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Tech Talk Radio Highlights
This week's Tech Talk topics included wireless smart devices,
Internet fraud statistics, online tax e-filing, the FCC's
outdated rules for regulating the airwaves, Microsoft's latest
bad idea, and much more.
Listen now to the latest show using MP3 or RealAudio. Check out all the
links referenced during the show.
Tech Talk airs each Saturday at Noon on WMAL
Radio (AM630) and is sponsored by Stratford
University. WMAL is an ABC affiliate and the number
one AM radio station in the Washington DC market.
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| Self-organizing Networks for the Smart House | | |
Ubiquitous
computing is the idea. Convergence with wireless networking
is the trend. A smart, responsive living environment will
be the result. Visualize a house with lights, heating, ventilation,
motion sensors, cooking appliances all connected to a self-organizing
network that anticipates requirements. The same technology
can be applied to storage "bricks" to form large ad-hoc storage
arrays. The technology is here. The standards are in development.
Get ready to rumble.
Check
out the MIT Tech Review article
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| Online Tax e-Filing is Getting Better | | | Kudos to the IRS for their e-filing system. It seems to
be working and working well. They explain the process
completely on their website and list all approved e-filing
partners. Taxpayers who use e-filing and request direct
deposit for their refunds are getting a two week turn
around! TaxCut by H&R Block, TaxAct Deluxe, and
Quicken Turbo Tax are three of the best offerings.
Check
out the IRS e-Filing Website
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| Internet Fraud Complaint Center Statistics | | |
The
Internet is popular especially with con artists and crooks.
The Federal government operates the Internet Fraud Complaint Center
to log consumer complaints. In 2001, 42% of fraud involved
identity theft, 20% was related to web auctions, 15% e-mail
scams like the Nigerian funds transfer scam. All stats are
reported in their annual report.
Check
out the Internet Fraud Center's Annual Report
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| FCC Should Rethink How We Share the Airwaves | | | In the old days, we sliced and allocated the air waves
like a loaf of bread. Radio, TV, cell-phones, and GPS
were all given their frequency slice. Spread spectrum,
invented by the military during the Second World War,
provides another way to divide the loaf. All parties
share the same frequencies, but encode their
information in different ways mathematically. This "new
way" would permit more players to share the loaf. But
the FCC needs to buck some strong lobbies to make it
happen. Go for it Chairman Michael K. Powell!
Check
out the San Francisco Chronicle's Website
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Wi-Fi Lite is Another Bad Idea from Microsoft
| | | Microsoft is trying to get 802.11 card manufacturers to
produce a low cost card that off-loads the bulk of the
processing tasks to Windows and the main CPU.
This is the same thing that was done in the modem
world with the WinModem standard. It was a bad idea
then and is still a bad idea. Distributing the processing
load is always superior and saving a few bucks for the
peripheral device is not worth it. Microsoft should file
this idea in the circular file as soon as possible.
Check
out the Cnet article
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