Apparently the French have ditched their native car makers and decided to use Subaru for their high-speed pursuit cars. Apparently they needed a car capable of hitting 149mph, and the locals couldn't make the cut, which is particularly embarassing since both Peugeot and Citroen compete with Subaru in the WRC.
Also noticed that 150mph is a pretty high top speed, something tells me these aren't stock WRXes, since the stock STi has a top speed of 155mph with 70 more horsepower...
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Creative Anti-Trust Tactics
Apple has gotten itself out of joint as a result of a proposed French law to legalize circumvention of DRM technology to allow music to be played on competing music players. Apple claims that the French government is encouring piracy just when legalized downloads were starting to take hold, but what they're really upset about is that the gov't is going after Apple's cozy little monopoly on downloaded music and the pricy iPods that are the only devices that can play it.
Microsoft has been relatively quiet on this issue. On one hand, I'm sure they're happy to see their competitor taken down a notch, but at the end of the day, they don't really disagree with Apple's business strategy, only with who gets to control the music revenue.
It's unclear if this will have any significant effect. So far the most likely result is that Apple will shut down the French iTunes music store, rather than comply with demands. Tying cool software and services to overpriced (but stylish) hardware has been Apple's business model for the last decade, and I don't think the French will convince them to give it up.
Microsoft has been relatively quiet on this issue. On one hand, I'm sure they're happy to see their competitor taken down a notch, but at the end of the day, they don't really disagree with Apple's business strategy, only with who gets to control the music revenue.
It's unclear if this will have any significant effect. So far the most likely result is that Apple will shut down the French iTunes music store, rather than comply with demands. Tying cool software and services to overpriced (but stylish) hardware has been Apple's business model for the last decade, and I don't think the French will convince them to give it up.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
To Live and Die In Silicon Valley
So, Katie is getting closer and closer to her delivery date, so Keith did what any proud, expecting parent here would do: He set up a blog. Danger Randall hasn't been born yet, and he already has his first blog posting.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Office 2007
A post on Groklaw gave a link to a blog of Office 2007 screenshots, and a lot of interesting discussion followed. A surprising number of Groklaw readers liked the interface, given the reader bias, and the amount of (and extent of) retraining required for the new interface was a hotly debated.
I tend to side with the reports of experienced sysadmins and IT heads here -- users hate change, and frankly, there's nothing new under the sun in the wordprocessing and spreadsheet worlds. Most of what I see in the new Office is change for change's sake. MS is already facing an uphill battle convincing IT departments to upgrade all their machines to a new version of Office when users aren't complaining that current versions can't do what they want, and that would be even harder if the new version looked and felt just like the old version.
Sometimes, conformity is a good thing, and user interface is definately one of those areas. There are 11 applications running on my Mac, ranging from Mozilla to Skype, and all of them save one have "File" and "Edit" menus.
There was a split on Groklaw between "power users" that thought that it was new and interesting, and wouldn't have any problems picking up a new interface, and "normal users" (or those who support and deal with normal users) who just saw it was different, and therefore a pain in the ass. Having had to coax Katie through the process of learning OpenOffice, which is far more similar to Office 2003 than the new version is, I predict hearing from lots of normal users repeating the old mantra:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I tend to side with the reports of experienced sysadmins and IT heads here -- users hate change, and frankly, there's nothing new under the sun in the wordprocessing and spreadsheet worlds. Most of what I see in the new Office is change for change's sake. MS is already facing an uphill battle convincing IT departments to upgrade all their machines to a new version of Office when users aren't complaining that current versions can't do what they want, and that would be even harder if the new version looked and felt just like the old version.
Sometimes, conformity is a good thing, and user interface is definately one of those areas. There are 11 applications running on my Mac, ranging from Mozilla to Skype, and all of them save one have "File" and "Edit" menus.
There was a split on Groklaw between "power users" that thought that it was new and interesting, and wouldn't have any problems picking up a new interface, and "normal users" (or those who support and deal with normal users) who just saw it was different, and therefore a pain in the ass. Having had to coax Katie through the process of learning OpenOffice, which is far more similar to Office 2003 than the new version is, I predict hearing from lots of normal users repeating the old mantra:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Monday, March 20, 2006
ODF Becomes Big-Time Politics
Apparently one of the gubernatorial candidates for the governor of Massachusetts has made ODF (OpenDocument Format) one of the central issues of his campaign. Governor Mitt Romney has announced that he will not run for re-election, making it a wide-open race, and John Bonifaz is the one making ODF campaign statements.
