Don't Believe the Hype

Victims of the Southland wildfires have enough to deal with .. now an e-mail scam is trying to siphon money away from those who need it the most. And the scam is wearing an old school outfit .. pretending to be from the Internal Revenus Service.

Don't believe it.

Not only does the IRS collect money in, ahem, a different way, there are plenty of legitimate fundraisers you can seek out to help out. A random e-mail is rarely, if ever, actually going to be on the side of good.

Also, the scam isn't even all that clever .. when you click on the "IRS" link .. you're taken to a page that announces "the requested page does not exist."

Gap "Kids"

We step away briefly from technology to talk .. labor, and morality.

This mornings revelation that The Gap (based in SF) had some of its clothing made in an Indian sweatshop by ten-year olds (ironically making clothes for the "Gap Kids" line..) brings up issues of both outsourcing, and morality.

Yes, we like our sweatshirts, jeans, and cute kid clothing to be less expensive than other stores....but at what price? As Americans, we have certain moral laws that govern us, beyond how capitalism and globalisation may move the markets. We hope they can all coexist, i.e., Gap clothing meaning jobs at a decent wage for people who may need the work. But sweatshop conditions?

This seems to be something we have to draw a line in the sand on. If we try to help the environment, the animals, and those who need it for any other reason, how about 10-year olds in India who suffer through long work hours for no pay and the threat of beating? The Gap, to its credit, seems to be taking steps today to right the wrongs. We, as consumers, can be part of that process, too.

iMade The Apple Ad

I was on a digital technology panel recently, and was asked why news organizations insist on letting amateurs send in video to put on the air.

While that's a decision made several pay grades above me, it's a practice that is probably going to get a big boost after tonight, when words gets around about what Apple is doing.

Talk about your "user generated content." Apple is letting a student put together its latest commercial. Now, that's nothing small. Apple ads are legendary for being clever, and making you tap your feet.

The latest one? We'll show it to you tonight at 5 & 6.

Facebook 101

Given the fact that Microsoft's recent investment calculates Facebook to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 Billion dollars, we're all pretty much living in the Facebook world.

Some more than others, though. And they're some of the world's brightest students.

We found a Facebook class at Stanford University .. computer science students working to develop new applications for the facebook audience. If you're asking yourself why parents would spend 50 grand to send their sons & daughters to work on the web .. consider what one student told me: If he can get just a tiny piece of the 15 billion dollar pie, his business will do just fine.

Good point. I guess that's why he's at Stanford.

Easier Than Apple?

This morning, we're waiting for Apple's quarterly earning report, due at the close of market trading. All signs point to a very strong report, with Apple firing on all cylinders.

But, among all this optimism, another Silicon Valley company is trying to steal some of Apple's innovation thunder. SanDisk, known for being inside all sorts of mobile devices, wants to create ripples with its new device that helps you take video from your PC, and put it on your TV.

If this sounds familiar, it may be because you've heard of (or even tried) Apple TV, one of the first ways to take video from your computer (in a perfect world for Apple, that would be video downloaded from iTunes), and move it to your TV.

SanDisk says its way is easier, faster, and cheaper...three things we love to hear in the tech industry. Tonight at 5 & 6, we'll let you know what we find out after giving it a try.

Solar Power

The Santa Clara engineering department is waiting for the results .. how did they do as one of the twenty schools from around the world chosen to compete in the "Solar Decathlon, " to show how well a house can exist .. using only solar power.

So far, I'm tracking the results from the Department of Energy .. We'll let you know at 5 & 6 how they did .. and how the SCU Professors who helped them get started feel about the big event.

Stay tuned.

Earning Your Keep

Hi. We are knee-deep in Silicon Valley earnings, and while we're waiting for the big one (Google) this afternoon, we already see some trends .. a better than expected report from Yahoo (which bodes well for its Mountain View rival), a pretty strong report from Intel (we're also waiting for AMD today), but lousy numbers from banks.

Seems the housing dip is taking its toll on companies that have anything to do with mortgages .. Wells Fargo, B of A, and E-Trade all making investors wince in the last few days.

Can the 'net carry the day? We'll see what Google does .. it's been on a tear lately, and most 'net-watchers seem optimistic.

We'll let you know where the company goes from here, tonight at 5 & 6.

Size Doesn't Matter ..

.. at least in the case of 3 PhDs from UC Berkeley, about to introduce their working computer .. the size of a quarter.

The official launch is tomorrow .. we get a first look today, and will show it to you tonight at 5 & 6. The creators claim it can run programs like Java .. and the future applications could run from commerce (telling stores how certain products are moving off the shelves) to safety (telling engineers if specific levees are weak).

