a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
It’s the details that amaze me… You can certainly use many other systems by installing them yourself, but this gives you out of the box functionality which is totally cool.
Apple also announced Tiger Server, which includes David Czarnecki’s Blojsom weblog CMS bundled, an XML-RPC interface, as well as publishing content in RSS. [Scripting News]
Here’s a video from Apple showing off RSS in Safari 2.0. It looks very sophisticated yet simple. There are some nice features, like the scrolling bar to adjust the length of each piece and a quick way to jump through the dates of your saved items. Search is also looks to be quite strong. The snapback feature seems to lets you jump back and forth from browsing to feed reading…
I think a lot of people are going to finally get RSS when this hits next year… too bad Tiger is so far away!
No pricing info yet… it will certainly be interesting to track how this works. Given the knowledge they have from behind the scenes, one would think Verisign has what it takes to identify who is and is not likely to be a spammer…
For blocking malicious mail, the service deploys three antivirus engines. For policy enforcement, customers can use domain-level filtering to scan inbound and outbound e-mail. And a disaster recovery feature allows for automatic switchover to VeriSign’s network to provide SMTP connections that queue e-mail, if a company’s e-mail server is not available.
The company has begun free trials of the service, which will be available on July 12. Pricing details were not announced.
VeriSign said it plans to add more functions, such as verification of sender identity and domain authentication. Domain names of all incoming mail will be checked against the company’s list of verified domains. This list will be made available free to antispam software and service providers. [CNET News.com]
In addition to the Gorgeous Aluminum displays announced at WWDC, Apple is also showing off the new Safari 2.0 which includes a built-in RSS Reader…
What I like about this announcement is that it popularizes syndication. Despite its fast growth, there’s still a huge education job to do. The average Mac user doesn’t know about the technology yet, but putting it in Safari means they will know about it, and it gives the technology a kind of validation, an Apple seal of approval, for the people who are slower to look at new technologies.
It also may mean that Apple will evangelize RSS to publications that haven’t yet adopted it. Which is great: it’s not something we have much time for, and when CNN hears from Apple it carries a bit more weight than when they hear from Ranchero Software. [inessential.com]
From what little I’ve seen here — far far away from WWDC — it seems that Safari can render RSS instead of downloading or displaying an XML file which is what tends to happen. This is great for many people who have not yet figured out what RSS is, and what they need to deal with the link. BTW – Feedburner URls get the browser friendly treatment automatically…
It’s become increasing more clear to me that the next handheld device I own have both WiFi and GPRS (or equivalent) via bluetooth capabilities. I’d also really like to have a keyboard for true messaging ability.
Since it’s summer I’ve been taking advantage of my cargo shorts attire and carrying both my Palm Tungsten T3 and Palm Tungsten C around as I walk about the city. I’ve found that when WiFi is in range, email is much more pleasant to deal with. Since I use SnapperMail, I have to check my email, rather than have it automatically appear ala Blackberry. When using the TC, the speed is just an amazing thing – even for syncing IMAP folders. My T3 works in more places, while actually moving, and can be scheduled to poll for messages (like every 30 minutes), but when you want to check it now, you just can’t beat WiFi.
Whatever my next unit turns out to be, a T4, Treo Ace or some surprise unit… it’s got to have both either built-in, or through an expansion card. Of course built-in is preferred… just to keep it simple.
Now I know when the links in my aggregator were not working today… have to update the old and add the new…
The NY Times is now providing its own RSS feeds, with several new categories including media and advertising, most-emailed, real estate, theater, Times on the Trail, multimedia, theater, Circuits, Week in Review and the Sunday magazine section. Unfortunately the education, dining and wine feeds and perhaps others are gone. The continuing feeds redirect, so most aggregators should adust automatically. [Scripting News]
There’s an interesting piece in today’s NTY Business section on how cable companies (both carriers and networks) are working to roll-out technology to customize ads…
The Weather Channel is rolling out their own technology this October and will allow an advertiser to alter a message based on the pending weather forecast… Six Flags is testing ads focused in each Park market for each location, but has opted for a more general Brand message if rain is predicted for the immediate future.
