Wednesday, February 13, 2002

[ZDNet Tech News] Search engines losing popularity. Internet surfers are increasingly favoring direct navigation and bookmarks over search engines and Web links, according to a study. I find this *very* hard to believe. I use search far more with Google around. 6:40:13 PM

[Sam Ruby's Radio Weblog] Message Patterns and Interoperability.  Good summary of recent XML-DEV and SOAPBuilders discussions.  References WS-I, DIY, and even my essay.  General conclusion: focus on interoperability is a good thing. 6:39:11 PM

[Sam Ruby's Radio Weblog] Introducing Cocoon 2.0 by Stefano Mazzocchi. 6:38:36 PM

[John Robb's Radio Weblog] Had a nice chat with Jeremiah on IM.  The concept discussed was: find a tech topic and own it.  Own it so completely that the press needs to come to you to get the scoop.  Own Google for the topic.  Own it.  Create new terms.  Be smarter about it than anybody else.  IF I was in the process of applying to Princeton, MIT, or Yale -- my ownership of a key technology topic would be a large part of my resume.  Radio makes that possible. 6:38:07 PM

[Slashdot] SourceForge Terms of Service Change, Users Unhappy looking the gift horse in the mouth. you don't like the gift, don't take it. 12:16:47 PM

[IBM DeveloperWorks: XML News] Apache XML Security v1.0.0 announced (xml-apache-announce) 12:15:11 PM

[Scripting News] Last year on this day I wrote version 2.0 of How To Make Money on the Internet. "Make the product people want and sell it to them." That's the executive summary. You can read the whole piece or skip to the end. It's really not very complicated. "But listening to users is actually not that easy. It's easier to *be* a user and make products for other users. And that my friends, the combination of user-based information exchange and products that reflect user experience and wants, is where money will be made on the Internet."  10:27:43 AM

[John Robb's Radio Weblog] Microsoft.  Firewalls, NATs, and IM. 10:24:37 AM

[The Motley Fool] Bank Smart. It's hard to pinch your pennies when you're getting nickeled-and-dimed by your bank.  Fuckin-A right.  I hate Wells Fargo -- they have over the course of the last year, started charging for my previously free money market, added a month charge to my checking account (which they've so far waived every month without my asking) and ATM charges everytime I use someone else's ATM.   And they charge ridiculous fees for returned checks.   I'm thinking about keeping my money under a mattress. 10:14:26 AM

[Tomalak's Realm] LA Times: Studios Assail ReplayTV Technology. Mark Lemley, a UC Berkeley law professor, said, "It's troubling to say, 'This thing that everybody does has been illegal for 20 years. ... We're just getting around to catching you.' "Nobody's suing people who actually infringe copyrights anymore. Everyone is suing people who make devices..."  I believe in copyright (who wants the man stealing your IP?) and in using copyright laws to prevent people from making a big business of redistributing your IP without your permission (subject to reasonable limitations).  This is not that though.  It *would* be that if SonicBlue started facilitating the illegal trade of TV content.  That will only be useful if it's convenient; it will only be convenient if someone thinks they can make money at it, and so, makes the investment to make it so.   To the studios: The box, in and of itself, enables  people to enjoy watching TV more and to enjoy it in more ways.  Don't fight it - embrace it.  If you don't figure out how to make money under these rules, someone else will.. you're just delaying the inevitable... 10:10:34 AM

[The Motley Fool] Apple. "Analysts often ask about when Apple will make a push for the huge corporate office. It doesn't make sense for Apple to focus their energies here..." - An excellent analysis of Apple's strategy - they're executing a carefully conceived strategy with sound fundamentals -- mostly one that  focuses on execution and a deep understanding of their customers (by segment) and does this with strategies that leverage their price model and differentiation.    Goes well with the article on /. about how PC makers cannot offer a box that competes with the new iMac on form - they rely on generic components to make their price model work.  They key thing about the Apple strategy is that, unlike the rest of the computer industry, they're not trying to be Microsoft by Bill Gates at the game he invented.   If only Linux vendors could learn this lesson. 10:00:41 AM

[Slashdot] Towards an Internet-Scale Operating System This is a link to an article by the guy who did SETI@Home about using the excess computing resources around the Internet.  I think this is cool, but suspect its one of those things like ecash where it probably won't happen -- just seems like the percieved bump in complexity will likely swamp the possible benefits to the target user's mind.   The amount of money you could make probably won't justify it, and there are simpler ways to get the other pieces they talk about...   This needs a killer application.  Something that's a big win for everyone involved. 6:16:47 AM