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New user? Friday, January 11, 2002
AnandTech takes apart an iPod
So they had the capability to give it a recording feature and they didn't. Argh.
Radio 8 ships - OSX, OS9, Win
I got the news via blogtracker. (hehe) I recently set it up to show me new weblogs. Usually there's 1-3 new ones an hour. Well I got home tonight and there were HUNDREDS of new weblogs, all looking like:
"So-and So's Radio Weblog"
I guess that means it has shipped!
I have to admit I was surprised to be invited into the beta program earlier this week to try out the last beta and the final candidates. I haven't always gotten along with Dave Winer (...that was the current understatement of the year on this site), but I've been rock-steady in saying that when Radio UserLand shipped for OS X, I'd be behind it and support it.
I appreciate it that UserLand let me give it a whirl. I helped them get to the bottom of a bug with Mozilla support in OSX, so next time you use Radio and Mozilla together and it just works, think of me, and then think of UserLand, who found and fixed the problem mere hours after I gave them the info they needed.
I was also surprised when I found out the price. $39.95. It's very cheap, I was expecting something like $60-$80. But they'll sell way more than double at this price so, as long as their hosting aspect is sustainable and they're making good money on each copy, this will be a great deal for all. Win-Win. Success, Dave!
Radio UserLand is basically Frontier without Manila and the other server-related stuff that is Frontier-only. I've long been a fan of Frontier. Like all software it's far from perfect, but it's unique and elegant and that makes it cool. Like HyperCard and WebObjects, my two other true loves in software, it breaks barriers, is totally unlike anything else before it, and has an interesting history.
I'll still be maintaining this site using Conversant, because it gives me so many more things Radio doesn't, as a weblogging tool. But I'll be using Radio very often, probably many times a day.
Here's my Radio site: KOSX 125.1 FM. Not sure what I'll use it for yet. :-)
The old school reunion
Update at 10:20 PM on Saturday evening: some more Frontier users (and a surprise appearance by Bill Bumgarner of Cocoa/WO fame and Ken Bereskin of Apple/Rhapsody fame):
- Bill Bumgarner (we've gotta talk, Bill...)
- Peter Mitchell (way to go Peter!)
- Oliver Breidenbach
- Wes Felter
- Grant Hutchinson
- Ken Bereskin's
Here are the "old school" Frontier users I've noticed set up Radio sites this evening:
- Russ Lipton
- Russell Gum
- Steve Zellers
- Jim Correia
- Thomas A. Creedon
- Timothy Paustian (who started the Carbon port and deserves much praise)
- Nicholas Riley
- John VanDyk
- Tom Clifton
- Dave Liebreich
- Andre Radke (URL corrected...)
- Mark Staben
- Josh Lucas
- Paul Snively
- Jeff Imig
- Duncan Smeed
- Robert 'Bump' Occhialini
And while I'm giving out praise: a big thank-you to Brent Simmons for the Services menu in the OS X version of Radio. :-) It's the first Carbon app I've used that has support for Services. I wish I could be happy about that, but Radio is a good start!
Note that there are a lot of other "old school" Frontier folk that have set up Radio sites before last night, during the beta process, and the final candidate stage. But here's a unique one:
Dan Shafer's First Review of Radio 8 -- Dan wrote the docs for Frontier 1.0 in 1991.
Thursday, January 10, 2002
AppleSkinz rock
AppleSkinz -- this rocks! I'm surprised it took so long for someone to do this.
I want a skin for my Lombard G3. The new iMac begs to be skinned. In fact, a skin skin wouldn't look too bad. ;-)
pMachine
pMachine - Blogging plus a lot more!
The "whole lot more" aspects of it seem to mostly be things that Conversant and its weblogging system has done for a year or more. And with Conversant you don't have to maintain your own server. (For some this is a plus, for some it's not a problem)
I'm not a fan of code-in-HTML systems like ASP/CFM/JSP/PHP, so I immediately get that Homer-thinking-of-Patty-and-Selma shudder when I think of having to deal with it.
To be fair, it has a couple gee-whiz features like keeping track of birthdays and... well that's the only one I see, and that's pretty, well, gee-whiz.
And of course the more weblogging software there's out there, the better.
When I finally have another spare moment I'll write about Radio UserLand 8, which is shipping soon, if not today. Which is a good choice of days to ship, since their announcing the SN Blogger of the Year award today too.
Wednesday, January 9, 2002
Microsoft caught stuffing the ballot boxes
ZDNet UK: .Net vote rigging illustrates importance of Web services
This is a pretty common occurance (not just with Microsoft). Anonymous online polls are for the most part, bogus.
Weblogger lunch
A lunch that I (and Damien) thought would be about 4 or 5 people turned about to be about 20 people. I guess a few people linked to where Damien said there'd be a lunch.
It was nice, I met a lot of people I'd never met before, but lunch ended up being a 2.5 hour getaway!!! :-(
We were in the Yerba Beuna park, and a lady with a camera and clipboard came up and asked us if we wanted to be in a Microsoft ad, and they'd pay $500 for a half day's work. :-)
I need the money, but not THAT bad. Not selling out. Nope. (To be honest I couldn't have done it that day anyway)
