Archives for: July 2008

Yahoo cans their DRM music store

07/29/08 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright
Well, looks like the music industry is demonstrating once again as to why DRM is a bad idea for pretty much everyone involved. (Via BoingBoing) more »
 

GPS location and real arrival times for buses

07/28/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Oh, why couldn't we have this on Calgary transit? Given their propensity for running early, running extremely late or not being run at all in -30 degree weather, I would truly love to know when a bus is going to reach my stop. The current… more »
 

Reuse versus replacement

07/27/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Link is to an interesting article on the difference between sunk energy values versus sunk economic ones when it comes to buildings. One of the major discussions over environmentally-friendly changes is whether or not the net result is better. In any… more »
 

Recording and geotagging car accidents

07/26/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Functionally this devices serves a similar purpose to a police car dashmount: it records what's going on around a period of interest. Having been involved in a collision, my first reaction on being hit was "What just happened?" shortly after the world… more »
 

Xkcd on Literary Criticism

07/25/08 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Ouch. That said, the English Literature degree was an excellent way of learning bullshit detection for use later in life... more »
 

Wired on Facebook

07/24/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Wired has an article commenting on how Facebook is inappropriate for business. I entirely agree; that's why there's also LinkedIn. Similar concept, similar implementation, totally different attitude. You don't tend to mix personal and business in your… more »
 

Ooops

07/23/08 | by Adam | Categories: Macintosh
Recently my preferred OSX-based RSS newsreader, NewsFire, stopped pulling down new articles. I couldn't find anything wrong with its configuration nor was there any apparent problem reported on the net. It seemed to work fine: it would check for… more »
 

Four Minutes

07/22/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
According to current studies, the average time for an unhardened Windows PC on the net to be infiltrated is four minutes. It's not actually enough time to download a patch. The linked-to test didn't actually use a Windows box but one that emulated… more »
 

Alternate fuel sources

07/21/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Silly
This is a new one on me. Apparently Charles Windsor of the Windsor Windsors has converted his Aston Martin DB6 to run off white wine. Technically, it's actually ethanol-powered but since the source is in fact surplus white wine I prefer the other… more »
 

Just because...

07/20/08 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Sometimes things pop into one's head for no obvious reason. Today, it was the following quote from PW Botha (as portrayed by Spitting Image, a puppet based political satire from the 1980's): My fellow South Africans, I feel it is time to tell you the… more »
 

Typical, really

07/19/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Link is to a CBC story about Bell and Telus starting to charge for incoming text messages. Yup, that would include spam and all other uninvited messages that the recipient has no control over. One would have thought that the correct default was to… more »
 

Supporting and bug hunting new code

07/18/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Excellent anecdote on handling new releases from Wil Shipley, the author of Delicious Library. (Via Daring Fireball) more »
 

Ammonite washbasin

07/17/08 | by Adam | Categories: Potpourri
Do want! (Via BoingBoing) more »
 

Another triumph of marketing over common sense

07/16/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Power assisted luggage. For a mere $1365. No, I don't know who would buy one of these either. more »
 

Engineering wackiness

07/15/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Example of why Adam isn't a structural engineer: I would never have thought that sticking a 730 tonne pendulum was a great way of preventing a tall building from collapsing in an earthquake. more »
 

Clever marketing

07/14/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
This 32" digital picture frame is indeed a masterpiece of marketing over sense. Take a low end HDTV, remove the useful guts, add a wooden frame, and then sell it (at a price higher than a functional HDTV) as a really, really big brother to the 7" thing… more »
 

Microsoft postpones their DRM server shutdown

07/13/08 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright
Tidbits has a sensible comment on Microsoft's decision to postpone the shutdown of their DRM servers: Microsoft had to view the downside to its move to save most likely a few hundred thousand dollars a year against millions in defending itself and tens… more »
 

The cost of subscriptions

07/12/08 | by Adam | Categories: iPhone
Amusing comic from The Joy Of Tech of how those "small" charges add up. And it's about the iPhone so bonus points there for Rogers. more »
 

Things to blame on rising gas prices

07/11/08 | by Adam | Categories: Potpourri
Why is the answer to rising gas prices always surcharges? Why don't they build it into the price as an increase there 'cause that's exactly what it is. (Via Kottke) more »
 

The death of gallium, indium, zinc...

07/10/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Interesting article from Robert Silverberg on the earth running out of certain elements in their natural form. Sauf recycling, the LCD panel and many other items requiring the use of those items may start to get rare and expensive soon... (Via Nodwick) more »
 

Curious names in taxonomy

07/09/08 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Link is to a site that collects the wacky humour of biologists when it comes to naming species. (Via Pharynugla) more »
 

Work-for-hire photos

07/08/08 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright
In his ongoing commentary about the effect of the Conservative Party's new copyright bill, Michael Geist raises the issue of copyright on work-for-hire photography: For decades, Canadian copyright law has vested copyright in commissioned photographs –… more »
 

Automated search & replace follies

07/07/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
Just for the record, there are no words that are automatically subsbreastuted on this site. (Via The Carpetbagger Report) more »
 

The apocalypse is upon us...

07/06/08 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Starbucks is to close 600 stores. Due to the downturn in the economy, fewer people are willing to spend their disposable income on overpriced, burnt coffee. (Via Inkless Wells) more »
 

"The Barack Obama of automobiles"

07/05/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
The header is an interesting quote from the Atlantic's article on the Chevrolet Volt, GM's answer to the hybrid. What's interesting about it -- and what I didn't realise -- is that Chevy is attempting to invert the usual hybrid electrical/gas… more »
 

The Hubble Telescope's "Pillars of Creation"

07/04/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
The Harvard Magazine has a good write-up on the Hubble Telescope and includes a couple of photos. One of the photos is a stunning picture of "The Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. The explanatory text says: This is a ghost image of a past cosmic… more »
 

Jim Prentice's Stampede breakfast

07/03/08 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright
...may not be quite as cordial as he'd like, but the Children's Cottage Society should probably do well out of it. (Via Michael Geist) more »
 

Should Microsoft pull an Apple-style architecture migration?

07/02/08 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
An interesting article from TidBITS suggesting that perhaps it's time for Microsoft to rebuild their operating system from the ground up in order to handle performance and stability issues. The argument for the feasibility of this: Apple has… more »
 

Happy Canada Day!

07/01/08 | by Adam | Categories: Canadian
Celebrate Canada's birthday! Enjoy yourselves. more »
 
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"Ready, Aye, Ready" was a slogan used by Canadian politicians to indicate Canada's willingness to assist the British Empire in any conflict. It remains in use as a motto for some of the Canadian military. It has almost nothing to do with the content of this blog.

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