Summary of this week:

Windows 7 goes on sale world wide
One Laptop Per Child really happens in Uruguay
Apple introduces a bunch of updated products
Sun lays off 10% of its workforce (3,000 people)
Fedora 12 Beta released
The iPod is eight years old
National Novel Writing Month (November) starts next week

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

Monday October 19, 2009

Here is another story on Gyrobike - the makers of the bicycle tire with a gyro inside. It can help kids learn to ride a bike without training wheels. $100 for the front tire. A bit expensive, but I see parents using the same tire for each kid in the family and then selling at a garage sale to the neighbors. That is unless Gyrobike makes the wheel in a way that it wears out quickly.

The cell phone companies continue to subsidize the really small portable computers. Buy a two-year data plan and the little computer is (sometimes) free. I don't know if this will work, but it makes for interesting decisions by consumers.

The first country in the world to provide every elementary school student with One Laptop Per Child is - Uruguay (I had to look up how to spell Uruguay). This cost less than 5% of the country's education budget.

The move towards cloud computing in Federal government continues. Watch closely as the government will invent ways to make a mess of this. Not cynical, just looking to the future based on the past.

Guess what? Student loans are tough to pay back. Some students didn't learn much about what a loan is and why someone would loan you money. Perhaps a good economics course should be required immediately for anyone applying for a student loan.

And there are bootleg copies of Windows 7 available in China.

More than $2.3 million in federal economic stimulus grants have gone to eight Tampa Bay area cosmetology and massage schools to pay tuition for the hairdressers, masseuses and nail technicians of tomorrow.

Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama's stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart...The golf-cart boom has followed an IRS ruling that golf carts qualify for the electric-car credit as long as they are also road worthy.

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Tuesday October 20, 2009

Wireless video monitoring systems AND services. Plug the camera into power and forget it. The service will notify you of activity.

Apple is doing quite well in the business world. They have enough to cash to buy GM, ooops we already beat them to that one.

The Barnes and Noble eBook reader will be available tomorrow.

A Chilean telescope is discovering dozens of new exoplanets.

I like the way this guy reorganized his home office.

A new high-end camera from Canon, only $5,000 for the body without lenses.

A recorder that a two-year-old wears can help catch autism early. I like this. I like the video recorder that alzheimer's patients can wear as well. Much of the technology that people are using are helpful for the health and safety of those at the beginning and end of life. They can give parents and children much more peace of mind.

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Wednesday October 21, 2009

My day begins with emails from Apple and Barnes and Noble.

Apple - a new iMac all-in-one desktop computer, a new MacBook portable computer, a new Mac mini (little desktop computer). Micro-who?

The Mac mini is the most interesting machine to me.

Barnes and Noble - the "nook" an eBook reader. The nook runs the Android operating system from Google.

I am sure others will be giving details of these products the next few days all over the Internet.

Amazon is finally coming through with its idea of a bigger Kindle bundled with a major newspaper. Here is the Washington Post story.

The Ubuntu distribution of Linux is five years old.

The Dell Streak mobile internet device.

And Lenovo introduces a brown portable computer.

Sun is cutting 3,000 jobs - 10% of its workforce.

This is just plain wierd - AT&T is "suggesting" that all its employees email the FCC about net-neurtrality.

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Thursday October 22, 2009

Windows 7 goes on sale world wide. I will wait a little while, but I will get one. The experience will be a learning one, and I like that.

Turn anything into a dry erase board with IdeaPaint. But can you then take it off the walls?

Apple is doing well financially.

Microsoft is now selling computers on their web site.

The beta for Fedora 12 has been released.

Want to volunteer for a 520-day simulated trip to Mars? You will be in Moscow, but you won't really know it.

Windows 7 doesn't run faster on multi-cores, but it does use less energy.

This could be significant for people who are older and people with aging parents: performing Internet searches boosts brain activity in older people.

A new all-in-one computer from Dell.

The first "white-space network" is up and operating in Claudville, Virginia. Cheaper, faster broadband. I hope this spreads to thousands of other rural areas - like where my mother lives.

Windows 7 beats Harry Potter in pre-orders in the UK. WOW. That is something.

Some tips on how writing in a journal can help rid yourself of excess stuff.

And despite promises to the contrary, the Federal government is truly running the auto companies (and others) that it bailed out. What else do you call it when you decide who is paid what?

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Friday October 23, 2009

For something different, watch this video of girls and jump ropes. Can you really do stuff like this?

And Apple has a new set of commercials to coincide with the Windows 7 launch.

A look at Fedora 12.

Low-cost portable computers hit the stores with Windows 7. It is possible that Windows 7 will boost the computer industry.

This looks silly at first glance, actually is looks silly at all glances, but there is something useful being built here. The helmit "tugs" at the wearer to tell them which direction to walk. As the text says, shrink this, combine with high-resolution GPS and maps, and the blind can walk around anywhere.

More on Honda's U3-X. This could be a wonderful thing for those who cannot walk. My brother could use one as he struggles to walk with a cane.

A Burger King-Windows 7 Whopper - 7 hamburger patties.

Know the purpose of your writing. It does help to have more in mind than, "Something I have to do."

Who writes laws in America, Congress or not-elected Federal regulators?

In a well meaning effort to help people, the U.S. government has created a large set of "incentives" to encourage people NOT to work. This would all be a fascinating study would it not be real and actually hurting most people.

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Saturday October 24, 2009

No Internet viewing today. A great day nonetheless as I drove my mother across the state and back so she could spend the day with two of her sisters.

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Sunday October 25, 2009

Some good information on publishing on demand or do it yourself publishing costs.

Southwest Airlines gets a lighter 737. The result is fuel savings. This is good for the planet and good for Southwest. Hint, stop pushing "green," start pushing "smart."

The iPod is eight years old this week.

Exoskeletons to aid the elderly. Excellent. Look about four minutes into this video.

And we are moving closer to being able to use paralyzed limbs. Excellent as well.

We may have found caves on the moon.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is quickly approaching. A 50,000-word novel in one month - November has only 30 days. Quality is not the goal, the experience is.

A pointer to give good, recent blog posts on writing.

An excellent blog post title: what will you learn today?

Scoble gets a new 27" iMac and LOVES it.

I like this qoute: “Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.” – Lawrence Kasdan. From this blog.

NASA continues to flounder under bad management and nonexistent leadership.

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