...more recent posts
Short history of Unix and C from the Economist:
But the [AT&T Bell Labs] were not only the birthplace, in this sense, of modern computer hardware. Much of modern software—computer programs and the special programming languages in which they are written—originated there too. Two instances in particular stand out: the programming language called C, which from the early 1970s has been perhaps the most popular programming language; and the Unix operating system, first booted up in 1971, and still going strong in everything from laptops to airline-reservation systems. Dennis Ritchie, who has worked at the Labs since 1967, was central to both projects. He is revered as the inventor of C, and, with Ken Thompson, as the co-inventor of Unix.
Intel's new FB-DIMM memory. Part 2. Part 3.
360 degree pinhole camera. Gallery of images.
In case anyone is trying to get me, my cell phone is not working. My email here is checked very often.
Super sexy 1.3 megapixel swivel camera phone from Sony Ericsson, the S710a. Should be out by the end of the year, but it will probably be Q1 2005 before it gets picked up by a U.S. carrier. Specifications here, but more importantly, the pictures are here.
Mexico's Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said he had a non-removable microchip implanted in his arm as a security measure to track him throughout Mexico and to give him access to a crime data bank.
Other high-ranking law enforcement officials who have access to the databank will also receive the chip implants
And similarly, Japanese school kids are to be RFID tagged as well.
The future of display technology is flat, thin… and flexible, thanks to the development of new screens, which could one day - literally - be folded up and tucked away in your pocket....Man, that would really solve a big problem. But I won't be holding my breath for this to hit any time soon (although I did read a highly unlikely - and completely unconfirmed - rumor that Apple has a 10 inch sub notebook in the works that has a screen that folds out - using two side panels - into a 15 inch screen.)
3.2 megapixel 3x optical zoon cameraphone from Samsung that will never go on sale in the mobile backwater that is the United States.
FCC chairman Michael Powell starts a blog.
WHAT-WG is going to change the web. That's the Web Hypertext Application Technology - Working Group.
Here's an explanation of how Apple fits in. And here's a look at the big picture from an Opera developer.
Executive summary: Microsoft doesn't want web technology to advance to the point where web applications can be as powerful as desktop applications because Microsoft controls the desktop and makes stacks of money selling Windows - but they don't control the web and they give IE away for free. So they have stalled development of more sophisticated web technology. Mozilla, Opera, and Apple are breaking away from the W3C to push things forward on their own.
This is going to be fun. I want these new toys so badly. Web Forms 2.0 (a specification being hammered out by WHAT-WG) will give us the tools to make this site much more powerful.