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Dennis Ritchie Has Died.

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:47:00 -0400

Being the creator of Unix and the C programming language, Dennis had a non-trivial impact on the world of computing. When I dig up some old interviews on his time at Bell Labs, I’ll post them.

Steve Jobs, I'll always like you.

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:12:00 -0400

Not much more to say than that. Thanks for everything.

-D

Leo Apotheker, you were wrong for HP.

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

You’re a smart fellow, no doubt about it. And axing the Palm hardware (and potentially WebOS)… well, the jury’s still out on that one, but I can’t say that was an entirely bad move.

But overpaying for Autonomy. I get a sense that you’re trying to make HP into IBM. That’s going to be a tough job. Why does HP need to be Oracle or IBM?

And axing the PC division? Not a great call. HP is a standout in this field. Remember, when IBM did the same thing, the only thing they were particularly good at was laptops.

Anyway, like Yahoo!, there’s the Board of Directors issue again. You have their full support and then they axe you. Not very fair to you, but as an HP shareholder, I wasn’t thrilled about the direction you envisioned.

-D

Carol Bartz, I still like you.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:36:00 -0400

Maybe you weren’t the turnaround artist Yahoo! was seeking. But you were a solid operator.

Quite possibly, Yahoo! would be bleeding had you not stepped in. The big Y! has problems, but bleeding is not one of them. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have been replaced - I really don’t know and everyone’s going to have opinion on that. But you were refreshing and brave and I wish you well.

Oh yeah, shareholders need to start looking at one entity that has repeatedly failed them over the years - the Board of Directors.

-D

The Bizarre Bazaar in Istanbul. This guy is the poster boy for...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:05:00 -0400

The Bizarre Bazaar in Istanbul. This guy is the poster boy for business diversity: a phone charger, a video card, and used shoes.

An “iPhone” in Istanbul, found in the Bizarre...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:01:00 -0400

An “iPhone” in Istanbul, found in the Bizarre Bazaar. Of course it’s real - it even says “Designed by USA” !

“iPhones” in the Bizarre Bazaar in Istanbul. ...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:50:00 -0400

“iPhones” in the Bizarre Bazaar in Istanbul. There’s one that’s too small, one that’s too large, and one that just the right size.

In search of Kodak U-8 in Istanbul, part 1

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:47:00 -0400

I’m sure I’ll eventually go on and on about Istanbul, but I’ll start out with a techie problem, a search through a most bizarre bazaar, a walk into a wonderland of geekery, and ultimately, a very obvious solution to my problem.

A few weeks ago I was running late for a flight to Amsterdam and packed my wife’s Kodak Easyshare camera (MX1063). She loves it, I don’t, but it was readily available and there wasn’t time to find my own camera, charging dock, etc. One good thing this camera has going for it, something lacking on many older cameras, is the ability to charge via USB. Quickly, I glanced at the charging port (mini USB), grabbed a mini USB cable along with some other small cable it was tangled up with, and ran out the door.

Now fast forward to Istanbul. After days of snapping pictures, the battery runs low, so it’s time to charge. I pulled out the mini USB cable, putting aside the cable it was tangled with, plugged it in, and … uh oh. This wasn’t a mini USB at all! Not even close. I’m not sure how I could have been off by so much, but this port is micro USB size, but it’s not a micro USB either!

Ok, it looks to be some kind of proprietary interface. WHY? As much as I dislike Apple’s proprietary iPod and iPhone interfaces, I understand (but object to) their reasoning from a business perspective - they are dominant in the market, and they can strong-arm fees from vendors. Of course, Apple’s not the only one who does this, and to lessen the blow, one can find an iPod cable anywhere in the world. But Kodak? Not exactly the market leader in point-and-shoot cameras, using an industry-standard interface would be a plus. Come on…

Let the hunt begin. Where can I find this Kodak (a U-8 interface, it turns out) cable in Istanbul?

The search began in Taksim, north of the Golden Horn, to the shopping district where one can find anything designed in the west and mass-produced in the east. Find a Starbucks. Find a Gloria Jean’s (really? yeah, really). Find all the fast food and clothing chain stores you want, although why one would want any of these when in Istanbul is another question.

I was there for the electronics superstore. I can’t recall the name, but it had an orange-colored theme and the staff seemed much more with it than their Best Buy counterparts here in the States. An orange-clad guy looks at the Kodak and shakes his head. “CKG”, he says, “You go to CKG”. Pointing toward the old city, he says: “Eminönü. CKG.” So I work out that this CKG place is in Eminönü, near the New Mosque (aka “Yeni Cami”, and only in Istanbul will they call a mosque built in the 1500’s “new”). He seems to suggest that I can’t miss it, although I’ve been through Eminönü countless times and I’ve never seen a CKG. Ok… let’s continue.

Instead of going directly to find CKG, I ran some errands that took me quickly past the New Mosque (where I still didn’t see CKG). After my errands, I happen to be near the Grand Bazaar. It its shadow to the west, there is a smaller bazaar, existing in an alternate reality, which I’ll call the Bizarre Bazaar.

David Lynch could not script more randomness and oddity. Examples? Well, how about the stall selling plastic lighters and baby clothes? The stall selling three different models of iPhones, each a different size? One guy was selling exactly three things: a phone charger, a video card, and old shoes.

As I navigated the universe of strange and mismatched merchandise (an amplifier, plates, and silverware ?!), I still kept my eye out for the elusive U-8 cable. There was no luck here, despite several vendors selling almost every conceivable cable and charger type, which included an old Palm III cradle. But no proprietary Kodak moment for me here.

View my Istanbul map

Coming next: In search of Kodak U-8 in Istanbul, part 2