RSS A Demanding Mistress

Just like any other self-respecting techie, I'm subscribed to dozens of RSS feeds - from technology and sports news sites, to popular blogs, and Google news alerts on a whole host of keywords, for both personal and work use. One of the first tasks each morning after opening up the laptop is to click on NetNewsWire and scroll through the night's news until I'm caught up.

However, even with this diligence, by the time I get to the office and log in, there are dozens more new stories that have popped up on RSS. I've synchronized my work and home computers through NewsGator, meaning I don't have to read the same stories twice, but it doesn't mean I have the luxury of sitting back while the world revolves around me. In fact, just in the time it took to write these two paragraphs, a simple refresh picked up 27 new articles for perusal, boosting the 89 new items at the time of the below screenshot to a more robust 116.


NetNewsWire In Action

The benefits of RSS are obvious - instead of looking for news and information, it comes to me. Combined with alerts from Google News, I can track for news coverage on my company and the competition - instantly, always staying a step ahead of colleagues, the PR firm, and others not utilizing the services. Even better, the latest edition of NetNewsWire now lets users click and view the stories inside the application, instead of opening up to a new Web browser. I'd say I now read a significant percentage of my browsed articles within NetNewsWire instead of Safari now, and that number is ever-increasing, as the sites I regularly visit are supplanted through their feeds.

But I think I may just have reached the level where I don't want to add much more. If I do add regularly-updated feeds, I give some thought as to removing others that offer high quantity, but not high quality. (I'm looking at you, InformationWeek and News.com!) If you're not at this stage yet, give NetNewsWire a spin. And if you're on a PC instead of a Mac, NewsGator also offers FeedDemon, which is probably good, but not nearly as fun. You should just get a Mac anyway.

Listening to ''Columbia'', by Paul Van Dyk (Play Count: 3)

ANtics Special: Bulls-Eye!

Following last night's defeat, the second in a row, against the lowly Royals, drastic measures have been taken to ensure an A's fan's sanity.

Disclaimer: These are intended for fun only. Any harm, injury, or threats thereof are not sanctioned by Athletics Nation, the ANtics, or any similar governing body. Any desire for additional "headshots" can be taken by e-mail.

(Neighbors, girlfriends, and others unaffiliated with the A's organization and its related entities do not qualify)

To Download: PC and Mac: Right Click and select "Save Image As", "Save As", or "Save Image to Desktop", browser depending. For single-button Macs, click the image and drag to desktop. Happy throwing!

More here: Athletics Nation: Bullseye: Get Out Your Aggression - A's Style

Listening to ''Teen Angst'', by M83 (Play Count: 9)

As Google Grows Up, Bumps Taking Place

Google started out life as a simple search engine. With an uncluttered interface, users had access to what soon became the most thorough database on the Web, and from there, the company grew - adding paid ads alongside search results, and then an avalanche of applications, as the company's next moves and areas to add ad revenue seem limitless, from GMail to Google-branded classified ads, Google Desktop and more. But all through the process, the company's promised to not do evil, in direct contrast with Microsoft, who is widely respected for its own pact with Satan himself.

Now, as Google is seen as the 800 pound gorilla, those who follow the company's every step and speculate to their next move are growing increasingly wary, suggesting the company's honeymoon is over - that like Microsoft, IBM and basically any large company before it, Google is not to be trusted, and that a lack of information about their current and future business is hiding something - and that something is likely sinister. Media coverage, technology fans and business experts alike have changed their tone when discussing Google, no longer seeing it as a plucky upstart, but instead as a force to be reckoned with in every market. (See Google makes some missteps as it finds its way in corridors of power and Why Google makes everyone else nervous)

In fact, some are saying that as Google has grown and taken on new projects, they have lost their way, with nobody being held accountable for market share, growth, and the inevitable quest for profit. While the company continues to impress with the search market and advertising growth, some have said that Google's comparable market share in e-mail, news, financial information and mapping software are surprisingly low for what should be a market leader, and are calling for change - in the form of layoffs, starting with the CEO and working downward. Google and layoffs have scarcely been mentioned in the same breath before, and the company continues its massive expansion. Hardly a day goes by where one prominent geek hasn't announced on their personal blog that they've been hired by the search giant. But the tone has changed, and if Google's not careful, they'll find that consumers and media are very fickle, and what used to be open-ended good-will can play very much the opposite way.

Listening to ''Eclipse'', by Timo Maas (Play Count: 4)

For A's, Fireworks Somehow Avoid Team

This being the Memorial Day holiday, the Oakland A's did what was right and proper - holding an evening game at the Coliseum, with proper respect paid to the armed services, and finishing with a full fireworks display to honor the holiday. This being the second ballpark fireworks show for me in four days, I was pretty comfortable with what I could expect post-game, but the team manages to make each game just a little unexpected, and of late, those surprises haven't been positive. Today was no different, as the team managed to fall 6-4 against the lowly Royals, the ball club's 9th loss in its last 10 contests, pushing their record five games below the .500 mark, the lowest point they have been all year. It is May after all. (See Blez's column on the toughest job in sports for fans - being an A's supporter in April or May)

Tonight was one of those nights where, on paper, it seemed the A's were destined to win. The Kansas City Royals have been perennial doormats in the American League Central, and had won only three games on the road all year. Going to the mound was A's reject pitcher Seth Etherton, who couldn't find a spot on the A's starting rotation in 2005. Yet somehow the team never led in the game, falling behind 2-0 early, and not getting much closer, as the Royals tacked on runs later in the game to pull away, rendering a ninth-inning home run by Nick Swisher meaningless. Insult to injury was made complete when supposed team leader Eric Chavez grounded into a double play to end the game, instead of blasting a tying home run in the seats, as I'm sure his contract stipulates.

Unlike others, we're not in full panic mode, ready to call for Ken Macha's head on a stick, or demand wild-eyed trades, demotions and benchings. The A's struggles on a general level still track back to the fact that many key players, especially in their pitching rotation have spent more time on the trainer's table than they have on the field in recent weeks, and the team has had to compete with players who expected to be spending more time in Sacramento in AAA than in the big time. We have to remain optimistic that if the club ever has its full squad in gear, that they can execute solidly on their potential and take charge in an otherwise lukewarm American League West division, which has the Rangers in sole possession of first place, four games up. Then, we can see real fireworks on the field.

Listening to ''Chapel Of Rest'', by Last Prayer (Play Count: 6)

Web Site Layout In Graph Form

I ran across an interesting tool yesterday afternoon, which will take any Web site and display it in a graph form, similar to a molecular structure, based on the site's links, graphics and typography.

Below is a screenshot of the graph for louisgray.com/live


Click for full image

For other popular graphs, start here: http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

Examples: Apple.com | Google.com | ESPN.com | Yahoo.com

Listening to ''Assorted Trance Volume 10'', by DJ Irish (Play Count: 5)

ANtics Episode 2.14: Streak Outs for Troops

On Saturday, the A's concluded a 7-game losing streak by defeating the division rival Texas Rangers, on the back of a pitching gem by lefty ace hurler Barry Zito. With that streak now complete, the ANtics investigates some of the lesser-known ongoing streaks you may not have heard about, in "Streak Outs for Troops".

Click to See Larger Comic

ANtics Archive: 2005/06 ANtics | PDF

Looking to 2008... Already

Growing up, I was enamored by primary politics. I can remember at the age of 11 hiding behind the couch so I could see the NBC Nightly News reports on the "Super Tuesday" results, scribbling down who had won, state by state. I was hiding behind the couch as my parents had of course told me to go to bed. It was a school night after all. But to me, finding out if Al Gore had successfully pulled off his southern strategy and taken a lead against Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson was more important than catching a few more hours of sleep.

Flash forward 18 years later, and Al Gore continues to come up as a potential ascendant to the presidential throne - if it can still be called that after the last six years of nonsense from the current administration. Given how Bush's popularity is in the toilet, down at the 30% approval range, pundits and voters alike are eager for a change - anything. Polls are already being taken on who should be the candidate on the Democratic side, and whether they would fare well against a similar guessing game of Republican names. And Gore keeps coming up, even if he says he's not interested.

According to a multitude of recent polls, Hillary Clinton continues to poll the highest among registered Democrats, with John Kerry, Al Gore, John Edwards and a host of also-rans falling behind in line. And don't think it's too early to pick a winner. The New York Times ran a front-page piece on George W. Bush's candidacy for the Republican nomination before a single ballot had been cast in Iowa or New Hampshire in 2000. On the Republican side, it's widely expected that John McCain will make a successful run, with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani also being named.

