I must have been living under a rock. I confess, it was a stupid oversight on my part. I’m talking about Pandora, a terrific service of the Music Genome Project. The GMP has analyzed an absurd amount of music, capturing the details of 400 attributes of each song. Pandora takes advantage of this indexing by asking you to enter the name of a favorite artist or song, then matching your tastes to create a customized music station. You get to rate each song that plays, and Pandora adapts to your likes and dislikes over time.

For example, I’m a big Dar Williams fan. I also happen to like Oingo Boingo. Totally unrelated artists, but Pandora came through like a champ for me. I’ve not only heard “The Babysitter’s Here” and “Elevator Man,” but also a number of other great artists with similar musical styles.

It’s totally free, and your stations are saved in your account so you can access the system from any computer.

Check it out - you’ll be glad you did!

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I was wandering around the web in search of a good link about L. Frank Baum (the guy who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) when I stumbled upon www.literature.org. I can’t believe I’ve never seen this site, but I have now bookmarked it and will get there as often as possible.

The site presents the full and unabridged texts of classic works of English literature. Fiction from authors like Lewis Carroll, the Bronte sisters (Anne, Charlotte and Emily), Jack London, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and many others, and classic scientific works from Charles Darwin and Rene Descartes.

All of the books are in the public domain, so no worries about the copyright police showing up at your door and carting away your computer.

So take some time and drink in the works of Mark Twain. Get back in touch with your inner Jabberwocky. You’ll be glad you did.

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I admit it - I suffer from prospective iPhone envy. My iPod is about two years old now, and sitting in my son’s room playing Norah Jones to put him to sleep every night (did you know that Norah is apparently very big with the parent set, putting infants to sleep all over America?). My Blackberry is one neat phone, but just screams, “Geek!”

Now along comes this slick little beauty that will let me make phone calls (check out the cool little color buttons!), listen to music and watch movies (I still can’t figure out why people watch movies or TV shows on their mobile devices). Plus, all the cool kids are gonna have ‘em. Long lines at the Apple store on the night of June 28 (you dare to doubt me?).

The only thing I’ve been holding out for, repeating for days and weeks, is that the iPhone will probably have a cruddy battery life like the first iPods. The case will scratch like the Nano. Anything I could think of to avoid shelling out $600 for a phone.

A phone, I tell you! The same device I used to consider a means for placing a (gasp!) phone call and nothing more. A telecommunications tool, something to let me talk with someone else.

$600. Insanity. But I want one.

Oh my oh my, do I ever want one. And now Apple has come out with revised specs that indicate an 8 hour battery life and an improved screen to minimize scratching.

If you want me on June 28 and 29, I’ll either be on line at the Apple store or strapped to my chair so I can’t get there.

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