By Larry Magid
Reposted from San Jose Mercury News

I’m happy to be a member of a recently formed Internet Safety Technical Task Force, but it has caused me to feel a bit of a disconnect. One of the major goals of the task force is to explore whether it’s possible to use technology to verify the age of people signing up for social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to give parents more control over whether their kids can use these services and to avoid inappropriate online contact between kids and adults. Yet, the first four experts to address the task force painted a picture that causes me to wonder if such technology would be helpful even if it could be employed.

The task force was formed in February as a result of an agreement between MySpace and 49 state attorneys general. The group consists of representatives of major Internet and social-networking services including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, AOL, Google and Yahoo, along with officials from companies that offer age- and identity-verification technology. Several non-profit organizations are also represented, including ConnectSafely.org, which I co-founded with Anne Collier. (Disclosure: ConnectSafely receives financial support from several social-networking companies.)

The task force is a welcome intervention into what has been a nasty war of words. For the past couple of years, several attorneys general, lead by Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, had been hammering at MySpace and other social networks because of the perceived danger of predators using the sites to contact children.

But that’s not what the task force heard from a panel of experts who actually know something about how kids can be harmed online. At its meeting in Washington on Wednesday, members heard from researchers Michelle Ybarra, from Internet Solutions for Kids; Janis Wolak, from the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center; Amanda Lenhart, from the Pew Internet & American Life Project; and Danah Boyd, a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Drawing from several surveys and studies, all of the researchers said the risk of a child being forced into sex from an online predator is almost non-existent. And in the relatively few cases where a youth does engage in sex with someone they first met online, the young person is almost always compliant in some fashion.

That doesn’t excuse the adult - having sex with someone under the age of consent is rightfully a serious crime. But as part of what we need to know to better protect kids, it’s important to realize that deception is rarely involved. Most teens are aware of the approximate age and intentions of the adults who contact them. Only 5 percent of the offenders pretend to be teens. In some cases, the kids themselves are being aggressive and sexually suggestive and pose in ways to make them look older than they are.

When unwanted sexual solicitations do occur, most youths deal with them appropriately. Two-thirds of youths didn’t view the solicitations as serious or threatening and “almost all youths handled unwanted sexual solicitations easy and effectively,” according to data reported by Wolak.

Researchers reiterated that the overwhelming majority of kids who are sexually exploited are victims of people they know from the off-line world. And they pointed out that children have a far greater chance of being harassed or “cyberbullied” by peers than by adults, and that nearly half of the cases of sexual solicitation were teen to teen.

Please don’t interpret these findings as being soft on predators or oblivious to the dangers on the Internet. Everyone in the room was deeply committed to protecting kids from the very real harms that do exist. But in the interest of safety it’s important to not confuse the perceived risks with the likely ones. To do so would be like worrying about some horrible but rare disease while failing to wear seat belts, washing your hands and flossing your teeth.

The task force’s main mandate is to explore age-verification technology that would make it a lot harder to claim you’re 14 when you’re actually 12 or that you’re 17 when you’re really 40. Social networks have age restrictions (typically kids have to be at least in their teens) but they now rely on user-supplied birth dates.

Some attorneys general want to see the electronic equivalent of showing an ID at the door. There are companies represented on the task force with tools that might be able to accomplish this including Aristotle, IDology and Sentinel Tech. But Sentinel Chief Executive John Cardillo told me age- and identity-verification schemes typically rely on credit reports and other data that is accessible for most adults but generally not available for people under 17. One could, in theory, access school, birth or Social Security records, but for a variety of good reasons, these databases are off-limits to private entities.

Though the task force has yet to hear from any age-verification vendors, I’m keeping an open mind about the efficacy of the technology. Yet, even if age verification is possible, I still question whether it’s desirable. I worry about some teens - including victims and youths questioning their sexual identity - being harmed because they’re denied access to online support services that could help them or even save their lives.

Istanbul, Turkey — I’m in a city that spans Asia and Europe yet I’m happily using cell phones from Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

I’ve always thought of Sprint and Verizon as purely domestic carriers, serving only the U.S. market, but that’s not the case. Even though most phones from these two popular U.S. carriers are configured to access cellular networks that are totally incompatible with the GSM (Global System for Mobil) networks used in Europe, Australia, parts of Asia, Africa and much of the rest of world, both companies do offer phones that are also capable of accessing GSM networks overseas.

