Disqus - Latest Comments for Brian Sullivan

Re: Creating a maintainable and thriving web (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:17:08 -0000

I guess #2 is a secret? ;-)

Re: Macs are even more expensive than I thought (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:53:47 -0000

I really don't understand how Apple can be so bad from a customer service pov and also apparently have such bad hardware (or so it seems from many of the high profile bloggers that have Apple hardware - Scoble, you and many others) and still people keep flocking back and putting down premium money for their products.

Is there some compulsion to be cool that Apple has tapped into? It seems almost like a drug dependency.

Re: Twitter's business model (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:17:16 -0000

When I posted an entry recently musing on Twitter's business model recently (http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028/2007/12/15.htm...) mostly based on thinking about postings/tweets from you btw, I got an interesting anonymous comment:

"The business model is to merge with or be acquired by a company that makes mobile devices and use the service to drive sales of the mobile device. First they have to create a large enough user base that it makes sense to start making a device just for the service. So they make money right now by attracting new users. That's what the investors put the money down for, so you don't have to worry. Their pockets are deep enough so they can afford to keep going for quite some time. "

The comment is interesting for two reasons -- one in it is anonymous, second my blog is very rarely read (except for family/friend based entries or readers) so I am speculating someone who search blogs specifically for Twitter related postings (someone in Twitter maybe?) found it and commented.

I am not sure I agree with your statement that there are "lots of ways" for Twitter to make money. I can see ways for the investors to get back their investment (as the commenter indicated) but not many ways other than something advertising related to generate a consistent revenue stream (isn't that what "making money" traditionally means?)

Re: Twitter's business model (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:48:43 -0000

OK -- I guess that changes the conversation tone a little ;-)

Do you agree with my general definition of "making money" or were you thinking of another definition?

I find the West Coast/Silicon Valley definition of "business model" (and maybe "making money") often varies from my probably more traditional view and always feel a little uneasy with the "new economy". "shifting paradigm" view. I think it was wrong in the pre 99 web and and is wrong now (but maybe I am just an old fart too far from the action in time and geography).

Re: Twitter's business model (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:14:20 -0000

As I indicated in my first post my idea for a business to make money is "to generate a consistent revenue stream" (and over the long term spend less than you generate).

If you are an investor in Twitter then making money is getting more money back in your bank account than you invested.

But maybe again my old school idea of a "business model" s getting in the way.

Re: How many blogging platforms are there? (Scripting News)

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:26:36 -0000

Poking around, I see two fundamental technical differences between Pownce and Twitter:

- The development platform Python vs. Ruby
- Twitter supports SMS messaging - Pownce appears to be web only

Either or both could be the cause of Twitter's woes. Or could be its salvation. Neither seems easilty changeable though so if instability stems from there there is no hope. Whether Pownce kills Twitter may be a moot point. It may just collapse under its own instability.

Of course Twitter's problem could just be lack of competent technical resources and leadership. Both those problems are potentially fixable.

Re: Who’s the stupid one here

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:15:40 -0000

The bidding activity looks suspicious to me. I doubt any of the bids are legitimate.

Re: Would you pay for no Facebook ads?

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:15:49 -0000

So this would imply that Facebook is so compelling that users would pay to use it? Is that really the case?

I guess some people are loose enough with money that they are paying to send "virtual" gifts so maybe there are some people that would pay for membership?

Maybe I am a Luddite or just an old fart but I think both ideas are ludicrous.

Re: Typography in Windows Vista

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 12:12:15 -0000

Why is it that Channel 9 cannot present an instantiation of the Media Player that has usable and sensible controls. You'd think with the brains at Microsoft someone could do this. Where is the running time counter, the volume control, the undock control?

What about a skip forward/back control? A slider to move to specific point in the video.

The one that is currently there sucks(and is even worse than the previous, square, clunky one that I complained about when Channel 9 first started).

The videos are great. But do some work on usability for people viewing them!

