PR: Apple today announced that iTunes Music Store customers have purchased and downloaded more than one million videos since they debuted on October 12.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/oct/31itms.html

Randy: These guys could sell religion to god.

I created a new blog that contains most all of the NBA game boxscores for the last two seasons. I wonder! I this a blog? Looks like one. But I added all the entries in one copy and paste to the server.

http://www.kbcafe.com/nba/

About: This is a list of file name extension or suffixes that indicate the format or usage of a file and a brief description of that format.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/fileFormatA/0,289933,sid9,00.html

• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=7DxA-Fg1kZI
• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=qjGm6jOlejo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=99Fh5YIyVho

Ben Barren: Once you get to the 2021st engineer you hired that year, you aren't exactly guaranteed the next page-rank, adsense, desktop search and gmail. In the last year the law of decreasing intellectual capital return has led to (crap like) g-accelerator/ blog search/ personalised home page 1+2 /feed reader.

http://benbarren.blogspot.com/2005/10/google-80-wastage-rule.html

Randy: BTW, Ben is the tech blogger who posts a nice girlie pick with every entry. Sex sells.

Dave Winer: The "Long Tail" makes me want to barf. [cut] Anyone who calls bloggers a tail of anything has his head up his ass.

http://archive.scripting.com/2005/10/30#When:1:06:34AM

Randy: This shit taste great.

John Haller: I've created this simple How To guide that shows you just what needs to be done to get Firefox looking just like IE.

http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/firefox_internet_explorer/

I just noticed that I broke thru the 500 thousand Webpages in the Google index. And a plug for ehlist, which is an amazing SEO tool. I suggest you search for results from all your domains, as ehlist doesn't begin tracking your domain until someone searches for it.

http://ehlist.ca/show/34

One of my readers sent me this great image of himself. Thanks Einstein, much appreciated!

http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php << make your own

In July, evhead pointed us to images of the 10k bouncy balls, now you can watch the resulting commercial.

http://www.bravia-advert.com/commercial/braviacommlow.html

Don't watch this unless you're prepared to feel Chris' pain.

http://chris.pirillo.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/28/1328605.html

Richard MacManus: A "Microsoft insider" was asked which other products and services Microsoft would host and the reply was: "Everything. Hosted Office. Everything hosted." Ahem, can anyone say Web 2.0 Office?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/index.php?p=41

Randy: Now, don't get me wrong. You can build scaled down versions of Word in Javascript. Unfortunately, we are still at least one generation of CPU technology or Web browser technology and possibly two from creating rich Web application that perform like Office. Yes, AJAX is cool and I've seen some pretty cool AJAX applications; Gmail and Gmaps. But none of these AJAX applications have nearly the feature set that we require of Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Visio (maybe Outlook). It'll happen. Someday. I've yet to see a Web browser framework that would make that happen today.

Question: Is AJAX a required component of Web 2.0? Can you say Javascript accelerator?

Kurt Opsahl: Printing presses are the prized platform of a public lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Ben Franklin and John Hancock. Take the tea tax. Revenue was coming, providing much needed funding to help with his Majesty’s benevolent aims in the colonies. Then the pamphleteers attacked.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004105.php

Randy: hehe!

Well, if you haven't already heard, Forbes printed some pretty nasty material about blogging. The article dubbed Attack of the Blogs attempts to discredit blogs as simply low quality bashing.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/1114/128_print.html

When I first saw the article, I laughed and swore I would never link to it. Last thing I was to do is give credit to the article. Unfortunately, the rest of you didn't. Effectively, by making it the #1 blogged article in the blogosphere for two days, you've brought more attention to the article and embedded the crap into your own readers heads. Oh well, that's the blogosphere. Openness. Now that the cat is out of the bag and pissing all over the neighbourhood, let me add my own opinion.

The best response to the article came from the EFF, which I often disagree with, just not today. They moved my attention to a sidebar of the article called Fighting Back, which gives IMHO some pretty good advice to people and companies who are on the wrong end of a blogosphere pissing match.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/1114/128sidebar_print.html

My opinion? Truth is, bloggers are virtual lynch mobs. Remember Jeff Jarvis vs. Dell? Dell is a pretty good company, with better ethics than most, but because one high profile blogger saw an opportunity to make a name bashing them, he threw caution to the wind and attacked. The blogosphere followed. I think there's countless examples like this, from Google's Web Accelerator, Google's problem with Blogspot spam and SplogSense to the non stop bashing of George Bush.

Guess what? I agree with most of the bashing. Google deserves a little grief for the splogging problems and surely George Bush proved once and for all that Richard Nixon was correct when he said "I'm Not a Crook". We now know what a real crooked President is capable of. Do you think the traditional media would have reported half the corruption in Bush's administration without prodding from the blogosphere? That said, the weight of the blogosphere was not capable of un-electing George Bush.

My conclusion? The blogosphere is doing stuff and I think that stuff is generally good, but sometimes bad.  Cars generally do good, but can also be used to kill. We drive them anyway. We blog anyway. Why? Because a greater good is possible thru blogging. Forbes can go to hell!

We've always known that there would some day be virtual worlds where the experience is next to real life. Games like Half-Life are really just the beginning. The Sims is much closer to what is about to happen in the virtual World.  Regina Lynn of wired wrote an article titled Coming Soon: Online Sex games. Excerpts...

• Spend the Night will offer a graphically rich space where you can meet people, go on virtual dates and have cybersex.
• International Game Developers Association's sex blog.

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69367,00.html

Cindy Sheehan: Yesterday in another hand-picked audience propaganda speech in front of military spouses, George Bush said: 'This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve.' Besides asking him for What Noble Cause did he kill 2000 of our wonderful and brave young people, I would also like to ask George what he is sacrificing. Is he even sacrificing a good night's sleep? Is he sacrificing his future with his child? He is not sacrificing anything.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/grim-milestone_b_9579.html

Randy: Will those that voted for this ass please stand up! Now bend over!

An interview with Blogger of the Day, Dave Taylor of  Ask Dave Taylor.

iBt4iM: Tell my readers who you are.