For example, both Verizon and Sprint sell the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition (prices vary by carrier and service plan) while Sprint also has a Samsung Ace Windows Mobile SmartPhone and Verizon the Motorola Z6c World Edition. Each of these phones uses its carrier’s CDMA network in North America but is also equipped with GSM SIM cards for use in other countries. Also, most of Verizon’s phones, according to the company’s Web site, do work in Israel, Brazil, Thailand, South Korea and a few other countries, but not in most of the world. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM technology that does work in most countries.

SIM stands for “Subscriber Identity Module.” All GSM phones have a slot for this tiny card that is required for them to make and receive calls.

From my present vantage point in Turkey and after stops in Majorca, Spain and London earlier this week, I can testify that the Verizon and Sprint phones work great in the places I’ve visited. Sprint loaned me the Samsung Ace and Verizon provided me with a BlackBerry 8830 for testing, and with both phones I’ve been able to make local calls as well as international calls to the United States and other countries. Data service also works with full access to e-mail, text messaging and Web browsing. And, perhaps because of Europe and Turkey’s extensive GSM network, the sound quality and coverage is as good as or in many cases better than in the United States, even from when I used the phone from a relatively rural areas of Spain and England.

Both Sprint’s and Verizon’s world BlackBerrys can use the high-speed 3G network in much of the world. Sprint’s Ace uses Sprint’s high-speed EVDO network in the United States but reverts to somewhat slower networks overseas. Since the only data I’m accessing from here is e-mail, I don’t really notice any difference.

And because these are U.S. phones, there is no need to change your number. The regular U.S. phone number rings over here, albeit sometimes in the middle of the night, thanks to the nine-hour time difference.

The only downside is the international roaming charge. It might not be a big deal if you just make a few calls or if you work for a company that pays your bill. But if you’re cost-conscious and plan to use the phone a lot from overseas, you had better heed the tariffs. In Spain and in most of Europe the international roaming charge is $1.29 a minute. It’s $2.49 a minute here in Turkey and from Ghana and Saudi Arabia. Sprint users who happen to be in Russia, Chad or Kazakhstan could pay as much as $4.99 a minute. There are also data charges for e-mail and text-messaging.

There are ways to beat the system. Sprint’s world phones are unlocked, which means you can buy a SIM card in the local country and pay much lower rates. In some cases, it costs as little as 10 or 15 cents a minute for outgoing calls and nothing for incoming calls.

The Verizon phone is locked, but upon request Verizon can provide an unlocked code. There are also third parties and Internet sites that, for a one-time fee, will unlock most but not all locked GSM phones or provide you a code to unlock it yourself. I’ve used, an independent cell phone dealer to unlock phones that I and family members have used when traveling overseas.

When you’re using a SIM card you buy abroad, callers have to dial into the country where you bought the card. So if you bought a SIM card in Spain, callers would have to dial a Spanish phone number to reach you. If you then traveled to France and bought a French SIM card, they would have to dial a French number.

Another option, especially useful if you plan to travel to different countries, is to purchase a global SIM card. Sim4Travel.com and GoSim.com sell cards that can be used in most countries at rates starting at about 60 cents a minute to call back to the United States. It may not be as inexpensive as buying a local SIM card, but you get to use the same number in each country and it’s cheaper than paying international roaming rates through your U.S. carrier.

T-Mobile sells phones that can be used both on GSM networks (for a fee of course) and free via WiFi. While in Spain I ran into fellow American journalist John Biggs from Crunchgear (www.crunchgear.com), who let me try out his BlackBerry Pearl 8120 to make a free call back to the States via the hotel’s WiFi network. As long as I was close enough to a hotspot, I was able to make and receive free calls. Callers are able to call your regular T-mobile U.S. number and if you answer it from a hotspot it’s free, but if you’re using the GSM network with T-Mobile’s US SIM card, you pay international roaming rates, which vary by country.

Because almost all AT&T phones use GSM, its phones can also be used in Europe at roaming rates comparable to those of Sprint and Verizon. AT&T does offer a $5.99 plan that reduces rates by about 30 percent per minute in Europe.

Istanbul, settled by the Phoenicians in 650 BC, is home to some amazing ancient architecture but when it comes to international communications, its as modern as any place on earth.

