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a while back and i saw some stuff about meebo while at a conference.  today i just saw that was released.  same concept really, a web-based-super-nifty-ajax-enabled messenger ‘client’ that enables access to all messenger clients.

one thing that strikes me as odd is how willing we’d be to give a third party our login information…isn’t that one reason why everyone hated the passport idea?

anywhoo…check it out:

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Microsoft preparing launch of iPod rival

well, i can honestly say i don’t know anything about these plans…but i can say i *hope* microsoft gets it right…and by that i mean:

  • don’t just have wmv/wma as the only supported formats: if this is the case, it will fail.  it will fail for me immediately.  mp3 is a decent format.  okay, okay, stand back drm hounds…but seriously…would you buy any music media device that doesn’t support mp3?  and video…let’s make sure it plays mpeg, avi, wmv, mov, etc.
  • size: seriously…with the lessons learned from ipod, it should be clear that size matters ;-) — i hope it is relatively small enough so that i don’t feel like i’m carrying a huge device, but also big enough for a decent screen
  • capacity: let’s not make the same mistake that the other ipod rivals did — yeah, 64MB mp3 players…NOT!  if this is a music/video media device than IMO 5GB is the *minimum*
  • wifi?! — sweet…that would be really cool for podcast subscriptions…now you don’t have to sync/copy/whatever — you subscribe…and when you are in-range, it downloads — great idea
  • partner with 3rd party integrators: i have an older car (2000) and i hate that there are no integrated hookups.  i mean, i have all the other features: navigation, cd changer, etc. — just nobody is making them for older cars (that integrate with the headunit — i don’t want to see my ipod in my car)

i really hope design-wise they take a lesson from apple (and from past designs).  i have an ipod.  i like my ipod.  why?  because it serves a single purpose for me…play audio.  it is lightweight and small enough that i make sure i bring it with me to places.

well, i hope we get it right…i really do — i’d love to see a cool microsoft device.  but my fear is that we are a software company, not a hardware one…it always concerns me when we enter these arenas, as a user, technologist, and a shareholder (how much are we losing on each xbox sold?).  sometimes it isn’t enough just to enter the market…we have to be smart about it.

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today, microsoft is announcing a funding of a project to build the , which is a set of tools to translate between office openxml and odf documents.

msft is also announcing an interop center for office 2007, which apparently is an add-in for office 2007 where you'll get PDF XLS and ODF interop.

anyhow, interesting news -- probably moreso that msft is funding this open source effort for three partners for a project hosted on sourceforge...hey, couldn't they at least have said ? ;-)

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Enron founder Ken Lay dies of heart attack

honestly, i don't know how i feel about this.  luckily i wasn't affected by the enron devistation.  i don't even know anyone who was affected.  but i read the reports, saw the lives ruined, and saw the expose movies, shows.  all of which made me sick about corporate america.  after reading/seeing 'the smartest guys in the room' -- which of course is only one view -- i was so angry at what seemingly was clear corruption and fancy accounting trickery.

ug.  anyway, i'm curious if those affected will feel 'justice' served?  not that anyone's death should be celebrated, but those looking for a fall guy don't have one.  ken lay won't spend any time in prison.  is death suffering?  in some news reports there was speculation that his estate wouldn't even be sought after for his share of the crime...if it isn't, that's a shame on the justice system.

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after my third install of vista, i again faced the problem of my IE search bar not working.

i installed 2 things prior to it not working:

well, primopdf doesn't even work in vista, so i uninstalled that

i then uninstalled the java runtime...lo and behold the ie search bar (and other things) worked again.  apparently there is a known issue with the sun java add-in -- beware...or disable it.

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