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January 31, 2005

Stop the Presses: GET THE FUTURE OF FILE SYSTEMS TODAY!!

08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet & Firefox

del.icio.us My bookmarks are going to del.icio.us STAT1. They are going to the-land-of-how-file-systems-should-work. If you want a preview of the future, read this post, and join the chosen before the rush crushes their (his?) service. In a very short time it is almost guaranteed that whomever owns del.icio.us will be very, very well off.

You did read the whole post linked to above before continuing, now didn’t you? I thought so.

Can you imagine combining this functionality (a term which belies the power of this new paradigm) with something like Flickr?

Add the notion of “group” and some file permissioning, and you have the future of file systems2. Game, set and match.

Calling Google’s, Yahoo!’s and Microsoft’s corporate development departments (I didn’t have enough minutes on my plan to waste calling Time-Warner-not-AOL-anymore)… I’ve done your homework. Now get to work.

—————

1 I will say that for the majority of my bookmarks, I really don’t care that everyone can browse them. Whatever. Bookmarks that I use to access really personal websites, I’ll just keep local, and not load them into del.icio.us.

2 With del.icio.us (i.e., bookmarks), it rocks to have no real file permissioning. It facilitates the free sharing of preference. Like peer-to-peer where everyone shares their files as well as downloads files. All are consumers and contributors.

Online Search Market Share

05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

It looks like Yahoo! and Google are gaining market share worldwide, while MSN and AOL are the losers. In addition, Yahoo! is gaining ground on Google in the US. All this in the New York Times business section today in an article entitled, Search Sites Play a Game of Constant Catch-Up. Worldwide search market share for the “biggies” is listed as:

CompanyNov. ‘03 (%)Nov. ‘04 (%)
Google4447
Yahoo!2527
MSN1412
AOL95
Source: comScore Networks

In the US, Yahoo! is gaining ground…

In the United States, Yahoo is gaining on Google. Yahoo’s share rose to 35 percent of searches in November from 29 percent a year earlier, according to ComScore. During the same period, Google rose to 38 percent from 37 percent.

Danny Sullivan, editor of the Search Engine Watch, is heavily quoted throughout the article, and speaks very favorably of Yahoo!, while being fairly negative about Google. Mr. Sullivan implies that Google has not been adding features as quickly as Yahoo! which he thinks is a result of Google’s IPO in 2004.

Last year Yahoo! acquired MusicMatch, Kelkoo and Oddpost. Perhaps in 2005, Yahoo! will become a verb?

Digital Camera Sales Metrics

04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Digital Photo

It’s Monday. That means the New York Times business section runs metrics in their Most Wanted column. One of today’s metrics is on digital camera sales. Here’s what they listed with the source quoted as NPD Group/NPD Techworld:

RankCompanyUnit Share
1Kodak18.5%
2Canon18.1%
3Sony15.2%
4Olympus9.2%
5Nikon8.9%

I’ve seen similar data to these in previous issues of the NYT. It’s interesting that Kodak is the leader in this study. Perhaps these data are for US sales only… however, no information is given on the geography of the sales?? (I tried to find a link to this section in the NYT, but couldn’t find it using their online search).

This article is more in line with what I’ve read about world-wide market share (I had to link to the Google-cashed version, since the original link no longer works). The source for this article is InfoTrends/CAP Ventures.

The top five worldwide market leaders in digital camera sales in 2004 are, in rank order, Canon Inc., Sony Corp., Olympus Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co., the firm said.

Getting back to how the NYT came up with their sales data, this article breaks down US sales of digital cameras.

The research firm’s survey of third-quarter U.S. camera sales, released on Friday, found that Sony sold 1 million units to command 20 percent of the market. Kodak shifted only 10,000 fewer, to grab 19.8 percent of the market.

Canon was third, moving 800,000 units for a 16 percent market share, followed by Olympus, with sales of 600,000 and market share of 12 percent.

The moral of the story is that a lot of publications quote data on sales and other figures without giving you enough information. In fact, they give you just enough information to be misinformed. In this case, the NYT was sloppy in their reporting, since they did not qualify their data as being geographically specific.

January 29, 2005

The Sad State of Computer Furniture

09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~

I finally have had enough with my cramped, little desk that I have been doing my computing from. Unfortunately, if you are really into computing, the off-the-self options are pretty lame or nonexistent. A good desk has got to have room for a big monitor or two, speakers, a lamp, printer, scanner, CDs, pens and pencils, paper, etc. That is, you’ve got to have big desk.

