Monthly Archives: April 2004

Toilet of the Future

By | April 28, 2004

BBC News | HEALTH | Stay healthy with the toilet ‘doctor’ I don’t often get excited about toilets, unless of course we’re talking about my incinerating toilet, but an English company has dared to do the unthinkable – combine a waste removal device with an automated diagnostician. Or some such thing. Dear readers, please direct… Read More »

AudioBlog.com

By | April 27, 2004

There’s a new audioblogging service in town, although AudioBlog.com is currently only in beta. So far, the service supports MovableType, TypePad, Blogger, and LiveJournal blogs. One cool aspect of AudioBlog.com is that in addition to audioblogging by phone, you can audioblog from any computer with a microphone and a Flash-enabled web browser. Also, it looks… Read More »

Cuff Update

By | April 25, 2004

It’s been nearly three weeks since I damaged, and very possibly tore, the rotator cuff in my right shoulder. One or more of the tendons still produce a disturbing pop a couple times a day. Usually there is no pain, but sometimes it can be relatively painful. Overall, though, I think it is getting better.… Read More »

Audio Credit Card

By | April 24, 2004

New Scientist – Credit card only works when spoken to Beepcard has announced a new credit card they have developed that supports audio-based authentication for credit card transactions, via technology embedded within the card itself. This is a very cool idea, assuming they can get past a couple technology and personal adoption issues. Beepcard had… Read More »

New MLS Website Broke SocerPhone

By | April 24, 2004

Two bad things happened at the MLS website this week, at least with respect to SoccerPhone (it’s a program I wrote that you can use to hear live soccer scores over the telephone). One change is pure unadulterated evil, and the other could be good or evil depending on your aesthetics. The first pure evil… Read More »

Threading Features in JDK 1.5

By | April 21, 2004

I attended the EBIG Java SIG tonight, which featured a presentation by Bruce Eckel on threading in JDK 1.5. Though I’ve not done much multi-threaded programming myself, I’m very wary of it because I’ve seen enough damage at work by other developer’s failed attempts. Bruce confirmed my feelings; don’t make your program multi-threaded unless you… Read More »

PhoneBlogger and Radio

By | April 18, 2004

So, for any of you stopping by my blog because Dave Winer linked to it on scripting.com, just a heads up that PhoneBlogger doesn’t yet support Radio. However, if anyone is interested in adding support for Radio, I would appreciate the help. PhoneBlogger is already modularized to support the differences between Movable Type and Blogger,… Read More »

Fragile Rotating Cuffs

By | April 15, 2004

A little over a week ago, I stood up at my desk after a long day of working from home. I had probably been hunched over the keyboard for far too long. I clasped my hands behind my back and pulled my shoulders back sharply. This often results in a slight popping sound that makes… Read More »

Free WiFi at Ultimate Grounds

By | April 10, 2004

Ultimate Grounds on Park Blvd in Oakland offers free wireless Internet access! While working from home last week, I stopped by Ultimate Grounds for a cup of coffee. I brought my laptop along, hoping that either they or someone living nearby had an open hotspot. Thanks to Ultimate Grounds’ open WiFi connection, I was able… Read More »

Speech Recognition

By | April 7, 2004

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology addresses a very difficult to solve problem, but researchers have made a significant amount of progress over the last ten years or so. There are still many unsolved problems, but the quality of modern ASR engines has made speech a viable user interface for many different applications. Speech recognition technologies… Read More »