aprigliano.org

I would to remind all U.S. readers to actually go to the polls and vote (I am sure you are all over 18, right - I am not exactly appealing to the Myspace crowd, or any crowd - Hi Mom!)

BUT, people, before you do, take a hard look at the sample ballot and get to actually know who you are voting for and get to know the issues on the ballot (and look beyond the campaign ads, they are about as objective as a puppy is on an anti-puppy referendum, if puppies could vote, and they don't, but that is O.K., because they are puppies. Puppies can't work the voting machines. Or read. There are just cute and make pee. Cute goes a long way.)

If we don't get to know what/who we are voting for, we actually will suffer from the same lack of understanding as demonstrated by, not so ironically, some of the people we vote for...

senator stevens vs ninja

Labels: politics, ted stevens

I found the following link off digg about old computers still in use at the University of Iowa

http://www.uiowa.edu/~fyi/issues/issues1999_v37/06111999/computer.html

And it got me thinking... At which point do we stop pushing the envelope?

Just as it seems we reach a point when we can say "OK, these computer things can pretty much do all they can do" - we then find new uses for them which require more speed, power and/or bandwidth.

Right now as I write and you read, video frames are getting bigger (HDTV), audio is changing (HDradio, podcasting, Satellite) , MS Office is getting a face-lift, and we can run many operating systems on one machine at the same time - all requiring more resources, hardware and/or space.

I have heard for years from smarter people than myself that TRUE innovation will happen in systems when we reach the limit of how fast those systems can go.

Waiting...

Labels: tech general

In your Internet travels, you occasionally find something that you go "Hey, why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?" I recently had one of those moments when I came upon TEDblog and its podcast. It is an extension of the yearly TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) in Monterey, California, which is loaded with A-List speakers and artists. The podcast is, imagine if you will, CSPAN's BookTV (without the boring parts) and IT Conversations, mixed in a blender, run at its slowest, most deliberate speed and with an occasional twist NPR's "All Songs Considered."

When you have a moment, give it a chance, you are not only bound to find something you like, you will be inspired along the way. Where else has the same forum been offered to Julia Sweeney, Malcom Gladwell, and the guy behind the idea of the Hundred Dollar Laptop.

Labels: podcasts, TED

I was allowed to be sure about myself for about a whole day an a half. Concerning my 3 simple steps to making Windows 90% safer, CNet News comes out with a Firefox Zero day flaw.

Everyone - turn off your computers, go outside, and play Frisbee.

Update: O.K. I can put the smug (Or as Tom Cruise would say - "glib") hat back on. Turns out to be a hoax. The claimed security hole in Firefox "just a joke." I am not laughing. But spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt is so much fun, Mr Spiegelmock, the propagator of the "joke", is now going to tell a 4 year old there is no Santa, then go to the local nursing home and point his finger and loudly repeat the words "You're Old people."

Labels: firefox, rant general, tech general, windows