Yahoo to Trillian: Talk to the hand via Jonathan Speigner's Blog
Yahoo on Wednesday began blocking Cerulean Studios' Trillian software from communicating with its instant messaging service in its latest step to fence its popular client from third-party integrators.
Will other networks follow suit? Trillian makes money from pirating instant messenger services such as Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ and MSN. Part of me is glad to see
fighting them off - I own some YHOO
, and so Trillian users have been getting a free ride at my expense.
When Trillian faced AOL for a similar access battle in 2002, much of the tech press cried foul.
Does Trillian meet a need? Certainly. I'd love to have a single client... But it's not up to parasites like Trillian to make this possible.
It's true that progress toward such interoperability...moves at a pace somewhere between glacial and tectonic. And I can think of business reasons...for services like AOL to shun working relationships with MSN, Yahoo, and others.
But that doesn't take away from the real issue: AOL's control of its own network. At the end of all this, if AOL doesn't want Trillian on its network, then Trillian should take the hint and just go away. David Coursey, ZDNet US
My senior software slash entrepreneurship project, BuddyGopher, is always at risk of getting shuttered from AOL's network. And so the other side of me is a little concerned. What if AOL follows suit to try blocking such pirate clients from accessing their proprietary network again? (Eventually they gave up trying to lock Trillian out.)
Luckily, BuddyGopher plays very nice with AOL's network. We consider our software to be a feature for AOL's official client. It was very important to me that BuddyGopher would only work with AOL's official client release (and not Trillian or GAIM) to encourage advertising impressions for AOL. We're not about to bite the hand that feeds us.
At a May 29 Toronto concert, Blink 182 asked attendees to pull out their lighters. When few people heeded the call, the lead singer announced, “We’re in the age of the Internet, everyone pull out their cell phone!” Within seconds, a sea of lights illuminated the audience. Says our Toronto Cool Hunter, “Everyone could not believe how amazing it looked.”

NewsGator Technologies Closes Series A Funding from Mobius Venture Capital. Go behind the press release and read about it directly from the VC in his blog post, Why Did We Invest in NewsGator? I am glowing. I love life. I love sharing. Communication. Talking about things. Funding. Saturdays and Tuesdays and sunshine!... whoops, sorry, got carried away there. First day it hasn't rained in about a week here in Atlanta.
For the first time, cable television will earn more from advertisers than the seven broadcast networks during primetime this season, according to Turner Broadcasting research officer Jack Wakshlag. Moreover, according to Wakshlag, cable will also wind up with a bigger share of total viewers -- 50.1 percent versus the networks' 47.3 percent (with the remainder divided among non-advertiser-supported channels). source

Since the early days of 802.11b, I've always thought that mesh networking would some day be the holy grail of untethered communication. It eliminates costly backhaul connections and allows the network to Grow- not slow- with more users.
Bullocks, says this informative piece submitted to Daily Wireless - Ugly truths about mesh networks - they dont scale. Note that the author is also the inventor of a multi-radio mesh networking solution, MeshDynamics.
Thoms Chau:
so the set of the movie I was supposed to go to in Australia next week
burnt down
Nick Gray WFU: who would you say is the
coolest person that you have ever interviewed?
Thoms Chau:
the best a-list star I would say is Ben Affleck
Nick Gray WFU: you i'viewed him for
Paycheck?
Thoms Chau:
yeah, he knows what to say and is funny
Thoms Chau: will ferrell was hilarious
*Thomas runs Cinema Confidential -- check it out if you like popular mainstream movies. Tom has interviewed about 75% of the stars in People magazine.
Method STX: yes but do you know why it is
called Telluride
Method STX: it used to be one of the
deadliest mining settlements in the 19th century, the miners used to exclaim "To
Hell you ride" as they went to the area, the catch phrase was later shortened
and misunderstood by visitors. The name Telluride came about
you *have* to read the full message that these SuperFriends got (included in the full message). It has had me ROFL for hours.
Malcolm Frank and his software company, CXO Systems, get a touch of press in this Mass High Tech article - Execs keeping an eye on business via dashboardsDashboards are hot, hot, hot, said Orlov. Just about everyone is starting to implement dashboard projects..
Maybe since CXO is in headquartered Waltham, this article is good local coverage. Or maybe I'm just snobby about print press, still high off of an inspiring conversation with a wonderful chick from the Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxx last Thursday night. BuddyGopher in USA Today? Yawn. J/K.
But seriously, CXO should be in Business Week- or at least Fast Company- by this time next year. The no-frills Boston office houses CXO's executives, all packed with experience of industry and passion'd on confidence in product. Development work happens in Sunnyvale and coding labor in Pune. That picture background above, with the scribbled and frantic dry erase marks covering Malcolm's office walls, isn't a set-up (but maybe his tie is!).
I've visited twice in the past six months, and each time Malcolm has had to wipe off some clean space before flash-whiteboarding whatever concept he is crash-course tutoring me on. So much to remember! And how can I possibly do it from Winston-Salem? I floated out of the business park, back into Boston over-whelmed and hyper-inspired.

