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It was on this day in 1998 that Google was first incorporated as a company.

Google was the brainchild of two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They designed a search engine with one important difference from all the others: Instead of giving you results based on how many times your search term appeared on a Web page, they created software that would figure out how many times each relevant website was linked to from other relevant websites and sorted those and then laid them out for you, all on a clear, simple screen. Google is now an incredibly powerful and profitable company.

In June of 2006, "Google" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb.

"The William" stove-top concept isn't bossy like most stove-tops. It doesn't stipulate what size your pots and pans should be, or where and how many you can use.

According to Time magazine, these are the 50 best websites of 2010.

Remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series of books? Now there is an iphone app for that.

Of the two mental worlds everyone inhabits, the inner and the outer, the latter increasingly rules. The more connected we are, the more we depend on the world outside ourselves to tell us how to think and live. There’s always been a conflict between the exterior, social self and the interior, private one. ... In our own lifetime, the balance has tilted decisively in one direction. We hear the voices of others, and are directed by those voices, rather than by our own. We don’t turn inward as often or as easily as we used to.

What I’m proposing here is a new digital philosophy, a way of thinking that takes into account the human need to connect outward, to answer the call of the crowd, as well as the opposite need for time and space apart. The key is to strike a balance between the two impulses.

Twelve new ways to hold your iphone 4.

No more land-line phones at CU.

Whither Verizon? Why the iPhone isn't coming to Verizon Wireless any time soon.

Boulder Valley Schools will power down computers to save money and be kinder to the environment.

The PC Counterrevolution

"Desktop virtualization" is the name for this approach, and basically it means that instead of installing a bunch of programs on each desktop, you run everything on servers in the data center and let individuals pull down the applications they need.

Via: Cell Phones

What's behind Apple's clash with Flash?

Sony will end all floppy disk production in 2011.

You may own a MacBook, iPhone and an iPad, but you shouldn't just use each anywhere you'd like. There are rules, people. Mac, iPhone, or iPad? Device Advice for Modern Adventures.

Google Street View trike comes to Boulder.

A local private school, Alexander Dawson, is going with ipads for its 5th and 6th graders next fall. Lucky kids!
Here is a link to an article about the change.

The Last Mousepad You'll Ever Need.

Oscar ad hints at how Apple will position the iPad.

It's the birthday of Steve Jobs, born in San Francisco (1955), who dropped out of college after a semester, went to India in search of spiritual enlightenment, returned a devout Buddhist, experimented with LSD, and then got a job with a video game maker, where he was in charge of designing circuit board for one of the company's games.

He co-founded Apple Computers, and in a commercial during the Super Bowl in January 1984 he unveiled the Macintosh. The commercial was filled with allusions to George Orwell's 1984. The Macintosh was the first small computer to catch on with the public that used a graphical user interface, or GUI (sometimes pronounced "gooey"). In the past, computers were run by text-based interfaces, which meant that a person had to type in textual commands or text labels to navigate their computers. But with a graphical user interface, people could simply click on icons instead of typing in hard-to-remember, precise text commands.

The graphic user interface revolutionized computers, and it's on almost all computers today. It's on a whole lot of other devices as well, like fancy vending machines and digital household appliances and photocopying machines and airport check-in kiosks. And graphical user interface is what's used with iPods, another of Apple's wildly successful products.

Jobs once said, "I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates."

Less than a century ago, the timing of downhill skiing required someone at the top and bottom of the run, each with a stopwatch synchronized to the time of day ... Oh, how things have changed.

Olympic timing a high-tech affair

Just in time for the Olympics a cowbell app for your i-phone. You simply shake it to "applaud" contestants in frozen Vancouver.(It works for other sports events as well...)

You can now access Boulder-area library catalogs through your mobile phone. Ah, Technology!

I think I know what the kids will want for their birthday this year.
Apple: Introducing the iPad

Cormac McCarthy has written more than a dozen novels, several screenplays, two plays, two short stories, countless drafts, letters and more — and nearly every one of them was tapped out on a portable Olivetti manual typewriter he bought in a Knoxville, Tenn., pawnshop around 1963 for $50.

No Country for Old Typewriters: A Well-Used One Heads to Auction

Google and Facebook give technology advice to the Vatican.

It's One Web Day.

Ecofont uses 20% less ink to create printed words.This is achieved by putting tiny holes (like Swiss cheese) in the letters. A free download is available here.

Robots!

An ode to clicky keys.

Today is the 25th Anniversary of the first Macintosh Commercial.

Obama overrules the Secret Service and keeps his Blackberry.

When you powered up an Apple II, it would make a short beep sound to let you know that it was alive. We thought that the Mac should do something similar, once it passed the diagnostics, sort of like an infant's first cry, letting the world know that you actually made it here

Scrabble Keyboard

“I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you.”

Steve Jobs has a hormone imbalance which has led to questions about his health. But he and the Apple Board of Directors say he will recover and remain in his current position.

The early days...Apple founders played practical jokes with phones.

Zune failure for the New Year.

Apple announced that it reduced Apple's packaging volume for the MacBook Air by 50 percent versus the previous MacBook.

Tracking Baby Jesus

On Dec. 6, 1968, at a conference in San Francisco, the computer mouse was introduced. It was a carved block of wood with two rubber wheels.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry ... But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

Google helps fight flu.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard announced today it will buy Boulder-based LeftHand Networks Inc. for $360 million in cash.

Google Phone debuts on October 22nd. And, it's cheaper (though not by much) than an i-phone.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Google!

I recall when Apple began giving computers to schools nationwide. It was the beginning of technology's spread, and is the reason why most teachers still prefer Apples today. Now several colleges are issuing iphones to incoming freshmen. Once again, Apple's smart marketing will lead the way.

The college administrators say it's because they want to be able to alert students to campus emergencies, schedule changes, etc. The iphones also include GPS so students can find their way around campus. The iphones can be used to take notes in classes, though professors fear they will simply become a distraction to students, rather than a study aid.

The Papa Johns Pizza chain has mowed a wheat field near DIA to look like a giant pizza, complete with pepperoni. The hope is that delegates flying into Denver for the Democratic National Convention will see it and...get hungry?

Cuil (pronounced "cool") is a new search engine created by former Google employees. (try it here).

The city of Flint, Michigan has just passed a law against sagging pants.

I went up to the Flatirons Crossing Apple Store this afternoon to buy some cleaner for my keyboard and also to attend a workshop on the Leopard operating system which is part of my new computer.

A young man named Elliott did a great job explaining the basics in a non-threatening way. But first he had to show off his brand new iphone!

He was wearing a shirt with the message posted above.

In 40 minutes time I learned quite a lot, and I have now signed up for a workshop on iphotos, which should be helpful, too.

Time to sign off and clean my keyboard.