MT conversion setback

I've set up an MT template for this blog and I found this groovey dotComments Import script but things are amiss in the conversion process. For some reason MT chokes on this entry about Homer Simpson. I think I know why too. In that entry I used a bunch of "dashes" as a sort of horizontal rule to separate emails. In my previous experience with MT imports, those dashes cause MT to choke and cut off the rest of the entry. I hope that's the problem and I hope I don't use them too much because I think I'm going to have to go back into blogger and edit every entry that uses them. *sigh*

I knew this wasn't going to be easy. However, the good news is that this comment import thing does seem to work. The bad news is that I've now imported the entries twice and gotta figure out how to fix that. Maybe I'll just delete the blog and then recreate it?

Blogging fun. Happy Memorial Day by the way.

UPDATE
I just ran another test with those "dashes" (or hyphens or whatever) removed from the Homer Simpson post and it worked. So, now I know how to fix the problem but I just need to get time to fix it. Also, I still need to figure out how to purge the blog of the duplicate posts. Maybe I'll have to delete it after all?

posted by Eric J | 02:14 PM

My Blogging News

I am now a professional blogger... sort of. My new blog, called Plug In, is an "(almost) daily exploration of the Web, technology and how they impact our culture."

What makes this blog different for me is that updating it is now part of my job. This is new territory for me but I think I'll manage just fine. The paper I work for has pretty much embraced blogs as you can see on our main blog page. The real fun is that now I'm not only managing several blogs but I get to participate in the dialogue.

Now if I can just turn this into a book or something... hmmmm.

posted by Eric J | 01:43 PM

I'm a damn Blog Veteran Baby

I just set up my Silly Blogger Profile and realized (or was reminded) that I've been a Blogger member since June 2001. I didn't actually start blogging until a year later but I was a "blogger" back in the early days. Oh yeah, another cool point for good ole Eric J.

Oh, and I have a little blogging news to share with you soon.

posted by Eric J | 08:09 PM

Gmail Review

Well, I've had a bit of experience with Gmail so here's my humble addition to the horde of reviews.

1. Gmail and Privacy
There's a lot of concern about Gmail and customer privacy. According to Gmail's own Privacy Policy customer emails are automatically scanned and will probably sit on their servers for a long time.

The contents of your Gmail account also are stored and maintained on Google servers in order to provide the service... ...Because we keep back-up copies of data for the purposes of recovery from errors or system failure, residual copies of email may remain on our systems for some time, even after you have deleted messages from your mailbox or after the termination of your account.

The fact that Google is essentially storing your email data indefinitely (after scanning it) is what seems to have most people upset.

However, I agree with people like Rupert Goodwins of ZDNet Australia who says that "Gmail isn't going to make your e-mail any less secure than now. The complaints of Privacy International are off-key."

When I sign up for Yahoo Mail, Hotmail or any other free Web-based email service I assume that none of my messages will be totally secure. I trust that while my data won't be accessible to just anyone, it is stored somewhere and ultimately retrievable by a court order or subpoena. I have a friend who uses Hotmail and he had his Hotmail account subpoenaed for virtually no reason. If you have good lawyers it's not too difficult to exploit laws like the DMCA to get access to "private" accounts. The only real way to have secure email is to use your own computer and securely encrypt everything. Then securely delete everything after you've read it (ask me about the Gutmann Method sometime).

So, is Gmail's privacy policy something I embrace? Not really. But like all Web-based email I just use it for what it is - an easy way to communicate with folks from any spot on the globe. And I doubt anyone cares about my emails with friends and family and I never send sensitive stuff via free email accounts (personal data, company secrets, etc.). However, if you're doing something illegal, you might not want to use Gmail to arrange your weekend drug deal. Just a thought.

2. The Space
Gmail has a Gig of storage space. Right now I'm using one Meg. It's pretty sweet. This is what makes Gmail so cool. You just can't beat a Gig.

3. On Safari
Gmail does not work properly on Safari... yet. I haven't heard any news but I expect it to work soon. I hope anyway.

4. Threaded Messages
If you don't have Gmail then this may not make a lot of sense but your email is threaded, sort of like a forum. This is sort of weird but it's grown on me. Essentially, when you get a message that becomes like the topic in a message board. Then all communications afterwards that are responses to that message get threaded. It's cool and I'm used to it now.

