b.cognosco
Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Sunday, December 11, 2005
Skype 1.4 Much Improved
Just completed a 50-minute Skype conversation with Matt Mower that went flawlessly. Not one drop-out, hang-up, freeze or crash. CPU usage on my machine stayed at 6%-12% - a great improvement over the 50%+ that was common on earlier versions. And the sound quality through my Telex headset was excellent. This was a consumer-grade mainstream experience, not the early-adopter experience I've always had with Skype. Nice.
Terry Frazier at 2:28 PM
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RocketPost vs. BlogJet
I downloaded RocketPost today, to close an open item from October regarding a complaint from BlogJet author Dmitry Chestnykh and response from Manesh Vij of Anconcia, authors of RocketPost. While downloading and installing I revisited this issue - checked the ads, the Anconia site, etc. The disputed Google AdWords ad still appears at the top of a search for BlogJet claiming "Faster than BlogJet." The Anconia web page still says, "The only blog editor with WYSIWYG editing, full local editing and full blog import." - which appears to be valid from the description provided. The result - Chestnykh does seem to overstate his complaint - RocketPost does not claim to be the first WYSIWYG editor - but Vij does have a misleading "comparison chart" on the RocketPost site.Anconia claims some interesting features for RocketPost, including local management of posts (by downloading local copies from the server) and cross-posting. I was unable to test or validate most of them because I couldn't configure RocketPost to work correctly. My experience is that the published blog APIs are still pretty loose - lots of things are unspecificed and prone to breakage - but RocketPost offers the lowest level of API support among the editors I've tried. The only API seems to be MetaWeblog, and while I did get a server connection and sent messages to the server, I wasn't able to successfully make or retrieve blog posts. I'll have to wait for broader or better API support to see if the speed claims are accurate.
Friday, December 9, 2005
Yahoo! buys del.icio.us
Another good idea gets bought. Much like the flickr deal, this one makes sense. Unlike the flickr deal, we shouldn't hear a lot of whining from existing users. Yahoo is unlikely to start charging for bookmarking service, instead working to integrate it into all their other services. And the backing of a BigCo like the Y! means delicious is likely to be around for a long time, so I don't have to worry about my bookmarks disappearing one day.Yahoo! buys del.icio.us
Yahoo! has bought social bookmarking site del.icio.us for an undisclosed amount. Joshua Schachter posted an announcement to the del.icio.us blog and mentions Yahoo!'s ability to help del.icio.us scale and keep pace with it's growing user base and site usage. Jeremy Zawodny welcomed the del.icio.us team on the Yahoo! Search blog and notes Yahoo! properties My Web and Flickr are natural matches for Joshua and del.icio.us.
Terry Frazier at 10:10 PM
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Thursday, December 8, 2005
Recording via Odeo Studio
ATL podcast maven Hilary at podcrawl has recorded a test cast using Odeo Studio. Its just a blah-blah podcast, but the sound quality is excellent. Compared to the horrible, crappy sound I got trying to record Skype conversations, telephone conversations, etc. this sounds fantastic. Its not what you can get with $500 worth of equipment and a little home studio, but its damn good. The podcast did not come through with her RSS feed I had to go to the Odeo site to hear it. But maybe thats just a configuration glitch. Im going to try this out. If its as easy, and good, as it sounds you could be recording all kinds of quick, easy instructional or inspirational audio with almost no effort.Recording from Odeo Studio
Create I did, from Odeo Studio tonight. Just a quick shoutout to my peeps. If you are subscribed, you should have gotten it through the feed. If not, you can go here to listen.
This was so simple. It really does allow the average person to podcast without much in the way of equipment or knowledge of the traditional recording process. Back in June, Ross Mayfield said "Podcast is the new voicemail". Being able to create audio in such a short amount of time was blissful in comparison to the time I put into preparation, recording, editing and posting my first podcast, not to mention the software/hardware purchase, setup and configuration. Tonight I went to Odeo Studio, pressed record, talked a bit, then hit save. This opens podcasting to the masses.
I will never forget the birthday song my brother left on my answering machine several years ago. He called me on my birthday and since I wasn't home, he picked up his guitar and sang to me through my answering machine. Sadly, the song is long gone because it was on a crappy, little tape. Next year, I'll send him to Odeo so I will be able to save my birthday song mp3.
Once again, I am impressed with Odeo. Great job guys!
Terry Frazier at 8:07 PM
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