The Sebastian - Technology

The Sebastian - Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/ A fresh look into Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Technology in the flat world en Serendipity 1.0-beta3 - http://www.s9y.org/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:19:31 GMT http://www.thesebastian.com/templates/default/img/s9y_banner_small.png RSS: The Sebastian - Technology - A fresh look into Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Technology in the flat world http://www.thesebastian.com/ 100 21 More on the Google App Engine http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/49-More-on-the-Google-App-Engine.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/49-More-on-the-Google-App-Engine.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=49 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=49 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Read this article:<a href="http://www.dougma.com/archives/81" target="_blank">http://www.dougma.com/archives/81</a>Doug does a terrific technical analysis.<a href="http://www.dougma.com/archives/81" target="_blank"></a> Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:19:31 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/49-guid.html Some thoughts on the Google Web App Engine http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/48-Some-thoughts-on-the-Google-Web-App-Engine.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/48-Some-thoughts-on-the-Google-Web-App-Engine.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=48 1 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=48 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Google recently launched their <a title="Google App Engine" target="_blank" href="http://code.google.com/appengine/">Google App Engine</a>, a Python-based web application development framework you can use to easily create your own web application and, most importantly, deploy to Google's own scalable infrastructure. For free, you get 500MB of persistent storage space and enough bandwidth and CPU power to support about 5 million page views per month. This is a terrific initiative from Google which could easily extend their advertisement space, but could also enable developers to potentially earn revenue as well from simple web applications they develop and deploy by leveraging on the readily available infrastructure. What's also interesting is that the environment has native support to interact with Google accounts, meaning that developers can leverage from the Google account infrastructure to manage the users registration, login, logout, security, etc., but also to profit from the huge, established user base. On the other hand, Google gets new users as applications become popular and new users which did not have a Google account before register for using the application. This is clearly a very smart move from Google and, depending on implementation details, could work as a great viral marketing strategy, besides the data collection / analysis and advertising potential behind the applications and users.There is also a <a title="Web App Gallery" target="_blank" href="http://appgallery.appspot.com/">web app gallery</a>. This new platform, combined with other google services such as gmail and the <a title="Open Social" target="_blank" href="http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/">Open Social</a> initiative seem to align into a plan where Google gets to play more strongly on the social networking space, probably competing more closely with Facebook. We have seen this game before: provide the infrastructure, the environment, the buzz, the documentation, the goodies, the networking, then enable third-parties to develop things on top, then benefit from the power of the whole network. See, for example, the <a href="http://java.sun.com/products/javacard/" target="_blank">Java Card Technology</a>.Maybe this is pushing it a bit too much, but I also think it is interesting to think about all this having in mind that also more and more PC desktop applications are moving to the web (see, for example, <a title="Photoshop express" target="_blank" href="https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html">Adobe's photoshop express</a>). Thinking of it that way, Google seems to be positioning itself as the Microsoft of the future online "OS", which turns out to be a web app framework with social networking capabilities and a terrific scalable platform behind it... Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:12:16 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/48-guid.html IP-address reverse lookup: Who's behind an IP address? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/46-IP-address-reverse-lookup-Whos-behind-an-IP-address.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/46-IP-address-reverse-lookup-Whos-behind-an-IP-address.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=46 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=46 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Clients and friends have asked me, on different occasions: Can I / How do I perform a reverse look-up from an IP address. In other words, Can I know who's behind an IP address? Sometimes this comes from curiosity (e.g.: analysing a web server log file), or sometimes from attempting to control abuse / spam on other systems. Since this seems to be a common question, here go my two googable cents...The short answer is, yes, you can. One of the simplest ways to do a reverse look-up on an IP address is by using the whois service from ARIN (American Registry for Internet Addresses). Go to:<a title="Whois service from ARIN" target="_blank" href="http://ws.arin.net/whois/">http://ws.arin.net/whois/</a>Enter the IP address and hit the Submit Query button. Depending on the IP address you have entered, you will get a more precise or less precise answer. Sometimes you might get, for example, a company name (meaning that IP address belongs to the company network), or an university name (meaning the IP address belongs to the university network), or an internet provider which provides access to several consumers (less detail). In any case, this is the starting point to figure out a first contact, then if you need so, you could try figuring out some more information by contacting the listed entity. Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:13:38 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/46-guid.html A fun SEO service SPAM http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/44-A-fun-SEO-service-SPAM.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/44-A-fun-SEO-service-SPAM.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=44 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=44 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) <div></div><div>I usually don't read SPAM, but this one was truly funny so I thought I should share it. I wonder if unsolicited e-mailing is among one of their so-called "valuable closely held trade secrets"! Funniest thing is that they even have the courage to try positioning themselves as an elite service by talking about how other firms may use "link farms" and other "black hat" methods, when they are spamming to start with!</div><div></div><div></div><div>Oh ... and .. yes, I was almost forgetting, they offer SEO services but they don't have a website? And they are using gmail for that?? Ha ha ha! </div><div></div><div>BTW, feel free to contact me if you would like to talk about my non-BS SEO services --I wont claim to have "valuable closely held trade secrets"!.</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>++ quote (like the ol' fax days ha!):</div><div></div><div></div><div>Dear Website Owner,</div> <div> </div> <div> If I could get you five times the RELEVANT traffic at a substantially reduced cost would you be interested? National Positions can place your website on top of the Natural Listings on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Our Search Engine Optimization team delivers more top rankings than anyone else and we can prove it. We do not use "link farms" or "black hat" methods that Google and the other search engines frown upon and can use to de-list or ban your site. The techniques are proprietary, involving some valuable closely held trade secrets. Our prices are less than half of what other companies charge.</div> <div> </div> <div> I would be happy to send you a proposal using the top search phrases for your area of expertise. Please contact me at your convenience so I can start saving you some money. Please do not hesitate to email or call me if you would like further information. </div> <div> </div> <div> Sincerely, Patrick Negron Director Sales</div> <div> </div> <div> National Positions 26500 W. Agoura Road Suite 102-547 Calabasas, California 91302 </div> <div> </div> <div> Phone 866-669-8789 x108</div> <div>Toll Free - 866.446.2885 <a href="http://thesebastian.com/.webmail/reademail.php?folder=Inbox&id=31&cache=1e5701c7ee1c%244646f9a0%24af01a8c0@CT192">patricknegron1@gmail.com</a> Profitable Internet Marketing</div> Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:47:32 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/44-guid.html Do you Wilf? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/43-Do-you-Wilf.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/43-Do-you-Wilf.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=43 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=43 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) As described by the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wilf" target="_blank" title="Urban Dictionary">Urban Dictionary</a>:"Wilfing" - or surfing the web without any real purpose "The tendency to wilf is more prevalent among men than women, the poll found. Gazing at a succession of pointless web pages also appeared to be the preserve of the young, with people aged 55 or over being three times less likely to browse absent-mindedly than those under 25."The time-consuming practice appears to have destructive effects too: a third of males admitted that wilfing has a damaging effect on their relationship with a partner." Guardian.co.uk Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:51:40 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/43-guid.html Is web evolution accelerating? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/42-Is-web-evolution-accelerating.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/42-Is-web-evolution-accelerating.