Scripting News

MSI Wind goes back

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:04:53 GMT

Apparently the problems I've had this weekend are connected to an incompatibility between the MSI Wind netbook and my Airport Extreme router. At least there's a correlation, when the Wind is on, the router goes down, quickly, within a minute or two. If I turn off the wifi adapter on the Wind, I can leave it on indefinitely and the router works without a hitch. Or if I turn the Wind off, everything is fine. Or if I return the Wind to Amazon. :-(

Another piece of data, my networking problems started at the exact moment that I first turned on the Wind.

Conclusion: The Wind goes back to the factory and I travel with the Eee 901, for now at least. It has none of these problems, the Airport Extreme likes it, and it likes the Airport Extreme.

Netbook nuisances deja vu

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:54:05 GMT

With all the troubles I've been having with my Mac network, which thankfully (knock wood, praise Murphy, IANAL, my mother loves me, etc) seems to be cured, I haven't had much time to try out my new MSI Wind that arrived on Friday.

My attention is finally there, and now I'm reliving all the problems I had getting started with the Asus Eee PC 901, but unfortunately I don't remember how I worked around all of them. I do remember this -- Windows seems fine, once you get over all these hurdles, but until you do, your soul cries out Why oh why can't I just use a Mac! (Curse you Steve Jobs, give a Mac netbook please!!)

The latest one is that even though it's got a good wifi connection, it still keeps trying to connect through the 3G modem which is sitting in my travel bag while I'm working at home. I remember this problem well from the early Eee days, but it doesn't do it anymore. Somehow I must have figured out how to get it to stop doing this, or it stopped on its own. Arrgh.

Mac networking help sought

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:53:31 GMT

Update: The problem appears to have been solved.

I've been trying to track down a problem on my Mac-only network since Friday afternoon, and now have it narrowed down pretty well to one computer, my main desktop, that's got some kind of bug that makes it very slow at copying file to one other system, and vice versa.

Here's a schematic of a piece of the LAN.

Even so, copying files to any other computer on the network is just as fast as always. So you'd think it was the fault of the other computer, but evidence indicates otherwise. It can copy files to other computers quite quickly.

When I say slow, how slow is that? Well, it's very very slow. About 2MB per minute.

This computer just isn't working very well. I drew up the schematic and scanned it, but it took about 100 times as long as it usually does.

If this were a Windows machine I'd think it was infected.

Knight News Challenge

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:15:12 GMT

The Knight News Challenge is a program to fund tech innovation in relationship to journalism. Every year they request proposals for a share of $5 million in grant money, every time around I try to think of something that fits their guidelines, but the third requirement always stumps me. Here's the list:

1. Use or create digital, open-source technology as the code base.

2. Serve the public interest.

3. Benefit one or more specific geographic communities.

1 and 2 are no problem, I have lots of ideas that fit those criteria, but I almost never have a project that applies to one or more specific geographic communities. The stuff I've worked on, blogging, RSS, podcasting, have all been broadly applied technologies that work in every geographic community. Nothing geographically specific about the stuff I like.

Update: As often happens, writing helped clarify my thinking. Yes, there have been projects I've done that were geographically specific. Starting the Berkman Thursday group was a way of bootstrapping a blogging community in Cambridge MA, as were the first two BloggerCons. If we ever do Hypercamp it will also be geographically specific.

Anyway, I offer my help -- if anyone reading this blog is submitting a proposal, maybe there's some way we can team up. I'm going to need some new projects after the election, which is coming up soon!

BTW, the one project that I have on my long-term plate that I think would be a good fit, were it not for #3, is Future-safe Archives. It's a project best done in cooperation with a university, and with a bit of funding, the idea could likely be sold to one. I regularly get emails from people at various universities who are interested in creating work on the web that has a chance of lasting beyond their lifetime.

Also, I'm curious how the previous Knight projects have been doing. Have any of them gained traction?

Campaign Stops Map

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:43:03 GMT

As an experiment in social computing, and because I'd like to see where the candidates have been and where they're going, I've started a map on Google that's open for anyone to add items to that's meant to show where the candidates are.

Here's a link to the map.

I've entered stops for all four candidates for tomorrow and a few of today's stops. Tomorrow Obama is in Florida, McCain in Missouri, Palin in Colorado and Nevada, and Biden is in Seattle (with no public events).

If you know where one of the candidates is going to be, add a note. In the text of the note include a link to the article that says where they will be (or where they were).

You can add links to writeups of the events, with pictures and videos if they're available.

Update: Putting the map together helped make this story seem more real. \"Barack Obama's stop at Cape Fear BBQ and Chicken in Fayetteville, N.C., this afternoon underscored the continued resistance of some voters to his candidacy -- and his identity. The trip, according to a pool report, offered 'some powerful and at times ugly interaction.'\"

I'm not a liberal

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:43:23 GMT

I'm also not The Left.

