And The Survey Says…
Eighty-eight percent of 117726 (at the time I checked) votes on MSNBC said Napster shouldn’t be shutdown. Not a scientific survey, but the numbers are overwhelming.
Illegalster, pt II
Napster is illegal. Napster can stay online only until the judge that originally ordered the injunction can get it to be more specific. Then, essentially, Napster is dead. I have an idea as to how they can make money and make the record labels reasonably happy: Sell Napster. And not in that stupid subscription service idea, either. I should be able to go down to CompUSA, pick up a box that says ‘Napster’ on it that includes the (final version) filesharing software, MP3-ripping and playing software, and maybe even a mail-in rebate for a deal on DSL. I should be able to walk to the register, pay $100 for it, and never have to worry about it again. That’s my idea. I think it would work.
Although I do have some things to say about why a subscription service would NOT work:
You see, when I pay for a magazine subscription, both I and the magazine publisher acknowledge that I will without fail get a magazine in the mail each and every month that I have paid for. This goes for beer of the month clubs, cheese of the month clubs, HBO, internet access; everything. Now, Napster would not work this way due to one simple fact: it is a peer-to-peer, individual-driven filesharing service. If the guy I’m getting a 2-hour long live Paul Van Dyk trance set from happens to decide I’m using too much of his bandwidth, or his computer freezes, or his power goes out, my download is nearly useless. Sure, the MP3 plays up until the download cut off, but shit, I’m paying monthly for this. I don’t want unreliable connections, slow connections, high pings and all that to get in the way of my download. But if it’s free, and a download breaks, then I don’t care, because I’m not paying for it. So the only way to make sure people are happy paying for Napster would be for Napster to make sure that downloads don’t break, and in its current state, that is impossible. Leaving subscription holders pissed off if every time they try to get a Britney Spears song, the only people they can get it from are on 28.8 modems. Just my 2 cents.
Not without Quartz, it ain't
Enderle compares the Windows XP user interface to the Aqua interface in Apple Computer Inc.’s Mac OS X, which is due in March. Aqua has large rounded icons, myriad menu options, fluid application control and a turquoise color scheme. Windows XP should also be more user-friendly, modern-looking and showy than its predecessor.
“The capability is there to make it look like an Aqua clone,” Enderle said. “This is going to be a very Apple-like launch.”
Microsoft is getting nowhere near X unless they can develop something like Quartz.
re: Contagent
By the way, if you’ve gone to Contagent lately, and can’t get in because your resolution is too low, then I’m with ya. I’ve already voiced my concern with them about this. Hopefully, we’ll see it changed soon.
It's my Sunday-morning newspaper read
I’m a little bewildered by this. I just got an email today from the designer of IHT.com… asking me what I thought of it, and if I thought there were any changes that needed to be made:
I am the designer behind iht.com and I have been surfing around trying to read user comments and criticisms about the site. I am still working on it and trying to make some useful improvements.
Anyway I noticed that you were using the site some(and even referenced some articles to it). Are you still using the site? And if not was there anything which could have been done to have made it better, or anything odd, bothersome, etc.?
Is that awesome or what? I mean, come on. How many internet news sites actually give a rat’s ass what their users/critics think? I really hope this site is a sign of the ‘new internet’ that I keep hearing about… and that it stays around for a long, long time.
'Design is my lady…'
Holy fucking shit. Contagent.com went live. Check it out and love what you see. Because you will. Flash 5 required, but it’s well worth the wait (if you’re on a modem, at least). By far, the best use of Flash I’ve ever seen. Probably.
Design is my Lady. Photography? My mistress on the side. The little lady is my life, my bread and butter. Morning sunshine, right side of the bed. My mistress is just a release, when my lady starts nagging cuz I spend too much time with my scratch n’ sniff Britney Spears poster.
Because I could never give up my Lady Design (we’re business partners, too), I share my Mistress Photography with the world. She will be available in late March for your personal use. It’s OK. We have an agreement. So if you like what you see, grab screenshots of her sweet ass, and get back to me for more updates.
Uh… okay, Eddie.. whatever. 🙂
Photonica redesign
Photonica has redesigned.
Denver can spell its streets correctly
It’s this kind of thing that makes me miss California… and reminds me how boring Denver really is.