Dave Taylor: Hi there, I'm Dave Taylor and I've been involved with the Internet since the very dawn of its existence, 1980. I've been to Gopher conferences (an important precursor to the Web) and to some of the very earliest Web conferences and events too. My first Web site, per se, was the Purdue Online Writing Lab, in 1995, and I've been pretty enthused about the Web ever since. I've launched four startups, written nineteen books (most recently including Growing Your Business with Google) and teach workshops and present at conferences with great frequency.  Oh, and I'm a Dad too, with three great kids!

iBt4iM: What's your blog? What's your blog about?

Dave Taylor: I have two primary weblogs that I manage: Ask Dave Taylor is a tech and business Q&A site that gets tons of traffic and produces lots and lots of questions from my visitors. With more of a business focus, The Intuitive Life Business Blog is where I talk about corporate and business issues, ranging from how to most effectively incorporate a business blog into your site to how Sarbanes-Oxley affects small, privately held businesses, to my most recent article discussing the challenges of transferring inventions from a University setting into the corporate world.

iBt4iM: What secondary blogs do you have? Linkblogs? Moblogs?

Dave Taylor: As a content producer rather than a connector, I don't have any sort of linkblog: if I am enthused enough about a site, I'd rather write about it and why I think it's important than offer yet another list of ten, twenty or four hundred URLs on a page. Having said that, I do have a couple of other weblogs worth mentioning!  The Attachment Parenting Blog is where I talk about family issues and, of course, parenting, along with some commentary on the state of birth and childrearing in modern society, the Real Life Debt Blog offers useful articles and reader experiences with personal finance issues, from credit card services to filing for bankruptcy, and, finally, my new book "Growing Your Business with Google" has a blog associated with it too, findable at findability.info.

iBt4iM: Why do you blog?

Dave Taylor: I've always been passionate about writing, communicating, and helping explain how things work. I've been writing for over twenty years now, actually, and have been quite literally been published in magazines well over a thousand times at this point. Writing is second nature to me, and the fact that there's an audience who are interested in my views and perspectives is simply a pleasant surprise!

iBt4iM: What are your favorite blogs?

Dave Taylor: I really like weblogs from people who produce content, who have something thoughtful and interesting to say about business, society, culture, families, education, and similar. I have diverse interests, but I'm typically not interested in the "top ten" blogs. So here's my list of favorite weblogs that I believe are well worth reading and studying as examples of blogging done right:

• Blogwrite for CEOs
• Contentious
• Feld Thoughts
• Fresh Books Blog
• Om Malik's Broadband Blog

iBt4iM: What do you do when you are not blogging?

Dave Taylor: I do a lot of strategic management consulting with firms, a lot of other writing (books, magazine articles, etc), and a lot of looking at the sky, trying to figure out what's coming next.

iBt4iM: Thanks for taking the time to tell our readers about yourself. You are the Blogger of the Day.

Note: We are interviewing one average-Joe great-blogger every few days (we hope). If you want to be the Blogger of the Day, then email me. Previous Bloggers of the Day; fotoUR, Ozh of planetOzh, John of Freshblog, Aimee Evans, Allen Searls, Steve Michel, Jon Watson, Dave Walker, Oleg Dulin and Miel Van Opstal.

Nominations are open for the 2005 Canadian Blog Awards.

http://cba.myblahg.com/

I'm nominating...

• Best Blog - Accordion Guy
• Best Personal Blog - Chris Nolan
• Best Business Blog - Alec Saunders
• Best Media Blog - Mark Evans
• Best Photo Blog - Photo Junkie

Bill Gates: People are underestimating what Microsoft is doing with search technology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4382112.stm

Randy: If you set the bar low enough.

Last week, Josh Hallett said he was gonna blog his jury duty. In the end, the defendent didn't show up and Josh and the rest of the jury were dismissed. There's also a podcast summary of the process.

http://hyku.com/blog/archives/cat_legal_issues.html

More Dell deals.

• Save an additional $100 on the following systems when you spend over $599 with coupon code RSGG1DQKC9ZJ2R
• Save an additional $200 on the following systems when you spend over $1599 with coupon code FN7PRQ5BNVJ4T$

There is both a Website and blog dedicated to ridiculing Tom Cruise and his scientology beliefs. The practice is called ScienTOMogy, a word play on his religion Scientology.

http://scientomogy.blogspot.com/

Jux2 a search engine that meta search Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves was sold on eBay for $101k. Funny thing, Google's TOS clearly states that you may not meta search with the results. I wonder, if the winner (or maybe the loser) was aware of this fact?

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=7554979251

BBC: A virtual space resort being built in the online role-playing game, Project Entropia, has been snapped up for $100,000 (£56,200).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4374610.stm

Randy: Yes, that's real money. Project Entropia players can convert the virtual money 1-for-1 with real money. I think I'm gonna buy myself a gaming server and start selling the virtual properties. I'll have half a dozen space stations and you can buy them for $50k (a discount).

Mid-day funny video fix. Ooo! That must have hurt.

http://www.simplyfired.com/video.php?id=23

I love YouTube.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=ggO1_m6AceM
• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=nQFBSfTmxRI
• http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=vVTg7loElag

and a bonus to help your testicular cancer.

• http://www.rachelgetsfruity.com/flash.html

Today, Alexa updated my 3 month average ranking form 10,014 to 9572. Do I get a medal? Alexa is the best freely available pool of data for Website visitation rankings. They calculate their data by aggregating hits from users that have downloaded their toolbar.

http://download.alexa.com

David Heinemeier Hansson: The problem with the GWA is not that you can protect against it. [cut] It's the fact that we know the Real Web doesn't behave uniformly like this. It's the fact that we know that the world of applications that exist with state-altering GETs out there is huge and not going to change tomorrow. To willfully release an application that wrecks havoc, potentially wiping data left and right, is malicious. Especially when you consider the gains: Your web experience may or may not get a little bit faster. Are you kidding?! The sense of proportions, of gain vs risk, of price vs reward, is completely and utterly out of whack.

http://www.loudthinking.com/arc/000529.html

Randy: Well said! Please reblog. Get this in the eyes of people that work at Google.

About: Throughout the site you'll find videos, images, and tutorials teaching you how to perform your favorite tricks with poker chips.

http://pokerchiptricks.com/

And the biggest news of the day? Scott Adams has started a Dilbert blog. Subscribe

The first entry is blissful genius at work. He explains why a cop in his recent strip was shooting bullets from his donut. And, in a Dilbert kind of way, it all made you laugh sense.