As a bootstrap option, I decided to put together a quick solution. I figured that a good, solid door (the desktop), and a couple of modified wire restaurant-style racks would do the trick. Doors come in few standard sizes (24” or 30” wide by 6’8” or 8’ tall). I opted for a 30” × 6’8” solid-core oak-veneered door, which cost me about $90. To modify the racks, I had to hacksaw the four support poles down to desktop height.

The final result does not look very pro, but it is pragmatic. In the future, I’ll probably “upgrade” to an 8’ door (which they have to special order), and make it look a lot better with some cable grommets and organizers.

Here’s a picture of the new setup.

January 28, 2005

Firefox Stability

10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox

I’ve really been messing around with Firefox lately. I’ve been loading bunches of new extensions to try them out, unloading the ones I don’t like, using a CPU-optimized version of Firefox, modifying the configuration files, etc. In all of this, Firefox has remained very stable. That just blows me away. Any other application that you did so much customizing to would end up imploding… forcing me to uninstall it and start all over again. I do get crashes (very rarely), but the frequency of these crashes has remand constant even as I have been tweaking it. Firefox farking rocks.

Snappy Answers

09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

In the Wall Street Journal on Thursday on the 27th, Walter Mossberg reviewed Answers.com. His final sentence was, “I urge you to try it.” The gist of the story was the Answers is a search company that strives to actually answer your questions as opposed to just giving you links related to query. I’ve tried it out, and it’s not bad for certain forms of querys. However, it is not nearly as extensive as searching the web.

Snap is back in business again (or still if it never left) as an Idealab company. Idealab is the group that backed GoTo.com which became Overture which in turn was acquired by Yahoo!. So, sometimes they get it right… especially considering that Google ended up licensing the rights to paid search to Yahoo! (who had obviously also acquired Overture’s patent portfolio).

But… whatever. A bunch of new search companies. You’d expect it now that search companies can’t get out of the way of money being thrown at them. The interesting thing is that Google sometimes links to Answer.com in the “definitions” field (located at the upper right hand corner of a search result page). Try searching on “earnings,” then clicking on the underlined “earnings” in the definition field. Goes to Answers (at least it did for me). So regardless of whether or not Answers is actually paying Google, Google is helping to build Answers’s brand… just like Yahoo! did when Google first started out. Interesting.

Pardon the Mess

05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Whatever

I spent most of the day yesterday transfering over my old posts from TypePad to my hosted MovableType account. It was not easy. In addition, I am transfering over my domain name (zoinger.com) to 1and1 where MT is being hosted.

I’m transfering over my domain from Yahoo! because they insist on placing a framed ad at the bottom of the page when forwarding a domain name. It’s just plain fugly. If the Yahoo! folks had a clue, they wouldn’t do this. I mean, who in the hell is going to click on a framed banner ad at the BOTTOM of a page? I’d like to tell the people at Yahoo! that it’s idiotic to do this, but good luck getting help from their customer “support.” Yeah right.

Open Source Apps on My Windows PC

08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

I've just noticed how much open-source software I am now using on my Windows XP machine. I use Firefox for browsing almost exclusively. I do use IE primarily because I have its cookies set differently than I do in Firefox - so, for example, between IE and Firefox I can easily log into two different Yahoo! Mail accounts. But if there was an extension that allowed you to manage and quickly switch between different Yahoo! Mail accounts, I won't need IE for this... a quick account switching extension for Yahoo! Mail... that'd be cool he dreams.

But back to the point. Firefox for browsing and Filezilla for FTP (so much better than FTP Voyager which I had purchased previously). I use VirtualDub for video format conversion and resizing. Just check out the OpenCD Project for other open-source applications of note. Heck, I'm using MovableType like a word processor to create this blog.

I use NASA's World Wind program to download LandStat maps of the world, satellite images, weather data. I don't know if the application is open source, but the data is open to the world. Neat.

Even more interesting is that I use open source on top of open source. What do I mean? Well, I use an extension called Spellbound in Firefox to check spelling when posting in MovableType. When I was using TypePad, I also used Spellbound instead of the default TypePad spell checker. Spellbound is a much richer spell checker, since it lets you store custom words like "Google" and "Bay." Words I'm using all the time.

Just noticing all of these cool applications that have snuck onto my PC over the past seven years or so... but really in the past three or four years. All brought to you by the Internet. Just think what is to come. I'm sure Microsoft is thinking about that.

January 26, 2005

World Economic Forum - Now Online

12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) ~ Biz - General

World_economic_forumLast night the World Economic Forum opened its annual event in  Davos, Switzerland. This year you can save yourself the $12,500 membership fee and a $6,250 annual meeting fee by tuning into their webcasts.  A list of sessions with links to the video streams can be found here. Also somewhat new this year is their blog (it started in April of last year). It's a big hobnobbing event with guests this year such as Bill Gates, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac. With such luminaries in attendance, there's guaranteed to be some insightful content.

