This is creepy. The web site linked to below shows a “pudding face.” That’ some poor actor whose face is animated depending on the mood of various tweets. You see the tweets posted live on the site, and the face is animated accordingly. Worth a gawk.

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It happens to all successful companies. There’s the crazy start-up phase, there’s the insane growth phase, there’s the unbeatable market-killer phase. Then there’s the bloated, bureaucratic phase.

Microsoft has been there for about 15 years. IBM for 75. Google? Just arrived!

(And Facebook should be measuring the curtains.)

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Take a trip down memory-mapped lane in this interview (link below). Matthew Reed runs TRS-80.org, a web site devoted to the very first line of computers I was into. Turns out I was kind of a wee, itty-bitty part of TRS-80 history.

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You know, when you think about it, the CD really is old technology. I mean, it’s 1980s tech. Not exactly cutting edge. Sure, it took ten years before having a CD player in your computer was common, but still the CD is old school.
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I’ve long said it: Apple is a software company. They also make hardware customized to run their software.

In the article (linked below), it’s predicted that iOS and Apple OS X will eventually merge. Apple hardware will eventually change so that your iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers will all run the same operating system. I’m not happy with that.

There is a philosophical difference between a computer and a mobile device. The first creates information, the second consumes it. If it’s Apple’s intent to turn all their hardware into information consuming devices, then Apple has lost me as a customer.

I enjoy using Apple hardware, mostly because it’s Unix but Apple makes good hardware. If Apple turns my powerful desktop workstation (currently a Core 7 iMac) into a large iPad, then I’m done. I’ll set up a Linux or FreeBSD box to sate my Unix lusts, but otherwise I’ll have to surrender to Microsoft and Windows if I want to continue to use a real computer.

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This article is based on rumor, granted, but why would Starbucks otherwise be covering up their wall outlets?

I remember back in the day, just being able to find a power outlet in a coffee shop was like finding gold. Today it’s pretty accepted. But sitting there all day and using Starbuck’s power to charge all your portable devices? C’mon: There’s going to be backlash, people!

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It blows me away, but just under 50 percent of the Windows users on the Internet are still using Windows XP. Golly!

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