Category Archive » Business Technology

I want my P2P.
[ February 04, 2004 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

When a judge last year ruled that P2P apps couldn't be outlawed due to the fact that they have valid non-copyright-infringing uses, he made the right call. I'm sure we can all agree on that, and I have an example of how P2P networks could be leveraged in such a way (to my benefit no less).

access-music has made a batch of loops available for use in GarageBand, but of course, the low price and hordes of wannaba musicians made the download popular. That of course was a bandwidth drain and access-music pulled the download. They should have just put the thing on the various P2P networks and called it a day.

For what it's worth, the file name of the loops collection is "AccessVirusLoops.dmg" which I'll be looking for tonight via Limewire.


Taking the plunge (again).
[ January 21, 2004 | Permalink | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

After the debacle of getting my broadband thru a fixed wireless provider, I have decided to take the plunge and sign up for cable based internet service from Adelphia (a name I do not trust). Adelphia is my only other choice when it comes to broadband connectivity in my neighborhood (which is a fiber based community by the way, so DSL is not gunna happen due to it being copper based).

A large community down the street from me is served by Adelphia and has historically suffered serious reliability and speed issues. That didn't fill me with confidence, but, when you're a crack smoker and you gotta get your bit fix, you'll dance with the devil. The 12 intro rate of $26/month was a major factor in the decision where I was paying triple that price for unreliable service. So taking the plunge wasn't too hard to do.

Of course the install didn't go very well. I have some networking experience and I know what a high pass filter is and what collision domains are, but still I had to have a couple of Adelphia techs come out and fiddle with my gear (it turns out the green box in the backyard needed some tweaks). Since then, I have yet to have an outage of any kind, but in the evenings the connection is dog ass slow where the fixed wireless solution was consistent in it's rate of thruput (when it was working).

I don't think I have EVER had an outage on my phone line (other than outages due to east coast black outs, hurricanes or Nor'Easters). Why is residential broadband so unreliable?


Why didn't some CGI nerd patent this already?
[ October 15, 2003 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

There is no doubt at all that the Microsoft patent on custom web pages is being discussed all over the web today. I also have no doubt that there are precious few people out there who even know about this sort of issue and that it is an issue. At stake is a patent awarded to the most aggressively carnivorous business is the world, and a VERY common procedure for delivering web content.

If you read the patent, and I did, and you are a web developer, like me, you'll probably see a lot of procedures described that seem familiar. If you didn't read the patent info yet, take a look at the abstract...

User-selected customization information for a network (e.g., HTML) document is stored at a server with reference to user identifying information that uniquely identifies the user. Whenever the user navigates back to the network address of the HTML document, the user is identified automatically and receives a customized HTML document formed in accordance with the customization information.

This basically says that Microsoft owns a patent on any functionality on a web site where a user fills in a form and then gets back a page that has information customized based on the parameters of what was submitted over the network. Have you ever written a CGI? If so, you probably set up a scenario described by this patent.

There's an ironic/annoying twist to this. The patent explicitly mentions HTML as the display encoding language, and I can't find mention of other encoding types mentioned in the patent. So, one might think that a Flash based, network enabled application is the way to avoid a patent violation, right? Sure, but if that's supposed to appear in a web browser, you have to deal with the Eolas patent. If you think you can use XSLT and CSS instead, step back a second and check out the CSS patent disclosure page at the W3C.


A great idea in the hands of the wrong people.
[ July 11, 2003 | Permalink | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Here's the good idea...

A serious national broadband policy -- designed to bring 10 to 100 megabits of information per second to every home -- would be as crucial an economic-development and infrastructure tool as the roads of the previous century, Reed Hundt said at the Supernova technology conference in suburban Washington on Tuesday. Hundt served as FCC chairman during the first Clinton administration and is currently a senior adviser to consulting firm McKinsey & Co

Here's where it goes horribly wrong...

Hundt is arguing that broadband should be subsidized by federal taxpayers to the tune of $20 a month per household for as long as it takes to build the system.

I mean, puhleeze. I can't imagine that the Republicans would want to keep this money in the coffers it's supposed to be in (and instead move it into war machine funding or tax breaks for my bosses) and I know the Democrats would be salivating over the opportunity to spend this money on healthcare for my grandparents (who vote).

If anyone believes for one second that every American in the country should be paying a tax that only goes to service those who have computers, then you are an idiot. We already have plenty of those types of taxes, and many of them are for more socially responsible or benevolent.

