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Domain: peterzale.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to peterzale.com.
Comments · 6
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Re:I'll Wait
What exactly is everyone doing with their handhelds that makes "color" and "multimedia" top priorities (other than using them as expensive toys that is)?
I bought my Sony Clié 710 specifically for the screen. I love reading books on my Palm, but my old Palm III's screen was just way too low contrast. The Clié's screen is bright and very high-contrast. The front light makes it extremely easy to see in any lighting condition. And the hi-res display gives me great text. (It's even better now that iSilo supports the hi-res screen directly!)
The other "multimedia" features can go jump in a lake as far as I'm concerned. I would have gladly bought the 610 (same specs, minus the MP3 hardware) if it had been available at the time. I watched the demo movies that came with it, then deleted them. I do like to keep photos in there; it's a good way to carry around the output of my digital camera. Actually, right now I have a large chunk of the Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet comics installed.
I also considered the HandEra 330, but I didn't like the 240x320 display. (Although the virtual silkscreen area rocks!) That makes a scaling factor of 1.5x to fit apps on the screen, which makes a lot of bitmaps look just plain wrong. The Clié's 320x320 display is double the Palm's 160x160, so anything that doesn't play nice with the hi-res display can just be viewed in 2x mode.
BTW, I'll do my karma-whoring for the day and give a plug to Baen Webscriptions. Baen books is making all their new paperback releases available electronically concurrent with the dead-tree release. (Actually earlier, if you want to read incomplete galleys.) The releases are done in HTML. No "digital rights management", no bizarro proprietary format, just the book in bog-standard HTML. (Available in other formats too, but I think the HTML is the most portable and most useful.) They also have a free library of complete books so you can try before you buy. Kudos to Baen for being a major dead-tree publisher that actually seems to grok electronic publishing as well!
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Re:"Untried business model" - notThis is certainly NOT an untried business model. I've been shopping on-line for years and this is the first year that I've had any problems. There is a definate pattern too; it is the big new retailers that are failing to deliver. Little shops and stores are taking orders and making good on them.
Here are some examples:
- X10.com: I had a great experience with them this x-mas. Many members of my family ordered from them, they shipped in about 3 weeks. Very trustworthy.
- chapters online: I ordered a Creative Labs Nomad from them and had it shipped "express" but several weeks later I checked the status of my order and discovered it had been canceled... but I received no notification of why it was canceled. So far I've sent them three emails and they have not responded at all. I am a Chapter's Online shareholder and I'm not impressed.
- PERL Magnets: I ordered some perl magnets (can't remember the URL right now). They shipped fast. No problems.
- Linux Mall: I ordered a "tux" (stuffed penguin) from Linux mall. Shipped fast, no problems.
- Future Shop: This was by far the worst experience. My mother ordered a Diamond Rio MP3 player on-line. She was told via email on two different occaisions when the product would ship. It never shipped. She phoned a 1-800 number and the staff were rude and explained there was no way they could possibly ship the product until the new year and asked why she didn't order earlier (she ordered in the first week of November!).
- Peter Zale: I ordered a copy of Techies Unite: Helen Sweetheart of the Internet (a comic strip). It shipped fast, no problems.
- Sound Forge: I ordered a copy of Acid Pro 2.0 for my brother. It shipped kind of slow considering I paid US$30 for shipping and while I called UPS to have them hold the package so I could pick it up at night it took them 3 business days to change process the "hold" order. UPS didn't please me. Other than that it was a good experience.
- Sears: I ordered several things for my mother from sears on-line order form. This was a great experience. Their on-line order form is kind of lame, but the shipping was lightning fast, dirt cheap, and their return policies are wonderful. Sears has been doing mail-order sales for decades and know how to do this stuff... these stores that say this is a new business model are lying... mail order is an old business model; Internet stores are just mail order stores with dynamic catalogs.
If there is a lesson to be learned, I guess it would be: don't buy from big on-line stores. Buy from experienced mail order houses and "the little" guy. They'll deliver and they actually care that your satisfied.
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Re:The Geek Female - Misrepresented.
Who, might I ask, are geek girls supposed to find a date with?
Ummm. I'd take a cue from Helen: Sweetheart of the Internet and go after the artistic type. Okay, so Spenser and Helen have their problems, but I still think it's a great idea! Artists and Geeks complement each other wonderfully... if they don't kill each other. -
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Slashdot Load Testing (Continues) Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon August 30, 02:13 PM EDT
from the ain't-this-fun? dept.
Fixed so far:- Dropped http MaxClients down to 75
- increased mysql max_connections to to 250
( Read More... | 190 of 190 comments )
Help Test Our New Server! Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon August 30, 12:51 PM EDT
from the load-testing-is-cool dept.
So here it is: A mirror of Slashdot (as of a week or so ago). It exists now for testing: So feel free to post comments and help test the new load balancer. For the curious, the new system has 3 http machines (P2s) and one mysql box (a dual P2) with a load balancer trying to keep everyone all equally busy. And its about time: the old setup has been really stressed out trying to keep up with everyone. Anyway, don't get to attached to any of your comments here, when we're satisfied that the new setup is stable, I'm gonna mirror over Slashdot and make the final switcheroo.( Read More... | 335 of 335 comments )
Interview: Mandrake Answers Posted by Roblimo on Fri August 20, 12:00 PM EDT
from the x-leads-to-enlightenment dept.
