June 30, 2005
Yahoo! Music Unlimited
I checked out the Napster free trial last week and loved it. The UI was great; I could find things with very few clicks and move around with ease. Downloads were also extremely fast. However, there is just no way I am paying $10/mo and then an extra $5/mo to transfer songs to my portable player. Not that this has anything to do with Napster's service, but the only player I could use it on is my Audiovox SMT5600. My other player is an iPod.
I digress...
So I decided to look at Yahoo!'s service as it is only $5/mo if you sign up for a year. The price is right, but their "Yahoo! Music Engine" is horrible. It is extremely slow... no seriously, you could click a link, go to Starbucks, order a specialty drink, come back, and maybe then you'd be about ready to enjoy what awaits you on the next screen.
My other complaint is Yahoo!'s organizational structure. Napster had plenty of nice ways to "discover" music; which when you are choosing from over a million songs, you are going to need a good discovery mechanism. There were a plethora of charts to choose from, and you could easily switch back and forth between genre charts, Billboard charts, etc. With Yahoo!, there are charts but the flow is nowhere near as good or easy to navigate. Something else that irked me: when I search for an artist, it would nice if when I arrive at that artist's page, I am able to see a quick list of their top songs. Yahoo! does not have this. So I have to know exactly what song I am looking for. This is extremely frustrating when I just want to browse.
Granted the Yahoo! service is still in beta, but tons of people are using it. I wonder how many potential customers they might lose from allowing this crappy software to be used by so many so early (I've seen plenty of complaints). At this point, I am pretty sure I will not be continuing with the service after my 7 days are up. It will not be worth it to me if the final product is anywhere close to as bad as it is now.
Posted by toddkitta at 08:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft in the Spyware Business?
I've seen a couple people talking about the negotiations going on between Microsoft and Claria (the bastards who made Gator).
The sentiment seems to be that this will hurt Microsoft's image. I failed to see this quote from the article posted:
Those in favor of the deal, this person said, believe Microsoft could help clean up the adware field, establish rules to protect privacy and benefit from the anticipated increase in personalized advertising.
Microsoft is not stupid. Not even close. I highly doubt Microsoft is secretly looking to acquire this company and start distributing their own adware/spyware. That, I believe, would ruin Microsoft, and I really don't think they didn't consider that.
There are already plenty of Microsoft-hatas around; they are going to be the people blasting this deal. I don't think this news will convert anyone else.
Posted by toddkitta at 01:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Maps API
Eric Gunnerson points out that Google has released an official API to their wonderful maps.
I bet we'll see some cool stuff using this. Who thinks more apps will use this than even the Amazon web services?
Posted by toddkitta at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CNET Blogs
I ran across a post on Matt Hawley's blog discussing the CNET blog entries which are mixed in with their regular news content (note: I'm referring only to their main RSS feed).
I am not a big fan of this. I consider CNET one of the best sources for tech news around and have been reading their site for years. However, I would rather see the blog content split to a separate feed so I can more easily distill what's news and what's commentary.
I can only assume they mixed in the blog postings to get the readership up in that area, but I don't know why. Why would they rather have readers reading the blogs as opposed to their news content?
I shot an email to John Roberts at CNET and asked him about this. We'll see what they say.
UPDATE: John was kind enough to respond very quickly and give me permission to post his response. Here is an excerpt:
Todd,We will offer a separate feed without blogs, and an all blogs
feed, in the future. It's not being worked on right now, but it's a
reasonable request, and we know some readers would appreciate it.Each individual blog also has its own feed... you can find all
the available feeds at http://rss.news.com/Thanks for writing. I won't promise a date, because I don't want
to be wrong on something we haven't started, but we're committed to more and more slices of our content being available via RSS --we hope there's some mix that is right for everyone.Thanks for reading.
I can certainly appreciate this, and I'm sure I will subscribe to the all blog feed as well.
Posted by toddkitta at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Go Commentless?
