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New layout…

If you read this by RSS, you are missing a redesign in (serious) progress… Nothing too crazy but pretty good for my skillz. I honestly started working through the stylesheet and ideas I found within GigaOm so if if looks in anyway familiar that might be the case. My design is inspired by but in no way as elegant or complex as what is going on there… but I am working on it.

I’ve got a lot to learn in CSS land… just scratching the surface.

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SoftSqueeze

If you like your SliMp3 or Sqeezebox and have wanted to be able to sync the music with your computer’s MP3 player, now you can…

SoftSqueeze is a software implementation of the Squeezebox allowing your PC to stream the same music as your Squeezebox. SoftSqueeze has been implemented in Java, allowing it to work on Windows, Linux and Macs. This project has only just started, but already an alpha version has been released… [SoftSqueeze]

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Sonys Electronic Ink Book

Looks like a very cool ebook reader. 500 Books!

Sony says that next month they’re going to come out with an e-book reader that uses Philips™ new electronic ink technology. The LIBRIe will have a resolution of 170 pixels per inch (more than twice that of most computer monitors), enough memory to hold up to 500 e-books, and its four AAA batteries provide enough juice to flip through more than 10,000 pages. [Engadget ]

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The Eudaemonic Pie

I recall it being quite good as well. I was fortunate enough to have a class in college taught by the author as well as an extra bonus.

After reading my review of Bringing Down the House, Madpro pal Stefan Jones reminded me about a similar book called The Eudaemonic Pie, by Thomas A. Bass, describing it as “Chaos theory wonks build shoes with computers hidden in them to predict roulette wheel results. Highly recommended.” I agree. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember it being deeper and more thought-provoking than Bringing Down the House. Buy from Amazon [Mad Professor]

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AOL Takes Down Spammers’ Offer Pages

Amazing no one thought to do this earlier…

Taking a page from the Chinese government’s playbook, AOL proved the first U.S. Internet provider to attack spam by taking down the websites of spammers. By denying access to the pages to which spam emails link, spammers have no commercial motive to keep sending the messages to annoyed AOL subscribers.

The move, started quietly early this year, is sure to bring protest by companies whose affiliate marketers manage – through ham-handed email marketing – to put the brand websites in hot AOL web water. eCommerce Times reports. [marketingvox]

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iLife 84

Tired of your screaming 2.4 Gigahertz Windows XP monstrosity? Take a chill pill with “iLife ’84,” a 8Mhz, monochromatic adventure in “aaahhh” land. [The Daily Blog]

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RSS Everywhere

So many blogs, so little time. If you want to stay at the top of the information food chain, you gotta read ’em – lots of ’em. And you have to do it every day. But as that list of must-read blogs grows, hunting and gathering the latest posts becomes a daily drain. You could hire an assistant to read them for you. Or tap into RSS. [Wired News

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Guru Red Manifesto

Good and thought provoking material…

Mike Smock and Curt Sahakian now offer the Guru Red Manifesto online, proposing a 52-point plan to improve organizational agility, assertiveness, cohesiveness, and subtlety. [Fast Company Now]

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TiVo looks to tune in to advertisers

The company hopes advertisers will warm to its latest experiment, due out in the next few months. Known as Video-to-Video, the idea is to let viewers click a button on their remote control to immediately watch a 3-minute video describing products and services that might appeal to them. The marketing clips are promoted through small icons that appear on the TV screen as viewers fast-forward past regular ads.

Video-to-video is similar to a service TiVo has previously sold without much demand. But the company hopes the new promotions will better lure marquee advertisers. Many issues have yet to be worked out. But for advertisers, TiVo’s new feature could help usher in changes to TV advertising that ad executives say is sorely in need of an overhaul. [CNET News.com]

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Dave Grohl on Paris Hilton

PARIS HILTON Her forthcoming singing debut: sign of the apocalypse or inevitable career move? Perhaps both. Either way, this baby’s going to get some serious play on this D.J.’s deck — right alongside Divine’s cover of “Name Game” and Steve Martin’s “King Tut.” Granted, I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m looking forward to this like I look forward to the next Christopher Guest movie. And she’s already made the video! [NYT Playlist]

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Small Business is Big Business

Microsoft is bidding adieu to its bCentral site of small business services and resurrecting it as the Microsoft Small Business Center Website. A transition is underway now, leading up to official closure of bCentral in early summer and complete migration of services and content over to the Small Business Center.

The move is an ambitious undertaking and part of Microsoft’s ambitious $2 billion investment in the small- and medium-business market. My report, “Investing $2 Billion on 45 Million: Microsoft Sales Assault Targets SMBs,” explores where the broader investment makes sense or comes up short.

Sometimes, subtle changes are significant. The new small-biz Web property will be hosted on a microsoft.com domain; right now services come from bcentral.com. Jupiter Research surveys show that SMBs increasingly want to buy technology direct from the vendor rather than go through resellers or other third parties. The trend is more pronounced among the smallest SMBs. An operation coming off microsoft.com takes advantage of Microsoft’s brand equity and offers a more direct-like relationship. [Microsoft Monitor: Bye Bye bCentral, Hello SBC]

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HandMark Launches Express Wireless Info Service

A potentially interesting service if you are finding that AvantGo, Hand/RSS or Plucker are not cutting it for you. Have to give it a shot and see how it compares…

HandMark touts Express as a much faster and easier method for searching with the micro-browsers found on wireless PDAs and smartphones. HandMark Express is a direct Internet client application that works via a subscription, as opposed to a web browser based service. It provides automatic and on demand updates to news, market data, weather, sports scores, maps and directions, directory lookups, movie times and ticket purchases.

Express is available for $6.99 per month and at retail with a prepaid one-year subscription for $69.90 USD. [PalmInfocenter.com]