Toshio Fuji published a gorgeous VR journey: The way to Mt. Fuji. Quicktime VR
Getting Things Done
All must be corralled in one place and then processed using Allen’s core mantra of “Do it, delegate it, defer it”. If the action takes less than two minutes, do it there and then. If longer, you either hand off to someone else or defer it into your pending tray. Otherwise it is trashed or filed. The in-tray thereby becomes sacrosanct. You never put stuff back into “In”. Never.
On the web, for example, Getting Things Done (GTD) has gone supernova. Web and IT professionals have taken Allen’s core ideas and refined them into ever more effective tips called “life hacks”. Adherents swap these across a broad network of blogs, wikis and websites such as 43Folders.com – all amid a considerable amount of one-upmanship over who has the biggest and best system.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Mobile WiMix Discussion
In his latest informal white paper, Belk takes aim at mobile WiMax, a not-yet-finished standard that’s not expected to appear in base stations for deployment until 2007, although all tea leaves I read look like 2008 for any carrier deployment. (My only quibbles have to do with how he compares Wi-Fi usage to cell data usage, and how he boosts ubiquity over speed—but they’re not worth going into in length as the quibbles are small compared to agreement.)
WiMax “could” radically change wireless internet services. On the other hand, it’s been just around the corner for awhile….
T.E. Lawrence’s Middle East Vision
One of the most popular books among American military officers serving in Iraq is Seven Pillars of Wisdom — the accounts of T. E. Lawrence, the British colonel who rallied Arab tribal leaders during World War I. Lawrence wrote about unconventional warfare and the people of the region.
A new exhibition at London’s Imperial War Museum features a long-lost map of the Middle East drafted by Lawrence and presented to the British cabinet in 1918. It provides an alternative to present-day borders in the region, taking into account local Arab sensibilities rather than the European colonial considerations that were dominant at the time.
Fascinating stuff, particularly his map. More photos later.
God’s Glory: Southwest Fall Colors on The High Road to Taos
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More on the High Road to Taos here. Sort of related: Doc posts some great aerial shots over the Sierra Nevada (I agree with his perspective on the landscape).
Lassee on Ethanol
Wisconsin State Senate President Alan Lassee on AB 15:
I hope to set the record straight that ethanol is a welcome choice for citizens and taxpayers statewide. As the price of gasoline continues to skyrocket, we need to examine the use of alternative fuels and other means to ease our burden every time we fill up our tanks. One of the main reasons I support Assembly Bill 15 is my belief that we need to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and break the stranglehold of foreign oil sheiks. To me, it is a no-brainer that ethanol, which can be produced in state by the corn grown by our farmers, is a good start to reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The Renew Energy Blog has another perspective on this.
Mossberg on the Evils of DRM
In some quarters of the Internet, the three most hated letters of the alphabet are DRM. They stand for Digital Rights Management, a set of technologies for limiting how people can use the music and video files they’ve purchased from legal downloading services.
Health Savings Accounts and the Future of American Health Care
Richard L. Kaplan:
CBS’s Andrew Heyward: The Era of Omniscience is Over
The President of CBS News says: “On most matters there are multiple points of view out there as opposed to a single, discoverable truth.”
Hybrid Car Design Battles
Norihiko Shirouzo & Jathon Sapsford:
A battle for power and influence is under way in the auto industry, as the basic technology under the hoods of mass-market cars goes up for grabs for the first time in nearly a century.
Amid soaring gasoline prices, car makers are rushing to use hybrid engines, which boost fuel efficiency by combining a traditional gasoline motor with an electric one. The result is a race among the world’s automotive giants that — like the VHS vs. Betamax brawl in the early days of videocassettes — could redraw the industry’s hierarchy and system of alliances for years to come.