My colleague Walt Mossberg writes a scathing piece about preloaded Vista machines; definitely worth a read. I’m trying installing Vista on a virgin machine, and the experience isn’t much better so far. clipped from ptech.wsj.com I have set up many computers over the years, so I wasn’t shocked that the out-of-box experience was less than… Read More »
The UK is taking its network of 4.2 million CCTV cameras a step further: disembodied recorded voices haranguing errant citizens via loudspeaker. It sounds awful, I know, but every time I visit my home town (one of the 20 towns where the system will be installed) I’m horrified at the behaviour and disregard for public… Read More »
Everyone is twittering about Twitter, but I kind of liked this defintion from Leisa Rechelt; “Ambient intimacy”. I like the term, and the piece is definitely worth a read. clipped from www.disambiguity.com Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually… Read More »
Another intriguing use of Google Earth: to map statistical likelihood of car crashes, from Ohio State University. Interesting stuff, though it doesn’t explore what I think is the key factor in crashes: unpredictability. In a place like the UK everyone follows strict rules (supposedly), so any deviation is unpredictable and therefore likely to cause an… Read More »
Great piece in the NYT/IHT on the company behind Sudoku and similar games. Their approach — no trademarking, harnessing users to help develop and perfect games — all sounds very Open Source: clipped from www.iht.com Nikoli’s secret, Kaji said, lay in a kind of democratization of puzzle invention. The company itself does not actually create… Read More »