Listen to Larry’s CBS News Podcast with Google Sr. Scientist Shumeet Baluja and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children President Ernie Allen

Working with law enforcement, analysts at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandria, Va., spend their days doing something no one should have to do. They look at what is called “child pornography,” but the photos and videos are actually evidence of children - in some cases infants - being sexually abused.

They do this work to help rescue children who may still be in the clutches of a predator, to help catch and prosecute perpetrators and to send a message to would-be child abusers that exploiting children will not be tolerated. The online locations of suspected child pornography are reported to NCMEC via the CyberTipline by Internet service providers and members of the public. Images are submitted by law enforcement agencies across the country.

The work is emotionally draining and challenging. But thanks to some new technology from Google, these analysts now have a tool that could greatly enhance their effectiveness.

A disclosure: I serve as an unpaid member of NCMEC’s board of directors. When it comes to NCMEC’s work, I’m not objective. I passionately share the non-profit organization’s commitment to protecting children. I’m also a strong free-speech advocate, but the images they deal with are not protected by the First Amendment. Production, distribution and possession of “child porn” is illegal in the United States and many other countries.

The concept behind Google’s software is simple, but the implementation took four engineers thousands of hours over the better part of a year, according to Google’s senior research scientist Shumeet Baluja, who is the technical leader of the project.

The software allows an analyst to highlight a pattern somewhere in an image. It could be a calendar on the wall, a logo on a T-shirt, a prominent tattoo or perhaps the pattern of the carpet. It then looks for that pattern in other images and when it finds a match or a likely match it presents those images to the analyst. In some cases it will analyze the entire image to look for matches or near matches. NCMEC President Ernie Allen said the organization reviewed 5 million images and videos in the past year and more than 13 million since 2002.

Without this software, the only ways to make a match is to depend on the memory of analysts or to find an exact copy of the image with a file’s “hash mark.” But the hash mark - the digital fingerprint of a file - doesn’t follow all images. If an image is edited or compressed, for example, the hash mark changes.

We humans may be more perceptive than computers and better able to distinguish similar or unique characteristics. But computers have much better memories. As a NCMEC board member, I have heard amazing stories about analysts and police officers who have matched photos based on characteristics they remember from pictures they may have seen months ago. But I think that they all would appreciate a little help from machines.

Baluja says the technology will work even if the images are modified, if a photo has been changed from color to black and white, or if the pattern is at a different angle or position in the photo or video. It can also pick out a single pattern in a video, even if it’s a compilation of many shorter videos.

Google engineers and scientists were able to work on the project using what the company calls “20 percent time.” Google allows all of its employees to dedicate 20 percent of their work time to projects they initiate. Some of those projects benefit Google stockholders, some benefit end-users and some might wind up not benefiting anyone. This project has the potential to benefit thousands of children.

The engineers didn’t have to start from scratch. The technology is an outgrowth of the anti-piracy software Google developed to help its YouTube division ferret out videos suspected of being posted without the permission of copyright holders.

Google representatives are quick to point out that they don’t always take down copyrighted video flagged by software because in some cases there is a legitimate “fair use” case for it being posted. But what I find interesting about this is that a technology developed to protect intellectual property rights could be applied to protect children.

I’m sure that most people share Google’s motto of “do no evil.” But there are some people on this planet who are very evil toward children. Let’s hope that the efforts of these Google staffers and the hard-working people at NCMEC result in more of these evil people being sent to a place where they can no longer harm children.

If you come across videos or images of child pornography, don’t save them - that’s against the law. But do report their location to NCMEC’s CyberTipline at www.cybertipline.com

Apple last week confirmed that iTunes had outpaced Wal-Mart in January and February as the nation’s No. 1 seller of music. The Apple announcement followed an earlier report by NPD Group that compared iTunes music sales with those of major retailers. Pardon the pun but it’s not exactly an “Apples to Apples” comparison because stores typically sell albums while iTunes allows users to download one track at a time. To more or less even the score, 12 tracks were considered the same as a single album. It was only a month earlier that Apple passed Best Buy to become the No. 2 music retailer.