So, yeah, I'm a raving CXO Systems fan. You should be, too. It's neat to follow small companies as they get bigger. Read the Forrester Research report on dashboards if you haven't already, and remember - great leaders make great companies.
Safety parachutes are becoming popular in single engine private aircraft, ultralights and hang gliders. BRS Parachutes (OTC: BRSI.OB) has several videos of their chutes deploying in mid-air. As pilots begin to adopt BRS chutes into their planes, safety increases. The company keeps a track record of their saved lives.
Justin Hall dropped his cell phone into a bowl of water. I found his recount of it laugh-out-loud funny. Treo's Gone Wild!Last night after three double-shots of tequila at a videogame speakeasy in downtown Los Angeles, I was eating 2am Korean food with friends...
Again, looking to the future... THE ULTIMATE EXECUTIVE RETREAT BY NASA BUSINESS SERVICES
What the hell is this leaked PowerPoint presentation that I found? Download it here and drop me an e-mail if you have any idea. Sounds cool, though. SpaceShipOne and the whole team at Scaled Composites must really be putting the coals in NASA's pants.
Whoa, awesome - New VIA mini-ITX board targets vertically challenged apps via Slashdot
MaighTW:
you have these intense flings with technology, it's fascinating...really
MaighTW: like sordid little affairs that
burn hot and then...NEXT
It's like the famous story of the three bricklayers: The first says, 'I'm laying bricks,' the second says, 'I'm making a wall,' and the third says, 'I'm building a cathedral.'Mark McClain , Vice President, Tivoli as quoted by Fast Company
It will be very important to watch ticker CRM today... Salesforce.com sets higher IPO priceSalesforce.com set its IPO price at $11 a share on Tuesday, surpassing the high end of its pricing range because of strong investor demand.
Billionaire Profile - Craig O. McCaw
As teenagers, all four boys worked for one of their father's small cable television services: climbing poles, stringing cable, and selling subscriptions door-to-door. Their father sold the boys one tiny, 2,000-subscriber system in exchange for shares of preferred stock in the company. Craig soon took the lead in managing the company. Although Craig was dyslexic, he made an extra effort in school both at his prep school in Seattle and at Stanford University, where he studied history. While at Stanford, he continued to run the cable company from his dormitory room.
Continue reading:
Craig O. McCaw, Pioneer of Telecommunications
Neat article with candid notes from the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference... VentureBlog: The Who Hates Who Of The Technology World
Steve Jobs ... threw a punch at technologists working in the music industry. When asked why it was so hard for the music guys to make good technology decisions, he said that they were getting bad advice. Why? Because, according to Jobs, just as no top tier A&R professional would go work at a technology company, only a "3rd rate" technologist would go work at a label.
We didn't get to hear who Google hates -- Eric Schmidt was at the conference as an observer and he appeared in the rebirth of the Computer Bowl, but he was seen walking around the conference wearing a t-shirt that read 'quiet period' on the front and 'can't answer questions' on the back.
I recently purchased these three books:
Last week, I finished reading these two books:
If you decide to purchase any of the above from Amazon, a small percentage (about 3%, I think) will get bumped to Cory Doctorow, webmaster of my favorite meta-site, BoingBoing. Be sure to read Cory's excellent Microsoft Research DRM talk. It is one of those few recent things on the web that I locally saved and took to a party/bar/lunch to read/sink in/contemplate.

