Blog Posts

January 2006

• 2006-01-30

  Interesting Wikipedia situation developing

  Wikipedia appears to have banned all contributions and edits coming from the US Congress!

  “I am opening this RFC in order to centralise discussion concerning actions to be taken against US Congressional staffers who repeatedly revert wars, blank content, engage in libelous behaviour, violate WP:NPOV, WP:CIV. The editors from this IP are rude and abrasive, immature, and show no understanding of Wikipedia policy. The editors also frequently try to whitewash the actions of frequent politicians.

  They treat Wikipedia articles about politicians as though they own it, replacing articles with their sanctioned biographies and engaging in revert wars when other users dispute this sudden change. They...

  Read more →

  #wikipedia #politics
• 2006-01-29

  Bob Tedeschi on using RSS for travel information

  Here’s an interesting article in today’s New York Times about how to get travel information in your your home page, like My Yahoo and others. This all hinges on RSS of course, which means you can bring your travel information into BlogBridge and other aggregators.

  “Recently, these sites began allowing consumers to populate their home pages with similar information they’d find in e-mail newsletters, with two added benefits: all the relevant information from multiple sites appears on one page, instead of multiple e-mails, a...

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  #travel
• 2006-01-29

  Geek Dinner? Harvard Square? February 15th? Should be fun!

  Inspired by Geek Dinners popping up all over, we thought it might be fun to try it here. Who is “we”? Adam Green, who writes Darwinian Web, and yours truly who writes this Blog and also runs the BlogBridge project. Adam also has a Ruby Blog (he’s been swallowed whole by Ruby) as well as a Mashup Blog. The third “we”

  is Mark Doerschlag..

  What is this “geek dinner” thing? Well 3 guys inviting all their geek friends to hang out and geek out for a few hours. Each of us have almost non-overlapping ...

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  #boston
• 2006-01-28

  Lamps, Lamps, Lamps

  This is pretty mundane, but if you happen to be looking for a lamp, this is the most comprehensive collection that I’ve seen on the web, on a nice site, and with reasonable prices too! It’s called LAMPS PLUS.

  And I don’t mean L.A.M.P, I really mean, just lamps 🙂

  Technorati Tags: lamps

• 2006-01-24

  Cracking the Facebook System

  So we’ve all heard about Facebook but only the ones of us who have a .edu email address can get an account. This was a source of envy for me. Nose pressed against the glass, I wanted to get inside to see what was going on. But of course I graduated college and so, how to get a .edu address?

  Simple. Just call your College’s Alumni department and generally they will be glad to issue you a .edu email address with which you can (legitimately) become a Facebook member. Yes, its for college students and alumni too!

  Technorati Tags: facebook

• 2006-01-21

  Why does anyone care about running Windows on the new Macs?

  When you’re a blogger it’s sometimes a strain to say something new about a topic that’s gone around and around. I am pretty sure you’ve seen the announcement from Apple that their next generation of Macintosh computers will use Intel processors.

  Other than the industry melodrama about Steve Jobs embracing the very chips that for years he insulted, and perhaps bemusement of how Steve got that Intel Exec to dress up in a silly white costume while Steve looked cool in his traditional black turtle-neck.

  But other than that, who cares that Mac’s are now going to have “Intel Inside”? I mean...

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  #apple
• 2006-01-20

  Push: An interesting looking new conference

  I met Cecily Sommers at the Pop!Tech conference earlier this year. She heads up a new conference that I had read about previously, called Push. According to what I’d read, it was what Ted was 10 years ago or Pop!Tech was 2 years ago.

  Here’s a pretty strong endorsement:

  “PUSH jumped onto our schedule this year because of the enthusiasm of past attendees. Our sources were correct…(it was like) a “mini-Davos” located in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, with a relentlessly diverse audience came from all over the world[…] We’ll be back next year.” (from Sam Perry, Conferenza Premium Reports)

  And her...

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• 2006-01-16

  Blogging 101: Speaking Notes

  Over on the BlogBridge blog, I posted information about the panel that I will be participating on, plus a copy of my presentation and a bunch of relevant links. Link.

  Technorati Tags: blog, blogbridge, bloglines

• 2006-01-16

  Hello Google AdWords with FeedBurner

  Technorati Tags: feedburner, adwords

  #business
• 2006-01-15

  Tylenol meme

  Amusingly, several posts on the wonders of Tylenol. Here’s when we really run out of things to write about…

  Still, it’s an opening for a little tidbit that I’ve had floating around my head, because, I too, am a Tylenol fan (actually not Tylenol itself but its generic version – Acetaminophen - available in various pharmacy store brands.)

  So, Tylenol fans, did you know that Tylenol overdose is a serious problem, and can actually cause ...

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  #health
• 2006-01-14

  [GEEK] What every Java programmer should know about Ruby

  Heard a lot about Ruby? Ruby on Rails? Wonder what the heck it is? Here’s a good intro.

