AppleInsider Article on the Newton's Possible Return
I'll admit it: I still believe the Newton is the best PDA anyone has made so far.
Hell, I'd use my Newton now, if I could find a decent way to sync to my Mac. It seemed to focus on the right things including note taking, document access, and a quality calendar and contacts. It was weakened by it's large physical size and glacial synchronization.
I think Apple could take the iPhone and iPod Touch and move back into the actual PDA space, but I think they delay so they can maximize their income from laptops and the iPhone. They may be able to grow the iPhone and/or Touch to fulfill the niche of the PDA. Or they may continue to keep the product lines very separate and distinct, leaving a gap between traditional laptops and cell phones. I believe they are missing an opportunity to own this space after the failures of Palm and Microsoft.
Personally, I would love to have a device I always had with me that I could cache my most important documents, use for spur-of-the-moment input, and access the Internet when needed. The iPhone can almost do these things, but it almost completely lacks data storage and this deal with the devil forces a relationship with AT&T. And I find it highly frustrating to be so close, but not close enough.
2007-09-26
2007-09-24
Ancient Tree Green Tea
I have been trying to find a variety of teas that I like without needing to add honey or other sweeteners, and so far only the whites and some greens appear to do the job.
One type of tea I have grown to love is Rishi's Snow Sprout Green Tea. It is grown from ancient trees, and unlike some other green teas, it has a delicate flavor very much like a white tea. It does not get an overly tannin-influenced flavor even after a long steeping.
It has a warm, golden grown color and I really am looking forward to drinking it on cold winter days with snow on the ground outside.
Try it. I think you'll like it.
One type of tea I have grown to love is Rishi's Snow Sprout Green Tea. It is grown from ancient trees, and unlike some other green teas, it has a delicate flavor very much like a white tea. It does not get an overly tannin-influenced flavor even after a long steeping.
It has a warm, golden grown color and I really am looking forward to drinking it on cold winter days with snow on the ground outside.
Try it. I think you'll like it.
Silver Needle White Tea
Reducing Your Caffeine with White Tea
After reducing my sugar intake by replacing soft drinks with caffeinated water, I wanted to reduce the massive amounts of caffeine I was drinking.
Although I had never really liked tea or coffee (except espresso), I decided to give it another try with high quality tea.
I read a little and learned something about the different types of tea: white, green, oolong, and black.
I tried a few different varieties and brands and settled on a few I like. I especially like Silver Needle White Tea. It has a clear, golden color and a matching flavor. White tea has not been heavily oxidized and retains a very natural looking leaf and/or bud. The flavor is golden and smooth, and almost/barely tastes sweet.
This has become my standard morning drink. It helps me kick of the day with a (little) boost of caffeine. What do you drink in the morning?
After reducing my sugar intake by replacing soft drinks with caffeinated water, I wanted to reduce the massive amounts of caffeine I was drinking.
Although I had never really liked tea or coffee (except espresso), I decided to give it another try with high quality tea.
I read a little and learned something about the different types of tea: white, green, oolong, and black.
I tried a few different varieties and brands and settled on a few I like. I especially like Silver Needle White Tea. It has a clear, golden color and a matching flavor. White tea has not been heavily oxidized and retains a very natural looking leaf and/or bud. The flavor is golden and smooth, and almost/barely tastes sweet.
This has become my standard morning drink. It helps me kick of the day with a (little) boost of caffeine. What do you drink in the morning?
2007-09-23
Water Joe - caffeine charged water
Cutting Calories with Caffeinated Water
http://www.waterjoe.com/
As a caffeine addict wanting to lose some weight, it was hard to imagine giving up my beloved soft drinks. I have never been able to stomach the taste of diet drinks, but I also have never been able to deal with caffeine withdraw either.
The first part of my solution was start drinking Water Joe, which is plain tasting water fortified with a good dose of caffeine. It worked out great! I could avoid the headaches and the calories with one drink.
I used Water Joe to ween myself from soft drinks over time. It tastes like simple water and it provides sweet caffeine.
Highly recommended.
http://www.waterjoe.com/
As a caffeine addict wanting to lose some weight, it was hard to imagine giving up my beloved soft drinks. I have never been able to stomach the taste of diet drinks, but I also have never been able to deal with caffeine withdraw either.
