Browsing the ‘Rant’ Category
SkypeKit Hypocrisy | 2nd Jul 2010
Skype finally announced it’s much-anticipated new project, SkypeKit. It’s a new SDK that basically separates the Skype user interface from their underlying proprietary protocol used to make and receive voice and video calls. I was generally thinking this would be good news since it will allow Skype to be incorporated into other programs like the [...]
Smoke and Mirrors | 28th Sep 2009
Apparently Lenovo has put a lot of work in making Windows 7 boot “unbelievably fast.” When you go on to read the article, you see that you’ll get a boot time possibly as “quickly” as 30 seconds, which is a significant improvement for Windows. Of course to explain how they get that, you get a [...]
Windows 7: Netbook killer | 22nd Apr 2009
The following is a prediction of things to come in the next year. I get the feeling that Microsoft is trying to kill the netbook market with Windows 7. In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft announced a new edition of Windows 7: Starter Edition. The Starter Edition is only capable of running 3 applications at [...]
Copyright and the Internet: A Personal Example | 12th Feb 2009
I don’t normally watch SNL. Occasionally, Sadie and I will flip it on randomly and watch a skit, but I can’t tell you the last time I watched all (or even most) of an episode. I follow @davidsiegel (a software developer) on Twitter, and he tweeted a link to a YouTube video of a recent [...]
Ubuntu Review: One Year In | 22nd Dec 2008
After a somewhat belated New Year’s resolution last year, I did manage to complete my goal much more easily than I previously thought possible. In the last 9 months, I can probably count on my two hands then number of times I’ve booted into Vista or XP. I’ve been using Ubuntu on a regular basis [...]
The “truth” behind Wikipedia | 22nd Oct 2008
I’ve heard a lot talk recently about how Wikipedia is bad because “anyone can change anything they want” in an article. A friend of the family has said it, and even one of my teachers said it. I actually become very frustrated by this every time I hear it. It’s mainly because I find Wikipedia [...]
Illegal File Sharers Beware | 13th Oct 2008
President Bush signed into law a new cabinet-level position whose sole responsibility will be to monitor and enforce IP violations. This mainly includes copyright violations, which is putting the Executive Branch in the pocket of the RIAA, MPAA, and more. What this means for the illegal file-sharing crowd is still up in the air, but [...]
Taking Back The Power of Science | 18th Sep 2008
I read an article on Ars Technica [via /.]the other day that made me very worried about the future of scientific discovery in the US. With our currently failing economy, I don’t understand how we can still be making such idiotic decisions about the future of some of our most innovative industries. The scientific research [...]
Fallacies in Conservative Logic | 15th Sep 2008
I have to say that I find this article rather appalling [Sorry, Peter]. Let’s be real here for a moment. How can anyone even consider that argument poignant? Personally, I don’t care what the reasoning was for Palin or her daughter’s decision to keep their babies. The point is that both of them were free [...]
Olympic browser blockage | 12th Aug 2008
So I went to check out the replay of last night’s phenomenal 4×100 Men’s relay only to find an annoyingly disturbing message: the NBC Olympics vidoes don’t “support” Linux. First of all, what kind of ludicrous claim is that? They’re freakin’ videos. If I’ve got the correct codecs installed, then I’ll be able to watch [...]
I'm Jonathan Blackhall, a 4th year medical student at RMC. This is my blog, where I ramble about technology, medicine, free software, and other random stuff. 
