January 13, 2003

Graffiti Erased Palm is dropping the Graffiti language in favor of CIC's Jot recognition system, which is currently used by Pocket PCs. Palm’s implementation will be called Graffiti 2. One reason for the change is the threat of the loss of a patent infringement lawsuit brought against Palm by Xerox who claim to have invented the idea of inputting text using a simplified representation of the alphabet. Another reason is the growing popularity of using tiny keyboards for input, first seen in RIM’s Blackberry PDA and now in various Handspring and Sony models. 8:28:11 PM

For a moment I thought the American Music Awards broadcast was having audio problems until I realized the Osbournes were hosting it. So there is going to be a --- lot of ---- problems in the --- audio throughout the ---- night. 8:20:07 PM

2800-year-old Hebrew inscription found in Jerusalem Israeli geologists are examining a stone tablet with a 15-line inscription in ancient Hebrew that may be from the First Temple period. The inscription refers to King Joash of Judea, who ruled 2,800 years ago. CBS News reports that in it, the king tells priests to take "holy money ... to buy quarry stones and timber and copper and labor to carry out the duty with faith." If the work is completed well, "the Lord will protect his people with blessing," reads the last sentence of the inscription. Muslim officials of course deny that the tablet refers to a Jewish Temple. Given that they deny the existence of the Second Temple on whose site Muslim mosques were built this is not surprising. Artutz Sheva, has an excited take on the find. The tablet may have been found in the dirt excavated during unsupervised Muslim digs on the Temple Mount aimed at building a new underground mosque. It is also believed that a second goal of the digging is to destroy evidence of a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. If this digging uncovered a tablet that comes from the First Temple Period they probably feel like morons for carrying out these actions.    8:13:08 PM

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge is visiting Athens, Greece amid concerns that plans for an elaborate dome-like roof on the main Olympic complex, or OAKA are too complex and infeasible. Anyone who wants to see to an over-elaborate, poorly designed Olympic Stadium should visit Montreal, which while still paying for the 1976 Summer Olympics even while it is now trying to host the Winter Olympics together with Lake Placid, New York. 7:35:24 PM