Will High Definition be the final blow to broadcast television?

Sometime in 2009 all analog television broadcast will cease, though it could be argued that high definition is also analog. Today an article said that half of US homes have a digital television, which means half do not. I have not decided whether to just let my television go black (or snowy white). With the government auctioning off the bandwidth there will be no going back. With DVD’s and internet videos I may instead just hook the television with a permanent connection to the internet. It also may help me be more creative and better use my personal time since I will need to plan my viewing.

Government subsidizing Telemarketers

Yesterday I had to file a government form locally. I was puzzled by the request because it duplicates a state filing. I assume the requirement dates back a hundred years ago when state and local governments had no easy way to communicate. I was also amazed to see them use an accounting accuracy method I had not seen in decades. I pointed it out to my colleague, who looked at me wondering why I was amazed. It was like I had stepped back in the time before computers. I had assumed decades ago when I saw it still being used by a clerk who was retiring I would never see it again. So other than a loss of time and twenty dollars what harm could filling out a redundant form have? This morning the telemarketing calls began. Telemarketers armed with information only available on that form. So I have found two important services my local government office offers; museum and telemarketing services.

Data Compatibility Automation

What is the next big thing on the web? It could be recycling data made incompatible by upgrades. Underlying web technology and standards have been stagnant this decade. That has been good for developers as languages and web browsers support code written years ago. This means that when sites like Yahoo upgrade their sites it is for minor improvements, but behind the scenes there are major changes. Yahoo upgraded this week. The old pages had a stock price tracker. It would track stocks you had previously looked up and you could also create a list. Both have disappeared today into the incompatible upgrade trash can. The feature is still there just not any data you previously put into it.

VH1 downgrades their music player

In 2006 VH1 redesigned their web site and built a new Flash music player. Fortunately they kept the old player. It appears they lost the programming expertise to build a comparable product. While there are many programmers that can write code, there are few that can write web applications at this level. In most industries these individuals receive top pay. In the computer software industry they receive the lowest pay. Creativity and inventiveness are not team qualities. A few companies are now seeking these qualities. Google has recruited over a thousand programmers based on intelligence and creativity. The top programmers at Blizzard, the creator of the most popular on-line game World of Warcraft, started their own company and are releasing their first title this Christmas. VH1 released the new player last month. It is much slower, has almost none of the original features, can not create a play list, and crashes after two hours of use. Its colors match the rest of the web site. As internet software matures I predict that companies will try to recruit creative developers instead of buying the companies they create or downgrading their software. Could the next Paris Hilton be a software engineer?

A New 8.25% Payroll Tax

States have been doing a lot of complaining that they are losing sales tax revenue to internet sales. They are working to get congress to pass a national sales tax that would collect this supposed loss of tax revenue. Never mind that the states lost this revenue in the 1700s when the US constitution made it illegal for states to tax interstate trade. What is really at stake is another employee tax. Employees are familiar with the Medicare and Social Security withholdings. More and more employees are seeing sales tax added to the list. If you do your job from home in Texas and do any of the work through the computer be prepared to add sales tax to the list of taxes to subtract from your paycheck. (I called the tax office and confirmed this). White collar jobs have seen a trend from working directly for companies to being contract. Now contract jobs are moving to day to day work similar to day laborers. Instead of waiting on the curb we wait for an email. Not only do you no longer have any benefits like health care but be prepared for more taxes. Unfortunately unlike Social Security this payroll deduction makes no promises and provides no services.

Sub-prime Rabbit

Even as the sub-prime melt down became apparent a few weeks ago many articles downplayed it. Articles on Yahoo Finance pointed out that the default rate is still low and is backed by homes that have value. What they failed to reveal is that many of the loans were bought by investors on credit with 5% or less as collateral. Meaning most investors have lost 100%. Here is a humorous video summing up the problem from an article by Gary Tanashian about investing in gold.

Stonehenge

Is this how they built Stonehenge? One engineer and a couple of helpers? Makes you want to move something big.