Red Monday

Is there a better way to work off the Thanksgiving binge than by purging your pocketbook in a cafeine induced shopping frenzy? It appears there is.

For those of you who haven't heard of this new retail savior, Cyber Monday is the first Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when employees return to work and their employer's high-speed Internet connections.

On that magical shopping day, retailers will be offering discounts and sales on their Web sites that eclipse even those unbeatable deals that consumers gobble up on Black Friday. It's a virtual shoppers paradise.

While shoppers are filling up their virtual shopping cart, employers are wringing their hands and delcaring the day Red Monday.

Although Red Monday lacks the sheer exhilaration of running from store to store on Black Friday, avoiding the company proxy server and other corporate shackles can provide a small surge of adrenaline for even the most addicted work-surfer.

Despite their productivity losses, employers should take heart because Red Monday will provide them with the most motivated staff they will ever have.

PS3 and the New Alpha Uber-Geek

Grab your blankets and long johns. It’s time to relive the glory days of your youth and camp out to wait for tick…er…um…your chance at a shiny new Play Station 3.

According to Sony, 400,000 lucky souls will win the game console lottery on Friday and be able to wrap their frozen fingers around a shiny new console. What they do with their geeky prize is a matter of genetics and breeding.

The old school alpha uber-geek will take their new Play Station 3 home and feed their caffeine fueled gaming addiction until they conquer or collapse. They will, of course, assert their dominance in the species by inviting all of their wannabe uber-geek friends to join in the frenzy and drool over the new console.

But an amazing thing has happened since the arrival of the Xbox 360 a year ago.

The alpha uber-geek has evolved, and their superior intelligence has lead the more advanced members of the species to realize that there is more to life than having the coolest toys. There is money to be made!

This new form of alpha uber-geek has realized that capitalism is good.

Those who resist the temptation to tear through the shrink wrap and instead use their trembling fingers to launch an eBay auction will reap bigger rewards than those who give in to their addiction.

The profits made by feeding on the weakness of others can be used to fuel a need more primitive to the new alpha uber-geek than having the latest gadgets.

The newly evolved multi-dimensional alpha uber-geek prides themselves on their cerebral achievements, not just technological wizardry.

While not having the latest gaming console may wound the alpha uber-geek’s pride, they will smile broadly knowing that they have asserted their dominance by using their new found intelligence to distance themselves from the weaker members of the species.

Internet TV Following Porn's Business Model

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. At least that's what Internet TV company LX.TV Lifestyle Television believes as it turns to the Internet for their movie distribution platform.

To be successful, LX.TV must follow a proven business model for distributing content via the Internet.

Moral issues aside, the porn industry's business model has a proven track record that some experts claim rivals Hollywood. The industry has used the Internet for years to build a reputed $12.6 billion in annual profits.

From a business standpoint, following the porn industry's example makes perfect sense.

People of all ages are quickly turning to the Internet for their multimedia needs. Porn Web sites and other multimedia related sites, such as YouTube.com, illustrate how on-line television style content can generate substantial profits.

Computers are a staple in many modern home theater systems and provide TV connectivity and other movie related functions that used to be provided by a variety of other devices.

It's plain to see that the computer is quickly replacing standard TV equipment as it becomes an integral part of our entertainment gear.

That being said, it's obvious that in order to succeed in a modern industry an emerging company such as LX.TV should follow a proven business model as it leads the charge towards content produced soley for the Internet.

Despite moral objections to the content, one thing that almost everyone agree on is that the porn industry is very successful.

Although the content will sometimes be less offensive, the same production and delivery systems can be employed by Internet based TV companies to build their business. It's a proven method that should be followed.

Applications to Go

If you can remember when the Apple IIe was all the rage, then you probably remember carrying around all of those floppy disks stuffed with your applications. Instead of installing your apps on the system, you simply carried them with you from computer to computer. Ah, the good old days.

If you long for those days, then you'll be happy to hear that this concept has returned. No, you won't have to lug a box of unfloppy disks around with you everywhere you go. However, for certain applications you may have a jump drive or two in your pocket.

I've thought about this concept for awhile and think that in certain situations it has merit. Running an application off of a jump drive is faster than using a hard drive, and the portability factor makes this idea logical.

Vonage agrees. The Internet phone company has recently released a jump drive pre-loaded with software that will turn any PC or laptop into an Internet phone. Unlike Skype, no software installation is required.

To use the Vonage V-Phone, simply plug the drive into a USB port, plug the earpiece microphone into the side of the V-Phone, and launch the application. Voila, you're computer is now a telephone. Slick.

I believe that this is the beginning of a trend where specialized applications will be stored on jump drives. The portability and ease of use are advantages that vendors will exploit once they realize how useful this concept can be.

Retinal Scan Voting

In less than 24 hours I will wield a dull number 2 pencil and hopefully make sweeping changes throughout our government.

Despite amazing changes in technology in the 20 years since I cast my first ballot, the pencil still remains the weapon of choice for voters in Wisconsin. In that same timeframe Microsoft has released more versions of Windows than we have had presidents.

If Microsoft had advanced at the same pace as voting technology, uber-geeks would still play silly pager games and the mouse, the Start menu and the USB port would be considered cutting edge.

But alas, technology has finally gotten to the point where we can reliably use it for elections. Biometric scanners could provide a nearly foolproof method for ensuring that one-person-one-vote becomes reality.

Fingerprint recognition or retinal scans may sound like something from a sci-fi movie, but they are being used safely and reliably in a wide variety of applications that require high security.

Could these methods be circumvented? Sure, everything has the potential for infiltration and fraud. But I think that we’d be fairly safe until someone figures out how to borrow somebody’s fingerprints or retinal patterns.

Impractical? I don’t think so. These same technologies could be used by the state motor vehicle departments to help eliminate fraudulent drivers licenses, state ID cards and a host of other identification related issues.

Building the database of biometric data could be a stumbling block, but not one that is impossible to overcome. A little ingenuity could provide a variety of methods for collecting the information and ensuring that nobody is disenfranchised.

In a time where leadership is so important, it’s time for someone to step to the head of the line and present a bold initiative like this to ensure that our elections will no longer be as reliable as a candidates campaign slogan.

The time has come to retire the pencil and embrace the retinal scan.