$36? Ok. So maybe it was the guilt. Or perhaps I just needed to find something new to write about. Or possibly I just was curious to see what happens. I haven't contributed to Tony's car fund, never made a donation on his blog and I didn't buy his inaugural busblog book. Yet I read his site regularly.
So when he started what seems to his annual "link auction" I thought to myself, "once again, there goes Tony with a unique idea". Now I know Tony is not immune to employing traffic building tactics for his blog. Hell, his Anna Kournikova photo essay catapulted him to fame and gave his weblog hosting service indigestion. I mean come on. Nude pictures of famously pretty women are guaranteed to mark a spike in traffic. Me? I get pretty good traffic. Nothing like Tony. He admits at times that he needs more, though. But remember, nothing he writes is true. For me, I'm not a traffic whore, per se. I want people to come here to read, think and spend time. Meet new friends. Hook up with old ones. Not simply to look at pretty picture -- of women. Though my recent provocative strip tease photo essay was linked around the blogosphere and caused my traffic and ranking to climb dramatically. But nothing like Tony. Don't get me wrong. Tony's other photo essays don't all rely on shots of sexy women. Some are quite good and insightful.
Curiously, I checked his link auction the other night. I wondered. How much would someone pay to be linked on his blog? At the time I think the high bid was around $30. So I punched in a bid. I mean the last time I saw Tony we compared notes on the Slippery Shrimp at Yang Chow in Chinatown (slide show movie). I figure the next time we'd be dining together I'd buy the wine. And it certainly would exceed the $36 level of this link auction. So what the hell. I never thought I'd be the winning bidder. But it happened. I did.
But let's think about this. How many of Tony's visitors will find anything as provocative or titillating in the Digital Tavern as they may find on Busblog? I mean I don't typically post pictures of sexy and seductive women. I'm not a huge sports fan and I don't like to write about it. I rarely watch TV, and my photo essays tend to go like this(5mb download so be patient).
But that's beside the point. Maybe Tony's readers would like my essays or posts on McDonald's, ClearChannel,even European Football and Hungarian girls or where to have sex in Romania? Truly, there's something for everyone here. Even if they don't find something here, I'll rest a little easier knowing I've made my contribution to Tony and his excellent and most creative blog. Thanks and keep it up -- rather -- keep at it Tony!
2:29:08 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Lieutenant Smash from the front lines in Iraq sends this letter to Jacques Chirac (thanks InstaPundit for the pointer). Perhaps we could pull a fund together to send Jacques a case of California wine to go with it.
1:18:52 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Have you ever been to Tony Pierce's busblog? I've blogrolled him (the links in the left column titled "Read These") for nearly six months. Why? Because Tony is creative. He writes in a conversational nearly stream of consciousness tone. But its not only his writing that's creative, it's his thinking and ideas. Provocative photos. And interesting fund raising.
But the trouble with Tony is he's been riding the bus to get around LA - which by the way takes creativity just to figure out the LA bus system - a city where your car is king. But could his bus riding may be the foundation of his creative expression?
We'll see. Because Tony wants a car. That's why sometime last year after realizing a brisk spike in visitors to his blog that Tony figured he's ask for donations. I think he called it the Tony Pierce car fund. Great idea. But it looks like his rate of return on his quest would take more than 3 years to yield enough dollars to buy a car. Let's make a mental note to check his blog out after he's had a new set of wheels for awhile.
There's no question. Tony's creativity and work has made me smile, wonder and even wander in the past. True, he admits nothing he writes is true. But I wonder. He's received letters from George Bush and Tiger Woods. He's hung out with the prettiest girls in LA. HE even got the shit beat out of him by a young girl's father in a Las Vegas motel room. He even has good taste in music -- even if only under guise of a third party poltical statement. You just never know with Tony.
Visiting Tony's site every day I kinda feel like the guy passing a panhandler on the street while avoiding eye contact at all cost. Clutching my loose change with purpose. No. Tony's not a panhandler. But you gotta admire his ambition. And his ambition does not solely relate to his efforts in getting a stipend or tip from people who enjoy a daily does of Tony. Nope. it goes way beyond. Tony has long desired a position as a writer at the LA Times. And he's not afraid to admit it. Problem is, they haven't called him in for an interview. Yet in his defiance of the LA Times' lack of sense, Tony admits that even a job at the paper might not offer him the opportunity to do what he loves -- to write freely. So he does just that every day. On his weblog. After all, isn't that what 'blogs' are all about? His rewards might not be as financially attractive writing for busblog as they might be with The Times. But what's the price of freedom anyway?
Good for Tony asking readers to pony a little for Tony.
It's not like he's asking for something for nothing. Tony delivers. Every day. Tony even published a book last winter celebrating the first anniversary of his busblog. Made up largely of a collection of his first year posts, he published it himself. For those faint of reading long weblog posts, Tony's book is your cure for the tactile feeling you only can get cuddling up on the coach reading or simply an alternative to run of the mill "on the can" reading.
So take a ride over to Tony's busblog. If you like what you read perhaps you would contribute to his car fund. Or, maybe even buy his book. All else, you could make a donation. Maybe I'll join you. Pony for Tony?