PR: iotum's Relevance Engine goes beyond today's unified messaging offerings. Integrated with calendar, presence and contacts, the Relevance Engine uses user preferences and context to determine the importance of each call, and then intelligently routes the call to the proper place. iotum mimics the skills of an executive assistant, including knowing how to really handle the call when that "special someone" is on the line.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051025/255772.html?.v=1

About: Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.

http://base.google.com/

Randy: We can now see that the "All your base are belong to us" was a very accurate prediction of the future. Google wants you to store your content in their database.

37Signals: Google has reintroduced their Google Web Accelerator with a vengeance. It was evil enough the first time around, but this time it’s downright scary.

Randy: The Google Web Accelerator download seems to be down. The 37Signals author posted that it was taken down only minutes after he posted it. Could have been a caching or proxy issue or bad deployment at Google. I'm a little worried about this. It's entirely not possible to do one-click subscription for RSS when Web Accelerator is hanging out. It'll have to be 2-click subscription, the second click to confirm your humanity. That'll mean some changes to R|mail.

There's one part of Web Accelerator that I've always feared and that's inadvertent clicks by the end-user. Image if you using a Web mailer and you get SPAM. Not hard to image, that's a large fraction of the Internet users. Those SPAMmers will now put links in your emails that effectively act as a ping, telling them that somebody just read their email. Helping SPAMmers figure out which email accounts are actively read doesn't sound like a good idea. Now, use your imagination and figure out what else will be done with this security hole.

ABC News: Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans. Known as "Prussian Blue" — a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes — the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been performing songs about white nationalism before all-white crowds since they were nine.

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1231684&page=1

Randy: This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I almost didn't blog it, but then I realized that's exactly what they would want. For the majority to shut-up while they spread their racism. Not gonna happen.

I don't watch SNL, but after seeing this maybe I'm missing something. Both geeky humour and poke fun at geeks humour.

http://www.smithappens.com/video_nickburns.php

AP: A man who ran an Internet file-sharing hub where computer users could swap movie, music and software files was sentenced Thursday to three years probation and ordered to use the computer only for personal use.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051020/ap_on_hi_te/online_piracy

Jeremy Wagstaff: Instant massaging is actually not that uncommon. [cut]Does no one proofread these things?  In fact Google offers “about 535” entries for instant massaging, only one or two of which seem to deliver what they promise.

http://loosewire.typepad.com/blog/2005/10/the_secret_behi.html

Randy: Jeremy recounts the history of the Instant Massaging typo.

Awesome video of Ronaldinho. Amazing touch ups. Thanks Lucius!

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=aRHk8ol0vTw

This is what Star Wars would look like if movie theatres had less than CGA quality graphics.

http://x2.putfile.com/10/29405035849.gif

I found the following footers on annoyances.org.

All items in the Humor category were sent to us by friends and visitors like yourself, and are considered public domain. If you believe there to be any copyright infringements, please let us know.

All content at Annoyances.org is Copyright © 1995-2005 Creative Elementtm All rights reserved. Please do not plagiarize; redistributing these pages without permission is strictly prohibited.

I assume all content includes the public domain content. I've been thinking about my own copyrights. I've never been a fan of CreativeCommons. For instance, I just tried to generate a CC license and it insist on adding "For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work." Is this a staple of CC? For instance, I'd like to be able to give people the right to reblog my work, as long as they link back to me. But requiring them to make clear the licensing terms seems too restrictive. What, do they have to stamp the blog entry with a link to my CC license?

Podcasting News: Research by Prudential in the UK shows that people spend a massive $37,000 (UK £21,000) on music and music gear, making it a very expensive hobby.

Randy: I'm a no spendthrift. I can't remember the last time I spent any money on music. In fact, I'm making money. I won an iPod which I sold to my sister for $200. Here's my breakdown over the last 12 months.

• Money spent on CDs - $0
• Money spent on music gadgets - $0
• Money spent on audio components - $0
• Money spent on speakers - $0
• Money spent on ear phones - $1 (dollar store)

One of my favorite David Letterman top 10 lists. My two favorite.

6. Bought his prom date on eBay
1. You catch him Googling himself

My favorites are "open up Microsoft Word and write blog entries to post later" and open up a file, take a print screen of it and make it your background, so when you minimize everything it looks like stuff is happening on his computer. Read the entire list. Funny!

http://okdork.com/?p=48

Microsoft has found a manner of determining which programmer is responsible for each terminal failure of an application. It will then give the end user the ability to share its pain with the said programmer. Video.

Type your annual income and find out how rich you are compared to the rest of us losers.

http://globalrichlist.com/

Q: Why don't you burn your competitors' boxes?

A: You know, I'll tell you something; that end is not as dumb as it sounds. Because right now, the BTU value, the cost per million BTUs if you burned old corrugated containers, it is about $7.50 a million BTUs; gas is at $13. So strange world when you can burn old corrugated containers as fuel value.

http://jeffmatthewsisnotmakingthisup.blogspot.com/2005/10/burn-boxes.html

Randy: Hmmm! I wonder, what's the cost of burning newspapers and flyers?

About: An experiment started in June 1993 now makes it possible to send a FAX (for free) to many different parts of the world by using internet e-mail.

http://www.tpc.int/faxbyemail.html

Randy: Can you say fax spam gateway?

CNet: Charlotte, N.C.-based Scientigo owns two patents (No. 5,842,213 and No. 6,393,426) covering the transfer of "data in neutral forms." These patents, one of which was applied for in 1997, are infringed upon by the data-formatting standard XML, Scientigo executives assert.

Randy: The patents were filed as early 1997, which means they invented it in the previous year 1996. OFX was launched in early 1997 and was obvious a work-in-progress for some time. SGML was invented in 1990 or earlier. GML goes back to 1969. The progression from GML to XML is obvious. Of course, all this doesn't matter if you live in the U.S. and your lawyer is better than the other guys.

Paul Buchheit: It's difficult to pin down the exact origin of email, but in October 1971, an engineer named Ray Tomlinson chose the '@' symbol for email addresses and wrote software to send the first network email.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/guess-what-just-turned-34.html

• Voodoo Beer Commercial
• Folgers Commercial
• Bottom Gun
• Cactus Buzzer Game Show
• Live Meeting Commercial

Stare at the cross-hair and watch the pink blobs disappear.

