infinitely meta: brian daniel eisenberg: 2005

12.29.2005

Commentary: Good and Bad Procrastination [PAul Graham]

This is a great read. Commentary from Paul Graham (aka inventor of the web app). Nice to see fresh thinking and ideas coming back to the net!

Good and Bad Procrastination

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

12.27.2005

I really hope that this isn't a sign of what's to come with the del.icio.us >> Yahoo mashup

error trace from a recent attempt to access my del.icio.us

System error
error: could not get config: err= eval= at /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler line 9.
context:
...
5: $setbundleview => ''
6: $noui => 'no'
7:
8: <%init>
9:
10: do "/etc/delicious/config.pl" or die "could not get config: err=$! eval=$@";
11:
12: $dbh = $db->{master};
13:
...
code stack: /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler:9
raw error

could not get config: err= eval= at /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler line 9.

Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 131
HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('could not get config: err= eval= at /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler line 9.^J') called at /www/del.icio.us/site/autohandler line 9
HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 134
HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x1af68d0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1069
eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1068
HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 338
eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 338
eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 297
HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x1e98700)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 134
eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 134
HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x1e98700)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 793
HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x1a9fc80)', 'Apache=SCALAR(0x1e4b6e0)') called at (eval 43) line 8
HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache=SCALAR(0x1e4b6e0)') called at /etc/delicious/config.pl line 0
eval {...} at /etc/delicious/config.pl line 0

Exclusive: Google to offer feed API

Finally - google to offer SOAP APIs for their feeds.

Exclusive: Google to offer feed API

12.25.2005

Alex Bosworth's Weblog: Dynamics of Digg

Some christmas day reading on the Digg phenomena...brought to you by Alex Bosworth.

Alex Bosworth's Weblog: Dynamics of Digg

12.23.2005

Hotspot Hits - Free and open wireless clouds will fuel this current wave of innovation.

I can only image what's going to happen when Google gets into the wireless networking biz...hmmm...

Could this signal the death of fee-based wireless hotspots? I sure hope so...

Hotspot Hits

We might see this tech here in the US in maybe 10 years...sigh... >> Unstrung - Option, Nortel Demo HSDPA - Wireless Networking News Wire

I want 3.6Mbps wireless broadband and I want it now!!! Come on verizon, sprint, tmobile, cingular >> get your acts together and build out the network.

Unstrung - Option, Nortel Demo HSDPA - Wireless Networking News Wire

12.21.2005

Netvibes - see - here's another web2.0 AJAX aggregator.

Netvibes

NOTE>> weather, search, rss. just like I was talking about in my previous post. sure it's cool, but what's the value add? why should/would I switch from my current methodolodies? someone convince me. hmmm.

12.20.2005

live.com, start.com - MSFTs web2.0 push

OK. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. THIS WAS GOING TO BE A FRIKIN LONG POST ABOUT WEB2.0 AND MY INITIAL THOUGHTS ON LIVE.COM AND START.COM. I SPENT ABOUT AN HOUR COMPOSING THIS POST WITH A TON OF COMMENTARY AND SOME SCREENSHOTS AND THANKS TO BLOGGER AND FIREFOX, AND PROBABLY A LITTLE WINXP, MY ENTIRE POST (INCLUDING SCREENSHOTS WAS LOST DUE TO APP LOCKUP & CRASH. SO HERE GOES ONE MORE TIME. CAPS GOING OFF NOW.

#1 Requirement for a web2.0 app - save as you type. gmail does it well. everyone else should follow. gmail's spell checker also rocks. everyone should follow suit. if web2.0 is all about empowering users, then by all means, let's use best of breed across the board folks.

[gmail people - why can't I "undo" inside the gmail mail editor (e.g. when composing a message). It's really annoying]

===
Here's take 2 @ what I wanted to communicate a in the post I lost [thanks 2 firefox + blogger crashing, though I suspect WinXP also contributed in some way]. These are some of my initial thoughts and reactions on live.com and start.com. hopefully vista will open up a whole new wave of innovation on live.com, because what's there right now is pretty boring. no offense to any of the folks working on live.com and start.com. the tech is way cool. just gotta build the community. show me some innovation and I'll definitely jump on board.

