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On Friday night, I was over at Santana Row in San Jose, just across the street from the Apple Store at the Westfield Valley Fair mall.

I could have gone over there and bought a copy of Leopard, Apple's new Mac OS X version 10.5, but I didn't, for two reasons. First, I didn't need to-- I'm a member of the Apple Developer Connection (ADC), so I'll get a copy anyway, eventually. Second, I don't intend to install Leopard right away.

This isn't like my decision not to buy an iPhone. I … Read more

I've been to a lot of computer conferences over the last 30 years-- my first was the mainframe-oriented National Computer Conference in 1979, and I've probably been to 250 more since then-- but one of my favorites is also the smallest: the Vintage Computer Festival, hosted by Sellam Ismail.

Over the years at these conferences (a collection of my badges as of 1998 or so is shown here), and in my own life, I've seen and used an awful lot of computer hardware.

I'm surprised that some kinds of systems that were very popular in the … Read more

You've probably seen or heard of the industrial robots that build cars, and the various humanoid robots like Honda's Asimo. Most of these are made in Japan. But let's face it, there's only so much these can do. An industrial robot is bolted down, and only knows one or two simple tasks. Asimo is small and weak, and famously collapsed once while trying to climb stairs.

As we know from sci-fi movies, real robots are the size of a man and can do things--dangerous things. Real robots are suitable for building robot armies. For that, we … Read more

In July, in Kansas City, Missouri, there was a convention commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein: the Heinlein Centennial.

Heinlein, who lived from 7 July 1907 to 8 May 1988, was the most accomplished and influential science-fiction writer of the 20th century. I suppose some people might disagree, but… Read more

Okay, this is going to get controversial. Just bear with me.

The Siggraph conference is basically defined by the intersection of art and technology. The ideal Siggraph attendee is both an artist and a technologist, though lots of us are only one or the other (personally, I can't even draw flies).

At Siggraph this year, the well-known patent expert… Read more

Just a quick note between Siggraph events--

CNET's Declan McCullagh has written an article (here) describing the Internet phenomenon that is the Ron Paul presidential candidacy.

It has a lot of information and insight on how the Internet can turn a fringe candidate (although in this case, Dr. Paul is on the rational fringe, not the lunatic fringe) into a serious contender.

Good stuff. I say, check it out.

A friend of mine sent me a link to a story at gizmag.com (here) that quotes another site as saying that Porsche is planning to offer a hybrid-power version of its forthcoming Panamera sedan. (I couldn't find the story on the original site, so I can't offer a link to it.)

The story claims this might be the fastest hybrid car in the world when it debuts in 2011, but that's purely hypothetical. By that time, there will likely be a lot of very fast hybrids. In fact, I suspect that most cars will be sold … Read more

Yesterday, the FCC voted to apply new "Open Platform" rules to a chunk of the radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band, which is being vacated by UHF TV stations. CNET published a good summary of the situation here.

The chunk in question is just 22 MHz wide. Although the details of how this spectrum will be used are up to the winner of the eventual FCC auction, here are a couple of points of comparison. (These numbers could be off; I don't have all the technical details of the new band plan, just the summary from … Read more

It was her eyes that caught my attention. She had the most incredible green eyes, just one shade this side of being unnaturally too green. The skin on her face seemed to glow in the diffuse light, framed by auburn hair.

She was standing just inside a department store, smiling at people walking past her but obviously watching for someone.

It wasn't me. As I walked in, she gave me that same soft half-smile she'd given an elderly woman moments before, briefly making eye contact before her gaze flicked past me, scanning for somone in the open space … Read more