According to Pen Computing Magazine (whose publishers and editors, such as David MacNeill, have always had a soft spot in their hearts for the Newton and still often mention it), developer has created a Nintendo emulator for the Newton!
They also note that "...Amazingly, there are an estimated 20,000 active Newton users, with a small number of talented developers keeping things interesting, a very active discussion list, and at least one nicely done blog. Reading these makes me want to charge up my "old" MessagePad 2100 and re-enter this delightful world."
Some web links for you:
2004-03-27
Wires? We don't need no steenkin' wires!
I hate cables. They get tangled up and are a mess and an eyesore.
I've been finding "retractable" cables lately and buying them: Ethernet and phone cables so far. And on the PalmAddicts blog, I just found retractable ear buds. Have to get these for my iPod.
Sure wish that Bluetooth wireless (cable-reducing) tech was catching on here in the USA. It's hot in Europe; the newer Sony Clie's such as the TH-55 and the NX80 (which I just bought) ship with Bluetooth in Europe, but NOT HERE in the USA because it's not popular here. How dumb is that? How the hell can something catch on if you can't BUY it? Sony's marketdroids need a swift 2x4 upside the noggin! Yes some Sony and Palm models do have BlueTooth, but darn few (especially Sony ones). Hey Sony and Palm....TIME TO SHIP BLUETOOTH WITH ALL YOUR PDAs or at least your mid and high-end ones. No cables is a darn handy thing for PDAs.
Verizon (my cell phone provider) with about 36 million customers doesn't think that a few of their cell customers might want a bluetooth phones either...they don't sell any. Argh!
And Apple of course added built-in Bluetooth to the PowerBook models they shipped 2 months after I bought my latest 'Book. Sigh.
I've been finding "retractable" cables lately and buying them: Ethernet and phone cables so far. And on the PalmAddicts blog, I just found retractable ear buds. Have to get these for my iPod.
Sure wish that Bluetooth wireless (cable-reducing) tech was catching on here in the USA. It's hot in Europe; the newer Sony Clie's such as the TH-55 and the NX80 (which I just bought) ship with Bluetooth in Europe, but NOT HERE in the USA because it's not popular here. How dumb is that? How the hell can something catch on if you can't BUY it? Sony's marketdroids need a swift 2x4 upside the noggin! Yes some Sony and Palm models do have BlueTooth, but darn few (especially Sony ones). Hey Sony and Palm....TIME TO SHIP BLUETOOTH WITH ALL YOUR PDAs or at least your mid and high-end ones. No cables is a darn handy thing for PDAs.
Verizon (my cell phone provider) with about 36 million customers doesn't think that a few of their cell customers might want a bluetooth phones either...they don't sell any. Argh!
And Apple of course added built-in Bluetooth to the PowerBook models they shipped 2 months after I bought my latest 'Book. Sigh.
2004-03-26
The Moon is not enough! Ad Astra Per Aspera!
Amen, Brother Buzz!
Every since "President" Bush announced his new "space initiative" I've been worried that it'll have the effect of killing the space program instead of revitalizing it.
And the press isn't helping, by (as I mentioned previously) getting their facts wrong
But Bushie's program seems to be to me just more election year posturing. Bushie's daddy has a Space Exploration Initiative too. That went nowhere. Bushie's program is worse. Poorly articulated, underfunded, and poorly executed. It's boomeranging on him. While I'm glad that Bushie's looking bad instead of good....I'm sad that it's slopping over onto the space program.
At least the two Mars Rovers are bringing in fascinating news and pics. Maybe that'll cause the public to forget that they ever read anything about Bushie's New Improved Space Program...
We've gotta revitalize the space program.....right now the human race has all it's eggs in one basket. We've got to go to the stars. Too bad it looks like it's gonna take forever to get moving.
Every since "President" Bush announced his new "space initiative" I've been worried that it'll have the effect of killing the space program instead of revitalizing it.
