Posts from April 2004

A search for Gmail on eBay shows there are currently 47 auctions selling free e-mail accounts for Google's new mail service currently in beta testing. News.com reports $61 bids on some of these listings. Nelson Minar was kind enough to hook me up with a Gmail account a few weeks ago, but I have not been a heavy user. I have two invitations available, probably the same for these eBay users. There is nothing in the Gmail terms of use or Gmail program policies against selling these invitations. If this practice bothers you, the only e-mail address listed for feedback...

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Dave Winer writes more and invites more comments regarding the issues raised in the Wired article. I have had some ideas regarding more community sharing of news feed resources. How can aggregator developers better publish their users subscriptions and activities? Would the end user be willing to have their data published? Share Your OPML is a start. What if aggregators had Share Your OPML functionality built-in? Locally stored and placed online as well. Most users have some online space available, either through their ISP, personal site, MSN, .Mac, etc. You have the dateModified field defined in the head. Expand the...

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Ryan Singel of Wired News wonders if RSS readers will clog Web servers. The solution is HTTP status code 304 Not Modified. See section 10.3.5 of the HTTP 1.1 specification for more details. "If a cache uses a received 304 response to update a cache entry, the cache MUST update the entry to reflect any new field values given in the response." Date is a new field value. If no date found (clockless origin server) you use client date....

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Medicare.gov has a new comparison shopping search engine for prescription drugs. Search by zip code for prices for persons with or without Medicare benefits. Robert Pear and Milt Freudenheim of the New York Times profiled the new site today....

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Google filed with the SEC today for an initial public offering. Some quotes from the Letter from the Founders, apparently written by Larry Page: "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." "We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google." "As a public company, we believe a dual class voting structure will enable us to retain many of the positive aspects of being private." "We provide many unusual benefits for our employees, including meals free of charge, doctors...

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Apache Geronimo, the Apache Software Foundation attempt at creating a J2EE compatible container, released its first milestone build. Source and binaries available on the CVS server....

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HiMPACT Sports Technology breaks down sports broadcasts into only the actual plays and highlights. NY Times reports on the technology. "[R]educes a three-hour baseball game to an eight-minute experience." Very useful for baseball coaches, but it seems like the soccer version could use some work before it can be used by staff. Highlights are not enough to evaluate play from a coaching point of view....

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Pepsi drinkers had a one in three chance of winning a free iTunes download, but only 5% of all winners redeemed their winning code, according to News.com....

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Restaurant Magazine released its list of the world's top restaurants and French Laundry of Yountville takes top prize. Chez Panisse is #37. I have not eaten at any of these restaurants....

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The St. Paul Saints of the Northern League are auctioning the opportunity to be a professional baseball player for a day. "[T]he winning bidder will work out with the team and will be guaranteed an official plate appearance." Bidding ends on May 3. Step out to the plate in front of 6,000 fans and take a few swings against the Sioux Falls Canaries....

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