Way, way back when, when computers were still exciting in the 1980s, I tried my hand at being a computer consultant. I did not like it, not one bit.
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February 27, 2013Episodes of a Computer Consultant
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February 26, 2013The Copyright Alert SystemThis system looks to be the first step in an ongoing battle to fight Internet piracy. It might even work. February 25, 2013Muscle Recognition ControlInteresting development: the MYO Armband, which gives you control over a computer or other device similar to the way Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report controlled a futuristic computer: Wave your arms around. Pretty cool. I’m not sure whether it’s just for the Mac, though I don’t see how that would last long.
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The Power of the ¶
February 22, 2013My Android, What Big Text You Have!Where are the huge tablets? Trust me, they’re coming! Tablets may be popular today in the 7- to 10-inch size range, but eventually I see huge tablets appearing on the market. That will be a great choice for people who have trouble seeing a tablet’s tiny text. Until then, you can adjust text size on your tablet to something more readable. It’s cinchy.
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February 20, 2013The Desktop ScreenshotEvery so often, I snap a picture of my Windows computer desktop. That may seem weird and dismissible, but I have a valid justification. Not only that, every so often I have to remind myself to do it. February 19, 2013Another Article on Apple TVApple TV is supposed to be big. Not a big TV set, but something that moves the market. You’ll find lots of postulating in the article (link below). After playing with Internet TV for quite some time, I must say the thing it needs the most is a better interface. Typing search text using a TV remote sucks. Watching for the iWatchApple is sorely in need of some new product to help keep up the enthusiasm, not only of its fan base but of Wall Street as well. One of the soon-to-be products is the iWatch, which I would view as a wearable form of iPod. Can’t figure out whether such a thing is necessary, but my guess is that all the trendy kids will have one so everyone else will buy one too. The link below covers the iWatch briefly; it’s edited by former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée. February 18, 2013Google Steps Up to Fight PiracyI admire this move because, honestly, I don’t know how much money I lose to pirates who steal my books. Just a few months back I had an email spat with some guy who tried to justify his theft of my C programming book because he was using an illegal download according to the “fair use” copyright law. Yeah, I couldn’t figure that one out, either. While this move may help staunch the bleeding, I have some concerns. First, there exists a culture, especially among young people, where they believe the works of others — movies, video, music, books — is free for the taking. Too much free stuff has created a generation of moochers and freeloaders. It would be nice to change that. Second, and more importantly, I fear this move could be used by corporate bullies and governments to shut down legitimate criticism. Such a thing happened a few years back with the whistle-blowing web site wikileaks. That would be terrifying to know that governments or, more likely, some corporation that’s breaking the law could weasel their way out of it by suppressing information on the Internet using the same technology that fights piracy. I’d like people to pay for my stuff. Google’s move may be a step in the right direction, but I hope it’s a cautious step. My First All-NighterIt was Monday night. My deadline was Wednesday. If I finished by 5:00 PM Tuesday, the publisher would have the manuscript at the deadline.
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Whenever I look at a Word document and it’s all screwy, the first thing I want to see is what doesn’t show up on the screen: Those tiny characters that affect the text in strange ways, but which are hidden. Somewhere in that mess is the solution to the formatting problem.