[Observation # 1] RSS, weather, news, stock, search = web1.o - come on people. these have been around forever. how many times are we going to use the california traffic web service and suck in a few rss feeds. The only reason why RSS is taking off, is that everyone and their brother is exposing their [a] data as RSS, and [b] apps as services/public apis. Sure - everyone is building wicked cool AJAX apps with drag and drop, expando/collapso, add/remove column, etc etc...but sucking in RSS is something that we've been doing in our product for a long long time. We also automatically index all external RSS feeds with our open source impl of Apache Lucene, so with our product you get to add RSS feeds, but you also get a built in search engine to query your RSS feeds for free. Oh - and you can also choose your "Search root" to restrict your search to certain "tags" or areas within the folksonomy.

Mini-rant - rss aggregators - enough is enough. it's becoming exceedingly recursive. feeds that consume feeds that consume feeds. feed cannabalism is spreading like wildfire. bloglines, google reader, my yahoo, we've all got em....it's not about the technology, its how you choose to use it. how many people use gmail as a news aggregator, archive, and network storage facility? I do. I have no fewer than 20 gmail accounts that I for such purposes.

[Observation # 2] Web 2.0 is about empowering users by providing them with value-added services and applications that are delivered over the web. It's not about stock news, and weather. It about kick ass web service api mashups like http://www.housingmaps.com. It's about capitalizing on the power of the collective intelligence and *real time* behavior of PEOPLE - users - not systems - look at del.icio.us/popular. tell me that you don't find any one item in the top ten list not remotely interesting. That's the power of web2.0. It's about the PEOPLE not the technology.

[Observation # 3] Bottom line - I like what I see in live.com and start.com, but they've got a long way to go. I'll provide some feature requests, but its not really about the technology that will determine the ultimate success or failure of sites like this. It's about the community. It's about the users. It's about the people. Google, Yahoo, and others are well ahead of companies like MSFT because they've been riding the open source wave and they've already captured the mindshare of the developer community. Now that we've got enough standardization in web tech, these developers are beginning to leverage each others work in new and unique ways. It's the new model for software development. If MSFT is going to be successful, then they need to open up the halls of Redmond and unleash their developers on the public developer community. PEOPLE are the only way that Microsoft will gain ground in this new phenomena.

[Observation #4] It's good to see that Scott Isaac's is involved. DHTML Dude. I worked with Scott briefly on a site for a start up that never got off the ground called contractorhub.com...ahh those were the days.

Live.com and Start.com Feature Requests:

Live.com and start.com folks - if you're listening - here are some feature requests:

More eye candy. web2.0 needs to be more visual - empower the user - give them eye candy - not annoying popups and flash ads that take over and lockup your browser- we can handle adsense (txt ads), and no flash or annoying popups that take control of the browser - instead - how about a picture rotator gadget - point at a folder (flickr, picasa, web folder, file system, ftp server - whatever. should not matter where the pics are - just suck em in and rotate em. RSS feeds are just text and are quite boring on the eyes.
Absolutely need the ability to restrict searches to specific domains within "my web" - if I'm sucking in feeds that might be remotely interesting to me and slapping them up on a live.com or start.com page, why not let me hone in even more by allowing me to restrict my search to whatever feeds/topics/tags I want.
support multiple pages - take tab-based browsing to the apps. I use firefox all the time for tab-based browsing. why can't you give me tab-based browsing across my aggregated feed pages. If all you're going to give me for now is the ability to search and suck in feeds, then I need to at least be able to organize my feeds by topic, subject, person, etc etc. I've got way too many feeds to fit on one single page. but I'll glady tab between pages, especially if their served up web2.0 style.
if you're going to compete with yahoo, then you need to get a tagging system in place ASAP. It's the new way. del.icio.us and myweb2.0 should provide enough clues.
mobile enable everything. wap2.0 browsers are good enough. Everyone's got a GPRS enabled phone, some of us even have EDGE-enabled devices. A select few have high 3g+ wireless tech like UMTS, HSDPA, CMDA2000. Look at what Google is doing with gmail mobile, wml.froogle.com, m.google.com, etc etc. scary. msft needs to catch up in this area asap. hotmail mobile and what little things I've seen about live.com mail beta [insert request for live mail beta account here]by accessing my hotmail acct from my new Samsung T-809 are a good start, but I'm deriving huge benefits from other mobile web2.0 app providers. soonr.com is the obvious example. there are many others. show me some mobile-friendly urls with features and you might catch my attention.
QUESTION: what is the difference between live.com and start.com? Which one should I use? I don't get it? They obviously share common core web app functionality. Just curious.

