07.19.06
Posted in tech at 8:19 am by mridley
AOL has released a version of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) for the business world. It offers the ability to use your email address as a screename instead of picking a cutesy buddy name, it has hooks into webex, and several other unimportant features.
It’s a little sad that AOL has totally missed the point of “enterprise IM” this late in the game. The features they’ve provided with this client are nice-to-haves, but the real requirement with business instant messaging is the ability for a company to run their own server behind their firewall. Many companies are concerned about having their sensitive trade secrets or customer data going through the Internet and then passing through AOL’s servers.
Until AOL offers a server product for sale, they are not going to be competitive in the business instant messaging space. Or at least not among those companies that are looking specifically for instant messaging intended for use in a business. Many companies don’t care about any of this and will continue using the regular version of AIM, unaware that this new version even came out.
Tags: AIM, AOL, Instant Messaging
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Posted in design at 6:59 am by mridley
Today’s topic is an interesting trend in web site design that needs to stop. It’s the screen shot of a web application. Typically the web site for a software application will offer screen shots of its user interface so you can get a feel for the software before downloading it. Most programs on sourceforge.net offer such screen shots, and for applications that you download I think this is a great idea.
But not for web-hosted software. There seems to be a trend of offering image file (JPEG, PNG) screen shots of all sorts of web software. I’ve seen a lot of Wordpress theme designers do this, and today I was looking at Squarespace which is an online publishing tool. Squarespace apparently offers a publishing platform to do rapid web site development. I don’t know if it’s any good, but that’s beside the point.
The point is that instead of offering a live demo portal to show how their software works, they post screenshots. Screenshots of a web site. That you view in a web browser. Somewhere along the line, the train has come off the rails here. If you are developing software that is accessed through a web portal, offer a demo portal or at least non-functioning versions of various interfaces. Not screenshots.
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Posted in business, tech at 5:00 am by mridley
I’ve written before on social networking (see here for earlier thoughts). My thesis is that it’s an interesting idea, but not a standalone play. I’ve had a hard time understanding the valuation and hype of MySpace. But I read this article about MySpace Comedy and I think I finally get it.
MySpace isn’t a social networking site. MySpace is a content site for music, “flim”, comedy, and probably whatever other media they can think of. The social networking aspect is to help in promotion of content viewing. It allows content creators (musicians, comedians) to be seen by a viral social base.
This model makes sense to me. Content marketing and distribution companies make sense to me. I know I’m late to the game on understanding what they’re doing, but I’m glad that it validates my earlier feeling that social networking is a component, just like a user registration or e-mail system is a compoent of many web sites, but is not a standalone service.
Tags: Social Networking, MySpace
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07.18.06
Posted in business, tech at 6:40 pm by mridley
fundable.org - sounds like a non-profit, right? Wrong. This is a really interesting web site that is doing something I’ve long thought about. That said, it’s got some terrifying liability questions that would scare me if I were an investor. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves; let’s talk about what the site does.
The idea is that a person or a group wants to raise money for a particular reason. Any reason. Many personal web sites as well as those of political organizations have donation buttons on their web site, but the problem is that people don’t donate because they don’t really know (in real time) how close to the goal the requestor is. People figure that the donation button may be a black hole.
Enter fundable.org - as a “group organizer” you create an objective with a specific monetary goal, and then you have supporters pledge their donation through the web site. If the goal is met, then the donators credit card is charged. If not, at the end of the time period specified, the credit card holds are released. The site displays current progress towards the goal in real time.
This is a great idea and looking at their recently completed group actions there are a lot of interesting things going on. One group got together to purchase a lot of ribbon microphones at wholesale prices, thus allowing individuals who wanted to purchase the microphone to pool their purchasing power for a discount. I’ve seen several examples of people using the site to solicit donations to pay for their pet’s vet bills.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in books, business at 5:50 pm by mridley
My next reading selection is Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle
. So far, so good. I’m not that far into it so we’ll see.
It’s a portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle’s move into network centric computing and integrated applications suites. The topic interests me, but the book is pushing my buttons a little bit. The author tends to err on the side of the sycophant.
I enjoy reading autobiographies, but this isn’t one. Granted Larry Ellison is credited with co-authorship but this book is supposed to be about the role of databases and applications software in a networked world. There are interesting lessons to be learned here, I’m sure, but I don’t know if a book that lacks objectivity will teach them.
