It seems that these days, everyone is trying to corner user data in one way or another - be it selling them eBooks on a proprietary device or being an application Nazi for their platform. Read more »
Disclaimer: It's no secret that I think Microsoft, as a technology company, puts out crappy products. It's also no secret that the only way that I end up using Microsoft software is when it's pre-installed on a laptop that I purchase. I never pay Microsoft directly, thus I am not going to upgrade to Microsoft's 'new and better' operating system because I know that their business model involves the new system becoming old and breaking. And when it starts breaking, they sell you another one. So do NOT comment that I should upgrade from Windows Vista - this is an informational post for people who aren't intent on filling the pockets of rich people. Get Linux.
So I got a Kingston DataTraveler 101 - 16 GB with the intention of installing PortableApps on it so that I could become less laptop dependent. In essence, I will be able to go anywhere and have my data and my applications - something I'll write about in the next post more.
When I plugged the USB key into the Windows Vista tortured Toshiba laptop, it was recognized and Windows Vista happily identified it and installed the device driver. But when I started installing PortableApps on it, it got wonky. Really wonky. Nothing was being written. The drive still showed in Windows Explorer, but when I hit F5 to refresh - presto magico! - the drive was gone. The little light on the driver was still on, but it had gone from the annoying blinking to a steady 'on' state. Odd. Peculiar. Strange. Windows. Read more »
...3rd party support for the iPad will not come from unenthusiastic developers. Rather, it will come from content publishers. Context experiences from media companies like newspaper and magazine publishers, blogs, book publishers, TV studios, and sports leagues will make the iPad valuable. Without this outside support, the iPad will fester as an expensive way to browse the Web, something competitors will quickly match at lower price-points...
When I read that I thought, What a publisher-centric way of looking at things. Let me explain. Read more »
The under ten-buck e-book may soon be a thing of the past. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon (AMZN) stopped selling books from publisher Macmillan on Sunday due to a dispute over e-book pricing. While the company says it plans to eventually resume sales, it has admitted that it will probably have to give in to Macmillan’s push for higher per-title pricetags more in line with those that Apple (AAPL) has proposed for the iPad...
The human nervous system is a wondrous system comprising an estimated 1 trillion cells. That's about 166 times the global population at this time (6.2 billion). And each synapse has what I call a contextual memory - allowing previous information to affect future communication through the synapse. There are other factors as well - but the new NOMFET transistor mimics this aspect of a synapse.
Each NOMFET transistor has memory. And that memory affects the way in which it is switched. Read more »