A Day in the Life / Iclectic Podcast

On the Road Again

2006-10-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

So I am in Oxford UK after some time in London and a day in Manchester to watch England V Macadonia. London was great but the details will have to wait. England has been fun and crazy the last few days. Planes, trains and buses galore, I am in Oxford for a few days to relax. Will write soon. Miss you all.

You know who you are

2006-07-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Stop posting comments. Your IP address is being recorded and sent to the proper authorities. You have been warned.

Domain Name calstatela.edu ? (Educational)
IP Address 130.182.173.135 (California State University, Los Angeles)
ISP California State University, Los Angeles
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : California
City : Los Angeles
Lat/Long : 34.0815, -118.1792 (Map)
Language unknown
Operating System Microsoft WinXP
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; MSN 6.1; MSNbMSFT; MSNmen-us; MSNc00; v5m)

So that's why Zidane did it!

2006-07-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

After eating itself, Couchsurfing relaunches in record time with version 2

2006-07-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

Couchsurfing.com, the online destination of thousands of travelers looking for a free couch to crash on, recently launched version 2.0. Couchsurfing suffered a major database failure on June 27th [http://www.digg.com/tech_news/
CouchSurfing_Deletes_Itself,_Shuts_Down] and was forced to rebuild from the ground up.

read more | digg story

How to enable all extensions in Firefox 2.0

2006-07-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

I just installed Firefox beta and it shows a great improvement on the Mac. This article shows you how to enable all your extensions for the beta (most extensions won't work yet) with minimal effort. Most of my extensions worked. I hope this 2.0 version is out of beta soon. It is well worth a go.
Firefox 2.0 disables all extensions that are not mentioned as compatible with 2.0 by their authors. Most should work with 2.0 though and the website explains how to make them all work in firefox 2.0.

read more | digg story

Firefox Beta 2.0 to be Released Tommorrow

2006-07-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) can be downloaded from Mozilla's FTP site, although the official Beta 1 won't be released until July 11, according to notes published by the open-source developer.

read more | digg story

Current TV

2006-07-05T01:55:00.000-07:00

After going to see the Al Gore movie this past weekend, I re-read an article about him in Wired magazine. What I forgot about Al, aside from the fact he created the Internet, is his project called Current TV. A cable network that is broadcast on some major cable providers, but not on my sweet (read sarcasm) Adelphia package. I heard about it when it launched, visited the web site, and pretty much forgot about it. Because of the Youtube.com and Google Video phenomenon that has been sweeping the internet, Current TV has been swept under the proverbial internet rug. The Wired article indicates a lackluster uptake on the TV channel, but I decided to give it another go.

From the little time I spent on the site (god forbid I do any research before I write), It appears that the great inventor of Internet has reinvented TV with "Viewer Generated" (I love catch phrases) content. Viewers can upload content, it is voted on, and if it meets the muster of the crowd (and some network guy I am sure) it hits the airwaves. The content is far from the backstreet boys lip-sync, every high school girl dance to "I am in love with a stripper", grainy less than 5 min piece of crap that is not worth the 1's and 0's it is written on. No from the few (yes I do massive research when I speak from authority) videos I have seen, the quality is that of PBS or the radio equivalent This American Life. I was impressed by the "digg.com", myspace.com social feeling of the site. It seems that you can "Green Light" (my emphasis for effect) videos to give it one more vote to hit the front page airwaves.

You can check it out for yourself online here or at the following cable stations:

DIRECTV

Nationwide 366

Time Warner Digital

New York City 103
Los Angeles 116

Honolulu 108

Other cities Select 'Time Warner' below

Comcast

Most Cities 107
Los Angeles 255

Some sampes from the site:

24 hours in Rome
or

Aldo's America

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-07-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last night to escape the heat, I went to see Al gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Those who have not been reading the news lately or are a Republican hiding from the truth, An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary by Davis Guggenheim about Global Warming. The premiss is based on Gore's slide show presentation that he has been giving all over the world for years. It is a simple concept that he is trying to get across. If we do not do something about global warming, then the world as we know it may cease to exist. It is not a question of "if it will happen", it is a question of "when it will happen."

I was impressed with the film and it made me think how I can help solve this global issue. The films main point that I took home is that people go from denial about the issue to Despair, because it seems like an unstoppable problem, without stopping to analyze what we can do. I hope everyone that will see this movie will stop and think. I know an looking deeper into the issue, so that I can get a better understanding and ultimately be an informed citizen.

Technorati Tags: algore, Inconvenienttruth, globalwarming

WTF - Couchsurfing takes a dive

2006-06-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Techcruch has reported that Couchsurfing has taken a dive. The site is down and most likely has closed it's doors for good. Being a user of couchsurfing, I am saddened to see this happen. It seems there was a series of mistakes made by the administrators of the database and now the data is gone. I really though Couchsurfing was a great site and great community of nearly 100,000 users. I used it when I travelled to europe to meet locals and get travel advice. Techcrunch has a deadpool list of startups that have failed, but this brings to home a bigger issue that we must consider. Who do you trust with your data, and who will be around to make sure it lasts?

Flickr is one service that can go by the way of couchsurfing and impact thousands of users, and there are examples of popular services like this where consumer investment is low (read free) and company funding is nonexistent. (yes Flickr is now owned by Yahoo, so it is here for now)

I just don't know what to say.......I know there will be a new site that will take it's place, but it is a sad day in the "social networking" world.

Update: For those who have not seen the service, the wayback machine has a copy of the site as of 2005 here

Technorati Tags: couchsurfing, techcrunch

Do we need another Podcast Directory?

2006-06-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

I hate to be cynical about new technologies, but it seems that Podcasting is getting a little crowded in the directory space. With Melodeo being in the spotlight this week, it is hard to say Blubrry will make a buzz. Fresh for Gnomedex, Raw Voice, the creators behind Geek News Central, has released the web 2.0ish application in the wild. The first impressions in usability is a good one. The site looks clean an is easy to use. There doesn't seem to be a massive amount of content at this time, so it looks like a site that requires podcasters to sign up to add their podcast to the site. I say "looks like" because there is no information about what blubrry actually does. I assumed it was a podcast index site that would go out and aggregate content, but with so few offerings at launch, I think that assumption will be wrong. As you can see they are more than mysterious with their about page

About Blubrry

One network that meets your needs and keeps you independant.

So how are you going to meet my needs? And joining a network keeps me independent how? Yes I know it is beta, but when you launch a product, please tell me what it is and what it does.

Searching the web, I found an article in the

Podcast Herald,

where Todd Cochrane talks about his new service.

From reading I gather this much:

"Dynamic user-driven connecting place featuring "MySpace" - Style social navigation, ranking and commenting for each show"
"...listing requirements for podcasters...including"

"...One advertising spot for your podcast....
"..Blurbrry promo if no advertising is available..."

and here's the rub....."honor your commitments to advertisers and not compete with Blubrry outside the network...."

Like Flickr and other name catchy applications, they just couldn't find any room for that additional letter in the name (I mean come on, they don't charge by the letter when you register a domain name)

Now that has "user-generated", "social network", "folksonomy", web 2.0 buzz kill written all over it. Why would anyone want to join this network and be a part of the advertising pool if they can't subsidize with outside advertising? Talk about your walled garden, people come to sites for the content and ease of use. Yahoo, Odeo and others have made finding podcast's easy, so now others will have to compete on content.

The upside in joining blurbrry for podcast producers is a share of the revenue. The split will be 70 -30 split with the big chunk going to Podcasters. A fair deal, but you need advertising dollars in order to fund this share. The key question is how can blurbrry differentiate themselves from other podcast networks where advertisers will want to invest.

Monitization can be tricky in podcasting, and given the lack of big names on the network, I don't see a huge uptake to blurbrry.

Todd has some experience in podcasting and building networks, so I do think he has a chance to get some buzz, but over the next year I am sure we will see more networks with other types of business models hit the space and bring more competition to a already crowded market.

Good luck Todd, I just have one request. Please add more content to the site so users and producers know what it is all about.

Update: Friday June 30, 2006 4:30pm PDT

Anthony from Podcast herold sent me an email to clarify the comment I made about not being able to advertise on the outside if you join the network. He says:

One correction about Blubrry: podcasters can subsidize with outside advertising.

I think what Todd Cochrane means is that he doesn't want a conflict between the advertisers Blubrry is setting up for member podcast spots. Any previous advertising deals a podcast may have and any other ad deals are no problem and are up to the individual podcast producers.

And yes, the collective bargaining power and 70-30 split does look nice.

I took more time on the site and signed up. When you go to add a podcast to the network there is more informaiton on what the expectations of both parties are.

From the podcast sign up page:

What are the terms?

Blubrry values our relationship with you. Here are important points from our agreement with you:

At Blubrry you will always own the content that you produce.

If you produced it you own the copyright. Blubrry wants to promote your content not own it!

The Blubrry Agreement is not an exclusive commitment.

The Blubrry Agreement does not prevent you from signing up with other networks and it does not prevent you from promoting other podcasts or making paid or unpaid appearances for your show.

You give Blubrry the right to negotiate one advertising spot for your podcast.

Blubrry will negotiate advertising contracts with full disclosure of the deals, and offer them to you. You always have the right to refuse to take part in any advertising campaign.

You agree to run a non obtrusive short Blubrry promotion in your podcast if no advertising is available.

Listing on the network is free but each show will help build the network. Blubrry will promote your podcast and when there are times that you are not engaging in a paid advertising campaign we ask that you to promote Blubrry with a short promo usually in spoken form indicating your listing on Blubrry.com.

Of course we don't want you to do deals privately with vendors that advertise with Blubrry.

