ping.fm begging

I was interested in examining the ping.fm site features, especially tying this blog, my facebook and twitter together. Well, you need one of these beta codes to get in on the fun. The best part is that they encourage you to beg for one, which I thought was genius. So here is my begging effort:

I could write a long diatribe and divert all writing effort away from my overdue blog posting efforts, but I won't do that. I wouldn't waste your time with a long plea for a beta code. I mean, life is too short and we just don't know when the end will come, and I know I don't have time to sit around and wait for you to send me some sort of beta code like I'm a plebian and you are my centurion overlord. Who do you think you are, telling me that I can't use ping.fm? What makes you so special and me so pathetic? Listen, I'm the customer and the customer is always right, right? Give me a break already, this is going nowhere. I watch Adult Swim and I use Tweeter; isn't that enough basis to know that I'm part of the cool crowd? I'm going to The Cure concert tonight in Dallas, and if you need more proof than that to make you know how much I don't need or want one of your precious beta codes, then you just don't *get it*. Anyway, if you would send me one of those beta codes, I'll see what I can do to help you out.

I'll update with any results I acheive.

UPDATE 6/15/2008 Success!

Giving Disqus a Try (redux)

Giving Disqus a try (too). I think the only reason I've avoided a deluge of comment spam or stalkers is because my blog is utterly irrelevant and uninteresting. At least that's what my AdSense account tells me...

So Long DOT.TUNES

I fired up DOT.TUNES Version 4 this morning to share some music with my daughter. I've written previously on the pros and cons of this software. It works well enough so I use it. Then today, I get this bullshit:


Which makes no sense to me because at no point during the original install was there any mention of "expiration". Since I'm firmly entrenched in the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" camp I'm irritated by this mystery arbitrary expiration. Regardless, I go to the indicated URL, because maybe there's some heartbreaking security problem and upgrading is something essential. Maybe I go there because I'm a sheep.

The page primarily references downloading an ostensibly new product called Hook Up, a Mac OSX product which is useless to me. Below the fold there's a banner for the DOT.TUNES v4 product that interests me. The odd lack of prominence for v4 doesn't give me hope they plan on continuing their free license for v4 over the long haul. They might as well have their hyperlink in the closet, buried under cleaning products, an old broom and a mop that's seen better days. I follow the link.

Right off, I'm irritated as all get out. The DOT.TUNES v4 page has music automatically playing like a shitty MySpace wasteland. Not even good music; I thought a rat was chewing on my woofer cables at first. So be it, I find the pause icon and end that nonsense.

The first thing I notice, and maybe most people don't notice these things, is that there's not a stitch of information about DOT.TUNES v4 being new in any sort of way. No new anything. I click on their blog to see what announcements might be relevant to why perfectly good software has suddenly threw up on its own shoes. The light bulb goes on.

Because it's free (as in beer), there's always been a hidden expiration as a marketing tool to force you back to the mother ship if you want to use the software. Very uncool. I could see doing this, but making it up front when you install it (so you can make an informed decision). I could see a expiration that forces an announcement to freebie users. I could see a nag screen that can only be removed by returning to their new product screen and subsequently upgrading.

But, I can't see using a hidden expiration to disable perfectly good software for marketing purposes. That's flat out sheisty. So, goodbye DOT.TUNES. I will not be upgrading. I will not be using or recommending your firm's software to anyone, ever. I know that I wasn't part of your revenue stream, nor was I going to be anytime soon - so you might say good riddance to me. But maybe if enough bloggers (who also aren't in your revenue stream) expose how devious your firm operates, your bottom line will be diminished.

Despite my already enduring love of open source software, it still takes an occasional kick in the groin to remember why.

Adelfa Callejo's Enemies List Shrinks by Two

Oops, where's that missing billion dollars of light rail?

I wrote previously about an obvious example of bigotry in Dallas, but it gets even uglier. Here's a retort to Callejo by a well-connected in-the-news activist blogger in Dallas, Rufus Shaw. Shaw was a huge supporter that helped the current Dallas Mayor, Tom Leppert, get elected. The retort clearly reflects the palpable Latino-Black mistrust going on in Dallas that Adelfa articulated.

You could almost take the retort seriously except the author and his wife, Lynn, double-suicided (or murder-suicided in some combination) a couple of days ago, about a week after it was written. Evidence of corruption on multiple high-profile fronts was hitting closer and closer to home for the couple, and apparently it was too much for their fragile egos to face the music.

Congratulations to Jim Schutze of Unfair Park for the literal bleeding-edge journalism.

Is My Blog Me Or Am I My Blog?

What is the correlation between shame and narcissism?

I like to think of myself as a generally smart guy even when it comes to how-the-Internet-works sorts of things. That was, until I started this blog. Through blogging I have this friend that exposes my profound lack of knowledge of Internet jargon. He's always saying things like OMGWTFBBQ! which makes me feel old and too tired to be anywhere near the BlogoSphere.

So I'm not feeling smart today, and I try to stoke the flame of narcissism by seeing who is linking to my blog. It just so happens I'm the 640 millionth InterWebian™ that's learned I can do this through Technorati. I see a few of the usual suspects (see friend-o-jargon above) and one completely unexpected blog, The Intent of Content, that has my blog gloriously exalted under My Online Addictions. So I take a read, all sorts of deep well-written thoughts on gaming intricacies right up my alley. My narcissistic heartbeat is aflutter...OMGWTFBBQ!

Then the shame sets in, wondering why I give a shit about some stranger who is addicted to my blog. What is wrong with me that this matters? I tell my kids to consider the source when they are complimented or insulted so they don't get a big head or suffer pointlessly by evaluating others' relevance. Why am I ignoring my own advice? Then I take my advice (which tastes like one of the yucky vitamins - I need to remember that).