What's different this time around, according to just about everybody, is the ascendency of Internet-based politicking, whether the focus is on issues or fund-raising. It's believed that waiting around for huge donations of soft money from large donors isn't the answer any longer, and he or she who operates the most well-honed Web strategy is going to take the prize. This is well chronicled in "Crashing the Gate", and this week, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek comes to the same conclusions in a piece titled, "A New Open-Source Politics". I believe its one thing to harness the energy of the Internet, and quite another to expect that the Netroots are going to act as efficient replacements for the ATM. If one candidate asks for supporters to pony up the dough too many times, whatever advantage they once had will be gone - as they change from presidential candidate to spam candidate - to be filtered as junk.

For me, the biggest disappointment about 2008 projections is a name that is missing. Howard Dean seems to be the strongest on the issues, and aligns with my preferences in a very clear way. While he is doing outstanding work as the chairman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), I had wished he would give it another run at the chief executive position. In 2004, he had already withdrawn his name as a candidate by the time we in California had the opportunity to vote, and in the back of my head, I wish we had another shot at it. We don't need another repeat of John Kerry, and Hillary, although formidable, simply can't expect to overcome the hatred of the shallow South. It should be an interesting few years.

Listening to ''Inner Depth'', by Jerry Bonham (Play Count: 3)

Morning Notes: May 28, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

If you were a monster monolith company and found yourself in 3rd place in a major market, what would you do? Cheat to get to the top? What if that's already been done, and you were fined billions of dollars? Turns out the next step is to kiss up to the market leaders or try to buy them. After last month's discussion that Microsoft tried to partner with Yahoo! against Google, the latest rumors have Microsoft trying to buy eBay and make eBay part of the MSN experience. Yikes. I am sure that eBay would see a flood of buyers and sellers elsewhere rather than share their money with Bill Gates, or see beta software impact their auctions, Microsoft style.

Speaking of market leader search engines, Google is now turning the corner on visual design if the latest news is to be believed. Rather than priding themselves on minimalism forever, it looks like the company is recognizing that applications need more visual care than simple Web sites. As a result, they've just taken on a new hire as a "visual design lead", who will bring flair to all things Google.

Guy Kawasaki continues his "Lies" thread, today introducing the Top Sixteen Lies of CEOs. After slamming engineering, marketing, VCs and others, I'm sure he'll get around to the top ten lies of the maintenance crew shortly.

And if you've ever wondered just why the Apple iPod has dominated the music scene since its introduction, The Observer (UK) discusses the unique alignment of the customer experience with a single slick device. I can't remember the last time I looked forward to walking into a warehouse-like record store only to put down $15 to $18 for a CD album. iTunes has made the music buying experience a relative pleasure rather than a seeming chore.

Listening to ''Push Upstairs - Roger S Blue P'', by Underworld (Play Count: 5)

Da Vinci Code

The film has been the talk of the summer - much of it around Tom Hanks' flowing locks of hair and the critics' near universal dislike of Ron Howard's film adaptation of the Dan Brown novel, but the Da Vinci Code continues to pull in viewers, raking in $70+ million in box office its opening weekend, and trailing only the dominant X-Men 3 in its second weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

My wife and I pulled into one of the later showings tonight, starting the film at 10:15, and despite arriving 10 minutes early, we found the theater packed. In fact, the only row that had two adjacent seats was the very front row, where we found ourselves facing a huge screen that had us craning left and right to see the action ahead, or racing to read the subtitles as they came on screen, when if sat further back we could have grasped them immediately.

Having managed to avoid reading the novel myself, I came in to the film without deep-set expectations or mental comparisons of how the film would perform versus the novel on which it was based. For my wife that was not the case, and after a series of "That's not how it was in the book!", I made it clear I didn't care, and was trying to enjoy the film for what it was - an attempt to cram a novel's worth of detail, symbols and history into 2 and a half hours of less detailed fare. While the plot line itself was interesting and loosely based on historical fact and religious history, it wasn't any kind of thriller that one would go to time and again or widely recommend. It didn't have any scenes that grabbed you for fear, drama, romance or comedy. Instead it pushed forward from clue to clue and limited character development, focusing on only 4 or 5 main actors without delving too far into their background, with snippets only offering yet more clues to how they got there.

As for the movie's main premises, it's not my place to say how right or how wrong they are. The best part of religion in general is having some things make absolute logical sense, and much more unknown, where faith in the unseen bridges the gap. No amount of debate or research can wholly serve that purpose, as more knowledge often leads to more questions.

Listening to ''Assorted Trance Volume 15'', by DJ Irish (Play Count: 3)

Late-Night Notes: May 27th, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

Apple lost its case against the anonymous folks who leaked information about an as of yet unreleased product. The computer/iPod company had argued that product leakers and their activities with bloggers were not protected by first amendment, but the courts have disagreed. Maybe now Apple will see the range of leakery that reigned in the times of MacWeek.

A side called "Advertising for Peanuts" clearly explains a big issue in the marketing/PR/advertising world, where we note the war between the creative side and those who own the product, who think you have to cram all sorts of niddly details in a piece, when simplicity is much more of a sure thing. They say, simply, "This usually results in a crappy commercial." Duh. Now if only those who are the problem would ever see the solution...

NBC News anchorman Brian Williams sits down with Apple CEO Steve Jobs following the company's unveiling of a new Apple store in New York City, and peers into his mind, calling him an iconoclast and salesman in one. Jobs argues that innovation needs to ever continue, and that you can't be satisfied with your latest success.

Meanwhile, in Microsoft land, Mini-Microsoft reports that the rumored reductions in force (RIF) are beginning in some areas, a move applauded, yet echoes concern that those cutting jobs are the ones who need to be leaving themselves. Of course, in a Dilbert-run world, that's how it is and always will be, especially in the largest of large companies. While Mini can hope, reality is just that those who have the money and power will continue to do so.

Listening to ''LSI (Love Sex Intelligence)'', by Shamen (Play Count: 11)

Roaming In the Land of Barry Bonds

As mentioned previously, we had a rare opportunity to attend a Giants game in San Francisco tonight. With my A's in the midst of losing the team's seventh straight contest in Texas, at least one Bay Area team could try and make headway in the win-loss column, even if they were wearing black and orange, not green and gold. A vendor from the office had offered a free game with all the amenities possible, and we agreed to go, even if we still demanded to wear our A's cap and A's sweatshirt - both essential elements at every good ballgame.

The seats, in a depressed area alongside first base and the visitors bullpen, were very interesting. Though closer to the players than any other seats I've ever attended a game in, they didn't offer the clearest view, surprisingly, as the angle meant some pitches or plays were obscured by a thick, padded bar running along the top of the fence. Despite that annoyance, we were close enough to the action to fear the occasional foul ball, and we could see Barry Bonds grin as he trotted to first base on a walk, and we could judge how ballplayers' uniforms looked - from the old-school approach preferred by Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, sporting knee-high socks, or the baggy jeans look preferred by Rockies relievers.

In fact, at one point, a sky-high popup made its way toward us, and I had my glove in the air, only to see the ball drift further back and out of reach. A minute later, my phone rang, and a colleague, seeing the game on TV, said, "Why didn't you catch that?", having spotted my A's cap when the overhead camera traversed our area. She was teasing, but it was fun to see we had made it on the big screen, even if only briefly.

In great contrast to the A's struggles, the Giants never trailed in the game, and finished it up strong, pulling away en route to a 9-0 victory that saw great hitting, not only from Bonds, but from a rookie first baseman, Travis Ishikawa, who after limited plate appearances, is now sporting a .667 average, and is slugging 1.000, sporting 2 doubles and 2 singles in 6 at bats. Meanwhile, Jason Schmidt continued his hot pitching, following last week's 130+ pitch effort against the A's with seven shutout innings. Barry didn't hit 715, but there were fireworks after the game of the real variety, as to celebrate Memorial Day, San Francisco's night sky lit up with bursts of color, previewing what will very likely be quite a similar show in Oakland this next Monday.

Though I had a good time, no amount of free food and excellent seats can obscure the fact that this wasn't my team on the field. The A's weren't there, and as a real fan I should not have enjoyed the Giants game any more than if I had stayed at home to see the A's fail on television, and surprisingly, in some ways, that's true. But I'm glad we went.

Listening to ''Perfect Silence (Album Mix)'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 4)

Free, Free, Free

We've lately been trying to save money. Beyond avoiding outlandish purchases, we're taking a lot of shortcuts to avoid spending money where we don't have to, so when we have the opportunity to get something for free, and have a good time as well, bring it on.

