Category: internet

the Peanut Butter Manifesto – dumb

On By Rick McIn internet, photos, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Yahoo! is a great company, but one which can do no right lately.

pb.jpgYahoo Sr. VP Jerry Maguire Brad Garlinghouse seemingly leaked a critical memo now dubbed the “peanut butter manifesto“. He called for radical change in the company.

It’s generating more heat than light.

Even I’m ticked off by his hint of merging awesome flickr with lousy Yahoo Photos. Yahoo! owns both products.

Flickr isn’t just technology. Yes, it’s a great UI with a killer back-end and open APIs. But it’s communities. It’s a sense of place. It’s love. …

I have almost 13,000 pictures on Flickr. I love the company, the people who created it, the fact that they don’t think they own my data, that they have open APIs, and that they have created, single-handedly, with no patents and no (or little if any) IP, a whole new market ecosystem for digital photography. A big high-five and a toast to that.

As a photographer, I have a relationship with Flickr. Not with Yahoo. That’s not to say I don’t have relationships with Yahoo, or that I don’t respect Yahoo. I have lots of relationships with Yahoo, and lots of respect for the company. But my relationship with Flickr predates and transcends my relationships with Yahoo. (In fact, I hate the clunky way I was forced to “merge” the logins for both.)

The Doc Searls Weblog : Monday, November 20, 2006

Whatever happened to Jerry Maguire’s Manifesto, anyway?

What are online RSS feeds?

On By Rick McIn blogs, internetLeave a comment

RSS.jpegIf you have not yet tried an RSS reader, I recommend it.

Of many good options, Google reader is recommended. It’s easy to set up, simple for you to see how RSS works.

Q. I keep hearing about RSS feeds on Web sites. What are they and how can I use them?

A. RSS feeds are a very simple and convenient way to receive updated items from Web sites that you like, so you don’t have to go trolling around to each site to see what’s new. Think of it as a Web page that does your surfing for you.

RSS — which stands for “Really Simple Syndication” — … that allows you to “subscribe” to various Web sites, which will then send you new headlines and blurbs soon after they’re posted. …

The updates will all appear in one place, which you can organize the way you want. The material from each site you subscribe will usually appear in its own section as short headlines with little blurbs describing what the item is. They’ll also contain links you can click on to go to the actual site.

… You’ll start by setting up a place to collect your RSS feeds — these are often called RSS “readers” — and choosing the feeds you want to get.

… “RSS brings the Web to you, rather than you having to go out and find things on the Web,” Holston said.

Column: What are online RSS feeds? – Yahoo! News

Wells Fargo bank teaches kids online

On By Rick McIn economics, internetLeave a comment

In an innovative new marketing effort, Wells Fargo Bank has launched a pilot of an online multiplayer video game built entirely inside another virtual world: Linden Lab’s “Second Life.”

The pilot project, known as Stagecoach Island, is a digital environment intended to help young people learn financial responsibility. Visitors there can skydive, fly hovercrafts, dance and shop. But woven into the experience, to which Wells Fargo has been inviting groups of people in San Diego and Austin, Texas, is a series of financial messages intended to help them learn something about money management.

Wells Fargo launches game inside ‘Second Life’ | CNET News.com

stagecoach.jpg

video – Microsoft Virtual Earth preview

On By Rick McIn internetLeave a comment

Microsoft takes on Google Earth with new Virtual Earth

One-upping Google on several fronts–including using real photographs of buildings–Microsoft has released Virtual Earth, a competitor to Google Earth that works with its Live Local service. CNET’s Rafe Needleman gives a preview and compares the two platforms.
4 minutes 2 seconds – Nov 6, 2006

Microsoft Virtual Earth preview | CNET News.com

I’m switching to Google reader

On By Rick McIn internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Alright, I’m convinced.

Like so many others I at first didn’t “get it”. The new Google RSS reader, I mean.

I have been completely satisfied with NewsGator’s NetNewsWire Lite. Why change?

Because Google reader is a completely different way to get information from the web. That’s why.

It takes some setting up — but then Google reader is an ultra-efficient way to browse large numbers of webpages.

Lifehacker describes why he switched from the former #1 on-line reader (Bloglines) to Google Reader.

As I switch to Google reader I’ll report back here on my progress.

google-reader.jpg

Google Reader Frequently Asked Questions

Live.com as good as Google.com?

On By Rick McIn Google, internet, product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Scoble tells that Microsoft Search is close to Google Search in accuracy.

… I just tried a few searches and, indeed, it’s a lot better than it used to be. They’ve significantly closed the gap with Google.

… It’s also fast and the UI is nice. I think it matches Google all the way around on search. …

Now, the problem is, if Microsoft matches Google, who will switch away from Google? I won’t. The trust I’ve built since the late 1990s of searching Google many times a day without a problem is going to be a very hard thing to beat. To get me to switch Microsoft will have to be better than Google.

How about you? Does Microsoft (or Yahoo or Ask) have any hope of getting you to switch your default search engine?

Microsoft’s search a lot better than it used to be « Scobleizer – Tech Geek Blogger

I tried it on the search terms that I know best. Indeed, Live.com is getting better — though it is not nearly as good as Google overall.

The real story is how crappy the Yahoo.com results are in comparison. Do not use Yahoo for search.

the broken promise of free wireless internet

On By Rick McIn internet, product complaints, travelLeave a comment

TODAYonline reports that Singapore will have free wireless internet from almost anywhere on the island by next September.

(via Dvorak Uncensored » Singapore, one giant hotspot — FREE!)

I’m writing this post on free wireless internet in San Francisco, another supposed hotspot of the technology.

My experience here close to silicon valley is that wireless internet, free or not, is inconsistent and unreliable. Weird things go wrong. It is frustrating to work with large files such as video and photos.

My free wireless connection at the glassy Apple Store was no better.

I just want to plug-in.

wireless.jpg
comic source – DoNotUpload.com

where are my glasses?

On By Rick McIn internetLeave a comment

Google has a long way to go before completely organizing the world’s information.

It will have finally … arrived when you will be able to use a search engine to find objects in the house (“where are my glasses?”) or in the office (“where is my stapler?”) in the same way that you locate a book in a library through its electronic catalogue.

Luciano Floridi, Faculty of Philosophy and IEG, Computing Laboratory, University of Oxford.

Interestingly, Professor Floridi sees the future limited by the “energy bottleneck of our batteries” as much as anything else.

Read the detailed article on Tidbits

Tech “refuseniks”

On By Rick McIn internetLeave a comment

Just heard this phrase: Tech “refuseniks”

Tech “refuseniks” will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.

report — The Future of the Internet II

iTunes 7 — Rafe says: Skip it

On By Rick McIn Apple, internet, musicLeave a comment

32069571-2-300-overview-1.gif

iTunes 7 seduces you with features. … download album cover art for music you got somewhere other than iTunes, and it can play tracks without any audio gap between them. There’s a new interface that makes more sense, and it has nice new graphical features. And of course, there’s support for movie download and playback. On my home PC, I eagerly updated from the previous version and fired it up. And I wish I hadn’t. This application is the worst system hog I’ve ever seen. I simply can’t leave it running and expect to get anything else done. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did. But don’t be surprised if you find …

full review on CNet

I try to wait before upgrading software until the main bugs are found by the consumers.

With iTunes in particular, be careful. Unless you are keen on Disney movie downloads (only available in the States) or cover art — stick with your older version.

If you do not have iTunes now, get version 7 for free. It is by far the best music, podcast and on-line video jukebox.