Now, don't get me wrong, if there were 10 megabits flowing to any household that wanted it, the national infrastructure would be stronger, smarter and more capable. I've argued before that there are potential business plans out there that can only thrive on widespread broadband penetration. Economic development would accelerate with 10 megabits going to every home.

I don't trust a bureaucracy to do this right, it has to come from the business community, and I think wireless access is the answer.


Number portability is killer, competition is a bitch.
[ June 11, 2003 | Permalink | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

A very good point about cell phone number portability was made at winterspeak recently...

The FCC has ruled that cell phone users can take their numbers with them when they change service. Is this a victory for consumers? It is in the sense that the phone company owned the number before and they do now, so the transfer of wealth is now going to go from the phone company to the consumer, not the other way around. But I also anticipate more expensive and draconian upfront service agreements--if phone companies can't lock customers in as much (and they were never much good at this) they're going to try and get more of their money upfront.

Could it be argued though that the competition for new subscribers that goes on today will simply be applied to those who currently have cell service? After all, I am pretty much not the target of any cell phone adverts right now. If Verizon, Sprint PCS, T-mobile, AT&T and Cingular suddenly all want my business, wouldn't they attempt to appeal to me somehow?

Of course they would. But, if the current state of the industry is to offer long term contracts for lower monthly bills to NEW subscribers (even when the subscriber gets locked into the service by leveraging the number lock) then why would they not do that with those with service plans? What would stop them from doing that when people can come and go while keeping that one killer feature?

I suppose you'd have to tempt the subscriber with money, in the form of savings or perhaps in the form of contract buyouts, just like credit cards or car sales. "If you come over to us, and agree to a 2 year contract, we'll pay x amount of dollars towards your contract cancellation fee."

I'd have to guess that there would be at least a drop in monthly fees.


A myth comes home to roost.
[ March 20, 2003 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

The New York times reports about Intel's new Centrino chip, and make the point that Intel seems to think wireless networking is their idea. We nerds know Apple and Linksys were on that boat years ago (and now Linksys is being bought by Cisco), but more importantly we have this...

Although Pentium M chips are making their debut at speeds from 900 megahertz to 1.6 gigahertz, they're faster than previous mobile Pentium chips even in the 2.4-gigahertz range. For years, many consumers have assumed that more megahertz is always better, unaware that megahertz comparisons among different chip families are meaningless. It will be fascinating to see Intel, which for years has benefited from the Megahertz Myth, suddenly put into the position of having to dispel it.

Still though, my G4 running at 550 mhz is butt ass slow. I've got wireless access at the office though, with technology that's about ayear old, and includes zero Centrinos, so that's pretty cool.


Amazon has a blogging patent? No.
[ February 26, 2003 | Permalink | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Amazon, and more specifically, Jeff Bezos has a new patent under his belt that, in the simplest of terms is...

A method and system for conducting an electronic discussion relating to a topic.

When I first heard that from a friend of mine, I thought the blogosphere was the target, and that Daypop might have a new number one item. Well, as of this moment, it's not the number one item at Daypop, and the blogosphere is going to be ok, because...

What is claimed is:
1. A method in a computer system of a non-participant for starting a discussion relating to an item offered for sale...

So, as long as I don't ever offer an item for sale as a blog posting, I'll be ok? That still seems overly simplistic, doesn't it... After all, I'm just one person, and I don't have any significant sales thruput (read: none at all).

My guess is that Epinions is the one that needs to be nervous about this. The vagueness of "discussion relating to an item offered for sale" blankets the Epinions business model (even if they don't sell the stuff themselves, the discussion is related to a product for sale).

I'm amazed that Amazon can patent things like this, or more to the point, that the US Patent Office allows it to happen. The last patent that seemed absurd was one click ordering that Apple actually licensed, which no doubt is making my Macintosh habit more expensive. [via Slashdot]


Broadband Affirmative Action.
[ February 11, 2003 | Permalink | 7 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Well, if this doesn't beat the band. Kentucky (!) has...

passed a mandate stating that all new housing units funded more than 50 percent by the KHC (Kentucky Housing Corp) must be equipped with access to high-speed Internet service.

What the hell?!?!

