Mouse and keyboard on the Xbox 360?

Everyone knows that first-person shooters were meant for the mouse and keyboard -- the mouse to aim and shoot and keyboard to run and perform complicated tasks. That's why I've never liked playing them on consoles. I even hated the much-vaunted Goldeneye.

With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement at the thought of hooking up this adapter to my Xbox 360 and dominating Gears of War.

Alas, it is not to be. As this review, explains, it's great in theory, but just doesn't work that well in real life. Sigh.

Possible contender for my next laptop?

I have my heart set on the nice-but-pricey Lenovo X60 tablet, but this HP tx1000 looks interesting.

I was holding off on the big upgrade until I see what Apple announces in January, but now, I'll have to wait to see the exact price, weight and keyboard size of this HP model.

TabletPCReview has the scoop.

Link

Reporters and Parrots

Google's research director, Peter Norvig, has an issue with journalists.

1. Parroting: The reporter's job is to do research to find the facts. But too often they seem to parrot back whatever is fed to them by press releases, politicians, or other news reports. My friend Joe C. calls this the stenographic approach to reporting.
2. Deception: Public figures lie (Marth Stewart, Kenneth Lay), and reporters do not know who to trust. Reporters lie, either to advance their career (Jayson Blair) or to serve the interests of their corporate sponsors. Sometimes the deception is self-deception: reporters (and others) believe what they want to believe.
3. Innumeracy: Prof. John McCarthy has touted the slogan He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense. Perhaps the budding reporters with an ability for arithmetic end up in other fields (like me), but it does seem that reporters repeatedly show they are not capable of simple multiplication and division.
4. Equal Time: Perhaps influenced by the sports pages, reporters tend to see issues as a competition with two sides, which must both be covered. Sometimes this is true, but sometimes one side is right and the other is objectively wrong. Reporters should do enough research to determine who is right and say so. They are too easily manipulated by those who have no facts on their side, but get equal press time anyways just by talking loudly.

Link

O Christmas Tree

Andrea's first multimedia project is up at the Mercury News site.

I'm person of the year!

But my accomplishment is somewhat diluted by the fact that you also have been named Time Magazine's person of the year.

Hypocrisy can be funny

From This Modern World.

Backstory here.

Sorry about the ads and popups

I had my debit card replaced and forgot to update my billing info with Tripod. It should be fixed by tomorrow.

Paul Krugman on the Great Wealth Transfer

 A well-reasoned piece in Rolling Stone magazine -- yes, Rolling Stone -- about why Bush isn't getting credit for a recovering economy.

The economic pie is getting bigger -- how can it be true that most Americans are getting smaller slices? The answer, of course, is that a few people are getting much, much bigger slices. Although wages have stagnated since Bush took office, corporate profits have doubled. The gap between the nation's CEOs and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago. And while Bush's tax cuts shaved only a few hundred dollars off the tax bills of most Americans, they saved the richest one percent more than $44,000 on average. In fact, once all of Bush's tax cuts take effect, it is estimated that those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year -- the richest five percent of the population -- will pocket almost half of the money. Those who make less than $75,000 a year -- eighty percent of America -- will receive barely a quarter of the cuts. In the Bush era, economic inequality is on the rise.

Some would argue that economic inequality shouldn't be cause for alarm, so long as everyone's standard of living is improving. But money equals power, and most would agree that concentrated power -- whether from a communist government, fascist dictator or capitalist oligarchy -- is a bad thing.

Andrea survives another round of layoffs

She didn't get the dreaded call this morning, so it looks like she's safe, at least for another six months. But this business had better figure out how to make money online, and fast.

HP's cool new Media Center PC

HP has been putting a a lot more emphasis on design lately, as evidenced by its soon-to-launch Vista showcase PC.

Among other features, it sports integrated FM and HDTV tuners, built-in camera and a touch-screen interface with this at-a-glance calendar and info center. It looks like it'll cost about $1,800.

Very cool. Expensive, but cool.

Engadget has the scoop.

A Brief History of Game Console Warfare

From BusinessWeek. Interesting graphic, though a bit inaccurate in places -- "Microsoft's Xbox marked the software company's debut in producing hardware of any kind." Really, BusinessWeek? Are you sure about that?

I have a really cool book, Digital Retro, that talks about the history of personal computers and mentions several of the game consoles. Naturally, it goes into a bit more depth than BusinessWeek could with its graphic and features lots of nice, big pictures. I would love to see the author tackle the game console business in a follow-up volume.

Link

Gears Of War trailer

Here's that game I wrote about earlier.

Why I've been neglecting this blog lately

 

In short, I've been kind of busy:

1. I got married
Andrea and I finally tied the knot in a small family ceremony in San Francisco. With a little help from a college buddy who's now a minister, we commandeered the steps of the City Hall rotunda, so the photos make the event look much more formal and planned than it actually was. To the left is an artist's rendering of the ceremony.

About nine members from Andrea's family came to the U.S. to participate in our union, along with the Phoenix contingent of my family. Everything worked out perfectly. More wedding pictures here.

2. I got an XBox 360
You know the old saying that it takes Microsoft three tries to get something right? Well they nailed the game console the second time around. This is a really well-designed system, with lots of power and an easy-to-use interface. I've always been partial to PC gaming because of the ability to download demo games and the fact that the keyboard-and-mouse combo is the best way to play first-person shooters. The XBox's hard drive and Internet connection takes care of the first problem, and while I still long for the free-look option of the mouse, playing with a controller isn't so bad. The nice thing about consoles is the economics -- you pay $400 every few years or so for a really powerful system that guarantees games written for it will work properly. No more worrying about having to upgrade the graphics card or memory. Now, my desktop computer won't feel obsolete as quickly.

And Microsoft did a great job designing this system. Connecting and playing with friends is a snap. Now I can finally use the video-game option on my Blockbuster rental plan. And -- aside from the original Quake, which was a breakthrough is so many ways -- Gears of War is probably the best game I've ever played.

My XBox even has its own blog. No, really.

3. The job
As I mentioned here earlier, Investor's Business Daily promoted me to Assistant Technology Editor, which has handed me a ton of responsibilities. Favorite part of the job: writing headlines. Least favorite part: dealing with angry reporters who swear I've ruined their masterpiece.

