February 2007 Archives

Devices Help Spot, Call, Identify and Spread News;
The Noise of Wireless Alerts

Birdwatchers have long headed into the woods with little more equipment than binoculars and a notebook. But when Laura Erickson sets out on a birding trip, she now brings along two digital cameras, a Palm device with a bird-species database and an iPod loaded with bird songs.

"I used to be a very low-tech person," says Ms. Erickson, a 55-year-old ornithologist in Duluth, Minn. "It's become such a high-tech kind of thing, with so many people carrying so much equipment now."

Earlier this winter, she used a parabolic microphone in her backyard to record the sounds of woodcocks three-quarters of a mile away. "That doesn't seem any more cheating than using binoculars" does, she says. "But to some people, that would just be a horrifying thought."

Indeed, many traditionalists who think that the whole point of birding is to commune with nature bristle at the technology now available to the modern birdwatcher, from laser pointers used to identify birds perched on high branches to devices that play birdcalls. Professional alerting services, already popular in the United Kingdom and springing up in the U.S., allow hardcore hobbyists to receive notices of local sightings on their cellphones or BlackBerrys.

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(Also appeared in the Gainesville Sun.)

Chip stocks may finally be catching a break. J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank both issued upgrades to the semiconductor sector today, saying that earnings, gross margins and other indicators have bottomed out after a punishing 2006. While most of the market did well in 2006, chip stocks were laggards -- the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor index fell 2.5% for the year after a strong 2005.

That may not sound like much, but Deutsche Bank's Nicolas Gaudois notes that after peaking in late Jan. 2006, the index fell 15% for the rest of the year, which he says by "most historical metrics, this level of underperformance would constitute a 'normal' cyclical correction."

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Homeowners Begin to Treat Flashy Electronics as Eyesores; Speakers Disguised as Sconces

When Ryan Heuser was putting the finishing touches on his restored 1960s-era house in Newport Beach, Calif., he wanted to preserve its period look and minimalist interior. It wasn't hard in the kitchen, which the 34-year-old outfitted with Boffi cabinets and sleek appliances like a Viking range and Miele dishwasher.

But the living room, where he planned to install a home-theater system, was trickier. Even high-end loudspeakers were going to be too clunky for the room, he says. "I really wanted something that blended seamlessly," says Mr. Heuser, president of Paul Frank Industries Inc., an apparel company.

So he paid about $7,000 for three thin speakers that are embedded in the wall and hidden behind a screen. The system, called Artcoustic, includes an "acoustically transparent" fabric that consumers can have images printed on, making the speakers look like framed artwork or a wall panel.

Big home-entertainment systems and flat-screen plasma television sets may remain status symbols for some, but as prices continue to drop -- and the devices become ubiquitous -- an increasing number of consumers are downplaying their living-room gadgetry.

Manufacturers, for their part, are adding decorative touches to soften their components' looks. Others are offering products that disguise liquid-crystal displays as Picassos and speaker systems designed to be works of art in themselves.

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(Also appeared in AOL News, Arizona Republic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Tulsa [Okla.] World.)