News item from Laptop Magazine:

“Twenty percent of people say they’re spending less time having sex because of the amount of time spent online or with other [technology]gadgets, according to a September 2007 survey conducted by advertising agency, JWT. The bliss that comes from interacting with technology and staying connected matched or in some cases, even replaced the pleasure of sexual arousal.”

In the same article, David Greenfield, a psycologist says that the brain is condition to go where there is a chance of a good result. “That’s why people check their email 20 to 30 times a day, because every once in a while you get one message that is really great!” He says that the chemical released when you check your PDA or laptop is the same as what is released during sex. “There is a release of dopamine, what is a neurotransmitter. It’s a pleasure chemical..people find themselves chasing that dopamine rush by checking their Blackberrys…”

What can I say? I feel the rush….too.

I was looking forward to speaking at the Entrepreneurs’ Club in the Second Life virtual reality world..especially on April Fool’s Day when I had been invited by Cybergrrl oh. But it seems like my “second life” has some of the same problems as my first life has- crashes. I walked around Athena Isle this morning and I loved the posters advertising my speaker event. It looked like it was going to be alot of fun, but as I tried to log in before the event, Second Life was closed- emergency maintenance. Sometimes my first life needs this kind of maintenance too. I understand.

I didn’t know what it was or that I needed one until I didn’t have one. Isn’t that the way our consumer culture work?

I kept on seeing these nifty little icons next to other web site urls in the Internet Explorer browser bar….a company logo, fancy letters, designs etc. Even though they are only 1/4 inch tall, they do look cool. I learned they were called favicons (Favorite and Icon combined). So now for my web site, my favicon is an orange rubber band ball. Check it out at www.barrymoltz.com.

I could not resist this headline in the latest issue of Laptop Magazine. Now from Europe, Phone Fingers no has rubber covers (where did they get this idea I wonder?) for your fingers so you don’t always have to touch your “germ invested fingers” to your iPhone and then put it against your face. You’ll look silly but sometimes that is the price to pay to stay healthy. The product comes in small to extra large so at least for this product, you will find a fit!

Now comes along a truly amazing technology that I had wished for a long time- to upload my pictures to the web directly from my camera. We are almost there.

The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless memory card inside your digital camera that automatically uploads pictures to your PC or Mac and then to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site.

Can uploading directly to the web through any wi-fi connection no matter where you are be that much farther behind?

Technology always adds new words to our dictionary. Consider this new word from Wired Magazine:

Faceslam
v. To ignore or deny a friendship request on Facebook or any other social networking site. While faceslamming is an effective way to keep so-called trophy friendships in check, the related practice of defriending — removing somebody from an established list of acquaintances — is the ultimate snub.

Have you been faceslammed?

It has taken to long, but I finally have video up on my web site. It is the first part of a speaker’s demo video I am distributing this fall. Let me know what you think? We are redesigning the web site for the new book and that will have plenty of video. Look for the new site after November 1!

It has been five years since I used anything but a Palm Treo for my phone and PDA…I swear that I have been holding it together with chewing gum and tape. But it finally went last week and I was forced to buy a new device. I stuggled between the functionality of a new T-Mobile PDA and the cool AT&T iPhone. In the end, I decided to stay with my carrier and buy the T-Mobile Dash.

I spent all weekend figuring it out and migrating most of my data. What a chore! These devices are so complex now. I mostly like it but with most Mobile Windows operating systems, I am not sure it belongs on a phone. The Palm OS is much more efficient. But things have come a long way since I got my last device- Bluetooth is convenient as well as faster access to the web.

In Wired Magazine this month, they examine the Price of Technolust. What surprised me the most was how much we spend on technology. While we spend 16% of Shelter and 13% of our income on Food. We spend 5% on technology and 4% of health insurance and prescription drugs. What is going up? Internet access and cable access.

Just what your office has been missing. From Earth Tape, device that combines a tape dispenser with a USB hub. How  did we get along without it?