Red Herring Magazine — The invisible secretary
September 25, 2003 SRI International is using a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop new technology that could replace people with machines. In this case, the carbon-based forms in danger are secretaries. Like any living, breathing American secretary, this digital creation has to understand English, answer the phone, schedule meetings, and reply to email. (No running out for Krispy Kremes just yet.) The assistant, much like a school child, is expected to learn over time and pass exams each year. Wired News article here. Download article REDHERRINGsri.pdf
Red Herring Magazine — Little Progress
October 15, 2003 You could call him the real Agent Mulder. Like that indefatigable character from The X Files television series, Jonathan Trent, an astrobiologist with NASA, is driven by a curiosity to and life-forms that can exist on other planets. Online Version available HERE. Download PDF REDHERRINGLittleprogress.pdf
Red Herring Magazine — Ireland’s Don Quixote
July 2002 Wind energy company Airtricity plans to construct an off-shore wind farm. Online version Here. Download PDF REDHERRINGireland.pdf
Red Herring Magazine — ETrade or Vegas?
January 2000 Between showgirls, prime rib dinners, and helpful croupiers, Las Vegas can be a better bet than Wall Street. Online version here. Download pdf REDHERRINGetrade.pdf
Red Herring Magazine — Day trade-off
January 2000 
Internet trading seems like a stress-free way to earn money. Run a bath, place a trade, dry off, and count your earnings. How can you lose? After all, there is no end to the market’s rising fortunes. Wrong. Even on a good day, getting in and out of a stock at precisely the right time is as risky as placing your chips on the roulette table. Online version Here. Download pdf REDHerringdaytrade.pdf
Lab Rat: A visionary enterprise
Red Herring June 12, 2001 Lab Rat: Picture this: a tourist on vacation, motoring down the Mall in London. To his left is St. James’s Park; ahead is a large, stately building. He wonders what it is, but he’s far too busy negotiating the perils of wrong-side driving to check his pocket guide to Great Britain. A visionary enterprise
Lab Rat: Let’s play with Microsoft
Red Herring April 5, 2001 Lab Rat: Realism has always been the Holy Grail for both animators and game developers. Games often live or die on their creator’s ability to program personality into their characters; just look at how Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft has become a superstar. But currently, game development companies have to pay programmers buckets of cash to achieve those personal touches. Lab Rat_ Let’s play with Microsoft
Lab Rat: Medicine balls
Red Herring March 22, 2001 Lab Rat: For 15 years, oncologist Dr. Uri Sagman, M.D., treated cancer patients in Toronto, Canada. As such, he had to live with the grim reality of the disease, like when a 20-year-old woman with breast cancer walked into his office holding a baby in her arms, and he had to tell her she was going to die. Medicine balls
Lab Rat: Software agents get smart
Red Herring March 8, 2001 Lab Rat: How do you solve the problem of high-tech security breaches? Would you believe autonomous software agents that roam computer networks looking for intruders?
Lab Rat: Kill your PC
Redherring.com, February 22, 2001 Michael Dertouzos does not pull punches when he talks about the future of desktop computing — and for good reason. As the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Computer Science , he spends considerable time every day thinking and working on future desktop projects. His assessment is clear: the current computing infrastructure is inadequate. He says this stems from the fact that the average person gets about 20 emails a day and spends three minutes dealing with each one. More messages means less time to deal with them — especially as email traffic increases tenfold over the next few years. (You do the math.) Kill your pc
Lab Rat: Smart technology trounces traders
Redherring.com, February 8, 2001 IBM researchers pit intelligent agent technology against commodities traders and our trusty reporter. Guess who wins?
Lab Rat: Irish science is smiling
Redherring.com, January 26, 2001 During Bill Clinton’s third and final visit to Ireland as President of the United States in December, he told the Irish people that peace in their country depended on building upon its recent economic progress. Irish science is smiling
Lab Rat: Carnegie Mellon India
Redherring.com, January 11, 2001 At an Internet cafe in Delhi, India, up to 80 students sit pensively studying their computer screens. For some, it’s just like any other Internet cafe, but for others it’s a virtual university where they can take computer science courses offered by Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Carnegie Mellon India
Lab Rat: Satellite imaging’s picture still fuzzy
Redherring.com, December 28, 2000 In 1998, the U.S. government wanted to verify claims that Serbians were slaughtering ethnic Albanians Satellite imaging’s picture still fuzzy
Lab Rat: Designer hearts
Redherring.com, January 05, 2001 If Peter Johnson gets his way, scientists will be able to design a human heart, liver, or pair of lungs in much the same way engineers design a car — using computer-aided design. for robots is remote presence — in battle, in policing, on the playground, and even in the home and office. (RED HERRING)
Think Fast
From the December 18, 2000 issue Lab Rat: Distributed computing can make the Net smarter and faster. Think fast
From the December 04, 2000 issue Every six months, Silicon Valley gets excited about a new technology: think push, think Java, think B2B. Evangelists start spouting phrases like paradigm shift and inflection point, and soon after a dozen ventures burn though several billion dollars, one company emerges victorious, one is bought by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) or some other megacorporation, and the rest go to the scrap heap. Think P2P.
