louisgray.com: live: Silicon Valley Blog: Never Assume Rationality

Stats Corner Shows How to Win 80% of Games

2007-01-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

Recent Stats Corner Features:

Playing the role of sports stats geek for Sactown Royalty this NBA season has been a lot of fun, as it lets me combine my inner nerddom with my fanatacism for sports. Over the months, as we Kings fans have lamented the team's various issues, we can see trends. Oddly enough, by keeping a running database game by game, we're finding our hunches are often correct. Tonight, we exposed an unknown fact - that the Kings win more than 4 of every 5 games in which they make more 3-point baskets than their opponent. Yet, when they don't win that single stat, they tend to lose more often - to the tune of 6 out of 7 times.

It's rare a stat like this will show such a disparity in wins and losses. But don't believe me. Talk to Stats Corner. (Or Download the Database)

I Stayed Up How Late to Get This Done?

2007-01-24T01:50:00.000-08:00

It took the better part of 2-3 months to migrate all 643 posts from RapidWeaver to Google's Blogger engine, but once I saw the end in sight tonight, it didn't really matter how late I had to stay up, or how much other work I needed to be doing - so after hundreds of "Command C, Command V" routines, I am happy to report that the migration is complete.

As a result of the move, the new site look and feel should have been imported, with a very familiar side bar. The old RSS feed should also be working and load from the same URL.

Comments from the last year are no longer tied to their equivalent posts. You can see them as running in parallel, as the original site is still hard coded to its original URLs. New comments to all posts will stick on the new engine. We will also be watching Feedblitz closely to see if that process is working well, though I expect we will learn that on Thursday morning.

With it being nearly 2 a.m. now, I can rest peacefully, knowing that this big undertaking, for now, is over. Find bugs? Let me know.

The Migration to Google Blogger? Ongoing...

2007-01-23T22:15:00.000-08:00

We've been posting regularly to the blog on louisgray.com for just over a year now, using Real Mac Software's RapidWeaver engine. As recounted a few times here, the application worked great initially, but has slogged down, no thanks to my frequent writing. After investigating a number of solutions, we finally settled on Google's Blogger engine, which will enable us to match a similar look and feel to what readers have grown accustomed, will enable Web-based posting at any time from any computer, and should handle the migration of RSS feeds without too many issues.

See: RapidWeaver Application Just Isn't Scaling and Slowly Migrating to Web-based Blogger Engine

Yet, RapidWeaver continues to be my undoing. The application does not offer the ability to export to a standard format recognized by Google's Blogger or Six Apart's TypePad or WordPress. We looked everywhere. As a result, over the last few months, while maintaining the site here, we've been playing the copy/paste game of the more than 600 posts, including recreation of thousands and thousands of URL hyperlinks, to catch the Blogger site up to date. Every time we catch an archived movie on TiVo, we're copying and pasting, and adding the URL tags... over and over and over. It's enough to give me carpal tunnel - not that it's actually happened yet.

Starting with January 9, 2006, when the site debuted, we've migrated all posts through October 26, 2006, meaning we're "only" about three months behind. Once we close the gap, you'll know it, and I'll be very pleased. I won't be stuck in a proprietary application engine that stalls out my computer every time I post. I won't have to sit on stories while at the office as much. And as Google believes in standards in a big way, I can import/export out of Blogger if I ever get sick of them as well. It's sure to happen some day.

So, hang tight, and understand that we're working on moving us forward. To watch the new site's progress, or just to relive the old posts as if they were new again, go to the test site.

One Senator Blogs State of the Union Response

2007-01-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

As the most-popular Web logs gain readership approximating those of bigger, more-established media, it is no surprise that those who have a message to sell are heading directly to their audience - whether that be companies aiming to sell a product, or politicians and advocates aiming to sell a point of view.

Following today's presidential state of the union address, Democratic Illinois senator Dick Durbin, the majority whip for the Senate, headed not to the TV cameras and radio waves to make his case, but instead to Daily Kos, where he took questions and offered answers to the site's visitors.

Though it's not the first time a politician has recognized the immense traffic and power that Daily Kos holds for the progressive movement in the Democratic Party, it's exactly this type of behavior that gets me excited about the potential of blogs. Through this medium, visitors around the world were able to post questions and have a dialog with an elected politician immediately after a news event, something unprecedented only 10 or so years ago. And I respect Senator Durbin's willingness to take a risk, entering unknown territory without a script to offer frank insight on everything from increasing troop levels in Iraq, how to best offer solutions for health care and spiraling higher education costs, and on how he feels the current administration has responded to suffering still being felt by citizens of New Orleans.