1:17:28 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I made my first purchase from iTunes Music last night. A remix version of Bob Dylan's "Everything Is Broken". I tried yesterday in NYC to browse and purchase, but I think everyone had the same idea and Apple's site was slammed. I kept getting errors. No problems last night. The jury is out on the AAC code used for this purchased music. The bit rate is 128k where I'm used to encoding my MP3s at 256 or better. Of course my MP3 file sizes are enormous compared to an MP3 encoded at 128 or 160, but the lower bit rates sound like crap. AAC is supposed to keep file sizes lean while offering audio quality that matches or exceeds higher MP3 bit rates. If the promise is realized, kudos to Apple and Dolby for taking this leap.
I read on a forum somewhere that while you can burn the purchased music to a CD with no problem. And you can even then re import that song using the MP3 code. This would be something someone would try in order to share the newly encoded MP3 file with others using Kazaa or something. I haven't done this, but the word is the audio quality sucks -- but then maybe that's what Kazaa users are used to. I prefer high quality.
Joi still isn't sold on Apple's proprietary service and questions Apple's locking/authorization scheme. I'm less concerned. The music I purchase can be transferred to unlimited number of iPods, I can burn the music to CD unlimited times as long as my playlists change (there's a 10 CD-burn limit of the same playlist). And while Joi, like me, is an early adopter, philosophically he has something against the DMR approach Apple and the record companies are taking toward this service. Still at 99¢ per song, a typical album/CD of say 14 songs (
Norah Jones Come Away With Me disk, for example) the cost would be $13.86. Today you can buy this CD at Amazon for $13.49. With standard shipping the cost delivered is $16.49 plus tax, if applicable. With overnight shipping the cost is $24.47. Or, you could use Amazon's in-store pickup program and buy it for $14.99. My total cost here in Southern California would be $16.15. So by purchasing from Apple I would save $2.29 off the lowest cost. Of course, I don't get the jewel case nor the printed insert. So Apple's iTunes Music service doesn't save any money per se. But it does offer a convenience, instant gratification and for now, novelty.
I think the important point to consider is the fact that Apple has convinced the record companies to do something that nobody else has been able to do. And that it wouldn't ever do itself. That is, stop whining and complaining about digital music and stop trying to protect your sacred ground as its being pulled out from under you by suing anything or anybody that impedes on its long over do virtual stronghold on music and other content. Or even today, the RIAA sent an instant message to Kazaa and Grokster users threatening legal action. And if were up to the record companies, I'm confident that they would prefer to simply offer hardcore copyrighted music that would be locked to a single computer with perhaps a single CD burn per song. One thing I'd like to see is the ability for new artists to get music posted to this or a branch of this service. Not unlike MP3.com, but even better. Problem is with the big record companies tied in with Apple the content that is featured on the site becomes much like a listening post at Borders or Barnes & Noble: paid for by the record company. The artists getting pushed get more play and more sales. I would like to see the smaller labels represented and even the DIY musicians where much of the great music is originating from. So my call to Apple is to open the door and let artists participate. With 30 seconds of free listening, let the market decide which music it wants to listen to or buy. The promise of better music, more interesting music and different music can be made by a service like iTunes Music. Let's do it. Dave has some similar observations here.
In short, so while the service may not be perfect and it will still get the DRM opponents up in arms, it's sometimes best to look at the positive that comes from this infant called ITunes Music. It's the best option we have now. And like virtually everything else Apple has innovated, I'm confident we'll see copycats and other innovation. After all, competition is the spirit of the free market system. We can actively support, comment and get involved in what's next in digital distribution of entertainment. It's likely to get better and more interesting.
4:57:49 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Sitting on my Continental flight direct from Newark to Orange County. What a breeze getting from SoHo to Newark. And the airport experience was so much quicker and easier than my departure from Orange County. I was at the airport 65 minutes prior to my flight. And after checking a bag, going through security and grabbing a coffee, I still had time to check email, charge my battery and have a snack in the Continental club lounge. Sweet.
Flying over the Rockies right now. Beautiful. I'm feeling cramped in this coach seat with this HUGE computer. But I should have such problems, huh?
Small World Syndrome
After Steve Jobs' presentation I was sitting in the theatre at the SoHo Apple Store. Figured I'd take advantage of the free wireless massive bandwidth and dowload the new iTunes 4, QuickTime 6.2 and the iPod update so I can play AAC encoded audio files. I pop my head up and this guy yells "Hey Allan" and walks up to me. Unbelievable. It's Greg Kiernan, an old elementary through high school buddy. Last time I saw him was at an NAB show in Vegas 3 or 4 years ago. He used to run a video production company in New Mexico producing ads and content for the Discovery Channel. Now he lives in NYC's East Village and working for a production company just blocks from the Apple Store. We had lost touch since he left New Mexico. Funny thing, he had seen my blog and tried to email me at my old PRISCOMM and Wirestone email addresses but no luck. And he'd found my blog but the "email me" link had escaped him. I guess I should make that a bit easier to find. I'm always amazed at how times I miles away from home and in a new or strange place when someone recognizes me or vice versa. Wacky. But cool.
