Bay Area Book Signing

Megan Morrone and I are doing a book signing in the San Francisco Bay area Thursday evening November 20. We'll be at the Emeryville Barnes & Noble with Becky Worley. We'll give a little talk and sign for as many people show up. The event starts at 7:30p. See you there!

New pictures posted

I've been cleaning up my office - a yearly ritual - to get ready to work on the new books, and in the process found some old images I'd been planning to post for some time. They're tucked away in the Old Pix page. This is from our trip to Austin a couple of years ago. After the show we visited the County Line Barbecue where they treated us all to an amazing spread. Here are our former line producer, Russ Pitts, Patrick, Martin, and me dining. Things really are bigger in Texas! I've posted some other pictures, including my old 3rd class radio license. Even DJs used to have to have these. I remember taking the train to the FCC offices in New York to get mine in 1976. The rest of the images are on the Old Pix page. Click on the thumbnails for full sized images. When I get a chance I'll reorganize the navigation so it's easier to get to.

Thursday's Sabotage

Good morning news hounds. Don't forget to join Becky Worley, Megan Morrone, and me at the Barnes and Noble in Emeryville, California this evening at 7:30! I want a robot copter I can call my own. Beats turkey flavored soda. Happy birthday Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractals, born on this day in 1924. The crank pedal bicycle was patented on this day in 1866. It's World Rights of the Child Day, commemorating the 1959 UN Declaration of Children's Rights. Not in my house.

1. A federal judge has denied Wells Fargo's request to block pop-up advertising for a rival bank, saying that the pop-up ads are unlikely to confuse users. This is the second court victory for WhenU, a pop-up purveyor. They beat U-Haul in a similar case in September.
2. High demand for LCD screens is pushing prices up. Experts say prices will stay high well into next year thanks to sales of LCD TVs. LCD TV shipments are expected to double next year. If history is any indicator, the increase in prices will trigger increased production that will ultimately reduce prices considerably.
3. Projecting increased demand for its chips, AMD is breaking ground for a new $2.5 billion chip fab in Dresden. The plant goes online in 2006.
4. NASA's new supercomputer is running Linux. It'll be used to study the oceans.
5. Support the Free Software Foundation. California residents who purchased Microsoft software between 1995 and 2001 are receiving vouchers as part of the state's settlement with Microsoft. The FSF is asking Californians to donate those vouchers to support their efforts to promote free software.

Friday's Découpage

I'm sorry that I never got around to doing news on Friday, since TSS was dark. I hope you can live a day without it. We did have a wonderful time Thursday night at the Barnes & Noble in Emeryville. About 50 people showed up - which B&N considered a very nice turnout. I confess I've been spoiled by the bigger events in other places (800 in St Louis, 500 in Baltimore, etc.). It just goes to show how little known TechTV is in our own hometown. It was a pleasant change, however, to be able to take time with everyone. Becky talked about her book, Security Alert, and did a short reading from it. I gassed on about the future of computing, and then Becky, Megan, and I took questions from the audience. I hope I can do more signings like this - it's great fun. My mom is flying in from Providence on Sunday, so I'll be taking Thanksgiving week off to be with her (and work on my new book, and finish the Dial-A-Song machine for They Might Be Giants). My birthday is Saturday, and I'm hoping she'll make my traditional birthday dinner: home-made ravioli. Haven't had that in ages. Then I'm off to New York for my regular segments on World News Now and Live with Regis and Kelly. Both should air December 2.

Almost Live with Regis and Kelly

A quick update on my appearance on Live. I'll be taping my segment tomorrow after the show. It should air some time during the week of December 8th. I'll get you a date as soon as I know. Also the segments I did for World News Now are not going to air in their normal Tuesday AM time slots. The first aired immediately on Monday. The second will air in the next week or so. They want to get them both in before Christmas. I had a booking to tape a segment for The John Walsh Show on Wednesday, but that's been cancelled. I'm going to try to change my flight, but I may be stuck in NYC until Wednesday night. But I'll definitely be back on Call for Help and The Screen Savers by Thursday.