7.2.04
This weblog has moved!
This weblog has moved to Typepad and it has now it´s own domain at www.adplusplus.net! Go there!
6.1.04
MacWorld San Francisco Keynote
Watch the MWSF Steve Jobs Keynote in Quicktime Streaming today (9am PT, 6pm CET):
"Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs deliver the Macworld Expo keynote address from Moscone Center in San Francisco. See the live webcast right here on January 6 at 9am PT exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4. It's an event you won't want to miss."
Apple - QuickTime - Macworld San Francisco 2004 Keynote.
"Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs deliver the Macworld Expo keynote address from Moscone Center in San Francisco. See the live webcast right here on January 6 at 9am PT exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4. It's an event you won't want to miss."
Apple - QuickTime - Macworld San Francisco 2004 Keynote.
5.1.04
ad++ Weblog
The number of posting on this weblog is going down. I started to post the recent stuff on the ad++ Typepad Weblog. Go there NOW!
Well, should I decide to move, then it´s all there ready. Should I decide to stay here, then I will post all the recent stuff here. But since posting (pictures) on Typepad is obviously much easier and more powerful, I doubt that will happen.
I also thought about doing all the heavy stuff myself, with an installation of MT or Pmachine on some webspace but that´s too much. I don´t have that much time in the near future!
Well, should I decide to move, then it´s all there ready. Should I decide to stay here, then I will post all the recent stuff here. But since posting (pictures) on Typepad is obviously much easier and more powerful, I doubt that will happen.
I also thought about doing all the heavy stuff myself, with an installation of MT or Pmachine on some webspace but that´s too much. I don´t have that much time in the near future!
1.1.04
Alexa Web Top 500
Alexa lists the top web site and traffic rank, reach and page views among the Alexa Network for various site such as google.com (#4), Amazon.com (#16), Microsoft.com (#8), but strangely doesn´t have any data for Alexa itself. Check also your favorite local sites like T-Mobile Germany, T-Online Germany or Der Spiegel.
Also the Global Top 500 are given: Yahoo.com (#1) > MSN.com (#2) > Daum.net (never heard of, but it from Korea; #3) > Google.com (#4) > Naver.com (also from Korea; #5) > Yahoo Japan (#6) > Sina.com.cn (China; #7), Ebay.com (#8), Microsoft.com (#9), Passport.net (#10), 163.com (chinese too; #11), Sohu.net (China; #12), 3721.com (who even get´s the idea for these domains ? - anyway it´s chinese again: 提供中文网址软件服务、网络实名介绍和相关服务 :-); #13), Bugs.co.kr (#14), Sayclub.com (Korea again, #15), Amazon.com (finally; #16), baidu.com (a chinese search engine, #17), tom.com (I believe this is a mobile portal, from china of course, #18), go.com (#19), nate.com (that´s korean again, #20).
Quite a lot non-english sites here; apart from the fact that there are no non-english/korean/chinese/japanese sites in the top 20. Let´s scroll further down, at least it´s the top 500. Ebay UK at 40, Google Spain at 55, Ebay Germany at 93, Google Germany at 102, Apple at 143, swedish Aftonbladet at 205, CNET at 207, spanish Terra at 220, Hotmail.com at 258, T-Online Germany at 303, Barbie.com at 330, MTV at 440, Dogpile at 473 (this is not what you may think), Victoria´s Secret (UK) at 489. And there are the german language top sites.
Also the Global Top 500 are given: Yahoo.com (#1) > MSN.com (#2) > Daum.net (never heard of, but it from Korea; #3) > Google.com (#4) > Naver.com (also from Korea; #5) > Yahoo Japan (#6) > Sina.com.cn (China; #7), Ebay.com (#8), Microsoft.com (#9), Passport.net (#10), 163.com (chinese too; #11), Sohu.net (China; #12), 3721.com (who even get´s the idea for these domains ? - anyway it´s chinese again: 提供中文网址软件服务、网络实名介绍和相关服务 :-); #13), Bugs.co.kr (#14), Sayclub.com (Korea again, #15), Amazon.com (finally; #16), baidu.com (a chinese search engine, #17), tom.com (I believe this is a mobile portal, from china of course, #18), go.com (#19), nate.com (that´s korean again, #20).
Quite a lot non-english sites here; apart from the fact that there are no non-english/korean/chinese/japanese sites in the top 20. Let´s scroll further down, at least it´s the top 500. Ebay UK at 40, Google Spain at 55, Ebay Germany at 93, Google Germany at 102, Apple at 143, swedish Aftonbladet at 205, CNET at 207, spanish Terra at 220, Hotmail.com at 258, T-Online Germany at 303, Barbie.com at 330, MTV at 440, Dogpile at 473 (this is not what you may think), Victoria´s Secret (UK) at 489. And there are the german language top sites.