I'm not surprised that ODF has made it to politics -- Office is big money, and big money and politics go hand in hand -- but I am surprised that a politician was willing to make a fairly nuanced, technical issue part of his campaign.
I'm not surprised that ODF has made it to politics -- Office is big money, and big money and politics go hand in hand -- but I am surprised that a politician was willing to make a fairly nuanced, technical issue part of his campaign.
Morning Ritual
Woke up this morning to a nice, steady drizzle outside. Experience suggests this is the type of rain that just keeps on going all day, so I dressed accordingly in a windbreaker and waterproof boots and walked out to the garage for my new morning ritual.
I discovered last week that my car has been pulling left under acceleration, and when I checked the tire pressure, it was really low -- about 10 lbs. I filled it back up to spec (36 lbs), then checked it the next day, and it had dropped down to about 32. Meaning I have a slow leak.
The tires have a fair amount of wear on them, so it's probably a good time to just replace the tires, but that costs money, so instead I have a new morning ritual -- I open the garage, start the car, turn on the air compressor, put on some work gloves (the wheels are covered in brake dust), check the pressure and pump the tire back up. It's nice having tools.
I discovered last week that my car has been pulling left under acceleration, and when I checked the tire pressure, it was really low -- about 10 lbs. I filled it back up to spec (36 lbs), then checked it the next day, and it had dropped down to about 32. Meaning I have a slow leak.
The tires have a fair amount of wear on them, so it's probably a good time to just replace the tires, but that costs money, so instead I have a new morning ritual -- I open the garage, start the car, turn on the air compressor, put on some work gloves (the wheels are covered in brake dust), check the pressure and pump the tire back up. It's nice having tools.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Living In the Media Age
Or, alternately, "How Not to do a High-Risk Car Stop". I was reading this article on CNN, and was interested in watching the video of the shooting. In their infinite wisdom, however, CNN has provided a site where only Windows machines can watch video, even though my Mac is capable of playing Windows Media files.
So, I zipped over to Google Video and found the video on my first search.
The audio portion is tough to make out, because they bleeped almost the entire thing. Personally, I think if you get shot three times, you should be allowed to swear on national TV. I think you're having a sufficiently bad day that it's justified.
Even though most of the audio is missing, you can clearly tell that it's either a case of prejudice or enormously bad judgement. Early in the video the airman is talking to the cop, probably trying to calm him down, and he gets shot as he's slowly standing up (following orders to do so). The CNN article references his physical therapy, but frankly, the man is lucky to be alive after getting shot at point-blank range.
So, I zipped over to Google Video and found the video on my first search.
The audio portion is tough to make out, because they bleeped almost the entire thing. Personally, I think if you get shot three times, you should be allowed to swear on national TV. I think you're having a sufficiently bad day that it's justified.
Even though most of the audio is missing, you can clearly tell that it's either a case of prejudice or enormously bad judgement. Early in the video the airman is talking to the cop, probably trying to calm him down, and he gets shot as he's slowly standing up (following orders to do so). The CNN article references his physical therapy, but frankly, the man is lucky to be alive after getting shot at point-blank range.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
All Marketers are Liars
A good talk by Seth Godin about Google and what they've done right so far (on purpose or by accident) marketing-wise, and how they (and others) can keep doing so. Has some good examples about launching early vs. launching good, and marketing efforts spent to launch an average product vs. a good product.
Reasonably long (about an hour long talk) but worth watching.
Reasonably long (about an hour long talk) but worth watching.
Friday, March 03, 2006
All Hail Silicon Valley
So it's a typical winter day outside in Silicon Valley. Temperature in 50s, bright and sunny... Except that it's hailing.
Hard.
It hailed for about ten minutes and then stopped, and the view from our office door showed clear, sunny skies the whole time.
Hard.
It hailed for about ten minutes and then stopped, and the view from our office door showed clear, sunny skies the whole time.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Understatement of the Year
``It is generally not a good idea to not pay the salaries of armed people,'' Alvaro De Soto, top UN envoy to the Middle East
The Palestinian Authority is facing financial collapse because Israel and the U.S. are refusing to give it futher tax revenues (in Israel's case) and financial aid (U.S.). To me, this appears to be an incredibly short-sighted political move.
The problem Israel is facing, at this point, is a popular uprising, and has previously dealt with an unpopular, underfunded government, which would be no more able to enforce peace on a restless populace than the Israeli security forces could. Now, the P.A. has a government with a popular mandate -- probably the only organized entity in the last 5-10 years with a chance of actually negotiating and enforcing a lasting peace settlement.
