The new iPhone 3G S sounds cool.  But what I really want is to be able to smash my iPhone together with my Canon SLR camera. In particular, I want my SLR Camera to know the GPS location and direction for every photo I take. I know there are some add-ons, but geeze, they’re not integrated.  They’re a hassle to use.  So usage is low.  The iPhone adds GPS data to photos seemlessly.  Why can’t my $1,000 Canon do the same?

So much of American foreign policy at the moment seems to be done looking in the rearview mirror.  The news is focused on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba.  As a country, we should be much more focused on China and Mexico and other areas of the World.  Hopefully, we can be friendly competitors with China for eons to come, just as we are friendly competitors with England and Germany.

The situation with Mexico is much more complicated.  During the Bush years, we’ve spent billions “getting tough” by erecting a wall / fence between our southern states and Mexico.  We’ve spent billions more unsuccessfully trying to staunch the flow of drugs across the border.  The effect is to keep pushing our neighbor to the ground.  Why don’t we try the opposite approach?  Let’s extend a hand to Mexico and put the country and it’s provinces, if they want to be, on the path to statehood.

In the process, we would gain access to the huge oil reserves in Mexico and help our neighbors.  After a transitional phase, it will become easier to control our borders, as the border between Mexico and it’s southern neighbors is much shorter than the one between the U.S. and Mexico.

The biggest threat is the rampant corruption in some parts of the Mexican economy.  In addition, there would have to be some sort of phased in approach to wellfare benefits, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and so forth.  It’s only right that Mexicans help pay for their benefits.

If Canada wants to join the fun, so much the better.  A United North America would be a formidable force in the world many natural resources, creative people, and positive cultural, educational and legal institutions.

One of Barrack Obama’s big themes has been that this is a victory for all of us. This is our government and we’re responsible for enacting the change we want to see. Great point.

To tap into that theme and bring about real change, Congress should go on the road. It should hold session in half a dozen cities around the country. Get the Congress close to the people and the people close to Congress. Let’s stop talking about “those idiots in Washington.” Let’s start talking about how the great people of the state of California, the City of Chicago, Nashville, Seattle, St. Louis and Florida helped bring about massive improvements in health care and education.

Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer now is the time. Let’s have a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people. Take the Congress on the road six weeks a year.

We promise to greet you warmly and help get important things done.

Maersk’s recent threat to pull out of the Port of Charleston and the development of a Port in Jasper County jointing owned by Georgia and South Carolina pose serious threats to Charleston’s economy.

Charleston should regain it’s status as the leading container port in the Southeast by developing a floating port connected to land via bridge-tunnel.  By developing this innovative concept, Charleston could handle more and larger ships without constantly dredging the harbor.

The idea is to combine the existing technology for floating oil drilling platforms and bridge-tunnels to create a highly efficient offshore port.  The port could be expanded at any time since it would not be constrained by land masses, residential neighborhoods or other on shore considerations.  The tunnels might also be used as conduit to bring electrical power from offshore wind turbines and tidal power generators to land.

Oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico regularly survive Hurricanes.  Huge oil platforms, such as the Hibernia Platform, have been deployed around the world.  The Norfolk Bridge-Tunnel and others are proven to allow navigation and transportation at a reasonable cost.

A bridge-tunnel from South Carolina to 25 miles offshore, the distance at which the floating port would disappear over the horizon, could carry trucks, trains, electricity, water, data, and other vital links.  Depending on exactly where the port was located, the water 25 miles offshore is much deeper than the 42 feet that Charleston is required by treaty to keep the harbor dredged to.  The new port could handle the huge Post-Panamax ships now sailing the oceans.

Charleston would benefit from the reduced inshore pollution and dredging without giving up the port revenue to another city.

By being proactive and creative, the Governor, Mayor and South Carolina State Ports Authority could created an engine of economic growth for generations to come.

The floating port that I’m proposing would be bigger and more permanent than the “floating ports” which are really transfer ships, that operate in India and elsewhere.