This is the real deal. I give Senator Durbin a lot more credit for this than some of the more polished politicians who think slapping a quasi-commercial on YouTube is the new way to be hip to a younger, more connected generation.

Blog Tools Update: New Dashboard Widget

2007-01-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Using Apple's new Dashboard beta code, we recently revamped our louisgray.com site Dashboard widget, which is immediately available for download. The widget, powered by our RSS feed, updates regularly and features the full text of the Web site in a handy format.

A Screenshot of the Widget In Action

If you are using Mac OS X, download the widget now, and unzip the compressed file.

And for all users, don't forget to sign up to the RSS feed, or receive site updates by e-mail.

Monday Contributions to SportsBlogs Nation

2007-01-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the few days where I had the privilege to post on the front page of both Athletics Nation and Sactown Royalty. With the well-run SportsBlogs Nation growing rapidly, more fans are turning to the network to find the latest in sports news and opinion, at the expense of more established brands, like ESPN and CBS Sportsline. We have been lucky to find a role with more than one of the sites, supporting the Oakland A's and Sacramento Kings.

With the A's recent news the team would be moving to Fremont and playing at Cisco Field, we took a look on Athletics Nation at how often technology expectations get ahead of reality. As in decades past, it was assumed we would be surrounded by flying cars and teleportation, fans should remember many of the game's tenets are unchanged. (Full story: At Cisco Field, Don't Expect Flying Cars)

Meanwhile, as the A's enjoy vacation, the Kings are themselves acting like they've taken days off, even when they are expected to play. They've taken a downward spiral to the bottom of the Pacific Division, and recently got thumped by the Detroit Pistons, 91-74, in arguably the worst game they played all year. That's how I saw it anyway. After all, it was the team's lowest scoring contest, and they threatened season lows in shooting percentage, point differential and free throw percentage. Yuck. (Full story: So... the Detroit Game? Worst Ever this Year!)

Listening to ''Feels Like Home'', by Basement Jaxx (Play Count: 4)

Don't Blame Me, I'm Rooting for Hillary

2007-01-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's announcement that Hillary Clinton is "In it to win", throwing her hat into the 2008 presidential race, wasn't much of a surprise. Hillary has been visibly preparing herself for such a challenge even before her husband Bill left office in January 2001. And while she may not end up being the woman I cast my vote for by the time we get the opportunity, we are happy she's stepped up, and hope she gives it her all.

After six years of George W. Bush and company delivering plenty of shock and none of the awe to Americans everywhere, the country voted emphatically for change in the 2006 mid-term elections, pushing Democrats into congressional power. With Iraq spiraling further into chaos, and the Republican minority scuttling away in scandal and illegalities, that push for change will hopefully continue. And for once, the Democrats are flush with good candidates with serious name recognition, from John Edwards and Barack Obama to, now, Hillary Clinton. If all those running can remember that their real foe is already sitting in the White House, and not one of the other candidates, the party will have the best chance at success, no matter who emerges the victor.

As mentioned previously here, the more I learn about Hillary's background, the more impressed I am. While she may be the most reviled individual in the history of the conservative right, she has stood her ground and been unafraid to take controversial stances for the good of the country. The prospect of having both her and her husband back in the White House, surrounded by intelligence actors for change, is thrilling - especially when contrasted with what we've sickeningly grown accustomed to.

I'm also pleased that the issue of Hillary being a female candidate might not be the headline issue of a campaign. Hillary's announcement is more than a token to the feminist movement, but one that stands on its own merits. With Obama setting a similar mark on race, rather than gender, both should be interesting proof points to see if America can move beyond its white male Protestant dominated world - one that recently said Republican candidate Mitt Romney was doomed for being Mormon, as approximately half said that alone disqualified his candidacy. It's time for the voters to focus on issues and vote for those they think can move the country forward and out of the pit we've been dug into for six very long years.