Rapture Letters: We have written a computer program [that] will send an Electronic Message (e-mail) to whomever you want after the rapture has taken place.

http://www.raptureletters.com/

Randy: Question? Can you send a letter to yourself?

http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/

threadwatch: News is coming in that at least in Shanghai, you can no longer access Wikipedia. Under fire recently over the quality and accuracy of some articles, Wikipedians living in China are shit out of luck.

http://www.threadwatch.org/node/4312

Randy: As pointed out on techdirt, this is a rite of passage for any Website. Wikipedia is all grown up and being blocked by China now. [sob] [sob]

Textually: Karrysafe are lingerie-style belts that provides an extra layer of security for your cell phone, even when you're wearing the skimpiest of outfits.

http://www.karrysafe.com/2003/bag66s.htm

I did this obligatory sign-up for sphere.com today. Stealth mode sucks!

http://www.sphere.com/

Some of the funniest audio I've ever heard. Thanks to Alec's dad.

http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf

Flock mailing list: We can't wait any longer. Today, we are pleased to invite you to try what will very soon become the Flock Developer Preview.

DOWNLOADING

Log in here: http://www.flock.com/developer/download/preview/

username: caveat
password: emptor

http://lists.flock.com/pipermail/announcements/2005-October/000001.html

Globe n Mail: Google Inc., the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, said Thursday that third-quarter profit soared sevenfold as sales nearly doubled. The stock jumped 9.4 per cent to a record high in after-hours trading. After the close of trading, the Mountain View, California-based company said its profit surged 633 per cent to $381.2-million.

Randy: Yada yada yada! Nothing new. Google is breaking sales and earnings records again. Boring! blah! blah! blah! And thanks for stopping by.

Google: We are changing our service's name in the UK. Starting October 19, 2005, all new users will have @googlemail.com addresses. [cut] We have been involved in a dispute regarding the Gmail trademark in the UK. Another company has claimed rights to the Gmail name. We have tried to resolve this dispute through negotiations, but our efforts have failed.

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en-GB/googlemail.html

Randy: It's official, no more Gmail in the UK. There's a greater issue at hand here. It seems you can no longer create global brands because there's almost always somebody somewhere who will take you to court. I wonder if the future will bring us new stupider brand names like "G6T5". Was George Lucas a visionary or what (R2D2 and CP3O)?

CNet: Just shy of Firefox's first birthday party, the Mozilla Foundation celebrated the 100 millionth download of its Web browser Wednesday.

http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5903282.html

Randy: I wonder what 100 million downloads translates to in terms of actual current installations? For instance, I've downloaded it at least a dozen times, but one have 2 installations that I currently use. Having gained massive usage market share in their first six months, Firefox is actually down from 21% to 18% in the last quater.

A new blogging tip. If you have AdSense and it's flu season, never mention the keyword flu on your blog, lest you end up with primarily flu ads by Goooogle. Oops!

CNet: Google stopped using the Gmail name in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, ending a trademark dispute for now.

Sign up for the MSN MSGer 8.0 Beta. This is the version that will have Yahoo! MSGer interop.

http://www4.imagine-msn.com/minisites/messenger/default.aspx?locale=en

http://www.anti-ipod.co.uk/ipodmerchandise.html

Nasa has some pretty awesome images of Dione, one of Saturn's many moons.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html

When a blogger posts primarily content cut-and-paste from another source without linking to that source. References.

MySpace hired a SPAMmer to SPAM its own users.

http://www.kbcafe.com/spam/?guid=20051018185906

1. SYMBOLICS.COM
2. BBN.COM
3. THINK.COM
4. MCC.COM
5. DEC.COM
6. NORTHROP.COM
7. XEROX.COM
8. SRI.COM
9. HP.COM
10. BELLCORE.COM

http://www.jottings.com/100-oldest-dot-com-domains.htm

An amazing set of interviews and video, advertising the latest thing 'it'. What is it? Who knows. Fake or real? Who knows. Is it a toaster?

http://www.whatis-it.com/

Ward Cunningham, inventor of Wikis, has left Microsoft to join Eclipse Foundation.

http://milinkovich.blogspot.com/2005/10/ward-cunningham-joins-eclipse.html

Josh Hallett: I have jury duty the week of October 17. The question is can I blog it?

http://hyku.com/blog/archives/000794.html

And I mean fix. Check out this video, gross, but the point it pointy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=HVWBn5jH1Es

This kid likes his baths so much, he learnt to do it himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=FobYet3_Uvk

Today, I'm getting the following message 90% of the time I send emails with Gmail. Fortunately, my emails are preserved in the Drafts box.

Oops...the system was unable to perform your operation. Please try again in a few seconds.

Trying again, usually leads to the same message :-(

Every six months or so, I get an email like this. Trillian is the constant. Gtalk is often Yahoo! or MSN MSGer.

Do you get my messages on google talk?  I use trillian's jabber plugin to talk on google talk, and I was just wondering if you receive my messages because you never reply to them.

Jim Denison: When you do your part to 'Make Me Richer Than Bill Gates' you insure the future of America for your self and your children. Your contribution enables me to invest in stocks, bonds and other securities that cause growth and development in the business sector, which in turn creates jobs, increasing the tax base thereby lowering the national debt. Your non-TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution could be responsible for eliminating the national debt.

http://web2.airmail.net/gandolf/you.htm

Randy: Too funny! I encourage y'all to read the entire page.

Most bloggers don't know the power of linking to their sources. You see, I'm often surprised when I find a fellow blogger has stolen some code or text or idea from another blog without any link back to the source. I won't assume anything, but it might just be naivety or maybe they did conceive of the idea on their own or it might be that they want others to believe they are smart too! Whatever it is, these bloggers are making a big mistake. You see, when you link to a source, it's like a handshake, a thank you for the info. The source blogger in turn is likely to catch the referrer in his logs or thru Technorati. He then reads your blog and maybe he likes something you say and he links back to you. Giving credit is often a better play than claiming an idea as your own, particularly in the blogosphere. Give credit where it's due and link to your sources.

Red Flag Deals: The site gathers incentives and rebates from the government, separated by province/territory and program type.

http://incentivesandrebates.ca

PCMag: When Windows first shipped, 20 years ago this month, it was considered nothing more than a slow operating environment that had arrived late to the party.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1868435,00.asp

Randy: The more things change, the more they stay the same. 20 years later and Windows is still catching up to Linux and OSX, but with 95% market share.