Last weekend, when the A's had three sellout games against the Giants, the team put on a promotion where Round Table Pizza gave away personal pizzas to every member of the crowd. Simply by exchanging the tickets, we could get free pizza for the next week. Having attended all three games, that meant on Monday, Thursday and today, we were at our local Round Table, spending all of $1 or $2 on lunch (covering drinks and tax) and doing our best freeloader impersonation.

This was made even better tonight, when a vendor from the office treated us to field-level tickets at the Giants game tonight in San Francisco. Not only were the tickets free, but so was the food, and drink, and continuing in my cheap phase, I convinced a colleague to drive there and back so he would cover gas. In fact, we parked outside of the stadium... again for free. Good deal! All told, we got three lunches, dinner, drinks, a game and parking for the princely sum of about six bucks this week - not saying that the food will do me any good, and that my waistline may be increasing at the same rate as my wallet, but it's a start.

Listening to ''Inertia'', by Fragile Feat. Alex Lemon (Play Count: 3)

Advanced Math Problem

This struck me as a challenging equation this morning, so I just had to do it. The answer has already been determined, but I'd be eager to learn how you would address it.

Problem Set

With my birthdate being April 8, 1977, and I've worked at the same company since January 24, 2001, and today's date being May 25, 2006, this means that I've been employed at the company for 1,947 days, of my total 10,639 days alive on this planet, good for an 18.3% mark.

A colleague of mine, born on April 24, 1982, joined the company on October 18, 2004, and has worked at the company for 584 days of her total 8,797 days alive on the planet, giving her a 6.6% mark.

Assumptions

Both of us will continue working at the same company, uninterrupted.

Question

On what day will my colleague have been working at the company a higher percentage of her life than I have?

To be answered tomorrow...

Listening to ''The Nightfly (Short Cut)'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 4)

Watching the A's Offense - Not So Fun

The A's went down to defeat at the hands of the Chicago White Sox again today, falling 3-2, and found themselves swept in the series. Watching the team bat now, especially during this five-game losing streak, is frustrating to say the least. They don't really have legitimate power, and the two guys who were carrying the team in April have inevitably slowed down, so much so that the homerless Jason Kendall has now risen to the top of the list as an offensive power, a point ludicrous only months ago.

As a diehard fan, I start every game knowing that the A's have the advantage, and that they will emerge victorious against the undeserving opposition. But as the definition of insanity goes, how many times do we watch them perform so badly in the same fashion and expect a different result? When does a five-game losing streak look less like an aberration and more like an accurate portrayal of the team's skills? It certainly gets frustrating.

As I told a friend last week, getting depressed over social issues or personal despair isn't entirely logical to many men, but to live and die based on the local sports team's ability to win games makes perfect sense. I know my days are better when the A's win, and I know I start the next day in a funk if they didn't come out on top. It's time to find the "offensive" pill the A's are looking for to eradicate depression from my life.

Listening to ''Dirty Epic'', by Underworld (Play Count: 6)

Get Rich Quick!

Or at least, that's always the idea... why would you want to have to work every single day of your life and either not get rich, or have it take so long that you don't get to enjoy the benefits? Everybody wishes it were that easy, even if we don't admit it. That's one idea behind trying to time first-day IPO stocks, and why many try to get in on the ground floor of startups, with the hope that 2 to 4 years of 80 hour workweeks and the elimination of a social life will translate into riches beyond belief.

If you're of that type, and you're not exactly satisfied with how your first day results are on Vonage (as the stock dipped 15% or so in the first day, much to my chagrin), then Business 2.0 has the how-to list on creating a bulletproof successful startup. Of course, it always looks easy when you have lego-like cartoon images that demonstrate product development, launch and the inevitable requirement of talking to VCs. Heck, if they are so bright, how come they are just reporters at a industry trade rag that got absorbed by Fast Company a few years back? What? They thought we forgot? And remember when they were as big as phone books? How did that work out?

Listening to ''Adrenalin'', by Purple Haze (Play Count: 7)

To Vonage or Not? 1999 Redux

You know you're in a period resembling a bubble when companies that have a long history of consistent losses, without end in sight, who pride themselves on cost per acquired customer, are thinking of going public and raising ungodly amounts of money. You also can tell that the bubble period is upon you if you're actively considering putting money into the IPO on the first day "just in case".

Such is the case with the latest IPO du jour, Vonage, who raised more than $500 million after pricing its initial shares at $17 apiece. The VoIP specialist is looking to go public tomorrow, and hopes that its stock echoes the meteoric rise of Google and Baidu, rather than the sinking lead balloon of so many others.

Critics far and wide have criticized Vonage's model, saying the company doesn't offer unique differentiation over services such as Skype, yet somewhere out there are enough investors to give Vonage what it needs even more than customer growth - $500 million smackers. The only question is - will I too try to cash in on what might be a first day pop, for a stock I have no interest in holding long term? Will I have regrets if I do? Will I have regrets if I don't?

I famously had the opportunity to buy 100 shares of Google at 90 and walked away from the chance. I also flipped Baidu on its first day for some quick money, but was on an airplane when the stock first hit the ticker tape, and missed out on tens of thousands more. But I've also put money into stocks like Salesforce.com and Rackable on their first week only to see the trend go down or flat. One never knows, and if we did, the SEC would want to know about it. Keep you posted....

Listening to ''LSG'', by Sasha (Play Count: 4)

Morning Notes: May 22, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

In what has to continue one of the most-serious challenges to the field of journalism and the idea of free speech that we've ever seen, it now looks like the attorney general's office is going to prosecute reporters for publishing stories covering national security - even though the stories themselves have proven to be true. Additionally, as part of the government's increased activity around data collection, an AP story reports that the reporters' call records will be investigated, in an attempt to root out sources. This action is far more severe than any other previous administration has undertaken, even the notoriously paranoid Nixon, and threatens the media's ability to accurately report on the White House, while also further clouding the administration's activities from those people who elected them in the first place.

Guy Kawasaki continues to astound in his series of lists around business. In his latest salvo, "After the Honeymoon", he steps out of the venture capital phase and discusses some major issues that can impact companies taking the next step toward launching and shipping products in volume. The issues themselves are well known to Silicon Valley history buffs, but are well chronicled here.

Listening to ''iio - Rapture'', by Paul Van Dyk (Play Count: 9)

Plowing Through Season Finales

If you combine being on the road for a week with a slew of season finales from the biggest shows, you'll realize I have quite the backlog on my TiVo, and we're only now getting the opportunity to make headway. But whose idea is it to make each of these finales two hours each? Are they going to be twice as good, or just twice as long? Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent and Conviction are each two hours apiece, and even with Tivo's patented fast-forward options for commercials, the end isn't exactly in sight yet.

Conviction's season finale was also, as you now know, the surprising series finale as well. That show finished well, and is significantly better than almost every other show out there, so someone should tell Dick Wolf to unwed his series to NBC, and start shopping it around. We still can't figure out the logic.

Listening to ''Safe'', by M83 (Play Count: 5)

Is Microsoft Poised for Massive Layoffs?

Microsoft, the gargantuan software monolith, has long been known for a number of things - aggressive marketing and business practices, a slew of software products, on again off again security, and an OS family that, while long in the tooth, is still the predominant OS for the vast majority of both home and business users. However, one thing the company has not been known for is a big word - layoffs. This all may soon change, if one Microsoft-focused blog is to be believed. Word is, with massive delays plaguing the company's next-generation Windows OS, Vista, heads are about to roll in the company's Windows division, and it could mean hundreds of lost jobs, not all of whom will find new jobs at the Redmond company.

One visitor to the site wrote, "I got wind today that a MASSIVE Windows RIF is in the works. It's real folks. Hundreds and hundreds of jobs. The good news is that other parts of MS will be able to absorb it. But if you want your pick of what's out there, beat the rush and don't wait for review time."

Now, it's one thing to believe anonymous posters on an anonymously-hosted blog, but Mini-Microsoft has had a direct line into the hearts and minds of those slogging away at the software giant, and if Web discussions are to be believed, this author's constant criticism of the company has had direct impact on real-world changes to Microsoft's HR policies.

We don't root for any individuals to find themselves in harm's way as a result of layoffs. I've been laid off once, and that once was enough. I've seen coworkers let go - some because they weren't pulling their weight, and others, because they were caught in the tide on its way out. But if Microsoft is to galvanize the technology industry the way they did in the 1990s, some big changes will have to happen - or companies like Google, Apple, Yahoo! and others we've never heard of will rule the future.

