h2. For Immediate Release

_Zoinger Takes on Traditional Broadcast Networks_

Planet Earth — 2005.4.18 — Zoinger, the world’s most obscure blog, today launched the new Zoinger Network.

Located in the newly-redesigned sidebar, Zoinger has placed convenient links to all Zoinger Network affiliated sites. Completely lacking in any content, these network sites will leverage the power of the Zoinger brand to bring RSS links, digital imaging and bookmarks to the zoingerrati.

Zoinger Chief Bigwig in charge of nothing DanoSchmano notes, “By leveraging the power of the globalhypermeganet and remaining focused with laser-like precision on our core competencies, we plan on reintermediating the disintermediation of the late 90’s to re-empower the unempowered wired and wireless masses while doing _just a little evil_ as stated in our recent _State of Our Mission Statement_ statement.”

More disinformation on the reintermediation can be found at http://www.zoinger.com.

Today’s Real Time “column”:1 in the WSJ is entitled _Setting Challengers’ Odds In Cutting Apple’s Lead_. The column discusses the battle of handsets vs. iPods in the MP3 world. The jist of the article is that,

bq.. Having used digital music to muscle its way back into the home-computing mix, there’s no way Apple will give up this fight easily or soon — and we’re reluctant to bet against it.

p. Here’s an email I just fired off to the WSJ commenting on the article’s subject.

bq.. Dear Real Time,

Regarding your column dated 4/18/05 “Setting Challengers’ Odds In Cutting Apple’s Lead,” I agree that Apple has an awesome brand and creates great-looking, highly-functional and easy-to-use products. However, I have a couple of comments related to cell phone functionality.

I currently own four digital cameras if you include my phone (an Audiovox SMT5600). In the past few months since buying the Audiovox, I’ve shot more pictures with it than any of my other cameras. The reason why? Well, it’s not because of the great pictures it takes (they’re actually pretty bad), it’s because I have it with me all the time.

I haven’t owned a clock radio in years. My last one broke ages ago… back when I still had my trusty Nokia 8265. Instead of buying yet another clock radio — which all seem doomed to break after a year or so — I just started using the Nokia’s built-in alarm clock. Now with the Audiovox, I use a great little program called CityTime Alarms for my alarm clock. Oh, and I don’t own any watches either. That’s built into the phone too.

In the next few weeks, I’m planning on removing my car stereo and replacing it with a simple hook-up for the Audiovox. My car stereo is basically useless for playing podcasts, while the Audiovox has a surprisingly good media (MP3) player interface.

No plans to buy an iPod here.

[1(WSJ Real Time column $subscription required$)]http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111331889517704685,00.html?mod=journal_links_hs

Even though my WordPress blog is hosted at a remote server at “1and1″:1, I figure that it’s still a _really_ good idea to back everything up — especially this blog.

Fortunately, it’s all very doable with 1and1. Using “phpMyAdmin”:2 (a MySQL database admin utility), it’s very easy to back up WordPress. 1and1 has a “page”:3 detailing how to install phpMyAdmin on your site. It was fairly painless — the process took me just a few minutes.

WordPress’ documentation on using phpMyAdmin to “backup”:4 your blog is also really straight forward. After I had phpMyAdmin running, it literally took me about a minute to backup my site. Nice!

[1(1and1 web-site hosting)]http://www.1and1.com

[2(phpMyAdmin home page)]http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/

[3(Installing phpMyAdmin on a 1and1 account)]http://faq.1and1.com/scripting_languages_supported/mysql_database/5.html

[4(WordPress' backup documentation)]http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_up_your_database

I really have to stay away from TechBargains’ “Dell coupon page”:1 — it’s too easy to see how much you can _save_ if you buy some high-tech gadget _right now_.

Usually, I’m pretty methodical about my technology purchases. For example, it took me about two years to upgrade my old computer. I was incessantly researching the best components, the best prices and, of course, was constantly waiting for the next, great, new-fangled technology like serial ATA or PC Express or whatever. At some point in time, you have to just pull the trigger, place the order and know that by the time FedEx delivers it, it’s gonna be obsolete.

With the Dell Axim, however, it was a total impulse buy. What I really wanted was a PocketPC-based, small-form factor mobile like the “Magician”:2. However, by the time something like the Magician is available in retail shops, something even better will be just on the horizon. So I decided not to wait, and just bought the Dell Axim to see what a modern PDA is all about. I was hoping that the Dell would allow me to do some quick web page lookups (not surfing _per se_ — more like a quick check of the weather), and help me with my blogging work flow.

