Alex King started a thread which discussed a Web-based project he initiated. That project led me to thinking about a Web-based Palm Desktop — one which can be accessed from any machine and then synchronised over the Internet. Here is my (non-contextual) message on Alex’s site:

Hmmmm… actually, I was talking about off-line HotSync^TM. I don’t think I will ever find a Bluetooth connection point so I can’t rely on remote task lists solely. Maybe I am missing something though. What I suggest is the following:

Have your package modified to work as a partial replacement for Palm Desktop. This way users will be able to edit lists remotely. Then, when returning to a machine with a cradle, the users can Sync. the changes made on-line. In other words, make it a portable Palm Desktop.

I truly believe that UseNet attracts an audience far smaller than it should. Considering the enormous number of regular Internet users, probably only a small proportion is aware of the existence of global forums. Many choose to participate in very small forums like the BBC or various phpBB-like sections. They are missing out on access to gurus in various fields. A countless number of questions I had were competently answered in return to my involvement (see archive). If you haven’t yet become a part of groups relevant to you, I urge you to do so now.

This morning I was told about a free light-weight program that can use memory cards to secure data in between HotSyncs. It was given the awkward name Red Feline Backup. I would like thank its author by providing a citation.

Picture from Red Feline Backup

My grandfather told me about Skype last night. Little did I realise that this Internet telephony package is available to almost all platforms. It’s about time…

Picture from Skype

When it comes to blogging spam, I consider myself lucky. I spot attempts to submit spam and they all fail because my Linux server is — as should be — case-sensitive. If anyone is experiencing spam issues on a Linux host, maybe that’s a slack solution. Make sure your path contains at least one uppercase letter.

Last night I made the shift from my Palm M130 to my new Palm Tungsten. One question will not stop echoing in my mind: why is it so heavy?

Big brother Google has begun to worry me greatly in the past year. Approx. 95% of searches leading to my Web site stem from this dominant search engine. Here is the way Google Watch have described the situation:

Google is easily top dog. They provide about 75 percent of the external referrals for most websites. There is no point in putting up a website apart from Google. It’s do or die with Google. If we’re all very lucky, one of the other three will soon offer some serious competition. If we’re not lucky, we will be uploading our websites to Google’s servers by then, much like the bloggers do at blogger.com (which was bought by Google in 2003). It would mean the end of the web as we know it.

It is worth mentioning that the issue is fresh in my mind because of a brand new Web site belonging to a relative. It has not yet been crawled by Google to its depths. You can visit it, if you wish, at daviechiropractic.com.