Invention, Refinement and Making Money

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The popular Honda Odyssey is often seen at Madison area soccer, swimming, football, basketball and academic events, among others. Honda has introduced a new version for 2005. There’s an interesting fuel saving feature in the new Honda: cylinder “deactiviation”.

The fuel-saving feature automatically switches between 6-cylinder and 3-cylinder combustion, depending on driving conditions.

Interestingly, and typically, this is not a new idea.
General Motors actually pioneered the volume production (there were earlier concepts) of turning off cylinders to save fuel with their variable displacement V8-6-4 engine, available in 1981. Evidently, reliability problems doomed this effort.
Now comes Honda, and others with the same useful concept. They will likely make it work and make money (I imagine that today’s much more advanced computers and software play a big role in the success of these efforts).
Wilde Honda, Rock County Honda and Zimbrick Honda sell them.

Health Care & Windows Risks

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I recently observed a health care diagnostic system (made by Milwaukee based GE/Marquette electronics) that used Microsoft’s Windows software. While the system collected data, somehow, another network user took over the screen (!), likely via a terminal sharing tool (PC Anywhere or similar). I wonder what the virus/work risks are?
It sure seems like firms have put a very large tool – windows – into places that it may not make sense, such as atm’s, cash registers and medical devices among many others.
Network world has been looking into this.

Piracy and Kool Aid

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Ed Treleven unfortunately passes along some Hollywood Kool Aid regarding file sharing in this article.
I don’t see any mention of our “fair use” rights in Treleven’s article. It’s clearly not right to copy thousands of copyright protected music files (read Janis Ian’s take and Courtney Love Does the Math for a counter argument), however, file sharing has many legitimate uses, significantly reducing the distribution costs of public domain and permissively shared art and speech, as well as reducing the centralized control of that distribution,” Judge Sidney R. Thomas in the recent Grokster case.
What’s next, no photos at the National Constitution Center due to “copyright”?
Actually, it’s worse than that. Democratic Senator Pat Leahy and Republic Orrin Hatch are carrying water for Hollywood by pushing the Induce Act.

Copyright Act (S.2560, Induce Act) would make it a crime to aid, abet, or induce copyright infringement. He want us all to think that the Induce Act is no big deal and that it only targets “the bad guys” while leaving “the good guys” alone. He says that it doesn’t change the law; it just clarifies it.
He’s wrong.
Right now, under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sony v. Universal (the Betamax VCR case), devices like the iPod and CD burners are 100% legal — not because they aren’t sometimes used for infringement, but because they also have legitimate uses. The Court in Sony called these “substantial non-infringing uses.” This has been the rule in the technology sector for the last 20 years. Billions of dollars and thousands of jobs have depended on it. Industries have blossomed under it. But the Induce Act would end that era of innovation. Don’t let this happen on your watch – tell your Senators to fight the Induce Act!

Senator Herb Kohl sits on the Judiciary Committee, which held hearings on the Induce Act July 22, 2002.
I’ve not seen Kohl take a position on this, so I emailed his office on August 3 and received a reply on 8/30/2004. Contact Senator Kohl and tell him to vote against this Hollywood give away.

Wireless Internet for all? Philadelphia

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David Caruso:

For about $10 million, city officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world’s largest wireless Internet hot spot.
The ambitious plan, now in the works, would involve placing hundreds, or maybe thousands of small transmitters around the city – probably atop lampposts. Each would be capable of communicating with the wireless networking cards that now come standard with many computers.
Once complete, the network would deliver broadband Internet almost anywhere radio waves can travel – including poor neighborhoods where high-speed Internet access is now rare.

Judy Newman says that Mayor Dave is in favor of it (count me as a skeptic on this one. The Madison airport, as of August, 2004 still does not have wireless internet, otherwise known as wi-fi. Most other airports have had it for years). True two way high speed internet access should be a public good, just like our roads and utilities. This is the economic issue for the state.

Old Media Empires Strike Back

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Scott Woolley on Broadcast Bullies:

For decades the radio industry has crushed incipient competitors by wielding raw political muscle and arguments that are at once apocalyptic and apocryphal. Radio station owners, who formed the National Association of Broadcasters in 1923, have won laws and regulations that have banned, crippled or massively delayed every major new competitive technology since the first threat emerged in 1934: FM radio.

Speaking of Old Media Empires, J.D. Lasica interviews Jack ?I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.? Valenti

Eating away media’s credibility

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Mary Schmich is spot on, as she eats away:

Should the media covering the Republican National Convention attend a million-dollar party thrown by the city of New York and TimeWarner in a spectacular shopping center in Columbus Circle?
Should we chow down on endless free food from some of New York’s priciest restaurants?
Should we gobble up the free Republican National Committee Media Welcome gift booklet–the one that gives us discounts at Borders, Bose and Tumi, and complimentary espresso in the cigar lounge at Davidoff and a free traditional shave with shaving cream purchase at the Art of Shaving?
Should we accept freebies that on ordinary days we would understand were as forbidden as plagiarism?
Should we do this even though we report mockingly on the luxury partying of the political parties?
Should we shrug off our own conspicuous consumption, paid for by someone else, as part of doing business?
Well, it doesn’t matter what you think. It’s done.
Thousands of media types, swirling free martinis and chattering up a cyclone, swarmed through the shops of the towering new TimeWarner Center Saturday night.
Oh, look, there’s Wolf Blitzer. And some CEO of something. And that woman–isn’t she somebody?

This seems to be related (via instapundit)