Re: Typography in Windows Vista

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 14:50:50 -0000

Hmm "Download" and "Full Screen" seem to do the same thing -- it certainly is not obvious what those links do from the naming.

I still think someone should make the embedded player work correctly. There is no reason why it can't have the functionality I indicated (at least in I.E.). Surely there is someone there that understands how to script the media player?

Re: Typography in Windows Vista

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 14:52:25 -0000

BTW the timings posted to your blog comments are wrong -- still on European time?

Re: The prediction business going hot and heavy

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 10:37:39 -0000

It's not about what comes true though it's about generating discussion.

My opinion would be predict away.

(it seems you have lost some weight in the video ;-) ?)

Re: Pittsburgh vs. Seattle in Super Bowl

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 22:23:08 -0000

Another Paul Allen venture for us older than dirt geeks:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028/2006/01/11.htm...

Now that is computer technology! ;-)

Re: Arguing about how to bring computing to poor

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:30:45 -0000

"Networking: IT training a retention issue
CHICAGO, Jan. 30 (UPI) — Training and education of experienced IT professionals already established in the workforce ..."

Who is "Ted Smith" and WTF is he and UPI up to -- blog comment spam?

Re: Going skiing today…

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:58:56 -0000

BTW -- it seems there is some confusion -- from what I can tellMarch 7 is the date that Shel is speaking in Toronto -- not March 6.

Re: Going skiing today…

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 10:17:09 -0000

OK -- my confusion only -- the proposed dinner is the "night before" -- March 6. Sorry for the noise.

Re: Why don’t you use a memetracker?

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 14:41:42 -0000

A better question to ask -- why would you want to use a "Memetracker"?

Re: Why don’t you use a memetracker?

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:14:25 -0000

"I want to know what is going on in the world"

I don't see how tech.Memeorandum helps you there.

Except for lately (tech.Memeorandum seems to have changed in the last little while or I haven't been paying attention and it happened earlier), I found most of the information there was bloggers blogging about blogging and bloggers blogging about bloggers and blogging about ... well you get the picture. An echo chamber for bloggers.

As if blogging and talking about blogging was all there was to the tech world.

I have noticed though in the last few days that blogging related memes there seem to be a very low percentage (don't know if this is an anomoly or a trend). A trend I hope.

Re: Do it for the traffic, or not?

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 18:55:28 -0000

Geez - I hope using "justify center" everywhere and place white text on a navy background aren't some of those great tips on writing we all should follow.

Did you actually follow the links to here:

http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/forums/...

to see those 10 tips?

Good illustration of how a lousy design/presentation fouls what might be great content (I really couldn't force myself to read long enough to find out).

Re: Introducing Origami

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 11:51:03 -0000

I really don't see what is exciting about this -- to me it looks like a smaller, slighly less expensive Tablet PC with a pitiful projected battery life.

Is there some aspect of it that I am not understanding? Is it really anything else than what I thought?

Re: Where the heck is Scoble?

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:09:22 -0000

Robert:

I think you are way out of line here -- calling for firing of people, especially journalists. I just reread the article -- it does not claim (but I can see where it might be taken that way) that 60% of Vista code will be rewritten before release either in the headline the blurb at the top of the page nor the article itself.

In fact the article is in no way sensational --- only the headline itself.

The claim is that 60 % of Vista is scheduled to be rewritten -- which probably has a lot of truth in it. Now admittedly the way the headline and blurb are presented and the juxtaposition of information is perhaps deliberately inflammatory. And a large number of people (including you) seem to have taken the bait.

I can't see where any damage is done here to Microsoft. I think if anything you have damaged the reputation of the people involved in writing the article. In fact the current situation is largely of Microsoft's own making (I would call it a self inflicted wound) and if you are calling for firings you should look internally in Microsoft to place the blame.

Re: Where the heck is Scoble?

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:33:22 -0000

So you are saying there is no plan anywhere in Microsoft that indicates that any Vista code needs to be rewritten at any time in the future? I would think that probably incorrect -- given the long planning cycles.