Bubblegum
The Bubblegum proxypot is a fake open proxy that will long sessions and help to find spammers, BUT it may bring you into trouble and your ISP against you since - technically - it´s still an open proxy.
An open proxy is a server that forwards Internet connections from anywhere to anywhere, no questions asked.
Usually an open proxy is installed by spammers or crackers on innocent users unsecure PCs through trojan horse in viruses.
An open proxy honeypot (proxypot) is a server that pretends to be an open proxy.
An open proxy is a server that forwards Internet connections from anywhere to anywhere, no questions asked.
Usually an open proxy is installed by spammers or crackers on innocent users unsecure PCs through trojan horse in viruses.
An open proxy honeypot (proxypot) is a server that pretends to be an open proxy.
Hilarious Ad
Mr. Kipling´s Virgin Birth is a hilarious ad from Saatchi & Saatchi London. In this ad, a fictitious Mr. Kipling is forgiven mistaken because his cakes are so delicious.
Found at Adage.com:
A woman playing Mary in a school nativity play goes into genuine, agonizing labor and gives birth on stage. A shocked parent asks the vicar: "Has Mr. Kipling ever directed a Nativity play before?" The vicar says, "No, but he does make exceedingly good cakes." The British public so railed against this spot as "blasphemous" and "offensive that it was pulled from the air."
Found at Adage.com:
A woman playing Mary in a school nativity play goes into genuine, agonizing labor and gives birth on stage. A shocked parent asks the vicar: "Has Mr. Kipling ever directed a Nativity play before?" The vicar says, "No, but he does make exceedingly good cakes." The British public so railed against this spot as "blasphemous" and "offensive that it was pulled from the air."
Administrativa
A few posts from yesterday are missing here. You can find those at the Ad++ WebLog on Typepad:
- Mr Magoo
- Burning down the house
- live action
I´m blogging now on two weblogs to compare them or rather evaluate moving the weblog.
I´m too lazy to post the recent posts (since blogger was down for a few moments so I couldn´t do it right away).
Anyway, Typepad has some neat features that are not available on Blogger yet nor in the near future (apart from the fact, that I don´t really know what the folks at Blogger plan to introduce).
- Mr Magoo
- Burning down the house
- live action
I´m blogging now on two weblogs to compare them or rather evaluate moving the weblog.
I´m too lazy to post the recent posts (since blogger was down for a few moments so I couldn´t do it right away).
Anyway, Typepad has some neat features that are not available on Blogger yet nor in the near future (apart from the fact, that I don´t really know what the folks at Blogger plan to introduce).
31.12.03
What not to do during LOTR
Les has a list of what not to do during "Return of the King" - such as:
8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
2004
Happy New Year to everyone!! Guten Rutsch, as we say in German.
Music
This is music I love. Just listening to it. Music right for the end of the year. Freddie Mercury´s last CD - I like especially the really long title "Heaven" (Amazon Germany, Amazon.com).
Speaking of music, I got two CDs this Christmas: Verve//Remixed Vol. 2 featuring great remixes of music by Dizzy Gillespie and Nina Simone and others. I like the last one - "Sinnerman" and "Whatever lola wants" by Sarah Vaughan remixed by Gotan Project, of whom I already have one CD. You can read more (and listen to long tracks!) of the Verve album on the blankton site. (Amazon Germany, Amazon.com)The second CD is the excellent soundtrack for Goodbye Lenin featuring the music of French mastermind Yann Tiersen. After first listing to him on the Amelie soundtrack, I really got to have everthing. (Amazon Germany, Amazon.com)
Can you spot the bear?
This is the bear and the bear is in this picture. It seems to be good, but I´ve cut the guy´s arm. And here a part of the church is missing. I was too fast.
Bookmarklets
A directory for bookmarklets for your browser: Bookmarklets Home Page - free tools for power surfing
P2P
A PDF paper on incriminating P2P network users - I´m not sure if this is the original version I read a couple days ago.
Terrorist alerts
A week or so before christmas the terrorists alert level in the US was raised by the Homeland Security department, and now we know why: :-)
The FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs:
when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning."
The FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs:
when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning."
Just ask for it!
December is the time for donations. A couple of open projects faced sever hardware problems and asked their communities for help: Wikipedia asked for $20.000 dollars and received - up to Dec. 30, morning - $29.566. The german SELFHTML project team asked for donations of EUR 5.000 to fund new servers and got - up to 23rd Dec - EUR 20.885. I guess it´s probably much more (since I donated too :-)).
