New Archival System

(originally posted at ninjafish.org)

Thanks in no small part to Joi Ito, I've set ninjafish up with a better way of archiving our entries.  Granted, he basically told me to RTFM, but he did it in a genuinely nice way, and that's what really matters, isn't it?

For the record the string I'm using for the individual entries is:

<$MTArchiveDate format="%Y/%m/%d"$>/<$MTEntryTitle dirify="1"$>

Pretty neat, I think.  Now that I've tinkered a bit more with MT 2.64, I'm thinking of adding a Creative Commons license and replacing my standard MT search with a Google search via the Google API.  It's about time I put that dev key to some use, I figure.

Third Test Entry

(originally posted at ninjafish.org)

Alright, just about everything seems to be up and running for the main page.  I've created a new user because MT has silly ways of dealing with user information and I didn't feel like going through the db and updating what needed updating.

I'm still going to be screwing around with the CSS to get it just right.  Perhaps later tonight or tomorrow I'll try the MT export/import process to move my entries over from bigbadgeek.com.

Second Test Entry

(originally posted at ninjafish.org)

hmm, first entry didn't show up after the blog was re-built.  investigating by adding another entry.  please bear with me.

Test Entry

(originally posted at ninjafish.org)

the first test entry for ninjafish.org.

meanwhile in the background, wil wheaton as wesley crusher is putting the moves on some princess in the holodeck while her shape-shifting bodyguard is strangling lieutenant worf.

MS Bites Back

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Got a kick out of an article over at Infoworld called Microsoft releases Windows Rights Management client.

Here's the kicker:

When detailed in February, Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) was described as technology for Windows Server 2003 designed to give enterprises the means to secure internal business information such as financial documents.

Richard M. Stallman couldn't be reached for comment, but I wonder how pissed he is about this. When I think RMS, I think of a man who fights for open standards and open software - definitely not a rights management package designed to restrict what users can or can't do with their software and documents.

I really can envision a team of MS jerks sitting around late one night trying to come up with a suitably "closed" product to attach RMS to. Evil, I say, just evil.

Change is Afoot!

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

In a previous entry I spoke of a new project space.  I've registered ninjafish.org for use as a personal space for myself and Julie.  That means new email addresses and all that jazz.  It also means this blog is moving, and that Big, Bad, Geek will be born anew, as my technical/professional outlet - complete with resume, sample code, and blog-as-I-learn journal.  Consequently, both sites will tend to be in a state of disarray until everything is sorted out.  Meanwhile, I need to thank David of Lucifer Media Corp. for helping me find the right place for everything and getting everything set up and working properly.  Also, I'm rather excited to have gotten Kung-Log working, as it'll make managing the blogs on each individual site just that much easier.  Hooray!  Anyway, please by patient during the move - which could happen at a moment's notice.  Keep you on your toes, I will.

Test from Kung-Log

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Very strange problems getting Kung-Log working - we'll see if this gets posted or not...

Update: wow, it works... but it has revealed a potential issue with my CSS... testing.

Updated Update:  nope, it's just hoe kung-log interprets line breaks.  it'll just take some getting used to.  this is a keep app that i should have gotten up and running earlier.  xml-rpc sounds like a difficult thing to implement, but just RTFM'ing gets it over and done with rather painlessly.

ChumpBot

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

I found this tasty Google-culture morsel from the #joiito chump bot. It sits in the chan, listens for URLs and blogs them for later perusal via XML feed.

Apparently the bot also allows IRC users in the channel to post comments on the link which are reflected on the blog. Neat.

RSS Feeds A'Comin'

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Tonight I headed over to DailyRotation and picked up the rest of the news feeds I'd been missing since I switched to using NetNewsWire Lite as my aggregator.

They're organized into the following categories: Apple, Development, Devices, Group Blogs, Personal Blogs, Technology News. I've got 70 feeds total for my own futuristic Personal Newspaper.

I figure eventually I'll head over to BlogRolling and sign up for an account. I'll split my Personal Blog list up into people I actually know and the online personalities I merely keep tabs on.

In other news, I heard from Nora today and she's back in NYC and getting ready for school - which is a relief. Also; Friendster mysteriously started working with Safari today. I haven't gotten an email back from the team, but I suppose whatever was broken is now fixed. Hooray!