What’s interesting about iTunes’ meteoric rise in popularity is that it is doing very well despite some downsides to the format and the portable devices people typically use to listen to the music. For one thing, most songs purchased on iTunes are saddled with so-called digital rights management that limits what you can do with them, including what devices you can play them on. The CDs that Wal-Mart and other retailers sell don’t have DRM, so they can be ripped as MP3s and played on any digital music player.

Another difference between downloaded music and CDs is compression. Although many people can’t perceive it, there is definitely a difference between the sound of an MP3 and the sound of an uncompressed CD. What’s more, a lot of people listen to most of their music through little earbuds.

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LIMITS OF FREE SPEECH ARE TESTED BY WEB SITE’S HURTFUL, HATEFUL POSTS

By Larry Magid

San Jose Mercury News

The online gossip site JuicyCampus.com carries this slogan: “Always Anonymous . . . Always Juicy.”I’m a strong advocate of free speech, and I recognize that there are legitimate reasons to protect people’s ability to be anonymous on the Internet. But JuicyCampus.com is exercising these rights in ways that are hurtful and possibly dangerous. I also understand the interest in gossip. But there’s a difference between gossip among friends, or published gossip about celebrities, and spreading nasty rumors about private citizens.

The site, which was reportedly founded by a 1995 Duke graduate, encourages students at selected colleges ranging from the Air Force Academy to Yale to anonymously post “juicy” comments about other students. And some of these comments can be downright vicious.

All of this is under the veil of anonymity. In support of its slogan “Always Anonymous . . . Always Juicy,” the site’s privacy and tracking policy states that “it is not possible for anyone to use this website to find out who you are or where you are located.” It further warns people who want to be “extra-cautious” that “servers do, as a matter of course, keep logs” that can include geographic information and IP addresses, the string of numbers that identify a computer on the Internet. It goes on to recommend ways to find free services that shield IP addresses.

A quick look at the site revealed a number of posts that use derogatory terms to out people as homosexuals, whether true or not. There were also posts suggesting that specific women students are sluts, often giving details about their supposed sexual activities. In some cases, these posts contain a phone number or even a dorm address, encouraging others to seek contact with the person. Other comments are sexist, racist, hateful and downright mean. Many mention names of what appear to be real students. Some postings might be best described as virtual terrorism. One posting implied a certain named female student was available for sex with strangers and included her cell phone number and dorm information. If not terrorism, this is at the very least cyberbullying. Posting false information about people, impersonating others or simply being mean are all classic examples of cyberbullying.

There is nothing new about Web pages that contain rumors or lies about people. ConnectSafely.org, a Web forum I help run, receives regular reports about such postings on legitimate social Web sites.

In some cases there is nothing that can be done - free speech does give people the right to say what they think. But if the postings are libelous, defamatory, hateful or otherwise contrary to the site’s terms of service, we are typically able to get them taken down. The same is true if there is evidence that the posting or profile is impersonating someone else.

Michael Fertik, CEO of ReputationDefender.com said the Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects the owner of the site against prosecution or civil action for user postings but doesn’t protect individual users. In other words, if you post something libelous or defamatory, you can be sued by the victim.

Trouble is, says Fertik, it’s a “right without a remedy” as there is often no practical way to find out who did the posting. It might be possible to find someone from their IP address, but that doesn’t always work. Besides, as JuicyCampus points out, there are ways to hide your IP.

Ironically, said Fertik, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides victims of copyright infringement greater protection than the Communications Decency Act gives victims of libel or defamation. A record company has a better chance of getting a judgment against a college student sharing music than a college student has against someone jeopardizing his or her reputation, privacy or even safety.

It’s tempting to argue there ought to be a law against sites like this. But before reacting too quickly, we need to think about the unintended consequences of going after this type of site.

I don’t think we want to outlaw all forms of gossip, nor do I think it’s a smart to require authentication before anyone can post anything online. That could have negative consequences on political dissidents, whistle-blowers and others for whom anonymity can be vital. But just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. As a parent, I would discourage my kids from using a site like this, and I think it’s reasonable for college campuses to at least discuss what they ought to do about sites that encourage hateful comments.

About the only good thing I can say about JuicyCampus is that on the two days I tested it last week, access was extremely slow. Perhaps it was overwhelmed because of all the press coverage. Whatever the reason, it’s the first time I’ve ever been happy about a site being hard to reach.