January 24, 2005

What My Mobile Is

03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Mobile

nokia_8620.jpgIt's surprising to think back to the early-to-mid '90s when almost no one owned a cell phone. I remember giving a friend of mine a hard time about purchasing one back then. "It's too expensive... it's just a status symbol... you'll never use it... it's just a trend," I told him. Times have changed.

Now I don't even have a landline (I have cable for high-speed access). My cellphone is so valuable to me it goes with me where ever I go. I couldn't live without it because it's my:

  • Alarm Clock - Since my clock radio died a few years ago, I've used my cellphone as my alarm clock.

  • Flashlight - The backlight makes a great emergency flashlight. Use it all the time.

  • Phonelist - I've got most of my important numbers programmed into the address book.

  • Reminder - I have reminders sent to me via SMS from Yahoo! Calendar to notify me of upcoming appointments.

  • Navigation Device - For example, you don't need detailed directions to get to a friend's house for the first time. Just get close, give them a call and have them talk you in.

  • Notepad - I just type in an SMS message, and save it instead of sending it.

I'm sure there's some other stuff I am forgetting, but that's the main list. However, the really surprising thing is that my phone is completely out of date. It's an old AT&T Wireless TDMA Nokia 8260 (or a very similar model). No web access, no fancy QWERTY keyboard, no color screen, no PC synchronization funtionality... pretty much just a straight-up phone. Perhaps mobiles are here to stay?

Start Listening to Podcasts Now

12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) ~ Podcasting

Tired of broadcast radio? Don't want to go through the hassle of installing a satellite-radio receiver in your car? Bored with your music collection? Then podcasting is for you.

If you haven't heard of podcasting, it's going to be hot in 2005... if it isn't already. Podcasting is obviously a play on Apple's iPod - appropriate since podcasts are audio files (typically in MP3 format) similar to music you'd download. These audio files are attached to RSS 2.0 feeds as enclosures, and can be easily downloaded using a podcast client. Podcasts can be looked at as the audio form of blogging, and with the explosion of podcasts over the last few months, there's content available to interest almost anyone. And as with most blogs, the majority of this content is free (I can't think of any podcasts that you have pay for) and legal.

In order to start receiving podcasts you need to download a podcasting client, and subscribe to some podcast feeds (if you already use an RSS Newsreader, check to see if your current or a new version supports podcasts). From Adam Curry's first podcasting client (which was release only a few months ago), podcast clients have matured to the point where they will automatically download your podcasts based on a schedule you set, synchronize those downloads with iTunes or Windows Media Player, allow you to skip editions that you don't want to download, keep a history of your downloads, allow you to search for new podcast feeds, etc. The client I use is called Doppler Radio and can be found here. Doppler also has some links to help you find podcasts here.

I've been listening to podcasts since the early fall of 2004, and I've noticed that they have really changed my "radio" listening habits. Before podcasts, whenever I had the radio on in my car, I would be listening to music. Now I almost exclusively listen to podcasts. In addition, I've got a small MP3 player which allows me to listen to podcasts when I'm exercising... and even when cleaning up the house.

As with websites and blogs, you need to experiment a bit to find content that interests you. However, it didn't take me long to find several podcasts that I now really look forward to hearing. I think you'll find your experience will be similar.

January 23, 2005

QuickNote - My latest Firefox Extension of Choice

04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~

Quicknotelogo_plane_1I installed a new Firefox extension a few days ago called QuickNote. It's an awesome extension that I am primarily using as a blogging aid. What is QuickNote? In QuickNote's words it's a:

... note taking-like extension slightly modeled after 'Post-It', 'Sticky', and the "Quick Notepad" plugin for jedit.

I didn't really get that either, but I did installed it, so I could kick the tires.

In Firefox QuickNotes creates a custom sidebar or new window (user selectable), accessible by hitting cntrl-F7, that displays up to four savable, QuickNote-specific tabs in which you can jot down notes. Installing QuickNotes also adds a "Send to QuickNote" link in the context menu (aka, the right mouse button click menu). Clicking on this link will send any text to QuickNotes. Some screenshots of QuickNote can be found here, and I've added QuickNotes to my list of installed extensions.

January 21, 2005

Amazon - More Web Services

04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

CNet has a story about Amazon creating versions of its web services for foreign markets.

