The Wondering Mind

Am I missing something, or is this reporter missing something? If I read this article in the NY Times correctly, consumer demand for flat-screen TV’s is predicted to drop, causing over-capacity in the production of these units. So how is this not good news for the consumers, and how are prices going to remain stable or fall less slowly than in the past?

I get that building more efficient facilities are being delayed, which would affect future price drops. But these manufacturers have already spent hundreds of millions, if not billions, on plants to build the TV’s, and they are running at only 80% capacity. That probably means that they are losing money, since such operations have high fixed costs, related to the high cost of building the manufacturing facilities.

If anything, the delay in capital investments is likely to affect the introduction of the next generation technologies, such as OLED screens, which are brighter, have better response times, and are more energy efficient. The need to find greater efficiencies in existing technologies and facilities, however, will still be there, same as ever, if not more urgently.

In the past, the market has responded to falling consumer demand with manufacturers cutting prices to get the goods moving. It’s amazing how much efficiencies these manufacturers find in their existing facilities when they have to, without building more modern facilities.

I expect the same will happen this time around. After all, the manufacturers cannot just simply stop manufacturing because consumers won’t buy.

According to this article in the NY Times, there is now a service which lets you make free calls to any number in the U.S. after watching a short ad.

As you may have guessed, you watch the ad on your PC and make the call on your PC, if you have a broadband connection. The calls are up to 2 minutes or 15 minutes, depending on whether you register for the service.

The reporter suggests that the service may be useful for making quick calls, especially when on the road, without racking up long distance charges. I doubt that, at least within the U.S.

Fact is, if you have access, or are able to get access, to a PC with broadband access, you probably have a cell phone. It would be much easier to make that call on your cell phone than getting to a PC, hooking it up to broadband, and then setting it up so that you can make a call. The last point, as anyone who has used a PC for telecommunications can attest, is not necessarily as easy as it should be. Especially when you consider you may have to set it up for a private call in a public setting.

It may be more attractive if one is traveling outside the U.S., since roaming or long distance charges may be more significant. But again, the technical details of setting up the call on a PC are likely to be very unattractive for most people.

This post about a proposed fleet of ships traveling the world’s oceans trying to cool the globe has more than a hint of the sci-fi about it. So it immediately reminded me of one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

As I recall, the inhabitants of this particular planet used technology which caused terrible pollution, and set up devices which were designed to counteract their effects. It didn’t work out too well for those people either.

Not to appeal to the now hackneyed Occam’s razor, but is it just me, or is it crazy to spew out pollution and then create devices (which use energy and therefore also cause more pollution) to clear it up?

Those uber-geeks are Google have come up with a new feature for Gmail.

If you are someone who is prone to drunk-emailing people, this feature is designed to help you out.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?

So it’s not going to help you when you hit that “Send All” button, or misspell the recipient’s address, but it might even help you out if you are trying to send an angry e-mail. (You may be calmer by the time you’ve figured out those puzzles or forgotten what the fuss is all about.)

I would think this is something that would be way, way more valuable on a cell phone though. I mean I have a PC on most of the time I’m awake and I have never even thought to drunk e-mail anyone. But I’ve heard plenty of drunk messages left on people’s voice-mails sent from cell phones while the owner is still at the bar…

Apparently the French have found that Mac Pros emit benzene. What the article doesn’t mention is that benzene is not only poisonous, but is classified as a carcinogen.

You’d think Steve Jobs would get right on that…