Amazon has released "Unbox," their video purchase / download service. TV shows are \$1.99 each and you get \$1.99 rebate on your first purchase. They've got all 3 seasons of Star Trek and I'm greatly tempted to have colorful glowing brains wagering quatloos (until Kirk teaches 'em what real …

The September 1st issue of SD Times contains two opinions on Ruby, "It Isn't All A Gem," by Andrew Binstock and my "Crossing the Chasm." Allen Holub's column "Just Say No to XML" is also provocative. As usual, surface disagreements belie underlying agreements: there is nothing that either Andrew or …

A commenter on a recent post asked a question I get quite a bit, namely, "What's the market in Hawai'i for high-tech professionals?" The short answer is that in Honolulu it's great and that every place else in the state it's poor. Honolulu's a million-person city and has banks and …

BookMooch is a good idea -- give a book, get a point, get a book, take a point -- but the logistics proved too off-putting for me. Not that they were egregious, but given my life, the last thing I need is another errand on my "to do" list.

Sony's written a Folding\@Home client for the PS3 and is getting excellent PR for the power of the Cell processor in the PS3. The various "\@home" distributed computing projects struck me as a good example of the type of coding that was more likely to be possible on the …

Wow, what a great day: First, IronPython 1.0 is released and now comes word that Turbo Delphi, C#, and C++ are free for download.

Alright! Jim Hugunin et al. have shipped IronPython 1.0. You can get it at CodePlex.

Apparently, there's a "known problem" with Vista installing into VMWare Workstation. Kind of reminds me of the days when DOS didn't ship 'til 1-2-3 broke. Grrr....

Apparently you can use VMWare Server to instal Vista and then move the VM to Workstation.

The new version of Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools is winging its way toward me, along with Test Drive Unlimited, a racing game set on the island of Oahu. I wonder which one will have a worse effect on me.

Perhaps you've noticed the "Universal Service Fee" on your telephone bill. This is a government-mandated subsidy to support phone access in rural areas. Fair enough, perhaps. Here in Hawaii, SandwichIsles Communications Company receives more than \$16M dollar per year to service... are you ready? ... 1,238 customers. That's \$13,345 …