Kindle hype overstated

Posted on January 9, 2010 at 12:44pm | 6 comments

I’m something of a gadget man and early adopter, especially when it comes to media and communications.

I can’t get excited about the kindle though. In its current form the electronic reader is just too one dimensional.

Much of the hype is coming from newspapers, which have a vested interest in promoting the platform. In fact the whole of the publishing industry, including books and magazines, is hoping it takes off.

Don’t rush out and buy an early version, is my view.

The kindle needs to be more than just a reader; it needs to be part of an integrated communications device.

Instead of creating hardware to read digital books, software will be developed that works on a range of platforms. (more…)

Top 30 innovations of the last 30 years

Posted on January 2, 2010 at 6:19pm | 1 comment

Early last year, Knowledge@Wharton released a list of the top 30 innovations over the past 30 years.

I’ve just discovered the article, but it’s still thought provoking to ponder the technological changes that have occurred in three decades.

The list is as follows, in their order of importance:

1. Internet, broadband, WWW (browser and html)
2. PC/laptop computers
3. Mobile phones
4. Email
5. DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping
6. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
7. Microprocessors
8. Fibre optics
9. Office software (spreadsheets, word processors)
10. Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy)
11. Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia)
12. Light emitting diodes
13. Liquid crystal display (LCD)
14. GPS systems
15. Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay)
16. Media file compression (jpeg, mpeg, mp3)
17. Microfinance
18. Photovoltaic Solar Energy
19. Large scale wind turbines
20. Social networking via the Internet
21. Graphic user interface (GUI)
22. Digital photography/videography
23. RFID and applications (e.g., EZ Pass)
24. Genetically modified plants
25. Bio fuels
26. Bar codes and scanners
27. ATMs
28. Stents
29. SRAM flash memory
30. Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS (more…)

ADSL service

Posted on December 26, 2009 at 8:01pm | 1 comment

I’ve switched my broadband account from iPrimus to Internode. The Primus account stopped working on December 24, but the new account isn’t active yet. Guess I must wait until Tuesday (December 28) because of public holidays.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 installation

Posted on November 17, 2009 at 9:51pm | 2 comments

This is my phlog on some trouble I had installing Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium. The problem was related to me choosing the “wrong” language file.

My first phlog

Posted on November 15, 2009 at 4:57pm | 6 comments

After several failed attempts at recording, here is my first phlog.

A website called ipadio offers a phone blogging service and this is my first effort. Although I’ve installed the software on my Android phone, this recording was made on a landline.

Reading more on the ipadio website, I can really see the potential for this service.

The “live” coverage of the Mount Gambier tennis final I gave on Coveritlive would have been better suited to streaming audio.

Login to make comments

Posted on March 19, 2009 at 9:05pm | 4 comments

I’m trialling the RPX authentication process for logging into this website.

It’s a relatively new service by JanRain that adds password-less sign-in and commenting to a site using OpenID, Facebook, MySpace, AOL, Twitter, Blogger, Google, Yahoo! and Windows Live.

That means visitors will no longer be able to comment without logging in, which may discourage some casual commenters, but it will also prevent spam. (more…)

Write your own web page

Posted on February 7, 2009 at 12:30pm | 1 comment

Mock newspaper article
As the screenshot shows from a report on The Australian website, I fetched top dollar along with Kevin Pietersen in the auction for the Indian Premier League.

The newspaper wouldn’t fib now, would it?

Of course not, but thanks to an article on Read Write Web, I discovered a new online word processor called Shutterborg that enables people to edit web pages … any web pages anywhere.

It’s possible to save the edited pages, but I don’t imagine they’d be easy to replicate online given stylesheet issues, graphics and scripts.

However, it’s simple enough to take a screenshot, as I have done, and show the mock page as an image file.

Good fun or dangerous?

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