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rahrahfeminista2 – :

Why does the cell phone network think usage patterns for its products should fit into people’s broadband patterns any differently than standard cable or dsl, where basestations are quite common. I even wonder if the ubiquity of broadband in places like SF is helped by having various levels of access available at different “prices” — you can war drive for free but your reliability will suck, you can share with roommates but it might make having servers running tricky, or you can have your own connection/IP and have complete control. And this “price differentiation” emerges without intervention from the phone/cable companies. Why do cell phone companies [telcos] think they should be any different?

The Verizon guy sez “Giving things away for free doesn’t work anymore. It never did.” Well, locking people into a service or making it more trouble than its worth never has either.

Now playing: To Hell With Poverty! by Gang of Four from the album “Another Day, Another Dollar”
Continue reading “what she said”

I just made the call to Speakeasy after yet another death struggle with Comcast. In a week or less I should be free of that nightmare. One phone call? Doesn’t get much easier than that.

Now playing: Faron by Prefab Sprout from the album “Two Wheels Good” | Get it

[composed and posted with ecto]

Excerpted from a note from Rob Glazer (you probably got one too):

Over the past 10 years we’ve delivered 10 major versions of the RealPlayer, plus compelling new products such as RealJukebox® – the Internet’s first integrated music jukebox, and Rhapsodyâ„¢ – the internet’s first music service with music from all of the major labels.

While we’re proud of our past, I’m also writing to tell you that the best truly is yet to come. We’re as committed to innovation over the next 10 years as we have been for our first 10 years. I know this sounds like an ambitious statement, but we’ve got some stuff coming very soon that I think you will agree is truly a breakthrough.

On April 26, we are changing the rules of the Internet again, and digital music will never be the same. I can’t say more now, but I do encourage you to visit www.real.com on the 26th to learn more.

I remember testing RealAudio 1, constant meetings and contacts from their sales people (they wanted CNN.com as a flagship customer pretty badly). And this was back in the days when they were known as Progressive Networks, with Glazer’s goal of a constellation of independent webcast programmers still very much in his sights. You can find fragments of that dream at realnetworks.com (I guess the term “progressive” had to go but who else would set up as a non-corporate media entity but a person of progressive ideals?).

I haven’t trolled the web for handicapping and predictions, so perhaps this is an open secret, anyway.

Now playing: Funny Little Feeling by Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldiers from the album “iTunes New Music Sampler (Atlantic/Lava Edition)”

So when people talk about the relative advantages of home schooling vs farming their kid out to The System, I bet they never talk about the frightening illnesses their kids will never bring home.

This is by way of mentioning that I have been waiting out an attack of Scarlet Fever this week.

You thought it was a 19th Century scourge, of a piece with brain fever or the vapors. Nope, it’s still common: all it really is is strep with a skin rash (the scarlet component). Still, it’s pretty nasty. Strep (the same child had it a month ago) is one of the most unpleasant things I can remember having: I’ve had it once, in my mid-20s, and I thought someone was cutting my throat, slowly and continually . . .

We’re on a course of military-grade antibiotics now, with the resultant diarrhea (the military grade reference was not to their strength but to their indiscriminate killing). School may not be on the cards tomorrow: woo hoo for the one day school week!

Now playing: Just by Radiohead from the album “The Bends” | Get it

So this tea arrived today: some days ago, I made a link to their site in exchange for a sample.

Pretty impressive stuff. With the 4 oz package, you get this little tin and some teabags (in case you want to roll your own), all extremely well packaged. Hey, I was expecting a cardboard box and nothing else.

But how does it taste? Well, again with the surprises, they sent me Citron Green, a green tea with little flecks of lemon and lime peel: the aroma is wonderful.

You can’t see the little citron flecks as clearly as you can smell them, but they’re very much part of the experience.

It’s good stuff: I didn’t brew mine in one of their sophisticated looking little pots — I have a Bodum pot for loose teas I pressed into service for the occasion — but it came out pretty well. The citron flavors are well-balanced by the gentle grassy flavor of the tea. It’s a nice combination, refreshing without detracting from the soothing characteristics of green teas.

Based on this, I would be inclined to try a few more varieties. This was such a pleasant surprise, I’m curious to see what else they have in store.

Got this note from Professor Frankfurt . . .
I have excised the essay from the original post. Seems to me the horse is already out of the barn, but I can’t be bothered to quibble.

Annotating the planet:

Google Maps isn’t just a service, it’s a service factory.

Radical openness is the key. It’s been only two weeks since it launched and already the colonization has begun. Thanks to open XML data formats and open Web programming interfaces, people have figured out how to animate routes, create custom routes with their own GPS data, and display GPS data in real time.

Microsoft could have enabled these same kinds of things years ago. Its TerraServer has been up and running since 1998. But despite Steve Ballmer’s infamous monkey-dance chant, developers haven’t flocked to TerraServer. What’s Google’s secret? Web DNA and no Windows tax. [Full story at InfoWorld.com (14)]

I didn’t realize developers were supposed to “flock” to TerraServer: I always figured it was just a rich man’s plaything . . .

The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire by James Jennings

Could be an amusing read: my Zummerzet is a bit rusty, and a refresher might be in order.

I got my Chilly Hilly bib number today and if I had it a day or so earlier, I might have put some work into a costume: I drew the number 666, and a lovely red ensemble with a couple of horns on the helmet might have made a statement (especially since the ride is on a Sunday morning). Seriously, some people have protested that number on previous events.

But given my [ahem] proficiency and fitness — sloth is my middle name, as far as training goes — I’ll skip the theatrics and just take the jokes as they come.

freedom of speech must be powerful or tyrants wouldn’t be so opposed to it.