Author: Carl Setzer

The gloomy, noir charm of Battlestar Galactica. By Troy Patterson – Slate Magazine

Though I haven’t watched much of this incarnation of Battlestar Gallactica, from what I have seen, I’m enthralled. Of course, I differentiate from this writer in that I was a serious fan of the 80’s cult classic. I find the series very much in keeping with the trends in Sci-Fi that I grew up with and have been following for awhile now. It’s darker, more “grown up”, and exploring the scarier side of humanity. Anyone who started reading comics in the 70’s and keep up with the storylines of, say, the X-men, into the 80’s/90’s/beyond can easily testify to this. I haven’t found the show harder to follow than, say, any other drama on tv right now. If you just drop into this, you will have some uptake as you figure out who the characters are, what they represent, where they come from. Expecting to tune into an established series and understanding the whole thing is like showing up at a family dinner and being surprised you don’t understand who uncle Joe is.

Ah, I love Macs! I’m ready for one of these…and ready for the budget to be ready. Sigh…

I’ve posted another column to Backwash. Check it out!

MacJournal has been a critical tool for me as a writer. This is where I explore so many of my ideas for columns, essays, poetry or fiction. It’s a wonderfully well thought out piece of software. Most fun for me, as I have been blogging, has been it’s interface with Blogger. It works with Livejournal, too. It functions as a basic text editor, utilized Mac OS X’s spell check. You can play with fonts, colors, add links, etc. It’s been a good notetaker, too. I use this often and recommend it with fervor. Yes, fervor!

Wired News: Second Life Gets Sexier

Sex toy interfaces and the web brings a whole new meaning to the idea of bio-informatic interfaces.

If you’re having trouble installing PlanPlus (FranklinCovey) software vs. 3 on your PocketPC (such as my iPaq), try this advice here.

LivePerson Secure Email and FAQs

Spy program snoops on cell phones | Tech News on ZDNet: “New software that hides on cell phones and captures call logs and text messages is being sold as a way to monitor kids and spouses. But one security company calls it a Trojan horse. “

I don’t like the idea of covert monitoring of family. If I’m worried about my kids doing something unsafe, isn’t better to be up front than sneaking. And what does that say about you, the monitor? If you’re worried about your wife cheating, shouldn’t you be investing your time in counseling and getting the issues addressed, as opposed to sneaking around, coward-like, waiting for proof?

Hot rival may be just what Microsoft needs

The competetion that Google is offering up to Microsoft will be the best thing that has ever happened to it. That is, of course, assuming that the Giant of Redmond will be able to rise to the challenge.

AOL’s choice to snub MS and go with Google should sting nastily. And, I imagine, that it will create quite a burn at the campus. Stings like this tend to motivate Gates and Co, so the next few months should be interesting. I wonder if this could build some passion into Vista?

One thing I would love to see: an Apple tablet PC. Apple’s interface is so much nicer, the device more stable, and Apple has some great handwriting recognition software in the form of the old Newton OS. They would make a more elegant machine. One that used bluetooth to connect a keyboard to the device, as opposed to some bizarre contorting screen/keyboard.

I also think that a device that blended a pda with this would be cool. The true converged device, which allows for separation. I would like this set up to have a Treo that integrated nicely (again, bluetooth) for modem access. It would have an Airport card for Wi-Fi access.

So, that’s my dream for the great Santa of Cupertino.

Wired News: Technorati: A New Public Utility

An excellent insight into Technorati and the emergence of the blogs. Also, Mr. Penenberg points out that the mainstream media and blogosphere are becoming quite dependent on each other. These don’t need to be competetive institutions. They are quite complementary.