a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
I think it’s fair to say this would be a very popular service… I know I already want it!
Now if only someone far more capable than me would just write a Firefox extension that will track and sync both my RSS history and my web page history, so that it will not only know that I’ve already seen an RSS item, it’ll also know that I’ve seen all the RSS items that have s which point to an HTML page that I’ve seen, I’ll be in infoglut heaven. [Phil Ringnalda]
Sandro emailed this to me earlier in the week and I meant to post it here… Have to give it a shot when I get a moment.
Mac OS X Hints: Record and playback high definition TV signals from cable. [Hack the Planet]
Folklore is a great site and this story is amazing… Andy Hertzfeld meets one on one with both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs while developing and selling the first application switcher — Switcher — for the Mac.
I mentioned Andy Hertzfeld’s wonderful Folklore web site right after it debuted, and if you have any sense at all, you’re obsessively reading each new article as it’s published. But in case you aren’t, Hertzfeld’s story about Switcher — the first multitasking software for the Mac (circa 1985) — is just amazing. Switcher was so cool, and the Mac so important to Microsoft, that Hertzfeld negotiated with Bill Gates one-on-one for the rights. And, of course, Gates tried to screw him. It’s a great story. [Daring Fireball]
Just imagine what might happen if Microsoft’s DRM gets adopted for movies, music and other media…. In addition to a lockout, Michael Gartenberg realized that the software was making unauthorized connections back to the mothership to keep itself up to date… You need Little Snitch, Michael — too bad it’s Mac only.
I was going to do some reading this evening on my computer. I had a copy of the Devil’s Banker in Microsoft Reader format. When I tried to open it though, i got a message that informed me that that the security software had been updated and that I needed to update. No problem, I go to the update page but it tells me, I’m updated and activated just fine. Except, I’m not. The e-book won’t open. I try to activate the reader again and the fun gets more interesting. I get a note saying that my acc’t only has six activations and all of them are used. Let’s see, by my count, I have two laptops and one PocketPC active. That would mean three activations left (and of course, the COMPUTER IS ALREADY ACTIVATED)… Yikes. Pulling up my PocketPC, I get the same infuriating message but it does activate again and the book opens there (but still not on my computer).
Bottom line. MS Reader is DRM at its worst. Unlike competitive solutions, like iTunes, Reader won’t let me authorize AND de-authorize a computer. Yes, you can request more authorizations from MSFT, but that’s sort of useless when you’re trying to read a book. I’m staying away from Reader at this point and going to use Palm Digital Media that has a far friendlier DRM that’s never locked me out of my content yet. Like most users, I have no objection to DRM, it’s necessary to prevent abuses but should never, ever be something a legitimate user should bump into, like i kept bumping into tonight. I better go read that book on the PocketPC before I get locked out again. If anyone at Microsoft is reading this, you guys really need some help here in terms of best practices…[Michael Gartenberg]
I had not considered this as an issue as it has yet to happen to me with my DRM-protected content. I’ve been looking at the Microsoft DRM solution as a more severe lockout… I use a Mac and it won’t work for me, period. Music, Books and Movies need to be able to enjoyed on a variety of platforms as there are a variety of computer choices in this world. I think most people would agree, though Jack Valenti (now retired MPAA lobbyist and professional Asshole) certainly thought otherwise.
I’ve had an HDTV for a longtime by HD standards… almost 4 years. I can’t say I watch more TV, in fact probably less (and even less now with a Baby) but not because of the programming, but rather how I choose to use my time.
I got the set for the future, so we could watch DVDs and enjoy HDTV when it eventually came to cable. We’ve watched our share of sports (Superbowl), prime-time (24) and cable (Sopranos) all which have been great. There are few if any commercials which scale or are shot in HD (probably based on cost) so when a commercial kicks in, it’s clear you are no longer in HD and the experience has been reduced. I don’t know whether a regular 30 sec. spot in HD is going to captivate me or anyone else any more than they do now…
We’ve been watching even less (like zero) HD since November which is when Hannah arrived. It’s impossible to watch anything without a pause feature and until we get an HD DVR, we’ll be keeping our viewing in standard DVR mode. Soon enough… though then we’ll be skipping the commercials when we’ve got the cache as we do now. 😉
The Washington Post has an article with some disheartening comments on HD from a broadcast business standpoint. Here are the key ones:
“”I don’t think high-definition is a panacea,” said Kenneth Schanzer, president of NBC Sports, which also plans to broadcast the first all-high definition Summer Olympics from Athens in August. “It will certainly enhance the viewing experience for the fan. But I don’t think it generates any new viewers or any new revenues anywhere. In my heart of hearts, I don’t think it will increase ratings.” Pretty strong words from a pretty important source – the President of NBC Sport. [U P R E Z]
Could be the solution for the web traffic issue reported by Wired… Decentralization is certainly the key.