I’ve had the Dell for a few days now, and I am pleasantly surprised by how useful it seems to be. Hopefully, this perceived usefulness will last past the initial rapture with anything new and tech.

The Dell looks great. It doesn’t at all look like the old Dell PDAs (which looked like boxes). This one is nice and rounded with a sleek silver and black look. The screen is big and bright and supports VGA (640×480). The WiFi connectivity just completely rocks! I connected to my Linksys wireless router with WEP encryption no problemo, and was surfing the web minutes after fully charging the battery. I haven’t tried the Bluetooth connectivity out yet, since I don’t have any Bluetooth devices. The only downsides I’ve seen so far are the battery life (crappy if you leave the wireless mode on), and it’s sometimes hard to scroll down the page (you have to push the stylus pretty hard on the edge of the display to move the scrollbar).

I’ll try to post some usage scenarios in the future. So far, the Dell does a pretty good job in quick web page lookups, and it seems like it might be useful in simplifying my blogging work flow.

P.S. I’m not going to try and review the Axim, since it has been reviewed to death on the web. Here are some of the better reviews I’ve found.

The Gadgeteer — “Dell Axim X50v Review”:7

MobileTechReview — “Dell Axim X50v Review”:5

Geek.com — “Dell Axim X50 and X50v Reviews”:4

PocketNow.com — “Dell Axim X50 and X50v Reviews”:6

MobileTechReview — “Considering Moving from Palm to Pocket PC Series of Articles”:3

[7 (The Gadgeteer)]http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/dell-x50v-review.html

[6 (PocketNow)]http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=495

[5 (MobileTechReview)]http://www.mobiletechreview.com/Dell_Axim_X50v.htm

[4 (Geek.com)]http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/aximx50s/

[3 (MobileTechReview)]http://www.mobiletechreview.com/editorials/winds_of_change.htm

[1(TechBargains' Dell coupon page)]http://techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm

[2(Zoinger article on Magician)]http://www.zoinger.com/archives/2005/02/15/13.23.48/

If you’re using a recent version of “Firefox”:1 and haven’t changed the “default home page”:2 that it sets, I’m sure that you’ve noticed this page is a Google page — a co-branded Google/Firefox search page. Of course, you can change this page if you want (@Tools > Options > General > Home Page@), but you aren’t given any choice as to what the _default_ home page is set to during the install process. Doesn’t this seem like a conflict of interest? After all, the Mozilla Foundation’s “mission”:5 is:

bq. The mission of the Mozilla project is to preserve choice and innovation on the Internet.

In a recent “article”:4 from ZDNet on the Google/Mozilla Foundation (the folks that build Firefox) relationship, some of the staff from the Mozilla foundation explain:

bq.. The Mozilla Foundation’s deal with Google is playing a crucial role in helping the non-profit organization challenge Microsoft with its Firefox browser.

Gervase Markham, a Mozilla staff member, said on Sunday that over the past year the Foundation has hired around 10 people, which would not have been possible without the money that Firefox makes by linking to Google.

p. and,

bq.. Markham said the Foundation may sign more sponsorship deals in the future, but is cautious of making too many deals as this could have a negative impact on usability. He claims this is one problem that Netscape encountered.

“Netscape ran into trouble with its browser as it sold every bookmark and link, and couldn’t change the browser in a way that was better for users without breaking its deals,” said Markham. “We’re very aware that Netscape fell into this trap and don’t want to do same thing. Google was the default browser for Firefox before we even signed the deal.”

p. Hey, it’s great that Google has been leading the charge in a lot of ways to help the Mozilla Foundation, but it’s not great (at least from a user standpoint) that no choice is given in what the default home page is. Not everyone uses Google. In fact, Yahoo! has been making some “inroads”:6 into Google’s perceived search hegemony recently.

If the Mozilla Foundation is really about “_preserv(ing) choice and innovation on the Internet_,” then they should change the install process to allow users to choose their preferred search engine flavor. I can always use IE if I feel like giving up any choice in the matter.

[1 (Official Firefox site)]http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html

[2 (Default Firefox home page)]http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

[4 (ZDNet article on Google Firefox relationship)]http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39189475,00.htm

[5 (Mozilla Foundation about page)]http://www.mozilla.org/about/

[6 (Zoinger article on search market share)]http://www.zoinger.com/archives/2005/01/31/17.53.46/index.html