(Previous post on this topic: Microsoft in a Hard Place)

Listening to ''Halcyon + On + On'', by Orbital (Play Count: 3)

Wet and Cold In Oakland As A's Falter

We had looked forward to this three-game series against the Giants with great optimism. Not only would we have a chance to see Barry take on the Babe's statistics, but more importantly, our favorite team could obtain bragging rights in what's often a hostile rivalry, one that the Giants seem to have favor in the media race, even when the A's have accomplished much more during their tenure than have the Giants, amassing four World Series titles to the Giants zero, and continually making a run at the playoffs year after year. However, following today's 6-0 defeat, in which the A's could only manage a single hit, and never threatened, we find them losers of two out of three, yet still tied with Texas for first place in the division, who similarly fell against their rival Astros.

What made the day even more difficult was a steady rain that began in the first inning and continued throughout the nine-inning affair. While never truly threatening to stop the contest, we were first dampened, then cooled, then soaked, after hours of getting a wide-scale version of Chinese water torture - even as we watched our team get tortured in their own way, pitch after pitch from Giants hurler Matt Cain.

As we've noted a number of times on Athletics Nation, the A's offense has a special knack for making the opposing team's pitcher rival the memory of Cy Young. It seems even more likely that it's not the opponent's skills, but the A's weaknesses that are showing through. Even as we've seen some regulars shake off early-season doldrums that saw many below the Mendoza line, we're still not confident that they can go toe to toe with the best teams in the game after seeing what we did through this three-game series that had them outscored 10-3, and lucky to pull off the 1-0 victory Friday night.

Listening to ''March 2001'', by DJ Dawn (Play Count: 3)

ANtics Episode 2.13: 3 Games of Shadows

After today's wet, soggy defeat at the hands of our cross-bay rivals, the A's had dropped two of three to conclude what had otherwise been a strong week, and the team's still tied for first with Texas. But that's not what the baseball media has noticed. Instead it's been all Barry, all the time. We investigated these "3 Games of Shadows", and found the Giants players getting a little inappropriate with our players. No wonder they were afraid to get on base.

Click to See Larger Comic

ANtics Archive: 2005/06 ANtics | PDF | Take the Poll

Geeky Marriage Proposals

No... not involving me. I actually did it in a somewhat traditional manner, which may surprise you.

But while I may turn up my nose at people who attend sporting events like San Jose Sharks and Oakland A's games, only to propose via the JumboTron, with SJ Sharkie as the officiant, it turns out there are even more impersonal ways to ask that special someone to spend their life with you. Apparently, in the first day the Apple Store in SOHO New York was opened, there were not just one, but two, separate marriage proposals from uber-Apple geeks to the loves of their life. (No, not Steve Jobs...) And so far as we know, at least one of these young ladies said yes!

One of the engagements was proposed by a man who was #8 overall in line, waiting all night for the Apple Store to open. While the store itself is interesting, and may be a tourist stop the next time I'm in New York, I don't know that your future partner would want to recall that once in a lifetime opportunity with being up all night in the cold next to complete strangers. That's not right. And even more impersonally, one entrepreneur chose to propose via flashcards to Apple's Webcam covering the store opening.

What is this world coming to?

The best (in my opinion) marriage proposal in utter geekdom was pulled off by Rob Malda of Slashdot, when he proposed to his girlfriend via the well-read site on Valentine's Day. Her response, fifteen minutes later? "Yes, Dork. You made me cry. :)"

I guess in a world of drive-thru wedding chapels and chat rooms, these make sense, but I would hope that someone's loyalties, especially in family, could vault the digital divide - leaving behind the love of Apple or Google or Linux or what have you for something new and challenging in a different way. She will speak analog.

Listening to ''After Love (New Short Cut)'', by Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones (Play Count: 3)

Barry and the Giants Break Through

The Giants and A's were back at it in the second game of three at the Oakland Coliseum this afternoon, and unlike yesterday's contest, which saw the A's prevail 1-0 and hold Barry Bonds hitless, the Giants prevailed 4-2 in extra innings, sparked by Bonds' 714th career home run that tied him for second place overall with the legendary Babe Ruth.

Although all of us A's fans love to boo Barry, and did through each of his at bats, we also respect history, so when he took a pitch from Brad Halsey and deposited a rocket into the right field bleachers, we stood and applauded, even through two separate curtain calls for the man who has been posting stellar statistics for the better part of two decades, even through scandal.

The A's had their opportunities to win this afternoon's game, which would have presented the ultimate story, coming home with both a victory and to witness something special, but it was not meant to be. Despite leading 1-0 early, the team fell behind 2-1, unable to break through stellar pitching by Giants ace Jason Schmidt, who labored through 130 pitches in a solid effort.

A one-run 9th inning rally to tie the ballgame was stopped cold when Giants third baseman Pedro Feliz speared a lineout double play from the bat of Jason Kendall, which caught Bobby Crosby for the final out in regulation. Had the ball gone through, it'd be a whole different story, but instead, we saw A's reliever Kiko Calero load the bases to the Giants in the top of the 10th, and the team came around to score two unanswered runs. Though Eric Chavez came up in the bottom half with a chance to win the ballgame, his outfield fly didn't have enough to clear the fence, and we returned home losers.

I'm really on the fence, if that's possible, about Barry. I yearned and hoped that he hadn't taken steroids, for the cleanliness of the game. I read the stories about his brusqueness with reporters and teammates, but have also seen tenderness and dogged determination. Today, we cheered his accomplishments, and understand its significance. But let's hope the A's can emerge victorious overall in the series by posting a victory tomorrow. We'll be there watching.

Listening to ''Secrets & Lies (Activa Remix)'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 1)

louisgray.com Dashboard Widget 1.0 Released

I wrote about Apple Dashboard widgets last night, naming some of those I use the most frequently. But how hard can it be to make a widget for this site? I've been trying now and again, and after some code mucking, we're ready to debut version 1.0 of the louisgray.com dashboard widget!

The widget acts like any other Apple Dashboard widget. You can activate it and move it to any portion of your screen. Utilizing RSS, the widget will check the louisgray.com site every 15 minutes for new posts, and will display their headline and date in the widget, so you can see if the site has been updated, and click directly to the post. In fact, the 1.0 version of the widget has all posts available from the site, going back to the beginning of the year!

A screenshot is below.


Download now!

Morning Notes: May 20, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

Thought Google was eating Yahoo! and MSN's lunch everywhere? Apparently, besides their significant lead in search, the company's coattails haven't resulted in dominant shares for their GMail or Google Maps properties so far. Though considered the most technologically innovative so far, the company continues to lead in search and ads, while Yahoo! and MSN, more traditional portals, continue to lead where they always have.
(More here: Hitwise: Google, Yahoo! and MSN: Property Size-up)

Speaking of Microsoft, the company had a big pow-wow on Thursday, discussing the company's competitive positioning, employee incentives, and addressing productivity in light of overwhelming pressures from their detractors, seen and unseen. Mini-Microsoft, as always, has their take on what the company got right and wrong, and whether these are steps in the right direction for the company - who continues to be recognized for how much money they've made and how big they are, and much less so for the quality of their products and innovation. Robert Scoble also noted the meeting in a report on his widely-read blog.

And... I have to admit, it's totally irrational, but I'm very much smitten by the new black MacBooks from Apple. I've never been much intrigued by the black line of iPod Nanos, or even colored iBooks, but the new black MacBook option introduced by Apple earlier this week is quite striking. Unfortunately for me, I just sunk $1k into my PowerBook G4 to fix the logic board, and I don't have enough good excuses to "upgrade", theoretically dropping myself from the professional line of laptops to the consumer line, and from PowerPC to Intel in a single bound. Still, it's black. Isn't that professional enough?

Listening to ''Sound of Machines (Short Cut)'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 1)

Top Ten Dashboard Widgets

Apple's Dashboard, included in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) utilizes mini-applications, easily customized, and hidden away for viewing at user's preference, without taking up valuable real estate. Though some thought Apple ripped off Konfabulator (now Yahoo! widgets), Apple has managed to engage the developer community well, which has seen terrific innovation. Some of my favorites, which I use with some frequency, are below.

1. Stocks
2. tremorSkimmer
3. RadarInMotion
4. Scoreboard
5. SimpsonBot
6. Gas
7. Reversi
8. Buzztracker
9. Translation
10.Technorati Ping

Listening to ''After Love (New Short Cut)'', by Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones (Play Count: 1)

Baseball History Thwarted for Another Day

The side benefits of having partial Oakland A's season tickets never cease. At the beginning of the season, I looked at the three-game home series against the Giants as only another option to see the green and gold defeat their Bay Area rival up close and personal. In fact, when a friend and Giants fan called at the beginning of the year to offer to attend all three of this weekend's games, I didn't hesitate. Sure! What could possibly make the game more interesting? It turns out, a lot more. Barry Bonds has managed to have such a slow start that his inevitable passing of Babe Ruth into second place on the all-time home run list has brought him to Oakland sitting on 713.

