Hitler to Wait for HP Slate
By Eric Pettifor
Apple’s iPad has been out for awhile now, long enough for tons of opinion pieces to be written, so no need for me to add to the noise, especially when so many of my reservations have been so well expressed by none other than Adolph Hitler. Apparently, for him, the final straw [...]
End Times for the iPhone
By Eric Pettifor
2010 could prove to be the year of the iPhone killer, but, if so, Apple’s bereavement will simply be collateral damage in the ever-raging battle between giants Microsoft and Google. Google’s Android on a Google phone won’t deliver the death blow, but it will be a sign of the end times.
Android is [...]
Yet more disappointing technologies
Shaun Nichols and Iain Thomson of pcauthority.com.au have compiled a list of top ten disappointing technologies. Drum roll please . . .
Number 10: Virtual RealityNumber 09: Alternative Search EnginesNumber 08: Voice RecognitionNumber 07: Apple LisaNumber 06: 10 GB EthernetNumber 05: FireWireNumber 04: BluetoothNumber 03: ItaniumNumber 02: ZuneNumber 01: Windows VistaYes, there you [...]
2009: Linux on netbooks, Nokia on Apple’s tail
I’m looking back at last year’s end-of-year tech columns and feeling totally bummed out. We still don’t have globallink communicators with roll up screens a la “Earth: Final Conflict.” It remains something for the lab, like this prototype.
Still no sexbots. Perhaps they’ll be one of those techs like videophones — featured in [...]
Brando Lives! (I’ll drink to that)
This post is being written on the OLPC XO laptop. Why, didn’t I already make the point that it could be used to do actual work here? Yes, but I’ve got a new, small, usb keyboard for it (yes, I am keyboard obsessed), small enough to fit into a laptop bag accessory pocket, [...]
Mom and the MacBook
My mom is a Linux-using grandma who travels a lot. Recently she required medical attention while in another city, and wound up in hospital for several weeks. I felt very sorry for her. Yes, for the medical concerns, of course, but also because she was cut off from the internet.
Even her brother, my octogenarian uncle, [...]
Windows? Linux? OS/X? Why choose?
What the devil are we going to do with all the power that the latest computers offer, given that soon you won’t be able to buy a machine with less than two cores on the CPU and less than a gigabyte of RAM? Well, one possibility that more and more people are taking advantage [...]
A tale of two ethics
The wide release of Windows Vista this week, and the billions that will be spent to buy it over the next few years, prompts one to ask: how exactly did we get into this mess?
Once upon a time, not so long ago, computers were big things owned by businesses, governments, and universities. That changed [...]
Naked Geeks
Who are the 12 greatest computer geeks of all time? Can you put names to the following 12 clues? There will be an answer key at the end of this blog entry.
Difference engine.
AI test and work on defeating Nazi enigma encryption during WWII. In 1983, geeks 3 and 4 below received an award named after [...]
Damn the Nephews for All Spam
Sing, ye gods, the anger of us all, for countless spams that fill our in-boxes. Many a brave soul has attempted to filter them to a junk folder, only to have filters fail in the face of bogus text. And who is it who must bear the blame? It is the nephews, the brothers-in-law, [...]