Geek Practitioners Blog

So we have to call it badware now because people don’t know that “mal” means bad, and can’t grasp the word malware? How odd.

There is no need for this to be happening. None.

Whatever the reasons, and trade secrets are certainly a legitimate one, far stronger than altruism might be, good on Google for standing fast. Let’s hope they take it all the way and win.

I am back, planning to resume posting more regularly, and the first thing I have for you is a pointer to the latest Carnival of Computing.

Andrew Hughes, who hosted the May 16, 2005 CotC, has proposed a new carnival:

Carnival of Computing

This strikes me as an excellent idea.

The idea is still fluid, though as his post says, he’d like to have the first one as soon as possible. Some possible topic areas include:

Software Design/Reviews
Hardware Design/Reviews
Open Source Commentary
Industry related Business
Etc.

Send your entries to andrewhughes.1 -at- gmail -dot- com.

http://anyletter.blogspot.com/2005/09/lets-have-carnival.html

It seems there is someone selling computers and parts on eBay under the name of “Xtreme Computing and Parts.” They’ve been doing so since 2004, and have an impressive number of positive ratings from buyers.

They should not be confused with us, XTreme Computing, operating under the name since 1996, with an online presence since 1997.

Apparently this has been the source of calls recently, regarding computers people think they purchased from us. The seller in question has no means of contact via their eBay store other than a contact form. Presumably when they make a sale, the buyer at least gets an e-mail address.

However, it makes sense that people assume this is a business they can find more complete contact info for by searching online. That turns us up instead, as apparently the people using a variant of our name have no presence outside of eBay. Doh.

Odd, too, that this has only come up recently. They’ve been around long enough that if people were calling about not receiving a computer, or with questions, or wanting support, it should have happened sooner.

It’s also possible the problem is not “Xtreme Computing and Parts,” but I am making a logical extrapolation.

This looks like a cool idea; modifying an Xbox to store and play the contents of DVDs, without having to deal with media degradation to which DVDs are subject. Much the same as porting all your CD music to MP3 format and storing it on hard drives, MP3 players, and other media/devices.

Via Eric, here is a great appreciation of Jack Kilby, who invented the microchip in 1958 as a junior engineer at Texas Instruments. The world would not be recognizable without his “successful solution.”

A great man whose name is too little known. Look what he started…

Via Eric, it turns out Intel was offering a $10,000 reward for an original issue of the magazine where Moore’s Law was first published. They found one.

The guy who had it reminds me of me, though I have become more aggressive about throwing things out. One exception is I still have the first issue and several years of subsequent issues of an old magazine called “In Business,” oriented to small and micro businesses. If I recall correctly, it started in the late seventies.

Still, it sounds like keeping the magazine in question would be almost like keeping copies of CRN (Computer Reseller News), a free trade journal published weekly. I tend to let those pile up, but after about a year they get thrown away, leaving all but the most recent couple months gone.

Via Transterrestrial Musings, there’s an interesting article revisiting Project Orion, what happened to it, how it might differ if done now, and what are the tradeoffs.

Ian‘s Linux adventures continue, which is interesting in itself. However, this reminded me of an item I saw yesterday on Hearst having threatened the Mandrake Linux folks into changing to Mandriva.

Who the hell cares about an obsolete, obscure cartoon character that happens to share the dictionary word for a plant with a respected Linux variant? Ian had the right word for it: Ludicrous.

It reminds me of a friend’s experience owning vader.com, when once upon a time the Lucas people called him. He told them there was nothing to stop him from using the Dutch word for “father” and they never bothered him again.