Tretakoff Musings
Monday, November 26, 2007
Some Thanksgiving wishes, Twitter-style
Happy Cyber Monday! On this first Monday after Thanksgiving, I find several things to be thankful for, and Twitter is helping me celebrate:
- I am thankful for the early gifts I received from Charles & the rest of the Barletta clan (Dude, Rampage was totally made for the Wii! And The Rock Criterion Edition? YES!).
- I am thankful for Transformers in my living room, thanks to Lani & Pete.
- I am happy to have reconnected with old friends, as their nuptials approach.
- I am hysterical at the amazing prose of unexpected Twitterers during last night's Patriots game ("The Russian is cut!")
- I am thankful to find Dell's Outlet pushing unadvertised deals through Twitter!
So, this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Twitter, and the fun it brings.
Happy Cyber Monday! On this first Monday after Thanksgiving, I find several things to be thankful for, and Twitter is helping me celebrate:- I am thankful for the early gifts I received from Charles & the rest of the Barletta clan (Dude, Rampage was totally made for the Wii! And The Rock Criterion Edition? YES!).
- I am thankful for Transformers in my living room, thanks to Lani & Pete.
- I am happy to have reconnected with old friends, as their nuptials approach.
- I am hysterical at the amazing prose of unexpected Twitterers during last night's Patriots game ("The Russian is cut!")
- I am thankful to find Dell's Outlet pushing unadvertised deals through Twitter!
So, this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Twitter, and the fun it brings.
Labels: Twitter
Sunday, November 18, 2007
DVD Player...Engage!
Yep, I'm a big Trek fan. Truth to be told, my series of choice has always been The Next Generation (over the Original Series), but it looks like I am a rank amateur fan compared to this guy. He turned his home theater into the bridge of the Enterprise, complete with chairs modeled after the rather comfy ones on the show. The subtle touches are great: a remote with a Red Alert button, the subdued lighting...amazing.
Lots more photos after the link, including the bar he built to accompany it.
Yep, I'm a big Trek fan. Truth to be told, my series of choice has always been The Next Generation (over the Original Series), but it looks like I am a rank amateur fan compared to this guy. He turned his home theater into the bridge of the Enterprise, complete with chairs modeled after the rather comfy ones on the show. The subtle touches are great: a remote with a Red Alert button, the subdued lighting...amazing.Lots more photos after the link, including the bar he built to accompany it.
Labels: Star Trek
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Slice of life at 30 Rock
Saturday, November 10, 2007
ConnectQuakes
It starts with an innocuous blog post about a social network doing something cool. Then, it's followed by a namedrop in the office of the latest cool new social network. Your email inbox starts to waft the familiar aroma of bac'n. Curiosity piqued, you follow the link, and sign up, and before you know it...you've triggered a ConnectQuake(TM).
What is a ConnectQuake? I'm coining the term, so here's my definition: it's the explosion of connections on a social network that causes your network to grow exponentially. You sign up, invite a few friends. One of those friends signs up, and connects with other folks. You see the connections they've made, and you connect to the connections, and before you know it, the Richter scale needle is jerking like a Blackberry power user who's got no cell signal.
Take Plaxo Pulse, for instance. I continue to maintain that they are the one social network that will become the standard, primarily because of their embracing of the already-proliferating feeds and publishable components from the sites you already use. When Pulse first launched, a couple of months ago, I got a lot of "Oh no, not another social network Facebook-wannabe" responses from the invites I sent. I linked those naysayers to my blog post on why Plaxo is better than Facebook, and a few of them changed their minds. A selected few embraced it, and I saw they connected with dozens more. Now, I see almost a hundred updates of people connecting to each other in my network, and their extended network, as I connect to their connections. A full-on ConnectQuake.
Some of these ConnectQuakes have aftershocks: connections of connections come on, and one person gets REALLY into it, adding dozens of new connections. Some of them are like the typical Bay Area quakes: sharp jolts that quickly stop, after the initial connections (think Tom on MySpace, or Kevin Smith on Facebook). Some are downright exasperating (like this guy Jacques Pats-Nouguès on Plaxo). But most ConnectQuakes are undulating waves, with your connections adding about 10 or so people, with a few more over the next week, and a subsequent few degrees of separation connecting. They're fun to see happen, and amazing to watch the needle move.
So, don't fear the quake. Connect with it.
It starts with an innocuous blog post about a social network doing something cool. Then, it's followed by a namedrop in the office of the latest cool new social network. Your email inbox starts to waft the familiar aroma of bac'n. Curiosity piqued, you follow the link, and sign up, and before you know it...you've triggered a ConnectQuake(TM).What is a ConnectQuake? I'm coining the term, so here's my definition: it's the explosion of connections on a social network that causes your network to grow exponentially. You sign up, invite a few friends. One of those friends signs up, and connects with other folks. You see the connections they've made, and you connect to the connections, and before you know it, the Richter scale needle is jerking like a Blackberry power user who's got no cell signal.
