How Old?

How old do you think is the youngest Chinese gymnast at the Olympics? Be sure to vote in my poll.

Taking Aim

I've never fired a gun.  But after reading this opinion piece, I think it may be worth looking into.  Florida can be a rather strange place at times.   Knowing my fellow employees may be just an elevator ride away from opening fire, doesn't help.

Google Apps at Work?

Yes! With this new version of Google Apps (watch the video), Google is clearly aware of people like me who loathe the productivity options available at our workplaces. Anyone working in even a small corporate environment knows software is updated less often than Microsoft releases a new version of Windows. But virus and security patches are made daily, which are installed without any thought to the productivity needs of the employees. 

Work with me for a week and you'll hear me complain about Outlook at least twice. At my work place, we're blessed with a whopping 70 megabytes of email storage, yes - 70 MEGABYTES. As of today, Gmail is granting me 6404 megabytes - FOR FREE! The worst part about Outlook is that when it comes to finding a particular message, well just don't bother because you won't find what you're looking for. Searching in Outlook is pathetically poor.

Perhaps Microsoft is finally getting the hint as evidence by its offer for Yahoo. In the meantime, I'll be giving Google Apps a serious shot.

MacBook Air

If you haven't checked out this new machine, you're missing out on some incredible innovation. In typical Apple fashion, the product gets smaller and more elegant with each iteration. What's unique about this notebook though is that the specs aren't faster. While the clock speed, ram, and drive space are conservative it's clear that the target selling point is simply size (or lack of it). I've listened to a few reviews and I can't believe these guys continue to complain about what it doesn't have. One would think they understand how Apple thinks, but I guess not.

I don't take my 12" PowerBook out much. The most travel it sees is typically from the living room to the family room. It's seen a few airplane rides and enjoys a taste of the free WiFi at Panera, but generally it stays inside. In the last year, I've probably used the optical drive no more than 3 times - once to install Leopard. Apple solved that obstacle with the optical drive sharing software (it even works on a PC). The Ethernet jack has seen even less action. My point is that if my trusty PowerBook wasn't still cranking away, a MacBook Air would be perfect. The 13" screen and backlit keyboard seals the deal. For the serious horsepower and photo work, my Mac Pro picks up where the smaller machine leaves off. And with the screen sharing in Leopard I can control my Mac Pro from the couch.

Why these guys don't get the bigger picture is beyond me. They'll probably all buy one anyway - because that's what they do (buy stuff and complain about it). Otherwise, they'd have no show.

Old Photos in a New Format

The Library of Congress is now using Flickr to display its photo collections. I just took a quick look, there's a lot of history in these images!

A New York Times Year in Review

You may enjoy reading Ben Stein's reflections on the past year. It's quite comforting to know that a mind as brilliant as his favors an indexing investment strategy.

And my personal favorite - the Annual Year in Ideas magazine feature.