I have a mixture of values some which you'd label right, others left, and others don't fall on that spectrum at all.

I don't think the Republicans are particularly conservative.

I think it's funny that it's a virtue when they propose cutting taxes but when Democrats do it, they call it socialism.

I don't know what Republicans stand for these days. I read Brooks, Kristol, the Weekly Standard, National Review, PowerLine, Hot Air, all are supposedly conservative people, but they don't really stand for anything. They're more like baseball fans. They like the color of the hat, or their parents were fans of the same team, that's why they root for the Republicans.

Look, I'm a Mets fan because I was a Mets fan when I was a kid. I rooted for the Mets probably because my parents grew up in Brooklyn and Rockaway and therefore rooted for the Dodgers. I like to think I'm a Mets fan because they have better philosophy, but I know in my heart that it's really the color of the hat. Only recently did I learn that the Mets colors, orange on blue, were derived from the colors of the two NY teams that moved to California. So I'm a National League baseball fan. For that reason I don't think of the American League as a "real" league. I like orange because it's the Giants color, and blue because it's the Dodgers, and I didn't even know it!

I mention all this baseball stuff because in politics I don't have the feeling of loyalty to a team that many do. I do not always vote for one party or the other. As I've said before, in national elections, I've voted Republican more often than I've voted Democratic.

I also think that when people talk about The Left or The Right or conservative vs liberal, they'r really saying "I cling to the past when trying to understand the future." I also think, sorry to say, that people who do this are idiots who don't deserve a vote (but thankfully I don't get to decide who gets a vote).

I also think that, in order to vote, you must prove that you've watched and understood Why We Fight and The Fog of War. If you're voting in California, I'd require reading Cadillac Desert.

Me, I think the Constitution is pretty good. I tend to take a man at his word unless I'm given a reason not to. I have been pretty good with money, but like so many others, I've lost a lot this year. I'd like to think that when I need medical care it won't matter how much money I have. I really do care about other people, even though I'm not a Christian and don't practice any other religion. Sometimes I wonder how people who call themselves Christian can ignore the teachings of their faith when it comes to being generous with others. In this country, so often, it seems Christianity is a very close-minded hard-assed me-first fuck-you culture.

What else? I don't think this is a Christian nation, emphatically, I think it's un-American to think that any religion owns us. I've read both of Obama's books, and I'm glad to see he not only agrees, but can explain why it's so important. I think abortion sucks, and I understand why some people want to outlaw it, but I don't support them. I think most of all we need to become a team, here in the USA, and start pulling together, or else we're really fucked. And I don't think being a team is something you just talk about, it's something you must act on.

I think people who say Obama is liberal haven't bothered to find out anything about him. It's my conservative side that's voting for him.

America's religion is the Constitution.

I love this country. It saved the lives of my parents and grandparents, and without America, I would not be possible.

Update: Cross-posted at Huffington.

Powell endorses Obama

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:07:02 GMT

Maybe the best political ad ever

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:37:22 GMT

Twitter does have track

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:14:08 GMT

Steve Gillmor has been saying that Twitter doesn't have track for quite some time, and for some of that time he was correct, but it's been bothering me for a while because I don't think he's correct now. Hopefully I won't look too stupid if I don't understand all the subleties of tracking Twitter topics.

Enough caveats? I hope so.

Anyway...

Suppose I want to track all conversations about Obama on Twitter?

1. Go to the search page.

2. Enter "Obama" (leave out the quotes).

3. Click on Search.

4. Wait.

5. A few seconds later it will say something like this: "58 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them." When you refresh, sure enough there are the 58 results. (Those were the ones that appeared while I was writing this blog post.)

Now maybe that's not what Track does, if so I'm stupid.

How will Twitter make money?

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:51:04 GMT

Imho, asking how Twitter will make money is not a dumb question. It's not a sporting thing, not idle conversation. I don't think people are saying Twitter won't find a way to make money, rather expecting that how they make money will change the way Twitter works, probably not an improvement.

The investors in Twitter, I think, like most tech investors, lack the perspective of a user. Here's the key point, we feel like we're investors too. We're putting our time into developing the service, when people sign up to Twitter because I urge them to, or stay there because I pour my time into it, I wonder where that investment will go when the people who control the service (Fred, Bijan, Ev, Jack, Biz, et al) change it so they can make money.

There's an uneasy feeling that when we see how it works, we aren't going to like it.

That's why the question keeps coming up, imho.

I have a preference. I'd like to be able to pay Twitter a monthly fee to opt out of however they decide to commercialize it. I think that's the honorable way to transition from a free approach (the current one) to a money-making approach.

