It's disgusting that companies behave like creepy stalkers when they have your data, but...

I think it's interesting that mankind shows this need to quantify itself and achieve a sort of data-driven physical self-awareness. We're seeing the first generation to possess this kind of data, and I look forward to seeing what Smart People and Other Hackers can do with this data and their physical self-awareness. Perhaps when mankind has satiated its desire for physical self-awareness, we'll be able to return to our spiritual and philosophical sides. If we're not all already slaves to the global state.

Or perhaps when we're oppressed by the global state, that will be the time for a new revolution and re-birth of rule by thinking people, similar to what happened when the American colonists threw off the oppression of the British monarchy, resulting in wonderful but short-lived goodness of the US Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, founding fathers, etc.

I'm convinced that anything they say is "coming" is already here, but not declassified yet. Just look at all the different military aircraft models that were long rumored, with the establishment pinning the sightings on crazies and the fringe.

All this with high ranking officials opining that "we need a game-changing" technology is just the defence complex getting the pubic ready for a radical departure from the military status-quo, so that the reaction will be "Yay!", instead of "*Gasp!*".

Politically, there's not been a better opportunity for a long time. The Gulf Wars and their sequels were OK for unveiling some fairly mundane tech, but the highly dedicated, but low-tech opposition found in those theatres weren't sufficient to create the requisite fear at home. It takes the Russian threat (which has been helped along by the West's strategically botched actions in Ukraine) to get people sufficiently anxious to be ready to receive some truly game-changing military tech with open arms. (Oops, no pun intended there.)

Google's 80/20 was for mavericks, but now it's gone. Why is that?

Flatland, by Edwin Abbot, is a short and amusing book that describes the lives and trials of two-dimensional beings. It's a social satire, but it also gives one the feeling that our personal realities, and indeed, our present day societies may not be (and should not be) the limit of what we can imagine and/or what we can achieve. For me it seems like the perfect stepping off point for an exploration of the future.

According to the Swedish news, Russia sends a good deal of its internet traffic via Sweden to the outside world. They say that the Swedish link is faster and cheaper. Meanwhile the Swedish equivalent of the NSA, called FRA, is spying on Russian traffic (legally) and it sends valuable info on to the US (legality unclear).

Finland:
1) Build a new data link that circumvents Sweden's NSA-friendly surveillance
2) Make it only slightly more expensive than the current data link via Sweden, but tout your net neutrality
3) Sell boatloads of capacity to Russia
4) Profit

How much a digital evidence trail is worth is simply a function of how much the plaintiff or prosecutor wants to exploit it. Take the actions of the MAFIAA groups and their flimsy evidence surrounding file sharing and such -- they're suing and settling right and left not because of the quality or even accuracy of the digital evidence against the defendants, but rather, because of the vigour with which they pursue the cases.

Scientists have received smite threats from God, who feels this wholesale collecting of data on his earthquakes is an invasion of his heavenly privacy.

Here's a video that shows it in action. It's pretty amazing to see -- and equally difficult to keep in trim. The leather bands have to be tensioned just so, etc, etc, which makes it notoriously difficult to demonstrate just once in a while.

I had a Newton Message Pad 100 (the very first model) which I bought cheap in '94 on a whim. It was already totally outdated when I bought it. Still, in its lifetime, I printed from it, sent and received faxes from it, all kinds of stuff you'd normally need a computer for. Totally handy.

Come '96 and I'm in grad school and I take every note for the whole two years on that thing and it was GREAT. I mean really, had it been a pain would I have kept on the entire time? Having a pretty big screen meant you had plenty of room to scrawl out those notes on the screen, and as I had maybe not 'neat' handwriting, but at least consistent handwriting it worked great.

In 1996, being able to search your notes on the computer saved me so much time that I could have a band. So maybe having a Newton didn't get me chicks, but at least the band did!

Then, in 2000, I was still using it. But I accidentally left it on a conference room table after a meeting and it disappeared. It actually got STOLEN. In the 21st century.

The 'Windows 7 Sins' stunt was pretty retarded, but the guy (I admit I don't know who he is, and what he's known for) in the interview afterwards is really articulate and makes a very good argument against proprietary software. No beard, no stink of geek, just a smart guy with a cause.

Maybe someone out there can edit out the giant garbage can?

This baby, the Trackman Marble FX, is the gold standard for pointing devices. Four programmable buttons and mousing position that doesn't require you to twist your arm and put your palm on the table. I would gladly use it today, except that if you use a PS2 to USB adapter, the buttons are no longer programmable. Major, major sadness!

On the other hand (no pun intended), I now make good use of a tablet with stylus -- another pointing device that doesn't require the arm-twisting. It takes getting used to, but it's sooo much easier on your arm. Take care of your arms -- don't just start using a mouse with your left hand.

Here's my market survey (of serious contenders) -- it doesn't mention Reaper, though we checked that too.

-snip-

OK, so we seem to be slightly cutting edge with our hy-tek plans for fame and glory. As I kept searching, I could hardly believe that there was such a gap in the software market between Macs and PCs. It all seems so very 1993 or something. I mean they all run on Intel processors now, so WTF, mate?

By my market survey, here's the options...

Tracktion -- Mac & PC, slightly dodgy, but it's 100 bucks (or free if you want to try the keygen).
Cubase -- Mac & PC, not at all dodgy, but it's 500 bucks.
Audacity -- Mac, PC, Linux, but please...way too limiting even for us.
Traverso DAW -- Mac, Linux, Windows, kinda better than Audacity, but not really. Need I say more?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Logic 8 -- Mac Only
Protools -- Must have Digidesign soundcard
Cakewalk -- PC only
Ardour -- Mac, Linux

So, 400 bucks difference is a lot of beer money or like a plane ticket to Berlin or something.