Good luck Hillary. We will be eagerly watching and waiting to see if you can convince us that you are the right choice. (More: Daily Kos, The Atlantic)

TiVo Unfreezes Cold Mountain

2007-01-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

One of the beauties of having a TiVo digital video recorder capable of saving more than 100 hours of video is setting it up to record all sorts of movies, and not feeling any serious demand to watch them right away. In addition to our myriad of season passes which catch us up on new episodes, we often give the TiVo an assignment to record movies at all hours - and it dutifully does so without complaint.

Our series one TiVo has been quietly taking down our orders for the better part of four years. In its library, it is holding on to an August 15th, 2003 showing of The English Patient, which I swear I'll finally see someday. It has a July 2005 Oakland A's baseball game, where the ANtics comics were featured. I play that gem every once in a while, when guests come to the house. And today, we unearthed the film Cold Mountain, which had been in deep storage since September of 2005 itself. For more than a year, it had occupied sectors on TiVo's hard drive, and patiently waited for us to watch it. For some reason, we never found time for Cold Mountain in 2006. Yet, today we did, and the picture was as clear as if we had recorded it this morning.

Barring video on demand, where we could, on impulse, order up any feature we wanted, our practice of storing up films on TiVo is the most-flexible way to ensure we always have entertainment on hand - and we aren't forced to take up physical space with new DVD cases or VHS tapes to do it. Too often we take technology's advances for granted. I for one hope I never stop being impressed.

Google Planning Ahead for the Next Web Frontier

2007-01-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I believe companies like Microsoft, AT&T and Time Warner have been relegated to lesser roles on the Internet, while more nimble companies like Google, YouTube, Apple and Six Apart have led the way, is because they are fighting the battles of yesterday, guaranteeing them a lifetime of looking to steal market share away from an established leader, and never quite catching up.

If you look at Microsoft today, they are still trying to get their hands around a serious Web portal and search engine. Meanwhile Google is increasing share. Microsoft is looking to promote its Live.com blogs network, yet MySpace, Six Apart, WordPress and Google's Blogger platform reign in leadership positions. Microsoft launched Zune to go after Apple's iPod, and it doesn't look like it's gaining any market traction.

But this, really, truly, honestly, wasn't aimed to slam Microsoft too much.

Industry pundit Robert Cringely notes that Google is snapping up scads of dark fibre and is establishing massive data centers around the country, anticipating a time when the demand for rich media will outstrip the available bandwidth to the home. When the collective masses may respond with a shrieking cyber bloodbath, Google is seen as having the only real alternative. Whether his guess is 100% accurate or not, it is another proofpoint showing that when the big companies zig, Google is zagging, using the collective brainpower from its hundreds of Ph.D's to lead the way in innovation.

As I commented to Don Dodge on his excellent blog around "The Next Big Thing", we used to blanche when downloading a 4 megabyte Netscape 1.0 browser download. Now we're all too eager to take on 1.3 gigabytes of leaked 24 episodes.

While today we may be on the cutting edge, it won't be too long before the masses are given the tools to similarly demand gigabytes and gigabytes of data to the home almost instantaneously. When that massive demand for services comes, some companies will be ready, and some won't. My bet is that Google and Apple will be there.

Listening to ''01_nu_train'', by Underworld(Play Count: 5)

New TAB Post: Safari Shortcuts a Big Timesaver

2007-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

For me, one of the undervalued timesavers which I use all day, every day, is Safari's ability to navigate pages simply by hitting Command and a number, to move from sites in my Bookmarks Bar. If you use the Bookmarks Bar to contain your most frequently-accessed sites, in addition to folders, hitting Command-1 will select the leftmost site, Command-2 will hit the second in line, and so on. Now, instead of moving the mouse and clicking on the shortcut, or entering the URL, you can rapidly move through your daily Web surfing.

That's the idea behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled Safari Shortcuts a Big Timesaver. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

I Still Get Excited About Silicon Valley

2007-01-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

Living in the Silicon Valley definitely has its down sides. While housing prices are out of this world, and traffic or parking issues can definitely get in the way of a good trip or add frustration to an otherwise positive experience, I still feel a rush when I drive past the headquarters of a company I know, see a gaggle of engineers wearing their company badges, or a license plate frame on the car in front of me that tries to extoll the virtues of Google, Linux, or the latest hardware vendor or .com.

