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July 30, 2005

All new, all the time

If anyone reading this knows the group at Yahoo that recently purchased and is in charge of my favorite blog update service and aggregator, blo.gs, could you let them know the system is completely broken now?

For some reason, every blog I've ever tracked with it is showing that it has updated. Even a blog that shut down and hasn't had a new post in over a year. Sometimes the blogs listed as updated actually did, but it's maybe 1 in 10, with 9 false positives.

Imagine waking up and everytime you check your email you get all your recent messages that claim to be new, and you keep getting them all day, over and over again.

I suspect someone at Yahoo changed the way it figures out what has updated, not relying on pings to the server, but probably sending a bot out to look for changes and getting false positives from things like a new comment or a flickr photo changing in a javascript include.

I'm being forced to move my blog tracking to a RSS service now.

As a side issue, since the day Yahoo took over on blo.gs, they removed the key feature that tracked read/unread status through the use of a last visited cookie and link colors. Please put it back, Yahoo.

Posted by 09:22 AM | Comments (9)

July 29, 2005

links for 2005-07-29

Posted by 12:11 AM

July 28, 2005

links for 2005-07-28

Posted by 12:11 AM

July 27, 2005

links for 2005-07-27

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 26, 2005

links for 2005-07-26

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 25, 2005

Google adds RSS reader to google.com/ig


(Google adds RSS reader to google.com/ig, originally uploaded by mathowie)

Google's homepage just turned into a clone of My Yahoo, with a RSS parser built in.

Posted by 05:07 PM

July 24, 2005

Going fallow

I noticed it in myself several weeks ago. I hadn't touched my camera in two weeks and I had no desire to snap anything when I did pick it up. Then I noticed that I don't the time or motivation to write up all the ideas that are percolating in my head. Then I noticed that all my friends seem to be in a similar position, with their sites going silent for a week between updates.

We're in the thick of the summer doldrums online.

Every year from about mid-July to about mid-August there's a big lull in activity online among all my northern hemisphere friends. Usually, it's everyone going outside to enjoy the good weather. Often, it's a long planned vacation taking them away. Sometimes we all just take a collective break at the same time. Me? I've been spending 5:30am to 8:30am every day enjoying Lance Armstrong winning the Tour.

I've been thinking about this for the past week or so, since I noticed it in myself and how my RSS subscriptions are also suffering from a lack of updates. But I've been thinking this whole time about how it's a good thing. It seems like a natural cycle that happens every summer and some good creative output follows it. Then as I was watching tonight's Six Feet Under (sure sign of taking a break -- watching lots of TV), Olivier put it perfectly:

We all go through fallow periods. We must let the soil rest..to prepare for new growth.

So don't mind the weeds that are popping up in the cracks of all my sites. Whenever the lull is over I'll be back, posting up a storm.

Posted by 09:54 PM

links for 2005-07-24

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 23, 2005

links for 2005-07-23

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 21, 2005

links for 2005-07-21

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 20, 2005

links for 2005-07-20

Posted by 12:13 AM

July 19, 2005

Not exactly a surprise

law.com on Supreme Court nom Roberts:

Yet those who know Roberts say he, unlike Souter, is a reliable conservative who can be counted on to undermine if not immediately overturn liberal landmarks like abortion rights and affirmative action. Indicators of his true stripes cited by friends include: clerking for Rehnquist, membership in the Federalist Society, laboring in the Ronald Reagan White House counsel's office and at the Justice Department into the Bush years, working with Kenneth Starr among others, and even his lunchtime conversations at Hogan & Hartson. "He is as conservative as you can get," one friend puts it. In short, Roberts may combine the stealth appeal of Souter with the unwavering ideology of Scalia and Thomas.

I'd hate to see Roe v. Wade overturned with this guy on the bench. Also, he's only 50, so we'd be living with him on the bench for a very long time.

Posted by 04:13 PM

If you understand this shirt, you are a nerd

nomoremonkey.jpg

Posted by 01:02 PM

July 18, 2005

Don't call it a revolution

A few weeks ago I read through all of Business Week's design innovations for 2005 and kept track of my favorites. One of them was a shower head that the article described as being not only nice looking and easy to use, but deeply researched before going to market and was currently the best selling shower head at Lowes.

I figured I needed a new one and design research plus design awards plus brisk sales would equal the best shower head in the world. But like Mike, I found it was fairly disappointing (my review is there as a comment).