Comcast has a system that is being tested by United in the Chicago market for Ted, their low-cost carrier, which lets the ad copy change based on the specific neighborhood you live in…There is flexibility in the system to allow a the targeted travel destination to change if flights are closing out.
Both of these are pretty interesting and pretty cool uses of tech, but the nay-sayers are actually more interesting…
“Television first and foremost is a branding vehicle,” said Charles Rosen, managing partner at Amalgamated, an ad agency in New York. “It is not the best vehicle for driving impulse purchases. If I make a memorable ad for Ben & Jerry’s, it’s still rare that somebody’s going to get off their couch, go to the store and buy our ice cream.”
While it’s true that TV has been primarily a Branding tool there has been a recent rise over the past few years in the use of Direct Response media…
Mr. Rosen has clearly focused his agency’s attention on Branding and has yet to be questioned on it’s effectiveness since he has no issue with zero accountability. When I read that quote, I started thinking about the last time I saw a Ben and Jerry’s ad (honestly have no idea when it might have been if ever) and then thought about my ice cream purchasing habits — we eat quite a bit of Häagen-Dazs.
I don’t mean to stick it to Mr. Rosen, but I do think it’s a tad 1985 to think that TV, and it’s darling 30 second spot are going to keep flying the flag. The audience may still there today, from a mass perspective anyway, but as more younger viewers continue to fragment their media consumption through interactive technologies like going online, video games, DVR usage and even mobile technologies, things are going to have to change. I believe that even the Networks will have to move in this direction if they expect to grab the share of media budgets they’ve come to enjoy.
Time: 50 Coolest Websites Our tally of the best sites that piqued our interest over the past year [TIME’s Top Stories]
I know it’s a bit sick, but I’ve been thinking of the LeapPad since before Hannah arrived… I’ve always seen them as very smart learning instruments (yet they can feel like toys) and have just been waiting for the time when Hannah was of age to really get some value. I guess that day is today as I just learned of the following…
The award winning creators of the LeapPad Learning System have knocked the cover off the ball again with a new offering for children aged 6 months to 36 months.
The Little Touch LeapPad Learning System is designed to capture the interest of babies and young toddlers, and help them get a jump on learning and reading skills through visual, sound, and musical activities. The Little Touch includes more than 100 different learning activities in the starter set, with additional sets available for purchase. The Little Touch is constructed of durable plastic, and runs on 4 AA batteries. It retails for around $40 at most major toy and discount stores. [Blogging Baby]
Some nice bookmarklets over at sippey.com to let you initiate clean new GMail messages as well as messages which include a subject and url based on what page you are currently browsing.
This is actually quite sad. I wonder it it’s just an oversight or if all MS Reader content gets this protection regardless of what it is.
I don’t know whether it is a MS policy, but I’ve downloaded a good number of free Palm Reader e-Books that were free from protection because they were either promotionally free or within the public domain.
In this case, our Constitution is not only not free to download, but you are not free to read it how you like.
The madness continues. From Larry Lessig: At Amazon.com, you can purchase an electronic version of the Constitution, fitted very nicely to a Microsoft Reader (not Mac compatible), and protected quite completely with DRM. The description says you%u2019re not permitted to print it. [JD’s New Media Musings]
I just saw that Steve Rubel switched to Feedburner after reading about my experience and I realized I had not mentioned what I had done in making the switch to retain existing subscribers while picking up new ones through the new feed URI. Here’s the skinny from what I did earlier in the week so anyone else interested can take advantage of the same tricks… It was actually quite simple.
I found a few posts on the Feedburner blog which made it all possible.
The great thing about Feedburner from a user perspective is that it’s simple. You the reader no longer have to make a syndication selection (Atom vs. Flavor of RSS) and I the publisher can make universal changes from the control panel which automatically go into effect. There is no editing of code, period.
Following the info on the two links above, I was able to change all my autodiscovery links (they are in your HTML header) to all point to the same Feedburner URl. I then used a simple redirect in my .htaccess and was off. Within 24 hours I had and continue to have some nice stats to complement the sitemeter web access info I check regularly.
