Mike's List
Bringing Down the Internet

THE "i" IN "INTERNET" is universally capitalized when used as a noun. For about a decade now, I've argued (mainly with myself, as well as copy editors I've worked with) that "Internet" should always begin with a lowercase letter i, as in "internet," unless it begins a sentence. Like my ongoing campaign to build a magnetically levitated underwater high-speed rail link between San Jose, California, and Waimea Bay in Hawaii, I've always assumed it was a losing battle.

But now there's hope.

An upcoming book by Joseph Turow called "The Wired Homestead: An Mit Press Sourcebook on the Internet and the Family" lowercases the "i" in internet. Turow is a professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He's an expert on how people use technology.

Turow's belief is that the internet has become so commonplace, so integrated into our lives that it should be lowercased. He told the New York Times that "The capitalization of things seems to place an inordinate, almost private emphasis on something." It makes "the Internet" a brand, like Tide or Nike.

I suspect that the internet was originally capitalized by scientists and other geeks -- its original users -- out of awe and respect. The internet is awesome and respectable, but that's a bad reason to capitalize something.

(By the way, words like "telegraph" and "phonograph" were also capitalized when they were new technologies, but were gradually lowercased in common usage.)

I've been told that "the Internet," like "the Earth," must be capitalized because "there's only one of them," and so it's a proper noun.

Technically, the internet is a single, big, interconnected thing, but so are a lot of big interconnected (and lowercased) things, like "the ocean," and "the sky," and "the air." Or, more analogous, "the telephone system," and "the mail."

Another strike against the "proper noun" argument: When the "Internet II" project is launched, will we suddenly lowercase the word internet?

I think it's time to join Turow and start lowercasing internet -- as well as web and e-mail while we're at it. What do you think?

Found Video

If you saw the recent James Bond flick, you'll remember that the movie's only redeeming quality was a self-camouflaging Aston Martin, which worked by recording video of the background and displaying it on the car's surface in real time. Various research organizations are working on that very technology, and some are further along than you might think. Here's a video demonstration of the concept by researchers at the Tachi Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. And another. And another.  

Bad Robots

Chinese scientists have built a robot that can do Tai Chi, the meditation martial art that millions of old Chinese people and young Californians do in the park. Called BHR-1, the robot, which has 32 joints, is a project of the Beijing University of Science and Engineering under China's High and New Technology Research and Development Program, according to the Xinhua news agency. The robot can't do any functional work, but is very relaxed and is expected to last 120 years.

Proof You Can Buy Anything on the Web

Why buy another boring putty-colored computer, when you can fire up your browser and buy a boring wooden PC? Wood Contour Inc. sells PC peripherals made out of Beech, Oak, Alder, Maple, Ash, Cherry, Walnut or Pear.

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Lying with PhotoShop

Richard de Vries is a rabid enthusiast for his SmartCab, a tiny European car that looks like a golf cart. He likes to transform his diminutive auto into all manner of exotic vehicles, including airplanes, military vehicles and even a roller-coaster -- all using PhotoShop.

Mike's List on the Radio

Craig Crossman's Computer America features Mike Elgan every Thursday night. The show runs from 8pm to 9pm SVT (Silicon Valley Time). Listen to Computer America on your local Business TalkRadio station or over the Internet every weeknight. Don't miss Computer America!

Cell Phone Follies

At last! A condescending cell phone for women. Samsung's SGH-T700 is designed to look like a make-up case. It includes a calorie counter, bio rhythm calendar and scheduling applications for those important hair appointments. The phone has a host of other advanced features, but don't you worry your pretty little head about all that. The phone is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2003.

Sign of the Times

Geek Maids is a maid service staffed entirely by "downsized" software programmers and other out-of-work geeks. After they clean the toilet, scrub the floors and dust the furniture, they'll build you a web site, filter your spam and register your domain name. And they do windows!

Hollywood Spy

You may have seen the "Matrix: Reloaded" trailer on the official web site. But have you seen the Japanese TV commercial? It's on the Internet, if you know where to look.

Unanticipated Convergence

Your mouse is ringing. The $25 Tel-Mouse is a combination telephone and PC mouse.

Reader E-Mail

Mike,
Thank you for linking to my web site, Virtual Oscilloscope. You wrote that the oscilloscope simulator "lets you plug in your MP3 files and monitor the signal." I wish that was true. The virtual oscilloscope is actually able to read custom signals, but only if you have the source code for it. The online version is an e-learning module only. Four different cables contain prepared signals and can be "measured" with it. I just wanted to drop you this note to be fair. Thank you anyway a lot for the link.
Peter Debik

Reader Web Site o' the Week

My friend Diganta Majumder, who you may remember from Windows Magazine, is now editing an "online scandal sheet for the tech industry" called The Tip (www.the-tip.com). The site is aimed at full-time technology journalists, tech-industry insiders and Mike's List reader types.