Take Plaxo Pulse, for instance. I continue to maintain that they are the one social network that will become the standard, primarily because of their embracing of the already-proliferating feeds and publishable components from the sites you already use. When Pulse first launched, a couple of months ago, I got a lot of "Oh no, not another social network Facebook-wannabe" responses from the invites I sent. I linked those naysayers to my blog post on why Plaxo is better than Facebook, and a few of them changed their minds. A selected few embraced it, and I saw they connected with dozens more. Now, I see almost a hundred updates of people connecting to each other in my network, and their extended network, as I connect to their connections. A full-on ConnectQuake.
Some of these ConnectQuakes have aftershocks: connections of connections come on, and one person gets REALLY into it, adding dozens of new connections. Some of them are like the typical Bay Area quakes: sharp jolts that quickly stop, after the initial connections (think Tom on MySpace, or Kevin Smith on Facebook). Some are downright exasperating (like this guy Jacques Pats-Nouguès on Plaxo). But most ConnectQuakes are undulating waves, with your connections adding about 10 or so people, with a few more over the next week, and a subsequent few degrees of separation connecting. They're fun to see happen, and amazing to watch the needle move.
So, don't fear the quake. Connect with it.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Age of the Terabyte
It's not quite Moore's Law, but a computer-related mark of time has just officially been passed. See that image to the left? It represents a $299 external hard drive. Nothing special right? No....except it's a full Terabyte of space: 1000 Gigabytes. Good god. Available now from Costco.
In my time of being involved with PC's, for that price, I have seen us go from drives measured in kilobytes, to megabytes (1000 kilobytes), to the current gold standard of gigabytes (1000 megabytes), and now to terabytes. Look for the new branding of specs that no longer come with tuberculosis, but the "new" TB.
It's not quite Moore's Law, but a computer-related mark of time has just officially been passed. See that image to the left? It represents a $299 external hard drive. Nothing special right? No....except it's a full Terabyte of space: 1000 Gigabytes. Good god. Available now from Costco.In my time of being involved with PC's, for that price, I have seen us go from drives measured in kilobytes, to megabytes (1000 kilobytes), to the current gold standard of gigabytes (1000 megabytes), and now to terabytes. Look for the new branding of specs that no longer come with tuberculosis, but the "new" TB.
Labels: hardware
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The blogs of war: Engadget vs. Gizmodo
I've been a fan of both, but Fortune gives us a behind the scenes look at The blogs of war: Engadget vs. Gizmodo in a remarkably fascinating piece. I always wondered who had the lead...
I've been a fan of both, but Fortune gives us a behind the scenes look at The blogs of war: Engadget vs. Gizmodo in a remarkably fascinating piece. I always wondered who had the lead...
Reason #471 Facebook drives me crazy
Why, oh why, does Facebook make things so difficult? For instance, in the last week, I discovered that I could post these blog entries directly to "My Notes" in Facebook by harvesting the RSS feed. How did I discover this? The easy to use walkthrough of Facebook when you sign up? Oh, that's right: doesn't exist. Ah, the helpful tips email Facebook sends? Um, no...that's not anywhere. Perhaps the "We noticed you are not using function X..." note from Facebook they sent me? Er...no, that's my imagination again. No, I learned about this from (sigh) Plaxo Pulse, as I was prompted to hook up yet another feed to my Plaxo Pulse profile and they'd take care of everything else, so you get great things like this:
Now, take the Facebook Photos application, for instance. You create a new album, and you get this:
"Location:" what the heck is that? Hyperlinked for easy help, or a tool tip on mouseover? Nope. Ah, the ever helpful (hidden) Help link in the bottom right. Ok, let's click on it. What do we get? Standard help landing screen. After some navigation, we get to the help for Facebook Photos...and the helpful details are:
Um...where's the explanation for Location? Can I link to a photo on my website, or is that for flagging the location where the photo was taken? Nothing.
This type of poor quality and unintuitive use drives me bonkers. Hey, I'm fine with 3rd party apps replacing Facebook's own, especially if they HAVE documentation or are intuitive; just don't foist poor quality versions on me by default. With the Open Social or Plaxo approach, you simply don't have these problems: you use the apps of your choice, and are directed to them for you to automatically build your profile.
From the exponential growth I have seen in Plaxo Pulse in the last 2 weeks, and the Open Social alliance, it seems I am not alone at recognizing that Facebook's limitations are quickly getting exposed. Time to take some of that warchest and spend it on divesting the anchors that will keep it in place, while others zoom past.