Nathan Weinberg: Chinese surfers can now read Blogspot blogs and the Google cache, which previously had been completely blocked even if the specific offending site were of a non-political nature. [cut] InsideGoogle is blocked in China.

BTW, if you are a geek from Toronto (or near Toronto) and your name isn't on this list, then you suck.

http://barcamp.org/index.cgi?TorCampAttendees

Imagine swimming inside a water cooler looking out. Never mind, you don't have to imagine, here's what it looks like.

http://www.panodrom.de/Extrem/bottle.html

PR: Apple today introduced the new iPod, featuring a gorgeous 2.5-inch color screen which can display album artwork and photos, and play stunning video including music videos, video Podcasts, home movies and television shows.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/oct/12ipod.html

Randy: As expected, Apple released their video iPod. Apple plans to make music videos available via its iTunes application for $1.99.

Too funny, must see!

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=rCyFs7mwq4M

Some pretty cool drifting videos on YouTube.

• Car Drifting Show in the Orient.
• BMW Drifting onramp.
• Drifting Music Video from the Middle East.

And paintings with movement.

Kevin Burton: YouTube is cool. Great product. I'm sure someday they will be worth $20 million just not today. How long have these guys been around? How much do you think it would cost to outsource a clone of YouTube? Less than $20 million I'm sure.

http://www.feedblog.org/2005/10/dot_bomb_all_ov.html

Randy: Building a product, does not equate to building a company. YouTube is definately worth $20 million. It's about getting users, building community and yes, having a great product. If a clone comes around tomorrow, then it'll be just as successful as de.lirio.us.

Google Rumours: This time there is news that Google’s robots.txt file has been updated to reflect two new directories on Google: /gwt and /purchases. [cut] After logging into the Google Accounts page located at http://www.google.com/purchases we clicked on the register link. Low and behold. [cut] It appears the GWT directory is nothing new, just new to the robots.txt file. It’s used with mobile services.

Randy: If Google does to online payments what it did to online advertising, then this could replace automatic payments for online businesses. It really depends on the % they deduct. I don't see this as bad for PayPal, but rather good, as it might bring Internet payment methods to the mainstream and increase volumes for everybody.

Forever Geek is reporting that an XML file in the beta of Windows Vista has the following list.

• Windows Vista Starter
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Vista Pro Standard/SB
• Longhorn Enterprise Server (ADS)
• Longhorn Enterprise Server - IA64
• Longhorn Standard Server
• Longhorn Datacenter Server
• Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent - VL Binding Service
• Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent - VLGeneric
• Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent - DMAK
• Windows Vista Starter Digital Boost - OEM
• Windows Vista Home Basic - OEM
• Windows Vista Home Premium - OEM
• Windows Vista Ultimate - OEM
• Windows Vista Pro Standard/SB - OEM
• Longhorn Enterprise Server - OEM
• Windows Vista Home Basic N
• Windows Vista Pro Standard N

They seems to have dropped "Windows Vista for Randy". Not sure why.

GoogleBlog: When we told prospective shareholders about Google and how we wanted to do business, we said that we hoped our philanthropic efforts could some day have a greater impact than Google itself. [cut] We’re calling the umbrella under which we’re putting all of these efforts Google.org.

Randy: Google leaps head first into Karma. Highlights follow.

• We established the Google Foundation, funded it with $90 million and have made a few initial commitments.
• We've contributed $5 million to support Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture fund that invests in market-based solutions to global poverty.
• We’re also working with TechnoServe to build small businesses that create jobs and promote economic growth in the developing world.
• We are working with Alix Zwane and Edward Miguel of UC Berkeley and Michael Kremer of Harvard University to support research in western Kenya to identify ways to prevent child deaths caused by poor water quality.
• Google Grants program, which gives free advertising to selected nonprofits. To date, Google Grants has donated $33 million in advertising to more than 850 nonprofit organizations in 10 countries.
• Recent donation of $2 million to the One Laptop Per Child program.
• We have committed one percent of the outstanding shares that resulted from our initial public offering – 3 million shares.
• One percent of profit – by taking one percent of each year’s profits and donating and investing that too.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/about-googleorg.html

Randy: Forget "don't be evil". Google is just plain good today.

Nathan Weinberg: InternetWeek reports that MSN and Yahoo will announce on Wednesday interoperability between their instant messenger services, a move that will likely put a hammer on the hopes of other IM services.

Randy: Nathan also suggests that this is bad news for Gtalk.

Nathan Weinberg: This is a development that could greatly hurt Google Talk.

Randy: I've got some news for everybody. I use Gtalk and Skype at work. I don't use Yahoo! and MSN at work. Why? Because, the IT department blocks both Yahoo! and MSN and many other employers outside of the tech valley block them too. The reason Gtalk isn't blocked is because it's new and our IT department hasn't heard or bothered to block them yet. Don't get me wrong, there are ways around the blocking, but mundane users are not going to bother. They'll use Gtalk. And when they block Gtalk, they'll use Skype. My point? Interop is nice, but it's easy to block. Now, try blocking my proprietary HTTP port 80 based protocol. Proprietary IMs will survive until IT departments begin to trust IM, like they trust the Web. That could be a long time.

Update: The announcement was confirmed by both Yahoo and Microsoft.

TorCamp has a Wiki. They've decided on a date. November 26th. This is Toronto's version of BarCamp-FooCamp. Basically, a few dozen geeks get together, talk and drink beer. If you can attend, then sign-up.

http://davidcrow.ca/torcamp/HomePage

Mark Pincus: i'm looking for a few great engineers who can hack new web based apps together and build scalable back ends too.

http://markpincus.typepad.com/markpincus/2005/10/im_hiring.html

Vladimir Odoevsky: Houses are connected by means of magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to communicate. << he said that in 1837

Mosnews: Even more interestingly, Odoevsky suggested every household would publish a kind of daily journal or newsletter and distribute it among selected acquaintances.

http://www.mosnews.com/feature/2005/10/10/bloggingpredicted.shtml

Randy: Blogging was predicted 200 years ago? Or does Dave read a lot of Odoevsky?

Chris Kahn: They posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground.