Adorable: Laughing Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY
Nine-month-old Ethan falls over laughing – apparently ripping magazines is hilarious – and just can’t stop, igniting a laughing fit in his dad, too. It’s infectiously cute and earned Ethan a spot in an insurance commercial, allowing millions of people beyond YouTube to chuckle along with this adorable munchkin.

Comedy: Potter Puppet Pals in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4
Neil Cicierega is the talented puppeteer who offers a twisted take on the world of Harry Potter. On a fraction of the budget of the Hogwarts movies, he’s created his own series of Potter puppet parodies, of which “The Mysterious Ticking Noise” is a blockbuster in its own right. Cicierega’s talents go beyond the Potter videos as he can be seen in a number of funny short films and sketches. However, it’s the videos where he’s the hidden hands and voices of the Potter pals that have cemented his reputation as a comedic talent to watch.

Commentary: LonelyGirl15 is Dead!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Tgv2VJEEs
The WhatheBuckShow, an entertainment vlog with several original episodes posted each week, manically covers hot Hollywood and celebrity news. Hosted by gossip extraordinaire Michael Buckley, the series is the #7 Most Subscribed Channel of All Time on YouTube. Inexhaustible and abundantly enthusiastic, Buckley occasionally talks sports and politics but would much rather dish on Top Model and anything to do with “lady bits.”

Creative: Human Tetris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LtUX_6IXY
Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond of the NOTsoNOISY creative agency is the mastermind behind this innovative video, which uses humans to re-enact a game of Tetris. The stop-motion clip is the fourth video installation of the GAME OVER Project, and took 4.5 hours to shoot using 88 extras and 880 pictures. It was performed and shot at the “Les Urbaines” festival in Lausanne, Switzerland, on November 24, 2007.

Eyewitness: Battle at Kruger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
Exquisite footage of nature in action, “Battle at Kruger” documents a raw scene from a safari in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Lions attack a calf in a temporary tug-of-war with a crocodile over the meat. Then, the herd of buffalo returns to fight for their young one. National Geographic Channel was so impressed with this footage, they sent the filmmakers back to Africa for a behind-the-scenes special about the making of the clip. This special airs in May.

Inspirational: Blind Painter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P84bfFpVWE
This video by the Texas Country Reporter chronicles the life and times of blind painter John Bramblitt, who started to gain international exposure in 2007, with notices by media in the U.S., the UK and Korea. After losing his sight from epilepsy, Bramblitt took up the hobby for its calming effects and turned out to be quite gifted at it. This video shows how he uses touch where most painters use sight.

Instructional: How to solve a Rubik’s Cube (Part One)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQIoPyfQzM
Even though he wasn’t born when it was invented, Dan Brown is a master of the Rubik’s Cube. He figured out the algorithm to solve the puzzle and has shared it with the YouTube community in nearly a dozen videos on the subject. (His winning video has 3.6 million views.) Not only can the Nebraska native and high school senior quickly solve a Rubik’s Cube, he can also do it while jumping on a pogo stick. 

Music: Chocolate Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA
TayZonday took the summer of 2007 by storm with his stunning baritone, perplexing lyrics and quirky gestures, single-handedly establishing the move-away-from-the-mic meme that was replicated in hundreds of video responses by everyone from Gruff the Crime Dog to Tre Cool of Green Day. The 25-year-old Minneapolis native continues to experiment with diverse musical works and voice compositions that he primarily shares on the Internet. “Yes, I have a deep voice,” he says on his YouTube channel.

Politics: Stop the Clash of Civilizations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago
In the wake of strife in Iraq and the Middle East, “Stop the Clash” makes us confront the stereotypes we have about each other, particularly the conceptions the West has about Islam and vice versa. The force behind the video is Avaaz.org – “Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in several languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Nepalese, Dari, Turkish, and Bosnian. A community of “global citizens” grappling with the major issues facing the world today, Avaaz has members in every country on earth and strives to give all the world’s people - not just the elites – a voice.

Series: The Guild
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grCTXGW3sxQ
The Guild is an independent Web series about a group of online gamers staring Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Felicia Day. Written for gamers about gamers by a gamer, the show follows Guild members’ lives online and offline in episodes that usually range between three and five minutes in length. The series has nearly 30,000 subscribers through YouTube, and it’s already won a SXSW/On Networks Greenlight Award this year.

