Techy Goodness

The ISFDB has finally gone public on its new server, isfdb.tamu.edu. This is what happens when you get a lot of old Cepheids in the university's IT divisions. I couldn't justify it in my department, but I knew someone could – and it worked! Buy Jeff a beer! … [Read more...] about ISFDB at A&M

Camino is out! I deeply resent whoever made them change the name from Chimera, although no doubt fewer people have trouble pronouncing the new name. At any rate, Camino 0.7 is much snappier than 0.6 (which makes it pretty damn snappy indeed) and includes the bookmark export … [Read more...] about On the Road

"Thus saith St. Bruce, Patch thy goddamn SQL, servers, yea, with thine own patch, or thou shalt know chastisement, and stupid shalt thou look, and many spiteful instant messages shalt thou receive." —John M. Ford, in the Making Light comments. … [Read more...] about And lo! all who heard were enlightened

I'm really not sure why anyone would need a dashboard cigarette lighter on their PC, but it can now be yours for $19. (via Boing Boing) … [Read more...] about What possible use…?

Today on Wired: Even security-conscious sysadmins are amused by the constant hacking of the RIAA website. … [Read more...] about How the RIAA sucks, episode #243

Whoa… DirecTV DSL is history. That's pretty surprising given how often – and how recently – they've been showing the DSL commercials during DirecTV-specific commercial slots. … [Read more...] about Another one bites the dust

I've found a lot of nifty software and scripts lately. The best by far is the Word-Unmunger, which strips all the proprietary XML and CSS out of Word-generated HTML files – and, unlike Dreamweaver's "Clean up Word HTML" function or the Demoroniser, this one actually gets … [Read more...] about Scripty goodness

I want my Moxi! And it looks like I might be able to get it…. eventually, and indirectly. Digeo (who bought Moxi) is planning to release it next year. Also on Slashdot today, local biotech company Prodigene's giant SNAFU with genetically altered corn. It's weird to see … [Read more...] about I want my Moxi!

I have a deep and abiding respect for a good, well-researched rant. And so today I bring you When Good Interfaces Go Crufty, an excellent discussion of the stupid decisions that went into the GUIs we know and love (?). Funny, though, it doesn't mention the Mac OS oddity of … [Read more...] about GUIs gone wrong