the continued discussion about it in the blogosphere makes that impossible. If the Internet is any kind of a social barometer, a stormfront is approaching.

For starters, you might have seen this little gem come across the wires over the last couple of weeks:

Yes, it's a joke, but it speaks volumes about how people perceive the outcome of the election, and their lack of faith in unity.

The mainstream media long ago said of the election, "Bush won... get over it." But plenty of people aren't about to get over anything anytime soon. One rant that has made the rounds online is the subtly titled "F*** The South". A more eloquent essay along the same lines is "The Urban Archipelago". The message in both pieces is the same: liberal, urban areas that make the "blue" states blue need to stand their ground and reject the conservative policies of the rural, "red" states. And since urban America controls most of the wealth and pays most of the taxes in this country (of which "red" states are the primary beneficiaries), the "blue" states cannot be taken lightly.

For liberals who feel ashamed rather than angry, there's SorryEverybody.com, where one can post one's picture with a statement apologizing to the world for the U.S. re-electing Bush.

Such verbal temper tantrums would be easy to ignore if it weren't for two things. First, vitriolic statements are only increasing in frequency, as are stories of disillusioned Democrats considering emigrating to Canada. Secondly, no less a mainstream publication than Fortune has picked up on the vibe, running a piece that's eerily similar to the two essays mentioned above, minus the profanity.

On the flip side, there's an open letter to the Democratic Party from "A Sad American" who explains why John Kerry didn't get her vote. The letter illustrates how the divide isn't as clear-cut as many would see it, and how, in her case, the election presented an agonizing choice.

Truth is, we really do appear to be splitting into (at least) two separate countries, if not geographically, then philosophically. The Internet only appears to be exacerbating this trend. The rise of distributed media, combined with the decline of centralized "mass media," allows people to cherry-pick the information that reinforces their personal views. If you're conservative, you can ready only conservative blogs, listen to Rush Limbaugh, watch Fox News and safely ignore the "liberal media." And liberals can do the converse. Gone are the days when "everybody" watched Walter Cronkite. Today, even though the Net has brought the world to our fingertips, it's easier than ever to isolate ourselves in thought bubbles.

If George W. Bush wants to cement his legacy, his biggest accomplishment might be to re-unite the nation for his successor, whether that person be a Democrat or Republican. Yet much of what drives this ongoing controversy is whether he really can -- or even wants to -- take those steps.