DVD: Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

This movie is called “I've loved you so long” in English. It is really good French cinema, starts with a convincingly dark secret and ends quite sad, but uplifting. The movie makes many acute observations about society’s difficulties with outsiders. Kristin Scott Thomas is great in it. Her excellent French reminded me of the fact that she lives in Paris and appears in many French movies. IMDB tells us that she dubbed herself in the French version of “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. And that her first feature film was the 1986 Prince movie “Under the Cherry Moon” (those really were different times...).

iTunes MP3s: remember playback position

Handy for long MP3s: In the information dialog, under “Options”, you can enable “Remember position”. Then, like PodCasts, whenever you revisit an MP3, play resumes where you last left off.

Politicians: Google Streetview is where you put your foot down? Really?

Google Streetview is causing quite an activity in Germany: Many politicians ask Google to blur their houses and suggest that citizens do the same. So it does not bother them that Google reads all your emails or takes away your data, nilly-willy, but storing pictures that anyone can freely take, anyway, is a problem? I suspect that many people do not understand what is going on, are scared, and have a knee-jerk reaction. I would be scared to, if I thought that Google was constantly filming my house and publishing the result on the internet, for everyone to see. Note that there is a downside to the opt-outs, because the blurs have made Google Streetview less useful, at least in Munich. Other Google threats are much more serious. Or am I missing something?

Great channel for semantic web videos

Check it out on Vimeo.

Mutewatch: new ideas for watches

Mutewatch, a newly founded Swedish company (manned mostly by students) is currently creating a watch that will have several intriguing features:

• Touch user interface


• Charge via USB


• Alarm vibrates (silently)


• Display can be switched off


• Nice look: digits seem to appear on the wrist band

[Source: Engadget]

The Liquid Pencil

New from Sharpie: The Liquid Pencil. Writes like a pen, erases like a pencil, becomes permanent after 3 days. [Source: Daring Fireball]



Update: Engadget has already tried one.

Is Bill Gates really altruistic?

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates have recently made headlines when they announced that they were going to donate half of their fortune. Bill Gates tried to convince German billionaires to do the same. But they are hesitant and I find the justification interesting. Peter Krämer says that U.S. fiscal law allows billionaires to basically decide between donating and paying taxes and argues that no single human should have the power to control that much public money. He has also been quietly donating a lot of money, in addition to paying taxes and is in favor of the rich having to pay more taxes. Quite impressive. The Bill Gates Foundation has in the past been questioned for investing its money into “unethical” companies. It might come with the territory, but it shows the pitfalls of this approach.