There aren’t enough atoms

John Parkinson recently wrote in his article Bit By Bit that we are running out of atoms (CIOInsight). It’s an interesting extrapolation based on current progress of information growth measured against potential information storage capabilities of the future.
The trend line reaches 1:1 around 2018 or 2020, by which time we will need nano-manufacturing processes and [...]

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EBay absolutely, positively guaranteed almost safe

I have often been suspicious of EBay, largely because of the bad press they received a few years ago — for the most part having to do with disgruntled customers that did not receive their goods. But given their huge success I thought EBay must have achieved some degree of respectability by now.
Until, that is, [...]

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Latin politics are more fun

The Wall Street Journal ran a story today about the trials and tribulations of politics in Brazil. It seems that South American’s have more flair for the dramatic — compared to our political arena, anyhow:
It all began with Mr. Jefferson, who started singing to legislative investigators and reporters about what he says was a Workers [...]

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So that’s how they’ll do it

Everyone has been wondering how Apple could possibly guarantee that OS/X for Intel will only run on their Apple-made hardware boxes. Don’t get me wrong — I really don’t mind. Personally the idea of OS/X running on some cheap off-brand Intel system is horrifying.
So the answer is fairly straightforward: Apple has embedded a TPM (Trusted [...]

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DirecTV is in the dark ages (and Vonage isn’t)

There is just no excuse for DirecTV’s new, $1,000 satellite receiver and Tivo recorder to require a telephone line. An old-fashioned telephone line. I understand that it can’t use the satellite dish to transmit information back to DirecTV since the dish is receive-only, but why not a local network?
The problem is, we use Voice Over [...]

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An excellent self-exemplifying example

This is excellent, to-the-point and clear advice on effective writing. Hear hear, Seth! Good comments in the trackbacks, too.

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It’s not free

It’s not free. The package says “free with purchase.” Isn’t that the same as saying “not free?” I really hate solicitation calls at home — they are disruptive, annoying and never have anything to offer that I could possibly want. Do people actually buy these things? “We would like to offer you a round-trip vacation [...]

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Too sad to be funny

There would be no traffic to FedExFurniture.com except that FedEx decided to send a cease and desist letter, which then inspired the Stanford Law School to become involved (I still can’t quite understand why). Someone at FedEx should have realized its harmless but I imagine they didn’t like being associated with the image of absolute [...]

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The folder is irrelevant

In an attempt to delve deeper (and hopefully not rehash) this topic, I thought I’d blather on about how information overload and the currently limited filing system in computers is a problem.
Information overload is going to cause a change in the landscape. Paper documents need a physically appropriate mechanism to store them — and of [...]

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My hovercraft is full of eels

I really liked this article about XCode and Objective C. OS/X is a fantastic operating system and its development environment has a lot to offer — but as with all systems there are pros and cons.
Seven days later, I’m in pain. I’m hurting. I’m surrounded by square brackets. I have a hard time keeping track [...]

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Legal technology

The words “legal” and “technology” may not seem to go together — in fact, the legal industry is well known for its aversion to technology, favoring instead the written word, the printed page, the tangible and material. But this is fast changing as we embrace the digital age, replacing all things tangible with the digital, [...]

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Where’s the simplicity

Today I’m working at a coffee shop, trying to focus on my own business but inevitably overhearing bits and pieces of conversation around me. Unfortunately, there’s someone well within earshot trying to design a web site for a client. This is a game I got out of about ten years ago, but even now it’s [...]

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    This is me. Martial artist, zen student, programmer, writer and author, technologist, father of two, photographer and a resident of Los Angeles (well, the outskirts of it).

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