I live in a dot com community of about 5000 homes (apartments, townhouses, single family homes and big ass houses on the Golf Course) that is unable to get any broadband of any kind (no cable, no DSL). Also, we're 4 miles away from AOL, WorldCom and a Verizon CO, making the situation unbelievable to anyone I tell at work. I get laughed at! So now, Cletus is gunna have the fat bit pipe, and I'm not? Unbelievable.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Cletus, because he needs the help more than I do. The digital divide is growing my friends, growing really f'ing quick where things like RSS are news to the other geeks I know. Imagine a world where constant digital interconnectedness is not your daily experience. Imagine not immediately knowing that Kottke has a cold.


Reputation systems.
[ January 27, 2003 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Regarding peer to peer music sharing, Winterspeak notes...

1) Programming matters. Gary Curtis, for FullAudio said that their server stats showed an initial flurry of downloading when a new subscriber signed up, which then petered out after a few weeks. It turns out that having to know what content you want is a drawback of P2P networks. This certainly matches my experience filesharing -- I initially download lots of stuff, but then run out of inspiration.

And this is where a reputation system comes in and why record labels are so important. I know that music coming from Warp records is not only going to be of a certain style, but is going to be better than most other music coming from that genre. Knowing that, I will automatically buy or listen to something with the Warp label on it. Chances are that FullAudio, as mentioned above, could benefit from offering suggestions to subscribers based on their purchasing/listening habits. Amazon.com does this in their space.

I listen to a lot of music, to the tune of 6+ hours a day. Almost all of the new music I listen to comes from one reputation database, Usenet. There's a news group dedicated to electronic music (a 10 year obsession now) on Usenet that has an uncommonly GOOD signal to noise ratio. Almost anything mentioned there = me listening to it, and the feed seems limitless, so my consumption continues.

Also worth mentioning as a good place to find good electronic music is Radio@AOL. Who ever is the music director for the Ambient station knows their stuff, and the app always tells you what you are listening too. Consistently good music from the same source builds that source's reputation, but maintaining that is tough. Just turn on the radio and you will hear what I mean.

Do I read music reviews? Not anymore. Zappa said writing about music is like dancing about marshmallows, and while I think that's an idiotic thing to say, it's true. Music reviews always fail to tell me if the music is any good based on my tastes, and everyone is to afraid to say what the music sounds like. Instead, words like 'sublime' and 'mind bendingly' get thrown around like chips at a Craps table (and lost their value just as fast).

I want a music site modeled after epinions.com where tons of categorical meta-data (eg, 'sounds like Boards of Canada') is attached to music releases of all kinds. Those who write good reviews devoid of marshmallow superlatives get rated up and make their recommendations more valuable. Hire some professional and well regarded DJ's to be music directors of their chosen genres and you've got some good rep mojo driving subs and downloads.

You can't just bake a pie and expect it to sell, you gotta let people know it's there and that it tastes good.


Warchalking to die a long painful death.
[ January 15, 2003 | Permalink | 10 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Warchalking, as a method of finding and revealing (semi)public access WiFi networks, may indeed be unnecessary one day, but I'll wager that here in the US, it will take a while and be a process.

I live in a nice neighborhood, in an affluent community in Northern Virginia, surrounded by other dotcommers and tech workers. Starbucks is pretty close by, as is Home Depot, the firehouse, and a little company called AOL. There is so much fiber in the hill in front of my home that I fear the day that it's lit up the hill will explode and we'll all go blind from the bright light (fiber geeks: I know fibre doesn't leak light, I'm making a joke). A T-1 can be installed at my home from $600/month, however NO OTHER FORM OF BROADBAND IS AVAILABLE. Crazy.

Verizon is testing a fixed, non-line-of-site wireless system in my area. The transmitters are said to be very much like the large flat PCS/cellular antennas spread across the country. Seeing as there are only a few of them in existence, they can't be as cheap as a PCS antenna. So, consider your cell phone and its reception capabilities, especially if you live in the Suburban/rural borderlands. Not always perfect right?

Now, imagine the cost of outfitting every cell tower in the nation with fixed wireless antenna. This won't happen over night, even if Verizon's trials go very well. The holes in the WiFi blanket will outnumber the coverage areas for years to come, making Warchalking more useful than less useful for a good long time.


When is competition anti-competitive?
[ December 23, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

For a long time tech industry pundits and stock analysts alike have been talking about the $40 billion that Microsoft has on hand. Typically the attitude taken is that having $40 billion to spend, but not buying anything and not handing out a dividend to stock holders means that MSFT is out of ideas for growing their business. When this angle is explained to me, I tend to agree, but not having some explain it to me, and recalling the basics from memory, I'm hazy on why that is the case.

