Many Mouths

Fri 20 Apr 200107:52 PM

My friend at Eshibui.com turned me on to TheFutureofSoftware.net, a site with an awful name but a smattering of decent “Expert Insights” on where software is headed. There are some big names there, including Alan Cooper and Bruce Tognazzini — though hardcore geeks may be disappointed by the lack of depth in these pieces. Worth a peek nevertheless.

Everything in the Future Has an X in It

Mon 16 Apr 200112:28 PM

“The end result of adding XML throughout the Internet will be a change in Web infrastructure. We’ll put much more effort into maintaining and updating data and much less effort into presenting it…Tomorrow your computer, whether it is on your desk or your wrist, will directly query XML data sources to generate dynamically not the Web page as its authors want you to see it, but exactly the Web page you want to see. ”.
— Robert X. Cringley offers a primer on XML in his latest column, “Data, Know Thyself.”

Who’s Zoomin’ Who

Fri 13 Apr 200105:33 PM

The cable modem is here. Two Time Warner Road Runner service people visited me today. The first installed the physical cable modem and activated it. When he left, I managed to almost instantly get my PowerBook online. The second service person set me up with my user name, password and mail servers — a job so simple, I probably knew more about how to do it than he did. As soon as he left, I broke out my Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router, and now I’ve got both my PowerBook and Sony VAIO up and running, sharing the one connection. Wheee!

Frustrating as Heck

Wed 11 Apr 200107:47 PM

If Microsoft added Macintosh functionality to their PocketPC line of PDAs, it’s almost a sure bet I’d make the switch from the steadily declining Palm OS platform. Despite all of my patience with their dimwitted take on serving their customers, Palm Computing’s Mac OS support continues to be abysmal. Their USB implementations are screwy and unpredictable and result in terrible synching performance — I’m fed up with the frustration of trying to get my Palm Vx to talk to my Power Macintosh G4. It’s all nearly enough to make me want to chuck in the whole PDA thing for a DayRunner.

If You Like This, You Might Like…

Tue 10 Apr 200101:56 PM

Media Unbound is at the forefront of a new kind of personalization, according to Salon.com, but the traffic resulting from that article has their system maxed out. It sounds promising though: a recommendation engine that actually refers you to obscure music that you like and that you might not have heard about otherwise. Speaking of which, it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve heard any new music that’s really gotten me excited.

Waiting for My (Cable) Man

Tue 10 Apr 200102:16 AM

This coming Friday, my excruciating exile from the land of home connectivity is scheduled to end when Time Warner Cable finally installs my cable modem. Knowing that broadband installations are fraught with mishaps and aborted attempts, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my expectations low. All the same, I ordered myself a Linksys BEFSR41 4-Port Etherfast Cable/DSL router a few days ago, and if everything goes well, I should have a nifty little home network by the weekend.