The first part of my solution was start drinking Water Joe, which is plain tasting water fortified with a good dose of caffeine. It worked out great! I could avoid the headaches and the calories with one drink.
I used Water Joe to ween myself from soft drinks over time. It tastes like simple water and it provides sweet caffeine.
Highly recommended.
2007-09-05
Supercapacitor "battery"
Supercapacitor "battery" could lead to instant charging, long charge life
We can only hope this pans out to be true. The mobile revolution is being held back by stored energy capacities than have not improved at anything approaching the rate that CPU, storage and bandwidth have.
If this company can make capacitors that can effectively replace batteries, it can only be a good thing.
We can only hope this pans out to be true. The mobile revolution is being held back by stored energy capacities than have not improved at anything approaching the rate that CPU, storage and bandwidth have.
If this company can make capacitors that can effectively replace batteries, it can only be a good thing.
2007-09-04
Astronomers trade CPU cycles to beat physical/financial constraints
Press Releases August 2007
Here is another case of the creative application of technology to a vexing problem. Rather than use a brute force solution, the astronomers have taken advantage of cheap CPU cycles and good, old fashion luck to produce excellent results on a budget available to amateurs.
In this case to produce better images than a space-based telescope that avoids atmospheric interference, they take multiple images and use computers to select the best images or areas of images.
Excellent!
Here is another case of the creative application of technology to a vexing problem. Rather than use a brute force solution, the astronomers have taken advantage of cheap CPU cycles and good, old fashion luck to produce excellent results on a budget available to amateurs.
In this case to produce better images than a space-based telescope that avoids atmospheric interference, they take multiple images and use computers to select the best images or areas of images.
Excellent!
When will companies learn? Standards should be standard.
Sony may start movie download service - Yahoo! News
I think it is quite comical to watch the big content companies flail about trying to wrest power from Apple in music and video.
What seems intuitively obvious to the casual observer is this: all file formats should be based on open standards. If there was a firm standard in place, all these companies could do their own download stores and compete on quality of product and quality of interface.
Without an open standard that can be relied on, only a few distributors will rule the market as they do in the brick and morter market. In this situation, the individual provider stores are doomed to fail, because they do not have all the content and they (usually) have horrible interfaces.
If we had firm standards in place for data files, we could count on software companies to compete on the value their software added. As it stands, the large companies rely heavily on lock-in to hold their customers hostage. The file format is one form of lock-in and the interface is another.
The same goes for media files. Companies like Microsoft and Sony have repeatedly tried to take control of the media file standards with WMV and ATRAC. They do not do this to make a more convenient world for their customers; they do it to lock their customers into their "store", where they effectively would no longer compete on quality or features.
Some good counter examples are JPEG, MP3, and TEXT. These are fairly firm standards that are available and allow numerous products to compete on the quality of their features, functionality, and interfaces. These are healthy markets.
Look at DOC, XLS, WMV, and ATRAC (before it was EOL'ed). These are not healthy markets, even after all the effort that has been invested.
Which makes more sense in the long run?
I think it is quite comical to watch the big content companies flail about trying to wrest power from Apple in music and video.
What seems intuitively obvious to the casual observer is this: all file formats should be based on open standards. If there was a firm standard in place, all these companies could do their own download stores and compete on quality of product and quality of interface.
Without an open standard that can be relied on, only a few distributors will rule the market as they do in the brick and morter market. In this situation, the individual provider stores are doomed to fail, because they do not have all the content and they (usually) have horrible interfaces.
If we had firm standards in place for data files, we could count on software companies to compete on the value their software added. As it stands, the large companies rely heavily on lock-in to hold their customers hostage. The file format is one form of lock-in and the interface is another.
The same goes for media files. Companies like Microsoft and Sony have repeatedly tried to take control of the media file standards with WMV and ATRAC. They do not do this to make a more convenient world for their customers; they do it to lock their customers into their "store", where they effectively would no longer compete on quality or features.
Some good counter examples are JPEG, MP3, and TEXT. These are fairly firm standards that are available and allow numerous products to compete on the quality of their features, functionality, and interfaces. These are healthy markets.
Look at DOC, XLS, WMV, and ATRAC (before it was EOL'ed). These are not healthy markets, even after all the effort that has been invested.
Which makes more sense in the long run?
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