Vermyndax vermyndax

This is a crosspost from The Cat Convention.

If you’re not familiar with Dropbox by now, you should be. Dropbox is what MobileMe‘s iDisk aspires to be one day. For now, it isn’t.

For the uninitiated, Dropbox is a fantastic cross-platform bit of code that synchronizes files across all of your computers. It also provides a look into the folders via a web browser if you should need it. They also offer an iPad app that allows you to browse and download files to local applications such as Pages.

All I can say is… times are definitely changing.

BOOM: IBM Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft

Tonight I was browsing through my normal websites with Safari on my Mac when suddenly, this window took over my entire browsing experience (click to go full screen on it).

I either got this from macdailynews.com, macnn.com or msnbc.com. I’m not sure which. I did a force-quit on Safari and moved on with my life, but still… beware.

I was reading the blog post over at Microsoft from the fellow… Oh, I forget his name already. Anyway, he was explaining why Microsoft is filing a complaint with the European Commission about Google’s unfair business advantages and whatnot.

At first, this whole thing comes off as a company entering legacy mode. Microsoft reminds me of the RIAA, MPAA and the newspaper industry. They clearly feel the edge is blunted and their technology is dying. They are unable to adapt. As a result they are engaging in a strategy of sue and destroy.

I ran across this article this morning. It shouldn’t surprise anyone… well, with the exception of the people that are getting scammed.

My favorite part of the article is the comments. Someone claims in the article that AOL invented email and uses that to defend paying them a monthly fee. Hilarious.

For some bizarre reason, the thought at the top of my head last night at bedtime was… “I wonder if sometimes… open source developers deliberately code bugs or withhold fixes for financial gain?”

If you don’t follow what I mean, here’s where I was: often times, large corporations or benefactors will offer a code fix bounty or developmental funding for an open source project they have come to rely upon.  What if an open source developer were to deliberately code a bug into an open source project or withhold a fix so they might extract some financial support with this method?

Apple‘s Snow Leopard Server product is one lovely implementation of UNIX.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using it for the power and simplicity that it offers.  I’ve loved using Apple’s operating systems thanks to the combination of UNIX power and elegant design.  Snow Leopard server is no exception to this rule.

The barrier to entry with Snow Leopard server was lowered when Apple reduced the price of the product to $499 USD and offered an unlimited client version only.  It was even more palatable when the Mac Mini server version was introduced at $999.  Previously, you could build your own Mac Mini server for about $1300 USD, but this new model allows small developers and workshops to get into the product at a very low price point.

I am one of the aspiring new media yahoos that bought into the fever gripping folks everywhere – the Drobo (a play on words for “data robotics.”)  Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne and all of those folks loudly proclaimed about what a fantastic device the Drobo is.

I’m here to tell you it sucks.

For those of you who follow my adventures here, but not necessarily my adventures over there, you should be aware that we’ve posted NO CARRIER Episode #11.  This episode is very special to my heart because it’s the first show we did in our new studio (Whitey is still over Skype though).  I think the audio quality is MUCH better.  Of course, we’ll be tweaking as things move on, but the new studio and the new processes we’re using to lay down the audio sound damn fine if I do say so myself.

Tony Maro, the CIO of Evrichart (and also my boss from my old job prior to NASA) was interviewed by ZDNet!

Tony is an awesome, knowledgeable and forward-thinking guy.  He’s way ahead of his time in terms of CIO leadership and the IT industry.  He makes this look easy and roots his decisions in common sense, not marketing crap.  It’s served him and Evrichart well.