Newswire is a peer-to-peer, fully decentralized system that brings news to your desktop, within seconds after it is published. (My apologies if you already saw this one of the first ten times I posted it.) [Hack the Planet]
This is a very simple pref pane that makes life a bit easier when the mouse is elsewhere as you click. I’ve seen this feature in advanced mouse software, but not as a stand-alone piece. It’s nice to have even with the trackpad…
LazyMouse is a Preference Pane that moves your cursor to the default button whenever a dialog box appears on your screen. In other words, it will save you time moving the mouse to dismiss dialogs. [Painter’s Picker]
Phillip is the only person I can think of that has quite a collection like this…
here is a video tour of some geek watches you can buy and use today: camera watches, walkie-talkie watches, usb memory storage watches, fitness watches…all here in this video. i can’t really wear a watch unless it “does something” more than tell time, that is what the sun is for. that said, i value the real estate on my wrist, so here’s the pervasive technology which sometimes resides there. [phillip m. torrone]
It doesn’t yet exist, but if it did it would cover an urban area and stop the overzealous horns of cars. Too often, people honk to honk creating noise and unnecessary frustration for other drivers, pedestrians and apartment dwellers. The honk has evolved into a way to shout out the driver’s frustration, rather than warn another vehicle or pedestrian they are crossing into a dangerous situation.
It would be great to see this created and used… I’d love to see (and not hear) quiet traffic jams and slow lights.
Conspiracy theorists start your engines! http://www.google.com/blog/. [Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent]
Amazing! I’ve lived in the same place, near Gramercy Park and Union Square for almost six years and I never knew Stuyvesant Cove existed…
We walk a lot — not that uncommon here in NYC, but with a baby, I think you walk even more. We have our usual routes… to Madison Park and around Gramercy Park which are always nice. Recently though we’ve been enjoying Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village which is close by and very quiet once you get inside the community. On a recent loop around Peter Cooper Village (the northern area) I noticed what looked like a path over by the East River…and sure enough there is one!
Hannah and I crossed the FDR at 20th Street and found ourselves in a small oasis away from the rest of the city. It’s far from a true escape (and you’ll be able to tell that especially from the pictures I snapped), but it’s a great safe place to walk. The path is well maintained, planted and uncrowded. We saw a few runners, skateboarders, bikers and fishermen and even another baby in a stroller with her parents.
While far from Battery Park, it’s really easy to get to (no cab or subway required) and you do get the sea breeze, even if it is the East River based… I’m sure we’ll be back to watch more sea planes and boats pass by. If you are in the ‘hood, be sure to check it out.
Here are the pictures I shot while on the move. I captured the full essence of the place, including the cars and Con Edison.
I just installed a nice plugin for WordPress which forces a real email address as a simple authentication step. It’s a nice way to prevent bogus spam crap, though admittedly spam really gets blocked based on some prefs I’ve set compared to my former Moveable Type site which continues to get slammed. It’s amazing that I still have to do maintanence to clean up BS that floats in with a dormant site.
Feel free to comment here and test the system…
Update (2:48pm)– OK — TEST IS OVER. The plugin works, but there is a bug in the nightly I’m using which is causing a funky DB error. I know it works, but the details are still shaky. Soon enough though.
Pretty straightforward article I just found via Yahoo on DVRs… seems late to the game but provides a good overview for those who may have less of an idea of how things work.
In the new world of digital video recording, TV viewers can forgo videocassettes, easily recording their favorite shows on a hard disk and watching them whenever they desire. [Yahoo! News ]
News aggregators may be the best new tools to appear on the Web since the browser, but as the programs and the underlying RSS standard grow more popular, some question whether the Internet will be able to handle the traffic. [Wired News]
In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Jeff Jarvis has been intensely covering all things Stern for quite a while. He’s written a solid cover story for The Nation which I’d recommend giving some time to read over.
