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MSN and Safari…

Is it just my imagination, or does MSN and the MS Passport system not work at all with Safari??? I cannot login regardless of how I try unless I do it through IE. I was successful at getting my.msn to load, but I cannot do anything that requires authentication beyond that first step.

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What year is this???

Hard to believe this story is dated 2003, but it seems that “61 percent of the participants said they would be more likely to make online content purchases if there were an easy and secure alternative to the credit card.” I remember people being afraid to do credit card purchases in 1996… why is this still a tough thing for people to do?? Visa, Mastercard and Amex better wake up!

Almost all Internet users have them, but many are afraid to use them online. [internetnews.com: Top News]

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BlackBerry on a Palm

This is really fantastic news… While devices will not likely be ready to use this for some time (hopefully before the OS 6 rollout in 2004) it will finally provide a serious email machine option. The more I think about the Blackberry, the more I like it, but then I remember I am a Palm guy. I can’t give up the benefits of Palm just to have email like that, knowing that the rest of the software is not as good, not too mention it does not even sync with my Mac.

Research in Motion plans to license the email technology it uses on its BlackBerry devices to companies making Palm handhelds.
Read

[Gizmodo]

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HDTV set-top box + DVR + cable modem from Motorola

This sounds like a winner… just wish Time Warner was mentioned in the article to give me some hope this baby might come to NYC. I would really like an HDTV PVR…

New digital set-top box from Motorola that combines an HDTV cable box with a digital video recorder and cable Internet modem. One thing, though. The DCT6208 “only” has an 80GB hard drive, which can’t possibly store that many hours of high-definition television programming.
Read

[Gizmodo]

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AOL weblogs?

From a trusted correspondent, talking with a contact who works at the Netscape part of AOL/Time Warner. “He said they had decided that weblogs are the next killer app, and that most of the work at the Mountain View office was going into building a weblog component for AOL. He also mentioned that about 400 people are working on that software. This is in constrast to about 20 who are working on Mozilla.”

[Scripting News]

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Back on AvantGo…

It has been about 2 years since I used AvantGo since they do not support Mac OS X. If you have the right device you can sync directly to the server rather than using the computer. The trick is getting the files onto your palm since the install only comes as an .exe file for Windows. I tapped a friend who was kind enough to install the software and extract the three files you need to get going.

If you are not sure what AvantGo is imagine having a nice set of bookmarks and the content from the sites in your pocket. It’s offline browsing/reading, though the app does support online browsing as well. I have found the browser to be quite good, comparing nicely to the (NetFront) browser Palm has built into the Tungsten series.

I am using the OS 5 beta and so far it is very impressive. The color and hi-res functions are really nice. It is easy to quickly fill the free 2MB you are allotted and I am considering the $19.95/yr. to enable up to 8MB of reading. While Plucker certainly works and is completely free, it is also a bit of work to get it going and to update each time. Using the built-in wifi connection, I can update my 2MB allotment in less than a minute. This is perfect as you walk out the door for the subway or to catch a flight…

The beta files were last updated on March 26, 2003. They have been working extremely well for me and I would recommend this to anyone with an OS 5 Palm device. You just need to bring your own connection. I’d be interested in hearing how those with other Tungsten devices might be doing syncing over bluetooth which should work well also.

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iTunes 4 – total track limit removed

iTunes 4 seems to have corrected the “limit” at 15,000 tracks. I have roughly 20K tracks and the app seems to be working just fine! This is great news as it was not easy to manage an iPod with either multiple libraries or another app. Even though Audion is nice, it is nowhere as easy to deal with an iPod as iTunes.

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Been a while…

It’s been a very long time (I feel) since I have posted anything and for that I apologize. I have been extremely busy with work and believe (and hope) that it will continue for a while.

I will try to find a way to blog from mail, so things will work better offline – via plane and such to keep this active. Any recommendations would certainly be appreciated.

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Apple Music Service: the good and the bad…

Though Apple declined to comment before the announcement, those who have used the new service say it’s as easy as buying a book on Amazon.com. Recommendations based on listeners’ preferences are plentiful; the system seamlessly interplays with Apple’s free iTunes jukebox software and with the iPod.

Downloads of single tunes are available at sites such as Bestbuy.com and Samgoody.com, but the offerings aren’t very deep and pricing is all over the map. The new Madonna single, American Life, is available for $1.49 at BestBuy, while Before You Love by Kelly Clarkson is $2.49. Apple is expected to have a much wider selection and consistent pricing, with songs that easily can be moved to portables or burned to CDs.

Wolpert argues that for all the expected hype from Apple chief Steve Jobs about the convenience of buying single tunes, “on Rhapsody you get unlimited songs for $9.95. So if you found 50 songs to listen to, it would cost $9.95. On the Apple service, that 50 would be $50. That could be a problem.”

[USA Today]