LIVEdigitally

There’s a bit of a brouhaha about Digg right now.  I read an article by David Cohn (formerly of the LD!) yesterday on the so-called “Bury Brigade” (the people who apparently hide unwanted stories from getting well-Dugg) and then today started off with a band as a Wired reporter demonstrated the effectiveness of “buying” her way onto Digg.  This caused quite the stir across the good ol’ blogosphere (read more: Boing Boing, Mike Arrington, and Mathew Ingram).

Now, while I’ve mentioned Digg a couple of times (1 2), this really isn’t the kind of right/wrong debate I typically delve into.  Why?  Well, as I advise my clients, getting Dugg might bring you traffic, but it doesn’t necessarily bring you highly relevant traffic, and can be as much a distraction as anything else.  Also, unless you are a tiny startup trying to get said traffic, it doesn’t necessarily really matter in the long run anyway.

The reason I say this is because the demographics around Digg are so wide and so varied, with a clear leaning towards “high-tech” and, well, young.  Five minutes of reading comments on any random post shows the level of mature thought and discussion is about on par with your typical AOL chat room or MySpace profile.  Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it also isn’t necessarily a good one.

I’ve always assumed that Kevin Rose and the Digg team have good intentions.  Never met em, I don’t listen to their podcasts, I actually have no personal reason to think that.  But something about the techie nature of the site seemed to imply a certain youthful energy combined with a bit of an innocence that made me feel that they were trying to do some good (and not in the Google way of saying they aren’t evil, yet acting the opposite).

So when I first learned a bit about the concept of the ‘bury brigade’ and the ever-changing algorithms, I had assumed the Digg system was trying to evolve to follow a “Communist” structure.  All people can participate equally.  Those who participate more regularly become more noticed and influential, but ultimately anyone can rise/fall in the “esteem” of the masses.  UPDATE: while further researching this topic, I found Mike Arrington’s article “Digg should sue Wired” is presently the #1 Dugg story on Digg, and not a single negative-to-Digg article is anywhere to be found…

When I read Kevin’s blog post today, my feelings turned from being reminded of a Communist entity, into one more akin to the KGB.  Despite all the points made by so many different people regarding Digg and burying posts, Kevin manages to write an entire post that basically boils down to not providing any new information.  He doesn’t address most concerns, he doesn’t mention plans to fix problems, he basically says “spam is bad” and “the data on this page is inaccurate” (I paraphrased).  Note that Kevin’s post is a top-10 item on Digg (at this moment).

I guess in Digg land, all users may Digg/bury equally, but some do it more equally than others.

I wish I was talking about one of my favorite smartphones here, the HTC MTeoR, but I’m not. I’m talking about actual meteors.  I was over at CNet where I read an article that is planting the seed of how we need to build some really expensive device to help save us from meteors.  Here are some quotes and highlights:

“It is possible to save the Earth from something like an apocalypse” with this kind of spacecraft, said Edward Lu, an astronaut and a scientist with NASA’s Johnson Space Center

“[a really big meteor] would destroy England if it hit, or Northern California, but not the world,” he said.

“Extinction can be caused by a large asteroid impact. But with an early warning system we can prevent this.

I’m not sure if I prefer the “blow it up while we run for the hills” strategy or the “drill a hole in it, then blow it up” strategy, but I cannot believe that a NASA scientist is making these kinds of statements.  I typically leave it to my mainstream news show to try to make me afraid of the commonplace things in this world (”tune in at 11 to find out which type of toothpaste causes rectal cancer”), not NASA.

Seriously, we need to get more money going to privatizing the exploration of space, because I really don’t need my tax dollars prognosticating this kind of a future.  That’s what my $10 movie ticket is for.

We all know and love the RIAA for their “consumer-friendly” policies and behaviors (an image about which they are trying to pass the buck - and while you are reading on the topic, go check out Ryan’s DRM-free day), but at CES 2007 I got first-hand knowledge of how they feel about consumers.  I dropped by their booth…

ps - if you need can’t guess the title reference on your own click here…

When I first started LIVEdigitally, a good friend suggested I include the category “That’s Janky” for all the stuff that was a little goofy or poorly designed. As a refresh, here’s a definition from the good ol’ Urban Dictionary:

(adjective) inferior quality; held in low social regard; old and delapidated; refers almost exclusively to inanimate material objects, not to people

We tried to pick up on these girls waiting for the bus, but I was driving my sister’s janky 1989 geo metro so we just got clowned instead.

Still cracks me up. Anyhow, I thought it would be a fun idea to put just a single post with all the pictures I took at CES 2007 that I felt fit into the Janky category.