8:09:28 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
This is my live report from the SoHo Apple Store in Manhattan. Standing room only crowd here to watch Steve Jobs introduce new iPods and Apple's new online Music Service.
Listen.
Steve announces new iPods: 15GB, 20GB and 30GB.
New iPods
thinner and lighter at .62 pounds the 30GB holds 7,500 songs.
- now has FireWire port on bottom
- new dock that will charge and has line out for home stereo
- no longer two versions (boxes) for Windows/Mac - ship in same box
- USB 2.0 with accessory cable for power $19
- All touch sensitive controls - no moving parts
- Software includes on the fly playlists (from your iPod)
- Backlighting
- New games including Solitaire
Steve is demoing new software and chooses Bob Dylan - his favorite artist. He is building playlist on the iPod beginning with Simple Twist of Fate.
The Menus are now customizable by offering ability to turn on and off menus/features.
Comment: I love this new dock and the iPod appears to have been rounded even more at the corners. The small size looks great. Can't wait to get one in my hands.
10GM iPod is now $299
15GB is $399
30GB is $499 (the 10GB does not include the dock, other models do)
Manage.
-iTunes 4.0 is released.
-Now includes AAC encoding,
-Rendezvous support.
-Now iTunes can share playlists across Macs.
-DVD archiving now included.
-Album cover artwork can be brought into iTunes now.
Wow. I'm impressed about how Rendezvous finds Phil Schiller's PowerBook and pops up on Steve's Mac. He illustrates that this is only streaming sharing and once Phil leaves the songs and playlists go away. This is all over Airport Wireless networking.
Acquire.
Steve is talking about Napster and Kazaa.
He shows benefits of downloading from these services - especially because it's free.
He is talking about Rhapsody and PressPlay and how these downloading services aren't a good alternative to the free way via Kazaa or in the past from Napster.
Steve shows a great quote from Hunter S. Thompson about the music industry and record companies. Must go back and find that.
New music service already has 200,000 available for purchase at 99¢ per song. Service offers unlimited CD burning. There is an authorization scheme that allows music downloaded only available on max of 3 macs. Songs can be played on an unlimited number of iPods.
He explains that for the price of a Starbucks Latte you could buy 3 songs.
Now he explains how difficult Kazaa service is. Averaging that it takes 15 minutes per download due to complexities of finding right song, getting a complete download. He says four (4) songs would cost $3.96 on Apple's new service -- meaning that downloading songs you're working for less than minimum wage.
Buying songs is now easy because you can browse through Apple's music store like an iTunes interface and one click shopping.
Exclusive songs available only on Apple's service from Bob Dylan, U2 and eminem and 20 or more others. Wow. Differentiation. Downloaded songs now feature Album artwork.
Steve is showing how the interface works. He shows how the interface features "breadcrumbs" to give you a trail where you've been in the store. He shows that the interface offers you the ability to find new music you might not have been exposed to in the past.
Bob is showing the exclusive tracks. Now showing a Bob Dylan movie from Apple Music store website that has never been shown before - Tangled Up In Blue. Very cool. Showing artists pages to see videos. Doesn't cost anything. This is way for visitors to experience new music and ideally encourage them to make a purchase.
iTunes Music Store is the official name. And it's open today. New iTunes is required and older iPods require a free update - both available from Apple's website today (within 30 minutes). iTunes Music Store is Mac only today. But available for Windows by the end of 2003.
Steve is showing new video. Very cool. SoHo Apple Store employee (Ian Robinson) from the SoHo store (where I'm blogging from) made this video. Great video and the people in the store hear are cheering and very excited.
Video features artists talking about iTunes and how excited they are about iTunes, iPod and iTunes Music store. Bono from U2, Wynton Marsalis and Alannis Morrisette
I've just downloaded the new iTunes 4, the iPod update and QuickTime 6.2. Browsing the store is easy and fun. I think the site is getting slammed because I'm having difficulty accessing the Bob Dylan page. I want to purchase the new exclusive Dylan song to fully experience this new service from Apple. More on this later.
12:17:08 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Steve discusses 3 million downloads of Safari, iLife and FinalCut Pro.
Then he plays the controversial Rip. Mix. Burn ad. Explains that "Rip" doesn't mean "rip off". He goes on to explain that perhaps better words for those "over 3" might be Acquire. Manage. Listen as the alternative.
Apple has sold 7 millioin 700,000 iPods making it the #1 selling MP3 player in the world -- comparing it to how the Sony Walkman became the leading mobile listening device 20 or more years ago.
Sitting in the massive SoHo Apple store in Manhattan. Huge Theatre compared to other stores. Satellite broadcast of Steve Jobs' launch event. The song playing at Moscone Center prior to Steve taking stage is Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing" -- appropriate for what we're going to hear today. Steve is going through the reviews of the new PowerBooks.
12:05:55 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I'm planning on attending the Steve Jobs/Apple Computer press announcement and "event" at the SoHo Apple Store later today. I'll try blogging from the event. More later.
