Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Sunday, August 25, 2002

Mac OS X 10.2: Mail spam filter is hot, Sherlock is cold -- Comment()
Further Jaguar (aka Mac OS X 10.2) experiences are being posted. It seems that the Mail spam filter is hot, the Sherlock tool is cold. I have yet to be convinced of the power of the spam filtering in Mail, but I'm hoping it will help at least a little. I have been using the Mac OS X Mail program for over a year now. (I have been a Mac OS X user since version 10.0 was announced.)

Mac OS X 10.2: Screenshots -- Comment()
There is further info about screenshots. Nice. However, I've been using Snapz Pro X, which works like a charm, but of course costs a bit.

Mac OS X 10.2: Screenshots from the command line -- Comment()
Mac OS X Hints tells:

The command is /usr/sbin/screencapture. Just type screencapture and hit "enter" in the Terminal for a list of options.

Universal computation in cellular automata -- Comment()
I studied cellular automata (CA) for my masters thesis about ten years ago. Now the topic is again popular due to Stephen Wolfram's book A New Kind of Science. However, I'm a sceptic about the promises by Wolfram.

In any case, the name I gave to this site is from CA terminology, pointing to a cellular automaton which is capable of universal computation.

LaTeX for books -- Comment()
Writing a book is a demanding task. I usually have problems in concentrating on the subject and not on the layout and visual appearance. But slowly I have improved, thanks to LaTeX. You don't have to worry about the finished book until it is finished. Do your planning well, be prepared to change the whole structure of the book, and use good tools. Writing is of course still difficult and poses problems, but that is in the nature of writing. Writing is one of the hardest things people do.

Astronomical UMTS licenses in Europe -- Comment()
The mobile UMTS technology is a popular topic in the Finnish media currently. The UMTS licenses for many European countries (not Finland) cost astronomical amounts of money to the operators, but the prospects are bleak. There are already multimedia phones with built-in cameras on sale, but the price is steep, and the services are lacking is scope. It remains to be seen what is the legacy of UMTS for the telecommunications industry.

Watson vs. Sherlock -- Comment()
The new Sherlock tool of Jaguar (aka Mac OS X 10.2) is a disappointment. Sherlock feels more like a technology demonstration than a finished product. I am quite satisfied with Watson, and are especially using the Meerkat, VersionTracker and Stocks channels. Of course, both are US-oriented tools, Watson a bit less. Perhaps Apple will improve Sherlock, but does it have to compete with Watson?

Zen for content producers -- Comment()
Note to myself: remember to post the article Zen for content producers here on the blog. Have to do some further writing and editing of the article first.

Unlicensed Thoughts -- Comment()
I wrote a new story in English titled Unlicensed Thoughts. This is a down-to-earth discussion about the future life in the digital realm. Did you just now have a license for that thought?

Small problems with Jaguar, mainly ok -- Comment()
A hot-hot-hot topic is Jaguar, Mac OS X 10.2. Have to say that the sites blogging Jaguar will be useful when writing the promised two reviews of Jaguar. My own experiences have been mainly positive, with a couple of small problems. There is one major problem: an external USB-based ISDN terminal adapter (miniVigor) made by DrayTek stopped working. So, currently I have to use the internal modem for getting online from home. Through the blog I hope to get an impression how well other people are doing.

Web templates -- Comment()
I have been editing the Universal Rule homepage. I have some ideas for making my own theme, but for now I'll stick with the standard templates. Is there a tool for easy layout of web page templates?

A CV macro for Radio? -- Comment()
Would it be possible to make a CV-macro for the Radio for collecting some proof of past accomplishments. This tools could be based on a XML database and could support searches and conversion to various formats. But this is something not many bloggers would want.

Blogging as a tool -- Comment()
Blogging is non-permanent, dynamic, focused best on making something possible at this moment. Blogging is a collaboratory tool for a small group or a company. In a larger context, no-one seems yet to know. However, a blog-like tools will be used for getting things done at a workplace I know. It is interesting to see how it turns out.

