OK, one more gripe about my Blue and White G3...
If OS X is supposed to be so robust, why does OS 9 work pretty much OK on a crippled G3? I guess because it doesn't check for errors in hardware at startup (as much), and it'll just freeze up entirely for no reason sometimes.

For those who are interested there's a quick way to tell whether you have a certain revision (this will be posted on one of my fave sites, xlr8yourmac.com)-- on the door, at the back on top as you pop it open, there's a little sliver of raised text that tells you. Mine unfortunately says "Revision A"... makes me wish TQM hadn't evaporated with the mid-90's gold rush...

OK, on to bigger and better things.

There's a cool new technology that's FINALLY out:
www.ambientdevices.com

The idea is simple: an orb that changes color based on whatever criteria you set it up to evaluate. It comes configured to check the DOW index, turning green as it goes up, red as it goes down and yellow as it is stable.

But there's more! You can configure it to check weather, etc.

The great thing about it is it just plugs into the wall-- no internet connection! It's wireless (through some radio frequency I'd imagine). And apparently you can program it to an extent (through the web)...

Imagine the possibilities. Something I've thought about when the kids get older is how will I know if they're really at home when we say "stay home?" Well, I could get the computer (with bluetooth) to monitor their cell phone (with bluetooth) for proximity, and when they travel too far away, my orb turns red... and I have it plugged into my hotel outlet!

Or imagine having a bank of four servers, with an orb for each (they're made of frosted glass, so you could paint the names/numbers on them). The light tells you their health status.

Speaking of servers, I'm dying to get my hands on an honest-to-goodness OS X server, and a RAID if possible. Essentially I've got this crazy idea that would only work in a planned community...

I can't say the name yet, as it isn't trademarked, but essentially the idea is a set of solutions for the home-- particularly for the wealthy, who have spurts of time, but are often working very hard (not celebrities). The idea is to simplify the technology to adapt to them, instead of the other way around. This would be a collection of technologies, using embedded Linux or Java, and Apple products. So you'd have a watch, which has a radio reciever in it, and using similar tech to the ambient orb, can give you some basic info on whatever... kind of like SPOT by Microsoft, but more robust.

Also, stuff inside the house would be very "Jetsons" in that you can watch or listen to a wide variety of things from anywhere in the home, or even take those assets with you. Imagine being able to edit home movies in the bathtub, or catch a movie in the garage while working on an old car... Music of course anywhere you walk-- it goes with you thanks to a bluetooth enabled ring or pin or pendant... Pictures that move, change, or dim...

At the root of all this is a server, which is connected back to the "home base" in the community. This central server system is able to monitor the health and well being of not only the technology, but the inhabitants. Now you see why it only works in a small, planned community.

However, I could see someone like AOL and ADT being interested in such a synergy.

OK, enough for now. Wife's making fun of my massive typing.
- posted by Victor Agreda, Jr. @ 8:27 AM