Right now my Axim X30 has the following software installed:

Adobe Reader (Built-in Storage - BIS)
Burr Oak Software pTravelAlarm (Main Memory - MM)
CNetX Pocket Slideshow (MM)
CodeCity City Time (BIS)
Dell Foldable Keyboard (MM)
Dinarsoft HandyLauncher (MM)
Dinarsoft HandyMenu (MM)
Dinarsoft Memaid (MM)
Handmark Yahtzee (BIS)
Hexacto Links (BIS)
Microsoft Cubicle Chaos (BIS)
Microsoft Dig Dug (BIS)
Microsoft Money 2005 (BIS)
Microsoft Ms. Pac Man (BIS)
Microsoft Pacman (BIS)
Microsoft Pocket Streets (BIS)
Omega One 1-Calc (BIS)
Paragon Software CETuner (BIS)
PCcounselor PI to Mem (MM)
Phatware Calligrapher (MM)
Phatware HPC Spell (MM)
Phatware Phatnotes (MM)
Phatware Phatpad (MM)
Pocket Notepad (BIS)
Ramon de Klein Tetris (BIS)
Resco Audio Recorder (BIS)
Resco Explorer 2003 (MM)
Resco FTP Add-in (MM)
Resco Keyboard Pro (MM)
Resco Picture Viewer (MM)
Resco Picture Viewer Sync Module (MM)
Resco Registry Add-in (MM)
Resco X-ball (BIS)
SBSH .net PocketBreeze (MM)
SBSH .net Sample Icon Set
Spb PocketPlus (MM)
Spb Time (MM)
Synctel PalmChess (BIS)
TwoPeaks Googhelper (MM)
TwoPeaks TripTracker (BIS)
VeoPhoto Traveler 130S (MM)
WebIS Mail (MM)
WebIS Pocket Informant (MM)
WebIS PI 3D Icon Pack (MM)
WebIS PI Square Icon Pack (MM)
WebIS Square/Blank Icon Pack (MM)

Here in Wisconsin winter has not passed us by.  It's currently zero-degrees Fahrenheit this morning.  There is still no snow on the ground or in the forecast which makes the landscape pretty dreary.
But the cold and lack of snow puts me in the mindset of those who, on this day in 1972, found fourteen survivors of a Chilean air crash in the Andes mountains.  Two survivors had walked for ten days to reach civilization and tell authorities where the crash site was.  After the srvivors had been cared for it emerged that some of the survivors had eaten other victims of the crash in an effort to stay alive.
It's odd what the cold makes you think about.

It says here that George Bush is the Man of the Year.  I note that at least 49% of Americans didn't think so and said so pretty publicly.  Still, if you count the impact he has had on the United States and the ROW, you could argue that the Man of the Year award could be bestowed negatively.  If the "honor" were ever viewed in that light i could live with W. being "Man of the Year."  Alas, the 51%.

This Newsmap is my favorite way to read the news at Google.  It sorts the news by topic and then provides a map of each topic that is weighted by the number of stories it finds on the topic.

Here's how it works.  As you type Google looks at what you type and starts building a word list that is related to what you are providing.  For instance, when I type "Madison" I get "Madison Square Garden" and "Madison Public Library" and so forth.  You get the idea.

What is really interesting -- again, I should get a life here -- is the number links that each of the suggested search term has behind it.  As an example, "Madison Square Garden" has about the same number of entries as "Madison Weather." 

This makes for just one more interesting toy on Google - the Web's playground.

Congress is holding hearings to reconsider the ban on mobile phone use in airplanes.  I am filled with dread.  Obviously, the safety issue is a joke and has been for years.  The evidence that there is no significant risk to radio and navigation systems from mobile phones ranges from the scientific to the tragic.

No, what I really worry about is the person next to me talking in an annoying tone of voice for the length of the flight or until her batteries run out (whichever comes first).  Ugh!

This is the second installment from a series by the Norwegian mysery writer Karin Fossum.  The first was the wonderfully atmospheric "Don't Look Back" -- a book I enjoyed so much that I had no reservations picking up this volume from Blackwell's in London. 

In this installment the intrepid Inspector Sejer (why are the police detectives always described as "intrepid," I wonder) is faced with a 12-year-old who runs wildly into his local police station claiming to have seen an old woman's brutally murdered corpse. An escaped psychiatric patient and known town misfit, was sighted at the scene disappearing into the woods. The next morning the local bank is robbed at gunpoint. Making his escape the robber takes a hostage and flees and, once again, a suspect takes to the woods. As the felon's plans begin to fall apart he is, in contrast to his quiet hostage, rapidly losing his control and power. Meanwhile the search for Halldis Horn's killer continues.

Fossum is exceptional in building a sense of place and atmosphere.  Like Henning Mankell, much of the mystery is about the character's emotional and psychological makeup.  Instead of evidence and events driving the case, Fossum allows intuition and psychology to make the plot move forward.  That's welcom here as in the first book, but the search for the escaped psychiatric patient and the bank robber fails to be as compelling as the search for the little girl in the first book in the Sejer series. 

Inspector Sejer is becoming a very sympathetic character and while this book wasn't better than the first in the series, it was good enough to make me look forward to new installments becoming available.  Fossum has written four books in this series: one available in the United States and the otehrs available in the United Kingdom.

IBM is selling its computer business to a manufacturing group in China.  In the story from c|net, it is clear that one of the implications of moving computer manufacturing to a company in China is that there may be less influence by Microsoft.

After all, goes the reasoning, China has been very independent in adopting Linux for small systems and IBM, after all, is a substantial supporter of UNIX clones.  Could it be that the sale of IBM's PC manufacturing business to a Chinese concern is the jump start that makes Microsoft a little less influential in the desktop operating system business.

To be honest I can't quite tell if that will be true.  If the market is redirected to developing countries and if China's notorious approach to intellectual property continues it may lead to some substantial changes.  After all, the new company will be the third largest manufacturer of PCs.  On the other hand, Microsoft has already entered the Chinese marketplace and the company's most serious efforts at new research seem to be taking place in the new commercial centers of China.  It will be interesting to see if the sale has any impact at all -- maybe next holiday season more than my iPod will have the words "Made in China" on it!

Here is a clothing label that I think is very funny and sums up many people thoughts about the recent election.  Hmmm...how can a clothing label sum up thoughts about an election?

I'm in South Africa and have more observations than can fit in a single entry.  What strikes me most is how little I was prepared for was South Africa was really like.  The paranoid had convinced me that Cape Town was very dangerous.  While it is very security aware, I've never been hassled or bothered while I was here.

Cape Town is physically beautiful.  In addition, you have a real sense of immediate history as you walk around.  After all, the reality of apartheid was a part of this community only a few years ago.  I took a trip to Robben Island and had history put starkly in my face.  A trip to the Cape of Good Hope gave me a sense of the enormity of trying to travel by tiny ship around the Cape.

History and beauty seem to sum up my reactions to South Africa.  Although I was struck by the enormous gap between rich and poor here - - but that's something for a future note.