May 20, 2003

NewsGator 1.2 New Posting Interface

If this works, I’ll be posting this via NewsGator
1.2’s new Outlook posting interface! Congratulations Greg!
Update: Well, the post arrived, but it had no title and the HTML was a bit mangled. I think in part because of Outlook 2003’s HTML formatting and the fact that I used the Blogger API plug-in. I think I need to update my b2/cafelog to support the MetaWeblog API

May 19, 2003

Topic-Sensitive page rankings feasible

A new paper by a Stanford group claims substantial increase in calculating Page Rank performance (used by Google), which could make room for personalized topical searches.

“Computer science researchers at Stanford University have developed several new techniques that together may make it possible to calculate Web page rankings as used in the Google search engine up to five times faster. The speed-ups to Google’s method may make it realistic to calculate page rankings personalized for an individual’s interests or customized to a particular topic.” (via BoingBoing)

May 16, 2003

Mature Music Mag?

Catherine just sent me a link to this
article in the NY Post about TRACKS, which is the name of a
new music magazine that will hit this fall from the Good Music Media…

“This magazine is the antidote to the hype and gloss of the
youth music marketing machine,” … “Tracks will deliberately pursue the
30-to-45 year old audience.”

Perhaps it’s a sign that I’m getting older in that the announcement of a
magazine targeted at the 30-to-45 year old audience appeals to me, but what
else is out there for a retro-punk with a revived interest in jazz? I
suppose a Jazz magazine, but that’s to niche for me.

May 15, 2003

I can see the “WiFi”

A very slick hack was posted over at O’Reilly that combines power-line
Ethernet, with a wireless access point and a fluorescent light bulb to
create “a weatherproof
wireless access point integrated into a light-fixture” (via BoingBoing and Futurismic)

May 14, 2003

Top 15 things my dog has taught me

Catherine has just posted (well, yesterday actually) the top things our dog Pinto has taught us

(I’m including myself because, well, I’ve learned these things too and it’s better than just saying “Ditto” :-)

May 13, 2003

Verizon launches Wi-Fi service with 150 hot spots

John just sent me a link to this Reuters story about Verizon’s launch of new Wi-Fi hot spots in phone
booths through out NYC:

Verizon Communications today launched its new Wi-Fi service by lighting up150 hot spots in New York City, with plans to activate another 850 by theend of the year. Verizon said its deployment marks the largest such initiative by an Internet service provider in a single U.S. city. Verizon’s hot spots will be inside pay phones located throughout New York and will have a range of 300 feet.

May 12, 2003

REST-ful Technorati API

Dave Sifry’s just publicly announced the Technorati API (link via Ben), which seems very timely (for Dave) given the recent report of a new Google-powered blog search engine.

Also with Google’s blog-enlightenment, will Technorati become the next Daja or more specifically the next Google search tab?

As for the API, I like the fact that it’s REST-ful, which should enable simple integration. I just scooped up my Technorati API-Key and may give it a try on my blog and perhaps internally on an internet portal.

May 9, 2003

Google, Blogs and clutter?

A quote from the article titled Google to fix blog
noise problem found on The Register…

“The main problem with blogs is that, as far as Google is
concerned, they masquerade as useful information when all they contain is
idle chatter,” wrote Roddy. “And through some fluke of their evil software,
they seem to get indexed really fast, so when a major political or social
event happens, Google is noised to the brim with blogs and you have to start
at result number 40 or so before you get past the blogs.”

May 8, 2003

Enterprise Meets the Borg

I think the Star Trek Enterprise Regeneration episode last night was one of the best in the series thus far. However, I have to agree with Jeremey Zawodny in that I was at first confused about the timeline, but I do think they pulled it together nicely.

As a few people have already mentioned on Jeremey’s blog, when the Borg contacted the Enterprise, they didn’t say, “We are Borg…”, which coincides with the storyline in ST:NG whereby they didn’t know of the Borg.

May 7, 2003

Suit Settled for Students Downloading Music Online

A quote in the [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/national/02STUD.html?ex=1052539200&e n=62f647db4d1433df&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND) from Howard Ende
of DB&R about the suit:

“This suit is about the industry’s attempt to intimidate
Internet users and instill fear of lawsuits against users of the Internet,
particularly students,” said Howard Ende, a lawyer from Drinker, Biddle &
Reath who is representing Mr. Peng. “They need to find some other way to
protect their economic interests than bringing suits against bright creative
young people.”