Gartner recently released a report saying that the "unauthorised and uncontrolled use of portable storage devices" could pose a security risk. You don't say?What ever should we do if we didn't have the folks over at Gartner to write reports and tell us, the pedestrian technologists we are, about a four-old-problem. What's next a report saying that guns in the wrong hands kill people? Gartner suggests being very careful about preventing the use of unauthorized devices.... Don't look now but that photo

Doc Searls comments today about the idea of doing a DIY-IT event. He suggests a conference along the lines of BloggerCon. I'd love to see about hosting something like that here at UNLV. The thing would be finding the right time. A good time for the school (with space available) is in the summer though the thermometer might indicate a different time of year. Spring break is one possibility though it is always tied to Easter so some folks won't want to be gone late in the week. Possibly the end of Winter Break? Just before the spring semester starts? It will be a cooler time in many parts of the country and a nice time to visit the warm Southwest.

Doc writes yesterday that the killer app for RSS could be TV listings. It is a super cool idea. I'd take it one step further and suggest TiVO should jump on the band wagon early, figure out how to integrate an RSS newsreader into their software suite. Imagine having an RSS feed that allows you to schedule what you want to record, while at the same time reading reviews of programs, or RSS commentaries on things like sporting events from other commentators. Want to get really creative? Allow people to have RSS read to them while viewing an event. A group of XYZ State University fans can provide their own alternate commentary to the big game. Convergence.

I'm starting the week by working on a Blackberry for an associate dean. While waiting for the tech support folks I was reading about the dispute over patents for the BlackBerry's technology. It is an interesting article in the New York Times but it doesn't mention what technologies the patents cover. It should give at least a passing note of them. It does give the patent numbers but print readers will have a harder time finding them and then distilling what they actually mean.