In college, before I got the mobility to drive over the Bay Bridge and down the San Francisco Peninsula, Silicon Valley seemed just out of reach, but I would glom on to anything I could find, whether it was news reports from the San Francisco Chronicle, or Web sites that spilled the details on Yahoo! and Netscape, SGI or Lycos. I would visit the Berkeley Public Library to read biographies on Oracle's Larry Ellison and Microsoft's Bill Gates, and on Sunday afternoons would catch the Silicon Valley News on one of the independent cable channels. I was an outsider yearning to be on the inside.

Then, as my senior year started, I made the leap. I got an entry-level job at a Web-focused startup in Burlingame, and they were generous enough to give me a $2,000 signing bonus to help buy my first car. After taxes, I didn't have all that much, but we got a 1991 Ford Escort GT for $2950, and was finally available to move where I wanted, when I wanted. On my commute to the office, I passed through San Francisco and gawked at the tech-focused billboards, some which bore ticker symbols, in a vain attempt to convince commuters to purchase their stock. On the worst days, I marveled at how sometimes the traffic would stall so badly that those in the cars next to me would be reading the newspaper against their steering wheels, or even shaving with an electric razor. Yuck.

But the real excitement came when I passed beyond San Francisco and got to the Peninsula. Passing Burlingame and on to Redwood Shores and Belmont, the Oracle building complex rose like a phoenix from the Valley floor. The sparkling blue towers were breath-taking - not just because of their beauty, but that they represented the gateway to the Silicon Valley, and a serious challenge to Bill Gates and Microsoft. As I drove further south, I saw signs for Sun Microsystems, National Semiconductor, and scads of smaller tech companies - all of whom said they were hiring, and most of whom said they were pre-IPO. When I drove into Mountain View, all I wanted to see was Netscape headquarters. In Cupertino, it was Apple. Redwood City featured the massive Excite @ Home. Even Milpitas had Cisco. When I went to a movie theater, instead of ads for Wrangler Jeans and Chevy trucks, we saw employment ads from Nortel Networks and startups looking to change the world.

Years later, much has changed. The first dot com crash came and went. Companies disappeared. The traffic problems largely went away, only to flare up now and again, as many hoping to cash in on the gold rush got tired and went back home. Companies merged. Some actually managed to grow and enter the public markets. People I knew at one company moved on to another. And another. And another. Some gave up and tried to be consultants. But the aura of the Silicon Valley, the challenge of out-working anybody else in the world, and delivering technology innovations that change the way people live and do business, didn't go away. Devices got smaller. Devices got less expensive and did more. Web speeds got faster. The engineers and I all continued to gain weight. Time kept ticking.

While I've grown more accustomed to being surrounded by Cisco buildings, and don't follow in awe when I learn that somebody works at Apple, or Yahoo! or Google, the allure Silicon Valley once had for me is still there. Where many geographies have tried to duplicate its unique success, they haven't crossed over. While the technologies and the leaders have changed from year to year, and we've seen bits move from kilo to mega, giga, tera and beyond, I will still drive the extra mile or so to catch a glimpse of Yahoo! headquarters or peek at the vibrant colors of eBay. I'll still look at the parking lots of tech companies and see if the high BMW to Honda ratio indicates that they are doing well. The Valley doesn't just inspire because of its history, it inspires because of its future.

Apple Smashes Estimates, Sells 21 Million iPods

2007-01-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

The story continues to be the same for Apple Inc. Although expectations for the Cupertino computer and digital device company are higher than ever, the company continues to exceed estimates quarter after quarter and year after year. Today, after NASDAQ market close, Apple announced fiscal earnings of $7 billion, with more than $1 billion in profits. In the quarter, Apple increased iPod sales by 50% over the previous year, to 21 million, and 1.6 million Macs, up 28% year over year.

Apple has come an amazingly long way from the mid-90's squalor that had some expecting they simply wouldn't make it. It's even more amazing to realize that this tremendous growth from the company's base products comes in advance of their recently announced iPhone and Apple TV products, which wasn't lost on the company's CEO, Steve Jobs, in today's press release.

"We've just kicked off what is going to be a very strong new product year for Apple by launching Apple TV and the revolutionary iPhone."

Apple's growth looks like it is in no danger of slowing. Through unique innovation and aggressive marketing, Apple has forged a place for itself in the marketplace. Now, it's not just a question of whether the company will survive, or if Apple can sell beyond its installed base, but just how much market share the company can take from Windows. With Vista around the corner, and Leopard offering some cutting-edge features, Apple can make significant traction in the coming year.

