AIM, ICQ to interoperate.  AOL says it will let its next version of AIM communicate with ICQ, a surprise move that will topple the long-standing barrier between the two popular IM services.  [CNET News.com]

"AOL is allowing interoperability with ICQ, which is another way of saying AOL is allowing interoperability with AOL," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market research firm Jupiter Research.

Doesn't "interoperability" mean to open networks so that users of competiting IMs would be able to communicate with each other?  Isn't that the real barrier?  "Technically, allowing AIM and ICQ to communicate does not mean AOL is opening its instant messaging network. AIM and ICQ have been running on the same server network since 1999."

Update:  Okay.  In afterthought, I guess it's a good thing that users of those two particular IMs will be able to communicate - I'm happy for y'all.  But what is it about major news sites that make them misuse language just to make headlines have more punch?  Using the word "interoperate" in the headline is downright misleading, in terms of Internet jargon (related to Internet issues).  The body of the article does clarify it, though... 

New Portal Asks, Who Needs Ads?  InternetNews.com - One portal has found a way to beat the sluggish online ad climate: Don't take ads... at least not the types of ads drawing complaints from Web users.  [Google Technology News] 

>>  In 1865, when "a fine-grained sand" was discovered on Long Island, a "massive sand-minding operation began."  Workers were recruited from Poland and Italy to help supply the "Cow Bay Sand" that paving contracts specified.  "Some workers were buried in sand avalanches. There was widespread protesting of what was called 'the rape of Long Island,' but the mining continued into the mid-1900s." (source)  I thought that little bit of historical perspective might shed some light on the nature of sand mining.  Light?  More like dark - I picture dark surroundings that are dangerous and imagine how the workers may have suffered from inhaling that dusty air for years - not such a pretty picture.  The first issue of today's pick is "darkeXploration" and it looks at the ruins of an old sand mine in the southern part of Poland.  The eerie soundscape and 16 dark photos make me think that what I imagined was probably true...  [Coolstop Daily Pick 10/29/02 via moluv] 

Now - a homemade quad-latte using that wonderful coffee that Kim brought back from Germany - mmmmmm... 

I learned from meryl's notes yesterday that webnouveau.net was no longer online.  I know Donimo, the guy behind the closed site, and am concerned that he has not yet responded to my email.  I hope he's okay.

One of the neatest things about the site was the list of 800 tableless sites (this weblog just happens to be #800 on the list).  It was the only list of it's type as far as I know.  It's interesting to explore what people came up with using tableless designs.

The good news is that Meryl has decided to keep that list alive by grabbing the cached versions of those pages (from Google?) and making them available at her own site.  She's given Donimo credit on each page and mentioned in an update to the original post that if Donimo "has an issue, [she'll] take it down. In the meantime, his valuable resource is back online."  Sounds fair to me and she even plans to post new site submissions to the list.  I hope Donimo gets back to us and thank Meryl for taking the initiative to keep a really good thing alive.  And I also have to thank Donimo for all the work (labor of love) he put into webnouveau.net...

Related Feedback:
Bill Turner let me know about The Big CSS List, which has over 500 sites listed using CSS for positioning - I assume they're all tableless.  Nice to see coolstop and the ageless project listed there as well.  Thanks Bill... ;~) 

October 2002

 


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