Tuesday, January 6, 2004

The Inter-Net of Yester-year God bless you, you make the time to read these things! I was reading through the text of the new federal antispam law, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (hey look! the govt made a funny!). One of the definitions in the act (in section 3) is as follows: (11) INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE- The term `Internet access service' has the meaning given that term in section 231(e)(4) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 231(e)(4)). I was briefly impressed by the foresightedness of the Congress of 1934. (It didn't immediately occur to me that amendments to an old act are cited by reference to the amended act, not to the act that amended it.) [nj] 11:18:50 PM    trackback []

Macworld 2004 thoughts The show this year is OK, smaller still from last year. They really could consolidate all the exhibitors into one hall, but I bet that would send the wrong message. I'm glad to see Apple solve the very real problem of performance in iPhoto, and Rendezvous support has been eagerly anticipated my this house. Their implementation of Time-based albums is sill lacking, IMHO... why not just tie into iCal and pull the holidays from there? GarageBand looks very interesting, and I feel bad for Intuem, which has been offering a surprisingly similar product at almost twice the price. I'll spring for the whole iLife suite when it ships in a few weeks, since they don't appear to be free anymore. I'm actually glad to see that... Apple has to earn our money, and legitimize their place in the market, and I think the features they are offering are well worth $50. The iPod mini announcement seems ill timed. Apple just convinced tens of thousands of people to buy iPods for the holiday season, and I bet a few of those people feel a pang of regret now that there are smaller and cheaper models. Worse still is the 10Gb model being replaced by a 15Gb model for the same price. Paulette called me up today to see if I still liked my new 20 Gb iPod (I DO! I just need a new car stereo now :-). I only feel sorry for Apple being saddled with a Macworld schedule so close to the holiday season. If only Macworld could come in February, then Apple's new product announcements wouldn't trample on the gift giving/receiving experience so much. Other than that, I didn't see anything very compelling. I moblogged my day on my TypePad blog, in case you want to see the gory details. 10:21:52 PM    trackback []

Jackson update Jackson is no longer a baby, that's for sure. For instance, he's starting to sing phrases from songs, such as "e-i-e-i-o", the start to the "a-b-c-d" song, and parts of "Five Little Monkeys". It's a real hoot to hear him babble in tune! His vocabulary is growing splendidly. He's also displaying more complex thinking, such as saying "cold" and then "hat". Most amazing was an apparent dream/nightmare he had the other night: about two hours after he went to sleep, he cried out like he sometimes does, but then also clearly said "dada". 9:58:24 PM    trackback []