As Apple users and Mac afficionados, we look forward to more progress.

Yahoo! Has Fallen and It Can't Get Up

2007-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Picking on Yahoo! for its failings is as easy as it once was to pick on Microsoft for its monopoly tactics and shoddy software, or Apple for its scant market share. It's not as if the world needs yet more proof points that Google has won the online search and advertising race, and that Yahoo! has squandered more than one opportunity to get ahead. Yet an increasing amount of news shows that Google is taking more share in all categories at the expense of Yahoo! and Microsoft, despite already having the leader position.

Yesterday, Comscore released its December search rankings for search engines, showing Google with 47.3 percent. Yahoo! eked up to 28.5% and Microsoft fell to 10.5%, down from 11%. Tom Foremski wonders aloud if there is a place for niched, specialized search engines that don't try to do it all. While many are being funded, the truth is that outside of the top two engines, everybody else seems to be losing share, as consumers grow more comfortable and entrenched with Google especially.

The battle over search engine eyes and clicks, and the domination of Google, grows ever more astounding when one learns more about the history of Google and Yahoo!, particularly. Wired Magazine launched an extensive piece on how Yahoo! once had the opportunity to acquire the nascent challenger in the summer of 2002, but simply didn't offer enough dough. As the article points out, this stemmed from the timing of it all. In 2002, as the first Internet bubble had come crashing down, Yahoo! was left a shadow of its once high-flying self, and it just simply couldn't scare up billions to acquire Google. Instead, they settled for second best acquisitions of Inktomi and GoTo (now Overture), and couldn't mash the new products together well enough to take on what's become the far and away market leader.

As much fun as it is to see companies challenge the market front-runners and add more services beyond their core business model, I believe they also need the ability to recognize where they are failing and they need to make the hard decisions to focus on what they do well. I don't use Microsoft search and Yahoo! search because they simply aren't as good, and won't get me the answers I need. Advertisers know the intelligent consumers have made the choice, and that choice is Google.

Long Term Investments Are Out of the Question

2007-01-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

Of late, I've found my attention span in the stock market is decreasing rapidly. I used to be of the standard "buy and hold" mentality, picking great companies with potentially great stocks. But the seeming inevitability of the buy and hold strategy was that eventually, the stock would go down - sometimes in a big way, thanks to a profit miss or product issue.

The result is that my investment strategy has morphed, first from holding stocks for the better part of a year to instead a few months, down to a month or two at longest, and most recently, it's been unusual for me to even hold a specific stock for even a week. Instead, I've been looking for momentum plays, with specific actions that would temporarily boost a stock or stem a drop. This change in strategy has made it easier to turn money over and better regulate the potential spikes.

By turning into more of a day trader, per se, I don't fall emotionally for stocks, but instead look at them as faceless entities with ticker symbols, whether it's AAPL, GOOG, TIVO, or others. In fact, I even prey on companies that have fallen on hard times to benefit from their eventual rebound. Even a 3 percent jump in a day or two might be enough for me to sell. As a result, I've made more in stock profits in January already than I did in December, and more in December than I did in all of 2006 prior.

I don't know if this is a recent stroke of luck or the result of good planning. But for now, we'll keep trading off CES and MacWorld, and earnings hit or misses. It's working.

Listening to ''Walk Down (KVA Club Mix)'', by Kyau & Albert (Play Count: 2)

New 24 Season Explodes Onto Screens Everywhere

2007-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

I've been good. Even though Kristine and I watched the first four episodes of 24 more than a week ago, we didn't tell anybody what happened. Not only did 24 not officially debut on television until last night, but I am, for some reason, surrounded by coworkers and family members alike who haven't made their way through the previous season - either due to lax TiVo discipline, or an inability to find time to watch the show on DVD. Therefore, I have gone out of my way to be courteous and avoid slipping details of the newest adventures of Jack Bauer - for their safety and mine.

With that said, the cat is pretty much out of the bag now. 24 kicked off the season yesterday on Fox, and people are all talking about CTU's latest attempt to save the world from the evils of terrorism. Even the Drudge Report was abuzz about 24's possibly setting off a nuclear weapon on American soil. Drudge, in his typical flair, quoted one anonymous Fox executive as saying it was "Time to wake the country up!" and keep them riveted to the screen - hoping that once again, the good guys prevail.