BTW the story in this case seems to have very little to do with the headline -- so the journalist in this case is probably not part of the picture. At worst it was a poorly written headline. And maybe as you say it was deliberate. My reaction to it was perhaps predictable but if you reread my weblog you will see the 60% info was peripheral to what I was talking about.

Perhaps nobody can see past the headline and read the story?

As I said though this mess is largely of Microsoft's making and the people getting the calls should look inward instead of outward for the root cause of their calls and frustration

Re: Recieved!

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 17:39:28 -0000

"Received" maybe?

Re: Tools matter, at least with video

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 20 May 2006 16:37:44 -0000

You might want to have the webmaster of the Channel 9 site (or whoever is responsible for the html/javascript that presents the media player) update the video player displays to Microsoft provided standards for avoiding the annoying "Click to activate" tooltip over activex components business (caused by changes to IE required by the EOLAS settlement).

Re: How to compete with Silicon Valley

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 09:08:58 -0000

I wonder though how much of this "I love SV" attitude really has anything to do with the place itself or the fact that you were born there, grew up there, when to school there (and a lot of "firsts" in your life happened there)? Do you still refer to it as "home"?

Anyway, I hope the next few weeks of your life are better than the last few weeks.

Re: Google’s achilles heel: search, er, Technorati

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 14:19:38 -0000

What is the measure you are using of Technorati's "success" in this case? I find more than half of the searches I try end up with "too busy" pages regardless of the day or time of day.

If success is a measure of user happiness/satisfaction -- from my point of view as a user they are far down the "successful" scale bordering on abysmal.

Re: Why Vista slipped

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:32:03 -0000

"No 'external" pressure".

Sounds like weasel words to me.

Re: Online wordprocessor updated, but does it have a chance at survival?

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:47:25 -0000

Hmm I think that is true of all small companies everywhere, in every market.

Hope you are a strong swimmer. ;-)

Re: 3,000 new subscribers

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:37:06 -0000

I am interested in how Wordpress "knows" the number of subscribers to your blog.

Do they count the number of reads of the xml file, record the Ip addrss and do some sort of analysis (making the subscriber total an educated guess?)
or is there some other magic method ?

Re: Nielsen blows it on podcasting

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:45:32 -0000

Robert

Your beef here is or should be with Podcasting News -- not Neilsen. Neilsen just gathered and published information about the internet as far as I can see. It is Podcasting News that seems to have introduced the lameness in the interest of a provocative headline to as a way to build links to its site -- and you and Jon Watson took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

Brian

Re: The “river” versus “folder” RSS approach

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:37:16 -0000

I use intraVNews (which is I think a similar reader to NewsGator -- at least it is Outlook based).

I like you sort incoming news by weblog. But I also use Outlook folders to arrange it so that only new/unread entries are viewed (sorted by weblog) in a custom folder.

I think if I wanted to (I don't) I could arrange it so that the news was presented in a complete "River of News" type format -- can't NewsGator work the same way?

Re: Thomas Hawk is stalking me

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 12:35:29 -0000

I doubt either the $3000 dollar body is what does it (nor the fact that he uses fixed focal length lenses). Fast lenses are what makes low light no flash picture possible (that and photographic skill). No matter whether they are zooms or fixed focal length -- fast lenses tend to be pricey (but fortunately for us poor people both Nikon and Canon have made a budget(around $100) very fast fixed focal length portrait lens since the 80s).

BTW does Thomas have one leg shorter the other - a lot of his pictures seem slanted. ;-)

Re: Thomas Hawk is stalking me

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 13:44:02 -0000

Wow!

I went to Thomas's blog and a look at some of his other pictures.

Not the lenses or the camera making those pictures outstanding. My guess is that he could take great pictures with a disposable camera that had a plastic lens.

Re: The car of the future?

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:42:23 -0000

Timing of appearance of this information is curious given the juxtaposition with this movie:

Who killed the electric car?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489037/trailers-sc...

