Lies and Scandal in Broadband

For the first time, I'm actually a little worried about work. I have a meeting at 10:00 AM tomorrow that I don't know if I'll be ready for because I need approval on some documents, and I have to beta release another project before it's too late in the day to do that! I may actually go to bed early and get to work early. Anyway, you all came here to read about what the big scandal is in broadband, and it's actually a topic I didn't know about. Way back when the Democrats controlled the White House (there was a time when they did, trust me), they gave the telcos $200 billion to ramp up the country's technological infrastructure across the board (across areas where any socioeconomic class lives) to 45 Mbps with fiberoptic and coaxial lines. That's funny, I can't stream HD content or download large files in seconds, and neither can most of my friends. They're so honest and hardworking though, they couldn't have cheated us! It's hard to communicate my sarcasm there, but I hope you got it. Oh, and they had huge financial incentives to do so, including tax breaks. Just one hitch: such a network wasn't possible at the time, despite what they told the federal and state governments, and they shorthanded their customers with copper wires. I don't know how they managed to sneak off with so many billions of dollars, but I hope that these guys manage to expose them. If they want to fight dirty to abolish net neutrality then it's time for the people to hit them real hard. It disgusts me that they'd cheat the technological future of this country so that they could get even richer than they were before.

I have some rather interesting iPod rumors today. The first one is based on a patent that Apple has filed and suggested that the sixth generation of iPods will have the ability to speak song names (possibly even with celebrity voices) before they're played and read out menus and such to you, which I imagine will prove useful for when you're on the road. I don't think it's as fantastic as the article believes, but it would definitely help add to any other new features to put the new iPod at the top again. The other rumor is much better and more likely, and it claims that the forthcoming iteration of the iPod Nano will go back to aluminum casing (like the iPod Mini) and feature different colors as well as a boost in memory. I'm sure the price will be the same while the current capacities will get cheaper, as well. What isn't a rumor is how Google works on the inside, and that is by a lot of in-house software and scalable technologies. Having full control over their infrastructure really does help them out a lot, but you have to be a college student and see them live to get further details on how it all works though. TG Daily is citing an industry insider as revealing that Intel is aiming for 32 cores by 2010, but I'm not buying this as the best plan for the future. Their big problem is that they keep going off current trends rather than looking into the future, and they don't think things through. How will code be compiled to be optimized for 32 cores?! Meanwhile Cnet is running a story about how well TI has caught up with Intel and why we're posed to surpass them (we already have in cell phone chips, but that was long ago). I believe in TI, but it's a big company like Intel so it's not perfect itself. Lastly, if you want to see some funny error messages, you'll love this collection of ridiculous bugs in error displays. I actually chuckled at more than one of them.



That's the new poster for Jet Li's Fearless, and IGN has another trailer to boost if you're a martial arts movie junkie. I'm afraid that this movie will end up being bad, but I really want it to be good. I have plenty more multimedia for you today though. The first trailer for Rocky Balboa has sprung up on Yahoo! Movies, and it doesn't look bad, but I don't see how it's different from its predecessors so much that makes it worth seeing. I was much less impressed with the teaser trailer for Night at the Museum, which was stupid despite having Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, and Ricky Gervais on the cast. The last piece of multimedia I have is a couple of clips from The Descent, which actually looks kind of creepy. My last piece of news is a rumor that Natalie Portman may play Indiana Jones's daughter in Indiana Jones 4, but it's based on what someone reported from a Q&A with Karen Allen (who played Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the original one) in which she said that she heard that Portman was being considered for the role (which is also unconfirmed).

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. What is your favorite framed object in your house?
I don't have anything framed in my apartment, and nothing comes to mind from my parents' house. However, I like the way my parents formed my brother's college diploma.
2. If you had a choice of being a carnivore or a herbivore, which one would you be, and why?
A carnivore because I really can't live without meat. I don't know how vegetarians do it, but I don't know how to not eat meat except for special occasions (namely, Fridays in Lent and Ash Wednesday).
3. Who do you think should have won the FIFA World Cup? Or, don't you care?
I was rooting for Brazil, but they proved that they didn't deserve it with their arrogance. I thought that Germany played a better game than Italy until that second OT last Monday, but I'm just glad that France didn't win. I also wouldn't have minded if Portugal won.
4. What's your feelings on stormy weather?
It sucks unless you're in the middle of a drought, which Dallas seems to commonly find itself in.
5. Do you believe in "time out" chairs?
What does that mean?
6. Have you ever bought or sold anything on Ebay?
Yes. I've bought a PS2, a game, and a couple of DVDs. I've sold an Xbox, which my brother and I bought when they first came out and made $100 off of.