Author: Vince Kimball

LanguageForLearningObjects If I want to teach people object-orientation, which language should I use? For the last couple of years the first choice language for learning about objects has been Java. There's many good reasons to use Java. It's widely known It uses a C based syntax which is becoming the dominant style. Free, high quality… Continue reading LanguageForLearningObjects

Bliki. Martin Fowler (Refactoring guru) has started a tech-rich bliki, a cross between weblog and wiki as a repository of ideas on software development. [Mark Bernstein]

Intel's Handheld Personal Server. The personal server mounts on any PC that can recognize wireless devices: “Any computer becomes your computer,” said Want. MP3 enthusiasts can sidle up to any computer that recognizes wireless devices, and exchange files using the host computer's keyboard, mouse and screen. Other potential applications for the personal server include sensor… Continue reading Intel's Handheld Personal Server

Update: DEVONthink. DEVONthink 1.6 enhances the personal knowledge base and content management system. [MacInTouch]

Democrats Seek a Stronger Focus, and Money. More Americans say they are Democrats than Republicans. But Democrats lack unity, a coherent message and money. By Adam Clymer. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Universal Product Code change. I heard something pretty worrying over the weekend. It appears that the US will be moving to a 13 or 14 slot barcode system in 2005. This is required by law. The reason, wouldn't ya know it; We're running out of 'address space'! Just like IP addresses basically. Only worse. This… Continue reading Universal Product Code change

Blogs That Aren't Blogs. Ernie Svenson, whose Ernie the Attorney site was featured in my article on blogs for lawyer marketing, may have had the most thoughtful comment on it: “[S]ometimes weblogs are most powerful when the people who are reading them don't perceive anything different from a regular website.” He mentions a couple of example pages at… Continue reading Blogs That Aren't Blogs

AOL and Jabber. AOL Wants to Back Out of IM Promise.  AOL has been playing monopolist with its instant messaging for as long as the genre has been popular, pretending to want interoperability but largerly refusing to let other IM operators interconnect with AOL Instant Messager. One of the condititions of the buyout of Time… Continue reading AOL and Jabber

Acrimony at Telecom Conference. MCI deserves death penalty, Wi-Fi flash in the pan at telecom conference: Read the article and then consider Verizon's position. If you're a monopoly player restricting access to DSL customers and your principal rival, Comcast, hasn't quite figure out how to offer the right mix to its cable customers at the… Continue reading Acrimony at Telecom Conference

St. Petersburg Times, FL –Technology's gains produce losses of privacy, rights. Okay, maybe when following someone took three shifts of police, the lack of a warrant did not seriously endanger civil liberties. The extraordinary outlay of resources kept it from happening to too many people. But here, three shifts of police are traded in for a $100… Continue reading Technology's gains produce losses of privacy, rights