Huge manuals, often written in English and Spanish, come with almost every product. The new administration could save trees, reduce trash, reduce costs and improve the economy by offering companies a trade:

If you put your manual up online and include a web address for it with your product, then you cannot be sued for not including a manual with your product.  You, dear company, get shielded from liability.

Many leading companies today already put their manuals up online.  For liability reasons they also have to include a copy in the box.  The manual for my new Whirlpool washing machine is 76 pages long!  Does anyone really read all that.  Nope.  But trees get cut down to make the manuals anyway.  In this digital age, it’s a huge waste of resources.

In the past, the digital divide might have been a reason to have manuals in the box.  No longer.  The Internet has been in full swing since 1994.  Increasingly cell phones make the web available anywhere anytime.

It’s time to start saving the environment and money with this pro business proposal.

• The gang in Washington can figure out the fine print.  Here’s a start: Companies would have to agree to post their manuals for 10 years perhaps in a central repository, such as United Laboratories for product manuals, as well as on their own website.
• The manuals would have to be searchable so Google and others could give us instant access to vital product information.
• Companies would have to keep the electronic manuals up to update for product variations.

And so on.

“Credit or debit?” must be the most annoying question at a retail store. It’s a huge waste of time.

Most people use a given plastic card as either a credit card or a debit card, but not both. They might carry a credit card and a debit card, but they rarely use the same card for both functions.

If you add up all the time that customers and stores collectively spend asking and answering this question, you have a huge productivity killer. Multiple the billions of retail transactions each year times the time spent on the question and you realize that America is wasting truck loads of hours on a stupid question.

The marketplace can’t stop this waste of time because no player or set of players is big enough. If Visa stops it, they give Mastercard an advantage. If Target refuses to except duel purpose cards, then they’ll loose some sales to Wal-mart.

The question started when banks were trying to get debit cards adopted. Some banks made it possible for the same card to have both functions. Dual function cards have no way to tell the gas pump or cashier whether they’re being used as a debit card or a credit card. As a result, people have to manually answer the question.

You might think, “what’s the big deal? It only takes a few seconds.” Since the process is slightly different at every store, the customer has to adjust to each process. It probably takes 20 seconds per customer. If there’s a line, it costs all those customers 20 seconds too. If you multiple all that out, you’re costing the American economy time and money.

Most customers are making the debit / credit card choice when they pull the card out of their wallets.  Jane uses the Chase card for debit transactions and the Bank of America card for credit transactions.  This makes the time wasting question all the more useless.  Customers are merely relaying information about the choice they’ve already made.

The Obama Administration could speed up every checkout transaction in the United States by ensuring that plastic can be either a credit card or a debit card, but not both.

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Apple’s online store is closed.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

The Obama Administration should use a portion of the upcoming stimulus package to start a Hyperstate Highway System (HHS).  The key goal of the HHS would be to facilitate very rapid transportation between distant states — to jump from California to Texas or Michigan to Florida.

The current Interstate system has become bogged down with too many on ramps and exit.  In areas like Washington DC and Los Angeles, commerce can sit for hours waiting for the LOCAL rush hour traffic to clear out.  What we need today is super advanced Interstate — a Hyperstate.

Key elements of Hyperstates:

1. a very limited number of exits — two or three per state, except for a few very large states like California and Texas
2. only connect to Interstates, no connections to state highways or other local roads; use the Interstates for local transportation.
3. give priority to commerce, especially trucks and other very long distance travelers

By starting the HHS, the Obama Administration can enhance its pro business credentials.  It can create a program who’s benefits will last for generations, much like the original Interstate program started by the Eisenhower Administration in 1956.  It’s pro-jobs stimulus package can do more than fill potholes — which while very important, will not solve our long distance transportation problems.

Start the Hyperstate Highway System today.  Or if you prefer the American Autobahn.

Reggie went blog crazy in 2008.  You may want to add the following to your newsreader.  If you’re not sure how to do that, see how to subscribe here.

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It would be really nice if the iPhone automattically closed the oldest browser windows when you ask to open a new one. For example, when you use an RSS Reader, old windows should automatically be closed to make room for new articles.