Why is it, pray tell, that every time we get a new phone number, we also somehow inherit one place that insists on calling it repeatedly, telling us that we owe them money? When we moved into this house eight years ago, we got two telephone numbers (a home line and a business line). We [...]
Archive of entries posted on November 2009
“Bruce Schneier Action Figure”
For the true computer security geek: an action figure of cryptography and security expert Bruce Schneier. (At $99, I hope said geek is also making plenty of cash with his computer security skills.)
Improbable Plant
It just goes to show that nothing is impossible… no matter how highly improbable. (Did anybody notice the Heart of Gold in orbit recently?)
“Swedish cyborg gets haptic hand”
Major improvements in haptic technology. (You know, it seems that six million dollars wouldn’t buy all that much, these days… )
“Fractal weather”
It seems that weather isn’t quite as complex (or as unpredictable) as scientists thought. (You may not realize it, but it was a weather simulation on an early personal computer that led to the idea of chaos theory — popularly known as the “butterfly effect” — which most scientists believed that weather followed for the [...]
“Boffins working on biodegradable flexi LED implants”
Hm… a Dick Tracy video-phone watch built into your wrist, anyone?
“TV admits it was wrong about PVRs”
Will wonders never cease?
“Is Antivirus Dead?”
I’ve mentioned before that I no longer run antivirus software on most of my Windows machines, but Bruce Schneier has just posted a persuasive argument in favor of it in most cases, despite the flaws. But persuasive or not, it doesn’t change my opinion or my stance on the systems I control. Antivirus is generally [...]
“Xerox hopes to print computing smarts on fabric, plastic”
It might give new meaning to the phrase “wearable computer.” Though the manufacturers had better be careful where they put the heat-sink.
“Knit hat stabs you in the head if you don’t smile”
And to top it all off (so to speak), it’s called the Happiness Hat. Ouch.