Tom from Norway: Archive

Dear Google: This is how you fix email for ever

Although I doubt it will ever happen, this is how Google could singlehandedly, simply, and with very little work fix email for ever. This would ensure that Phishing, Spam, email hacking and information being sent to the wrong people would be a FAR smaller problem than it is now: Implement public key encryption in Gmail using an open format, and force all businesses to use it. I’m not saying...

Oct 8th

Apr 16th

My moms puppy has invented a new game wherein he steals my handkerchief every chance he gets. It’s getting embarrassing, this is clearly just a new version of his “sockstealinggame” - his creative output has really been suffering this quarter.

Aug 3rd

I need a keyword search extension for Safari 5

In other words - I need keywurl for the new system! (http://alexstaubo.github.com/keywurl/) If someone would make this, I would gladly donate 20$

Jun 9th

Dear Internet

Having enjoyed your humor and entertainment for many many years, it is most saddening that this appears to have been a passing fad. The “memes” of 2010 have been most disappointing, none lasting more than a few weeks and none having any creativity. Note that I’m not firing you, Internet, but this should be considered a written warning. — The Reader

May 6th

Safari needs plugins

The only thing keeping me with Firefox over Safari, which is faster, smoother and for some reason just feels better, is plugin-support. And no, I don’t mean SMBL, that’s buggy and limited.

Apr 25th

Dear Internet:

Someone liking an item of pop culture that you find distasteful is no reason to dislike that person. — Santa

Apr 14th

Why Lando wears Han's clothes at the end of Empire...

It’s cause he didn’t bring his luggage when they escaped from Cloud City! Obviously, when Han becomes frozen, his clothes (and his cabin, most likely) are then available, so he can take a shower and get some clean clothes. Jesus, it’s not rocket science, people!

Apr 7th

How fast do they go?

I am now the proud owner of not one, but two SSD drives. The speed is good, but not great. Not yet. The last few years have been the birth of the SSD industry, but the best is yet to come: the golden age! Over the next 5-10 years HDDs will die away, and SSDs will be faster and bigger than anything we can imagine now. In fact, I predict that in less than five years we’ll be talking about IO...

Mar 21st

Tabletmania

So from all the tablets announced at CES, I figure MAYBE three will still be around in six months in some for or another. The problem is - which? The Freescale stuff is amazing, so I’d put my money on that one, but the MS/HP one is pure crap.

Jan 10th

Re: Health care and democracy

In spectating the Health Care debates and horse trading in the US houses of Congress, I can’t help but think two separate but equal thoughts: money is in fact NOT speech, and wouldn’t it be nice if you americans wished for an actual democracy for christmas instead of Zhu-Zhu pets?

Dec 22nd

Dec 10th

Review of the Sony Reader Pocket Edition

So I bought a PRS-300, also known as “the little one without touch”. It was cheap, it radiates quality, the screen is crisp as can be, and I absolutely LOVE it! Here’s the problem: Sony sucks. Somehow they managed to make this beautiful e-book reader, and fucked up the entire ecosystem. The software is so bad it makes me want to hurl (or use Calibre), and the integrated...

Oct 22nd

The List

No one has ever asked me to make a list of good sci-fi movies to watch, so I decided I’d do it. 2001 - This is it. The very best Sci-Fi movie ever made, and one of the first with the by now classical “angry computer wants to kill people” plot. If you’ve never seen this one, GET THE FUCK OFF MY BLOG TILL YOU DO! Star Wars - Some people thing the later three/prequels were...

Oct 20th

E-books

Here in Norway, the publishing industry are planning to release all new books as e-books either this fall or early next year. Meanwhile, Kindle 2 has just been announced worldwide, and there’s a lot of buzz about other readers being announced from both bookstores and publishing houses. In other words, the time has come for this forward-thinking yet cash-strapped geek to get a reader! The...

Oct 15th

Is it too early for Dire Straits to be cool again?

I’m working on a playlist for something, and I can’t avoid putting a Dire Straits track in there, so this got me thinking: have the cool kids gotten over hating on Dire Straits now so we can peek out of the closet and unplug our headsets? Also - when the FUCK is Tom Waits going to sell more than ten records? The man is not only a lyricist of Shakespearian quality, but his voice would...

Jul 25th

Long absence explained, and gdgt

Been “not posting” for about two months, but that’s cause I just started a new job, and then moved two weeks later. Things are just getting normal again. I’ve been playing with Gdgt, and I like the concept, but not the design. Now I’ve never been much of a web designer, but I like to think of myself as an about average “user”, so my vote should count for...

Jul 10th

I'm a stock genious!

Played with Marketwatch’s Virtual Stock Exchange for the last week, and I’ve made $15.000 with a $100.000 pot of playmoney to start with. In other words, if I schmuck like me can make money on the stocks right now, people with money should start buying stuff. Edit, a few days later: Yeah, I lost it all, and am now under 90k. The stock market is bullshit :(

May 6th

Dear TV networks, I have an idea for you

Hi! I’m a loyal viewer, and I own more TV-series on DVD than socks. I have a suggesting to you regarding cancellations of shows. I know you have to cancel shows that don’t generate money, it’s capitalism. I get it. In fact, I’m so used to it now, I can see it ahead of time. However, when you do cancel a show that’s in the middle of it’s stride, like Sarah...

Apr 28th

The future of used books

Right across the street from my doctor’s office, lies a used book store. It’s really just a tiny storefront with windows full of stacked books, and a huge storage area in the back. All you can see from outside is shelf after shelf of books of all sizes and subjects. At first I was interested, but I never have any money, and they never take card in these places, so I used to look...

Apr 27th

Apr 24th

God I hate Vista (Gamers Remix)

So I got the ol’ strategy gamers hitch in my step yesterday, and wanted to play a new game (for me), Company of Heroes. Problem: it’s windows only. Solution: I have a Vista partition for just such an occation. Difficulty: Vista really really really sucks. I know it’s been a cliche, and by now everyone is being told that Vista “really isn’t that bad”. Well, it...

Apr 23rd

Switching to Safari

For performance reasons, I’ve been trying over and over again to switch from Firefox to Safari. I’ve used Firefox since Phoenix 0.1, and I’ve always LOVED it, but on my aging Macbook, Flash hasn’t worked right in Firefox for years. It still uses a good 50 % of my CPU on Safari, but at least I can still do other things. The reasons I’ve never been able to switch...

Apr 12th

I’m gonna have to wipe my Macbook. Both my Leopard install and my bootcamp XP install are flaky at best, and the last two days I haven’t been able to boot into XP, I have had to use VMWare. I usually like wiping my machines, it gives me a feeling of cleanliness, but this time it’s only three months since last time, which gives me an icky feeling that maybe it’s the...

Apr 9th

Drobo Pro →

When I win the lottery (L-Day), this is one of the first things I will buy. The other two are a nice apartment and a second dog.

Apr 7th

The Trash Bag Equilibrium

When I go shopping, I take my food home in plastic bags, which I then use as trash bags. For some reason, as long as I’ve done this, I have never run out of trash bags, and I’ve never had so many that I’ve had to throw any out. This is the closest I come to believing in a supreme power - The Trash Bag Equilibrium

Apr 7th

Started a tumblog in order to keep from having to post long sentences over several tweets. This is better, and a link will (I think) be sent to my twitter every time I update it. Now I just need twitter followers and smart things to say.

Apr 7th