Now, take the Facebook Photos application, for instance. You create a new album, and you get this:
"Location:" what the heck is that? Hyperlinked for easy help, or a tool tip on mouseover? Nope. Ah, the ever helpful (hidden) Help link in the bottom right. Ok, let's click on it. What do we get? Standard help landing screen. After some navigation, we get to the help for Facebook Photos...and the helpful details are:
Um...where's the explanation for Location? Can I link to a photo on my website, or is that for flagging the location where the photo was taken? Nothing.
This type of poor quality and unintuitive use drives me bonkers. Hey, I'm fine with 3rd party apps replacing Facebook's own, especially if they HAVE documentation or are intuitive; just don't foist poor quality versions on me by default. With the Open Social or Plaxo approach, you simply don't have these problems: you use the apps of your choice, and are directed to them for you to automatically build your profile.
From the exponential growth I have seen in Plaxo Pulse in the last 2 weeks, and the Open Social alliance, it seems I am not alone at recognizing that Facebook's limitations are quickly getting exposed. Time to take some of that warchest and spend it on divesting the anchors that will keep it in place, while others zoom past.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Your Blog/Page, Mobile
Ever wanted to have a version of a page or site that you could browse on a mobile screen, but you weren't into the complex programming it requires for it? Welcome to Mobile for Dummies, courtesy of MoFuse. As Download Squad puts it:
And man, does it work. In just seconds, I created a mobile version of this blog! Check it out here on your mobile device.
I love it when technology gets reduced to brain-dead simple. If Linux was like this, we'd be Windows-free already.
Ever wanted to have a version of a page or site that you could browse on a mobile screen, but you weren't into the complex programming it requires for it? Welcome to Mobile for Dummies, courtesy of MoFuse. As Download Squad puts it:MoFuse lets you make a mobile version of pretty much any site. The entire process basically boils down to:
1. Create an account
2. Name your site
3. Enter the RSS feed
4. Tweak if you like
And man, does it work. In just seconds, I created a mobile version of this blog! Check it out here on your mobile device.
I love it when technology gets reduced to brain-dead simple. If Linux was like this, we'd be Windows-free already.
Labels: cell phones, free, iPhone, Web 2.0
Sunday, November 04, 2007
The Image of America's Team
I have written several times about sports uniforms, and in particular, football uniforms. However, no one holds a candle to the UniWatch blog for the obsessive detail of this esoteric subject, but if you are the kind of person who wants to know what is up with the Redskins having a different helmet for home games, or why do some baseball teams wear vests, while others seem to have completely different outfits, UniWatch is for you.
Now, Paul Lukas, Mr. UniWatch himself, has turned his full attention on my beloved Cowboys, and the results are not pretty. From exposing the three shades of silver, as well as the two shades of blue, America's Team goes under the UniWatch microscope, warts and all. There are some fascinating tidbits, including the reason the Cowboys wear white at home (most teams wear colors at home), the strange alterations the Cowboys uniforms have uniquely had (tie down panels? wraparound collars?), and even the time the Cowboys altered their uniforms for the Bicentennial.
Even if you are not a 'Boys fan, it's a fascinating read, if only to see what OCD looks like in print. :-) I'll be rooting for them against Philly, mismatched silver and blues and all.
Now, Paul Lukas, Mr. UniWatch himself, has turned his full attention on my beloved Cowboys, and the results are not pretty. From exposing the three shades of silver, as well as the two shades of blue, America's Team goes under the UniWatch microscope, warts and all. There are some fascinating tidbits, including the reason the Cowboys wear white at home (most teams wear colors at home), the strange alterations the Cowboys uniforms have uniquely had (tie down panels? wraparound collars?), and even the time the Cowboys altered their uniforms for the Bicentennial. Even if you are not a 'Boys fan, it's a fascinating read, if only to see what OCD looks like in print. :-) I'll be rooting for them against Philly, mismatched silver and blues and all.
Labels: blogs, Dallas Cowboys, sports
Thursday, November 01, 2007
iTunes on Treo
I've been a podcast consumer since before they had a name. While this is not quite as outrageous a statement as recent Nobel Prize winner Al Gore's claim to have invented the internet (which, ironically, is almost true), I used to commute 120 miles, each way, 3x a week. At that time, podcasts were the exclusive property of Audible.com, using DRM-wrapped MP3's, but I consumed programs like the WSJ, Car Talk, and more. With the podcast revolution, the landscape has exploded with amazing timely content, and I bask in the glory of CNET's Buzz Out Loud, Bill Maher's Real Time, and more.
As my biking has ramped up, I have relied heavily on podcasts to keep me company. As I am loathe to have multiple devices, I use my Treo 680 with Pocket Tunes, streaming wirelessly over Bluetooth to my Motorola HT280 headphones. All good, but updating podcasts on the 680 with QuickNews has proved to work, though much slower and more cumbersome than is really practical. On the other hand, the best podcast manager application, in my opinion, is Apple's iTunes: subscriptions are easily managed, new subscriptions easily browsed and found, and Smart Playlists allow rules-based playlists (i.e. 5 most recently updated podcasts). The downside: it lives in the Apple ecosystem, so it syncs only with iPods. So, how to get iTunes to manage podcasts on my Treo?
Enter the Mass Storage Synchronizer, a small macro-based program that does just this...sorta. It allows you to define a playlist in iTunes, named "Treo smartphone," and add the content of your choice. Yes, it can also be a Smart Playlist. Now, here come the useful, if not slightly kludgy, step. Got an SD card reader? Good, you need it. Pop your SD card in, and make sure there's a folder named Audio on it. Double click the Mass Storage Synchronizer icon, and up comes a window, suspiciously DOS-looking. It protests a few times; just keep clicking Continue. Finally, it quietly thinks for about 10 seconds, and the alerts you everything has been updated. Yep, the contents of your playlist are now on the SD card.
Note I said "contents." That means that the actual playlist did not transfer, so you are left to your own devices (ahem) to create the Playlist on the Treo. For me, I use this tool to get podcasts on my Treo, so it's a simple matter to use Pocket Tunes to just create or edit a playlist on the Treo and add in all the content with the genre "podcasts." Then a little reordering, and I'm good to go.
Overall, this solution has a lot going for it. For one, it works, which is more than I can say about Pocket Tunes' Windows Media integration (works once, but never again). For another, it's fast: mere seconds to transfer big podcast files. And finally, it's got the magic price point: free. Who can argue with that?
Personally, I think Apple's got to eventually expand iTunes to non-Apple devices to continue adoption of their leadership role in digital content. I'm not saying this year, or even next, but as NBC recently showed, without critical market mass, the whole inexpensive content supply dries up. Apple can sell as many iPods and iPhones as they can, but if they want to continue dictating pricing and terms to big content providers, they have to show they are the only game in town. That means playing nice, at least in a limited fashion, with Zunes, Sansas and the like, or risk Amazon or Microsoft stealing their thunder.
For now, I'm happy with this workaround. That iPhone keeps looking better and better...but, for instance, this is just one of many blog entries written entirely on my Treo. I'll stick with the keyboard...and the poor man's iPod for that alone.
As my biking has ramped up, I have relied heavily on podcasts to keep me company. As I am loathe to have multiple devices, I use my Treo 680 with Pocket Tunes, streaming wirelessly over Bluetooth to my Motorola HT280 headphones. All good, but updating podcasts on the 680 with QuickNews has proved to work, though much slower and more cumbersome than is really practical. On the other hand, the best podcast manager application, in my opinion, is Apple's iTunes: subscriptions are easily managed, new subscriptions easily browsed and found, and Smart Playlists allow rules-based playlists (i.e. 5 most recently updated podcasts). The downside: it lives in the Apple ecosystem, so it syncs only with iPods. So, how to get iTunes to manage podcasts on my Treo?
Enter the Mass Storage Synchronizer, a small macro-based program that does just this...sorta. It allows you to define a playlist in iTunes, named "Treo smartphone," and add the content of your choice. Yes, it can also be a Smart Playlist. Now, here come the useful, if not slightly kludgy, step. Got an SD card reader? Good, you need it. Pop your SD card in, and make sure there's a folder named Audio on it. Double click the Mass Storage Synchronizer icon, and up comes a window, suspiciously DOS-looking. It protests a few times; just keep clicking Continue. Finally, it quietly thinks for about 10 seconds, and the alerts you everything has been updated. Yep, the contents of your playlist are now on the SD card.Note I said "contents." That means that the actual playlist did not transfer, so you are left to your own devices (ahem) to create the Playlist on the Treo. For me, I use this tool to get podcasts on my Treo, so it's a simple matter to use Pocket Tunes to just create or edit a playlist on the Treo and add in all the content with the genre "podcasts." Then a little reordering, and I'm good to go.
Overall, this solution has a lot going for it. For one, it works, which is more than I can say about Pocket Tunes' Windows Media integration (works once, but never again). For another, it's fast: mere seconds to transfer big podcast files. And finally, it's got the magic price point: free. Who can argue with that?
Personally, I think Apple's got to eventually expand iTunes to non-Apple devices to continue adoption of their leadership role in digital content. I'm not saying this year, or even next, but as NBC recently showed, without critical market mass, the whole inexpensive content supply dries up. Apple can sell as many iPods and iPhones as they can, but if they want to continue dictating pricing and terms to big content providers, they have to show they are the only game in town. That means playing nice, at least in a limited fashion, with Zunes, Sansas and the like, or risk Amazon or Microsoft stealing their thunder.
For now, I'm happy with this workaround. That iPhone keeps looking better and better...but, for instance, this is just one of many blog entries written entirely on my Treo. I'll stick with the keyboard...and the poor man's iPod for that alone.