Movie networks
From the November 13, 2000 issue Each evening during the postproduction of Mission: Impossible 2, special effects wizards in London were zipping viewing clips across the Atlantic over a network to director John Woo for his approval. It was nothing short of a revolution in big-budget filmmaking. movie_networks
Lab Rat: Robots have feelings, too
Redherring.com, November 30, 2000 Rodney Brooks, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, believes that the killer application for robots is remote presence — in battle, in policing, on the playground, and even in the home and office. Robots have feelings, too
Lab Rat: Carnegie Mellon’s robo-nurse
Redherring.com, November 02, 2000 The Washington Post recently dubbed Pittsburgh, the former steel capital of the United States, “Robo-berg.” Lab Rat_ Carnegie Mellon’s robo-nurse
Lab Rat: There’s no computer like no computer
Redherring.com, October 19, 2000 In ten years’ time, if you’re aware that you’re using a computer then IBM research will have failed. Lab Rat_ There’s no computer like no computer
Lab Rat: Small Talk
Redherring.com, October 5, 2000 Nanotechnology isn’t just science fiction anymore, thanks in part to companies like Zyvex. Lab Rat_ Small talk
Autopilot engaged
From the October 2000 issue Every day, test drivers from DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX)’s Mercedes-Benz division take a 90-mile-an-hour spin down Germany’s Autobahns. Auto pilot engaged
Lab Rat_ Actually, this is rocket science, part 2
Redherring.com, September 21, 2000 In the quantum computing community, IBM (NYSE: IBM) research scientist Nabil Amer is an odd fish. While most scientists are frustrated by the fact that if you touch, tamper with, or even look at the atoms in a quantum computer, you distort the results, he embraces the principle. Lab Rat_ Actually, this is rocket science, part 2
Lab Rat: Actually, this is rocket science
Redherring.com, September 14, 2000 Moore’s Law — the tenet that says the number of transistors (and therefore the performance) on a microprocessor doubles every 18 months — will run out of steam around 2012. Lab Rat_ Actually, this is rocket science
The net result
From the September 2000 issue Thirty years ago, some marketing genius took the god-awful dehydrated foodstuff used by the military and sold it to an unwitting public. Instant mashed potatoes, instant meals in a cup, and instant soup became instant culinary delights. The net result
Brain damage
September 1, 2000 Since the first yuppies held brick-size cell phones to their ears, the question has loomed. Do cell phones cause brain damage to the 200 million people who use them? The Swedish say yes, the Americans say no, and the British say maybe but don’t give them to children. Some say you’re more likely to die from using a cell phone while driving than from brain cancer. Brian Damage
Weird science
August 1, 2000 Cryonics, the science of freezing a human brain or whole body and thawing it in the future to bring it back to life, seems like a good way to get a second opinion. After all, future medical research is likely to find a cure for cancer, heart disease, and possibly even old age. But “rising from the dead” could create some complex legal and financial problems. Weird Science
Clique here
From the August 2000 issue There is a class struggle at work in the U.S. robotics industry. It’s really a case of white-collar computer scientists versus blue-collar engineers. The brains that build artificially intelligent robots for academia pooh-pooh the chumps that build muscle-bound dolts for industry. The engineers, on the other hand, view the academics’ creations as smart but useless. Clique here
Obsolescent home collection
From the August 2000 issue Robert Doerr runs Robots Wanted, a kind of retirement home and hospice where old robots can while away their last days in a loving environment. Obsolescent home collection
Product line Motorola’s (you know, like) rad pager.
From the August 2000 issue If Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has its way, the new Talkabout T900 two-way pager will be the communications device to have in schools and colleges in the fall semester Product line Motorola’s (you know, like) rad new pager
Can Iceland run on hydrogen?Â
From the July 2000 issue Why everyone is watching the world’s first major effort to replace fossil fuels with fuel cells. Can Iceland run on hydrogen
The next Intel? Ballard Power
From the July 2000 issue Firoz Rasul, CEO of Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP), thinks his company can do for cars what Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has done for PCs. But instead of “Intel Inside,” its war cry is “Powered by Ballard.”
Handheld devices: revolution at hand
From the May 2000 issue We are entering the age of technofashion: digital jewelry, hip gadgets, and smart-looking computers. Handheld devices_ revolution at hand
Pocket projector
From the May 2000 issue Martin Eberhard, the erudite founder of NuvoMedia, believes that by 2005 people will be much more comfortable carrying an electronic book than a dog-eared paperback. Pocket projector
Why e-tailers are testing the waters after jumping in.
