Huffing - inhalant danger from Dust-Off

There are lots of phony e-mails and urban myths circulating on the Net. But if you get one from a police officer warning about a product called Dust-Off, know that this one is true. Typically used to send a blast of compressed air into a computer to blow off dust and grit, the product is being inhaled by kids. They call the practice “huffing” or “dusting.” And it’s killing them.
Read the Urban Legends Reference Pages: Toxins (Dusted Off) for a copy of the warning letter from an Ohio police officer who lost his son to this practice and the larger warning about the danger of inhalants. Even the maker of Dust-Off has posted an advisory of the danger on its Web site and labels the Dust-Off cans with similar warnings.
This is the one e-mail warning you CAN pass on along.

Count your calories

My NBC-TV piece this week has a site you exercisers will want to bookmark. Among other things, it counts the calories you burn while working out and doing all sorts of activities. High Tech Talk TV segment.

Cell phone is now news outlet

The cell phone is America’s new front porch, the main information portal into the lives of many people. The cell phone is now the trusted and essential information connection for an entire culture. MIKE WENDLAND: Next medium for news is that handy cell phone

SunRocket seems to slow down my Internet

UPDATE
Please search this blog for updates to this report as this initial issue has been resolved for me since late 1995. A new SunRocket gizmo has greatly imporved connection speeds…. updated May 31, 2006

I had some time do do some troubleshooting with my Internet connection today, which has been erratic and slow over the past few weeks, sometimes losing connections entirely.
I ran a bunch of speed tests and found that, instead of the 6 mbps that I’m supposed to be getting with Comcast, I was actually getting much less, closer to 1.5 mbps. I called Comcast and they saw no problems, saying that it must be on my end, and that I should be getting much faster speeds.
Hmmm.
On a hunch, I disconnected the SunRocket VoIP gizmo.
Speed went right up there, consistently over 5 mbps. I have monitored it several times over the course of the afternoon and the speed hung right there, near the 5 mbps mark or slightly above. So I put the gizmo back in service. Speeds plummeted again.
Needless to say, the gizmo is out of the loop.
Maybe the SunRocket gizmo is bad.
I suppose I could call and see if they think I need a new one.
But based on my previous experience in calling their customer support, I seriously wonder whether it’s worth the effort.

EV-DO comes to town

EV-DO service is steadily being rolled out across the nation. It officially became available in Detroit today. MIKE WENDLAND: Verizon’s new portal speeds Web access from cell phones, laptops

Fitness logging sites

Over on Ride to Fitness, my bike riding blog, I’ve been testing out some Web-based logging services to keep track of workouts. One of them even takes my daily mileage on the bike and plots it on a map as if I was riding cross-country… which, Lord willing, someday I really WILL do.

Satellite radio listeners complain about reception

About half of them say they do not receive good reception when driving. So says a new survey. Broadcasters don’t fear satellite radio competition — yet

eBay as an occupation

eBay announced today that the number of people using eBay as a primary or secondary source of income has risen to more than 724,000, a 68 percent jump from the previously recorded figure, 430,000 in 2004. In addition to these professional eBay sellers, another 1.5 million individuals say they supplement their income by selling on eBay. The survey was conducted by ACNielsen International Research.
?eBay?s impact on job creation in the U.S. has been tremendous, and the health of our nation?s economy depends on employment,? said James K. Glassman, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, who has analyzed the survey results. ?A considerable amount of jobs have been created and enabled through eBay in the last few years, making it an important employment creation engine that many never considered just five years ago.”

Public doesn’t get tech terms

Thanks to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, we’re reminded that Internet users aren’t as steeped in geek-speak as the people who work in IT-related industries or cover technology news often assume. Only 13 percent off the public knows what the term “podcasting” means. Nine percent have heard of “RSS feeds.” Only 19 percent know the word “phishing.”
The findings are another reminder that new and exciting technology developments that seize the
interest of industry officials and journalists such as podcasting and RSS feeds take a while
to register in the wider public.

iPod halo drawing Windows users

Needham & Co. estimates that the “iPod halo” may have attracted up to 400,000 Windows users to the Mac so far this year. Apple luring switchers. if true, that is a tremendously significant number.
And it comes on the heels of another report by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence that says over 32 million adult Americans plan to buy an iPod within the next 12 months.

Wiki world

Like thousands, I am seriously hooked on Wikipedia.MIKE WENDLAND: Wikipedia’s influence spreads across the Web
I also did my NBC-TV segment this week o the site.

Video iPod?

Hmmmm. I don’t know. What do you think? Will we really have an Apple Video iPod Soon?

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