Month: January 2006

ScobleFeeds A-Z: The L’s

This is part twelve of my A-Z review of Scoble‘s feeds. The rules and criteria are here.

Some good stuff in this group, so we have another tie:

Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey (RSS Feed)

The Long Tail (RSS Feed)

Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey is a blog about “blogging, web development and fatherhood.” It’s a really good mix of tech, family stuff and other interesting topics.

The Long Tail started at a disadvantage when I saw the name because that phrase annoys me the way Web 2.0 does, but once I read the blog, I simply could not believe how much great information was there. Take this for example. Or this. This blog could be named Pre-Owned Cars and it would still make my list.

Honorable Mention:

Longhorn Blogs (RSS Feed)

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Will You Pay to Download Free TV Shows and Boring NBA Games?

Google issued a press release today about its forthcoming Video Marketplace.

I’m going to resist examining the question of why anyone would want to watch a TV show on their computer, as opposed to on their HDTV via TIVO or some other recording device and just assume for a second that there are actually people who are dying to pay a lot of money to watch on their computers in standard definition what they could be watching in HDTV for free.

What I find interesting in that press release is that NBA games will be part of the available videos. That’s what I want to talk about.

Does anyone over 20 care about the NBA anymore? I honestly do not know one single person who is a rabid NBA fan. Not one, and because I have wondered about this for a while, I have walked the halls at my office asking this question. People I know go to games- I went to the opening game this year. But everyone I know uses corporate tickets for client development and treats the game as some sort of live, big screen sports bar. Maybe the NBA is the new polo and I’m just not rich and sophisticated enough to get it, but I don’t get it.

When I was a kid, I was a huge NBA fan- first of the Bucks with Jabbar, Dandridge, the Big O, Lucius Allen and Jon McGlocklin. Later it was Portland and my then favorite player Bill Walton. Even later, after I moved to Texas, I went to a ton of games and saw Jabbar, Bird, Magic, Jordan and others play.

Now? I’d honestly rather stare at a blank TV than watch an NBA game. I watch a ton of college basketball. But I find the NBA to be boring and mercenary.

I guess what I’m saying about the big announcement that we’ll soon be able to buy downloads of otherwise free TV shows and boring NBA games is: is there anyone who is genuinely excited about this?

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In Praise of Phil Lee

A friend of mine asked me the other day to name my favorite country song.

At the time I counldn’t really come up with just one. But after thinking about it a while, I know now.

Phil Lee is a guy from the Bull City who has spent time in the Big Apple and behind the wheel of a big rig. He drove a truck for Neil Young at one time and was in The Flying Burrito Brothers for a while.

He has also released two of the best alternative country records I have ever heard, one of which contains the best country song I have ever heard. I’m the Why She’s Gone has everything a song can have: great melody; great arrangement; vocals that sound more classic Billy Joe Shaver than Billy Joe Shaver does; a great title; a great story; and if you listen carefully to the lyrics, an interesting twist.

Next time someone asks me, I’ll know.

If you like music, go buy this record.

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XM Passport

Gizmodo has a short post and photo of the forthcoming XM Radio Passport, a tiny portable chip that lets you easily take your satellite radio with you. XM receivers and stereos will soon have a slot that will allow you to pop in the Passport and access your XM account over more than one receiver. Yes, I know you can lug around the Ski-Fi unit and do that now, but the Passport looks small and easy enough to carry and use that someone might actually do it for longer than a week.

I hope the Passport will be a welcome solution to this mobility problem that has required people (like me, for example) to maintain multiple XM accounts just to easily get XM in the car and at home. At one time, I had three accounts, but the headache and cost ultimately lead me to let 2 of them expire- meaning I can only get XM in my truck at this point. Someone at XM is making smart, consumer-friendly decisions that will help XM move from the car to the living room, which is exactly what it needs for long term growth and stability.

This is another example of how XM is making some good strategic decisions. I am starting to think of XM as the anti-TIVO when it comes to strategic planning and execution- and that’s a compliment to XM.

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Luke Eutsler Newsome

I’ve been a bit out of pocket the past few days. Raina and I went to the hospital early Tuesday morning to have Cassidy and Delaney’s little brother. 32 and a half hours later, on Wednesday January 4, 2006, Luke Eutsler Newsome was born to a very exhausted mother and a very nervous father. He weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz. and was almost 22 inches long.

Luke because it was Raina’s favorite out of all the names we considered.

Eutsler in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Eustler, who have been like a second set of parents to me, particularly after my father died when I was very young. If this little guy can be half the man his namesake is, I will be very proud of him.

Raina and Luke will hopefully get to come home on Saturday. The girls are very excited about their little brother and can’t wait until he gets home.

ScobleFeeds A-Z: The K’s

This is part eleven of my A-Z review of Scoble‘s feeds. The rules and criteria are here.

There are not a ton of K’s, but I found a couple of good ones:

Knowing.Net (RSS Feed)

Knowing.Net is Larry O’Brien’s blog about software development and computer language. It sounds like a hard science blog, but it’s a lot more than that. In addition to articles about software development and programming, Larry writes about gadgets, music (he likes Pandora as much as I do), movies and blogging in general. A good fit for any blogroll.

Honorable Mention:

Kottke.Org (RSS Feed) (ineligible because I already read it)

Kevin Schofield’s Weblog (RSS Feed)

Kiruba Shankar (RSS Feed)

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DRM Gone Wild on New Coldplay CD

BoingBoing reports that Coldplay’s new CD comes chock full of DRM restrictions that prevent the CD from being burned to a hard drive and “might” prevent it from being played in DVD players, car stereos, portable players, game players or computers.

The questions are:

1) Is this something done with the band’s knowledge and consent or is this just more RIAA madness?

2) What will the band’s reaction be now that the story is all over the net?

Sony learned some hard lessons lately about DRM and the unwillingness of customers to accept crippled product. Looks like DRM 201 is about to begin.

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