21 Thursday Jul 2011
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Short post today, I overdid it and started a much longer post I can’t finish tonight, and I’m getting mighty tired. Instead of that, let me point out a bit of exciting tech news from today: Lenovo has release an Android tablet that actually looks like I might buy it. A Thinkpad Tablet!
13 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted in review
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I used to have a relatively long commute in to work, with a 30 minute drive and a 15 minute walk (I am cheap, and hate paying for parking). Because I have the attention span of a 6 year old meth addict, making this trip without something to listen to was unacceptable. So, I developed a insatiable addiction to podcasts. Here are the ones I listen to regularly.
27 Sunday Feb 2011
Posted in books, philosophy, review
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I was just reading some of Ted Chiang’s excellent short story collection “Stories of Your Life and Others”, and was reminded of a story of his I read much earlier, Exhalation. This Hugo-winning short story didn’t just catch my imagination and sense of wonder (something that a good Sci-Fi writer can do extremely well in the short format) like Asimov’s Last Question, but also is a wonderful pedagogical tool for explaining thermodynamic concepts. I won’t blow any of the fascinating world that Chiang built, but I will tell you that the final revelation the protagonist faces is a perfect illustration of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This story is such a good way of explaining it to people, precisely because it is a story. Any skeptic or psychologist can tell you that the emotional connection a good story provides is among the most effective ways of compelling people (after all, what is mythology but a good collection of stories?). So, in other words, go read his story here:
07 Thursday Aug 2008
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Mirroring Nick’s post, I thought I would write about my experience with a Nokia N800.
A Nokia N800
I’ve had my N800 for over a year now, seen 3 major software revisions (Bora, Chinook, and Diablo), and two new models (the N810 and N810 WiMax). Overall, I am quite satisfied. Continue reading
27 Sunday Jul 2008
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Last December, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an Irex Iliad. E-readers are an emerging technology which haven’t yet caught on with the general public. In fact, many people don’t realize such things even exist – I’ve encountered many of these while reading on the bus. I thought that now that I’ve used and owned one for 6 months it would be a good time to share my experiences. This won’t be a review per se but more an description of what it is like to use an Iliad.
