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Monday, May 13, 2002 |
"This will let you list your 50 most referrers from google hits. First, download the LittleGreenFootballs referrer script." [scriptygoddess.com]
Radio provides this in my referer log, but it's difficult to read through. What I'd really like is a script that displays this stuff as a straightforward list of search terms. Cumulative tracking would also be helpful, but this would definitely be a great start!
11:46:55 PM Permanent link here
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How much do I owe Brent Ashley? Let me count the ways! Actually, you folks owe Brent because he created a handy dandy PHP script that provides a secondary, truncated RSS feed for my site. Go ahead and scroll on the left until you see a purple XML button labeled "abridged." I'll wait here while you go look, but make sure you come back....
That button is courtesy of Brent's script, which is now running on my server. So if you don't like to see all of my long posts in all of their glorious beauty, you can subscribe to the newborn abridged version and fend for yourself. One note about the secondary feed - it's really more for cleansing feeds, so the HTML characters get stripped out. This means no links within the aggregator posts, and no links at all if I don't include a linked title. I'll try my darndest to start including titles on everything, but it may take a while to get used to it. Thanks for your patience, and remember to be careful what you wish for in the future!
Good thing Brent came along when he did, too, because readers that didn't want me to truncate my original feed edged out the abridged advocates by a mere 3%. So if you're one of those folks that will be taking advantage of this new version, please be sure to lean out the window and holler a big thanks in Brent's direction!
11:33:04 PM Permanent link here
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" 'Information Rules' (1999, Harvard Business Press, $29.95) was written at the height of the dotcom craze as an antidote to the IT industry's hyperbolic declarations and muddled thinking. Clearly, not enough people read it. Authors Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, distinguished professors in both economics and business at Berkeley, set forth the key economic principles that underpin the exchange of information goods. This is a not a dense economics text however. It is a practical guide to the information economy written for the business leaders and MBA graduates who were to revolutionize society. As such they use clear examples, short sentences and small words. [kuro5hin.org]
Another book for my reading list. Right now I'm finishing 'The Tipping Point' and I have 'Going Wireless' and 'Growing Up Digital' waiting in the wings. All of these books were recommended by Jenny so I'm thinking that perhaps she should make up a summer reading list. How about it Jenny?" [Ernie the Attorney]
Well, The Shifted Reading List is my running list of titles that await the day my news aggregator breaks down. If I could pick titles Audible would make available tomorrow, they would be (in order):
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And that's just for starters. However, this raises an interesting point that I've been contemplating recently. MP3 audiobooks that can be downloaded and made portable are a fantastic idea, and Audible has worked out a lot of the kinks. They deserve to be the leader in this area because of their efforts.
But the publishers are still holding back and as a result, I've been disappointed with the number of current technology titles available to me from their site. Doesn't it seem like a no-brainer that the crowd paying for Audible's service would embrace all four of the titles listed above? Am I the only one that sees the potential revenue stream here?
So I want to do an experiment. It appears to me that no audio version of "Emergence" currently exists. This was true for "Fast Food Nation" when I first purchased it from Audible last year, but now the cassettes are available for purchase. Obviously the Audible experiment proved there was a market for the audio version of the title. (I'd love to see sales figures for this, but I've never been able to find them for MP3 audiobooks. If you know where to find them, please let me know!)
I'd like to see the same thing happen with "Emergence." Do distribution on the cheap through Audible, and then decide if there is a market for the physical product. If Scribner would follow up with an Audible version, I bet it would be Audible's number one download within a week. It would bring in a new revenue stream for Scribner and probably new customers for Audible.
But of course, this is out of Audible's control. It's totally up to the publisher to create an audio version. So in the spirit of the net, I've created a petition to ask Scribner (a division of Simon & Schuster) to provide an Audible version of Steven Johnson's title "Emergence." If you think this is a good idea, too, please consider signing it. If anyone besides me signs it, I'll send it in to the publisher. Don't forget, too, that a move in this direction means libraries working with Audible could circulate this title, and a company providing MP3s legally (that you purchase and own) is rewarded for their foresight.
(Oh, and I'm adding Information Rules to The Shifted Reading List.)
10:21:14 PM Permanent link here
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"Americans are far more likely to go online for help making major life choices in things like education and health care than to get romantic or legal advice, a new study has found.
According to a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Net is a useful reference tool in gathering information or to compare various alternatives before making a decision.
'At the same time, the role of the Internet is less significant in intimate situations, perhaps because the need for accurate information is often secondary to the emotions of the moment,' the Pew report said.