Scoble is asking if he should turn of his comments permanently. Interesting question. For someone as high profile as he is, I think it might not be a bad idea as he likely gets a lot of garbage. I'm also sure he gets feedback from plenty of other sources (i.e. trackbacks, email).
For myself, if someone ever did want to leave a comment, I'd really want to know what that person had to say. So I'm not considering turning mine off at this point in time. However, blogs for the most part are about speaking out, not back and forth. Comments are not an essential part of a blog.
Posted by toddkitta at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2005
BitTorrent is Screwed
Rogers Cadenhead points out that the creator of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen, posted a message on his personal website in or sometime before July 2001 indicating his intent to create technology to, among other things, "commit digital piracy". Could this be anymore relevant to the supreme court decision the other day?
This guy is a moron. Plain and simple. Not only do I think that lawyers will go after him with a vengeance, but I think they should.
In case Bram's "mission statement" gets removed, which I imagine it will, here it is verbatim:
I am a technological activist. I have a political agenda. I am in favor of basic human rights: to free speech, to use any information and technology, to purchase and use recreational drugs, to enjoy and purchase so-called 'vices', to be free of intruders, and to privacy.I further my goals with technology. I build systems to disseminate information, commit digital piracy, synthesize drugs, maintain untrusted contacts, purchase anonymously, and secure machines and homes. I release my code and writings freely, and publish all of my ideas early to make them unpatentable.
Technology is not a panacea. I refuse to work on technology to track users, analyze usage patterns, watermark information, censor, detect drug use, or eavesdrop. I am not naive enough to think any of those technologies could enable a 'compromise'.
Despite my emphasis on technology, I do not view laws as inherently evil. My goals are political ones, even if my techniques are not. The only way to fundamentally succeed is by changing existing laws. If I rejected all help from the political arena I would inevitably fail.
-Bram Cohen
UPDATE: A new quote now appears on Bram's page above the original one:
This was written in late 1999, and is a parody of a cypherpunk's manifesto, which struck me as very dishonest manifesto claiming to solely be concerned about privacy. This screed is written in the exaggerated voice of a 'prototypical' cypherpunk, making much more direct declarations of his intent.
To be fair to Bram, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe his statement. Interesting. We'll see what the lawyers think.
UPDATE AGAIN: This subject has been Slashdotted.
Posted by toddkitta at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 28, 2005
Not As Bad As We Thought?
John Palfrey discusses the impact of the Supreme Court Grokster decision. I tend to agree with his line of thinking. When I heard the wording released in the decision, it did not seem like the gloom and doom which everyone had been predicting if the decision went the way it did.
Basically, the high court said that no device/software should be released with the intent to circumvent copyrights. Sounds pretty good to me; now the entertainment industry should have to prove intent on the part of the alleged offending company.
With that said, I am not naive enough to think that there will not be lawsuits against legitimate products which happened to be used illegally, but I don't think it will be as bad as people have been saying. Essentially, I do not think it's simply open season against every electronics and software company based on this decision.
I do think this could be the beginning of the end for easy access to free music, but the writing has been on the wall for that anyway. Recent research says that 35% of music consumers are obtaining their online music legally, and that number could be 50% very soon. Very impressive numbers considering what the attitude was towards downloading music just 5-6 years ago.
In my opinion, the decision that was handed down was responsible and one that was made by people much wiser than myself. However, there is always a danger given the eternal money-lust which is prevalent in our legal system. Money is a strong motivator and there will be some people which push this decision to its limits and beyond.
Posted by toddkitta at 10:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 22, 2005
Going North
I'll be in MN until sometime Monday, so I don't know if I will be able to post or not. Then again, I'm not really sure who I'm talking to at this point as I don't think I have more than 1 or 2 readers.
I'm waiting for my muse to inspire me to write some Spolsky-esque piece which will change the face of the blogosphere for at least 2 days. Hey, that's a long time blog years.
