Hot off the press releases,

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Hot off the press releases, “Econ Technologies announces

ChronoSync, their latest Cocoa based Mac OS X product that

synchronizes or backs-up files and folders in a variety of ways. ChronoSync will be available February

8th, 2002 for $19.95. [Mac Net Journal]

This looks very promising. I’ve been looking for a good file sync utility for MacOS X but I’ve been disappointed so far. Synchronize Pro comes close, but the current betas are still so buggy I can’t use them, and it’s overpriced at $99.

UPPER:As a runtime, Upper is

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UPPER:

As a runtime, Upper is designed to allow processors to be elegantly integrated into a single server program. This allows handling of mixed-language projects to be improved, and allows the descriptive scope of any single language to be expanded beyond the limits of the current standard, C. Upper also serves the general function of a framework, easing the process of writing new compilers by its defined standard classes. Upper’s services center on a general representation of programmatical and compiler-internal objects and object classes. Because compilers use these variable-representations and data types to both interface with each other and to process data internally, the services as a runtime and a framework share much in common and mesh well. The acronym Upper stands for Universal Processor Programming Environment and Runtime.

Whatever happened to the idea

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Whatever happened to the idea of a centralized database at the core of the operating system that would store commonly used data like contact information and could be used by other programs – personal information managers, e-mail programs, etc.? OS X includes a very basic contact information application, Address Book, but no one other than Apple, with its free Mail program, ties into the Address Book to make use of the information.

The alternative is a mess. I have addresses stored in my Palm Desktop beta for OS X, addresses stored in my e-mail program PowerMail – bits and pieces of data strewn across the computer and duplicated here and there because there is no sensible way to tie it all together.

While Mac OS X is a big improvement over OS 9.x, it is examples like this that point out the shortcomings. There is plenty of room for improvement. Still. [Mac Net Journal]

This is something that really annoys me. I keep most of my contacts on my Handspring Visor Prism, which I sync to Palm Desktop. I use Entourage for my email, which has its own contact list. I also use FaxSTF X, which uses the built-in MacOS X address book. This means I have to enter anyone I need to send faxes to into my OS X address book (which I don’t use for anything else), keep all of my email contacts in Entourage, and have copies of everything in Palm Desktop to sync to my Visor. Why can’t all 3 of them share the same data? Why can’t I enter an address once and have it usable in all 3 places? Wasn’t AOCE (PowerTalk) supposed to take care of this years ago?

Before I started working this

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Before I started working this morning I did a ‘cvs update’, as I do every morning. Unfortunately, the changes the other programmer merged in from the PC version of the project totally screwed me up. I’m still trying to clean up the mess.

New Macro:on Weather\() \{ return \("<a

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New Macro:

on Weather\() \{

return \("<a href="http\:/\/www.wunderground.com/US/FL/Fort_Lauderdale.html"><img src="http\:/\/banners.wunderground.com/banner/gizmotimetemp/US/FL/Fort_Lauderdale.gif" alt="Click for Fort Lauderdale, Florida Forecast" height=41 width=127></a>"\);

}

I’m using it in my template now below the navigation links. If you use this, change it to your location.

From Yahoo:'Harry Potter' Prompts Police

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From Yahoo:

‘Harry Potter’ Prompts Police Boycott

PENRYN, Pa. (AP) – The police department has refused to direct traffic at a YMCA triathlon because it says the club promotes witchcraft by reading Harry Potter (news – web sites) books to children.

Penryn Fire Police Capt. Robert Fichthorn said the eight-member force voted unanimously to boycott the 20th running of the triathlon, scheduled for Sept. 7.

“I don’t feel right taking our children’s minds and teaching them (witchcraft),” Fichthorn said. “As long as we don’t stand up, it won’t stop. It’s unfortunate that this is the way it has to be.”

The Lancaster Family YMCA began reading chapters of the Harry Potter books to children enrolled in an after-school program in November.

In a letter to the township and the YMCA, Fichthorn challenged the religious integrity of the YMCA, and questioned whether it was “serving the will of God” in using the books.

Sheeeeesh! Are these people still living in the dark ages or what?