Defenestrated - December 2004 Archives

December 2004

This guy needs help (11:58) - The BBC reports today that a guy from Manchester has achieved the highest score ever on Galaxian, after practising for 2 hours every day for the last 24 years. Now I understand why my wife was so freaked out when... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

As if by magic... (12:03) - As if by magic, Mr. Benn is returning to British TV screens after publication of a new book. Another step of regression into childhood awaits... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
The story of Apple's Graphing Calculator (11:18) - The best ideas, the ideas that last, attract their own resources. As the case of Apple's Graphic Calculator shows, the best ideas create enthusiasm in a broad base of people, given enough time. | 49 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Peter's crying 'Wolf'? (11:41) - Peter Torr's arguments about Firefox suggest a broader issue -- the need for open source advocates to think more broadly about the user experience, starting with how users think about and actually pursue acquisition of the software. | 112 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

CoolGov - indeed it is! (16:36) - I stumbled upon CoolGov shortly after it started up and it's now one of the few RSS feeds in my Firefox bookmarks toolbar. Every day Jon and and Elizabeth find something kooky, interesting, or useful in the vast Government etherspace.... | 168 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
Google brings offline to online (15:55) - Google has announced that it intends to scan books held in certain libraries and make them available online. This is a fantastic idea, and surprising that no-one has thought of it before. As one of the quoted librarians notes: It... | 39 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
UK's commitment to e-gov (14:50) - The UK government claims that 96% of its services will be "e-enabled" within a year. If that means they have e-mail addresses, that's not enough, and again raises the question of just what exactly "e-gov" means and what it represents. | 86 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

e-Gov gets cut again? (11:14) - e-Gov,Navy,PEO-IT,GSA,budget,cut | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
"Big, round, and fruity" (10:43) - I just found out about this fantastic beer, The Dog's Bollocks from the Wychwood Brewery. Described as "big, round, and fruity," this is a prime example of my countrymen's sense of humo(u)r.... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
"And we're gonna slap PeopleSoft's mama, too!" (10:23) - Oracle buys PeopleSoft. The military has another reason to worry. | 28 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Ellison to ISV's: "We're gonna slap you like your mama" (13:36) - So Larry Ellison has realized that Oracle needs to keep evolving its software to be competitive. This is not a new strategy for Oracle, or anyone else. As a product becomes commoditized (and database backup is a commodity product, let's... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments
UK simplifies IT acquisition terms (13:25) - Well the UK has finally cottoned onto the idea of standardized procurement terms for IT acquisitions. In the US, we have the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for Civilian agencies, and the Defense FAR (DFAR) for DOD-related procurements. Those are their... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

A Linux PalmOS? (10:41) - Now this is something I would've expected to happen a while ago. My first PDA was a Palm V and while I use a Blackberry nowadays, I still prefer the Palm's flexibility. It just seems friendlier, somehow. If it weren't... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

IBM and Apple alliance? (16:49) - Well, this is very scary. And also quite a delightful thought! Apple with IBM's dollars? My, what would Jonathan Ive do with their resources?... | 2 Trackbacks

Video games are not the end of rational thought (12:11) - ...although articles like this one in The Washington Post may well be. The author, a high school English teacher, bemoans the fact that many of his students and young people in general spend many long hours playing video games, shunning... | 35 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Hope for the Chief Architect (15:13) - So Dick Burk of HUD was finally named as the government's Chief Architect last week. In my view, this is a good appointment, and one that will hopefully maintain momentum in that office. Dick's done a great job over at... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments

Surprised by Boeing? (11:33) - I bet you're not. And if you are, you shouldn't be. The truth of it is, this kind of procurement manipulation is far more common than any of us like to believe. And this guy has got it partly right:... | 0 Trackbacks | 0 Comments