Where's the Payoff?
I just had two nice, young college age boys stop by my house. They were in the area representing a window installation company. Their company is trying to drum up business by setting up appointments for their ”consultants” to tell me how their energy efficient windows will save me money on my energy bills.
That’s a …
What Makes the iPhone Work
Gruber, on why the iPhone is so successful:
One obvious but wrong answer would have been for Apple to start with a phone. That’s what most companies in the mobile handset industry have done and it’s led them to a dead end. The problem is that while successful complex systems evolve from simple systems …
Morning Links
Paul Copan busts some ”First Christmas” myths over at Reclaiming the Mind.
There would have been no inns in a backwater town like Bethlehem. They would be found along main roads or in cities. The word for inn (katalyma) is the same one as the ”guest room (of a private home)” …
Student Pounds Robber
I think this is basically how I would react if someone tried to steal my laptop.
Arizona State University student Alex Botsios said he had no problem giving a nighttime intruder his wallet and guitars.
When the man asked for Botsios’ laptop, however, the first-year law student drew the line. …
Apple proposes tiny RF modules for ever-present connectivity
I’d just like to point out that I advanced this idea during my sophomore or junior year of college (sometime between 2002 and 2004). My college friends can verify that — I promoted the idea to pretty much everyone. But I never wrote it down, so I can’t really prove it to the world. Oh, …
Thinking About HD Camcorders
The new HD camcorders are different from traditional camcorders in several ways. The most obvious is the stunning picture quality. Never have your most banal home videos looked so good! But I’m most concerned about the technical differences. Here are a few of my notes.
Tape or Tapeless?
Many of the newest HD camcorders leave out the …
Age of Wonders
Bill Quick sends an e-mail to Glenn Reynolds:
So I’m out on my bike today – it’s gorgeous in SF – and I stop by the Bay for a breather and just to sit and watch the sailboats gliding under the Bay Bridge.
I open my backpack and drag out my …
Don't Use Useless Definitions
When writing, it pays to be as clear and concise as possible. This sentence (from Alliant Energy’s ”Monthly Natural Gas Update”) is neither:
A decatherm (equal to 10 therms) is enough natural gas to heat an average home for 4.5 days.
It’s not clear because I still don’t know what a ”decatherm” is. The parenthetical …
Brett Favre is Retiring
It’s not on the Packers home page yet, but it looks like it’s official: Brett Favre is retiring.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that according to Favre’s agent, Buss Cook, Favre informed Packers coach Mike McCarthy of his decision Monday night.
A sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, Favre, acquired in a …
Warmth Approacheth
Lately, I’ve felt like the cold weather will never end. It seems like every single week of the winter has brought more snow, more cold, more icy, and more dreariness. But — at last! — I have hope that we’re seeing the end of winter.
Average temperature for the first five days of March: 28 degrees. …