I'm throwing this one out there, in an effort to a) get out more than one post per week and b) provide more timely posts.
[via Lifestream Blog]
Drupal now has an activity stream module. It's one of the first solutions (if you can really say it solves something) for a CMS that I've seen that stores the data. Most of the hosted applications like Jaiku, FriendFeed, and Soup store the data and allow some sort of commenting, but in the Moveable Type and Wordpress plug-ins I'd seen before, it was more of a dynamic loading of Lifestream events, as opposed to the actual copying/importing of content.
If you want a searchable Lifestream, then that more widget-like functionality is not going to work. I would think that importing RSS item and storing them in a Wordpress database would be easy for something with Wordpress development knowledge, but so far, I don't remember seeing anything that does that except this new Drupal module.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Friday Fifteen: The Day Before Earth Hour
Brought to you by the Letter T
Tech
1. Everybody remember to turn off your lights on March 29 at 8pm. Even my office building is doing it, and it is one of the semi-skyscrapers in downtown Chicago.
2. Social Bookmarking service Ma.gnolia is now requiring new users to sign up using an OpenID. It appears to be a move to stop people from spamming the service... but will it really? It seems to me like it will just shift the sign-up spam to OpenID providers. I just signed up a new account on Wordpress.com without having to click on a link in a confirmation email or even enter a captcha. So, can't the spammers rewrite their scripts to get an OpenID account (or a hundred) from Wordpress, and then use that to sign in to all the wonderful services that require an OpenID login? Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
3. I have yet to try them, but PhotoShop Express and SlideRocket were released yesterday. The first link there is a post from ReadWriteWeb that talks about the other web apps that Adobe has. I didn't realize there was an Adobe Share that will give you 1 GB of document storage, and the ability to embed documents on websites (still in beta testing). That could be useful for a writer who wants people to review, oh, I don't know, drafts of manuscripts?
4. Firefox 3 is up to Beta 4, but still doesn't work with self-signed certs. That means I won't be able to use it for work development. Which means I won't use it ever (until they fix that), because I'm not about to fire up a separate version of Firefox just to test for work. I'd rather just use one version that does everything I want it to do.
Trivia
5. I blockquote from SF Signal:
I haven't read the book, but I saw the movie, and honestly, I thought the best part was the culture and society of the setting as opposed to anything in the plot. So, yeah, that sounds pretty awesome.
6. I found The Oneiromantic Mosaic from an email sent to Jeff VanDermeer (yes, my new favorite blogging writer) announcing (sort of) that is was now compiled online (even though there appear to be some missing pieces - but perhaps they were removed on purpose... or never existed in the first place). Anyway, I've been enthralled with it ever since I found it last week and usually have about 3 tabs open in my browser to follow the various tangents. Still haven't made it through the first Dream Journal entry, but I'm pretty sure that's the point.
7. I know it's better to be safe than sorry, but my brother-in-law had to go through Austin yesterday to get to Chicago, extending his (and his wife's) trip by 12 hours. My wife and I will try to make it worth the trip for them. Not sure that the weather will cooperate, though. But at least we have Command & Conquer 3 from GameFly for them to play (I don't think they've played it). Coincidentally enough, the GameFly subscription was a free trial given to me by the BIL.
8. Speaking of C&C3, I know it's late, but I saw that it got an 8.7 on GameSpot, and just for the record, I'd agree with that. I've only played the first few missions, but it's been fun so far. A lot more fun than Eternal Sonata, which totally grated on both my wife and I for 45 minutes before I put it back in the sleeve, and promptly sealed it up for return to GameFly. I'm hoping to get Culdcept Saga by Saturday, so I can play that with "the fam" over the weekend. Cause it's not like it'll be warm enough to go outside.
9. While I'm on the video game tip, it looks like Ninja Gaiden II will have a demo on XBL in May. Let's see if I can finish Mass Effect, Bioshock, The Orange Box, and Condemned (the first one) before NGII's June 3rd release. Then add Lost Odyssey and the aforementioned C&C3 to the list as well since I'll probably pick those up used when I've finished the other 5 games.
10. This is the point where we usually take a breather. Just relax for a second. It's almost over.
Tough Luck
11. Since I'm reviewing stuff, sort of, let's go with the Counting Crows album I bought this week. I've listened to it enough now that I'm okay with giving it a 6/10. There's a couple really good songs, but the whole Saturday Night / Sunday Morning concept/theme thing seems a little contrived. If you're going to do that, it has to be something as awesome as Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, preferably with two discs. With the Counting Crows, it kind of just sounds like every other album they've made with half the songs being upbeat and half being really sad. So really, this album just makes me want to pull a couple tracks and make a Counting Crows megamix. Or just let iTunes do it for me.