"This release is a direct response to feedback from our growing
developer community," Andy Jassy, vice president of Web services at
Amazon, said in a statement.

Amazon out of any of the major web companies, has been the most aggressive in pushing web services. eBay and Google have them too, but they have not been aggressively marketing them. In some ways, Amazon is lucky since they have a built-in profit model for their web services.

This is the kind of innovation that I like. Sure, developing, supporting and promoting web services carries some opportunity-cost risks, but the upside of becoming the commerce backend for a big portion of the web is huge. Jeff Bezos at Web 2.0 spoke about the next version of the web - the one making it easier for computers to use. That's big thinking, but more importantly, Amazon is acting on that big thinking.

Have Some French Fries Google

04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

In the New York Times week in review

In other Google news, the search giant was dealt a setback when a French court ruled that it must refrain from using the trademarks of European resort chain Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts to trigger keyword ads. A Nanterre court in France ruled that Google infringed on the trademarks of Le Meridien by allowing the hotel chain's rivals to bid on keywords of its name and appear prominently in related search results.

This just sounds wrong to me. For example, when you look in the Yellow Pages for a specific store, you see competitive ads. I go into Safeway to buy Tide, and it's side-by-side with every other brand of detergent. Let's hope the rest of the world is not so shortsighted as the French. In the meantime, pass the ketchup please.

Biting into an Apple Mini Mac

12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ PC - Mac

Mini_macI'm going to do it in 2005. Gonna buy a Mini Mac. Why? When you listen to people like Esther Dyson and Doc Searls talk about the number of Macs they now see at technology conferences, you feel like you're missing something important. In addition, I have helped a number of relatives and friends purchase and configure Windows PCs in the past. These PCs will eventually need upgrading or replacing, so I'm going to get calls asking what they should do. I suspect that with the maturation of the Web - that is, you don't need a Windows PC to run most applications these days, just a browser - a Mac may now be a better and easier personal computer choice for them. Besides, the thing looks darn cool.

After reading a review of the Mini, I'll probably get the cheapest one that has a WLAN card built in. I'm not too concerned about speed or writing DVDs or how much memory it has, since I don't think this Mac, or any Mac for that matter, will become my main computer. The reasons? I've got quite a bit of capital invested in Windows-compatible software, Windows still has far better application support for products I might need in the future (but this is changing), the Mac doesn't play DirectX games but primarily because I have A LOT of time and frustration invested into knowing how to make a Windows box run well. However easy an OS or an application is to learn, learning a new one is hard and frustrating at times... how hard and frustrating I'm planning on finding out in 2005.

Update: 2005_01_21
From the New York Times:

While Target has not been known as a place to get Macs, or even PCs for that matter, it has been selling the iPod for some time. Target was also the first venue to offer prepaid iTunes music store gift cards, though Apple has now expanded that effort.

What a great distribution channel for Apple. Target is the upscale discounter; a place with a bit of flair.

Not everyone in America is lucky enough to have an Apple store just down the block like they do in Palo Alto. Now the rest of America has a place to "kick the tires" and purchase a Mac Mini. In the review I linked to above, the reviewer commented on how he mistakenly thought he was opening the shipping box for his iPod he had also ordered... that is, until he opened it and found it actually contained his Mac Mini. Man, it must be small.

When you think about it, you can get all of the functionality of an iPod for a lot less. One big reason people purchase iPods is for the brand (Apple = cool). The same thing could happen for the Mac Mini. Let's hope so, because we could use some competition the operating system market.

January 20, 2005

Samsung YP-T5V Portable MP3 Player

05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Reviews

Samsung_yeppI picked up a Samsung YP-T5V MP3 player for just over $100 a few weeks ago, and I really like it. I picked the Samsung after Adam Curry (aka, "The Prince of Pod) mentioned that he liked his during one of his Daily Source Code podcasts. It comes with 256MB of memory and is very, very tiny. The user interface on the device is pretty intuitive, and offers all sorts of ways to customize the device. For example, you can choose the color on the backlight from blue, red or green, change the default sound level and a bunch of other stuff. The only major issue I have with the UI is the lack of a dedicated file-browser button. Currently, to get to the file browser, you have to press and hold the four way button (pictured next to the LCD in the product shot to the right). This works ok, but if you don't hold the button long enough, you toggle into the customization menu. It's a little hard to get the timing right.

Pros

  • Very small - So small it is very wearable even when exercising.

  • Ability to record from a line-in directly to MP3

  • Acts like a USB drive. No software on the PC needed.