30.12.03
Digital cameras vs video photography
As a NE Asia online article reports, video from digital cameras is set to Reach 1.3M-Pixels/Frame by 2006, where are at the present it offers 310.000 pixels per frame or VGA Format at 30 frames per second (on high-end cameras). It seems that the imagers used in digital cameras offering 3 to 5 million pixels are offering too much pixel for video, because if all the pixel data would be read, it wouldn´t be possible to keep up with the video frame rate.
Progress is taken place also from the other side, since video cameras can also take still images as well.
Progress is taken place also from the other side, since video cameras can also take still images as well.
And the winner is ...
Ladies and gentlemen. According a new article from CNET News.com, there are 3 different business modells for online music:
- the a la carte approach (like iTunes)
- the subscription model (like Napster)
- the streaming model (like RealNetworks´Rhapsody)
And the winner is ...
yet open, since every variation can find it´s followers. Some experts argue that eventually people will turn to streaming as the dominant source for music, since also the infrastructure for that (flate-rate internet access) is growing. However, at present most people are still used to buying individual tracks and albums because "that is how most people have learned to obtain music online". Also such music can be easily copied to portable and other devices.
I guess eventually all devices, such as portable players or car hi-fi systems, will be wired, either thru UMTS, WLAN or at least bluetooth. Or you can carry a small device in your pocket that stores the music on a disk and transfer that to whatever device, both the hi-fi system at home or in a car - all DRM controlled of course. This devices could be your future mobile phone: phone, video phone, multimedia store, camera and more all in one.
But back to the article: the article claims that margins are too small for downloading, since the services pay music labels around 79 cents per track in royalties and another 5 cents per track to the credit card companies. At a maximum prices of 99 cents per track (iTunes) or even 88 cents (Walmart) that doesn´t leave much room for the music services. For streaming, royalties are much lower, but ownership isn´t passed to the consumers. The present disadvantage for the consumer with only streamed content will be counterweighted once streaming capable devices (phones, portabels etc.) will be on the market.
Another disadvantage is though, that with a streaming services, you´ll have to stay as a customer forever. So if you move outside of the service area or are forced to suspend using the services, you loose all the music. Propably, a combination is best: some music you just want to listen a few times, some music you wan´t to have forever.
The article allow refers to adding communities to the music service:
Rhapsody allows subscribers who also have Web logs, or blogs, to place a link to Rhapsody songs on their sites.
Actually, iTunes also offers a service like this - the ITMS application.
- the a la carte approach (like iTunes)
- the subscription model (like Napster)
- the streaming model (like RealNetworks´Rhapsody)
And the winner is ...
yet open, since every variation can find it´s followers. Some experts argue that eventually people will turn to streaming as the dominant source for music, since also the infrastructure for that (flate-rate internet access) is growing. However, at present most people are still used to buying individual tracks and albums because "that is how most people have learned to obtain music online". Also such music can be easily copied to portable and other devices.
I guess eventually all devices, such as portable players or car hi-fi systems, will be wired, either thru UMTS, WLAN or at least bluetooth. Or you can carry a small device in your pocket that stores the music on a disk and transfer that to whatever device, both the hi-fi system at home or in a car - all DRM controlled of course. This devices could be your future mobile phone: phone, video phone, multimedia store, camera and more all in one.
But back to the article: the article claims that margins are too small for downloading, since the services pay music labels around 79 cents per track in royalties and another 5 cents per track to the credit card companies. At a maximum prices of 99 cents per track (iTunes) or even 88 cents (Walmart) that doesn´t leave much room for the music services. For streaming, royalties are much lower, but ownership isn´t passed to the consumers. The present disadvantage for the consumer with only streamed content will be counterweighted once streaming capable devices (phones, portabels etc.) will be on the market.
Another disadvantage is though, that with a streaming services, you´ll have to stay as a customer forever. So if you move outside of the service area or are forced to suspend using the services, you loose all the music. Propably, a combination is best: some music you just want to listen a few times, some music you wan´t to have forever.
The article allow refers to adding communities to the music service:
Rhapsody allows subscribers who also have Web logs, or blogs, to place a link to Rhapsody songs on their sites.
Actually, iTunes also offers a service like this - the ITMS application.
28.12.03
Drivers for mobile multimedia
Multimedia - Seed for Growth is a Powerpoint presentation (PDF, 9 MB) by Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia on the Nokia Capital Market Days last November.
It shows detailed information on the 4 focus areas in consumer multimedia:
- Imaging (camera phone, sharing photos with friends, mobile blogging etc.)