Education and training led all other big-decision categories, as 36 percent of 1,415 Internet users said they went online for help choosing a college for themselves or their kids; 29 percent used the Net to improve job skills.
One in four said the Internet played a crucial role in job hunting while 22 percent found the Net helpful in finding a new place to live and the same percentage used online data to make a major financial decision.
The Internet helped 26 percent deal with a major illness in loved ones and 24 percent with their own illnesses, Pew also found. Thirty-three percent used the Internet in deciding on a new hobby and 27 percent said they went online while shopping for a car....
One percent said computer viruses were a major problem, 1 percent cited access to pornography, gambling and games as a big source of trouble for them, and the rest were bothered by ergonomic ills like eye strain and aching joints, Pew said.
Pew report - http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Major_Moments_Report.pdf" [Newsbytes]
Well, the big problem is in that third paragraph when they put the word "accurate" next to the word "information." Librarians know what a challenge it is to get people to differentiate between authoritative and non-authoritative sites, so how are they checking accuracy when they are basing "major" decisions on information found on the net? Still, this study shows how the internet is invading everyday lives.
I'd also like to note that only one percent of the sample population cited access to pornography as a problem. And yet Congress wants to pull federal aid for libraries that don't censor their internet terminals. Go figure.
5:12:43 PM Permanent link here
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Those of you that, like me, love Oreos and love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter will be thrilled to learn that these three wonderful sensations are now available in a bag labeled Double Delight Oreo Peanut Butter & Fudge (click on "varieties"). Yes dear readers, run - don't walk - to your local grocery store to try these out for yourself.
Tip: they're pretty good on their own but like all Oreos, they improve when doubled. Use them to create Peanut Butter & Fudge Double Stuffs and place the peanut butter side of one end on the chocolate side of the other and vice versa. You won't be disappointed!
5:05:43 PM Permanent link here
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"Lego scored a new generation of fans--and made a lot of geeky adults happy-- with the 1998 release of Mindstorms, a robotics invention kit aimed at ages 12 and up. The kit sells for about $220 and contains about 800 Lego pieces, including gears, motors and wheels.
Legions of robot-builders sprang up around the globe, but the company was eager to deliver a cheaper follow-up that also would appeal to a younger audience. The new release, Spybotics, will hit stores this summer and promises to make a lot of kids yearn for their 9th birthdays.
While Mindstorms encourages robot construction, Spybotics encourages human-and-machine interaction.
Priced at $60, Spybotics includes a build-it-yourself, remote-control robot and software that sends players around the world to accomplish a variety of imaginary, secret missions. After receiving their orders, players can rearrange a room or head outdoors to create obstacle courses their robots must conquer.
The robots store a variety of information, like speed and attempted maneuvers, that determine a player's score when the machine is reconnected to the computer. Lego hopes to spark global competition by inviting players to post their scores online....
The mastermind behind some of the most sophisticated NQC-powered Lego robots is J.P. Brown, an archaeological conservator at the Field Museum. Brown, who considers Mindstorms 'unspeakably cool,' has built robots that can solve the Rubik's Cube, play the xylophone and commandeer a kite....
The company has teamed with For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, known as FIRST, to sponsor global robot-building competitions for children 9 to 14. About 1,250 Illinois youths are expected to compete in the state contest, coordinated by a team of Motorola engineers, to be held in December.
The annual event requires young inventors to build robots that accomplish tasks consistent with a particular theme. Web discussion groups already are buzzing about this year's title: 'City sites.' Competition details will be released Sept. 16." [Chicago Tribune, requires free registration]
I want a Lego page to shelve books in the library!
Although not technically a robot, how long do you think it will be before someone builds the first Lego PDA?
3:12:48 PM Permanent link here
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"This leads to schizophenria on the part of Hollywood, which has never been conducive to mental stability in the first place. For example, while Jack Valenti attacks the danger of digital copying for being pristine (A Clear Present and Future Danger), he simultaneously claims (in the press release regarding the DVD burner raid) that digital copies "dupe consumers into purchasing a wholly inferior product." Even when making videocassetes from a DVD, the result "rob[s] consumers of a quality viewing experience by offering an inferior product," according to Ken Jacobsen, Senior Vice President and Director, Worldwide Anti-Piracy, MPA. But wait, in another press release (MPAA Identifies Malaysia as Hotbed of Intellectual Property Theft), Valenti states that, "Unlike traditional analog video piracy, a pirate digital disc is as pristine and pure as the original, further blurring the lines of legitimate and pirate product in the eyes of the consumer." Wholly inferior product or pristine and pure as the original? Hollywood can't seem to make up its mind.