5. Spam Filter
I purposely put my Gmail email address on this blog (webraw@gmail.com) to entice spambots. I may kick myself later but I wanted to see how Gmail handles spam. And you know what, it does a decent job... so far. The jury's still out on this I guess but so far so good.

6. Message Teaser
Gmail has a little message teaser after the subject of each message. So instead of just seeing the subject, I get to read the first few words of that message without actually opening it up. Hotmail doesn't do this and I don't think Yahoo Mail does either. It's helpful, especially when trying to identify spam.

7. Full-Featured
Honestly, Gmail has a lot of features that I haven't even tried yet. There's the "starred" messages, labels and filters that I haven't quite figured out. There's probably some other stuff that I just haven't investigated and probably won't ever take the time to use. I'm not really a power email user, I just like to get my mail and delete it when I'm done.

8. It's Not Hotmail
One reason I use Hotmail so much is that it integrates with Entourage. I never have to log into Hotmail to check one of my accounts, I just check it through Entourage like I would do with all my other email. Gmail needs to do something like this.

---

So, my official review of Gmail is to give it three stars out of four. It loses a star for not working on Safari and not integrating with Entourage. Ok, I'm not wild about the privacy thing either but hey, it's a Gig and I don't care what Google's saving, it would bore them anyway.

posted by Eric J | 07:58 PM

Howard's gone

Another blogger gives up the blogging ghost.

posted by Eric J | 12:58 AM

I'm no businessman

I have Gmail. I am still testing it out for my "big review" (to add to the hundreds of other reviews) but an idea just hit me like a thunderclap yesterday. More on my idea in a bit. Anyway, with every Gmail "beta-membership" you get two "invites." This means I can invite two "friends" to use Gmail. I'm a nice guy (I think so anyway) so I gave the invites to two of my friends. They love it and I'm happy.

Now, the fact that I don't have any more invites has not deterred the flood (around 15... is 15 a flood?) of email requests from people wanting an Gmail invite. Complete strangers are sending me messages PLEADING for an invite. One guy sent me some picture of a himself with a black eye saying that's what he looks like "without Gmail." Weird, I know.

So, the idea that hit me AFTER I gave away my invites was "why not sell these on eBay (or is it Ebay or ebay?)?" Then I find this story from InformationWeek about this "invite begging phenomenon"

"Gmail, the controversial free E-mail service that Google Inc. is testing, is such a hot item that users are willing to trade everything from a kidney to medical advice--or pay more than $150--to get their hands on an account."

My mind just doesn't work like that. I wish it did sometimes but maybe I've earned some good Karma points by not selling them and just giving them away.

posted by Eric J | 08:53 PM

DeathMatch :: Dwighty vs. Shaw

Some of you know Shaw Izikson from StrugglingYoungMan.com and AmericanFeedMagazine but most of you don't know Dwight Cenac. Dwighty produces an "internetionallly syndicated talk-show" and agreed, along with Shaw, to debate five hot topics.

The result of this debate is the first installment of an experiment in Internet audio we call DeathMatch :: Dwighty vs. Shaw. It's billed as "Neo-Nazi takes on Neo-Hippie" and we think it is sure to be an Internet phenomenon. So check it out and let me know what you think.

posted by Eric J | 03:49 PM

The new face of messaging?

Have you heard of gaim? I know I hadn't before reading something in WIRED or PC World last month. It's a Trillian-styled multi-network messaging application that just happens to be 100% open-source.

I've used Trillian on and off for a couple of years but always found it to be "buggy" and a bit "bloated." Seemed to take too many system resources on my lil' ole PC. It also kept getting cut off by messenger applications like Yahoo who changed their protocols to prevent Trillian from functioning on their network.

Long story short, I got a hacked/cracked version of Trillian Pro and it actually worked pretty well. I liked it and started using it daily, at work. There was just one problem, it didn't have a Yahoo patch and so none of my Yahoo buddies could chat with me. To get the patch I had to get a new crack and I wasn't THAT interested in hunting down the latest crack... I even thought about paying the $25 for the legit version but ultimately I'm just to cheap to do that I guess.

And so now I install gaim... and you know what? It's pretty cool. I've been told it's even better on Linux, the platform it was designed for, but I'm happy with the Windows port. The best thing about gaim is that it has TABBED messages. I LOVE TABS. It's awesome. Is it perfect? No, but to quote my Windows SysAdmin friend, "gaim is neato."