  • Fairly good UI

Cons

  • Voice recorder is not a quality recorder, but it does work

  • I'd like a dedicated file-browser button

  • It could have better battery life (I think it goes through a AAA battery in about 8-10 hours)

  • Weird sub-mini line in, but it does come with an adapter cable that steps it up to a more standard mini plug

  • Headphones are just ok... but that's pretty much the same with other MP3 players (see my Sony headphone review below to see how I solved this problem).

  • USB 1.0 slows file transfers

  • No variable-speed for fast forward and rewind

Overall, I'd recommend this MP3 player. It only comes with 256MB of memory, but that's fine for listening to about 4 albums (recorded at a high bit rate) and quite a few podcasts (which are typically recorded at 64Kbs).

January 18, 2005

The four Cameras to Own in 2005

05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Digital Photo

Panasonic_lumixDigital cameras are cool. And they are on Moore's curve. The way I figure it, you've got to own four if you are really, really into it. Disclaimer... I only own one, and it is so "old" that it's not even on this list. The four are: a cellphone, a small "real" one, a prosumer model and a body-is-basically-free-the-lenses-are-not DSLR.

Why four? You're always going to have your cellphone. The small "real" one when you think you might take some shots or want some decent video. The prosumer when you'll probably take some shots. The DSLR... ok, you're really, really, really into it (or spending money).

  • The cellphone - I don't think it matters much, since they all seem to suck. So the purchasing decision should be made on how good a phone it is, not on how good a camera it is. Next year they'll be some good ones, and very soon it will be your most important camera... you take the most shots with the one you have.

  • The small one - Canon SD300. I've never gone wrong with Canon. You can even get a water-tight case for it. 640x460 30fps video. Sure, no problemo. 'Nough said.

  • The Prosumer - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20. 12x image-stabled-DPReviewed-at-highly-recommended wonder. Just get it.

  • The DSLR - Three out of four ain't bad. I really don't know which DSLR is "it" right now, but I do know it's made by either Canon or Nikon, so I get partial credit.

Now get out there and shoot!

Windows XP Tuning

12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ PC - Customizing

Windowsxp_masthead_ltrWhen you install a fresh version of Window XP, I like to change some of the default settings back to the "classic" settings.

  • Win2k Style Login - From the Control Panel:
    Goto User Accounts then Chage the way users log on or off and uncheck Use Welcome

  • Win2k Style Search - Regedit to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState
    Right click and add a new String Value with properties 
           Value Name: Use Search Asst 
           Value Data: no

  • Removing Extraneous Startup Programs - Lots of programs like to jam
    stuff in the startup folder. Hate it. I pretty much remove everything
    from this folder:
    C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

  • Turn Microsoft's ClearType on (especially for LCD displays). This is an ActiveX control, so you have to do it from IE.

Samsung - The New Sony

12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - CE

Samsung_ciSony, what have you done for me lately? I mean besides selling products that break (my friends hella-expensive receiver, my hella-expensive CD changer, etc. etc.)? Sony's been off buying media companies (MGM was the latest), while falling asleep at their core consumer electronics wheel.

MP3 players? Apple, you take that market.
Plasma/LCD TVs? I guess we should get into that market!
Flash Memory? Here, have some proprietary, expensive, low-storage (compared to other market solutions), late-to-market MemoryShit.
Cellphones? Hum.. we fucked this up so badly, we had to dilute our brand with Ericsson's. OK, they have been making some good "Sony Ericsson" phones recently, but how could they possibly have screwed up such an important market up to begin with?

This is how you ruin a brand. This is how you become a Harvard B-School case study on how not to manage a company. But no worries... plenty of companies would love to become the next Sony (OK, I do admit that Sony's doing the best job of trying to create some cool desktop computers and notebooks as well as some interesting MemoryShit-plagued digital cameras).

Samsung is one of those companies wanting to be the next Sony. Already their market cap ($62 billion or so) has surpassed Sony, while their brand is closing in on Sony. As described in a recent Economist Article (you gotta play to pay), Samsung's brand (yes, another Economist article you gotta pay for) is device driven, not overall brand driven. By this they mean that when a consumer thinks of a purchasing a cellphone for example, they don't think "Samsung," but if they see a cool Samsung device, they'll probably be comfortable with the brand. So comfortable that in 2004, Samsung became the number two cellphone manufacturer behind Nokia with Motorola now third. A little more "cool" in the brand... you Fins watch out.

Hey Sony, check out the new MacMini. Now Steve's gunning for you too. Oh, and that cash-cow know as the PlayStation... if Microsoft beats you to market with their next-generation game console... I guess there are always more media companies to buy.