  “This is not yet another “Ruby is better than Java” article. Nor is it intended to bash Java or Java programmers. Rather, it is an attempt to aid Java programmers who are investigating Ruby by helping them quickly get over the “Writing Java in Ruby” syndrome and to discover the Ruby Way.” (from “10 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know about Ruby”)

  Technorati Tags: ruby

  #ruby #programming
• 2006-01-12

  I am becoming a headhunter

  No, just kidding, I am not. Some of my best friends are headhunters and I wouldn’t want to compete with them.**

  But I do often find out about people in my network who are looking for new positions and I try to connect** them to those I know who are looking for new people. Recently another person emailed me saying they were looking for someone, and I realized that I might have lost track of what openings I know about.

  So – to those of you who know me personally – if you are hiring, feel free to send me an email so I can keep an eye out and connect you to candidates.

  No, I don’t charge a fee 🙂

  Technorati Tags: jobs

  #personal
• 2006-01-10

  Did Google Pack leave out Java?

  A little while ago there was a lot of press about how Google and Sun were forming a partnership.

  In Sun’s blurb about this they said: “As part of the agreement, Sun now includes the Google Toolbar as an option in downloads of the Java Runtime Environment from Java.com, Sun’s showcase and portal for Java technology enthusiasts and developers”

  Ok, great. But what would Google do in return? My search through press releases didn’t produce anything. The natural quid-pro-quo would be if Google in turn distributed the Java Runtime as part of something…

  Well the very natural “something” would be the newly announced ...

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• 2006-01-10

  Gaia Gold and Taxes?

  I recently had occasion to learn all about a really cool MMORPG (“massively multi player online role playing game”) called Gaia Online.

  Yes, I am not in its demographic, but it was fascinating to learn about how the world of gaming has developed a whole economic model in the form of “XP” or “Experience Points”. Different worlds use different terms but generically, these are points earned within the game and then spent on game artifacts or items or abilities.

  Things get interesting when players decide to cross over between the gaming world and the ‘real’ worl...

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• 2006-01-06

  What Venture Capitalists say

  Guy Kawasaki writes a nice little bit about VCs (some of my best friends are VCs) and about entrepreneurs. It rings very true to me. Here’s some of what he says:

  “Venture capitalists are simple people: we’ve either decided to invest, and we are convincing ourselves that our gut is right (aka, “due diligence”) or there’s not a chance in hell. While we may be simple, we’re not necessarily forthcoming, so if you think it’s hard to get a “yes” out of venture capitalist, you should try to get a conclusive “no.””

  “Alas, entrepreneurs are also simple people: If they don’t hear a conclusive “no,” they assume the answer is yes.” (From “Let the good times roll by Guy Kawasaki“

  Read the whole thing. It’s well written, humorous and contains some really good advice!

  Technorati Tags: vc

  #business
• 2006-01-05

  Did the NSA “break the law”?

  I know that this blog (Power Line) is pretty hard-core conservative, but I found their analysis of the legal questions around the NSA electronic intercept program fairly convincing.

  “The only constitutional limitation on the President’s power to intercept communications by Americans for national security purposes is that such intercepts be “reasonable.”

  Is it reasonable for the administration to do all it can to identify the people who are communicating with known terrorists overseas, via the terrorists’ cell phones and computers, and to learn what terrorist plots are being hatched by those persons? Is it reasonable to do so even wh...

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  #politics #legal
• 2006-01-04

  Another funny geek video for your enjoyment

  “Every OS Crashes because Every OS Sucks”

  Technorati Tags: funny

• 2006-01-03

  Does anyone actually think this is for real?

  Did you see this clever site? Million Dollar Home Page?

  “The idea is simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. The main motivation for doing this is to pay for my degree studies, because I don’t like the idea of graduating with a huge student debt. I know people who are paying off student loans 15-20 years after they graduated. Not a nice thought!” (from Million Dollar Home Page)

  Recently I came across the news that the last 1000 pixels were...

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• 2006-01-02

  Adam Green’s Podcasts

  I came across a cool series of podcasts, done by Adam Green, on the history of the personal computer software industry. Actually Adam told me about them 🙂 You can find them here as well as directly under the iTunes podcast section.

  I just listened to the first episode, about software naming with some good stories about how Visicalc was named and the fact that Ashton-Tate was not named after a parrot called Ashton, and of course that Jeff Tarter is not retired.

  p.s. Adam has a really interesting blog called “Darwinian Web”Also follow his escapades with Ruby

  #technology

December 2005

• 2005-12-25

  Treo 700!

  I’d heard about it but had not seen a picture. This from Ray Ozzie’s blog:

  “As of last week I’m now using/testing the upcoming Treo 700w, and it’s great! The pipeline of cool devices about to emerge is stunning, and the software platform incomparable. Much to look forward to, and many new ideas for Jack as to what we might do with these devices’ capabilities…” (from Ray Ozzie’s Blog)

  Check out the Treo 700 here!

  Technorati Tags: treo

  #technology