Posted by 10:09 AM

July 17, 2005

links for 2005-07-17

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 16, 2005

links for 2005-07-16

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 15, 2005

links for 2005-07-15

Posted by 12:15 AM

July 14, 2005

Webvisions

Tomorrow morning I'll be speaking at WebVisions 2005 about convergence and digital devices -- all the cool ways small gadgets can talk to one another thanks in part to open standards and lots of hacking.

Webvisions is my favorite "small tech conference that's almost as worthwhile as an expensive multi-day big tech conference" conference. It's cheap, the topics, speakers, and keynotes are good, and the extra bonus is that I can drive to it instead of fly.

If you're attending, be sure to say hi.

Posted by 10:54 AM

links for 2005-07-14

Posted by 12:13 AM

July 13, 2005

links for 2005-07-13

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 12, 2005

Is anyone else freaked out by The Daily Show' s new studio set?

Slate has a perfect piece: Is anyone else freaked out by The Daily Show' s new studio set?

When the show started last night, I thought I was watching something from the 1998 archives, perhaps Stewart's first show or something. It looks dated and almost claustrophobic. The constantly shifting blue backgrounds are almost as annoying as text crawls on news shows, and yeah, the two-people-at-a-desk thing is really weird for an informal discussion format like The Daily Show.

Bring back the couch.

Posted by 01:01 PM

July 11, 2005

links for 2005-07-11

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July 10, 2005

links for 2005-07-10

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July 09, 2005

links for 2005-07-09

Posted by 12:13 AM

July 07, 2005

links for 2005-07-07

Posted by 12:14 AM

July 06, 2005

New store CSS updates

Today I launched a new store and donation page for Creative Commons and while we're always looking to bolster our public support of the non-profit (and the t-shirts are really cool), I mention it here to show what's possible with CSS.

When I did a mockup of the store page, I did it in photoshop and aimed for a clean, catalog look that brought the photos of the products to the forefront. Once everyone liked it, I had a slight pang of worry that I might have to resort to using a table to align the photos and text.

I've been working on some fairly advanced CSS layouts the past couple years, and in the past year I've gotten to the point where I can reproduce almost anything in CSS, thanks mostly to a variety of float techniques that Doug Bowman explains here.

I started laying out the page like any other, using a variety of CSS columns floated to align text and images. I figured I'd hit a sticking point eventually and if necessary, resort to some ugly table hack to finish the job. I surprised myself in the end by never reaching that sticking point, and the end result is a nearly pixel-perfect identical layout, and it's all CSS (I know there are one or two minor html nits keeping it from validation).

I always knew CSS was powerful, flexible, and useful, but in the back of my mind I felt there a few browser limitations that could keep it from letting me do 100% of layouts using it. After this project I think it's safe to say at this point that using tables for layout is absolutely and completely a thing of the past.

Posted by 01:22 PM | Comments (5)

July 05, 2005

How not to treat your avid readers


(Stupid Flash Ads, originally uploaded by plemeljr)

I've been seeing more of these things as well, even in firefox. Looks like it's time for a flash blocker.

Posted by 08:41 AM

links for 2005-07-05

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 04, 2005

I do declare

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain (George III) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Posted by 02:22 PM | Comments (2)

links for 2005-07-04

Posted by 12:12 AM

July 03, 2005

links for 2005-07-03

Posted by 12:13 AM

July 02, 2005

links for 2005-07-02

Posted by 12:13 AM

July 01, 2005

Childhood memories

Why do we forget our childhood? is an interesting look at how language helps forge long lasting memories, or at least, is necessary to retrieval. I've heard this hypothesis before from cognitive scientists and I was never fully convinced of it until I thought about the problem with an operating system metaphor.

When we're born, imagine all our thoughts and memories are written and stored as simple BASIC programs. We're just getting the hang of storing memories so they're not long term. Imagine we have no media and everything's in RAM, as it happens.

10 PRINT "CRY LOUDLY"
20 GOTO 10

A few months into life and we move on to encoding everything in MS-DOS. We can't really get at the very early programs anymore, but we're doing ok storing new ones that can describe more objects.

By the time we reach two years of age our increased complexity requires an upgrade. We're running an early BSD form of unix in our heads, storing memories filled with words, sounds, sights, and smells.

By the time we're five years old, we've done our final upgrade, to OS X. Just like OS X, if you open a terminal and type out a BASIC program it won't run, and so we can't retrieve those early memories stored in BASIC or DOS. But we can pull some of the most straightforward of early unix code we wrote when we were 3 and 4. From here on out memory storage and retrieval is fairly straightforward and though it's sometimes difficult to pull something out of a decades old archive, it's still possible.

Ok, maybe I took that too far. Still, it's how I explain childhood memory storage to myself and helps me understand early childhood development.

Posted by 11:43 PM