Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Saturday, October 26, 2002

Different people, different views -- Comment()
I was browsing Hot or NOT and rating random weblogs. There was one blog I really didn't like, but thought that it was so different, so irritating and self-righteous, that it had the virtue of a warning example. Thus I rated it a seven on a scale of one to ten.

After submitting my rating I was given the average for that irritating site: 2.9, based on over 70 votes. It seems that quite a few people didn't like that site.

However, I believe that the site has a right to exist. I wish I had the strength to keep on following those views which oppose mine. Looking at those things you don't agree with can have a positive effect on your understanding.

What if the world would only contain things most of the people like? Less diversity, less understanding. What would happen if most of the people were blind to a new danger, and only few people had the courage to stand up and speak?

Perhaps we are forming communities of too alike people on the Net. How to start a dialogue with people with different interests and points of view?

But what about my own views? Unfortunately I seem to be about average, so I will not be of much help when the world needs a warning shout.

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Sun CTO posits new computing era: "... the new era of the "network scaled computer" will see Sun bringing new approaches to users' cost-of-ownership problems and leveraging its investment in small, highly dense microprocessor technologies." [InfoWorld: Top News]

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The Compact Disc turns 20: "After an uncertain start, the compact disc has reached its platinum anniversary - the CD is 20 years old. It was in the northern autumn of 1982 that Philips and Sony put the first players and discs into shops in Europe and Japan. The US followed in early 1983 and Australia a few months later." [MetaFilter]

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Tell Your DMCA Horror Stories!: "EFF and the U.S. Copyright Office would like to hear from people who are unable to use their digital media because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)." [MacMegasite]

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The Mark of the Beast?: "After the quick FDA approval of implantable human chips, Applied Digital Solutions, the manufacturer of the chips, has already launched a national campaign with the tagline "Get Chipped", and people are lining up. Other's are afraid, for one reason or another." [MetaFilter]

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Movie made with a Mobile Phone: "Possibly the first movie made (shot and recorded) with a mobile phone, the Nokia 7650: Extreme Soldier...." [Oliver Weinitschke Blog]

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Technology Review: "David Weinberger. Palladium overview. Yikes. Talk about a way to fork the PC market and drive sales of alternative platforms. If this goes forward, I suspect that in ten years we will have 40% of PC's running Palladium from MS, 20% non Palladium Windows PCs, 20% running a Windows-like Linux, and 20% Macs." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

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Curious Yellow: Internet-killing superworm: "Interestingly, the problem of efficiently organizing worm instances into a network which can act globally but which has reasonable coordination costs for each node is very similar to problems found in peer-to-peer networks." (via Aaron Swartz) [Boing Boing Blog]

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Yes, weblogs are relevant news media: "JD Lasica interviews eight members of the leading edge of the Internet about their news habits. Their answers suggest that blogs, search engines and net communities are valued news intermediaries or providers." [Hypergene MediaBlog]

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Fractals inspire design of antennas for new mobile devices: "A group of UCLA researchers are designing antennas for next-generation wireless devices using fractals -- "mathematical models of mountains, trees and coastlines". Future antennas must be smaller than ever, and they'll need to function at different frequencies at the same time. The researchers believe that mathematical principles behind these repetitive geometric forms could help solve that problem." [Boing Boing Blog]

How to use the iPod -- Comment()
I have now been using my iPod for one week. I have been pleased with the ease of use, the sound quality, and the features of the 20 GB model.

There is a review of the 20 GB model at MacAddict: "Apple's new 20GB iPod improves on almost every feature of the original: hardware, software, earbuds, bundled accessories [...] The earbuds, for example, both sound better and are more comfortable than the original models [...] The remote's clip, however, appears to be designed for women's blouses rather than men's shirts (which button on opposite sides, in case you haven't noticed): If clipped next to a shirt's buttonholes, it's upside down; on a blouse, it's right side up. Go figure. [...] All in all, the new 20GB model solidly reaffirms the iPod's position as the world's best MP3 player. It sounds great, works great, looks great, and includes great accessories."

I decided to look at the web for tips about getting maximum use of my iPod. There are several FAQs of iPod, for example by Apple (pr stuff) and by davyfields.com. Also iPodlounge offers a lot of iPod-related stuff.