My initial Live.com and Start.com Screenshots [show me your start pages - email me your screenshots]

MSFTs web2.0 push...

source: live.com blog, start.com

[check out the blurbage on the start.com page - trying to lure away all them engineers from google, yahoo, and the web2.0 startups. good luck!!!]

====
Source: start.com, live.com

12.17.2005

semi-affordable terabyte storage - coolness - Iomega Releases Desktop Hard Drive with 1TB Capacity

Iomega Releases Desktop Hard Drive with 1TB Capacity

12.16.2005

oishii! - ephemeral pheromonal del.ici.us-ness - pure insanity

will rss reach a point of recursion where like darwin, the process of natural selection will weed out the irrelevant and only feed the most dominant, relevant pieces of information. web2.0 is some crazy shi.z.

oishii! - ephemeral pheromonal del.icio.us-ness

O'Reilly: What Is Web 2.0 -ride the wave people..........................

O'Reilly: What Is Web 2.0

12.15.2005

GMAIL >> mobile !!!

Sweet GUI accessible from my RAZR and many other mobile devices. Check it >> About Gmail

Google Search :: Music search brought to you by Google.

Google Search

Virtual Keyboard - I want this for my RAZR!!!

Virtual Keyboard

12.14.2005

ok. WTF - del.icio.us is down for maintenance. we'll be back in one hour. - this was like 5 hours ago. 'cmon yahoo...

: "del.icio.us is down for maintenance. we'll be back in one hour."

either the hype around the yahoo acquisition caused so much traffic so as to overload their servers, or yahoo has already infiltrated the del.icio.us network...time will tell.

I want my tags back!!!

12.13.2005

reddit: what's new online

web2.0 news you can use::reddit: what's new online

Flock - another web2.0 concept

Here's another web2.0 concept that I've been playing around with - the Flock browser

12.12.2005

ramblings on web2.0 &
my essential 2.0 toolkit

Buckle your seatbelts kids.
we're on the verge of something big.
something very big. revolutionary.

think back to the early years
of the .com boom.
remember?
the glory days
of web1.0

look out, 'cause here comes 2.0. and with it, comes a huge wave of innovation that will spawn a net renaissance that will revolutionalize the world we live in. this guy thinks so. or is it just hype? here's another take.

Whatever your take on Web2.0, the reality is that you can't ignore it forever. The more I play with web2.0 sites, services, people, tools, and collective intelligence, the more excited I get. Thanks to the many many smart minds that are powering this revolution! I need to get my act in gear and jump on board.

for 2.0 newbies, web2.0 means many things to many people...

google search for web2.0
O'Reilly gets it.
there was even a conference
I think Adam gets it
google gets it
yahoo get it
there's even a web2.0 validator
they definitely get it

but. it has not made the transition to the enterprise. yet. for all those vc's that are starting to circle like buzzards, i have ideas. lots of ideas! pls seek me out, give me lots of money, and I'll build you a web2.0 company. pls. pretty pls. [might as well, after all it's the web2.0 thing to do]

Here's what I would consider to be my current arsenal of web2.0 tools and resources that I use on a fairly regular basis.

[ note - these are in no particular order. Instead of adding links to the items in my list below, please google, yahoo, askjeeves - do whatever you need to do to find these 2.0 resources. sorry I'm lazy and don't have enough free time to add em now. ]

* gmail
* firefox + extension
* soonr
* gaim
* picasa
* flickr
* shutterfly
* firefox
* del.icio.us
* craigslist
* my.yahoo
* linkedin
* orkut
* kaboodle
* skype
* bloglines
* blogger
* myweb2.0 [yahoo]
* wikipedia
* technorati
* wiki
* motomodders
* melodio
* itunes
* rhapsody
* napster

web2.0 "beta" sites from the gorillas

* next.yahoo.com
* ideas.live.com
* labs.google.com

web2.0 trends/hype:

* ajax [who'dve thunk it?]
* tagging / folksonomies
* public betas
* give it away for free
* completely open source it

ok. Enough for now. one of the drawbacks of web2.0 is that it can suck you in quickly. I've now spent over an hour on this post and I've got about 50 tabs open in Firefox. Ouch.

