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Roger Green works in software. David Cook was once the captain of a supertanker that hauled oil across the sea. Perhaps it took such an odd couple to to conjure up one of the strangest ideas to emerge in the technology industry recently: They plan to buy a used luxury cruise ship, anchor it in the Pacific about three miles off Los Angeles, hire 600 foreign software engineers to staff the boat, and bid for U.S. contracts.

The venture would allow Green and Cook to skirt U.S. immigration law which limits the number of foreign workers on American soil . They claim American companies have grown frustrated with the hassle involved in sending work to India and China, but still need to cut labor costs by hiring foreign workers.

Critics say the "SeaCode" project would further erode job opportunities for skilled American workers. Cook and Green say for foreign workers, life on the boat will be sweet.

Jon's tech news links:

USA Today: Spitzer targets spyware

New York Times: Combatting gadget theft

CNET: Mac's Tiger is "excellent"

IEEE Spectrum: Walmart suppliers resist RFID push

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A new survey by research firm MetaFacts finds about a third of Americans who buy new computers actively use their old machines. Another one in five store them in closets or garages, and another 22 percent give old PCs to their friends. Very few Americans recycle them.

Dan Ness, principal analyst for MetaFacts' annual Technology User Profile report, says it's surprising that people hold onto their computers for so long.

Jon's daily tech news links:

New York Times: A look at Mac's Tiger OS

Wired: Ads that know what you want

Wired News: San Francisco AM radio station to go all-podcast

USA Today: Miscreants target cell phones with viruses, fraud

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Apple Computer has removed from its store shelves all titles by popular technology book publisher John Wiley & Sons.

At issue is the upcoming Wiley & Sons book iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, a book that has apparently enraged the tech titan.

Some longtime Apple loyalists have been critical of the company lately, arguing that its lawsuits against small Web sites that allegedly published company trade secrets amount to corporate bullying. Apple's decision to remove books from store shelves could add to growing criticism of the iPod maker, which has long cultivated an underdog, anti-establishment image.

Guest: Michael Draznin, a brand and marketing consultant who specializes in crisis communications

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Left-leaning political columnist Arianna Huffington is about to make a splash in the world of blogging with the Huffington Post. More than 200 well known novelists, journalists, actors and other celebrities will contribute to the blog, which will focus on politics, religion and entertainment. Big-name contributors will include former TV news anchor Walter Cronkite, novelist Nora Ephron and actor Diane Keaton. The new blog is seen as a challenger to the popular Drudge Report.

Guest: NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen comments on new media on his PressThink Weblog.

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Microsoft recently gave technology leaders a glimpse at Longhorn, the operating system that's been in development for several years.

The company says Longhorn will be less prone to security problems than Windows XP, and will enable users to better search files on their computers.

Guest: CNET News.com's Ina Fried


Jon's daily tech news links:

New York Times: Microsoft's CEO explains reversal on gay rights bill

Wired News: Hubble 15 years old

New York Times: Arianna Huffington starts collaborative blog

New Scientist: Mind-reading machine knows what you see

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President Bush is expected to sign a bill clearing the way for new technology that prevents children from watching movies with sex, violence or foul language.

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act would allow manufacturers of DVD players and other devices to use a "skipping" technology to alter movies without being liable for copyright infringment.

The chief beneficiary is ClearPlay, a Salt Lake City company whose filtering technology is used in DVD players. Bill Aho is ClearPlay CEO.

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What to do with the hundreds of photos filling your digital camera? Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle recommends Picasa

Jon's daily tech news links:

Yahoo, Target team up for digital photo service

Wired News: Why Google is like Wal-Mart

BBC: U.K. laws failing to deter spam

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On this show we've covered Internet radio, satellite radio, digital radio, high definition radio, and podcast radio. To that list we can now add "visual radio." That's the name given to a technology that transmits radio broadcasts to cell phones. Along with the audio, cell phone displays will show...well, whatever the radio station wants to show you. (Composite image: APM Graphic)

Viacom-subsidiary Infinity Broadcasting, the owner of 180 radio stations around the U.S., said this week it plans to be the first major broadcaster in the country to implement visual radio. Infinity is working with Hewlett Packard and cell-phone maker Nokia to make it happen.

Guest: David Goodman, president of marketing for Infinity.

(Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.)

Daily tech news links:

Wired: The pope's domain name? BenedictXVI.com already taken.

