News - The Blackberry network is down

(Note by The CT Blogger - Service is being reported as being back as of 11:10 AM, 4/18. No word on the cause. http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/18/technology/rimm/index.htm?cnn=yes)

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6177072.html

"A widespread system failure of Research In Motion's network has left BlackBerry users in the Western Hemisphere without e-mail on their handheld devices.

The problem, first reported on news site WNBC.com, is believed to have originated around 8 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday and has not yet been solved. Because the problem concerns the RIM BlackBerry network, all cellular carriers that support BlackBerry are affected. On the BlackberryForums.com discussion site, some people also indicated that they could not browse the Internet.

RIM has acknowledged the problem through a recorded message that plays when calls are placed to the BlackBerry customer servicehotline. The message states that the company is "currently experiencing a service interruption that is causing delays in sending or receiving messages." No updates have been provided, and no time frame has been given for resolving the problem. However, the automated message assured callers that they would be kept in the loop.

Attempts to reach press representatives at Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM have been unsuccessful."

and,

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4871

"But the bottom line is much of the world is addicted to the CrackBerry and they want some communication when their fix is yanked away. What's next? These poor addicts may actually have to talk to each other."

As a non-mobile computing Luddite, who even detests his cellphone, I can only wonder about the true cause of the outage and how the "Alphabet Agencies" are watching this unfold.

100 Millionth iPod sold

According to Census data there are more than 230 million Americans over the age of 16. So it appears that Apple will now have to focus their attention on the final 130 million of us who still are not iPod owners. What can Apple offer to make the rest of us Luddites, audiophiles and stalwarts to take the plunge and buy one?

At this point in the game it is probably too late for us to join the ranks of iPod owners. We have become set in our ways and simply refuse to buy one out of principal alone. What would the incentive be to jump on the bandwagon when the shark has already been jumped? The hip factor left us a long time ago and is in the closet with that pair of Cuban heeled boots that we just can't bring ourselves to part with.

Knowing the reputation of Steve Jobs he can't simply write us off. He'll need to re-double his efforts and come up with some new device that appeals to the rest of us the moment we see it. How about an iVinyl player? My design choice can be seen above.

The memory hole goodie bag - Pons and Fleischman 18 years later

Exactly eighteen years ago this week the debate began to escalate over the claims of Drs. Pons and Fleischman of achieving cold fusion at room temperature in their Utah laboratory. Imagine for a moment that this claim were to be made today. With steadily rising energy costs, a mainstream acceptance and discussion of global warming and a war being waged in the midst of the worlds main oil suppliers the feedback over such an announcement would be deafening.

The findings of Pons and Fleischman were discredited but they have continued their work non-stop since then. Other alternative energy devices have been developed in obscure workshops worldwide as well as being studied and tested at respected laboratories and research facilities of major Universities and organizations such as NASA and TVA. Even the Griggs Device has found a niche in the pulp wood industry and is in production by Hydro-Dynamics today. Of course the words "over unity" and it's much debated history are not seen in any of their literature or on their web site but this is beside the point and a distraction from what is really important. The point is that an energy efficient, functional and creative device is in production.

We will not wake one sunny morning to news of a breakthrough technology which makes oil, coal and nuclear energy obsolete and worthless. But we are slowly rising with a hangover to a number of technologies which will address our energy and transportation needs. Oil companies are raking in record profits but their added wealth is not trickling down to their own customers. All businesses rely one way or another on the availability of cheap, abundant energy and their bottom line is weakened across the board due to the rising energy costs. They will, one day, implement the devices being developed in the labs because simple economics demand that they be implemented.

There is a long lived and much repeated conspiracy theory which relates to this subject. Since the 1930's there have been urban legends regarding the existence of an engine that runs on water, the classic Water Engine story. The legend promotes the idea that the oil companies took control of this technology and have suppressed it to maintain their control over the energy sector. Variations on this legend also maintain that the oil companies destroyed all records of this technology therefore, it is not just suppressed it is a lost technology and cannot be recreated. David Mamet even wrote a play about this mysterious subject in the 1970's.

In times of heavy handed corporate power reigning over the public, such as what we see today with "Big Oil" and others; feelings of being powerless manifests itself in our consciousness as a society. Even though we haven't seen an uptick in rumors and conspiracy theories regarding a water engine or other groundbreaking alternative energy devices it would not surprise me if we do in the near future. Our urban legends and conspiracy theories are sometimes a comforting way of explaining why things are the way they are.