Short Film: My Name is Lisa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiRHyzjb5SI
U.S. filmmaker Ben Shelton is the creator of “My Name is Lisa,” a short film that won third place in the YouTube Project Direct contest and now has been selected by the YouTube community as the top short film on the site. “Lisa” is the moving story of a girl on the cusp of womanhood and her relationship with her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Shelton is no stranger to Internet video: his previous works have led him to projects with Fox Entertainment, the NBA and MySpace. Ben’s brother, Josh, co-wrote the script and created the music for the film.

Sports: Balloon Bowl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_r9joWNXQ
When the makers of this video had the idea to fill a skate bowl with balloons and try to ride through them, they never though it would work. But, as this video demonstrates, it not only worked, it became an Internet sensation. The project consumed over three hours and nearly 8,000 balloons… plus all the sound effects are real. The clip was filmed on location at the “department of skateboarding” in Portland, Oregon.

Kids today live in an interactive “Web 2.0″ world where they socialize, post photographs and videos and share common experiences with friends, friends of friends and, in some cases, strangers. Millions of kids are doing it every day and the overwhelming majority of them seem to be doing just fine. But that doesn’t mean that the social Web is a danger-free zone. There are things teens, parents, teachers and other caregivers need to think about to ensure that online socializing remains “smart socializing.”

Let’s start by dispelling one popular myth. Your kids don’t have all the answers when it comes to the use of technology. They may know more about how to operate a computer or a cell phone or put a page up on a social networking site, but just because some adults are a bit technologically challenged doesn’t mean that they have no place supervising kids’ use of technology. Adults have one thing that teens don’t have - life experience - which for most translates into wisdom. Adults know, for example, that things aren’t always what they appear to be. They know that while most people in this world are decent and caring, there are a few who will take advantage of others and you can find these people on the Internet just as you would in “the real world” (though, for teens there is no distinction between the Internet and “the real world.” The Internet is a big part of their world). Read the rest of this entry �

Call me old-fashioned but when it comes to making phone calls, I like buttons. Not virtual buttons and preferably not teeny-weeny PDA-size buttons. I’m happiest with an honest-to-goodness dial pad. I say that because I’ve recently tried out three relatively new touch phones. One is the iPhone, which I borrowed from Apple when it first came out June 29, returned and then borrowed again so I could check out the new software. I also spent a couple of weeks using Verizon’s much hyped LG Voyager touch phone and a few minutes struggling with Sprint’s Touch by HTC.

What all of those phones have in common is that you use a touch screen to dial and perform many of the functions. The iPhone and HTC device are touch only - there are no physical buttons other than a few dedicated function keys. The Voyager, thankfully, also has a full QWERTY keyboard that you access by opening up its clamshell-like cover.

One problem with a touch screen is that you need hand-eye coordination to do anything. I know I’m not supposed to dial a phone while driving, but with a standard cell phone I can easily use the speed dial function without taking my eyes off the road. Trying to make a call using a touch screen while driving is a recipe for disaster.

I must admit that I was one of many columnists who gave a generally thumbs-up review to the iPhone and I’m still impressed with many of its features, including some that depend on touch. Apple’s multi-touch interface, which has

now been added to its notebook Macs and the iPod touch, is an incredibly useful way to resize a photograph, zoom in on a Web page or move from one page to another by flicking a finger. I have a feeling that Apple is going to get a great deal of mileage from that innovation, especially if it someday winds up making Macs with touch screens. Apple is to be congratulated for having created the most revolutionary phone on the planet and it’s hard to argue with its overall success, but I’m still not a big iPhone fan. While it’s a great way to look at photos, browse the Web and consume media, it’s just not that great when it comes to making phone calls.
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It was the Saturday night before the Oscars and my wife and I realized that there were several nominated movies we hadn’t seen yet. It was also a very rainy evening and we were in no mood to drive to a movie theater or even to the local Blockbuster store.

So we used Apple TV to download “In The Valley of Elah,” featuring Tommy Lee Jones who was nominated as best actor in a leading role. On Sunday we watched “The Assassination of Jesse James,” which was nominated for best cinematography. Other Oscar nominees available for rental include “Michael Clayton,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Ratatouille” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Many of the nominees, including best picture winner “There Will be Blood” were not available.