Reuters: Norway's Opera Ups Security in New Web Browser

CNet (images): Robot jockeys get ready for debut in Qatar camel races

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The band Nine Inch Nails releases a new single next month, called "The Hand That Feeds." It comes out on CD, or can be downloaded as a digital file. Nothing new there. (With Teeth album cover, at right, from nin.com).

But fans can already download the song in GarageBand format. GarageBand is a program that allows multi-track recording and editing of music. It comes standard on many new Apple computers. People who get the file (for free) from the band's web site can isolate and manipulate each separate instrumental and vocal track of the song, or add new tracks of their own.

In a file included with the package, Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor invites fans to: "Change the tempo. Add new loops. Chop up the vocals. Turn me into a woman. Replay the guitar. Anything you'd like."

Guests:
Emil Rensing, the resident GarageBand expert at InternetDJ.com

We also talk with Niall Kennedy, one enthusiastic fan who is intimidated enough by the copyright language to keep his remix to himself. Kennedy is a GarageBand hobbyist and blogger in San Francisco.

There are a few remixes popping up out there. Here's the aptly-named Chill Pill remix posted by a musician called Kelix on iCompositions.com. Here's another remix from that site with some crazy FX added by BlackLily.

(Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.)

Daily tech news links:

CNet's News.com: 'Visual radio' headed for U.S. cell phones

Associated Press: Shoe Warehouse data theft much larger than first thought

Associated Press: Two Americans convicted of DVD piracy by Chinese court

TrekUnited.com: Despite strong fundraising, TrekUnited ends campaign to save "Enterprise"

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The recent breach of security at database company LexisNexis that exposed the personal data of 310,000 people underscores the growing problem of identity theft. Consumer advocates say Americans need stronger weapons to fight it.

Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports Magazine, is pushing states to adopt laws that allow people to freeze their credit files so impostors can't steal their money. Credit file freezing is already available in a handful of states, and is under consideration in 19 more, including Minnesota.

Guests: Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney at Consumers Union; Norm Magnuson, Consumer Data Industry Association

Jon's daily tech news links:

BBC: We're offering more podcasts

USA Today: LED evolution could mean end of light bulbs

Wired News: Fantastic spastic elastic plastic

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A new study finds that disease-causing bacteria can survive as long as 24 hours on keyboards in hospitals.

The study by Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago found that keyboards can contaminate the fingers of a nurses or doctors, who could then transfer bacteria to patients.

Guest: Gary Noskin, medical director of healthcare epidemiology at Northwestern Memorial

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The market for digital audio services, from satellite radio to podcasting, will grow steadily in the next five years, according to a new report from Forrester Research. The consulting firm says producers are figuring out ways to make money from digital audio, including subscriptions and highly targeted ads.

Leading the way will be satellite radio. More than 20 million households will tune in to XM and Sirius.

Forrester vice president Ted Schadler says 12 million households will listen to podcasts.

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Last week, top computer and electronics retailer Best Buy said it would eliminate mail-in rebates in consumer electronics over the next two years. Best Buy says the cash-back offers are too complicated.

Many consumers have grown frustrated with rebates, complaining they have to wait too long for a check, or never get the money they're promised.

Rebates have been the target of lawsuits. The State of Ohio sued Best Buy for unfair trade practices after consumers complained they never received their rebates. Last year, Best Buy agreed to pay $135,000 to the State of New Jersey over rebate complaints.

Guest: Stephen Baker, analyst with the NPD Group

Jon's daily tech news links:

Reuters: Thieves steal personal data of 300,000 Lexis-Nexis customers

AP: Vatican looks to foil high-tech spies to protect papal selection

Jaffe Juice: DIY Nike commercial based on Tiger Woods' masterly chip-in

LA Times: Xeni Jardin, the Wizard of Blogs

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In a move that will likely speed consumer adoption of new telephone services, tech giant America Online has launched an Internet phone service in 40 U.S. markets.

"Voice over IP" or "VoIP" calls travel as packets of data over the Internet instead of the traditional phone network. VoIP is typically less expensive and offers more advanced features than standard phone
services.

Guest: Andy Abramson, editor of the VoIP Watch weblog

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It's called "tagging," and it's an increasingly popular way to help people remember, categorize and organize Web sites.