To facilitate advertising to multiple podcasters, it can become destructive if blubrry members make special deals with clients who are advertising thru the Blubrry Network. See the terms and conditions for more details.

Advertisers expect a commitment.

Let's say that you sign up to be a part of a three- month advertising campaign. The contract with the advertiser is for a three-month commitment. You are expected to produce your podcast regularly and remain a part of the Blubrry network during those three months.

No one wants "cease and desist" letter.

Therefore, if you use copyrighted material in your podcast you must have permission, and you must be following the terms of the permission the copyright is giving you.

Technorati Tags: blubrry, podcast, Podcasting

Scoble The Exit Interview

2006-06-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Scoble has left the building.....Good luck Robert on your new adventure.

On you last day at M$ I moved you from my MS folder to the Bloggies folder in Bloglines. You are now right next to scripting news......Keep up the good word

read more | digg story

The first OS X Leopard (10.5) Video

2006-06-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Digg Article:
Not much to the video, but we love to hear Apple is working on new OS.

"Of course this falls under rumors. This is supposed to be a video of Mac OS X (10.5) Leopard. You be the judge."

read more | digg story

Google Book Search - 1, Publishers - 0

2006-06-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

It looks like Google's Book Search Program just earned a little validation. German publishers have dropped thier copyright suit against google. Now lets see if this will influence publisher's here in America.

Read the article here

You can also listen to the debate between Google and the AAP that took place earlier this month here.

Bloggercon IV

2006-06-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Day one at bloggercon was very successful. As a small blogger, I was able to get a lot out of all the sessions and meet some really great people. The blogging community is great about coming together and sharing ideas. Dave Winer's "unconference" format works very good and everyone is the speaker and the audience.

I will have more to write about each session, but for now I am enjoying day 2. Many people are here and you can find them and their photos.

The live stream and mp3 files can be found here.

Thanks Dave and Doc and all those who made bloggercon work.

Technorati Tags: blog, bloggercon

Bloggercon

2006-06-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Bloggercon IV is about to begin here in San Francisco. Last night's kick off party was great. I met some great bloggers that I have been reading for awhile now.

Dave Winer has kicked off the conference with a traditional song. The Hoki poki was suggested and sung by the crowd. This is a unique conference in the fact that it is interactive and the audience is the panel. Everyone has a voice and it is not about companies trying to sell you something, but bloggers discussing technology and issues.

Updates will come as the sessions roll.

Technorati Tags: bloggercon, blog

The Battle Over Books - LAPL and Wired Magazine

2006-06-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

The Talk that took place on monday is now available here

For additional information you can view Lawrence Lessig's presentation here

Google vs. the world

2006-06-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

The google book search debate was great. The arguments were well laid out and I found the debate to be on point at most times. I recorded much of the debate and some commentary afterwards. It will take a day or 2 to edit, but I am excited about the audio I recorded.

I had an opportunity to meet Lawrence Lessig and it was truly an honor. Check back in a day or 2 to hear the audio.

Technorati Tags: booksearch, lessig

Google Book search Debate

2006-06-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

I am at the central library downtown to listen to a debate between publishers and authors and Google about the program to scan all the books in the world. Larry Lessig will be involved and it should be a good debate for fair use and the control of words and knowledge as we know it.

There have been some good debates and discussions on this issue in the blogosphere and I think Lessigs position of fair use make a compelling argument. I hope I can learn more from tonights discution.

I will see if I can blog a summary whilst the discussion is going on. For now I am going to enjoy the beauty and architenture of the Central Library.

Technorati Tags: booksearch, google, lessig

Vloggercon 2006

2006-06-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

Vloggercon was happening this weekend in San Francisco and it sure seems to be a success. One of the valuable offerings this year was the live video streams of all the sessions and the real time chat for online attendees. Being a Video Blogging conference this was a great idea. The chat feature worked as remote participants were able to ask questions and get involved.

Video blogging and podcasting are making it easy for the average person to get involved. If you want to report or just teach or offer commentary, Video and audio that is easy to produce and distribute is the future. Not to say the Main Stream Media is going away soon, they will just have more competition, which I hope will make them better.

Good job to all the organizers of vloggercon. I appreciate the effort and value to remote participants.

Technorati Tags: blog, puppy, vloggercon

World Cup Fever

2006-06-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

The World Cup is finally here. With months of anticipation the opening game was not a disapointment. Germany vs. Costa Rica was a great match to watch and I hope it has set the tone of games to come. Being in America, we are disadvantaged by the time difference and thus the games being played during the morning and afternoon. I have a "No Scores" policy for anyone that I talk to during the day because I want to see the Games via my trusty Tivo. Everyone has seem to caught the World Cup fever, so it is hard not to hear whats going on, but I am sticking to my policy, because noing the outcome of the game makes it no fun to watch.

Germany looked good yesterday. Their defense is suspect, but they should make it far this year. I think Italy has a good chance to take it this year but Brazil seems to be the perrinial favorite.

In any event, the next month should be exciting and we will have some temporary football fans here in the us at least for the summer.

Technorati Tags: football, fifa, world cup

Technorati Tags: fifa, football, world cup

Time off

2006-06-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have not been posting lately. Mostly busy, but also wanted to take time off from writing and just enjoy life. This next month is busy, but I will get a chance to get to go to Bloggercon IV. I hope to take more time this summer to enjoy camping and hanging out at the beach.

For now adeu

Sunday

2006-05-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Sundays remind me that life is spent in short bursts. We live for the weekends, they come, enjoy and they are quickly gone again. One thing that will be gone forever in my weekends is the West Wing. A perennial favorite TV show of mine since it was cool to be a democrat, I am sad to see the show off the air forever. I think Dave says it best.

Technorati Tags: sunday, tv, west wing

Quick links

2006-04-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

Time fly's by when you are having fun. So here are a few quick links that I came across:

Good speech on the criticism of wikipedia by Jason Scott here

Da Vici Code has been out in paperback for the last few weeks. I am re-reading in time for the movie.
Found a new online office suite that looks good. Zoho.com has a whole slue of applications to replace that copy of office.
I still need to post a review of Val Landi's book A Woman From Cairo check it out at Amazon

See ya soon

New podcast

2006-04-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I posted a podcast, so I thought I would record a quick one. Talk about books and publishing and some interesting links in the sphere.

Enjoy here

Anon Asshole

2006-04-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

There is someone that thinks they are funny by posting rude anonymous comments about me. Whoever it is either, post with your real name,site and email address or go away. It is amazing how childish and weak people are when they hide behind anonymouse comments.

By the way your comments will never make it to my blog.......

Blog time

2006-04-11T00:58:00.000-07:00

I have not been writing lately. Lazy or whatever, I have been reading and relaxing in my off time. Work is hectic and so I have urge to create but not the energy. I have much to talk about and will try to post something tomorrow. I finished A Woman from Cairo by Val Landi this week, so I owe you a review. See ya soon.

Technorati Tags: blog, Val landi, awomanfromcairo

Google hacked? Not

2006-03-28T00:21:00.000-08:00

Some kid on Digg claims he hacked google. Not quite. The Google blog
was deleted and someone re-registered it. Clever but dumb. Google has the power to make you go away and swim with the fishes. Lucca Bratzie style.

Technorati Tags: google, digg, blogger

A woman From Cairo

2006-03-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

Val Landi has self-published his novel A Woman From Cairo in spite of being rejected by the major publishers. His story and blog are compelling and interesting. His novel is now available at amazon.com and his blog can be located here. He also has a web site dedicated to the book here.

I read the first 3 chapters online and am hooked to read the entire book with full review to follow. It is nice to see writers that can make it on their own with hard work and determination.

Congrats Val.

Technorati Tags: books, publishing, awomanfromcairo

TalkCrunch

2006-03-15T23:19:00.000-08:00

Mike and the gang at techcrunch are at it again with the announcment of their new service talkcrunch, a podcast series with companies that they write about. Ever since Mike has been on the Gillmore gang, I though he had what it takes to produce a quality podcast. Good luck gentlemen.

Subscribed.

TalkCrunch

brokeback - Google Video

2006-03-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

You gotta love the mashups that people are doing with fake movie trailers. Youtube and google video have their share of brokebake spoofs. I wish I could quit you.....

brokeback - Google Video

Gillmore at his best

2006-03-09T00:37:00.000-08:00

I love listening to the Gillmore Gang-- today's with Michael Arrington from Techcrunch is a great conversation about Google being evil and Microsoft getting back into the game. Check it out here.

Tags: google, gillmore, techcrunch

Italian Serie A

2006-03-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

Got a chance to watch some footie this weekend and I am pleased with the results. Juve and milan seem to have the top spots well tied up for now, so I was interested in Fiorentina (I am a supporter) and Roma's fight for the last champians league spot. Fiorentina was able to take care of neighbor Siena, but Rome was a late goal from Inter away from getting 3 points. The results? Fiornetina is in the last spot and I hope they can reamin there. Rome had a hot run, but with Totti sidelined and getting checked by Inter this week, Fiorentina should be holding the bag for the next few weeks.

Italy looked good mid week against Germany in Florence for the world cup warm ups. The combination of Toni, Del Piero and Ghildarino (and if Totti makes it back) could result in a good trek in the June festivities. Let's see how US will do against Italy the second week of June in Kaiserlaturen.

RSS and Blogging

2006-03-02T00:42:00.000-08:00

I have been trying out some new tools for RSS and Blogging. Bloglines and Ecto have been a staple here at the old camp, but I am always looking for new goodies. So I am trying out Qumana blogging software and Lektora RSS reader. I will let you know in a few days what I think, but this blogging and RSS space is huge. What to use???????????