2:14:09 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Light blogging. Still in NYC and NJ. Great wedding in Connecticut yesterday. Congratulations to Ken and Robin.
2:12:20 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Eric Boehlert writing in Salon his seventh in a series on media consolidation today focuses on the mega-merger between Hispanic media behemoth Univision and ClearChannel owned Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation.
Univision is the largest Spanish-language TV, cable and music company, while HBC is the largest owner of spanish-language radio stations. The merger would likely create a potential monopoly and offer the merged company with unprecedented reach in Hispanic audiences.
[...] for its influence to compare with the astounding role a post-merger Univision would play in the Spanish-language radio, TV and music markets, Clear Channel would have to first go buy EMI Records and then NBC as well [...]
For me, I'm less worried about the business aspects of the deal and the political power ClearChannel can wield with its vast media empire than I am about the homogenization and sterilization of programming. This type of power and its affect on innovation and originality in our culture in terms of creative (music and TV programming) and certainly for its news and current event coverage.
[...] As is the case with Clear Channel, blamed by critics for reducing radio's diversity and dumbing down its programming, Univision's brand of programming has also come under fire. One New Times Los Angeles critic dubbed its Spanish-language diet of breathless novellas, or soap operas, imported from Latin America, as "the dumbest, cheapest, most prurient TV programming imaginable." And like Clear Channel, or "Cheap Channel" as it's sometimes known in the radio industry [...]
2:05:34 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I'm sitting on my Continental flight from John Wayne Airport to Newark. I should rephrase that. I'm sitting in coach on this Continental flight. The guy in front of me has his seat fully leaned back. I've got the computer centered on the tray table in front of me. There's barely enough room on either side of the computer to place a pen next to the computer. I can get the screen open 90 degrees perpendicular. It's almost as side as the head rest in front of me. The front of the computer extends about 3" beyond the front edge of the tray. There's about 4" of room on the tray beyond the back of the computer. The front barely touches my stomach. Someone with a bit more (or a lot more) girth in the mid-drift would not be able to have the screen open to a perpendicular position.
I've heard a number of people comment about the position of the keyboard on this 17" PowerBook. While visually it doesn't bother me, it does look like there's a lot of space in front of the keyboard. But sitting in an airline seat, this extra space is actually functional. Typing is actually somewhat comfortable. If the keyboard were any closer to the front of the computer, I'd have to be in kangaroo or teradactyl position in order work.
Perhaps the coolest feature is the automatic dimming of the screen and rear lighting of the letters on the keyboard. When I close the window shade and turn off the overhead light the computer transforms itself into night mode. Subtle but cool.
As for battery life, I've been working for under 45 minutes and the machine has been sleeping for a couple hours prior to that. The battery monitor currently indicates 2 hours and 4 minutes remaining. And I've got the energy savings set to maximum battery life. Needless to say, this isn't great. But powering a 17" LCD, back lighted keyboard, DVD player (not currently in use) Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless I'm not sure I should expect more. But I'd like more. Fortunately, I did purchase a second batter because making the cross country trip in this coach seat without a laptop power source, I'm going to need it.
7:46:29 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Today I got a mailer (snail) from Quark with a $299 offer to upgrade Quark Xpress from version 4 to 5 ($399 to go from 3 to 5). And the buyer would then automatically qualify for a free upgrade to version 6. As you may not know, version 5 only runs on Mac OS 9. And while I won't rant about Quark's customer service history with me and my old agency, but to be blunt, it sucked. And my experience was not isolated.
I had to laugh when I got the mailer. I don't do much page layout myself, but if I do need to bang something out I'll use Adobe InDesign. It's native in OS X and it's simple, sleek and powerful.
The Quark mailer comes right on the heels of Quark's press announcement earlier this month that is actually had an OS X version of Quark in development. But with my experience on Quark and its update history I think waiting for Version 6 will make my waiting game for this PowerBook be a walk in the park. I have no hope or patience for anything Quark does. The press announcement was just a well choreographed effort to convince the league of users still hell bent on Quark but living in the past versions of 3.32 or 4.11 or something like that.
Check out John Grubel's excellent interpretation (rather, his translation) of Quark's press announcement. I don't think I've seen a better tongue in cheek stab at Quark's poor policies and its attitude toward customers in a long time. And Dean Allenchimes in with more about InDesign and why Quark still can pull off it's flippant attitude without customers running for the nearest exit.
For me. I'll use InDesign. Unfortunately my art directors and production team are afraid to loosen their grip on Quark.
4:45:54 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Authoring my first post on the new PowerBook. This thing IS big. Huge lines at baggage check-in and even longer at security caused me to miss my early morning flight today. I'm about to board the only other available flight to New York. This means I miss Ken's bachelor party this evening, but I'll be there with bells on for his wedding in Connecticut on Saturday.
I've very curious how it will be sitting in coach on Continental Airlines with this mammoth lunch tray for a computer will be. I've got some work to do and I also brought a couple DVDs. The screen is awesome. I just am a bit fearful of the guy leaning his seatback into my new toy. Oh well. We'll see.