And the press isn't helping, by (as I mentioned previously) getting their facts wrong
But Bushie's program seems to be to me just more election year posturing. Bushie's daddy has a Space Exploration Initiative too. That went nowhere. Bushie's program is worse. Poorly articulated, underfunded, and poorly executed. It's boomeranging on him. While I'm glad that Bushie's looking bad instead of good....I'm sad that it's slopping over onto the space program.
At least the two Mars Rovers are bringing in fascinating news and pics. Maybe that'll cause the public to forget that they ever read anything about Bushie's New Improved Space Program...
We've gotta revitalize the space program.....right now the human race has all it's eggs in one basket. We've got to go to the stars. Too bad it looks like it's gonna take forever to get moving.
2004-03-25
What are the facts?
More and more recently I've come to the conclusion that being a "journalist" in this day and age means you're simply a shill for Big Business.
I chuckle every time I hear the term "liberal bias" used by a G.O.P. shill (GOP=Greed Oil Power). Considering that the power of the press (and airwaves) is controlled by huge corporations these days, you can tell they're either self-deluded or (more likely) lying through their teeth. There's no such thing. Conservative bias is what we've got.
Remember, the press and the TV companies are there to sell papers and advertising. The heck with publishing "the facts". It's about headlines and sales and volume...not truth and information and quality.
I started feeling this way a long time ago when I read reviews and comparisons of products produced by a company I worked for. The reviews were almost ALWAY slap-dash, containing many outright errors. They often weren't complete as well. And when the product was compared to others, I found that the comparisons were faulty as well. Little or no fact checking was done.
I've seen the same thing about other issues that I know something about. So I can only conclude that everything written by a journalist is B.S. Probably because they are in such a hurry to get the facts out. Years ago I wrote a monthly column and product reviews for a nationally published computer magazine. Review and article deadlines were so short (and the editors so incompetent) and pay levels so ludicrous that it simply was impossible to do a good job. Plus I had editors who would "edit" facts out of my articles and make me look like an idiot.
So don't believe what you read in the paper or see on T.V. Instead, as Robert A. Heinlein said: "What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the FACTS? Shun wishful tinking, ignore divine revelation, forget "what the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" -- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts."
Don't make the mistake in believing that because you heard it on the news or read it in the paper or on the 'Net that it's true or complete (just ask Pierre Sallinger!)
Here's a couple of items I've run across recently that bear on this issue:
Ex-Watergate writer laments 'idiot culture'
Why the media says the space plan costs a trillion dollars
Thank goodness for the Web and Google and such search engines. At least we can much more quickly seek out "the facts". Just never believe you have them all!
Keep an open mind out there!
I chuckle every time I hear the term "liberal bias" used by a G.O.P. shill (GOP=Greed Oil Power). Considering that the power of the press (and airwaves) is controlled by huge corporations these days, you can tell they're either self-deluded or (more likely) lying through their teeth. There's no such thing. Conservative bias is what we've got.
Remember, the press and the TV companies are there to sell papers and advertising. The heck with publishing "the facts". It's about headlines and sales and volume...not truth and information and quality.
I started feeling this way a long time ago when I read reviews and comparisons of products produced by a company I worked for. The reviews were almost ALWAY slap-dash, containing many outright errors. They often weren't complete as well. And when the product was compared to others, I found that the comparisons were faulty as well. Little or no fact checking was done.
I've seen the same thing about other issues that I know something about. So I can only conclude that everything written by a journalist is B.S. Probably because they are in such a hurry to get the facts out. Years ago I wrote a monthly column and product reviews for a nationally published computer magazine. Review and article deadlines were so short (and the editors so incompetent) and pay levels so ludicrous that it simply was impossible to do a good job. Plus I had editors who would "edit" facts out of my articles and make me look like an idiot.
So don't believe what you read in the paper or see on T.V. Instead, as Robert A. Heinlein said: "What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the FACTS? Shun wishful tinking, ignore divine revelation, forget "what the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" -- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts."
