Sunday, June 03, 2007

Here's a new blog, by John Cox of Cox and Forkum fame, that's worth a subscription. Recommended.
I'd go blind if I tried to use this for any extended period of time. Why, then, do I still want one?

I suppose it's because I often find myself needing to jot down a quick note, or just as often to edit something, and my current Tablet PC isn't with me. Although it's of reasonably small size and weight for a convertable Tablet, it's still too bulky to carry around. That's where the OQO Model 02 would come in handy. I could take it on bike rides, hiking excursions, and in general everywhere I go, significantly increasing my productivity.

I sometimes use my Sprint Treo 650 for that sort of work, but the keyboard's just too small for anything but quick notes. I need something that I can take with me, that would allow for periodic bursts of real writing. It'll be awhile, though, before I'll be able to afford nearly $2000 for this sort of thing.
Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at 5156 Diggs, won't win any Pulitzers. It's a story about a cat with a Webcam attached to its head.

A cat. With a Web cam. #1 Digg.

Makes perfect sense to me.
Again, if this were Israel, it would be a massacre. The UN might even start writing some letters.
This story's title is bad enough: the subtle implication that being a successful businessman could necessarily be a political liability. The story itself is full of equivocation and compromise, and sets Romney at a great disadvantage, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyone who apologizes for being successful as an honest businessman will never get my vote.
One can rarely pin such things on governments. The fact that it's more likely to be some shadowy group associated with someone like Putin doesn't surprise me a bit.
And why is it, exactly, that state legislatures are spending the time to select file formats? Given that such matters are so politicized, is there any doubt why corporations are so heavily involved in politics?
Celebrity Report: "So, you're going to have my daughter home when?"
To me, this and European soccer games represent a sort of mob mentality. It happens in America, to be sure, but mainly at Leftist "rallies." There's something ugly that happens when people lose themselves in a crowd, and it says something about a society where it often happens.
What's most interesting about this story on Google and its search algorithm is how Google maintains it as a closely-held trade secret. There's considerable debate, even among intellectual property advocates, over whether such algorithms are subject to patents, copyrights, or neither. Apparently, Google doesn't want to take a chance either way.
Thanks to Little Green Footballs for pointing out John Murtha's innate craziness. One should be able to read this interview and recognize that the man is intellectually and philosophically bankrupt, and adds nothing of value to the debate over how best to respond to Islamic fundamentalism.

The Left, though, will certainly spin this to show his great wisdom. Hell, to them, it might really seem wise. And that's the scariest part.
I need to hurry up an publish my bestseller. I fear that copyright is an endangered species, and my ability to profit from my writing, over the long-term, is at risk.
I agree: if Google Street View were a government project (specifically, a Bush Administration project), it would draw the ire of folks such as Boing Boing. This creates a real conundrum for the Left: do they attack Google for being a large, successful company, which would be their tendency, or do they give Google a pass because it's not a part of the Bushitler Regime?

Ultimately, I predict they'll overlook what they naturally see as an attack on "privacy" (which really means whatever they want it to mean) because it's Google. In their ends-justify-the-means mentality, Google is their champion against the evil Microsoft, and they'll support whatever makes Google more powerful in this context. That will last until Google becomes their evil corporation of the moment, at which point suddenly Street View will be an insidious effort to destroy privacy for the almight dollar.