Too many lines - lines for the Bill Gates keynote, CES Unveiled, press conferences, etc.

After the DirecTV press conference, Dave Winer and I stumbled upon this Sandisk Sansa giveaway where the crowd nearly mobbed the table, and I had one literally pulled out of my hands!

Has anyone told this company how bad their name is?  I mean, it’s certainly a step up from their old name, SARS Electronics…

The Dream Machine and other weird gaming furniture - it’s neat and all, but who is going to put this thing in their homes?

I love the TVGames products, but Deal or No Deal: The Video Game?  It might as well just ship with a drool guard for anyone who follows the intensity of the show.

Well-designed gadget? Yes.
Skype phone. Cool.
Wired??? Janky!

We’ve covered this one before. 

Chinese manufacturers who yoink reputable brands to try to sell their wares, and…

Chinese manufacturers whose booths feature hand-written posters, and…

Chinese manufacturers who can’t spell their own name consistently (if you can’t read, it says Guten and Gooten)! 

Booth designs that look great in the 3D rendering, but nobody takes the time to make a real sample to test the concept.

Ridiculous convergence gadgets.  Although you could market this one to the law enforcement community, that way they can listen to their jams while they arrest people. 

Er.  No comment.

Traditional consumer electronics manufacturers who overspend on their ridiculously large booths.  Earth to Sony, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, and everyone else: this is not 1992, your tactics must change.

No picture to show, but a special mention to the CES Web site for not making it abundantly clear to people how registration worked and that non-trade individuals would not be allowed in. 

There you have it, the CES 2007 Janky Report!

Actually, I’m adding one more: to the organizers of the one and only press/media event (which I shall leave nameless) who decided I wasn’t welcome because I am not a full-time member of the media. Yet the same organizers let in over a dozen bloggers that I know personally, none of which are full-time bloggers/members of the media.  If anyone who works for that event has taken a moment for CES coverage follow-up, I hope you note how much more CES coverage I had than most of the bloggers you let in, and maybe you’ll do more than a cursory check on everyone’s backgrounds in the future.  You win my personal “Most Janky” award.

warning: this post and video are heavily laden with sarcasm and are not intended for those with a lacking sense of humor (not that ours is necessarily that great either)

Jeremy and I were cruising around the nether regions of CES and next to the Chinese circuit board companies and Roomba knock-offs, we came across the HD-FVD booth. Talk about a dark-horse. If HD-DVD is to VHS, as Blu-Ray is to Beta, then what the heck is HD-FVD. Their library is pretty, pretty, pretty impressive. They had titles ranging from “caterpillar on leaf” to … wait for it … “ladybug on leaf.” Check out this video taken in the booth where Jeremy and I had a little fun.

Not convinced? Read the specs…

See that? There at the bottom of the chart. The huge differentiator. Price: Low.

More on the “Ross Perot of HDTV standards”: The Inquirer and The Gizmo Blog.

As hit the whole geekier side of the Internet last week, Amazon.com had a promo for an $100 Xbox, available today at 11am PST.  I had 3 windows, with up to 6 tabs each, open as of 10:58am.  The site began timing out almost immediately, and so I refreshed the tabs as needed.  By 11:05am the pages that did manage to load showed the deal was sold out.  And I wasn’t the only one…

I wonder how many they had in the promo, and also wonder what % of dissappointed shoppers ended up buying something else.  For example, as a consolation prize I was welcome to pick up the “Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses: Interactive Princess Genevieve “Let’s Dance” Doll” for only $25.  What a bargain.

Robert Scoble observes:

I’m sitting on a sidewalk with the first 30 people who’ve been waiting in line since yesterday (PlayStation 3’s go on sale at midnight). There are about 700 people in line at San Francisco’s Metreon.
…
They are closing four streets for a concert in front of the Metreon at 6 p.m. tonight. They aren’t releasing the names of the bands, but it’s pretty clear this won’t be a high school band playing.

From the AP (and more at Techdirt):

Nine months pregnant, Julie Mosley said she tried to ignore her contractions for the chance to score machines for her family, her daughter’s father and her younger brother.

“I’m going to hold out as long as I can,” Mosley said Thursday as she sat on a cooler in the 19th spot outside a Circuit City in Mount Laurel, N.J., joking about giving birth on the sidewalk.

Also from the AP:

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards acknowledged Thursday that amid his criticism of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a volunteer member of his staff asked the world’s largest retailer for help obtaining a hot new Sony Playstation 3 for Edwards’ family.

