On Monday, Apple graciously sent the newer U2 iPod, along with Aperture 1.1. My daughter called the original “Gothic punk“. Same applies to the newer version, for which I’ve got to adjust to the red-colored […]
Category: Tech
Oh, Joe of Little Faith
This evening, I stopped into Penn Camera to pick up that spare Nikon D200 battery ordered about a week earlier. I waited behind a guy spending big on a digital camera, although it was uncertain if he understood what he was buying.
Thomas Hawk might appreciate this: A Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens, Canon Speedlite 430EX flash, memory card, and some other stuff I couldn’t quite make out. The buyer seemed somewhat perplexed by the $5,500 total. I thought, “It’s what you pay for a full-frame sensor”. Turns out, Canon rebates would put more than 500 bucks back in his pocket—$300 off the 5D. The camera is practically a steal at $2,699 after rebate.
Employers MySpace, Too
Graduates are hitting the job market and New York Times has a warning: Nothing public you post online is private, and potential employers are scouring your Facebook, MySpace or Xanga to see who you really are.
We Are TiVo, T-i-V-o
It was a rough “Lost” tonight. I recorded the episode for later viewing. Frustration: The Media Center in the living room cut off something at the end. Preview for next week’s episode is gone, too. […]
Damn Spam
Well, days after completing a big work project, I’m still playing catchup on reading. Fortunately, my RSS reader caught and retained lots of good stuff—like this: A Thursday Wired story about a Russian spammer beating […]
Keep the Net Open
With each passing day, I find myself at odds with Washington policy. As if immigration wasn’t bad enough, now it’s Net neutrality.
Today, largely splitting along party lines, the House Commerce Committee whacked an amendment that would have guaranteed Net neutrality. I’ve long opposed overregulation, but there are times when government oversight is appropriate. Given ongoing FCC deregulation, which would no longer require large telecos delivering DSL to let competitors use their lines, and ongoing efforts to prioritize access, the government should take action to guarantee neutrality of the Net.
No Finder Keeper
My daughter and I fled the house today, down the road to the 7-Eleven. My wife had gone out for the afternoon—and left to fend for our own lunch, we opted for convenience. My daughter got a turkey and cheese sub, while I went for a burrito. But on the way to the convenience store, there was adventure: A lost cell phone.
As we cut across a parking lot towards the 7-Eleven, I spotted a clamshell on the pavement. Well, well, finder’s keepers? Not in my family. Lost is returned. We hoofed over to the building adjacent to the parking lot, asking if someone had lost a cell phone. The folks inside weren’t exactly helpful. I called myself using the lost phone, hoping to get some caller ID. None, except a number with 206 area code, which I recognized as Washington State.
Spammers Targeting Kids
Yesterday, something unusual started to occur. Occasional comment spam would hit my recently relocated blogsite. Interestingly, the spam comments are targeted at the two December posts about protecting kids online. WordPress has built-in moderation, so […]
MySpace is OK
CNN has a story claiming MySpace helped foil a school shooting. Last week I said that MySpace isn’t the problem the news media has made it out to be. Heck, any place high schoolers can […]
Where Old News is the Only News
On Friday, a good friend asked me to look at a news story about Apple legal sending an unwelcome letter to an eight year-old girl. The letter basically told her to get lost. Apparently, the third grader had sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggesting a new feature for iPods: Lyrics viewing. She got her response, not from Steve but an Apple lawyer, about three months later. Turns out that Apple has a policy against taking unsolicited ideas, which the letter clearly stated.
The news story focused on the little girl’s hurt feelings and Apple’s slap-in-the-face response. Earth to Apple: Lawyers=bad PR. Always. But the response was lame for another reason: The feature already is available on iPods. It’s just not well publicized.
Apple Answers ‘What If’
Nearly two weeks has passed since Apple released Boot Camp, and I’ve said absolutely nothing on my personal blog about the software. The reason: I would never run Windows on a Mac that I own.
Boot Camp makes sense for people who think they might need Windows or have actual, occasional need. The software answers the question, “What if I need Windows?” But that’s a psychological more than real concern for most, potential Mac switchers. I’m convinced that most people thinking they might need Windows won’t. I know people who can’t throw away stuff, even if they haven’t used it for years, because of the “What if I need it” question. The barrier, while psychological, is real.
The End Begins
Last night, I moved my domain to a new host and started setting up a new Weblog using WordPress. Please note the new URL and new Webfeed. If you subscribe to my TypePad feed, please, […]