4. The election
Now the the Democrats have retaken congress and restored some level of sanity back into Washington, I won't have as much to rant about. It won't be enough to undo six years' worth of damage, but at least we have some semblance of checks and balances in the federal government. Let's hope the Dems don't blow it. 

Are nominations open yet for this year's Darwin Awards?

Man hurt after lighting firecracker in buttocks

Too cool for words.

Photosynth

Wal-Mart opts for ‘Christmas’ marketing

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Christmas cheer seems to be a hot trend this season as several other retailers including Kohl’s Corp. and Macy’s, a division of Federated Department Stores Inc., are also stepping up their Christmas marketing. The moves respond to mounting criticism from religious groups that staged boycotts against Wal-Mart and other merchants after they eliminated or de-emphasized “Christmas” in their advertising.

Because there's nothing Jesus wants more than to see his birth turned into a way for retail chains to boost shareholder returns -- during a traditional pagan holiday, no less. Cha-ching!

Link

Real ‘OC’ Starts Objecting to Its MTV Portrayal

"This is not depicting our town the way it should be depicted,” said Lisa Arthur, who has two children in the school and one who graduated. “Our town is about art and culture, and school should be about education."

Really? This is Orange County we're talking about, right?

 

Source: Real ‘OC’ Starts Objecting to Its MTV Portrayal - New York Times

GOP: Rumsfeld stepping down

Wow, that was fast. 

Link

Better than I could have possibly imagined.

Finally, a return to sanity.

Vote today

 If the Democrats can't win in this environment, they just can't win.

Link to Political News - MSNBC.com

Restore hotkey functionality to Windows Desktop Search 3.0

It's not as simple as it should be, but it's possible.

Strange but true

Here's a mountain range in Canada that looks like a carved profile of Egyptian royalty. UFO conspiracy theorists, start your engines! The Mars face has nothing on this.

Link

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 is out

This is a great free application, and the newest version promises faster indexing. It uses the same underlying technology as the search function in Windows Vista, which also is tightly integrated with Office 2007.

But as some have pointed out, this new version of WDS is a step backwards in some ways -- it doesn't index network-mapped drives and the hotkey functionality no longer works. So if you're a big user of either of those, you may want to hold off a bit.

Link

Transforming a 2D image into 3D

Very cool. Sort of reminds me of Microsoft's soon-to-launch Photosynth.

The nut jobs in San Francisco are going to ruin it for everyone

Davis Freeberg details a recent town hall about Google's efforts to bring free wireless Internet access to San Francisco:

The lunacy of San Francisco politics can take several forms and town hall meetings are sure to attract some of San Francisco’s craziest nut jobs. While I was surprised not to see San Francisco’s representative from the 12 galaxies, Frank Chu, attend the meeting, I did get to see Chris Sacca from Google face a parade of activist oddballs who neither understood technology nor the positive social impact that free wifi could bring to some of the city’s most disadvantaged citizens.

At the meeting, Sacca did an excellent job or remaining calm and explaining the technology in language that anyone could understand, still these local political gadflies seemed to feel that EarthLink and Google providing free WiFi to the citizens was akin to killing kittens because, they attacked Sacca with a venom that was absolutely shocking.

Some of the crazier demands that were suggested at the meeting included a “requirement” for every San Francisco renter to sign a lease addendum with their landlords before being allowed to install a WiFi card in their PC, forcing Google to agree to transport kids back and forth to the Zoo in their Google busses and a requirement for EarthLink to pay the electrical costs for running computers in order to prevent brownouts.

Another argument for requiring more science, math and logic courses in school.

Link

Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases

Where have I read this story before? Oh that's right, here.

Firefox still faster than IE 7

Or so says former Microsoftie Robert Scoble. Alarmingly, IE was especially slow in rendering AJAX-heavy sites such as Google Maps. So much for Steve Ballmer's vow that the company would own Web 2.0.

Judging from the beta I've used, IE is a big improvement, but still no Firefox. One big problem: IE breaks compatibility with some Web sites. So it's basically the worst of both worlds.

Microsoft designs an iPod box

Video: MS iPod

Old but funny.

I spoke just a little too soon

It looks like Sony is formally recalling batteries in its own laptops.

Link

Partying like it's 1991

My work e-mail has been down the entire day. On the whole, I think it's actually made me more productive, at least today. But, boy, has it reminded me how dependant we are on e-mail. How did journalists do their job before? I can't remember life before e-mail.

Kuo: White House ‘Seduces Christians’

More on the Bush's No. 2 guy on "Faith-Based" initiatives:

In some ways White House power is like [J.R.R.] Tolkien’s ring of power. When you put it on, it feels good and it’s dazzling. But after a while it begins to consume you in ways you don’t realize. That’s the nature of White House power. I have no doubt that Christian political leaders have gotten involved for all the right reasons. I just think over time it becomes harder and harder to stand up against that ring of power and the White House, to say no and walk away.

Source:  Newsweek, via MSNBC.com

Sony laptop battery recall widens

The massive global recall of batteries made by Sony Corp. widened Wednesday as Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd. said it is recalling 287,000 laptop batteries that are at risk of overheating or catching fire.

Isn't it interesting that one of the few laptop makers not to issue a recall over Sony batteries is Sony itself?

Link

At last

Bush's former No. 2 guy on for the faith-based initiatives wakes up to the fact that GOP is playing religious conservatives for suckers. He's written a book about it, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, which comes out Monday.

While I oppose much of what the Religious Right is demanding -- teacher-led prayer in schools, the teaching of creationism as science and government funding for religious programs, to name a few -- I'm thrilled to see someone finally realizing that the the group's devotion to the party, and some of the anti-Christian values it represents, is misplaced loyalty.

From a report by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:

According to Kuo, Karl Rove's office referred to evangelical leaders as 'the nuts.'

Kuo says, 'National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control,' and just plain 'goofy.' "

So how does the Bush White House keep 'the nuts' turning out at the polls?

One way, regular conference calls with groups led by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, and radio hosts like Michael Reagan.

Kuo says, "Participants were asked to talk to their people about whatever issue was pending.  Advice was solicited [but] that advice rarely went much further than the conference call. [T]he true purpose of these calls was to keep prominent social conservatives and their groups or audiences happy."

