Doug Ross @ Journal

More on Gmail

From Miscoranda, more analysis of Google's Email Beta:

Details, details. Whilst most people are speculating about privacy concerns, spam handling capabilities, and the length of the beta phase of gmail, I'm still busy examining the minutia of the service...

...The second screenshot is what you get when you click on "Compose email", and shows how relevant entries from your personal contacts lists are displayed in real time, updated with each character you type. The JavaScript that drives all of these features is heavily obfuscated, presumably to deter automated interaction with the interface...

...One of the most common class of questions that I've had is whether the service is suitable for professional use. Commercial business use is forbidden by the Terms of Use...

Miscoranda: More Gmail Beta Testing

100 Flicks that Deserve More Love

Looking for flicks and sick of the run-of-the-mill crap? Check out CHUD's Top 100 Films that deserve more love.

Straight out of Naptown

I just posted this review of Eddie Little's novel Steel Toes.

Straight out of Naptown

Picking up almost immediately at the point that _Another Day In Paradise_ left off, Bobby Prine is killing time in a hard-core Indiana youth facility, trying to avoid the next race riot that will either kill him or send him packing to adult prison. On the razor's edge, he determines that only escape will save him from the fate that awaits him in either correctional facility. With a couple of friends, he does manage to flee... the crew makes their way to New York and then Boston, hooking up with a variety of other crime gangs, some of whom are very dubious partners. Prine's small crew manages to fund themselves through a moderately successful set of crimes, ranging from check-kiting to hijacking.

But a truly big score awaits: a Boston museum is displaying a collection of rare coins that a major collector desperately wants -- and he's willing to pay as much as $600K. Realizing that the competing gangs may double-cross his group, Prine tries to set up a triple-cross. But an increasingly serious drug habit and some girlfriend problems have helped cloud his mind. As the violence escalates, the reader feels just as trapped as Prine: can he survive long enough to realize one final, big score? And clean himself up in the bargain?

Little is straight out of the Eddie Bunker school of crime writers: guys who know exactly what they're talking about and wrap you into a near-psychopathic experience. You'll feel the anger, the addiction, the joy and rgaing pain that Prine experiences. Because this is raw, moving and -- ultimately -- stunning material.

Steel Toes, a novel by Eddie Little