Update: 2005_01_21
A couple of articles in the New York Times. The first:

TOKYO, Jan. 20 - The Sony Corporation warned on Thursday that sales and operating profit would probably fall short of its forecasts because of rapidly declining prices for DVD recorders and video cameras, as well as stiff competition from Apple's popular iPod.

And this with a golden master-of-the-obvious statement:

TOKYO (AP) --  Sony

missed out on potential sales from MP3 players and other gadgets
because it was overly proprietary about music and entertainment
content, the head of Sony Corp.'s video-game unit acknowledged Thursday.

Charter Noband

09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

Charter_logoLovely. No net access for almost two days due to "technical difficulties" at Charter my high-speed provider. Yes, I tried calling their circular-loop phone system only to get some lame-ass recorded-at-12kps-by-some-virgin-engineer voice prompt telling me that they didn't know what the heck was wrong, and hell no, they didn't know when they would get around to fixing it. Thanks you, and have a happy day.

The situation on their website this morning was not much better. Plausible deniability? Ignorance is bliss? I want my triage report about what went wrong, how it will never happen again, who got fired and how the CEO won't get that new Maybach this year 'cause he lost his bonus. Not even a peep about any sort of outage. Whatthefuckever. These idiotic cable companies think they can offer VoIP. Hello... it's called availability.

Rest assured, no ClueTrain going on here. On the bright side of broadband, Comcast is upping the speed of their service with no price increase. Charter... you listening?? Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...

Update 2005_18_01:
six apart has a clue. New world order.

January 14, 2005

Sony MDR-EX51LP Headphone Review

05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) ~ Reviews

Sony_mdrex51lp_1I recently picked up a pair of Sony MDR-EX51LP earbud headphones at Fry's "Home of all of your best buys." At $39.99 at Fry's, they where definitely not a "best buy," since Amazon has them for $25.

Whatever price I paid, I can say that I really like them. They are tiny - really tiny - and very light. They are the "in-the-ear" type of headphones, and come with three different, interchangeable sizes of the rubber doobers for your sizing pleasure. The sound quality if fine, but probably not the best you can get (since they are so cheap). I highly recommend them.

Pros

  • Tiny

  • Light

  • Three sizes of rubber doobers

  • Cheap

Cons

  • Don't really know if it is a "con," but the wire running between the headphones is longer on one side than the other. This is intentional. Not really a "con," but just weird I guess.

January 11, 2005

Flickr - Online Picture Sharing Done Right?

05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Biz - Internet

The Flickr blog posts this about a recent Salon article. In the article they say...

Posting photos on Flickr is like personal reporting.

All cool, but my one big problem with the site is that it is very Flash intensive. Since I use Firefox (see my post below), and don't have Flash installed on it, it can be a problem. Jeezz, Typepad can create a site in DHTML, or whatever, that's pretty feature rich. Seems like there has to be a better way than an evil Flash U.I. Granted, it's not so super-evil as to not work at all without Flash installed, but you can't take advantage of some of the more advanced features like little pop-up dealios used to annotate an image.

Update: 2005_18_01
I've been uploading photos over the past few days, and have noticed that when re-naming the photo using their Flash application in IE it "crashes" all the time. Ugh. Keep it simple. Another thing is that the ads look like part of their UI. Very confusing. Oh, and I just now noticed (since it doesn't show up in the UI unless you mouse over the area), is that you can add a description to the photo instead of just commenting on it like I have been doing. Doh! Make the UI elements obvious.. not some sort of treasure hunt. That said, pretty cool.

Update: 2005_18_01 later in the day
Late breaking new... don't use Flash (or at least IE with Flash). Use Firefox with no Flash plug-in installed, and the site works fine with the exception of the more advanced features.

I've noticed that one of the things that Flickr does so well is design. They make your photo layout look pro. So you've got MoveableType, Flickr and Apple doing some cool design these days. More on this later.

GPS Receivers for CarPC Use

09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ CarPC

Most GPS receivers these days are USB, but this post on the MP3Car.com forums says, "...then I decided to go with a deluo serial gpsr, my favorite. because it's serial, it powers on as soon as my computer does and usually has a strong signal by the time windows boots (depending on location) the Delorme usb one wouldn't start tracking until software was loaded." Since the motherboard I'm going to spec will have a serial port, I think I'll get a serial GPS receiver. Here's a link to a serial Deluo GPSR.

CarPC Keyboards

08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ CarPC

Dream_keyboard_2Perhaps the touchscreen will suffice as the only input device for CarPC applications. However, I doubt this. What would be the killer text input device would be a battery-powered, lighted, RIM-style, bluetooth-enabled micro keyboard like the vaporware pictured on the right, but I have not been able to find one of these. Check out the MP3Car.com's forums on input devices. Here's my lame list of keyboard candidates.

