blowing off steam

My Assistant is Leaving Me

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:35:23 -0500

Sandy, the killer calendar app from Values of n is going off-line on December 12th. The developer, Rael Dornfest, has been hired by Twitter and will be abandoning the product. There are currently no plans to incorporate the technology into Twitter.

The potential good news is that it looks like a team of Open-source programmers is working on a replacement. This is a great example of the potential down-side of “cloud-computing”, especially the current free offerings, and why I don’t offer any of these to my commercial clients. But this would be a great app to run on your own server.

"Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period..."

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:35:26 -0400

"Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period...":

I may have mentioned that I think the RIAA is a bunch of crybaby, cock-sucking assholes who’s members hate their customers. I don’t remember. The point is, they are on a mission to ensure that the public never enjoys music again. Or perhaps they are trying to drive themselves into bankruptcy. I can’t tell.

The good news? Lots of savvy programmers are out to create great products to fight the Empire. Pandora, Seeqpod, Simplify Media are all great and so was (is?) Muxtape. The other good news? They seem willing to fight back.

We both like... Soup.

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:04:00 -0400

We both like... Soup.:

This is my new Soup. It combines several of my feeds (including this one) into one simple, easy to get page. Seems easy enough. So if you just can’t get enough of me and are tiring of having to jump to three or more sites just to see what brilliant thing I said or found today (I know there are lots of you out there), I just made your life easier.

You’re welcome.

Pandora and the Sinking Ship

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:29:00 -0400

I was gearing up to write a “Your Website Sucks” post when I ran across this little tidbit about the wonderful Pandora music service.
Technical shortcomings aside, the Pandora service itself is fantastic. Not because it offers users a bunch of “free” music, but because it introduces listeners to music they otherwise would never have heard. In my short stints with the service, I have added almost two dozen bands to my “you must check these guys out” list. This is the value that the service offers to music labels, but these greedy fuck-wads just don’t get it.
The big labels still believe they can cling to their faulty business model as the whole ship rapidly sinks. They know they need a bucket brigade but instead of moving water from the hull to the sea, they are helping the water in. In this case, instead of exploring new ways to capitalize in emerging technologies, they simply want to exploit them as they have in every other market. What they are likely to do is watch as these new companies shutter their doors rather than face the prospect of trying to stay above water as the labels bleed more and more of their revenues.
It is insane to think of internet stations being forced to pay 2.91 cents per hour per listener against terrestrial radio’s zero. But then again, that industry is also pumping water into their own bilges, sinking faster than the labels. The RIAA does not see that it will need the internet more than ever by the time this pricing comes into effect. Why would people listen to radio, with its one hour playlist repeated ad nauseam when their iPods delivers only songs they want to hear. Those people still want to discover new music, but if the labels insist on killing great ideas (knowingly or not) and fighting companies that make great user-experiences, someone will step in to do it for them. And that will be the night when the lights went out of sight.
(Via azrael)

Get Your War On: The Race Card

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:13:27 -0400

This shit is funny. And totally NSFW.

I've been analog.

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:59:46 -0400

Though I have not posted in some time, I have been writing. I was on the road a chose to leave the “connected” technology behind. I have to say that it was an enjoyable and pleasant experience. No laptop, no cellphone, no way for someone to get ahold of me for some petty reason that they, of course, think is the most important thing in my life.

In the absence of these devices I formed a very close and satisfying relationship with a classic medium: the writer’s notebook. In my case, I found a wonderful little black book by Ciak called the Piccolo. I had spent some time looking into a good notebook and found quite a community around the Small Black Notebook. The Moleskine is the classic journalist’s notebook, but I was turned off by it’s hard cover. I wanted something that would fit in my back pocket with great paper and a soft, malleable leather cover. I found this at Joseph-Beth, a great semi-local bookstore.

I have almost filled this notebook but J-B has yet to restock. I need a new local vendor. Does anyone have a suggestion? Also, how do I get all of that data out of the Ciak and onto this blog? I can’t seem to find the USB port on the thing.

"Blogging is like masturbating into a mirror while you videotape yourself so you can watch it later..."

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:57:25 -0400

“Blogging is like masturbating into a mirror while you videotape yourself so you can watch it later while you masturbate.”

- Lewis Black (via kung fu grippe)

Think Happy Thoughts Making fun of Twitter is getting...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:07:35 -0400

Think Happy Thoughts

Making fun of Twitter is getting boring.

So is Twitter, come to think of it.

"Email combines intimacy and distance in a way that sociopaths seem to really enjoy."

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:47:22 -0400

“Email combines intimacy and distance in a way that sociopaths seem to really enjoy.”

- Merlin Mann via hotdogsladies.

FIrefox 3: 'Failed to open page'

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:10:10 -0400

FIrefox 3: 'Failed to open page':

I am unapologetically anti-Firefox. I know it is hugely unpopular to admit to using Safari, but it makes me happy. I use other browsers, but I just really don’t like Firefox. Extensions look useful but they suffer when browser updates invariably break them. And if I wanted a PC-like experience, I would open Opera.