Back to my well-worn ass-groove on the couch-of-indifference-and-apathy I return, satisfied that I'm tuned into the BlogoSphere just enough to stay young and making sure that I'm not buying a bit of it.

Losing an Hour of Sleep Is Insane

When will we waterboard the guy who invented the daylight savings time formula?

I try to read few blogs regularily, because mostly they are crap, but one that tends to push the idea envelope more times than not is Mark Cuban's blog. However one thing about him that always sticks in my craw is the love affair he (and his HDNet) has with Dan Rather programming. Identifying Dan Rather in the same paragraph with the occupation of news reporter is tantamount to the same as using Karl Rove and civil servant.

His attempt to re-legitimize Dan Rather through HDNet programming is a pathetic shining example of how media moguls will do anything, no matter how toxic, to hang on to what they've got.

Reader Smashes Surfing

Or is Reader the new Surfing?

I have been using Google Reader for a few months now. This follows several previous uneventful fruitless attempts to use a news reader of some sort for the past few years. It seems like GR is a perfect fit for me. Maybe I just wasn't ready for a reader before now. Either way, I think that in addition to GR itself a strategy that I've formulated on how I read seems as equally important. Here are my strategies for how I read using GR.


Create some tags.

The number and type of categories I used fluctuated quite a bit in the beginning. However, after consideration and trials of different techniques my current categories have remained stable for months. I'll identify each tag and its role in my reading proclivities.

I've decided that there are nine large content categories in my world. For each of these categories I make a GR tag (which looks like a folder). The categories are: Aggregators, Comics, Culture,Forum,Humor, News, Opinion, Sports and Technology.

Additionally, I have created some special GR tags which represent something different than previously listed content-oriented tags. They are Favorite, Unassigned and Unsubscribed.

Aggregators are high volume feeds that are essentially content-less but have potentially interesting links to content. I spend very little time keeping up with or spending time on aggregators, but every once in while they can be fun and nothing gets me in and out of such a fancy quicker than a GR tag that groups them up for me. Aggregators were a wonderful way to get a jump on finding content when starting out using a reader, but in the end they have a low signal to noise ratio compared to an existing rich set of refined subscriptions.

Comics feeds are something I'm always looking to grow. Comics are the only thing I miss in the whole death throw of the the newspaper business. I never fall more than a day or two behind on my Comics.

Culture feeds are somewhat of a catch-all for me because they represent interesting content that is somewhat difficult for me categorize. Generally, this is how I tag my creative art and writing related feeds. I might catch up on Culture monthly. Mostly I despise the artsy crowd, even as I pine to join them.


Forum feeds represent somewhat of a dying and perhaps soon to die need for me. I am down to participating on a single forum. The roundabout blog reading, commenting and trackback dynamic actually suits me better than forums. Forums, especially the technical ones, are overwhelmed with illiterate and lazy posters these days - so meaningful forum participants have become nearly extinct.


Humor feeds are generally satirical and the most coveted to me. Do not confuse Humor and Comics. I generally catch up on Humor on the weekends or during the work day if it is a particularly bad one.

News feeds are extremely high volume and do not receive much attention unless some event is on-going that I want the latest. So the News tag mostly sits there, poised for usefulness but isn't a daily or even weekly read for me. Whenever I read an article from any News outlet, I generally add them to GR. I do not otherwise actively add News feeds.

Opinion feeds are also extremely high volume and I try to cherry pick, usually by title, a few articles a week to read. The overwhelming majority of Opinion feed content is never read.

Sports feeds are high volume and generally unread unless I'm looking for a story on something.

Technology feeds are generally blogs by geeks that I read. However, sometimes they are corporate feeds from tech firms I have a vested interest in following. I definitely cherry pick by title on these and skip over 90% of posts.

If any of the feeds already tagged in one of the preceding content categories and is read often enough, I tag it additionally with Favorite. My first GR activity is to read my Favorites. These feeds should be considered recommended by me.

When I run across and subscribe to a new feed, I immediately tag it Unassigned. Eventually, I will review it and see if I want to categorize it with one of my content tags. If I decide it isn't worth reading I tag it Unsubscribed, so that if I accidentally subscribe to it again I'll know where it belongs. Either way, once I make a decision I remove the Unassigned tag. Unsubscribed feeds would be analogous to an anti-Favorite.

I don't think I'm maximizing on the variety of feeds out there, and I'm sure I'll expand my categories as needed as I grow with GR.


Subscribe to Feeds

GR comes with a handy link that I've added to my browser's toolbar, Subscribe. With it, I can simply click it when I'm on a blog and it starts the process of subscribing it to my GR.

I tend to subscribe to feeds linked from feeds I already read and enjoy. It's a process of an ever-growing network of subscriptions.

Here are feed tendencies that tend to attract me:

• Originality - topics not covered elsewhere are best
  
• Quality Writing - proper spelling, rich vocabulary and a complete lack of both SMS-speak and classic ESL
  
• Content - the content:link ratio needs to be extremely high
  
• Voice - I need to hear the writer's voice when I read
  
• Low Volume - A feed with 1-3 articles per week is ideal
  

There was a time when blogs where supposed to be about a diary of links on where you surfed and not much other content. For me that is repugnant. I don't really care where you surf. I care what you think.


Share Your Feeds

GR comes equipped with the ability to share what feeds you are subscribed as well as share individual articles in those feeds. For instance, earlier in this article I share my feed subscriptions by tag, using hyperlinks that GR gave me. For sharing articles, there's a handy "Share" button on any article you are reading. An example of sharing articles is on the right side bar of my blog, What I'm Reading Now. It is an auto magical feed presentation of particular articles I am interested sharing. It is all very easy and real-time to do this sort of sharing, which is a great design.