Don't make the mistake in believing that because you heard it on the news or read it in the paper or on the 'Net that it's true or complete (just ask Pierre Sallinger!)
Here's a couple of items I've run across recently that bear on this issue:
Ex-Watergate writer laments 'idiot culture'
Why the media says the space plan costs a trillion dollars
Thank goodness for the Web and Google and such search engines. At least we can much more quickly seek out "the facts". Just never believe you have them all!
Keep an open mind out there!
Who needs a mouse?
Lots of nifty new developments on alternate user input methods lately:
Thought control!
A good overview of speech control and generation in Mac OS X
Subvocal speech input -- now muttering under your breath at your computer can actually accomplish something!
Thought control!
A good overview of speech control and generation in Mac OS X
Subvocal speech input -- now muttering under your breath at your computer can actually accomplish something!
Will Sony make any more Clié NX series units now that there's the UX-50 and TH-55?
I've been wondering if there will be any more units in the NX series now that there's the UX-50 with a keyboard and the TH-55 (basically an NX without the clamshell and CF card slot). It seems to me that this is not likely, and that's too bad. Why do I care? Why should you?
I prefer units with a collapsible graffiti area since they first showed up on the HandEra 330, for e-book reading and other things (and since there are now many ways to write on the screen without even opening the graffiti area, such as TealScript) who really needs the input area?
I also prefer units with CF card slots (although I might settle for an SD card slot...but I'd rather not.) The CF card slot is the most flexible (you can get CF adapters for most of the other card formats too). Not to mention CF support the largest memory sizes and are generally cheapest and maybe fastest. Multiple card slots are even nicer. The PocketPCs win a point there; most have a CF and SD slot, last I checked. Or at least one or the other.
The above reasons are why I bought the HandEra 330 to replace my Newton MessagePad (which had two PCMCIA slots and no need of a Graffiti area, I should note), and then the Sony NX70 and the NX80. The HandEra 330 supported CF and SD/MMC cards, and the NXs support CF and (yech) Memory Stick. But I note the UX-50 and the TH-55 are back to only having a Memory Stick.
If there are no further NX models....then I may have bought my last Sony. I really like the NX series. Aside from the collapsible Graffiti area and CF and MS slots, the keyboard is nice, though I don't use it that much (a bit too small for my fingers) - I could live without it. The built in still/video camera and audio recorder is great, the MP3 player, the Infrared remote...except for not having a cell phone built it, the NX's are the all-around do everything (well, I'd like built-in WiFi and BlueTooth too but at least I can add 'em).
But I'd take a TH-55 with a CF (or SD) and Mem Stick slot if there was no NX. Basically just take the NX80, remove the keyboard....and I'd buy it. Or take the TH-55 and add a CF slot in place of the SD or camera. Done deal!
Alas...I have a bad feeling that I've seen my last Sony. It all hinges on the memory slot. Sony finally (grudgingly and partially) supported memory in the CF slot (after other vendors wrote drivers for CF memory first!) If Sony doesn't make another NX, I sure hope that Palm produces a replacement. The latest Tungsten is pretty darn close; just add a camera and maybe another memory slot. The Garmin unit is close too.
I prefer units with a collapsible graffiti area since they first showed up on the HandEra 330, for e-book reading and other things (and since there are now many ways to write on the screen without even opening the graffiti area, such as TealScript) who really needs the input area?
I also prefer units with CF card slots (although I might settle for an SD card slot...but I'd rather not.) The CF card slot is the most flexible (you can get CF adapters for most of the other card formats too). Not to mention CF support the largest memory sizes and are generally cheapest and maybe fastest. Multiple card slots are even nicer. The PocketPCs win a point there; most have a CF and SD slot, last I checked. Or at least one or the other.
The above reasons are why I bought the HandEra 330 to replace my Newton MessagePad (which had two PCMCIA slots and no need of a Graffiti area, I should note), and then the Sony NX70 and the NX80. The HandEra 330 supported CF and SD/MMC cards, and the NXs support CF and (yech) Memory Stick. But I note the UX-50 and the TH-55 are back to only having a Memory Stick.
