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Not even the cheap warehouse jobs are safe anymore.

CNET has a story about how the online shoe retailer Zappos is trying out a new robotic warehouse system.

It will be interesting to see if Zappos model will prove to be viable in the long term. I could definitely see some more automated processes in retail warehousing, but I don’t know if hundreds of robots scurrying around is the answer.

Supporters of the robotics industry have said that using robots controlled by U.S. workers to cut costs could provide a viable alternative to outsourcing jobs from the U.S. The Zappos decision may be an example of that predicted trend.

In some cases I see where robotics could actually sustain some US jobs, but certainly not in the case of Zappos. These robots are replacing a lot of wage laborers, and there is no way such a warehouse could be located overseas.

The biggest friend to the American laborer is not robots, its high oil prices. Skyrocketing oil prices and the depressed dollar are reducing the potential savings of outsourcing to countries like China.

In the past two weeks Barack Obama has changed his opinion on two key issues. Notice, I did not use the popular phrase “flip flop.” Anyone who uses the phrase “flip flop” cannot be taken seriously. People need to be able to change their position, especially when conditions on the ground change.

The popular notion that politicians should be blasted every time they change their stance on an issue is completely misguided, and is just plain dumb. That being said, Obama has made two major policy changes that I do not agree with..

Item #1: Refusing Public Financing

Obama has decided not to accept public funds. While I agree with Barack that the public financing system is broken, I don’t think opting out of the system is going to make things better. His rejection of public funds is completely self serving, and does nothing to help his reform agenda.

Item #2: Voting for Telcom Amnesty

This move really pisses me off, Obama voted for the compromise bill on telcom amnesty. Remember all those telcom companies that illegally spied on Americans at the behest of the Bush administration? Barack Obama is now supporting giving them a pass. Now again, I know why he did it. He wants to not look anti-intelligence for the general election, but even the compromise bill goes way too far.

Am I still a huge Obama supporter? You bet, I donated to Obama back in the spring of 2007, when he was a long shot candidate polling way behind.. He has come a long way, and these moves might actually be seen in a positive light, he definitely seems to be very pragmatic.

Anyone who criticizes Obama for being “flip flopper” has zero credibility, and that goes for McCain critics as well. John McCain recently reversed his position on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. While I do not agree with McCain’s new position on drilling, he has every right to change his opinion.

For the first time in a long time, Americans are really starting to feel true pain at the pump. So what do politicians do? They use this unfortunate period of time to push initiatives to help special interest groups.

President Bush and John McCain announced that they will seek an end to the offshore drilling ban, citing high gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil.

Sadly, opening up the rest of the gulf to drilling is not going to do a damn thing for gas prices. At least not for the next 7-10 years or so. Around 2018 gas prices might be a few cents lower, but it essentially does nothing for the average American now or in the long term.

The only beneficiaries of this policy are oil companies. The environmental risks are definitely real, although offshore drilling is a lot cleaner today than it was in the 70’s and 80’s.

Here’s a thought, why don’t we push policies to reduce our oil consumption through energy efficient technologies, and the use of alternative fuels? Why don’t we have an Apollo program to get the majority of cars sold in the US to use hydrogen by 2020?

Opening up more drilling isn’t going to do damn thing for the price of gasoline. We need to move beyond oil.

The New York Times has a profile on people’s efforts to fight the flood water’s along the Mississippi river.

In early 1996, I remember going down to the banks of the rising Susquehanna river with my father to help with the sandbagging effort in downtown Wilkes-Barre, PA. My father remarked about how stupid it was that in 1996, we still hand fill sandbags to hold back flood waters.

Its amazing to me that in 2008, we are still filling sandbags at the site of the food. Can’t the government just keep a warehouse of filled sandbags and ship them to flood zones? Isn’t there some type of 21st century solution that makes the sandbag obsolete?

Sounds like a project that the government should actually spend money on, and its something that could actually save the government money in the long run. Too bad our politicians seem more inclined to blow money on useless billion dollar defense projects, like the V-22 Osprey.

Firefox 3 was released yesterday with much fanfare. I’ve been using the release candidates on Windows and Linux for a few months. While I was definitely impressed with the improvements in general, I am simply blown away by improvements on the Mac platform. Application start times and page loads have improved immensely on all platforms, but especially the Mac.

If you haven’t already upgraded, download Firefox 3 now. If you are using another browser, give it a shot.

I’m always annoyed by the site of IT professionals actually using Internet Explorer. No self-respecting IT professional should be using IE. The only exemptions are web compatibility testing, or the occasional IE only Intranet app.

The New York Times has an article about the troubles social networking companies are having when it comes to actually making money.

The only potential revenue stream from social networking is advertising. The dirty little secret about social networking is the fact that it’s a piss poor platform for generating clicks on those ads. Even though social networks can tailor advertising to every stupid little like and dislike you list in your profile, people want to spend time poking instead of clicking on advertisements.

Social networking advertising is not like search engine advertising. On a search engine, the user is actually seeking something. An advertisement on a Google search can actually fulfill an immediate need, while an advertisement on Facebook is generally an annoyance.