Both these cars could I suppose change the economics of oil but will not reduce the need for massive amounts of energy/fuel of some kind (something has to produce the electricity or the hydrogen necessary to run these cars and there would still be a logistics problem getting the hydrogen or electricity from where it is produce to where the people and cars are).

Re: Molly is right — speaking shouldn’t be done for free

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:42:39 -0000

Won't speak for food?

Note to self -- if you invite Robert to dinner make sure he gets a little gift before he leaves.

;-)

Re: I didn’t know that Tim lived in Lebanon

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:01:03 -0000

I think it already has --at least in some people's minds -

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/16/newt-world-...

Re: Forget the $100 PC?!?

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 17:18:11 -0000

Is there anyway to easily determine what web sites/blogs will look like on cell phones (and other small screen limited capability devices) -- a web based emulator (or downloadable templatable browser perhaps)?

I know WebTV used to have such a emulation tool.

If the only way to "test" is to actually have one of the devices I can't see there being any traction.

Re: Forget the $100 PC?!?

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 21:45:51 -0000

Are there really $100 phones with keyboards ?

(not ones that are free or price manipulated when they are sold with a plan).

My impression was that the real price of many of top end phones of the capability being discussed was many times $100.

Re: Great suggestions to survive dot.com bust 2.0

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:03:57 -0000

As far as I can see the only rule you need is number 1 (and the business equivalent of buying lottery tickets doesn't count).

Re: The advertising firewall

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:16:08 -0000

This problem is one of the reasons the Google Adsense style system is so attractive for content producers -- the advertisers don't directly influence the content - the content influences the advertisers.

Of course there is no way for this to work with audio or video content. Find a way to make that happen (context sensitive ads for audio/video) and you could succeed.

I think having advertisers influence "editorial" content (in any way) will put you right back in the payola/old media style world, a place you don't want to be.

Re: The advertising firewall

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 21:13:21 -0000

Robert:

How do you know what advertisers are willing to pay for in Google? It varies on a monthly, daily, even hourly basis.

But I guess you are right that an excellent article on camcorders would draw more advertising that an excellent article on world peace -- I am not saying that a context sensitive advertising model has no influence on the content you choose to produce -- but you were talking about direct advertiser influence were you not?

Regardless though -- you need not only the ads but also traffic that is interested in the ads. The only way to get traffic (other than various short term scams) is to create content that attracts and continues to attract viewers. The only way to create good content is to have experts on the subject that create interesting, desirable content. But this is what you would try to do anyway no?

Re: Former Senator using Peer-to-Peer tech

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:46:48 -0000

Bittorrent only provides relief when many individuals are downloading the same material at the same time.

I am not sure Bittorrent delivery would help much with sites you indicate. If you have a large diverse group of material with downloaders scattered over the spectrum I don't think it would help(in fact it may be hindrance) -- it is not a cure all for overall lack of delivery bandwidth.

Re: Ajit says “show me the Web 2.0 money”

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 22:14:27 -0000

"Now, I would have paid $1,000 to find one buyer. Why? Cause the upside was so large. When you’re selling a house for $450,000 giving up $1,000 isn’t a big deal."

If realtor commissions are anything like here -- I think you will end up paying much more then $1000 to Stan to sell your house.

Re: Why Ozzie doesn’t think the Web is the be all and end all

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:33:48 -0000

I am beginning to wonder if the "web" or the internet itself is "the anything all". I am wondering if perhaps it has reached the end of its useful life.

With 95% of email being spam (if you judge by my inboxes that figure is still not high enough), spam trackbacks and comments in blogs being pandemic, newsgroups being unindated with crap, spam sites filling much of the first page of many search results, spam blogs everywhere, trick domains filled with spammy advertising one wonders whether the spammers, scammers and slammers have taken over online, leaving no useful purpose left for the web or the internet.

Perhaps it will just collapse under its own weight of useless data being moved from place to place?

Is there any hope even that new usage paradigms (Second Life?) will redeem it?

