"What am I going to do? I'm not sure. One thing I'm considering, if my wife and I can figure out how to pay for it, is to follow in my son's footstep and go the guitar school. Does that sound weird?"

7:18:21 AM     

Meanwhile, IBM remains neutral.

Microsoft has announced its entry into the Customer Relationship Management software business.

Microsoft Customer Relationship Management will be available as a standalone product as well as an integrated solution to Microsoft Great Plains® Dynamics, Solomon and eEnterprise. Its expected availability in North America is in the fourth quarter of 2002.

5:45:07 AM     

"In addition to selling the infrastructure for companies to run their own .Net My Services programs, Sohn said that Microsoft plans to eventually run datacenters attached to MSN that offer these services, but that the company will not set itself up as the primary datacenter for .Net My Services."

6:21:14 AM     

[This item was prompted by some comments Dave Winer made yesterday amplified by David Reed today.]

It's interesting to me how my online habits have changed over the last 20 years. Let's try to think through what's been happening over that period of time.

Sometime in the early 1980's I bought an Atari 400 along witn one of Don Stoner's Microperipheral's 300 baud modems to go with it. (Don was an amazingly creative guy. He died about three years ago.)

A while later, I got a TRS-80 Model 100 on the first day they went on sale. It also included a 300 baud modem. At the time, I was working for IBM and doing a fair amount of traveling. That Model 100 went with me almost everywhere I went. In many ways, my current Blackberry reminds me of that Model 100 -- both were "freedom machines" you could take almost anywhere.

A bit later, I got my first IBM PC -- initially with a Hayes SmartModem 300 and, a while later, upgraded to a Hayes SmartModem 1200.

So much for machines and modem speeds. On the other side, I was talking to CompuServe via dial-up into a local node. I also did some local BBS surfing and some late night long-distance BBS surfing. At one point I signed up for Tymnet's night/weekend dialout service specifically designed for early online addicts like me.

I got involved in the early days of writing RBBS-PC, a bulletin board package for the IBM PC written in BASIC. I never actually ran my own BBS for any period of time -- I always wanted to use my computer and phone line for dialing out!

Somewhere along the way, I had a second phone line installed after too many complaints about it being busy and too many instances of me being knocked off the line when someone at home picked up a receiver elsewhere in the house.

Back when I first had just the Atari 400 (with it's membrane keyboard), I discovered CompuServe. They had a forum called HamNet (started by Don Stoner, W6TNS - now SK) dedicated to amateur radio. I spent a lot of time on HamNet - for some reason it became my online hangout.

I'm sure a lot of the reason HamNet was so pleasurable for me was the other folks who were also online there. We shared a lot about ham radio, our computers, etc. and the quality of the dialogue was just great. I see the AOL ads on TV now where folks talk about how they love to hear "You've got mail!" when they log on. I remember similar excitement when I'd logon to HamNet and see "10 messages waiting"!

HamNet is still around (it's been available on the web for the last several years) -- but, curiously, I spend very little time there any more.

[Incomplete...more to come later today..]

[Note to SJL: Think about the new comment feature in Radio Userland. Is there a "You've got Mail!" page for the Radio owner that should be created to easily present new comments that have been posted?]   8:12:46 AM     

John Robb has been writing a bit about Foveon. As John points out, so has the Economist.

Richard Lyon, Chief Scientist of Foveon, will be speaking at an EE380 seminar at Stanford this coming Wednesday.   8:06:53 AM     

The Boston Globe's Sunday Magazine reports on Myriad Genetics and the patent lock they have on breast cancer research.

"The controversy swirling around Myriad's patents goes to a fundamental question about all gene patents: Is there something wrong with a patent system that allows one company - or any institution, for that matter - to "own" the genetic material found in every human being?"

Also in the Boston Globe, an update on CMGI - after the bust.

"The Internet isn't dead. CMGI isn't dead," McMillan said. "But the fact that people believe that will make it easier for us to set conservative expectations and deliver. A few years ago, the Internet was the Second Coming," McMillan added. "The hype about the Web was Messianic. And it wasn't true. Now we're dealing with a swing in the opposite direction. Everyone is declaring that the entire Web is over. That's not true either."

The Economist reports on the PayPal IPO.   7:08:42 AM     

OpinionJournal: Daniel Pearl - RIP.

NY Times: What's Doing in Sonoma County?

"It is that very expanse that sets Sonoma apart, with a topography that varies from mountains to farmland to redwood forest to rugged coast. There are 11 separate microclimates, each yielding its own gastronomic treat. Blueberry enthusiasts will argue there's no better place to be. Lavender lovers will say the same; so will artisan cheese fans, olive oil aficionados and anyone remotely enthralled by the grape."

5:26:01 AM     

Those who knew Mr. Richardson still can't explain why he misused and abandoned an apparently successful business. Ms. Murray says she and her family have found evidence on Mr. Richardson's computer that her husband was gambling over the Internet. She says she thinks that he may have had gambling debts.

