Disqus - Latest Comments for jabancroft

Re: HOLY CRAP: The founder of Craigslist just tweeted at me

jabancroft — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:04:24 -0000

Tell him. Craig is about the nicest guy on the internet. :-)

Re: There's a missing product (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:33:36 -0000

I accomplish this with a folder named "--ShortList" in my feed reader (the "--" makes it appear at the top of an alphabetical list). In it, I place the feeds that I never want to miss. Stuff that I always want to read. People who I want to stay in close contact with. The stuff I read first thing in the morning. It's worked very well for years, but I can see what you're saying about needing a more formal structure for something like this. Something good to think about and chew on...

Re: Title of podcast goes here.

dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:58:18 -0000

Yes, I'm drinking coffee right now, and will have the podcast up there
as my first to-do list item. Thanks for checking it out! :-)

Re: Title of podcast goes here.

jabancroft — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:38:49 -0000

Buh-oh. The feed doesn't seem to be working yet. "The requested URL /rss.xml was not found on this server."

You two are the biggest RSS geeks I know. I'm sure it will be up and running soon. :-)

Re: Tech heroes who blog? (Scripting News)

Josh Bancroft — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:34:51 -0000

First person I thought of when I read this is John Gruber at DaringFireball.net. He's at the very top of my list of people who write about and understand Apple's role in the world of tech.

Re: Today's Morning Coffee Notes podcast (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:32:40 -0000

Just listened to this podcast today in the car. Even though I've heard it before (mostly from you), the idea of an amateur hyperlocal news room/assignment desk sat down on top of my head so hard that it made my shoulders slump. You're right. That is a future of news. At least, a big part of it.

What do you think about some of the "hyperlocal" news experiments out there? NeighborhoodNotes.com is one that's been running here in Portland for a while. I don't know exactly how they operate, or if it's similar to what you talk about in the podcast. There's also EveryBlock.com, which I heard about today when they announced an iPhone app that takes your GPS location, and shows you news stories near you (sadly, it only supports a small number of cities, and Portland isn't one of them. Yet. :-).

Tons of stuff for my brain to chew on. Thanks for the ideas, Dave! :-)

Re: Doing my part to help revive the economy (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:37:31 -0000

There's a new crop of Atom-powered small PCs, like the Mac Mini, that have the Nvidia ION chipset for graphics that people are excited about. Engadget just reviewed the first one, the Acer AspireRevo: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/acer-aspirer...

The notable thing about it is the ability to use the 9400M video chipset to decode HD video (if you use the right software), which is something the Atom CPU has a hard time with if it has to do it all itself.

I'm toying with the idea of getting one of these to hook up to my TV/home theater. They're only $299 (not sure when they'll be widely available in the U.S., but soon), connect via HDMI, etc.

Also, I have a Flip Mino HD, and I love it. It's an amazing little camera, small enough to carry in my pocket everywhere, and I think you'd like it. Imagine being able to capture little HD video clips of spontaneous moments, instead of just snapping an iPhone pic to share/remember the scene.

Re: I got a Kindle 2 (Scripting News)

Herne — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:52:27 -0000

Oh, I dunno... the price for one, I can buy a Netbook for the cost of a Kindle and do hundreds more things with it. Second, it doesn't work outside of the USA, apparently the rest of the world doesn't exist. It doesn't need 3G, it's just bloated tech.

Does one ever really own a book? Yes, I own hundreds of books. Some even appreciate in value as time goes on. I can pass them on to my friends or family. What does a DRM'ed eBook do? Nothing. It's a rental.

Amazon is trying to do for books what Apple did for music and it's not gonna fly.

Re: I got a Kindle 2 (Scripting News)

Herne — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:50:39 -0000

Re: I got a Kindle 2 (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:41:31 -0000

How is the Kindle "crippled"? What can't it do that you expect it to do?

And with all of the free (Creative Commons, public domain, or otherwise free) books out there, its entirely possible to own, use, and enjoy a Kindle without ever buying a book from the Kindle store.

If nothing else, it's a "hitchhiker's guide" web device, with free 3G cellular wireless, as depicted in yesterday's XKCD comic:

http://xkcd.com/548/

:-)

Re: I got a Kindle 2 (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:32:43 -0000

Congrats on your Kindle! I've had one since April, and there are a ton of "hidden" features that you're going to love. Here's a braindump. :-)

First, yes, you can copy MP3s to it, and play them. Not sure what the interface is for this on the Kindle 2, but the capability is there. It also supports Audible audiobooks (the DRM'ed kind) if you authorize the Kindle with their Windows app.

