Lovely day to be at the Renaissance Festival (http://www.rennfest.com/) in Bethesda, Maryland. Nice cool breeze. Lot of hustle & bustle. Taking a short break as my lovely wench sits down for some henna. Have a lot of photos to post. I'll try to filter out the boring ones. Not many of those at "Fight school". :)
Wow! Getting an interview with former President Bill Clinton was a major event for Jon Stewart (http://tinyurl.com/eb4jv) at the Daily Show (http://tinyurl.com/abcxj). But his interview with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was simply incredible. Here is a world leader on the frontlines of the War on Terror speaking frankly about true situation, including attempts on his life, on what used to be a "fake" news show. Not so "fake" anymore.
ThinkSecret (http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0609cingulariphone.html) spills a rumor that the inevitable iPod Phone will be exclusive to Cingular for six months. Commentators jump on it with their gut reactions. Mass chaos ensues.
That was the situation yesterday, and I doubt it's much better to day. Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple stirs a lot of emotion. And emotion unfortunately is not driven by intellect. So let's stop for a minute and think about the advantages of a single carrier initial offering of the iPod Phone.
First, a phone would not simply be a new product for Apple; it would propel them into an industry where they have no experience. Assmuing the iPod Phone will do more than just phone calls, there will be connectivity and compatibility issues. By limiting the initial launch to just one carrier, they would eliminate a major variable in the early troubleshooting process, which should make it easier to perfect the system before expanding to other carriers and dealing with issues specific to their networks. Apple prides itself on making products that "just work". A measured rollout will help maintain that reputation.
Second, Apple doesn't care about selling phone service. Their only interest in phone service will be to make their iPod Phone usable. They'll offer the phone on their website and in the Apple Store, offer some service plan options, and in a couple days or right out of the door, you'll be able to call people from your slick music phone. The average consumer shops for style and features. Carrier doesn't matter as long as they can support the product. Besides, it'll be tough enough for these Apple Store guys to deal with learning and explaining one carrier's options in the early rush. Why multiply that?
Third, isn't an exclusive carrier initial rollout in line with Apple's usual approach? I seem to recall the iPod, being an extension of iTunes, was initially only Mac-compatible, making it exclusive to perhaps 5% of the computer user market for more than a year. They expanded it to Windows users in 2003 and now command 75% of the U.S. MP3 player market. Contrast that against six months exclusivity with a carrier that holds significant market share. That's a considerable step forward by any measure.
Fourth, we don't even know what this mythical phone may or may not do or if any other carriers are interested. Does Verizon want people to download music from iTunes instead of V-Cast? If it has 3G but not wifi, why would T-Mobile want it? Sprint Nextel might be an option, but would their support outweigh the possible benefits of this alleged exclusive deal? It is impossible to judge and that's sort of my point regarding all this iPhone speculation. I'm all for people posting opinions and commentary, but how smart is it to judge a book by its cover when you haven't even seen the cover?
Disclosure: I own one share of stock in Apple, my wife owns an iPod, and we both use iTunes.
I don't even know what that means but Ed Holloway (http://www.edholloway.com/default.aspx) announced that his Ink Blog plug-in (http://www.edholloway.com/archive/2006/09/26/Ink-Blog-Plugin-goes-Gold_2100_.aspx) for Windows Live Writer is out of beta and ready for prime time. Exciting news through I still can't use Writer due to ftp connectivity issues.
Oh, he is still unable to implement Links in Ink and hide/show text, but that's a cross-platform issue. Some blog systems, like Blogger, won't let you post JavaScript. My layout requires adding code to the template, which other systems won't allow. Perhaps multiple configuration options is the solution.
So now that I've spent two posts laughing at Maryland politics, what about the Senate race in Virginia?
Recently, there have been more allegations that Senator George Allen (http://tinyurl.com/qcxmj) had used racial slurs in the past. However, and this is why I don't like to talk about local politics, nobody cares.