What this means is that the desirability of bootleg movies seems to have little to do with the quality of the bootleg. When movies are readily available at the local Blockbuster to rent at $2.50 for a few days (with guaranteed availability) or are available for purchase for less than $24 (or even cheaper 'pre-viewed') quality would not seem to be a significant consideration with regard to whether a bootlegged movie is desired. Thus, Hollywood's obsession with the 'pristine' nature of digital copies is misplaced. Some bootlegged movies may or may not be 'pristine' copies, but the consumer of such pirated works is never going to be able to guarantee that they will be able to get one of the 'pristine' copies." [LawMeme]
These are my two favorite "take-downs" in Ernest's essay, but the whole thing is a wonderful dissection of this issue. Hopefully, the entertainment industry will pick up on the bigger issue they're missing - that of supply and demand. I have demand, but not for what they are supplying. They're the only ones that can change that equation.
11:08:19 AM Permanent link here
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"A relatively small group of teachers submit practioner items to a single site. Non-virtual school hallway analogy:
- Karen's walking down to the copy room and glances in Albert's classroom. He's teaching a 3rd. grade class how to do blogChat interviews with I-Search contacts. Hmm - pretty interesting. Might work with the oral interview project that she's starting. She detours into Albert's room for a visit.
- I can't figure out how to get my blog's Discussion Group messages to show up in topics format. I leave a note on my door, saying, "Halp!" Karen walks by after her Albert visit, reads the note, and leaves a quick reply, telling me to click the first radio button under Prefs / Discussion.
- Will has a sign on his door announcing, "Portfolio Presentations in Progress." Karen goes into his classroom. A 12th. grader is talking about an article entitled 'Boys in Skirts.' She checks with Will and arranges with the student for a visit to her 8th. graders.
k-12 blogWrite is really just the hallway, an informal commons. Doors are left open a crack if folks feel like it, an invitation for visits. Doors can stay closed too. (We've all had those days - sign in, grab the mail, hide in your room, go home.) Occasionally a couple of folks will talk for a while in the hallway, but usually away from other people's doors. If it gets really good, teachers generally move into a room/blog of their own, leaving the door open a crack." [via Serious Instructional Technology]
One to watch, although I wish I could subscribe to the site.
Addendum: David Carter-Tod comments that I can subscribe, and so can you, at http://www.bayareawritingproject.org/k12blogWrite/xml/rss.xml!
8:44:43 AM Permanent link here
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"Finally, someone in the business admitted what anyone who walks into a record store has known for years: CD pricing makes no sense whatsoever -- and, in fact, it seems completely arbitrary. List prices extend from $18.98 down to $12.98 depending on the musician and record company. The worst offender by far is the Universal conglomerate, which had the nerve to just RAISE the prices of new albums (Ja Rule, Ludacris, the ''Scorpion King'' soundtrack) by a buck, to $19.98. Call it Ja nerve.
For such relentless gouging despite falling production costs, the business is paying its own hefty price. Record purchases are plummeting faster than the Dow. One week last month, according to Billboard, overall sales were 12 percent lower than they were at the same time last year.
People are tired of shelling out nearly 20 bucks to find they only like a couple of songs; no wonder they're downloading so much. Sales have dropped so drastically that to get into the top 10, an act only has to move about 50,000 albums -- about half of what it took in years past.
Executives appear to be learning, albeit slowly, from this people's court. In a desperate bid to get consumers to sample music by new musicians, labels are actually dropping prices for what may be the first time ever. Those $5-to-$10 stickers on releases by N.E.R.D., Norah Jones, Nappy Roots, and Andrew W.K. are no mistake. (And they're each worth investigating, from W.K.'s steroid hair metal to Jones' folk-jazz dinner-party music to the frisky, unconventional hip-hop derivations of N.E.R.D. and Nappy Roots.)
In a development that shouldn't surprise anyone with functioning gray matter, the strategy is working: Those discs are all moving up the charts. Some also credit the success of the Ashanti album to sale prices way below its $18.98 list. How about that: If you price music lower, they will come." [CNN]
I'm willing to pay for my music (I'm not one of those people who thinks everything should be free), but I'm tired of the music industry's price gouging. They should give big discounts on whole albums and provide singles at a reasonable (if not breakout) price. They're the ones that created this environment, and now they need to start living in it. It took less than three years to fully convert me to the desire for purchasing only portable, digital music, and I know I'm not alone. That's saying something for someone who spent the previous decade collecting more than 1,000 CDs.
I was at Best Buy this weekend and I didn't even stop in the music section. I did stop in PDAs to get a look at the new Sony Clie NR-70V, but they didn't have one. :-
8:32:16 AM Permanent link here
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"With $72 million in its second weekend -- a number that would be a tremendous debut weekend for almost any film -- 'Spider-Man' knocked off 'Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace' to become the fastest movie ever to hit $200 million.
'Spider-Man' passed that mark on Saturday, its ninth day of release. It took 'The Phantom Menace' 13 days to reach $200 million.
The comic-book adaptation starring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi has grossed $223.6 million in 10 days, according to studio estimates Sunday. "
I forgot to mention that we saw Spider-Man this weekend, and it was fantastic. You definitely have to see it on a big screen, too. I can see why Glenn asks parents to reconsider taking younger children to see it. Parts of it are very intense, so I guess it depends on the kids.
There was only one part where I was really annoyed at the CGI effects. Unfortunately, I'm anticipating having a very different response to Attack of the Clones.
8:22:06 AM Permanent link here
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"Many political boundaries are based on natural features of the land. A river, mountain range, or canyon will often act as a logical dividing line. City streets are laid out to reflect contour and natural features as well. Other patterns are sometimes hidden in the streets of a town and when the designs are aided by natural features it makes finding them even more fun. If you go for that sort of thing. Sit down with a pencil and a map of anytown. Next, draw the outline of an animal or other shape. Having fun so far?
To make things more enjoyable, take your map and draw a starting point, then mark stops on a path that will ultimately help you actually trace the figure at ground level. Bring along the GPS unit, write down the coordinates at each stop on your drawing. Finish your trek and round up your maps, drawings and readings. Visit GPS Drawing - The Global Positioning System drawing project. Key your data into the GPS-o-graph and stand back as your drawing comes to life. Having access to a GPS receiver isn't necessary to visit GPS Drawing - The Global Positioning System drawing project, but the two will provide hours of entertainment together." [via Site du Jour of the Day]
And I thought Geocaching an interesting application of GPS! There's even a link to GPS artists and to a New York Times article that I somehow missed titled Drawing (and Doodling) With Countryside as Canvas.
7:13:12 AM Permanent link here
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"For the third year running, we are having a competition. The deal is, you have 5 kilobytes to make the best web page or site you can. We'll organize the entries and make them public so people can admire and learn from them.
And then people will rate them, and discuss them. And then special judges will judge them, and we'll calculate the score and award some lucky winner 5k cents (US): $51.20. Finally, about six months later, we will do it all over again.
From right now until 5:00pm pacific time (GMT-8), June 16, 2002, you can enter the 'anything goes' competition, which allows anything you can fit in a 5k download (no server-side processing allowed)."
I'm fascinated by this contest, so I can't wait to see this year's entries! I can't remember if it was like this in the past, but the site is powered by Blogger! Too bad I can't subscribe to notification of new entries....
6:58:57 AM Permanent link here
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Phil Wolff left me a comment noting the following:
"How do we scale up the number of quality human relationships one person can sustain by many orders of magnitude? In an increasingly connected world, how does one person interact with a hundred thousand, a million or even a billion people?" Adrian Scott's contribution to the Edge World Question Center for 2002.
Darned good question.
I subscribe to more than 400 RSS news sources and weblogs now. That is an eight hour day just to keep up. Prioritization, filtering, trusted recommendation, summarization, threading, clustering and related techniques are becoming mandatory to manage the flow in a reasonable time.
Adrian's answer includes the idea of a personal Customer Relationship Management system. Maybe Radio will become part of this? I'd like to see Ryze, my Palm Desktop, and Outlook better integrated with Radio."
I don't have anything to add to this except to say 1) 400 news sources beats my measly 136 (does size matter when it comes to number of feeds subscribed to?), and 2) ditto to everything else. And add extra dittos in bold and italics for the Palm and Outlook wishes, too.
I know Adam Curry does weird and wonderful things with his calendar, but it's a bit over my head to say exactly what those things are. I wonder if they could be part of the equation, too (as might vCalendar). Naturally, I can't find the link to his description of it at the moment, but I know part of it includes making each day's events an RSS file.
12:26:49 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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