Writing outside a tiny plot -- Comment()
One reason for me to keep on blogging is to practise everyday English instead of the professional terminology. Alas, these text seem to be quite technology-oriented, but I'm trying to stretch my legs outside this tiny plot.

Updated CV -- Comment()
I made some small updated to my CV (PDF format). I have set an artificial limit of four pages to the PDF version, but in the LaTeX source there are a lot of additional publications and data for reference.

Paperblogging -- Comment()
During the weekend I have sometimes kept a notepad and a pen with me and written down posts on paper. Later I have written these "postings" down here. An Apple "iPhone" with handwriting recognition and wireless access would be the ultimate blogging tool.

Keeping on posting -- Comment()
Why I am still keeping on posting? I have several important pieces of writing to finish, besides our book "Numerical Methods in Practice", written in Finnish. Perhaps this medium encourages continuous posting.

What is blogging? -- Comment()
Have I understood blogging right? You post short pieces of text on the web in reverse chronological order. You use standard formats and provide linking to other sites.

How to post enclosures? -- Comment()
Note to myself: remember to try posting an enclosure with Radio. Perhaps a suitable figure from my iPhoto album?

What are weblogs for? -- Comment()
At the moment weblogs seem to be a medium for
a) US popular politics
b) technology-oriented advocacy
c) personal rants and raves
d) gossip abouot celebrities and entertainment.
Have I missed a category?

Learning blogging by doing -- Comment()
You only learn by doing. Now I have learned a bit about the technologies of blogging, next I have to concentrate on the community and the content. One phenomenon is blogs starting and stopping all the time, this is easy to note even for a beginner like me.

Tools for writing books -- Comment()
I wrote my first book almost 15 years ago using MS Word on a Mac Plus. I wrote additional two books with Word, and managed to finish my Masters thesis with Word, despite big difficulties. I had to rewrite a lot of equations and make numerous changes to the typography to make the thesis readable. After that I switched over to LaTeX. Of course, for shorter pieces I'm still using Word, among other tools. But Emacs, LaTeX and the Unix tools are a powerful combination. And now I have on my iBook running Mac OS X exactly the same TeX system as on the Linux, Compaq Alpha, and SGI systems at work. Basically all (several dozen) books published by my employer are typeset using a LaTeX style designed mainly by me.

Radio geekness -- Comment()
The Radio system is a bit disorganized, a collection of separate tools. A bit of geekness is needed to make the system behave. This also means that the system is at the leading edge of technology: RSS feeds, blogrolls, enclosures, commenting, categories, etc.

The inner circle of weblogs -- Comment()
There seems to be an inner circle of personages actively developing and arguing about the weblog community. You have to be in to be in. I have yet to find out what kind of roles these personages in the long term play. There are also some noisy celebrities involved, but I suspect these are more like figureheads than the real movers and shakers. Are there anthropologists involved in observing the weblog community? This seems to be a nice target for that kind of research. (Note to myself: check if this research is already funded.)

Will Microsoft dominate blogging like it does the web? -- Comment()
Blogging is community building through shared stories. It is more about emotion than facts. Perhaps the bloggers are too similar to each other to make a difference to the political and economic powers. On the other hand, easy tools can make blogging a real medium for democracy.

However, exactly the same was said of the web about ten years ago, and what happened? MSN and the like dominate the world. Good graphic design and programming costs money, which is only available to the giants. Do bloggers have the skills and the financing to keep up making noise and change the world?

Further blogrolling and subscriptions -- Comment()
Supplied some more macros to the Radio home page template. Now I show my hand-made blogroll plus all the current subscriptions. Let see if this works. (Corrected a typo. Seems to work.)

Blogrolling on... -- Comment()
I just found out about blogrolling with Radio, and made my first list to the home page template. It seems to work, but needs some further work. Here is the link to the .ompl file.