I’ll let you know if I read anything interesting.
Tags: Oracle
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07.16.06
Posted in books, business at 3:32 pm by mridley
I’m getting towards the end of Piloting Palm: The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring and the Birth of the Billion Dollar Handheld Industry
. I wrote about this book the other day when I started reading it, but now I’m coming towards the end so I suppose I should share my impressions.
There’s a contrast in the experience of reading this book with the book I read just prior about the AOL/TW merger. In the case of the book about AOL, I had certain ideas about what happened and was curious if the author’s account would complement what I had already known. In the case of Palm Computing, I’ve followed their products over the years and owned several Palm Pilots, but I never paid much attention to the story of the company.
I knew they had some relationship with 3Com, but the fact that they were a subsidiary acquired in 3Com’s purchase of US Robotics was something I never paid attention to. So in this case, the point of reading the book was more about learning the story rather than proving or disproving any preconceived notions I had.
The book has been entertaining as a historical account of Palm, but it’s my belief that the future is probably in Windows Mobile smart phones like the Motorola Q. We’ll see what happens.
I think the next book I picked up is on Oracle. Stay tuned!
Tags: Palm, Palm Computing
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07.14.06
Posted in entertainment at 5:15 pm by mridley
Alright kiddies, I know you may have thought I got over my little celebrity crush on Rose McGowan since I haven’t written about her in a while (prior commentary: 1, 2). But you’d be wrong. Just not much news on the subject.
I read this article earlier and I thought I’d share. Rumor has it that Ms. McGowan will be in both Robert Rodriguez’s as well as Quentin Tarantino’s slasher films. I don’t care for horror movies, typically, but I will be watching these.
I’m smitten. What can be done?
Tags: Rose McGowan
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07.13.06
Posted in music at 9:18 pm by mridley
I was talking to my roomate the other day, and he mentioned Toad the Wet Sprocket was playing a gig in Northern Virginia. This already happened, and alas I missed it. But on a lark I thought I’d check out their web site today to see if they were going to play any more local gigs (nope, sadly not).
I used to be a huge Toad fan - it’s not that I’m not now, but they broke up a long time ago. Apparently they reunited just for the tour, and whether any further studio output is forthcoming remains to be seen.
I was clicking around on their site and saw they have an online store. I used to have a collection of their videos on VHS called Seven Songs Seldom Seen (I told you I was a fan). Alas I have no idea what happened to that video, so I thought I’d see if it were available for purchase.
It’s not.
But they do have the videos (I think they’re the same videos) available for free on their web site. Check ‘em out! Gotta love the Internet.
Tags: Toad the Wet Sprocket
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07.11.06
Posted in business, media at 8:44 pm by mridley
This is a little bit of a low-content post, but Adam Curry aired his thoughts on the Rocketboom staffing changes today on DSC 418. You can cue it up to about 25 minutes or so into it to hear that part. I mention this mainly because he smartly avoids all the speculation and politics of the interpersonal relationships involved - since nobody knows what really happened and for those of us not directly involved, it doesn’t matter.
But he makes some good points about the larger issue of talent versus production versus branding and content. It’s worth a listen.
Tags: Daily Source Code, Rocketboom
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07.10.06
Posted in entertainment, media at 6:00 pm by mridley
I’m not a big fan of reality television. Or more accurately, I enjoy celebrity reality TV (Hogan Knows Best and the like), but shows like Survivor or Big Brother do nothing for me. Call me high brow, but I like a scripted comedy or dramatic series.
Having said that, I do have an idea for a reality show that I would enjoy watching. So here’s my pitch to the world. Most of these shows are about trying to win the big prize - typically a sizeable amount of money. But what if that were the beginning of the show, not the end?
What if you picked the winner on the first episode, and gave them a couple million dollars, and then followed them around for a few months to see how their lives changed. NBC is doing a similar thing with the dramatic series Windfall - but why not do it for real?
Depending on who you picked to be the “winner”, I think a lot of drama and humor could be found in taking someone to a Ferrari dealership for the first time, or out to a $200/plate restaurant, or to a money manager’s office.
I think a good title for this reality program would be Nouveau Riche and if someone would like to front some sponsorship money I’d be happy to executive produce an online version of it.
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