In another note, I found on lifehacker a cool little trick to get your gmail email lists to form into atom feeds and read with a password compliant reader. Here is the very helpful article. I set up a quick feed in NetNewswire for mac and it works great. Drawbacks that are pointed out in the article:

Need a password authenticated feed and associated feed reader that will handle it - read no bloglines
- Gmail does not provide full text feeds - that sucks.......

Tags: blogging, rss, software

The edge of the web

2006-03-01T02:02:00.000-08:00

I tried out edgeio the other day and posted a ~~fake~~ test posting about web 2.0 services. I tried to search the site and I find it totaly un-usable. Now you can take this with a grain of salt, because I rarely use ebay or craigslist, so I am a amature in this field. I read mike and think he does a good job blogging, but this service will join the flock's of the web. A web 2.0 web site with a cool name with not much past the pastel color palet to keep you around......Not sure what edge he is trying to capture?

Technorati Tags: edgeio, blog, web2.0

Another Web 2.0 Service

2006-02-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

For sale:

Another service for spammers to take advantage of technology.

listing

Price: How much is your data worth?

Let's see if edgeio works?

<a href="http://www.edgeio.com/tag/listing" rel="tag">Listing</a>

Technorati Tags: listing

NPR story on the New Library

2006-02-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

Nice story from today's talk of the nation about library and technology

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5235518

Technorati Tags: npr, library

Saturday Linki

2006-02-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

Listening to Podtech podcast with Ross Mayfield of Socialtext. He talks about mashup camp and video. I am a big fan of the wiki and his company has a great enterprise level solution.

Boing Boing points to the new episode of The IT Crowd. This UK TV show is brilliant and funny. They give suggestions on how to get the download outside the UK.

Technology is a great thing. Being able to hear interviews with industry leaders and hearing sessions from conferences is a great benefit for those who can't make it out. In addition the explosion of video on the net is letting us choose what content we want. I like that producers are embracing the technology and allowing some content to be downloaded.

Write to write

2006-02-24T23:41:00.000-08:00

I read Dave Winer talk about blogging and how wonderful it is to jot down what you are thinking and put it out there in the world. Today was a good day in blogging. I felt the creative juice and so I ran with it and posted some stuff tonight. I am trying to keep up and blog more often than once a week and it feels good. The few people that read my blog may not know what I am talking about half the time, but to be able to write is a great feeling. Everyone should do it.......

Now if I can just get time to work on some fiction I have been trying to write, life would be nice.

Technorati Tags: Blogging

Googel Does good with Video

2006-02-24T22:32:00.000-08:00

Google Video has partnered with the National Archives to host some of their many films stored in the Archives.

Like the google print project, Google does good by providing access to historical documents. I went to a lecture last week at the Getty about the national archives. I was thinking what good bedfellows google would make be digitizing the national archive. If you have a chance check out the google set and the archive site for more information.

I want my Google Office or Google live or whatever you want to call it now!

2006-02-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

Ok so I am posting too much about Google, but it is about time we talk about what they are doing. It appears with every little app they release, they get closer and closer to a office suite that would bring all the elements together.

Richar McManus writes about online office suites in his zdnet blog, and makes some good points for an online office productivity suite. We know Microsoft is developing office live and there are tons of web 2.0 companies that Techcrunch can point you to in this space, but I want an integrated application, that does everything. Mail, Calander, bookmarks, photos, blogging, RSS Reading, Wiki and chat.

Yes this is a big task and many companies do some of these things really well, but I hate going from one service to the other to get things done. Call me lazy, but in this wonderful world of web 2.0, I want to have my lazy Sunday, (because NBC has evil lawyers, the took down the NSL version so I linked to the Amature version) Lazy Monday and chill in Lazy Muncie.

The question is now how but when

Everyone knows google will take over the world eventually, so lets open up the Google piggy bank and buy all these best of bread services. Mix in some crazy glue and you have your web 2.o suite that require 1 login and all interact with each other and of course use offline cacheing just incase you are not connected to the googlenet.

This of course will put Mike out of business, but maybe he can join valleywag and stalk billionaires.

Technorati Tags: blog, google, office suite, web 2.0

Blogger Widget

2006-02-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

Those who are blessed with a mac can now use the official google widget to publish thier blogger
post. This is a nice feature for thos quick posts, but lacks the WYSIWYG features of applications like ecto or performancing FF extention.

For quick bursts, this is good, but most of my posts require links and quotes. If you want to link you will have to hand code your html like
Google me

Nice to see Mac Development in the empire of "do no evil"

comment tracking bliss

2006-02-21T00:21:00.000-08:00

Last week there was buzz a blazing about comment tracking in the blog-o-sphere. Something that was long overdue and yet we get a few options kicking up dust.

COcomment - adds its own comment button to post a comment on blogs that have their blog configured as such. The problem I see here is that the blog owner may need to add code to their blog for it to work. Also it only tracks comments of the users of cocomment and not all commenters. This product lacks the features you need to track the entire conversation. Sorry but you need to do better than that in this space.

co.mments.com - uses a simple bookmark, like other bookmarking services, to track the conversations you want. The obvious advantage is you can see the entire conversation. With cocomment you only see comments by those who use the service. For me this is a deal breaker. I want complete tools that will give me the entire conversation. So co.mments is my choice to track my comments.

Some things I would like to see from co.mments.com:

A way to drop comments tracked. Most conversations become stale after a week or so. It would be nice to have a user preference to archive tracked conversations after a period of time.
Service seems to be slow sometimes. As with most startups, the limitations of infrastucture is always an issue. Acceptable whilst in beta, I hope this service can scale, because I see it to dominate the space in the nexgt few months.
A feedback channel or forum. Blog seems sparse with only a few post since opening up.

There has been some talk about using RSS comment feeds for this task. Sure some blogs offer that feature, but conversation tracking tools give you 1 feed to follow with a simple click of the bookmarklet. For me this solution, much like del.icio.us
, is the best option.

Technorati Tags: blog, co.mments, cocomment, meme, puppy

Quote

2006-02-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."

- Umberto Eco

Wikipedia

2006-02-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

In this months Wired magazine, they ask "Is wikipedia too vulnerable to pranks and errors?"

I have never seen a mainstream media article about Wikipedia that didn't itself contain errors. What's the retraction time for those errors? Wikipedia works because it's dynamic and alive and doesn't require the same structures as old fashioned slow media.......I wish people would stop comparing a living organism to deadwood.

Joi Ito - Technologist

I can't agree more. With all debate over the authority of wikipedia, you need to step back to see what rules do we use in the new game of the dynamic web. The structures of old media and gatekeepers need to adapt or they will face the fate of the dinosaurs.

Technorati Tags: joi ito, media, wikipedia

Meme Tracker test

2006-02-20T00:29:00.000-08:00

Steve Rubel is tracking meme trackers to see how they faire. I am on-board so here you go. Breememe

note to self:

Pay for ecto sometime this year. I love the software and it is well priced. The trial setup every 20 days reminds me how we need to pay for stuff sometimes.

Technorati Tags: meme, breememe, blog

Random thoughts today

2006-02-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about blogging on a daily basis. There are many stories for me to talk about on a daily basis, but I just don't put enough time to my craft. I have been wanting to blog about new services out that i have been trying for my blog and productivity. Services like co.mments.com and Rojo's new feedshare deserve a full write up. Some times I feel like jotting down an initial reaction and then a full analysis later. Then I get busy or lazy and time goes by.

I am truly passionate about blogging and I read too many feeds about blogging. That is one of my problems is that I read, but don't post. It takes time to sit down, put the words down and link back to all the goodies I see on the net. In any event, I hope to bring more to my blog than the once a week or twice a week posting frequency.

Switching topics--

Been watching the Olympics on the telly and enjoy the freedom Tivo brings. record all the coverage and scan through the stuff I like. Only problem is I can record HD yet so the quality is not the best. The Olympics have been good, but Soccer has been great the last few weeks. Serie A in Italy is top notch and there have been some great matches on FSC showing the EPL.

I went to the Getty museum on Thursday evening to catch a lecture on the National Archives and the conservation of our national treasures. Getty does a great job by inviting interesting speakers to talk about art, research and conservation. Those who live in the Los Angeles area are lucky to have the Getty to host these events. The speaker was a director at the Archive and she gave a great lecture on the history of the Archive and how recent conservation efforts unfolded. I am a big fan of art and often sign up for these free lectures. You can see what's going on in the next few months by visiting the getty web site.

Technorati Tags: blogging, soccer, web

Business trip to Scottsdale

2006-02-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

So I am in Scottsdale for a few days on business. The flight was short and uneventful. Renting a car was easy and we were off from the airport to the resort in town. Nice Great rooms (with Wifi) and beautiful weather make this trip fun, but I am on business so there is only a little time for cultural events. Doing a search for things to do in Phoenix, I found the Lonely Planet recommended a visit to Taliesin west, Frank Lloyd Wright's summer compound and school. A big art fan, I am always looking for opportunities to see art in cities I would not normally visit if I weren't on business.

Taliesin west is at the base of the mountains in North Scottsdale, AZ in the beautiful sonoran desert. It is a very worthwhile trip to visit and take the tour of this magical place. A still working school and architect center, the place has a small campus vibe with natural integration of writght's great buildings. If you are ever in Phoenix, it is worth a look.

On my way back today, I stopped in to browse at the airport borders bookstore and was surprised to see these. Playaway is a self contained audio book within a digital audio player. So you have a audiobook that is ready to listen to, no CD's, no downloads, no ipods and for Dave Winer no Audible.com. A great idea for the traveller and the price seems to be right around the cost of a audio book CD. The web site even has ideas on how you can share your playaway when your done with it. I can see a great web 2.0 business sprout up by providing an exchange program for these audio book digital players. I am officially calling it Playawayr. I am glad to see the digital audio player technology get cheep enough to have essentially throw away players.

