These days, with regular blog posts and in the course of a typical work week, I find myself doing a fair amount of writing.  But what struck me recently is how rarely I use Microsoft Word to assist with that writing.  When writing something that requires thought I normally start in a simple text editor.  I find the lack of options helps me focus — and when it comes time to move it to an email, blog post, or even a Word file, it is easy to copy and paste the text.  MS Word’s tendency to drag along boat-loads of non-standard formatting is such a pain I actively avoid using it for any writing destined for web delivery.  Start collaborating with a tool like Google Docs and Word becomes superfluous.

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Have you caught the buzz on Google Wave?  It is open source.  The promise is it will make you forget it is running in a browser.  It is all about web-based communication and collaboration.  It is the brain child of the Google Maps creators.  It is not in general release yet, but  you can see a demo.  Very promising — I particularly like the more open approach.

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Here’s one for the ‘what took them so long’ department.  You can register to get a notice when the store opens — wouldn’t it just be easier to announce a date? And the registration asks for something called the IMEI number. With no explanation of why they want it — do you get some type of special notice?  It is tough to find, and kind of long, so with no real reasoning supplied I wonder how many people will bother?   I’m sure they hope to get some of the attention back in the mobile space from the iPhone — but this first step doesn’t seem like a very strong step.

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My 4th generation 20gb iPod has a new lease on life with a battery replacement.  It was totally dead, but the new battery brought it back to life.  This is the second iPod battery replacement I’ve done — the first was a classic iPod mini.  The mini job was a little tougher due to the smaller size.  This job took a little work, but for $30 it was worth it.

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A Brigham Young online course about online teaching is to be taught through a role-playing game this coming spring.  And the class is open to guests as well.  It is a really interesting idea, and a very interactive way to bring the educational experience to a wider audience. 

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Offered as a class on Yale’s Open Course Initiative, Game Theory with Professor Ben Polak is a well executed presentation.  Recently I decided to give the class a spin – here are my thoughts. Dr. Polak is an engaging lecturer, clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the subject.  His classroom style is energetic with a good mix of humor, direct student engagement and demonstration.  It is easy to see why this course is a ‘must attend’ for Yale undergraduates.  But much is lost in the translation to the online environment.

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