Consuming ASP.NET Web services with ASP. [TechRepublic.com 3/28/2005; 6:52:08 PM] If you're still maintaining and developing using standard ASP, you'll have to develop systems that interact with .NET Web services. Find out how the Microsoft SOAP Toolkit 3.0 makes this interaction simple to implement.
7:14:01 PM    

Java on cellphones make a lousy platform for games. [Michael Gartenberg 3/28/2005; 1:53:15 PM] I have never felt that Java was great for developing end user applications. Back in the days of network computing hype, when Java applets were going to put Microsoft out of business (I still have a Java version of Lotus SmartSuite here somewhere) I always pointed out that Java was a good interpreted programming language with a really great PR agency behind it. It's also much slower than native apps. Lately, Java has found a new home in cellphones for doing apps with the same promise of write once, run anywhere. And the same issues are happening again as folks discover that write once run anywhere isn't reality and there's poor performance involved. So it's nice to see John Carmack weigh in on the subject in Cell phone adventures:"The biggest problem is that Java is really slow. On a pure cpu / memory / display / communications level, most modern cell phones should be considerably better gaming platforms than a Game Boy Advanced. With Java, on most phones you are left with about the CPU power of an original 4.77 mhz IBM PC, and lousy control over everything." Don't recognize the name? John created a little game that popular back in the 90's. It was called Doom :)
7:12:40 PM    

Long Tail TV Data. [The Latest from Brightcove 3/28/2005; 1:52:07 PM] Chris Anderson of Long Tail fame has got a great piece today on some of the raw data that supports the notion that television is the most ripe media industry for a Long Tail economic transformation.  We couldn't agree more! ...
7:04:49 PM    

Appropriate Friction. [The Latest from Brightcove 3/28/2005; 1:52:07 PM] In general, friction is an artifact that we try to remove. Friction is a literal drag on mechanical devices. Outside the physical world, businesses focus their efforts on creating frictionless environments. In many ways, the power of the Internet...
7:04:01 PM    

Evolving Lego Mindstorms:  [Slashdot: 3/28/2005; 11:54:24 AM] With a fairly simple routine, you can model evolution with Lego Mindstorms. In this hackaday experiment, robots were created that could mate, evolve, and become extinct. Similar technology could be used in real applications for deployed robot optimization and automatic software updates. Now that physical robot replication is near, it's only a matter of time before... well... You'd better make robot friends while you can.
12:52:34 PM    

Indigo, Avalon Previews Available to All Comers. [Redmond | The Latest News from Redmondmag.com 3/28/2005; 11:54:15 AM] Over the weekend, Microsoft posted the "Indigo" and "Avalon" community technology previews for free to anyone with the bandwidth to download them.
12:50:58 PM    

O'Reilly Digital Media: Resurrect Your Old PC for Music -- With Linux. [Linux Today 3/28/2005; 3:52:50 AM] This anything-but-Windows article "will show you how to resurrect a tired old PC by installing a modern operating system, and then revitalize the computer as an internet-enabled CD player, DVD burner, and MP3 jukebox..."
12:48:15 PM    

Thomas Hawk Blogs with us on MediaCenter PCs and DVRs. [Michael Gartenberg 3/28/2005; 9:52:49 AM] Thomas Hawk has had a look at our report, "PC and Standalone Digital Video Recorders, Strategies to Cope with an Uncertain Market" and gives us some analysis of his own: How TiVo and Microsoft Ought Best to Fast Forward the DVR Revolution [summary]:

1. Microsoft needs to shore up the remaining bugs in their Media Center technology.
2. TiVo should consider adopting a cell phone model and give away TiVos with a service contract.
3. Both should better push their products through the retail channels.
4. Both should offer standalone versions of their software: one sold cheaply online and through outlets like Costco and another through a “Geek Squad” type Best Buy partnership.
5. Both should be forthcoming about an upgrade path to cable and satellite supported HDTV.
6. Both should promote the unique and value added services offered by their products compared to cable and satellite freebies

In general, Tom thinks we're a little off in our suggestions for increased marketing and I don't totally disagree. Remember though, Tom, you know what a DVR is, marketing to you is a lot different than marketing to an audience that is clueless about the functionality.
12:44:42 PM    

History Flow Shows How Wiki Articles Evolve: [Slashdot: 3/28/2005; 12:53:16 AM] IBM has released a preliminary alpha version of its History Flow Visualization Application that shows how collaboratively created documents evolve. The tool is written in Java and it's available for download along with plugins for MoinMoin and MediaWiki. They have some interesting screenshots of the Wikipedia articles on abortion, Brazil, and love.
12:43:53 PM    

Sifry's Alerts: State of the Blogosphere March 2005, Part 3: The A-List and the Long Tail. [The Latest from Brightcove 3/28/2005; 9:52:09 AM] Excellent piece about blogs + The Long Tail. The quiet power of targeted communities represented by blogs will disrupt marketing, advertising and the economics of media. We've come a long way since people wondered if a TV channel about sports...
12:33:38 PM    

Defining the Relations Between Blogs, E-zines, RSS and E-mail. [MarketingStudies.net] RSS and e-mail are content delivery channels; the tools that enable us to deliver our content to end-users, and in the case of RSS, to online content aggregators as well. Blogs and e-zines are two different internet media content formats, differing in how/what content is provided and presented through them. Personal preferences towards content delivery channels and internet content media formats have no place in business. What matters is what our customers want and how they want it. [via Lockergnome's RSS & Atom Tips 3/28/2005; 5:53:28 AM]
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