...more recent posts
The L.A. trip thread
We made it. Just landed in Long Beach.
FAQ about the latest file sharing legal decision.
Well folks, I've got some bad news concerning Christmas. Seems like Santa has run into a little problem...
OS X 10.3.2 is out, and can be found in Software Update. I advise waiting a day or two to make sure everything is safe before you take the plunge. Also, for new Al Powerbook owners (Bill, Alex) you should see a Battery Update as well that supposedly gives you better uptime (are you guys on 10.3.x, or still 10.2.x?)
You can get the 2nd generation color screen Sidekick (Hiptop, whatever) for negative $30 from Amazon if you sign up for T-Mobile service.
Cmd-w, close window, and Cmd-q, quit application, really are pretty close together. I'm just saying.
New 20 inch iMac.That's a nice home machine for somebody with some cash. But I think the tower and both laptops are all better options at this point. The new dual 1.8 tower looks nice, or if you can wait until February (or so) the rev 2 towers should be out, and that is the traditional sweet spot in the product life cycle for buying.
Or that's my story at least.
The new OpenCores System-On-Chip, developed and manufactured by Flextronics Semiconductor, runs Linux, uClinux, or eCos. The SoC is exclusively built with freely licensed OpenCores IP cores. The chip includes the OpenRISC OR1200 32-bit processor, a Memory Controller for SDRAM/FLASH/SRAM, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC, 32-bit, 33/66MHz PCI support, and a 16550 UART.Opencores.org site.
Lampret said, "Are open source soft cores starting to have impact on the semiconductor industry? Yes, slowly but irreversibly. What started in 1983 with the GNU project is now starting in open source hardware with OpenCores, 20 years later."
Sandisk's explanation of delays in development of SD slot 802.11b expansion cards for Palm devices. Apparently they will ship in the first quarter of '04. But it's unclear to me if it will work in the Treo 600:
The company blamed delays in the Palm 5.x drivers for the SD Wi-Fi card on proprietary changes to the OS that product makers can introduce (SanDisk will have to make device specific changes); electrical issues on some devices that couldn't handle the SD Wi-Fi card (the Treo 600 is mentioned specifically); and the legal issues with developing for Palm OS mentioned above.
The link isn't working for me now, so here's the Google cache:
On December 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. The public presentation was a session in the of the Fall Joint Computer Conference held at the Convention Center in San Francisco, and it was attended by about 1,000 computer professionals. This was the public debut of the computer mouse. But the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface.
WiFi Blackberry in the works. Supposedly you will be able to roam between cellular and 802.11x WiFi networks. And make voice over IP (VOIP) calls when connected to the internet. They don't give dates, but do say "not before the spring."
802.11x wireless networking is the only thing missing from the Treo 600. (Well, okay, I'd take a 2 megapixel camera and a higher resolution screen.) We are definitely getting there. Next year is going to be fun.
Steve Jobs on the future of the music industry.
MobileWhack looks like a good source for sating your mobile tech fetish.
I'm trying to put together an informal list of news related blogs to pass on to my friend A. who is contemplating moving his news media centered web site into a more weblog format (or maybe I don't have that right, but my task is the same regardless.) He knows there is something going on with "blogs" but I believe Drudge is as close as his personal experience comes. I'd like to point him to 10 - 20 real blogs that he could read to get a sense of what is going on out there. Maybe a very short summary along with each URL. Care to help?
Instapundit, Talking Points, Brad DeLong, Juan Cole, Daily Kos, all jump to my mind. A is a numbers man so, for instance, I think Kos is more interesting to him than, say, The Agonist, since Kos has lots of poll and media numbers while The Agonist is pretty much just repackaging stories from several media outlets for easy consumption.
No doubt there are much better examples. Feel free to help me out in the comments.
Mimi Smartypants has a book deal:
To smush the story down to a sentence or nine, because we are running overlong here, a wonderful woman from HarperCollins UK contacted me a while back and said, "We think your site should be made into a book." I laughed. If I had wanted to write a book I would have written a book. Then she kept talking and I realized it was not a prank call, and I realized I am JUST NOT PUNK ROCK ENOUGH to say no to HarperCollins UK and their checks. I feel very guilty about this book thing, because many incredibly worthy authors struggle and suffer to get their books published, and many more toil away at brilliant novels in obscurity. I go blah blah during my lunch hour on my happy little subdomain, writing something that is NOT A BOOK, and out of the blue comes a publishing contract.And best of all, it's already done:
100% no new content! All crap you have read before, just on the printed page and in a different order! However, maybe you will find that comforting.Congratulations Mimi! Everyone else should go buy it.