A California couple is photographing the entire length of the California coastline using a high resolution digital camera and a helicopter. What's really interesting about the project is that they are putting the images online, free to the public [Wired]. There's some controversy surrounding the project as many landowners don't want anyone to know that they are abusing the environment. I can see their point, since there is a sort of Orwellian aspect to this project. However, it seems to me that the objections are a little overblown.

I was just happy to find a picture of the beach I used to walk with my dog almost every day in Monterey [here]. I'm having a little trouble telling from which one it is, but the house I used to live in must be visible in the photo.

There is also this secret little beach that I count as one of my favorites in California [here][here]. Don't go there expecting to get a tan, but if you notice that little grove of trees on the bottom right of the photo, that's the entrance to the beach. If you go at the right time of year, those trees will be completely covered in Monarch butterflies. It's not very noticible from the photo, but that big mound of rock at the front of the beach also has a couple of natural bridges that the water passes under. You can see them if you zoom in on the second image above. I have a picture of myself with the beach and that pile of rocks in the background [here].
9:46:53 PM    

In the 1980's, IBM's control of the computing industry seemed insurmountable. Of course, history has shown this not to be the case as the PC revolution pulverized IBM's mainframe business. Now Microsoft controls the industry as IBM did before [The Economist]. However, it isn't having much success as it tries to expand into other markets.

[Microsoft] has, in particular, been shunned by the world's leading mobile-phone makers, which have set up their own software consortium, Symbian, rather than use Microsoft's software. In the gaming business, Microsoft is no match for Sony, the market leader. It has had little success in interactive television. And, although Microsoft's share of the market for handheld-computer software is growing, that market is a tiny niche. The Tablet PC, an attempt to create a whole new market, is clever, but seems unlikely to be much of a money-spinner

A few years ago, I had my doubts that Microsoft could be toppled. But, it seems that more and more industries are protecting themselves against the giant. On Microsoft's home turf, things aren't as rosy as they used to be either. Linux has made great strides and has been able to displace a good deal of Microsoft's control of the server market and Mac OS X is in a good position to start chipping away at the desktop market. Microsoft is not going anywhere anytime soon, but its dominance may be waning.
12:07:51 PM