Google Notebook provides a jiffy way of clipping and saving text and pictures from the web pages you are browsing. Once you install it to your brower, all you have to do is highlight and right-click on whatever you to save. The data is then copied (with links back to the original) to its own notebook page. These notebooks can be updated, published as webpages, and shared.
I noticed today that Google made some useful upgrades to the service. For starters, it is now easier to direct a new clipping to the notebook in which you want it. Likewise, it is easier to move clippings within a notebook, and from one notebook to another one.
That's all I've noticed so far.
Apparently, it has also gone multilingual.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Yahoo's Mega Mail
Yahoo announced it will offer "unlimited mail storage" starting sometime in May this year.
Back in 1997, 2MB of mail was a big deal.
Google promotes its Gmail by saying you should never have to delete anything. They currently offer 2833.957669 megabytes (and counting!). Maybe they will officially announce the long-fabled Google Drive soon to recapture some hype.
Back in 1997, 2MB of mail was a big deal.
Google promotes its Gmail by saying you should never have to delete anything. They currently offer 2833.957669 megabytes (and counting!). Maybe they will officially announce the long-fabled Google Drive soon to recapture some hype.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
It's Baaaaack!
The Sopranos will start April 8th! I had read that it was bumped back until June.
The trailer looks pretty good:
Sopranos Trailer on iFilm.
The trailer looks pretty good:
Sopranos Trailer on iFilm.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
150 % of Revenues Is "Fair Market Value"?!
Accuradio will have to convince web advertisers to pay much higher rates, turn to a subscription-based service (or if they already are, charge their subscribers more money), or go out of business, leaving one fewer outlet for musicians to reach consumers. From L.A. City Beat:
"We were paying about 12 percent of our revenues, so that came out to be about $48,000 on $400,000 in revenues,� says Paul Maloney, editor of RAIN: Radio and Internet Newsletter, and VP of music programming at Chicago-based Internet radio service, AccuRadio.'This decision has us paying per performance, so, for 2006, that is going to increase our royalty obligation to about $600,000. That is 150 percent of our revenues�'"Hat Tip: Hip Hop Libertarian.
Say what?!
SoundExchange put out a press release from some musicians who "enthusiastically" support the new higher rates for web streaming.
According to SoundExchange, "The new rates better align the per stream compensation performing artists and record labels received from the digital play of their music with the fair market value of their work." Given the small audience for web radio casts, wouldn't it be fairer to "better align" artists' and labels' compensation rates by making rates for old-fashioned radio the same as digital rates? As NPR says, they will pay higher royalties to webcast than they do over the airwaves.
Again, this seems to be more of an attempt by the record labels to shut down media outlets that they can't control as easily as the payola-infected radio stations.
The "fair market value" claim is also highly suspicious. SoundExchange put together the data used by the Copyright Board to set the rates. They had a self-interest to skew the numbers their way,and the may have been comparing apples to watermelons with the online services they used to support their "fair market value claim."
In any event, the Board will rehear this matter.
According to SoundExchange, "The new rates better align the per stream compensation performing artists and record labels received from the digital play of their music with the fair market value of their work." Given the small audience for web radio casts, wouldn't it be fairer to "better align" artists' and labels' compensation rates by making rates for old-fashioned radio the same as digital rates? As NPR says, they will pay higher royalties to webcast than they do over the airwaves.
Again, this seems to be more of an attempt by the record labels to shut down media outlets that they can't control as easily as the payola-infected radio stations.
The "fair market value" claim is also highly suspicious. SoundExchange put together the data used by the Copyright Board to set the rates. They had a self-interest to skew the numbers their way,and the may have been comparing apples to watermelons with the online services they used to support their "fair market value claim."
In any event, the Board will rehear this matter.
