Reading Scoble’s post on Facebook & Microsoft, and I have to say, it sounds like something Microsoft would do. It sounds like an offer FB would be crazy to refuse.
My first thought is that we need an alternative to Facebook that is not only open architecture, but open source. Ideally, it would be distributed.
I’m thinking of Wordpress as an example; I host my Wordpress blog on my own server, but because I have an Wordpress.com account, I get some benefits of being automatically connected to Wordpress.com: stats, akismet, the rest of the Wordpress network, etc.
What if we had a distributed social network? That is, a social network a la Facebook or MySpace where you could be connected to everyone you know who is using the system (or a compatible system)… but you could, if you wanted, host your personal profile on your own server. If you were to have ads on your profile page, you would make the money, not Facebook or MySpace. It would be just as connected, just as networked, using API’s, maybe OpenSocial to play nice with others… whatever. An… Openbook, if you will. Though it could be called anything.
I’m not building something like this yet, but I’d be happy to talk and work with others who’d want to. I think it’s technically feasible, and given the possibilities of a closed Micro-face-soft-book, sounds to me like a really good idea.
So the other day I wanted to get to an FTP server from work. Nothing awful or time consuming, just wanted to edit and move a couple files. However, the proxy at work block FTP traffic to external servers. What to do?
I had a hunch, so I tried going to Dreamhost’s ftp client; Dreamhost has a web-based FTP client which you can use to do most ftp-like tasks for your site right in the browser. It’s maybe not quite as nice as a real FTP client, but it does the trick. However, the ftp server I wanted to go to was NOT on Dreamhosts’s servers.
As it turns out, it doesn’t matter.
Net2FTP is real FTP client, albeit web based, so it can go anywhere. Just visit http://webftp.dreamhost.com/ and enter the credentials for the FTP server of your choosing, and you’re in.
*Note: the “Blue” theme is normally the default, and is a bit more user-friendly, IMHO.
All Known Metal Bands seems to be… just that, and that only. A list of (wait for it… ) All Known Metal Bands.
No more, no less.
It is either an incredibly retarded or an incredibly awesome idea for a book. I’m still undecided which one I think it is. Possibly both.
Also, apparently one can write a book whose contents contain absolutely anything, and it can be published. This in itself is somewhat incredible.
Perhaps you’ve seen ULiken.com? I’m not sure if this little contest will remain in equilibrium, but the precise 50/50 showing made a screenshot a necessity.
I know, I know. Conventional wisdom is that you should finish reading a book before you write a review of it. But since what follows should not be taken as a “book review” per se, I’m going to write it anyways.
Have just started reading Douglas Crockford’s new-ish book, Javascript: The Good Parts. In it, he states his intention to cover a functional sub-set of the Javascript language which he calls “the good parts.” The thesis is that you can program in Javascript using only The Good Parts, and that you’ll have a better time if you do.
So far, I’m really liking this book. So, for whatever that’s worth… yeah. No, the NYT will not be hiring me to do book reviews any time soon.