They do get some things from the Bush White House, like the National Day of Prayer, “another one of the eye-rolling Christian events,” Kuo says.

And “passes to be in the crowd greeting the president when he arrived on Air Force One or tickets for a speech he was giving in their hometown. Little trinkets like cufflinks or pens or pads of paper were passed out like business cards. Christian leaders could give them to their congregations or donors or friends to show just how influential they were. Making politically active Christians personally happy meant having to worry far less about the Christian political agenda.” 

Source: Crooks and Liars

Mark Cuban on business journalism

The Internet billionaire, who made a fortune selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo during the Internet bubble, has launched a journalism venture called Sharesleuth. The site aims to root out corruption among public companies.

In a magazine interview, he explains what's wrong with mainstream business journalism:

Despite the fact that most newspapers and media are making strong profits, they have become slaves to earnings per share and trying to grow them worse than Internet companies were to page-views, users, and revenue in the late 1990s. They are not looking to create the best newspaper or media companies; they are looking to get their stock prices up. I know this is a generalization, but I can’t think of a large media company it doesn’t apply to. You have companies financial-engineering with tracking stocks, stock splits, buybacks, dividends, debt, acquisitions. You never hear anyone anymore saying “We are investing to become the best because our readers/viewers/listeners want the best possible content.” It’s shocking to me that the CEOs haven’t said, “Stock price be damned, we are making money and increasing shareholder equity by being the best at what we do.” Right now everyone is so afraid of new media they may lose the foundation of their core competencies. It’s happening in media, in movies, in theaters, in sports, and when I see it, I see an opportunity and try to act on it if it’s interesting to me.

Source: Los Angeles CityBeat

More tips for newspapers:

 My favorite: "Fire any reporter or editor who refuses to learn how to use the Web to its greatest advantage, or to experiment with what works on Web vs. what works in print."

Source: Poynter Online - Forums

Newsbooks: the triumph of a journalism genre

Interesting piece on Slate about the return of long-form print journalism: books. 

Whoever said long stories put off readers hasn't scanned the New York Times best-seller list lately. Even though newspapers and magazines have crammed their pages with Iraq reporting, readers seem insatiable on the topic. The current Times list features four heavily reported and lengthy books about the Iraq adventure: Hubris, by Michael Isikoff and David Corn; Fiasco, by Thomas Ricks; State of Denial, by Bob Woodward; and Imperial Life in the Emerald City, by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Source: Slate Magazine

Microsoft bought me a new mouse!

I finally got my voucher yesterday from the Microsoft-California Class Action Settlement, one of the little-remembered upshots of the software giant's landmark federal antitrust case five years ago (or 10, if you count when it all started). I filled out my claim almost two years ago and had completely forgotten about it.

California alleged Microsoft used its monopoly power to squash potential rivals, and that lack of competition meant consumers -- especially in California, apparently -- wound up paying higher prices they they would have in a more freewheeling market.

Personally, I overpaid exactly $98, just enough to buy the Logitech MX Revolution -- the slickest, sleekest mouse in the world. I really like it, even though it's "revolutionary" new scroll wheel makes middle-clicks a little tricky.

My only complaints: I wish the "doc-flip" button had the option of acting as an "alt-tab" key combo instead of forcing users to run Logitech's add-on software. And I wish I could map the "instant search" button to mimic a key-mouseclick combo (so I could use it with Answers.com's 1-Click popups).

Does this make me a geek?

New rules for newspapers

BrassTacks Design's Alan Jacobson offers some excellent and thought-provoking advice to newspapers hoping to survive the Internet age. 

1. Get real about the Internet

2. Tie journalists' pay to circulation

3. Ignore your loyal readers

4. Stop running news stories

5. Feed the cash cow

6. Drop the price

7. Solve the online revenue riddle

8. Promote as if success depends upon it

9. Join hands and sing Kumbaya

His design firm is partly responsible for the inverse-L craze that's so popular with the kids these days -- a layout I don't particularly like -- but you have to give the company credit for slapping some reality into publishers' heads. The Internet is fundamentally changing the business and pushing newspapers to more radical changes than they've been willing to make so far.

As Jacobson puts it:

The Internet is not evolutionary like the telegraph, telephone, radio or television – it's revolutionary like Gutenberg's movable type, because it provides everyone with a powerful publishing technology. It's not merely a new way to publish – it's the democratization of publishing. Freedom of the press no longer belongs to those who own one.

Furthermore, the Internet allows virtually everyone to publish (i.e. HTML, myspace, blogs, etc.), search (database) and communicate (email) – three killer apps in one. Nuthin' else comes close.

The job prospects for scribes were pretty bleak after Gutenberg. Our future could be just as bleak unless we act quickly and decisively.

His most controversial advice is to "stop running news stories," at least in print. Instead, he argues, breaking stories should go to the Web, and context and analysis should appear in print.

He has a point. But there's nothing print can do context-wise that's not online, too (see Slate, which excels at these types of stories). And frankly, analysis is cheap (see just about every cable TV news program on the air).

There are a couple of things newspaper companies can do better than the Matt Drudges and Digg.coms. (Besides actual journalism, that is. Lost in all the hubbub is the fact that few bloggers actually report news. They gather, link to and comment on the news -- something that should be exploited, not feared.)

In print, newspapers still do a far better job with graphics and photos. Newspapers should use them more.  I don't mean just running things bigger. My fiance recently did a graphic explaining the case of a years-ago local murder. A co-worker of hers mentioned that the graphic did such a good job telling the story that he didn't need to read the reporter's text.

And nobody covers local news like the local newspaper, whether online or in print. Newsies often moan about cutting overseas bureaus and a trend toward deemphasizing national and international news.

I say good riddance. The cuts leaves more room for local news. Local newspapers need to shake off the mindset that they're the sole source of news for local readership. That might have been true before 1994 or so. But today, national and international news is a mere click away at The New York Times, Washington Post and BBC -- which do a far better job at it anyway.

No, these notions aren't ground-breaking. The real challenge will be figuring out how to make money from online advertising. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for that one.

Wow.

Now here's a real-life example of what Christianity is supposed to look like.