Our early access to 24 paid dividends over the weekend. My parents had somehow made an alternative show hold a higher TiVo season pass, and 24's debut was nowhere to be found. We scrambled to push the new episodes to my mother's big screen Apple Cinema Display, where we then proceeded to watch all four shows until after 2 in the morning. Today, around breakfast, she said the improvised slumber party was well worth it. Had I not had the 24 episodes on the iPod, they would be forced to find somebody else with true TiVo expertise to get them their Jack Bauer fix.

If you haven't yet made 24 a must see in your TV watching itinerary, it's time. This season looks to be better than ever.

Listening to ''floatation'', by Ulrich Schnauss (Play Count: 1)

Saturday's Kings Game: One to Remember (and Forget)

2007-01-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Though I'm an avid Sacramento Kings fan, I haven't had the opportunity to see the team play in person at Arco Arena for the better part of four to five years. With our planned visit to Sacramento to see my parents this weekend, we quickly scrambled to see if we could gain tickets for the Kings game against the Houston Rockets Saturday night. The game was, of course, sold out, but we were able to find a high-priced alternative on StubHub, which gained us four box seat tickets on the first level, unimpeded by other fans. As a result, the four of us, consisting of Kristine, my parents, and me, saw the Kings put on one of the better shows in recent memory, as they battled a superior Rockets team for four quarters, before fading in overtime, on the way to their fifth straight loss.

Despite the game's outcome, we had a fantastic time, as you could likely tell by the game recap I posted to Sactown Royalty near midnight Saturday.

The game was close for almost the entire contest. Two of the Kings players went for more than 30, and though the team was down by five with seconds left in regulation, Ron Artest somehow banked in a last gasp three-pointer to tie it up and send it to an additional period, making all the fans in Arco who were on their way to the parking lot turn right back around and hope for the improbable. But it wasn't to be. The Rockets proved to be too much for the Kings, who have let us down time and again this season, on their way to mediocrity.

I had hoped that by our making the investment in the team and bringing the family, that our support would be rewarded. While the game was a delight with high-paced shooting with an upbeat tempo, offering an entertaining experience, the final score had us wanting more. My hope is that the next time I go to Arco, I spend less money and we can walk away with a win.

Listening to ''staub'', by Ulrich Schnauss (Play Count: 1)

Al Gore Again Denies 2008 Presidential Bid

2007-01-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

It is mind-boggling to think how different this nation and world would be had a few hundred votes for Pat Buchanan or Ralph Nader down in Florida have gone Al Gore's way in 2000. While it's a little like crying over spilled milk, his political star continues to rise, even as Bush and his administration are finding new ways to embarrass the United States and the Republican Party. Now, following the Democrats' pummeling of the GOP in the mid-term elections last November, all eyes have moved forward to the next big election, for president, and candidates are already lining up on both sides.

Unfortunately, it looks as if Al Gore really, truly, won't put his hat in the ring again. Content to fight his own campaign against global warming on a worldwide basis, he told reporters again today that he is out, officially. This leaves the already crowded Democrat party field with one less star, and potentially, a little less infighting before the general election.

Given how the last 6-plus years have lowered our expectations for what the US presidency represents, every candidate seems better than what we have now. While I think Barack Obama lacks experience, this may be to his benefit, as he's not beholden to a raft of questionable past votes. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are very interesting candidates with strong principles and momentum. But this race could have been Al Gore's to take. While they fight it out in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire, he will remain above the fray. (More: Daily Kos)

Listening to ''a lie for breakfast'', by Ulrich Schnauss (Play Count: 2)

And... We're Back

2007-01-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

What - you thought I joined the long list of blogs that are abandoned every day? You wish.

We took Monday off from work, making this an unofficial three day weekend, blog free. Kristine and I visited my family in Sacramento, seeing a Sacramento Kings game, visiting the state capitol, seeing where my parents work at their relatively new jobs, and playing lots of cards, with them, my aunts and Nana. I'm happy to report that I won most of the card games, and less pleased to report that the Kings lost their game on Saturday, with us in attendance. More soon.

Listening to ''a million miles away'', by Ulrich Schnauss (Play Count: 1)

Week of CES and Macworld Sends RSS Flood

2007-01-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

Today, the steady trickle of Google Reader went off like a flash flood. Starting Sunday, with the beginning of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (CES) and culminating in today's big Apple news at MacWorld, with the debut of the AppleTV and the potentially revolutionary iPhone, all the tech news sites and blogs you could shake a feed at were publishing in overdrive.