I'll have plenty of observations after a few more days of use.
4:45:13 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
What can I say. After five months of waiting for a new PowerBook, my new Apple 17" arrived just over an hour ago. While I'm not yet blogging on this brilliant expample of designa nd technology, I did want to share with you some of the excitement and anticipation as I greeted the FedEx lady through booting the machine. Take a moment out of your day, sit back and chill through a 30 second clip. Just click here. (it's about 3mb so may take a minute to download)
I'll share more of my experience with this over the next week or so.
1:20:28 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Anil asks "If Google can index a couple billion pages and return the results in .03 seconds, why does a search of my hard drive take 30 seconds?" And has a good answer.
11:32:51 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I've received a reminder from Userland Software: my Radio subscription expires in 43 days. This means just over a month till my one year blogging anniversary. Let's start the party planning now. I'm already thinking about the wine list. And the menu. Who wants to come?
3:29:17 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I can feel it. My PowerBook is getting closer. I thought it might be here on Tuesday. But I've learned oh so well how to manage my expectations. Per FedEx it arrived from indianapolis in Los Angeles at about dinner time Tuesday. So bar the short 40 some mile journey from LAX to the FedEx Orange County dispatch, I should hear my doorbell ring today about 9am. Stay tuned.
Date/Time
Scan Activity
4/22/03 19:14
Arrived at Sort Facility/LOS ANGELES CA
4/22/03 15:49
Left FedEx Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN
4/21/03 20:20
Left FedEx Ramp/C.K.S. INTL AIRPORT TW
4/21/03 20:15
Held at Sort Facility/INDIANAPOLIS IN
4/21/03 14:39
Left FedEx Sort Facility/ANCHORAGE AK
4/19/03 23:56
Arrived at FedEx Ramp/TA YUAN HSIANG TW
4/19/03 21:05
Left FedEx Origin Location/TAOYUAN CITY TW
4/19/03 20:56
Picked up by FedEx/TAOYUAN CITY TW
3:01:45 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I love the 'new' Sony Ericsson T68is all in its Bluetooth glory. But the phone is too small. The screen is too small and when holding it up to my ear to speak (that is assuming I haven't plunked down $300 for a BlueTooth headset) I feel like a dainty English woman trying at afternoon Tea trying oh so carefully to hold my teacup in the 'proper' manner. I've been using the Kyocera 6035 SmartPhone with its built in Palm device. I'm often accused or observed of having a "big" one. Uh. My phone. But I'm quickly to point to those carrying dual devices or others who walk around like my contractor or PacBell phone guy with a hefty (read: big) belt with lots of things dangling.
So when Kyocera announced last year that it had in development the sequel to my phone: the Kyocera 7135. A web survey not long ago found this phone to be the most desirable converged device. The phone features a great color screen, integrated Palm OS, MP3 player, SD disk for storage and much more. And as a Verizon subscriber, this phone has not been unlike the new Apple 17" PowerBook -- announced long ago and sightings as rare as your favorite endangered species. Yet, I can't help but wonder where the BlueTooth is in this phone? Too long in development and at the design phase Bluetooth was still pie in the sky technology? The folks at Verizon are clueless about BlueTooth. Apparently Kyocera is too.
Sprint was the only other provider to offer this phone. And my friend Bryan recently reported to me that Sprint no longer carried the phone and was not planning on offering the 7135. They sold him a Samsung SPH-i330. He loves his new phone as he's as much bent on a converged device as I am. But I've got issues. Put simply, I want a keypad that's not the same as the LCD screen. Why? Tactile. I want to feel the keys as I dial. Other reasons? Fingerprints. Oil. Clarity. Granted, with voice dialing you can avoid some of these things -- but voice dialing still needs training and with over 500 contacts in my phone, I'm just not going to take the time to train more than a handful.
So when I read about Samsung's new SGH-i500 I got the tingle up my spine that only a techno-junkie gadget geek could get. This looks cool. As i grow weary of my grayscale screen on my Kyocera and experience true LCD screen color envy from my associates I wonder what waiting till Q4 2003 (which means I'd be lucky to see it in Q1 2004) will do for my mind given the recent PowerBook test that taxed my patience. One can wonder.
Cool thing is that the new Samsung phone features a form factor not unlike the Kyocera new 7135. This means that even Samsung realized the limitations of the LDC touchscreen interface versus true keypad tactile input. But where's the BlueTooth? Important to note is the integration of Palm's next-gen software: v5.2. Recently I've wondered about the viability of future Palm OS and Palm devices. With Windows CE, the Symbian operating system now found in many phones and the convergence of this and MP3 players, digital cameras and more into phones means stiff competition for Palm. Five years ago nearly everyone I did business with had a Palm device. Today? Hard to find.
Palm has a hard road ahead. It clearly has stagnated in innovation. Yesterday it released two new products. One with an integrated digital camera as well as a belated foray into WiFi (802.11) wireless. Another apparently targeted at the low end of the market. I'm not sure that's where Palm's future is. Price is never a good future for any company. It's competition today is Sybian and telephones. It had better ramp up its alliance and relationship efforts and stick to a streamlined hardware platform in order to ensure viability. Even this type of push may be too late.
