Gaige B. Paulsen Articles


Hybrids pass muster in taxi test

Good news for cab drivers, the environment, and Ford Motor Company. An article from The Auto Channel (hats off to Gizmodo for the pointer) describes the result of the experimental introduction of Hybrid Ford Escapes into the taxi systems in New York and San Francisco. The result is that the …

Philips sponsors magazine simplification

It probably wasn't two days ago that Carol and I were talking about how annoying it's become that magazines now often bury their tables of contents deep within their ad-laden pages, in some cases allowing ads to interlope between the pages of the table. Well, Philips Electronics has noticed and …

Audi and the backseat espresso

Audi, makers of fine German automobiles (that haven't driven themselves suddenly and rapidly for years) has found the perfect way to keep drivers awake during long commutes--espresso! An article from TechDigest has the pictures of the apparently- working machine.

17" MacBook Pro now available

The online Apple Store is indicating 24 hour shipment for the 2.16GHz Core Duo 17" MacBook Pro. Feature-wise, it adds Firewire 800 and a DL DVD burner. Other than that, the specs are basically as you would expect: 17" display instead of 15" and a bunch of the optional …

Corgi introduces iCar

Just because you don't have enough accessories for your iPod (remember when the iPod was an accessory?), Corgi has announced iCar. You read that right, Corgi, makers of probably the best quality 1:24 die cast models you can get (in mass production, at least). The iCar moves the car …

Not all bugs are security problems

I understand if everybody takes this with a grain of salt given my particular predilection for Macintosh computers and OS X in particular, but there's been a lot of talk lately about the "increasing number" of found "security holes" on the OS X operating system. Unfortunately, the folks who find …


C-Span StudentCam winners announced

So, for those interested in being a bit happier about the future of journalism (and perhaps even the world in general), check out C-Span's StudentCam for some interesting videos made by school children (mostly high school, but some junior high). Issues covered are from intelligent design to piracy, school safety …

DMCA effects after 7 years

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released version 4 of their report Unintended Consequences: Seven Years under the DMCA, an account of the effects of the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) after we've had a chance to see what happens. Not many surprises in it, but those unfamiliar may find …

USA Today clearly doesn't get it

Andre Cantor, writing for USA Today, posits this article, where he honestly suggests that Boot Camp will encourage Mac users to switch to Windows. Where to begin? First, this guy is the technology writer and self-avowed "know-it-all" who covers technology for the Roanoke Times, a former editor for PC Magazine …

Commercial Virtualization hits the Mac

Just because there haven't been enough stories about running XP on your Macintosh, here's a new one: Parallels of Herndon, VA (that's right down the street) has announced availability of a beta version of Parallels Workstation for the Macintosh, available today. Unlike the solutions to date, this is a commercially …

Why do you care about Boot Camp?

So, there's been much discussion today about Boot Camp, Apple's new product for booting an Intel Macintosh into Windows XP. Reactions are basically falling into three tags: Yee- haw! ; Who cares? ; and It's the End of the World! I'd like to hear what the readers here think, so come on …

Netflix joins the patent-abuse fray

Well, I like NetFlix, but I have to say that their lawsuit announced this morning against BlockBuster is beyond ridiculous. They are going after the classic business idea patent--I say classic sarcastically, if you can't tell. There seems to also be a method patent for the queue management system that …


GM learns what not to do on the net

Somebody should have told General Motors that it would be a bad idea to put content control in the hands of the entire world. That only works if you have no enemies. However, as CNet notes in this article today, Chevrolet is now realizing that not everybody approves of the …

Google Romance

Google's rolled out another new service, Google Romance, their bid for the online dating game. It looks like competing with eBay, iTunes, and Yahoo! just isn't enough for the multi-billion-dollar baby. Perhaps this is why they filed for another $2B in stock sales earlier this week?

It costs the US Economy...

OK, here's a great article from Slate talking about all of those claims that "it costs the US Economy $..." however much each year for some stupid thing that obviously doesn't cost the US Economy however much a year.

VPN from MacBook Pro

I've been using a MacMini running OSX Server to do VPN at my house for about a year now. It worked very well until I got my new MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, there have been problems since then. I now have a call into Apple and a nice work-around. I'm not …

Dual-boot is a reality

It was announced yesterday on OnMac.net that Blanka and Narf (obviously not their real names) have won the prize of $13,854 for figuring out how to dual-boot a MacBook Pro (or Intel Mini, or Intel iMac) into Windows or OS X. The solution (downloadable here) is a bit …

ExtremeTech talks about Conroe

Conroe, the CPU theorized to be at the heart of Apple's upcoming desktop line, is now being shown by Intel. The folks at ExtremeTech got a chance to take a look and were quite impressed according to their preview.