Don't pay to subscribe to any blogs. None of them are worth it, IMO, in light of the fact that the Kindle has a Sprint EVDO cellular connection, unlimited wireless usage, and a suprisingly capable web browser built in. You can just read your favorite sites directly, or use a web based feed reader. I suspect your NYTimes River site would perform beautifully on the Kindle, though I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't tried it yet. :-)

The browser has two modes - Advanced (which supports javascript and CSS, to a degree), and Basic, which is roughly equivalent to a mobile phone browser, like on a BlackBerry. Basic mode often works best for layout-heavy sites, though you can switch back and forth between modes pretty easily. If your favorite sites offer mobile phone friendly versions (like m.twitter.com, fftogo.com, m.google.com, etc.), your best bet is probably to use Basic mode and the mobile versions of sites.

As you've already noticed, it just shows up as a removeable drive when you plug it into a computer, and that's an easy way to manage your content. It will display/read TXT, HTML, DOC, MOBI, JPG, and I think a few other formats natively.

Notably, it won't read PDFs without converting them first. But luckily, this is easy. When you bought the Kindle, you got a couple of email addresses for converting documents. Send a PDF (or any other doc type that Amazon can convert to Kindle format) to yourusername@kindle.com, and Amazon will convert it, and deliver it to your Kindle wirelessly. Nominally, there is a $0.10 charge for delivering a doc this way, but I don't think Amazon is actually charging people for it (I don't think they've ever charged me, and I do it all the time). If you want to avoid the $0.10 fee, send the file to yourusername@free.kindle.com, and Amazon will convert it, and send it back to you, for free. You can then connect your Kindle via USB and load the file that way.

The Kindle file format, .AZW files, is actually pretty much the same as .MOBI files, which are used by other ebook platforms (notably, MobiPocket, Stanza on the iPhone, etc.). Non-DRMed MOBI files work just fine on the Kindle. Some Kindle books (the ones that don't offer a free sample download) actually don't have any DRM on them. But regular AZW books from the Amazon store do have DRM, similar to Apple's iTunes DRM, which allows you to authorize up to 5 devices on your account, and read your purchases there.

From what I've read, the OS is Linux, with the Kindle app/interface itself written in Java. There are a few good Kindle hacking howtos out there, that tell you how to access things like the terminal, the hidden Minesweeper game, use the cellular radio to track your location on Google Maps, etc. The processor is ARM based, I think, probably about 400MHz, similar to the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices. I don't know of anyone who has actually written code that runs on the Kindle, but there are some interesting hacks out there. I highly recommend Len Edgerly's Kindle Chronicles podcast/blog for tips and info. He's the Man.

Two "hacks" you'll want to check out right away are FeedBooks.com and KindleFeeder.com.

FeedBooks is an online repository of free books - mostly Creative Commons and Public Domain stuff. All legit - no pirated books here. Their Kindle Download Guide (http://feedbooks.com/help/kindle) is very clever. It's a Kindle book itself, a downloadable copy of their listings of what books you have. You grab that, put it on your Kindle, and then either open it up and browse (by author, genre, etc.), or use the Kindle's search function (it indexes and searches across every book on your Kindle) to search for a book. When you find a book you want to download in the FeedBooks Guide, there's a direct download link right there, and in seconds, the book is there. It's a like a free Kindle bookstore. And there's a link a the beginning of the guide itself to download the latest version, to keep up to date.

The other hack is KindleFeeder.com. It's basically a free way to subscribe to blogs and other feed content. Rather than being limited to what feeds Amazon chooses to offer, and paying for blogs (which I think is absurd - I'm happy to pay for books and magazines, but not blogs), KindleFeeder lets you build a list of feeds, then periodically creates a Kindle file with the latest from those feeds, and sends it to your Kindle using the @kindle.com method (you have to whitelist their email address, to allow it to send books to your Kindle). I haven't actually used this, since I read my feeds in Google Reader on my iPhone, but I admire their chutzpah. :-)

Anyway, that's a whole lot of random stuff from my brain. The Kindle is capable of a LOT more than most people think it is (web browsing via free 3G/EVDO, etc.). Mine is full of tons and tons of Creative Commons and other books, and pretty much lives in my cargo pants pocket, and goes with me wherever I go. Kindle didn't turn me into a voracious reader (I have always been one, since I was a child) or convert me to eBooks (I've read hundreds on various PDA and phone devices over the years), but it does what it does VERY well, and I love mine. I'm not quite ready to drop $360 to upgrade from my Kindle 1 yet (though I want to!), but I love the platform, and I think if anyone has a chance of getting ebooks "right", it's Amazon and the Kindle.

Now, if they'd just get around to writing an iPhone application that lets me read/sync my Kindle books there, too, for the rare times I forget to take my Kindle with me... :-)

Have fun, Dave, and let us know what cool stuff you do with your Kindle!

Re: Twitter API for the social graph (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:18:03 -0000

My friend, @tersteeg, changed his Twitter name from @mediumtall. I don't know what happened to links to his old tweets. And could I now change my name to his old name and usurp his old tweet permalinks?Hmm... Now you've got me wondering. Time for some experimentation! :-)

Re: Twitter API for the social graph (Scripting News)

dave — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:44:47 -0000

Interesting. Do people actually do that? All links to your tweets would break of course. Would you want that to happen?