Randy: The result of our lawsuit ridden society. My child scraped her hands on the monkey bars. Let's sue. Fine, no monkey bars. No teeter-totters. And swings are on the way out. Happy? Sue me.

BBC: The web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom, says a study.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4325918.stm

Randy: You can thank Google and Adsense. There's finally a Web business model that works.

cross-posted

Meetro has added Canadian address support.

http://www.meetro.com/

The thruth laid bear ranks iBLOGthere4iM in the top 500. Very cool!

An interview with Blogger of the Day, The fotoUR of  urbanfoto.

iBt4iM: Tell my readers who you are.

The fotoUR: Professionally speaking, I am a real estate ninja in Brooklyn, NY on a mission- to change a lot of how real estate is practiced in areas of rapid change.  I've been in NYC for a little over 3 years, but I came from Charleston SC, where much of my family still lives- my mother (also a realtor) lives in Florida.  My concerns are mainly centered around ethics and the various approaches that agents take towards 'helping' strangers find housing in an urban environment.  My background is Philosophy/Religious Studies and Anthropology- two bachelors degrees from College of Charleston with concentrations in environmental studies and communication science. Basically, not real estate.  I am in NYC to study (and hopefully become a Doctor of) urban anthropology- focus on gentrification.  As a fotographer, I simply capture instances from my day in order to share them.  To some, i suppose, my life may seem a bit exotic-always jumping trains and wandering in and out of old factories that are about to be torn down- i just attempt to deliver this day to the world at large- real and uncut, with a side of real estate talk. I live and operate in one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation, just 1 stop on the train from Manhattan into Brooklyn.  The displacement of families is hard to swallow, so i blog it.  My primary concern in all this is the people, however, and although every real estate broker i've ever met has told me "focus on the property and not the people," I still find myself riding around in a Uhaul with 'the evicted' and homeless, trying to find them something that they can afford.  The 'golden rule' is my mantra.

iBt4iM: What's your blog? What's your blog about?

The fotoUR: My blog(s) are about the life of an individual in a world of urban chaos and change.  My foto blog (URBANFOTO)evolved out of the want to show the "actual spaces" that are being offered for rent or sale through the company i work with- in NYC, honesty can be as hard to come by as a decent hole to live in.  Also, I needed a place to post my listings as they come available so that no matter what time of day or night someone gets that "I'm about to be homeless" twitch, they can go to my blog and see whats out there.  I work primarily with artists because they were (and are) the first to pour their hearts into these old factories and warehouses, many (if not most) sinking their $ and lives into other people's property, only to be kicked out into the street while the landlords capitalize on their efforts.  I don't speak Spanish or Polish very well, so artists are about as close as I can get to 'helping' these days.   My listings blog (NINJALISTINGS) has turned out to be a stroke of genius, as no one else in the nation (that I could find) had ever used their blog in this fashion- that is, syndicating listings as 'news' to those waiting beside the radio- so to speak. My clients have always called me the LOFTNINJA because a couple of years back, when I began working as an agent in an renovated 19th century tea factory (a story for another time), I rented lofts mostly.  I would write my ads in the form of a poem- to be displayed on craigslist (which, subsequently,  i wouldn't have been able to survive in NYC without))- and I always placed the word NINJA in the poem somewhere.  In turn, people began to just go to the RE section and type "ninja" into the search bar and "POW" all my ads would come up.  These days, craig won't tolerate this kind of posting method- and I don't blame him.  There are some lying bastards out there- especially in NY- that prey on the fact that you can't see their face.  My blog(s) are about taking that face and turning it around- I make art out of the constant necessity to weed through the BS involved in housing search.  Why lie about your name and identity to somehow trick a person into ill will?  I just make it obvious that I've become someone (something) else in order to 'help' others find what they need. It's the art that is missing in real estate that makes people so 'shady.'  I make art for people, not for myself.  If others with my job did this, the 'shady broker' would eventually become a thing of the past. It was you, Randy, that helped me discover the true power of RSS when I asked a question on a tribe forum about hooking a feed up to one's email.  You gave me Rmail and that is what made NINJALISTINGS original and unlike any other real estate website in existence.  During the next couple of weeks, I began to see other BIGGER named companies in Manhattan and elsewhere begin to imitate this tactic.  So then, I figured out how to podcast my plaintext posts and began to offer listings that could be downloaded to people's iPod. I don't even have an ipod, personally, but because you cant talk on your cell phone (or recieve text listings) underground, i felt that it might be interesting to listen to your apartment search while underground in the train.  To my knowledge, there are still no agents out there that have begun to use this technology and (somewhat) guerilla method of getting their listings out there.  Its merely a new way of ARTvertising vacant space.

iBt4iM: What secondary blogs do you have? Linkblogs? Moblogs?

The fotoUR: These are the ones that I actively post to:    

• URBANFOTO   [http://urbanfoto.blogspot.com]    
• NINJALISTINGS  [http://ninjalistings.blogspot.com]    
• THENyCBLOG   [http://thenycblog.blogspot.com]    
• LOFTBLOG   [http://loftblog.blogspot.com]    
• LOFTCITY  [new name for Bushwick]   [http://loftcity.blogspot.com]    
• CITYMOUNTAIN   [new name for Manhattan] [http://thefirstborough.blogspot.com]    
• POINTMOSTNORTH  [Greenpoint]  [http://greenpointonpoint.blogspot.com]   
• Newest and all inclusive project  http://justinyc.blogspot.com

In my early blogging days, I began to use the blogger platform because i felt that anything that i blogged about real estate would naturally rank higher in Google searches.

iBt4iM: Why do you blog?

