news

I have just been confirmed to speak at Au Contraire , New Zealand's 31st National Science Fiction convention in Wellington. If you're keen to come along, I'll be on at 10 or 11am on Saturday 28th - watch the programme for details. Registrations close this week I think. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to those who know me that I will be speaking about old computers:

The 80s in 8-bits: The Home Computer Revolution

The late 1970s through to early 1990s were a golden age of personal computing. For a decade and a half hundreds of manufacturers produced thousands of models, all unique with their very own capabilities, programming languages and software. Many of us today got our first taste of computing on computers like the Apple II, Sinclair ZX81, Commodore Vic-20 or Atari 400.

Ars Technica have published a review of the just released Firefox 3.5. Of the browser's privacy features, Ryan Paul writes:

With a stroke at the keyboard, users can erect stiff privacy barriers that will prevent their Web surfing habits from penetrating the browser history and defiling the sensitive auto-completion system with incriminating data where it might arouse the suspicions of subsequent users.

More here