Anyway, perhaps now we have a counter argument in the form of rumors that the 800 gorilla is in heat over a purdy young thing called Macromedia. More to the point, that Flash stuff might be useful. Right? The Register says so...

Industry and analyst sources believe Microsoft covets San Francisco, California-based Macromedia's Flash vector graphics design tool and player, which was radically updated this year.

Microsoft's own scripting efforts are regarded as relatively inferior to the cross-platform Flash, which now supports XML, Unicode, MP3 and HTML and which was taken closer towards Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) in 2002. The Flash Player, meanwhile, is compatible with most browsers and used on nearly 90% of desktops.

Now, I don't give The Register the same reporting credibility that I assign to the Associated Press, but they do make a good point that .NET could possibly benefit from the Flash technology base. I'm not exactly sure how, but that's for the Chief Technology Architect to figure out. In my humble opinion, the market place competition factors are more readily understood and equally interesting.

Flash runs everywhere. It runs under Linux and Mac OSX (and Classic of course), which are (imho) the only two competitors to Windows hegemony. MSFT wants Flash to use as a competitor to J2EE, which is a purely competitive move, and shows that there are some ideas coming out of Redmond these days other than tablets and pocket pc's that I don't want. That's good! But if MSFT owns Flash, you can probably say good bye to the Flash plugin in the Netscape plugin format (MSFT has gone ActiveX controls only) which means "good bye Flash" for Linux. I'm fascinated to know might happen to the Flash authoring environment for Mac OSX. Would they continue to build it? Would the MSFT Mac BU expand and embrace?

Who knows, it's all rumor anyway.


My MSFT-is-anti-PNG Conspiracy theory.
[ December 17, 2002 | Permalink | 13 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

While laying down to sleep last night, which is usually the time my best thinking happens (but is the worst time to take notes), I was steaming about the lack of full PNG support in Microsoft browsers. I was trying to understand why PNG's are still poorly supported by Windows based Microsoft web browsers. There is native support for PNG's, but not for full 8 bit alpha transparency, and that's the killer PNG feature (imho).

Just as I was dozing off, I remembered two things.

1. Unisys owns a patent on the GIF format, and likely makes good margins on that patent.
2. Microsoft and Unisys are in bed with each other.

I have to believe that MSFT has made a conscious decision to NOT fully support the PNG format for a good reason. They even said a long time ago, in a white paper about Internet Explorer 4, that PNG would enjoy full support. Too bad they pulled that white paper off the web. Check out the online PNG support petition for the original URL that now fails.

Now consider what would happen to the GIF format if PNG had been fully supported under Internet Explorer 4, 5, 5.5 and 6. GIF would be dead because any web designer knows the advantage, and innovative possibilities with full 8 bit transparency at their disposal. GIF would be dead, but if Unisys and MSFT are working together, MSFT has to consider the needs of their business partner, and use its monopoly power to keep the PNG format relegated to the almost-ran-technology-bin so that lucrative GIF liscences can continue to be sold by Unisys.

In my opinion, that's an abuse of monopoly power and stifles innovation. Is any of this true? Does MSFT conspire to keep the PNG format in a crippled support state? I don't know. you be the judge.

ps, Posts about PNG support in the Mac version of IE will be ignored, because the market share of that browser has ZERO effect on the point I am making. 90% of the browsing market needs to have full PNG support before the format becomes fully adoptable by the web development community. That 90% mark could have been reached by now if IE version 4 thru 6 for PC fully supported the format.


Phone converging, but not converged.
[ December 05, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Having access to a discount rate on the hardware and service plan, I went ahead and upgraded my mobile phone to the Samsung N400 with Sprint's Vision plan. All in all, it's pretty solid, but lacks true convergence.

Along with the features on the phone like a calendar and a variety of ringers, there's a website that expands the feature set a bit, but doesn't go the distance. I can go to the website, add an appointment to the calendar there, and it will send me a notification (if I asked for one) on my phone. However, it won't send that to the calendar on the phone. Get the disconnect here?

The phone and the website do not synch. This makes any management done on one side necessary on the other. For that reason, I wish I was able to get a SonyErricson with Bluetooth support so I could keep it up to date from my Mac. Cool ringers are cool, but convergence (aka, convenience) owns.


Cool but tenuous.
[ October 07, 2002 | Permalink | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

This PHP script that converts a Google news search into RSS is pretty cool, but has one fatal flaw, it's a screen scraper. Just as soon as Google changes their page design, this script will break, but until then, it's pretty damn cool. The saving grace is that the author has made the PHP code available.