Until next time.

happy tagging...

firefox 1.5 users click me

ps. sorry for the target=new directives.

This site has the potential to change your online existence

This site has the potential to change your online existence. Highly recommend checking it out.

Link Source: http://www.slackermanager.com/slacker_manager/2005/12/the_several_hab.html

Here are some del.icio.us shortcuts for navigating the y.ah.oo.licio.us.sp.her.e

Tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/TAGNAME
Combined tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/TAGNAME+TAGNAME
Popular: http://del.icio.us/rss/popular
Popular tags: http://del.icio.us/rss/popular/TAGNAME
Users: http://del.icio.us/rss/USERNAME
Someone's inbox: http://del.icio.us/rss/inbox/USERNAME (hint: use YOUR inbox)
Media: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/system:media:MTYPE+TAGNAME (where MTYPE can be AUDIO, VIDEO, IMAGE and DOCUMENT (caps are not needed, just for example))
Filetype: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/system:filetype:FTYPE+TAGNAME (where FTYPE can be any audio or video file types (mp3, mov, etc...))

Source: http://www.slackermanager.com/slacker_manager/2005/12/the_several_hab.html

12.11.2005

Lots to catch up on

Back in Seattle after a week in the Denver / Boulder area. Lots to report...some good, some bad, some just unfrikinbelievable. Quick headlines & topics:

Pain, pain, more pain...owwww. my arm HURTS.

How did I wind up with such crappy healthcare...a journey through the healthcare bureacracy

Why you should never take a cab to the ER

Walking to work when it's 12 below zero

How to ruin a ski trip: Why tendinitis really sucks.

What to do when you can't go skiing...

Will hopefully have time to expand on these later. Busy week ahead, then U2 in PDX next Monday. Till next time...

--brian

Yahoo buys del.icio.us - y.ah.oo.licio.us

del.icio.us blog

12.03.2005

Epic deep powder day @ Crystal Mtn

Here are a few pics taken by yours truly...nothing like waist-deep, fresh, light, and untracked pow pow!!!

Date: Friday, December 2, 2005

Time: 7:30am

Weather: It's snowing!!! We have gotten 30 inches of snow in the past 4 days!!!

Base Temperature: 25 degrees

Base Snow Depth: 50 inches

Base New Snow Fall 24hrs: 12 inch

Base Snow Fall 48hrs: 13 inches

Summit Temperature: 18 degrees

Summit Snow Depth: 63 inches

Summit New Snow Fall 24hrs: 10 inch

Summit New Snow Fall 48hrs: 11 inches

Surface Conditions: powder and machine groomed

Lifts Open: Discovery, Chinook Express, Forest Queen, Rainier Express, High Campbell and Green Valley

Hour of Operation: 9:00am-4:00pm

Road Conditions: Open/Icy in spots/Snow covered

Backcountry Status: North Country and South Country CLOSED.

What's Happening at Crystal Mountain

Give me P…O…W…D…E…R!!!! Now this is what I am talking about, thank you Mother Nature for this nice Friday treat. Our slopes have been blanketed with a great deal of new snow, 31 inches in the past 4 days, making for awesome conditions for the slopes. So drop what silly plans you may have, pack up the wagon and head on up because I can hear the fresh powder calling your name!

12.01.2005

» IBM follows Sun's lead with open letter to Massachusetts gov't | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Interesting article about standization of formats. Knowing that Big Blue is involved, I'm not surprised to see that Bob Sutor is involved. I know Sutor from a previous life in the standards world, particularly in the early days of Web services and e-business standards like SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, ebXML, OASIS, W3C, etc etc etc.

» IBM follows Sun's lead with open letter to Massachusetts gov't | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

11.30.2005

Google Local - cascade resort loc: vail colorado

Just booked a mountain view room and a 4 day 5 mountain pass. Oh boy. Pray to the snow gods...summit county here I come...

Google Local - cascade resort loc: vail colorado