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Real-Time Keynote Blogging, Anyone?

Will anyone be doing any real-time MWSF keynote blogging? In the past, I've logged on to IRC channels, refreshed Web pages, etc. Who will have coverage for those of us not attending? WHO!?!?!?! 😀

10 Days to PulpFiction 1.2: Day 10

On January 20*, we'll be releasing PulpFiction 1.2. On each of the next ten days, I'll be discussing a new feature we've added to my favorite aggregator. Let's start things off with not one feature, but a collection of features:

  • Added "Google This" to web view
  • Changed mail article's subject to Fwd: article title
  • Set page up and page down to scroll the preview pane
  • Added 'category' to template options (^y).

These additions constitute a refinement of what we've got, and our response to some user feedback. "Google This" is a handy contextual menu, for example, and "Fwd: What I Had for Lunch" is a lot more descriptive than "Fwd: PulpFiction Article." Categories can now be used in templates, which is great for the feeds that supply them. As I said, refinement.

There are still nine more days to go. Stay tuned.

* According to plans, anyway. 🙂

George W. Bush, iPodder

Yep. Flip through the pictures and you'll see 'em. It's good to know the Commander in Chief has at least got some good taste.

QotD: Keynote Video Stream

Question: Apple is not having a live streaming version of the MWSF Keynote presentation because it costs too much. Today's question: how much would you pay to watch the stream if a pay option were available?

My Answer: $9.99. Sell it via the iTMS, play the video through iTunes. The infrastructure is probably already (or mostly) there.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Those Tiger Torrent Kids

I just finished reading the interview with one of the folks being sued for distributing Tiger.

Desicanuk … I'm very sorry to hear what has happened to you, and hope that you can come out of this situation a little smarter and wiser.

Let's get real here: they are the ones that "did" the thing, it's not something "happening to" them. Other commenters have said "these guys cost Apple nothing" and so on. That's ridiculous! Furthermore, the guy interviewed said he was a "regular" reader of Mac rumors, etc. Surely he's heard of an NDA and surely he's seen Apple Legal in action before. His attempt to sound naïve is suspect at best.

Apple has a legal obligation to protect its trade secrets (and so on) or else they can no longer claim them as trade secrets. I'd not be surprised if these folks are made an example of, asked to pay a somewhat reasonable penalty fee (I'm not talking millions of dollars), and sent on their way. They broke the law. I'll be disappointed if Apple really comes down on 'em, but so far I've seen no evidence that the penalty has been excessive. They've been handed some papers so far - that's it.

QotD: Playoffs

Question: What are your predictions for the NFL playoffs? Be as vague or as precise as you wish, though "the team with the higher score will win each game" is not as funny as you might think.

My Answer: I'll remain mute on this one for fear of jinxing anything. I'm interested in what y'all think, though.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Random Bits From My World

The other Mac Erik (that I know of) points to Apple's "itpro" page.

The "wolf" in the red shed links back to me (must have missed the TrackBack?) and points out something called "Longhand." I'll have to look into that.

These are some of the worst Apple product fakes I've ever seen, despite what some people want to believe.

I'm with Dan, and this is absolutely disgusting.

Tiger Woods can't putt to save his life this week.

I'm trying to find the best VNC server for Windows XP Home. Any ideas? Ostensibly, the person doing the viewing will be using a Mac. If the server (and client) can work through a Linksys router (on the PC side), that'd be even better.

QotD: Writing

Question: On average, how many words do write (pen/pencil and paper) in a given day?

My Answer: I probably average about ten per day. A phone number, an envelope.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

QotD: Devices

Question: If you could get rid of one "device" in your life, what would it be and why?

My Answer: I'd ditch my… alarm clock. My computer's in another room, so setting alarms on it is impractical. The whole process of setting an alarm - all twelve seconds of it - is silly. I have a dual-alarm clock, too. It'd be nifty if someone could invent an alarm clock that wirelessly grabbed my iCal calendar or something.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

QotD: Nudes

Question: How many of the Top 20 Nude Scenes of 2004 did you see?

My Answer: I saw one: The Girl Next Door. I wanted to see Open Water and Closer. I've never even heard of most of the rest of the movies.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Natalie Gulbis and Ben Roethlisberger

It seems that Rookie of the Year Ben Roethlisberger is dating Hottie of the LPGA Tour, Natalie Gulbis. Gulbis, like Anna Kournikova, is hot, blonde, young, and winless.

Me? I'm much more of a Laura Diaz kinda guy.

No Blogging Solution for this Yet

In addition to the Text Factory issue (see the previous entry), I've got a big problem with the number of ways in which MovableType and ecto are both not helpful in transitioning an existing, static site into blog entries. Today I'm going to move three pages (one for each of three months) into MovableType. The pages each feature about 30-40 pictures (of varying sizes) and ten to fifteen entries.

Using the Web (MT) interface, I can download all of these images and then, one by one, click the "Upload File" thing-a-ma-jig, click "Show me the HTML," copy and paste the HTML, edit the HTML (some images need borders), and then click "Upload another." Using Ecto, I can place images directly, and I eliminate a few steps from the process, but it still takes a long time.

BBEdit Text Factories

I've finally gotten the chance to use a Text Factory in BBEdit, and I must say I'm rather disappointed. Unless I've missed something, I cannot simply do what I'd like to do: process text (or even the selected text) with a Text Factory.

I'm moving an old site to a new site, and in the process, I'm having to zap gremlins, straighten quotes, change encodings, and do lots of other actions. However, the new site is being handled by a CMS, so BBEdit is serving a transitory role: paste text, run various text filters and whatnots, and then copy for pasting into the CMS.

Can't Text Factories simply be run on the file I'm looking at right there in front of me, preferably via a keystroke?

Showtime and iTMS

I wonder if, as a DirecTV subscriber, I'm eligible for this promotion with the iTMS:

Showtime Networks announced today that it has selected Apple gift cards and iTunes Music Store gift certificates for the its first quarter 2005 acquisition campaign. Qualified consumers who sign up to receive Showtime programing and subscribe for at least three months, will get a US$25 gift card good at any of Apple's retail stores in the U.S., or they can choose to receive a $25 iTunes Music Store gift certificate.

In other news, I went out and completely unscientifically moved my satellite dish around a little bit this morning in an attempt to get a better signal. It seems to have worked - I jumped from averaging in the 40s to the 70s and 80s. If the signal craps out again, I'll have to get a little step ladder and really screw the thing in tight when I find the best position. It seems the snow we've gotten has caused either it or the fence to which it's attached to shift a little over time.

QotD: PulpFiction 1.2

Question: What would you like to see in PulpFiction 1.2?

My Answer: The features are already set and nearly all written and tested, so any suggestions we haven't already hit upon will be considered for PulpFiction 1.3. When we get closer to our anticipated release date, I'll let you know what we've done so far for 1.2.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.