Re: Twitter API for the social graph (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:30:14 -0000

Perhaps they use the user ID as the key because people can (and do) change their Twitter name/handle, which also changes their URL and anything else keyed off of that. For example, I could change my Twitter name from jabancroft to joshfromportland, and my new URL, http://twitter.com/joshfromportland would still contain all of my past tweets, I'd retain all of the people that I follow, and who follow me.

Re: MSI Wind goes back (Scripting News)

kabon — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:58:34 -0000

Thanks for this, needed the comparison fact.

Re: Officially Lucky, a blog by Clint Ecker

jabancroft — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:55:08 -0000

I read "we had to break it in half", and thought you put it through the same torture testing you do on iPhones and iPods. And then I wondered why I missed that part in the review. :-)

Re: Why I like netbooks (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:48:50 -0000

A netbook conference, eh? That is a BRILLIANT idea. It started wheels turning, anyway... :-)

Re: MSI Wind goes back (Scripting News)

dave — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:52:18 -0000

Yes I saw that comparison, but I really wanted to try something other than an Asus. Part of the purpose of all this is to get educated on the category, I'm sure it's going to continue to evolve rapidly, and expect to buy one every few months for a while, kind of the way I was buying Macs a couple of years ago. These are so cheap they cost a little bit more than one night in a hotel in a city and they make traveling so much more enjoyable. Maybe I'll go for an Acer next? I'm also interested in getting one with a 3.5G capability. I know it's a ripoff, but I think it's really cool to to have one of these that has all the networking built in and can communcate anywyere there's a cell tower. Then it really will be like an iPhone that's a real computer (that I can write software for without selling my soul to Apple).

Re: MSI Wind goes back (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:26:43 -0000

Here's a comparison of the MSI Wind and the Eee PC 1000:

http://www.liliputing.com/2008/10/msi-wind-vs-a...

Re: MSI Wind goes back (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:12:48 -0000

Wow, that's bizarre. At least you got it figured out.

Ever thought about the Eee PC 1000H? It has what people like about the MSI Wind: 10" screen, larger, more usable keyboard, etc. And a hard drive (buy a 320GB drive for $90, easy to swap/upgrade) or SSD, depending on your preference. 6 cell battery, too, for same long battery life. The guts of it (motherboard, wireless card, etc.) are pretty much identical to the 901, so you could avoid the weird problem with your network (hopefully). The Eee PC 1000H goes for around $450 on Amazon, NewEgg, etc. and is just about the most popular netbook out there right now. Just make sure you get one with the Atom processor, not a Celeron or A110. Atom = great performance AND tremendous battery life.

Re: Updated Gadget Bag

Josh Bancroft — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:09:48 -0000

Nice bag.

Got a link to those power adapters? I might pick up a few. Can never have too many of those, and I like how much smaller they are. :-)

Re: Asus passed another test (Scripting News)

dave — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:42:22 -0000

Josh, the website is entirely in French so it's hard for me to tell if they ship to the US.

I'd probably go for another battery just like the 6-cell one that comes with the computer.

Any ideas where I can get one of those?

Re: Asus passed another test (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:26:20 -0000

I have an Eee PC 901, too, and it is an amazing little computer. The battery life is easily the best feature. I credit the Atom procesor (even though I work for Intel, I'm not just trying to shill here). A Core 2 Duo laptop chip (like in a MacBook Pro) runs at about 35 Watts. The Atom processor in the Eee PC runs at 2 Watts, and can scale down to 500 milliwatts (0.5 Watts) dynamically if it's not being worked hard. Amazing. :-)

I saw news yesterday of a 3rd party company called Bluetrade selling 8 cell 9800 milliamp-hour extended batteries for the Eee PC 901 (the one it comes with is a 6 cell 6600mAH) for $140. That's almost 50% more capacity than the already huge 6600mAH battery. Should easily be good for 7 or 8 hours solid usage. Here's the link:

http://www.liliputing.com/2008/09/3rd-party-980...

If you're going to get an extended battery for your Eee PC 901, that might be the one to go for, if you don't mind a little extra size/weight. Of course, just having an identical spare of the original battery would work, too. :-)

Re: The Asus works (Scripting News)

Steven Pemberton — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:04:10 -0000

+1 to Picasa

Re: The Asus works (Scripting News)

jabancroft — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:29 -0000

Glad to hear you're liking the Eee PC. I have the Linux version of the 901, which has a little more drive space (20GB total, instead of 12GB).

For a photo program, I highly recommend Google's Picasa (http://picasa.google.com). It's free, powerful, and should be great for what you're doing. It's kind of like iPhoto for Windows (and there's a LInux version, too). In fact, it's the ONE Windows app I still sometimes miss after switching to Mac (even though I've grown to like iPhoto). Give it shot!