Bug Report to Friendster

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Yesterday I finally got around to submitting a bug report to Friendster for their incompatibility with Apple's Safari browser.

It's not a difficult problem, either. The Safari browser has a security mechanism that disallows a page to automatically redirect to a page that redirects back to the first page - which, apparently, is a method that Friendster utilizes for their login script. There are certainly ways around this.

I was pleased with the quick response from the Friendster team - not quick enough to be an automatic kickback, but definitely a scripted response of some sort. Anyway, it's the thought that counts. We'll see if they get it fixed. I'm sure they'll be glad to be getting a bug report that's unrelated to their database issues for a change.

FCC Feels Bad for AOL

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Awww, merger didn't turn out to be as good as you all hoped? Here, we'll lift some of the merger restrictions for you... no hard feelings?

I see this as a mixed blessing. AOL was supposed to work towards interoperability with the other major IM networks (Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ.. err wait, they own that one) before they were allowed to implement video chat capabilities to their AIM client. That was a stipulation of the AOL/TW merger. Fact.

Now, AOL sneakily got around the video chat ban by allowing Apple to license and use their network with Apple's iChat AV client. But let's face it, Apple's hardly a market, hardly a demographic. Since it was Apple's client and not AOL's that was implementing the video conferencing feature, the FCC didn't really notice or care.

Fast-forward a few months and Apple's iChat AV is a hit, people love it, it gets rave reviews from the Wird's and C|Net's of the world, and AOL sees an opportunity to poke and prod the FCC and see if they can get the restriction dropped. "Woe is me," cries AOL, "we're losing customers because we can't get our act together." A few days later the FCC votes to drop the restriction.

Back to the mixed blessings bit - this shows what everyone knew to already be true: the FCC are a bunch of wimps. On the plus side, I'm betting that Apple will actually help AOL to implement standards-based voice and video chat to make it interoperable with Apple's iChat AV client. It would be disasterous for Apple to have its user base cut off from the rest of the AIM network for voice and video. At the same time it's an opportunity for Apple to show off how much more advanced their iChat AV client and iSight webcam really are. Win-win for Apple.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

PeopleSoft to Use AOL IM

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

PeopleSoft harnesses AOL IM

At first I was shocked that they hadn't chosen Jabber - especially after taking a look at the big-name companies that did. However, I think this makes more sense if looked at from a marketing/legal standpoint than a technological one.

AOL's IM brand is far-and-away more used and recognized than any other service. On the other hand, being extensible in nature, Jabber allows for AIM-transport components at the server level. Of course, that could become a legal hassle for enterprise clients, as transports are usually written by reverse-engineering a proprietary protocol. Sigh.

It would be nice to get my hands on some AOL Enterprise IM software, just to figure out the leeway given to AOL's enterprise clients.

Bots, Bots, Everywhere

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

It started back in the day of the old #blade channel (efnet) for the online art group Blade Nation. The bot was called, I think, y0da-1. You could talk to the bot and it'd make fun of you.

Lately, bots seem to be getting a whole lot more functionality thanks to API's and XML-RPC and the like. Over in #virus on irc.lucifer.com there's the LogLady - Twin Peaks inspired - who, when voiced, records everything anyone says into a database that's searchable on the web. The channel also has googlebot, which was written in Python and uses the Google API to send queries and format responses.

But lately, spurred on by my quest to master Jabber and become a part of the social software community, I've been hanging out in #joiito on irc.freenode.net. There, lives the open source Python bot: Jibot. That's right, check the link and bask in the glory of what this bot can do. Then head on over and read Kevin Marks' entry on Social Botware, which does a damn good job of describing the channel's dynamic and how the bot has fit into it and ultimately helped shape it.

And if you're asking yourself why I'm awake and blogging so early, it's to vicariously attend the Supernova conference on decentralization.

AOL Will Blog

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

Oh yes, AOL Will Blog.

Forget for a moment about their lack of IM interoperability. Forget the way they've mismanaged the WinAmp and Netscape products. Apparently, they're gonna do blogging right. Nevermind that people have been posting to blog-like pages via IRC and Jabber for ages...