Does Hamas have connections to terrorism? Absolutely. Does it mean we shouldn't negotiate with them? Absolutely not. It's not a line in the sand. After all, Yassir Arafat was a world-renowned terrorist in his time, yet he was invited to the White House and received the Nobel peace prize. If we can swallow that, we can certainly suck it up and talk to Hamas.
At some point, you need to forgive the sins of the past to move forwards.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Radical Backlash
I have noticed an eerie symmetry between the recent factional fighting in Iraq and the recent Dubai ports uproar in the U.S. The message to leaders from these two should be clear: if you build support by promoting fear and fanning the flames of intolerance, eventually you will create a beast you cannot control.
The Iraqis have done it, as clerics like al-Sadr found that his violent, anti-American rhetoric has been turned into anti-Sunni violence. And Bush has found that promoting fear and distrust of the Arab world makes it hard for your people (and your Congress) to distinguish been friends and enemies.
Like the dark side of the force, fear as a tool of policy is quicker, easier, and more seductive, but ultimately has its own price to pay.
The Iraqis have done it, as clerics like al-Sadr found that his violent, anti-American rhetoric has been turned into anti-Sunni violence. And Bush has found that promoting fear and distrust of the Arab world makes it hard for your people (and your Congress) to distinguish been friends and enemies.
Like the dark side of the force, fear as a tool of policy is quicker, easier, and more seductive, but ultimately has its own price to pay.
Peripheral Vision
A neat peripheral vision trick -- let your eyes defocus a little, and all of a sudden there's a rotating green dot in the circle of pink dots. Stare at the cross for a while, and the pink dots start dissapearing, until you look away -- then they're all back.
So much for trusting your eyes.
So much for trusting your eyes.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Dishonoring the Dead
I was reading this article on CNN, and the actions of the Rev. Fred Phelps made me very, very angry. Phelps organizes protests at the funerals of American military service members. His group's official stance:
I can think of nothing more disgraceful than to use someone else's funeral as a political statement. The fact that their theory is so far off in right field just makes it that more insulting.
I'm normally wary of anyone who uses the term "Patriot" in political discourse, but I'm entirely in favor of the work of the Patriot Guard in counter-demonstrating and protecting the families of the fallen.
Phelps believes American deaths in Iraq are divine punishment for a country that he says harbors homosexuals. His protesters carry signs thanking God for so-called IEDs -- explosives that are a major killer of soldiers in Iraq.
I can think of nothing more disgraceful than to use someone else's funeral as a political statement. The fact that their theory is so far off in right field just makes it that more insulting.
I'm normally wary of anyone who uses the term "Patriot" in political discourse, but I'm entirely in favor of the work of the Patriot Guard in counter-demonstrating and protecting the families of the fallen.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Linux Virus Scanners
Occasionally I talk to Windows users who believe the lack of worms and viruses on Linux is simply a result of low market share, and that if the market share of Linux approaches Windows, then they will start to appear. While I think that the number of worms and viruses available for Linux will increase, I have my doubts as to whether a market for anti-virus scanners will follow it.
My reasoning works like this: why do you need an anti-virus scanner? A scanner is something that catches malicious code before it can take advantage of an unpatched hole in an application or in the operating system. In other words, the size of the scanner market is, approximately, the delta between average time it takes for a vendor to release an OS/application patch and the average time it takes a virus vendor to release a signature. If vendors could release a patch in 24 hours, there would be no anti-virus market, since that's about how long it takes to come up with a signature.
I was reading this article about a recent Linux worm. Like most Linux worms seen to date, it's very specific to a particular configuration, and not a common one, at that. And, importantly, a patch already exists to fix the hole.
Is there still a market for antivirus software? Yes, AV still does a number of things much better -- signatures are easier to collect and distribute than automated patch/update software. Redhat and Suse both have automated patch systems, but experienced admins avoid them because constant updates break systems. But Linux lacks to major items which have created the large Windows anti-virus market: a large body of homogenous code (Windows+Office), and a long delta between vulnerability announcements and patch releases.
My reasoning works like this: why do you need an anti-virus scanner? A scanner is something that catches malicious code before it can take advantage of an unpatched hole in an application or in the operating system. In other words, the size of the scanner market is, approximately, the delta between average time it takes for a vendor to release an OS/application patch and the average time it takes a virus vendor to release a signature. If vendors could release a patch in 24 hours, there would be no anti-virus market, since that's about how long it takes to come up with a signature.
