Wise Guys on WHO Radio - September 11, 2010

Brian Gongol


There's not a lot to recap from a 15-minute show today, except this:

Google's new "instant" search is going to confuse a lot of infrequent computer users -- especially older users. I can certainly see how a lot of people will like it, but the fact that Google continues to evolve its strategy for delivering search results is proof in my mind that by 2020, people will still be using Google, but it won't be the dominant search engine. Different types of computer users will place different demands on their search engines, and the more sophisticated and familiar we become with our computer use, the more specialized and customized each of us will expect our search experiences to be.

I want to share a conversation I had via Twitter this week, because it started out funny, but led me to a sobering thought:
@briangongol: The word "Best" is an incomplete way to close a letter or e-mail. What do you mean? Best wishes? Best of luck? Best pancakes in the world?

@joebwan: Bring back "your obedient servant"!

@briangongol: What we need is a good American equivalent to "Rule Britannia" or "God Save the Queen".

@joebwan: I suppose "live free or die" wouldn't be a great closing for a love letter, though.

@briangongol: That closing line might not be good for romance. At least for this 9/11 anniversary, I'll go with "Long may the republic stand."

But thinking about this a little more, I had a scary thought: We are now halfway to the date at which a child born on the day of the 9/11 attacks will be eligible to vote.

One final thing before I go: A caller during today's abbreviated show asked about a problem he's having with watching full-screen video on YouTube. We didn't have a lot of time to troubleshoot his question, but there's a very good chance the problem is related to updates he needs to make to his Adobe Flash Player. In fact, you should check for these updates, too. I have a list of programs that you should check for security and quality updates. Yes, it includes links to the update pages themselves.