The fotoUR: i Blogito Ergo Sum - sorry Descartes...the meditations required this of me.... Anyway,  for as long as I could remember, I've had a bone to pick with private property and when I arrived to NYin my van (ultimately chasing my girlfriend), i was quickly shown that it had a bone to pick with me. That winter, i was forced to become the worst real estate agent that ever hit NYC.  I refused to cheat people, lie to them, place them in spaces i wouldn't live myself, hand their souls over to landlords that lacked respect, etc.  I wanted to work with other agents, share my photos and info and not be like other agents that rip each other off an steal in order to get ahead. Because of this, I have remained pretty close to homeless myself- its kept me honest.  I appreciate the fact that I never give up and so through doing so, I've kept it interesting by teaching myself something new everyday in respect to it. I've never taken a photography class and the only C that I ever made in college was in computer class.   I have 2 bachelors degrees in Philosophy/Religious studies & Anthropology and I plan to incorporate all of my RE experience into my thesis on gentrification.  My father was a commercial artist and photographer  but most of this innovation has developed out of never wanting to follow any other person's example. I actually learned HTML by playing around on Myspace.com and started blogging out of  fear that Craigslist was gonna start charging for posting real estate ads- i couldn't afford it. When I realized that I could use HTML on my ads,  that was "all she wrote," as they say. So then I started "Space INdependent"- a play on words and with the traditional methods of real estate advertising.  Although that link is now a dead soldier, I got practice with HTML and I created a different blog for every area of NYC that I worked in.  People being forced to move into a new and unfamiliar hood could now go to my blog and see what the area looks like.  This is very important in NY where many times, people have to settle for a less undesirable area because they can't afford anything else.  So instead of wasting both of our times, tell them to check out the blog before getting on the train. A buddy of mine, moved up from SC and began working with me in Brooklyn- it was in the winter that he and I began to rename the hoods.  I blog because no one else does and because I feel that there is a level of transparency available in a blog that one is just not able to find in other forms of real estate advertising.  You need to know who is escorting you into your next phase of life- well, at least in respect to your shelter.  Brooklyn is a "live/work" borough- meaning people live where they work in many cases- it is important that one not interfere this process without having the best interest of all involved at heart.

iBt4iM: What are your favorite blogs?

The fotoUR: I find a new favorite everyday, but before I do, i usually check these out    

• I look for spelling errors in my own because my pace doesnt allow much time for editing    
• Curbed    
• Grow a Brain    
• Brownstoner    
• Inman Blog    
• The Real Estate Blog Squad    
• The RealtyGrammer    
• IBlogthere4iM    
• PropertyGrunt    
• deviantART    
• Satans Laundromat    
• Gothamist    
• Blue Jake

and many many others.....  i appreciate non-fiction

iBt4iM: What do you do when you are not blogging?

The fotoUR: I create content.  I take pictures, make ads, roam the streets, write and log experiences for my book, visit friends and, well, take pictures.  I  train agents to do the same- to share content and work together to help others find homes.  I'm not the most organized person (as you might imagine), so it is content that I bring to the table- in the blog, at least these days, I am able to find form.  Blogito Ergo Sum

iBt4iM: Thanks for taking the time to tell our readers about yourself. You are the Blogger of the Day.

Note: Blogger of the Day is a new series. We will interview one average-Joe great-blogger every few days (we hope). If you want to be the Blogger of the Day, then email me.

Previous Bloggers of the Day; Ozh of planetOzh, John of Freshblog, Aimee Evans, Allen Searls, Steve Michel, Jon Watson, Dave Walker, Oleg Dulin and Miel Van Opstal.

Mark Evans: If you ask most people why they blog, they'll probably tell you it's the ability to write/rant about topics of interest, engage with other people or simply indulge themselves in a vanity project. But in the wake of AOL's $25 million purchase of Weblogs.com, it turns out a lot of people are in to blogging for the money if the chatter about valuation is any indication. [cut] My biggest concern about the fallout of the AOL-Weblogs deal is that people who blog will be corrupted by the money. (sounds rather naive, doesn't it?) Rather than blogging because they love it, they will do it, in part, for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

http://evans.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/10/1290965.html

Randy: I blogged for 2 years, without any expectation of money. Some time around April, it became obvious to me that their was a lot of money here. I put up ads and now I make a few bucks every day. Do I still blog for the sake of blogging? Yes, as I always have. Could it be that I'm blogging because I love it and because it pays the bills? Yes and maybe I love it a bit more knowing that it's also a pot of gold.

TheIndependent: So successful has the acquisition been that Trident now feels ready to look at a possible stock market listing.

John O'Malia: We started out in 2001, building sports betting solutions.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article318149.ece

Randy: BTW, we includes me. Hope this does well.

Is your Flickr account sleeping with your LinkedIn account?

http://weblog.burningbird.net/2005/10/05/sleeping-around-web-20-style/

More YouTube...

• The OnStar equivalent for blondes that accidentally lock themselves inside their own car.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=NFE2a42YKVg
• Kellogg's C3PO cereal commercial.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Ojq66cHI7D4

Check out this demo of a tacticle multi-touch touchpad. It's called Tactapad.

http://tactiva.com/tactadrawmoviesmall.html

YouTube is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=DkG1KQFfNk0

Forfeit your name and email address, or fake credentials and print it out.

http://www.tylenol.ca/english/coupon/index.asp

PR: Wireless Toronto is privileged to partner with the South Market Tenants Association and the St. Lawrence Market Complex to bring free wireless Internet access to the Market.

http://wirelesstoronto.ca/october7/

Randy: Here's a list of their current hotspots.

mozillaZine: Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 is now available for download.

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/

Tristan used the AOL-Weblogsinc deal to devise a formula for valuating blogs. Basically, your blog is worth $564.64 per inbound link reported by Technorati. That means, my blogs are worth $206,093.60. Cool! Scoble must be a billionaire.

InsideGoogle used the formula to produce the following valuations...

ZDNet: A computer consultant has been convicted of gaining unauthorised access to a Web site collecting donations for victims of last year's tsunami, even though the judge hearing the case accepted that he meant to cause no harm. [cut] He was fined £400 plus £600 costs.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39226548,00.htm

Randy: I'm checking my logs for occurances of "../../.." originating from the UK. I figure I can make £1000 a pop. Not bad!

I'm experiencing a denial of service attack this morning. It originates from 202.108.1.* (China). I'm investigating.

Update: Looks like a bot for a Chinese search engine. I think they scraped my entire site in 10 minutes. I think it's time to update my robots.txt.

Did you know you can export your Gmail contacts? Did you know you can export your Gmail contacts to Outlook's CSV format. Goto Gmail, click Contacts (left sidebar menu), click Export (top right).

Import = Feature, Export = Karma

Alice Hill: We always worried that nuclear bomb-making would make its way to the ‘Net, but who knew that the biggest leak would be America’s most guarded secret: the formula for Coca Cola?