I was reading this article about a recent Linux worm. Like most Linux worms seen to date, it's very specific to a particular configuration, and not a common one, at that. And, importantly, a patch already exists to fix the hole.
Is there still a market for antivirus software? Yes, AV still does a number of things much better -- signatures are easier to collect and distribute than automated patch/update software. Redhat and Suse both have automated patch systems, but experienced admins avoid them because constant updates break systems. But Linux lacks to major items which have created the large Windows anti-virus market: a large body of homogenous code (Windows+Office), and a long delta between vulnerability announcements and patch releases.
Fun with Google Video
So, I was digging around for this Apple parody I saw on Google Video the other day. And I couldn't find it, which doesn't say much for the search capability (or maybe they just didn't write a good description). But I did find an entertaining GoDaddy commercial. It doesn't have anything to do with internet hosting. It doesn't even pretend. It just goes on the age-old principle that boobs can sell pretty much anything.
Another fun one (may have linked it already, memory's the first thing to go) with a very quick station wagon.
Aha! No, wait! I found it! Mac haters will love it. Mac lovers will understand it.
Oh, and I'm coming to hate the Google "most popular videos" tool. See, I would assume it used some sort of ranking system, and then farmed out the top 15 videos on the list, and the next top 15, and so on, and so on. But no. It has a pool of the most popular videos, and when you ask for the list, it grabs 15 videos at random and displays them to you. So if you're looking for one in particular, and you can't find it, because the keywords are nonexistent/borked/whatever, you have to just keep clicking on "next 15 videos" until it turns up...
Another fun one (may have linked it already, memory's the first thing to go) with a very quick station wagon.
Aha! No, wait! I found it! Mac haters will love it. Mac lovers will understand it.
Oh, and I'm coming to hate the Google "most popular videos" tool. See, I would assume it used some sort of ranking system, and then farmed out the top 15 videos on the list, and the next top 15, and so on, and so on. But no. It has a pool of the most popular videos, and when you ask for the list, it grabs 15 videos at random and displays them to you. So if you're looking for one in particular, and you can't find it, because the keywords are nonexistent/borked/whatever, you have to just keep clicking on "next 15 videos" until it turns up...
Condition: Sore
Had a fun weekend, but it's now Monday morning and I'm feeling the effects.
My original plan was to go dirt biking on saturday at Hollister with a couple guys from my hockey team, but they called me up on friday and said they weren't going until sunday, because it was raining, and it was cold, so the snow line was down at 1500 feet, and both Metcalf and Hollister had snow. Then Julia called and wanted to go riding, so I suggested we go in the late morning on Saturday, which would give us time a) to figure out if we wanted to go, if it was raining, and b) for the sun to dry out some of the mud, if it wasn't.
Saturday rolls around, and of course it's a bright, beautiful, sunny day. Of course. It's february, what sort of weather were you expecting? So Julia calls in the morning, and we decide to pack the bikes and go.
This was Julia's second time on her new dirt bike, so she's still feeling her way around this whole "dirt" thing, but she was up for some incremental challenges. When the TT track started getting crowded, I convinced her to try some of the blue trails in the back of the park (no traffic), and she tackled her first hill climb, which is pretty good progress for day 2. Had one minor fall in the afternoon, broke a clutch lever. Welcome to dirt biking.
I ran a few laps solo after she was done, on a couple of the easier black diamond runs Adam and I had scouted out earlier. Felt pretty comfortable on those, which was a good feeling of progress on my part.
Saturday night, Nate and Marissa had a birthday party at the Saddle Rack. I'd never been, and of course I had nothing appropriate, although it turned out not to be a big deal; jeans and a t-shirt of any sort were appropriate. I picked up Danielle at her place, grabbed a quick dinner at the Goose, and zipped over to Fremont to meet everyone. Embarassingly, Nate, Ken, and Marisa had all showed up before us. Can't even count on people to be late.
Had a good time at the Saddle Rack. I rode the bull, because, well, Marisa and Nate were going to, and I can't turn down something that requires you to sign a disclaimer beforehand. I have an image to uphold, after all. The bull ride is probably the main contributor to my being sore today -- that was hard work.
Hung out until closing time afterwards, danced with Sonia for a while, caught up with Jimmy and Ken, chatted with Nate, drove Danielle home, crashed into bed at 3 AM. Got up on Sunday and played hockey in the afternoon -- good game, pretty clean on both sides, and we won 3-2. We had more than the 8 players we had last time, which helped quite a bit.
But man, I'm sore today.