12. Now that C-Webb is retired, a whole new generation will have to grow up and actually learn for themselves that you shouldn't call a timeout when you don't have any left.
13. Speaking of basketball, I played on Tuesday for the first time in at least a couple months. Who would have thought your arm could get out of shape, but mine sure did, because my triceps and forearm were sore as heck yesterday. And I know I didn't take as many shots as I usually do. Short bus!
14.
Truer LOLz were never written.
15. I told Val I have a deadline of January 1st, 2009, to which she replied, "Or if you don't make it, you can just do a find and replace with 2110."
Tech
1. Everybody remember to turn off your lights on March 29 at 8pm. Even my office building is doing it, and it is one of the semi-skyscrapers in downtown Chicago.
2. Social Bookmarking service Ma.gnolia is now requiring new users to sign up using an OpenID. It appears to be a move to stop people from spamming the service... but will it really? It seems to me like it will just shift the sign-up spam to OpenID providers. I just signed up a new account on Wordpress.com without having to click on a link in a confirmation email or even enter a captcha. So, can't the spammers rewrite their scripts to get an OpenID account (or a hundred) from Wordpress, and then use that to sign in to all the wonderful services that require an OpenID login? Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
3. I have yet to try them, but PhotoShop Express and SlideRocket were released yesterday. The first link there is a post from ReadWriteWeb that talks about the other web apps that Adobe has. I didn't realize there was an Adobe Share that will give you 1 GB of document storage, and the ability to embed documents on websites (still in beta testing). That could be useful for a writer who wants people to review, oh, I don't know, drafts of manuscripts?
4. Firefox 3 is up to Beta 4, but still doesn't work with self-signed certs. That means I won't be able to use it for work development. Which means I won't use it ever (until they fix that), because I'm not about to fire up a separate version of Firefox just to test for work. I'd rather just use one version that does everything I want it to do.
Trivia
5. I blockquote from SF Signal:
Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica producer David Eick tells Sci Fi Wire that he is adapting P.D. James' novel, Children of Men as a TV series. The series won't be about the story from the book, but will instead focus on the culture and society James has created. Eick is currently writing the script for the show.
I haven't read the book, but I saw the movie, and honestly, I thought the best part was the culture and society of the setting as opposed to anything in the plot. So, yeah, that sounds pretty awesome.
6. I found The Oneiromantic Mosaic from an email sent to Jeff VanDermeer (yes, my new favorite blogging writer) announcing (sort of) that is was now compiled online (even though there appear to be some missing pieces - but perhaps they were removed on purpose... or never existed in the first place). Anyway, I've been enthralled with it ever since I found it last week and usually have about 3 tabs open in my browser to follow the various tangents. Still haven't made it through the first Dream Journal entry, but I'm pretty sure that's the point.
7. I know it's better to be safe than sorry, but my brother-in-law had to go through Austin yesterday to get to Chicago, extending his (and his wife's) trip by 12 hours. My wife and I will try to make it worth the trip for them. Not sure that the weather will cooperate, though. But at least we have Command & Conquer 3 from GameFly for them to play (I don't think they've played it). Coincidentally enough, the GameFly subscription was a free trial given to me by the BIL.
8. Speaking of C&C3, I know it's late, but I saw that it got an 8.7 on GameSpot, and just for the record, I'd agree with that. I've only played the first few missions, but it's been fun so far. A lot more fun than Eternal Sonata, which totally grated on both my wife and I for 45 minutes before I put it back in the sleeve, and promptly sealed it up for return to GameFly. I'm hoping to get Culdcept Saga by Saturday, so I can play that with "the fam" over the weekend. Cause it's not like it'll be warm enough to go outside.
9. While I'm on the video game tip, it looks like Ninja Gaiden II will have a demo on XBL in May. Let's see if I can finish Mass Effect, Bioshock, The Orange Box, and Condemned (the first one) before NGII's June 3rd release. Then add Lost Odyssey and the aforementioned C&C3 to the list as well since I'll probably pick those up used when I've finished the other 5 games.