When I saw the World Record announcement, all I could think was, “I bet Twitter is down”. Then I thought, “they are going to crash hard”. But they are assuring success with the masses; the experience can’t get any worse.

Thanks Gruber.

IM Can Reduce Workplace Interruptions, Study Shows

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:35:31 -0400

IM Can Reduce Workplace Interruptions, Study Shows:

Highlight:

“People see a new technology and they are innovative in how they use it. They will tailor their use of the technology to their needs and their expectations. And with IM, people had enough time to learn about the technology at home and to find ways to use it productively,” Garrett said.

This certainly seems better than the insane calls I get all day. Problem is, people need to learn [read: be taught] how to use it in a uniform way for it to be useful to an entire team. My issue is that I forget to change my status. I return from lunch to see that someone was trying in vein to contact me. Oops.

Now, if only I could get an office that was not on a major traffic path in the office.

25 Beautifully Dark Websites

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:49:26 -0400

25 Beautifully Dark Websites:

I quite enjoy a good dark website. My mockups for my “real” site (currently on a Microsoft-esque release timeline of 1-10 years) are dark. Not necessarily because I want a dramatic site, but because it lends itself to the design concepts (crazy, I know. I also quite enjoy the ease on the eyes that light text on dark background provides. I stare a a monitor all day at work, using software with dark-on-light themes. This and the increasing brightness of LCD monitors gives me all kinds of troubles so I enjoy reading dark sites.

When you can’t find enough dark sites and your eyes are getting fatigued, you can also try out Nocturne, from the maker of the magical Quicksilver.

Your Website Sucks, Pt. 1: CrunchGear

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:45:50 -0400

This is the first article in what I hope will be a series of raving rants against websites that suck. And not sites that just suck (there are way too many) but sites that, but for one fundamental failing, could otherwise be a decent experience.

I am having a particularly bad evening. It was 92F, ~85% humidity and I worked outside most of the day. I came in and sat on the couch with a beer and my jesusPhone and wanted to do some recreational browsing. Well CrunchGear ruined it for me.

I started out with my standard Twitter, which at this point I should know is not a good place to start. After all, it is the weekend, so it is likely that they are having random crashes and data loss. But that went fine. What set me off were a couple of big corporate sites. I started out on a movie service site (which I will not link to because they suck across most aspects or their business. More on that in another article.) then moved to my favorite blog, the minimalist-designed Daring Fireball. He linked to a page that purports to have real pictures of a hotly anticipated new tech device. I’ve been looking at all of these Photoshop masterpieces and wanted to see if this one actually comes close to something that the manufacturer would not flatly reject in first-stage mockups. This is when my night just collapsed.

I’ve been having some difficulty with my ISP after agreeing to pay more for additional bandwidth. With the exception of the hour after after I get home from work, I have actually been getting lower bandwidth since agreeing to let some corporate monster devour more of my paycheck. Now, experiencing a 3.5 minute wait which gave me half a page=load status bar and a blank screen I thought I must be having connection issues. This meant I had to get up to check the gear upstairs. But remember that all I wanted to do was rest on the couch and drink my beer. I ran my first speedtest and got the expected slower-than-I-am-paying-for result, but nothing that should cause a web page to not load in three-and-a-half minutes!

CrunchGear is not a Flash and SQL corporate sales disaster like target.com, it is a blog. A bunch of text on a page, some pictures and some ads. OK, lots of ads. Lots of big, colorful, obnoxious ads. And comments. Lots of big, colorful, obnoxious comments. But the landing page loads as expected. It is when you “jump to the article” that things turn to shit. The article is about a big nerd meme, but I was a day late as this one posted yesterday. When I tried loading it on the desktop, it was still a disaster. It loaded so slow that I could see what was happening. There were quite a few big, grainy pictures in the body of the post but those came up fast enough. The culprit: the comments section. 234 responses (as I am writing), none of which I am the least bit interested in reading. What seems to be going on is some asinine CSS formatting that is being applied during and after (long after) the page loads. Who cares how pretty the comments look? Serve up your fake pictures and drivel and let me get on my way. Give me great content quickly. If I want to waste my time at your site, I’ll read all your crappy articles.

CrunchGear, fix your comments. Better yet, turn them off. Because this is what comments amount to.

Delicious Library 2.0

Wed, 28 May 2008 23:43:22 -0400

Delicious Library 2.0:

I’ve loved v1 since I got it two-and-a-half years ago and have made great use of it to manage titles from my collection as I have loaned them out. This version brings so much more greatness including new toys and tools categories, three click selling and (for you writers out there) bibliography export. If you have a large collection of books, CDs and DVDs, you should own this exceptional piece of software.

