If you've had a look around my home page, you are probably well aware that my wife Megan and I are in the middle of renovating our house at the moment. I took the opportunity this week to have cat 5e networking cable installed, running from outlets in each room back to the study where my switch and main computer will be. I can't wait to get the house finished and set up the new computer room.
I'm planning to buy a 35mm film scanner soon. I've been looking at the Canon FS4000US - it seems like a very good compromise between price and scan quality. I'd be interested to hear from readers who have experience with film scanners. Am I making a good choice?
As always, your feedback is welcomed!
Darren.
Unix/Linux
Largo Loves Linux More Than Ever
by Robin Miller
"We're back in Largo, Florida, checking on advances in the Linux-based network they use to run the city's computers that we wrote about last year. True to Largo's "City of Progress" motto, these guys have not been standing still. Now they're talking about Linux-based terminals in all the city's police cars. Microsoft has tried -- and failed -- to bring them into the proprietary fold. And, possibly most important, we have an amazing cost figure that ought to make you ask your local politicians why their IT operations aren't as efficient as Largo's."
Java
Preparing for Generics
by Paul Mingardi
"Generics -- also commonly known as parameterized types -- have been used in other computing languages for years. And now, due to popular demand, generics is slated to be added to the JavaTM language with the 1.5 release."
Web Development
Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002
by Jakob Nielsen
"Every year brings new mistakes. In 2002, several of the worst mistakes in Web design related to poor email integration. The number one mistake, however, was lack of pricing information, followed by overly literal search engines."
Testing
Learning To Love Unit Testing
by Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt
"Why don't more developers use unit tests? After all, unit tests help produce better-designed systems and more accurate code. The recent rise of extreme programming (XP) and the Gamma/Beck xUnit testing framework has brought unit testing into the daily conversation of many coders. But still, many (perhaps the majority of) programmers avoid writing them. This article is an attempt to change those developers' minds."
The Lighter Side Of Computers
Googlism
Find out what Google thinks of you, by entering your name, selecting Who, and clicking on the button. Try doing a 'Where' on your home town, or a 'When' on your birthday. Here's what it says (surprisingly accurately!) about me:
But somewhat bizzarely, it also says:
