Olympus not very helpful to their customers

I have an old Olympus VN-960 digital voice recorder. Wanting to use it after quite some time, I dusted it off, popped new batteries into it, and went online to download the latest drivers so that I could copy the recorded files onto my computer. Unlike every other company in the world that makes hardware, Olympus will not let you download the software without paying $20 for the privilege of doing so. The only reason that I can think of for doing so is to try and shakedown the customer whenever they can. Shame on Olympus for not making the drivers freely available online!

It is telling that the internet is closer for me than a CD with software stacked in one corner of the room.

Financial engineering

Another world chess championship

Anand and Kramnik have begun a match to contest the world chess championship.  The first two games were drawn, the second one in what looked like a sharp position.  Live coverage available from the official site if you can find the link.

Blackberry trackball

My Blackberry Pearl trackball stopped functioning after about 18 months. I was disappointed by its quality. However, there is an inexpensive replacement available from Amazon. It is very simple to remove and replace.

USENIX proceedings freely available

USENIX has decided to make their conference proceedings freely available to everyone. This is an important step towards free dissemination of knowledge. Congratulations to USENIX for taking this step!

Wiimote hacks

A Carnegie Mellon grad student has demonstrated some interesting applications using the infra-red camera on a Wiimote and bluetooth to connect to a PC. The applications include a virtual whiteboard and virtual reality display.