Friday, July 29, 2005

Let's Spy On Our Neighbors

Interesting tidbit on the morning news. After the recent events in London, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is asking patrons to use their cell phones to take pictures of "suspicious activity". They also stated they intend to put up a website for patrons to email these photos. Given the advancements in Facial Recognition Technology, I assume they are going to be matching these photos they receive against pictures in the National ID (Drivers License) database.
I guess this means if you are rummaging around in your briefcase or book bag looking for something, the "nosy neighbor" will be snapping your picture and forwarding it to the web site.

Then maybe you will get a visit from the gestapo and you can try and explain you were only looking for your snickers bar.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Is There Still A Major Place For The Print Media?

I have to wonder. So much of the news and interests we all have can now be read online. I subscribe to the local paper on a daily basis and the San Francisco paper on the weekends. More & more I find that I seldom read them, instead tossing them into the recycle bin unread. It seems that as I have time during the day, I'll do a news check online. Even magazines are read less and less by me. The same info is available online, much of it for free. I currently subscribe to 7 magazines, down from 10 a few months ago when I let 3 subscriptions lapse. I simply don't have time to read them all. That doesn't include magazines that are a part of memberships (AAA, professional associations, etc).

I have to wonder where all this will lead.