Schtick In A Box

The computer, among other things, was supposed to make our society paperless. Didn't happen, bit I'm still a fan of the computer.

Likewise, technology was supposed to clear up our livingroom .. one, maybe two boxes, and we're good for music, movies, internet, etc., right? OK, that didn't happen, either.

In fact, we're about to go checek out a startup that's making yet another box .. again, to make your life easier. It's called Vudu, and it claims to be able to hold more than 5,000 movies for you at once, letting you play anything you want, at once.

Now, this is a great idea .. one that actually holds the promise of cleaning off some shelf space. Add in wireless downloads from your PC, and we may be onto something. Vudu isn't officially available yet, but we'll give you a peek tonight at 6 .. and let you know if this is one box worth buying.

Hard Drive X 1,000

IBM is known for making, let's face it, fairly boring stuff. It sells a ton of it, enough to make Big Blue one of the world's largest and most successful technology companies, but it's rarely earth-shattering.

Until today.

That's when IBM introduced proof that it will someday be able to store data inside an atom. Lots of data .. in a really, really small space.

The math they've done makes IBM engineers think that you'll someday be able to multiply by 1,000 the amount of data you will be able to store in what's already a small device (say, an iPod). Or, store the same amount of data as today, but in a microscopic package.

Either way, they're going to save us a lot of time & space. It's Big Blue .. getting small.

Can I Get a Wookie Over Here?

Alright, it's not serious news, but for movie fans -specifically, "Star Wars" fans like myself, this qualifies as a can't-miss.

The actual light saber used by Mark Hamill in the first SW movie is being sent from the Bay Area to NASA in Texas, where it will head into space, to visit the international space station.

Chewbacca the Wookie, I'm told, will personally hand the saber over to Space Center officials. This is what we in the news business call a dog and pony show .. but with a Wookie.

I can't wait to see how this all turns out .. and rest assured, you, too can see it tonight at 5 & 6.

May the force be with you, space station residents.

What Are You Looking For?

Just got back from day one of the "Search Engine Strategies" convention in downtown San Jose. All the major search companies are represented, along with those smaller companies relying on Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc., for their business.

There are dozens of topics being discussed over the next few days, but it was easy to find someone to talk about privacy and security, two buzzwords when it comes to what searchers are concerned about, and what search companies are working on.

All involved say the companies are working to make sure people trust that their private information will not be given away because they find something to buy through a search engine. Also, people need to know that their search topics won't be handed out, a la AOL and its security lapse several months ago.

Given how much time people are willing to spend on search engines, not to mention social networking sites and video sites, they seem to feel pretty safe .. so at least in terms of convincing the public, the companies are doing well.

Don't Call it a Comeback...

It's easy to look at the ticker this morning and say, "phew, we're back."
It seems, though, that the volatility in the stock market we've seen the last few weeks -most noticeably the last few credit induced days- is not going to go away anytime soon.

Here's why: Things have gotten so good lately (Dow touching 14,000, strong earnings, lots of mergers) that risk has increased. Not that everyone should pile out of the market now because things have gone up, but historically each new high is met with nervousness.

As for housing, it's still a mixed bag here in the Bay Area: Sales are slower, but the average price is higher. How? Because home buyers looking for lower priced homes (and I say that with a grain of salt in this area) are not getting the sub-prime loans, they can't afford to buy in right now. So, sales slow. But, there are still plenty of people with money to spend, and so the high-end homes are still being bid up.

What's ahead? Impossible to know .. but it's likely that more volatility is in store .. with lots of big ups and downs to keep your heart beating fast.

Bounce Back?

If you've been following the stock market lately, you're probably exhaling right now .. but still nervous about tomorrow.

Makes sense. The market has been falling as quickly as it went up just a couple of months ago. Sub-prime, earnings, the Fed .. at what point do we exhale?

According to Blair Hansen, a San Jose-based financial planner who has become one of my go-to guys on financial stories, this is not the time to panic. In fact, panic is what often drives markets too far, too fast.

After all the late-day buying today, then HP's strong earning report, we don't know the market will be higher tomorrow .. but we know that not everyone is completely panicked...and that at least one Silicon Valley tech giant is staying strong in times of turmoil.

You'll hear more from Blair Hansen tonight at 6.

Courage.

Code .. Cracked!


After more than a year of staring up at it, we now know what the circles on the Adobe HQ have been trying to tell us.


It's been reading us a book, sort of. The book is called "The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. The two men who solved it, Bob Mayo and Mark Snesrud, spoke to us today .. we'll let you hear what they have to say tonight at 6pm.


Safe to say, it was a very difficult code to crack .. and my hat is off to these two techies.


Way to go.

Teen Founder

Say what you will about how young the dot com world is .. we may have seen the record-setter today. Bay Area resident Kamran Munshi started his first company at the age of 15. Now a ripe old 17 (and about to head off to college), Kamran is the Chief Technology Officer of Terabitz.com, a website that helps you find information before you buy or sell a house.

Kamran is, as you might imagine, mature for his age. He's a good young man by all accounts, and while his peers are working at gardening or sandwich making jobs, he's helping to run a company .. having recently come back from India where he was meeting with co-workers, and learning new technology.

He'll help run the business while off at his east coast college. Should be an interesting story to follow, because who knows what this young man will do in the future?

Summer Vacation: IBM

And how's your summer going?

Today, we meet a group of young people who shunned the normal summer pursuits of young people, so they could intern at IBM's Silicon Valley research Center.

Talk about your job connections .. working for some of this country's best-known researchers, and after spending time in the labs, gearing up for the big rehearsal. Today, presenting their work to the professionals themselves.

Tonight at 6, we'll give you a peek into the future of the tech industry .. as presented by the younger generation.