Re: GoogleTalk updates

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:32:03 -0000

Wouldn't it be great if GoogleTalk, Skype, Msn Messenger or something else actually fulfilled the original NetMeeting/Cuseeme dream ?(or at least my NetMeeting dream ;-) ... Ad hoc multiparty audio/video and data/application sharing over the internet that just works).

Re: HelloWorld to take on YouTube? Nope says “BlinkTest”

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:06:43 -0000

Geez this is a momentous occasion -- not only is Robert agreeing with Dvorak but Christopher Coulter is agreeing with them both.

Can't be a good sign for Hello World or is this just the prelude to the Apocalypse?

Re: We still have the scars… (Jeremy wins award for killer business card)

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:50:24 -0000

Thank god (or the great turtle whatever is your preference) -- Christopher and Robert sparring again. Apocalypse avoided this time it seems. ;-)

Re: Second Life corporate training with John Hartman

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:17:24 -0000

Now this intrigues me!

Is there a chance that samples of John's movies will be (or are already) posted somewhere?

Re: Feedless bloggers frustrate

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:01:07 -0000

A further comment -- the link/button to subscribe should is so important in my opinion, it should be at the top of the page or at least above the fold, visible prominent, accessible as soon as you hit the page -- not part way down hidden in some other random stuff that you have to scroll to find it.

Re: HP has major ethical problem, day 3

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 12:30:49 -0000

Don't the shareholders control who is on the board?

When you say "the good people of HP", I assume you are referring to some group of shareholders?

Re: Where’s the bloggers on new Acrobat?

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:42:54 -0000

I am struggling to find what most of the "new" features in Acrobat have to do with PDF format or anything that is traditionally thought of as Acrobat.

It seems like a cheap trick to me -- essentially they seem to have taken what used to be called Breeze(which if I remember correctly was also a collection of stuff rebranded as Breeze that had nothing to do with the original Breeze) and renamed it Acrobat 8 Connect in order to capitalize on the Acrobat "brand". I guess it worked though -- it got you to provide free promotion (or sort of --as your disclaimer indicates they do pay indirectly don't they?). Most of the other new features seem like more of the same -- incremental improvements to standard Acrobat.

I guess this is par for the course for Adobe - marketing and product development by sleight of hand. Of course Microsoft tends to do the same -- look at the list of "new" products that have names chosen from Live, Office, Windows that have nothing to do with Windows, Office and an are in no way Live.

All negativism aside though it looks like "Acrobat" Connect could actually be useful - if it didn't cost an arm and leg to use (as it apparently does).

Re: Save Skype at SJSU

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 09:32:08 -0000

Hmm -- no Skype at Microsoft eh?

Did they allow/support Messenger audio/video?

(i.e. was the argument a bandwidth consumption argument, a NIH argument or just a we decided what's best .. up yours argument?)

Re: Om, Mike, and Robert are on the phone

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 09:50:11 -0000

I certainly turned it off less than ten minutes in. 3 guys talking about themselves and their busy schedules I can take for about 15 seconds.

And this on a Sunday morning when I am sitting at the computer not really doing anything anyway. I only started to listen because I thought there would be some information on VOIP that might be interesting. But I just can't/won't spend that much time listening to idle chit chat!

I have to agree with "radaronpaws" -- this podcast (all podcasts?) may be cheap and easy for the producer to produce but a waste of time for the listener.

Is this the "best" that podcasting/audiocasting can offer?

Re: Introducing ScobleShow

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:34:29 -0000

So this looks like it really could work (as opposed to the rambling telephone call podcast of the other other day).

It seems to carry on the tradition of your Channel 9 interviews (but better -- the touch of production added seems to be just right).

I had some technical issues as well with the subscribing. I am not sure the .mov only format is great either (maybe QT and Windows Media options?) as QT seems less than friendly on my IE7 browser.

Stay away from rambling telephone calls -- do more of this.

Re: ScobleShow post mortem (wow, Ask blog search rocks!)