I'm afriad to breathe.
[ October 05, 2002 | Permalink | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Regular reader of this here blog will likely remember occasional rants about the lack of broadband (or "permanet") in my neighborhood. For those new to the story, I'll briefly recap...

Me live in Northern Virginia. Me live 4 miles from AOL. Me live within nine thousand feet of the Verizon switching office. Me live next to MANY other dot commers and technically inclined people in a nice community. Me no have broadband!

Not even the mighty AOL can help out and deliver the fat bit pipe. Maybe if we came up with some sort of microwave transmission it would work, but the chances of that are less than a $50 stock price in the next week. Even the WISP down the street from me is also powerless to help me.

Now, Speakeasy says they can offer me ADSL for $99/month with a free iPod as an incentive to sign up! As if I needed an incentive to sign up for a megabit down and 768 up for $99/month. It sounds too good to be true. I got this note from them today...

Your broadband circuit is approaching completion!
This is an automated message based on your estimated installation date, and does not account for unforeseen provisioning problems with your local phone company.

It sounds like they are paving the way for excuse making, but I always hear good things about Speakeasy. Has anyone else heard otherwise?


Xbox is a DRM trojan.
[ October 01, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Winterspeak addresses the Xbox and why Microsoft is willing to take such a huge loss on it in the near term ("a DRM system"). I've presented my opinion before that the Xbox is a trojan, but Winterspeak makes a good point about how they will be going about executing the strategy (while referencing a Kuro5hin article).


Why can't I order a Pizza from Dominos.com?
[ September 06, 2002 | Permalink | 15 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Seriously, why not?


Did I not predict this?
[ September 06, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Well, Cam did, but I did predict that this would happen soon and warned people about it.


Ramblings about the wireless future.
[ August 27, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

If Ben Franklin were around today, he would probably say that those who leave their wireless networks open for all to use deserve to have those networks used in ways they can't predict. If Benedict Arnold were around to be the pest we are taught that he was, he'd likely write an article like the one ridiculed at BoingBoing.

I think the thing that I like about the warchalking meme is that it has legs. More and more of us will be creating open networks out of EFF like zeal or plain ignorance, and the fallout will be interesting to watch. When the day comes that wireless phone network operators, like Sprint PCS wake up and put WiFi access points on all their towers, we'll see the real fun begin. Be happy OSX users that you have IPSec support. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, IPSec.


Adelphia says 'construction never stopped.'
[ August 22, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Ok, so I had to go down to the Adelphia office to pick up a digital cable box. Part of the HBO upgrade I mentioned yesterday is getting the new box (which they wanted to 'install' for $20, which is nuts, so I went to their office). Anyway, I couldn't resist asking the guy behind the counter when cable modem access was coming to my area.

The portly, middle aged, nerd behind me in line made the obligatory comment about 'financial troubles' that I decided was super lame after my conversation with the lady on the phone. The guy behind the counter masked his contempt for the comment he has likely heard zillions of times and told me '6 weeks' and told the Fraggle behind me that 'construction [had] never stopped.'

And I mean it, I feel really bad for anyone working at Adelphia right now because none of the bad press is any of their fault, but they take nasty comments from losers like me all the time. If their service sucks when it does arrive though, serious insanity will ensue.


Adelphia is 'moving ahead with plans.'
[ August 21, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

I just got off the phone with Adelphia (I was adding HBO so I could watch The Sopranos and Oz without ingratiating myself on my friend Steve) and asked them about cable modem access in my area. They laid new cable/fibre in my neighborhood recently, so the level of my anticipation is swelling.

For those new to this blog, you should know that I am obsessed with the lack of broadband in the techno-burb that I live in, and stress over how to rectify that situation. So, I asked the nice lady on the phone (as nicely as a jonesing bit pipe addict could) about when I could get the crack, and she said 'not yet' in a cool, friendly way.

I made a smart ass crack about Chapter 11. Her response was that they were 'moving ahead with plans' and kept her friendly tone. Cable tease.


Pondering Patents.
[ August 16, 2002 | Permalink | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Got a few/many minutes? If so, go listen to Lawrence Lessig's talk about Free Culture and then have a read thru these articles...

Too many patents are just as bad for society as too few.

There are those who view the patent system as the seedbed of capitalism--the place where ideas and new technologies are nurtured. This is a romantic myth. In reality, patents are enormously powerful competitive weapons that are proliferating dangerously, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has all the trappings of a revenue-driven, institutionalized arms merchant.

