☑ Choose a todo application

I’ve been looking for a way to manage my tasks for a few years now. I’ve tried web based approaches as well as desktop apps. After years of misery here is the current state of affairs.

Microsoft’s Acid Reflux

Microsoft recently claimed, among other things, that they follow browser standards and that indications otherwise are only myths. Below are results from the ACID 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_3) tests I conducted with all browsers I happened to have, including Internet Explorer 8. I was surprised by the results, but I really should not have been.

ArseTech: With support like that, I’d rather be on my own

After more than a decade, I bought a new computer game. I unpacked it. I installed it. The game didn’t start. I was able to fix the game, but the IT support at EA Games is permanently kaputt.

ArseTech

My expectation of technology is very simple – it must work. If I buy a computer, I want the computer to work. I shouldn’t be forced to use my IT knowledge just to get it to start. If a mechanic buys a new car, the car should work fine and it’s working should not depend on whether the owner is a car mechanic. It would be unacceptable if the car were to break down the next day. Further it would be even more unacceptable to expect the mechanic to fix the issues, just because he knows how to.

Yet when it comes to computers people accept that they will not be reliable and are happy to tolerate very shitty products. Well I have no intention to put up with that sort of attitude. So I will start to include product reviews on my blog.

Now a website like arstechnica is pretty useful when it comes to news and reviews. I don’t really want to compete with them. I just want to rant about things that shit me. And I will call my tech review rants ArseTech.

Overindulging on scientific confectionery

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator facility at the Swiss-French border, accelerates protons which create other subatomic particles as they collide. One does this in order to test and expand the theories describing the subatomic world. At first sight, the research would appear to be purely academic with no practical applications. That however is not quite true.

The most common reasons raised against funding research such as the LHC include the premise that the money could be spent on more ‘valid’ causes and that this sort of research has no practical application, hence it is just scientific indulgence. Here I look at the latter premise.

Colourful Google

The company synonymous with the Internet has finally done what seems rather obvious – release their version of an internet browser. But is it just a browser?

Upgrade to lemon

Upgrading software can often mean bug fixes and new features. But it can also spell out disaster. Well almost. Upgrading Apple’s software, now that does spell out disaster.

Dentures for Leopard

Think of a leopard. Big cat with sharp teeth. You wouldn’t want to mess with one of those. Thanks to a recent security update, Apple’s Leopard now also has sharp teeth. So what was missing? And what are these new dentures?

Hidden stupidity of Apple

I’ve accidentally overwritten a hidden file in my home directory on my mac. My first thought was: SHIT! My second thought was: GREAT!

Who watches the watchers?

I got fed up with various issues with the new Mac OS X to the extend that I was actually bothering to report them to Apple. However, when I finally tracked down the place where you report the problems, I got an error message as I was trying to log into the issue reporting system. So how do I report that the issue reporting system itself has an issue?  I guess it got flooded with comments by the somewhat upset Leopard users. If one were to call the OS 10.5 users, the Leopards, then the issue reporting system seems to have fallen pray to a pack of vicious cats.