Category: software

  • Phew, that’s a mighty back up

    The year is rapidly drawing to a close, prompting the usual rush to get those last tax deductions in order, clean out the closets and, of course, update my off-site back up. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a thing about backups after having experienced hefty data losses several times, including the time when my…

  • Short-tailed Sony reader needs a much longer one

    Sony’s new e-book Reader certainly seems like a marvel of technology but it’s also an example of a company forgetting to ask the most basic question of new product development: what is the customer benefit over existing products? With a nod to Chris Anderson and his much discussed long tail thesis, the real direction for…

  • About time, Starbucks and iTunes

    Something like 20 years ago, I first encountered Hear Music as a catalog of cool albums selected by some people with taste like mine. They may have pioneered the idea of getting recommendations from favorite artists. It was a great way to learn about old stuff like the blues and jazz, too. But like many…

  • Everbody’s thinking about S3 for backup

    I can see today that I’m hardly the only one messing around with Amazon’s super-cheap S3 online storage system as a possible off-site backup strategy. Jeremy Zawodny, whose has been wanting/predicting solid online backup for a while, says he’s experimenting with S3, but doesn’t give all the details yet (like what software is he using,…

  • Speedy blogs, speedily updated on VoIP

    Once upon a time, I kept stacks of computer magazines on hand just in case I was suddenly in the market for some gadget reviewed months earlier. Now a days, of course, the Internet has completely subsumed that role and it’s usually not the web sites of big magazines that even run the best reviews.…

  • New page of stuff I’m messing with

    I’m adding a new permanent page to my link list down the side today. It’s intended to fill the gap between blog entries and my existing lists of hardware and software that I use regularly. Really, it’s just stuff I’m messing with and I’ll use it to keep a running list of products that I’m…

  • Sony’s promising Mylo gets a poor review

    I was intrigued by Sony’s announcement of a $350 mini portable device, Mylo, that could browse the web and play multimedia files. But the first review is in, by Tim Onosko, on Dave Farber’s Interesting People list and couldn’t be more negative: “Mylo, in my opinion, is a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering. It…

  • Ribbons of chaos flummox even Word lovers

    I’m not a big fan of scifi author and computer columnist Jerry Pournelle these days due to his politics, his abrasiveness and his clouded approach to reviewing new stuff. I used to like his lengthy columns for Byte magazine in print because he was one of the only people back then with some attitude, some…

  • Wow, 10.4.7 sees my Verizon Novatel card

    I’ve been successfully using a Verizon wireless broadband card (the Novatel v620 pc card) since April in my Powerbook thanks to a software hack from the good folk at the EVDO Info web site. It basically made the Novatel card look like any other modem, showing up on a pull down list on my menu…

  • Boo-hoo, Civ IV Mac

    Well, it seems you need a G5 or Intel-based Mac to play Civ IV. Looks like I’m outta luck since I’ve got neither and the whole idea was to play on the commuter train on my Powerbook G4 (ps don’t ever, ever buy 1st generation hardware like round I of the new Macbook Pro). At…