ActiveBuddy's Patent Win Riles IM Bot Developers

New York-based ActiveBuddy has won a crucial patent covering instant messaging bot-making technology, but hobbyists and amateur developers aren't buying the company's claim that it invented the technology.

Gemstar falls 39% after losing patent-dispute ruling

Gemstar holds more than 190 patents related to the software running interactive menus that help TV viewers pick what show to watch. Gemstar had booked $114 million in revenue for patent fees it expected to receive.

U.S. patent debate to pit IP rights vs. competition

Is the government issuing too many patents, thereby stifling competition and innovation? Or are attempts to lock up the rights to new technologies merely a function of increased investment in research and development during a period of unprecedented innovation and economic risk?

Unisys/CompuServe GIF Controversy

"They want everything to be free and let's all be friends. But fortunately, this is not the American way." -- Unisys patent lawyer Mark Starr, on his company's attempts to squeeze dough out of Websites that dare to generate GIF images, The Industry Standard, 25 April 2000 The Standard)

...and now, consider this patent application...

An XML Data Loader which employs the SAX parsing technology, provides an extendible architecture to generate SQL for each type of XML document to be loaded, and leverages multithreading and decoupling of processes to parse an XML file and to update a database. By using object-oriented programming methodologies, the system and method create new instances of the XML data loader for each XML file to be loaded into a database. Thus, many XML data files may be processed and loaded simultaneously, which minimizes system memory requirements, improves system reliability and memory management, and reduces processing time required from the start of processing an XML file to completing its loading into a database. The invention is applicable to other types of markup language documents, as well.

Warwalking for Warspamming.
[ August 13, 2002 | Permalink | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Cam notes...

My wireless network at home has been closed and password-protected from Day 1. Not because I don't want my neighbors to use it, but because I don't want my information stolen and my privacy invaded. How soon before spammers park themselves on a street corner and start using your wireless network to relay spam?

Based on what I found (note the WEP status) by war walking thru my neighborhood last night, I'd say "soon Cam, soon."


A PVR for the rest of us.
[ July 17, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

A Mac applications maker is going to release a Personal Video Recorded (a Tivo basically) for the Mac (OSX) this week. Instead of being a do-it-all set top box like Tivo, or the salient Moxi box, this recorder will use your Mac in conjunction with a simple RF receiver. I think if I had an eMac and lived in a dorm, this would be perfect. I bet this part is going to horrify some copyright holders somewhere...

In order to save programs onto VideoCDs, you will need a CD burner and Roxio’s Toast 5 Titanium CD recording software (not included with EyeTV).

Like to watch episodes of Alias? Collect and trade them all!


Does the ACLU have cable Internet access?
[ July 11, 2002 | Permalink | 5 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

ArsTechnica has some opinions and discussion over the ACLU's 'warning that free speech and innovation may fall to the likes of AOL Time Warner and Comcast if they continue to dominate broadband internet access.' Which is plain ridiculous, especially if you look at the failed AT&T deal and how convoluted the industry really is. IMHO, AOL hasn't done nearly a good enough job getting broadband into mass market (which is helping kill the stock price). You have to crawl before you can walk/limit-free-speech.

The thing I really don't understand, is how AOL providing a communications vehicle would limit free speech. They'd have to filter all packets, and only allow those that they agree with to continue on to their destination. ArsTechnica makes a similar point, and does it more succinctly, so go check it out.


Make it simple and the REST will follow.
[ July 01, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

injektilo makes a few interesting points about the implementation of MovableType's BackTrack functionality. I have yet to decide if I agree with him or not, so I did some digging around on the REST model (here and here and here), which the authors of MovableType (Ben and Mena) cite as their implementation model.

Ben responded to the comments made, so be sure to check that out when you head over to injektilo. His case is a simple one, and well reasoned, and more importantly, well intended. For a blog technology, where somewhat average folks with average technical abilities will be implementing this, simple is good. In all cases, simple = better uptake (eg, HTML).


MovableType updates to 2.2
[ June 26, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

There's a new rev of MovableType available, and their site has gotten a redesign. Besides the rest of the changes, the TrackBack stuff looks really cool, not to mention the MySQL support. Time to upgrade...


