June 8, 2007
Another historic watering hole
The Tech Chronicles
Silicon Valley vets remember bars that helped inspire the industry
“During their research, the Historic Committee has been able to determine the sequence of events that led up to each of the important and famous discoveries from this industrial neighborhood. What they have found is that every development team responsible for a famous discovery or project used the same secret location to hold project team meetings! The secret meeting room was ‘off site,’ located a short distance from the primary labs, but far enough from the heart of the action that team members could be free of the constant distractions of the office and lab. The use of this off-site meeting room is credited with the high concentration of important discoveries in this region of the Santa Clara Valley”
Fishing for copper goes bad
Techdirt
Mike Masnick learns that Vietnam’s fishermen are grabbing undersea fibre optic lines instead of disused WWII copper cable
“Yes, it seems those fisherman are digging up whatever cables they can find and shockingly, aren’t bothering to make sure that it’s the copper lines they’re taking, rather than the vastly more important fiber ones. 27 miles of fiber optics have gone missing, and it’s going to cost many millions to replace.”
June 7, 2007
Slinging pucks to the Web
Bit Player
As the Stanley Cup playoffs were about to end, the NHL announced a deal with Sling Media. Jon Healey finds it interesting
“A deal announced today by Sling Media and the National Hockey League shows off not only an intriguing TV-PC convergence app, but also a content provider recognizing the opportunity to make it work for them.”
Yar Matey: Jailing digital pirates
Daily Tech
Two Japanese men are facing fines and jail time over copyright law violations
“According to public prosecutors, Mitsukazu Tamashiro illegally distributed three comics from Shukan Shonen Sunday on three separate occasions ranging from January to April. Kenji Kodama then distributed six other comics from the same magazine from February to April.”
Customers on the attack
Pink Slip
Maureen Rogers is a Boston-based IT executive with expertise on IT layoffs.
”The title alone, with nary a bite taken out of it, brought me right back to the good old days when it was a lot harder for customers to air their complaints about you in an out of control, hellazapoppin’ forum for all the world to read. (Let’s face it, life could be a lot easier then).”
Google’s stopgap
Rough Type
Nicolas Carr tells one of his favourite technology innovation stories.
“Back in the 1830s and 1840s, as telegraph lines were being strung across the world, the usefulness of the revolutionary new communication system was hampered by gaps in coverage. In Europe, for instance, the Belgian telegraph line ended in Brussels, while the German line didn’t start until Aachen. Messages had to be transcribed and carried over land across the 77 miles separating the two cities. But a couple of entrepreneurs saw a business opportunity in this problem. In 1849, they bought a flock of carrier pigeons and used them to fly messages between Brussels and Aachen, reducing transit times dramatically. Within a few years, their little company had itself taken wing, becoming one of the world’s leading telegraph agencies and, in time, a media giant.”