Convert now. Install gaim and join the revolution... or at least the conversation.

posted by Eric J | 07:29 PM

Vote your conscience!

I just can't help myself. I must inject some of my political frustration here, just for a moment.

I'm absolutely SICK of all the Democrats "Don't Vote for Nader" campaign. Republicans did something similar when Perot ran and it drove me nuts then too. A vote for Nader is NOT a vote for Bush. A vote for Nader is a vote for Nader. A vote for the candidate YOU believe is best suited to lead our nation. Will he win? Well, probably not but I guarantee he won't win if everyone adopts the attitude that I see spouted in editorials and on cable poli-pundit shows. Everytime I hear the nonsense argument against Nader I want to vomit. Attack him on his policy. Attack him on his character. Don't attack him because your favorite candidate is so crappy that he can't overwhelmingly defeat Bush.

And that's just it. The democrats should be running away with this election, but they're not. Instead they're running scared and asking people to vote against someone instead of for the guy they like.

I'm seriously pissed. Why? I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it's because the rationale behind the anti-Nader surge is based on an assumption and in most cases, a lie. The assumption rubs me wrong because it's similar to assumptions that the RIAA and the MPAA use to justify their "anti-piracy" tactics. They assume that everyone trading files is pulling money out of the giant "creativity pool." Just like the RIAA has no way of knowing whether Bill the file-sharer would ever have bought that Fatboy Slim album pre-Net, we don't know whether John Q. Public voting for Nader would have voted at all or maybe for Bush or even the Libertarian candidate (whomever that is).

The lie is that your vote only matters if you vote for someone who "has a chance of winning." In reality, the only "votes that matter" are those cast for the guy who wins. How do we know who's going to win? We don't. That's why we have elections. Statistics and surveys show that Nader probably won't win but we won't know for sure until the day after the election. So, vote your conscience.

And finally, let me ask all you anti-Nader democrats out there a simple question. How do you build a third party? Do you just walk into Washington and say, "I'm a third party, let's get it on?" No, you begin with small steps and build momentum. Money helps but in the end, it's all about votes and supporters and momentum. And in Nader's case, what if he winds up with 15% of the popular votes at the end of the 2004 election? What will that say about the possibilities for 2008? How will that impact Nader's supporters? How will it effect the establishment? We won't know until we vote. So get out there and vote for goodness sake.

Political rant now over.

posted by Eric J | 07:03 PM

What I've been up to lately

Well, as you may or may not know I've been spending a LOT of time at my other site, Quixtar Blog. What have I been doing there? Well, the first thing is that I took the entire site and redesigned it using XHTML and CSS. I'm scared to validate it but it should validate. My fear is that if it doesn't, I'll spend too much time obsessing over how to fix some minor bug.

Most of the CSS was "inspired" and "borrowed" from ALA and Simplebits. The design itself is a sort of hybrid between the two and I'm not ashamed to admit that. It's still very much my own design but I used their CSS as a sort of template for the Quixtar Blog. After all, there are only so many fixed width styles that work with text-heavy blogs and I opted for the dual column, right site sub-nav type style even before I thought about the CSS.

Struggles
One thing I learned is that CSS has a LONG way to go. Too many hacks and too much incompatibility. The Box Model Hack is great but really, it nearly drove me crazy.

Speaking of going crazy, the menu list still doesn't render correctly in IE 5 Mac and you know what, I don't really care right now. Screw that browser.

The other thing about that blog was I learned how to really juice-up Movable Type. When you really start poking around MT you learn that it's VERY customizable. I even put in an application to be an MT 3.0 Beta Tester. I really hope they put me on the list. I've never beta tested anything and I really love their whole TypeKey comment authentification idea.

Anyway, I've been talking to Matt Wood and we want to start writing for this lil' webraw site again. So, stay tuned. Maybe we'll do another 31 Flavors of Blog? That might not be a bad idea.

UPDATE: I did it. I tried to validate the site and it failed. REALLY FAILED. W3C just laughed and laughed at me for even trying. I mean it bit it bad. I give up... for now. I really thought I had done it but, I guess not. Oh well.

posted by Eric J | 04:06 PM

Yep, Blogger's been upgraded

Well, Blogger's finally been upgraded and the big knock on them has been remedied, Blogger now has comments. No idea how they work but they're a feature now.

posted by Eric J | 02:04 AM