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Thursday,  06/05/08  11:07 PM

An interesting day...

  • Today GE announced they are entering the digital pathology market.  Always a bit scary to have an 800lb gorilla in your market, but really it is a good thing; they are validating the market ($2B!), and still a long way from having a competitive product ("about two years").  It certainly adds some urgency to our efforts :)
  • Spent considerable time today organizing data from all the refinances I've done on my house.  I've lived it in for seven years now, and have refinanced seven times.  Each yielded a solid inch of paper.  Getting out a few data like interest rates, property taxes, appraisals etc was not easy.  Surely this is old technology right, someday loans won't be like this?
  • I had a nice ride with my friend Mark, capped by our ascent of the famed Sapra Street in Thousand Oaks, 1/2 mile at 18%.  (Please click the link / picture at right for a photo tour from our ride.)  We are getting ready for the Eastern Sierra Double Century, leaving tomorrow.
  • Mood = good.  Listening to more of Ottmar Liebert's new album, The Scent of Light.  I'm more of a rocker - usually I would prefer Joe Satriani to, well, just about anyone - but I really like Ottmar's stuff...

Bummer: Americans are $1.7T poorer.  Declines in home values and the stock market take their toll...  Given that, you'd have to say the fact that we're not in a recession is amazing. 

This sounds like an Onion headline: Vladimir Putin makes satirizing him illegal.  And thereby makes satirizing him impossible... 

Inhabitat reports on Jean Nouvel's "green blade", a new 45 story building in Santa Monica.  $400M is being spent on 177 residential units, ranging in size from 3,400 to 9,400 sq ft.  Wow. 

With Apple's WWDC coming up next week, the blogosphere has reached fever pitch trying to figure out what will be announced.  John Siracusa did his annual WWDC Keynote Bingo card: "This edition of WWDC keynote bingo presented some challenges. In the past, there's been more than enough rumor and unfounded hype to fill the board. This year, the near certainty of the 3G iPhone combined with the absence of any remotely credible reports of other exciting announcements has made square selection a struggle."  I must say I think he did a great job.  The "Mobile Me" stuff seems the most interesting, as Apple tries to sell a service... 

This is awesome: fake bus stop keeps Alzheimer's patients from escaping.  "'It sounds funny,' said Old Lions Chairman Franz-Josef Goebel, 'but it helps. Our members are 84 years-old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works at all, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home.' The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place."  Wild.  What a pleasant solution. 

Technologist turned politically junkie Dave Winer introduces NewsJunk, "T h e  F r e s h e s t  P o l i t i c s  f o r  N e w s  J u n k i e s".  Pretty cool :) 

Finally, how cool is this?  RepRap, a 3D printer which can make copies of itself!  I want one! 

Unfortunately for Skynet fans, this machine can make the parts of which it is composed, but requires a human to assemble it.  Still, that's just a little detail I'm sure they'll work out...