2:32:27 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
You've probably read some of my comments and thoughts on NoteTaker in the past. Including my long lost mini-review of the product due to the previously mentioned computer nightmares I've lived with over the last thirty days. No worries. The good folks (read: Matt Neuburg) at TidBITS have posted an excellent review -- and he loves the product. I'm not going to go on raving about this, but while I'm on a bit of a technology/software product brain dump here, I urge you to download the trial version, read Matt's review and see what Joi has written about it in the past and even this Seattle Times review of the product.
1:35:27 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
John Robb points me to what looks to be an excellent and simple tool to quickly grab, resize, shape and otherwise copy and post images to websites, documents (I've been enjoying NoteTaker) and even your .Mac iDisk with grace and ease. If you're a Mac user and are tired of launching Photoshop, GraphicConverter or other similarly bloated apps to do simple image tasks you owe it to yourself to evaluate ImageWell by xtralean. Not only does it resize imags you can crop, add caption bubbles, captions, clouds and more with one-click ease.
12:59:10 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
My first task home was to attack the recreation or regeneration of the Digital Tavern. And if you scroll down a bit you'll see that I've succeeded. at least 90%. I've tried to get the comments posted to the correct blog entry. And the older posts that were lost are now back. The only posts gone forever are those that were lost in NetNewsWire upon kernel panics when hitting the 'post' button. I look forward to getting back on track on a daily basis here.
2:55:03 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Made my journey back from Palm Beach, Florida to Orange County this weekend. A pleasant flight. No hiccups. I should fly Delta more often.
Time spent with my two nieces Emily and Anna was awesome. At 6 years old Emily now has her own email address. And she's discovered Hallmark e-cards. Since she got back to Virginia she has sent me 5 Hallmark greetings. Here's one and another. Buried in a virtual hay stack of email, hers are the needles I hope to find.
2:54:10 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
- originally posted at The Digital Tavern remotely on April 14, 2003 -
Sitting here in Vero Beach Florida. A poor dial up connection and five year old Toshiba laptop. Had an amazing bottle of 1994 Beringer Howell Mountain Bancroft Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon - huge black cherry flavors, very subtle notes of earth with hints of cedar. The wine was perfectly balanced, and amazing structure. A friend of mine stills swears that Beringer wines don't last. This wine at 9 years old (albeit young compared to Bordeaux standards) was youthful, bright and just amazing 95 points
I've received a number of emails from readers telling me that the Bloglet updates they are receiving have bad or broken links. This is because I've tried to recreate the past posts that have been lost somehwere in the Digital Tavern. I've actually located them and when back home in California my priority is to restore the old posts and get my blog back on track.
My sister-in-law is telling me that she had a terrible flight with my brother and two nieces in a puddle jumper plane from Reagan airport in DC to West Palm Beach. Why such a small plane?
The sounds of the birds here are peaceful. So it's time to shut down the dial up. More later.
12:50:14 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
- originally posted at The Digital Tavern on April 11, 2003 -
It's been a tough time blogging the last few weeks. Those regular readers who have followed my sage, journey and discovery I trust understand. I keep reminding myself that patience is truly an amazing and underrated human quality or characteristic.
I'll have stories, anecdotes and insight. But until then be sure to cruise to some of the Blogs in my blogroll in the left column. I choose my blogroll with discretion, contemplation and I read them every day. Please cruise. You'll see Flemming (aka Ming the Mechanic) has a piece on Edward de Bono and his Six Thinking Hats -- I used to require my employees (nicely, albeit) to read this book. We would play act or gestalt through scenarios. Great stuff.
Thanks for YOUR patience while I get this blog thing resolved and restored and on track again.
12:48:36 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
- originally posted at The Digital Tavern on April 11, 2003 -
I'm not one get to angry. Frustrated? Yes. Angry? Seldom. But the solution to the equation is: what happens if or when Allan get's both angry and frustrated? Well, I've toyed around with the idea of taking this Apple Macintosh B/W G3 400 Mhz machine with a 40GB drive, 512mb RAM to the back of my car and cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway tooting my horn. But this isn't practical nor would it solve anything than give me the false sense of some odd vengeance against a machine. Though, many of us Mac fans tend to personify our "machines". Still, this is no solution.
I've had a hell of a time with this computer. And when I get frustrated my natural tendency is to dampen my frustration by solving, fixing or otherwise addressing the source of my frustration with zeal and tenacity. But after a while this energy can wane. Soon frustration turns to anger. Then anger to disgust. Then disgust to complacency.
Such is the story of my computer. And while I've come close to The Digital Tavern the last several weeks. Even stopping in for a quick one. Even managing to finish one. But for the most part, I've left disgusted. Swearing I'll never come back. Not to the tavern, per se. Simply to this B/W G3. Silly me. Waiting for a computer this is simply a mirage. A fantasy. I'll never see it. -- Now doesn't this monologue all sound unlike me -- the Allan Karl that you swear was the most positive, upbeat and congenial dude around. This is not like me.
