All Blog Posts from Tech Talk

Remember blogs? Oh, sure, there are still plenty of active and beloved blogs rippling through the interwebs. But as many of us find ways to compress our lives into 140 characters or less the traditional blog (seems odd to use the word "traditional" next to "blog" but there you go) seems to be losing some steam. It used to be that the media would quote politicians who posted on their Web site or refer to what a celebrity wrote on their blog. Blogs were (and can still be) THE place to find unfiltered analysis. These days, if you want to find a following or spout your observations to the masses, then you likely head to Twitter. But is all this linguistic distillation making people more concise or less thoughtful?

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I've been so busy lately (how busy?) that I've taken to updating my Twitter page (@siebergd) more often than my blog. That must say something about the pace of life and where 140 characters fits in. In any case, lots going on and expect more updates here soon. Meanwhile, I'm off to check out the Apple store crowd today and the response to the iPhone 3GS. Anyone having problems? It might even be time to upgrade my own original iPhone. And in other news, Google has released a new addition to its translate page: Farsi (Persian). Could this affect the flow of information coming out of Iran? Stay tuned.

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During a segment on the Early Show today Julie Chen asked me what happens when the Roku digital video player runs out of space. I responded by saying you need to cycle the content through but that's not entirely accurate. The Roku doesn't have a hard drive so it's purely streamed two minutes at a time. You choose your movie or TV show from Netflix or Amazon.com and within 10-15 seconds (depending on your internet connection) it starts playing. I hope this clarifies the capabilities of the device for everyone.

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How many times have you seen a close call on the roadway and wished you could do more than just shake your fist and shout some obscenities at the offending driver? (Without getting into any road rage.) Enter the internet. A slew of sites like platewire.com and lacantdrive.com allow people to post accounts, photos and even video of their harrowing encounters. There are also ones for people who can't seem to stay within the lines of a parking stall or cyclists who use helmetcams to show how they survive any near collisions. Call it: cyber-shaming. We'll examine the trend on Tuesday's Early Show.

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A Seattle-area tech company called Veratect is being given a lot of credit when it comes to early warnings about the spread of swine flu or H1N1. Using a combination of real and virtual intelligence-gathering, Veratect reportedly sent the first alerts to the Emergency Operations Center and Global Disease Detection Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's a theory that's echoed in an article from the Associated Press and a timeline of the outbreak in the Washington Post. In the latter example, the system designed to detect for such outbreaks is criticized for not reacting fast enough. It begs the question -- is there a bigger role for technology to play in these types of medical emergencies and how can the reliability be improved?

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Regular readers of this blog will know that producer Jack Renaud and I recently traveled to Lima, Peru, as part of a story on micro-finance operations like Microplace.com and Kiva.org. We "followed the money" as a young man in Harlem, NY, invested in poor female entrepreneurs there. Tonight we'll introduce you to one of the women who's benefiting from his generosity, and the twist -- he's actually getting a 3 percent return on his investment. (It's not a donation since he gets his loan paid back with the additional 3 percent.) It's an idea that's gaining momentum as traditional banks lose some of their luster as a place to put your money. Plus, you get that (priceless) warm and fuzzy feeling. I hope you'll watch the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric as we explore this idea and try to connect the dots. You could say we're trying to go the extra (3,600) miles to illustrate a bright spot in this difficult economy.

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It's the worm that just won't die. In fact, quite the opposite -- it's come back to life. The "Conficker" computer worm has baffled security experts for months and spread to millions of machines worldwide. On April 1 -- because of clues found in the coding -- some people thought it would spring to action after lying dormant for so long. It did not, and the internet survived. But that didn't mean "Conficker" was a dud. Rather, the clever creators appeared to be biding their time. This week the infected computers began receiving new instructions, and it seems this digital assault is far from over. Tune in tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric to see the latest chapter in this case of cyber thievery.

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A short posting today but wanted to encourage everyone to watch the CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor on Saturday night. We'll be updating our story from last year about the massive die-off of bats in the northeast. The phenomenon has spread from four states to eight, and hundreds of thousands of them are dying from a mysterious condition. The leading cause is the so-called "white nose syndrome" or fungus that appears on their snouts. But researchers aren't sure if that's the cause or a symptom of something larger. And why should we care about bats? They are a critical part of the eco-system in controlling bug and pest populations from moths to mosquitoes. And their decline in numbers will have a serious impact on forests, crops, and eventually food prices. I hope you'll be watching.

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As you probably know, CBS bought CNET (and various other properties including the news.com domain name) for $1.8 billion back in May. And as I should hope you know, CNET is the authority when it comes to tech news and reviews. I know that sounds biased, but I've read CNET for many years and worked with the folks there since I was at CNN. It's the real deal. Now that we're one big (dys)functional family (I kid, I kid), there are plenty of opportunities for crossover. That may include seeing Natali Del Conte on the Early Show, or it may include your truly being part the Buzz Out Loud (or BOL) podcast. Check out our take on the Windows 7 release date, the UNIX calendar celebration and “citizen journalists.”

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On January 20th, President Obama introduced Whitehouse.gov 3.0 (Clinton and Bush had their versions too) and this week UK's Queen Elizabeth is launching a new version of The Official Web Site of the British Monarchy.

I'm not exactly a monarchist but I must admit getting just a little excited about all the pomp and tradition of the royal family. The site, which was first launched in 1997, is the place for all things British royal including pictures of Her Majesty and the rest of the family, art from her various palaces and historical information about the Royals.

New to the site are embedded videos from the official Royal YouTube Channel including one from 1940 that has the sound of young "Princess Elizabeth" speaking on the BBC Children's hour. Other videos cover the coronation of the queen and some show her recent activities.

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