A couple friends created the eVr1 Codex — part accessory, part memory drive — that stores a huge canon of literature so you can keep it with you at all times. I know both friends from business school classes. You can also see the California outdoor love of nature they share. Here’s one of their products. Our Vision eVr1’s vision is to connect modern man with the long, global human[…] Keep reading →

Math and science to me are beautiful — about the most beautiful things in the world. I hope some of that comes across when I write on them. After a couple posts on a physicist’s perspective on our impact on the world — about an awesome blog (called Do The Math, but it has a science perspective) and an awesome video presentation by the blogger, here’s something on math. When[…] Keep reading →

I saw a snippet of a talk pointing out that Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and others design software from the ground up to spy on you. Sometimes a blatant statement of a problem reminds you of it. People are learning about the problems with large corporations and governments having so much information on you, though they don’t know what to do about it because they have no alternatives. Gmail benefits[…] Keep reading →

I expect to log into Facebook once more — to message my connections there that they won’t be able to find me there, why, and where to find me instead — then I’ll leave for good. Why leave? I knew I wanted to leave after Facebook made its privacy policy too intrusive for my tastes. I felt they had too much control over my personal data. Facebook is creepy, getting[…] Keep reading →

I just read a post, “Google is FUBAR,” (for non-geeks, fubar means “f‘ed up beyond all recognition) suggesting the company is on a slippery slope leading not to its demise but to move its practices from what people like to what will lock them in and to risk more forays into anti-trust and privacy territories. Why is Google FUBAR, then? … It must irreparably alter its fleet of successful web[…] Keep reading →

I find this picture of the Eiffel Tower beautiful. A guy named Tristan Nitot took the picture and posted it for people to share and enjoy in a post called “This photograph is free.” He posted it in response to some other guy whose name I don’t know who posted a picture he took entitled “This photograph is not free.” I won’t link to him because I’m afraid he might attack[…] Keep reading →

Usually I prefer using GNU/Linux. Every now and then something in that community annoys me. In the spring the people behind the Ubuntu distribution decided to make a new interface the default without telling me. When I “upgraded” it messed things up, but, with some work, I got it back to how I liked it. This time when I upgraded, they removed my usual interface. After major work, I realized[…] Keep reading →

My post on how Freedombox’s pursuit of perfection is undermining its goals prompted some discussion. Hearing how people the Freedombox community wants to help end up supporting products we see as non-Free jolted my system. I believe constructive criticism helps, but my desire to contribute more led to the offer below. One person’s response got me thinking about how I, as someone who doesn’t write much software, can help. Diaspora[…] Keep reading →

A journalist covering Iran I saw speak last night that got me thinking critically about the Freedombox in a way the Freedombox community would benefit from, in my opinion. Someone asked the journalist what people working for freedom in Iran did about governments having access to data on Facebook and similar tools. Being in the Freedombox community, I anticipated her saying something like it was a big problem and people[…] Keep reading →