May 12th, 2002

Will Watson Make Web Browsers Obsolete?

May 12th, 2002

[Original Link] I hope they mean this rhetorically. I started to write about the success of the web being largely due to its provision of a single user interface to replace the previous melee of gopher, ftp, wais, news etc. Programs such as Watson, by trying to return to this world, were therefore taking a backward step.

But then I realised I needed to think a bit more about this, because if I really believed it I would always use a webmail system instead of a dedicated mail client. That led to other thoughts. Mmm. Will write more when I’ve chewed it for a while…

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May 5th, 2002

Who’s picking up the Bill?

May 5th, 2002

[Original Link] An article in the Guardian about some of the recent goings-on here in Cambridge.

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May 1st, 2002

Looking back, looking forward

May 1st, 2002

Over the last couple of days I’ve been moving from the now-deceased AT&T Labs Cambridge into the University of Cambridge Computer Lab, a reversal of the move I made 6 years ago, though the Computer Lab is now in its shiny new building. Very strange going back – many familar faces in a completely unfamiliar environment.

It’s exciting, too, though. One of the aims of my new company, Ellipsian, is to be very closely tied to the University and to find new ways for University projects and expertise to influence the outside world. And vice versa. We’re already starting to see some interesting possibilities…

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April 26th, 2002

Mobile Surprises

April 26th, 2002

Two surprises today.

The first is to discover that my new phone, a cheap and unassuming Ericsson T39, actually has a builtin POP email client and can be configured to send and receive email via my regular account over GPRS, which I’m starting to believe is therefore worth the rather high costs charged here in the UK.

Setting the phone up for a non-standard connection isn’t entirely trivial, though, and the second surprise, when I called my service provider, Orange, was to get through immediately to somebody who understood my rather technical questions and knew the answers. And this was just before midnight. Amazing!

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April 22nd, 2002
April 21st, 2002

The news is out!

April 21st, 2002

[Original Link] John Naughton’s article on the closing of the lab where I’ve worked for the past six years.

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April 20th, 2002

Those witty young men in their flying machines.

April 20th, 2002

[Original Link] A nice story on John Naughton’s weblog.

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A year ago…

April 20th, 2002

[Original Link] the press was covering the imminent demise of the Trojan Room Coffee Pot. I can’t believe it’s only a year. So much has happened since then. Nothing quite so momentous, of course 🙂

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April 15th, 2002

Mac OS X tip for the day

April 15th, 2002

[Original Link] This describes how to modify the Internet Explorer resources so that the IE location bar uses Google by default for searching. You just type a location of ‘? woody allen’, for example, to search.
I did this several months ago and use it every day; so much so that I’d forgotten it wasn’t the default behaviour. If you use IE on OS X, try this. Small hassle. Big rewards.

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SMTPswitch

April 15th, 2002

[Original Link] Today I release my first ever Mac OS X utility! Wait – don’t get over-excited! It’s a simple bit of AppleScript which changes the SMTP server of all your Mail accounts at once; very handy if, like me, you have several accounts and move between networks frequently. Absolutely no use to anybody else.

Update:This really isn’t necessary on more recent versions of Mac OS X, so I’ve deleted it.

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April 14th, 2002

Impressions after riding a Segway

April 14th, 2002

[Original Link] Dan Bricklin, lucky chap, has had a really good play on a Segway and records his experiences.

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[untitled]

April 14th, 2002

Microsoft Hailstorm (aka World Domination v2.0) is dead!
New York Times story. [Memex 1.1] Bit of a non-starter, really. How many will mourn its passing?

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