As a father who spends most of his time reading IT, tech and political blogs, when the time comes to buy Christmas gifts for the kids, I feel so out of the loop. I actually bought my daughter a Nancy Drew box set a couple years ago. Yeah, it didn’t go over well.
This year I’m getting my daughter a laptop. She asked for one. Yes, I know of the perverts that dwell online, but she’s a smart kid and I’m sure she will exercise good judgment in her browsing.

Some other gifts I’m buying this Christmas:

The “True Lies” DVD is one of my favorite gifts. People I’ve gifted it to often report watching time and time again.

Some more gift ideas:

Perfect Holiday Gifts
Gift Ideas for Kids
Best of Brad Pitt
Best of Julia Roberts
Best of Bruce Willis

The climatologists present facts that contradict Al Gore’s fictions.

The election is still a year away but the debate has heated up. One must wonder if the free flow of information that we call the Internet is not playing a major role in the elections.

From the abortion debate and taxes to gay marriage and illegal immigration, the Internet is educating the masses.

In the past, it was relatively easy to maintain one’s ignorance. All you had to do was not buy books, not subscribe to any newspapers, not watch the nightly news, and spend the money you saved on much more enjoyable activities, like drinking beer.

On the Internet, however, you can’t take click on anything without being accosted with information. Iraq did this. Iran did that. Bush is the anti-Christ. That guy chopping off that lady’s head, he’s actually a noble “Freedom Fighter”.

Okay, bad examples. But there are also a plethora of legitimately insightful opinions, validated facts, and education to be had, absolutely free of charge.

The Internet has helped to educate voters about the positions held by candidates for public office.

The Internet has helped to educate the world to the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The spread of knowledge on the Internet has helped highlight injustices and brought more public pressure to bear than could be imaginable otherwise.

Viva la Internet!

A monument to paper?

Walking around Shibuya today I noticed a new item that is hopefully the harbinger of things to come in the emerging field of handheld Internet devices. The Sharp ‘em.one’ (Japanese site) is a 4.1cm x 7cm unit held horizontally, similar to the Sony PSP which has become a ubiquitous item among high school and university students here in Tokyo. The styling is also somewhat similar as well although it appears to have a bigger screen.

Even though the unit is very slim at only 1.8cm thick it contains a slide-out qwerty keyboard and two navigation controls, one is similar to a cell phones center navigator, the other is more like a very small joystick, used for controlling the mouse. It also comes with a stylus for touch screen functionality. The slide down keyboard can also slide out to the right to reveal only the navigation controls for simple browsing, a clever idea since it is much more natural to hold it this way.

As for the OS, it runs Windows Mobile 5.0 and has wireless LAN capability, claiming 3.6Mbps Internet wireless transfer in its promotional material. Whether there is a way to connect to 3G phone networks is not clear however. Browsers included are Internet Explorer Mobile and Opera Mobile, which will be good news for some as there is a huge community of Opera users online.
Not solely an internet device, the em.one also receives television signals, allows viewing and editing of Microsoft Word and Excel files, syncs with Windows XP, Vista, and 2000 and contains a 1.3 megapixel camera on the back of the keyboard.
The em.one is available only in Japan at the moment and runs for around 40,000 yen if you opt for the two year hosting plan, close to 100,000 if you don’t.

I’ve recently been hoping to find such a device as they can make web based business much more mobile, freeing one from constantly being in the office. No word yet on when the unit will be released stateside.
There’s an interactive promotion video here, it’s in Japanese but still gives you a nice idea of the product. This device is hopefully the first of many.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably got several different instant messaging clients installed on your computer at home, such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, etc. But what happens when you’re away from home using someone else’s computer, a computer at a library or in an internet cafe, or you’re at work and your IT people have blocked downloads? Most IM clients have web-based versions of their software, and usually using those requires you to open up at least one new screen, which can really clutter up the task bar. Now there’s something called Meebo that allows you to sign into multiple IM accounts with just one log-in. And best of all, it doesn’t require you to have 50 new screens open.

Meebo allows you to sign into AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google, and Jabber instant messaging accounts. If you don’t want to register with Meebo, you can still use their web-based versions, but are limited to signing into only one account at a time. If you take the time to register, and create a Meebo log-in, you’ll be able to add all of your IM accounts to one account and utilize them all with just one log-in.

Signing into your Meebo account brings up just one page, which shows your buddy list on the far right, and other account related info on the left. The buddy list shows all of your contacts from each of the IM services, with an icon next to each screenname indicating what service they are on. Starting a conversation is as easy as double-clicking on a buddy’s name. By starting a conversation, you won’t be getting another pop-up chat box, instead, it will be embedded within the Meebo page you already have up. From here, you can also open up other conversations and spread them out across the screen, or you can minimize them to make more room.

I am really digging this new service, and am very impressed with it so far. It doesn’t seem to have any kind of a lag, and has been very stable for me so far.