If there are no further NX models....then I may have bought my last Sony. I really like the NX series. Aside from the collapsible Graffiti area and CF and MS slots, the keyboard is nice, though I don't use it that much (a bit too small for my fingers) - I could live without it. The built in still/video camera and audio recorder is great, the MP3 player, the Infrared remote...except for not having a cell phone built it, the NX's are the all-around do everything (well, I'd like built-in WiFi and BlueTooth too but at least I can add 'em).
But I'd take a TH-55 with a CF (or SD) and Mem Stick slot if there was no NX. Basically just take the NX80, remove the keyboard....and I'd buy it. Or take the TH-55 and add a CF slot in place of the SD or camera. Done deal!
Alas...I have a bad feeling that I've seen my last Sony. It all hinges on the memory slot. Sony finally (grudgingly and partially) supported memory in the CF slot (after other vendors wrote drivers for CF memory first!) If Sony doesn't make another NX, I sure hope that Palm produces a replacement. The latest Tungsten is pretty darn close; just add a camera and maybe another memory slot. The Garmin unit is close too.
We're all gonna glow in the dark
As if the computer "mod" geeks haven't neon-lit enough of their computers already, now you can get glowing USB powered mouse pads!
Gee, and I could I add the glowing Griffin PowerMate USB multimedia knob, and the glowing XtremeMac UFO iMac hub/base.....if I had an iMac....and of course all the optical mice these days glow in the dark.....and so do PowerBook keyboards now, as well as the logo on the back of the PowerBook screen.
And I've got two freebie pens recently that light up. One even rotates among multiple colors (like the USB mousepad). And hell, even my Swiss Army Knife has a light on it (handy, actually.) I also just got a promotional freebie at work...a keychain fob with a compass and LED flashlight on it (I guess in case I get lost walking between the parking lot and the door to the office building...)
Everything's glowing! What is this... the X-Files? At least they don't all glow green.... (why do bad/scary things always glow green? The X-Files? The X-Box? The Borg? Minas Morgul in the Lord Of The Rings movie?) If good aliens ever do come to Earth, their ship better not glow green....we'll blow 'em up first and ask questions later!
Gee, and I could I add the glowing Griffin PowerMate USB multimedia knob, and the glowing XtremeMac UFO iMac hub/base.....if I had an iMac....and of course all the optical mice these days glow in the dark.....and so do PowerBook keyboards now, as well as the logo on the back of the PowerBook screen.
And I've got two freebie pens recently that light up. One even rotates among multiple colors (like the USB mousepad). And hell, even my Swiss Army Knife has a light on it (handy, actually.) I also just got a promotional freebie at work...a keychain fob with a compass and LED flashlight on it (I guess in case I get lost walking between the parking lot and the door to the office building...)
Everything's glowing! What is this... the X-Files? At least they don't all glow green.... (why do bad/scary things always glow green? The X-Files? The X-Box? The Borg? Minas Morgul in the Lord Of The Rings movie?) If good aliens ever do come to Earth, their ship better not glow green....we'll blow 'em up first and ask questions later!
This shows how stupid the current Administration is
Bush supports offshoring high-tech
Yes...let's send all the jobs to a country that won't even let people from other countries move there unless they bring $$$$$ to start a new business (Cringley had a good column on this on the PBS web site) and which is restrictive in other ways as well. Meanwhile, we let in all kinds people from outside the country in vast quantities, and many of them make a bunch of money or get a bunch of education, then leave and compete with us unfairly....like India is doing. This is why the U.S.A. is the best country in the world.....but it just may be that, as the saying goes: "Nice guys finish last."
Funny, but I thought the President's job was to HELP our people and our country. Instead, he's done NOTHING but hurt our people and our country since he entered office. [now the FBI will probably thing I'm a commie or something. Ironic, isn't it?]
