IEEE Lottery n The act of many startup companies attempting to build components for an emerging standard where the market can support only one or two. Usage: “Who will win the IEEE lottery for 10G-Base-T?”, “Is it worth playing the WiMAX IEEE Lottery? Will anyone win?”, “Who will Cisco select as the winner of the SFP+ IEEE Lottery?”

Telecom, Meet Web 2.0

Google (GOOG) appears to be buying GrandCentral, a company that merges VoIP and advanced calling features. They provide you with a single phone number and web/mobile interfaces to manage call redirection, voicemail, address books, etc. Think of it as VoIP on steroids and EPO, simultaneously. Click over to their Features page for a better description and familiarize yourself with how outdated a plain landline has become.

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Whales, Crude, and Plants

While a little off topic I thought the following was worth sharing. I read a WSJ book review written by one of my favorite authors, . He reviewed ““, a comprehensive account of the history of Whaling. Here’s an excerpt from the review:

American whalers ranged farther and farther across the world’s oceans as their prey grew scarce in home waters … But as the price of whale oil ratcheted up in the face of increasing demand and decreasing supply, competition from other sources began to increase. When Edwin Drake demonstrated the practicality of drilling for petroleum in 1859, the glory days of American whaling were over.

One cannot