Most of us bookmark Web sites we want to visit again, but they're easy to lose when switching computers or browsers. And it's not always easy to remember how we arrived at sites using search engines. Tagging allows users to slap a category on a Web site (say "Iraq" or "baseball"), store the tages and share those sites with others. The most popular way to tag information is to use a service called del.icio.us. The popular photo-sharing site Flickr uses tags to organize images.

Clay Shirky calls tagging the most important new Internet technology to emerge in the last year. Shirky, an adjunct professor at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, says tagging is emerging as a flexible and refined way to organize information.

Jon's daily tech news links:

Reuters: AOL to offer Net phone service

Wired News: fixed gear bikes an urban fixture

Sploid: A tabloid-style blog compendium

New York Times: Printing documents on the road

New York Times: New Panasonic batteries may squish Energizer Bunny

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Unlike other video games, Dance Dance Revolution requires physical exertion. Both the arcade and home versions of "DDR" direct players to move their feet to different positons on a square vinyl floor pad to correspond with arrows on a screen, set to a driving musical beat.

The Internet is full of tesimonials from people who say they dropped pounds by playing DDR. Now, the state of West Virginia is studying the game to see if those claims will hold up. The state's public employee insurance group has given DDR to children of people who work for the agency, and placed the game in some public schools.

Guest: Nidia Henderson with the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency

Image courtesy of Konami

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When Pope John Paul II died this weekend, thousands found their way to Rome to join in the mourning. Thousands more -- maybe millions -- have found their way to the Internet. At web sites like Catholic.com, visitors can read news and opinions about the event. But they're also busy themselves discussing everything from what the new pope's name should be, to whether John Paul's death might herald the end of the world. (Image: APM Graphic)

Guest: Jimmy Aken, director of apologetics and evangelization for Catholic Answers, the organization behind Catholic.com

You might recall a couple weeks ago we talked to child advocate and Internet authority Larry Magid. In his guise as technology guru for CBS News, Larry has taken a look at the pope's relationship to technology. In his later years Pope John Paul II had his own email address, and was photographed at a laptop sending an email to bishops. Three years ago he gave a speech titled "Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel." When the pope passed away on Saturday, reporters in the Vatican press pool were notified with a text message to their cell phones.

(Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.)

Daily Technology News:

WashingtonPost.com: Cell phone viruses getting scary

CNet's News.com: Hitachi claims massive storage hard drives on the way

BetaNews: Google ads satellite imagery to map service

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(CreativeCommons-licensed image by Dave Anastasi)

Microsoft has filed what it says is the single largest set of lawsuits ever to target perpetrators of so-called "phishing" scams. The software giant is suing 117 people or sets of people who sent mass emails pretending to represent Microsoft, or its MSN, and Hotmail services. Phishing is a scam aimed at fooling people into giving up personal information that can be used for identity theft.

Guest: Aaron Kornblum, a Microsoft attorney in charge of Internet safety enforcement.

Microsoft says educating yourself to spot a phishing scam is still the best defense. Microsoft has set up the web site Safety.MSN.Com for that purpose.

Good at spotting phishing scams? Want to practice? See how you do on this test from MailFrontier.com.

(Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.)

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Hand, post-op

Amal Graafstra is 28, and runs a computer consulting company in Bellingham, Washington. Last week he decided, as an experiment, to implant a radio frequency ID chip in his hand. RFID chips emit a unique code that can be detected by an RFID "reader" within a short range. Companies typically use the technology to help keep track of inventory. And some pets have chips between their shoulder blades to ID them if they get lost. Graafstra now belongs to a small group of people who have implanted chips in their own bodies. Images courtesy of Amal Graafstra

Opening door latch

Interestingly, the first account of Amal did not turn up in the technology press, but in an article at BMEzine.com -- a 'zine devoted to piercing and other "body modification."

The chip Amal used is similar to this one made by Verichip.

His website contains an "RFID update" of his project and this Quicktime video of him using it to open a door latch.

And, yes, we know what day it is. But we did not make this one up.

(Jeff Horwich guest-hosts.)

Daily Technology News:

San Jose Mercury News: Microsoft lawsuits target phishing site operators

VNUNet: In on-going battle with Yahoo, Google ups email storage to 2 MB

New York Times: Segway polo is born (story carried on CNet's News.com, where registration is not required)

USAToday: Sex.com domain legal dispute likely comes to an end