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.

Google responds

Along with a few other things, Google says:

Biased results? No way. Providing great search is the core of what we do. Business partnerships will never compromise the integrity or objectivity of our search results. If a partner's page ranks high, it's because they have a good answer to your search, not because of their business relationship with us.

What happens when you try to use laundry soap in the dishwasher

In my future niece's defense, the picture on the container did look sort of like a dishwasher. Sort of.

A in C

I got an "A" in my computer programming class! Of course, it was an introductory-level course at a community college, but still.

NY Times turns to Google Maps

This may be a first: The New York times has created an interactive graphic that ties into Google Maps. I've seen Google Maps mash-ups before, but never from a mainstream media outlet.

Will this be the start of a trend?

It's about time,

Senators members seek spying probe.

Time Warner to Sell 5% AOL Stake to Google for $1 Billion - New York Times

Microsoft more ethical than Google?

From the NY Times:

Google will also make a special effort to incorporate AOL video programming in its expanding video search section and it will feature links to AOL videos on the video search home page. These links will not be marked as advertising.

An executive involved in the talks said Time Warner asked Microsoft to give AOL similar preferred placement in advertising and in its Web index and that Microsoft refused, calling the request unethical.

The article doesn't say whether Google does this in other cases, but if money is being exchanged for links, clearly those links should be labled as advertising. Google is a media company, after all, and transparency with users is a hallmark of media ethics. You'd think that Google would have more appreciation for the value of user trust.

Another sign of the coming apocalypse

There's something seriously unbalanced in the global economy when the U.S. can afford to outsource video game-playing.

Coolest Christmas lights display ever

This guy obviously has a lot of time on his hands and perhaps a very understanding wife.

Skype has video!

Nice. This may be the feature I need to start using this nice little service as my primary instant messaging client. If only it had Yahoo interoperability.

Update: With video, Skype's memory usage has shot way up on my machine (to about 25K). Now I see why Yahoo Messenger hogged up so much memory compared with the old Skype. Of course, Skype 2.0 is still in beta, so we'll see.

A Recipe for Newspaper Survival in the Internet Age

A pretty interesting discussion on Slashdot about the future of my industry.

Poynter had a similar piece a few days ago.

I've been saying this for a few months now, but the problem isn't journalism, blogs or the Web. It's newspapers' inability to adapt its advertising model to the Web.

They've been too worried about how to get people to pay for the product rather than looking at how to capitalize on readers' migration to the Web. Google and Yahoo don't charge subscription fees for their basic services and still manage to make a bundle. Why can't newspapers?

The Poynter piece has two suggestions (among several) that I think are particularly on-point:

- Install Web analytics and ad-management systems that enable advertising managers to identify clusters of content (or clusters of users) that can attract the highest possible prices on a CPM basis.

- Hire people who can sell online advertising effectively -- as a separate buy, rather than bundled with print ads.

Free online backups

I'm not sure how the folks at Mozy are going to make any money at this, but it's a wonderful, easy-to-use service. Automatic continuous backups of up to 2 gigabytes of data. It's not something you'd use to mirror your hard drive, but it's great for your most important data -- in my case, OneNote interviews and Word documents.

I have yet to see any backup system -- paid or free -- that's so easy to use. I hope they stay in business.

Maybe they'll come up with a paid option. Or better yet, maybe Google will buy them.

Bad TV news

It looks like there won't be a fourth season for Arrested Development, the best comedy on television now and possibly one of the best in the last 10 years. Sigh.

(The Arrested Development news is at the end of the story.)

Visual Studio Express -- for free!

Microsoft is wooing developers with this one-year promo. This limited-functionality "express" version is perfect for beginners like me.

Yahoo Maps pranks Google

Funny.

Porn ads are showing up on my site!

Tripod apparently has no problem putting up links to "Jessica Alba naked" on my site, just because the site mentions her. And this is on top of the annoying popups and the sidebar stunt in IE.

I need a new Web host. Any good free ones out there?

Web site goodness

For you Firefox users, here is a very handy extension that lets you load IE-optimized sites in a Firefox tab. Nice for sites with ActiveX controls you need or for clueless designers that insist on making their pages IE-only.

And for all browsers, Yahoo has updated its map service to better compete with Google. Unlike Google, Yahoo uses Flash. It's a little slower, but has some nice features that make it easier to plan routes and find nearby points of interest.

One thing I don't like is that printed-out routes aren't as easy to read now (the old style had giant L and R circles that made it easier to see turns while driving -- I know you're not supposed to do that, but still!). It's still in beta, so maybe they're still working on the speed issue and route printout style.

I use my TomTom GPS software for that kind of thing now, but Yahoo Maps is still nice for pre-planning and finding places not in TomTom's database. And since TomTom updates its maps only when upgrading the software, Yahoo and Google are sometimes more accurate.

Tulsa Newspaper Carrier Admits to Killing Two Customers

As a former carrier for (now-defunct) rival Tulsa Tribune, I always knew those Tulsa World delivery boys were no good.