Unlike Macaca (http://tinyurl.com/npa7e), or whatever his name is, I was not born and raised in Virginia. However, my wife's family is from "the real world of Virginia" on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, We've been there a few times and if this is George Allen's base, he's not going to lose any steam over allegations of being a racist. The most racist statement I've ever heard came out of here and it wasn't even made in a fit of drunken rage (http://tinyurl.com/rx3on).
A history of racism may keep Allen off the national stage, but in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it's not not quite enough. Maybe after another generation. In the meantime, how about coming up with another strategy for booting out this jackass?
Ordinarily, I wouldn't hold that against a person, but unfortunately the Bush in this case is of the G.W. variety.
In response to Maryland Senatorial candidate Michael Steele's (http://www.steeleformaryland.com/) "I [Love] Puppies" ad, an opposition group has launched an ad campaign reminding voters that he also loves President Bush (as a friend, not in a gay way, not that there's anything wrong with that).
I find this turn of events to be both disheartening and hilarious at the same time. First, how much does President Bush suck that a photo of you and him together can be used against you? By contrast, Jim Webb (http://www.webbforsenate.com/home.php), Democratic candidate for Senator of Virginia, used an excerpt of a speech by President Reagan, describing Webb's accomplishments, to help his campaign.
Second, how sad is it that love for another human being could be used so negatively? And so effectively too. Sorry Mr. Steele, I appreciate the positively, but my disdain for Bush (the 43rd President) outweighs my respect for puppies.
For my money, the best ice cream joint around here is Maggie Moo's (http://www.maggiemoos.com/), which I like to call Molly Moo's, if for no other reason than they have actual hot fudge! For that alone, they are two steps above most joints.
By contrast, Cold Stone Creamery (http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/) advertises fudge, but do they have fudge? No! It's chocolate sauce. If it's in a squeeze bottle, it's not hot fudge. If it's not heated, it's not hot fudge. That's chocolate sauce, and in case I wasn't clear, chocolate sauce is not fudge! And that's the bottom line 'cause Cold Stone said so.
Latest buzz around the mobile community is the idea of naming ones devices. Coincidentally, I've been kicking around names for my next tablet as my current one, named Tabby, creeps further past the the point of obsolescence.
I've been leading toward making my next tablet evil (geared for power, decked out with Deception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decepticons) decals), but I'm torn between a tech name or a cute name. Been pondering Shockwave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockwave_%28Transformers%29), as my logic-driven, powerfully armed Second-in-command, or Evilcat, my diabolic sidekick. Another idea was Litterbox, as in the place where I dump all my shit. Or I might drop the Transformers and cat naming conventions altogether and go with something else... but probably not.
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terror Threat By MARK MAZZETTI Published: September 24, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.
[Pretty much speaks for itself, but I have to wonder why anyone thought our occupation of Iraq would make things better. Nobody likes foreign warships in their backyard. -- Sumocat]
While it is being used for the noble purpose of selling a Tablet PC, it is still unethical to make up quotes. Could be it is simply miscredited, but this thing reads like a fabrication to me.
On the plus side, this certainly is an endorsement of the weight Warner carries in the Tabletscape. However, with all the positive things he writes about tablets, I find it bizarre that there would be a need to make up one.
Despite its very basic feature set, I am pretty happy with Blogger's system, if only because I can rework the HTML to work with my unique blogging needs. However, one feature not offered which I really want is trackback (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackback). It's the system that allows one to send a blog post to another blog's comments.
I find this option highly desirable because many of my posts are reactions to other blogs. Furthermore, when I leave comments on other blogs, I am unable to leave them in ink. Well, thanks to HaloScan (http://www.haloscan.com/), those concerns are yesterday's news... almost.
Compatibility with TypePad (http://www.typepad.com/) is a bit erratic. Others have reported the same issue. Consensus seems to be that the error is on Typepad's end. Appears it doesn't like third party trackback apps.
