The "Information Age" . . . .

OK, so the dot.com bubble of the '90s has burst. Let's get over it. We are still in the "Information Age" and we have a lot of work left to do to make it more of a reality.

I believe the foundations, the very basic of the building blocks, have been laid. We now use, and spend money (the consumers vote) on, applications built and provided over the Web. Applications that help us

• pay our bills
• buy 'stuff' without a trip to the store, stuff like books, clothing, electronic items and automobiles
• and even with sharing our thoughts (like this)
  

But I firmly believe 10 years from now we will be using more services that leverages the Internet without realizing it. For example, technologies, or combinations of technologies if you will, such as VoIP and broadband will allow us affordable "Video Conferencing" that could literally replace our need / dependency on phone (both the regular and the mobile types).

Or if we would allow our imagination to expand, we could have "smart card" that any device (car, stereo etc) could be swipe and "know" that it was "I" and consecuently connect the device to other appropriate resources (the stereo would connect to my music collection, the car would start, or not, by itself etc).

The technological barries at this time are security, bandwidth, infrastructure. All of these are related to Networking (wired, wireless, broadband and security).

While we're waiting for technolgy to catch up, there are some services that can already be implemented. Electronic Ticketing is probably the time (and environment ;o) ) saving tool. We could take this to the next level by allowing the Traveler and the Transportation provider to interact. For example, 2 hours prior to a Flight the airline can send e-mail, page etc to the passenger and the passenger at that point could have an option to let the airline know if [s]he will not be making it or confirm the seat that was assigned.

- manzoor

Dot's Place - no more :o(

"Dot's Place", a local favorite, has been burned down by a fire. I'd only been there once. The food was . . . OK. But that's most likely because I haven't grown up with "soul food" and haven't really grown the taste for it.

- manzoor

Ramadan 2004 . . . .

Yeap, it's time to fast again. But it's more than just fasting.

I don't consider myself to be a religious (or a very strict praticiing religious) person, Ramadan has been one of the practices that I have practiced fairly regularly for some time now. Not exactly sure, but I think I've been doing it since 6^th / 7^th grade. So, for about 20 years (give or take a couple) now I've been fasting for about a month (29 or 30 days) every year.

Unfortunately this year I didn't find out that the new moon was sighted Thursday (Oct 14^th) evening till I was having coffee and reading the paper Friday morning :o( Which wouldn't really be a big deal (I miss a couple every year for various reasons anyway) except the fact that

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