Monday a whole bunch of people had questions for Mandrake, one of the heavies behind Enlightenment. Slashdot Moderators picked the best ones. We forwarded them, unedited, to Mandrake on Tuesday. His (excellent) answers appear below.( Read More... | 11562 bytes in body | 9 of 9 comments )
Geeks in the Space: The Attack of 5 Posted by Hemos on Thu August 19, 04:10 AM EDT
from the more-stuff-to-listen-to dept.
Well, we've done it again. Yes, Geeks in Space, Episode 5 has been released. In it, we lament the lack of good news, talk about anti-matter, and the hiring of hacks by companies. You can also become...educated in my long-term plan for the hostile takeover of a certain Redmond-based company.( Read More... | 14 of 17 comments )
Apple announces Darwin 0.3 Posted by Hemos on Thu August 19, 12:24 AM EDT
from the more-to-download dept.
J. FoxGlov writes "Macintouch reports that v0.3 of Darwin, the open-source foundation for Mac OS X Server is available on Apple's Public Source site. Apple Developer Connection members can get it on CD for $29. Check Public Source for more about the Darwin SDK and the new Darwin. "( Read More... | 67 of 68 comments )
Microsoft's New Audio Format Cracked Posted by Hemos on Wed August 18, 05:23 PM EDT
from the secure-this-buddy dept.
Barcode (JPB) was one of the first to send us the word from Wired that the new audio format Microsoft introduced (Two days ago), supposed to be a secure format (resricting playback) has already been cracked. Dimension Music first carried the news-and what a name the crack has *grin*.( Read More... | 238 of 240 comments )
Find your Star Wars Twin Posted by Hemos on Wed August 18, 05:16 PM EDT
from the what-freud-really-wanted-to-do dept.
The_Monk writes "Ever wanted to know your Star Wars twin? Now this incredibly important information can be verified. It placed me the likes of Astro Mech Droids, 'Tarkin, and R2-D2. " Ahem-as the lost twin of Lando (extraversion), I have a Cloud City I'd like to sell someone. But I'm about as agreeable as Boba, always a bonus.( Read More... | 94 of 94 comments )
Now Police Can 'See' Through Walls Posted by Roblimo on Wed August 18, 12:40 PM EDT
from the move-along-there's-nothing-to-see-here dept.
Bram writes "Just found an article about another way to invade privacy." He's talking about hand-held radar systems police can use to detect breathing, beating hearts or other motion through walls and other obstacles. Sounds like a declassified version of the Ground Support Radar [GSR] units we used years ago in the Army. I can see why police would want them, and I can also see why Bram considers them a privacy threat. Depends on how they're used, I suppose.( Read More... | 205 of 205 comments )
FreeType posts patent warning Posted by Hemos on Wed August 18, 11:53 AM EDT
from the i-want-my-verdonna dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "According to the the FreeType web page, there have been some new concerns raised about Apple's patents on TrueType. I hope this doesn't affect the planned TrueType support in XF86 4. " It appears that they are still checking into the issue, but I'd really like TrueType support. A lot. Let's hope Apple responds nicely.( Read More... | 202 of 206 comments )
Microsoft to "publish code" to Instant Messenger Posted by Hemos on Wed August 18, 09:49 AM EDT
from the want-more-market-share dept.
VFVTHUNTER writes "According to this article at cnet, MS, in an attempt to gain a share of AOL's Instant Messenger Service Market, announced today it is going to publish the protocol to its own messenger service. " It's important to note it's NOT the source code, just the protocol.( Read More... | 192 of 192 comments )
Unisys gif-lzw-license Model Changed
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Comments:383 | Votes:24104Features The latest installment of Geeks in Space is up at The Sync. We talk about the Red Hat IPO, crazy naming schemes, and much more.
Perhaps you are seeking Jon Katz's series of articles related to recent events in Colorado. These articles include Voices from the Hellmouth, More Stories from the Hellmouth or The Price of Being Different,
With all the hype about the recent MindCraft Linux/NT benchmarks, you might be interested in reading ESR's Response to the Mindcraft Fiasco
For something different, try reading my little essay Thoughts from the Furnace about the internet, and flame.
Update: 05/03 01:48 by CT : Past Features
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This is getting ridiculous
Okay, this is just insane. Forget even an injunction.
I'm going to spell it out.
THIS IS A SATIRICAL COMIC STRIP.
Now for the slower students... (Hi, Bill)
Satire ia just that, satire. It's humor. And to have one of our beloved web strips pulled is just crazy.
Look out Dilbert... a company might think your strip is too close to the truth and sue. Helen might be pulled because she's too neurotic, thus making Oracle or PeopleSoft feel she's a poor representative of their professionals. Puh-Leeze people, get a sense of humor already!
We know Microsoft doesn't build Death Stars. Really we do.
Give us back our strip.
"Responsibility for my career? I'm just a freakin' phone monkey!" -
Scott Adams is an arrogant bastard.
IMHO User Friendly has its moments, but Sluggy Freelance is funny far more often. Then there's Helen, an amusing and different take on the BOFH.