Anyway, don't be surprised if I send you a trackback every now and then. Feel free to send me some too. But no worries if you don't: Google provides backlinks (http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42533) automatically when you link to one of my blog posts.
It seems The Gadgeteer (http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/news/show_us_what_s_in_your_gear_bag_video_contest) is holding a contest looking for videos of what's in people's gear bags. Sounds strangely familiar (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/06/video-gadget-bag-part-2-tabletize.html). As if I had done something just like this before. Oh well. It's past time I made a complete run-through of my gadget bag. Might as well try to win an iPod while I'm at it.
It seems like only yesterday that I rolled out the text-only version of the blog. Actually, it was Wednesday (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/09/sumocats-scribbles-text-edition.html). Since then, I figured out a way to tweak the system to create a version of the blog that drops the ink but retains the rest of its HTML and a plain text version for phone web browsers. Why two alternate versions? Let me explain.
The initial thought behind the text edition was to create a mobile-friendly version of the site. Unfortunately, this method using FeedBurner BuzzBoost (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/publishers/buzzboost) alone didn't cut it. It used JavaScript that was not readable by my mobile phone web browser. Enter Google (http://www.google.com/gwt/n).
Amongst Google's many services is a little known one that "mobile-izes" web pages. While my phone can't read the FeedBurner JavaScript, Google's "mobilizer" can, translating the page into a version viewable on any mobile web browser (http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.markandtanya.us%2Fscribbles%2Fmobile.html).
Furthermore, while the mobile version is plain text, there are links back to the original pages, which are also "mobilized". Thus, if you want to follow one of my links (or just want to view a tiny version of my ink), you can click over to the ink page and surf though my text links. Any page you visit will also be "mobilized", through no telling how well they'll turn out.
So the mobile edition works out great. Why then do I also have an Inkless Edition (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/)? Aren't they the same? I admit, they are very similar, but unlike the mobile edition, the ink-free version has a secondary purpose: accessibility.
The Inkless Edition (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/) uses the full HTML in my RSS feed, which includes all the ink and hyperlinks. Working a little CSS magic, I suppressed the ink to create a very clean text page that retains all the hyperlinks. Initially I wanted to use this for the mobile version, but Google's rendering kills the ink suppression, resulting in a cluttered mess.
Anyway, this version appears just fine on my Pocket PC. Presumably it will also work on any JavaScript-enabled browser. I recommend it for any PDA or Pocket PC equipped readers. It is a more robust mobile option for mobile web browsers that are more robust. If it doesn't work, the page includes a link to the text-only mobile edition.
This brings me to the secondary purpose of accessibility. A very legitimate criticism about ink blogging (http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20060809/3650/) is that it cannot be read by the visually impaired. Yes, I know they can't read text either, but there is software that can read it to them, if there is text to read.
Now, I could re-work the blog to make the text always visible instead of only on demand. But it would still be a second-class citizen on an ink blog with a visual design scheme. The Inkless Edition presents a clean straightforward format that I'm sure will be easier to navigate. Unlike a plain text version, this edition includes hyperlinks, so there's no need to jump back to the ink page to hunt for links, and I've read that visually impaired users navigate by tabbing from link to link. Hopefully this version does the job well enough. Feedback is appreciated.
I'll give you a full breakdown later but for now, check out the reworked Inkless Edition (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/) and all-new Mobile Edition (http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.markandtanya.us%2Fscribbles%2Fmobile.html) of the blog.
Thanks to the power of Feedburner (http://feeds.feedburner.com/SumocatsScribbles), there is now a text-only version (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/) of Scribbles up on my personal site. It is enabled through JavaScript, so it's not fully mobile-friendly but it's a start. Should work fine with any JavaScript-enabled browser. Link (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/) is also up in my menu area along with a link to my Feedburner feed. Please do me a favor and switch your subscription to Feedburner (http://feeds.feedburner.com/SumocatsScribbles). Appreciate it!
