emerson

Silicon Valley royalty to honor Jobs

Silicon Valley royalty will be assembling Sunday at Stanford University to pay their respects to Steve Jobs, at a memorial service organized by Apple, according to a report.

The company has sent invitations for the private event to some of the Valley's biggest names, according to The Wall Street Journal, which added that guests were asked to respond to a philanthropic organization, the Emerson Collective, set up by Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs.

A small private funeral was held for Jobs last week and a celebration of his life is planned for Apple employees at the company's Cupertino, … Read more

Emerson brightens kitchens

Microwaves always seem to come in boring colors: black, white, gray, and the occasional brown. If you're interested in microwaves with style, fake wood grain has been the fanciest choice available. That's changing, though. With large appliances in every color, it's getting easier to find microwaves that can contribute to a bright color scheme in your kitchen. Emerson has several stylish microwaves on the market, but plenty of them are black or gray. Their 700-watt model, however, comes in candy apple red--a color guaranteed to catch anyone's eye. At 0.7 cubic feet, it is not … Read more

The enemy of my enemy is...not really my friend (?!?)

Zack Urlocker picks up on my growing frustration with the self-appointed "community" police.

These are the people who hound companies and developers into a slavish devotion to One True Way of participating in open source, a way that may not bring the financial return necessary to fuel the next generation of open-source development. I'm sympathetic to this mindset because I've shared it. But of late I've grown weary of the monoculture, one seemingly inimical to money.

Infoworld's Bill Snyder picks up on the meme and runs with it:

...[F]or too many members of the open source community money is, well, icky. I pick that word deliberately, because the snarky elitists who want to keep open source pure -- and poor -- remind me of children.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with Bill's nomenclature, the gist of his argument is dead-on: By prefabricating all the possible business models for open source, the "community" guardians may well be shackling open source's potential. They are like the Henry Fords of open-source choice: You can have any open-source business model that you want, so long as it's support.

There's got to be a better way.… Read more

The real 'High Fidelity': The little record store that could

UPDATE: I just heard the sad news that Future Legend will be closing its doors later this month. I have personally bought more than 200 CDs over the years from that little shop, but now I'll have to go elsewhere for my weekly fix. If you're in NYC drop by and pick up bargains, starting today, 2/6/08, Future Legend will begin selling all merchandise at 50% off the sticker price.

I want to tell you about my favorite record store, Future Legend. I drop in every week to see what's new, and talk about music … Read more