I don’t understand!  I’m all for participating in a pop culture social moment, heck I was in line for the advance showings for all three Lord of the Rings films (and accept full mockery for such activities, but at least I wasn’t in costumes).  But I don’t see how this applies to buying a new game console.  Especially not a $600+ PS3 or a Wii with a magic wavey wand (okay, that’s not fair, it does seem pretty cool).  But what’s the rush to buy it the day it launches?  How long does that moment last?

I did find the debates on the price/value proposition of the PlayStation 3 pretty interesting.  My quick guide to getting the most coherent insight is as follows: start on Gizmodo, continue at Good Morning Silicon Valley, hit the Utility Belt, then finish up with Davis Freeberg. 

I just wish the PS3 wasn’t so darn smudgariffic.  Not that I’d be getting one anyway.  I’m much more hot and bothered about the potential $100 Xbox 360 over on Amazon!

I was reading Brad Feld’s blog today and saw his post with a photo from La Guardia airport.  I am stunned at the amazingly poor state of things with regards to flight and TSA policies.  I am more stunned that it seems to be status quo, and not changing for the better.  On Saturday Night Live last month, there was a great skit wherein they portrayed a TSA training session.  When presented with rules such as “no liquids over 3oz” a trainee asked the (obvious) question, “what if two people get together with 3oz each?  Is 6oz dangerous?”

When the liquid ban came into effect a couple of months ago, I was on a trip to Europe.  I flew home via Stockholm airport, where they told me to put all my carry-ons in a clear plastic bag, otherwise they’d get confiscated in Frankfurt en route to the USA.  Sure enough, I was the only guy walking around Frankfurt with a huge baggie full of my personal effects.

However on virtually every trip I have taken since that flight, my carryon bag contained multiple containers with liquids or gels (yes, I admit to grabbing shampoos from hotels, but only one per stay).  My secret?  Well, I’ve mastered the security system.  Here’s what I do: when asked “got liquid?” I respond “no” and move along.  Try it out, it works pretty well.

Last week, as my wife and I entered security in SFO and we placed our bags on the security belt, to my extreme chagrin she separated her makeup bag.  Big no-no, but I couldn’t stop her in time.  Sure enough, the TSA employee picked up the bag, and went through it.  She found some makeup and lotion, and gave her three options: check it (nope), put it in a Ziploc bag (huh?), or chuck it out (gee, thanks).

I tried reason.  I tried logic.  To no avail.  I politely (then again, slightly less politely) asked how the TSA could operate such a policy without providing a reasonable solution.  Her oft-repeated answer: “all this information is available on our Web site” (not the official link).  I must say, I felt quite a bit like Arthur Dent (the only hint for such a reference is it involves a bulldozer, the rest, dear reader, is up to you).

Kudos to Wal-Mart, US Airways, and whatever supervisor at La Guardia who did not actively prevent such a common sense solution to a stupid, self-imposed problem.  Although I must say, knowing that mascara and facial cream can only be carried aboard a triple-7 inside a see-through Ziploc bag makes me feel safe, and I can only imagine it really drives fear into the hearts and minds of the terrorists.

I’m voting in the USA for the first time in my life this Tuesday, but it appears my ballot (yes on 87) doesn’t have any option to vote out such incompetence.  Ah well, maybe in ‘08.

Walking down the street, women standing on the corner handing out little pamphlets about free translation services, then giving a little fortune cookie.  Only thing is… it’s blue:

Now I don’t know whose marketing campaign this is from, but as a word of advice to others considering this route: “stop!”  In fact, if I were to create a Top 10 list of giveaway advice, I think number one on the list would sound a little something like “avoid making giveaways of food that looks rotten, moldy and/or gangrenous.”

That’s a freebie.

I am traveling this week from San Francisco to Boston to New York, then back (more on the trip some other time), and had booked a simple itinerary to get around.  While in Boston, two colleagues of mine mentioned they much preferred the train to NYC over the flight, since it ends up being about the same amount of time.  As a frequent traveler, I’m all for anything that is an easier journey, and the described train ride sounded quite blissful.

It took less than 10 minutes from leaving the station (maybe less than 5) for me to realize how much of a bad decision this was for me.  I’m sure many folks find it more relaxing, less rushed, etc etc.  I am sitting here pulling hairs out of my beard, one at a time.

First, I can’t do email because the bumpiness is causing a ton of retyping and this is about all I can bear.

Tried watching TV using my Sprint PPC6700 tethered to my Vaio to watch my Slingbox.  Was painful, but killed an hour until I couldn’t deal with the dropouts anymore.

