Word Processors

One of the writer’s mailing lists to which I subscribe has a thread on word processors of yore. Writers of similar vintage to myself have been bemoaning the loss of ancient software like PFS:Writer (I ran it on my Apple IIe). One writer admitted he has kept WordStar running, even on his most recent machine. [...]

More on Martian ice ‘mystery blob’

Here’s a lightened, cropped version of the lower image in the post below, showing no Sol-20 type clumps in the shadow, but clearly showing the ‘mystery blob.’
Re-reading a couple of MPL press releases makes me believe that additional digging was done in the trench pictured on Sol 19, resulting in the images of Sols 20 [...]

Ice on Mars: first look

Ice clumps on Mars? The recent announcement, first spotted on the MPL Twitter blog reports that the small grayish clumps visible in the lower left of the trench in the photo marked Sol 20 above, have disappeared by Sol 24, a discovery that is consistent with water ice sublimating into the thin, very dry Martian [...]

The Smart way to Caltrain

Spotted this Smart ForTwo at the Menlo Park Caltrain station when I returned from physical therapy this afternoon. Gotta say that, other than a bicycle, this is probably the best way to get to CalTrain. My Escape Hybrid is good, too… 

A Kindle arrives

Sweet spouse Linda gave me a Kindle for Father’s Day - we’ve been spending the last 48 hours fiddling with it. Initially, I’m getting the NY Times and Wall St. Journal daily, and have a Kindle ‘Howto’ book. The ‘electronic ink’ display is amazing - and legible in just about any light. It’s very light [...]

Your iPhone and registration, please

This minor hack came along to Father’s Day brunch as a conversation piece, but I’m thinking, with the right security features, this might not be a bad idea. You could keep credit cards and other small personal documents in a special secure area, which docs would be able to send a special, encrypted ‘handshake’ at [...]

Cell service providers: the end is nigh?

Aaron Vronko hinted at this in our interview last Thursday: once a mobile device has IP access, do you really need a cell phone company in the loop? Especially our current batch of providers, mostly former landline companies that completely missed the IP turn in the technology road. Few of these companies, seeking to recreate [...]

Image issues

This is bad.
This, however, is fun. I’ve been trying out the new, fast Mac by pouring over satellite images of Mars, looking for crashed spacecraft. Really, it’s fun…

iPhone 1.0: cheap, carrier-free phone?

Had a very interesting conversation with Aaron Vronko, a founder of Rapid Repair, a firm that specializes in fixing iPods and other small electronics. There hasn’t been a huge market for used phones in the past, but Aaron thinks iPhone will change that, and his company wants to help build that market by refurbishing and [...]

What about our 6 million iPhone 1.0s…?

So my $400 iPhone has just been rendered ancienne by the newr, faster, half-price iPhone 2… even by Silicon Valley standards, this is a jolt, and probably not great marketing by Apple (but more about this later). I’m starting to be afraid to buy anything Apple lest a half-price, better, faster version show up a [...]

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