Last week was an interesting one for me. Just before the break for the holidays, Congress delivered (or failed to deliver) on three items of particular note: ANWAR drilling, the Patriot Act renewal, and Senator McCain's anti-torture provisions. To be assured, movement on each of these is not exactly what …

Apple's posted a page called Big Ideas highlighting the use of Macintosh Minis in a variety of interesting places, including automobiles, hosting centers, and a new arts venue in Scotland. Have you got a unique use for a mini? Tell Apple about it.

Better late than never. I just wanted to wish all of the readers of this site a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, or whatever you and your family celebrate and all of the best in the New Year!

A recent article in Nature looked at 42 entries about scientific concepts in both the Encyclopedia Britanica and Wikipedia and have found that the latter is almost as accurate as the former, with EB having 3 errors per article to Wikipedia's 4. Further comment is made by some information scientists …

eBay has gotten its wish in a patent dispute with MercExchange of Great Falls, VA. The online auction powerhouse's call for a hearing in front of the nine justices of the Supreme Court has been accepted (according to an article in the New York times). The case, as you may …

I can't wait to get my hands on this at the Apple Store. Apple's announced that they've begun shipping Aperture, their new professional photo handling package. I've been waiting to see it in the stores before actually purchasing it, and now they're shipping it, so it shouldn't be long now …

According to a press release by TiVo, they will be supporting the Sony PSP and Apple iPod as delivery mediums for their TivoToGo product in the near future. The release date is first quarter of 2006 and it appears to be a feature that will be made available to all …

No, it's not a world map of the news (I can't find that site right now, but I did stumble across one a while ago), it's a visual map that shows ranked data graphically. More after the jump. In the case of NewsMaps, it is an effort by NewsIsFree (an …

Carol and I attended a "candlelight" vigil on the front lawn of the Capitol this evening and were impressed by the turnout and were left with a great deal of concern for the people in Kashmir, the rest of Pakistan and other parts of south-east Asia. One month after the …

Following up a story from late last week (and a smidgen late in my follow up), Oracle has indeed announced Oracle(r) Database 10g Express Edition (XE). Unfortunately, the details aren't exactly to my liking. The biggest complaint that I see with the product in the initial release is that …

This has probably been available for a while, but I put a story up on Cartographica about a new twist. Akamai's Net Usage Index is now available as a widget for Macintoshes running Tiger and Windows machines running Konfabulator.

Finally, after months of waiting, a good, in-depth technical review of the new Harmon-Kardon Drive+Play iPod adapter. This one, brought to us by Ars Technica, has a lot of detail and information. In the end, the device looks compelling for many users.

Oracle, the biggest name in commercial databases, is preparing a new version Oracle 10g Express Edition for free use by users who would otherwise go to Open Source solutions (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL). The new version, to ship by the end of the year according to an article from …

Apple's Airport is the best home router out there, according to the PC Magazine Reader's Choice for Home Routers. Of particular note: the Airport's win marks the first time in the survey that a wireless router has won the prize. Also if interest, one amusing comment on why the Airport …

A posting on 99mac (Swedish web site about Macs) details some tests performed on the new Dual-core G5's. Based on what they're showing, the DC 2.3's are neck-and-neck with the DP 2.5's... good news for macdom. Also of interest on the same topic is Apple's latest G5 processor …

If you're looking for decorating or costume ideas for the upcoming Halloween, check out the Halloween Store in Reston (in the shopping center with Harris Teeter, Office Depot, Men's Warehouse etc.). The store is in the place of the old Zany Brainy and has an enormous amount of space and …

Not exactly a movie, a new TV series, but it's interesting nonetheless and you don't have to wait a year for the sequel. Last night, Carol and I sat down and watched the second episode of Commander in Chief (IMDB link), the new drama on ABC centered around the first …

I'm sure you're thinking "Wow! sure took Gaige long enough to write about Wednesday's Apple announcements". You're right... it did. However, Apple definitely is sending the PowerPC out with a bang. (Thanks for the phrasing, Amanda) I have no good excuse, but here's the wrap up: Gone are the Dual-processor …

On the heels of a not-so-well-received quarterly report, [IDC has released its 3Q05 report (and 3Q05 report synopsis) that indicates that Apple's market share in the PC space has risen to 4.3% in the US, putting them firmly in 5th in US shipments, slightly behind Lenovo. The numbers also …

In preparation for an upcoming announcement in January, ClueTrust is pleased to announce the launch of its new GIS, GPS, and Mapping web site, Cartographica.com. Check it out.