Dozens of Amish neighbors came out Saturday to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more in a brief, unfathomable rampage.

...

About half of perhaps 75 mourners on hand were Amish.

I don't think I would have been able to do the same.

Source: Yahoo! News

Adriana Calcanhoto - Fico Assim Sem Voce

Cute Brazilian video

Praise the Lord

Seriously.

GOP's Hold on Evangelicals Weakening

Even a small shift in the loyalty of conservative Christian voters such as Sunde could spell trouble for the GOP this fall. In 2004, white evangelical or born-again Christians made up a quarter of the electorate, and 78 percent of them voted Republican, according to exit polls. But some pollsters believe that evangelical support for the GOP peaked two years ago and that what has been called the "God gap" in politics is shrinking.

Giving Vista another chance

I got RC1 in the mail today and, against my better judgment, am going to install it. Only this time, I'm making a full recoverable backup of my XP setup.

The first public beta of Vista was basically unusable on my machine. Let's hope the second time is a charm.

The Foley Matter

This pretty much sums it up:

History suggests that once a political party achieves sweeping power, it will only be a matter of time before the power becomes the entire point. Policy, ideology, ethics all gradually fall away, replaced by a political machine that exists to win elections and dispense the goodies that come as a result. The only surprise in Washington now is that the Congressional Republicans managed to reach that point of decayed purpose so thoroughly, so fast.

That House leaders knew Representative Mark Foley had been sending inappropriate e-mail to Capitol pages and did little about it is terrible. It is also the latest in a long, depressing pattern: When there is a choice between the right thing to do and the easiest route to perpetuation of power, top Republicans always pick wrong.

From: The New York Times

Skype USB Phone

 

The Web page for this device leaves leaves one burning question unanswered: why?

Throw the bums out

Link to G.O.P. Aides Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail - New York Times

Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.

test

Times Reader

I've been testing out The New York Times Reader, an electronic newspaper of sorts created by the newspaper giant and Microsoft. My feelings are mixed so far.

The Reader is very well designed, easy to use and does a good job of bringing the newspaper-reading experience to the computer screen. It's prettier than a regular Web site (it incorporates photos better than any online newspaper I've read) and is easier to use than PDF-based "electronic editions" many newspapers, including mine, sell. I can see it being especially handy for Tablet PC users. The software downloads the entire paper at once, so users don't have to stay connected to the Internet to read. And it's easy to highlight and annotate articles, which users can then send -- with the notes embedded -- to friends and colleagues.

On the other hand, this works only for the New York Times, at least for now. Does this mean Microsoft expects readers to install a standalone reader for every publication they buy? Or is this going to be an semi-open format, like Microsoft's old Reader (not to be confused with this Microsoft co-created NY Times Reader)? Microsoft's original press release doesn't say.

This really should be a browser plug-in of some kind. When users go to NY Times Web site, the plug-in could spring into action and download the site in the Reader format.

You have to hand it to the Times, though. They've been on the cutting edge of this media transition and seem to be willing to experiment with electronic media. It'll be interesting to see if this one goes anywhere.

It's official: Zune to be $249

That's better than being priced higher than iPods of the same capacity. But even with the Zune's added features, I still think Microsoft's smartest move would be undercutting iPods on price.

Link to Zune details unzipped | CNET News.com

Answer the phone, dead man

Oops! Real ‘Itsy Bitsy’ songwriter still alive

The Paul Vance who wrote the songs — and provided proof with royalty payments he is still receiving for the hit — said he has been inundated with calls from people who think he died.

I think the writer means to say calls from people checking in on the death report. I don't know anyone who calls people they think are dead, but that's just me.

Falwell says Hillary would spark base - Yahoo! News

Falwell says Hillary would spark base

The Rev. Jerry Falwell says a White House run by Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton would energize his base of religious conservatives even more than if the devil were the Democratic nominee.

'I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate,' Falwell told a private prayer breakfast. 'Because nothing will energize my (constituency) like
Hillary Clinton.'

Nice to know he has his priorities straight.

Iraq War Has Spread Terror, Agencies Say

Ahem.

So maybe Microsoft isn't so stupid after all

 It looks like my earlier rant was a bit premature. PVRWire reports that the Zune will go for $249 or less, not the $299 that had been reported elsewhere. This will make the device much more competitive.

But I still think the "Plays For Sure" debacle remains a major turn-off. Why shove yet another DRM scheme down consumers' throats and abandon everyone who bought WMP tracks through MSN Music, Urge, Napster, Musicmatch and Yahoo?

 

Update: Looks like the final price will be even less - $230.

Why the Founding Fathers bothered with "speedy and public" trials

Because sometimes the government is wrong. This is just reprehensible:

Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.

...

Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found.

Bush and torture apologists will argue that the U.S. was only following up on some bad information -- blame Canada! But again, this is the perfect example of why a fair trial is so important. What happened to Arar shouldn't happen to anyone. (For the record, he's a Canadian citizen, but was kidnapped on U.S. soil.)

A refresher:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

- Amendment VI, U.S. Constitution

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Microsoft's new iPod killer will be priced at $284 at Wal-Mart -- $55 more than a 30 gig iPod -- and won't play Windows Media DRM-protected files.

First, the price: I realize Zune has a bigger screen and more features than the iPod. But if Microsoft really wants to stop iPod's steamroller momentum, the device will have to sell at a lower price -- not a similar price and definitely not at a higher price. The iTunes has a far bigger ecosystem, which makes it a much safer bet for the consumer. Microsoft should appreciate better than anyone and price accordingly.

Now about the DRM: Basically, if you've thrown in your lot with Microsoft and bought music at one of the partner sites, you're out of luck. I'm not sure how Redmond is going to convince anyone to trust Microsoft again with yet another DRM scheme.

Or maybe this is just a clever ploy by Microsoft to convince everyone that digital-rights management technology is hopelessly broken.

Why our policies on terrorism suspects matter

U.S. war prisons legal vacuum for 14,000: "Seventy to 90 percent of the Iraq detentions in 2003 were 'mistakes,' U.S. officers once told the international Red Cross."

Suspects are only suspects until they're convicted in a fair trial. Because sometimes -- indeed, with this administration, most of the time -- the government is wrong.

Steve Jobs: Hypocrite?

