Summer Reading
Wil Wheaton's Just A Geek arrived at my house two days ago. At some point my review of the book will appear in this newsletter, but unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to read a single page. Robin started reading it last night and couldn't put it down. To me, that's a sign the book is really good. Robin likes to read, but tends to quickly lose interest in books that aren't reasonably fast paced. She's also anything but a geek; her computer time is dedicated to finding unique recipes and organizing digital photos. I'm betting she will have finished the book by the time you read this.
Another novel I finished not so long ago was Coding Slave. The book is a very quick read and creatively billed as the book the software industry doesn't want you to read. In my opinion, Coding Slave is the book you shouldn't bother to read. I wanted to like it. The story moves quickly and grabbing my attention with plausible characters I want to care about. In the end, I felt cheap and used because Coding Slave turns out to be nothing more than a propaganda piece soliciting the formation of an international programmers union. The story is obviously conceived by someone close to the industry (the author works for a venture capital firm) and plays into the fantasies of a male dominated field. Basically the entire thing is a play on the outsourcing scare circulating the U.S. economy. If you want some techie escapist entertainment, I highly recommend reading anything from Neal Stephenson or revisiting the
soon-to-star-Keanu-Reeves-Philip-K.-Dick-story,
A Scanner Darkly.
As I was about to hit the send button to publish this issue of the newsletter, I got an email from Spearit Software, the makers of the application Move Me. I get tons of press releases, so the e-mail wasn't necessarily significant, but as I was reading, I noticed they are offering customers a huge discount on their software until August 20. If you are not familiar with Move Me, it's an application which greatly reduces the amount of time you will spend adding all the stuff on your old computer to a new computer. Instead of having to reinstall Microsoft Office, or Quicken, or any of the dozens of apps already on your system, Move Me transfers the applications and all your settings to the new computer. The only other app I've used to do this is Alohabob PC Relocator. To get the same features Move Me is currently offering for $19.95 (after 50% discount), you have to order the PC Relocator Ultra Control version, which costs $69.95. I readily admit I receive a small affiliate commission if you choose to buy Move Me. I can say without hesitation the time you save using Move Me to transfer files and applications is worth several times the $20 you spend acquiring the software.