Technorati Tags: Travel, audio books, audible

Football American Style

2006-02-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

So the Superbowl is done and as predicted Pittsburg won. I was watching ELP on Fox Soccer Channel during the game. I switched back and forth between the two using my trusty PIP on the telly. The comercials were ok this year. Nothing too exciting. This was the first football game I watched this season. The Chelsea v Liverpool game looked interesting and the Italian Serie A league is heating up. My teams won and AC milan seems to keep sliping. Anyway I am testing out the FF plugin Performancing blog post. Good bye flock.......

Technorati Tags: bloggin, football, soccer

Technorati Tags: bloggin, football, soccer

Wonderful world of PBwiki

2006-02-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

I love the implementation of online tools that help us all get organized. The Wiki is the new collaboration tool that is easy to use and very functional. I have been evaluating wiki's for work and personal use and found many good options. Both hosted and do it yourself models are available from Free to industrial strength versions of pricing. For my personal use, I want a hosted solution that is not too limiting on page allocation (a la Jotspot) and has all the functionality of a collaboration tool. I saw PBwiki while looking at options a few months ago. At that time I did not try it because it was either not ready for prime time, or I just missed the boat. In any event I wanted to see what they have to offer, so I set up my free account in the amount of time it took to change the channel on the telly to Fox Soccer Channel.

The set up was easy and once I clicked the magic link on the confirmation email I was up and running. This lightweight looking wiki sure packs enough features under the hood to make a fan of PBwiki soon enough. I was able to add pages using the usual Wiki syntax and all the features were available to me that I was looking for:

RSS
Easy formatting (WYSIWYG would be nice, but at least I can edit in any browser -unlike Jot)
Backup - You can download your wiki as a zip file (nice feature)
No MAXIMUM PAGE LIMIT for free account
Simple look that can be customisable (3 templates are available for free users)
Good Search function - this one has an auto create link if the search phrase is not found
Index or sidebar - Did a quick serch of the FAQ to get it up
Good support - FAQ and Wiki explain it all

PBwiki satisfied all my request's in a simple little package. The interface is appealing and easy to use, no page limits and you can even upload files and pictures with a limit of 10 MB for free accounts. They offer a premium option which offers more disk space for files and additional features. You can take the PBwiki tour here.

Technorati Tags: pbwiki, tools, web, wiki

Dailysonic does it again - the revolution of podcasting

2006-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Dailysonic is a great Podcast that has news, culture and serial episodes from a young group of talented producers. I have been listening to them for awhile and love their style and hipness. This week they released a new feature that I am sure will be copied within the podcasting world. They are now offering custom editions of their shows where you can mix and match segments into your own version of dailysonic. This news and segment type of podcast is great for this type of distribution.

So what can you do? You can choose from a dozen or so segments they produce for each show and order them as you like. News, weather, science and music segments are mainstays in the dailysonic roster, but you can also throw in Fuck you robot or Whats up with... some clever and entraining segments.

My first experience was great with this easy to use interface. You basically set up an account, create an edition and add segments you want in your edition. I decided to exclude news and weather since I listen to my dailysonic when I get a chance and thus may be outdate. I decided to put Fuck you Robot at the top because it the best segment produced by the dailysonic crew. Once the segments are selected you can get the rss feed and add it to Itunes or whatever your podcatcher is. Subscible, download and listin.

I hope dailysonic gets credit for this innovative way of distibuting podcasts. They are leading the future of user driven media.

Great job guys!!!!

Update: Please Digg this story about Dailysonic. They deserve the press.

Technorati Tags: dailysonic, media, podcast, podcasting

Selling your soul

2006-01-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

When I read blogs, I trust the author based on his reputation among other bloggers and who reads his blog. For one to be credible about a subject, I believe he/she should not let economics enter into the equation.

A-list bloggers are getting a lot of attention these days and we will soon see the deluge of offers from companies for "paid" reviews. Scoble has an interesting post on disclosing some items he received. Mike Arrington of TechCrunch writes about being offered money to write a review in his crunchnotes blog. And just today Kevin Burton, in his feedblog, talks about auctioning off a blog post on ebay to

" I'd review your product or whatever you wanted me to look at and add my honest commentary. "

So how honest can commentary be if your are being compensated? Isn't objectivity important in the blog world? Or is it about trading your high traffic ranking to make a quick buck.

I think disclosure is fundamental in blogging and I hope high profile bloggers will carry the torch with integrity.

Why we blog by Hugh Macleod (via crunchnotes)

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
Henry David Thoreau

Technorati Tags: blog, disclosure, sale

What's Wrong with Audible.com's web site?

2006-01-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

I have been using Audible.com to download audiobooks for over a year now. I value the service and quality of the audiobook selection, the delivery and management via Itunes and the value audible offers for their content.

Their web site experience seems to be a critical component of their success since it is the only way to interface with their customers. Their site design and functionality has always seemed sub-par to me, so I was happy to hear they were to release a new site design which was released in December. My first reaction to the new design was not good. I hated the business of the pages and it was slow as a dog. So I decided to take some time with it before I write an immature review.

Feature wise, the site remains the same with some added components that busy up the page and make it bloated. The wish list, next listen and my library are virtually the same. They also have link to Best Sellers, New Releases and Award Winners. The search capability seems to be the same. I am always able to find content on books and authors with minimal fuss. The Categories are the same groupings, but the presentation of the groups is what bothers me. Instead of sub-catagorie links, they have rows of sub categories and too much content on one page. I prefer a simple interface that you can navigate with speed.

The main complaint I have aside from the UI is that it is just too slow. I use the site on my DSL, Wireless and a T1 connection and it seems to be slow every time I try to navigate.

So the question is can audible grow a business and have success with an inferior user interface and poor experience? As a subscriber, I am disappointed in their effort that was long overdue, but I guess like all new released that come out now the "beta" tag will remain on the page as the ultimate excuse for poor execution.

Am I off base or just too picky? User experience is very individual and I am by no means an expert. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: audible, audio books, web, design

Podcasting

2006-01-19T22:17:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I put up a podcast, but I have been thinking about Podcasting alot latley. I habitualy listen to a few podcast's each day depending on my mood. I was listening to more podcast's, but now I have Siruis radio in my car, so I often leave the ipod at home.

My attention is a a premium and I have so many choices for my listening and viewing experience. As I type this I am listening to The Catholic Insider which I enjoy greatly, but it is one of few daily podcasts I don't get to hear that often. So with all the choices we have, how does a podcast producer like myself stay motivated to compete with everyone else? I am not sure how compelling I can be especially since there are so many talented people producing great content. A dilemma I am sure will get worse with more options growing daily.

Sites like Youtube.com and ourmedia.org help the explosion of video and podcasting for the masses and Google Video and Itunes provide good content, albeit for a fee. So what can we expect from my podcast in the future?

I will continue to produce my podcast because I enjoy doing it. I am sure I don't have many listeners, and I know the infrequent nature of my posting doesn't help that. Which bothers me about podcasts I have been searching. Some interesting podcasts seem to fizzle out after half a dozen episodes leaving an interested listener having to search for similar content.

For searching I have been using Yahoo's podcast search. It seems to be the best place to search for those niche podcasts that I like listening to. My taste varies across the board, but right now I am into Catholic Insider, TWIT, The Amateur Traveler Podcast, Rick Steves podcast, and World Soccer Daily podcast. As you can see, there are a few commercial ventures I am listening to in Podcast form. I think this is the best feature of podcasting. Being able to get the commercial content I am used to when I want to listen to it. Some Podcasting purists might think the commercialization of podcasting is bad, but as a consumer I am being better served and I am a happy camper.

I just downloaded Dave Winer's Podcatching client for his OPML software. I like what Dave brings to the table with his ideas of RSS, Reading Lists and OMPL, but I find his software a little to banal. His software serves a good purpose for advanced users who like simple interfaces, but I guess I am too new school to value his approach. I like the integration of Itunes and the podcast catching it provides. Syncing with my ipod is easy, I can easily organize my podcasts and subscription is a no brainer. The idea of being locked in or the Apple DRM model does not bother me. I am happy with Apple since they introduced their updated Itunes with podcasting. I will always try out new tools like Dave Winers, but I haven't seen anything that can blow Apple out of the water (yet?).

Podcasting is a great use of technology to give consumers choice and producers the means to reach an audience. I am glad it continues to grow and hope to grow my podcast as well.

West Wing

2006-01-16T23:42:00.000-08:00

Like RSS guru Dave Winer, I enjoy the West Wing. I have been watching from day 1 and am enjoying this season build up to a new President. This weeks episode focused on the White House instead of the race between Santos and Vinick. It seems with most of the favorites in the white house are out or fired, the CJ and the Will Bailey banter is getting old. I love the series and hope it stays on in the future, it is just hard seeing a group that you loved to follow break up. John Spencer, who passed away in December will surely be missed.

Mini Holiday Break

2006-01-16T23:33:00.000-08:00

Long weekend thanks to the Martin Luther King holiday. Took the opportunity to get out of town and relax. Been unplugged for a few days so I need to keep up on my feeds. Decided to go to Palm Springs for the weekend. Great trip and some photos to post later. Trying to catch up on the West Wing and the Italian league football. Thanks to Tivo, I can have a life and watch what I missed during the week whilst I post and read RSS.

Post weekend wrap up to come tomorrow. It's nice to be back home and tapping my wireless signal.

Movies I saw this weekend:

Casanova

Match point

I liked Casanova. Lasse Hallstrom did a good job of bringing the legend to the screen. Jeremy Irons is in classic form and Oliver Platt is excellent as well. Sienna miller and Heath Ledger round up a good cast. I like historical comedies and Casanova is a great story.