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=42 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=42 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) I still remember those old days when, after downloading for a while, the (now) ugly looking old site would come up with a silly tiling background an a flashing red and green button. The web has evolved quite a bit since then. The browser, then the search engines, then the small dynamic pages, online newspapers and CMSs, forums, ads, wikis, blogs, google maps, digg, youtube, myspace, ... and the list goes on and on. It seems like the web has matured and the collaboration tools and techniques available nowadays are enabling the developers to go faster and faster. It is not any more just a few guys here an there interchanging a few e-mails, it is armies of the most clever developers around the world developing together massive quantities of quality code and open source projects by leveraging on incredibly powerful and readily available, advanced tools (and processes). Ideas are also being shared and discussed by big and disperse groups faster and easier than ever before. This would explain a better-than-linear evolution. In other words, is technology itself starting to enable quicker technology development and therefore accelerating its own advancement speed? Or... wait a second... that has always happened... I just think this time, on this narrow subject, it is a big acceleration rate that we are seing. Sat, 04 Aug 2007 03:25:59 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/42-guid.html Ubuntu says no to Microsoft http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/38-Ubuntu-says-no-to-Microsoft.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/38-Ubuntu-says-no-to-Microsoft.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=38 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=38 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Read about it <a href="http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=media&storyID=nN18409310" target="_blank">here</a>. Or, even better, <a href="http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/127" target="_blank">here</a>. Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:22:27 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/38-guid.html Take a Stand Against the Madness; Stop the RIAA! http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/28-Take-a-Stand-Against-the-Madness;-Stop-the-RIAA!.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/28-Take-a-Stand-Against-the-Madness;-Stop-the-RIAA!.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=28 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=28 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Go have a look at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.eff.org/share/petition/">http://www.eff.org/share/petition/</a>. Then go ahead and electronically sign the petition if you agree with it (I do). Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:54:34 -0800 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/28-guid.html Java goes open source (GPLv2) http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/22-Java-goes-open-source-GPLv2.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/22-Java-goes-open-source-GPLv2.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=22 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=22 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) I'm soooo happy! Read about it <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Burnette/?p=199" target="_blank">here</a>. Official site is <a href="http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/" target="_blank">here</a>. Download the source code for Java SE, ME and EE editions (and the NetBeans IDE) <a href="http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/getinvolved.jsp" target="_blank">here</a>. Now celebrate! Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:28:20 -0800 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/22-guid.html Feeds & Aggregators - Really cool. Where is the line? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/21-Feeds-Aggregators-Really-cool.-Where-is-the-line.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/21-Feeds-Aggregators-Really-cool.-Where-is-the-line.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=21 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=21 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Feeds are popping up everywhere. Readers and News aggregators are also becoming very popular. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I suggest you read a few guides or articles. You can start here:<a target="_blank" href="http://www.rssfeedguide.com/">http://www.rssfeedguide.com/</a><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator</a><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator"></a>A few days ago, I run into a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.planetplanet.org/">planet</a>. Planet is a very simple yet very powerful Python tool that can download several different feeds, aggregate them into a single one, and post the result on the web. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.feedjack.org/">Feedjack</a> also does the job. As an example, you can see some planets here:<a target="_blank" href="http://planet.go-oo.org/">Planet Open Office</a><a target="_blank" href="http://www.planetapache.org/">Planet Apache</a><a target="_blank" href="http://ubuntu.feedjack.org/">Planet Ubuntu</a>There is, also (and all these are just some examples), an RSS aggregator plug-in available for the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.s9y.org/">Serendipity blog system</a> (which powers this very same website). You can find it in <a target="_blank" href="http://spartacus.s9y.org/index.php?mode=bygroups_event_en">spartacus</a>. By installing this plug-in in your serendipity blog, you can start aggregating feeds from around the web into your blog. This is really cool, and I think I will start doing so. However, I might slightly modify the plug-in or the Smarty templates to clearly differentiate where the posts are coming from (such as changing the colors, or adding a '[from ...'s blog]' notice. or a special category, you-get-the-point) and also to give more credits to their authors, etc.So now a few questions arise...Who is the copyright holder for the contents in the feed? Are the feed contents originals, or are they aggregated from other feeds? Are they violating other copyright