Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Thursday, December 26, 2002

-- Comment()
iRobot Moves Into Your House: "...a multiplying line of robots from iRobot, founded by some tinkering MIT grads in Somerville, MA. The robots have found applications ranging from chasing dust bunnies ($200) to exploring the Great Pyramid to bumping around Afghan caves for mines (a war reporter is another possibility), and so appear to be moving beyond the gee whiz Rosie Jetson stage of technology." [Slashdot]

-- Comment()
I have been a good boy this year. "Received a Mac for Christmas. At first I wanted to call it 'Schneewittchen' but that was too long. 'Heidi' did not get approved. So we settled for 'Lucy'. Lucy is absolutely incredible. Everything just works. :-) I threw out the Microsoft stuff and installed Mozilla and VNC." [vowe dot net]

-- Comment()
Year of the Blog. "2002 was the year in which weblogs became part of the mainstream, even while remaining outside it. And 2003 - well, to find out about that, you'll have to keep reading." [Microcontent News Headlines] [thomas n. burg | randgänge]

Browse Amazon, borrow from the nearest library -- Comment()
FOS News writes: "How would you like to browse Amazon.com until you find an interesting book, and then click on a link (bookmarklet) to see whether that book is available at your local library? Jon Udell describes the general technique in InfoWorld and elaborates on his blog. The method works for any online bookstore using ISBNs in its URLs for individual books and any library whose online public-access catalog (OPAC) does the same. This is a previously unnoticed freebie arising from the acceptance of the ISBN standard. Andy Powell has adapted the technique to support OpenURLs."

-- Comment()
Creative Common's Genius: "In response to Matt, there are lots of Open Source licenses. I suspect that many of the CC licenses will qualify. And, yes, Jon Udell recently released some software under a license that some would have you believe was anti-competitive and a cancer. [...] The key difference between by-sa and GPL is one of marketing genious. [...] Had Jon merely copyrighted his work, you could have copied it had you asked for and obtained Jon's permission. All Jon has done is let you know in advance under what conditions you are not even required to ask." [Sam Ruby]

-- Comment()
My PC Wish List For 2003: "The Mac set a qualitative bar that other computer makers (and Microsoft) have struggled to meet, let alone surpass." (CNET News.com via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]

-- Comment()
When Simple Is Better: "If we're doing something in a roundabout way by computer that's better done by hand, aren't we focusing on the wrong thing? Maybe we should let computers do what they do best -- sorting, filing, finding data. And maybe we should emphasize what we do best, which is the human side of communication, the qualities of support and presence." (The News Observer via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]

-- Comment()
Sneaky year for computer viruses: "Computer viruses became more devious in 2002, spreading over the internet by using both old and new tricks." [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]