Webb Slinger
Virginia Senator Jim Webb is hanging his aide out to dry. Looks like he is worried about legal jeopardy to himself.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Worn Out
Took the family to what is normally our favorite restaurant, Los Tios Grille in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Va. The food is good and the staff are friendly, but it is becoming doomed by its own success. Since it expanded, it is more popular than ever. If you don't get there by 7PM on the weekends, you have to wait for a table. We got there in time, but it was very hot inside. Maybe the AC isn't working for the newly expanded section yet. Then we had to wait too long for our food. And it is very, very loud. My ears are a little sore. They have zero soundproofing and lots of open space, so the noises resound all over the room. All that and we had to keep track of a very-active 3-year old. The chairs are slippery on the slick floors: just as I was warning my son to sit nice or he would fell -- he fell and smacked his head.
It felt so good to sign the check and get the heck out of there tonight. The evening breeze was heavenly! It will be a while before I go back there on a weekend night.
It felt so good to sign the check and get the heck out of there tonight. The evening breeze was heavenly! It will be a while before I go back there on a weekend night.
Thumbs Down on New My Yahoo! Beta
I am always wary of changes that Yahoo makes to their My Yahoo! feature because I have it set up just the way I like it.
The last major change they made to it added RSS feeds which was very useful. Some items that I formerly used on the page were discontinued, but I don't remember what they were anymore so ultimately that didn't matter.
Last night they released a new Beta for the service. I tried it out but quickly reverted.
The new version says that:
Then they reorganized my bookmarks, the layout was much different than the way I view them now. I do a lot of research during the day and like to be able to see all of my bookmarks, organized by category, at a quick glance. I keep MyYahoo open all day so I can get to the links whenever I need them, and I right click to open them up in new windows. I only need to open a subfolder for links that I rarely use.
I have my most frequently-used bookmarks at the top of the page, these links aren't in a specific folder so they appear at the top. Those links weren't visible in the Beta, I could not figure out where they were.
Next I have a folder called "1.News" (I have them in numerical order to force the order in which I want to see the folders rather than the alphabetical-default order) with about 10 links I regularly check and a subfolder of links I infrequently use. Under the old MyYahoo, those 10 links are sitting right there on the page for easy access. In the new Beta, you have to click on the folder "News", wait 5 seconds for a slide-out menu to appear with the links. And then click again to open up the link I want to access.
I don't want to have to click on drop-down or slide-out menus to see my bookmarks, that isn't easier! I love the way it currently is. I have them all organized for easy access.
I left Yahoo! some feedback as I switched back to the regular My Yahoo in order to keep seeing and using my Yahoo bookmarks the way they've been for the past 10 years.
I hope they take my counsel under advisement. But just in case I am going to use the handy "Export Your Bookmarks" feature.
The last major change they made to it added RSS feeds which was very useful. Some items that I formerly used on the page were discontinued, but I don't remember what they were anymore so ultimately that didn't matter.
Last night they released a new Beta for the service. I tried it out but quickly reverted.
The new version says that:
"Bookmarks are now easier. We've moved your Bookmarks to the "My Quicklinks" menu at the top left of your page."But they weren't easier. Now you have to click a drop menu and the first page view of bookmarks aren't my own bookmarks, but links to Yahoo services.
Then they reorganized my bookmarks, the layout was much different than the way I view them now. I do a lot of research during the day and like to be able to see all of my bookmarks, organized by category, at a quick glance. I keep MyYahoo open all day so I can get to the links whenever I need them, and I right click to open them up in new windows. I only need to open a subfolder for links that I rarely use.
I have my most frequently-used bookmarks at the top of the page, these links aren't in a specific folder so they appear at the top. Those links weren't visible in the Beta, I could not figure out where they were.
Next I have a folder called "1.News" (I have them in numerical order to force the order in which I want to see the folders rather than the alphabetical-default order) with about 10 links I regularly check and a subfolder of links I infrequently use. Under the old MyYahoo, those 10 links are sitting right there on the page for easy access. In the new Beta, you have to click on the folder "News", wait 5 seconds for a slide-out menu to appear with the links. And then click again to open up the link I want to access.
I don't want to have to click on drop-down or slide-out menus to see my bookmarks, that isn't easier! I love the way it currently is. I have them all organized for easy access.
I left Yahoo! some feedback as I switched back to the regular My Yahoo in order to keep seeing and using my Yahoo bookmarks the way they've been for the past 10 years.