holders' rights? What are the licenses behind them? Can you freely re-publish them for free in any media? Can you charge for the service of aggregating, or distributing them, or making them searchable, or simply archiving them? Can you make a derivative work and then distribute it for free or for a fee? Another one: imagine, for example, a politician's or a celebrity feed being re-distributed on another website where the different context makes the content of a few articles from those feeds now to read completely different or inadequate...How can we know the license feeds and their contents are published under and who is the copyright holder? I am no lawyer, but I guess the easier way is to just browse the publishing blog or website and/or e-mail the author asking if it's OK to do whatever it is you want to do with the content. I bet most of them will be very happy to know you are thinking on re-distributing their content and helping them reach more readers (as long as you clearly identify them as the author). I know, I know... the original idea behind feeds itself is to easily share and distribute the content, but may be not all feed authors are thinking of their feeds being aggregated or re-distributed. On the other hand, some are only feeding part of their articles. I think at least some of them are just thinking of reaching their readers directly, and have not really considered the possibility of other intermediate sites or other media re-publishing their content, generating derivative works, etc.So, anyway, there are a few Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Technology feeds out there that I would like to add to this blog, as a free and nice service to my readers. Yes, that's you! <img src="http://www.thesebastian.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png" alt=":-)" style="display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;" class="emoticon" />. I think I will search and ask their authors for their permission before publishing them though! Again, I'm not a lawyer and whether something is legal or not is exactly my point. My point here is more about taste, about etiquette. It's just that ... it seems a bit rude to me to re-publish others' content without at least asking and letting them know what you are planning to do with it (unless of course they have clearly identified you have the freedom to do that --check out my content license on the right side bar!). Adding a link to their blog or site also seems like the good thing to do (and most planets do).There are also some sites that the only thing they provide is the aggregation of other sites' feeds. If they don't provide any original content nor they provide any service other than aggregating other sites' content, How do you feel about them? How do you feel about them making money from the advertisements? What about if they are trying to make you believe it is their original content? Where is the line? How do you feel about them if, when you search google for the keywords they represent (let's say, for instance, the name of a given celebrity), all you can find is these kind of sites? Should google penalize them on their page rank? Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:23:06 -0800 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/21-guid.html Microsoft and Novell enter an agreement on Linux http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/17-Microsoft-and-Novell-enter-an-agreement-on-Linux.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/17-Microsoft-and-Novell-enter-an-agreement-on-Linux.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=17 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=17 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide sales support for <a href="http://www.novell.com/linux/" target="_blank">Novell's SUSE Linux distribution</a>. More importantly, the companies will also create a joint research facility where they will be working together on improving the interoperability between SUSE Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, including:<ul><li>Virtualization</li><li>Web Services for managing physical and virtual servers (this builds, of course, on top of the Virtualization framework)</li><li>Document format compatibility (between Open Office and Microsoft Office)</li></ul>The first two will benefit mostly other companies, while the third aspect will greatly benefit both individuals and companies. I'm a big fun of Open Office. I use it all the time, and I'm already loving the idea of having better conversions between both suites. Here is Reuter's news posted on the WSJ:<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-microsoft-novell.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-microsoft-novell.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin</a>Here are some links from Microsoft's PR site:<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx</a><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/default.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/default.mspx</a><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2006/11-02NovellInterop.