Slashdot Mirror

US annual expenditure on advertising: about $280bil - http://www.galbithink.org/ad-spending.htm US population: about 300mil

So I'm spending $1000/year on Google and other companies to thrust unwanted ads in my face (maybe closer to $2000/year if you discount young+old). I don't even pay Apple that much. Calling Google's stuff "free" is a misdirection.

That's ridiculous, unless you're buying the products that are being advertised to you then you are not paying for that advertising at all.

US annual expenditure on advertising: about $280bil - http://www.galbithink.org/ad-spending.htm
US population: about 300mil

So I'm spending $1000/year on Google and other companies to thrust unwanted ads in my face (maybe closer to $2000/year if you discount young+old). I don't even pay Apple that much. Calling Google's stuff "free" is a misdirection.

How long does it take to add text and imaging to POTS? How long does it take to add sound and images to Internet-based instant messaging? Which technology supports faster innovation in configuring sensory modes?

That's a big difference. That's the big difference. See "Sense in Communication" at www.galbithink.org.

There's considerable biological and evolutionary evidence that motion (gesture) is intimately related to the development of language and the brain. See Section I of "Sense in Communication," available at www.galbithink.org. So I think that incorporating more bodily movement into digital games will be an important future trend, even if N-Gage hasn't quite gotten it right. For a different device that does this, consider EyeToy.

Integrating photography and telephony can be much better than just adding a camera to a phone. In the US across the 20'th century, persons spent about 80 minutes on the phone for each photograph taken. This is roughly the same ratio as picture sending/voice telephony today in Japan with camera phones. See Table 7, p. 125 and p. 135 in "Sense in Communication," available at www.galbithink.org. Getting more value out of photography probably requires new practices of use. A good start might be for mobile phone manufactures to figure out an appealing device design that enables talking and sharing images at the same time.

To get to wi-fi bliss, we have to pass through an old regulatory morass. Time for some revolutionary ideas for radio regulation!

What tends to be overlooked in the "open spectrum, new wireless paradigm" jargon is that persons always have had freedom to emit radio energy in certain ways. Like being alive (infrared body-heat radiation), putting on wool sweaters (ultra-wideband spark transmissions), and starting car engines (a very significant source of RF emissions). For details, see "Revolutinary Ideas for Radio Regulation," pp. 59-62, available at galbithink.org and on SSRN.

A key policy question is how to recognize natural rights and freedoms to use radio to communicate.

• Get informed. At the risk of generating bad karma, I suggest reading my paper on, "Revolutionary Ideas for Radio Regulation," available on www.galbithink.org.
• Discuss the issue with friends. At the risk of being toasted, I suggest that most persons on Slashdot are not your friends. Try taking to some persons, face-to-face, full bandwidth-like. It's fun!
• Get politically active. At the risk of seeming utterly uncool, I suggest ommunicating with the persons who serve you in government.
  
  Keep in mind that any proper subset of the points above is inefficacious. Doing all three will surely lead to an interesting life, if not better regulation. Go for it!