Woody Allen never ceases to amaze. At one point you write him off with his lackluster showing over the last few years (he has the luxury of making a film a year) but this years effort, Match Point is a deviation of his cookie cutter style and it is a good one. The classic simple titles that cost about $2.50 to produce and the catalogue operatic score that I am sure was in the public domain, starts the film in the usual woody style. But we can see he is not in the film and it is not set in NY. Aside from the move to new locations, I feel Match Point has thematic elements and the Woody feel. The plot reminded me of "Crimes and Misdemeanors" with a refresh of a young cast that lack the power of a Landau/huston punch. The cast is on point and if were not a Woody fan, you probably would not catch the Woodyisms of the plot.

I like the change of scene. Is London the new New York? Is Europe going to be the Woody Allen domain? Have we had enough of New York movies?

I hope Allen continues to explore his craft as he gets older. I think we can see some interesting movies from him.

A post script to this is that Allen put himself in the movie without acting. How? He casted Ewen Bremner, the Scottish actor who played Spud in Trainspotting. He has a very Woodyesq quality that I think made the film not so dramatic without taking the power from it.

How Intel got into apple

2006-01-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a funny video of Intel inside apple.

Enjoy [youtube]

Football (Soccer), Folks and Fun

2006-01-09T01:42:00.000-08:00

I have a dirty little secret that many don't know about me. Nothing for the page 6 crowd, but I have been a football fan for awhile now. Since I am sitting in North America, I will have to qualify the word football to mean Soccer. I have always liked soccer, but I haven't really supported a club until recently. The casual match on TV would catch my interest and when the world cup was here in USA I was really into the football world, but I recently went to a match in Florence and am now a Viola supporter. Seeing a game in the smallish Fiorentina home stadium is amazing especially when they are playing to a sold-out crowd and sparring with the Rossineri (AC Milan). I instantly took to Italian football. It was an amazing game with the Viola supporters being vocal and the action thick. I decided since my love of Florence has grown to an obsession, I will adopt Florence and support the Viola.

Since my return from Italy I have found GOL TV and Fox Soccer channel on my cable box. Tivo is now my best friend; I can now record the live matches and watch them when I get up. I have been following most of the games in the Italian League (Seria A) and catching up with the English Primer League (EPL).

The Viola (Fiorentina colors are purple or violet hence the "Viola") are my favorite team in Italy, but I also like Intermilan and Roma. I been catching alot of Chelsea games and I am impressed with their run. Of course everyone loves a winner, but I have also been routing for Aston Villa, a mid table Birmingham London team who play at villa park Highbury. Don't ask me why I like AV, but I every game I have enjoyed watching them play.

Update: Thanks to comments from Simon for the correction on Aston Villa's location and field. I need to do more research if I am going to be a true supporter.

Spanish football is world renowned with all their large talent pool of international players. I like watching Real Madrid because they have so much talent. Like all high profile teams, they are in the middle of a self implosion. Fifth in the table, they seem to be sliding this year. But hey who doesn't like Ronaldo or Beckham?

Most of what read and do is focused on technology or database applications, but I love my FFF. Football, Folks and Fun.

Brand New Year

2006-01-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

Years seem to go by faster now that I am of an adult age. I remember sitting in school on a nice spring day wishing for summer break and then Christmas break to come. Each year is now marked by the passing of the holidays and some form of year end party. This year was a good year. I accomplished much of what I wanted in 2005 and look forward to a rewarding 2006.

My passport saw more action in 2005 than it has in the last 8 years I have had it. I went to Europe twice with the newfound travel bug to continue in the new year. Travelling is to my being these days as ice cream is to a hot day. Refreshing and rewarding I plan to gather frequent flyer miles in the year ahead. 2006 is also the year for me to write more. 2005 saw more blog posts than the last 3 years combined. I really hit my stride with blogging and podcasting in 2005 and I want to continue that trend.

New Years resolutions often dont stick, so I will put a general "Do more Stuff" statement out. I want to write more, exercise more and be more creative. I think 2006 will be a fun and productive year. There is a lot to do, so I better get to it.

Cheers and happy new year to all.

Why I continue to read his blog

2005-12-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

Dave Winer, the author of one of the oldest blogs know to man is often opinionated and passionate about many topics, but he keeps you coming back with premium content and great perspective on the world today. I criticized his statement about Itunes being crappie software and sometime disagree with his point of view, but Dave provides some of the best content in his blog that you get get your hands on. I read many blogs throughout the day (made easier by RSS), but I continue to go back to Scripting News to see what Dave has to say.

Not only does Dave have strong opinions on what goes on with RSS, Podcasting and Technology, but he has a big heart when it comes to current events and the world around us. He recently visited New Orleans to find out what was going on months after the Katrina catastrophe, and his reporting via his Blog, Podcasts and photo-stream on Flickr and provided a genuine documentary of the struggles of real people.

I also ran across a story about LibriVox (link here), a community online project to record and make available audio books that are in the public domain. I like that Dave finds these little gems and shares them with his readers. It shows that his opinion and arguments are followed up by solutions and alternatives.

I often disagree with Dave and will post my opinion because in this new world of grassroots publishing and new media we can all be involved in the conversation. That being said, I keep coming back to Dave's work and I commend him on what he does.

Technorati Tags: Dave Winer

She Wants Revenge

2005-12-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

The band "She Wants Revenge" is the free download of the week on the Itunes music store. Get yourself some free music and then download the album here

Justin is a good friend and lead singer of the band. Congrats.......

Dave hates apple (and Audible) - Why can't he get the itunes success

2005-12-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

Dave Winer has a problem with companies that like to make a profit in the music download space. Companies like Audible.com and Apple seem to bother him when it comes to music and what DRM is attached to it. He had a big problem with Audible this year and essentially blasted the CEO for making a crappy product. Now he claims the Itunes software is crappy and he doesn't get it. He comments on the topic in his post here.

I find it hard to believe that a talented software developer like Dave Winer cannot get the concept or even use Itunes. It is an easy to use interface that is very popular and successful. I think his lack of understanding may be due to his anti-DRM bias because many non-geek users like the Itunes software. Anyone that owns an Ipod has to use it and it is safe to say they have sold a ton of Ipods over the years. So what gives?

Critics of DRM have points about fair use and what people can do with their music they buy, but to DRM is a necessary tool for the distribution of content to ensure artists and corporations are not being robbed. Let us pretend it is the pre-download era and music is distributed on CDs. How would you be able to make sure your music was safe from being lost? In the CD world you can make a back up copy, but if you didn't make a copy, you couldn't just go to the music store and say " I bought this CD last week but lost it. Please replace it now". So the issue with loosing your music is the same in the download world. If you don't make a backup copy of your music or archive it on CD then it is the fault of the consumer, not the seller. Sure Apple and Audible know what you bought and certainly have a copy of that file, but why should they give you a copy each time you loose your music? Hard drives fail, computers are not permanent archive solutions. So, like any person who values their music all you have to do is back up. Get an external hard drive or burn it to a CD.

Audible lets you download files you have bought previously, so I don't understand Dave's complaint here. I just downloaded a file that I wanted on my laptop that I already I had on my desktop. No problem. log in and request the file. A few minuets later, I had a copy of the audiobook on my laptop and my desktop. DRM prevents you from perpetually doing this, but you can have the audio book on more that 1 computer.

Ok so there are a lot of words here to wrap around this issue. But I think it is important to point out that the companies that sell content online have the consumers interest in their business model. Sure exceptions happen, hard drives fail and ignorant users (read Dave Winer) loose their music or audiobooks. I hate to see unfair bashing of companies that make an effort. Sure Dave has his opinion and he can choose not to buy their products, but it is also important to make sure that content providers get a fair chance against the file sharing world that brings no value to the artists or companies that sell content.

Apple and Audible are fair companies, but the consumer has a responsibility to understand the process and take steps to protect their music.

Some takes on the topic(s) from the Sphere:

Rex Hammock's original post that got dave started

Mitch Ratcliffe's take on Dave and Audible

Dave's podcast about the Audible experience

Update: I changed the link to the site - Check 7/2/2005 MCN for his podcast. Feedburner added this link to my Iclectic Podcast feed. I apploigize for those who subscribe to my feed if you downloaded this. An uninteded error for linking directly to the MP3 file.

Groundhog Day offers some advice

Crunch Notes take on Itunes

Dailysonic in Red Herring

2005-12-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

Today Dailysonic, one of my favorite podcasts is featured in Red herring. A young group of talented podcast kids, Dailysonic is what is good about podcasting. Add them to your rotation and you will skip NPR and the likes.

Cheers guys!

Check it out here.

Back in Florence

2005-11-27T03:39:00.000-08:00

So Rome was great. The weather was ok except for last night it rained hard. This morning we got on the fast train from Rome to Florence and now are chillin out. Last day in Florence, I have some shopping to do and eat my last few good meals.

Overall this trip has be amazing. Like my trip in April, I was able to see and do what I wanted and more. I met some nice and interesting people and had alot of fun.

Once you go to Italy you will fall in love for life.....

See ya when I get back.

Florence, Arezzo, Assisi and Roma

2005-11-26T05:45:00.000-08:00

So I have been a busy boy this last week. Florence is great and saw all I wanted to plus I got to go to the Florence Milan game. Arezzo is a nice small town near Florence, and it was great. It was snowing lightly when we got there so it goes to say we were cold. Off to Assisi which was by far amazing and spent the night in a nice family run hotel and tratoria. Food Wine and beer have been excelent. And then to Rome for a few days. We litteraly walked the entire city in the last 3 days. Saw all the major sites (I will detail later when I dont have a clock counting down my euro worth of internet time). All in all Italy is great and I will have one more day in Florence before I am heading home.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, I skipped the turkey and had pizza....

