Java 1.5 Beta 1
J2SE 1.5 (Tiger) Beta 1 is now available. New for loop, metadata, and generics support among lots of other improvements.
Robert Scoble on WinFS search
Scoble might be taking a break from his weblog, but Andy Beal of Search Engine Guide posted an interview with him today.
The article focuses on WinFS and some specific issues such as metadata for photographs and contacts.
TheyTookEverything.com
TheyTookEverything.com is a gift registry for the recently divorced. Smart idea.
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for AMD Athlon64 or Opteron processors is now available as a customer preview from Microsoft. 450 megabytes to download, and the software expires in 360 days.
The answer to music piracy?
HBS Working Knowledge on the answer to music piracy. A few good points:
- Ted Cohen of EMI Music said that EMI is trying to convince Apple that WMA needs to play on iPod and AAC needs to play on WMA devices. He sees this issue as “critical for consumer acceptance.”
- Few users could afford to purchase the thousands of songs you can fit on an iPod. The assumption is you steal the music.
My legit music collection is around 20 GB. Most are MP3s encoded at 192Kbps using LAME. Enough for a mid-range iPod without room for growth.
MSN Search Beta
MSN has a beta version of its new search engine online. Better differentiation between paid and ranked search results. Categories are from Zeal (LookSmart), paid listings are from Overture, and ranked results are from Inktomi. Two of the three pieces are owned by Yahoo. Microsoft needs to step up and buy LookSmart. They are without a CEO. At around $2 a share their market capitalization is $214. Yes, Looksmart’s properties are mostly written in Java, but there is some C++ in there as well.
Dynamap
Dynamap: Manhattan shows three views of Manhattan (streets, subways, neighborhoods) based on viewing angle.
How to manage smart people
Scott Berkun on how to manage smart people.
NY Times : Airline Self-Service Kiosks
David Jones of the New York Times writes about the growing popularity of self-service kiosks at airline check-in and their growth into the hotel sector as well.
SWIPE toolkit
The SWIPE Toolkit demonstrates “the value of personal information on the open market and enable people to access information encoded on a driver’s license or stored in some of the many commercial data warehouses.” Covers how to decode your driver’s license and request your data from large data warehouses.