When I was 15 years younger than I am now, I worked at an “Audio Bookstore” called Bookears. Everyone thought that audio books were a ridiculous idea. They had this snobby snort of attitude, like if you’d only listen to a book if you couldn’t read. “What’s wrong with people today?” Now that iPods are […]
Archive | Net and Tech
Givers and Takers
When I want to find out the lyrics to a song, or whether a particular juicer is all it’s cracked up to be, I go to the Web. Just like everyone else. And I can almost always find it. Whether it’s amazon.com reviews, or just a personal Web site, someone, somewhere, has posted the information […]
NetNewsNot
I use NetNewsWire as my RSS reader. I like it. And I use iWeb as my blog-builder. I like parts of it, but hate a lot of it. I just haven’t found the time to switch. Anyway, something in the mix of these two programs creates an annoyance that I’m not sure how to fix. […]
Keeping the Streets Safe
If you’re concerned about adware and pop-ups on the Internet, it may be time to move from concerned to scared. Julie Amero is facing up to 40 years in prison for exposing her 7th grade class to a barrage of porn pop-ups. (Link) The charge is “impairing the morals of a child.†It’s a shame […]
Weekly Rob Goes Audio
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this week’s post is an audio file. I don’t think I’ll make a habit out of this, but I told someone recently how easy it is to make a podcast and I thought that I’d better actually try it myself. So listen to this bad boy and tell me what’s wrong […]
More Libertarian Paternalism
A while back, I posted about Libertarian Paternalism, as espoused by Cass Sunstein, professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. Well, there’s a bit of a debate going on, for anyone who’s interested in this kind of thing. (Am I the only one?) First, Becker and Posner (an economist and a judge, […]
iPods Are Good
The BBC delivers a more or less idiotic article on the new Apple iPhone and technology in general. (Link) The basic gist of the article is that certain people, especially 77 year old Luddites, don’t seem to want a new iPhone. In fact, the Luddite in question doesn’t want an iPod either. What a fucking […]
E-Books
It doesn’t look as though it’ll revolutionize anything, but Sony is at least giving at a go (link). The last thing I want is a crappy screen with crappy font that’s hard to read. If you go to the “Easy Reading†section, then hover over “Revolutionary Display,†you find that the text looks pretty nice. […]
So Sue Me
In an earlier post, I wondered whether I could get sued for libelous comments that other people leave on my site. Apparently, in most states, I can’t. And now the California Supreme Court has joined the majority (link). Interestingly, this is all spelled out (so they say) in the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which was […]
High Tech
Imagine a device that knows your sleep cycles and your schedule. Example: It knows you need to be up around 8:00 a.m., but it also knows that you’re in the middle of a dream at that time. Or that you’re in the middle of a deep sleep cycle (is that the same as a dream?). […]