Eating crow – my comments on Suicide Girls

Okay, maybe it wasn’t for the free publicity after all. This seems to make sense:

Boing Boing: Suicide Girls responds to post on FBI and image takedowns

…And it immediately became crystal clear: if we were handing over a list of every photo on our site that contains the content they’re about to start prosecuting, and if someone in the Attorney General’s office would have that on file, it would be a quick and easy few steps from there to going after us, a fairly well-known site. We felt that we were too close to the fire at that point, and took the content down…. [Read]

Animal wonders

Balls of Fire: Bees carefully cook invaders to death: Science News Online, Sept. 24, 2005

…To keep the youngsters at the right temperature in cool weather, honeybees space themselves around the nursery and shiver their powerful flight muscles to generate heat. Seeley notes, however, that the nursemaids don’t raise the temperature above 36°C, so the brood stays safe…. [Read]

I love this kind of stuff! Imagine that, the bees heat the nursery using their muscles. Read the article linked above to learn about how they kill attacking wasps by literally surrounding it and heating it to death!

Thanks, Boing Boing.

Loving the zip-installs!

I’m really appreciate the developers who release their software as zip-installs, simply extract and run the executable. Some examples that come to mind are KeePass, GreatNews, EssentialPIM and TreePad Lite.

I have long believed that all the mucking about with the registry and the profiles is un-necessary, simple .ini files work fine, and not just for small utilities but for larger programs as well. And now with the advent of high capacity hi-speed usb drives and mp3 players that show up as a drive, this kind of architecture makes even more sense.

Listening to Goin’ Down South by R.L. Burnside

Dear CEO, you can’t lie on the internet…

… its no longer as easy as you think! Here is an excellent example of a 2–bit company trying to weasle out of something and how the Wayback Machine helps catch them. Shame on you Memletics! Hopefully you won’t be around for too long. And is that regret I hear when they say that

The publisher of Memletics.com highly recommends other publishers do not follow the original path we took to protect ebooks.

 Boing Boing: DRM system designed to encourage identity-theft — UPDATED

…Someone named Sean from Memletics contacted us to let us know that this entry is “factually incorrect” because Memletics does not include addresses or full phone numbers in the personal information that’s inscribed in their books. Indeed, that is what the site says today, but the Wayback machine comes to the rescue again, providing us with yesterday’s page that we wrote about. Quick work on the part of Memletics’ webmaster, but still not so swift for consumers, who are left with their credit card information printed inside their books…. [Read]

Free publicity for Suicide Girls?

Boing Boing: Suicide Girls: rumor-debunking time

Could this be a clever way to get drum up some buzz and get more hits (subscribers)? Does anyone know which pictures they have taken down? And why would a porn site which believes it is 100% legal do something like this? I’m sure they have a lawyer, right?

Call me jaded but I think this was an excellent way to drum up some more business.

WordPress.com vs. Blogger

Alice Hill’s Real Tech News – Independent Tech » Could the New WordPress.com Kill Off Blogger?

…WordPress.com is a hosted, free blogging solution just like Blogger…. [Read]

Just some random observations since I recently got the oppurtunity to take WordPress.com for a spin. I am mirror posting to my WordPress.com blog using BlogJet’s (1.6 beta) Group Posting feature.

As the writer points out in the post (linked above) WordPress is in an early alpha stage. So bear in mind that it is not totally fair to start comparing the 2 services in too much detail.

I enjoy tinkering around with the template and CSS on blogger but I don’t think that that is everyone’s cup-of-tea. But it is not like you simply *have* to muck about with html and css to host your blog on Blogger. So I would say that Blogger offers a wide range of options for customization, for novices and experts.

I do miss a ‘category’ feature on Blogger but then I console myself with the fact that at some point that might become a drag. Its good for large multi-author blogs but a simple poor blog like mine, nope. Besides I would soon mess it all up with categories like ‘Web’, ‘Internet’ and ‘Interweb’.

I extremely like WordPress.com’s clean interface but wonder how long before they start pumping up adds or convert to a paid model. Or free blogs with ads – yikees! After all, they must have some way of making money sooner or later.

This is not a complete comparison, just a few things that popped into my head. Later I hope to be able to write a more comprehensive comparison but I think I will wait for WordPress.com to bring out all its heavy artillery before I make any judgments.

Hot Laptop design!

Images: MIT’s $100 laptop | CNET News.com

…A research project at the MIT Media Lab has a plan for getting $100 laptops in the hands of millions of people around the world…. [Read]

Finally some real great innovation and fresh air! Check out all the pictures:

HipsterPDA hack

Ultimate Pocket Notebook

…The problem with the Hipster is simply the binder clip… [Read]

Brilliant, just what I needed. I saw these binders but thought it was too much work punching the holes; instead I tried those bankers’ clasps, oversized paperclips, binders and finally settled for a plain old rubberband (thanks Mr. Postman for those excellent long lasting bands!).

After reading TheGeek’s post (linked above), I started using the binder ring and I think it is going to work out. I’ve added a little pouch by sticking 2 cards together with (packing) tape to store receipts, money, etc. You can make it a different color if you like, or have a couple of them depending on your needs.

Job Burnout

Job Burnout Part 1

Brilliant article, a must read! Well, at least I think so, espically since I am in the position described by the author in the “A Personal Story” section.

Here we go!

All excited about getting the “golden ticket” … signed up in a flash! I love the interface, nice and clean! Have to see if\how w.Bloggar and BlogJet work out. I really ddon’t ant to come here to post, even if I just love the interface.