Social Networks As Money Transfer Brokers?

Wired has a fascinating new article "The Future of Money: It's Flexible, Frictionless, and (Almost) Free" which takes a look at the growing number of methods to exchange money online. Way beyond PayPal, credit card companies and the banks themselves, payment systems are coming online at a furious pace attempting to strip down the fees and dethrone the venerable stalwarts of the industry. Utilizing social sites and the opened up engines some of the largest online retailers, developers are finding new ways of exchanging cash and making it more cost effective.

It's a lengthy article but well worth the read if you are wondering how money will be exchanged in the future... and dare I say, the future is nigh!

Here's a sample:

"Whatever the future of payments looks like, it will probably be brought about by people like Christian Lanng. A tall and wide 31-year-old with a booming, operatic voice, Lanng is sitting on the couch of his venture backer’s house in Copenhagen. When he talks about the way banks and credit card companies process payments, he gets so upset that his entire body tenses and his voice rises until it’s echoing off the stark white walls. “This is the main battleground of capitalism!” he says. “This is the heart of it.”" 

Geting The Most Game Out Of Your Phone

The Wired How-To Wiki provides some handy hints for gaming on your mobile phone, the regular old un-smart kind. Covered are searching for games, downloading, and playing. Because the site is a Wiki, you can also contribute your 2 cents worth, if you have a tip or two that you'd like to share. Just goes to show that you don't have to drop $600 to have a good time...er, that just didn't come out right but you know what I'm getting at. As for me, I'll find my games in the Android Marketplace.

Check out the How-To Wiki.

Sci-Fi Shows That Deserve Resurrection

Awhile ago Wired brought us a list of 10 science fiction shows ready for an upgrade in an article entitled “Reboot This! 10 Sci-Fi TV Shows Ready for Upgrade.” Not surprisingly many fans of Sci-Fi and obviously readers of Wired chimed in with shows that were left off of that list. Wired has now published a list of reader's choices in "Reboot These Sci-Fi Shows Next, Wired Readers Plead."

Taking a hard look at the list and I agree... how could you have missed Firefly, Space 1999, Max Headroom and Thunderbirds? The Greatest American Hero we can do without... Check out the list, any thing you think was missed?

Wired Reboots A Christmas Story

Just yesterday I was explaining to a colleague that my favorite part of Christmas is settling in to a comfy chair and enjoying the greatest Christmas movie of all time! I can relate with Ralphy, there are so many parts of "A Christmas Story" that send my back to my childhood, and I'm pretty sure that his father was modeled after mine.

Imagine my joy this morning when I came across this little update from Wired. Oh, and in case you've never seen 'The Greatest Christmas Movie Of All Time' here's a little snippit to wet your appetite.

The Wired BBQ

It's summer, time to char some meat! Wired has a video look at some of the latest advancements in geeky grilling techniques, there is no mention of the costs but let's face it... who cares when it comes to gadgets?

Mystify Your Friends And Win Free Beer

Wired contributor Chris Lesinski shows us a great bar trick that could amaze your friends and win you beers or win you friends and amaze your beers... whatever!

How To Recycle Your Old Gadgets

Many of us likely have an old PC kicking around the basement or last years cellphone occupying space in the junk drawer. If you are like most people you probably only give it any attention when you stub your toe on it or push it aside to find a rubber band.

Want to do something good for the environment and feel better about your space at home, but don't know how to safely dispose of those unwanted gadgets? Wired's Gadget Lab has taken the guess work out of it for us with their round up list of major companies and how their recycling programs work.

If you need more motivation, here is a word of advice from fastfengshui.com "If your house is full of clutter you are living in the midst of a lot of very stale, stuck energy. Since feng shui works by shifting the energy of your home, it's going to take a lot more effort to get results if you don't deal with your clutter first."

Holiday Shopping Guide - Wired Style

Wondering what to get your geek for Christmas? Wired has put together the ultimate geek shopping guide. Regardless of where your geek's interest lays or what your budget is the "Wish List 2008" has you covered. Looking for practical? Go for the iRobot Dirt Dog Workshop Robot. Money is no object? How about the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640. Looking to buy Great Big Geek a gift? You'll never go wrong with Mimoco Star Wars Mimobot 1GB USB Flash Drive ;) Seriously though, check out the Wish List, if they don't have it there your geek doesn't need it!

How Much Greener Are Rechargeable Batteries?

I just read a short article in Wired - 16.11 which asks "Am I doing terribly wrong by the planet if I use alkaline batteries instead of rechargeables? I mean recharging requires power, right?"

I've always just taken it for granted that rechargeables would be more environmentally friendly and never really put a great deal of thought into how much more green they may or may not be. According to this article, a 2007 study by Bio Intelligence Service (sponsored by a French rechargeable battery maker) claimed that wearing out a single rechargeable battery impacts the environment less by a factor of 28 times. Makes me appreciate them all that much more!

Wired Poll Finds Rogers 3G Network Amoung Fastest Globally

Canadians might not like the terms of their iPhone agreement with Rogers but a poll conducted by Wired Magazine suggests that Rogers 3G network is one of the fastest world wide. According to the CBC "Wired.com found that Rogers and Fido customers in Canada had an average download speed of 1,330 kilobits per second on their device. That ranked just behind the 1,822 kilobits experienced by T-Mobile subscribers in several European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands." iPhone users in the U.S. averaged speeds of 990 kilobits on AT&T's cellphone network, while the worst speeds were reported by Australians on the Optus and Virgin networks, coming in around 390 kilobits. "In our view, this data is a strong indicator that performance of the mobile carrier's network is affecting the iPhone 3G more than the handset itself," wrote Wired's Brian X. Chen. "Altogether, this furthers our thesis that it's highly unlikely that Apple is going to wave a magic wand and say, '3G problems, be gone,' with a software update."

