Cox Crow

Dear Farmer Brown,
The barn is very cold at night.
We'd like some electric blankets.

Sincerely, The Cows

4:43:43 PM #
categories: Family

Sun BluePrints Online: "You could just as easily build a Beowulf cluster based on Sun hardware."

4:29:10 PM #

BoingBoing links to QuickTopic. I first heard of QuickTopic from an essay Jon Udell wrote for the Software Carpentry project.

4:27:59 PM #

As Ecclesiastes says, there is no new thing under the sun. I can't come up with an interesting, unused name for this spew, so why bother?

3:55:24 PM #
categories: Language

Some people actually attempt to improve the world. Or at least communications with the daughter ship.

2:11:53 PM #

An interesting review of Mac OS X from a BeOS perspective.

2:03:51 PM #

Dear [insert name here] Industry: Please bear in mind that we are not merely users or consumers, but people. And the thought that you think we are cattle to be fed pablum and milked sickens me.

1:44:48 PM #
categories: Dear Microsoft, Industry, Language, Law, Media

I’d much rather pop in a CD in my stereo or put a tape in my VCR. [inessential.com]

Some of us listen to music at work, or have pathetic audio systems that aren't in the same room with our computers.

1:36:52 PM #
categories: Media

Music Subscription Sites Off-Key. The record industry has stumbled out of the gate in its attempts to offer Napster alternatives. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

1:20:49 PM #
categories: Media

The copy protection scheme employed by Vivendi Universal excludes Mac OS users.

1:18:23 PM #
categories: Media

c|net seems to think that Google Catalogs heralds the end of Google as a pure search engine. I don't think so.

Google promises accurate results. It helps you find whatever you are looking for, and indexing printed matter is a natural progression. Linking the print catalogs to the online sites makes the search result more effective. However, changing the result rankings because of a monetary influence will make the result less effective. And that will drive visitors away.

Most of the catalogs listed already have an on-line presence, so a general search may find the items you are looking for, or it might not. As Google points out, the benefits here are in the data, not necessarily in the ranking of the product, so I would expect the advertising opportunities mentioned to be similar to those on the main site. In case the industry hasn't noticed yet, people despise ads.

12:57:05 PM #