TechBlog.TheVanguard.Org

A Democratic bill in the House of Representatives would force AT&T and Apple to abandon their successful business model, interfering with the markets in order to allow customers to activate the iPhone without a subsidized contract. Rep. Ed Markey, the very liberal Democrat congressman from Massachusetts, wants the FCC to regulate the contracts between AT&T and its customers and force Apple to make the iPhone available without a contract. Though this might be good for the few people who want to use T-Mobile instead of AT&T, the net result would be MUCH higher prices for everyone. This is another example of the Democrats over-regulating the economy and trying to get involved in the tech sector, something about which they know absolutely zilch.

Congress ought to spend more time passing the legislation necessary to protect the American people from terrorists instead of going after enterprising businesses.

Newt Gingrich is setting up shop for his 527, American Solutions, right down the road from Google and Yahoo! in the heart of California’s most liberal region. Gingrich said the group wants to “reach out to every interesting, innovative, entrepreneurial start-up. We want to learn the best ways to communicate, the best ways to socially network, the best ways to use information technology to improve public services.”

Yep. Conservatives are invading the tech sector. CNet news noted that though there are some free-market groups in the area (notably Pacific Research Institute and the Independent Institute) there just aren’t many national political conservative organizations. This makes Gingrich’s entrance even more important.

Groups like Gingrich’s and TheVanguard.Org, the brain child of founder and Chairman Rod D. Martin, are on the cutting edge of both the conservative movement and the tech revolution.

Broadband Reports is reporting/commenting on a story wherein the RIAA discovered that it is hard to track down file-sharers who use public wi-fi.  They want to hold the account holder responsible.  In other words, the RIAA wants to destroy open wi-fi all together.  There’s no way your local coffee shop or airport is going to allow themselves to be held responsible for every one of your actions while using their Internet connection.

One of two things will happen as a result of all this:

1. The RIAA wins their court case and wi-fi as we know it is dead forever;
2. The RIAA loses their court case and their ability to continue their scorched-earth tactics.

Regardless, the entertainment industry is about to change.  Stay tuned.

There’s quite a bit of literature on the Internet about email etiquette.  Angry email users fill blogs, discussion boards and chat rooms with rants about poor email manners and general rudeness.  I’ve decided to do a series of blog entries on this issue from a point-of-view that is rarely used when discussing this subject: organizational politics.

Indeed, the position you and the person receiving your email are in directly relates to the mannerisms in the email.  That isn’t to say that you should be rude to anyone, but that etiquette is just different depending on who is on the other end of the tubes (that’s a political joke, for those of you who don’t get it).

Subject Lines
Remember to use a subject line every time you send an email.  Though indexing features in OS X and Vista make it easier than ever to search email content, most of us are forced to prioritize emails beforehand.  Not only should you provide a short, descriptive summary of the email in your subject line but you should also avoid using names.  For example, you might provoke entirely too much interest for wandering eyes on the other end if your HR-related email’s subject is the name of the person about whom you are communicating.  Despite warnings from IT, most managers leave their email open and computers unlocked while they get coffee, go to lunch or go to a meeting. 

If you’re in the middle of an email thread and the subject changes, change the subject as well.  Your email software can still track the thread, in most cases.

Read Receipts
The ability to send read receipts requests is one of the rudest, most annoying features in Microsoft Outlook.  Avoid them.  If you’re a manager and you can’t trust your people to read the emails you send them, find new staff.  Reading email is a basic task.  If your people can’t keep up with them, they’re probably in over their heads.

If you’re a manager sending these receipt requests, it’s rude and condescending.  If you’re sending them to your boss, it’s in extremely bad taste.  Either way, it’s a no-no.  I know there are a few exceptions, especially in help-desk situations… but in general, just think about all the ill-will you stand to create in your company.

Forwards
There are really two categories of forwards: legitimate emails and non-legitimate ones.  Non-legitimate emails make up about 30-50% of the forwards that arrive in my Inbox.  Most of them are inappropriate and could get the sender fired from their job.  It’s very rude to forward emails around.  If it requests that you forward it or promises riches for you or a dying cancer child in exchange for forwarding it to others, you should probably not forward it.  If you want to help kids with cancer, get out your wallet and make a big contribution to the children’s charity of your choice.  Volunteer.  Don’t try to take the easy way out…. mainly because the easy way doesn’t work.

The other category is legitimate emails, and this is an entirely different story.  Some people think that because it is a business email, I want to be CC’ed or forwarded every message.  This isn’t always true.  I get less email than lots of people, and I get between 30 and 60 personal emails per day (this doesn’t include auto generated messages, notifications, etc.)  A lot of folks get more than me.  Think carefully before hitting that forward button.  Not every email is important enough to demand your entire department’s time.

More later…

This is scary.  I wonder what’s next….?

Will Hillary decide that Google makes insane profits and confiscate them?  Will Microsoft become vital to the economy and be nationalized?  What about Intel and Apple?  If Hillary becomes president, don’t bother starting your own company.  She’ll just take it all away when you cross the line (that she has defined) and become “too rich”.  I wish I could say she’s lost her mind–but she hasn’t.  She really is that far left.  She really is a communist.

Hillary Clinton will destroy the economy before she ever becomes president.  Mere talk like this from someone in her position, poised to take the presidency (and her enormous ego) is devastating to business.  I think it’s safe to say that if we elect Hillary we can kiss our good economy that we’ve enjoyed during the Bush years goodbye.  Oh, yeah, and our freedom as well.

Jerry Corsi, who co-authored Unfit For Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry is now aboard at TheVanguard.Org.  Rod Martin blogs about it here.  A press release is also available on TheVanguard.Org website.

According to Nielson Media Research, broadband users are smarter, richer and younger than the rest of the population.

This is good news for TheVanguard.Org readers, many of whom read their blogs over broadband connections.  One of the best statistics for the future of the web is that nearly 35% of Americans with broadband have a college degree–compared to 24% of the national populace.  This is one of the many reasons TheVanguard.Org is becoming so successful, despite the fact that it is still in Beta!  The Internet is full of young, bright conservatives ready to make the world better.

America’s most respected conservative journal, Human Events, has dubbed TheVanguard.Org “the next MoveOn.org”.  Rod Martin has a short blog post about it here.  If you’re reading this blog or any of the others hosted here, you should congratulate yourself on being part of a new conservative revolution online!

For quite some time, there has been a debate raging in the scientific community about cell phones and their potential to cause certain kinds of brain cancer.  Though some studies have shown that the radiation from cell phones cause limited cellular level damage that could in some cases lead to an increased risk of tumors, the FDA has recently refuted this, saying these studies are flawed.  Most recently, a comprehensive study of over 400,000 people in Denmark reported that there is no link between cell phone use and cancer.  That hasn’t stopped the San Francisco Chronicle from reporting known lies, however.  They say that “millions of people who are expected to buy Apple’s iPhone should consider this first: Mobile phones emit radiation, cause damage to brain tissue, and produce the kind of cancer that kills rats in laboratory experiments”.  In other words, they argue that if you buy an Apple iPhone, you’re going to die of cancer. 

At some point, scientists might be able to show that there is a verifiable link between cell use and the development of brain tumors and other cancers.  For the time being, it’s junk science at its worst; these articles are a thinly veiled attack on the cell industry and in this particular case, on Apple.

Rod Martin has an excellent post on his blog today about space exploration and the role the government plays (or doesn’t play, as the case may be) in it all.  Check it out!