Radio UserLand Notes

To all my loyal "readers", you've helped push me to a new landmark: 3GB of transfered files and over 118,000 hits during the month of January. Over half of the hits were for my [RSS feed](http://houseofwarwick.com/rss.xml) but there were other less conventional statistics:

- A JPEG of [Prince Charming](http://houseofwarwick.com/images/prince-charming.jpg) from Shrek was downloaded 2,008 times. - 4,400 of the "entry pages" were for either the index page or for [Steve's Hummus](http://houseofwarwick.com/stories/2004/05/19/stevesHummus.html) - Exactly 10,000 hits came from 66.55.149.35, an IP that belongs to a data center/web hosting provider. It looks like its a web server of some type that also has an FTP server. The provider is Choopa. If you work there, call me and let me know why you hammered my server with 10,000 hits and pulled the most data of anyone. My guess--it's bloglines

[David Berlind](http://radio.weblogs.com/0143327/) is running an experiment in transparent journalism using a Radio weblog. Of note, an [ongoing conversation](http://radio.weblogs.com/0143327/categories/radioUserlandReview/2005/01/20.html#a12) via the comment system with Lawrence Lee at UserLand that asks (and answers) questions he has about the software.

David asks in the [comments](http://radiocomments2.userland.com/comments?u=143327&p=12&link=http%3A%2F%2Fradio.weblogs.com%2F0143327%2Fcategories%2FradioUserlandReview%2F2005%2F01%2F20.html%23a12#a69412) if the comment system could get a preview function. That's a tough one. There's no doubt it can be done, but as you correctly point out in other comments in the same thread, there's work to be done in other places, especially documentation.

I've been using the new iBook for about 12 hours now. It [safely arrived](http://www.ideoplex.com/blog/2005/01/31.html#a1098) yesterday afternoon packed well and nestled in it's original packaging from Apple. It was shocking to open the shipping box and find the iBook stashed like Russian nesting dolls: shipping box, packing material, HP printer box, iBook original product box, iBook.

When I pulled the iBook out of the shipping goodies, it was like stepping back in time two odd years. [Dwight Shih](http://ideoplex.com/) was the original owner and obviously took extremely good care of the Mac. Everything was repacked in the same manner as Apple would have shipped it new: all accessories in their place, all of the shipping software and even the owner's manuals, too. The "final touch" was the iBook at the center of the box in it's correct shipping styrofoam and wrapped in the thin protective sleeve like the day it shipped.

>* Extra points:* the sleeve as correctly put on the iBook so the sticker was up and facing the customer. Stunning.

I was tossing around name ideas while wiping the drive and installing software late Friday. I was leaning towards [Miles](http://www.cristianvidmar.com/2004/12/08.html#a305) but while trading emails with Dwight he suggested 'brubeck', especially since Dave Brubeck is from the same "neck of the woods" in Connecticut.

*brubeck* it is...

I usually try to name my Macs with complimentary names to my iPod (called tjader -- yes, I'm a geek) and I was concerned at first: Dave Brubeck and Cal Tjader? Did they ever have an album together. [Yes](http://brubeck.info/discog/f-trio+tjad.html), they did. Looks like a doosey, too. To complete the jazz theme, I'm using a desktop photo that I took of some 60's-style placemats my wife bought last year


I was a bit nervous about going down to a 12" display but Apple's insistence on quality displays made it a breeze. My eyes don't have to squint because the display is sharp and clear. True to [Dwight's](http://ideoplex.com/) word, there is nary a stuck pixel. 'brubeck' is a G3/700 with the maximum RAM (640MB) and a 20GB HD and the performance jump is significant. I had a [TiBook](http://houseofwarwick.com/2003/03/16.html#a3) back when I first started writing this weblog. I'd say that this is easily faster than that workhorse and the screen is better. The keyboard is well broken in and typing is a breeze with none of the hesitation I expected due to the smaller form factor.

One thing that will have to be addressed is the battery. One of the reasons that [Dwight](http://ideoplex.com) gave me such a good deal was that the battery was shot. No amount of work on his part (nor mine) could get the battery to do anything more than hold a charge for 15 to 30 minutes. It sleeps for days (hooray!) but I have to buy a battery for sure. The good news is that Apple has kept the battery form factor the same since this iBook was made and that means a new battery for the G4 iBooks will work fine. Newer batteries have a higher wattage and I'm hoping that means more run time. Some users in Apple's discussion forums even go as far to say that a new battery gives the older iBooks a better structural rigidity. Go figure.

I figure I'll have this for a year and then return to the ranks of the larger 15" Powerbook. I'll migrate this downstairs for [my wife](http://redbeedesigns.com) to use for music in her studio. All in all, I'm thrilled with the purchase.

Dave has been running down the [features of his aggregator](http://archive.scripting.com/2005/02/03#When:7:00:11AM) at [feeds.scripting.com](http://feeds.scripting.com/rssAggregator) so I headed over to take a look.

I looks like he's taken his a bit of his own history, copying the look, feel and likely some of the clever code of the [Radio aggregator](http://radio.userland.com/newsagg). One of my favorite features of Radio's aggregator is the "magnifying glass" -- -- a little icon that you can click to see all of the news items for that channel (or site).

I modified my copy of Radio's subscription page to add one of those jewels next to each subscription. I can now jump from subscription to subscription when "the River of News" gets to moving too quickly for me.