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:51:40 -0000

List of potentially interesting interviewees:

Alexander Limi (Plone author -- currently at Google I think) -- http://plone.org/author/limi
Jim Fulton (Zope pioneer -- http://www.zope.com/about_us/management/james_f...)
Paul Allen (Microsoft founder and billionaire)

If you are doing stuff outside of computer technology:

Somebody from Sony, Canon, Nikon on digital cameras
Somebody from F1,Champ Car, Nascar on technology in racing

Re: ScobleShow post mortem (wow, Ask blog search rocks!)

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:32:31 -0000

BTW hopefully "ScobleShow Post partum" (keeping on the latin theme) would be a better description than "ScobleShow Post mortem" for this post?

Re: Corporate videoconferencing gets hot this week

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 14:48:27 -0000

Unfortunately none so far that I see deliver on the promise of ubiquitous, ad hoc, serverless, multiparty conferencing (audio only would be good enough for my liking) with real time application/data sharing.

Do either of the two you refer to have this capability?

Re: First two months of ScobleShow

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:22:41 -0000

Maybe you shouldn't publish in either QT or Windows Media if you are aiming for wider machine coverage.

YouTube and Google seem to do ok with Flash video -- since virtually every internet capable machine runs Flash it seems a good choice.

Re: Google Reader, the next “Digg?”

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:04:36 -0000

I switched too (after one too many crashes with Intravnews and Outlook).

But I agree with Skip -- there definitely is an issue with growing browser memory size on IE7 anyway -- I am not sure if it can be classed as a "leak" as closing the browser releases the memory and it is not clear if this is a reader issue or an IE7 issue but regardless it is a pain in the butt.

Re: Be careful loading Yahoo’s latest stuff (I hate this)

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:34:27 -0000

Everybody does something like this it seems (not that it makes it right).

Every time I get a new version of Quicktime from Apple it forces me to download and install Itunes -- no option (which I then have to remove because I don't want it and and don't want it running -- at least the option to remove it separately exists).

I am always offended (somehow this seems close to installing spyware) -- but I usually hold my nose and let it happen -- doesn't make it less smelly, just lets me get on with my existence.

Re: Be careful loading Yahoo’s latest stuff (I hate this)

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:40:50 -0000

"I checked the Apple QuickTime web site and the option to download QuickTime on its own (without iTunes) is shown very clearly."

That may be true -- but I just download via QT's automatic update not the website -- never go there-- no option in the auto update. I will go to the website though -- maybe that will rid me of this thing on every update.

Re: Google Reader behind?

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:15:11 -0000

Robert:

I use space bar instead of K. Much bigger target. ;-)

Re: Off to go Photowalking…

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:38:54 -0000

It looks like Phil Glatz may be doing some 360/180 panorama pictures (is that what he means when he says 3D)?

If he is get a url where he posts them. I finally figured out how to do these myself (first ones at http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028/)-- and I am interested in techniques for taking this kind of picture when there are lots of people about.

Re: Off to go Photowalking…

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:06:02 -0000

Ahh -- went to his blog -- it seems 3D means stereoscopic -- not what I thought. Not much interest to me though because I don't have binocular vision.

So....

Never mind.

Re: Pissing off the blogosphere…

Brian Sullivan — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 09:33:00 -0000

Robert:

It seems to me that this is a bit the pot calling the kettle black. The Scoble Show provides very little external linking as well.

In my mind Engadget, Gizmodo and the Scoble Show though are most often not "blogs" at least not in the traditional sense, They more like traditional specialty magazines (or perhaps TV shows in the case of the Scoble Show) albeit online, done in a ad hoc timing format and with RSS feeds. There is probably very little reason for them to link to other sources a practice seen rampant in traditional blogs.

Re: Google Reader taking the day off?

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:38:49 -0000

I often get the dreaded red "ooops ... whatever" message when scrolling through messages. It seems to clear after a few messages lately so I mostly ignore it.

That is a change from a week or so ago where the message would come and just never go away until I refreshed the page (of course then I had to mark a bunch of stuff read manually).

