Looks like Google is up to something big.

Google Secure Access Installer

Earthquake!

But not the Big One.

Doubletalk

Interesting feature of Google Talk: you can be logged in from two machines simutaneously. If someone sends a message, you'll get it on both machines. Not sure how useful this is, but it's interesting, perhaps a feature of the Jabber protocol it uses.

Google fixed the bridge!

Apparently, Google Maps and Google Earth are using separate satellite databases.

The new Mill Avenue (Tempe, AZ) bridge (according to Google Earth):




The "old" bridge (according to Google Maps):


Speaking of Google Earth, the firm has posted some overlay imports showing Hurricane Katrina damage. Maybe this will get somebody in Washington off his butt.

How cool is this?

Skype now forwards incoming Intenret calls to a regular phone. You have to pay SkypeOut rates for the forwarded calls, but still -- very cool.

Google IM is live

Google has launched its foray into the instant messaging arena with Google Talk, its answer to Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger and several other services.

While Google's entry is a nice, simple client with a clean interface and open protocols, I can't help but be a little disappointed. Usually when Google comes late to the party, it offers something unique. Gmail blows away the competition -- and I say this as a longtime Yahoo Mail user who pays $5 a month for a decent spam filter! Meanwhile, Google Maps really changes the game in online maps. I still use Yahoo Maps for the easy-to-read printed directions, ability to store frequently-used addresses and SmartView feature for finding train stations near meetings in San Francisco. But Google Maps has a much nicer interface; I hope Yahoo copies it soon. And finally, Google is just a much better search engine. Case in point: it's easier to get to a specific address on Yahoo Maps through Google than through Yahoo itself!

That said, Google Talk falls a little flat. It has a nice voice feature, but so does Skype, Yahoo and a few others.

To its credit, Google is going with open standards and a pledge of interoperability, which counts for a lot. Maybe well see cool third-party development that will propel Talk above the others. We'll see.

It plays Doom!

Apparently, my cell phone isn't the only diminutive gadget that can run Doom.

I'm a trendsetter!

According to this Slate article, I may have helped popularize the term "Meth Mouth."

Although users have been snorting, smoking, injecting, and swallowing methamphetamine in great quantities for more than 40 years, the phrase meth mouth is brand new. It makes its first Nexis appearance in Investor's Business Daily as an unsourced one-liner in a Jan. 31, 2003, digest of news: 'Methamphetamine's drying effect on saliva glands leads to tooth decay and gum disease, dentists say, a trend known as 'meth mouth.' '

More than two dozen different stories about meth mouth have appeared in Nexis since the IBD mention, but the majority of them fail to advance the story in any significant way. The better articles note, as IBD did correctly, that methamphetamine users suffer from dry mouth (xerostomia), which contributes to tooth decay and gum disease."

For the record, I didn't invent the term. The study I cited used it. But I did like enough to make sure it fit into the extremely limited space I had to write it.

And that's why my collegues now call me Ken "Meth Mouth" Brown. At least I hope that's the reason.

Google now has wildcard searches

Finally.

Free $4,300 Hawaii vacations for county employees

Paid for by me and other Santa Clara county taxpayers, of course. In her defense, Liz Kniss pointed out that she went to the same conference in Phoenix last year:

``They had been so questioned about whether they should be going to Honolulu,'' Kniss said. ``It was of great interest to the press. Nobody ever thought it was interesting when I went to Phoenix. It's interesting that people think Honolulu is more glamorous.''

Where would people get that crazy idea?

Story here.

Yahoo for Firefox final

It's finally done. I consider this, along with Google's toolbar, a must-have for Firefox.

Daily Kos: A**hole analysts rag on Costco

Funny. These were my exact thoughts when I read this story.

Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is overly generous not only to Costco's customers but to its workers as well.

Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."

No, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, almost anyone in a position to be a major shareholder of Costco is better off than a $17-an-hour Costco employee. Your statement is almost as ridiculous as the Wall Street Journal calling low-income Americans "lucky duckies" because they don't have to pay taxes.

I have more computing power in my cell phone than they do on the Space Shuttle

Actually, I'm not sure about that. But I do know that I just installed the original Doom on my Motorola MPX220 and it runs great. This is an old game, mind you, but I remember when you had to have a pretty decent PC to play it.

I also remember being amazed by the graphics and at how much better the game was than Wolfenstein 3-D. And how much better Wolfenstein 3-D was than the original Castle Wolfenstein, which was the coolest game in the school computer lab because the enemies shouted German.

Man, I'm getting old.

Something I wish I had in high school

Besides a girlfriend, that is.

I think this has been around awhile, but I just discovered it today. Microsoft's sarch page now includes something called Encarta Answers, which can solve problems with variables! Example: x^2 + 4x - 17 = 32. You need an Encarta Premium subsciption to use it to the fullest, but going through MSN search gives you a two-hour "pass" to some features. Pretty nifty, and a step up from the also-handy Google Calculator.

Anecdotal Leads for News Stories Reporting the End of the World.

If you enjoy making fun of "journalese," you'll find these fake news lleads hilarious. Ouch. Funny, but ouch.

Google Earth Hacks

Nice little forum with add-ons for Google Earth, including real-time weather maps, traffic and 3-D models of cities Google hasn't gotten around to doing yet. This is what's so great about APIs and a network of millions of people.

You might want to look at getting that bridge fixed

Tempe's Mill Avenue bridge, as depicted by Google Maps.

Download of the day

If you don't like/can't afford FrontPage or DreamWeaver and need something a little more full-featured than the Web authoring tool in Mozilla Composer, then Nvu might be just what you're looking for. Features of this free, open-source page design software include: WYSIWYG editing, tabbed editing, advanced CSS support, FTP publishing and more. Screenshots and a complete feature list here.

I love the Internets

Four cool things to write about, two from Google and two from Yahoo:

Google Earth: A free and improved version of Keyhole, a cool satellite mapping system that until now was available only by subscription (the service still sell premium subscriptions). Basically, this is an interactive mapping service that uses satellite imagery and 3-D perspective in a really cool way. If you've ever wanted to see what it would look like to fall to Earth from space, here's your chance. Recent improvements include 3-D terrain and buildings for major cities (rather than a perspective view of 2-D pictures) and fly-through driving directions, which actually might come in handy.

Personalized Google search: Now Google can (optionally) keep track of your searches to get a better idea of what you're looking for in future searches. I haven't actually seen the filter in action yet -- Google says it may take awhile to get a good search history. The results page will indicate whether the search has been personalized, for times when you want a standard search. And you can always turn off the feature permanently.

Yahoo Music Unlimited: I don't quite like the standalone player, but $7 per month, a nice selection of tunes and and 192-kbps encoding add up to the best subscription music service on the market. Yahoo has published the players APIs, which could lead to all sorts of cool add-ons. Someone has already created a taskbar mode that works a lot like the one for Windows Media Player. I hope this isn't a bug, but I can transfer protected files just fine to my iPaq, even though it's not listed as a compatible device.

Yahoo mail: I haven't seen the actual beta yet, but the company has announced a faster, easier-to-use e-mail service that makes better use of Web scripting and XML (for you techies, a set of technologies collective known as AJAX -- Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). If you use Google's Gmail or Google Maps, you already know why this is a big deal. Yahoo bought Web e-mail firm Oddpost last year, but this is the first confirmation they'll be using the technology for its free e-mail service. I still pay for Yahoo Mail Plus because of the excellent spam filter, disposable addresses and because it serves as my "permanent" address.

Andrea roars back from vacation

mercpage
Originally uploaded by Ken Spencer Brown.

This is her third front-page graphic this week for the Merc. This one is about people who commute by private plane to their Silicon Valley jobs.