10. This is the point where we usually take a breather. Just relax for a second. It's almost over.
Tough Luck
11. Since I'm reviewing stuff, sort of, let's go with the Counting Crows album I bought this week. I've listened to it enough now that I'm okay with giving it a 6/10. There's a couple really good songs, but the whole Saturday Night / Sunday Morning concept/theme thing seems a little contrived. If you're going to do that, it has to be something as awesome as Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, preferably with two discs. With the Counting Crows, it kind of just sounds like every other album they've made with half the songs being upbeat and half being really sad. So really, this album just makes me want to pull a couple tracks and make a Counting Crows megamix. Or just let iTunes do it for me.
12. Now that C-Webb is retired, a whole new generation will have to grow up and actually learn for themselves that you shouldn't call a timeout when you don't have any left.
13. Speaking of basketball, I played on Tuesday for the first time in at least a couple months. Who would have thought your arm could get out of shape, but mine sure did, because my triceps and forearm were sore as heck yesterday. And I know I didn't take as many shots as I usually do. Short bus!
14.
Truer LOLz were never written.
15. I told Val I have a deadline of January 1st, 2009, to which she replied, "Or if you don't make it, you can just do a find and replace with 2110."
Friday, March 21, 2008
Friday Seven and a Half: The Sequel
1. What's the big deal about FriendFeed? I swear I've been talking about Jaiku since... well, since before I'd heard of FriendFeed. But now it seems like every other blog post on TechCrunch and Read/WriteWeb is about FriendFeed and how great it is (or how bad it is that we even need something like FriendFeed). Is it just because Jaiku is older and harder to pronounce?
2. archphoenix totally unintentionally stole my idea for Tracer Photos. A Tracer Photo is a public photo in a Flickr set with Friends and/or Family only photos that is used to notify people who might be subscribed to the RSS feed of your photos that there's new stuff. You can also post it to your blog, to be like: Hey, here's a picture that everyone can see... there's more where that came from for the special people in my life. Sort of like this:
3. It may be snowing, but at least the sidewalks are warm enough to melt it.
4. I was hoping to get to start watching LOST (finally) on ABC.com yesterday, but then I ended up working a lot more than I wanted to, and decided to watch the USC v KSU game so I could see future NBA stars OJ Mayo and Michael Beasley. Too bad Beasley was in foul trouble for the first half, and Mayo was playing like CaCa. Then halfway through the second half, CBS switches to Duke v Belmont, thus putting a disappointing period at the end of OJ Mayo's college career. Yeah, the DvB game was a good game, but Duke ended up winning, so it was just as disappointing as cutting away from the other game had been.
5. Apparently, if you want a traffic spike, just make some disparaging, yet clever, remarks about Scott Sigler. If he wrote Terminator books, you'd probably call it "Bringing Metal Down."
6. I finally bought the new (December 2007) Lupe Fiasco album. I saw his new video somewhere the other day, and decided the song was good enough to give it another preview listen. After the preview listen, I went with it. Haven't listened to it much since then, but I'm sure I'll get more in when I go downtown next week.
7. The new White Sox commercials on WGN seem to be designed to fit in with the commercials for the other dramas shown on the network (known as the CW here).
7.5. Sit. Stare. You know the drill.
2. archphoenix totally unintentionally stole my idea for Tracer Photos. A Tracer Photo is a public photo in a Flickr set with Friends and/or Family only photos that is used to notify people who might be subscribed to the RSS feed of your photos that there's new stuff. You can also post it to your blog, to be like: Hey, here's a picture that everyone can see... there's more where that came from for the special people in my life. Sort of like this:
3. It may be snowing, but at least the sidewalks are warm enough to melt it.
4. I was hoping to get to start watching LOST (finally) on ABC.com yesterday, but then I ended up working a lot more than I wanted to, and decided to watch the USC v KSU game so I could see future NBA stars OJ Mayo and Michael Beasley. Too bad Beasley was in foul trouble for the first half, and Mayo was playing like CaCa. Then halfway through the second half, CBS switches to Duke v Belmont, thus putting a disappointing period at the end of OJ Mayo's college career. Yeah, the DvB game was a good game, but Duke ended up winning, so it was just as disappointing as cutting away from the other game had been.
5. Apparently, if you want a traffic spike, just make some disparaging, yet clever, remarks about Scott Sigler. If he wrote Terminator books, you'd probably call it "Bringing Metal Down."
6. I finally bought the new (December 2007) Lupe Fiasco album. I saw his new video somewhere the other day, and decided the song was good enough to give it another preview listen. After the preview listen, I went with it. Haven't listened to it much since then, but I'm sure I'll get more in when I go downtown next week.
7. The new White Sox commercials on WGN seem to be designed to fit in with the commercials for the other dramas shown on the network (known as the CW here).
