The August CACM contains an article "Understanding email interaction increase organizational productivity" (not online) which finds that it takes about a minute to resume work after being interrupted by an email notification. Which is kind of problematic if you set your email to check for new mail every five minutes …

I'm skeptical about J#. via [Eric.Weblog()]

I'm not. As I say in the current SD Times, the thing about J# is that it serves two very real niches: the bet-hedgers and the Java "pragmatic believers." Bet-hedgers are those people who have decided not to jump to .NET, but who …

I've made a concerted effort to try programming in my "off hours" on the Tablet PC...in slate mode...without a keyboard...or external monitor. (Yeah, sounds crazy, but I really wanted to understand what it's like.) How's it going? It's passable. via
[Incremental Blogger]

F'ing A -- I've begun receiving bounced email messages indicating that someone's using my email address in the "From:" line of I-Worm.Sobig.f spams; you know, the one that says "re: Your application" and stuff like that. Is there any protocol for me sending out "No, no, that's not me …

As I'd been hoping, Brad Abrams confirms that the gimmes at this year's PDC will include:

- Longhorn (Windows v.Next)
- Whidbey (Visual Studio v.Next)
- Yukon (SQL Server v.Next)

I would've been pretty angry if we'd spent \$1700 to go learn about these things, and then not been able …

Well, that's one way to lose 6 pounds in 3 days... I went diving on the 1st and by Wednesday I realized I had an ear infection. Went to the Doctor and got drops. No biggy. And then Thursday, it was like my head exploded: both ears swelled entirely shut …

McDonald's is testing new gear that eliminates human burger-flippers for robotic fridge-to-grill systems. [via]{.742033902-03082003} Link
[Boing Boing Blog]

[Okay, if even burger flippers are going to be joining the unemployment roles due to productivity gains, what's so unthinkable about European-style work hours and vacations?]{.742033902-03082003}

Bad software.[ ]{style="mso-spacerun: yes"} It’s everywhere.[ ]{style="mso-spacerun: yes"} I know a guy who stinks as a programmer. [ ]{style="mso-spacerun: yes"}He makes about 60k a year, and at least ¼ of his time is spent maintaining a particular pile of crap program that he birthed into this …

Chris Coulter proclaims August 19th to be The International Tablet PC Meetup Day. Pick a meeting place in your area and spread the word....
[Incremental Blogger]

AT&T GSM(TM)/GPRS General Discussion: NEW BIG GSM National Coverage Map
[Brian Jepson's Weblog ]