All posts by Paul
Research Suggests E-Readers Are “Too Easy” To Read
Here on slashdot you can read:
New research suggests that the clear screens and easily read fonts of e-readers makes your brain “lazy.” According to Neuroscience blogger Jonah Lehrer, using electronic books like the Kindle and Sony Reader makes you less likely to remember what you have read because the devices are so easy on the eyes. From the article: “Rather than making things clearer, e-readers and computers prevent us from absorbing information because their crisp screens and fonts tell our subconscious that the words they convey are not important, it is claimed. In contrast, handwriting and fonts that are more challenging to read signal to the brain that the content of the message is important and worth remembering, experts say.”
Personally I think this is nonsense. The people commenting on this article (hit the link for those) agree.
No comment
Chrome
I have mostly abandoned Firefox and switched to Google Chrome.
Firefox became more and more bloaty and heavy (I admit that adding plugins and such must have helped). But the kicker for me was yesterday evening when I tried to get to a page on Yahoo for a mailing list that I co-manage. After accepting that I might see material only suited for 18+ (I am, really), I saw a glimpse of the list page and then I had to confirm again that I am 18+. And again, and again and… so forth.
In Seamonkey there was no problem, nor in Chrome.
Fuel
Just read this in an engadget article:
“Oh, sure — gas is bound to hit $4 a gallon before 2020”
This made me laugh. Loud.
In the Netherlands today, fuel price for regular unleaded is €1.54 per litre. That is €5.96 per gallon. According to an online exchange site, that is $7.28. Per gallon. It’s not 2020 yet. Welcome to the real world.
LOL!
Spoken like a true sailor
Original at VeryDemotivational
50 years of COBOL
50 years of COBOL
The Smithsonian‘s National Museum of American History has a new section of their website dedicated to documenting COBOL’s history. An exhibit will open at the museum this spring.”
Yay. Recognition for COBOL.
Epic
Hilda
W00T! Hilda’s 3rd, The Challenge, is now up on Smashwords.
Kill the initiative
Yes. Kill the initiative.
The CPNB (the society for promoting Dutch books) always brings out the “book week gift” each year. Here in the Netherlands we have a “book week”, specially promoting books and reading, and each person who buys a book then gets a small book for free. The “book week gift”.
People who buy an ebook get nothing. Now a man decided to bring out the alternative ebook week gift in this week.
The CPNB is going to take steps against this initiative because “he is stealing the name ‘book week gift'” and “it is bad that individuals try to make money of this”. The person who brings out the ebook week gift is giving it away, so how is he making money off this?
The CPNB states that they plan to bring out an ebook week gift themselves, but that they can’t get this done for 2011, because “this is a large and complex operation”. With the current state of automation and wizards for everything computer, I sort of fail to see the problem, but they probably know better.
The person who made the ebook week gift probably cheated. He offered the CPNB several times to do this together, but the CPNB never responded to that.