The Menlo Briefs

Moo IT - When one thinks of high-tech advancements in RFID technology, you're likely to miss its biggest proponent: dairy farms. Dairy farms have been using electronic smart tags and sensors to manage dairy herds since the early '80s. Dairy operations use technology to help improve health, breeding and milk production. The result: Milk output per cow has increased by about 15% over that same period, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). [more]

But everybody's doin' it! - These days it seems that everywhere you look kids are playing video games. Well, it turns out it's not just a perception, it's true. A new study from Pew research found that 99 percent of boys and 94 percent of girls aged 12-17 play some sort of video game. [more]

Wondering why you didn't get hired? - Were you recently turned down for a job or had your college application rejected? You might want to check your Facebook or MySpace page. More and more employers are peeking into the social life of applicants by visiting their pages on various social networking pages. Pictures of drunken escapades and foul language are just two of the reasons you might find yourself rejected for that dream job. [more]

Here comes Gen Y! - Now that the so-called "Millennials" are graduating from college and entering the work force, employers are finding that their demands are vastly different from earlier generations. They have high-tech expectations and companies that aren't able to meet those needs may find themselves unable to fill positions. [more]

Let's go fly a kite! - Just about everyone has flown a kite at some point in their life, but few have looked at them the way Scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have. Their experiments have shown that the power generated from a 10 sq. meter kite could provide electricity for 100,000 homes. [more]

Learning American pronunciation - Gone are the days when a language instructor needs to be in the same room as his student. A terrific example of this is Korea. On any given day Koreans sign in on their Internet messengers, fire up their webcams and wait for English teachers to appear -- from faraway continents. The goal? More natural-sounding English pronunciation. There are about 150 to 200 companies are in the market offering phone and Web English tutoring. [more]

One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy - Do you still have a land-line in your house? Or have you joined the increasing trend of households that are cellular only? If so, you're one of more than 20 million U.S. telephone households who have cut the cord. Wireless substitution doesn’t work for everyone, however. Ten percent of landline phone customers have experimented with wireless-only in their household, but then returned to landline service. [more]

It's not exactly haute cuisine - While astronaut cuisine is routinely reviewed by nutritionists, it's rarely -- if ever -- reviewed by food critics. That's where Bill Daley comes in. He set out to find out just exactly how nasty "space food" is by sampling a dozen rations. [more]

Talkin' 'bout a revolution - Thomas Friedman's latest book, Hot, Flat, & Crowded, calls for a Green Revolution. He says it's time for us to accept that oil won't be cheap again and that polluting technologies can no longer be tolerated. The last major advancement in energy technology was in 1955, and since then the field has stagnated. According to the book, US pet food companies spent more on R&D last year than US utilities did. Check it out! [more]

How deep does the Rabbit Hole go? - I love the movie The Matrix -- particularly the scenes between Neo and Morpheus. My favorite moment is when Morpheus is standing in front of Neo offering him two choices: "After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes..."

Believe it or not, this is a lot like the software industry. Nearly all companies have failed investments in software initiatives -- many in the six and seven figure range -- and yet they continue on as if nothing's wrong. They're obviously eating those Blue Pills like Tic-Tacs!

The good news is that Menlo has a supply of Red Pills and we're willing to share them with anyone who wants to know the truth: the leading causes of these failures are preventable, and we can show you how. Join us for the next FREE 90-minute presentation on October 23rd to learn how our approach creates the right software for the right application.

The night the 'Net went down - Remember the Northest Blackout of 2003? It caused a massive Internet outage. Well with the destruction wrought by Hurricane IKE comes the largest Internet outage since 2003. Internet connections in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the hardest hit, according to Renesys Corp., but the storm also caused outages in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. [more]

One giant leap for malware - If there's one place you'd think you'd be safe from viruses and malware, it would have to be outer space. Alas, that last bastion has officially fallen. NASA recently confirmed that a worm that steals gaming passwords was found on computers aboard the International Space Station. Now that's an expensive tech support call! [more]

1984 - India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime relying on evidence from a controversial brain scanner that produces images of the human mind in action. The belief is that the images reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question. The technology is, needless to say, highly controversial. The technology hasn't gained widespread adoption. In fact, only India accepts it as evidence in criminal cases. [more]

Fly friendlier skies - Tired of being held up at airport security every time you fly with your laptop? Well happily the TSA has begun working with case manufacturers on a standard for checkpoint-friendly laptop bags that can pass through the security scanners without your having to remove your notebook. Officially there are 5 criteria. This article includes recommendations on eight laptop cases that meet the criteria. Caveat emptor. [more]

Spooky - The government has just awarded a $4 million contract for a project that it hopes will lead to "direct mental control of military systems by thought alone." The Army's initial goal is to capture brain waves and then translate the waves into audible radio messages for other troops in the field. "It'd be radio without a microphone," says Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program. "Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way." [more]