Author: Alan Henry

A beautiful (albeit long) article in the New York Times about blogging and it’s effect on dating, relationships, social networks, and the lives of bloggers came to the rescue of this morning’s doldrums of reading about politics. The piece follows the cause and effect of blogging about relationships, how blogging has impacted several peoples’ lives. Additionally, you get a little history about blogging, what it is and how to get involved, and why blogging is so popular.

I remember I started my first “blog” back in 1997; when I was in college and realized that I got free webspace and stayed up a couple of nights learning HTML and building what at the time was just a “personal homepage,” as people called it back then-the word “blog” didn’t exist. I just wrote on and off about what happened on a day by day basis, it was like an online diary for all who knew the address to see, and it was a cool way for people who knew you to stay in touch regardless of where they were, as long as they had an internet connection. Who knew that something that was such a leisurely pastime would grow into a digital phenomenon?

Anyway, the article discusses with prominent and popular bloggers the pros and cons of blogging about relationships and dating, not to mention address the privacy concerns of blogging what some people think is private information that somehow and suddenly becomes public on the web for all to read and interpret as they wish. Definitely a worthwhile read.

[ http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/magazine/19PHENOM.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=19c4ac95468e0a22&ex=1104296400 ]

Many people have been sounding the death toll for the PDA for years now, claiming that they’ll be soon replaced by more versatile devices like smartphones and Blackberries that can stay online all the time, allow users to snag their email wirelessly, browse the web from anywhere using a cellular network, and talk on the phone when they see fit, but also stay used to the perks people on the go love about PDAs, calendars, contact keeping, a few games, and the like.

Personally, I love my Palm Tungsten T3 and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially not a smartphone, mostly because I have yet to see a smartphone that can perform the functions a PDA can as well as the functions a cellphone can and produce the web browsing capabilities that I crave WELL; sure smartphones can do them all, but they tend to do them all pretty poorly, and I think that’s the reason the PDA is hanging on, albeit by a thread. Until the technology takes a few more steps forward, I’ll consider adding a wireless card to my PDA and keeping my cellphone a separate device, but admittedly I might be in the minority, as more and more people look to carry one device that does everything they could possibly want in a palmtop system.

[ http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20041223_155104.html ]

If you got a shiny new desktop or laptop this holiday season, you might want to make sure it’s patched up and ready before you send it out onto the net; looks like the predators are right there waiting for your brand new, unpatched and unprepared PC to come online so they can attack it, even if your first destination is Windows Update to try and grab those necessary patches to make sure you’re safe and secure online. It’s a tough situation, but it’s the reality of the cyber world in which we live. Unfortunately I have yet to really see solid reccomendations for people with new computers to make sure they’re safe and secure before they go online; not everyone is an IT professional and makes a point to grab all the recent patches and security fixes and slap them on a CD to install offline before going online to get everything else.

Regardless, being aware and being informed is the first step to being safe, so read on:

[ http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cp_tech_home&articleID=1802184 ]

Looks like more and more people are switching to broadband, and rightfully so. When I made the switch to broadband, I couldn’t imagine going back to dialup for anything-the difference between using dialup for even things as menial as retrieving email versus broadband were enormous and amazing; and this was before I started doing things like online gaming, downloading, and web developing.

Regardless, the United States is still lacking in people who use broadband internet access at home, and a lot of people still don’t have access to it or figure they don’t need access to it if they have access at work. No matter, I still look forward to the day when dial-up is a backup for a national broadband infrastructure and high-quality broadband internet access is ubiquitous.

[ http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/22/technology/broadband.reut/index.htm ]

As much as politicians talk big about wanting to preserve the environment and promote newer, less oil-reliant energy technologies, it looks like fuel-cells might actually be taking hold as a new automobile technology. It looks promising to those of us tired of paying high prices for gasoline or watching the money fly out of our wallets or the economy come screeching to a halt all over the price of oil. Wired News has the digs, check it out:

[ http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,66111,00.html ]

But it obviously won’t be that easy. BitTorrent, the all-the-rage peer-to-peer file sharing technology is completely decentralized, and even harder to crack down on than more popularly targeted networks like KaZaA and Grokster. Hollywood is tired of people sharing movies, both new and old, and is following the music industry’s example by crying that such downloads are cutting into studio profits, DVD and video sales and rentals, and the salaries of actors, directors, and staff. But the larger question remains, while Hollywood is obviously serious about it, the music industry’s tactics haven’t stopped or even slowed down online file sharing, so why does the MPAA think they’ll fare any better?

[ http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,66034,00.html ]

Looks like they’re at it again. A couple of months ago, Real and Apple traded blows when Harmony, RealNetworks’ digital rights management technology essentially allowed their music to be protected as well as played on iPods, a tactic that Apple took offense to. Well, “take offense” is putting it lightly, Apple accused Real of “hacking” the iPod, and Apple’s own FairPlay digital rights management technology. Apple released an iPod update for the iPod photo that locks songs downloaded from RealNetworks’ online music store from being played on the iPod, and Real promises to retaliate. Read all about it:

Apple Locks Out RealNetworks With iPod Update
[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118967,tk,dn121604X,00.asp ]

RealNetworks Promises IPod Fix
[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118975,tk,dn121604X,00.asp ]