off

Off-topic: It costs $482.79 to get a decent pizza in San Francisco

If you grew up and/or spent much time on the east coast of the US you know that the pizza you get in the tri-state area is one of the greatest foods available on earth. Wired's Joe Brown makes the joke that the only way to get good pizza here in SF is to jump on a flight to NYC, grab a cab, a pie and some aluminum foil and you are golden.

Good, even decent pizza remains my white whale here in SF. And yes, we've tried all of them, cheap or fancy; A16, Delfina, Giorgios, Pizzetta 211, blah, blah, blah. All are mediocre to "acceptably pizza" at best.… Read more

Barack Obama's website was not hacked

It is critical that Internet users be skeptical. In fact, skepticism may be more important than any anti-malware software.

The latest illustration of this was an April Fools joke pulled by Emmanuel Goldstein and the gang at 2600. As they explained on their show, Off The Hook, on WBAI in New York, they started by hiding the true ownership of one of their domains.

When a domain, such as hope.net (the one used in the joke) is registered, the person or organization that pays for it, identifies themselves in a public directory known as WhoIs. Some registrars offer a … Read more

Back in the good old days when I had time to think

I had lunch with Gavin Clarke (The Register) and Dave Rosenberg (MuleSource) today at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC). We ate in the hotel restaurant, rather than getting free food at the conference, because I needed a break. I was willing to pay for solitude. I needed to go "offline" for a bit.

Throughout lunch Dave was checking email on his Blackberry, and took a few calls (from his wife, so no foul called on that). It was probably the only time all day that I was disconnected. (I'm typing this from the back of a taxi.)

Gavin and I reminisced about our days in Canterbury, England, where we both did some of our studies. I used to walk to class - 45 minutes through "downtown" Canterbury - and remember having thoughts. I haven't had a thought for years (as regular readers of this blog will know). I don't have time. I'm too busy emailing, blogging, checking Arsenal scores, or doing something online.… Read more

Postal Service site lets anyone hold your mail

Wednesday night on Off The Hook, a radio show on WBAI in New York, Emmanuel Goldstein and the guys from 2600 discussed a feature on the Web site of the U.S. Postal Service that can only be described as ill-conceived.

If you're going to be away from home for a while, the your local post office can hold your mail to avoid an overflowing mailbox. Fine.

In the old days (and you can still do this), you went to the office and filled out a form (PDF). Someone on the show who has done this said the Postal … Read more

OpSource SaaS Summit (Verdict: Great event)

While I was strolling through the SaaS Summit yesterday someone made the comment that the OpSource guys "could always become an events company if things went south with their core business" which I agree with. The event yesterday (and today) was great. Very well done and very professional.

I was on the Integration panel in the afternoon and I think I avoided doing too much damage to my fellow panelists who seemed intent on being living commercials for their companies.

A few interesting things I gleaned: -Taleo is a very cool, fairly large public company that I … Read more

A few points to consider about off-site backups

A few days ago, David Strom wrote an article in The New York Times about making off-site file backups over the Internet. There is no one right answer when it comes to making backups, but I'd like to expand on a few points he raised.

At the beginning of the article, Strom says that "for a few hundred dollars a year you can buy inexpensive protection." Hopefully, readers weren't scared off by the price. Many off-site storage companies will hold backup copies of your files for much less money. Personally, I started out paying $10 a … Read more

Toshiba: Our TVs can be turned off, you know

As you may know, here at Crave we're big fans of the off switch. But as we've previously noted, it's an endangered species. Happily, Toshiba is keen to stop David Cameron from mounting a full-on campaign against LCD TVs by allowing its customers to turn them off properly.

You probably know what modern TVs are like. You're pretty lucky if you can find one with a proper off switch--sometimes you get a second standby button on the TV, but the good clunking motion we remember from CRTs of the '80s have long gone. This is, as … Read more

Who profits from semiconductor spin-offs?

We've seen a horde of semiconductor spin-offs these past 10 years. Why all of a sudden? Companies are refocusing on core competencies and unloading unprofitable, sometimes debt-ridden businesses. There's also an ongoing and apparently interminable disaggregation of the electronics industry.

The latest trend is for semiconductor companies to spin off product or application-focused companies. I'm not sure that's always the right move, but you'll see a lot more of that in the coming years.

Here are 10 notable chip divestitures. A bunch of them went public during the tech bubble--exciting for them, not so much for long-term investors who, for the most part, took it in the shorts.… Read more

'Hip Office' really isn't

If this concept ever becomes a reality, it should come with a public-service warning along the lines of those gambling-addiction 800 numbers posted at casino ATMs. Because anyone who considers getting one must have a severe workaholism problem, not to mention a dire need for fashion intervention.

German designer Henning Kunow touts the "Hip Office" (get it?) as an ergonomic way to do work on a laptop, attaching it to a fiberglass belt around your waist. Judging by the photos on OhGizmo, it can even allow you to blissfully tap away while sitting, standing, or even walking.

Still, … Read more