Tonight, we saw him thwarted by the A's, who kept him 0 for 3 with a walk, including a 2 outs in the 9th strike out against Huston Street to win the game by the final score of 1-0. In front a sellout crowd at the Coliseum of 35,000+, filled with partisan A's and Giants fans alike, the substory of Barry taking on the world was definitely there. Flashbulbs popped at every pitch with him at the plate, whether he swung or not, and everybody stood for the duration of his at bats, hoping to be there and see something for the record books, even if it was aligned with a man who has tainted his own story and the game as a whole, through evading the rules, lying and being a generally sultry character with occasional flashes of camaraderie.

As an A's fan, the story is the A's taking sole possession of first place, albeit a slight lead, over the Texas Rangers. But seeing a very well pitched game with stellar defense against the hated Giants and seeing Barry turn unhappily toward the visitors' dugout once again was a fantastic turn of events. One couldn't ask for much more - unless I really want to see him hit the home run... and I don't. Let's hope the guy goes 0 for 12 on the series and limps around the bases in someone else's park in the coming weeks instead.

It all begins anew Saturday at 1:05, and we'll be back there in our assigned seats.

Listening to ''Desire (Short Cut)'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 1)

Morning Notes: May 19, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

We're back on the West Coast, where we belong... just in time to see Barroid and the Giants take on the A's at the Coliseum this weekend. Should be fun!

Speaking of which, the A's, one quarter of the season through, have amassed a bevy of statistics, some good some bad. Blez from Athletics Nation passes out first quarter grades. Add your own, or read up to gain insight.

Al Gore may graduate from having been a recent losing presidential candidate (to Bush, no less) to being the star of one of the most-important films this summer - An Inconvenient Truth, focused on the greenhouse effect, what's happening to our planet because of it, and what we can do about it. The trailer alone makes it a must-see.

The United Nations struck against the US today, saying we should close Guantanamo Bay, due to rampant reports of torture and prisoner abuse. What's one of the major disappointments in this administration's rule is the idea that we don't have to pay heed to the UN, and can act unilaterally. I don't expect that Bush and Co. are going to listen this time either.

Listening to ''Realizer'', by The Crystal Method (Play Count: 34)

At Home on the Road, Thanks to MLB.com

Our three-plus day stint in Chicago wraps up tomorrow. The trade show ended this evening, and we fly back to the West coast, where we belong, tomorrow afternoon. But even though we're a few thousand miles away from home, there are some things I just don't like leaving behind, and Oakland A's baseball is one of them. It's one thing to have the Athletics Nation community for live game threads, and Yahoo! or ESPN for near real-time box scores, but far surpassing them in convenience is MLB.com's live streaming radio. Now, here in my hotel room in Chicago, I am listening to the A's taking on the Seattle Mariners as if I were listening to the radio at home or in the car.

MLB.com has a plan set up that for $14.95, you can listen to any major league game live through the Web - for any team - all season long. So, when I'm traveling, whether I'm in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Orlando, Chicago, Boston, New York or Seattle, I can take one of the home comforts with me.

On the flip side, we don't have TV access. MLB TV simply doesn't cater well to fans who live near their team. Foolishly, MLB TV will let me watch every team except for those near me, assuming it's probably on somewhere I can see it. Wrong. Stupidly wrong. So, instead of paying $79.95 a year, I get better service for $14.95, and don't ask for video. But that's a different issue. Baseball is one of the few games that really lends itself well for radio, and MLB.com does it very well and at a good price.

Listening to ''Heaven Scent'', by Sasha (Play Count: 4)

Are TV Executives Crazy? Conviction Canceled

Well, that sure didn't take long!

NBC has unveiled their Fall 2006 lineup, and while we have to applaud the deletion of "Fear Factor", "Joey" and other subpar fare, I was surprised to see that yet another Law and Order spinoff has bitten the dust, as the axe was taken to Conviction, after only one season of the promising show, which, in my mind anyway, had become more interesting than the standard L&O fare.

With the conclusion of West Wing just yesterday night, it clears up yet another Season Pass slot on our TiVo - but neither one of them had been requested.

TVSquad argues that they had in fact expected curtains for Conviction, saying, "The storytelling style on Conviction was so complicated that it was virtually impossible to feel anything for any of the characters." I'd argue that's not the case, but if people were looking for simplicity, they were coming to the wrong show.

I'm tired of enjoying professional shows that make complete sentences and use words that contain more than five letters every once in a while, only to be reminded that the typical American prefers their shows to have bare midriffs, fan voting, celebrities exposed, and gun shots every 4 minutes.

Isn't there some way that shows like Conviction and West Wing can continue on a more-intelligent network? God knows we have enough TV channels.

Listening to ''Prosac'', by DJ Tomcraft (Play Count: 7)

Crashing The Gate

At times, it's hard to remember that politics is a lot more than rooting for your favorite party, in the way we cheer on our favorite sports teams - hoping that good will triumph over evil. Unlike professional sports, a major tenet of our government is the idea of democracy, that people can both vote and govern, and provide influence to see their policies and leaders enacted. And for me personally, while I've suffered through the last several election cycles, watching the Republican-dominated majority embarrass themselves and our country, I've done little but rant, complain and vote when asked.

But there remain key issues that are plaguing the Democratic Party that are exposed and analyzed in Crashing the Gate - an insightful piece penned by Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos and Jerome Armstrong of MyDD. The two bloggers change the medium, but not the message, as they pick apart how the Democratic Party, once united, has devolved into isolated factions of splinter groups, who favor their own single issue platforms, even when it may mean the downfall of party candidates.

While the Republicans have certainly made a mess of things, we can't expect for them to fall on their swords, and for the Democrats to swoop in on the carcass to wrest away victory. That simply won't happen - not with the Republican donors continuing to come out in full force, rallied by morality-based issues that extend well beyond traditional politics. Instead, we as a party need to cohesively determine a platform that isn't an amalgam of edge issues - one that can be defended beyond the party base, even when you may see one or two items that don't meet with your ideal agenda. Instead, we must take a long-term view, as the Republicans have, and recognize those who embrace the party's core values and despise the cronyism and hatred espoused by the Republican party. We must do all we can to support party candidates and issues, locally, regionally and nationally, so that we don't endure four more years with characters like Schwarzenneger, Bush, Cheney, DeLay, and Frist.

One of the first steps is to make sure you've read Crashing the Gate. It's been on my to-do list for a long time, and I've finally managed to break into it (from San Jose to Chicago). You won't be sorry you did, and neither will the party.

Listening to ''Zeta Reticula - EP2'', by Dave Clarke (Play Count: 5)

The Windy (And Rainy) City

Since the fall of 2004, I've made it to Chicago four separate times, including this week. Three times, it was for the same trade show, and a fourth time, we were forced to stay over one night, as our plane had been delayed leaving San Francisco, and we missed our connection to Baltimore...

But this week, the forecast is that it will be raining throughout the week we are there (through Thursday), and if memory serves, that would make it three out of four times I've visited the Windy City, only to encounter rain. In 2005, during our visit, an entrepreneurial salesman made good business out of selling umbrellas for $5 a pop, immediately in front of the revolving doors to our hotel. As we've already got enough umbrellas at home, I'm hoping we don't have to repeat that fate.

On the one trip we got away rain-free, we managed to stop at Wrigley Field to catch a Cubs game. With that "crossed off the list", we're not planning on heading back to the ivy-covered ballpark in this trip, and though we looked, and hoped in vain, the White Sox are actually out of town, so we won't get to see the less-historic US Cellular Field (seriously, that's almost as bad as McAfee Coliseum!)

Hopefully we do find something entertaining in this trip, and manage to get out of the hotel and off the show floor for a bit, but since that's not our main goal, work will come first.

Listening to ''Live at Amnesia From Ibiza'', by DJ Tiesto (Play Count: 2)

Evening Notes: May 14, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

The A's are still suffering from a confluence of injuries, despite their win at the Yankees earlier today. Among the most banged up is the team's bullpen. To help satiate this problem, they've acquired left-hander Steve Karsay from the Cleveland Indians, in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash. Trivial note - Karsay went 3-12 for the A's in 1997 with a 5.77 ERA, as a starter. Yet somehow, he was unstoppable for me in MLB 98 for the Playstation. Simply put, the A's sucked back then, and he's all I could use.

Microsoft investors are unhappy that the company seems so unfocused, and they fear they will never see a return on the company's investment, as the software giant is now looking to take Google head-on. Instead, they'd prefer to get a share of Microsoft's $60 billion cash horde. Of course, who wouldn't?