A former Microsoftie chides Apple for blatantly copying its Media Center interface. I've criticized Apple for the same thing, though in this case, it seems especially egregious.

In most cases, Apple at least improves the technology -- sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Not this time.

Boing Boing: Amazon Unbox to customers: Eat **** and die

Nice rant against Amazon's new video download service. I tried it, too, but the software was so buggy I uninstalled it about five minutes later. Cory Doctorow's complaint is much more specific, but he absolutely right.

Windows Live Local

Freaky. You can almost see the ducks at my apartment complex.

Where have all the sound effects gone?

New York Times' David Pogue blogs today about cultural artifacts of obsolete technology, specifically, cartoon sound effects:

What about the needle-scratching-across-the-vinyl-record sound? It’s still used everywhere, in cartoons, movies and so on, to represent a rude awakening, an abrupt interruption of a scene’s mood or the main character’s reverie. But today’s children have never even seen a record player. Isn’t the record-scratch sound totally lost on them?

And what about “ka-CHING!”? Cash registers don’t go ka-CHING anymore–they go beep!

I'd add to that the whole notion of "dialing" someone's phone number on your cell phone.

 

A classic straw-man argument from the Decider-in-Chief

"Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone," Bush said in an Oval Office address.

Again, completely missing the point. Not a single person has suggested leaving Iraq so the "terrorists would leave us alone." No, critics suggested not invading in the first place because Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and has become a major, intractable distraction in the war on terrorism. Is the president intellectually dishonest or just an idiot?

Heckuva job, Bushie.

Cheney: Govt did "helluva job" since Sept 11 - Yahoo! News: "The government has done 'a helluva job' guarding America, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday, as President George W. Bush prepared to visit Ground Zero amid an election-year debate on whether the country is safer five years after the September 11 attacks.

Yes, even after Katrina, the administration is still tone deaf.

Andrea has a Web site!

It's actually an online version of her portfolio, so if you'd like to see how talented she is, check it out.

Progress

Well, it's getting there. The formatting is slowly getting fixed, though new-and-improved commenting system is still whacked out. So everyone just shut up for a minute and let me think. 

Man at work

I'm performing a long-needed redesign of the site to make it a little fresher and less cluttered. So far, so good, I think. I need to fill up the left side and fix a few nagging style and coding issues, though.

If all goes well, I should have the update done before Andrea gets back tomorrow night.

Couldn't have said it better myself

I was wrong. Rumsfeld's outrageous, insane -- dare I say fascist? -- rhetoric does deserve a response. And MSNBC's Keith Olbermann delivers a doozy:

Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential.  Because just every once in awhile it is right, and the power to which it speaks is wrong.

Of course, Olbermann is understating his case. This administration hasn't been occasionally wrong. It's been consistently, spectacularly, tragically wrong.

In the digital age, what does one buy at Barnes & Noble?

An ampersand-shaped bookend, of course! 

Rumsfeld: 63% of Americans morally confused, cowards, fascist appeasers

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from “moral or intellectual confusion” about what threatens the nation’s security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.

In remarks to several thousand veterans at the American Legion’s national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.

This sort of rhetoric kind of speaks for itself.

Planet San Francisco

Your city can be a planet, too!

I've been promoted

This has been in the works for a little while, but I can finally talk about it openly now that it's official. I've been named assistant tech editor here at IBD, which basically means I get a little more money for a lot more work.

It also means I'll be stuck in the office most of the day rather than out doing interviews. I do, however, get a window cubicle. So I have that going for me.

I want, I want

Now this is what I call a monitor. Unfortunately, it looks like it'll cost about a million dollars.

Poor Pluto

It's no longer a planet.

Perhaps the most useless application of Linux, ever

Computer-controlled cat feeder.

The robots are taking over

The Financial Times reports that computers are generating breaking earnings stories for Thompson Financial and Reuters. My gut reaction, of course, is one of pure terror.

But on second thought, I don't know a single reporter who enjoys pounding out these boilerplate pieces. During my first year at IBD, the most mind-numbing part of the job was the quick-turnaround earnings shorts. In fact, my colleague and I used to refer to ourselves as highly trained monkeys every time earnings season rolled around. With standardized earnings reports, there's no reason why this "who" and "what" and "where" aspect to journalism shouldn't be at least partly automated. Reporters' time would be much better spent digging into the financials and asking the all-important "why" and "how" -- much harder questions.

If it's not loud enough, you're too old.

Test your hearing with this range of sampled frequencies.

In praise of South Beach

I was a little skeptical when Andrea and I embarked on the South Beach Diet (or as a colleague likes to call it, the "Pretend You're Diabetic Diet") a few months ago. I figured that the initial weight loss would be mostly water weight and quickly return. But so far, it's been the most successful -- and easiest -- diet for Andrea. She's lost 20 pounds so far. And I'm back to the weight I was before moving to California and discovering Rubio's.

The Amazon review sums it up quite nicely:

While the diet is sound, the book could be better organized. The first half mixes scientific study with anecdote in a seemingly random way, while the mix of meal plans and recipes can be confusing. Still, the recipes are varied and tasty, and you'll never feel deprived, unless you currently happen to live by bread alone.

The other criticism I have is with the author's opening statement that the diet is neither low-carb nor low fat. That's a blatant lie -- it's both of those things.

Still, not a bad return for a $10 investment.

Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista side by side

A nice, sober-minded comparison of the looming OS upgrades.

Cupertino, start your copiers

Steve Jobs mocked Microsoft for copying Apple this morning, while announcing some of the new features of the upcoming Mac OS upgrade, including this Spaces feature. He might want to know that this capability, available "only with Mac OS X Leopard," has been around for at least four years as a Windows XP Powertoy called Virtual Desktop Manager.

Sign of the times

Underwhelmed by It All - Los Angeles Times:

A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don't have nearly enough options. 'I feel bored like all the time, 'cause there is like nothing to do,' said Shannon Carlson, 13, of Warren, Ohio, a respondent who has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal but can't ward off ennui.

Official Google Blog: Saved locations on Google Maps

Official Google Blog: Saved locations on Google Maps

Finally.

