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April 17, 2002
Amazon does xml
I just got this in my email from the Amazon Associates program:
--New XML Platform For Developers
At Amazon.com, we are passionate about driving continuous innovation that serves our customers
in the best way possible. We know you share this passion, and now we're providing an even
easier way to optimize your Amazon.com placements. By putting Amazon.com XML directly into
your hands, you'll now have the flexibility to display dynamic product information in any
way you choose.
They are also taking feedback at their developer forum site.
I'm at work at can't give it a long look-over, but it doesn't appear to be anything as cool as I first thought. There are also all kinds of rules and stuff.
Posted by pberry at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
Power vs Ease
Mozilla/Google API Demos. Oh, alright already. Here are two demos that use Mozilla's SOAP client functions to call the Google API via JavaScript.... [scottandrew.com]
This is way cool. It is far more powerful than the Radio macro, but it's also a lot harder to use. Of course, they serve the same and different purposes so it's hard to compare them just because they use the same api. Jeez, did that make any sense at all? Nope.
Posted by pberry at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
Doom and gloom
Israel rally critical of Bush. Pro-Israel demonstration supports Sharon -- and the lone Bush official gets booed. [Salon.com]
This Modern World also had some good comments on this.
This thing is so screwed up. Both sides are wrong in many ways. Many parties are to blame. There is no solution that will make everyone happy.
Why don't we start dropping boxes of Prozac, Xanthax, and Viagra? Have sex for peace! At least Kuch thinks it's a good idea.
Posted by pberry at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
Dumb season is coming
"Twentieth Century Fox is developing a sequel to its low-budget hit comedy "Dude, Where's My Car?"" [Daypop Top 40]
I'm sure they will come up with some pithy title like, "Dude, Where's My Car? 2." Because, you know, Hollywood is like, creative and stuff.
Posted by pberry at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)
Come on Netflix! Hang in there...
DVD Rental Service Narrows First Quarter Loss. LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) -- Online DVD rental service Netflix Inc. on Tuesday disclosed a sharp reduction in its first-quarter loss, a development that may stir more interest in the company's planned initial public offering of stock. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology]
Now here is a subscription services that works. Everyone I've described it to saw it's value immediately, if not sooner. Sure the one drawback is that you don't get instant gratification of going to the rental store and wandering the isles for half an hour and finally going with some movie that you don't really want to see but it was a new release that was in stock so you felt obligated. It's that same feeling you get in downtown SF when you see an open parking space. It's so rare you feel that you have to take even though you don't need it.
Posted by pberry at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)
How does Real make <em>any</em> money?
RealNetworks Returns to Net Profitability. SEATTLE (Reuters) - RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK.O) on Tuesday posted a quarterly net profit for the first time in more than two years as the Internet media software and services pioneer built momentum behind its consumer subscription business. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology]
I'm sorry, but I wish Real would drop off the face of the Earth. Buy it's the only streaming video player for linux you scream. Yeah, and everyone using linux thinks it sucks and wishes Real would drop off the face of the Earth. Okay, mabye not all of them, but I'm sure most of them ;-)
It looks like their first step was the rebrand their hunk of crap player as RealOne and then start charging a subscription fee. I can see how this would bring in some cash, since you get money from people every month simply because they are too lazy to cancel their subscription. I know because I've done this. Been too lazy, not fleece money from lazy people.
Posted by pberry at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
Web services, smeb services
The Flangy News - Rants Ahoy When eBay exports an API that client side programs can use, *BAM* eBay is a Web Service. [ TheFlangyNews ]
Ooooooh. Now wouldn't that be cool!
Adam also says:
Web Services (or non-HTML Internet APIs) are going to complement web browsing, not replace it.
Here! Here!
As web developers, I'm sure we've all heard more than enough stories on how technology X was going to be the next big thing and replace everything that came before it.
My first big hype was java. I was just getting going in college when the first alpha came out. Of course, it's taken almost ten years and it didn't do what it set out to do. Like most other things, people used it in places that most people didn't expect.
Jeez, when I put it that way, it almost sounds like perl. *Shudder*
Posted by pberry at 04:42 AM | Comments (0)
Does 'right' still mean conservative?
My vote is that Ariel Sharon's offensive is the stupidest campaign in recent memory. Defined here as a campaign that has solved nothing, increased Israel's problems, intensified Palestinian hatred of Israel, estranged many Europeans and Americans, and fanned Islamic hostility.
This is William F. Buckley, Jr.? Holy cow. Found this link on This Modern World
Posted by pberry at 03:55 AM | Comments (0)
Muchas gracias
Thanks to Michael Zajac for the tip on fixing my image over-flowing a div problem.
Posted by pberry at 03:45 AM | Comments (0)
The Scotsman - International -
The Scotsman - International - Attorney general to face lawsuit over treatment of detainees AMERICAN civil rights lawyers are planning to sue John Ashcroft, the US attorney general, and other officials for "widespread abuse" of Middle Eastern men detained on immigration violations after 11 September. [ The Scotsman ]
I post this only because it's things like this that make us look really, really bad around the world.
More from the article:
"Thereâs no explanation for why theyâre being held," said Barbara Olshansky, an attorney at the centre. "These people are being treated worse than criminals."
I should also not that this is not about the people being detained in Cuba. These are people being held inside the U.S.
Posted by pberry at 03:21 AM | Comments (0)
I made this!
<% workspace.lastMonthLink() %>. Boy, getting some macros to work isn't exactly trivial...the funny thing is that this was one of the few days last month I didn't have any thing on the old weblog. Hence you get a 404 when you hit the link. Joy.
Posted by pberry at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)
The more things change...
I think this slashdot comment says it all.
I find that I see most news stories on my Radio News page before I see it on slashdot. There is no submission queue on my news aggregator page.
I didn't want this to come off sounding like I was bagging on slashdot, even though I have. I like slashdot, mostly. I guess I just see the same site that was there so many years ago, and the only thing that has changed is the amount of traffic.
Posted by pberry at 01:40 AM | Comments (0)