Enjoy the big moon.
Posted by toddkitta at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
RSS in IE7
Dave Winer gives a teaser for some big disclosures coming this week at Gnomedex. Sounds like IE7 will have some pretty hardcore RSS integration. Sounds good to me.
Posted by toddkitta at 07:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 20, 2005
More on the LA Times Wiki
Scoble makes some good points on wikis relating to the LA Times wikitorial.
I'm a fan of wikis for the same purpose he is: project based initiatives. However, I am not a huge fan of the Wikipedia concept; where anyone and everyone can change history within a matter of seconds.
And I feel I need to point out a logic hole in my previous post on this topic. I was relating all wikis to Wikipedia, which was obviously a mistake on my part.
Posted by toddkitta at 01:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Skype B.C.
Skype just surpassed the 10 billion minutes served mark. That's over 19,028 years. Astounding.
Posted by toddkitta at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Podcasting in iTunes
Saw this one on the news.com blogs. A new plugin for iTunes supporting podcasting is now available. This is ahead of a future official iTunes release which will contain podcasting functionality. I'll have to check this one out.
Posted by toddkitta at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 19, 2005
Where's all the big boys?
Why don't Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer, Michael Dell, Lee Scott, Sam Palmisano, etc., etc., etc. blog?
Surely its not for lack of interest.
Posted by toddkitta at 02:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Is RSS Mainstream?
Bud discusses the ubiquitousness of RSS.
RSS has been huge for a while now. All the while I consistently see blog posts and articles about how great it is and how everyone is using it. And I concur, RSS rocks. However, I don't think it's quite mainstream yet. Mainstream like email is mainstream, and like browsers are mainstream.
Firefox has taken a step with their Live Bookmarks, but guess what, even Firefox is not mainstream. At least not like IE is mainstream.
I understand when Bud says grandma doesn't matter, but I don't think the majority of internet users that do "matter" know what RSS is or how to use it. And to be honest, I'm not really that surprised. How is your average "web surfer" going to know to download RSS Bandit or NewsGator to consume his or her favorite news site's feed? And why should they have to in order to get started?
I can only assume that IE7 will contain some kind of built-in aggregator, and if Microsoft gets it right, articles/posts touting all the great things RSS can do for you will sound as silly as an article about how great email is for communication.
UPDATE: After writing the above post I found an article on Business 2.0 which compliments my words splendidly.
Posted by toddkitta at 01:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
LA Times Wiki
The LA Times has started a so-called "wikitorial" to compile public opinion into wiki form. Ah-hem, but aren't all wikis based on opinion? Even if it is the opinion of how facts should be presented.
Update: Experiment over for now.
Posted by toddkitta at 01:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Library RSS
Dave Winer reports that the Seattle public library offers RSS feeds. Freakin' sweet.
I'm going to email my local library system (which is pretty excellent) and suggest they do the same.
Posted by toddkitta at 12:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Grassroots Journalism
Matt Thompson discusses the terminology being used to describe modern-day independent journalists.
With the advent of blogs and the subsequent grassroots journalism movement, I wonder what it takes to be considered a journalist today. With high profile cases demonstrating bloggers scooping national media, this group has obviously displayed some clout. However, I think to be considered a journalist, one needs to follow strict journalistic guidelines. Not saying these "citizen journalists" aren't doing just this, but it seems there is a lot of autonomy when you have one person acting as interviewer, writer, editor, etc.
Having graduated from a university with one of the top journalism schools in the country (note: my degree was computer science), I wonder what students are being taught about this very topic today. I would hope the classes are being updated as quickly as the world of journalism is changing.
Posted by toddkitta at 12:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 18, 2005
Hosting
I'm glad to say I'm no longer hosting my site on a Virtual PC living on my Dell desktop. I know, sounds pretty scary.
I found that PowWeb offers a great deal with plenty of storage space, bandwidth. Seems they have a pretty good reputation, too.
We'll see how it goes.
