New and Improved: Now With Search
Sunday, March 26th, 2006I’ve added a search feature to the blog. It performs a Google search of the Chad’s News site, which will be quite useful when you want to look up something dimly remembered from months past.
Archive for March, 2006
DWG – Driving While Gaming
Sunday, March 26th, 2006I’m speechless.
Six-Stroke Engine
Sunday, March 26th, 2006This prototype engine has an additional power stroke using water as fuel. It’ll be interesting to see if something actually comes of it.
Transparent Butterfly
Sunday, March 19th, 2006
Some of these images are amazing—I never knew anything like this existed.
A Real-World Video Game
Sunday, March 19th, 2006This sounds like fun, and the price (15 euros ≈ $18.25) is quite reasonable. Hope it takes off in the US, although I wonder how they’ll handle injuries and liability issues—one good lawsuit and out of business they go.
Sony Rootkit Settlement
Monday, March 13th, 2006If you bought one of the CDs associated with the Sony rootkit fiasco, then you are eligible to take part in the settlement.
It’s a Bus! No, It’s a Tank! No, It’s Both!
Sunday, March 12th, 2006Pretty impressive. There are additional combat stories on the manufacturer’s web site.
Tearing Up That Credit Card Application Is Not Enough
Sunday, March 12th, 2006Good thing I’ve got a shredder. Of course, I don’t get many credit card applications because I’ve registered with the Direct Marketing Association.
World Domination, Google Style
Sunday, March 12th, 2006
Userfriendly is a tech-oriented web comic that I read daily. Over the last couple of weeks, it’s been spoofing Google, leading up to today’s (2/21/2006) strip, in which Illiad (the author) hits the nail dead center on the head. Go check out today’s strip, then read on for my commentary.
A company may have a certain culture/environment, a set of ethics, or a good privacy policy. Yet once it goes public, sooner or later, these things have a tendency to change. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, the mantra of “increased shareholder value” becomes the real priority. And when ethics, culture, or privacy policies get in the way of shareholder value, they go out the door.
Google has some really good services. This blog, for example, is generated and hosted by Google [update: not any more]. Their stated goal is to index all known data, and they expect this to take about 300 years. But now that Google is public, they’re not going to be able to justify indexing information unless they can make money from it.
So I suggest being cautious about how much personal information you give to Google.
By the way, if anyone wants a gmail invite, I have some available. :)
UPDATE: According to this article, the publicly-traded shares of Google do not, and never will, have the ability to control the company. So the two founders of Google have complete control over the the company’s direction. But I still say caution is warranted—what happens when they die, or if they decide to sell off some of that stock?
Consumer Devices Too Complex
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006For those of us who are computer/tech literate, it’s easy to forget that most people are not. Perhaps this is why the iPod is such a success, with it’s simple, elegant interface.
X-Men 3 Trailer
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
The trailer for the upcoming X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, is available online. Jean Gray is back as the Phoenix, and both Angel and the Beast make their first appearances. Looks like it’ll be another good one. The official release date is May 26th.
Windows Vista: Why You Should Care
Monday, March 6th, 2006
ExtremeTech has written a long but informative article covering the major new features of Windows Vista, which will be released later this year. There are quite a few significant changes, and I found it to be worth the read.
