Tech Talk
The History of Computers
Thursday, March 16th, 2006A classic from James Lileks:
Remember: your iPod has more storage capacity than everything in this room.
If you like that, check out the whole series here.
Categories: Tech Talk, The Future is Now | Comments Off on The History of Computers
Couch Blogging!
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006OK, OK, I know I’m the last one on the planet to go wireless, but my new job provided me a laptop and a wireless card, so I went out and bought a wireless router, and bingo – I’m sitting in my den, blogging from the couch. Very, very cool…
Still lots to do – I can’t get on my corporate network yet, and I haven’t figured out things like viewing files from my home PC, sharing a printer, setting up all the various security features, etc. But for now, I’ve got internet access, which is a good start.
UPDATE: Trying again on Friday night. Last night, every time I went in my den, the network went offline (I think it’s a distance thing). Right now, it’s showing me 2 out of 5 bars, and the performance is acceptable. Maybe I should just go out & get a repeater so I don’t have to worry about it.
Categories: Tech Talk | 1 Comment »
Quantifying the Potential of Wintel Windows
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006The investment banking firm Needham & Co have done a study that attempts to determine how much Apple would earn if the Mactel machines ran Windows natively.
Bottom line: 1 million more machines, a 22% increase in sales for Apple, and an 80% increase in market share (9.2%, up from 5.1%).
The article points out that the survey is biased because it surveyed college students who already are mor highly disposed to Macs than the general population. Fair enough, but what it doesn’t consider is the corporate purchases that would come if Apple were just another hardware provider, like HP or Dell. Without any supporting data, I would guess that this number would drawf the ones above.
Categories: Money Talk, Tech Talk | 18 Comments »
Plain Text is the Answer!
Sunday, February 26th, 2006A major Hat Tip to Michael Weinmayr Starr, who correctly suggested a Plain Text post from the Outlook client. The plain text eliminates all of the HTML spaghetti code in the previous test, and uses the “mobile-post” class I had originally identified. “MsoNormal” apparently not only refers to Microsoft Outlook, but also to the “normal” HTML mode of posting.
Now, not only is the HTML cleaner, but the font settings are properly applied and all is well. The only thing I’m noticing at this point is the automatic line breaks that plain text defaults to in Outlook (every 76 characters or so). I’m sure this is something I can turn off in Outlook – I just have to play with it. Other than that, though I think the mailing problems are solved.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
OK, one more test…
Friday, February 24th, 2006Well, the first test went pretty well.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
Finally, a test of mobile posting…
Friday, February 24th, 2006Excuse the interruption, folks.
Categories: Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
Upgrading to the Video iPod – A Dilemma
Thursday, February 23rd, 2006
Categories: Tech Talk, Words about Music | 9 Comments »
The Department of Internet?
Thursday, February 23rd, 2006According to the International Telecommunication Union (via InternetWeek), in 2000, the United States ranked third in the world in number of high-speed internet subscribers per capita. In 2004, we were 16th. The 2005 numbers are about to come out, and it looks like we might fall out of the top 20.
Some of these countries have obvious advantages in this space (close proximity of people, making it easier to get broadband access to a higher percentage of the population), but we’re behind countries like Canada too. InternetWeek thinks that what’s missing is a government regulated broadband network.
Interesting. Here’s a space where market forces aren’t satisfying the public good (it’s not profitable to wire everyone for broadband, so no one does it) AND where the providers (cable & phone companies) are starting to make noises about distributing their costs to their users (the content providers).
Smells like a public utility, doesn’t it?
Government run broadband access to the internet would allow us to determine what percentage of the country was online by manipulating government spending, rather than counting on the private sector’s profit motive. On the other hand, there’s been a lot of talk lately about how the feds react to content that travels over their wires. If the feds get involved here, look for the same kind of decency/censorship debates that we’ve had in radio and television in recent years. Of course, the Internet raises a few new issues: First, content on the Internet doesn’t necessarily come from the United States, so even if access is a public utility (in this country), it would be exceedingly difficult for the government to completely regulate the providers.
Second, the Internet provides more interactive options for policing content. If you think people are in a tizzy now over the government asking search engine companies for data, imagine if they controlled the servers themselves? They may not be able to stop the production of “offensive” material, but they could more easily control the distribution of it. Now, I’m not suggesting that the U.S. government would outwardly censor Internet content (see also: China) – that wouldn’t pass muster with the public in this country. Distribution control in the U.S. more often takes the form of surcharges – charging a premium for access to adult sites (a la HBO or Cinemax on cable TV), for instance.
So the question is this: is more universal access worth giving the government a say over what gets seen and how much it costs? I say no, but then again, I live in a major metropolitan area where broadband access is readily available.
I wonder what Scalzi thinks out in Ohio…
Categories: Political Rantings, Tech Talk | 3 Comments »
It had to happen eventually…
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006So, here’s the question: is this bad news of the “the OS isn’t impervious to attack as many have tried to claim?” variety, or good news of the “market share and visibility have increased enough to warrant the hackers spending time on attacking OS X” variety?
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The Best Reason to Own a Laptop … Ever!
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006Via InternetWeek:
Internet cafe computer mice are the second most bacteria-carrying item found in public facilities, surpassing toilet doorknobs and hand straps on busses, a study showed.
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging, Tech Talk | Comments Off on The Best Reason to Own a Laptop … Ever!