I occasionally have problems where a message count "sticks" showing x unread messages when there are none -- the only way to clear this is to go to the folder that Reader thinks contains a message and mark all as read.

One think that sucks with Google even when things are in the "perpetual beta" stage is there no way to report these problems - suffering and whining (in your case blogging is probably a call to action) is about all I can do.

Re: I’m not going to MVP Summit, SXSW instead!

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:43:20 -0000

"No, I’m not going to Microsoft’s MVP Summit."

Oh well -- I thought you might show up there. Another time.

Re: Comics, is there any way to make a business here?

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:39:40 -0000

We used to use a cartoonist to draw cartoons for our e-Learning applications. We sat down and worked out some themes and he drew the cartoons (using a mouse, Mac and Adobe Illustrator) --- and provided them to us in AI format with no restrictions on use.

We didn't have enough volume for him to turn it into a full time gig though so he was forced to take a full time job and stop the freelance work he was doing for us.

Unless it is some sort of speciality situation like that though I can't see how outside of paper publishing there is a way to make money doing cartoons.

Re: Christian’s blog on future of education inspires

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:31:30 -0000

The blog may well be awesome but subscribing to it is a huge pain.

The link to subscribe is hidden half way down the page in unadorned 5pt (or it seems so) type on a page that is so cluttered with crap you can hardly find it. The feed validates (with many warnings) but appears not to work in IE7 (or Google Reader-- but I am not sure).

Why do people do this? Subscription links should be above the fold prominently displayed and should work don't you think? Am I missing something obvious?

Just not worth the effort!

Re: Google Reader losing feeds?

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:14:33 -0000

A fair number of people (including me) are having problems with the short cut keys just disappearing. This is since the "Gears" introduction but doesn't require it to be installed for the problem to occur:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0127028/2007/06/11.htm...

Re: TechMeme not going for most linked blogs anymore

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:00:19 -0000

I also am having problmes with Google. Google used to be a reliable provider of online services.

Google Reader has failed me twice in the last month.

I think Google have reached a trustability/usablility tipping point and are sliding down the other side -- maybe accelerating.

(I never did have much time for Techmeme -- it always seemed a less than relavent A-list blogger self referential lovefest so I don't have a lot of sympathy for you there).

Re: Why do you need a good cell phone camera?

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:15:27 -0000

A nit -- but it is annoying (at least to me).

Is it possible that you could add the border=0 attribute (or use a style attribute for the same effect) to remove the annoying blue/red outline border from the flickr pictures that are posted on your blog? (that is of course assuming you do not for some reason want the border)

Re: A PR person’s dream

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:38:09 -0000

Why would you do this anyway? It seems like a total waste of your time? It's a phone for Christ sake.

Surely you are past wanting be one of the people with the cool phone first? Or even encouraging Patrick to be in that "I am a sheep"
mindset (I suspect he has enough in peer pressure anyway without your involvement)?

I guess maybe you can turn it into a PR event for you and Podtech? Any other reason?

Re: My first TwitterGram

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:48:40 -0000

I have problems with MP3s and movs as urls in IE7 (works fine in Firefox).

Not sure if the problem is with Apple/Quicktime or Microsoft but this might be what some are seeing (I also cannot play the mp3 url you provided using IE7).

Re: What would get me (and others) to shut up about Facebook?

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:50:42 -0000

I am not sure how credible this is but what about this:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/120066/facebook-fac...

Or is it just bound to generate more talk?

Re: Facebook wall update coming tonight

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:39:21 -0000

Did you ask about the pending legal action against them (and their founder/CEO)?

There are some pretty serious allegations (ethical if not legal) it seems.

Re: Kara Swisher is right about Facebook apps (new Kyte.tv player)

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:55:47 -0000

I have found most Facebook apps less than useful -- often "cute" but mostly juvenile.

