Quote of the Day

Howard Nemerov: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves."

Global Warming - I'll Take the High Road

"Many [scientists] appear to occupy a middle ground in the climate debate, seeing human activity as a serious threat but challenging what they call the extremism of both skeptics and zealots."

That's exactly how I feel (and, probably more importantly, that's also the opinion of my environmental-scientist wife). Global warming is certainly an issue, and it's likely that human activity has some sort of an impact on its intensity, but both alarmists like Al Gore and skeptics like S. Fred Singer are off the mark.

As Aristotle said in Ethics, true virtue is found at "the mean between extremes." That statement fits this particular debate probably more aptly than any other issue of our time.

From a Rapt Audience, a Call to Cool the Hype - New York Times

Apple Retail - Insanely Great Stores

If you've ever been to an Apple Store, you know that it's different than anything else out there. The one in the mall near my office seems like a cross between Brookstone and Gymboree, with an informal schoolroom in the back.

This difference has catapulted the Apple's direct-to-consumer outlets into the most profitable retail venture in the country. In terms of sales per square foot per year (the standard metric for retail success), Apple's chain of stores brings in almost twice as much as Tiffany & Co., its closest domestic competitor.

For more detail, including some quotes by Apple CEO Steve Jobs about the reason for the monumental achievement, click the link below.

Fortune - Why Apple is the best retailer in America

Leave it to the Swiss...

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein - New York Times

Search for ET nets missing computer

Interesting news from SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence): their mass-computing project, SETI@home, helped to solve a crime.

SET@home is an attempt to get around the mass amounts of processing power it takes to analyze the data received by SETI's sensors. Instead of having an impossibly giant supercomputer to crunch the numbers, they distribute small pieces of raw data to millions of volunteers who allow their computers to participate in the analysis while their computers are on screen-saver.

Every time the computer needs a new chunk of data, it needs to access SETI's servers, and in the process of that transaction it reports its Internet address. When a computer with the SETI@home software installed was stolen, the owners were able to find it by tracking the address reported to SETI when the software asked for a new piece of data.

Details of the story are in the link below.

AP - Missing Laptop Found in ET Hunt

Surgeons + Video Games > Surgeons

Looks like this comic from xkcd came true.

Reuters AlertNet - Surgeons who play video games more skilled - U.S. study

Not Talking about the iPod

Oddly, an article about portable media players that doesn't so much as mention the iPod. Granted, the article is about devices with wireless data transfer capabilities, but Apple's market-dominating player isn't even noted for the fact that it lacks such a feature.

Music and Video Players Add Wi-Fi Access - PCWorld.com

Putting cellular technology in... a doorbell?

Apparently a Dutch company has put a GSM receiver/transmitter in a new line of doorbells (not yet available for sale) that will call your cell phone when the bell is pressed. It will even allow you to have a conversation with your visitor via its built-in intercom, and, if necessary, will allow you to unlock the door for them by entering a code.

The other cool application is that the door will unlock for you if you place a call to your doorbell, since it will recognize your phone's number via Caller ID. The notion in general seems kind of weird (come on... calling your doorbell?), but it's an interesting technological step forward that may become commonplace in the future.

Wireless doorbell rings you in - Network World

Today's 'Bizarro'

Music jokes on the comics page...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Bizarro for January 10

Another Apple prediction

So everybody has been speculating about Apple producing a cellular phone, a widescreen iPod, and various other bits of technology. But, as Valleywag has stated, there's probably something even bigger coming up.

I bet it has something to do with the 32GB NAND Flash chip that SanDisk announced a few days ago...

Geekzone: SanDisk Launches 32 Gigabyte Solid State Drive