I hate iTunes updates

I really do hate iTunes updates. Now don't get me wrong, iTunes itself is great. I use it exclusively for audio files. But whenever it's time to update I feel like I'm working with an anti-virus program or a new OS. The updates take friggin forever. This morning I installed the 6.0.2.23 update. It took forever and made everything else on my computer die.

I'll try to stay on point here, though I may stray in my ranting.

I use windows. Still, a small update (that I won't notice) shouldn't take 15 minutes to install. Moreover, why does QuickTime have to bundle itself anew. QuickTime is a nice program, for some things. But every time I update iTunes, I end up with QuickTime in my quick launch bar, on my desktop, in my program list and on my processes bar. Not only that, but it has decided to elect itself mayor of all the media on my computer. This is the behaviour I would expect from malware.

Every time I update iTunes I get more and more excited about Songbird. This thing is in a "proof of concept" version 0.1, and it is still far superior to Windows Media Player.

Danny Brown - Balancing Point

I saw this video at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Barrie. Really cool. It was just six minutes long, but was easily my favourite part of the festival.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2677576

The video seemed especially cool in light of Cairn, my new place of employ. We should hire Danny to do some rock balancing for us.

Death for Digg

I am constantly amazed by digg.com. Frankly, it is the coolest website I've ever seen. I would go so far as to say I'm addicted. I digg for stories with enthusiasm and read entire comment threads. This stuff (community driven and controlled networks) is changing the internet. But is digg doomed?

The growth of the digg community has been amazing. According to Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson (two of the Head Diggers) there were 30,000 users within 6 months. Today there are close to 5 million page visits per day. Psycho.

Can the future be this bright?

As digg gets more popular, the readership will change. The whole site is designed so that the content is user (audience) driven, and when the audience changes, so will the content. That's the problem.

Digg is so successful, partly, because it gives users control. As the population gets larger, that control diminishes. In the past it has been fun to watch a story I dugg percolate its way to the front page. However, as the community gets larger, my level of control - the effect of my diggs - goes down.

But that's basic democracy. The real problem for digg is that adding a critical mass of new users to the digg community will tangibly change the community. The early community was often very focused on technology, counter culture, the internet, etc. As this community changes, and the focus changes, early users may be turned off and stop using the site. However, the new people were only attracted to the site by the content provided by the old people, and so they leave. Pretty soon, the massive surge in popularity changes what was good and unique about the site, and a descent into oblivion occurs as users look elsewhere.

I think the future of digg-like websites is bright, but I believe a return to niche sites is inevitable. The critical mass of users, those who jump on the bandwagon rather than build it, will ultimately drag the site down. Perhaps the traditional media was right all along to appeal to the common denominator and achieve steady - if uninteresting, unchallenging and unimportant - results.

But that is just a sad thought. Until this day of bleakness and mourning I will be diligently digging away.

April Fool's

Is anything tougher than being an internet user on April 1st? Every year we hear reports of things wild and wacky - which we quickly pass on - only to remember too late that it is April Fool's Day. I usually do a pretty good job of saving face, but only because I'm slow to post. If I were more ambitious there would definitely be blog evidence of my gullibility.

All I have so far:
BoingBoing Spoof
April Power Hacks!

And a collection of online April Fool's pranks.

THE MEATRIX

This is an advocacy film about the practices involved in modern factory farming. Even more fun, it's a spoof of The Matrix. The video clip is a few minutes long, but nicely scripted and subtly funny.
Check out: THE MEATRIX

G. B. Shaw

"Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not. G.B Shaw"
Link.:

I am a Total Geek

It's official. I even have the proof. My score of 33% placed me squarely within the range of "Total Geek".
Take the test, let me know your score.
INNERGEEK: home of the Geek Test

I'm a Genius (Sometimes)

Every so often I stumble onto brilliance. This is one of those times. Sadly, I lack the motivation and the know-how to pull this off...so feel free to pawn this idea as your own and reap the glorious rewards.
Hold a photo contest in the Subway system of any major city. All of you meet at a specific station at 11:00am, pay your few bucks to ride around for a few hours and meet at a totally separate station somehwere across the city whenever you are done. As a group go for a few drinks and then (depending on your access to technology) have a gallery of what you shot.
I think it would be pretty cool.
(Inspiration from here and here.)

London

Over the hurried feet bridge and into the rushing across the wet city -
taxi cabs and big, red, slippery bus streets.
So many stories.
Bad coffee through a window sipped at St. Paul's slowly gazing.
Busy back-and-forth wet hair of dripping traffic on the street -
a river runs through it.
Fleet Street heads down, dailies hawked splashing in the rain.
Construction briefcases everywhere, in every hand.
Where is the Strand?
(2005)

Jason Bradbury: World's First Phone Glove!

Look what I found.

Makes you wonder where technology will leave spy films.
Jason Bradbury: World's First Phone Glove!
This site will walk you through the construction of your very own glove phone. It has a switch in the knuckle that allows the phone to be answered with a flick of the wrist. Connects to any phone with Bluetooth. A whole new meaning to the term "talk to the hand".