AOL users can use their homestead pages, Apple iChat users can post to .Mac, win-win-win. Would be nice if they use the Blogger API with XML-RPC for users to choose their own site to post to... on the other hand, it's another chance for a large company to lock-in users.

It'll be interesting. I'm eagerly awaiting screenshots.

june studies & the panther shots

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

if you pay attention to my sidebar you'll have seen that i'm reading up on java in an attempt to teach myself. i've been using Sun's tutorials to get a good handle on the underlying concepts. the osx for java geeks book is simply steering me on my platform of choice.

i've also begun reading the programming jabber book to get a good handle on the jabber protocols and server architecture. osx's address book application has a place-setting for jabber addresses, but i'm not holding my breath for jabber integration with iChat. best that can be done is make an iChat-clone until Apple gets on board. of course, i'm not sure it's in Apple's best interest to play around with Jabber. AOL might have an exclusive agreement for the iChat client. Or maybe Jabber just doesn't have the critical mass at this point to warrant the development effort. it's a shame i didn't get into jabber when i was still with HQ, i could've whipped up a dilly of a support-bot.

and this morning at 6am, before i went to bed for the evening, i came across the leaked screenshots of Apple's next OS release codenamed Panther (templink). i'm very intrigued by the Expose feature, which uses some Quartz magic to show you scaled-down and geographically-placed versions of all your windows so you can see what you've got open. the new metallic Finder also looks pretty interesting, although not many people seem to like it.

Folder actions are back, though as they were an OS 9 feature, I've never used them before. The basic idea is that you can associate a script with a folder. Say, "every item in this folder, ftp to my web server," and you've got an instant drag-and-drop scripted addition to the OS. Seems pretty slick. Labels are also back, but I don't think I'll make much use of the feature.

A new version of iChat is also on the horizon, but I don't think Jobs will announce ICQ compatibility this Monday. Since the Panther release isn't slated until September, there's plenty of time to implement the protocol, especially if AOL cooperates. Hope springs eternal.

HTML fun

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

as i said, i've been reading o'reilly's definitive guide to html & xhtml in an attempt to bring my mad skills back up to speed.

two new bits that i thought were interesting were...

this tag, which prints things right-to-left instead of left-to-right

and this tag...

which you may see once, or you may see twice, depending on your browser

which you may see once, or you may see twice, depending on your browser :)

keen, eh?

technology in the wild

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

over the past week or so, i've seen two relatively new bits of technology in the wild that i've not seen before.

the first is the danger hiptop, a portable device for all your geekish needs. i passed a ghetto thug on 3rd ave who was walking with one in his teeth. the world's a strange place.

the second was a strange IBM product called a TransNote. a strangely-dressed man on the subway brought his out and it immediately caught my attention. the screen was so flat! simply amazing. he tooled around with it for a while and i went back to my book.

the last strange piece was an Apple Newton - which, as old as they are, i'd never actually seen anyone use one in public. scandalous! i couldn't imagine anyone lugging around a PDA that size.

in other news; i've got a website re-design in mind, if i ever find the time. the denizens of the #virus chatroom on irc.lucifer.com helped me come up with a few new definitions for my initials - crw. my favorite was "creativity running wild," and perhaps i'll incorporate that into the site design. those wacky virians. they're not unlike michael palin's description of monty python fans: "intellectuals, insomniacs... y'know... burglars."

technology update

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

i'm typing this from apple's new safari browser.

it lacks tabs, but is still only in beta and is faster and more stable than any other OSX browser. it has the best bookmark organization utility i've ever seen.

i managed to catch the second half of the macworld keynote by steve jobs today. 802.11g, new powerbooks, and firewire 800 were all announced. i'm interested in talking my company into buying me one of the new 12" powerbooks as a portable desktop replacement so i don't have to continue to bring my 15" powerbook to and from work. i don't think i'd be able to make it through the work day without OSX by my side. whether they'll go for it or not, remains to be seen. :)

apple also released a beta version of an X11 binary. i've already worked through replacing XDarwin with their new binary, and i've got ported versions of native linux apps running alongside OSX apps pretty seamlessly. no small feat for someone of my command-line ineptitude! i also installed FinkCommander tonight to keep better track of the ported apps at my disposal.

apple keeps moving in the right direction. one of my favorite quotes from the keynote speech was "some other guys don't like open source, but we love it." mhmm. other guys indeed.

