[Paleopsych] So Long, Elevator Friends

[Steve]

A bureaucracy brings you safe drinking water,
your electric lights, the roads you drive on,
the chair you sit on...  on and on  :-)

Without bureaucracies you are dead.  Literally.

That is not to say that all bureaucracies are good
or efficient.  But the world runs on them, and
cannot run without them.  Private companies
are bureaucracies too.

Steve Hovland
www.stevehovland.net

-----Original Message-----
From:	Premise Checker [SMTP:checker at panix.com]
Sent:	Tuesday, July 27, 2004 10:37 AM
To:	paleopsych at paleopsych.org; World Transhumanist Ass.; Individual Sovereignty; Psychology at WTL
Subject:	[Paleopsych] So Long, Elevator Friends

Scroll down to "elevator music." There are a great many people where I 
work that are so psychotic (i.e., detached from reality) that they believe 
the bureaucracy accomplishes useful things. And these people are so urgent 
about their work that they continue charging past you as you try to talk 
to them and shout their answers at you, the way Teddy Kennedy makes 
reporters chase after him.

They will, however, talk to you while waiting for the elevator (until 
someone who shares their psychosis turns up). I call them my "elevator 
friends." The news item suggests that they will be my friends no more, for 
they will be able to read elevator news instead of talking.

-----------------

Wired News: Handheld Computer-Phone Is Here
http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64345,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7
    08:40 AM Jul. 26, 2004 PT

    T-Mobile USA and Hewlett-Packard will introduce the first-ever
    handheld computer that also works as a cell phone and can tap into the
    Internet using high-speed wireless hot spots next month, the companies
    said.

    T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom, said it expects the
    HP iPAQ Pocket PC h6315 to boost use of its mobile phone service and
    its high-speed short-range networks known as Wi-Fi hot spots in cafes
    and book stores.

    As well as carrying phone calls, the device, only available from
    T-Mobile USA, also has links for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, another
    short-range wireless standard used to connect items such as handsets
    and headphones. It goes on sale in August, the companies said, and
    will cost $500.

    - - -

    Beyond DVD: The Japanese unit of Microsoft said the company's
    next-generation operating system, Longhorn, would be compatible with
    HD DVD, an advanced form of DVD technology.

    The show of support from Microsoft is considered a boost
    for the next-generation, blue-laser DVD technology, which is promoted
    by Japanese conglomerates NEC and Toshiba.

    Blue light, with a shorter wavelength than the red laser used in
    conventional DVD recorders, can read and store data at the higher
    densities needed for high-definition recordings.

    - - -

    Elevator music is out: Gannett and a young company the media giant
    bought in April are teaming up to cash in on those awkward moments of
    avoiding eye contact that can make an elevator a place of silent
    suffering.

    Enter elevator video. Gannett and Captivate Network, along
    with a handful of smaller foreign and domestic rivals, see the
    elevator as a sort of upwardly mobile theater where viewers can digest
    news headlines, sports scores, weather updates and -- of course --
    advertisements.

    For better or worse, the companies are persuading skyscraper building
    managers to pay to install the flat screens in their elevators. The
    screens provide a silent, video-only stream of media content. Part of
    the screen is devoted to text and graphics supplied by media partners
    such as CNN, The Weather Channel and The Wall Street Journal, with a
    smaller section featuring ads.

    - - -

    Wearable music: A new jacket from Rosner, a German clothing firm,
    incorporates a 128-MB MP3 player that is controlled through cloth
    buttons on the left sleeve. Headphones are built into the collar.

    The jacket also has a hands-free cell phone microphone tucked into the
    collar, which works with phones on the Bluetooth short-range wireless
    standard. A tiny electronic module containing the music player and the
    battery, which the company says is good for up to eight hours per
    charge, can be slipped out so the jacket can be washed.

    Rosner and its electronics partner, German computer chipmaker Infineon
    Technologies, said the limited-edition garment is "geared toward
    technologically progressive, fashion-conscious men." Priced at $725,
    it will be available through the Rosner website starting in August
    for delivery in February.

    - - -

    Sun on sale: Sun Microsystems has rolled out new servers and
    workstations based on industry-standard components and cut the price
    for an entry-level product.

    The new Sun Fire V40z server uses four Advanced Micro Devices Opteron
    microprocessors per box, twice the number of its previous Sun Fire
    servers. Sun also announced the Sun Java W1100z and Sun
    Java W2100z workstations, which also use AMD's Opteron processors. All
    three are available immediately.

    Sun, which has faced criticism in recent years for selling only
    high-end, high-priced servers using proprietary technology, has pushed
    aggressively to offer cheaper servers in a bid to boost market share
    that has eroded since the dot-com bust in late 2000.

    - - -

    Compiled by Laila Weir. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
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