Stuff White People Like: Grammar

Mon, 26 May 2008 23:21:56 -0400

Stuff White People Like: Grammar:

Any time I feel like I am improving myself and becoming less of an asshole, all I have to do is see how well I fit into the latest Stuff White People Like article. I happen to meet most of the criteria in this recent Grammar post.

Having not taken my Liberal Arts studies too seriously (and taking my early education in midwest farm country public schools), I had not until recently exhibited such behaviors. The people closest to me are rightly described as follows.

It is in their blood not only to use perfect grammar but also to spend significant portions of time pointing out the errors of others.

In my defense, I am still confounded by proper semi-colon usage. There is hope for me yet.

Oh, there is a pluralization error in the article.

Neither your Genius nor your Cute Pre-loader Keep your All-Flash Site from Sucking

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:56:18 -0400

My friend over at the mutual slump posted a tumble about the recent Beck/Danger Mouse collaboration. Clicking his link brought me to the new Beck website but not to the news article about the partnership. At first I was disappointed by the slump’s inability to make a good link. Then I realized the real reason; Beck’s site is 100% Flash.

Flash in and of itself is not a wholly terrible thing. Home Star Runner is a brilliant site that derives much of its cleverness from the animation tools and scripting of Flash (mostly just the animation). But all-Flash sites fail when there is information to be conveyed. A musician’s website has to convey biography, discography, news, and tour dates; all text-based information important to generating revenue for the artist. When this information is hard to access, it potentially reduces revenue streams. Sites built entirely in Flash only allow other sites to link to the main page. Once there it is on the user to navigate the site to try and find what they came for. This situation worsens when the navigational structure is not apparent.

When I went to Beck’s site to find out how Danger Mouse was involved in the new single I was greeted by some cool pre-loaders, some beeps and crackles, and a menu. As the new single began to play, the menu moved off screen and I was watching Beck on stage; no article, no text of any sort. I took the cue given at the time of the page-load and found the menu and clicked on the “News” button. Another animated item dropped down. Here is where things really fell apart. I could not figure out how to scroll the news items. They had just posted the list of tour dates which continued off the small news display area. I finally saw a minuscule sign that says “Drag Me To Scroll.” So I clicked on the little sign and the news slate flew off the page. Turns out I was supposed to grab the item below the sign. It took me three tries to figure this out.

The background of the page, the stage that Beck is playing on, is displaying randomly changing items. The first time I displayed the news slate the background was black. The scroll item is also black. See my problem? When the picture changed to a light color, the item became apparent. This is just plain poor planning and implementation. You do want me to read about you, right? You want me to buy your crap. Make it easy. Don’t challenge me.

Here is the conundrum. You are a great artist and you want to show that in everything you do. Flash is very powerful and can be used to create amazing products. But a musician’s website is not a product. It is a marketing tool to advertise your products. Amazon makes money had over fist by offering up a site that is easily searchable and offers up simple navigation. Sure it is ugly, but it serves its task. I can appreciate that Beck, a retro-soul revivalist, is possibly disinterested in the medium of the web. If so, offer me up some ‘96-era PageMill text and call it a day.

System is Down

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:26:41 -0400

System is Down:

I received some fun responses to my Twitter rant. This one isn’t specific to Twitter but is something many of us can relate to. And it’s damn funny.

When I clicked on this link in the email I received, I thought the world was coming to an end. What is the appropriate response when an Internet Explorer error page pops up in Safari?

Thanks Azrael.

Is Twitter Down?

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:54:00 -0400

Is Twitter Down?:

I have encountered many instances when Twitter has been down when trying to view posts but this is the first time that a Twitter shutdown has hindered me from posting for an extended period. And it was a good post. Scratch that, it was a great post. A potential classic, even. This was a post that everyone should have seen. But thanks to their flaky service, the world has been robbed of my brilliance. I will not repost it here. Twitter was the perfect medium, the place were that post would live in infamy. The dream is over. Thanks Twitter.

Because we are nerds, we are familiar with Twitter’s growing pains. There was the Joyent dust-up and the Rails rumors. But despite their issues Twitter continues to be a hot property and exceptionally popular service despite the availability of alternatives. Rands took a recent look at the reasons that people continue to participate at this site despite its issues.

Measuring uptime is an interesting nerd exercise, but Twitter’s value lies in how it stays out of the way and allows people to easily connect so they can share their thoughts and, more importantly, explore their differences.

Take that, Facebook.

UPDATE: Twitter has posted this response to rumors that downtime is being used as a publicity stunt.

10 Reasons Gen Xers are Unhappy at Work

Mon, 19 May 2008 23:50:10 -0400

10 Reasons Gen Xers are Unhappy at Work:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.

I have joined Cork’d I need drinking buddies to offer me...

Sun, 18 May 2008 22:28:00 -0400

I have joined Cork’d

I need drinking buddies to offer me suggestions. I am a cheap date, a connoisseur of bottles under $12.99. Whacha got?