Software

Artificial Intelligence

Weird. This was also the subject of my final year project at University. My AI creation was written in ‘C’ on Unix and used the curses package.

However, my effort wasn’t so accomplished, had severe problems when a piece was crowned and didn’t implement the ‘huffing’ rule correctly.

Having said that, it did beat me on four occasions.

Facebook versus LinkedIn

OK. I couldn’t resist any longer. Scoble’s recent post about this killer Google Reader application forced me to sign up for yet another pointless, short-lived, social network, Web 2.0 application - Facebook.

I was keen to preserve my ‘Johnny Come Lately’ status and was relieved to find, coincidentally, that Donncha had signed up just ahead of me so I am now confirmed as the very last person in the world to sign up for Facebook.

Stadium Rock etiquette

Lyrics plugin for Media Player and Winamp.

Although you will spoil the Reading festival for your immediate neighbour with your loud, tuneless, intoxicated karaoke at least you will know the words.

Google finally sees sense

On the face of it, the recent changes to the interface to Google Docs and Spreadsheets look trivial and superficial.

Google’s official announcement is brief and understated but Google Blogoscoped hits the nail on the head (twice):

‘The file listing now resembles a more traditional view in the style of, say, Windows Explorer.’

…that ordinary mortals understand and are comfortable with.

‘Google D&S looks more and more like an office application.’

In fact, Google Docs looks and performs much better than the most popular office application. I recently upgraded three home PC’s to Office 2007. I think Microsoft Office is a superb suite of professional applications (Word, Excel, OneNote) and represents great value for money as £85 buys licenses for use on three separate PC’s.

Safari browser available for Windows

The Safari Web browser on Macintosh currently accounts for a paltry 4.34% of visits to this blog. It will be interesting to see whether this figure increases now Apple have released a version of Safari for Windows.

I’ve downloaded Safari and while I like the fonts and appearance, I probably use too many Firefox add-ons to make the change permanently.

Google Reader goes offline

Not it’s not unavailable but Google have added support for offline reading of up to 2,000 items using the recently announced Google Gears.

Another much requested feature and a surprising omission from Reader - the ability to search feeds - is also thought to be on the horizon.

pass the anti-static wrist strap

I usually hate posts that start

‘Apologies in advance but I am going to be offline for 10 days because…’

• I am going to a Web 2.0 conference in Dallas
• I smashed my hand into a glass window
• I am going on vacation
• I am really busy at work
• Personal stuff
• I am getting married
• I am going to an Oracle conference in Scotland
• The RSI is killing me
• My boss/wife/dog discovered this blog
• I am having a blogging crisis of confidence
• Family matters

Mainly because the author inevitably pops up the very next day without any further explanation.

the looming spectre of Google

The recent storm in the anti-blogosphere about Google acquiring Feedburner, the frightening prospect of Google placing ads in your precious feeds, capturing all your personal data, monitoring your every movement (online and offline) and logging your brainwaves into the Google data warehouse is starting to irritate me.

Despite the corporate motto, please remember Google is evil and 2084 is just around the corner, folks. Be aware that Google just announced a partnership with global law enforcement agencies to upload all CCT footage to YouTube.

don't Ask

Many years ago, in a parallel universe, I created a Web page that proclaimed:

‘The fastest, most comprehensive Web search engine - AltaVista’

With the increasing domination of Google, it really is difficult to remember life back in the days when AltaVista was the only search engine in town and you were even considering sinking 500 quid of your hard-earned into the rumoured IPO. Maybe one day, another startup will come along and usurp Google’s #1 position but somehow, I sincerely doubt it.

Tom Kyte's insatiable appetite

Not content with writing excellent books, helping Oracle customers, maintaining his blog, presenting at technical seminars, traveling around the globe, family commitments and managing asktom.oracle.com, the workaholic Tom Kyte has now released a streaming media player.