Good job, Mr. Bush. Send all the good jobs that bring wealth to our country and buying power to the customers of your big business cronies....meanwhile I'll have to take a "manufacturing" job at McDonalds. (Did you hear? The job loss is getting so bad that, instead of actually working to fix things....the Bushies want to re-classify burger-flipping as "manufacturing" so it'll look like we're gaining in "good" jobs.)
Thanks for nothing, Bush baby. Let's vote these brainless, clueless, fascist morons out of office in November, before they totally bankrupt the country financially, economically and morally.
Yes...let's send all the jobs to a country that won't even let people from other countries move there unless they bring $$$$$ to start a new business (Cringley had a good column on this on the PBS web site) and which is restrictive in other ways as well. Meanwhile, we let in all kinds people from outside the country in vast quantities, and many of them make a bunch of money or get a bunch of education, then leave and compete with us unfairly....like India is doing. This is why the U.S.A. is the best country in the world.....but it just may be that, as the saying goes: "Nice guys finish last."
Funny, but I thought the President's job was to HELP our people and our country. Instead, he's done NOTHING but hurt our people and our country since he entered office. [now the FBI will probably thing I'm a commie or something. Ironic, isn't it?]
Good job, Mr. Bush. Send all the good jobs that bring wealth to our country and buying power to the customers of your big business cronies....meanwhile I'll have to take a "manufacturing" job at McDonalds. (Did you hear? The job loss is getting so bad that, instead of actually working to fix things....the Bushies want to re-classify burger-flipping as "manufacturing" so it'll look like we're gaining in "good" jobs.)
Thanks for nothing, Bush baby. Let's vote these brainless, clueless, fascist morons out of office in November, before they totally bankrupt the country financially, economically and morally.
Other good music
Vince Benedetti Meets Diana Krall: Heartdrops [ran across this at the same time I got the Diana Krall CD sampler and the Stacey Kent CD's]
Moya Brennan: Two Horizons [Moya is also known as Maire, evidently pronounced the same in Gaelic. She's also known as the lead singer for the group Clannad, and is Enya's big sister. You've heard Moya's voice in the movies Patriot Games and The Last of the Mohicans]
Pat Benatar: Go. [been a long time since I bought a new Pat CD. I still like her Blues one, True Love, best, but evidently most folks didn't. Got a new release of her "Best Shots" greatest hits CD at the same time too...and this one had a DVD of music videos in it. In fact, this seems to be a trend. I keep running across CD releases with DVD's included or available. The new "Bangles" CD. Sheryl Crow, The Dixie Chicks, Alanis Morrissette, and on and on.]
Mandalay: Solace. [Nicola Hitchcock's got a very unusual voice!]
Joss Stone: The Soul Sessions
Norah Jones: Feels Like Home [evidently this is selling HUGE. Hope that Norah actually makes some money from it....but the way the record industry and RIAA's creative accounting practices work, I'm sure that this will never turn a profit. Bastids!]
Some other recent goodies:
- Melissa Etheridge: Lucky
- Harry Connick Jr: Only You
- The Ultimate Diva Collection (from Verve Records). Ran across this playing in the local Calypso 987 store. Love that store. A visual feast. And an auditory one too, in this case.
- Sissel: My Heart
"The Shipping News" motion picture soundtrack. Good movie too. (Of course, I like anything with Julianne Moore in it. Knockout redhead!)
[I gotta get myself an Amazon affiliation so I can post links to these and make $$$$. Well, maybe $$. Or $.]
Moya Brennan: Two Horizons [Moya is also known as Maire, evidently pronounced the same in Gaelic. She's also known as the lead singer for the group Clannad, and is Enya's big sister. You've heard Moya's voice in the movies Patriot Games and The Last of the Mohicans]
Pat Benatar: Go. [been a long time since I bought a new Pat CD. I still like her Blues one, True Love, best, but evidently most folks didn't. Got a new release of her "Best Shots" greatest hits CD at the same time too...and this one had a DVD of music videos in it. In fact, this seems to be a trend. I keep running across CD releases with DVD's included or available. The new "Bangles" CD. Sheryl Crow, The Dixie Chicks, Alanis Morrissette, and on and on.]