7.5. Sit. Stare. You know the drill.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wednesday Seven and a Half: Cause I'm going to Mexico!
1. FriendFeedFeed. Indeed.
2. LifestreamBlog reports that the new version of NoseRub will be able to add a URL as a contact. If the concept sounds bizarre bordering on useless, let me put it in this non-anchor text way: You can add the URL of friend's blog (or, perhaps better, FriendFeed page) and NoseRub will find all the services that pertain to that person (provided they use the appropriate tag attributes). So, you put in the FriendFeed profile page, and it adds all the services listed on that page to that "friend" on NoseRub.
3. Joey has a video of casting for the Notorious B.I.G. Please note: probably not the real casting call for Notorious B.I.G.
4. Did some experimenting with Piknik on Flickr. Piknik has a "Lomo" filter, but only for premium users, so I was trying to see if I could come up with the same kind of effects using the free filters.
5. If the gas prices are getting to you, you may be able to take some small comfort in the fact that if the China continues at its current rate of inflation, in 5 years, a Papa John's pizza will cost $129. If you're not wondering where we'll get our clothes from then, you're probably still stuck on: They have Papa John's in China??? Yeah, took me a while too...
6. Who knew house painters were so eager for work?
7. I'm a little bit upset that I'll be going to Mexico when it finally breaks 50 in Chicago (for this first time this year?), since it'll be back down to the always annoying high 30's when I get back. But, oh wait, I'm going to Mexico!
7.5 Time to stare off into space for a second. You know you want to.
2. LifestreamBlog reports that the new version of NoseRub will be able to add a URL as a contact. If the concept sounds bizarre bordering on useless, let me put it in this non-anchor text way: You can add the URL of friend's blog (or, perhaps better, FriendFeed page) and NoseRub will find all the services that pertain to that person (provided they use the appropriate tag attributes). So, you put in the FriendFeed profile page, and it adds all the services listed on that page to that "friend" on NoseRub.
3. Joey has a video of casting for the Notorious B.I.G. Please note: probably not the real casting call for Notorious B.I.G.
4. Did some experimenting with Piknik on Flickr. Piknik has a "Lomo" filter, but only for premium users, so I was trying to see if I could come up with the same kind of effects using the free filters.
5. If the gas prices are getting to you, you may be able to take some small comfort in the fact that if the China continues at its current rate of inflation, in 5 years, a Papa John's pizza will cost $129. If you're not wondering where we'll get our clothes from then, you're probably still stuck on: They have Papa John's in China??? Yeah, took me a while too...
6. Who knew house painters were so eager for work?
7. I'm a little bit upset that I'll be going to Mexico when it finally breaks 50 in Chicago (for this first time this year?), since it'll be back down to the always annoying high 30's when I get back. But, oh wait, I'm going to Mexico!
7.5 Time to stare off into space for a second. You know you want to.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Friday Fifteen: Lebowski Fest Week
The Friday Fifteen is evolving already in only it's 2nd edition... I've added topic headings.
Public
1. Read/WriteWeb does it again with a list of 35 lifestreaming apps. And what is this blog without a link to something about Lifestreaming?
2. Hulu has Deleted Scenes from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. That's the kind of stuff that these Internets are made for.
3. How come Amazon doesn't let me add MP3 and Unbox Video downloads to my Wish List? One explanation would be that people are supposed to buy stuff for you off your Wishlist, and since the MP3s and Videos are usually downloaded to your computer immediately, you're supposed to be buying them for yourself. For the MP3s, though, since they're DRM free, my friend could buy it off my Wishlist and then email it to me. Or burn it on a CD and give it to me. Or make me a USB Mixtape.
4. So evidently, the reason that I'm not able to log in with "nelswadycki" as a Google Account user name is because I already registered "nels.wadycki" and Google just goes ahead and ignores the "." in the user name. Something could have been brought to my attention yesterday! I knew I was getting email at nelswadyckiATgmail... but I could never log in with that name. Well, problem solved... sort of. See, I actually prefer nelswadycki to nwadycki (there's my one OCD moment), so I've been switching everything over to nelswadycki now... at least Google makes it very easy to share stuff with your friends (or in this case, yourself).
5. I was part of the digital revolution yesterday. I bought the new Nine Inch Nails "Ghosts" album off Amazon. I've listened to it once through (albeit while working), and out of the 4 Ghosts, I like 2 of them, and the other 2 I'm okay with, but not excited about or anything. Anyone want to guess which are the 2 ghosts that I like?
