CNN is proclaiming this Thursday the anniversary of the Internet at 35. Their start point is Sept 2, 1969, when "computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way to exchange data over networks."

Of course, the date of the Internet's "birth" isn't exactly a given, as a quick review of some other histories of the Internet shows. A very nice collection of sites to browse if you're at all into this history.

06:45 PM | | linkme | home

The things you can do with computers. Try this fun app from the folks at c6.org (hat tip: Joho the blog). Hint: enter a keyword that you might use on Google's image search.

06:25 PM | | linkme | home

I just was browsing some search terms, and came across an entry for Intermetrics, a company I worked at many, many moons ago. Intermetrics, or I2 as it was known, was a wonderful place to work--even if I had missed the very early glory days (pre-1980). Intermetrics was a software tools company; it was founded by five guys from MIT; see Tony Flanders' history for the early days.

I spent 10 years there (from '83 to '94) in a variety of tech jobs...I did system admin in CFD for the first half ( RSX and VMS) and did tech peripheral in SPD (QA/tech support/tech writing) the second half before moving to Pittsburgh (and the web) in '94. After I left, I2 was acquired like 80 bazillion times; it's not really recognizable any more.

But the I2 times were good enough that there is an ex-I2 mailing list for all the folks with (mostly) fond memories of their time there. If you're a former I2 bud, please do !

07:18 PM | | linkme | home

Well, my favorite (perhaps apocryphal) bad internationalization story is that Pepsi's slogan "Come alive with Pepsi" was translated in German to essentially mean "Come alive out of the grave with Pepsi." But now it's Microsoft's turn to have their globalization gaffes made public.

CNET has these highlights in How eight pixels cost Microsoft millions:

• When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India.
• Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game and led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government.
• A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation.

The Guardian has its own take in Microsoft pays dear for insults through ignorance .

06:51 PM | | linkme | home

Posted by request:

If you regularly work as a practitioner (in addition to any educational or professorial duties you have), I would appreciate your participation in my survey on white papers in technical communication.

White papers are all but absent from our textbooks and our courses, and yet the number of white papers in industry is on the rise. I'm surveying practitioners to gauge the place of white papers in technical communication practice, with the intent of using the results to inform our teaching.

This work is part of my dissertation and has been approved by the TTU IRB. I will announce the results via TECHWR-L and other venues.

Here's the link to my survey; please share it with any practitioners you know. This survey is for all practicing technical communicators, whether or not they have written or read white papers.

My survey will go offline in the first week of September. I'll be glad to take comments and questions via e-mail.

Best regards,
Russell Willerton
Texas Tech

Please send any questions or comments to Russell directly.

06:40 PM | | linkme | home

Oops, forgot to blog this the other day. It's another funny mismatch of article content and keyword-based ads. The article is about freestyle swimming, and all the ads are about a brand of diabetes test monitor called "FreeStyle."

From SI.com.

12:23 PM | | linkme | home