Mandalay: Solace. [Nicola Hitchcock's got a very unusual voice!]
Joss Stone: The Soul Sessions
Norah Jones: Feels Like Home [evidently this is selling HUGE. Hope that Norah actually makes some money from it....but the way the record industry and RIAA's creative accounting practices work, I'm sure that this will never turn a profit. Bastids!]
Some other recent goodies:
- Melissa Etheridge: Lucky
- Harry Connick Jr: Only You
- The Ultimate Diva Collection (from Verve Records). Ran across this playing in the local Calypso 987 store. Love that store. A visual feast. And an auditory one too, in this case.
- Sissel: My Heart
"The Shipping News" motion picture soundtrack. Good movie too. (Of course, I like anything with Julianne Moore in it. Knockout redhead!)
[I gotta get myself an Amazon affiliation so I can post links to these and make $$$$. Well, maybe $$. Or $.]
Stacey Kent - Up and coming new singer
I just ran across Stacey Kent in the local Border's Books and Music store this week. I've been buying a lot of jazz recently....guess I was in need of a change. I'm currently waiting on the latest Diana Krall CD, due out next month, and in fact I was in Borders to pick up the 2-songs for $2 CD Sampler from Diana's CD. I was browsing the racks in Borders and tried out one of Stacey's albums. Great stuff. She does more than just jazz, too.
Amazon.com has a free MP3 of one of Stacey's works available.
2004-03-24
E-Paper hits the big time -- Sony ships a product using it!
Just when you thought e-book readers were dead...here comes the Sony Librie e-book reader. It's the first consumer device I've seen that uses Electronic Paper technology. 170 pixels per inch, and no power except when CHANGING the display. Woohoo!
Here's Sony's Librie site, too [in Japanese] and a Librie discussion thread on ClieSource [thanks for the heads-up on this ClieSource!.
While e-books on my old Newton MessagePad PDAs were pretty good due to the large screen, e-books didn't hit their stride until the various e-book readers for the Palm and PocketPC platform were released and e-book stores became available. My last four PDAs (HandEra 330, HP Jornada 540, Sony Clie NX70V and NX80V) were chosen in large part because their screen allowed the input area to be hidden so you could use the full screen for reading e-books. I rarely read paper books any longer. I also picked up a RCA REB-1100 e-book reader on the cheap from an Office supply place. Larger, but feels good in the hand and the battery life and backlight last for ages between charges (lots more room for batteries in the REB-1100 versus the NX80V).
Rock on Sony! When does it ship in the US of A?
UPDATE: The BBC Website, excellent as usual, has some good details (although the weight, number of batts and # of texts in on board memory seem different from what I've read elsewhere.)
Here's Sony's Librie site, too [in Japanese] and a Librie discussion thread on ClieSource [thanks for the heads-up on this ClieSource!.
While e-books on my old Newton MessagePad PDAs were pretty good due to the large screen, e-books didn't hit their stride until the various e-book readers for the Palm and PocketPC platform were released and e-book stores became available. My last four PDAs (HandEra 330, HP Jornada 540, Sony Clie NX70V and NX80V) were chosen in large part because their screen allowed the input area to be hidden so you could use the full screen for reading e-books. I rarely read paper books any longer. I also picked up a RCA REB-1100 e-book reader on the cheap from an Office supply place. Larger, but feels good in the hand and the battery life and backlight last for ages between charges (lots more room for batteries in the REB-1100 versus the NX80V).
Rock on Sony! When does it ship in the US of A?
UPDATE: The BBC Website, excellent as usual, has some good details (although the weight, number of batts and # of texts in on board memory seem different from what I've read elsewhere.)
2004-03-23
Can transparent aluminum(R) be far behind?
Somebody call Scotty.....can you say TRANSLUCENT CONCRETE?
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