Microsoft Portrait

"Microsoft Portrait is a research prototype for mobile video conferencing. It supports MSN Messenger and Internet Locator Service (ILS) on PCs, Pocket PCs and Handheld PCs. It runs on local area networks, dialup networks and even wireless networks with bandwidths as low as 9.6 kilobits/second." [via Bryce's Radio Experiments]

Imagine doing reference interviews this way!

When I first got digital cable, I noticed that a red light was lit on the front of the box box. Red lights are rarely good, and since I rarely read manuals, I started playing around and realized it was notification of a new message from my cable company (AT&T Broadband). I dutifully read the message (it was a welcome message, how nice) and deleted it, happily going about my business.

The next day, the red light was on again. For the sake of aesthetics on the box, I read the message in order to get rid of the red light. It was an ad for a pay-per-view event (wrestling, no less), so I deleted it and moved on. After a couple of weeks of constant messages that were of no importance to me (wrestling must be really popular with somebody, but it ain't me), I stopped reading my cable messages. They could highlight a pay-per-view rave of librarians reading books and I wouldn't know it now because I've blocked out the red light. They could be telling me the end of the world will be tomorrow and I would miss it because they've spammed me and I no longer trust them.

This is one of the major philosophical differences between the folks who have been making ReplayTVs and the BigCos. My ReplayTV also leaves me messages, but they didn't put a visible light on the box because they don't want to annoy me. So I found out the hard way that my Replay machine has been getting a busy signal from the server when it dials in at night - all of a sudden my channel guide was gone, which means no new recordings. When I went back and read through the messages, it had tried to notify me every day and had even noted that I should check the default phone numbers because they might have changed. Why can't I switch the red light from my cable box to my Replay?

Suggestion for SonicBlue: it would be really great if you could send those messages to my emailbox or news aggregator. I would happily trust you to do this because you don't spam me. Please don't take advantage of this, but you don't seem like the kind of company that would anyway. You guys rock!

Note to AT&T Broadband: stop spamming my cable box! Better yet, let me opt-in on your web site to those events about which I want to be notified. Get permission to send me stuff and I'll be much more likely to read it. It will help build up some trust, and I might stop ignoring you.