On this day…

… in 1941, James Joyce died in Zurich, at the age of 59. Thanks to Pete for the reminder.

Still more from the you-couldn’t-make-it-up department

BBC photograph

In the month in which the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is commemorated, Prince Harry — third in line to the British throne — is photographed wearing a Nazi uniform (complete with swastika armband) at a fancy-dress party.

The graphing calculator story

Ron Avitzur’s truly astonishing account of how the graphing calculator made into the Apple Mac software release. Read it and wonder. Thanks to Quentin and to Seb for the link.

More from the you-couldn’t-make-it-up department

Apple has just released a tiny, cheap iPod called, if you please, “iPod shuffle”.

The fine print on the Apple Store page describing this little gem includes the injunction: “Do not eat iPod shuffle”.

A kind reader has emailed to point out that this may be a rare example of corporate lawyers displaying a sense of humour, in that some of the publicity material for the Shuffle likened its size to that of a couple of strips of chewing gum!

Gates losing his marbles?

“There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don’t think that those incentives should exist.” From a News.Com interview.

Firefox growth

Karlin Lillington has been monitoring the browsers used by people who visit her Blog. Results are very interesting:

“Firefox has an astonishing 27% share. IE is down to only 52.5% with other browers from Opera to Netscape to Omniweb to Safari completing the numbers. That’s damned impressive for a browser that wasn’t even showing up a few months back. Now my visitor base may be a bit skewed towards attracting more non-IE browsers that is representative of the whole web (as it’s a tech blog) but even so what a phenomenal share by this new browser.”

Hydrogen: the Sequel

Meet General Motor’s hydrogen fuel-cell powered prototype. And the price? Oh about $700,000.

[Photo from New York Times.]

O’Hanlon on photography

Redmond O’Hanlon is a travel writer who specialises in going to dangerous and remote places and almost getting killed — and then writing about it entertainingly. He’s full of surprises — for example this lovely piece about photography in yesterday’s Guardian Review. Sample:

“Why are great photographs so powerful? Is it simply that they stop time (as all religions want to do)? Or that they’re one in the eye for death (as all religions would like to be)? Yes, but perhaps it’s also simply that they deal in images, the language of our dreams. Anyway, those photographs, from this magical machine, a camera, a piece of multiple scientific thought that cheats death in reality, produces images that are as immortal as you can get. Make a journey by yourself where you always carry a camera and you’ll find you’re never truly alone: your camera gives you psychological strength because you’ll find that your friends, the people who love you, are with you: if you survive, they can share this alien world of yours.

Now, at 57, I think I can remember every interviewer and photographer that I’ve met . . . particularly the photographers.”

Ed Felten’s Twelve Predictions for 2005…

… are here.

What the well-dressed geek is wearing this winter

I only know this because of Ben hammersley’s piece in the Guardian. Embedded in the back of the bag are three light weight, waterproof solar panels, which generate up to 4 watts of power. Inside the bag is a Li Ion battery pack which stores the energy so it is available when you need it, not just when the sun is up. The makers claim the backpack is powerful enough to charge most portable electronics (other than laptops) including: cell phones, cameras, two way radios, GPS’s, PDA’s, even iPods.

Alternatively, the chic geek can have a Scottevest which, according to its manufacturer, “allows users to discretely carry multiple electronic devices in the concealed, ergonomically designed pocket system, as well as connect gadgets with the patented Personal Area Network (PAN) …   The PAN consists of hidden channels that allow users to connect devices without any visible wires.   Now, it’s easy to connect cell phones and music players to PDAs, power sources, and/or listening devices, such as earbuds and headphones. In addition to connectivity, special pockets are designed to accommodate digital cameras, portable keyboards, GPS devices, small laptop computers, two-way radios, bottled water, airplane tickets, magazines, wallets, keys, and much more. In cities and areas requiring hands-free devices while driving, the PAN is the ideal solution.”

The only problem, it seems to me, is how one would be able to stand up when fully loaded.