Microsoft has announced that Encarta, its digital encyclopedia, will be dead by year’s end. First off, hands up who thought it had died long ago? Secondly, and before we get on to the whole Wikipedia thing, I’d like to make a more general comment about Microsoft: its online stuff is awful, and Encarta is no … Read more
For those listening to my slot on Radio Australia’s Breakfast Show, here’s what I was talking about: Inauguration fever: How it may have tipped the way we use the Net, just like the election did. (People who weren’t there weren’t googling, they were twittering and facebooking.) ‘Dark ages’ White House:The White House runs on ‘six … Read more
(2009 June: added two no delete editors) Editors A working list of tools to reduce writers’ distraction. I’ve been using some of them for a while; I was inspired by Cory Doctorow’s latest post on the matter to collect what I could together. All are free unless otherwise stated. No backspace/delete editors Typewriter “All you … Read more
Is it just me, or are software developers beginning to get their users? For a long time I’ve felt the only real innovation in software has been in online applications, Web 2.0 non-apps—simple services that exist in your browser—but now it seems that ordinary apps are getting better too. Evernote, I feel, is one that’s … Read more
I make an appearance on the excellent Breakfast Club show on Radio Australia each Friday at 01:15 GMT and some listeners have asked me post links to the stuff I talk about, so here they are. Follow football on your cellphone through vibrations: a team in Scandavia has come up with a way to convey … Read more