Google Reader activity: January 9, 2007
Today's activity set a new record - with more than 740 items being generated from the 80 or so feeds I've automatically selected to watch. Seemingly half of them were dedicated to tracking Steve Jobs' every move. Not that I can complain. When I get the chance, I'll finally sit down with my PowerBook, plug in the iPod earphones and watch the 2-hour keynote myself. It's practically a tradition. But reading an RSS item every minute for 12 hours? I'm hoping it's a one-time spike, not something I need to get used to.

As usual, don't forget to see what I've shared on My Link Blog.

Listening to ''Come To Me (Club Mix)'', by Sasha (Play Count: 3)

Apple Stock Pays for AppleTV, New Airport Extreme

2007-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

There's nothing more assured from a MacWorld Expo keynote than AAPL stock volatility. We took the bet last week that the rumors around Apple were true - that Steve Jobs could surprise us all and set the stock higher. We also bet that ahead of CES, TiVo, still undervalued, would pull of some tricks to elicit interest in their stock. So we overweighted the portfolio in a big way.

Thank goodness we were right. We're not wealthy by any means, but we cleared about $2k from 5 days of trades in the two, and that was more than enough to treat ourselves to the new $299 AppleTV and new Airport Extreme wireless base station, sporting 802.11n connectivity. The AppleTV will be a welcome addition to our new setup, including new DVD players and plasma screen, as we catch up with Silicon Valley expectations. The new Airport should get our wireless a bit more regular, faster and reach further. And as far as I'm concerned, they were free, and we have more than $1,500 in profits left over, to point somewhere else.

Listening to ''It's My Turn'', by Pete Tong (Play Count: 3)

Baseball Hall of Fame Voting is Sadly, Broken

2007-01-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

Today should have been an historic day in baseball, with the elections of Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn to the storied halls of Cooperstown, after both set marks for consistent greatness through the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, issues with steroid allegations against other players, and general snobbishness of untalented sports writer hacks combined to snub a myriad of other elite players who may never make the Hall of Fame.

While most of the pre-vote hype was around whether or not disgraced former Oakland A and St. Louis Cardinal first baseman Mark McGwire would be elected, somewhat forgotten were the stories of decades gone by - the dominant closing from Rich "Goose" Gossage, the batting heroics of Dale Murphy and Jim Rice, and top-notch career of Bert Blyleven, to name a few. Where anywhere from 5-10 players on the ballot warranted election, instead, we got two. Where we should have unanimity, we instead got holdouts who embarrassed the sport by, for who knows what reason, leaving Gwynn and Ripken off the ballot.

I'm not calling for a more democratic fan-based voting system. It's bad enough they have input into the All-Star game itself. But the idea that to gain Hall of Fame entry is anything approaching heroics is gone. Instead, we know that its a crapshoot set off by a myriad of ink-stained, yellowed wretches who couldn't run to first without clutching their left side and pulling up lame.

Were I to have voted, and turned in a ballot, I would have been much more liberal, not just issuing a vote for Ripken and Gwynn, but also Gossage, Rice, Blyleven, McGwire, Murphy, Dave Parker and Lee Smith.

As more storied players approach future ballots, I hope baseball writers come to their senses and recognize elite dominance of a sport. Unanimity should be a certainty with stolen base champ Rickey Henderson, and hurlers Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux, to name a few. But my belief in the system is badly shaken.

Listening to ''Jakata'', by Andrew K. presents Junk Science (Play Count: 4)

MacWorld San Francisco 2007 Eve

2007-01-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

There was once a time where the advent of Steve Jobs walking on the stage for Apple would be enough to surpass anything else I had going on that day. I'd come in to work late, or watch the event, via QuickTime, on top of other windows during the workday. While I remain very curious, it's less of an obsession (some might disagree), and more of an obligation. I'm more hopeful that whatever is announced tomorrow does more for Apple's stock than anything else. We're long AAPL again, and any hint of "buy on the rumors, sell on the news" would knock our portfolio down a few pegs.

