We will begin airing a new TV ad tomorrow highlighting Obama’s ability to unify the country and restore trust in our government.  The thirty-second spot, entitled “Unify,” features quotes from four newspapers that have endorsed Obama in the New Hampshire primary: the Boston Globe, the Nashua Telegraph, the Portsmouth Herald, and the Valley News.

Tim Foley

Proud to be a NH staff member for Barack Obama’s movement for change.

Krugman has a piece on free trade today that basically hits the nail on the head on free trade, but fails to offer a remedy.  Since we've had some pretty heated discussions about trade and its impact on Vermont, I thought I'd pass it on. 

You’ve undoubtedly heard by now that two-time Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to her country in an attempt to gain a third term in the position, and in the process had become the fracturous nation’s best chance for a return to Democracy, has been assassinated. Bhutto has been a controversial, and sometimes seemingly contradictory figure in international politics, but her candidacy, as well as her Pakistani People’s Party, had been seen as the only viable means of delivering her country from the grip of Bush ally Pervez Musharraf, who is becoming increasingly blamed (both indirectly and directly, depending on who you listen to) for her murder.

What you may also have heard if you were listening to the PRI radio series “The World” on VPR this evening was the voice of Vermonter Peter Galbraith. Galbraith, the author, former ambassador, former Vermont State Democratic Chair and possible gubernatorial candidate was a friend and former university classmate of Bhutto’s, whom he first met when the two were children. While his segment on “The World” is only in audio form, he is widely quoted in other media concerning the tragedy. From The Boston Globe:

“She quickly made the transition from a shy girl, very protected and two years younger than almost everybody else, to being part of the community,” recalled Peter Galbraith, Bhutto’s classmate, close friend, and a former US ambassador to Croatia. “She quickly made friends.”

Bhutto’s signature gesture in college was to bake cakes for her friends’ birthdays — chocolate cakes with chocolate icing, which she often decorated with her favorite American Halloween staple — candy corn, Galbraith said today by phone.

“I do remember one birthday party, where I met my future wife. That was in April and [the candy corn] had become quite stale,” Galbraith said. “It was a wonderful gesture, but it’s good that she went into politics instead. She was not a very good cook, but she was a great friend.”

Galbraith’s connection to Bhutto was significant enough to bring his name into an attempt to discredit her some time back. An apparently forged letter, nominally sent to Galbraith, was widely circulated in a crude smear attempt after she was forced to leave the country rather than face (at least somewhat) politically-motivated corruption charges.

But in addition to the personal reminiscences, Galbraith is also quoted putting his finger on the pulse of the greater looming concern that this tragedy is forcing to the forefront. From Time:

One thing is clear, says Peter Galbraith, senior fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: It is “not a good idea to have 70 nuclear weapons in the hands of a country that is falling apart.”

Tech stuff isn't political — unless you're talking about blogs, real-time political gossip, data mining, research, etc. So with that in mind, Check out PC Mag Tim Bajarin's predictions for 2008.

For the full version here's the article.  Otherwise, here's the skinny.  My own comments in italics.

1. Smartphones Get Smarter and Gain Market Share. 

Think, iPhone copycats everywhere you look.  Except maybe not here in Vermont.  Heck, I'm still waiting for the $99 Palm Centro to become available here.

2. Flash-Based Laptops Arrive.

The 7 inch Asus EEE PC is pictured above.  The $299 model has 2GB flash, while the $399 model offers 8GB.  This is 2007's tech darling, a huge step up from the One Laptop for Every Child XO-1 and a new market leader in ultra portable PC market, with prior models running at $1200.

In the full article, Bajarin whines about 2008 models with 64 GB of flash memory not being enough compared to what can easily be considered overbuilt 160 GB desktops more appropriate for movie making than standard usage.  The introduction of flash-based laptops this year are coming out with mean and clean running Linux operating systems, which run just like Windows.  My desktop is a Dell 4400 with 768RAM and 16GB hard drive.  When Windows XP and all of the crud with Norton System Works  amped out my hard drive, I swiched to SimplyMepis (download locations listed here) and reduced hard drive consumption from 95% to 32%.  And this includes tons of free software, including OpenOffice, a high end graphics program called GIMP, and lots of games for the kids.

3. The Introduction of the “Basic PC.” Next year we will see a real push to create “basic PCs,” bare-bones computers priced around $275 to $350 and targeted at emerging markets. We've already seen similar products, such as the XO-1 laptop by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative and the ASUS Eee PC 4G, but they represent the tip of the iceberg in this category. And don't be surprised if this type of PC gets serious attention as a second, third, or even fourth PC for consumer homes. 

Ok, this is the whole quote and not the skinny.  It's actually a bit redundant since the type of Basic PC's he's referring to are the same flash-based laptops he just spoke of in Prediction #2.  The real opportunity offered by these types of laptops isn't about every home having 4 computers; it's about the new pricing availabiltiy to educational institutions. 

4. Social Networks Are Targeted by Botnets. As social networks gain in popularity, I expect them to become the next major target for security threats. 

It looks like you better pull down your MySpace/Friendster accounts. 

5.  Smartphones Become Targets for Viruses and Identity Theft.  

Wait, I thought smartphones were getting smarter? 

<!– start ziffarticle //–>