What's Up With CNet?

CNet must hate Apple. Earlier today, I got their "On the Go Weekly" email. In it, Molly Wood writes an opinion piece called "The iPod Shuffle: I don't get it." Basically it slams the iPod Shuffle and questions the sanity of anyone who would buy one -- or even dares to think its cool.

Every time I visit their home page I see some headline about the next Apple killer, or how the latest new product is better than [insert Apple product]. Today I was treated to two:

• You have to do more than look like an iPod to beat the Mac Mini -- Can Shuttle [XPC] do it?
• MP3 Players for Rhapsody 3.0 -- These six players can't wait to load up millions of songs from Real's iTunes killer.

Note to CNet: Get over yourself!

Again, Podcast Radio

The more I think about this the more ticked off this whole concept makes me. Over on Evil Genius Chronicles, Dave Slusher wonders, too, whether the public will be paid for their podcasts.

"The thing I have not noticed is any statement about how or whether they are paying the podcast producers. My guess is not. So, they are taking citizen media they get for free, airing it on an obscure AM station and getting paid for it."

He goes on to recommend podcasters avoid the whole scheme unless they get some compensation. Right on! These people at Infinity Broadcasting must be way out of touch. Stay tuned!

More on Podcast Radio

Yesterday, BusinessWeek's blog (www.blogspotting.com) included a post about Infinity's podcast radio format. They describe traditional radio as "under siege" from the tide of podcasting. Please...

Podcast Radio

Yesterday, Robert MacMillan wrote on washingtonpost.com about a story from wired.com of Infinity Radio's plans for an "all podcast" radio station in San Francisco. Infinity will convert AM station from a talk radio format to one that plays "podcasts" content sent in on their web site. This is an interesting development, but is it positive? Will Infinity pay the podcsters for their content? Seems like Infinity will just be soaking up free content? What kind of model is this?

MacMillan says Bloomberg out'ed Viacom's declining ad revenues. If the station's ratings are already in the dirt, then they have nothing to loose with the new format. But will this appeal to listeners? Won't the "all talk" listeners jump ship to another station? What about new audiences? I don't think it will play well with people already listening to podcasts. A podcast radio station "undoes" some of the advantages of podcasting: the listener choosing the content, choosing which to listen to and at what time to listen, and not being encumbered by geographic proximity or reception range. In their new model, Viacom/Infinity will still pick the content and play it at a time of their own choosing -- just like the regular radio. So the question is whether podcasts will appeal to radio listeners at large....

An interesting move, but it seems to me like a shot in the dark.

Inaugural Post

This is the inaugural post of DEFMUSE. I intend to write about national defense -- in which I have some interest and experience, technology -- which I think I know something about, and want to know more, and other things -- such as coffee, cars, and caving. Ok, "caving" is more correctly called "spelunking" but I needed another "c" word. Truth be told, I really want to write less about defense, and more about the rest of the stuff. I just wanted to use the name "DefMuse." In this first posting, I'll touch on all three areas.

With so many amazing things going on in the word, where to start. I'll start with some news I read recently: a man named Troels Overdal Poulsen, from Denmark, won the 2005 World Barista Championships held recently in Seattle. The competition requires baristas to prepare for the four judges three drinks in 15 minutes: an espresso, a cappuccino, and a "signature" beverage. Poulsen's signature creation was something with lavender and pepper.

In other news, the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, is well underway. There are a lot of people calling for a bigger Army. Some serious defense analysts --outside of government -- are calling for 100,000 more soldiers. You've got to wonder about that. For years Pentagon briefings have pondered the impact growing "entitlement programs," like social security and Medicare, will have on the defense budget. It's widely believed that the exponential growth in these expenditures will exert great pressure on the defense program (aka "defense spending"). More recently similar charts show the growing cost of "military entitlements" like Tricare and retirement benefits. Congressional action has extended benefits, like Tricare, to a greater portion of the nation's uniformed servicemembers and increased benefits to veterans. These "bills" within the defense program exert pressure on the Services' current operations & maintenance funds. These problems are compounded by increasing military end strength. In fact, the Air Force and Navy are voluntarily getting smaller, because they'd rather use their money modernizing equipment: its better to have fewer well equipped airmen or sailors than more of them with old stuff.

Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments published a report on military compensation. The defense budget is about $400 billion this year, not including supplemental costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. CSBA says that almost $139 billion, or 35% of this is for military compensation, compared with $70 billion for R&D, $79 billion for procurement of new equipment, with the remainder for operating funds & readiness. (Kosiak, p. 67) Further, the trend is toward greater per-servicemember expense. From 1987-2000, the military shed almost 800,000 active (-36%) and nearly 300,000 reserve (-25%) personnel. Yet today's compensation costs are nearly the same as the $140 billion they cost in 1987. (Kosiak, p. 65) The Kosiak report further suggests annual compensation costs will increase to as much as $207 billion by 2022, without increasing the size of the military force. (Kosiak, p. 69) This is largely due to in. Where will this funding come from? Transformation? Modernization and force transformation are clearly priorities of Mr. Rumsfeld. And the recent National Defense Strategy calls for adapting the military Services to better contend with irregular, disruptive, and catastrophic challenges. That doesn't sound like a strategy for spending less on R&D and procurement to me.

Finally, lets turn to technology. What is up with Verizon Wireless and the Treo 650? Are they ever going to get it? Rumors have been flying for some time, culminating in a teaser on Vzw's own web site. By all accounts, including first hand reports made directly to me, this is a great smart phone. These PC Magazine and CNet reviews seem pretty typical. But where is the phone on "America's Choice" network?

Am I the only one who is having trouble with the latest iPodder and iTunes? Ever since I installed iPodder 2.0 on my Thinkpad T30, I've suffered from iTunes lockups that seem to be related to iPodder checking for, or downloading podcasts. iPodder now seems to start up much more sluggishly than the previous version. That said, I really like the improved interface and features in version 2.

That wraps up this installment of DefMuse. Tune in again.