Get YOUR web site on the high-traffic Mike's List Reader Links page. HERE'S HOW! 

Gotta-Get-It Gadgets

It's time to put away those Pringles cans. Soon there will be a more dignified way to hunt for open Wi-Fi connections to illegally tap into. A new credit-card sized gadget called Wi-Fi Sniffer from iDetect finds available 802.11 connections with the push of a button. iDetect Technology spokesman Sio Peng told me the product is not yet available, but that iDetect is "talking to distributors." I'll keep you posted on this product as it comes to market.

vigiWATCH is the name of both a new Swiss company and their new watch. It's the smallest radiation detector in the world, according to company shills. You'll be the first to know when Al Qaeda unleashes a dirty bomb in your area. And it even tells the time!

The new Stereo Groove Bag from Felicidade features a compartment for an iPod and built-in speakers! As far as I can tell, it's available only in Japan and costs 10,800 Yen.

The UK's Spy Shop online store offers a $564 cell phone called the Enigma Device. It's a real cell phone but with a difference: You call a special number and can hear any sound within range of its special, highly sensitive microphone. It's the perfect gift for enemy spies, business competitors and cheating spouses.

Wacky Web Sites

Meet Dominique, a face for your desktop. As you pass your mouse pointer over her eyes, nose and mouth, she does weird things. Not to be confused with other online body parts.

Match Heads is a web site about the artist David Mach, who makes elaborate sculptures out of matches... And then lights them!

Remember when you were a kid and wrote notes to your mom using letter magnets on the refrigerator? With a web site called Frosty Welcome, you still can. Make your note and send it to mom via e-mail.

If you died, how would all your online buddies know? If you lay awake at night worrying about this, here's a web site you'll really like: Died Online. You add special HTML code on your web site, in your email signature and in your AIM sub-profile, and it will automatically display a message as to whether or not you're alive or dead. You simply log on to the web site within a time period you specify (such as weekly). If you don't log on, the message tells friends and colleagues that you're dead. It's that easy!

The Letter Project gives you a place to type anything -- such as "another pointless web site" -- and watch your words displayed by people holding hand-drawn cards.

Sometimes the easiest way to design a web site is to copy and paste from somebody else's web site. The only downside is that it's unethical, illegal and just plain stupid. Especially now: A web site called Pirated Sites tells who stole whose web site, names names, and puts up side-by-side examples of the original and stolen designs.

The Speed Trap Exchange is a place to find out where police hide, then pounce on unsuspecting drivers -- and to enter the speed traps you've had a chance to encounter.

Duct Tape Fashion: Martha Stewart meets ToolTime.

The World RPS Society web site is devoted to the international sport of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Why drop acid when you have web sites like this?

Twisted Games

Happy Pill

Neighbor Wars

The Seagull Strikes Back

The Old West Shoot 'Em Up

Follow-Up

I told you about the Prodikeys keyboard from Singapore's Creative Technology Ltd, which combines a PC keyboard with a piano keyboard, last July. At the time, Prodikeys was being marketed exclusively to children in Japan, China and Singapore, which I said was a huge mistake. I wrote that "adult sound hackers and other musical geeks would love using this as their main PC keyboard." So imagine my surprise when, during a weekly pilgrimage to my local Fry's, I saw the Prodikeys keyboard conspicuously displayed. You can also buy it online for $100.

I get hundreds of reader e-mail messages per week, so I can publish only a tiny fraction of them. I reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Send comments to: mike@mikeslist.com

Last Week's Mystery Pic

No, it's not a "portable respirator for Michael Jordan (#23)," an "easy-to-read IQ display," or even "grown up Teletubbies." It's a picture of France Telecom Japan staff Aya Imai, left, and her French colleague engineer and researcher Emmanuel Deflin showing the French state-controlled telecom company's jacket and backpack, respectively, woven with wearable screens during a demonstration at the company's office in Tokyo recently. Optical fibers processed with multiple point lateral illumination are woven into cloth to display designs, letters and moving images. Congratulations to Sylve M. Davus, of Winter Park, Florida, for being first with the right answer. 

Mystery Pic o' the Week

What is it? Send YOUR guess to mysterypic@mikeslist.com (be sure to say where you live). If you're first with the right answer, I'll print your name in the next issue of Mike's List!

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