Clara and I went out yesterday and adopted a cat. We've been talking about possibly doing this on and off for the past few weeks, and yesterday happened to be the day it all came together.

We got him from an organization called City Critters that finds homes for cats that are in need. Our little dude- we're calling him Bruce right now, not sure if it's "official" yet- was rescued from a Chinese Restaurant, where he'd been used as a mouser and then thrown out.

The restaurant, by the way, is called Fast Wok, and is located at 7th Ave. and 14th St. Since they abandoned someone who is now a member of our family, I am going to boycott them.

Many of us have been anxiously anticipating the day when combo phones (devices that combine a Palm Pilot-like PDA with a cell phone) are practical. The fewer gadgets we have to carry around- and the more functional each gadget becomes- the better.

Early attempts at creating these products have yielded less-than-adequate results- typically rendering the functionality of each aspect of the device subpar.

Has Handspring (soon to be a division of Palm) created a breakthrough device with the upcoming Treo 600?

I really want one, but without Bluetooth (which it seems to lack, but I'm not certain), it's functionality is dimished in my eyes. If it were to have Bluetooth and iSync support, and be available on AT&T's GSM network (which I bet it will be), I'd throw my Sony Ericsson T68i and Palm Tungsten T out my window (and tape it) and then buy a Treo 600. Or the other way around, I suppose.

Want a little background on BSD?

Here's a bit of info on the upcoming Palm OS 6.

National Do Not Call Registry

My friend Bill at work mentioned this guy to me, and I think he's worth looking into.

Apple released OS X, their modern operating system, in the year 2001. Since then, they have released a series of upgrades to OS X that have added stability, features, and polish. The first of these upgrades- 10.1- was offered free to users of 10.0. The second such upgrade- 10.2- was put on sale for $130. That pissed people off.

It was recently announced that the newest upgrade- 10.3, due out by the end of 2003- will also be sold for $130. People are pissed off again.

So the issue is this: There are a lot of people who resent the fact that Apple is charging for their upgrades to OS X.

I disagree strongly with these people.

Do I enjoy paying $130 for software? For anything? Of course not. But I'm a huge fan of Apple Computer, and I realize that when they continue to innovate and create new software products that I want to use, I'm going to have to pay for them, because if I don't, the company will not make any money, and then they will go out of business. It's not as though Apple is sitting on top of an operating system monopoly and mountains of cash- they've got to struggle to survive.

The upgrades to OS X are not critical, nor does anyone who uses a Mac need to upgrade to new versions of OS X to remain productive with their computer. Apple continues to release bug fixes and security updates for users of older versions of OS X. They take care of people who have purchased their products, even if the products aren't the latest versions.

The fact is, Apple has done an amazing job of improving OS X, and their upgrades are very attractive products. Apple is doing exactly what a company like Apple should be doing in an ideal world: Creating new products that excite and inspire their customers, and that lead to sales.

People want Apple's OS X upgrades. People should pay for them and like it.

When Jonathan Forskin turned twenty-eight, he decided to adopt the nickname Johnny.

I had a great evening with some friends who work in the movie trailer business. Guys who love movies and make the previews for new movies that are coming out.

We had some fascinating debate about what it means to be a "good" movie. We discussed why some of us have strong, negative reactions to certain filmmakers. We all got emotional, and we didn't always agree, but it was a great discussion.

Recap to come later...

I've been hanging out with Tod tonight.

I've always loved computers, and operating systems are my favorite aspect of them. One day I'll write a long essay about my years of playing with computers, using operating systems ranging from MS-DOS 4.x to OS/2 to the Amiga to Linux to NT to the Mac... It will be a fantastic epic, for an amazingly small audience.

Until I write that, however, I'm going to slowly satisfy my need to talk to others about my computer obsession by writing in this blog. What a fantastic mechanism for achieving this- I can use a computer, and a cool application of the Internet- to write about how much I love computers.

Anyway, there are several prominent figures- writers, mostly- with whom I have traveled (read) over the years. I'd like to single out John Siracusa, a freelancer whos Mac-writing appears in Ars Technica, as the recipient of my first spotlight.

John's a great writer. He's a fantastic communicator and a very smart guy who can write about complex technology in a way that I think is very appealing and simple. Plus, he's so smart that he ends up answering many of the questions that I, as a reader, begin to form as I read his work. To me, reading John is like reading something that has been carefully constructed for me based on a series of physical and biological tests aimed at finding the ideal sequence of words on a page (or screen) to tickle my fancy.

I bring up John Siracusa now because he writes about the Macintosh, which is my favorite computer platform. (There's a lot that I want to say about my love for the Mac, but I'll save it for "The Essay.") For a number of reasons, these are exciting times for people who love Macs. And since Apple just released enticing details about Panther, the next version of Mac OS X, these are phenomenally exciting times for people who love Macs and love operating systems. This is a great time, then, for me.

I've been reading a lot about Panther, and I've never been more excited about an operating system. Not even close. But to truly understand and appreciate Panther, it's important to have a solid perspective on Mac OS X in general, and John Siracusa's writing on the subject is a fantastic resource.

Go to this page at Ars Technica, scroll to the bottom, and start reading his article entitled "Mac OS X DP2: A Preview." And then read all of the others, progressing chronologically forward in time through "About the finder..."

I love this shit!

Hmmm... Multiple posts made on a single day are listed newest first, which makes a certain kind of sense, but I'd prefer to have them descend from oldest to newest within each day's chunk. I'll figure this out sometime. Any suggestions?

If you're wondering who Tod is, I can tell you that he's the unofficial mascot of my blog. When I originally created this blog in Blogger, I needed to add a description beneath the title. I couldn't think of anything great, so I invented Tod and used his name as part of my description.

This is the first sentence of my blog.

During the summer of 1998, I wrote an online diary of sorts on my web site. I called this section of the site "On the Record," and it was essentially a blog- before blogging became widespread and easy to do. Back in '98, I had to physically manage the structure of the site, and every aspect of it was manual. No auto-posting. Do database-driven content system. No templates. Nothing.

Things have changed, and a lot of people- none of whom I know by name- deserve credit. Blogger is a fantastic, easy-to-use tool that I recommend to anyone interested in creating a blog.

As for the concept behind blogging, and why anyone would want to do it- check back here often and see if what evolves helps answer that question for you. I imagine it will, one way or another.