Here is a WiFi adapter for external mounting on commercial aircraft - Airline.Link Technical Highlights.
LiveTV was aquired in 2002 by JetBlue for $41 million in cash (and the retirement of $39 million of LiveTV debt). LiveTV's inflight entertainment systems are partially responsible for JetBlue's successFastCompany CEO profile.
I went to a party last night and tried to work out some "Man on the Street" lines about China. Lesson learned - Mr. Drunk and Miss Successful Improvisation don't hang out much ~ Remember! The best media comes from those you trust ~ Vidblog 13
Historically we’ve relied on fancier user interfaces to soak up spare client-side cycles, and that trend continues with Longhorn’s 3D-intensive Avalon. Longhorn also aims to create a new breed of applications that will produce and consume systemwide metadata. I applaud the goals, but there’s more to do. Imagine that Google, rather than Microsoft, controlled the desktop. Job No. 1 for the Google PC would be to vacuum up all available sources of data. Job No. 2 would be to exploit that data to the hilt.

Amazon's affiliate program (they call it, Associates) has maintained its hold as the most solid and widely-used example of successful revenue sharing on-line. (I omit adult entertainment web sites, who sit arguably high on the list of successful industries that have embraced this marketing method.)
I logged in today. My old account, used to generate commissions whenever a visitor to my American Pie fan siteI'm not going to endorse archive.org just yet - that's another story, Googler. purchased a DVD or CD soundtrack, was still on-line.
After changing my e-mail address (spam forced death to nick@nickgray.net), Amazon asked me for my Social Security Number. Sure! I entered it in, and I wonder - why didn't I have to do this before? I remember a $500 maximum payment being allowed in the past to individuals without SSN requirements from an affiliate provider. Did a law change requiring more stringent records, or is Amazon simply growing their venture?
There might be a book link in my next post.

Which 2004 Wake Forest graduate recently accepted a Project Management position in the Coffee and Beverage Division at a famous Local Donut Company? This is an amazing hire for Krispy Kreme ~ Gabe is easily in the Top 5 most impressive students I've met while at WFU.
Did you ever make little potions as a kid? Throw some baking soda, Coca Cola, dish soap and milk in there just to see if anything explodes. I think my vidblogs share some experimentation elements with those magic potions. Here is my 12th vidblog. The Chris Cornell soundtrack is like milk.
If you are currently using a news reader to view this site, you will need to change your settings. I have upgraded from Atom to
. Hat tip FeedBurner via Jeff Nolan.
hey nick!
India's answer to Google is the all new improved storage at rediff.com - the country's premier (been my favourite for years!) portal. They too are now offering 1 GB free email space for all users and 2GB for premium users.
thought u'd love to know :)
Thanks, Kaushal!
With Akamai claiming that their recent Denial of Service Attack was orchestrated via a complex bot net, I'm reminded of an e-mail that was sent to my BuddyGopher service last month.
We've been investigating the growth of an IRC botnet using a variant of Agobot/Gaobot/Phatbot to propagate itself across numerous university networks. Various reports suggest that anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000 systems have been part of this botnet, and that some keylogging software has been involved. These are unconfirmed reports, but they are quite plausible.
The botnet uses a number of different propagation mechanisms, but it is most successful in doing some social engineering. For example, infected systems will masquerade AOL Instant Messenger "buddies" by including a reference in away messages with something like:
i just made a screensaver! everyone check it out
Continue reading. Did AIM away messages contribute to the recent Akamai DDoS attack?
For more than a year, Diamond and Lamb carted their laptops and wireless modems to some of San Francisco's finest coffee houses, coding what they bloviatingly call "indubitably the most astounding Web-based e-mail application on earth."
a photo tour of the inspiring start of one of the most amazing web-based applications of today
almost a year after the buy, FedEx Rebrands Kinkos. Here is their video of the rebrand
What if you could just press a button, and all of your products in the warehouse automagically communicated to the Inventory Management System?

Barcodes were the first step in computerized serial number automation, but don't the readers look kind of.... Trekkie? RFID will increase productivity by removing more of the human factor of inventory tracking.

