Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Bye-Bye City Wide Wi-Fi

It has been announced that Philadelphia is shutting down it's City Wide wi-fi service. It looks like the idea of public-private municpal wi-fi partnerships did not work. This was the hot idea a few years ago. In 2005 CNet asked "Philadelphia is venturing into the Wi-Fi frontier and liking what it sees. The big question is, will it feel the same way two years from now?" The answer seems to be no.

I talked to someone who used to worked for Earthnet about this. He said that many of these projects were doomed from the start. Many times the cities did not have the rights to let Wi-Fi providers to put antennas where they wanted to. The companies would need multiple approvals to put antennas on the tops of street lights, traffic lights, and phone poles. They could not compete with the money cell phone companies pay private building owners.

I am not sad to see public Wi-Fi go away. I really saw it as a bad idea for the competitive nature of internet service. When I worked for TiVo I worried that people would not be able to get their box hooked up to the internet with these services.

I bet this idea comes back with a future set of wireless technology.

Labels: internet, municpal wi-fi, philadelphia, wi-fi, wireless

- Rich, 7:47 PM |

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Media computer

I was reading this story about someone replacing their Apple TV with a Mac Mini. I think this is an interesting idea. I have been thinking about a Home Theater Computer for some time now. I am not looking for something to solve all my problems. I am not going to get rid of my TiVo. I think the standalone DVR is the only way to go. There are somethings that I really want a home theater computer for.

There is a minimal list of things I want a media computer to do:

Podcasts
Youtube
Hulu
Joust
Network Websites
MP3
Upconvert DVDs
Bluray DVDs
Play Music
Display photos from Flickr

It is a shame that none of the set top boxes out there like VUDU or Apple TV do this. There is a lot of good free content out there. Right now the set top boxes let you get to minimal free content. They are closed platforms limiting the kind of content you can get to. It is a shame that I have to set up a media computer to get to this content.

I understand it will not make any money for them like letting you rent or purchase content would, but it would make the box more useful. It would make it so customers used the boxes more often. If people are using your box you get more chances they might decide to purchase or rent something. It also open up the doorway to advertise to the users.

Labels: appleTV, mac mini, Set top box, tag overload

- Rich, 5:47 PM |

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Views on Flickr: Twenty Five Thousand View Photo

This is my most viewed photo. I do not think this is my best photo ever. I do not think these women are the most attractive in my photosteam. When I took this photo, it wa just a spontaneous snap shot. I just had a few seconds to take it. They did not take to time to pose most most people in costume take. Maybe that is why it is so well liked.

This is also my most commented photo. But part of that has to do with Supergirl having a belly ring. People wonder how a person with skin the strength of steel gets a belly ring.

Labels: flickr, flickrpost, photography, views

- Rich, 6:15 PM |

Monday, May 12, 2008

Views on Flickr: Thirteen Thousand View Photo

For a long time this was my most viewed photo. It is easy to see why this photo was the most viewed photo. This is where my obsession with Metal Slave Bikini Leia. This was the moment I found out that there are so many women who dress like this at comic book conventions. I guess this is where I found out I should try to take more photos of women in costumes.

Labels: flickr, flickrpost, photography, views

- Rich, 6:13 PM |

homophily

On NPR last week there was a story about homophily. From the on the Media website.

Consuming the same media as your peers is what social scientists call homophily, better known as ‘birds of a feather flock together’. Ethan Zuckerman, blogger and internet theorist, has been trying to fight this instinct online. He offers techniques for surprising and challenging readers with news that they didn't know they wanted.

I have thought about this idea for a long time. I have listened to people talk about communities on the internet. The problem is that communities on the internet are self selected and that leads to homophily. This is not an idea that is new in my life. When I was young all of my friends were close to my house. All you needed to be my friend was to be close to my house and us not want to punch each other. Until 6th grade this seemed to be the same for all the kids in my neighborhood.

In Junior High School people grouped together by interests. Since I could get around on my bike, I could be much more selective about the people who I hung out with. In high school I had a car and could be very selective about my friends. I think that homophily is happening all the time. The question is about how much can we filter out the views of other people? Can we get in a world that we never have any outside opinions? I think we can, but it is up to us not to do that. We the people have to drive ourselves to find views that are different than our own. Too many people do want to do that right now.

Labels: homophily, NPR, on the media

- Rich, 12:10 PM |

Where have you gone Barry Bonds

It seems that no one is willing to sign Barry Bonds and the Union is pissed. Well at least Jeff Borris is pissed. According to the new reports Barry Bonds has not received a signal offer. I am not sure if this is because Jeff Borris answers the phone, "if you not offering $10 million dollars a year, don't bother talking." Honestly, I think it is because Barry Bonds is indited without a court date yet. If general mangers knew that he was not going to have court dates during the September stretch run they might be willing to sign him.

The other problem is that only 14 teams might be willing to sign him. I would not play him in left field any more. that only leads American League teams. He could be a DH, but I am not sure a DH would be worth the risk that he might get hurt. I doubt he is willing to play for a discount. In the end, I do not think there is any collusion. Everyone has come to the conclusion that Barry Bonds is not worth signing.

Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, collusion, union

- Rich, 8:53 AM |

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Views on Flickr: Five Thousand View Photo

It is easy to see why so many people have looked at this photo.

Labels: flickr, flickrpost, photography, views

- Rich, 6:11 PM |

Black Search Engine

I heard a story today about Rushmore Drive from On The Media. Rushmore Drive is a search engine that is focused on Black people. Not only African Americans, but Africans, Afro-Caribbeans and Black people anywhere else in the world. The idea is that Google is currently a one side fits all solution. Minority have different ideas of what should show up on search results.

I am interested in the idea that different things are important to different people. Right now Google is the king of search. I am not sure if Google gives the same search results depending on who is searching. Do people with the same ethnic background want the same search results. I am not sure the best way to figure this one out.

There are two possible outcomes if this kind of search is important. Large search engines will let people tweeks the results that come to them. Letting people actively and passively edit the results that are served up to them. Smaller search engines will pop up that try to cater to people. I think that these search engines will not stop an ethnic ideas, but other lifestyle groupings. I think that gamers will get their own search engine, photographers will get there own search engine, and movie fans will get there own search engine.

I searched for Rich Thomas on Rushmore Drive. I come up second on this search, which is better than Google where I show up 4th. My photo comes up on the search, but my blog does not come up on the blog search. It is good to know everyone can find me if they are looking for me.

Search might not be the same in the future. There is an idea that we are getting to the end of Keyword search. Tagging has already had an impact on the way searches work. Who knows what search will be about in another five or ten years. It is possible that Google is something that is no longer important in 10 year.

Labels: google, NPR, on the media, Rushmore Drive, search

- Rich, 8:04 AM |

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