Black or white? That's what it ultimately came down to.

I had gone to the Apple store with the intention of buying a black iPod nano (apparently the most popular model). After playing with both otherwise identical nanos, I plumped for the white one.

It is tiny.

Rudy Rucker has released a new book, and has made it possible to download half the book. I read his Fourth Dimension many years ago. Hopefully his new book will be as enjoyable.

He is joining many authors who have released work as free downloads:

Sam Williams' Free as in Freedom is available under the GFDL.

Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning was the Command Line.

Dave Thomas of Pragmatic Programmers' recently released Agile Web Development with Rails was available as a beta. Their first edition Ruby book was also completely free.

Has the fact these authors provided free downloads meant lost revenue? I don't think so. If someone wasn't going to buy the book anyway, then they will borrow it from the library, a friend, or steal it. By providing a free download, they get media coverage, and a potential customer.

I believe most people will end up buying a hard copy because of the simple fact that you can take it anywhere. You don't need a computer/PDA to read it.

I hope more authors follow suit.

(via Boing Boing)

Fill the grid so that each block of squares adds up to the total in the box above or to the left. Use only the numbers 1-9 and never use the same number more than once in a block. (A number may reoccur in a separate block in the same row)

The Guardian relaunched this week in the new Berliner format. Among other changes, they have included a new number based game from Japan: Kakuro. Apparently, it is even more popular than Sudoku.

I tried it last night on the tube home, and I managed to fill in eight boxes. It is definitely tougher than sudoku as you have to be aware of sets of number possibilities. Hopefully, I'll be able to fill in a few more on the trip home tonight.