Andrew Rollins

Time Magazine has an interactive representation of some statistics about Americans on their web site. How much do we drink? How much free time do we have? How happy are we on the job? How much time do we spend commuting? These are some of the stats they show. I particularly like the ”City Population Shift” tab on the Commute map. It shows you how people shift in and out of major cities during the day/night cycles.

Also, as an interesting aside, I managed to find a draft version of this piece. It looks like Time forgot to remove it. Check out the broken version here.

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I found an article on the Wall Street Journal’s web page titled “Giving Stuff Away on the Internet.” It’s written by Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comics. The arcticle is a well written piece about problems Adams faced “giving stuff away” for free on his blog and web sites, especially where it concerns his non-Dilbert work.

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When I’m browsing the web, occasionally I’ll happen upon an image where a portion is blurred or pixelated to block sensitive information such as a number. This irks me to no end, because as this article by Dheera Venkatraman demonstrates, blurring can be cracked in the same way one might crack a weak password, with a dictionary attack.

Why would someone blur an alphanumeric string when they could just as easily erase or cover it altogether? This is a classic example of having good intentions but making poor choices. I can understand a blurred face, but something as easily cracked as short numbers… you can do better Internet. Dheera sums it up much more eloquently than I can:

“Remember, you want to leave your visitors with NO information, not blurred information.”

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Finished the trip at about 9pm eastern time today, making for a total travel time of four and a half days. I’ll post some pictures soon along with links to travel logs on the Pansy Patrol web site courtesy of Henry and Clint (whom I traveled with on the trip).

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I’m off on my cross country trip going from Seattle to Boston. The trip should take me five to six days, and I’m doing it with two friends and four vehicles between us. I’ll try and snap some pictures along the way.

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Gizmodo has a comprehensive review of Windows Home Server with plenty of screenshots. For more information, here is Microsoft’s page about Windows Home Server.

Windows Home Server is meant to fulfill the storage needs of multi-PC homes. Some of its features include centralized backups, easier in-home file sharing, and media access across the Internet using a free web address.

The Home Server team has done great job, and I’m a huge fan of their efforts, but I’m not sure if home users are quite ready for such a product. Microsoft has tried to make the experience as easy as possible, but even with a great interface, it’s hard for the average home user to comprehend the benefits of things like centralized storage.

The addressable market for Home Server must therefore be pretty small, but when you consider the total possible market - all home users - then you have quite a large market. Microsoft is making an early entrance with the hopes of educating users on the need for such a product. Over time, the market will grow and Home Server will be there waiting.

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I wouldn’t normally post this, but the Web 2.0 comment got me to laugh: flowchart for determining if a web site sucks.

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Here is an amazingly cynical but extremely truthful presentation given by James Howard Kunstler regarding suburban development in America. This was given at the 2004 TED conference. Visit the TED web site for more interesting videos.

About 6 minutes into the video there is a mention of Boston and the dismal design of Government Center. While I’m mostly a fan of the architecture in the downtown area, I agree with Kunstler complaints regarding that particular public space.

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