But after writing three or four essays where I seethed my soul, poured my passion and cleansed my conscience only to find them to disappear, vanish or otherwise poof into cyberspace as the result of an Apple OS X kernel panic -- OS X (actually it's roots lie in UNIX or Linux) politically correct substitute phrase for crash, system error or -- dare I? -- blue screen.
Oh please read on. This is going to be long. But trust me, worth it. You'll get to laugh, perhaps even feel sorry. But nothing will come close to the angst the I've been subjected to. In short, this is easy compared to what I've been through.
So as you know I've been trying to rely on an alternative to a web browser to write and post my weblog entries for the last month or so. I love NetNewsWire. I've ponied up my license fee and have tried to be a loyal user. Typically, I have used BBEdit to write my entries, then paste the final into Radio Userland's web-based interface and then post to The Digital Tavern -- for the sake of clarity. This has worked for me for nearly a year. But it's not the most productive, nor is it much fun. BBEdit is great for programming. A writer's tool, it's not.
So about two weeks ago my woes started. And had they not, you would have read my excellent (ok, humor me, I thought it was that good) essay and review on Joi Ito's famously favorite writing and info aggregator tool, NoteTaker(I'm using it and absolutely love it, though I haven't taken it to the next level yet -- it is amazing). You might have enjoyed my marketing analysis of The Richards Group innovative brand building campaign for Dr. Pepper's new dairy-based drink Raging Cow which used a weblog (it has changed dramatically and now is blatantly commercial). I drew extensively on Filchy Boys excellent investigative work to draw conclusions and other things on the wall of the Digital Tavern. You would have also read about my fun bon voyage party I attended to see Enrique, one of my favorite employees at Wirestone. He embarked to Treviso Italy last week to become part of an elite group selected by Benetton to intern at Fabrica. Fabrica is Benetton's communication research centre, the group responsible for innovative multimedia communications, social awareness work and other technological experimental media and communications. Enrique has a blog which I hope is updated more often in the future so we can all follow his year long journey in Italy. Another post you would have read discussed yet another take on the war. This one on the massive amounts of independent journalists and crews in Iraq. But in the end, there's too much on the war and I'm glad this post went poof. There were other short little blurbs.
Why didn't you get to read these? As noted earlier, I've had a series of kernel panics the plagued me till I withdrew. Sometimes it happened when I saved the post as a draft in NetNewsWire's weblog editor. Other times simply when I pushed the "post" button. Even when I tried to save a draft, after reloading everything after the panic, my entry was gone -- never saved. After one or two of these incidents I was like the rider thrown from his horse. Eager to get back on, i forged forward with more writing and great insight to inform and entertain my readers -- and myself. But after the 4th or 5th time, I felt like terminal cancer patient subjected myself to more and more radiation with no real results -- feeling the best thing to do is forgo the pain and suffering and simply enjoy life.
But here I am again. And after much surgery and treatments, I think I'm back. That is, until I have to re-do everything again when my new 17" PowerBook arrives at my doorstep. In short order, here's what happened:
The war is officially commenced. And after an increasing number of kernel panics daily, I finally diagnose a progressive hardware failure
Determine that it's the 40GB IBM *star ATA hard drive
As a result of diagnostic process, I have to reinstall OS X on that drive 7 times
I have to install OS X on 2 of the 4 large firewire drives I have for video and back up purposes
I have to find and load Mac OS 9.2.2. This requires installing 9.1 then a number of updaters that all have to be downloaded.
In the meantime, the IBM drive gets worse. It now won't boot in OS X
I boot in OS 9.x and begin to copy files and applications to a reserve drive
Every time I try to copy, I get an error and the IBM drive begins to tap out a noisy rhythm. This is not pretty music
I then start copying files from the IBM drive one folder at a time. This goes surprisingly smooth.
I'm nearly 80% complete with safe copies when it comes time to copy my Radio Userland folder -- the application and files that make up this weblog (The Digital Tavern)
Upon trying to copy the Radio folder the drive starts its rhythmic clicking, the old stopwatch that I was so happy to be rid of after a successful OS X migration sat there and haunted me like a bad memory.
I realize that the Radio Folder must reside on bad sectors of the drive, so I then go inside the Radio folder and begin copying its contents one folder at a time
50% of the folders go surprisingly smooth and fast
When I try to copy the www folder (this is the folder that contains the files that are up-streamed to my radio weblog 0108247 every time I post something new. It is like a watched folder that when something new appears Radio automatically upstreams it to my account and space that serves this weblog from Radio's hosting machines.
I have to go into the www file and copy files one at a time. There are plenty.
I finally nail it losing only approximately a dozen files. It was these files that caused my pain.
I migrate all old files to a new Samsung 120GB drive now installed as the master drive in the B/W G3
I leave for a trip to Napa Valley
I return and write this blog
I've written and nearly posted and no kernel panic.
I smile again. You read again. We all breathe easy. The war is still on.