Rewind

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

year in review. noteworthy things.

2002 was the year i achieved a greater amount of balance in my life.  thanks in no small part to the sudden cognitive shift of being without an aram.  he was fired on 6/21 and those of us who worked for him refer to that day as six-twenty-one, as the impact of his sudden removal was similar to nine-eleven.

that evening i went home and had a new energy in me.  i took up fuzz's bike and rode for miles and miles and it felt so good.  every day for weeks after that i did the same.  biking before and after work.

my outlook on the company changed that day as well.  management took action to make a positive change for the team and the department as a whole.  i didn't think they ever would.  since then, however, things have continued to slide downhill and my faith in the company as a whole has continued to decline.  as i've recently come to ask myself - if i'm a technologist, what am i doing working for a real estate company?

outside of work, this year has seen an increase in my own personal studies.  i realized that studying was exactly what i've been doing.  once that realization hit, i was able to focus my energy more acutely.  when i took a look at what i'd been studying and why, i realized that i couldn't be doing these studies in a vacuum and began to get further involved in the extropian/transhumanist community.

luckily, i got in on the ground floor of the New York Transhumanist Association and met a wonderful gentleman named Mike Treder.  i look up to mike as a sort of role model.  he's very active in the aforementioned communities and will be able to independently guide my studies to keep me on track and prevent me from going off the deep end.  being involved in NYTA, i've been fortunate enough to meet some really Interesting People and participate in stimulating conversations.

on a personal front, dave and i lost fuzz as a roommate but alex has moved in.  in a way, i feel bad that they're stuck with me.  however, space in nyc isn't cheap and they're living together for the first time - so i think it suits us all.

my relationships with the three women who are closest to me (not counting mom, of course) all strengthened this year.  jenelle and i had our ups and downs as she struggled through to the end of her relationship with joe.  at the end of that relationship she had a very traumatic experience which, strangely enough, could keep her from returning to joe in the future.  i haven't quiet explored the depths of that, but it's definitely interesting.  jenelle's my best friend and i love her dearly.

laurie and i continued to get to know each other.  we've had a few opportunities to meet which we've let slip by us.  she allows me to be myself and we've reached a certain level of trust where we can talk about damn-near anything.  she's tech-savvy and continues to have good aesthetic taste, and it all leads to some interesting conversation.  hell, i'm talking to her right now. :)

tina and i also continued to get to know each other.  being online has opened up channels of communication that i didn't know were possible.  as i've watched her struggle through various situations in her life, i've come to admire and respect her strength as much as i already admired and respected her creativity.

towards the end of the year i've made an attempt to be more social - culminating in some new friendships.  i finally met kathy of kochanie.org.  somehow, nora managed to find me online and we met and have seen each other a few times.  she's such a gifted artist - i really and truly believe her and tina could become close friends.  imagining them working together on a piece of art... it would be magical.  and through some strange coincidence i managed to meet angela - who i'm also talking to online at the moment.  hi angela! :)

as late as last night, i also met julie, who's quite an interesting person... but i'll get to that story in the next post.

so 2002 saw some positive changes in my life that i'm grateful for.  although the biggest negative part of the year continued to be the work situation, i have a feeling that in the long run that negativity will turn out to be the catalyst that propels me into my next venture.  green pastures, and all that.  always in my mind i'm thankful that i'm still employed.

Time Travel

(originally posted at bigbadgeek.com)

i left home this evening in 2002 and returned in 2003.  reminds me of the calvin and hobbes strip where calvin tries to go through time in his wagon by racing down a steep hill.  when he came to the bottom he was in the future.  i like that.

i'm not too coherent, but i'm home; safe and sound and even sober.

i had a most wonderful evening and will share it in detail after i get some rest.  in the meantime, laurie's had a good idea for some year-end journal entries, so go take a look.  i'll be following her lead tomorrow.

ooh, i almost forgot.  some of you who read this may know my former classmate and co-worker (and all-around nice guy) scotty allen - well, he's set himself up a journal - and you can take a look at that too.  he's traveling around the world (in laos right now, he says) so his adventures may be of interest to a particular few people who should know who they are. :)