War Against Comment Spam
Mark Glaser wrote about the war against comment spam in Online Journalism Review. He does a good job of gathering various examples and viewpoints from well-known bloggers and publishers….
Writing on feeds, search, widgets, and the social web.
Niall Kennedy's weblog, newest first. Page 41 of 72.
Comments fixed
I thought it was a little odd that I had no comments on the site for a week. Turns out an error in MT-Blacklist prevented any comment submission good or bad. I have dumped MT-Blacklist and comments should now be submitted for approval as usual….
Java powered BMW
The current Business Week features a special report on automotive technology. Jim Kerstetter writes about the new automotive software capable of updates and upgrades such as Siemens VDO Automotive’s Top Level Architecture based on Java. BMW can continually write updates and add-ons that work together without testing, thanks to the underlying Java. Every time a car owner visits a BMW dealer, new software, like a new navigation system, can be added. Partners that know how to program in Java could also write software to run on iDrive. A rental-car company, for example, could automatically send information such as updated mileage…
Firefox Live Bookmarks
I just downloaded the Firefox 1.0 Preview Release. A new feature called Live Bookmarks allows you to subscribe and read RSS and Atom feeds in your bookmarks. A button appears in your status bar to let you know there has been an alternate source detected and the MIME type is supported by Live Bookmarks. A blue folder appears in your bookmark folder with an individual bookmark for each item or entry in your feed. I like the placement of the icon in the status bar instead of in the address bar like Safari RSS. Another branding win for the RSS…
RFC3229 for partial feed retrieval
Bob Wyman, CTO of PubSub, details how RFC3229, “Delta Encoding in HTTP,” could be used to help solve the bandwidth problem of syndicated feeds. In order to allow the number of entries returned in a feed to be no more than the total number of new or modified inserted into the feed since the last time any specific client retrieved the feed, I propose that we rely on RFC3229 “Delta encoding in HTML” with a new instance-manipulation method defined to provide feed specific delta encoding….
FeedMesh
There is some interesting work going on at Camp Foo this weekend. A peering network for weblog or site update notifications as well as a method for pulling down new entries from a server instead of the entire feed….
Klip for Movable Type
I just added a Klip template to my Movable Type installation. The Klip file is defines a RSS file location as one of its elements and adds descriptive tags for consumption by the Serence KlipFolio application.
The environmental savings of digital news
Researchers at UC Berkeley researched the environmental impact of reading a newspaper on a PDA versus in reading the paper form. [I]f just a quarter of newspaper readers around the country switched to reading the news on their PDA, they’d generate just two to three percent of the carbon dioxide that would have resulted from the 14 million print newspapers they no longer need. A good argument for syndicated feeds!…
TypePad’s new look
Six Apart introduced new designs for TypePad designed by Dave Shea. The templates focus on mixed media display such as a photo collection. Video and audio are supposed to be better integrated as well, so hopefully Six Apart added support for RSS enclosures. Post via e-mail is also improved, allowing for up to 5 e-mail sources….
Red Herring on Joyce Park’s Friendster firing
Red Herring has an article about Joyce Park’s termination by Friendster for blogging. In just five business days, Ms. Park estimates that at least two dozen Silicon Valley employers – including Friendster’s most prominent competitors – deluged her with job offers. Good to see things worked out well for Joyce. She definitely received a lot of help sending the word out to employers that she is looking for a new job….
How to pick up your Apple iMac G5
Apple has posted a support document to help users pick up and carry their iMac G5. Before moving your computer, make sure all cables and cords are disconnected. Pick up the iMac G5 by grasping both sides of the computer. Carry it to wherever you wish….
Google looking for Executive Protection Specialist
Google is looking to hire persons as an Executive Protection Specialist. Trained in protective driving and knowledge of surveillance, counter-surveillance and technical surveillance countermeasures. I am sure this is common practice among Fortune 500 companies but the times are changing for Google….
