February 2007 - Posts

• My Own Radio.

  Today I was listening to NPR and heard a story that XM and Sirius - the two satellite radio companies are attempting a merger, if the FCC will give its approval. Satellite radio seems to be the way of the future, but still has a long way to go to compete with traditional radio and according to the NPR report has a new competitor in internet radio.     I was pondering the future of radio, and I think that a large portion of radio in the future will be built by the users. Rather than having pre-selected radio stations individuals will be able to create their own aggregations and pipe them into their music boxes, cars, whereever they go. These will not be original content, but rather aggregations of freely available content - for example, podcasts mixed with threads from traditional radio stations and "channels" from musical sampling services such as Pandora.     Still a few years away, but definetly a nifty technology. How will the channels be transmitted? That I'm not sure of. Perhaps by satellite? Or perhaps it will wait for Wi-Max technology to blanket the U.S.  Posted Feb 19 2007, 06:57 PM by admin with no comments Filed under: wi-max, radio, satellite

• Software as a Subscription Model...

  Once upon a time one of my stories took off on Digg. It was entitled, "What if Microsoft gave Vista away?" I advocated some reasons giving Vista away could be a good move for Microsoft, but realistically I don't think they will give away Vista or any future OS. So what then? Well, what about a different idea - software as a subscription model, not just for Windows or for that matter for Microsoft, but for software in general.     This is actually already popular in some arenas of software, but non-existent in the majority. Two areas that it is common in are Backup and AntiVirus software. Backup software such as Symantec Backup Exec (formerly Veritas) is purchased but then upgrades are made available free for as long as you keep a maintenance contract. You can still use the software once your contract expires, you just don't get any major upgrades (minor upgrades remain free).     Symantec and most other major antivirus vendors also use a similar strategy for their antivirus products. One purchases the product but then it is the subscription that keeps the antivirus and heuristic scanning engines updated.     Why would this be a good idea? Well, Microsoft has shown us time and again an inability to release products on schedule. I don't blame them, its a fact of life. Development takes longer than we think, and when we double our estimates we still run into unexpected issues. But this has resulted in some very damaging habits. For example, the last version of Windows - XP was released in 2001. That means that it has been six years since Microsoft has released a version of the Windows Operating System. In computer technology that is an infinity.     This places Microsoft at a severe disadvantage to open source projects which have regular release schedules that occur yearly, if not weekly or monthly. This allows rapid innovation, whereas Microsoft forces its users to stay with a greatly stagnant technology.     By moving to a subscription model Microsoft could release components as they are released. There is no need to wait for this part to be completed to release the OS, rather each part is added one after another. Of course, there are still going to be the major upgrades but these will probably occur more as SP's than anything else.     Its good for the consumer and good for Microsoft. So why not? With the direction Microsoft has been taking in offering products separately from the OS release (e.g. .NET Framework 3.0, PowerShell) it seems like a logical next step in Microsoft's evolution.  Posted Feb 10 2007, 08:47 AM by admin with no comments Filed under: software subscription, xp, vista, microsoft, windows, software as a service

• A Better Sales Tax System.

  I am a big proponent of the Fair Tax. This system would utilize a higher sales tax to replace almost all other taxes currently in existence in the United States, significantly simplifying tax processes and ensuring individuals making illegal income couldn't avoid taxes. However, that's not what this article is about, rather it focuses on the sales tax system as it currently exists.     Let me note a few significant facts about the sales tax system currently: (1) Sales tax is supposed to be paid by the recipient of mail order items/internet purchases under a tax called the "use tax" but this tax is basically a dead dog law - taxes have the forms available but barely anyone obeys it. States are attempting to bring this law back to life as they are losing large sums of  money to internet and mail order sales. (2) Sales tax is deductible on one's income tax, but a great pain to keep track of.     Now let me suggest a solution. What if the government gave you a card - like a credit card or social security card that you gave to the cashier when you checked out. Rather than manually keeping track of all the sales tax you paid throughout the year this card would automatically record the purchases - and also ensure that businesses weren't collecting sales tax and then pocketing it.     It would also be useful in online purchases. Below the credit card information field could be a sales tax field. The card could be used to automatically calculate national, state, and local sales tax for the item purchased and add it to the total cost of the item. Removing the manual nature of the process for either the buyer or seller.  Posted Feb 08 2007, 02:59 PM by admin with no comments

• Reforming the Postal System.

  This idea germinated in my head quite some time ago and I actually blogged about it previously, but I figured I'd flesh it out a little more in this post. I'd be interested to hear what you think of this idea and any recommendations you can make to make it better or why it wouldn't work at all.     I've moved several times in my life. My first major move was from Westerlo NY to Langhorne PA I had graduated from high school and was now attending Philadelphia Biblical University. My address changed with this move - I received a school mailbox. Two years later I moved again, right next door to a town called Penndel PA. At this point I had two mail addresses - the PBU one and an apartment address. Then Charity and I bought a house, so we received a new address - this time in Langhorne. In the meantime both our apartment and school addresses became invalid.     To this day I still receive mail forwarded from those two addresses, and occasionally even the address in Westerlo. My innovation here is a better form of the postal system. We have a great postal system. We are effective and quick. But what if we could help people avoid losing their mail because of address changes? I'd like to suggest that a person should request a "unique mail number" once in their life and then keep it for life. They could call the Post Office, write a letter, or use a form on a website to update the physical location this mail number pointed to - but mail being sent to them would always be sent using this UMN.     Imagine how easy this would make moving. Instead of writing a dozen creditors, several dozens friends and family, and speaking to your accountant at work you would just update your UMN information with the post office.     Yes, it wouldn't be as easy to memorize an address - but how many addresses other than your own do you have memorized right now? How long do you think it would take to memorize one number that you use for your entire life for your mail?     Of course, some significant anti-theft systems would have to be implemented. Multi-factor authentication, otherwise anyone could say, "Hey, change the physical address to x..."  Posted Feb 08 2007, 02:52 PM by admin with no comments

• Introducing Dave's Innovations.

  I'm gonna try something new. Previously had one main blog on GameSecretary.Com that covered all of my various interests. But my interests are very eclectic and I was afraid I was losing readers interested in one subject because of their lack of interest in other subjects I would address. So now I am going to create separate blogs for some major interests of mine and hopefully that will better serve the readership. This one, titled Dave's Innovations covers innovative ideas I have (you can tell me if I'm wrong). Enjoy! David.  Posted Feb 08 2007, 02:50 PM by admin with no comments