Apparently Norway is also not immune to having technologically stupid government officials

A few days ago, Norway joined an elite group of asshats who seem to be operating under the delusion that iTunes is going to destroy civilisation as we know it. I agree that the world would most likely be better off without DRM for all of our media; it only increases complexity, decreases usability and operates on the assumption that your customers are crooks, which is patently offensive. However, we’ve managed to get along with it just fine for many, many years in a host of other products, as Alex Zaharov-Reutt pointed out recently on iTWire.

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No, it doesn’t tell your future

In August of 2005, I got my first notebook computer, an iBook G3. One of the first things I noticed was that, when using the iBook for any extended period of time, it got very warm. After some searching online, I discovered that there was, in fact, a solution: notebook coolers. From that day, I’ve found them to be an indispensable part of my portable computing experience, and I’ve been through three of them now, trying to find the perfect one. And that’s what this is about: having owned three of them, I believe I’ve found that perfect one — at least for 14″ iBooks — and I’m so impressed with it that I want to share it with you.

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Inspired by Jon Hicks, here’s a roundup of 2006, in list form.

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There’s been a new craze sweeping the Internet in the “Web 2.0” era. Well, maybe not so new, because there were some aborted attempts back in the pre-dot-com bubble era. But it’s been growing over the past couple of years, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why.

The craze is social bookmarking sites like Ma.gnolia and del.icio.us. I don’t use them, nor do I see any compelling reason to start using them.

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I can’t believe I almost forgot it!

De-lurking Week is something I’ve been looking forward to all year! Originally started by Sheryl at Papernapkin, I first encountered the idea on Veerle’s blog and loved it. “Lurkers” refer to people who read blogs but don’t comment in them. Whenever I look in my stats I see people visiting from all over the world, and I’m always curious as to who you people are, what brings you here, and what you think of the site. Whether you’re a n00b or a long-time visitor, De-lurking Week is is your chance to throw caution to the wind and leave a comment letting me know who you are, what you do and where you are from. It’s also the perfect opportunity to give suggestions for future postings. If there’s a topic you’d like to see me tackle, let me know!

So don’t be shy; leave a reply!

(Wow, did I really just say that? Well, I guess it’s better than “Call now! Operators are standing by!”)

Or “Why I stuck with a cheap, shitty phone all these years instead of getting a RAZR.”

By now I’m used to the heckles I get from friends and family regarding my sticking with a Samsung SGH-X475 for the last few years instead of upgrading to any of the newer “whiz-bang” phones that keep coming out, like the Motorola RAZR.

My phone doesn’t have a camera. Or bluetooth. It doesn’t have MP3 ringtones. It would get online if I were willing to shell out the cash, but who wants to use T-Mobile’s browser? When people send me pictures to my phone, I have to log on to a web site to look at them (which I never do because it’s a pain in the ass) and then they disappear after a few days. About the most it can do is make phone calls and send/receive SMS messages. The paint is all but scratched off because I keep it in the same pocket as my keychain.

It’s a commodity phone. I got it because at the time I needed a replacement phone, but I didn’t see any point to spending a whole lot of money on a more full-featured phone. I spent $80 on it. I sent away for the $30 rebate on it years ago but never received my rebate. Even then it was probably still overpriced.

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It’s been a long, hard road, but I’m very proud to present AWG 2.0. Not only is there a new design, but everything underneath has also been reworked. The site should now be more focused, easier to use (for you as well as for me), and just generally more polished. While the amount of time that elapsed in bringing you this was inordinate, I hope you’ll agree with me that it was worth it in the end.

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