I’m sitting at an angle, because I’m too tall to have the laptop right in front of me, so I’m sure I’m putting a nice crick in my back.

I had a hot dog for dinner (Hebrew National at least).

It’s just one of those things where you realize how different people are.  Me?  I’m perfectly fine with a drive to the airport, dealing with security, boarding, flying, etc.  Maybe I’ve just done it so much (~175K miles on the year).  Maybe I like “the action” of it. 

I think, at the end of the day, when you have a short flight you may spend “as much” time as you might on the train, but you only have to kill an hour or so.  The ~4 hours on Amtrak is just too much for me.

Plus I think I feel a little safer in the air.

ps - to make matters worse, I forgot my DVD pack at home, so the only thing I have to watch is Monty Python and the Holy Grail - great flick, but you do have to be in the right mood for it.  I’m listening to the Director’s Commentary this time through.

As I mentioned last week, I placed an order for a new Canon SD700.  Despite Amazon reporting the vendor was in stock, they were apparently backordered, which was a very frustrating email to receive, by the way.  So I decided to poke around online, see if I could find another option.  Turns out in the 2 days between ordering and getting confirmation, the Amazon price shot from ~$360 to ~$420)!

I went to Google, and searched for “SD700” (pictured on the right) and saw a result from “bestpricecameras” (not linking to them, you’ll see why shortly) at $309!  Wow, good deal.  Did another search on Cnet, nothing better.

So, I visited that site and rather than click through, I called their order number.  While on hold, I went to do a bit more research.

I googled “bestpricecameras.com review” and did a little poking around.  I eventually clicked on this link and read enough scathing reviews to hang up, and wait for trusty Amazon to deliver. 

As the sayings go…

Better late than never

and

If it seems too good (or too cheap) to be true, it probably is.

Thankfully I didn’t lose my $309 along the way.

Let’s just say we didn’t click. It wasn’t meant to be. We waltz to different foxtrots (or maybe that’s the PROBLEM…) Windows Live Writer is SUPPOSED to be this nifty new desktop blogging tool that makes your life easier…or something. I have to admit to being a skeptic from the very beginning (Why do I need this? What void does it fill? Will it really help me out, or just clutter my hard drive even more?), but I decided to give it a fair shot.

First of all, let me tell you that it would be extremely wise to NOT do as I did when installing, and let them give you that toolbar. It may SOUND useful, but only if you are STUPID and use Internet Explorer still. (Who does that? Why give us a toolbar for something that only complete noobs and “people who want viruses” –according to one acquaintance, use? Honestly, I feel sort of sorry for anyone still surfing on that thing, but it’s probably their own fault…) Insults aside, it takes a ridiculously long time to install it and then when it’s done, of course, you’ll find all sorts of little tidbits hanging around that you probably didn’t want, but didn’t think to cancel out and OH MY HELL.

After that unsightly mess, my real odyssey began here. The reader will note that I have limited experience with the fancier word publishing projects and sometimes have to fight even to just get my margins lined up. That said, this thing DOES claim to be WYSIWYG, and I feel like we should be able to expect some things from that, which apparently we can’t, as shown expertly in this sad and mangled post.

So that was about the time I gave up on trying to synch with my actual blog. Incidentally, that also means that this is about the time I gave up on this ever actually being useful for me. I don’t want to have to keep a whole different new blog just to use this thing that seems so eager to be totally pointless! For the purposes of this write-up, however, I went ahead and set myself up a Windows Live Spaces account. Actually…

Subsequent experimentation led to the relief that it will at least publish pictures to Live Spaces. I think maybe there was just something tricky with the Blogger scheme of uploading. So, I suppose if you like your Live Space, then this isn’t such a bad thing. I don’t know anyone with one, and do remember that I had forgotten the existence of my own! Not a great sign.

Penultimate thoughts…

One thing I was sort of happy about, in a way, is that you can edit (”EDIT EDIT EDIT”) old posts directly from the Live Writer set-up. I wasn’t expecting that, since by the end of this I wasn’t expecting much. I guess I meant “happy” more in a “whew, at least it does THAT” way.

The bottom line is that I just can’t find anything that wrong with the blogging interface(s) I already use, certainly nothing that Live Writer fixes. There’s no reason for me to adapt to a new program. For people who care more about formatting, it might have been a decent download, but I’m not sure I would even trust it to handle it if some of my less successful tests prove anything. Anyhow, it’s a mutual break-up. I don’t like Live Writer, and after this review, I can’t blame it for not liking me.