The Alien Habbit

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Mark and Wes in Lafayette, CA at Pizza Antica.

Sites of Interest:

• Medieval Tech Support for this new-fangled thing called "books" on "paper".
  
  
• IBM's history and a history in ad pictures of IBM typewriters, including the Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST).
  
  
• The Friden Flexowriter used paper tape to do very early word processing.
  
  
• The new mp3HD format and information about the various MPEG standards.
  
  
• Fingerprinting blank paper using commodity scanners.
  
  
• Statistics on iPhones and iPhone apps as of March, 2009.
  
  
• It's hard to believe, but Wes' stupid $400 Blackberry can't run any of these essential applications: Buzzbuka, Bikini Fart, iGoniometer, Drop It, or Dangerous Finger.
  
  
• StumbleUpon is a social application for sharing great web sites.
  
  
• TJ-2 was a very early computerized word processor.
  
  
• php and Microsoft's ASP are extensions to HTML that coordinate with processes running on web servers.
  
  
• Web developers can get free, unlimited IP address geolocation with MySQL.
  
  
• Alexander Bain invented the fax machine earlier than you'd think.
  
  
• The concept of dithering is used in both audio and graphics processing. This technical article goes into great detail, including some history of the word.
  

Wes' iPhone Applications of the week:

• Alpine Racer - like Nintendo 64's skiing game.
  
  
• PocketMoney - Lets you track your cash flow, understand your net worth, and improve the overall health of your finances.
  

Mark's iPhone Applications of the week:

• Emerald Chronometer - Models of high-end mechanical watches with many of the most complex "complications" found in real watches, plus refinements found nowhere else.
  
  
• Bell & Ross - Another beautiful simulation of a real mechanical watch.
  
  
• Mint - Sign up for an account on mint.com, add your online banking and credit card accounts, and access them anywhere.