Access to zombie PCs for sale
Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz of USA Today wrote an article about the use of zombie machines to send mass e-mails. They found the asking price for use of a network of 20,000 zombie computers to be $2,000 to $3,000. (via Slashdot)…
McKinsey Quarterly on raising productivity
Stephen Dorgan and John Dowdy of McKinsey & Company researched factors influencing productivity growth focused on the period from 1994 to 2002. They looked at 100 manufacturing companies in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States and found that increases in IT spending has little impact on productivity unless it is accompanied by first-rate management practices. The 100 companies were evaluated on a scale of 0 to 5 for their use of three important productivity tools: “lean manufacturing, which cuts waste in the production process; performance management, which sets clear goals and rewards employees who reach them; and…
Jeremy Wright reviews WordPress
Rick Bruner has the first of his community’s weblog platform reviews on his site. First up is Jeremy Wright’s review of WordPress….
Sybase ASE Express Edition for Linux
Sybase now offers a free version of its database. Sybase ASE Express Edition for Linux is limited to one CPU, 5GB of storage, and 2GB of RAM. (via Slashdot) Competitive free offerings such as MySQL and PostgreSQL help make this happen….
TypePad mobile features integrated into Nokia LifeBlog
TypePad and Nokia have partnered for Nokia’s Lifeblog service. Uers will now be able to upload multimedia to their TypePad weblog using the Atom protocol. The service is currently being demonstrated at DEMOmobile in La Jolla….
Knowing when to delegate
Lauren Keller Johnson wrote an interesting article for the Harvard Management Update about how effective leaders delegate. Do you manage or lead? Does delegating make you more expendable? All good questions raised. I especially like the coverage of how to handle a management position for the star promoted and why knowing the strengths of your subordinates and letting them shine is a good thing….
TiVo and Netflix working together
Later this month TiVo and Netflix will announce a new service allowing subscribers to both services to download movies to their TiVo boxes. (via Matt Haughey) Movie studios will now know who watched their movies, how many times, and at what hours of the day. All information you cannot obtain from a piece write-only media and postal mail. The move drives demand for higher capacity TiVo hardware and will make a new TiVo box a hot seller this Christmas….
Presidential brand association
The Presidential ImagePower study from branding company Landor Associates and research firm Penn, Schoen and Berland revealed the perceptions of George W. Bush and John Kerry by undecided voters. 1,262 Internet survey respondents associated brands with the candidates. George W. Bush was the unanimous choice for Ford, IBM, and Bud Light….
Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0
Michael Heilemann pointed out a video of Steve Ballamer selling Windows 1.0. Hilarious….
Boyfriend Arm Pillow
Japanese manufacturer Kameo is now offering a $77 Boyfriend Arm Pillow. (via engadget)…
Blabble natural language weblog search
Internet Retailer has an article about Blabble, a weblog search company that incorporates natural language processing when parsing weblogs. Blabble just entered its public beta stage on Monday. Take a look at a report for Bourne Supremacy for a better idea of what Blabble is offering that is different than Feedster or Technorati. The software can search the database for relevant words, phrases, and even within defined time frames to gauge how often bloggers referred to a product by hour, day, week and more. It also can search for the same idea as expressed by phrases composed of different language….
Jessica Cutler, The Washingtonienne, in Playboy Cyber Club
In what may be another first, blogger Jessica Cutler, “The Washingtonienne,” is featured in Playboy’s Cyber Club starting today. There is a safe-for-work interview with Jessica on the Playboy site as well….
Congressman Ed Shrock quits over weblog accusations
Ed Schrock, United States Congressman for Virginia’s 2nd District, announced yesterday he would not seek a third term in November. He faced homosexual allegations that surfaced on weblogs such as Michael Rogers’ blogACTIVE. He received a 100 percent rating from the Christian Coalition in 2002 and was one of 233 lawmakers who supported the Marriage Protection Act. The 63-year-old Schrock is married and has one son. Ed Shrock not seeking a third term is the first instance I know of where webloggers have pushed someone out of federal office. Trent Lott is often cited as an example of the power…