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2006/11-02NovellInterop.mspx</a><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx"></a> Novell has a dedicated site with plenty of information about the deal too:<a href="http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/" target="_blank">http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/</a>Wanna know what some people is thinking? Digg has about two full pages (right now) for a simple search on Novell Microsoft (including plenty of comments):<a href="http://www.digg.com/search?area=all&age=7&sort=new&s=novell+microsoft&submit=Search" target="_blank">http://www.digg.com/search?area=all&age=7&sort=new&s=novell+microsoft&submit=Search</a>Some other blogs posting about it:<a href="http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=35972" target="_blank">http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=35972</a><a href="http://www.foogazi.com/2006/11/02/linux-software-on-windows/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.foogazi.com/2006/11/02/linux-software-on-windows/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.foogazi.com/2006/11/02/linux-software-on-windows/" target="_blank">http://www.foogazi.com/2006/11/02/linux-software-on-windows/</a><a href="http://opensourceblog.itproportal.com/?p=203" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://opensourceblog.itproportal.com/?p=203">http://opensourceblog.itproportal.com/?p=203</a><a href="http://mrwavetheory.blogspot.com/2006/11/microsoft-and-novell-foes-now-friends.html" target="_blank">http://mrwavetheory.blogspot.com/2006/11/microsoft-and-novell-foes-now-friends.html</a><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8141.html" target="_blank">http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8141.html</a><a href="http://opensourceblog.itproportal.com/?p=203"></a><a href="http://www.digg.com/search?area=all&age=7&sort=new&s=novell+microsoft&submit=Search" target="_blank"></a>And sooo many more. I shall stop though, or otherwise google might consider this post to be just a link farm.So, my opinion? This is great, great news! Not only this is great news because of this particular deal on itself and how both companies, their clients, their shareholders, individuals and other players can benefit from it, but also because it sets the record for the first big venture of its kind.In other words, this will probably trigger other similar partnerships and stimulate more cooperation among different players in the industry as the market keeps opening itself and different organizations start doing business together at a more horizontal level. This will also be a very good boost for the market, brining new business and probably opening several opportunities to many other small players. It's just brilliant. Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:29:59 -0800 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/17-guid.html Enron's e-mails go 2.0 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/14-Enrons-e-mails-go-2.0.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/14-Enrons-e-mails-go-2.0.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=14 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=14 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.trampolinesystems.com/">Tranpoline Systems</a> has released the <a target="_blank" href="http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/">Enron Explorer</a>, a very nice web-2.0-ish tool that lets you explore through Enron's 200,000 internal e-mails available on the public domain.The little Java applet integrates nicely with the web interface and lets you browse through the social network (graph). The web interface lets you see the e-mails on every inbox and also browse by themes and/or people by using tags.There is also a nice search toolbar. For example, you could search for:demand response and get back this: <a href="http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/focus/19185#focus=/search/demand%20response&unique=5" target="_blank">http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/focus/19185#focus=/search/demand%20response&unique=5</a>or golf and get: <a href="http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/focus/19185#focus=/search/golf&unique=6">http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/focus/19185#focus=/search/golf&unique=6</a>That's it. I'll leave the evil searches up to you.<a href="http://enron.trampolinesystems.com/search/FBI#focus=/search/golf&unique=24"></a> Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:28:26 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/14-guid.html Is my TV becoming obsolete? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/13-Is-my-TV-becoming-obsolete.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/13-Is-my-TV-becoming-obsolete.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=13 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=13 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) For the past few nights, my TV has been competing with my notebook for my attention. TV lost. OK, I must admit, I do not have cable or satellite TV, but there are still a few good shows or series to watch.The thing is, if I want news, why not browsing <a target="_blank" href="http://news.google.com/">Google news</a>? Why not my favorite newspaper (checkout <a target="_blank" href="http://www.clarin.com.ar">Clarin</a>)?After that, I still have my blogroll (at your right) and some live bookmarks. Then I have e-mail and IM and IRC (yes, I still use IRC from time to time!), and .... Then I have the commercials-free <a target="_blank" href="http://popurls.com/">popurls</a> dashboard throwing at me an incredible array of fresh, fun and informative stories, videos, pictures and audio clips.I also spend good quality time writing here. Or just hopping into <a target="_blank" href="http://last.fm">last.fm</a>.This is just a small list. But I've truly found in the past few months that if I want serious distraction for my mind, I'll go grab my guitar or my keyboard and play some music or practice some jazz tunes or exercises. Otherwise, I prefer the fast, fresh and interactive social experience on the net. But the old days of just sitting on the coach without any interaction are mostly gone for me.What do you think? Is this your case, too? Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:38:35 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/13-guid.html Kubuntu rocks on Dell Inspiron E1705 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/11-Kubuntu-rocks-on-Dell-Inspiron-E1705.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/11-Kubuntu-rocks-on-Dell-Inspiron-E1705.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=11 9 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=11 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) I've finally installed <a title="Kubuntu" target="_blank" href="http://www.kubuntu.org/">Kubuntu</a> in my Dell Notebook (a Inspiron E1705). It's just lovely. Kubuntu really "gets it"! It looks and performs great and its really easy to use. The installer from the live CD worked great. It even set up my wireless network card (Intel one) without any issues. OK, yes, I had to manually add a few things here an there (such as 915resolution, a mapping for the media buttons, the SMP kernel, etc), but that did not take too long: altough I'm more of an 'rpm' guy, setting up the extra goodies was very, very easy and straight-forward just using EasyUbuntu and Adept or apt-get. Firefox, skype and Kopete all work great. I'm now starting to use Kontact and it looks really good so far. OpenOffice also seems to be running faster than it used to on my almost clean XP install on this very same machine. My USB mass-storage JVC HD video cam worked perfectly and automatically (altough it seems for some reason I did not get the full USB v2 speed --gotta look into it).I've been using linux on the server side for years now, but this is the first time I'm really 100% pleased on using linux as a desktop user (not just to develop software) and on a notebook.Hope you've enjoyed this article. Please share with me your experiences with Kubuntu or any other linux distributions. If you haven't yet experienced it, you can get free CDs shipped to you from their website! Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:08:58 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/11-guid.html The IM war is heating up. What's your pick? http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/8-The-IM-war-is-heating-up.-Whats-your-pick.html Technology http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/8-The-IM-war-is-heating-up.-Whats-your-pick.html#comments http://www.thesebastian.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=8 0 http://www.thesebastian.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=8 nospam@example.com (Sebastian Brocher) Microsoft has <a target="_blank" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-19LiveEraPR.mspx">released</a> this Mon 19th their new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-19LiveEraPR.mspx">Windows Live Messenger</a> after a few weeks of beta testing. This marks an important line with their first <a target="_blank" href="http://get.live.com/messenger/overview">Live</a> product being released (BTW, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/">Vista</a> is still in Beta2). Here is the features <a target="_blank" href="http://get.live.com/messenger/features">overview</a> and here is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/06/19/windows-live-messenger-speeds-out-of-beta/">TechCrunch's post</a> about it. <a target="_blank" href="http://messenger.yahoo.com/"></a>At this point in time, <a target="_blank" href="http://messenger.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Messenger with Voice version 8</a> is still in beta. It provides an extension mechanism through <a target="_blank" href="http://developer.yahoo.com/messenger/">plug-ins</a>, which can be downloaded from this <a target="_blank" href="http://developer.yahoo.com/messenger/">gallery</a> and developed by third parties using the publicly available <a target="_blank" href="http://developer.yahoo.com/messenger/">Software Development Kit</a>. Here is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/06/19/yahoo-opens-im-to-developers/">TechCrunch's post</a>.The way I read it, it seems Microsoft is going for a somehow business-orientated, closed and tightly controlled environment where users can easily share their data, files, contacts and content between the different "Live" applications, with the kick of having a centralized and up-to-date information repository. It seems though, users will probably need to use a good part of their Live products and services set in order to really benefit from the experience.Yahoo, on the contrary, seems to be betting on a more entertainment-orientated, open, fun and friendly environment where users can customize the behavior of their applications (and therefore the way they share content and interact with each other) and add more functionality into the messenger application itself (as opposite to having several different applications sharing data from a unique repository). Oh, and yes, Yahoo is also getting more serious about VoIP promoting their cheap PC to phone calls. This puts them in direct competition with Ebay's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.skype.com/">Skype</a>, which has also been adding very cool new features as SkypeCasts, video support and more. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/talk/">Google talk</a> seems to be slowly kicking in too, may be differentiating itself for its recognizable simplicity.All this seems reasonable given the positioning of each of these companies. What's your pick? Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:46:51 -0700 http://www.thesebastian.com/archives/8-guid.html