If this had been the eve of last year’s Academy Awards we would have had to either rent the movies from a video store or watch them on a PC, but this year we got to watch our rented nominated films in our living room on our high definition set thanks to Apple’s newly enhanced Apple TV.

Apple TV is a small box that sits on or near your TV and connects to the Internet via a wireless WiFi network or a wired Ethernet cord. Ever since it was first released in 2007, it’s been able to stream video, music and photographs from a PC or Mac running iTunes, and it also has its own internal hard drive, enabling you to transfer iTunes files from a computer to the box itself, so, once the files have been transferred, it can work even if the computer is turned off or the network connection is down.

The device also lets you download free video and audio podcasts and access YouTube video.

Apple TV was introduced in January 2007, but in its first year on the market it didn’t sell very well. Apple CEO Steve Jobs even referred to it as a “hobby” during an on-stage conversation last May with Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg at the Journal’s annual “All Things Digital” conference. Read the rest of this entry �

I don’t usually cheer the death of a product or a technology but I’m glad to see the demise of HD DVD. After years of contentious battle between two competing high-definition DVD standards, Toshiba, the primary backer of HD DVD, conceded defeat last week. HD DVD is dead. Long live Blu-ray.

It’s not as if Toshiba had much choice. HD DVD was already in a coma. Warner Bros. Studios - the largest purveyor of DVD movies - put a big nail in HD DVD’s coffin in January when it announced it would no longer produce movies in that format but standardize on Blu-ray. That left only Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios in the HD DVD camp. The vast majority of new high-definition movies would come out only in Blu-ray.

Another couple of nails came from Netflix and Wal-Mart, both of whom recently announced they would no longer distribute HD DVD. Blockbuster earlier decided to carry only Blu-ray.

It’s not that I really cared who won. From where I sit (a few feet from a 52-inch high-definition TV), I can’t tell the difference between the two formats. But the mere existence of competing formats made it impossible for me to recommend either type of player.

I’m all for competition, but not when it comes to standards. Imagine if certain books were compatible only with certain reading glasses or if the car you were thinking of buying could be driven only on certain types of roads.

Standards define almost every successful technology. It was safe back in the old days to buy any vinyl album because people knew it would work on any record player. And standards explain why the CD was able to quickly take over - people knew that all CDs worked on all CD players. The initial lack of a single standard stalled the deployment of video recorders back in the ’80s because Sony was pushing its Beta format while most other companies were selling VHS players. Some studios initially issued movies in both VHS and Beta, but ultimately VHS won out, causing Sony to eventually stop making the format. Standards are also important in the computer industry. They’re one reason Microsoft has done so well, although Apple has been able to buck this trend to a degree with computers that run different programs. But software isn’t the same as movies. People buy software and use it until a new version comes out - often two or three years later. When it comes to entertainment products, people buy or rent on a regular basis. You want a steady stream of programs to work with whatever hardware you happen to own.

It can be argued that the departure of HD DVD is a blow to competition. But I think the opposite will be true. With a single standard, it’s now more practical for hardware manufacturers to invest in development of new players and increased production capacity. That should mean more players on the market and, ultimately, better prices. If the prices of standard DVD players are any example, we should see a dramatic price drop within the year. A couple of years ago I bought a standard DVD player for $29 at a drug store.

Before you go out and buy a Blu-ray player, let me share my experience with the one I have. Movies in Blu-ray look and sound great but, truth be told, so do movies recorded on standard DVDs. That’s because most Blu-ray (and HD DVD) players, along with some higher-end standard players, convert the signal from a standard DVD so it looks great on a high-definition TV. It’s not as good as a Blu-ray disc but it’s still quite good.

But when it comes to signals on broadcast, cable or satellite TV, I’m now spoiled and feel I’m having an inferior experience if I have to watch a standard definition show on a high-definition TV.

Eventually none of this will matter because we’ll be downloading our movies via the Internet. There will come a time when buying media on plastic discs seems quaint.

Thanks to Apple TV, Microsoft Media Center extensions, TiVo and other products, that’s already starting to happen. But the full transition from disc to download will take several years and won’t be complete until we get faster broadband service than most American homes currently have. It would also help if the studios adopted less idiotic rules. Most video download rental services today disable the movie 24 hours after you start watching it, which is one reason I still prefer to get my movies on DVD from Netflix. I can watch them at my leisure.