Speaking of Rick... A few weeks ago, he linked on his website to a Budweiser commercial that featured a cameo appearance of our Hollywood friend, Joseph Reitman.
When I sent the video link to Joe and told him that Ricky said the clip had "gone viral" (since it was floating around the Internet, as opposed to being available to download on the official Budweiser website), Joe was curious how I was even able to see the ad. Turns out that Joe was never paid residuals for the spot. Residuals are the payments that actors receive each time a commercial airs on television. The actors were told that it never aired and was shelved by Budweiser.
So somebody put it on the web, and it is generating advertising returns for Budweiser. Bud is not going to put a stop to the ad spreading, but Joe and the other actors never get compensated for their humor. Hmmmm.... "Oh well," Joe says. "At least it makes people laugh. And I look cute in it, so all is well!"
Related Links:
No Talent Films, Joe's production company.
Shannon Elizabeth, aka Mrs. Joseph Reitman.

There's an old saying that basically says that true blue bloods "don't sweat off the squash court."via Ricky

SILKROAD EQUITY ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF PENDULAB
Austin Harris: I'm going to be on a
reality show that's airing on The WB later this summer
Austin Harris: Introducing The WB's Studio 7, a radical new series that pits seven bright young adults against each other. Seven grueling elimination rounds test their knowledge of pop culture, world events, science, and literature. Only one can win a large cash prize. The catch is that the contestants will also be roommates for one week in one of Manhattan's most luxurious apartments. Blending the rivalry/romance complications of reality programming with the high pressure stakes of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, The WB's Studio 7 will not only allow viewers to play along, but will give them an intimate perspective on who's competing. Friendships will be forged, passions will ignite, and hopes will be shattered as each of the contestants vies to be the grand champion of The WB's Studio 7.
AktiveRadio: I have a 3MB
Comcast cable connection
AktiveRadio: it's sweet - doesn't cost any
more than the 1.5MB
AktiveRadio: you just have to call and ask
for it
I like taking pictures with my Canon G3 digital camera, and I like the science and mystery behind fungi. Here are some photos I shot along a hike in Georgia's Cloudland Canyon State Park over the weekend.
HllywNsider: i'm in LA at the four
seasons
HllywNsider: and i just saw spiderman 2
HllywNsider: it is worth giving your right
foot for
Nick Gray WFU: I want to see that more than
a million dollars.
HllywNsider: tobey and leo were there
Jeri gives guidance on my weekend destination, Chattanooga. Thanks in advance for the tips, buddy! Chattanooga: Rock City Reviews - Love it too!
Rock city is so quite it is one of those places you can sit and read a book and get lost in it because of the sounds around you. trail down to the blue hole if you dare and it will take your breath away at its beauty.It reminds you of those days visiting your grandmother and the love you feel with the big trees surrounding you with all their beauty.there is an ole wooden bridge to go over and listen to the cracking of each board as you wonder e-e-e- is this ok... But it is. Oh you will love Rock City if you just want to take a picnic and sit on the grounds and listen and watch all the surroundings around you......jeri
Peace be with you. Back Monday night.
Your options for buy versus build in Alpharetta are simple: There ain't much industrial space left here in town. Everything new is going up in North Forsyth and Cherokee County.Mind you, this land we're talking about is at least 35 miles north of Atlanta. Sprawl, much?
There's one office park with some space left - down the road by the grocery store - but it's owned by this Chinaman who gives everybody a real hard time for building codes. He's got this company over on the mainland that makes parts for Lowes and Home Depot, makes them for pennies each, and now he has so much money that he just lives in China like an Emperor or something. All of his buildings have to be entirely brick, or at least three sides facing the street.... For an industrial park, it's just not filling up. And everything else here is built out and sold.
And they, when they heard the announcement of our plan, they formed a Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center. And they gave them a budget of $500,000 to prevent the construction of the World Trade Center.
I said, "Harry," (I knew him.) I said, "Harry, could you tell me what is a reasonable World Trade Center?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "What's that?" He said, "One hundred floors high." And I said, "Well, your Empire State Building's 102." And I said, "I'm sorry, but I think 110 is a better number."
...
And finally she looked up, she said, "You know, you're my son and I love you very much, but I must tell you, if you're going to hurt television reception in this area, you better stop that project of yours right now." And I knew I had big problems.
