Archive for September, 2005

Shambolic MS lawyers asskicked by Chemistry student | Other links

Thursday, September 29th, 2005

‘He turned his mistake back on Microsoft, however, accusing it of deceptive sales practices, since the agreement had essentially been hidden from him. “How could I sign the agreement if I’d never opened the software? It didn’t make any sense,” he says.’

EULAs are the Devils work. From Dave comes a David kicking the shit out of Microsoft Lawyer Goliaths story. Student sells on legally bought MS Software and they sue him. But he won after doggedly refusing to back down.

How Bob the millionaire became a pirate. Because the TV and Movie studios are dionaurs, the way they operate encourages piracy. Nice illustration of this point.

Mobile phones to be more secure to prevent theft and fraud yet at the same time will take away the ability to move providers.

JotSpot Live – Live, Group, Note-taking.

RSS Security Part1, RSS Security Part2.

But then the brain exploded right there in front of me…

Wednesday, September 28th, 2005

Via Google Blogoscoped. Sorry, Gotta Go – a website of wav sounds to use when you are on the phone. Press the Knock on Door one or dozens of others to create an excuse for ending a phone convo.

Connectivity as a utility. I’d been thinking all along about broadband being classed as a utility. Interesting idea.

Google moving into classifieds. Woah. Bye bye yellow pages. Craigslist shows what the yellow pages should be all about anyway.

Microlending in African countries.

Sneaky ways of bringing in the Broadcast Flag.

Not able to see your fav TV show? Rent My DVR will sort it. Simply have someone record the show and send it to you. They charge of course.

Ideal for podcasters! How To Build a Telephone Recording Circuit from an Old Modem. One needs to solder and stuff. A job for Dave.

Esquire submits a document to Wikipedia to let the members edit it. Dozens of errors later, the collaborative work of the Wikipedians have corrected all the errors in the document. Wikipower once again. Esquire were impressed.

Links for Monday 26th Sept

Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

Via Tom A fantastic size comparison test for the iPod Nano. I was convinced to just go for the 60gb iPod but after seeing this I think I’ll buy the Nano. *drool*

Puppy swallows 13in knife and survives. Rebecca, see how thick your dog is?

Made up words in the Simpsons. I really like Superliminal and Meh. Oh I think I may try and slip one of the other neologisms from the Simpsons into a press release. Or maybe use “Embiggen”.

Google Secure Access on a mac or any other OS

Saturday, September 24th, 2005

Guide to getting Google Secure Access to work on a Mac. Since it uses PPTP it can surely be used on any other operating system too.

If Bloggers were winos…

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

From Boing Boing comes

a former Gallo salesman who recalled handing the drink out to Native Americans who were just being released from jail — “to get the brand started.” “Wino Samplings,” as this former employee calls the practice of passing out free samples to hard drinkers, “used to be widespread.

Are winos conversations? I’m reminded of some other free wine give-away…

Froday night links – Introverts,

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

Caring for your introvert.

Blogger now has AdSense intregration. It’d be great if Movable Type and Word Press came with default installs that allowed you to do this. As well as bringing about blogrolls, delicious, flickr, picassa, Amazon referrals etc. Input some initial account information when you first create your blog and then sit back and relax as the money comes in, or doesn’t.

I guess Yahoo 360 did this idea where you logged in and read your feeds and could blog about them too but the fact is most people don’t have integrating aggregators and blogs. Perhaps they should. One interface to manage your blog , photos, feeds and so much more. AND not locking you into Yahoo only properties.

Oooh. Skype will be used as a delivery platform for all things digital says James Enck. That would make a lot more sense. Skype afterall is also a P2P application. Bringing Voice to you and downloads which you can pay for using Paypal, which can be bought via Ebay. That would be pretty damned nifty.

Meanwhile MS is quite worried that the platform is moving from the desktop to the net. In fairness this CNet Article is nothing new and many have been harping on about this for years. Still, MS are probably going to be pissed with the discussion it generates.

Mad cool marketing idea. Bubblewrap in the shape of Sony PlayStation buttons. Cute marketing technique.

Russell doesn’t like his Mac

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

Russ Beattie lists what bugs him about his mac. Then the zealots come and comment and it turns into another pointless mac versus pc debate. I await someone asking to think about the children.

Google Secure Access – RIAA and MPAA target?

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

A secure encrypted tunnel going from you to Google to wherever and back again. Unless ISPs and Telcos start blocking access to Google Secure Access then a workaround for VoIP port blocking has just been reached as Richard Stastny and James Enck explain.

So, this means all those who want to use their connection to download the latest Metallica album (which is going to be shit. Napster karma!) can’t be tracked by their ISP. I’m sure the ISPs will be delighted to have the RIAA off their backs, but what about Google.

Will we see Google hand over your IP readily? Will they hand over your login details? Are they ready to be sued by another bully? I wonder will this VPN work in China? Will we see them block sites and eventually block ports?

Google Toolbar for Firefox | Project Comet and other cool tools

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

Google Toolbar for Firefox is out of Beta. Has Google suggest built in. Bam. Right back at you Yahoo!

SixApart announce Project Comet. Looks like they are kicking blogging up a notch. Still not gone to 11 on it though. I like the Community Aggregation idea.

via James Enck comes Gush – a newsreader and IM tool and more. It can use Google Talk too. I like the SplitChat ability and the ability to send the same message to lots of people. Write Once Read Many as a guru pointed out to me.

Recommendation tools aren’t all that cool says the LA Times.

Prisoner Inventions. Wow.

I never noticed GMail had an undo button.

iPod Nano Thong. Jesus.

Amazing Arty Photos taken with just a camera phone. Gifted artists don’t need good tools. They can create beauty out of anything.

Wine Freebie Promotion leaves Sour Taste

Friday, September 23rd, 2005

Oh come on, it was too hard not to use such a tabloidesque post title.

Anyway, so someone called the wine that Hugh Macleod pimps “crappy” and Hugh went off and shredded the guy and even drew a nastycard about it.

Quite an over-reaction if you ask me. Markets are conversations but I understood the cluetrain intention was still to remain civil in the conversation. If someone calls your product crappy you can ignore them or engage with them to find out why and either improve yor product or discuss with the person why you think it is untrue. Getting personal and calling the person names is not conversation and is not the way of the cluetrain.

A better analysis of this comes from Tom Coates.