September 2004 Archives

To: David P*gue, NYT Technology columnist
From: ADM

Hi there,

You are one of my favorite technology writers and I recommend your books to people all the time, but I was surprised to see this error in your review of the iMac: you write the iMac makes it appear the buyer "somehow neglected to buy the C.P.U. itself (on most computers, that's the big plastic box containing disk drives and connectors)."

Now, you know as well as anyone that the CPU is the *processor* not the box!! People make this mistake all the time, and when they do, it perpetuates other people's misunderstanding of how computers work, and what their parts are properly called.

I think you could have written, "making it appear you somehow neglected to buy the rest of the computer" and it would have achieved about the same effect.

Thanks,

ADM
your article:
http://tinyurl.com/3w6du

wikipedia on "cpu":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpu

From: David P*gue
To: ADM

Actually, CPU can refer to either part these days.

From the University of Chicago Technotes Glossary for example: "CPU: Refers either to the principal microchip (such as the Pentium or PowerPC chip) or the box that houses the main components of the computer."

David P*gue
"State of the Art" columnist, The New York Times

To: Walt M*ssberg, WSJ Technology Columnist
From: ADM

Mr M*ssberg,

I enjoy your column very much.

My friend and I have a dispute and we wondered if you could help us out.

He says the term "CPU" can refer to either the central processing chip or the box that holds the motherboard, disk drives, etc. I say the phrase should only refer to the chip.

I say the box that contains everything is simply called "the computer."

We agreed to abide by your decision, if you have a second to issue one.

Who do you think is right? We have a steak riding on it.

Thanks,

ADM
NYC

From: Walt M*ssberg
To: ADM

Depends who's talking. Your view of it is more technically accurate (although an even more accurate term for the main processing chip is "microprocessor".) But, over the years, I've also heard many people use CPU to refer to the whole computer itself, as opposed to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or printer that may also make up the system.

There's no rule on this. It's a matter of usage.

Walt M*ssberg
Personal Technology Columnist

Mr M*ssberg,

Thanks for replying...

With no clear winner, I guess we'll have to take up another bet, like whether there's 1024 or 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte..... :-)

Thanks again,

ADM

Today's issue of the New York Post comes with a coupon that will get you a free copy of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Once a week for the next 15 weeks or so, you can buy the Post and get a coupon that will allow you to purchase, for $5.99, a new volume in the Post's "Family Classics Library." The Family Classics Library consists entirely of British and American books that are in the public domain, meaning anyone could print them up in book form without having to pay anyone anything. Relatedly, all of the books are available for free, in electronic form, online, from sources other than the New York Post.

If you look at the book's copyright pages, you will see that the books in the Post's giveaway are published by the "Paperview Group," which, as the pun in the company's name ("Pay Per View," get it?) implies, is a specialized printing company. Paperview, based in Belgium, makes money by printing newspaper inserts and special editions. Their website explains that they offer the Classics-promotion as a pre-packaged deal for newspapers. Judging from Paperview's website (which spells "literature" incorrectly, by the way), it looks like European readers get a more interesting range of books than Post readers do: one series features Stendahl's The Red and The Black, and another paper released a whole series of Nobel Prize-winning works.

The Post's books are a step or two above cheaply made: they are cloth bound, but the paper is of below-average quality and feels suspiciously like thick newsprint.

I've scanned in the cover of the Huck Finn edition [157 kb]. Only the cover features NY Post branding. The actual book is generic, free from any branding except a one-line reference on the copyright page. It's not clear what is being copyrighted. Perhaps the layout of the pages? I can't remember what the rule is on that.

Here is a list of the books that make up the Classics Library:

1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2. Moby Dick
3. Gulliver's Travels
4. Alice in Wonderland
5. The Jungle Book
6. Frankenstein
7. Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Tales and Poems
8. Robinson Crusoe
9. The Time Machine
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles
11. Treasure Island
12. Emma (Jane Austen)
13. The Wonderful Wixard of Oz
14. Around the World in 80 Days
15. The Christmas Stories (Charles Dickens)

They can all be yours for:

(14 x $5.99) + (15 x $.25) + $7.12 tax

That's a mere $94.73! Boy, it adds up. But your average price per book is $6.32. All things considered, that's not so bad. Dover Thrift Editions are a good alternative, but those are paperbacks and not as nice, but then again, they don't have the NY Post logo plastered across the front, either.

A graph of Amazon's stock value between its IPO in 1997 and today looks oddly similar to a similar graph for Google, which just had its IPO a few weeks ago.

Amazon's 7-year history:

Google's one-month history:

What conclusions, if any, can be drawn from this, and what conjectures made?