Google has added Safari 1.2.1 to the list of browsers supported… [Macworld UK]
Gawker Media Custom Blogging
This seems like a natural extension for the blog publishers like Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc Network… wonder if/when Jason will counter.
Nick Denton has informed me that Gawker Media has launched a custom weblog publishing service for advertisers called Gawker Media Contract Publications. Their first project – a weblog sponsored by Nike. [Micro Persuasion]
Email Worst Practices
Turns out many of emails troubles are just from carelessness (aside from poor technique and targeting) and the findings show Format Errors, Compliance Errors, Unreadable Emails, and Re-direct Errors. If you don’t want people to be able to respond these are all great ways to assure that’s to happen.
A big part of declining click-through numbers might not have anything to do with lack of interest in the offers people are receiving, but of the atrocious quality-control practices and poor re-direct procedures used by many email campaigns. And there is absolutely no reason for it. [MediaPost]
Yondwin universal PDA keyboard
WOW – this seems to be much more functional for my purposes than the bluetooth keyboard from Stowaway, it’s not that slick in appearance, but still very handy.
The PKB-800 uses infrared and is supposed to work with both Palms and Pocket PCs but it%u2019s not quite portable enough that we’d ever consider ditching our Treo for one of these and a regular PDA. [Engadget]
Nerd Values at Craigslist
Great piece on Craigslist at Online Journalism review by Mark Glaser… Thanks to Sandro for the tip.
Craig Newmark started the community site as a hobby, but it soon became a San Francisco area institution for selling cars, getting jobs and finding sex. But just how much has it eaten into newspapers’ traditional classifieds business, and can they win that back? [OJR]
MetaBranding
Leander Kahney of the The Cult of Mac Blog points to an article in Metropolis Magazine which highlights supposedly unintentional design elements of Apple’s Retail stores and it’s hardware. Apparently it’s just a coincidence… part of following what you love but results in MetaBranding, which seems in this case to be a subliminal similarity and passion of detail and design esthetic. Check out the full article for details and pictures.
Circuits on Voom
David Pogue review the Voom HD Satellite service and finds it interesting, yet kludgy and an obvious startup…
The listings grid routinely chops off the second line of each show’s description, the box takes several seconds to change channels and the channel grid always appears at channel 100, rather than the channel you’re already watching. And Voom’s customer service department is still, ahem, evolving. (It took eight days to get a reply to an e-mailed question to Voom tech support, which promises a response in 24 hours.) [The New York Times]
As noted in the article, Voom has it’s challenges… aside from the installation of a dish and a few antennas (installation is currently being waved as part of a time limited promotion) the existing installed providers are soon to follow with more HD as well. Time Warner offers much fewer channels here, about 10 or so active ones including ESPN, Discovery, HBO and Showtime as well as the networks and PBS. Voom enhances this list with some additional new, yet less interesting and “B” level content. If you want the gimmick of an all HD service, it might just be for you, though if you are like 20% of the people who sign up, you’ll be canceling after a short trial.
Wireless Unleashed
Daily Wireless called my attention to a new group blog from Kevin Werbach, David Isenberg, Andrew Odlyzko, and Clay Shirky. Looks like a good one…
Current wireless regulation actually prevents communication from taking place. Even in prime low-frequency spectrum, vast amounts of capacity lies idle due to old rules and old thinking. With the support of Microsoft, we have come together to advocate freeing up this un-used capacity. Over the next few weeks, this site will serve as a sounding board for ideas and discussion. [Wireless Unleashed]
Comcast games on demand
I checked this out and it looks good though these types of services have yet to prove too successful. Yahoo has had Games on Demand for a while now… Not sure if the twitch gamer really wants this or if services like this cater more to a casual gamer who might prefer a single choice subscription to some card or board game.
Comcast today said it will soon begin offering on-demand game downloads to subscribers of its cable Internet service. For an additional US$14.95 per month, customers will be able to choose from a library of over 60 PC-based games. New releases will be added on an ongoing basis, so the library will continue to grow in size. [Ars Technica]
Pocket Rendezvous
Still under testing, but Pocket Rendezvous will bring network auto-discovery to PPC which is a very cool idea! If you read through on the Gizmodo page you can learn how to get in on the testing.
Using Pocket Rendezvous, users can set up a personal, auto-discoverable web servers for a variety of purposes, such as matchmaking services (think broadcasted business cards or personal ads), private music streaming (be the mysterious F train DJ!), or anything else a crafty developer can build on top of the Rendezvous setup (iTunes, for instance, uses Rendezvous to do the quick-sharing of music libraries). [Gizmodo]
Linksys WRT54G Security Flaw
I’ve got the WRT54G on the brain… seems like a very cool system regardless of this flaw which is sure to be fixed soon.
The Linksys WRT54G wireless router, an 802.11g Access Point and 4-port 10/100 Switch has a security problem, reports WiFiNetNews and WiFi Planet. The Linksys unit could give malicious hackers administrative access, researchers warned on Wednesday. [Daily Wireless]
del.icio.us Plugin
Looking good with more functionality to come as well…
Currently in the works: the world’s simplest functioning WordPress plugin, designed simply to fetch one’s bookmarks from del.icio.us. [Among Other Things]
Cordless Collector
Sandro just pointed me to the Cordless Collector which is a combination database hardware solution for tracking your books, DVDs, CDs and Games. You can use either the bluetooth! or USB scanner to catalog what you’ve got and let the software take over from there filling in all the key details…It’s $299.
POP Gmail
I guess it was only a matter of time for this to get hacked…Windows only. Google will be officially supporting this in the future, so this is if you just have to have your Gmail in your desktop client… now.
PGtGM runs on the tray of your computer, converting gmail emails from webbased HTML data into POP3 emails that most email clients, such as outlook, OE and Opera can read.
Good Year Blimp
This picture probably doesn’t do it justice, but the Good Year Blimp just passed by our window. I happened to turn to close the shade which was causing some screen glare and there it was! Unfortunately I don’t have much of a zoom on my digital camera so this is as close as I could make it.
Rogers Cable now offering HD-PVR
Assuming the the Time Warner stance is conservative which is why we are allegedly not getting this box until the fall in New York.
Rogers Cable, covering Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, is now offering an HD-PVR to digital subscribers. It is the Scientific Atlanta 8000HD-PVR. The monthly rental is $24.95. [UPREZ]
Sony leaving the US PDA Market for Now
Just caught this story at Gizmodo on Sony and how they are leaving the US market for at least the rest of this year… Pretty amazing considering they were/are an innovator in the Palm space. Gizmodo and BargainPDA both feel the move is most likely due to the pending launch of the PSP (though it’s almost a year away) and the renewed focus on the Sony Ericsson line.
The Day After Tomorrow
Not a bad flick at all… The story was a tad sappy, but the effects were cool. Even if it pushed the limits of reason and logic, it’s a solid popcorn summer movie. It is definitely chilling to see the destruction of a place you live… even if it’s just a movie.
Thanks to some nifty internet technology, and the better part of day downloading…I was able to watch this current release from the comfort of my home tonight. All brought to me by the letters BT. Actually the first time I’ve watched one of these, and pretty amazed at the relative ease once you get he hang of the distribution system. If the quality was better, I’d definitely pay for the privilege. Even though I know I can pay over $10 anytime I want and go to the theater to get the arm that occasionally crossed into view…. 😉