Civil war in Iraq possible, generals say - Politics - MSNBC.com

Civil war in Iraq possible, generals say:

Under questioning by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Pace said he did not anticipate one year ago that Iraq would now be in danger of descending into civil war.

Funny. Everyone else seemed to anticipate it. Well, almost everyone.

Cooler than Google Earth?

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth

Creepy

Sculptor Ron Mueck's Exhibition, Yahoo! News Photos

Passion of the what?

According to the report, in addition to threatening the arresting deputy and trying to escape, Gibson said, "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," and asked the officer, James Mee, "Are you a Jew?"

As Mel Gibson's recent meltdown demonstrates, it's probably a bad idea to link Christianity too closely to any particular (non-divine) person, group or political party. (See also Ralph Reed, George W. Bush.)

Did someone order "freedom fries?"

From MSNBC: Iran president bans usage of foreign words

Another similarity between conservative Republicans and fundamentalist Islamists.

Pass Go, get a $200 direct deposit

Looks like Monopoly is going cashless.

Is it me, or is it hot up here?

Nope, it's definitely hot.

With temperatures reaching 104 degrees Fahrenheit today, I had to resort to some Arizona-style cooling techniques, including sealing off the air-conditioned living room from the rest of the apartment and sleeping on the couch, spending the day at an air-conditioned bookstore and the old standby, the cold shower.

Sometimes, the truth hurts

From BuzzMachine:

Then she said that news is “an industry with a lot of oversupply that is now exposed.” I liked that hard economic talk about the business. It reminds us that we are an industry and need to reexamine our business assumptions like every other industry.

So maybe the problem with journalism today isn’t that there are too few reporters and and editors but too many. I’ve talked before about the foolishness of sending 15,000 reporters to the political conventions, about papers sending TV critics to junkets or golf writers to tournaments. Inside the newsroom, too, there are overwrought processes. Meanwhile, of course, revenue is sinking and staff will follow.

Some good points here. As much as I hate to admit it, I think this probably goes for tech writers, too.

A step in the right direction

Buy A Customized Jessica Simpson MP3 At Yahoo! Music

No, I'm not talking about the song itself, but the idea that a major music service is considering selling music not crippled by "digital rights management" software.

Own your own flamethrower!

Brookstone Weed Burner

Product Description
Eliminate weeds quickly and permanently with a propane-fired weed burner. Use this lightweight burner to clear weeds and their roots in driveways or walkways in summer, or to melt dangerous ice patches in winter. Adjustable regulator valve lets you control flame intensity

The real Super Mario Brothers 2

Interesting story about Super Mario Bros. 2, the oddest game in the franchise. As it turns out, Nintendo had created a different Mario sequel but found it too hard for U.S. audiences. So it Mario-ized a completely different game called Doki Doki Panic and sold it as Part Duex.

Personally, I never liked the version they released in the U.S. It felt too different and was just, well, weird -- at least in terms of the Mario universe.

About.com has a long-overdue review of the real Super Mario Bros. 2.

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor

From the New York Times:

Study Documents ‘Ghetto Tax’ Being Paid by the Urban Poor - New York Times

Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods, paid $400 more on average for a year’s insurance.

The poor are also the main customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores, where payments are stretched out at very high interest rates; in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700.

Those were just two examples among several cited in a report Tuesday showing that poor urban residents frequently pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year in extra costs for everyday necessities. The study said some of the disparities were due to real differences in the cost of doing business in poor areas, some to predatory financial practices and some to consumer ignorance.

From Deuteronomy 24:14:

Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.

And there's plenty more where that came from.

Happy birthday to me

I'm 37 today. That sounds so old...

Science education fails again

Move around and live longer, study says:

CHICAGO - Elderly people who load the dishwasher, climb stairs or just keep moving are bound to live longer than their sedentary counterparts, a study said on Tuesday.

The study of 302 people aged 70 to 82 found those who engaged in more physical activity -- ?not necessarily formal exercise --? were much less likely to die than those who did not move as much.

"The message here is that for older adults, any movement is better than no movement and that this can come from usual daily activities," said study author Todd Manini of the U.S. National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland.

Actually, the message here is that too many journalists fail to grasp the difference between correlation and causation, and too few educated people understand the scientific method.

An equally valid reading of this study is that people closer to death tend not to move around as much. Perhaps the study did correct for preexisting health differences among the participants. But that's nowhere in the story, and it's a question the reporter (or an editor) should have asked.

Needless to say, I will wait for a more definitive study before loading my dishwasher or climbing the stairs again.

The Ultimate Keyboard

This new keyboard from Microsoft looks promising. It's wireless, recharchable, has a sensor that knows when to backlight the keys (like most Apple laptops) and another sensor that lets it know when you're away so it can save power.

The only thing missing -- and I hate to keep harping on this -- is a volume knob. What could be more intuitive for multimedia keyboards?

I will never, ever again buy DRM-protected music

After reinstalling Windows XP on my home PC, I realized that I'd need to relicense music I bought a couple of years ago from MusicMatch. Problem is, Yahoo bought the company last year and no longer offers the music player I need to retrieve the license. Yahoo's new "Music Engine" won't relicense it either. So through no fault of my own, I need to re-purchase the album. You can bet that it won't be at another online store.

This is why so-called Digital Rights Management absolutely stinks. Where are MY rights to the music?

Vista Build 5456 not so bad?

This is a little reassuring after installing the slow and extremely buggy Beta 2. I understand that it's a beta and all, but the first public release of Windows XP a few years ago (a half-decade, actually) was much more polished and stable than this monstrosity. I hope Microsoft makes build 5456 publicly available soon, because I'm ready to ditch Vista and reinstall XP.

Killing grammar to death

Actual Reuters headline, as posted to MSNBC:

LOS ANGELES - Rock producer Phil Spector will go on trial in January on charges of killing a B-movie actress to death at his home, nearly four years after the fatal shooting took place, a judge said Friday.

I imagine it'll be fixed before most of you read this.

Box.net gets better

Box.net, a slick, free online storage and sharing site, has unofficially added Webdav support. That means you can put online folders right on your desktop, as if they were local files. In other words, downloading and uploading become a simple matter of dragging and dropping.

Box.net gives you a gigabyte for free and 5 gigabytes for $5 a month.

