EETimes.com - UMC claims silicon frequency record of 192 GHz

EETimes.com - UMC claims silicon frequency record of 192 GHz
Most folks don't appreciate the advances of Moore's Law beyond the increase in their computer's performance. However, this recent achievement of a 192 GHz chip funded by Darpa dollars has the promise of advancing sensing technology at a very fundamental level. The key intuition is that sensors detect electromagnetic radiation--x-rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, and microwaves are all examples. The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelenght. The shorter the wavelength, the smaller the thing you can resolve, or sense. Thus, faster chips let you see smaller things. At 192 GHZ, this chip should provide a new level of sensing functionality and new applications that were previously impossible to do.

US Troops In Iran Now

Democracy Now! | Seymour Hersh: U.S. Conducting Covert Operations in Iran For Possible Military Strike
I almost lost a bet this year--a bet that I was hoping that I'd loose. In late 2003, I made a bet with a few friends that we'd have US troops in Iran before the end of 2005. When we got back from New Years, It looked like I owed folks lunch. However, given the above link, it looks like I might be in the money....We will have to wait a little while longer for confirmation, but it looks like Pentagon troops are already in Iran scoping out targets.

Net Sense: Skype might help eBay extend its 10-year-long monopoly - Internet Services - Internet - Opinion

Net Sense: Skype might help eBay extend its 10-year-long monopoly - Internet Services - Internet - Opinion This was the article leading up to my interview with CBS Marketwatch.

eBay and Skype logic

Why did eBay pay billions for Skype? Because it was a great deal. Here's why:

The most expensive elements of putting together a telecommunications network are 1) capital investment for infrastructure 2) customer acquisition costs and 3) a billing system. Now let's consider each of these elements for Skype under the eBay umbrella:

Skype customers use their own computer an internet connection to make calls, so there is essentially zero capital investment required to create the network. Nice. eBay is great at identifying projects with high return on very little capital.

Skype ID's look a lot like eBay ID's --in fact they are essentailly the same. If you have an eBay ID, you already entered the data you essentially need to have a Skype account--thus, eBay is one mass emailing away from establishing the largest telecom network in the world---at NO COST to eBay. Very nice.

Skype users can use Paypal for their bill payment. Convenient that eBay owns Paypal--maybe thats how eBay became aware of Skype in the first place--the guys at the paypal division gave Meg a call, and said, "Check out the guys at Skype, because their Paypal billings are going through the roof". Now that they are one big family, Paypal becomes the deFacto billing system for this new global telecommunications service---at ZERO COST since it has already been built and integrated. Does it get any better than this?

In fact it does, because aside from the value of the business itself, eBay gets the derivative benefit of now connecting it's users for free via voice. Voice communications build trust more easily than email. Trust it the basis for the eBay economy. Skype will further enhance the value of the eBay network and increase already impenetrable barriers to entry. They already have Skype Me buttons you can add to your website--or your eBay listing.

MIT Media Lab: Reality Mining

MIT Media Lab: Reality Mining The Reality Mining project at MIT uses the cell phones of students and Faculty to track their behavior and then predict their future behavior. They claim that it's accurate in predicting someone's next move 85% of the time. This is pretty poor performance. If I know the MIT student is in the lab, there's a 100% chance of correctly predicting their next activity will be to go to their dorm room. Similarly, if they are in the dorm, there's a 100% chance that they are going back to the lab. I'm guessing they had a bad sample set, and that 30% of the students were from Harvard and they had a 50/50 chance of predicting if they would show up at lab versus sleep in, or if they would go to a bar after lab or take the bus to Wellsley.

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis Wow! Online presentation of a book used by the CIA on Intelligence Analysis. Big focus upon how our brains are wired to make mistakes.

Del.icio.us - Complete Tool Collection

Quick Online Tips: Absolutely Del.icio.us - Complete Tool Collection: "kmarks manager. It allows you to easily post sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others. RSS feed"