Guy Kawasaki extends his "Top Ten Lies" series, taking it beyond mere engineers and marketers, and to corporate partners. Having recently interviewed a few candidates for a business development position at the office, their own take on what makes a good partnership and what doesn't has been interesting.

You've heard a lot about Web 2.0, and some are now saying all the talk is overdone. Well-read RedEyeVC and GigaOM are claiming that some of the newest companies are simply clones of other pre-existing services, or could become extensions to already-successful products.

Listening to ''Tyrantanic'', by Sasha & John Digweed (Play Count: 3)

As TV Seasons End, Everybody Dies

It's a double-edged sword - TV series are supposed to accelerate ratings as seasons come to their conclusion, while others have major or minor stars moving on, whether due to contract negotiations or new opportunities that come up. So, in the last few weeks, especially the final two weeks, it's increasingly likely that stars you've come to expect to see week in and week out, well, they're going down in a hail of bullets.

This Sunday afternoon, as we plowed through CSI, Law and Order and Conviction, while seeing previews for season finales for just about everything else, we saw people get shot, and others promising plenty of violence as their seasons come to an end.

You'd think we get used to it, and of course, we are. We're not surprised when assistant district attorneys are held at gunpoint, or kidnapped, or shot. We're not surprised when police chiefs come out on the losing end of negotiations with a suspect. So, the thrill is somewhat gone, as we understand the back-room dealings that go into what's supposed to be compelling television. And in some cases, we know they're leaving, and are just curious how the people will be written out of the show.

Of course, that doesn't count West Wing. That show, still the best out there, wraps up tonight, and it's all done. We'll be sure to catch that as close to live as possible, TiVo permitting.

Listening to ''The Hardest Part'', by Coldplay (Play Count: 6)

ANtics Episode 2.12: Melhusin' For a Bruisin'

With full-time catcher Jason Kendall out for a four-game suspension following his memorable dust-up against the Angels in Anaheim, seldom-used backup Adam Melhuse put on the tools of ignorance, and to the surprise of those of us expecting much, much less offense from the catching position, Melhuse blasted home runs in back to back games versus the Blue Jays. This anomaly, and any future efforts for Adam to see more playing time, is investigated in this week's ANtics, "Melhusin' For a Bruisin'".

Click to See Larger Comic


ANtics Archive: 2005/06 ANtics | PDF | Take the Poll

Jack Bauer Goes to Washington

There comes a time in many successful TV actors' lives when they are remembered so well for a specific role, that they can't ever break out of that mold, even when they appear in new TV series, or film. After five seasons as terrorists' worst nightmare, Jack Bauer, on 24, Kiefer Sutherland has got that role down. So it was with no lack of amusement that we saw him team up with Michael Douglas in The Sentinel last night, working with the Secret Service to protect the president against a nefarious plot that threatened his life.

For those of us who watch 24, we've grown accustomed to Jack's brusqueness, and his oft-repeated lines like, "Send it to my cell (or PDA)!", or his hostile interrogation techniques. All were on display in The Sentinel, as he struck a familiar pose, trusting noone, and "following the evidence".

The film was interesting, but fell short of the twists and turns expected from 24 fare - as in an hour and 48 minutes, you didn't have time for true character development, or too many alternative plot threads. Simply put, the movie went from threat to subplot to main character being mistrusted, on the run, discovering the true threat, and returning to good graces. Not even those points that were expected to be surprises did much, as they were dealt with quickly.

While The Sentinel wasn't the famed "24" movie that is in the works, it was a hint as to what we can expect - some action with a thinner plot, and amusing one-sided acting by Sutherland. And if you do see the movie, try and figure if the "subplot" could actually happen in a world of such intense security and media scrutiny. My money is against. Explains the critics average review being a C+.

Listening to ''Tribal Attack'', by Blank & Jones (Play Count: 6)

It's All About the Ballparks

The world knows I'm an A's fan, first and foremost, but I'm a huge baseball nut, and so I view the major league ballparks around the country (and Toronto) in the same way that history devotees view landmarks and ancient finds. So, with my travel picking up over the last few years, I've made it a point to try and find time to see the major league baseball parks around the country wherever I land for business.

After seeing any number of games at the Oakland Coliseum, and a smaller number at the Giants' stadiums, Candlestick/3Com Park, and PacBell/SBC/AT&T Park, the tour kicked off last year, when we saw games at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona, Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, and the two most historic parks, Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, and Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.

Others were way too close to my grasp and evaded me - Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in New York, as well as Safeco Field in Seattle. In those cases, either it was during the baseball off-season, or the hectic show schedule wouldn't make time. But they're definitely on the radar for my next opportunities.

This upcoming first week of June, we're headed back down to Los Angeles, and lucky for us, it looks like the Dodgers are taking on the Mets, so we're already scrambling for tickets. While we're definitely working on making sure the event is a profitable success, looking forward to singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in a new crowd in a new city is very exciting. Maybe some day we'll hit them all.

Listening to ''Energize'', by Nick Lunn (Play Count: 2)

My Top Ten Tools For Working Remotely

Sometimes, I think we take technology for granted. This evening, after getting home from the office, I made edits to our Web site from the comfort of my couch - even though the server is back at headquarters. While I've done this for years, technology continues to improve to make the process easier. With my heading off to another trade show this coming week, this time in Chicago, remote access will be essential. Here's how we do it.

1. The Apple iPod.

What? You thought this was a toy for listening to music and watching TV shows? You'd usually be right, but the iPod acts as my primary storage device, to and from the office. Now, any Mac with a Firewire or USB port is my office. So long as I backup the iPod to my home laptop (and I do), the data is not only portable, but safe.

2. Microsoft Outlook Webmail

This is one thing Microsoft does really well. I can access all my work e-mail from any computer, just through the Web. From the Web interface, I can not only send and receive e-mail, but sort data in folders, and send meeting invites, or view the calendar. With an acceptance that most corporations continue to use Windows and Outlook, I'm surprisingly happy with this tool.

3. Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection

Two Microsoft in a row! (Looks at the window toward the East to see any visitors...)

Remote Desktop Connection takes off where VNC ends. Though I've used a number of variants of VNC over the years, Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection lets me log in securely to the company's Web site, and make changes. Even while running Mac OS X, I can pop open a window to the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 box and make edits - and then log out as simply as if I were standing in front of the box in our datacenter. This, and VNC before it, prevent me from having to utilize "sneakernet" and shuttle data from my local disk to the remote machine or run local scripts.

4. FTP (Fetch 4.0.3)

The old reliable... though competitors like CuteFTP and Anarchie popped up now and again, Fetch remains a strong FTP client. As with Microsoft's RDC, I can remotely log in to upload or download data. Used in combination with all those tools above, I can upload a file from the iPod, FTP it over with Fetch, and log into Microsoft RDC to move it to the right directory before testing. (Fetch is also used to manage the graphics on this site.)

5 - 8. .Mac Sync with Apple's Safari, Address Book and iCal

This probably deserves to be higher. As a .Mac member, Apple automatically synchronizes my bookmarks in Safari, my Address Book, and my calendar (iCal) between the home laptop and the desktop at the office. This way, I don't have to wish that I had all my tools at hand - instead, I know they are there, so I can run the same queries and get the same results across boxes.

9. RIM Blackberry

When away from the desktop, the Blackberry one-ups Webmail, by taking my e-mail, calendar, and cell phone with me in one device. While I'm not the type who likes sending out large messages from the Blackberry, real-time synchronization with Exchange is essential to keep up to date. Call history and Caller ID is very nice as well - something we take all too much for granted.

10. Bare Bones BBEdit

It wouldn't do me any good to take files back and forth on the iPod from the office if I couldn't mangle them the same way at home as I do from the corporate desk. BBEdit has been my text and HTML editor of choice for nearly 10 years now, and until I gain more savvy or am up for a challenge, that isn't going to change. BBEdit was built for Web editing and ensures I see the same output on any browser or operating system, whether I'm working from home, the road, or headquarters.

Listening to ''University Microfilms International (Non Album Track)'', by Stereolab (Play Count: 11)

Morning Notes: May 11, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

Apple rumors used to be the realm of sites like MacRumors, AppleInsider and Think Secret, and Apple has notoriously had an adversarial relationship with such sites, claiming they don't have the right to leak unannounced product plans, prices or photography. But this morning, respected Wall Street Journal reporter Walt Mossberg does just that, claiming that Apple, in the "Post-PC Era", is working on a media cell phone, as well as a media center for the living room.

