Retro Tech Tuesday: Know this sound? If so, you're over 30

Today, we take you back to hear a sound that is so hauntingly familiar to many of us, that all these years later, its like reuniting with an old friend. Of course it was an old friend that often led to frustration. I speak of course, of the phone modem dialing sequence. Show of hands: who could tell whether the connection would be successful based on the tone sequence? Enjoy!

Retro Tech Tuesday: Cable TV vs. the Internet

Imagine a magical new technology, allowing you to take classes, pay bills, and even shop from the comfort of your home. It sounds a lot like the Internet today, but in the early 1970's this was also the promise of cable TV. Yes, lost in the 500-channel universe of today was all the promise and hope for two-way cable communications, way back when. Thanks to 60 Minutes, we can get in our magical time machine, and turn back to a time when it looked like cable TV could just about cure everything that ailed us. As a sidenote, it's interesting to hear the concerns that this box in your house was tantamount to "Big Brother." We scoff at giving away personal info left and right today. Hmm... maybe they were on to something...

Retro Tech Tuesday: Internet!

What would we do without YouTube? Today, we learn there's a sensation spreading across the globe at an alarming rate: Internet! This report from the CBC makes the internet seem, well, you can draw your own conclusions:

Tip of the hat to Gammasquad for finding this one.

Will Election Day Ever Be Online?

As we lineup across the U.S. to cast our votes (you are voting, aren't you?) the archaic nature of it all starts to sink in. In an age in which we can order pizza online, or pay taxes, we have to (for the most part) stand in line to wait to cast our ballots through a variety of methods. Why not cut out the middle man? Could we see voting from home anytime soon? There's several issues to consider: there would be no way to know whether the person was casting their vote under pressure, or with a watchful eye in the room. But given the perceived or real fraud/hack possibilities with today's methods, would internet voting really be any worse?
There are a few hundred people who will actually be voting via the internet this year. But this method utilizes "hardened" PCs on military bases, and isn't a practical way for millions to cast their votes. (As an aside, here's an interesting article on how astronauts in orbit will vote this year.)

Maybe this isn't a problem that requires technology. We could simply go to a mail-in ballot as Oregon has done. In theory, the same issues of intimidation are possible, but overall, Oregonians seem happy with the painless, line-free voting method. Technology, as much as we love it here at TDL, isn't always the answer.

The (digital) shadow knows...

A few weeks ago on our live show, we discussed a study that indicated so much data is flying around these days, that every last person is responsible for roughly 40GB of data.

But here's something related to consider. I call it the digital shadow. Think of all the email addresses you've had through the years: maybe a geocities here, a school email there... Now think of all the silly little websites you may have signed up/registered for using those emails. For all any of us know, the college hoops site you signed up with using your school email five years ago, may very well still be sending emails to your former address. Even if that account has been closed, that traffic still has to be routed far enough on the internet to get bounced.

When we hear about bandwidth issues and congestion on the internet, how much of it might not be do to our daily use at all? How much of it could be millions of emails being sent systematically to emails we no longer check, from sites we forgot existed.

About ten years ago, I signed up for an email address at the novelty @cheerful.com domain. Through the years, the domain has been shuffled to iname.com , and most recently mail.com . While the box has been auto-deleting all this time, I was still surprised to see emails from services I had long ago forgotten. While the trip down memory lane was fond, it was also the digital equivalent of a dripping faucet.

Just imagine how much bandwidth our combined "digital drip" could be using. Is there a solution? Well, it's a bit much to expect individuals to stay on top of every account they've ever had. In my example, it was tough just to figure out who administered the account after all these years. I'm not big fan of regulating the internet, but maybe companies should take an oath to voluntarily remove people from email lists (good luck!) after a certain period of inactivity. If I haven't logged into your site in a year, and you send me multiple warnings that my account (or at least emails to me) will stop in three months, then send multiple warnings, I think it's fair to delete my information.

What do you think? Is our digital shadow/ digital drip a real problem? Is there a way to realistically combat it?