Is McKinsey reading my blog?
[ June 10, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

After reading this article at C|Net about broadband and new business models, I had the distinct feeling I had said the same thing a couple of months ago. So, what I want to know is, how do I get C|Net to pay me for visionary articles? ;)


Deep linking to printer formatted pages.
[ June 10, 2002 | Permalink | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Quite a few site have caught on to the idea that a printer friendly version of a given page is a nice, user-centric thing to provide. After all, it helps/enables the consumer to enjoy content in a nice, eye friendly, familiar and random access format (paper!). However, I think deep linking (the act of linking directly to a page behind a welcome screen on a given site) to these printer pages might be a bad idea. MacNN did this recently by linking to a Forbes article.

It was established two years ago that deep linking is legal (beyond the fact that it the very basis of this thing we call the web). The original argument against deep linking was that one company could be hurting another by leading a user directly to some content or service without the user going thru the advertising laden pages between the home page and the payoff page. I thought that was b.s. when I first heard it because most/all pages from commercial web sites are drowning in adverts anyway.

The advent of printer pages directly linked to by a third party completely denies the host of the content of any possible revenue from that page view. If that practice becomes truly systemic, one of two things will happen; another law suit will arise (not likely due to a precedent) or, more likely, printer friendly pages will eventually contain more adverts.


Version numbers are marketing devices.
[ May 31, 2002 | Permalink | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

AOL/Netscape recently, and unexpectedly (to me anyway), announced Preview Release One of Netscape 7, which elicited some discussion on the Web-Design List (if you are on that list, ignore this post, because you've seen it already). One comment in particular got my attention...

This [going to version number 7] will hurt, not help, Netscape in getting real adoption for the browser. It won't encourage people to try it as their primary browser for a week. They've already done that with an identically behaving browser.

I completely disagree. The disaster that has been Netscape 6.x needs to be relegated to the past and releasing Netscape 6.2.4 (or 6.4 or 6.5, etc) is not going to accomplish that. In order to move forward, and drive acceptance of the nascent Mozilla 1.0 in a wide spread and commercial environment, /Netscape needs to indicate, somehow, that they have a browser worth downloading. Bumping to "Netscape 6.5" does not accomplish that.

IMHO, Netscape 7.pr1 says to the world 'hey look, we have an meaningful upgrade that we want people to pay attention to, so be mindful that 7.0 is coming soon.' Netscape 6.5 says to the world 'look, another rev, go back to what you were doing.'

These days, version numbers are marketing devices, not accurate representations of the actual upgrade or feature set of the product. The new NVidia GeForce4 MX cards are a perfect example of this dynamic screwing the uninformed consumer. So consider yourself newly informed...

When you think GeForce 4, be it in the Ti or the MX line, you think about a generational step forward.  The GeForce 4 MX is a step forward, just not what you would expect.  The GeForce 3 that is now over a year old is powered by NVidia's NV20 GPU.  So what is NVidia's technical name for the GF4 MX... the NV25, NV30, what is it you ask?  Try the NV17. This is why you will hear people compare the GF4 MX to the GF2 MX.

Oh Verisign.
[ May 25, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

I got my misleading renewal notice from Verisign today which isn't going to help their image very much. It must be desperation time over there to pull something like this, even if they do have other things worth promoting.


War Driving.
[ May 09, 2002 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

What is war driving?

In the 1980s, hackers began "war dialing"--dialing phone numbers until they found an open modem--to access networks. The '90s Internet boom created easier and more direct avenues of attack, such as IP scanners and packet sniffers. Enter the next generation of nefarious network intrusion: war driving.

So?

...a hacker can sit in a store's parking lot and "listen in" to the data. Indeed, consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. shut off wireless cash registers at its stores Wednesday after being alerted to the potential problem, saying it was investigating the issue.

Ok, seriously, why do I care?

mail-savvy users will know that authentication can take place on *sending* mail, not just *receiving* mailboxes. The (Apple) mail app doesn't support encrypted SMTP

So if you use ANY app that sends passwords in cleartext, such as Mail from Apple, over a wireless link, someone might be listening. So, if you are like me and use Apple's Mail client, and have an Airport card installed, do yourself a favor and learn about SSH tunneling.


Is 3G the last mile solution?
[ April 02, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

I've been harping about wireless technology and the opportunities it offers to today's wired citizen. The big thing I think will happen will be a new range of products and services made possible by the Big Fat Pipe (ie, transfer speeds in the megabit range). Today, delivering rich media, like audio, video and other data intensive applications, is not viable in the 56k economy.

