New MySQL Control Center

If you use MySQL, then checkout the new MySQL Control Center @ mysql.com. For the most part, you get the same functionality as MySQL Front (which apparently has been discontinued, bummer, you can still get MySQL Front here), although MySQL CC lacks the ability to export databases/tables from one server to another (or to a text file) like MySQL Front gave you… Does have some nice server admin tools (ie: ability to kill a specific process within the MySQL Server). (thanks Joe!)

Sony Ericsson T68i

I purchased the Sony Ericsson T68i for myself for Christmas (because after rebate it’s only $25 bucks!). I’ve been playing with it for the past couple days here in Mammoth while on vacation and so far I’m pretty impressed. I’d *really* love to get a BlueTooth enabled PDA (like the Toshiba e740 Pocket PC or the Palm Tungsten T Handheld or the Compaq iPAQ H3975 Color Pocket PC) so that I can do stuff like this or this.

The official Bluetooth site has a list of products using Bluetooth, although it’s kind of annoying to find that there are no URLs available for any product. I found a couple other Bluetooth specific sites/blogs including Apple.com, Ericsson, The Bluetooth weblog but none of these sites has a listing of Bluetooth products. I want something like gizmodo for but Bluetooth (ie: tell me what fun Bluetooth products I can buy once I have the above mentioned phone!).

If you’re looking to write some Bluetooth code yourself, the following sites might be helpful:

JSR-000082 JavaTM APIs for Bluetooth

Microsoft Windows CE .NET Bluetooth

Prey

Got in bed at 10:30pm last night and read Prey from start to finish… it was one of those books you just can’t put down until you’re done. Michael Crichton had to do research on genetics, nanotechnology, distributed intelligence and a host of other subjects to get this book out the door… I can’t wait for the movie, according to the official site:

“The film version of Prey is now in development at Twentieth Century Fox. No details yet.”

And how many fictional novels have a bibliography? Some of the more interesting books:

Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI by Rodney Brooks, head AI guy at MIT

Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems

Natural Enemies: The Population Biology of Predators, Parasites and Diseases

Multi-Agent Systems: An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence

Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity

Swarm Intelligence

Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology

Reasoning about Rational Agents

Reading this book made me want to start working with distributed intelligence and AI… Where would one start if you wanted to work in this industry? Go back to school? Write some software that emulates distributed intelligence? Cry for mommy?

more books…

Currently in Mammoth hanging at my parents house where we’re in the midst of a[nother] snowstorm. This one could dump as much as 2 feet!

So far I’ve finished 3 books on this trip: Bots: The Origin of New Species by Andrew Leonard, The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig, and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. All great books, I’ve got a ton of dog eared pages for each book that I’d like to blog… but using the computer is off limits on vacation, right?

Software Development Tools

I’m guessing that in every trade or craft, the ‘craftsmen’ delight in sharing (or not sharing!) their favorite tools, the objects that make their day. For cooks, maybe it’s a special pot or pan; for writers, maybe it’s a special pen. For software developers, well.. we just have software. Scott mentions a list of tools he used in a recent demonstration at Microsoft, most of which were new (and very interesting) to me. I’m pasting below so that I don’t have to check out his page every time I want to remember where something was:

Now with 50% less caffeine!