Now the question: why am I still paying $3 per month to MyDocsOnline for 50 megs?

Blogging as work

I just got word from my boss that reporters here may have to start blogging officially for the newspaper. Ugh.

The problem with newspaper blogs -- aside from being totally pointless in a media setting -- is that most aren't really blogs at all. Free of opinion, heavily edited and devoid of all spunk, most end up reading like half-baked news briefs. Let's hope IBD is willing to take some risks and do something really interesting with these.

Why I woke up at 7:30 on a Sunday

Why I woke up at 7:30 on a Sunday

Apparently, there was an important soccer game going on.

Dave Eggers on America and the World Cup. By Dave Eggers

Here's funny and insightful article by Dave Eggers on why soccer is such a popular youth sport in the United States, but not so popular as a professional sport:

The beauty of soccer for very young people is that, to create a simulacrum of the game, it requires very little skill. There is no other sport that can bear such incompetence. With soccer, 22 kids can be running around, most of them aimlessly, or picking weeds by the sidelines, or crying for no apparent reason, and yet the game can have the general appearance of an actual soccer match. If there are three or four coordinated kids among the 22 flailing bodies, there will actually be dribbling, a few legal throw-ins, and a couple of times when the ball stretches the back of the net. It will be soccer, more or less.

Jon Udell: Earth to Google PR

A nice smackdown of a very common PR practice.

SmackBook Pro

This is almost too cool. You have to watch the video to get it.

Why I'm seriously considering a Mac as my next laptop

Here's a YouTube video of someone using a new Intel-based MacBook and two software applications, Parallels and Virtue, to easily switch between MacOS, Windows and Linux at native speeds.

Pretty slick -- and handy, to boot.

ScienceDaily: The Most Realistic Virtual Reality Room In The World

Oh how I would love to play Unreal Tournament 2004 on this thing.

Lose the clown

McDonald's wants to look more like Starbucks, according to this article in BusinessWeek. I went to a McDonald's for the first time in years a few weeks ago, and have to admit that they've really managed to turn things around. Paying with a debit card was quick and painless -- easier than cash, actually -- and they've revamped the menu with somewhat healthier items. (Of course, I still ordered a Big Mac and fries.)

Still, the photos in the article make it clear that they're ripping off Panera Bread, not Starbucks.

Fixed the RSS feed

How embarrasing. My RSS feed had been broken for a year. A longtime friend I hadn't seen in years pointed it out today -- which tells you how many people actually read this blog.

Thanks, Matt.

Gates doesn't want to be world's richest man - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

Gates doesn't want to be world's richest man - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

I've got a solution! I'll be happy to take a few billion off his hands.

Awesome

A bunch of pranksters dressed up as Best Buy employees, befuddling workers and management alike. This is their story.

Yahoo Go for TV

This media-PC software looked kind of interesting, but my ultimate reaction is the same as Jupiter analyst Michael Gartenberg:

What I don't understand is why Yahoo is spending the time and effort to do this. Microsoft's already much further ahead (from what I've seen of the download) and offers much better out of the box experience. There's no reason that Yahoo can't offer the unique services it brings to the table, like Yahoo Photos or Music via the MCE interface. This is one of those things where it just doesn't make sense to re-invent the wheel.

I agree. And the same goes for Yahoo's Music Engine. Why couldn't this have been a plug-in to Windows Media Player. Like we need another media manager to install.

More evidence that newspapers are clueless about the future

From Poynter, where a reporter talks about trying to find a story online:

So I went to Philly.com and searched for it.

You guessed it: It's not there. Or at least when I searched for it in their search box, it didn't come up. (You can only search Philly.com articles for the last seven days.)

Next step? Google.

I typed in exactly the same search command, and -- yup, you guessed it again -- up comes the article. From Philly.com.

Is something wrong with this picture? Indeed.

Visual Studio Express free forever!

Microsoft has extended its one-year deal to offer stripped-down versions of its Visual Studio tools, along with some cool code snippets.

San Francisco/Bay Bridge Night

Cool picture.

Google Calendar is live

And it's pretty slick.

Yahoo Maps adds satellite imagery

I wonder where Yahoo got that idea.

Is there anything vinegar can't do?

The Vinegar Institute - Uses & Tips

Freedom is on the march

From today's USA Today:

A man in Afghanistan is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death after being charged with converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under the country's Islamic sharia laws, a judge said Sunday.

More Origami skepticism

From eWeek:
Ultramobile PC Is Already Teetering, Analysts Say

But, being neither a phone or PDA, nor a notebook is exactly the problem, Gartner analysts contend in a new report released on March 14. The first devices' mix of prices and features are not convincing enough to inspire wide adoption among consumers and businesses. Thus, unless changes are made that allow the devices to offer more features for lower prices, UMPCs could be destined for lackluster sales, the analysts wrote.

Light up animated Pac-Man bicycle wheels

Cool.

Origami: Buzz Killer?

Gadget Web site Gizmodo seems to agree with me about the first batch of Origami products.

Intel shows Origami-like device

So this is what all the fuss was about? The leaked promotional videos looked cool, but the reality falls a little flat.

Sure, who wouldn't want a lightweight, all-in-one "lifestyle" computer? I'd sure like a portable device that could do everything from Web-surfing to e-mail to GPS-enabled driving directions to games to music.

Oh wait, I already have that. It's called a Pocket PC. OK, the Origami would have been a full-fledged PC, something my iPaq is definitely not.

But the prototype device mentioned in the Cnet story gets just three hours of battery life, making it not too much more useful than today's Tablet PCs. The coolest Origami device Intel is showing gets just fifteen minutes!

Intel predicts all-day battery life within a couple of years, but lets get real. Laptops haven't increased capacity much in the last 20 years. And for Origami to be a breakthrough device, it would have to last a long time between charges. I mean, mobility is the whole point, right?

Microsoft isn't officially revealing Origami until Thursday, so maybe there's something more to it. Let's hope so.

MercuryNews.com | 03/06/2006 | Searching for an answer to Google Desktop problem

I didn't know this, but here's another reason to pick Windows Desktop Search over Google Desktop. Basically, if you dare move a file that has been indexed, Google Desktop loses track of it.

