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Thoughts and things I care to sharelinks for 2006-11-16
- I didn’t know this, but the remote desktop feature (RDP Client) in Windows Vista supports multiple monitors. Will wonders never cease!
- Knowing that the MySpace fad is starting to wane, who in their right mind would toss $6B at it? News Corp is off their nut. Sure it’s grown in fiscal value since the purchase, but not 10x the amount as they claim. Just makes me laugh.
- But what value does all these widgets bring? I think they’re cool and useful, but when is it too much? How many cool things can one add to your blog, site, or desktop before the performance impact negates the usefulness? And are they really, truly usef
- Reporter’s Notebook: Bill Gates tells Charlie Rose and Stanford University audience at TechNet conference that ‘we’re at the beginning of something important again’ in development of technology — just as in the 1980s with the advent of the PC.
- Microsoft plans to release a Longhorn Community Technology Preview later this year, followed by another CTP in early 2007 and then Longhorn Beta 3 by the middle of the year.
Widgets are the new black
Everywhere I’ve turned the last week or so, some new widget deal has been announced. While there are some really cool widgets and obviously some really great uses for them, does everyone want to load down their sites with these things? How much performance is sucked out of a site when building in all these widgets?
I think they’re cool, but am starting to wonder if they really bring any true value – for that matter, what value does the plug-ins I’ve added here bring?
Via: Techcrunch – Hot New Video, Calendar and Map Widgets
links for 2006-11-15
- Michael Arrington digs up another interesting use of Web 2.0 services for iPod users. I’m sure you can find a way to do this with other media players as well, but Michael points out two tools (one Mac, one Windows) that do most of the work for you.
- Darius Wey covers the latest release of PPC Tablet 4.0 at Pocket PC Thoughts. They also happen to have 5 copies of the new release for giveaway – check it out.
- Quad core out thr door!
- Check out the mobile HDTV tuner from RCA.
- Orb beats YouTube to mobile services. MyCasting is designed to leverage all your Orb video features through a mobile device.
New Computer Season
So with Windows Vista out the door, its time to start evaluating new computer systems at home. The picture today is not as clear as it was a few months ago.
- Do I go with all laptops (which has been my plan for almost a year)?
- Do I go with an upgrade to my existing desktop, new laptops for my wife & kids, and a UMPC for me?
- Would an UMPC for each member of the family make sense, or only for those highly-mobile?
The trouble with it all is that our computing needs have changed, and software models have changed. What is a useful computer for a person that only browses and gets email? What about for my 10 year-old who really only uses the computer for some on line games? How will it grow with her? Do I need to get a uber-powerful unit for my 16 year-old who uses the Internet, games, and media heavily, or will a moderate system work?
Since Vista is around the corner, some of the usage scenarios I was thinking of are not as clear anymore. The usefulness of on line services like GMail, Digg, Del.icio.us, Zoho and more negate the need for a lot of expensive software upgrades. This also changes what kind of system resources are needed to run the services we use on a daily basis.
The interesting part is that each one of us need a new computer. We’ve been putting off upgrading until Vista was released, and some of the new hardware features supported by Vista were available. So, yes, it is important for everyone to get a new system – one or two are so old and slow as to be useless at this point.
So, my question is – what are your upgrade plans now that Windows Vista has been released, and what functionality are you looking for in a new system?
Avvenu Plus – On line storage
I’ve blogged before about Avvenu, the on line storage provider. Well, if you’re a current customer, you should be getting an email from them about an upgraded service offering available to you. It is a pay-for service but upgrades your account to 5GB.
Avvenu is unique in that they allow you to access your home computer hard drive in addition to online storage. I’ve been using them for some time and enjoy the ability to get to files on my home computer.
However, I use another service for my on line storage. Currently I’m actually using AOL’s XDrive for my data. Personally, I’m not fond of paying large sums each month for a service – it has to be a really good service, or something that I can’t live without. I can live without access to my home computer, but not to my on line files.
If I can access my files on the ‘net for free, why would I pay $20 or $30 per month for the privilege? If I have to pay, Amazon’s S3 service is looking more and more appealing to me.
I’ll take a closer look at this new Avvenu service later, but at first blush it doesn’t appeal to me.
Log into your Avvenu account for more details.
links for 2006-11-14
- Sun released the source-code to Java as open source.
- The Google Reader team has some tips to improve your experience with the product.
- Another interesting Web 2.0 sticky notes service modeled after Post-It Notes (trademark: 3M). Chris Gilmer covers it at Web Worker Daily.
Neowin.net – Sun opens Java
This is very interesting, it will make Java even more popular than it already is. My question though, is how will this affect compatibility and inter-operability? My experience with several Java-based tools at work indicate that Sun had issues keeping new versions of the JRE compatible with previous ones – or at least developers were using features of older JREs that didn’t work when you installed the newer ones.
via: Neowin.net – Sun opens Java
links for 2006-11-13
- Motorola has some interesting strategies going on. With the Symbol purchase and now Good Technology, it all points towards an enterprise mobile strategy with wireless PIM syncronization and good Windows Mobile support.
- Another interesting service that revolves around syndicating blog content for cash.
- Excellent article at Read/Write Web on Group Ware, or niche social networking.
New daily links
You may have noticed that there are some daily links being posted every day (or mostly every day). I’ve set up my Del.icio.us favorites to post the links I tag every day to my blog.
The point in this is to let you find the articles and blogs that I’ve run across during the day, so you can see what I find and what things are influencing my thoughts for the day. Kind of neat – let me know what you think.
links for 2006-11-11
- Looking for a Flash-based home page? YourMinis may be your ticket – similar in concept to many customizable home pages like Google, Live.com, or PageFlakes – but built on Flash.
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.