Coming eventually to a heated seat near you…
Norman Rohrer, chief designer of the PowerPC 970FX chip used in Apple’s Power Mac G5 desktops and Xserve servers, said the same chip that IBM uses for its desktop machines can also be used comfortably within future PowerBook notebooks through a power-management technique called “PowerTune.”
Rohrer would not comment on the time frame for a chip incorporating PowerTune. Industry insiders said a PPC 970FX-based notebook is not expected to ship before the end of the year. [Yahoo! News – Semiconductor Industry & Servers]
I guess there was some demand for a quality service…
Apple said it had sold over 800,000 tracks through its iTunes online music store in Europe in the first week since its launch. [Yahoo! News – Digital Music]
We may have just had the best pizza in New York!
Totonno’s recently opened a location near where we live, so it’s not only easy to visit to dine-in but also within delivery range! Since the storm front was moving in quickly tonight we decided to go for delivery, which took considerably longer than the usual neighborhood pizza joint, but the taste was in it’s own world – beyond compare.
The usual delivery options are officially closed out… There’s just no reason to go for anything other than the best. I can’t wait to try it again from within to get a fuller experience. The pizza is thin crust cooked in a coal oven with a thicker crust than Lombardi’s or Patsy’s, but tastier! The sauce and cheese are excellent! We opted for the Margherita tonight but the Bianca (white pizza) is supposed to be great as well – perhaps next time we’ll mix in a small one to complement the first pie.
There are two other locations – Upper East and Yonkers… if you are nearby, you must give it a go.
Gizmodo is reporting on some more detail of the next generation Treo…
The short list is very appealing: slightly smaller form factor, 320 by 320 screen, working Bluetooth, context-sensitive “soft buttons,” more phone-like red/end, green/send buttons, a 312MHz processor, and a 1.3-megapixel camera, all running on top of Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet).
Sounds killer to me. Much better than the T4 in fact.
In honor of Friday…courtesy of Boing Boing! It’s a 30 MB WMV movie… for when you click the link.
Office Space Wars is one of the funniest amateur video projects I’ve ever seen: it’s a remake of Office Space, set in the Star Wars Universe, with Vader as the bad boss, Jar Jar as the stapler guy, and R2D2 as the bad printer.
Just had a few dogs (yeah I know it’s early) at the Shake Shack and thought I’d file a small report for those interested parties… judging by my traffic reports, there are quite a few of you.
At the moment you can get Hot Dogs, Soda and Beer, Fries and Ice Cream. The full menu will be available on July 1 and will include quite a few more options like a Portabella Mushroom Sandwich, Burgers, Shakes, Concretes and Wine.
The Dogs are pretty good… They are Vienna Beef – the thinner kind of dogs and taste good. Far from the best dog – I’m actually partial to the Kosher Franks myself, as they have much more spice in them. There are three basic options – the Chicago Dog (10 toppings), The Taxi Dog (2 toppings – Kraut and Onions) and I can’t recall what the third is called, but it’s plain.
We had the Taxi Dogs, though I added relish. All good. Certainly worth the trip or a stop if you are already in the ‘hood (Madison Square Park) and want a Hot Dog. Definitely looking forward to the full menu.
We can hope…
This time the rumored Treo 610 looks about the same as the current one, and is said to have built-in Bluetooth, a faster 312MHz processor, 32MB of RAM, a higher-resolution 320×320 LCD screen, dedicated answer and disconnect buttons, and a 1.2 megapixel digital camera. [Engadget]
Just in from Palminfocenter…
Mark/Space has announced version 4.0 of The Missing Sync for Palm OS. Expected to ship in August, this version supersedes PalmSource’s aging HotSync Manager for Mac OS X. [PalmInfocenter]
“When we set out to revitalize Mac-to-Palm synchronization, it was our intention to provide users with three things,” said Brian Hall, Mark/Space CEO, “Compatibility with existing software conduits, cool new features like Wi-Fi synchronization and confidence that a dedicated company with many years of Mac and Palm OS expertise is supporting their needs. We’ve succeeded in providing a solution that will ensure the future of Mac-to-Palm synchronization.”
Too bad this will cost $$… You are looking at $39.95 for an electronic copy, but will likely be discounted when you purchase a new device.