Sunday, November 3, 2002

3-D Without the Glasses. Cool article in MIT Technology Review describes the current state of 3-D computer stuff. Holograms may be just around the corner. 5:18:14 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Desktop Publishing for the Connected. John Robb of UserLand has some cogent comments about computers and their historic path to helping us be more effective. He focuses near the end of his piece on Radio and similar tools that facilitate Web publishing for the masses. I like what he has to say, particularly his closing paragraph: In my view, the market opportunity for desktop publishing tools that are the equivalent of Office for the connected world is HUGE.  Every ad-hoc Web site that can be built to solve business and personal needs can likely be done better using these new tools.  However, it is being held back (not stopped, but stymied) by a monopoly vendor that has opted not to improve the browser -- arguably the most popular interface/application of all time and the best enabler of this technology.  We will get there, it will just take longer. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] Maybe the way to beat Microsoft is to get people to stop using just Internet Explorer. That's the invisible lynchpin in the Microsoft Strategy for World Domination. And in that arena there are tons of better products for every platform. How about a badge icon for sites that says "Any Browser But Microsoft's" or "Best Viewed With a Browser Not Owned by a Criminal Monopoly" or something? 5:14:39 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Please pray for Dave Winer's Dad. I lost my father in March. I know how that can hurt. Dave Winer requests prayers for his Dad. Please join me. 5:08:13 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Mariucci, Cortez to Blame. The Niners were in complete control coming to the final seconds of the game against the Raiders. No sweat. Third down at the Raiders' 5. About 15 seconds left. Remember, third down. Mooch has Garcia wait until there are only three seconds on the clock to call time-out for the field goal try. Bad move. If you miss a FG try on third down, it's still your ball. You can try again. But not if you start the play with three seconds left. Chris Collinsworth pointed this out from the broadcast booth. He was right. Of course, he was also right that Cortez should never have missed that chip shot. That's a PAT. No excuse. Cortez has to go. He missed two FGs and kicked a kickoff out of bounds today that led to the Raiders' tying score in regulation. Release him. (Late Addition. I don't care that Cortez finally made one and kicked the game-winner. He's lame.) 4:15:44 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Poor Officiating in Raiders-Niners Game. Late in the second quarter, the officiating crew in the San Francisco-Oakland game blew three calls in about 30 seconds. First, they missed a clear case of roughing the passer against the Raiders. Jeff Garcia had been thrown to the ground roughly after having clearly thrown a pass. The rushing defender had two or three steps to stop and didn't. Second, on the next play, the Niners tried a screen. The Raider defender pushed the receiver while the ball was in the air. He knew it. He threw his arms in the air. No flag. Then the Niners punted and got called for illegal touching. The call was right; Rumph touched the ball first after having been forced out of bounds on the return. But to miss two calls with significant potential impact only to call one with no meaning at all -- a really stupid techical rules violation which in thse case wouldn't have mattered because there were three other Niners within touching distance of the ball -- just shows a poor sense of priority. Halftime as I write this and the Raiders are up 13-10. The Niners' D is holding the highly rated Raiders' offense nicely. But the Niners aren't scoring, either. Everyone expected a high-scoring game here. Not so far. 2:49:22 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

OpenForBusiness Magazine Says You Can Get By With Linux Just Fine. I don't have recent experience with Linux as a desktop environment, but I have several friends who do. I've asked if I should consider moving to it. Their unanimous answer has been negative. Principally because I need features in my office-equivalent application (forced on me by a book publisher) that none of the Open Source products have. Namely, revision-tracking with comments and style sheet compatibility. Frankly, in all of my other Office-type needs, OpenOffice on Windows 2000 would do nicely (and presumably its Linux equivalent would do as well or better). But as far as I can tell, there is no good Office replacement on OS X yet. Which sort of agrees with this guy's point: I'd probably be better off with Linux than with OS X since neither meets that Office need. Hmmmmmmm The Point Not Taken: "No matter how often it has been said, it seems that many GNU/Linux and Macintosh users refuse to see the obvious. (Open For Business via MyAppleMenu)" Source: myapplemenu 12:41:36 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Jabber, aka XMPP, Gets an Endorsement. I'm a major user of and believer in Instant Messaging. I use Fire on OS X and Trillian on Windows 2000 to have all of my various IM connections available in a single application. That's not really interoperability because there are still seams, but it's pretty cool. Now comes news that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IEETF) has blessed Jabber and its protocol XMPP, for a possible standard. I am delighted! News.Com: IM compatibility closer to reality. Called the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, the group's instant messaging standard gives Internet users hope of one day being able to send messages to anyone on the Net, no matter what software they are using. [Tomalak's Realm] 10:54:47 AM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

A Really, REALLY Big 'If' Dave Winer had this on his Scripting News blog today. Scott Rosenberg: "Restoring competition in the browser -- or even the "middleware" -- market is a pointless exercise today. The unknown innovation, potential productivity and profits that a more freely competitive marketplace in this area might have provided are gone now, irretrievable. The technology industry has moved on to other realms." I strongly disagree. We could open up lots of doors in the two-way-web if Microsoft were taken out of it's monopoly position in browsers. They are protecting Office from the Web. If the Web weren't paying that strategy tax there would be lots of opportunities for growth. [Scripting News] I don't see you and Scott disagreeing here, Dave. What I see is that the condition you impose as a prerequisite for a more positive outcome -- "if Microsoft were taken out of its monopoly position on browsers" -- is one that Scott would agree could change his prediction. I wonder how we can even begin to do that, though. I've reached a place where I find that almost all the other browsers I use are better than IE. But very few people seem to be paying attention or expressing interest. 10:47:31 AM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Focus on the Well-Being Around You!. I don't know John Robb personally, but I like the persona I've gotten to know online. This morning, he says: This is a depressing situation.  The SEC is AWOL, the DOJ has abdicated its responsibilities in favor of security, the courts are in confusion, our President is obsessed with war, our economy is teetering near the edge of oblivion, and our opposition parties are in disarray.  This is not the end of the world, but it does mean that we are in a protracted low point for the US.  We just need to wait this out.  Nothing else to do.  Unfortunately, that may take a decade.  Hopefully less. In the meantime, enjoy your life (family, friends, work, and play) and vote against every person that represents the status quo.  Eventually, it has got to change. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] I want to encourage John -- and everyone else who feels the same way (and that includes me at least some of the time) -- to focus on the real well-being that is all around us. One of my spiritual teachers points out that well-being abounds. "If," she says, "the media reported everything that goes on, the bad news would be such a tiny blip in the news stream it would seem like momentary static." She's right. Several million people escaped the recent DC sniper attacks. 93% of the people in the United States who want jobs, have them. Ten thousand Iraqi children died yesterday and that is a terrible, monumental human loss that I do not intend to minimize. But the fact remains that millions more did not die. I'm not a Pollyanna. Ask my wife (who's actually darned good in that role)! But sometimes we can get caught up in the gloom and doom of the world and forget how much incredible beauty and wonder and wellness there is. Namaste. 10:42:22 AM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

© Copyright 2002 Dan Shafer.