So no wonder it has been so hard to blog the last several weeks. I first thought it was the war and its gremlins. Then I thought it was just further punishment while I waited for my new PowerBook. I even thought that someone was telling me that I was spending too much time on the computer. But the irony is that the essence and source of the problem lied in where the files that make up this weblog were stored. Any post was set for failure -- doomed.
Now that we've solved this problem. Let's move on. We've got a lot to discuss, talk about and visualize... come on......
12:45:35 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
- originally posted at The Digital Tavern on April 10, 2003 -
I became a believer several years ago. That is that the type of stemware makes a dramatic difference in the taste of good wine. I used to laugh at those folks who would drag a bag of their favorite Riedel glasses into a fine dining restaurant. But since meeting Georg Riedel many years ago at a "glass tasting" in Northern California, I became a believer. My Riedel stemware collection includes Bordeaux, Chardonnay, Syrah, Port, Champagne and Burgundy. These are from his Vinum line. These glasses have stems so delicate that when washing them I've had them break in my hands. You've got to be real careful to say the least. But for the most part, the Bordeaux glass is a perfect all around stem.
Not only do I have these Vinum glasses, I also have both a Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy stem from Riedel's impressive (but expensive) Sommelier hand blown crystal line. If you just sneeze in the direction of these big sommelier glasses they'll likely break. to look at this glass you'd swear it could hold a whole bottle of wine. Of course, this is not the point. in fact most of the time I barely pour 2-3 ounces in any of these glasses. It's all about the shape that enhances the wine's aromatics and how it falls on your tongue and coats your mouth as you taste.
You think I'm crazy? Try a Riedel glass. Then try one of those cheesy wine glasses you typically are served in a restaurant. They either look like fish bowls that do no good to leverage the beautiful aromas of a wine, or they have beaded edges and extra thick glass you'd think you were putting a large thermometer in your mouth -- not a fine glass of wine. There are knock-offs too. Is A Man Is Only Good As His Glass? Or, Time To Dispel Myths: Size Matters
Spiegelau has done a good job at pirating Riedel's design. So close, yet so different. In taste tastes, I still prefer the Riedel but at $10 versus almost $20 -- Spiegelau is a good value.
Still thinking' I'm nuts, right? Try it.
-- click image to view larger photo --
Well, if you think I'm nuts wait till you get a load of this. I got an email from a fellow wine lover and friend on the east coast. He send me pictures of his latest "toy". A new and very rare hand made special edition Riedel glass that is ungodly expensive and equally as huge. The glass dwarfs the Sommelier glass which is nearly 11 inches and holds 30 oz of wine. it makes the "generic" Riedel Vinum which is almost 9 inches tall and holds 21 ounces of wine (these are the Bordeaux shape).
As my friend Brian commented, "Pete looks like the incredible shrinking man." in these photos. And look a the three glasses lined up on the table? The photo can't do it justice. When you think about it that's a 750ml standard bottle of wine. No you've got some scale to consider.
Does size matter? I'd like to see this glass -- but behind glass. I'd hate to be the one to sneeze or simply fumble after just one glass too many only to find the floor carpeted with hand blown pieces of Riedel Crystal.
ps- the bottle of wine that Pete might be tasting here could be the 1994 Gallo Sonoma Frei Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. You're thinking Gallo, yeah right. Right? Truly, this is one of the most phenomenal Cabs made in Sonoma and on release about 6 years ago this wine retailed for $14. I've put this wine in a brown bag and had even the most sophisticated palates stumped. Many thinking French. Others suggesting some of California's top producers -- from Napa.
Have you ever been to Tony Pierce's 
Visiting Tony's site every day I kinda feel like the guy passing a panhandler on the street while avoiding eye contact at all cost. Clutching my loose change with purpose. No. Tony's not a panhandler. But you gotta admire his ambition. And his ambition does not solely relate to his efforts in getting a stipend or tip from people who enjoy a daily does of Tony. Nope. it goes way beyond. Tony has long desired a position as a writer at the LA Times. And he's not afraid to admit it. Problem is, they haven't 
I made my first purchase from iTunes Music last night. A remix version of Bob Dylan's "Everything Is Broken". I tried yesterday in NYC to browse and purchase, but I think everyone had the same idea and Apple's site was slammed. I kept getting errors. No problems last night. The jury is out on the AAC code used for this purchased music. The bit rate is 128k where I'm used to encoding my MP3s at 256 or better. Of course my MP3 file sizes are enormous compared to an MP3 encoded at 128 or 160, but the lower bit rates sound like crap. AAC is supposed to keep file sizes lean while offering audio quality that matches or exceeds higher MP3 bit rates. If the promise is realized, kudos to Apple and Dolby for taking this leap.
I think the important point to consider is the fact that Apple has convinced the record companies to do something that nobody else has been able to do. And that it wouldn't ever do itself. That is, stop whining and complaining about digital music and stop trying to protect your sacred ground as its being pulled out from under you by 
Steve announces new iPods: 15GB, 20GB and 30GB.
I'll have stories, anecdotes and insight. But until then be sure to cruise to some of the Blogs in my blogroll in the left column. I choose my blogroll with discretion, contemplation and I read them every day. Please cruise. You'll see 