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1907

PR: RHG has acquired four companies that will provide key elements for the RHG portal: [cut] Wondir, Inc., which provides a community-based search for information about health needs and issues.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051005/cgw013.html?.v=26

Randy: WOW! Congrats to Allen Searls. I think I need to start a new blog, topic = Web 2.0 acquisitions.

Nestled between 1336 and 1338, 1337 is commonly known as a number, or for the more advanced; an "integer"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=1337

BL Ochman: Denton's Gawker Media has signed a deal with the Dutch company VNU Media to publish the geek gadget blog Gizmodo across Europe in six languages, with augmented local coverage in each country.

http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2005/10/blog_entreprene.asp

BetaNews: Since transitioning its popular Web browser to freeware status and dropping the built-in advertisements, Opera Software says downloads continue to surge.

Mark Evans: Henry Blodget, who was ridiculing dot-com stocks within the friendly confines of Merrill Lynch while touting them to the investing public, has stepped back into the spotlight with - what else - a blog called Internet Outsider.

Randy: Does this mark the official end of Web 2.0? Or do we have to wait for Jim Cramer to give us another list of Web 2.0 companies that are gonna make it in the new world.

Laura McPhee: Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana, including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant "by means other than sexual intercourse."

http://www.in.gov/legislative/interim/committee/prelim/HFCO04.pdf

Andy Baio: Today, along with my partners Gordon Luk and Leonard Lin, I'm unbelievably proud to announce that Upcoming.org is now a member of the Yahoo! family.

Randy: Can you say Web 2.0 acquisition spree? Flickr. Upcoming. NetNewsWire, FeedDemon, Bloglines. I'm accepting bids for KBCafe. We'll start the bidding at $1B.

Techwhack: Google has introduced an auto-save feature for the compose window. And it automatically saves mails being composed after a period of time to drafts.

AppleInside: Reliable sources believe the [video] iPod could be introduced as early as next week.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1304

Randy: That seems a little early considering they just launched the iPod phone. Nevertheless, if they do, then they'll be once again far ahead of the competition. How long till we see videocasts?

There we have it. Google and Sun are working together to do stuff. It turns out to be a very boring partnership. Some have decided that an optional download of Google toolbar as part of the Sun java distribution is worth complaining about. Personally, it's all a non-issue for me. Yawn! Is this the restart of the fluff Web 2.0 announcements that were so pervasive Web 1.0?

http://www.sun.com/2005-1004/feature/

1. English 288M
2. Chinese 103M
3. Japanese 70M
4. Korean 30M
5. Spanish 66M
6. French 28M
7. Italian 24M
8. Russian 19M
9. Malay 14M
10. Dutch 14M

http://global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3

Tim Bray: Now we have the potential to explode the world again, to turn everything inside out again, if we get the widespread use across the office desktops of the world, of a common, open, unencumbered, reusable data format, namely OpenDocument. So we could see an explosion over the next decade that is like the Web happening again. And that would be fun--I'd love to see that happening.

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/12572/OpenDocument-v1.0-os.pdf

Randy: I like XML, but OpenDocument simply doesn't seem all that interesting to me. But I like reading specs, so here goes.

Notes

• What's wrong with extending XHTML? Why a whole new vocabulary?
• How I wish Microsoft could work with these guys!
• Zero occurrences of the death nail keyword (RDF) in 700 pages. I didn't think it was possible to have 700 pages on XML without at least one reference. No SemWeb either.
• Re-use of Dublin Core in meta-data is awesome! XLink, MathML and XForms too!

CNet: In a move that harks back to the browser wars, Hewlett-Packard plans to ship Netscape's Web browser on new consumer PCs and notebooks starting early next year.

http://beta.news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5887648.html

Randy: The Browser wars ended five years ago. Firefox has 20% market share. Opera is free. Netscape has a deal to ship more units. IE7 is around the corner. Here we go again. I assume HP is getting a nice kickback, because Netscape still sucks.

Gavri: If you like GMail, you'll love the new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

Randy: I love Gmail, maybe I should check this out.

InternetNews: Google and Sun Microsystems will hold a press conference on Tuesday at which they're expected to announce a collaboration to bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users.

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3553371

Randy: Microsoft makes all of their money on two products; Office and OSes. At this point, the only difference between a Windows and Linux desktop is that Linux doesn't run MS-Office extremely well. StarOffice could put pressure on both of Microsoft's top products.

According to Yahoo! site explorer, I have 98k inbound links.

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Autoblog: No. That’s the conclusion of Joe White, Detroit Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, who looked into buying a Prius for his own daily driver.

http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000233061415/

Randy: The conclusion is primarily based on the fact that hybrids are premium priced. When economies of scale kick in during the next three years, the conclusions will change.

BetaNews: Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt will sit down with Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy on Tuesday morning to outline a collaborative effort between the two companies.

Randy: Hehe! We all knew the Sun-Microsoft alliance was smoke.

• We've all heard 36-24-36 before. I'm 36 this year.
• In Ontario and similar most everywhere else, kids have to use car seats, booster seats and wear a seat belt in a car, but are allowed to ride on the back of a motorcycle.
• If you smoke in your own kids face, then do you get a metal for cleaning up the gene pool?
• It's embarrassing when they have to force the lap bar down into your stomach on an amusement ride. I needed a beer after that one.
• Have you ever got out of the driver seat of a motorhome while it was in [D]rive? I have :-(

I received the following email yesterday (reference to the site removed to avoid any Google juice).

Remove all XXX features from your website. We plan a ten million dollar lawsuit against your company unless all features from XXX are not removed within ten business days from your websites.  Do not reference XXX for a redirect back to your site either in any way shape or form.

I get crap like this at least once a month. Anybody else getting much crap like this? All references are simply links created by other people that end up on my site for various reason (comments, searches, tools). Anyhow, thought it was funny enough to share.

Stephan Arnold: Bill Gates is basically in the same spot he had IBM in. IBM was challenged by Microsoft and IBM didn’t understand Microsoft’s business model. It’s history repeating itself.

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171202284

Om Malik: Google is making a bid to build a San Francisco-wide free wifi network, according to company officials.

http://gigaom.com/2005/09/30/google-confirms-san-francisco-wifi-plans/

Randy: This is big news. San Francisco today, Toronto 10 yrs from now. Hopefully Bell Canada or Rogers figure out how they can take Toronto WiFi sooner.