Steve Rubel, after a morning alone with his computer, announces the Top 25 things he's learned so far with Google Trends, including the fact that Democrats are more frequently searched for than Republicans and other insights.

With veteran catcher Jason Kendall out four games with a league-mandated suspension, his backup, Adam Melhuse, has produced, with two home runs in two games so far in Kendall's absence. Despite this, the A's faltered against the Blue Jays yesterday, falling by a score of 9-7. Somehow, the team is in first place in the early AL West race, leading Texas by percentage points.

Oh yeah... and to no surprise for us, it turns out the government is keeping phone records for tens of millions of Americans, even for just domestic calls that don't involve foreign participants. The NSA has solicited and obtained the cooperation of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth to fork over customer detail. The NSA claims no eavesdropping or recording is happening, but at this point, can you trust them?

Listening to ''Float Away (Rivera Mix)'', by Robbie Rivera (Play Count: 1)

Top Ten Reasons W. Knows Jeb Would Be Great Prez

You may have seen the news that George W. said he believes his brother Jeb Bush, current governor of Florida, would make "a great president". Well, we thought about it and, from his perspective, we have to agree. Here are the top ten reasons Jeb Bush would make "a great president".

1. In comparison to George's tenure as president, so long as Jeb doesn't sell the entire United States to Saudi Arabia for a single barrel of oil, he would probably be instantly canonized.

2. George has proven you don't even need to know how to read to be president.

3. Having already overseen the biggest voting scam in the history of the country during 2000's presidential race, Jeb is a perfect fit to follow his brother's footsteps in ignoring national law for the sake of the party.

4. Both Jeb and George have shown they can ask their secretaries of state to follow their every word, even when it makes them both contradictory and mentally vacant.

5. Number of terrorist attacks in Florida since his taking elected office? Zero.

6. Number of wars initiated from Florida based on faulty intelligence? Zero.

7. Jeb understands living nearby a hostile region, and avoiding conflict. In Florida, it's Cuba, sitting 90 miles off shore. For his brother, it's basically anybody outside of the White House. He'd adjust easily.

8. Bush - it's the new Kennedy. Only not good looking. Or smart. Or charismatic. Or likeable. Okay, it's not like the Kennedys at all.

9. Both George and Jeb are still taking orders from Daddy.

10. With George's approval rating sitting around 33%, according to most polls, Jeb could be more popular in America even if he alienated all of the women, the entire black population, and Ivy League graduates through foolish endeavors.
Listening to ''The Hand That Feeds'', by Nine Inch Nails (Play Count: 2)

Google Tells Us What's Trendy

Google held their annual press day today, inviting the unwashed hordes to the company's pristine Mountain View campus, to give updates, answer questions, and of course, to introduce new goodies the search giant has been cooking up in their labs.

For me, the most interesting introduction was that of "Google Trends", which can show how frequently terms are searched for on the site, over time. Visitors to Google Trends can pick multiple keywords to search on - for instance, "Microsoft, Apple" or "Dick Cheney, Karl Rove", to compare how "hot" one keyword was across the entire Google-sphere, versus another. The Google Trends service also features news stories on the right side of your results, ostensibly to show whether hard news played any part in a search term's popularity.

Now, this isn't the first time that a service has debuted that compares Google searches to one another. A more amusing service is a product called "Google War", which, without Google approval, searches on two keywords, and shows you which one has the most results - in effect giving you a keyword's popularity by the number of times it is mentioned, rather than gauging its popularity by how many people are searching for it on a given day. GoogleFight has a similar service.

Early feedback on Google Trends has been positive. Some have gone so far as to say that public relations professionals should bookmark some searches, to see if there is indeed a trend of searching against hard news, or to gauge whether product launches are successfully entering the public mind, or if one product has more mindshare against another. You can get started on learning how to be trendy here. For a full webcast of Google's press day, visit their site.

Listening to ''Ocean Rain'', by Elevation (Play Count: 2)

Web Bots Take On Humans for News Aggregation

Web spiders have been around for more than a decade. First utilized for search engines, such as Webcrawler, and eventually growing into the search robots from Yahoo!, Inktomi, Google and Excite, these inanimate programs crawled the Internet, constantly indexing in an attempt to make sure their represented search engine was the biggest, had the most pages, and hopefully, was the most relevant for the search you were executing.

Since that time, Web bots have been reprogrammed for specific tasks, from shopping search engines such as Shopzilla, Froogle, and MySimon, to mainstream news, such as Google News - which prides itself on being filtered by bots, not humans. Google News is a key example of a "20%" project so lauded by the search giant, who gives its engineers one full day a week to work on basically anything. One aspiring coder took on the news, and the result is now viewed by millions daily.

Now, Web bots are being even more finely honed, and through newer tools, they are able to be integrated in to well-designed pages that take into account popularity of links, frequency of mentions, etc. and can be tailored to more vertical topics. Techmeme is one of the best - covering all things tech. Part of the Memeorandum family, Techmeme also features sister sites including Ballbug for baseball, WeSmirch for entertainment news and gossip, and the original memeorandum, for politics. Funny how the first focuses of the bots were on those topics where I tend to waste the most time. (Baseball, Politics, Entertainment and Tech) If they come out with flavors dedicated to just Apple or say, electronic music, then I'm sure I'm being stalked.

In the meantime, check out Techmeme and see if a bot is better at finding out the news and organizing it than you and I ever could be.

Listening to ''Can U Feel the Funk'', by Darren Emerson (Play Count: 6)

ANtics Episode 2.11: A Tale of Two Zitos

Barry Zito dominated the 2002 season with a 23-5 record, and garnering the American League Cy Young Award. In the ensuing seasons, he's had his ups and downs, including shocking 15-2 defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees on Opening Day where he gave up 7 runs in an inning and a third. Yet, in his last two starts, he's returned to the Barry Zito of old, pitching masterfully. The main difference? Well, it's his mane difference. With short hair, Barry cannot be defeated. When the hair takes over, he is the anti-Sampson, stripped of his power. This is investigated in this week's ANtics, "A Tale of Two Zitos".

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ANtics Archive: 2005/06 ANtics | PDF | Take the Poll

United 93 Displays Day's Uncertainty Well

It's been a while since I've made it out to the theater to catch a film, so when the opportunity arose this evening, I took it, catching "United 93", the first wide-distribution film to hit theaters specifically covering one of the 9/11 incidents (Fahrenheit 9/11 excepted). While I didn't expect to be entertained by the film, I wasn't quite sure what to expect - whether it would be reverential and solemn, or overly patriotic. Instead, we were shown the director's very likely accurate view of the chaos and confusion of the day, when agencies had to face fears never fully anticipated or planned for, and mucked up the process further with failing attempts to communicate, and reactions based on partial and often inaccurate information.

Everybody in our generation has their September 11th stories - just as the generation before us can tell us their memory of when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or the Moon landing. I'll save mine for a later post, maybe on the date's five year anniversary, but sitting through United 93 and seeing the military, air traffic control and others confront surprise after surprise and horror after horror set processes in my head forward, reminding me of how I had learned of the day's incidents, how I had strained to learn as much as I could, how I had reacted to each new piece, and interacted with others - looking back on it and seeing if I had "done the right thing".

Additionally, now that I've greatly expanded my own flight travel schedule in the years following 2001, I felt aligned with the passengers on the flight who had to face the reality that this trip would be their last. I had quite similar feelings when I actually read the 9/11 commission's report while traveling from New York to San Francisco last year. Reading their report while in flight didn't set my mind at ease about my surroundings at all, nor did it instill any level of confidence in our haphazard government and corrupt, foolish, leadership that expanded the crises of 9/11 into the struggles we face on an international scale today.

If you're of an analytic state of mind to see the 9/11 attacks from a different perspective, without partisan rhetoric and gamesmanship, this film is highly recommended. Go see it before you have to wait for Netflix to come through.

Listening to ''60 Miles an Hour'', by New Order (Play Count: 4)

A's Split Weekend Pair... In a Weird Way

The A's so far this season have been consistently inconsistent as the saying goes, trudging along to a 16 and 14 record after 30 games, lingering in the mix of the indecisive AL West, which as of this moment sees Texas in front by one half a game, while both the Angels and Mariners are slumping below the .500 mark. In an odd twist, the A's actually are playing better on the road than at the "friendly confines" of McAfee Coliseum, with records of 9-5 on the road, and 7-9 at home. For those of us season ticket holders, we have been forced to see the on again off again offense, and I'm fairly sure we've seen an even number of wins and losses on the early campaign.