I hope they take my counsel under advisement. But just in case I am going to use the handy "Export Your Bookmarks" feature.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Google Themes
If you have a customized Google home page, you can now add some color to it. They only have a handful of themes available at the moment, but they are a good start. The colors are interesting, and the pictures in the top banner will change depending on what time of day it is.
And there is also an update of GoogleDesktop with new sidebar features. I used the sidebar a lot when I first installed Desktop. Nowadays I usually just have it running in the taskbar. I depend on it primarily for its archive and I love being able to do the quick double-click on the Control key to open a mini-Google search box. Great feature! Except that lately, the Control key is starting to stick from frequent use.
I wish they would address the archive issue. After I run a defrag of the my drive, there is a large chuck of Google data that can't be defragmented. Google hasn't addressed this yet (as far as I know) in the Desktop Google Group. Some users have suggested having Desktop re-index the drive, but I don't know if this will retain or erase older data. But then again, If I've deleted a file 2 months ago, and haven't had a need for it by now, I probably won't. I suppose it is time to let go of the past!
And there is also an update of GoogleDesktop with new sidebar features. I used the sidebar a lot when I first installed Desktop. Nowadays I usually just have it running in the taskbar. I depend on it primarily for its archive and I love being able to do the quick double-click on the Control key to open a mini-Google search box. Great feature! Except that lately, the Control key is starting to stick from frequent use.
I wish they would address the archive issue. After I run a defrag of the my drive, there is a large chuck of Google data that can't be defragmented. Google hasn't addressed this yet (as far as I know) in the Desktop Google Group. Some users have suggested having Desktop re-index the drive, but I don't know if this will retain or erase older data. But then again, If I've deleted a file 2 months ago, and haven't had a need for it by now, I probably won't. I suppose it is time to let go of the past!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Update
Matt Drudge is headlining the royalty story right now. I'm surprised to learn that Clear Channel, the largest radio company in the nation, is on the right side of this issue. They must be doing more on the web than I realized. As NPR said, they will be paying more for their online royalties to reach a far smaller audience than they pay for their radio broadcast. This is patently unfair.
My hunch is that the Royalty Board is feeling the heat from this and to forestall Congressional action, they'll scale back their proposal. But of course there are no guarantees, so make sure your Congressman hears from you!
My hunch is that the Royalty Board is feeling the heat from this and to forestall Congressional action, they'll scale back their proposal. But of course there are no guarantees, so make sure your Congressman hears from you!
Royalty Board Stifling Innovation
I've started following the webcaster royalty issue over the past few days. I normally despise NPR but I hope they prevail in this case. It seems that SoundExchange and the RIAA through the Copyright Royalty Board are attempting to protect FM radio and quash the innovative services arising through the internet. They all seem to want to control access to consumers so that they can be spoon-feed the industry's chosen artists.
I strongly disagree with the mouth-piece of SoundExchange, which collects the royalties, that "we need to get over the idea that these webcasters are performing a favor for the artists (paraphrased)." On the contrary,the webcasters are indeed doing a favor to the artists. Pandora is performing a humongous favor for the artists and the record labels. I've heard songs on their that I went and purchased on Emusic.com. Songs I wouldn't have heard otherwise. I think that the artists should be thrilled for all the new venues for hearing music. Each one is a different way to connect to the consumers without which the labels wouldn't exist. The labels, SoundExchange, and the RIAA all make me want to burn a bunch of CDs from my local library in retribution!
I strongly disagree with the mouth-piece of SoundExchange, which collects the royalties, that "we need to get over the idea that these webcasters are performing a favor for the artists (paraphrased)." On the contrary,the webcasters are indeed doing a favor to the artists. Pandora is performing a humongous favor for the artists and the record labels. I've heard songs on their that I went and purchased on Emusic.com. Songs I wouldn't have heard otherwise. I think that the artists should be thrilled for all the new venues for hearing music. Each one is a different way to connect to the consumers without which the labels wouldn't exist. The labels, SoundExchange, and the RIAA all make me want to burn a bunch of CDs from my local library in retribution!
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