billso.com

TechRepublic has a photo gallery of Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 1 through 7, along with pictures of some old PCs. I doubt any of these PCs from the 80s ran IE, as version 1 was released in 1995. This industrial film from 1994 helps set the mood.

Meanwhile, a German website has some photos of Apple prototypes and products from the same period. Check out the 1983 iPhone! Reminds me of Minitel, an online service that most Americans have never heard of, even if it’s still popular in France. See these BBC and Wikipedia. articles for more information.

Erik J. Heels posted a diagram that he used to explain copyright to a child. I found the article on a Boing Boing post.

I drew up a cleaner version in Visio, and have posted it below. As Erick states, it’s just a start, and not a comprehensive explanation of how copyrighted works may be used.

My web site uses a Creative Commons license that provides some additional flexibility for my content, as compared to copyright law. Click the Creative Commons link at the bottom of this page or see this page for more information.

There’s nothing that new in the IS 6010 and IS 7010 RSS feeds that I set up on July 3, but users should be able to select and subscribe to either of these feeds in their web browser, by using the RSS icon in their browsers address bar or toolbar. A browser-based subscription is a good option for users who use their own computer to check this site.

Which feed is which?

For users who read this blog on several different computers or their mobile phone, try a Web-based RSS reader. Just click the RSS logo shown on the IS 6100 or IS 7010 course pages. There are several good readers from Bloglines, Yahoo, Google and other services.

The subscription pages also offer an email option. Yes, users can have the blog articles for their course emailed to them on a regular basis.

There’s no good reason for any of my students to subscribe to all of my RSS feeds. My students should pick the specific feed for their course:

For IS 6100, use http://rss.billso.com/billso6100/

For IS 7010, use http://rss.billso.com/billso7010/

For the entire billso.com blog, including every article in both of the feeds shown above, use http://rss.billso.com/billsocom

For more information about RSS feeds and how I use them in my courses, read my January 23rd article entitled “What’s all this about a blog?” or this more detailed article at softwaregarden.com

Last Saturday we took a tour of the Superferry, and I took a few pictures for this blog. The Alakai arrived in Honolulu in early July and remains docked at Pier 19 while the Coast Guard does its final inspections of the vessel. About 4000 people participated in the event, according to this article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The main cabin is spacious and well-lit. The cafe section has plenty of tables. Voyages can range from 4 to 6 hours, and that’s plenty of time to grab a snack and talk story.

Most of the interior seating in the main cabin is located away from the windows. There are flat-screen displays mounted throughout the cabin. During the tour, the monitors showed a video that must have been shot while the Alakai sailed to Honolulu. On a regular voyage, the monitors will display interesting ocean sights captured by the ship’s video cameras.

There is a spacious first-class cabin on the bow. It costs an extra US$20 a seat. I wonder if the Superferry’s staff will be diligent about keeping the main cabin customers out of the premium areas. I’ve rarely seen flight attendants tell people to return to the main cabin, although that warning is a standard part of the safety briefing these days.

Plenty of amenities, but there’s something missing

First class is the only place where I saw accessible AC outlets, and these were few and far between. We saw perhaps 4 or 5 work carrels in this cabin. At least the few outlets that we found didn’t have a meter attached to them, as they now do at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Anyone who wants to watch a movie on their laptop needs to board the Superferry early or make sure they charged their battery.

There’s no evidence that the Superferry will offer Internet access during voyages, either.

According to an article in yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser, two court cases regarding the ferry’s environmental impact are due to be heard soon.

While I’m glad we got a chance to see the Alakai, it seems that the Superferry’s management had planned for a smaller event:

1. There were no souvenirs available. No free pens. No t-shirts. No hats. Even the boat’s gift shop was closed! This seems like a missed opportunity to get the brand and logo out to the most interested members of the public.
2. The boat seemed short-staffed. Most of the employees were leading very quick tours of the vessel. It was hard to find anyone who could answer a question or two.
3. While the Superferry is taking reservations online and by telephone, I couldn’t find anyone who was taking Superferry reservations during the event. All those willing customers right on board the boat, and no money changing hands?
4. There is no passenger parking at Pier 19. If you want to ride the Superferry without taking your car on board, then take a cab or have a friend drop you at the pier. I hope that the Superferry adds those tips to their walk-on passengers page soon. Most of the tour groups were shuttled in from downtown Honolulu courtesy of the Superferry, and a shuttle service from a remote parking lot might be a good side business.
5. I didn’t see any rental car counters at Pier 19. Perhaps riders should call Enterprise if they need a rental car to pick them up!

My brother sent me a link at Tekenstein with an amusing set of pictures regarding heat sinks. The bigger the heat sink, the more heat it can dissipate. The first set of pictures shows a massive heat sink. Of course, heat sinks must be attached to a CPU in a very careful manner, because the chip can be very fragile. The second set of pictures shows a heat sink that someone screwed directly into a motherboard. Maybe the installer needs to RTFM.

A heat sink is a metal device that helps keep a something else cool. Heat sinks are usually installed on the CPU of a computer to keep the Intel or AMD chip from melting or burning. Sometimes the heat sink includes a fan, to keep air moving. I’ve also seen heat sinks and fans attached to the GPU (graphic processing unit) on a graphics card.

Keep your computer clean and cool

Below are some pictures of heat sinks that I found on Flickr. This image shows several sizes of heat sinks (image courtesy Winston_loves_london).

This heat sink is a typical size for a desktop computer, but it is too clogged with dust to be of much use. Dust can really destroy a computer. It’s important to keep your computer off the floor, and to follow a good set of instructions like these from ask-Leo.com and clean-things.com (image courtesy MShades).