Chad's News

UK bookseller Blackwell is launching a trial of the Espresso Book Machine, which can print books on demand in less than five minutes. Blackwell currently has 500,000 titles available and hopes for a full million by the end of the summer. This is one of those things that just begs the question, “Why isn’t this already in use everywhere?” But with the rising popularity of eBook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, I wonder about the long-term popularity of on-demand print services.

Link #1: http://www.guardian.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)

Link #2: http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/…

If you intend to travel outside of the United States, be very careful about using the Internet via a wireless carrier or cell phone. Planning ahead can save thousands of dollars. The linked article is not the first time I’ve read of something like this happening. Also, don’t believe the customer service representative when he/she claims your existing plan will be sufficient.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

A new strain of swine flu has broken out in Mexico and Texas, leading to concerns about a pandemic. The linked article has more information, as well as answers to common questions.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…

IBM is developing a new type of memory, called racetrack, that may be a Flash-killer. The article doesn’t say much about it replacing volatile RAM, aside from a brief mention of racetrack being a “universal” memory.

Link: http://www.montrealgazette.com/…
(via digg)

The phone numbers 555-0100 through 555-0199 are reserved for fictional use in movies and such. But 555-2368 is still popular, even though it’s outside the allowed range. The linked article explains why.

Link: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/…

I was concerned to learn that Oracle will be purchasing Sun Microsystems, especially since Sun owns MySQL, a direct competitor of Oracle’s database software. MySQL is very popular, and I’m not sure what would happen if Oracle should decide to discontinue it.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Update: The acquisition has been approved Sun’s stockholders, so now the purchase is waiting on regulatory approval.

Twitter is a popular micro-blogging site, where you can post short messages (tweets) about yourself. But users are starting to see a new type of directed, unsolicited advertising based on their posts. For example, say that you tweet about having an ear infection. This is monitored by someone, and you receive a message from a medical company suggesting that you try their product to help with the infection. It’s an advertisers paradise, because the messages are directed to those most likely to be interested in the product.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Here are 11 predictions in Back to the Future II that came true. Pretty good for a sequel!

Link: http://www.11points.com/…
(via mental_floss)

The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader that’s becoming quite popular. But be warned: the Kindle becomes an expensive paperweight should Amazon decide to cancel your account.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

One of the banks in my area is offering a free iPod Shuffle to people opening new accounts. Here’s the story of a guy who chose his bank based on a free gift, and he more than paid for it. All I can say is TANSTAAFL (with thanks to Robert Heinlein).

Link: http://www.getrichslowly.org/…
(via mental_floss)

This Flash animation of the Easter Bunny doing a rap routine is hilarious. Thanks to June for this topic.

Link: http://www.dougpatton.com/…

This article is one of the more readable explanations that I’ve seen of how universes are created. It’s short and concise, yet manages to cover topics from quantum multiverses to what may exist outside of our universe.

Link: http://www.time.com/…
(via digg)