Pointless
6. She doesn't post to it often, but Elizabeth Bear has a category called "entropy requires no maintenance. Nice.
7. Now just stare off into space for a second.
8. This spot reserved for stuff that should be on Give Me The Rock, but is a little too random to get over there. This one is Benny the Bull on Jerry Springer. Evidently they show this during half time. I've been to 2 Bulls games this year, and didn't see it either time. Some day... season tickets... some day...
9. More random videoness from Chicagoist: Hipster Girl. It's not all that funny, but it's clever enough. And come on, it's Friday. You have something better to do?
Personal
10. I was really happy to see the Bulls win last night without Tyrus Thomas. Cause that means he won't play ever again. Which is certainly good for the team. And his confidence. And all that. At least Joakim is living up to his potential.
11. Since I'm going, here's an interview with the guy who the Chicago Lebowski Fest.
12. Since I don't include Give Me The Rock in any of my Lifestreams, here's a link to a post I wrote about the changing world of basketball. The scary part is it's about Kobe Bryant.
13. Another blog (in my ever-expanding blogging empire) that is not in any of my Lifestreams is the America's Next Top Model blog. Here's a post I wrote yesterday about the show on Wednesday. If you don't watch the show, you don't need to click on the link.
14. Writing (and blogging about writing) was going really well up until this week, when I've written a grand total of 80 words. Of course, that doesn't include the previous blog posts from GMTR and ANTMBlog... but those can't really be turned into a novel, now can they?
15. Could I be any more ready for Spring? The answer is: no. Probably not.
Public
1. Read/WriteWeb does it again with a list of 35 lifestreaming apps. And what is this blog without a link to something about Lifestreaming?
2. Hulu has Deleted Scenes from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. That's the kind of stuff that these Internets are made for.
3. How come Amazon doesn't let me add MP3 and Unbox Video downloads to my Wish List? One explanation would be that people are supposed to buy stuff for you off your Wishlist, and since the MP3s and Videos are usually downloaded to your computer immediately, you're supposed to be buying them for yourself. For the MP3s, though, since they're DRM free, my friend could buy it off my Wishlist and then email it to me. Or burn it on a CD and give it to me. Or make me a USB Mixtape.
4. So evidently, the reason that I'm not able to log in with "nelswadycki" as a Google Account user name is because I already registered "nels.wadycki" and Google just goes ahead and ignores the "." in the user name. Something could have been brought to my attention yesterday! I knew I was getting email at nelswadyckiATgmail... but I could never log in with that name. Well, problem solved... sort of. See, I actually prefer nelswadycki to nwadycki (there's my one OCD moment), so I've been switching everything over to nelswadycki now... at least Google makes it very easy to share stuff with your friends (or in this case, yourself).
5. I was part of the digital revolution yesterday. I bought the new Nine Inch Nails "Ghosts" album off Amazon. I've listened to it once through (albeit while working), and out of the 4 Ghosts, I like 2 of them, and the other 2 I'm okay with, but not excited about or anything. Anyone want to guess which are the 2 ghosts that I like?
Pointless
6. She doesn't post to it often, but Elizabeth Bear has a category called "entropy requires no maintenance. Nice.
7. Now just stare off into space for a second.
8. This spot reserved for stuff that should be on Give Me The Rock, but is a little too random to get over there. This one is Benny the Bull on Jerry Springer. Evidently they show this during half time. I've been to 2 Bulls games this year, and didn't see it either time. Some day... season tickets... some day...
9. More random videoness from Chicagoist: Hipster Girl. It's not all that funny, but it's clever enough. And come on, it's Friday. You have something better to do?
Personal
10. I was really happy to see the Bulls win last night without Tyrus Thomas. Cause that means he won't play ever again. Which is certainly good for the team. And his confidence. And all that. At least Joakim is living up to his potential.
11. Since I'm going, here's an interview with the guy who the Chicago Lebowski Fest.
12. Since I don't include Give Me The Rock in any of my Lifestreams, here's a link to a post I wrote about the changing world of basketball. The scary part is it's about Kobe Bryant.
13. Another blog (in my ever-expanding blogging empire) that is not in any of my Lifestreams is the America's Next Top Model blog. Here's a post I wrote yesterday about the show on Wednesday. If you don't watch the show, you don't need to click on the link.
14. Writing (and blogging about writing) was going really well up until this week, when I've written a grand total of 80 words. Of course, that doesn't include the previous blog posts from GMTR and ANTMBlog... but those can't really be turned into a novel, now can they?
15. Could I be any more ready for Spring? The answer is: no. Probably not.
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