Ciao.

Florence

2005-11-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

I have been here in Florence for a few days and it has been great. Got to see some great art and some Football(soccer). It has been cold but sunny. Florence is a great city to explore and I love it. The AC Milan Vs. Fiorentina game was great. We had good seats and Fiorentina won.

I am off to Siena and San Gimigiano tomorrow and then to Assisi and Rome in a few days. Time has been flying and I only have 6 more days before I have to go home. Wish I can stay longer, but I am having fun.

Had some really good food and wine. For now I will say Ciao..

Blogging from 35,000 Feet

2005-11-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

I am currently in seat 24K on a flight to Frankfurt Germany on route to Florence Italy. Internet access is nice to have when you have 9 hours to kill. I just wish my battery life was that long.

A long travel day will get my into Florence at about 2:00PM local time on Friday. My first day will be light, but I have a busy schedule beginning on Saturday.

Interruption: they just served my Veggie meal. Time for dinner.

Flying tip: Order a Veggie or special meal ahead of time from the airline. You will get served first and won;t have to wait for dinner.

So dinner is down and I am enjoying Becks beer. Its funny when I flew Air France I was drinking French Wine, and now German Beer. Good thing the Mormans don't have an airline, I would be stuck with water.

The seats in economy suck, but the food is not bad. I had a veggie burger type thing with rice and vegetables. fruit and a salad. It is almost time for bed. After-all it is well past 2:00 am in Italy.

Check back soon I may post after breakfast......

Technorati Tags: blogs, Italy, travel

Iclectic Podcast 11/16/2005

2005-11-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

A short podcast about my trip to Italy which I leave for tommorrow. I am ready to enjoy Florence, Rome, Siena and Assisi. Camara and micraphone in tow, I am going to take a lot of pictures and do some podcasting whilst on the road. Check back in a few days.

Direct downoad here

Iclectic Podcast 11/12/2005

2005-11-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

It has been quite awhile since I posted a podcast. This one is short but sweet. I talk about Vegas, the Podcast Media Expo (I missed) and getting ready to travel to Italy.

You can get the show here.

Back in town

2005-11-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's nice to be back after 5 days in Vegas. The Devconnection conference was a good one with the release of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005. I had a good time and made some good contacts, but now I am back getting ready to head to Italy for 10 days.

I was registered for the Portable media and Podcasting Expo in Ontario CA, but I just have too much to do before I go to Italy. I was really looking forward to this expo and conference, but too much at one time. I need to spend time with my baby and get things done around the house.

I was planning to podcast in Vegas, but I was so wrapped up in the conference, I just didn't get it done. I will get a podcast out before I leave, a pre-trip podcast, and then record when I am on the road. Should be fun.

My bloglines feeds are up and I need to spend time reviewing the queue or just drop the last weeks worth of posts. I hate falling behind. I could imagine what Scoble goes through with his email and blogs he reads. Does he even sleep?

Planning my trip to Italy has been fun. I love digging into books and websites trying to get all the info on a city. There is so much I want to see and do, 10 days will not be enough for me. I though it would be easier than last time when I went to Italy, but there are things I want to see again and things I didn't get to see. Of course I always plan more that I can do, but in the end I know I will have fun. I will post more later on my trip with a itinerary so all of you at home can follow along. I also plan to do Audio posts via the cell when I am on the road. I hope to have fun......Cao for now.....

Technorati Tags: Vegas, SQL, Italy, Travel

Devcon day 2

2005-11-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

Day 1 was a good day to see the new version of SQL Server 2005. The product looks good now the question is how long will it take to upgrade?

Tech talk is so boring if its not web 2.0 so I will move on to Vegas. Last year this time I started to blog again from a long hiatus. It has been a good year in blogging.

I got the hook up at the hotel and they upgraded me to a suite at no charge. So I got a nice room and Vegas is Vegas. I don't gamble much (hitting the penny slots is not gambling) but there is alot to see and do.

Conference day 2 is getting deeper in to focused niches of the product. I am all over the place on this post sorry. Just sitting here in a class trying to pay attention and write at the same time, so much for multitasking. I will update later but it should be fun for the next few days..

Technorati Tags: blogging, microsoft, sql

Devconnections in Vegas baby

2005-11-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

I am here at the Devconnections conference in Las Vegas checking out what M$ has to offer with their just released Visual Studio and SQL Server 2005 products. As I sit here using the free Wifi on my ibook, I feel like an outsider with most of these geeks hardcore .net microsoft guys. I use SQL at work but love my mac for everything else.

Keynotes were good by the MS team. Missing is the channel 9 guys and the MS hype. This is a vendor event so I guess channel 9 is a no go. Scoble at the craps tables would be nice, but hey there are other MSDN bloggers here. I am off to my first class, so I will cut it short. Check in later.

Technorati Tags: blogging, microsoft, puppy, sql

Busy days

2005-11-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

So I have been busy at work and busy getting ready for my trip to Italy. In two weeks I will be on a plane getting ready to land in Florence. I almost have my Itinerary set and I am excited.

Light post, but I posted up a little commentary at my OPML bog:

Technorati Tags: OPML, puppy, blogs, blogging, Italy

Go Flock Yourself

2005-10-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

The blogosphere is an amazing thing. I happened upon a great new blog by accident this week. I was on Scoble's new wordpress blog when I linked to the wordpress home-page. One of the top blogs listed was Flocksucks. I had been using flock for a few days and was wondering why someone would build an anti-flock site so quick. After all, Flock is in super early beta. From what I can gather Flocksucks is not an attack on Flock per say (although there does seem to be a personal connection to the attack on flock) but a commentary on the "Web 2.0" phenomena that people all over are stroking themselves over.

Self love aside, the web 2.0 think has been debated lately amongst the blogorati and there seems to be a backlash over the new web. I am an observer who has little investment in web 2.0. There are many smart people that have lived through the 1999 web bubble and you can argue both sides of the new bubble debate, but what I find refreshing about Flock sucks is that it pulls no punches in it's commentary. Much like a blossoming writer finding his voice, Flocksucks often misses with amateurish attacks that add little value to the debate, but mostly has it right with the well written debate of web 2.0 bullshit.

I like new products and services that make life easier. I like the Ruby on rails look that the 37signals and yahoo have pulled off lately, but at the end of the day I want services that will be around in a few years that add value to my blogging and web experience.

The nice aspects of web 2.0 is that we all can have a voice and publish thoughts and commentary. Some of it is fun banter and trolls playing in the fields but much of what we consume is a vital thread of how the web and web services can shape our lives.

Later in the week I will talk more about Flock, Wink, Yahoo's travel planner and other new products I have been looking at.

Technorati Tags: flock, flocksucks, blogging, blogs, web2.0

Wink Beta

2005-10-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the folks at Techcruch I was able to jump on the beta of Wink. Wink is a new search tool that allows search results to be tagged, ranked and organized. Much like other social bookmarking sites, Wink relies on user metadata to make the search concept more effective.

I was testing the term "Florence", a popular travel destination that I am currently researching. The results are interesting, at the top it lists related tags or terms. The next section lists user submitted links that allows you to add to it by tagging their URL and rate it relevant. Next the normal web search terms are listed with the same tagging and rating options.

I can see the more people that use this, the better results you will get. Nice concept and a real good interface. Clean and intuitive, the wink site requires you to login to make sure you store all tags and ratings. My Page is the list of wink added sites with tags you have added. We have seen this before, but I like the integration of web and user related tags and urls.

You can also create a search set with multiple links. This is useful if you are researching a trip (I am off to Italy soon) or want to collect links. I had some mixed results with this feature, and as a good beta tester, I submitted feedback for the error I got. Beta is fun.

Social bookmarking is a well populated space and other sites have some traction, but the clean interface and simple to use search and tagging make this an good alternative.

I will continue to bang on the site to see what I can break next.

Technorati Tags: wink, social, bookmarking, tag, tagging, techcrunch

Flock me Amadeus

2005-10-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

So everyone is buzzing about Flock. The new webish 2.0 app that melds the best of browser, rss, photosharing and social bookmarking into one nice little (albeit buggy) application. Super special beta testers let this one out in the wild so Flock decided to give us no names in the blogorama a try. Labeled a developer pre .5 build the caveats of hell and fire make sure users understand they are working on getting this baby ready for primetime.

Speaking of Primetime most bloggies will come up with catchy or clever titles (I am not immune to this decease) like "Meet the Flockers" or "What the Flock", but the name is catchy and sticks in my mind so they did a good job on naming the product, but what about the meat of this bird?

So far I downloaded it on windows and tried the Browser and RSS functions. Clean browser experience and I like the RSS view, but I still don't see how I can manage 400 feeds with this? I am still playing with the RSS now at home on my Mac, so I will reserve judgment on the RSS experience until later.

One of the interesting features is the blog tool. A light weight blog editor with a flicker tool that makes it easy to add pictures to your post. Attached is my niece and nephew in Rome. Nice touch, but my first post died on the vine and never made it to my blog. Crash and burn on windows (yes Flock people don't go all "Lost" on me I know it is pre-beta). So I though I would give it a try on the Mac version. (note to self save draft now or better yet copy and past to document for safe keeping).

Let me post this bad boy and see how it works....See you soon

Update: So it posted,but I am yet to edit a post. Anytime I bring up a post it hangs and I have to force quit. So I am editing this in the blogger interface.

Some things I would like(that are probably on the list) tags that work and spell check. Not sure what the tags feature does on the blog tool but I though it would create technorati style tags on the fly much like Etco. Anyway I will play with this more, but so far I like the concept. The question is can they deliver a Flocking killer app the doesn't crash?