One type of application that I would like to see (not even sure if it would be possible) would be some sort of mashup of Skype (with it's multiparty feature -- including Skype 3rd party applications like whiteboard, application sharing) and scheduled or ad hoc multiparty meetings. Sort of a combination of synchronous social networking (which I think Jeff Pulver is mulling these days) and asynchronous networking (which Facebook seems to have a handle on).

Maybe that is corporately unlikely though -- being that Facebook and Ebay/Skype are somewhat competitors. I am not sure if a third party could even approach something like this.

Re: Facebook and MySpace ad analysis (are you a “fansumer”?)

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:43:57 -0000

"your brother's bar"?

Not totally sure what is going on there but I could not stand to be there for more than 10 seconds.

Maybe you could find someone to help him out with design or have him send me some of what people that can stand more than 10 seconds are smoking.

;-)

Re: New Google Reader “friends” feature sucks…

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:00:16 -0000

Tons of duplicates eh?

Welcome to the world of people that subscribe to your shared Google feed.

Re: Scoble is insecure, researchers say

Brian Sullivan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:35:17 -0000

It seems that the common tendency to borrow a lexicon from something existing is the root cause of much of this confusion.

Nobody really has 1000 or more "friends" in the tradition sense of the word yet that is the lexicon of Facebook. Having a "follower" or being a "follower" sounds positively creepy like you are about to swallow the Kool Aid or are stalking or being stalked, yet that is Twitter's borrowed lexicon. People that are labelled "evangelists" really gets under my skin as well -- recalling faith tents, faith healers, speaking in "tongues" but it is a title and function that Apple, Guy Kawasaki and others of that era popularized and has stuck.

Somehow it always seems easier to convey a new idea by appropriating an existing lexicon. This is not something new in the English language (or any language for that matter). It always creates some confusion during the crossover phase, maybe not as much as when a completely new lexicon is created though, so I doubt the practice will end.

Re: Putting photos into public domain

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:30:14 -0000

Kudos.

Great pictures.

Re: Twitter integration the new shiznit

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:52:58 -0000

Except as you know in numerous contacts from your followers (including me)-- your hitting 55 puts a generic message in the Twitter stream with no information to convey the subject of the uploaded video.

What's easy for you but is mostly annoying, repetitive, bordering on spam for your followers.

I notice a number of other people doing this as well, making Twitter much less useful not more in my opinion.

I am hoping you do not promote this mostly useless feature more until it gets a little more friendly at the consuming end.

Re: I’m going to “Bil,” not TED

Brian Sullivan — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:10:16 -0000

All I can think of is Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.

I presume you are hoping to have one ;-).

Re: Back home from MySpace

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:41:55 -0000

So on another note -- whose signature is on the Telecaster (I am assuming Telecaster)?

Re: Spending the day at Adobe

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:50:02 -0000

"Air" technology -- all I can think of is vapourware. So I am not sure if this is good marketing.

Then again maybe being associated with Apple is not so bad?

Re: Spending the day at Adobe

Brian Sullivan — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:39:12 -0000

Still think the name is not the best choice.

Re: Calacanis is right: startups can’t afford slackers

Brian Sullivan — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:17:06 -0000

This is all fine as long as the "owner" is plugging in the trenches as well and making similar time, committment and comfort sacrifices.

Lots of startups (and non startups as well) seem to demand long hours nose to the grindstone work of employees while the guys at the top are drawing large salaries, buying fancy cars, travelling first class, living on expenses and generally having a good time at the organization's expense.

If you want others to eat dog food you better be slopping from the same bowl.

Re: Qik’s from SXSW

Brian Sullivan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:41:39 -0000

As you know I really don't care for the Qik videos (mostly they seem to waste my time) -- but the latest tactic (not sure if it is a new feature or not) where your twitter posts actually include some subject information is an improvement.

But I do agree it is likely possible to get a different kind of video/interview using the cell phone because of its "invisibility". Hopefully the technology of the phones, network will improve so the usefulness of the strategy also improves.

Re: A Silicon Valley-Washington DC conversation

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:17:07 -0000

Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Net Neutrality
Software Patent Reform

are tech related subjects I would ask about.