September 2004

Trade Secrets Radio: Former President Bush II

September 25, 2004

Trade Secrets has a photo of Bush II contemplating his upcoming retirement. As a former president the Bushes will have over $250,000 a year in lifetime retirement. While many of the employees of the the companies like Enron who helped crown Bush II will have $0.

Colorado Trip Video

September 24, 2004

Here's a test to see if I can get the movies working with Quicktime Streaming Server.

It didn't work. QTSS does not seem to want to work. The only thing more frustrating is QTSS Publisher which seems to be complete waste so far. (Note to Apple when you have templates you have to also copy the graphics with them). Click on 'Read More' to see the video coming from a plain old web server.

Software wanted

September 24, 2004

I've been thinking on several software programs I'd really like to have. For example I want iMovie Pro. I have and use iMovie, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro (HD). They are all good programs. But I want a program with the power of Final Cut Pro and the video capture of iMovie. Yes Final Cut is used by many large budget productions and its clip logging features and batch capture are stunning. However I usually want to stick a tape in and capture all of it or a portion of it and iMovie does a great job of putting them together into clips.

I've recently started doing most capture work in iMovie and then editing in Final Cut. However if all this were done in Final Cut it would be possible to have it continue to track reels and tell you where the reel it needs to re-download might be found. Maybe someday.

Telling time

September 24, 2004

Dave Winer and Adam Curry were commenting in a post earlier this week that they were having problems getting in sync across time zones. Perhaps they should look at the Charlotte van der Waals collection of clocks at Ameico.

Email client

September 23, 2004

So I need a new email client. I've been thinking since reading the article in this month's MacWorld and there don't seem to be any great ones out there. Here's a partial list of features I need:

  • Handle IMAP and POP mail
  • Ability to import large email stores
  • Mail must be stored in a standard format
  • Mail cannot be stored in a single file
  • Inline spell checking
  • Read HTML email

So in short there is not an emailer out there that will do that. The big compromise at this point is between Apple's Mail which does HTML interpretation well but has terrible filtering and Eudora which has wonderful filtering features and lacks in displaying HTML formatted email.

Equinox

September 22, 2004

It is appropriate to note on this beautiful equinox why living in the desert is so beautiful. Sure there are some very warm months and as it is happening they seem to go on for a long time, but much of the year is just filled with beautiful days and cool evenings. With that in mind it is just 100 days until everyone will need their 2005 new-year's resolutions. One can hope we'll have a new management sign hanging out at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

There was a teaser on the Early Show on Monday that on Tuesday they'd have a story about what really happened to Amy Bechtel. It seems clear it must not have had much real to report because there does not seem to be a single mention of it online. No hits in the blog search tools. No hits in Google. We mistakenly recorded the Monday show which has commercials for the segment on the Tuesday show.

And then there were none

September 21, 2004

Went to see Agatha Christie's classic whodunit Ten Little Indians last evening. I'm all for more local and regional theater and it is great to see facilities like the Summerlin Library and Performing Arts Center. The play, however, left something to be desired. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't great, the best description of it is "it wasn't." There was very little notable aside from an occasional problem with the microphones (though they were completely unnecessary for the small theater). The acting was ok. not good... not bad... Katie Craig was by far the best of the cast in her portrayal of Vera Claythorne.

Hmmm....

September 21, 2004

I've watched with interest lately as a couple of email lists I see from time to time have heated discussions. What continues to surprise me is that there are blog authors engaged in a great debate, who have their blog in their email signature, but who don't post anything about the discussion to their blog. I don't understand why.

Do you understand?

September 19, 2004

Here's one for Dave Winer's list of fact checkers. The Associated Press has a section on the Electoral College in which it asks "Do you really understand how our electoral system works?"

The interactive system then proceeds to tell how the system works. Problem is it is wrong. The explanation claims the Constitution of the United States says that electors are selected by a popular vote in each of the states. Bzzzt! It doesn't. The Constitution hasn't changed (on this issue) for nearly a century and a half. Perhaps it would be a good time for a new fact checker. (There are probably some available from CBS who should be looking for work).

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