Check out their getting started page here

Yahoo's Podcast search

2005-10-10T00:27:00.000-07:00

Yahoo just released Yahoo Podcasts, a podcast search and directory service. Much like Odeo, Yahoo's service has a clean interface with the ability to tag, rate and review podcasts. I have only played with it for a short time (who does a through review before they blog these days?) but it seems to be a good source for podcasting information.

what's in a name?

I did a vanity search for my podcast (I bet anyone who owns a podcast searches for theirs first) and found it. A good start for Yahoo since I had to add my podcast to Apple's directory in Itunes and claim my podcast in Odeo. Looks like they spent time crawling all the RSS feeds out there to acquire a nice directory. So far so good.

How to's

They have included a good getting started section for both listeners and producers. They even give you code if you want to hand craft your RSS feed. The problem here is they only suggest their Geocities service for hosting options and don't even hint a word of RSS providers like Feedburner. Sure yahoo needs to promote its products, but Geocities? Please.

Search me silly

Like I said before, so far so good. I continued to search some podcasts I frequent to see how hard it is to find content. Yahoo does a good job in posting what I am looking for, so lets take it a step further. I don't know what I am looking for, Yahoo how can you help me? I do a simple search for "movies" because I want to hear podcasts by movie critics. NPR: movies tops the list with the perennial favorite "Ebert and Roeper" ranking a not so hot 5th. Not bad and I like the way they break out Podcasts search by series and episodes.

I like Integration

Yahoo offers a subscribe service that easily integrates with Itunes. They have a simple to follow page that tells you what to do when you hit subscribe, and presto a new podcast in my itunes podcast subscription list. That was easy.......

So I can see the value for me. I want a good search/directory that I can find new podcast content that I can add to Itunes. Yahoo you fulfilled my request.....

In the money

What does Yahoo gain from being the 5th or 6th player in this space? Apple's integration with Itunes made me switch from IpodderX and Yahoo doesn't have a Podcast Player. Or do they. Are they going to integrate this service into their Yahoo music subscription service much like Itunes has? Or is this just another added value to come to my portal so we can advertise the hell out of you ploy? In any event, this is a service that looks good for a short timer. Lets see what happens when I put it up against odeo and itunes........

Google RSS

2005-10-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

Looks like Google's new RSS reader has been getting some heat since it's been out. It is interesting how Google works. They put out stuff with little fanfare and let users beat it up. You can say Gmail was successful, but what else have they released that is a great product? Gtalk? I can't even use the full service because they don't have a Mac client. Google Earth? It may be cool (google maps is) but again I can't use it. Google Blog search? Seems like it is not as good as google's normal search. Well you get the point. Google puts stuff out and people flock to it. Most of the techies bash it and move on while others praise Google for their inventiveness. I wonder when Google is the next Microsoft and people hate them? Get too big and you become unmanageable. Look at the government? Should I say more?

I have been using Googles RSS reader for a few days and I have had varied success. Importing is slow but I was able to get my feeds in. The system was slow on the first day and I did get a few errors, but who doesn't have launch day glitches? We will see how Google does with it's beta RSS reader, but some have to wonder how much it will take for google to take over the world?

Where are the words

2005-09-29T23:01:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week since I posted. Busy at work leads to little sleep leads to getting sick leads to no energy to think or write. I lose at least a week when I am sick because I cannot function under the slightest of colds. So I have been sleeping at going through the Tivo queue catching up on all my TV musings.

Since the new TV season started I have been setting the Tivo up to record my favs. CSI, the OC and a new one Lost. I slept on lost last season, but I saw the first 2 episodes this week. Looks like a good show so far. Anyway I love the Tivo, because I can do stuff during the week without being glued to the TV (I am usually glued to my mac) and catch up on the weekend.

Too bad Tivo will go away eventually. I just hope whatever replaces the service will be comparable. Or lets hope Tivo doesn't go away.

Anyway I am feeling a little better (being on day 4 of my 6 day sick cycle) I should be better next week. I have a lot to do at work and here at home so the days should fly by and it will be November and time to go to Italy.

Speaking of Italy, I need to do research for my nephew for his trip to Venice. Off I go.....

Update: Not 2 seconds after I posted this I got 2 comment spams. I have had a few comment spams in the past, but this is wierd with 2 right after I posted. I wonder what is up with that? I know it happens alot, but blogger needs to do somthing about this. Google spend some money on your blogging service so your loyal users will not have to look for a better service (oh yeah you google gods will rule the world some day....good luck)

NerdTV and others

2005-09-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

NerdTV is the brainchild of PBS and Robert Cringely and is one of many new download only video shows that feature leaders in technology. As a fan of podcasting, I am very interested in this new wave of content and delivery, what many are calling or the precursor to IPTV (Internet protocol TV). Video over the internet is nothing new much like audio over the internet was nothing new when podcasting was developed, but like podcasting, IPTV is about the delivery of the content.

I have heard (sounds reliable to me) that more people are spending time on the internet and less time in front of the TV. It makes sense that the delivery of entertainment content should be through the Internet. There is a convergence of TV and PC or Mac that will take place over the next few years. Microsoft is selling it's Media Center edition software under the guise of this framework and they have IPTV in the works.

Over that last year we have been seeing content for internet specific flow through RSS aggregations that moves towards IPTV implementation. Shows like Systm, commandN and NerdTV are all tech focused, buy I have a feeling more mainstream content will be ready for internet savvy users.

Yes the nerds are early adapters so the content is focused towards that group, but the tip of the iceberg is not even here yet. We should see a mass influx of program content over the internet with delivery using RSS technologies and I bet apple's Itunes product. Apple already supports video feeds so we can get most of the early content through them.

So what are the factors that will slow this trend? IPTV needs bandwidth and with a slow adoption of broadband in the US it could be the old bells and cable ops that slow this trend, which is something they would like to slow since it would eat their business models and create competition.

The reason I think about IPTV is because I like the choice is has to offer. The comparisons to podcasting can not be more congruent in my view. Content that has a niche appeal is much more cost effective via IPTV and most likely would not see the light of day on TV or cable. I want choice. I like seeing interviews of the best technology minds today, and nerdTV is the right medium for this content. I just watched the second installment (they are weekly) an interview with Max Levchin who is the co-founder of Paypal. It is refreshing to see Charlie Rose quality interviews with geeks like us.

Time will tell how IPTV intersects the mass audience, but my bet (and Microsoft too who I normally don't bet on) is that IPTV will be the future of content delivery with more choices when you want them and how you want them.

* Cnet posts a good review here

Technorati Tags: nerdtv, commandn, systm, iptv

On the road again

2005-09-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

This week I am off to Reno for a work conference. I have been busy researching new tools for me to use for:

Blogging: ecto a great blog posting software

research: Vital Source a ebook reader and seller with many search, highlight and note features.

Wiki/Organization: jotspot a really cool wiki - if you don't know what a wiki is check wikipedia

Browsers: opera a browser that supports great features like firefox and has bittorrent built in.

I should have time to give a healthy review for all. My initial reaction to these tools is great. I have been using each for a short time, but I can see already they make life easier with so much to keep track of and do.

Thats all for now folks....

Light Posting -time for reflection

2005-09-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of news and reflection. We should stop and reflect on our lives when others are suffering. The devastation done by Katrina is much more than land and cities. People are suffering and lives are changing and we all can say a prayer for those who are now the displaced and destroyed. I don't pretend to know suffering in the vein of so many people, but I can hope and meditate for our brethren.

As the media and politicians play the blame game, there are people on the ground making a difference. My hat is off to those who volunteered in order to help save lives. It is the people that give without prejudice - people who care- that will in the end define a great nation like ours.

People around the world watch as those who can help do and those who can't give money, but we should not be judged nor shall we judge what went wrong when there are bloated bodies that need to be buried and flooded homes that need repair. Our leaders will be judged in the end, but a time for rescue, repair and rebuilding must come. I say not who is to blame but how can we learn from this event.

In a few days or weeks the medias spin cycle will continue as the usual story's grab the headlines, but I hope no one forgets the people that need help. Their story on the ground is more compelling that any headline news and in the final analysis we all care because we are human.

What is left but hope. Hope for a new tomorrow and hope for a better country.

Like Forrest Gump says "That's all I got to say about that"

More tech stuff later in the week. Goodnight for now.

Browser Wars

2005-08-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Many remember the good old days of browser wars where Microsoft and Netscape would battle for the best. These days its the Mozilla Firefox team against the big giant. Firefox is an obvious better browser, but M$ still has a huge market share. Mean while a little company has been making a browser for 10 years. Opera is a cross platform browser that gives Firefox a run for the money.

This is not a complete review in any stretch of the imagination. I downloaded Opera yesterday to test it out, and my initial reaction is good. I like the interface and I am exploring the features now. Firefox is a great browser with lots of features, but I may switch over to Opera soon.

The downside to Opera is it is Ad supported. They did have a promotion for a free key to honor their 10 year anniversary, but it was only good for today so I wont bother posting the link.

Anyway. As Internet and web 2.0 becomes more focused in our lives, tools that we call browsers today will play a very important role in how we conversate and do business.

Scoble Fanboy

2005-08-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

We all know Robert Scoble the famed "A-list" blogger at Microsoft . He is pretty passionate about blogging and a lot of times we don't agree with him, but you just can't delete him from your RSS subscription. So what to do? Become a Fanboy.

Yes give in to the madness and follow his every move. Search for him on technorati, look him up on Flickr. He is all over the blogosphere. Name your kids after him. Create a blog about him. You too can be a Scoble Fanboy. All you need is an RSS feed and a t-shirt that shows your true fanboyness. I took the liberty to make t-shirts here. Don't forget to subscribe to his feed.