"I didn't realize the man had it in him to be a criminal," she says.

   4:56:54 AM     

"When times are tough, conventional wisdom dictates that businesses cut back on expenses and exercise caution while waiting for the economy to recover.

Unconventional wisdom advocates the opposite approach.

Instead of applying the brakes during recessionary times, this school of thought believes in putting their pedals to the metal. Grab market share while the grabbing is cheap, they say.

It's the way the rich keep on getting richer."

4:33:17 AM     

Want to become a domain name registrar? Neustar has become the new administrator for the .US top level domain. They're actively seeking applications from companies wanting to help market .US domain names. The Washington Post reports on the .US story.

Maybe UserLand should become a .US registrar and bundle a .US domain name with every copy of Radio UserLand?   6:58:33 AM     

Yesterday, PayPal completed its Initial Public Offering. New York Times: "Internet Offering Soars, Just Like Old Times".

Authors Kenneth Kuttner and James McAndrews took a look at the whole personal on-line payments market in a recent article published in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Economic Policy Review.   6:43:54 AM     

O'Reilly Network - P3P: Privacy Primer. The Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) provides a standard way for Web sites to communicate about their practices regarding the collection, use, and distribution of personal information. This article describes the platform, shows how Microsoft IE 6 implements it, and gives examples of markup code for web designers.   6:16:36 AM     

Creative ways to extend the range of your wireless LAN. Gregory Rehm tries 'em out.   12:53:35 PM     

IBM has published a couple of articles on how electronic payments are handled in the WebSphere products.

Also, here's a good article on Wireless/SMS. And another on implementing single-sign-on.   5:38:27 PM     

Forbes profiles the top venture investors.

"The engine of innovation still hums, despite a wretched year that saw several hundred startups go bust and upwards of 700,000 tech jobs disappear. Proof of that comes straight from the source: the members of our second annual Midas List, the elite 100 venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, bankers and recruiters who nurture and steer the tech economy."

6:03:18 AM     

Gartner says they've found the right combination of web services and P2P.

"If applied in the corporate world, technology made famous by music file-sharing service Napster could help streamline the flow of data within and outside of enterprises, and cut costs, according to new report by Gartner Inc.

The research firm says it has come up with a way to do it and may very well patent the idea."

4:55:09 AM     

See Ethan Cerami's list.   5:49:48 PM     

Google announces the First Annual Google Programming Contest.   7:21:53 PM     

One of my favorite Sunday morning things to do is to visit the Menlo Park Farmers' Market. At, and the market, one of my favorite spots is the fish monger, Pietro Parravano from Half Moon Bay. His boat is the Anne B.

Alas, he took today off (as he sometimes does)...no fish today! It's such a beautiful day around here today -- no wonder!

It’s a simple life. I really enjoy my job, mainly because it’s a physical job. I’m outdoors, the smells are different, the sights are different. The quote, ‘‘the sea has many faces,’’ is so true. It does change. The colors change.

When I go to farmer’s markets [in Palo Alto and Menlo Park], I get to explain what I do, and I’m able to provide them with a product of what I do. I comfort these people. Do you know how many people want to go out fishing with me?

When he's not fishing, Pietro travels the world representing fishermen. Here's his talk from Paris last December.   10:27:18 AM     

Washington Post: Begins a series of articles today on US/Saudi American relations.

San Francisco Chronicle: College Cyber-Defenders working at Sandia's Livermore Labs.

USA Today: Surprises may be triggers of strokes.

"It's the accumulation of stress that is important," he said, "not simply what happens one day."

6:31:33 AM     

Eve Andersson, one of the co-founders of ArsDigita, writes about the company's failure.

"This is a story about a company. A company that was profitable from Day 1. A company that built products that were useful to many other companies. A company that had ethics, that treated the breadwinners (programmers) with respect, a company that could afford to help people and give away software and training, while still having enough left over to grow and save a few $million in the bank.

That is, until the venture capitalists arrived on the scene. Lying to customers and employees became commonplace. Greed replaced philanthropy as each of the company's unique programs was dropped. But, this is a company, and the goal is to make money -- any positive impact on the world is secondary, right? The real question is: how much money did they make?"

Philip Greenspun also comments. And, speaking of Philip, he's learning to fly.   6:26:25 AM     

Internet.com tries to answer the question.

"So what exactly is a web service? Quite simply, it is a fundamentally new approach of developing a software application that can share information through Internet Protocol (IP). What makes all of this so revolutionary is that these newly created systems would be able to interact and exchange information regardless of the platform or environment."

11:01:23 AM     

Just learned about Planet Organics -- they provide weekly delivery of organic produce to homes in the San Francisco Bay Area -- and, soon, Niman Ranch meat products.   9:41:11 AM     

Just stumbled across Mike Gunderloy's Larkware site. Also, he's looking for authors to help with a new Web Services newsletter.   9:07:53 AM     

Robert X. Cringley solves his high speed Internet connection problem.   8:57:22 AM