I have also harped on the last mile problem and about how I think wireless technologies can help solve that problem. Today, Ars Technica published an article on a third generation wireless technology that is pretty in depth (as most Ars Technica articles are). Here's a quote...

IMT-2000 specifies a minimum data rate of 144 kilobits/second in high-mobility (vehicular) applications, 384 kilobits/second for pedestrian applications, and 2 megabits/second for indoor (stationary) applications. These speeds are intended to facilitate the delivery of high-quality audio, streaming video, content-laden web pages, and a veritable cornucopia of rich media "experiences."

And this is the result we should all be hoping for and what companies like AOL should attempting to harness to drive consumption rates and (advertising) revenues.


If you provide Broadband, business plans will come.
[ March 28, 2002 | Permalink | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Last week I was talking to my CFO about wireless tech and how I am unable to get any broadband connection at my home. It's really a pathetic situation since there are several bandwidth suppliers within 5 miles of my home. They include Exodus Communications, AOL, WorldCom, PSI Net, Adelphia Communications and Verizon. None of the above can offer me high speed access, but Adelphia seems to be working to fix that situation by laying fibre and upgraded cable lines right in front of my house (which means it is still going to be a while until I get anything).

Ok, back to my CFO. I was trying to express to him how I thought the lack of last mile solutions (the 'last mile' being that mythical last step to the actual consumer's home) was hurting the networked economy. I argued that there are countless business plans out there that can't be viable until there is wider (not necessarily wide) spread adoption of consumer broadband. One way of doing that sort of thing is by setting up Wireless networks (based on 802.11).

My CFO argued back that I am not a typical internet user (which is indeed true) and that most people are still struggling with email. His point being that lots of bandwidth doesn't mean a new business opportunity is there. And this may be true, but even if most people are still struggling with the basics, there are lucrative markets out there that could be serviced by business plans that leverage broadband connections. To wit, GameSpy has been interviewed by C|Net where they cite the exact dynamic of meagre broadband adoption hurting the viability of more lucrative online gaming.

The video game market is huge, and online games are FAR more compelling that Solitaire to people like myself. What fuels my argument is that there are many people like myself out there playing these games. When I start up Tribes2 (a year old game) and logon, I typically see about a thousand servers. I don't play Quake, but it's market penetration is better than Tribes. Now, add more multipliers, like Unreal, Everquest, Ultima Online, Diablo, et al. Suddenly you have a market that could benefit from the Fat Pipe.


More on Flash as a platform for Web Apps.
[ March 20, 2002 | Permalink | 3 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

A couple of days ago I posted my response to a discussion on the WebDesign list about Flash and it's promise as a platform for web apps. In that thread there were a lot comments going back and forth about Macromedia trying overthrow HTML and other standards on the web. I think that's pretty far fetched, and like Christine Perfetti and Jared M. Spool say, Flash is A New Hope for Web Applications.

I'll go one step further and say that, on the client side, Flash achieves what Java set out to do. For the most part, Flash runs everywhere and predictably without porting the code to other platforms. Java never got anywhere as a browser-based/client-side technology for a few reasons that are not going away. First, Java Swing is newer technology that is not natively supported by any of the browsers. Second, AWT is supported, but is widely considered to be a bear to work with and looks terrible next to a Flash app. Third, IE6 on the PC doesn't ship with Java support (forcing the user into an unlikely 6 meg download). And last, Java bytecode is bloated compared to Flash code (which can also be bit-streamed) which makes the horrible reality of 56k a little easier to bear.


Public Wi-Fi networks may come (and go).
[ March 11, 2002 | Permalink | 1 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Even my non-geek friends know about Cringley's (somewhat larcenous) experiments with free wireless broadband internet access. And the idea is great, and gaining ground on the supply side. Witness the Newbury Open Network in Boston (well, it's one node's worth of access right now, but they plan on growth). Unfortunately, I have to assume that people will abuse this and any other Café Area Network (CAN) that comes on line.

I'd like to believe that CAN's would make the last mile problem a memory, but just as soon as people get access to a valuable resource, at super low cost, the abuse will happen. Just look back a few years to AOL's move to a fixed price model for unlimited access. That led to a massive increase in average online times, and severely taxed the modem pools. It was bad enough to warrant a class acton suit.

What do you think the CAN owner/operator will think when they see the bandwidth consumption rates when Limewire freaks find a megabit in the air?


What does .NET mean for the User Experience Architect?
[ February 21, 2002 | Permalink | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBack | TB URL ]

Well, I'm not sure yet, but it will have