My cover story at The Nation about the FCC, the First Amendment, and Howard Stern is online. [BuzzMachine…]
What is coming next from Palm (just wrongly grouping palmsource and palmone)?? We’ve got the Zires…72 and 31 and the alleged Treo 610 (bluetooth baby!) but what else is on the way — assuming the Treo is real.
I’ve been quite happy with my T3 and while it’s only been since November, the idea of a new OS on my older device has me wondering what we’ll actually see and whether it will be time for something else. (I am keeping the thought path open only to Palm OS for this blog, anything from Apple would most likely override my thinking here…)
Is there a T4? There have been discussions and rumors about the slider design (which is totally cool in my book) going away to be more tablet like… I hope the only reason to do something like this would be to accommodate a wifi antenna in addition to the existing bluetooth radio. While the Sony UX-50 was interesting to me at the time I purchased my T3, I found the screen to be less than desireable… while it has a nice resolution, it’s quite small considering the size of the plastic frame. It’s hard to beat the T3 screen.
Is there something totally unique? Palm has not had too many tricks up their sleeve… the OS plan was a semi-secret, but is really just a road map at this point as no devices have been leaked that include the next generation.
Just wondering… I’ve got that spring fever, gadget itch.
While it works well as a screen saver, there is also an included mini-app which is nice for low-light situations you might find yourself in. I like the white text on black effect, which is really great when sitting and reading in the dark as I do sometimes to keep the light from disturbing anyone (like a sleeping baby or wife).
What is Black Light? Well, basically it inverts the color on your system. It allows a fair amount of customization in the settings for exactly how it does this, how frequently, etc. In short, it makes your screen look like the light source is a black light (with options to randomly shift the colors). The effect is pretty cool, especially if, like me, you are on the computer a lot at night in low light and don’t like screen savers that make the screen real bright. [Apple-X.net]
Greg asked over at DaddyTypes…
(I think this is my first gadget entry that’s Dad oriented — I’m sure it won’t be the last…)
The Bugaboo is the ultimate stroller. Before Hannah was born, Ashley and I looked at quite a few models but when I saw the Bugaboo, it was a must have. Everything about the design is cool.
You can easily switch riding modes – Hannah can face us or out to the world – which was unique and may still be actually. It’s also two strollers in one… you can have your baby lie flat as a newborn and be fully protected from the elements deep inside the sleeping bag muff as we did all winter.
The ride of the thing is also unreal. Compared to hard plastic wheel strollers the inflated, all-terrain rear wheels are amazing smooth on NYC streets. It handles … yes handles amazingly well and navigates a straight line mostly on it’s own which makes things easier on the pusher…
There are a few modes we have yet to explore but I imagine as the summer arrives we will… We’ll be able to align the wheels together so that we can easily manage the stroller on sand at the beach or even just to lug stuff back and forth from the house to the beach.
Just a few negatives…
Cost — though with the initial mode it’s like 2 strollers…
Weight — Now that Hannah is 5 months, she weighs about 19 pounds, plus the stroller and any stuff you may have packed for the day can make things tricky on steps – like to the subway or even just around. We’ve found plenty of kid-unfriendly places in our travels.
Collapse-ability — Unlike Maclaren models there is no simple collapse mechanism. It’s actually a few steps and you have to take your child off the stroller in order to do this. You can get the stroller mostly-flat, but it will be in two parts which can be put in the back of a car or in the carry case for flights…
All in all, we love the stroller. We’ve added a few accessories like the diaper-bag, which neatly fits the back bar and recently the parasol which has been quite handy in keeping sun off of Hannah’s face. Highly recommended.
via Tomalak’s Realm…
This “universal pen,†as Wang calls it, could transform the way people interact with computers. Unlike gizmos that write on computer displays or special pads of paper, Wang’s invention uses regular ink, works with regular paper, and lets users combine handwritten text and diagrams with digital content from reports, magazines, and Web pages. An executive on a plane trip, for instance, could mark up a paper copy of a report and later transfer the changes to the file on his or her computer automatically. [MIT Tech Review]
Too Cool!
We all know what wardriving is – discovering wireless networks while driving some sort of ground-based vehicle. Warflying is kind of like that, except you are travelling at about 120 miles per hour and flying about 1500 above ground. [The Wireless Weblog ]