A very short review of W

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:09:21 GMT

I went to see the 4:05PM showing of W at the California Theater on Kitteridge in Berkeley, and well, it was a nice movie, but I never really got into the plot. It could be I know too much about the actual story, like having read the book before seeing the movie.

It is sympathetic to both Bush presidents, who were the main characters. Like the other Oliver Stone movie about a President, you're left wondering what would have been different if the son felt loved by his father (with Nixon it was bigger, we were asked to wonder what if anyone had loved him).

You can't help but get a big crush on Laura Bush, the Democrat librarian who (according to the movie) really does love Dubya (she calls him Bushie).

The White House fools are like cartoon characters. You'll laugh out loud at the portrayals of Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, Cheney, but they all came off as weakly played arch enemies of Batman or Superman. Or a SNL parody.

I was hoping for a great Oliver Stone movie. Any Given Sunday is one of my all-time favorites, but this one never draws you into anything like a plot, there's zero suspension of disbelief. It was interesting as a spectacle, nothing more.

Reverse robo-calling tomorrow

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:32:17 GMT

The Republican Party and the McCain campaign are saying some really awful things about Barack Obama in robo-calls in battleground states. It's strange and remarkably honest of them to self-identify, given that everything else they say is a lie. They even provide their phone number.

So tomorrow I'm going to call the Republicans and tell them, politely and honestly, how I feel about them bothering people at home with lies about Obama. I'm going to call them at 202-863-8502. This is the exact opposite of what they're doing. I'm a real person, not a robot, and instead of lying I will tell the truth.

If you want to help the Republicans straighten their act out you can call them too. I'd wait until their office opens tomorrow, though, all the voicemail boxes seem to be full at this time.

Just bought an MSI

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:22:11 GMT

Well, I decided it was time to upgrade my netbook act, and I plunked down the money for an MSI Wind U100-279US at a place called JustNetbooks.com.

Apparently they do their fulfillment with Amazon, I paid through Amazon, got cheap 1-day shipping (fingers crossed) for $3.99 because I'm an Amazon Prime member. Hopefully it'll be here tomorrow so I can start setting it up before my next road trip.

This looks to be an improvement over the Asus, which if all goes well I'll turn into a server.

BTW, I had a thought, wouldn't it be great if Apple sold netbooks, even though they aren't making them, at Apple stores? They sell printers made by other companies. When they finally get around to making an Apple-branded netbook they could kick out the other brands. It would be nice to be able to impulse-buy one of these babies locally.

Update: You can buy an Asus at BestBuy for $299.

Update: Apple contracts out design and manufacturing?

FreshAir cracks Sarah Palin

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:54:06 GMT

It's amazing that Sarah Palin, would-be VP to a 72-year-old cancer survivor asks Who Barack Obama Really Is? and yet we know almost nothing about her. More than amazing, isn't it imprudent?

Well, they cracked the nut on FreshAir, inviting Michael Carey, a former editor of the Anchorage Daily News to a 40-minute interview. He answered a lot of the outstanding questions about Sarah Palin. Highly recommended.

Fresh Air: Sarah Palin, A View From Anchorage.

It's not too late to ask who this would-be VP is. And if you believe Obama, and I do, there's no reason to assume she will not be elected on November 4.

Ev is Twitter's new CEO

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:45:04 GMT

This is a surprise!

http://dave.bit.ly/evNewCeo

Not sure exactly what to think.

W movie party in Berkeley

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:44:57 GMT

Let's play hookie tomorrow and see the W opening at California Theaters on Kittridge at 4:05PM. We can go out and get a bite to eat after. If you'd like to participate sign up on this Upcoming page.

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1237753/

Is this what they meant?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:17:46 GMT

Is this what they meant by Let McCain Be McCain?

Tools that build on Netflix API?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:09:02 GMT

A few weeks ago Netflix announced an API.

Following up -- is anyone aware of tools that build on the API? I'm specifically interested in tools that can be used to extract my reviews data into XML so I can use it in other applications.

Debate Party at Hillside Club tonight

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:22:54 GMT

If you're in Berkeley come to the Hillside Club at 5:30PM for the third and final Presidential debate. Suggested contribution $5. Cheeseboard pizza, pay as you go.

If you can't be here, join the discussion on IRC.

irc://irc.freenode.net/#presidentDebate3

See you at 5:30PM!

An idea for Obama

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:16:36 GMT

If he gets to ask McCain a question in tonight's debate, try asking a friendly question, like Schwarzenegger asked his opponent Phil Angelides in a 2006 gubenatorial debate. "What's been the funniest moment in your campaign?" or "Where were you when you come up with the idea of picking Sarah Palin?" It's all so serious -- what about relaxing a little.