Posted by toddkitta at 11:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Trainspotting
All throughout my high school, college, and post-educational life I have some how managed to miss out on Trainspotting. I watched it tonight and loved it.
Makes me extremely thankful that world never collided with my own.
Posted by toddkitta at 11:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Wants Your Money
Or at least that's what MSNBC is reporting early this morning. Looks like Google has an online payment system in the works which would rival eBay's PayPal.
Could get interesting here.
Posted by toddkitta at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 17, 2005
Linkless Slashdot
I'm wondering why Slashdot's RSS feed doesn't have links... rather you have to go to the post in your browser and link from there.
Somewhat annoying from one of the most popular feeds on the planet.
Posted by toddkitta at 01:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Big Brother: Coming to an ISP near you!
Dan Gillmor asks, "don't we care?"
I sure do.
Posted by toddkitta at 10:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Opera Releases Security Updates
Posted by toddkitta at 10:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Nintendogs
Damn. I told myself the only way I'd try this game out when it hits the US is if they added the Boxer breed to the lineup. Looks like they did.
Posted by toddkitta at 09:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
IBM Competes with JBoss
Right off the bat, I have to say I'm not a Java developer, so I'm not as familiar with the particulars of Java development environments and which ones are better, etc.
But today I read Daniel Lyons' article on Forbes discussing JBoss' recent run-in with IBM. Seems that IBM has gotten fed up with Marc Fleury's company shipping more copies of JBoss for free than IBM was of WebSphere for, well, not free.
So IBM buys JBoss competitor Gluecode and starts giving it away for free. All the while the Gluecode software is also competing with WebSphere. Wow. Who would have thought free software would be so cut-throat?
This whole thing reeks to me. While I think open source is here to stay, I do think that it has not found its way in life yet. It seems there is still a while to go until it can effectively compete against closed source software, not too mention other open source companies.
Posted by toddkitta at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2005
Scoble Backpedals
This topic has been been beaten to death in the past week, but today I read on Scoble's blog that the MSN Spaces "censorship" only occurs in "the name of a blog, the post title, and the URL".
Scoble also says "So much for the censorship charge if this is true".
He's kidding himself. That is still blatant censorship. I don't understand how this changes anything.
UPDATE: Scoble says he was wrong.
Posted by toddkitta at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 15, 2005
Google's Secrets
SearchBistro.com. Herk van Ess has uncovered some of the secrets Google uses to make search results more relevant, and its not all with complex computer algorithms. As you can find on his blog, Google employs people to evaluate search results and rate them, helping to fine-tune the whole process.
Very interesting was a post showcasing a guide given to said employees on how to evaluate query results and place them in to different categories.
Posted by toddkitta at 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
In-flight Cell Calls
Everyone is talking about this. Unfortunately, this will probably happen. Sitting that close to someone on a plane is already obnoxious enough.
Posted by toddkitta at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Uncle Sam Protecting Against E-scamming?
InformationWeek reports a recent poll says most Americans want Congress to do "something" about the rampant phishing/identity theft/virus/etc. issues. Come on, the last group of people I want working on this issue is a bunch of lawmakers. The people that are going to squash this problem will be the ones who are able to make a pretty penny from doing it.
Posted by toddkitta at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2005
Welcome
This is at least the second time I've written an introductory blog post. I maintained a blog until about a year ago when my server crashed, and unfortunately I was too lazy busy to set everything back up. Well, I've finally gotten my act together and installed MT. Back in business!
I'd rather not limit myself too much on what I will be writing about here. But you'll likely see the following recurring themes: technology (software development, RSS, RFID, Microsoft stuff, non-Microsoft stuff, etc.), business related items, video games, movies; really just a lot of geek stuff.
Just to give a little background, I am an IT consultant in St. Louis specializing in Microsoft technologies, namely custom software development. I live in the area with my wife and my crazy Boxer named Joe.
Posted by toddkitta at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack