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Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Update: Radio Supports XCOPY Deployment and Synching

There are three modes of remote K-Logging. They are:

1. Remote access to a K-Log through a browser on a random PC.
2. Mobile laptop with a local K-Log tool.
3. Remote K-Logging via e-mail.

In my own post on the issues I noted that while using a mobile laptop is an enticing idea I don't want to give up my desktop workstation, so until there is a way to synch Radio across multiple computers I can't do this.

Well, Jon Udell has a story addressing a simple way to solve my dilemma. In Radio Supports XCOPY Deployment Jon explains:

FWIW, my recipe for backing up Radio, and also transplanting it to/from my notebook PC for travel, is simply:

xcopy /s /d C:radio. T:radio.

In this era of fast networks and capacious hard drives, it's really no problem.

BTW this feature, long missing from Windows due to registry entanglements, is touted as a new thing -- "xcopy deployment" -- in the .NET marketing literature. Works in Radio too :-)

I'm guessing there are some path issues to resolve here, but maybe not. In any case, I know I've seen a script somewhere for fixing paths. So if it is an issue I'm sure there is a fix. Being able to move Radio to a laptop for travel but not having to use a laptop all the time is great thing for me. Thanks to Jon Udell and the power of the web for getting this info to me.

Update: a link to the discussion thread on Andy Fragen's myFixFilePathsAndAddresses script.

In the Same Room Does Not Mean on the Same Page

This cuts to the core of what goes wrong in many virtual teams and virtual organizations. Conference calls don't get it. More meetings don't help. The only thing that helps is getting people to expose what they are thinking in an open fashion. This essay at Technography is well worth your time. It is short, pithy, and to the point.

I don't know where he finds this stuff. This page has an original post date of January 1999. But Ron Lusk has done it again.

Technography: Group Journaling.

So here's the problem: Presentations, all be they clear, graphic, succinct, perhaps entertaining and even electronic presentations, do not a consensus build.

When all is said, and all the presentation presented, and the doing has to get done, the page we're on is not the same anymore. We each have a somewhat different understanding of what we supposedly learned. Informed as we have supposedly become, the information isn't part of our common knowledge. via [Ron Lusk's Radio Weblog]

Radio -- More Than a Blog Tool

After reading and writing about blogging books yesterday I began to think about what it is that separates Radio from the other tools, and why this distinction is important.

I don't journal. There is nothing in my personal life worth remarking on, and tools that cater to the user who wants an online personal journal don't appeal to me. I enjoy reading some journals, but had that been all there was to Blogging I would never have tried it myself.

I'm more interested in business and learning, and I need a different tool. I want something that fosters collaboration with less structure, and less intimidation, than formal KM systems. I want to successfully run a virtual company -- something I now believe to be virtually impossible. But I think a transparent, user-friendly, addictive method for getting people to enter the collaborative system is mandatory for any chance of success.

So when I saw Radio's personal content management, networking, and k-logging possibilities I was hooked. It's still a little rough around the edges, but it's a great tool, and I can see tremendous possibilities for using it in business and learning environments.

I agree with Matt, Radio won't ever be right for everyone. There's no reason for it to be. Blogging is becoming a generic descriptor for a set of personal software tools, with specific types emerging for different users. As Dave Winer said:

In 2002, we're beginning to get to a category of software, with lines of delineation -- Movable Type is different from Manila, and Radio is different from Blogger, if one wanted to study a category, the products are lining up to accomodate. Other than that there's little that each blog has in common with other blogs.

There will be plenty of room for different tools in the future, and I look forward to seeing developments from all the BlogTool writers. My eyes have been opened to a new paradigm in web space. Many years ago I naively thought XML would kill the web as a personal medium, making it too inscrutable for all but the brainiest experts.

I was wrong. The BlgTool writers have taken XML to the masses, and it is good. There are many, many people who don't know it yet. But they will. And when they do there will be a BlogTool to meet their specific needs.

Why Radio?.

Why have I choosen Radio over MovableType? It's a question I've asked myself recently.

I think MT looks like an excellent blogging system. In a few years time I think that MT (or son-of-MT) is likely to be the choice for bloggers who need a little more than Blogger (or son-of-Blogger) will provide.  I don't believe, as much as I love it, that Radio will be that choice.

However I do believe that Radio could be the klogger tool of choice.  Why?

Because Radio has such potential in both a networked (social) and standalone (personal) context.  Because Radio is a general computing platform that has been specialized to handle blogging but could also be specialized for a thousand other applications.

I, along with others, are looking to take it to the next stage with k-log ready tools.  Userland are doing their part with things like Instant Outlining and RCS.

So, that's why Radio. [Curiouser and curiouser!]

Photo-Realistic Choices

Photoshop is clearly the hands-down winner for overall functionality but, frankly, is way overkill for the beginner.

WHICH APP TO USE? Sticking my toe in the digital photography pool, I hear about three applications for photo editing:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Photoshop Elements
• JASC Paint Shop Pro

Does anyone have advice on how to determine the right tool for the job? Is it logical to think that someone just starting in digital photography will find all they need in Photoshop Elements, and because it's from Adobe, the upgrade to Photoshop would be an easy transition?

Adobe Elements 2.0. Adobe has announced an new version of Elements. Version 2.0 adds a variety of new features and improvements including a Glossary of digital photography terms, Quick Fix dialog which can add immediate fixes in... [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]

[Steve Pilgrim's Radio Weblog]

Radio, Mindspring, and ftp

Update: My upstream to Mindspring works as advertised. I think all the problems were related to the BlueDomino ftp server locking up the Radio ftp driver. Once I stopped Radio from trying to upstream to BlueDomino.com everything at Mindspring worked fine.

That URL -- www.mindspring.com/~tfrazier/ -- still works and I can still connect and put files with a regular ftp client. I never really used the space much. I had a couple of subdirectories in it and I used to get Register.com to forward some URLs to those directories rather than pay for hosting accounts.

Steven has a little different setup and his settings might be of value to others trying to put a Radio weblog on a Mindspring account:

server: home.mindspring.com
path: /www
url: http://svore.home.mindspring.com
[X] check...passive mode.

I hope this helps
-Steven Vore

So do I. Thanks Steven! The URL above is Steven's weblog. Go check it out.

Update: Radio, BlueDomino.com, and ProFTPd

I recently setup a new domain at bluedomino.com, using their $8.95/mo plan. This runs less than half of what I pay Interland, and I can have it billed monthly to my credit card, where Interland wants to bill me annually.

But I can't get Radio to upstream to the BlueDomino servers. Seems they run ProFTPd 1.2.5rc1 as their ftp server, and this gives Radio fits and starts.

What's more, Blue Domino doesn't seem to have much of a tech support service. I can't be sure -- I've only just started using them. But so far it takes 2-3 days to get an e-mail from a human, and then it's pretty useless.

Contrast this to Radio support:
I post a note on the Radio discussion group and (usually) within hours I have a response from someone on the Radio team. And the resulting discussion gets the problem solved quickly -- either through references to existing posts or some new information.

Lawrence Lee has picked up the case on the ftp driver and is trying to debug what's happening. Since ProFTPd seems fairly popular among the Linux-based hosting services, I guess the Radio guys would like to understand it. Here's hoping he gets it solved shortly.

Update: Lawrence has successfully upstreamed to a subdirectory under my domin at BlueDomino.com. But I still can't do it. I continue to get the "buffer" errors. And I still don't have any help from Blue Domino tech support -- either via e-mail or through their supposedly LiveChat support. Harumph!

Building Collapse, 1 Dead in Quad/Graphics Fire

Major Fire at Quad/Graphics Lomira Plant Confined

Singing in the News

Newspapers Got The Beat?. " ' Can newspapers help make record companies obsolete? . - By Robin 'Roblimo' Miller - I just downloaded Internet Porn from The Washington Post's Web site. It's one of the quirkier songs available from MP3.washingtonpost.com , a section of the Post's site that allows local musicians to self-publish their work online for free. MP3 download sections are not yet common in daily newspapers, but if enough of them pick up on the idea, newspapers could becom... [The Shifted Librarian]

Night Watch

How to Succeed at Consulting

The Talent Myth [Ye Olde Phart]

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This Page was last updated: 2/9/2003; 11:17:13 AM