My original plan was to go dirt biking on saturday at Hollister with a couple guys from my hockey team, but they called me up on friday and said they weren't going until sunday, because it was raining, and it was cold, so the snow line was down at 1500 feet, and both Metcalf and Hollister had snow. Then Julia called and wanted to go riding, so I suggested we go in the late morning on Saturday, which would give us time a) to figure out if we wanted to go, if it was raining, and b) for the sun to dry out some of the mud, if it wasn't.
Saturday rolls around, and of course it's a bright, beautiful, sunny day. Of course. It's february, what sort of weather were you expecting? So Julia calls in the morning, and we decide to pack the bikes and go.
This was Julia's second time on her new dirt bike, so she's still feeling her way around this whole "dirt" thing, but she was up for some incremental challenges. When the TT track started getting crowded, I convinced her to try some of the blue trails in the back of the park (no traffic), and she tackled her first hill climb, which is pretty good progress for day 2. Had one minor fall in the afternoon, broke a clutch lever. Welcome to dirt biking.
I ran a few laps solo after she was done, on a couple of the easier black diamond runs Adam and I had scouted out earlier. Felt pretty comfortable on those, which was a good feeling of progress on my part.
Saturday night, Nate and Marissa had a birthday party at the Saddle Rack. I'd never been, and of course I had nothing appropriate, although it turned out not to be a big deal; jeans and a t-shirt of any sort were appropriate. I picked up Danielle at her place, grabbed a quick dinner at the Goose, and zipped over to Fremont to meet everyone. Embarassingly, Nate, Ken, and Marisa had all showed up before us. Can't even count on people to be late.
Had a good time at the Saddle Rack. I rode the bull, because, well, Marisa and Nate were going to, and I can't turn down something that requires you to sign a disclaimer beforehand. I have an image to uphold, after all. The bull ride is probably the main contributor to my being sore today -- that was hard work.
Hung out until closing time afterwards, danced with Sonia for a while, caught up with Jimmy and Ken, chatted with Nate, drove Danielle home, crashed into bed at 3 AM. Got up on Sunday and played hockey in the afternoon -- good game, pretty clean on both sides, and we won 3-2. We had more than the 8 players we had last time, which helped quite a bit.
But man, I'm sore today.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Metcalf Mishap
I hooked up a helmet cam to my helmet a couple weeks ago and recorded some footage of Adam and I at Metcalf. I've uploaded it to Google video, check it out.
The Life of a Gamer Girlfriend
Which, of course, is not my girlfriend because, well, I don't have one. But if, theoretically speaking, I did have a girlfriend, then I'm sure she'd really appreciate this song.
Watch it. Trust me. Would I lie to you?
If I do, can I get elected?
Watch it. Trust me. Would I lie to you?
If I do, can I get elected?
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Why Repubicans will Stay In Charge
Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb. -- Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
Now is the time when the Democratic Party should be well-poised to make a comeback and reverse the gains the Republicans have made in the house and senate. And it ain't gonna happen. Why? Because, quite simply, the Democrats are stupid.
There hasn't been a better time in the last 6 years to make a comeback. The administration's credibility is getting pummeled, after failing to find any WMDs, failing to find Osama, getting publicly mocked by al-Zwahiri, racking up a huge body count in Iraq with no end in sight, taking dirty money from Abramoff, and, most recently, with Cheney shooting his hunting partner in the face and not bothering to tell anybody about it.
You couldn't ask for a better situation. And yet, the Dems seem determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What Washington really needs is some fresh blood, some reasonable, fiscally-responsible moderates to rein in the don't-tax-just-spend Republicans running amok. And when the Democrats finally find one -- in the form of Paul Hackett, a popular Iraq vet -- they force him out of politics because they were afraid he'd make their preferred candidate look bad.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Monday, February 13, 2006
Is This English?
I'm not sure what possessed me, but I was reading some coverage of the winter olympics, and ran across coverage of the women's snowboarding event.
About halfway through I was trying to decipher is this was written in English or some offshoot tongue I was previously unaware of. For reference:
I feel like I should be reading through the article with a phrasebook in hand. Can someone send me a link to the subtitled version for us old-timers?
About halfway through I was trying to decipher is this was written in English or some offshoot tongue I was previously unaware of. For reference:
One day after the U.S. guys went one-two, the Bettys did the same. They were absolutely mocking the pipe. Surfing the frozen chute, they soared to huge airs and nailed phat tricks. It was, like, the coolest day ever!
I feel like I should be reading through the article with a phrasebook in hand. Can someone send me a link to the subtitled version for us old-timers?
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