January 2007

iPhone Abstinence

January 12, 2007

Merlin Mann: "Let OS X developers at the iPhone.

I could not agree more. I'm of a mind that somebody with some time should setup iPhoneAbstinence.com or iPhoneDeveloperLockout.com and publish a list of would-be customers for Apple to see just how many of us who are excited and ready to buy an iPhone are waiting until it can do the one thing our smart phones can do that it can't - work with third party applications.

Open mouth insert foot...

January 11, 2007

In his second week in office Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons is sticking his foot in it. Today's Review Journal has this funny article. Or it would be funny if it was in Mad Magazine. Alas it is for real and run in a would-be newspaper.

The basic points are that Gibbons thinks the state can pay for it's highways by selling the water rights under the existing highways. We do understand that as a long-time friend of the mining industry Gibbons might think water rights are somehow similar to mineral rights. Even then, however, one would think he would know that the ownership of underground minerals doesn't go with the surface rights. Then again none of this matters.

Keynote too busy

January 9, 2007

Exceptional Demand PictureFollowing today's keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs the the keynote is posted for video download. Or it appears that it is. If one looks at the HTML coding of the page both the "Keynote" and the "iPhone introduction" video point to the same file. That would be the file that says "Due to exceptional demand check back later".

Web Server in every pocket

January 9, 2007

With Apple's announcement of the iPhone today it seems we will soon have not just a weak web client in every cell phone, but a full web browser and even the ability to have full blown web servers in every pocket. Sure makes some of Dave Winer's ideas about desktop servers get extremely interesting. Now how soon can I get one!

Solar power for cars done poorly

January 8, 2007

"Solar panel for cars" came across my news reader earlier today. What a great idea I thought. Then I looked at the article on the Wired site. Not such a hot idea. The solar panel is in a disc that attaches on the roof. The whole thing is reminiscent of the mobile two-way satellite arrangements for motor homes. While the solar panel may indeed "provide power for gadgets" slowing down a couple of MPH will save a lot more than the added cost of the aerodynamic drag this monster is sure to generate.

Keynote countdown

January 8, 2007

The MacWorld keynote is less than a day away. I thought it interesting to compare Bill Gates' CES keynote with what we expect from Steve Jobs. Dave Winer was at the Gates event and says it was boring. I wish he was going to be at MacWorld to comment. Perhaps it too would be boring but the Jobs reality distortion field will prevent anyone from knowing and will keep us all mesmerized.

Compact fluorescent light

January 7, 2007

"How many bloggers does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Seth Godin asked last week. Godin's post is an attempt to virally blog the benefits of compact fluorescent light bulbs. Compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs were once more expensive up front but money savers long term. Today they are not so expensive up front (averaging $2 each) and as Godin puts it "If we switched all our bulbs, we could stop importing oil altogether. Without giving up one Hummer."

I'm afraid we won't be adding to the numbers of CF bulbs in use. That comes from the fact that all the bulbs we can use CF bulbs in are already CF. The one that isn't is the light in the oven. A few small desk lamps also run bulbs that there is no CF equivalent for. As those lamps are replaced the bulbs will be of a type compatible with CF bulbs.

Keynote wish

January 5, 2007

Tuesday is the Macworld keynote so I'll post my wish. It is pretty much a non-starter I'm sure but it would make life easier. I'd like to have the ability to have Apple Mail re-write the sender of emails. At the very least to display the name I'd prefer it display for people instead of whatever name they might put in. There was a time when "bob@aol.com" was just fine. Now that a few years have passed "Bob" is no longer at AOL and now has "bob@mycompany.com" and "bob@oldcompany.com" peppered throughout my inbox. It would be great to be able to search for all the emails from Robert and have them show up.

How popular is your name

January 4, 2007

Baby Names are the topic of an interesting site by the Social Security administration. You can view the most popular names, but the interesting use to me is to look at the trends of names over the last few decades. Though Joshua was low in the ranks when I was given the name it has been among the most popular names given to boys for the last twenty years.

How many people these days check to see if their child's name is an available domain name?

Pages