...more recent posts
I've been pretty out of the loop for the last few weeks (web-wise that is.) I see that blogger is having some serious problems. Too bad. I hope Ev keeps the servers running. Losing all those blogs would be a huge blow to the web world I know. Hopefully all the people who got started with the supremely easy to use Blogger will stick with it even if the service does eventually fold. I hope it works out, but if not, they still did a great thing.
Took my monitor into the shop this morning. Should know by midweek what the deal is. Trying to convince my friend (who has a monitor but no computer) to lend me hers for the week. Meanwhile I'm stealing a few moments on the spare machine in the office.
Sad news. Tarzan (the bird) passed away yesterday. Unlike Angel, his partner who died many months ago without warning, we noticed something was wrong with Tarzan yesterday morning. As the day progressed it became clear that it was pretty serious. MB and I took turns holding him all day, but around 6:00 pm he died in MB's arms. Services to be held today. The building is going to be a much more quiet place. For all the complaining I did about his early morning squawking, I loved him a lot. Bye bye birdie.
Another great space picture. That's the MIR orbiting the earth with the moon to the right. (via robotwisdom.)
This interesting tidbit was supposedly part of a memo leaked from CNN (posted on Drudge.) Good stuff for you media convergence revolutionaries.
"We intend to accelerate our plans to introduce compact hi-tech newsgathering gear. Look for the quick introduction of small, high-quality DV cameras and laptop editing equipment (a Mac laptop), enabling us to deploy smaller reporting teams one or two people at times when it makes sense. Larger gear will be with us for some time to come and will be used as needed. But the days of routinely dispatching three- and four-person reporting teams with cases of bulky equipment are approaching an end. As we introduce this new gear, correspondents would do well to learn how to shoot and edit (even if called upon only occasionally to utilize those skills), and smart shooters and editors will learn how to write and track. While this is not a one-size-fits-all strategy and CNN will always value exceptional ability, the more multi-talented a newsgatherer, the more opportunity the News Group will provide that person."Now all we need is for these multi-talented micro-gadget equiped reporters to realize that they don't really need the bulky behemoth CNN either. (via ars)
The controversy is heating up over Apples new "Superdrive" (DVD-R/CD-RW.) John Gilmore is saying that Apple is not disclosing the content protection mechanisms built into the drive. He, and others, contend that Apple's drive (OEM'd by Pioneer) will not record industry recorded digital content (i.e., other DVD's, HDTV signals, streaming webcasts, ect...) A lot of people are mad about Apple not mentioning this little "feature", but others aren't so sure this is a real problem. I quote from HTP:
"BTW, I'm not so sure that Gilmore is correct. You can already use software from RipDifferent to extract MPEG-2 bitstreams from DVDs. AFAIK there is no way to tell whether an MPEG-2 bitstream came from a DVD or whether you encoded it yourself. So then all you'd have to do is use DVD Studio Pro to burn the bitstreams to a blank DVD. If you can't find DVD Studio Pro on Hotline, maybe someone will use the drive documentation (if it exists) to write a freeware burning tool."I guess we'll get this sorted when Apple finally ships the drive.
Here's a Joel on Software review of the Richocet wireless modem.
For no apparent reason I decided to download the latest Mozilla browser build (0.7.) Wow. Much better than the last one I tried (M14.) Perhaps I'll find stability problems over several days, but right off the bat it feels better than 4.7.6. I had no idea I would think that. If you've got a fast line, or some to kill, give it a try.
Can't believe I never found this one before: the internet encyclopedia of philosophy.
Here's a weekly tech-news sort of site (think TBTF crossed with /.) Looks good.