- Games (like the N-Gage console and online services over WAP)
- Media and Music (music download, creating and sharing music and video, radio, web surfing on the phone, eMail)
- enhancements (devices for the street, for work and on the road)
It shows detailed information on the 4 focus areas in consumer multimedia:
- Imaging (camera phone, sharing photos with friends, mobile blogging etc.)
- Games (like the N-Gage console and online services over WAP)
- Media and Music (music download, creating and sharing music and video, radio, web surfing on the phone, eMail)
- enhancements (devices for the street, for work and on the road)
26.12.03
At the movies
Friday 26th, nothing really good on TV, what should I say more: time to watch some trailer for not-yet-released movies:
- Man on Fire, a new movie starring Denzel Washington, premiering in the US on 23rd April 2004. (IMDB)
- Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhard and Uma Thurman, a new movie by John Woo. Some lost memory stuff, tagline "remember the future". (IMDB)
- The Dreamers, a new film by Bernardo Bertolucci.
- The chronicles of Riddick, very fantasylike. Ah yes, and action - starring Vin Diesel and Judi Dench - we know her from the James Bond movies - starring M. (IMDB)
- Man on Fire, a new movie starring Denzel Washington, premiering in the US on 23rd April 2004. (IMDB)
- Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhard and Uma Thurman, a new movie by John Woo. Some lost memory stuff, tagline "remember the future". (IMDB)
- The Dreamers, a new film by Bernardo Bertolucci.
- The chronicles of Riddick, very fantasylike. Ah yes, and action - starring Vin Diesel and Judi Dench - we know her from the James Bond movies - starring M. (IMDB)
CSS Webdesign
Good, but somehow Matrix-inspired, introduction into using CSS Based Webdesign by Jeremy Keith.
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something.
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something.
Holiday surfing
A few links I found while reading old RSS feeds:
- the work of war photographer James Nachtwey including his Iraq coverage
- how to use the London tubemap as a flow chart
- alternative terror alert warning [the term "Homeland Security" sounds really very strange to me, really!]
- the work of war photographer James Nachtwey including his Iraq coverage
- how to use the London tubemap as a flow chart
- alternative terror alert warning [the term "Homeland Security" sounds really very strange to me, really!]
Fan and ball
Another game if you have some time to kill over X-mas: fan_and_ball (Thanks Christian).
Psychopong will drive you mad - the first level seems normal, but then ..
Psychopong will drive you mad - the first level seems normal, but then ..
25.12.03
Toilets and lolitas
The book Lolita by Vladimir Navokov on Amazon allows for some really stupid jokes (see image).
Well, and on related news, Google is installing cams into toilets (according to SF Business times) [while I´m typing this in a second time because I pressed the wrong button - Preview - before Saving this post. Remember always save first, folks!]
The noted Internet search engine has recently installed digital toilets at its Mountain View offices, co-founder Larry Page disclosed to a gathering of the Churchill Club networking group in San Francisco this month.
It´s news that no one needs!
Walmart music store
Bill Palmers writes an comparison of iTunes vs. the Walmart music store and guess who wins.
Well, for us international users - we loose early. First the Walmart website is integrated with the other Walmart offerings, but the link international customers states that the site shops only within the US. No problem, ´cause downloaded music isn´t shipped, it´s downloaded.
However, when tryint to download music it says:
You must download music from a location within the 50 states of the United States. Sorry, but Music Downloads are not available to people residing at military addresses, commonwealths, territories, protectorates, or possessions of the United States that are outside of the 50 states.
Well, folks, that also excludes Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, not to mention France and the other "old European" countries.
So it´s not interesting anymore that there´s no one click purchase, no software included, no Apple support, just WMP, poor integration even with other digital devices (other than iPod), not so much tracks; well, we from Europe can´t also experience this one too.
Well, for us international users - we loose early. First the Walmart website is integrated with the other Walmart offerings, but the link international customers states that the site shops only within the US. No problem, ´cause downloaded music isn´t shipped, it´s downloaded.
However, when tryint to download music it says:
You must download music from a location within the 50 states of the United States. Sorry, but Music Downloads are not available to people residing at military addresses, commonwealths, territories, protectorates, or possessions of the United States that are outside of the 50 states.
Well, folks, that also excludes Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, not to mention France and the other "old European" countries.
So it´s not interesting anymore that there´s no one click purchase, no software included, no Apple support, just WMP, poor integration even with other digital devices (other than iPod), not so much tracks; well, we from Europe can´t also experience this one too.
Weird iPod commercial
This isn´t really an iPod commercial, rather a parody: "My name is Will Farrell, and I´m a porn actor." Switch!
