found another annoyance of gmail -- gmail mobile. since gmail isn't doing a good job of flagging obvious spam for me, then i get heavy use out of the 'report spam' feature. guess what's not available on gmail mobile? trash/trash conversation available, but no report spam.
argh.
due to a last minute change, the venue for the seattle code camp this weekend has been moved. please update your calendars appropriately and please help spread the word!
it has been moved to DigiPen (which actually might be quite better):
DigiPen is located at 5001 150th Ave NE, Redmond, WA 98052
i'm on a few conference calls today and planned on doing some peripheral learning. there were a few interesting things over at scobleshow.com lately that i found intriguing and wanted to watch. i went to the site and was disappointed. why...well let me phrase this appropriately :-)
i have a brand new windows vista machine. loaded (fill-in-your-favorite-browser) on it. visited scobleshow and clicked on a "watch now" link. this is what it looked like:
why did i get this? because scobleshow only enables MOV format (arguably the intended viewer is Quicktime format -- which i hate). so as a user i'm unable to view this unless i download quicktime (or another plugin that isn't recognized automatically). i should note that when viewed in firefox, there was at least a message indicating that i have missing plugins. the size of the missing "plugin" (aka quicktime) is 18MB according to the quicktime player link i clicked on. ouch...flash plugin? i have no idea but it loaded in about 4 seconds for me (loaded = dowloaded+installed+started working). this is why i hate quicktime -- it isn't a plugin -- it's a friggin application and a hog.
of course i could download a quicktime plugin that is light-weight, but that's me -- i'm a power user...i know about it. my mother-in-law doesn't know any better and will always accept the default. this is who we need to design for--the least common denominator. okay, sure my mother-in-law then is likely not viewing scobleshow, but what if i find something interesting (ahem, scrapblog) that she might like and send her a link...now she is a consumer.
so why am i picking on scoble?
from a post "Why I don't use Flash":
"I have a brand new Windows Vista machine. Loaded Firefox on it. And visited PodShow (a podcasting competitor of PodTech’s).
This is what it looked like. Now, if a “normal” person (non geek) hit this site, what would they do? I’ll tell you what they’ll do. They’ll hit back and get out of there. Note the title tag. Be Patient? No, I click that little green back button and leave before I get hurt. Thank you very much. Have a nice day.
Lesson: always have HTML first before you get to Flash content."
:-) sooo robert? what are you going to do? what could the site have done better? offer options? offer some html about the viewer needed? if so, can you please ask yourself those questions and change your way of thinking for scobleshow? why not use a flash viewer -- it's almost default installed. oh you want higher quality and that's why you use MOV format? hmmm...soapbox seems to have gotten it right. oh, you want widescreen format? why? is your content "widescreen-capable" (meaning: is there a reason for widescreen? i mean, apologies and all, but i'm not watching scobleshow on my 60" HDTV with surround sound -- so i don't need it)? oh you want to deliver HD content? hmm...okay, but what about those who wouldn't be able to consume it -- again, give me options.
so scoble, i beg of you: 1) fix the page to show some warning; 2) give me a default player for the "watch now"; 3) show me options (look at how your previous employer gives me download options on each show); 4) do something to reach the masses. right now i'm unable to enjoy the content.
okay, now that john let the cat out of the bag himself, i'm glad to say that john lam of rubyclr fame has joined microsoft and will begin january 2007.
see john's post: dynamic languages, microsoft and me for his story.
i think this is a great hire for microsoft and the clr team. will this mean ruby will instantly be a part of the .net framework and take on the roadmap of an ironpython-ish project? let's wait and see. i, for one, hope so and welcome john to the organization -- a great move for the clr guys.
well, back in august i knew things weren't going to be smooth with the cox buyout of cableamerica (my local provider). i already cancelled my internet service because, well frankly, cox internet sucks (at least in my area). qwest dsl has proved to be a better choice so far (crossing my fingers for verizon fios).
well 5 days ago i got a note in the mail about having to turn in my dvr/cable box. it was not something i was looking forward to, but i planned for it -- they let me know that on oct 18 the box would be rendered useless.
i unplugged it and took it down -- little did i know it was a sales process...'do you have internet?' -- yada yada -- give me my new box. i got it and went home. the user interface sucks. it's like the cableamerica ui on the motorola was a slick wicked xbox/wpf/mediacenter looking thing...cox ui? atari. the process of creating a series recording sucks arse.
anyhow, i used it. until today. october 18. channels abruptly changed. on the cox box, fine. on my tivo units, not so fine. no problem, rerun the setup...it found cox as a new provider...but then started asking me about the channel lineup -- and it didn't match. now i have a dvr service (in 2 rooms) that is useless if the channel lineup doesn't match.
contact cox: not our problem (their probably right); contact tivo: 3-5 days for an answer.
argh.