September 16, 15:38 | Comments (2)
Apple has finally announced the new batch of PowerBooks and I'm going to get one and an external LCD to serve as my only computer.
That means I've got an iBook and an iMac for sale. I'm only interested in local Danish buyers and preferably from Sjælland (so you could pick it up at my flat in Copenhagen). Hence the Danish sales listing:
iBook 12,1" DVD/brænder med 384mb RAM
Mindre: 200mhz (700 vs 900), 20Gb (20Gb vs 40Gb), 16Mb Gfx (16mb vs 32mb)
Alder: 1 år og 1 måned
Note: Amerikansk tastatur
Nypris: 11.490 kr.
Salgspris: 7.500 kr. SOLGT!
iMac 17" med 768mb RAM
Mindre: 250mhz (1Ghz vs 1.25Ghz), 32mb Gfx (32mb vs 64mb), UBS1 istedet for USB2
Alder: 6 måneder (= 1,5 års garanti)
Note: Amerikansk tastatur
Nypris: 17.248 kr.
Salgspris: 13.000 kr SOLGT!
"Mindre" opsummerer forskellene på Apples nuværende modeller og mine modeller
September 10, 11:21 | Comments (0)
I wonder what the RIAA expects to loose in sales over the kind of bad PR that sueing 12 year-old school girls and 71 year-old grandfathers generates. As a business, surely they must have done a proper risk analysis before pressing forward with this type of extreme action.
And as a business, they must have decided that the the signal of rounding up "sharing criminals" will be worth more than the backlash of outraged consumers. I'm not so sure that it will.
What I am sure about, though, is that this is instilling the next generation of music buyers with an obligation to rebel. The RIAA becomes big brother and defying that becomes cool.
And what's the big five to do if their carefully deviced market introductions of polished artists is labelled un-cool? Their gambling with their ace marketing card instead of listening to market demands.
Change is painful.
UPDATE: In This is piracy, Jeppe sheds light on the allure of being a victim. Corporations in software, music, and publishing loves to play the victim and the Danish minister of culture encourages it.
September 09, 19:04 | Comments (8)
I don't know about elementary classes, but the effect on my undergrad class has been astonishing. When you're collaborating on taking notes, it turns the learning process into a friendly competition. It becomes a game of who can translate the information flowing from the professor the fastest into the smallest, most readable chunks.
That makes for an eye-opening practical focus on the content. It's no longer enough to sit back and let the voice of the professor flow into your head. You go from being a listener to a listener-broadcaster. An interpretation factory with a swift feedback loop.
Also, it gives you the facts to refute the bullsh*t some "professors" try to pass off as knowledge. Enlightened people are granted the power to influence the mood of the room in no time. Similar to what Dan Gillmore experienced when a telco CEO was exposed as a hypocrite through wifi and blogs.
And this is just the beginning. My infected class has just been at it in Hydra for a little more than a week. I'm sure we've only touched the a small corner of the ramifications a collective mind in the classroom will bring.
September 02, 18:15 | Comments (3)
Over the Summer, the number of iBooks equipped with wireless capabilities and a copy of SubEthaEdit (the editor formerly known as Hydra) has risen to five in my class. Another two have committed to join our ranks before October and, by their drooling looks and interested questions, I gauge three to five more will do the same before we graduate next Summer.
SubEthaEdit has been a key facilitator for this transition. It allows the five (and counting) of us to collaborate on the note-taking process and to discuss the lecture as it happens in a non-intrusive manner. The final set of notes is stronger and everyone gets increased intimacy with the material.
As we sit spread across the auditorium, this phenomenon infects anyone sitting next to one of our participants. And it sure do look impressive as two people are capturing the professors talk while a third is cleaning any mistakes in the making and a fourth is posing a question.
But the in-class implications are only part of the SubEthaEdit success story. Groups where all members have made the switch, such as the one I'm in, experience a wealth of benefits. A reduced need for face time is the most apparent as almost any discussion or assignment can be handled through the combination of SubEthaEdit and voice-over-iChat. Easier sharing of large projects without versioning woes is another.
We'll go even further later this week as we try to add live broadcasting of the lectures through a combination of the iSight and Quicktime Broadcaster. I certainly wouldn't mind to be able to follow morning lectures from the comfort of a robe in my home. A broadcasting responsibility that cycles amongst the capable could make this very real, very soon.
September 02, 17:38 | Comments (15)
Denmark will be graced by not one but two conferences in September on Java, XML, web services, and related subjects with varying degrees of buzz-word compliance. LogOn Web Days in Copenhagen on the 18th and 19th. JAOO 2003 in Aarhus from the 22nd through the 26th. I'll be trading labor for tuition on both occasions.
Although LogOn features some interesting topics and speakers, it's clearly the second-tier conference of the two. JAOO is the real treat. Most of my technical idols are represented including Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt of the Pragmatic Programmers, and Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto — the father of Ruby.
Now I just need to figure out where to stay during the week in Aarhus, how to bring half my bookshelf for signing, and if there's any preparations against abstraction fatigue I need to make.
Are you going? Drop me a note
