Dan Wood: The Eponymous Weblog

I got an offer in the mail from WIRED magazine (which I've started subscribing to again) to send a free issue to a friend -- basically a single issue subscription. Rather than asking everybody I know, I thought I'd check with the blaudience here.

If anybody is interested, drop me a line at the email address below the orange RSS badge on this web page. If you're the first person to respond, I'll reply to get your snail-mail address so I can put it on the form and send it away.

Update: SOLD. :-)

More little Watson updates today:

• Amazon.com, to 1.7.5.1. Minor update to catch up with the current version of Amazon's services
• eBay, to 1.7.5.4. A fix to search by seller when there are more than 50 items returned.
• Weather, to 1.7.5.3. Catches up with some changes to certain weather.gov servers, particularly in the Northeast U.S.

Enjoy!

While not-related-to me Molly wood blogs about Google's troubles, I thought I would join in by pointing out one good thing and one bad thing about Google.

The good: I've just found out that when you search for Watson, it's now the top entry, meaning that the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button will take you right to Watson's home page. Watson has been below the PC program "Dr. Watson" for an eternity -- it looks like my program has finally gotten a bit more mindshare! Yipee!

The bad: Apparently Google has decided that it can censor organizations like this one that criticize the polluting behavior of ocean cruse ships. Isn't that special? To quote the petition:

Google should reinstate the Oceana AdWords immediately and show that it supports free expression of all viewpoints, not just those sponsored by corporate interests. Google's motto has always been "Don't be evil" -- this would seem to be a great opportunity to live up to those noble words.

So, Ralph Nader is running for President. Last time he did, I thought it was a good idea, but this time, it's sooooo different.

It looks like he's not getting much support for his run from his previous support base, so he's going to need all the help he can get from another source — the G.O.P.!

Since the G.O.P. will probably not be particularly forthcoming about their support, I thought I would give them a little help by creating these banners for your web site to support Ralph Nader's run for the Presidency. Feel free to copy and distribute these at will!

(This last banner is reduced here from its original size of 468x60, the typical web banner size.)

The message here "Don't let SBC/PacBell jerk you around on DSL service" was forwarded to me over on Orkut, so I gave it whirl. I had been paying $50/month for basic DSL service (384Kbps/128Kbps) with a static IP (since I started the service back so early -- now their service is Dynamic IP, but previous users are grandfathered in). After talking to a few customer service representatives, my request was finally escalated to somebody who jokingly called herself the "great and powerful Oz." I got to keep my static IP address, and I'm now paying $45/month for their "Expert Plus package" which is 1.5-3.0Mbps/384Kbps. Much better.

If you have SBC/PacBell for your last-mile internet connection, or some other similar service, and you've been paying the same rates for a while, it probably doesn't hurt to check to see if the rates have lowered!

Today, a few updates to Watson streamed out:

• eBay: fixed a problem where "featured items" were showing instead of all items
• Image Search: Fixed a problem where Ditto images were not being found
• Packages: Removed Airborne (now that they have merged with DHL) and updated the tool to conform with their new format

I was invited to join Orkut today. It's pretty cool. I've avoided the various social networking sites before because they seemed too much like teenage chat rooms and dating services; Orkut, on the other hand, seems sufficiently geeky and geared toward business contacts. So I'm giving it a try.

The invitation-only way of getting in is kind of funny. If you Google for Orkut, you'll see that you can buy an invitation! Wow, that kind of defeats the purpose of networking, doesn't it? [Readers of this weblog who actually know me, personally or over e-mail, drop me a line if you want an invite. Gratis.]

One caveat: There are still "dating" aspects to the service, which you can use if you are so inclined. But don't make the same mistake I did, which was to stumble upon the personal profile of people I've known for years from a business and computer sense, to find out what their turn-ons and contents of their bedroom are. Yuck! I'm scarred for life!

Brent Simmons (of NetNewsWire fame) has started a Yahoo Mailing List for independent Mac developers -- people who have started a Mac-related business, or who want to. I've joined the group, since I probably have some insight ... and questions to pose of others too.

Its charter/description:

This group is for small, independent Macintosh developers who want to talk with other developers about the business of Mac development. Questions on pricing, packaging, advertising, e-commerce providers, and so on are on-topic. Note that this list isn't a vehicle for promotion: announcements and press releases are off-topic.