Links and Stuff

Now, I will outline a series of hypertext links, offer brief descriptions of the content to be found at those sites, explain why you might want to visit, and then wait patiently while you do so.

• Startup Review. It's a new blog, but shows promise already. "Startup Review is a blog that profiles successful Internet start-ups in a case study format. The case studies are created through interviews with early employees at the companies profiled and industry experts." They've got a regular structure for the reviews, actually engage with the teams that built the sites, and aren't just pimping every random startup that comes along. If Nisan Gabbay can keep up the quality and the goals he's set thus far, it may become one of the best blogs you aren't reading.

• Groklaw says Novell is forking OpenOffice.org, except they aren't. Novell incurred Groklaw's wrath by creating a plugin to support Microsoft Office's new XML formats, so at worst, they're making a proprietary plugin, which would result in... Microsoft Office formats only being readable by proprietary code. Kind of like, um, right now. Naturally, Groklaw has responded by basically shouting "she's a witch!" and handing out matches instead of, you know, explaining why that is or isn't a good idea. I haven't given out an Intellectual Dishonesty award in a while -- here's one for you, Dave Jakeman! (Hint: getting data in and out of applications is a good thing.)

• I wish I had time to explore ScummVM, an emulator for LucasArts' storied SCUMM game engine. Sadly, the emulator, as good as it is, can't emulate games built for later, post-SCUMM games, which means I will probably never get to see it play Grim Fandango. That game (fansite, wikipedia) ranks right up there with Mario Kart among my personal best video games of all time.

• And finally, Target wins a Truth in Taxonomy accolade for appending the phrase "Near-Death Experiences" to the Browse Similar Items navigation on this little red wagon. You'll shoot your eye out, kid!