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  • 1 min read

Elephants are cool!

I just finished watching "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" which had some really cool scenes with these warrior elephants. So here is a case of life immitating art: Two elephants clear debris in Indonesia's tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh January 3, 2005. Eight days on, hungry and sick survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami are waiting for food and medicine in growing desperation as a multinational aid operation tries to reach remote towns ravaged by the waves. (Beawiharta/Reuters)

Two elephants clear debris in Indonesia 's tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh January 3, 2005. Eight days on, hungry and sick survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami are waiting for food and medicine in growing desperation as a multinational aid operation tries to reach remote towns ravaged by the waves. (Beawiharta/Reuters)

  • 1 min read

Suckered again by Microsoft?

I've been using Microsoft Money (their personal finance package) for years now (after having switched from Quicken probably 5 years ago.) I really like it, for what it is. In January of each of the last few years it seems, I shell out another $60 for the latest " upgrade", install it, and immediately kick myself when I find almost no new functionality. It seems like the graphic designers get a turn to play with all the art work and colors but as far as new functionality, nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the M$ is down to 4 people, with the highest operating margin of any product. This has gone so far now, that they don 't even pretend by putting a "What's new in this release" on the box! Oh and then there's the rebate. I've been screwed by rebate offers (Microsoft and others) so often it's not even funny. I doggedly document, make copies, add reminders to my calendar, and on and on, for a measily $15 rebate, which half the time never happens. How about the fact that there are like 400 different flavors of Microsoft Money - you know: M$ Basic (free after rebate), M$ In-between ($5 after rebate), M$ Advanced, Super-Advanced, Dirt-cheap, Microsoft Money "We'll pay you to take it off your hands" And still, year after year, I fall for it. A perfect pawn for their marketing machine. Anyone else out there have the same experience?

  • 1 min read

Incredibly cool visualizations

In the realm of interesting visualizations, check this one out. It's a Chess game where the computer's 'thought process' is displayed as it figures out the next move. Via "Bad Magic Number" who said "It's quite an interesting cross between art, programming and chess. "

  • 1 min read

GMail – Part 3

Continuing thinking about GMail and what Google really is up to. From the Department of Unintended Consequences(via Paul Kleppner):

… somebody has created a Windows file system extension so that you can use your 1gb GMail account as a remote file system!
It's a crazy hack. But it makes me think that something like this could easily be done as a true service by Google (with sensible protocols).

Check out the Gmail Virtual File system hack. Pretty neat. My guess is Google loves this kind of thing, and at the point when it starts being a noticable stress on their system (never) they will either start offering it themselves (with ads) or prohibit it. Love them unintended consequences! p.s. Happy 2005!

  • 1 min read

What is the difference between a blog and a newsgroup?

Recently in a conversation I was asked to comment on what really was the big difference between a blog and a newsgroup. After all they are both a reverse chronological list of postings , right? My answer, maybe obvious, is this: a newsgroup is (typically) focused on a certain subject matter, and has many different people posting their comments and questions on that topic. So you follow a newsgroup because you are interested in a specific subject matter. A blog is (typically) focused on a certain author's voice, and often covers many different topics, of interest to the author. So you follow a blog because you are interested in a particular author 's point of view. Of course in reality it's not quite that black and white, and there are shades of grey in between.

  • 1 min read

“Pure Entrepreneurship” article in tbe Boston Globe

"Pure Entrepeneurs", according to this article in the Boston Globe,

… are loopy and obsessed. They have a vision of the future, and while others are casting their lines into the water to see what will bite, pure entrepreneurs are jumping over the gunwales and swimming after the white whale. Pure entrepreneurship, by my definition, is often driven by a belief that a major shift is coming -- and thus it's hard to find customers who already understand that they need the product a pure entrepreneur is developing.

You know the funny thing that my wife pointed out? For me , being called "loopy and obsessed" high praise!

  • 1 min read

Seeing the other side of someone

Adam Bossworth is a guy who I've written about before, in a very technical context. He's well known in techie circles for many important accomplishments and contributions. It is nice to see him writing about a totally other side of him, the side that you of course always knew had to exist, and yet in his tech industry persona would probably never ever come up. It 's easy to agree with what he is saying.

  • 1 min read

Is Sarah McLachlan is Video Podcasting?

sarah_wof[1].gif On her site, World On Fire, Sarah McLachlan has an interesting video, which reminded me what Video podcasting or Video blogging can become. Picking up on a theme of mine from a few days ago, one of the important characteristics of the blogging phenomenon is that people who otherwise would have no access to broadcasting are able to get their content (text, pictures, audio and video) delivered to interested people. This perspective says that the barriers to creating the content are low enough now (typing, digital cameras, recorders, video cams etc.) that once the distribution (broadcasting) barriers go away a lot of people who have something to say/show are able to do it on their own. Podcasting represents a major lowering of the distribution barriers. The connection with this video? She made this Video on a total shoestring, like a Podcaster would. it's the kind of video I'd expect to see video podcasted. And another thing: the video and the story about why she made it is pretty cool too!