Moonwatcher

Take 30 seconds to help defeat Joe "You Lie!" Wilson

Joe Wilson last night made himself instantly notorious by shouting "You lie!" during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. He's up for re-election.

Wilson is being challenged by Rob Miller, a retired Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq. I just made a donation to Miller's campaign and urge you to as well.

Here's Rob Miller in his own words on why he's running for Congress:

I never thought I would run for Congress -- or feel like I had to. I have always thought of myself as a Marine. I started thinking that way not long after my father died when I was 14 years old. Since I enlisted at the age of 20, the Marine Corps has been my extended family and I couldn't imagine that would ever change.

But it did after my second tour of duty in Iraq -- where I fought to maintain the peace, but also to enable Iraqis to build better schools, improved hospitals, to help create jobs and, where possible, a stable economy and civil society.

When I returned home to my wife and six year old son, I saw that the politicians in Washington were not fighting for these same things at home. Worse, the congressman who represented the second district where I live -- Rep. Joe Wilson -- was part of that elite circle of George Bush loyalists who chose to enact a radical agenda, never mind the lives and wellbeing of the constituents he was pledged to represent.

Since last night, Rob Miller's campaign has raised over $500,000. You can track his progress toward $1 million here.

Last night Joe Wilson showed a shocking lack of respect for the presidency of the United States. He should now be shown the door.

Brad and Angelina--I mean Steve and Eric--Split!

In a post I wrote last February titled End of the Honeymoon for Apple and Google, I said:

Celebrity marriages are hard to maintain and often end in very messy, very public divorces. But for the moment at least, Apple and Google are still together. Eric Schmidt still sits on Apple's board, but now recuses himself from mobile phone discussions at board meetings. Presumably he'll need to start doing the same when the subjects of online productivity applications—or photo applications for that matter—come up.

The news this morning: Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple's Board of Directors:

"Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple's Board." —Steve Jobs

This marks a sad turning point in the relationship between the world's two most innovative companies. I'm sure Jennifer Aniston, er, Steve Ballmer is pleased.

How to Auto-Connect Your iPhone to AT&T WiFi Hotspots

From the AT&T site:

iPhone OS 3.0 Software Apple® iPhone™ users, get started with Wi-Fi

If you purchased an iPhone 3G S or updated your original iPhone or iPhone 3G with the latest Apple iPhone OS 3.0 software here's how to access AT&T Wi-Fi Services:

1. Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone.
2. Once you are in an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot, select "attwifi" from the list of available networks.
3. Every time you enter an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot, you will be automatically and securely logged into the AT&T Wi-Fi network.
4. Enjoy surfing at broadband speeds.

Finally, a reason to go to Starbucks.

And before you ask, Macworld explains why this is a big deal:

Last year, AT&T granted its iPhone-using subscribers free access to what’s now 20,000 McDonald’s, Starbucks, airports, and other locations in AT&T’s U.S. hotspot network. But the process of logging in was tedious. At the hotspot, you had to enter your phone number, receive a free SMS, and then click a link to gain access. (App developer Devicescape made this process much easier via its Easy Wi-Fi apps.) iPhone OS 3.0 automates that process, not just for AT&T but for non-U.S. carriers who include Wi-Fi access in their plans.

As soon as you’re in range of an AT&T hotspot, the iPhone logs in and switches to the network. AT&T was so excited about dumping its terrible old method of logging in that it even issued a press release. The carrier says that there were 4 million smartphone connections at its hotspots in the first quarter of 2009—and I’d bet that most of those were iPhones. (Here’s AT&T’s motivation in making it easy to use its Wi-Fi network: Every byte of data that moves from the cellular network to Wi-Fi reduces cell network congestion, making the overloaded cell network function better for everyone else.)

Happy Flag Day!

From Wikipedia:

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Define: Pent-Up Demand

How Many Googlers Does It Take...

Here's a Fermi question for you: How many Googlers does it take to run Google?

More specifically, what's the minimum number of people required to run Google's money-making operations? Anyone care to hazard a guess?

(My estimate: the AdWords sales team, a few of these guys at each data center, and an accountant. Oh, and the Google Apps group. :)

How Important is iPhone Tethering Anyway?

According to published rumors the next iPhone OS supports tethering. But how important is this feature?

Initially I thought, "Awesome! Now my Mac can access the Internet even when there's no Wifi! I'll use this all the time!" But when I tried to think of how often that happens I came up empty.

The only places I find myself without Wifi are actually places that do have it but charge for it: usually Starbuck's, airports, and hotels. And at a rumored $15/month for tethering, it would be cheaper just to pay for the WiFi.

At our cabin in Colorado we have great Wifi but no cell coverage. Same with most convention centers. (Have you ever tried to make a call from the bowels of Moscone South?)

So while Apple and AT&T have been figuring out the details of tethering, WiFi has become more ubiquitous than cell coverage—at least for me.

Another Huge Step Away from the Phone in iPhone

Steps Toward a Phoneless iPhone

The iPhone is great, revolutionary, amazing. But it's a compromise device and only a stepping stone between plain old cell phones and the real revolution: the iPod touch.

And with Skype that real revolution just got one big step closer.

The "Great Recession" as an Economic Stress Test

It occurs to me that this "Great Recession" (and to paraphrase Axl Rose, what's so great about recessions anyway?) might wind up serving as a fascinating experiment: a no-holds-barred stress test of the economies of countries around the world, and of the global economy itself.

Last week I read Daniel Suarez's Daemon, a techno-thriller in which an artificial intelligence threatens to take over the world. (Ha!) In the book, companies and governments are motivated to comply with the AI's demands by the threat of an unthinkable economic apocalypse. Well, since Mr. Suarez wrote Daemon, that apocalypse has become not only thinkable but, according to the news, actual. And although we may not have seen the worst yet, life goes on.

When we come out of this thing on the other side, will we as a country and a world be forever weakened? I doubt it. We may come out not only stronger but also, having passed a serious stress test, more aware of our strength than ever before.