We know how computers have gotten smaller over the years .. could this be the next wave?

Al Gore: Tech Tycoon

Sure, a lot is being made about the Oscar, and the Nobel, etc., etc., but from where I sit, Al Gore gets another, far more capitalistic title: Best investor of the last decade.

Think about it: Gore has sat on the Board of Directors at Apple since, well, since before Apple stock was almost as hot as Google. He's made, I imagine, a ton of money on Apple stock.

But that's not all .. because he's also been an advisor at Google...the one company even hotter than Apple. And who knows how much money he's made from his Google shares? I tell you, throw in Intuitive Surgical, and maybe VMware, and there's pretty much no money left for anybody else.

If you think about it, Gore is often dinged because of his bad political judgement when he ran fro President. No argument there, but if it's investing judgement you're talking about, The former VP has stuck with the Silicon Valley, and has likely reaped huge rewards for doing so.

Playing Games on the PSP

Every once in a while, this job description gets really good .. like today, where I had to play around with the newest Sony PSP.

The PSP, generation one, was pretty well accepted by the gaming community .. it's portable, has a really terrific screen, and lets you play your games (or listen to music) on the go.

The just-released second generation PSP improves on its ancestor. Still has a great screen, very crisp for your games and movies, but it's 33% lighter, which makes a big difference in the portability market. Long-lasting battery, and as much as 8 Gigs of music storage can be added on via memory stick. Another bonus: You can now hook your PSP up to a TV, so your video games & movies can be seen much larger.

The downside? Sony is still struggling against the much hipper iPod. Music, yes, but how often do you see people walking down the street listening to the PSP? Also, the TV hookup is great, but again, more than a year behind Apple. And are people really buying the little movies you have to put into the PSP?

For a mobile gaming system, the PSP is top of the heap. Portability has never looked better, and has rarely been more versatile. Will this version catch fire? We'll see.

See it in action, tonight at 5 & 6.

YouTube .. Everywhere

It's been one year since Google opened its wallet for YouTube, and while that created a bunch of other Google millionaires, it also raised a big question: How would Google actually make money with it?

We get an idea today, as Google announces plans to put YouTube way beyond youtube.com .. sending the videos you make to other websites as part of Google's AdSense. That way, your ads come complete with videos, but more enticingly, there's talk that Google might share ad revenue with the maker of the videos.

We'll ask, and keep you posted.

Tech High

As I write this, Apple, Google, Research in Motion, Amazon, and Business Objects all sit at high levels .. their stock prices are zooming, and once again, tech is the hot place to be.

How did this happen, especially with the Nasdaq still hovering at 50 percent of its high levels? Specific companies, and specific areas in the tech world are once again on fire. Software (home of companies like Business Objects and, as we've recently talked about, VMware), internet (did I mention that Google hit $600 a share this morning?), and mobile (RIMM's value has become almost ridiculous) .. investors can't seem to get enough.

Tonight, we look at another area getting a lot of attention: Social Networking. Is this the next area to take off? It brings the internet back to its roots, a community where you can get helpful information. We'll see where it, and these red-hot tech stocks, take us from here.

Wii and 'Manhunt?'

This is really an odd pair .. the family-friendly, top-selling, controller-holding Nintendo Wii, and the gruesome, "Mature" rated "Manhunt 2" video game from Rockstar, the game developer notorious for violent games.

Not to say that we didn't know "Manhunt 2" was coming. Violent games are part of the landscape at this point .. many are big sellers .. even the biggest selling game of all, "Halo 3" is a game full of non-stop shoot-em-up action.

But paired with the Wii, this could get strange. "Manhunt 2," after all, involves stabbing .. can you imagine this being done with a "wii-mote?"

Can't wait to hear the reaction to this one .. we take a closer look tonight at 5 &6 o'clock.

Radiohead To The Rescue?

Time to revisit one of my favorite mashups, the mix of the internet and music. You already know about iTunes, and probably an illegal way or two to download music, but how about this: One of the world's biggest bands completely skipping the record label, and the corporate music world (read: Apple, Napster, eMusic, etc) to do it totally on their own.

That's pretty much what Radiohead is doing with its new album...releasing it only on its website, and letting its fans decide what it's worth.

Now, only an established successful (read: lots of money in the bank) band can afford to do this, but it brings up a point .. if Radiohead is at all successful, and can made even a little bit of money doing this, who's to say that we haven't seen the future of music sales. Bands no longer having to pay the record label, or even share profits with an iTunes. Just put it up on the web, on your own timetable (this will also, it seems, lessen the chance of leaks), and tell your fans where to go.

Can't wait to see how the band does, and if anyone else is willing to creep along.