  1. LITE-ON SK7551 -- It's cheap at NewEgg, it's got a built-in pointing device (one of those rubber nubbers), but it's IR, is not especially small and has no backlight. I have older model that I have used with my home music system, and it works pretty well. Heck, this is what I'll probably install since you can't go wrong for $20.

  2. Stowaway Bluetooth Portable Keyboard -- Made by ThinkOutside. Hella expensive ($150), no light,  PDA/phone mount that would just get in the way.

  3. Zippy EL-610 -- Linked to J&R's product page. Relatively cheap, but wired. Here's a review.

CarPC Software Frontends

07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ CarPC

I still haven't decided which frontend I am going to use on my CarPC project, so I've created a list below of the frontends I have found. This list is based on the traffic the frontends get on the MP3Car.com's frontend forums. The name of the frontend is linked to the frontend's website, and I've also included a link to the frontend's forum subgroup at MP3Car.com.

  1. Media Engine -- CarComp's Car-Computer Interface. Written in Visual Basic. Has the most posts on the forums. Looks to be supported by donations ans is skinable (forums, screenshots).
  2. FrodoPlayer -- Frodobaggin's FrodoPlayer. Hey, with a name like that, maybe I gotta use it (forums).
  3. MediaCar -- Created in Europe I think (forums).

The other frontends I have found so far that don't have a lot of traffic on the MP3Car.com frontend forums are: Mobile Media Center, NeoCar Media Center, PyCar, MediaCruiser and Centrafuse.

CNX-P1260 DC-DC Regulator

06:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ CarPC

Cnxp1260_dcdc_regulator
The CNX-P1260 is a DC-DC regulator designed for AutoPC use. It connects on one side to the DC source (the car battery) and on the other to your PC, amp and touchscreen. It includes a startup/shutdown controller, so for example, you can have it automatically power down the PC 4 seconds after the ignition is turned off. Although some AutoPC power supplies have shutdown controllers, I haven't found one that has the ability to power the touchscreen and turn on the amp. It's about $85 at MP3Car.com.

January 10, 2005

Firefox Customization

05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) ~ Firefox & PC - Customizing

Productfirefox_1Firefox is a great browser and a great example of how well open-source development can work. Straight out of the box, it's very usable, and is probably fine for most casual users. Lucky for power users, or users that just like tinkering, the design of Firefox facilitates a wide range of customization options. Add on programs (extensions), custom settings files, themes and even custom binaries for specific CPUs all exist or can be created to modify Firefox specific tastes and needs. Here's some notes on how I've used these items to customize my Firefox install.

CPU-Specific Builds of Firefox
I've just started using (as of 2005_01_26) MOOX's custom build of Firefox. These builds are designed to exploit features of particular processors and/or instruction sets. So far the build I've been using seems very stable. It's a bit faster than the normal Firefox build, but definitely not a huge increase (e.g., a 2x speed increase). Make sure to read this page which guides you through which build is appropriate for your particular CPU (most newer processors use the M3 build). Downloads can be found here.

Oh, here's a couple of quick tips to make your Firefox use more productive.
1) cntrl+Tab scrolls between Firefox's Tabs (cntrl+shift+tab goes the other way)
2) Click on any bookmark, and enter a keyword. Now, Firefox will open this bookmark when you enter this keyword into the address field.
3) You setup Firefox to find an item on the simply by typing your query while focused on the page. To set this up, go to 'Tools/Options,' 'Advanced' and 'Accessibility', tick 'Begin finding when you begin typing'.
4) Cntrl+e locks focus on the search box in the upper right corner.
5) Once focus is on the search box, cntrl+arrowup/down scrolls through your search engines.

Essential Extensions

  1. IEView - Adds "View page in Internet Explorer" links to the content and link context menu. This rocks. Since I don't have Flash installed in Firefox (which is nice for blocking evil UI elements and ads), IEView lets me quickly load the page in IE in all of its Flash glory (or gory). Also good for pages that don't load well in Firefox.

  2. Context Search - Changes the "Web Search for" context item into a menu containing your search plugins.

  3. Compact Menu - Allows you to free up some vertical space my cramming all of the menu controls (i.e., File, View, etc.) under a fish icon.. why the fish, I don't know. Here's a picture of it in action.

  4. Linkification - Makes textual URLs links.

  5. Diggler - Adds a button to the toolbar and a link in the context menu that with tools to easily dig through the directories of the URL you are currently browsing.

