This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on August 19, 2009). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Sometime between August 18th and August 19th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!
- Hands-on With the MiFi Personal Hotspot: "Until you experience a bubble of Wi-Fi that surrounds you wherever you go, you won't know how handy it can be. Sure, having an iPhone is useful, but being able to hop onto the net anywhere using any Wi-Fi-equipped device you like is pretty addictive. You can use it on trains, in cars, or even — as I did — on a bike. Along with my iPod I used Google Maps to navigate my way around the Spanish countryside."
- How to Handle Facebook Privacy Settings for Your Kids: "Facebook users do not always make full use of privacy controls, perhaps because they do not have a full understanding of what personal information may be widely exposed when privacy is not taken into account. Now is the time to instill the privacy habit in your kids. If they make a habit of setting privacy controls on social networks, that lesson will carry over as they move into the workforce and begin to use the internet and other technologies for work and an increasing number of sensitive uses."
- Lessn // ShaunInman.com: "Lessn is an extremely simple, personal url shortener written in PHP with MySQL and mod_rewrite. Download Lessn 1.0.2 and check out the included README.txt for installation instructions (I'm not sure about minimum requirements but I've been using it with PHP 5.2.6 and MySQL 5.0.41)."
- Meanwhile in Alaska: Anchorage’s Summer of Hate: "On Monday, August 17, our newly elected mayor–conservative Dan Sullivan (it's a non-partisan office, so D and R don't apply)–vetoed a gay rights ordinance that the Anchorage Assembly had voted 7-4 to approve on Tuesday, August 11. Although the veto [was] expected from Sullivan, it came as a blow to those committed to making Anchorage a progressive city like many of its West Coast counterparts." Sad. Seattle and Washington haven't been quite as progressive as I'd like — it'd be nice if we were on the list of states supporting gay marriage — but at least we're not as backwards as Alaska seems determined to be.
- Mark Will Read the Entire Twilight Series So You Don’t Have To: "If there's one thing that bothers me, it's unfounded arguments ON THE INTERNET. A lot of people here (myself included) have taken Twilight fans to task for their support of the series of novels written by Stephanie Meyer. At face value, there's a lot to discount about the books: they reinvent the vampire mythology we've come to accept as a society without any respect to history; they are aimed at a young adult audience and quite possibly might be fairly terrible; but most importantly, they've whipped a nation of pre-pubescent girls and middle-aged women into a frenzy that doesn't seem to be going away. And that's the real issue here: Twilight fans, most especially Twi-hards, have ruined the book for thousands of people who have never even read a page simply by being annoying. That's why I'm here: as a non-Twilight fan, I'm going to read the book for you."