Quoted from a DVD that Ricky sent me about post-WWII development in New York City. Original WTC graphics from skyscraper page.com, one of the best free sites on the Internet.
WindowsCE3: "Ah, but let her cover the
mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart."
Nick Gray WFU: I heard that for $20, you can
call this secret AOL 900 number, and it will erase your warning level.
my sister pointed this out to me - see anything odd on p78 of Victoria's Secret annual swim sale catalog? Look at the girl in the lower left.
wow. Did I cite some stats in my blog that you also used in your term paper? Looks like it, anonymous Argosy University student. The web-savvy professor clicked into my blog this afternoon - along with some other odd search queries.
Turnitin needs to block access to their referring analysis URLs. Otherwise, it looks like a very, very amazing service that.
If you call me on the telephone, and we are both in front of computers connected to the Internet, I think that our computers should automatically handshake so that we can easily share documents, pictures, and URLs.
Would this be Hybrid Instant Messaging? To make this happen on a non-VoIP system, you would need Bluetooth, Active Directory... maybe Plaxo?
You could buy a sample MOUMemorandum of Understanding, a pre-legal business agreement from MyWorkTools.com for $6.99, or you could just use Google for free. CAEAR provides the best "fill-in-the-blanks" MOU that I've found.
MOU
Abbreviation fo "Memorandum of Understanding." A document which, if meeting the other criteria, can be, in law, a contract. Generally, in the world of commerce or international negotiations, a MOU is considered to be a preliminary document; not a comprehensive agreement between two parties but rather an interim or partial agreement on some elements, in some cases a mere agreement in principle, on which there has been accord. Most MOU's imply that something more is eventually expected.
MaighHB: http://www.virginiahighland.com/ MaighHB: http://www.l5p.com/ MaighHB: http://www.inmanpark.org/ MaighHB: http://www.vahi.org/
The American Heritage dictionary defines a Greasy Spoon as "a small, inexpensive, often unsanitary restaurant." The term "greasy spoon" speaks to careless dishwashing practices, hence grease on the cutlery. And, indeed, a certain level of carelessness is inherent to the Greasy Spoon tradition. Greasy Spoons are low on frills -- frills cost money, frills raise prices.
Sudhian Media is a good hangout for case modders, like this guy's amazing Xenarc model 700Y hack.
There used to be a big garbage dump by Peachtree-Dekalb Airport. A huge dump of some sort of food product had attracted a huge flock of birds, and I happened to hear the audio tape of a plane that went down that day as a result. It was a corporate Learjet, and you hear the tower radio to the airplane and say,
Learjet, we saw some smoke come out of your engines. You want to make a turn-around?
The pilot was just as cool as could be. He says, Nah, we're not going to make it. Totally tore up the engines - trashed everything. About a minute later the plane slammed into an apartment complex. No survivors.
Cool as could be! I'd have been freaking out. But that's what pilots do.
Zach asks, I am looking for the equipment for a phone directory/answering service that would let us all have extensions. Any ideas?
I never fully configured the PBX that I brough to WFU's Center for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship starting office. Partially because we didn't really need it, and partially because I forgot the original administration password. The unit couldn't be reset without telnet'ing in over a serial connection, and it generally seemed stuck in 1995.
It looks like the TalkSwitch 24 from Centrepoint Technology packs a lot of features2 incoming lines, 4 local extensions, 8 remote extensions... voicemail, remote extensions, etc for under a thousand dollars ($695). What else?
'Ideas rot if you don't do something with them. I used to try to hoard them, but they rotted. Now I just blog them or tell people about them. Sometimes they still rot, but sometimes someone finds them useful in one way or another' -- Edd Dumbillper lifehacks per boingboing
videophones are everywhere here in italy. people hold them away from their faces and talk with the speaker phone. and they only cost about 250 USD. no one seems to care much about internet access on phones, at least not yet.Now that's what I call hot!
Do you ever get barrel distortion in your photographs? When I use my Tiffen .75x wide angle lens on the Canon G3, it sure gives me a lot of distortion on close-up, overhead shots.
I found this guide, Barrel Distortion Correction from Digital Photography Review. It shows how to use Panorama Tools for quick and easy corrections that worked for me.
The four most costly insured hazards in the United States are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and hailstorms.
I stole Zach's CampusHook friend Alex, who is on a little jaunt in India right now.
valeelee: i went to the mysore palace yesterday
valeelee: a must see