Cryovacking our way to the future

Sous vide, sometimes called “cryovacking,” is a method of food preparation where food is put into a bag and vacuum packed. The bag is sometimes cooked later at low temperatures, or the process itself is used to infuse the food with flavor or to change its texture. When I heard Alton Brown explain sous vide …

A few books I’ve been reading

Nothing deep here, just some stuff that interests me: The Golden Ratio: The Story of Φ, the World’s Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio. An entertaining account of the golden ratio, the author spends some time deflating the myths surrounding it, and then talks about its true significance and beauty. Language Visible (hardcover), aka Letter …

Easy-to-use phone from Motorola?

Motorola announced a new cell phone, the E895, to be available in the last quarter of this year. It uses a combination of Java and Linux called JUIX, which Motorola claims is easier to use than other smartphone OSes. But Motorola doesn’t have a good history of easy-to-use phones — one of my friends said …

No bookstores in Cupertino???

When I moved to Cupertino in 1989, it had several general bookstores: A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in the Oaks, a B. Dalton in Cupertino Crossroads, a Waldenbooks in Vallco Mall, and a Crown Books in the Marketplace (across from Vallco). Stacey’s later opened a branch near Vallco. For the geeks, there was Computer …