Scobleize: scoble

Busy

2005-08-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

You know when you are busy when you have 146 items to read for Digg.com. God bless RSS...........

See you all soon.

Iclectic Podcast August 27, 2005

2005-08-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Another Dave Winer style podcast using my trusty Iriver media recorder. Today I talk about:

Google Talk

Tivo

Volunteering at Ourmedia.org

30:00 min podcast

Direct Link here

Google Talk: The Skype killer?

2005-08-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

So Digg and all the sites posted Google's new IM solution was available for download. The IM client is called Google Talk and it can turn out to be the Skype Killer.

So I guess all the rumors that the big G will buy Skype is kinda dead. Well Google has the advantage of always having traction, so a lot of people will be talking about it. Even Microsoft's Start.com team is talking about it.

Over the next few days people will be giving reports of the easy of use and light footprint that Google talk offers. I unfortunately cannot attest to all those easy of use features, because once again Google has ignored the Mac and Linux communities. Now I know there is a small install base, but it's Google, I am sure they have some money to hire a Mac developer. yes it's frustrating to be a minority in the OS sphere, but hopefullly these companies will not succumb to the evil M$ empire by supporting their monopoly.

Scott Rosenberg at Salon.com has a good write up of this issue.

Update: Another good post from apophenia :: on this.

Technorati Tags: google, mac, apple, talk

Light post: Unplug for the weekend

2005-08-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was unplugged. Went down to San Diego to spend some quality time with my boo. It was nice to hang out and have fun, but on Sunday I was at a cafe in Ocean Beach and people with powerbooks were sucking up free wifi. I was jonesing to bring up bloglines to see what was going on, but the urge passed as I went out to walk on the beach.

Geeks, I recommend you unsubscribe or unplug or just get out and have some face time with the ones you love....

Cheers for now. Working on a Bloglines - rojo - pluck et al piece for this week, stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: unplug, san diego

What is in a name Part Deux

2005-08-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

The RSS battle has been going back and forth with Scoble Vs everyone else. A good point was made that Firefox calls RSS "Live Bookmarks" and their documentation has no reference to RSS, only to "Feed". Dealing with so many vested parties is difficult, because everyone thinks their way is best. In the end, people need to focus on the users. What will mom and pop that uses AOL do with RSS. The challenge then is not to see RSS as a brand but a common naming convention for RSS. If it is RSS, then it will die? Will the AOL users of the world get it?

I wish I had the magic answer to give to MS and Apple and Yahoo, but I have a feeling they are going to do what they want to differentiate their brand.

So where do we go from here? I suspect there will be a continued debate, Dave and Scoble and the rest of the sphere will continue to make it a lively topic and then RSS will change.

It seems there is a push to further take RSS to a new standard with RSS3. New site is up at rss3.org and from the first forum posts, no one is happy about it. I wonder what Mr Winer has to say.

In any event, it is an exciting time for people that are involved in blogs and RSS. I am sure the future will bring change.

Technorati Tags: blog, RSS

RSS mess and MicroGoogle

2005-08-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

With all the talk about RSS in the blog-O-sphere it is interesting to see what will happen. Yes RSS is still edgy. With only geeks and psudogeeks using it, it is not worthy of mainstream. It does bring up valuable points that people can learn from. How do you make something techie non techie? It is a difficult problem that can be solved with easy to use tools like bloglines or start.com. But the big problem is getting over the nomenclature. Email is easy to explain. The web is easy to explain. Why is RSS so hard to explain? What M$ calls RSS doesn't much matter to me. I know what it is and how I can use it. What is in a name anyway?

I do agree that it has traction and should remain consistent, but you can never tell what will happen. It should be interesting.

Another side note:

Scoble announced a Blogger tool for Word so all you spammers can use your pirated copy of word to create more spam blogs. Thanks Google and Microsoft. You just made Mark (icerocket) complain again.......

Technorati Tags: blog, Microsoft, google, RSS, software

Attention Trust

2005-08-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

After Listening to the latest Gilmore Gang (the best podcast around today), I decided to take a look at Attention Trust Steve Gilmore's new venture. I signed up and it looks like I am member #264. Check it out.

Getty Center Art Lecture

2005-08-13T03:32:00.000-07:00

The lecture by Artist John Nava was excellent. He is a great artist and was able to communicate the point of his lecture very well (full review and podcast to come). Some lectures at the Getty are given by scholars and researchers, so they can be very dry. John said he is not a historian or researcher, he is an artist. Great presentation on Rembrandt late portraits of saints which is showing until August 28th.

Anyway the recording of the lecture was not up to par, so it will be a summary podcast of the highlights. Sorry, but I couldn't jack in and the room was just too big to get it in the air.

Bonus: His presentation was done on a Powerbook.

Testing Ecto software

2005-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

I thought about using an offline editor for blogging on my laptop. I saw a post on blogging software and decided to try a Mac friendly ware.

Technorati Tags: blog, software

Getty Art and free wifi

2005-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am sitting outside the Getty auditorium waiting for a lecture to start. I will be podcasting tonight's lecture by John Nava. The topic is Rembrandt and painting religious figures. Nava has provided work for Our Lady of Angels cathedral here in Los Angeles. His tapestries of saints are magnificent. I am glad the Getty center has these free lectures from time to time. Being involved in Internet and technology can take you away from other cultural treats. Los Angeles has a great museum base and often you can find events like this.

I am glad the Getty was able to provide free wifi. I opened up my laptop and here is an nice open network. I am not sure this is legit, but I would think the Getty would have the IT staff to lock down their network if they wanted to.

I will post more after the lecture. Now I am going to enjoy my beer and podcast.

Cheers.

Iclectic Podcast August 6, 2005

2005-08-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

A Dave Winer style podcast on the road in LA. I talk about New Media and old Media. In addition I question cable monopolies and digital media. In error I call the new Tivo style internet content service AKIMBO, akimo or akido. But you get the point.

Enjoy

Direct link here

Tag for sale:

new media
big media
akimbo
ourmedia.com

Rome has Free Wifi

2005-08-06T01:24:00.000-07:00

via Robin Good under: Wifi

Rome has installed wifi in the Villa Borghese and it's free. An incentive to take my new ibook to Rome when I go in November. The article indicates you have to login to a host and provide minimal information. No word if there is a pricing scheme for the future but all you Italians can chat and skype your way in the great city of Rome.

Side note:

Rome is an amazing city and the villa borghese park is wonderful. Hopefully I can test out the wifi when I go back to Rome....

Ciao

cartellino di technorati:
rome
wifi

Quickie post- Scoble MIA

2005-08-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

Scoble is missing in action, and I am getting stuff done. Scoble has unsubscribed from himself this week due to the lashing he has been getting. I hope he recharges and gets thicker skin. We are all human, but you have to take the flack if you are going to jump in and stir the pot. Scoble, you know what to listen to and what to flush down the toilet with that copy of Windows Vista.

The blogosphere needs it's OC. Where are you Scoble.

His most recent post

vblogging

2005-07-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just posted a little video about Itunes and podcasting. It is short and sweet, but I just wanted to test vblogging. Made with just my digital camera, so the quality is not that great.

Double click on black box to play

Playing with OPML

2005-07-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I checked my news feeds this morning and wouldn't you know we had a little gift from Dave Winer. A mac version of his new software for outlining called OPML. I have been playing with it for a little while and am having fun with learning about this new tool.

Check out my limited site created with this tool:

http://blogs.opml.org/dharmapath/

There seems to be a few bugs and you need to be pretty technical to use it, but if you are a blogger or podcaster, this editor can help you with posting.

Nice work Dave.....

Problems with Ourmedia.org

2005-07-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

I checked my blog today and found a few things missing. Mainly my header picture, nice view of Paris inside the Pompeduo centre, and my gif buttons that link to my 1 - click subscriptions. In addition, all my podcast links were dead.

What gives? All the data I loaded was tested and has been live befor I linked to it? So I go to my ourmedia page and find all the URL's have changed for my media. No big deal right? Wrong. Ourmedia can't just go changing url locations anytime they feel like. Those who use the service to host podcast's and vblogging will spend tireless hours trying to relink all their data. I left a post on the forum to see if there is an explanation.

In any event, I realize that Ourmedia is a) a free service and b) is still in alpha. So I have to be patient because the are offering me free hosting and bandwidth, and it has only been out a few months. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and see what happens in the future, but I guess you have to follow the old cliche: "you get what you pay for".

Tag me silly:
ourmedia

Skype vs Gizmo Project

2005-07-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

VoIP technology has been around for awhile now. Big players in the enterprise market make good products, but for the consumer choices have been limited, until now. Vontage and other monthly subscription models don't work for those who own cell phones, because it doesn't make sense to pay for both services. I have been using a free service called Skype for a few months now and it seems to be the most popular VoIP technology today. Gizmo project is on its heals though and I am sure Vontage does not like the free provides to be in the press.

Gizmo has some of the same functionality as Skype, but it adds SIP compliance standards so you can use a call in service, much like a pager and connect to my SIP number from your cell phone or landline. Skype offers callin for a fee in order to have a regular phone number on their service. I like gizmo since it records calls (podcasters pay attention) and it seems to have a better interface.

Outbound calls are measured in Dollars for Gizmo and in Euros for Skype. So if you need to make calls to a land line or cell phone you can purchase blocks of time.

Both services offer flexibility and if you can get your friends and family on Skype or Gizmo then all calls are free over your broadband connection.

Quality can vary, but I did test it with someone in Kiev on a dial up connection. It sounded ok, but broadband is recommended.

I will post a more thorough evaluation as I play with each service.

Tag me:
skype
gizmo