Putting the "Ek" in "Geek"
General Dorkery
Dave’s Law of Cutlery Gifts
Dec 25th
“Recipients of gifts with sharp edges will draw their own blood within an hour of unwrapping.”
Guess what I got for Christmas!
You’d think I’d be old enough to know better by now…
Microsoft Security Essentials is, well, Essential
Dec 24th
I confess to a general loathing of antivirus software. For many years I ran Norton Antivirus on all my computers, gritting my teeth and forking over the subscription payment every year while wondering if it was worth it. And, over those years, Norton forced me to upgrade periodically or I wouldn’t continue to receive antivirus signature updates. Every upgrade was more bloated than the last and further degraded the performance of my computer. Norton and McAfee were in such a race for market share that their products were increasingly stuffed with “features” that I neither needed nor wanted. And never during this time did Norton ever report finding or protecting me from a virus. Was all this virus business just a bunch of hooey?
All Dressed Up and No Place to Go
Dec 20th
I enjoy writing software when I get the opportunity. I used to do a fair amount of Windows programming for fun, and I still do some for work, but it seems to me that the days of writing code for standalone PCs are numbered. And I think that the number of consumer-oriented packages being written for Windows for the commercial market is dwindling. Have you looked on the shelves for software at computer and electronics stores lately? Except for games, the selection’s pretty slim–mainly operating systems, office suites, and malware protection.
Transferring Contacts from Palm to iPod Nano
Nov 12th
I gotta say that my iPod Nano (4G) is really growing on me, much more so than I would have expected. I bought it last April, not long before my wife and I spent a week on a cruise ship in the western Caribbean. I hardly used it on the cruise, but now I use it every morning on my half-hour commute to work, plugged in to my car stereo and playing podcasts of Car Talk, Fresh Air, and Science Friday from NPR. I use it occasionally in my office if I need to drown out the office noise, and also when I ‘m jogging–the Nike + iPod Sport Kit is a cute little wireless pedometer that links with the iPod to help you collect data from your runs, and anyone who knows me knows I’m all about collecting data. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to use my iPod.
