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Jan 13 2003
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Internet success stories, weblogs and decentralization

Posted by | online genealogy | No Comments

Friends reunited, the hugely successful UK version of Classmates has launched a spin-off called Genesconnected – allowing collaborative sharing of family tree information. The idea is not new but the link between the alumni sites and genealogy is. The three most successful eCommerce sites in terms of number of paid subscribers are Classmates, Match.com and Ancestry.com – this is not surprising, they are all about networks of people and so is the Internet. What about the future of online genealogy, dating etc.? Weblogs perhaps show the way. What is yet to happen with these activities is that they become distributed in the way that weblogs have done with online discussions. GenesConnected Home Page

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Jan 10 2003
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Dave Winer – two out of three aint bad

Posted by | diary | No Comments

OK, so most of the brain drain claims about Silicon Valley are bullshit. Everything is cyclical and the valley is in a down cycle for sure. But the Bay Area as a whole is unique – it is the global capital of science and its non Metropolis, campus style, environment is a testimony to its modernity and university style intellectual prowess not its parochialism. For all that, Dave Winer’s departure from the Bay Area – appropriately enough to an esteemed campus will leave a vacuum. Kevin Werbach said that “Web services, Weblogs and WiFi are the new WWW”. Dave Winer pioneered two of these and ‘two out of three aint bad’. Dave Goes to Harvard

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Jan 09 2003
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Clay Shirky: The Internet and telephones

Posted by | predictions | No Comments

A predictably excellent essay by Clay Shirky on the threat to phone companies from Voice Over IP and WiFi networks. “they’ve [the Telcos] digitized their entire network up to the last mile, but are still charging the high and confusing rates established when the network was analog.” Shirky: Customer-owned Networks and ZapMail Clay describes Fed Ex’s failed fax service – where they supplied a network of faxes and charged less than physical delivery of documents. This failed because people bought faxes themselves. Clay asserts that charging existing rates for telephone calls is a scam that can only be pulled off if the Telcos keep control of the last mile. If people buy products like SIP phones (Internet phones) and use the Internet then they have taken control of the last mile. Whilst this is great stuff, there is an addendum to the argument. The problem is that this assumes that…

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Jan 08 2003
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A Big Mac with no cheese

Posted by | design | No Comments

Two all beef patties, lettuce, 1GHz PowerPC G4, 1MB L3 cache, 512MB DDR333 SDRAM, 60GB Ultra ATA/100 SuperDrive, pickles and onions all in a lightweight and durable aluminum alloy enclosure. Apple – PowerBook G4 17″

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Jan 08 2003
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Weblogs, decentralization and digital identities

Posted by | technology | No Comments

Doc Searls quotes his wife’s inspirational, 7 year old, unfulfilled wish list of browser features. “Another was a pull-down menu called “purse” that would contain credit cards and other identity items required for doing business in the world. Neither would be owned or provided by one vendor (not even the browser’s). Instead they would be features of the user’s own identity as an autonomous customer in the marketplace. “ The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, January 8, 2003 There have been many attempts to create digital wallets from SET or Obongo (purchased by AOL for their aborted Magic Carpet) to Hailstorm. Just as weblogs have proven the power of decentralized, personally controlled publishing this model extends to the entire realm of digital identities which may only be successful if they are similarly decentralized and user controlled.

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Jan 08 2003
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Apple wishlist item

Posted by | design | No Comments

I want a media PC – and by that I mean a PC that controls all the media I watch/listen to/photograph etc. I don’t want a separate Tivo, DVD player, MP3 player, digital photo archive – I want one machine to handle all of this. Apple are heading in this direction, both in terms of hardware and software – and who better than Apple to provide this most luxurious of items. The problem is that every attempt at a media PC that I have seen makes an annoying amount of noise – meaning that it gets switched off at ‘bed-time’, and then takes an interminable time to boot, ruining somewhat the spontaneity of waking up to the sound of music. Please Apple, given that reliable sleep mode never works and instant boot never will, design me a silent machine that I can leave on all the time.

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Jan 08 2003
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Computers crash but planes rarely do

Posted by | technology | No Comments

Commuter plane crashes in N Carolina A bad start to the year for air travel, all the more since last year found no commercial airline crashes anywhere in the world. [ahem, I have no idea what gave me this idea, but… airline crashes timeline ]. Some things seem disproportionally technologically advanced. Air travel is one of them. Consider that during its lifespan a jet engine turbine is spinning more than not, making it the most reliable piece of engineering on the planet. Imagine a year free of computer crashes.

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Jan 07 2003
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The Economist suggests that there may be nowhere to invest in 2003

Posted by | business | No Comments

The Economist resurrect their fictitious perfect investor, Felicity Foresight. $1 invested in shares in 1900 would be worth $9,000 now. However, Felicity’s $1 is not limited to shares and is now worth $2,700,000,000,000,000. So where is the best place to invest in 2003? The Economist concludes that Felicity “would be wise to recall 1931, when the best performing asset was cash, offering 1% interest.” Economist.com | Investing

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Jan 07 2003
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On Safari in Sweden

Posted by | software design | No Comments

Ben Hammersley.com: Safari Review Ben Hammersley posts a to-the-point review of Apple’s new browser: “Sadly, at first glance it’s shit – No tabbed browsing. Which is now an *ESSENTIAL* part of the UI, and without it a modern browser is just pants. The CSS support seems shoddy too. It’s pretty though.” Please, please may this browser be shite – near total browser monopolies are great for lazy web design.

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