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Quick Hits: January 21, 2005

Tracking Little Johnny

Little Johnny is lost in the shopping centre but he’s not crying as a five year-old normally would after straying from his parents in the crowd. He has a security device in his pocket — a simple, durable and colourful mobile phone with five emergency numbers, including his parents’, grandparents’ and neighbour’s. With the press of one button, he’s got Mom on the line. The phone, called Mymo, belongs to a new breed of devices and services that let parents not only stay in touch with their children but, even more innovatively, pinpoint their whereabouts. For more info about the Mymo phone and the company, visit mymoshop.com.

CBC copes with traffic spikes

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was unsure how much Internet traffic to expect during the course of their recent Greatest Canadian series. The program asked Canadians to vote among ten candidates who they deemed to be the greatest. It enlisted the help of Akamai Technologies Inc. to support the online voting and registration process for the series. The network used Akamai’s EdgeSuite to help with uptime and helping to create a positive user experience, while EdgeComputing was utilized to help ensure everyone could vote, regardless of their computing setup at home.

Macs to bask in iPod glow?

A Wall Street analyst has pointed to Apple Computer Inc.’s success with the iPod as drawing new customers to the Macintosh fold. Needham & Co.’s Charles Wolf has issued a 27-page note to his clients suggesting that Windows users could have 100 million iPods in hand by 2008. If only a small number of those users bought Macs, Mac sales could surge, according to Wolf. The report also strongly favours iPod and iTunes as the preferred way people will download music, stating that “there are no compelling economic reasons” for why Windows Media Audio would dominate the digital audio market. That is unless Apple stops developing iTunes and the iPod.

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