404 Page as Micro-Narrative
November 25, 2005 | Technology
I wish all "page not found" (error 404) pages were as good as this one:
http://kinkless.com/articles/category/kgtd/
Especially on the web sites I maintain!
Competitive Pre-Pay
November 22, 2005 | Business & Commerce | Products & Opportunites
Interesting news: "CUPERTINO, California—November 21, 2005—Apple® today announced that it has reached long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba to secure the supply of NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple intends to prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months."
Flash memory is used in the (wildly successful) iPod nano and Shuffle products. So Apple is going to spend, in three months, $1.25 billion - for memory deliveries over the next five years. I wonder if they're buying most of the available production as a way to limit competition, as did the inventors of liquid soap:
The original liquid soap was introduced in 1980 by Minnetonka Corporation. Minnetonka cornered the liquid soap market by buying up the entire supply of the plastic pumps needed for the liquid soap dispensers. The Colgate Company acquired the liquid soap business from Minnetonka and renamed the product Softsoap in 1987.
Eventually Minnetonka had competition, but they were prepared for it, on their own timeframe, after they had cashed out to the conglomerate. Textbook study of business strategy (it was a bet-the-company move, since they could only pay for their supply agreements out of projected future sales), and for Apple it's a worthwhile use of the $3 billion cash horde they keep on hand.
Or Perhaps Implied Comment
November 21, 2005 | Arts & Culture | Nature & Environment | People & Society | Science
My local paper had an interesting collection of stories on their "Close-Up: Science" page today. I pass them along without comment.
Oral histories show another side of leading scientists
Reviews the Caltech Archives Oral History Project. A storehouse of interviews with giants of American science and engineering, started in 1978, now encompassing 227 bound volumes, with 53 online, and several more in process.Fit muscles, fit brain?
Daily light exercise appears to reduce oxidation in the brain. Oxidation causes damage to lipids and DNA via free radicals. I'm radically simplifying, no doubt, but it appears oxidation bad; exercise good.Study: Trees beat the heat
Southern-dwelling trees and shrubs moved rapidly north 55 million years ago to survive during a period of global warming. "Rapidly" means they moved about 1,000 miles in 10,000 years.Study: No psychological damage from Navajos' use of peyote
Repeated use of peyote produces no psychological problems or adverse effects. In fact regular (monthly) users had better moods and a greater sense of psychological well-being. A series of test involving spatial skills and strategic reasoning showed no difference between users and non-users.
