Carl Setzer

From our friends at CNET: " Google to launch Friend Connect for the social Web" It's good to see Facebook getting onboard this train . When Dave quotes Mike Arrington, I need to disagree. "The reason these companies are are rushing to get products out the door is because whoever is a player in this space is likely to control user data over the long run." Not quite, or I at least hope that's not THE reason. It needs to be about having access to data; businesses need to give up the idea of owning it. The People, or at least This Person, are saying that WE own our data, and we're providing YOU (the business in question) access. Another piece of this equation needs to be ensuring we have the ability to remove access to those who abuse their responsibilities. More on that latter.

I have explored computers deeply, I guess. I have studied Unix, FORTRAN, COBOL, and C. Just as importantly, I know what all this stuff is, which makes me a bit geeky. However, it was never my passion. All the way back in junior high, when I made a great deal of noise about wanting to work for NASA and build robots, I would read Plato, Campbell, ''The Beother's Karamatsov'', ''The Scarlett Letter'', ''The Red Badge Of Courage'', and such. Geeky, perhaps, but not of the same venue. Only rarely, and with effort, did I read sciencey text. My main passions, as defined by what I love to read in my free-time. Would be poetry and History. My interest in Computer Science, et al, is much more linked to power and, more recently, money. A desire to prove people wrong about me, to prove my intelligence also drove this, and it's lingered way too long as a psychological subtext.

One thing that I would love to have seen, and that would have made me run out and by Vista, or any OS, is a focus on speed and efficiency. I'm quite sure that Vista is in the same boat as all the rest of the MS OS offerings. More features, more bloat, more RAM, less efficiency and S-L-O-W. At some point, I want all the OS options to focus on using less resources. Use what I have better! Of course, then I wouldn't NEED to run out and buy something new every few years (months?). Sigh, I'm back to cynicism again...

A scary new phisher exploit (pointed out by Deb at WXPnews.com ). Eeek! Phishers get deadly serious Phishers have traditionally used trickery and deception to gain access to your personal information and, subsequently, your money. But now they're resorting to threats of violence; a recent phishing scam purports to be from a professional hit man who's been hired to kill you, but will drop the contract if you give him enough cash. Read more about it here: http://www.wxpnews.com/DRML9K/070116-Phishers