From the May 2000 issue The venerable Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) test-marketed the home dry-cleaning product Dryel on 150,000 households for more than three years before introducing it late last year. Why e-tailers are testing the waters after jumping in
Ballpark figures
From the April 2000 issue Solely as a publicity stunt, online test-market research firm InsightExpress sought to gauge the effectiveness of the many outrageously expensive TV commercials aired during the Super Bowl. “We sent out the survey at 11 p.m. Sunday night, following the Super Bowl,” says Lee Smith, executive vice president of in Greenwich, Connecticut. “By 9 a.m. Monday we had 650 completed surveys. FDX ‘s Land of Oz and the EGRP monkey were the favorites.” Ballpark figures
Odd jobs
May 2000 It’s midnight and “Mudge,” a hacker with near-cult status in the computer underground, is working late. A can of Guinness sits on the corner of his desk in a clubhouse-cum-computer lab west of Boston. For the past five years, this warehouse loft has housed Mudge, Dildog, and the five other hackers collectively known as . Mudge’s current task is to produce a paper for the , which co�rdinates information defense between such dot-mil and dot-gov heavyweights as the and the Odd jobs
Biotech: the new crusades
From the April 2000 issue A small truck races along the cobbled streets of the 14th-century English university town of Cambridge. Biotech- the new crusades
U.K. biotech’s magician
From the April 2000 issue Dr. Christopher Evans is your typical old-school entrepreneur. In 1987, he quit his job at GENZYME, a commercial enzyme manufacturer; sold his house and car; rented a cottage on the outskirts of Cambridge; and with $64,000 started Enzymatix, a microbial technology company. U.K. biotech’s magician
Serial portals
From the March 2000 issue One way of attacking the wickedly fragmented small-business market is to offer a product that every company needs, like accounting software, office supplies, or, these days, Web-site creation. Another approach — unimaginable before the Internet — is to be all things to all businesses. Serial portals
ETrade or Vegas?
From the February 2000 issue Between showgirls, prime rib dinners, and helpful croupiers, Las Vegas can be a better bet than Wall Street. RED HERRING | ETrade or Vegas
From the February 2000 issue Bathrobes are optional, but the wins aren’t guaranteed. RED HERRING | Day trade-off
Nanotechnology
From the January 2000 issue For decades, skeptics have dismissed molecular nanotechnology as the science of crackpots and visionaries. Nanotechnology
T-commerce takes off
From the January 2000 issue Everybody agrees that the future of television is digital. Those little ones and zeros will stream into living rooms and get even confirmed couch potatoes to lean forward and interact
Name that tune
December 1999 issue Liquid Audio has great promise but little time. The company, which went public on July 9, provides software, services, and systems integration to the record industry, and is well placed to dominate the digital music sector.
Fox’s new media marriage produces progeny
Wednesday, November 10, 1999 Take the best of what Silicon Valley has to offer — entrepreneurial spirit, electronic-commerce know-how, and money — and marry it with the best of what Hollywood has to offer: talent and the ability to capture and keep an audience. The result is the Fox Foundry, a unit of Fox Television Studios (NYSE: FOX) that aims to be a type of incubator for converging Web and TV entertainment businesses. (RED HERRING)
Portals Pump Up Mom and Pop
Monday, November 1, 1999 For decades America’s most abused community, the small business (less than 100 employees) has been ignored by retailers who offer low rates to consumers and negotiate … (RED HERRING)
Hackers go corporate
Monday, October 25, 1999 Mockery is catching. This year’s Def Con hackers’ conference had all the corporate professionalism of a mainstream computer industry event. And the more the hackers strove to subvert their commercial adversaries, the more they became like the company they love to hate: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). (RED HERRING)
One to watch – Silicon Systems provides next-generation chip designs
Monday, October 25, 1999 Even if you have never heard of Silicon Systems, you probably know some of its biggest licensees, including Texas Instruments, Lucent Technologies, and STMicroelectronics. The privately … (RED HERRING)
Human touch
Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Electronic commerce systems designed to minimize the role of humans in retail transactions may be fine for books and CDs, but they are not adequate for more specialized purchases. … (RED HERRING)
Wanted: Help!
Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Finding people to work in the Internet economy has reached a crisis level. There are simply not enough qualified people — those with both business and engineering expertise — to go around. Thus, the workers Internet and electronic-commerce companies end up hiring often fall far short of expectations. Wanted_ Help!
Star search
Wednesday, October 13, 1999 For Internet startups, going public is the easy part. The hard part is surviving Wall Street after the flotation. To succeed, they need a team of seasoned professionals familiar with running a public company.
Seeing green?
Tuesday, September 28, 1999 In these days of surreal Internet company valuations that put potential over profit, it’s the rare Web business that is in the black. We analyze four of this unique specimen.
Ireland
Tuesday, September 7, 1999 Ireland is booming. In the last 20 years the country has attracted roughly 500 multinational companies to its shores. Now, encouraged by a new entrepreneurial spirit and financed by an aggressive new breed of venture capitalist, Ireland is ready for phase two of its growth: creating a homegrown high-tech industry. Ireland