  6. Tabbrowser Extensions - Greatly increases control over your tabs. An essential extension.

  7. SpellBound - A feature-rich spell checker for Firefox. Use it in TypePad (just be sure to click on the field you want to check before initiating it). Add-on dictionaires for international language support can be found here.

  8. Scrapbook - Facilitates capture of full or partial web pages and creation of plain-text or HTML notes. You can change the directory that Scrapbook stores its entries in under Tools/Settings/Advance.

  9. ColorZilla - Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies. With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements quickly and easily. And there's more...

  10. A9 Toolbar - Has an A9 search box, saves your history and bookmarks online. Really used to receive the A9 discount at Amazon (which is a little over 1%).

  11. Sage - A lightweight RSS and ATOM feed aggregator

  12. Mapit -- Select addresses from a web page and open a map of it using the context menu.

  13. Feedview -- Allows the browser to render RSS feeds. Similar to the functionality found in Apple's Safari browser.

  14. All-in-One Gestures -- This extension allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures, rocker navigation, scroll wheel navigation and page scrolling.

Optional Extensions
Quick Note -  QuickNote is a note taking-like extension.
ConQuery - translate page -- http://www.cusser.net/extensions/translatepage/
Dictionary Search
Context Highlight
FoxyTunes
Image Zoom
OpenBook
Sage
Bloglines Toolkit
Mozilla Archive Format
Scrollbar Anywhere

SessionSaver - If Firefox crashes, SessionSaver will reload your open tabs at the time of the crash. In addition, you can save your open tabs in SessionSaver kind of like a group bookmark. Also lists recently closed tabs.

Firefox Search Plug-ins

  1. Yahoo!

  2. Yahoo! Shopping

  3. Amazon

  4. Wikipedia

Themes
Rein

I'm currently using the
default Firefox theme. If you are interested in changing the look of
your Firefox install, look here for a new theme.

Speed Enhancement Settings
Look at: http://windowssecrets.com/041202/
User.js
// This one makes a huge difference. Last value in milliseconds (default is 250)
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);

// Stop reusing active windows:
user_pref("advanced.system.supportDDEExec", false);

// disable target="_blank" (open in same window):
user_pref("browser.block.target_new_window", true);

// Change to normal Google search:
user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=");

// Put an end to <blink> tags!
user_pref("browser.blink_allowed", false);

// Enable pipelining:
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 100);

// Turn off Automatic Image Resizing:
user_pref("browser.enable_automatic_image_resizing", false);

// turn on timer-based reflow management
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);

// sets the allowed time between reflows in microseconds
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 100);

// set the number of reflows to do before waiting for the rest of the page to arrive
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 200);

UserChrome.css
UserChrome.css
//
UserChrome.css
(found in C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\default\wfkd6mnh.slt\chrome)
/*
* Edit this file and copy it as userChrome.css into your
* profile-directory/chrome/
*/

/*
* This file can be used to customize the look of Mozilla's user interface
* You should consider using !important on rules which you want to
* override default settings.
*/

/*
* Do not remove the @namespace line -- it's required for correct functioning
*/
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* set default namespace to XUL */

/* Kill icons on normal bookmarks */


/*================================================
*   Main Window Edits
*================================================*/
window {
  font-size: 9pt !important;
  font-family: Verdana !important;
}

#sidebar {
  font-size: 9pt !important;
  font-family: Verdana !important;
}

/*============================================
*   Tab Edits
*============================================*/
/* change the font style on the tabs */
.tab-text {
    font-size: 9pt !important;
    font-family: Verdana !important;
}

/* make inactive tabs hardly visible :) */
tab:not([selected="true"]) {
    -moz-opacity: 0.5 !important;
}

/*
.tabbrowser-strip tab:not([selected="true"]) .tab-text {
    font-size: 14pt !important;
    font-weight: bold !important;
}
*/

/* hide the text of the inactive tabs */
/*
.tabbrowser-strip tab:not([selected="true"]) .tab-text {
display: none !important;
}
*/

/* never show "Open in New Window" when right clicking */
#context-openlink {

    display: none !important;
}

/* Don't Display Icons in Bookmarks menu and add Blue to folders */
menu.bookmark-item > .menu-iconic-left {
  display: none;
}

menuitem.bookmark-item > .menu-iconic-left {
  display: none;
}
menu.bookmark-item {
  color: navy !important;
  font-weight: 900 !important;
}

/* Change Active Tab Color */
tab {background-color: white !important; color:black !important}
tab[selected="false"] {color: black; background-color: white !important;}
tab[selected="true"] {color: blue; background-color: yellow !important;}