This trend continued yesterday and today, as the A's offense never got going on a cold night Friday, seeing them defeated at the hands of the lowly Devil Rays, 3-1, erasing the benefits of a well pitched game by sophomore hurler Joe Blanton. Well... it was a good game pitched after the first, when Blanton stumbled to a 2-0 deficit, the eventual margin of victory. Today's contest, only slightly warmer despite the 1:05 start time, saw the A's prevail in quasi-heroic fashion in the bottom of the 9th to take the game 3-2. I wish I could say that there were real heroics and fireworks with bang-bang plays and a walk-off home run, but there was none of that. Instead, we were treated to an A's hitter trotting to first on a 3-1 count, thinking he'd earned a free walk, we suffered through a baserunning double play gaffe in the bottom of the 9th, and only came away victorious after the opposing third baseman channeled Bill Buckner from the 1986 World Series, and booted the ball, allowing the winning run to score and avoiding extra innings.

So - again - a loss and a win. And the offense didn't manage to score more than 4 runs in the two combined games, seeing good pitching on both sides. But if the team is matching pound for pound with the likes of Tampa Bay, they won't live up to their potential and be expected to challenge the Red Sox, Yankees, White Sox or others for the pennant this year. It's time to warm up. We appreciate today's win, but you can't sit around and wait for the other team to hand it to you every game.

Listening to ''Marrakech (Revolution Mix)'', by ATB (Play Count: 7)

Microsoft In a Hard Place

For more than a decade, it's seemed that Microsoft could just mint money. In fact, they even issued a product called "Money" to challenge Quicken's stronghold on the financial management software market, after regulators said the Redmond company would be blocked from merging with Intuit, due to anti-competitive issues. But recent years have seen struggles for the software monolith, as they've seen more nimble challengers like Google and Apple make significant headway in markets where Microsoft once expected to run roughshod over competition. While the firm continues to turn significant profits, they certainly aren't seen as being the leaders in innovation (some argue if they ever were), and they're more recognized for their failing business units (MSN), maniacal corporate culture (see Steve Ballmer) and delays in their planned Operating System upgrade, Vista.

In what may seem like a true sign of the apocalypse to those of us who have seen technology columnist John Dvorak spit at all things Apple for years, he now turns the other cheek and says that Microsoft has completely lost their way. In a piece for CBS Marketwatch, Dvorak, in his grumpy tradition, gives "eight signs the software giant is dead in the water", ranging from the aforementioned MSN and Vista to the mundane Office 2007, .Net, and obsession with Google. He says Microsoft "is too easily distracted by successful companies who are not competitors", which rings partly true. In Silicon Valley the question from VCs to potential startups for decades was "how will you compete with Microsoft?", with the given belief that they would eventually go after you, and in most cases, you would die fighting (see Netscape, Borland, and others). Now, Microsoft is drunk with money, and their best employees have gone on to better things.

Speaking of Microsoft money, even Bill Gates is losing it big time. The company's stock fell nearly 4% again today, and is well off of its split-adjusted peak of more than $60 a share, it's now at only $23 and change. Of course, Bill Gates is now saying he wishes he weren't the world's richest man, saying nothing good comes out of it. Now that's not very fun. Wouldn't you like for him to share his wealth with you - so you both can have your wish come true?

Listening to ''Escape Velocity 001'', by DJ Irish (Play Count: 3)

Flashback: Computer Layoff Payoff Alerts IRS

Today, at lunch, a colleague and I were recalling past jobs, and how struggling companies had elected to tell their employees the jig was up, and that their time had come to an end, sooner than expected. In the Silicon Valley, it's much easier to be laid off than fired, and in the late 1990s and early parts of this decade, it was incredibly easy, regardless of your job skills.

In January of 2001, having returned from a two-week mandatory holiday break, I was asked into a conference room and told that, due to financial shortages, the senior executives had foregone pay the last month or so, and that they were extending me the same courtesy, at least until they could close necessary funding to keep the company afloat, at which point I would be paid and lose nothing. I was assured that the funding was imminent and investors were very interested. Silly me.

A week or so later, again I was summoned into the conference room, and was told that the funds never were to come, and that was the end. It wasn't just me, but all of marketing, business development and sales had been let go as well - as the company would be sustained solely with engineers until the product could be sold to the highest bidder.

Doing the math in my head, I offered to barter with the cash-strapped firm, taking my Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) tower and monitor with me at the end of the day, instead of a paycheck covering the year to date. It was a good deal for us both - they wouldn't have to pay, and I got a new machine setup for the house. So, at the day's conclusion, I packed up everything and lugged it to the parking lot, thinking that was the end of that, and I never returned to the office where I had worked for two years.

I very rapidly found a job, less than three weeks later, and began anew with a new adventure. But the following March, the previous firm struck back, sending me a W-2 tax form to cover the value of the computer and monitor, the very day after I had submitted my taxes with the new W-2 from the new employer, thinking myself ahead of the game.

This snafu forced me to get tax adjustment forms, resubmit and pay the remaining tax owed, something I wasn't feeling so charitable about, having been let go by the company just a year prior. Worst of all, the IRS didn't correctly file everything, though they certainly cashed my checks right away, so in the next year, I started to get letters saying I had been found negligent and still owed the additional tax - now with fines due to lateness in payment. I wasn't even allowed to submit 2002's records until the 2001 data had been resolved. Several phone calls and letters later, the agency recognized I had been right all along, but the entire ordeal makes me think that next time I get laid off, I'll take the cash, including accrued vacation time and severance, thank you very much.

Listening to ''Slowblow (Darren Price Mix)'', by Depeche Mode (Play Count: 8)

CDC Issues Virus Warning

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim and pronounced "gonna re-elect him." Many victims contracted it in 2004, after having been screwed for the past four years.

Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected include: anti-social personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia, inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing behavior.

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how this destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

Listening to ''Black Day'', by Depeche Mode (Play Count: 6)

New Apple Commercials Tout the Mac

Apple has grown dramatically in recent years, primarily on the back of the iPod, but more quietly, they've continued to advance their Mac OS X operating system, and develop new hardware - recently moving to Intel processors, and even introducing the ability to run Windows on their MacIntel lines - should you want to. But while this has happened, Apple has not been very vocal about promoting the Macintosh - which at times has driven the Mac faithful nutty, as they've called for the Cupertino-based company to turn up the heat on Windows, especially as Microsoft continues to struggle with advancing to their next-generation operating system, Vista.

Today, those calls were answered, when Apple debuted a series of commercials with the theme of "Get a Mac", all of which can be found on the company's Web site at: http://www.apple.com/getamac/. The ads feature the same white background seen in their "Switch" campaign of a few years back, and highlight two actors - one, a stiff businessman who represents a PC, and the other, a hip young guy, who is the Mac. While slightly amusing at best, the commercials don't come out and grab you the way the iPod series has, and they sniff of the superiority complex some detractors assign to Macintosh users. I don't know how well they are going to play to business folks at all, or anybody over 30 who can't identify with a goatee wearing hipster.

To see for yourself, go to any of the ads. Viruses | Restarting | Better | iLife | Network | WSJ

Listening to ''The Silence'', by Sasha & John Digweed (Play Count: 2)

Morning Notes: May 1, 2006

More in an irregularly occurring series...

"The Colbert Report"'s Stephen Colbert played host to the annual White House Correspondents' dinner, and he made headlines in savaging Bush, who started out by chuckling, and ended the performance stone-faced, according to reports, as Colbert slammed him on Iraq, NSA wiretapping, low poll numbers and much more. (New York Times, Editor & Publisher, Crooks and Liars)

What's even more incredible is the news that Bush has declared himself above the law, selecting to circumvent more than 750 laws, according to a thorough report from the Boston Globe. When the laws are inconvenient, he goes around Congress, despite the fact it's Congress' job to determine the laws, and the President's role (traditionally) to enact them. (Boston Globe)

The Sacramento Kings defeated the San Antonio Spurs in game 4 of their first-round series, tying it at two games apiece. Though I don't mention the Kings here nearly as much as I do the A's, I have followed the team for decades, and remember tuning in to their radio broadcasts when the team could muster up 27 or 29 wins a year. Now, they are perennially playoff bound. (ESPN, Sactown Royalty)

Guy Kawasaki follows on the top ten lies of engineers with an equally astute piece on the "Top Ten Lies of Marketers". While amusing, not all match my personal history, likely because he's more focused on markets where I've not had experience.

Much noise is being made about Yahoo! possibly taking on CNET in the technology news and product review space. I'm not exactly overwhelmed by their initial entry, finding it to be a big shell for ads, but it's getting good press thus far. (TechCrunch, GigaOM, New York Times)

Listening to ''Revolt - Freighttrain'', by Bedrock Rec. (Play Count: 3)