Google's solution, according to the Merc: uninstall and reinstall the program, then wait a few hours while it re-indexes the data. Despite what the Merc says, I have a feeling that just reindexing the data would do the job. But still -- what a pain. Even then, the time theoretically saved with faster file searches goes right down the drain. As brilliant as they are, it looks like the Google folks need a little more insight into how real people use their computers.

On the other hand, I just noticed that Microsoft is still forcing users to install the worse-than-useless MSN Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search. The "enterprise" version doesn't have this requirement, but it might be complicated to install (no firsthand experience, just looking at the install page).

Skype me

After playing around with the final version of Skype 2.0, I think I'm going to make it my main IM client, at least on my laptop.

First, it seems to manage memory much better than Yahoo At idle, Skype uses 4-5 megs, vs. 19 or more for Yahoo -- and once Yahoo needs more memory for a higher-end feature , it never seems to give it back up when it's done. Adding IM environments, animated gestures, Yahoo Music integration adds up.

Skype's voice calling features are still the best among the IM clients I've tried -- though I haven't played around with Google Talk's voice features yet. Being able to forward calls to regular phones and having a version for Pocket PCs are really handy features. Video conferencing (at least for Windows) just clinches the deal.

The one downside, of course, is that most of my friends are on Yahoo. If only someone made a Yahoo plugin for Skype...

IE 7.0

I finally got around to playing with the new beta for Internet Explorer 7. I'm not quite ready to switch back from Firefox yet, but it's a big improvement. I especially like the slick RSS features, such as on-the-fly keyword filtering.

It can automatically download updates in the background and attach files, even if IE isn't running. Downloaded into the right folder, that means Windows finally might support automated podcasts on Windows media devices. But if this is true, I don't know why Microsoft doesn't come right out and say it. I'll try setting something up tonight to see if it works.

The Web page thumbnails -- which work a little like Apple's Expose feature -- are also nice.

Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista

Here's PC World's list. I'm looking forward to the much-needed security overhaul and improved desktop search functions. I'm ambivalent about the Aero interface, because it might mean buying new computers -- not to mention taking another Windows UI programming class. And Firefox made Internet Explorer irrelevant a long time ago.

Dvorak: Will Apple Adopt Windows?

His argument is similar to one I've been making for years. If Apple sold Windows machines, it would become one of the top-selling PC makers overnight.

In rare flop, Starbucks scraps chocolate drink

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Chantico, we hardly knew ye.

Googling

Google has been busy lately.

The search giant has released version 3 of its desktop search software with a couple of intriguing new features:

- Search across computers. Basically, this lets you search for files on multiple computers. Basically, it creates a searchable index that is synchronized among all of your computers, letting you pull up copies of files on another machine. All the computers have to be using the software and signed in with your Google account, but the syncing takes place in the background, and unlike services such as Microsoft's FolderShare, they don't all have to be online at the same time. Privacy issues aside, this would be pretty handy in my line of work, where information is often scattered across multiple PCs.

- Integrated contact info. This integrates the desktop with Gmail and Google Talk instant messenger into the search sidebar, making it easy to share info with your IM buddies. And like the Google Toolbar, desktop search now suggests alternative spellings for your queries.

Speaking of Gmail, desktop search now makes a searchable index of your Gmail messages so you can find old e-mail even when not online. Apparently, this is an older feature I didn't know about until now. At any rate, it eliminates Web-based e-mail's biggest weakness, offline access to your messages. Suddenly, Microsoft Outlook isn't such a must-have.

Another soon-to-be-unveiled Gmail feature will integrate Google Talk with e-mail, letting users strike up IM chats with e-mail contacts and archiving copies of old chats.

Because of these and other nifty features, I would love to use Google Desktop as my main PC search tool. I love the fact that a Google search can pull up info from the Web, my e-mail and past stories I've written -- all on one page.

But alas, I am sticking with Windows Desktop Search. First, the Google version still doesn't index Microsoft OneNote files, which contain much of the information I need access to regularly. It's only second to e-mail in that respect. Second, the new Google Desktop requires 256 megs of RAM, which unfortunately is too much for my ancient laptop. The software is still in beta, so maybe that will change.

On the bright side, looking at Google's new offering did spark me to reexamine the Microsoft product. I'd forgotten how powerful it is, with tons of options to narrow searches. One of my new favorites is real-world terms I can use in queries, such as "sent: last week" or "received: December." Nice.

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » New News: Deconstructing the newspaper

Intersting crtitique of most daily newspapers and what they need to drop to survive.

Fear of a Skype Planet?

Uh oh. Looks like there might be a possible problem with Skype, the otherwise excellent IM/VoIP service. And it would explain why my router, a normally reliable Linksys unit, keeps crashing.

Gross

Gross
Originally uploaded by ken_brown.

As I suspected!

Missing Netflix? The mailman did it! - Cinematical

I swear this happened to me when I was a Netflix customer. The discs would turn up only when I sent them from Andrea's old neighborhood.

Google Pack

I'm not too impressed with this, especially after the big buildup. One conspicuous absence: OpenOffice, which Google and Sun were touting just a few months ago.

How I spent my weekend

After more than a couple weeks of cramps, lethargy and diarrhea -- with no improvement after a doctor's visit -- Tati finally ended up in the hospital all weekend with an extremely inflamed colon. As it turns out, was caused by an antibiotics-resistant bacteria called Clostridium difficile that's made headlines in recent weeks. Basically, this little bug is usually a normal part of the digestive system. But it can go out of control in people being treated by common antibiotics. The medicines kill off all the competing bacteria, leaving the Clostridium difficile free to thrive uncontested in the gut.

The funny thing is, just a few days ago I was just reading this article to Andrea, wondering aloud whether it's what Tati had. She was already taking antibiotics for other reasons when she arrived here. And her symptoms were almost exactly the same as the woman mentioned in the opening paragraph.

But because Tati wasn't taking the specific antibiotics mentioned in the article (fluoroquinolones), I dismissed it and didn't think to ask the doctor later.

The good news: we now know what it is.
The bad news: this can be very tough to treat.

Moral of the story? Don't be afraid to ask the doctor about something you read on the Internet. Learning about health, disease and medicine doesn't make you a hypochondriac.

New Year's resolution No. 1

Clean my keyboard at work.