August 2003

Give your GPS app a real challenge: Visit a spot for the Degree Confluence Project.

GPS applications are popping up everywhere, but if you want more thrills than a trip to your local coffeehouse can provide,check out the Degree Confluence Project (http://www.confluence.org). The project’s website has developed a cultlike following due to its sheer hipness: Creator Alex Jarrett’s ambitious project aims to nail degree confluences—the points at which each latitude and longitude integer degree intersect—throughout the world. Although there are 64,442 degree confluences on Earth, the project recognizes only 16,143 primary points that meet its goals; most of these (14,027), fortunately, are on land.

This “organized sampling of the world” kicked off in February 1996, when, armed with a GPS, Jarrett and a friend set out on a 10-mile bicycle trip to an unknown destination and walked another mile through the woods, ending up in a nondescript spot by a swamp. His destination? 43°00'00"N 72°00'00"W. “It was an exciting trip, plagued with GPS problems due to cheap batteries. We kept expecting a monument at the location saying ‘43N/72W’, but no such luck,” Jarrett recalls.

Motivated by altruism and an adventurous spirit, Jarrett aims to document each integer latitude and longitude intersection with photos and a short narrative describing the area. “The amount of interest in this project has far exceeded any expectations I ever had,” he crows, attributing the buzz to a combination of a sense of adventure and the ability to share that adventure with thousands of others.

Visits that document environmental changes

due to natural or artificial alteration are also encouraged: A significant example took place in January 2003, when three travelers visited and photographed the 31°N 111°E confluence in Yichang, Hubei Province, to document the area prior to the filling of the Three Gorges Dam. The photographs and story make for an incredible read (http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=6436).

The website also lists antipodes (pairs of points directly opposite each other on the globe) that have been visited —most notable among them, the North and South Poles.

At Your Own Risk
The mechanics of travel to the confluences have incurred a panoply of challenges, including impenetrably thick scrub forest in a New Zealand trek, gusting winds in Chile, prohibited access to military bases in Australia, and steep grades and rough vegetation in South Africa. Would-be volunteers for the project are advised to exercise caution in evaluating potential risks and damage to body and limbs.

Feeling adventurous? Some rules for visiting a confluence: Select a site and let the Degree Confluence know of your proposed visit; get a good map and permissions if the confluence is located on private land; take a copy of the Letter to Landowners provided on the website; take pictures of the confluence spot when you arrive, and submit the photos, with a narrative, to the website. You may not be Thor Heyerdahl, but you can contribute your very own piece to the global puzzle.

—Rosalyn Lum

Last year's salary survey found that job-hopping, big bonuses and inflated paycheck comparisons were a thing of the past: Post-boom, experienced developers were merely focusing on the job at hand. However, our data revealed some good news: Throughout the year, base pay continued to rise, Web services picked up steam, and software architects were definitely in demand.

What will the 2003 Salary Survey reveal? The U.S. economy remains sluggish, and, according to press reports, outsourcing is taking hold as IT jobs shove off for foreign shores.

Since 1998, we've been tracking salary, skill and job satisfaction ratings among experienced developers and managers, and we can't wait to divulge the changes this year's survey reveals.

Our November 2003 issue hits the newsstand in mid-October. Stay tuned to discover the current state of the high-tech economy.

Invented by a toy designer, the Phone-Card-Phone’s a perfect tool for our disposable society.

Created by Altschul’s Dieceland Technologies, the Phone-Card-Phone has a 2x3-inch footprint and is based on Altschul and co-inventor Lee Volpe’s patented super-thin flex technology (STT), which prints circuits on Mylar or paper substrates using conductive links. Sandwiching cell-phone circuitry, printed onto recycled paper substrates with metallic links in lieu of wires, the whole shebang, complete with number pads and connectors, is sealed into a laminated structure the thickness of three credit cards.

After 60 minutes of use, you can recharge for extended talk time or toss it away—unless you want to pocket the rebate that encourages you to return the phone instead of trashing it. Plans for an added magnetic strip will morph the phone into a credit card.

Altschul and Volpe own an extensive array of patents covering the disposable phone concept from substrate to antenna design, which also encompasses a disposable computer with Internet access projected to sell for $20.

Many other disposable phones have popped up since Dieceland’s 1999 announcement, but Altschul is confident of the validity of her patent. “There have been many knock-off artists trying to imitate us,” she says. “We notified all would-be disposable makers of infringement early on.”

Due to a rocky road rife with consultant scams, bankruptcy and would-be infringement—detailed in Altschul’s book, Financiers, Lawyers and other Assorted Snakes (Survivor Warehouse Club, printed in partnership with Kinko’s and available only through http://www.assortedsnakes.com) —the Phone-Card-Phone has yet to hit the market, still lingering in prototype. Altschul hopes to launch the product in 2004.