Want To Find Olympic Coverage Onine? Checkout Wired's How-To Wiki

If you are a sports fanatic as well as a geek, Wired's How-to wiki has compiled a list of online destinations for getting Beijing Olympic coverage. With the opening ceremonies taking place this Friday, August 8th, and most of the events taking place while we in the western world are sound asleep, there are a dozen or so resources listed here that will help you keep on top of the action. Wired even gives you some tips on how to beat the regional restrictions.

Spore - ETA September 7, 2008

Game designer Will Wright's highly anticipated next release, Spore, will be released world wide on September 7th according to Wired. Wright who is famous for bringing us Sim City and The Sims, gave Wired an exclusive look at the latest version of Spore which takes game players through the ages from the "primordial soup to space exploration." It's a game that my son and I have been anxiously awaiting for years now, let's hope that this release date sticks! No doubt this gorgeous MMO will be worth the wait, we are just getting a little tired of the delays. Check out the screen shots and commentary on Wired.

Another tech magazine down for the count

Falling sales and increased internet numbers are sighted as the reason for PC World Australia's demise. TechCrunch's Duncan Riley says "where exactly is the appeal, particularly in tech, of reading a magazine that reports on news that is 6-8 weeks old, or sometimes even older than that?" I think he's just about nailed it! It's hard to compete with the speed of publishing in an internet world and add to that the customizable alternative, rss feeds, and paper is hard pressed to keep up. I'll still miss my Business 2.0 as it was my chance to get away from the PC for an hour or two but as long as Wired keeps publishing I'll have one publication to turn to.

Pfizer machines spewing spam about Viagra?

Wired is reporting that a San Fransisco based security firm, Support Intelligence, is claiming that drug giant Pfizer has fallen victim to zombie networks operating within it's infrastructure and appears to be oblivious to the situation. Interestingly enough the spam that the zombies are serving up are largely for products that the company produces! According to Wired, Support Intelligence says "Pfizer computers have been spamming inboxes for the last six months... 138 different Pfizer IP addresses have been blacklisted by various groups". Wired reports that Pfizer has had a recent history of security related woes, "In one breach, a Pfizer employee exposed personal information on 17,000 employees after installing peer-to-peer software on a laptop. In another breach, confirmed Tuesday, a former employee downloaded sensitive data, including social security numbers and credit-card information for about 34,000 Pfizer employees."

Sounds like its time for some changes in the IT department!

Is it the end of business for Business 2.0?

There are two magazines that I read religiously, Wired and Business 2.0, and I like to think that I have my finger, at least faintly, on the pulse of the tech industry with all of the reading that I do. I had of course heard the rumours in July that Business 2.0 was in danger but I guess it never really occurred to me that it would actually happen. When I received my mail (postal) today I was pleasantly surprised to find an offer to renew my subscription early and receive a second year for the price of one, I immediately put it in my todo list. Imagine my disappointment when I was visiting my usual list of sites this evening and read "Business 2.0 RIP" in a New York Times Bits article. According to the article "employees of Business 2.0 magazine were told today that the monthly publication will close next week, after they finish the October issue." The Times promise more news in tomorrows edition, I'll be waiting anxiously, and I guess I'll be holding on to my cheque for a little while longer. Sad news indeed, if it is true.

5 simple rules to blogging your employer

I have been at this for a couple of months now and I have made a conscious decision to keep my blog and my work life separate, that is to say I don't discuss my company or its clients. It's a personal choice, and while I do work in the IT industry and some of the work we do might be relevant material, it's a line I have chosen not to cross. Many bloggers take a more personal approach to blogging and sometimes forget that they are putting things out there that their superiors or clients might not like aired in public or may take offense to. Steve Rubel has 5 short pieces of advice on how to run a corporate blog, posted at Wired's How to Wiki. A quick read and some good common sense advice.

A look deep inside Penny Arcade

If you are a gamer or are into comic strips then you've probably read an episode or two of Penny Arcade, the web comic about all things geeky, or perhaps dorky! Penny Arcade has been around the Internet for 8 years now and it's creators still pump out 3 episodes weekly, it's a huge success and Wired has an in depth article / interview with the brains behind the operation, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. It's a fun read.

Not everyone happy about community Wi-Fi

In this post I discussed the opening of city Wi-Fi networks sponsored by the Government of Saskatchewan, and at the time I thought that the residents must be thrilled. It never dawned on me that those who already have their own wireless networks might suffer from the data crowding that would ensue. I know that it is increasingly becoming a problem in my neighborhood as my own incidents of dropped connections is becoming more and more prevalent. There are usually a couple of 'default' SSIDs, a 'linksys' or two and a few other networks that actually show up as secured, or at least the owner has taken the time to change the out of the box setting. This Wired article discusses the onslaught that open community Wi-Fi's bring to the residents and also provides a couple of useful tips that may help alleviate the issue.

Geek art?

I read 2 magazines regularly, Wired and Business 2.0. Both of these satisfy my needs to keep up with all things geeky and I nearly always have 2 or 3 of them laying around the house in various stages of being read. I like the broad view that each takes in covering technology, that's to say, they don't pigeon hole themselves by being too specific or geared towards any one technology. Each issue of either magazine covers varying topics from Internet to biodeisel, gadgets to IPO's.

Besides the compelling content, I have always admired Wired's fantastic cover art and during a recent purge of my home office's book shelves I was torn between the love of the magazine and my need to make room. What to do? Well, when you can't bare to throw it out... frame it!