Everybody and their dog has predictions for MacWorld. Some will be right, and others... not so much. Theories have ranged from a new cellular phone to a TiVo and Netflix killer, wide-screen HDTVs for the living room, new iMac designs, faster Mac Pros, upgraded MacBook Pros, a new wide-screen iPod, next generation Airport wireless, the introduction of OS X 10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), new revisions of the iLife and iWork software suites, improved .Mac features, and integrated virtualization. Did I miss anything? Even with that long list, probably.

Regardless of what Steve Jobs announces tomorrow, you'll have one part of the population ecstatic over the smallest things, and in contrast, another extreme, deathly frustrated they didn't get exactly what they wanted. Some updates will be a surprise, others, boringly repetitive. But it's all in good fun, and all in good business. Every good marketer who gets the opportunity to speak in public should watch Jobs perform. He's excellent on stage, and he might not be up there for too much longer, as eventually, someone else will have to lead Apple. But until then, he's firmly in charge, and tomorrow, we'll hopefully be watching.

Apple Says: Download Every Depeche Mode Song Ever

2007-01-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

Apple hates me. They want to bankrupt me and my family. That's all I can figure after finding I've been targeted with their latest digital box set featuring Depeche Mode, the band I grew up listening to in the 1990s, the band I've seen in concert twice, and the band which currently occupies the #1 position in my iTunes history, both on Last.fm and MusicMobs.

Due to the fact I've purchased Depeche Mode songs from the iTunes Music Store over the last three years on more than one occasion, I received a special e-mail inviting me to know about their exclusive digital box set, The Complete Depeche Mode.

This is no ordinary box set. Apple says it has 644 tracks, including "over 60 remixes, live recordings, and other rarities you can't get anywhere else"... all for the low, low price of $169.99. How could I resist, when it's so easy to hit the magic button that says "Buy Album"? Just one click, and my little hard drive is sure to fill up with gigabyte after gigabyte of old Depeche Mode songs that I no doubt already have - or had on cassette tapes before they were mercifully antiquated.

It's like offering heroin to an addict who's just left the rehab clinic. They know they shouldn't, they know they don't need it, but wouldn't it sure feel good? So far, we're not buying. But I haven't yet deleted the e-mail, and maybe I'll find a good reason to hit "Buy Now". After all, how can I be happy with the mere 148 songs and 13.5 hours of Depeche Mode I already have in my iTunes when I could quintuple it immediately?

Darn Apple. Why didn't they offer me the Bee Gees or something?

New Season of 24 Already on the Web for Download

2007-01-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

When we last saw Jack Bauer, he was headed into custody of the Chinese government, sure to undergo all sorts of unspeakable torture, as the Communist regime had made him the fall guy for the killing of their ambassador at the nation's embassy on US soil. While the rest of the world awaits the series' debut in a week to see what's happened to Bauer and the rest of the 24 crew, some early birds already know, and just might spoil the fun if you want to be surprised, thanks to an early leak of the season's first four episodes as BitTorrent files - downloadable from anywhere in the world.

As TorrentFreak wrote on their blog yesterday, it's unknown who the source of the leak is. Some think it's a ploy by Fox or the series' creators to drum up interest in the franchise. Alternatively, it could be an aggressive fan. Regardless, the cat's out of the bag, and any tech-savvy 24 fan could take the time to download more than 1.2 gigabytes of non-stop 24 action to catch the first four episodes before anybody else. It just takes intelligent Web searching and smart software to hear Jack order people to holster their weapons for the first time in months.

Set to See Sacramento Kings on Saturday

2007-01-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Though we've been a contributor to Sactown Royalty all season long, it's rare for us to get the opportunity to see the Kings on TV, let alone get out to Arco Arena to see them live. This weekend, my wife and I will be heading out to see my parents, who live in the capital city, and catching the Kings game against the visiting Houston Rockets, with or without 7' 6" superhuman Yao Ming.

Living in the Bay Area, my yearning for the Kings derives mostly from my misspent youth, where many an evening was wasted, wishing for the moribund team to break through and win a freakin' game.

Now, with the team's recent struggles, the same, idealistic, hope just may be all we can hold on to. All you need to know is that the Kings are playing well under expectations now, and they've even devolved to the point their losing to bad teams at home - never a good sign. That's part of why my recent posts to the site have taken on an occasional bitter or sarcastic tone. Yet, once the game's on, we're rooting for them. That's my role. Should be a very fun Saturday evening.

This weekend's Sactown Royalty posts: