del.icio.us/dossy links since March 19, 2007 at 09:00 AM

March 26, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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Holy Grounds Cafe and Masa Sushi in Allendale, NJ

March 21, 2007 by 4 Comments

Last night, with the aid of babysitting, we were able to go out.  But, what to do?  My wife is happy to go out to see a movie, which is like two hours of brain-death for me.  So, since she left it up to me to arrange the evening, I decided to look for places with an open mic. night on Tuesdays.  One place, Holy Grounds Coffee Lounge in Allendale, NJ, caught my eye.  They advertised an open mic. night “every other Tuesday” … but didn’t mention which Tuesday started the cycle (sigh).

Holy Grounds Coffee Lounge in Allendale, NJ

Still, the place sounded promising even if there were no live entertainment this Tuesday.  We headed over to Allendale to check it out.  We found the place okay; it’s right in the middle of town on West Allendale Ave. by the “big clock” in the middle of the street.  We went in, asking about the food selection since we still needed to eat dinner.  No surprise, the deserts looked fantastic and the only real “food” were a bunch of premade panini sandwiches.  We decided to take our chances and left, walking up and down the street looking for places to eat.

We took a quick detour into a liquor store to check out their offerings and the helpful folks behind the counter mentioned the existance of, what they claimed, was an excellent sushi place in the adjacent building over.  We both love sushi and the only other alternatives seemed to be Italian restaurants, which are a dime a dozen in Northern Jersey.  But, I’m always wary when people claim that “this sushi place is excellent!” because, well, frankly, they usually aren’t.  Northern Jersey is plagued with a particular problem: most “sushi” places are Korean owned and operated, and I hate to say it, but your average Korean has no clue what good sushi is, but it’s usually quite passable to your average white person’s palate.  But, we needed to eat and, hey, who knows, right?

Masa Sushi & Grill in Allendale
(Click to enlarge.)

Hot damn.  The place is called Masa Sushi & Grill, also on West Allendale Ave., almost across the street from Holy Grounds.  Don’t let their pathetic looking website fool you: this place is the real deal.  In general, I have a short list for qualifying a good sushi place:

  • The sushi chefs speak Japanese.
  • There are a non-trivial number of Asian people who eat there.

Now, if you don’t know Japanese, it may be hard for you to know if the sushi chef’s are speaking Japanese.  They might be Koreans, speaking in Korean.  But, fortunately, I know enough Japanese to know what they’re speaking behind the counter.

If you go outside normal mealtimes, there may not be many people eating there, so the second item may not be of much use.  Since we were there at 7:00 PM, there were a bunch of people already there–and most of them were Japanese!  Even better, there were a few Japanese salariman there, reading their papers and eating their dinner.  I knew we were in for some good sushi.

Now, one thing I developed a taste for growing up is natto, a very signature Japanese food made from fermented soybeans.  I introduced my wife to it, who couldn’t stand it at first, but now she asks for it more than I do!  So, when she goes to a sushi place, even if it’s not on the menu–as was the case at Masa Sushi–she’ll ask for it.  Again, a good sign that this place was the real thing, they were quick to answer that, yes, they had natto!  We started our evening sharing a bowl of natto, together.

Another taste I developed growing up is for uni, or sea urchin.  Again, for many, this is an acquired taste, and ordering it in sushi places is often very hit or miss.  Given how expensive it is, it’s painful to risk paying the high prices for less than excellent uni.  Considering this place had been passing all my tests with flying colors, I looked at the uni in the sushi counter and it looked good.  I decided to order two pieces of uni and it was as good as I expected.

If you think you know good sushi when you eat it, perhaps you want to avoid this place.  It could ruin your perception of all those other “good” sushi places that you like to eat at, which may very likely pale in comparison to the high standards that Masa Sushi achieves.  By 8:00 PM on a Tuesday night, this place was packed full of Japanese people–salariman, families with young children and couples like us.  This place is no joke.

After our fantastic sushi dinner, we stumbled happily back across the street to Holy Grounds, where my wife ordered a pecan pie for dessert–one of her favorites–which she said was also excellent.  We relaxed while we enjoyed our drinks, as I flipped through a copy of a New International Version bible they have out.  In it, I came across this passage from Matthew 6:25-34 which is was so apropos:

Do Not Worry

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Indeed, tomorrow will worry about itself, but for last night, we enjoyed ourselves and had a wonderful evening.

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rec.arts.erotica + Scribd’s text-to-speech = profit!

March 19, 2007 by 2 Comments

I blogged about Scribd back in November 2006 during their beta launch, recognizing that the bright folks behind this startup were on the right track.  In February, they announced some new features and they’re all very cool, but one really jumped out at me:

  • Audio downloads. We have a very high quality text-to-speech converter and the play button icon below “download as” let’s you download the audio version as an mp3. This means you can use Scribd to convert a book to a format you can listen to on your iPod.

When they say “very high quality text-to-speech converter” they’re not kidding.  It’s not quite like having Majel Barrett-Roddenberry pretending to be the computer’s voice, but it’s closing the gap.

I’m ashamed to say I didn’t check out this feature when it was first announced!  I only caught it when the Scribd team shared some link love thanking bloggers, linking to my early blog entry.  I’m quite hypercritical and most attempts at computerized speech have been pretty disappointing (to me) over the last 10 years, but I let my curiousity get the better of me and I decided to give it a listen and I’m so glad I did.  You can either download the audio as MP3 or use the embedded Flash MP3 player widget, both in the right-hand navigation as you can see in the screenshot below:

Scribd screenshot, 2007-03-19
(Click for full size.)

I bet you’re asking “so, who cares?  Text-to-speech isn’t such a big deal.”  Oh, but lets not forget what really drives commercial progress on the Interwebs–porn.  As I titled this blog entry, “rec.arts.erotica + Scribd’s text-to-speech = profit!”  To prove the concept, I’ve taken an excerpt from a lovely little story by Sorissa titled “First Date Slut” and uploaded it to Scribd (which, hopefully doesn’t violate Scribd’s terms of service as it should be considered Fair Use and not infringe Sorissa’s copyright).  Here’s the snippet of text I uploaded:

“Actually, I was hoping we could try right now to turn my evening around. Are you willing?”

“Oh, Kevin, of course I’m willing.  The evening doesn’t have to end right now. We could just stay here and talk.”

“Mei,” he said, as he put his hand on my bare shoulder. “I think we should do a bit more than just talk.  I don’t think you dressed this way, just to have me kiss you on the cheek and go home, now did you?”

“No,” I breathed, completely taken by someone who was so honest and forthright, and not afraid to get right to the point, “I was hoping we’d get to know each other a bit better.”

After much hamster-wheel spinning, as Scribd’s conversion process takes a considerable amount of time at the moment, my lovely MP3 audio transcription was produced!  You can listen to it, all 36 seconds of it:

I know, you’re saying, “who cares?  This isn’t making me hot.”  But, how long do you think it’ll take someone to model a few popular porn star voices and texturize it so it converts the text in a way that is hot?  Would you pay, say, $0.99, to hear your favorite pornstar read your favorite erotic story?  Well, a mechanized version of, but who’s counting, right?

Like I said, keep an eye on these guys–they’re smart, talented and they’re moving fast.  Just check out the progression of their site header:

Scribd beta header, 2006-11-02  Scribd header, 2007-03-19
(Old -> new.)

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Filed Under: Geeking out 2 Comments

del.icio.us/dossy links since March 12, 2007 at 09:00 AM

March 19, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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How long before we see a smartphone with Flash support?

March 16, 2007 by 1 Comment

Jason Calacanis twitters:

JasonCalacanis Anyone know of phone that’s does flash/video/youtube? Blackberry doesn’t support right?

I don’t know for sure, but I’d look at OpenMoko.  According to their wiki, OpenMoko will be a smartphone platform based on Linux, leveraging the work that the TomTom folks have done for the Samsung 2410 application processor.

OpenMoko logo

According to Emmy Huang, Product Manager for the Flash Player at Adobe, who blogged back in May 2006, there will be a Flash Player 9 for Linux.  According to the developer blog, Mike Melanson announced that the final version is now available for Linux x86 back in January 2007.

It would make a lot of sense for the OpenMoko team and Adobe to work together to make sure there’s a Flash Player for OpenMoko-based smartphones–it’s a win-win for both.  Of course, the world has a long history of ignoring really smart strategic plays due to any number of stupid reasons, so naturally there’s no guarantees that it’ll happen, but the possibility and opportunity are certainly there.

According to this announcement, they were planning to sell the FIC Neo1973 handset (which would run OpenMoko) for US$350 in March 2007:

2007-03-11 Phase 1: Official Developer Launch
We will sell the Neo1973 direct from openmoko.com for US$350 plus shipping. Sales and orders will be worldwide. We are specifically targeting open source community developers.

Perhaps you can pull some strings or use your celebrity status to get your hands on a few developer units for us?  I doubt I could … I’m just a nobody.  :-)

Update 2007-03-19: Frank de Lange on the OpenMoko mailing list informs me that Adobe’s Flash Player EULA expressly prohibits use of the Flash Player on embedded/mobile devices, anyhow:

3. Restrictions.

3.1  Web Player Prohibited Devices. You may not Use any Web Player on any non-PC device or with any embedded or device version of any operating system. For the avoidance of doubt, and by example only, you may not use a Web Player on any (a) mobile devices, set top boxes (STB), handhelds, phones, web pads, tablets and Tablet PCs that are not running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, game consoles, TVs, DVD players, media centers (excluding Windows XP Media Center Edition and its successors), electronic billboards or other digital signage, internet appliances or other internet-connected devices, PDAs, medical devices, ATMs, telematic devices, gaming machines, home automation systems, kiosks, remote control devices, or any other consumer electronics device, (b) operator-based mobile, cable, satellite, or television systems or (c) other closed system devices.

I really wonder what the rationale was behind this restriction.  My guess is that Adobe wanted to strongarm mobile and embedded device manufacturers into paying to license the technology?  Who knows, but as more and more network computing capability is available on mobile/embedded devices, it’s a pity there’s such a restriction.

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Visiting ex-coworker friends in NYC

March 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Dapper Dossy Visits the Rocketettes at Radio City Music Hall

(Originally uploaded by julio.miyares.)

I took a quick trip into NYC today to have lunch with two ex-coworker friends at AOL, Julio and Rob.  As I’ve always said, AOL was a fantastic place to work because of the people and it’s what I miss most about not being there any more.

Julio was kind enough to take this picture of me today and he’s uploaded it to his Flickr photostream and he’s even used it as blog fodder.  I’m always ready to help a friend out, you know?

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Twittermap really shows the lack of New Jersey geeks

March 15, 2007 by 3 Comments

The shiny new toy at SXSW this year was Twitter, a “social away message,” where you send all of your “followers” a short (140 character) message.  I’d joined Twitter (you can follow me here) back in January 2007, long before SXSW, and was frustrated by the lack of local Twitterers–those in and around northern NJ.  Of course, I figured this had to be a function of my living on the bleeding edge of technology: the late adopters would eventually catch up and catch on and I would finally discover some geek neighbors.

If anything, SXSW attracts geeks from around the country and around the world and the “SXSW Interactive” part ended two days ago.  I’m guessing that folks who are likely to check out Twitter after hearing about it at SXSW have done so by now.  Right?

One of the cool things about Web 2.0 is the likelihood of open APIs, which Twitter has.  Open APIs combined with Google Maps yields a very simple but effective mashup, Twittermap, which plots public Twitter activity on a map.  Perfect, I thought, I can finally discover what other geeks are nearby!  Look below for a screenshot of the Twittermap of northern New Jersey:

Twittermap of northern New Jersey
(Click for full-sized version.)

Disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe this.

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Life according to Heroes, the TV show

March 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

The season 1 finale episode, Parasite, aired recently.  In it, there was an incredibly insightful piece of dialogue between Nathan Petrelli and Mr. Linderman:

Linderman: You see, I think there comes a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning.

Nathan: I’d like to have both.

Linderman: Can’t be done. Two very different paths. I mean, to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present and with no thought with what’s gone on before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But a life of meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. And my guess is that you’ve done quite a bit of obsessing about yours these last few days. (Nathan pulls out a gun) Now you can’t have any of my pot pie.

Linderman is certainly the God-character, holding unique knowledge about the nature of reality which has so puzzled all of the other characters.  As mortals, we’re constantly torn between the two ends of the continuum, seeking out truth and meaning but also trying to find happiness.  It’s very clear that they are indeed on two ends of a continuum and our very struggle is what keeps us in the middle of it.

I guess this quote was especially relevant given my recent state of mind.

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BlogJet, a must-have blogging tool for Windows

March 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

BlogJet 2.0 screenshot, 2007-03-14

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net asks, “what are your top 5 blogging tools?”  Ian McKenzie mentions BlogJet, which I didn’t remember hearing about.  Well, BlogJet 2.0 is available, so I decided to give it a try after watching the demo video, as there’s a 30-day free trial (it’s not free software, it costs $39.95).

My first reaction is: wow.  BlogJet 2.0 is great.  I’m only in my second day of my trial period, but I’m definitely considering paying for this application.  BlogJet 2.0 is what w.bloggar should have become, if its development didn’t come to a grinding halt.  I’d given up on using w.bloggar because it was painfully slow, which got in the way too often.  I’ve been hand-editing HTML using my favorite editor, vim, and just uploading the entries manually.  It wasn’t convenient, but it was fast and predictable, which are more important to me.  I have a bunch of macros bound to F-keys to make any repeated task trivial, so it was quite comfortable.  However, there’s still a few tasks that I never got around to automating, and that’s a pain point for me.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me if I weren’t so damned hypercritical: there are a few warts on BlogJet 2.0 that I don’t know how long I could live with.  They’re probably non-issues for your average blogger, but they annoy the hell out of me.  Not like you really care, but let me tell you about them.

Where is my H1-H6?

I guess most bloggers don’t use section headers, otherwise how did BlogJet get to 2.0 without implementing this?  Luckily, I can Ctrl-Tab into the source view and hand-edit the HTML (thank goodness) but for an application that is so nicely polished, this was surprising.  I’m hoping this was just a small oversight and will be added to a follow-up release.  This is only a minor inconvenience, and I can definitely live with this.

IMG tags lack height and width attributes

I guess this is just a pet peeve of mine, but I really like my IMG tags to have their height and width attributes specified when I know their values in advance.  It would be nice if there were a checkbox in the application’s preferences to tell BlogJet to include those in the generated markup.  For now, I’m hand-adding it after publishing a blog entry, but that’s tedious.

Dude, where’s my nice markup?

I have a general displeasure with the HTML markup that BlogJet generates, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the embedded IE control that it uses for the WYSIWYG HTML editing, but it’d be nice if BlogJet allowed you to specify some simple post-processing filters to programmatically clean up the markup before it’s published.  Similar to the usefulness of BlogJet’s “Auto Replace” feature, being able to define a series of regular expression transformations to apply to the generated markup would be a nice touch.

Tags implementation is buggy

While it’s annoying that you can’t reorder tags once you’ve added them other than by deleting and re-adding them (ugh!), that’s not even what I’m referring to when I say the implementation is buggy.  I mean, the URLs it generates is downright broken.  I don’t know who started replacing spaces with “+” in the path portion of the URL, but it’s wrong.  Take a look at RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax, section 3:

    foo://example.com:8042/over/there?name=ferret#nose
    \_/   \______________/\_________/ \_________/ \__/
     |           |            |            |        |
  scheme     authority       path        query   fragment

The character escaping rules are different in the “path” portion vs. the “query” portion of the URL.  Lets look at the typical “tag URL” form:

    http://technorati.com/tag/{TAG}
    \__/   \____________/\________/
      |           |           |
   scheme     authority      path

Notice anything?  Like, the fact that there’s no “query” portion?  The “tag” itself is part of the “path” portion of the URL.  Therefore, it should be encoded following the rules that govern encoding the “path” portion of the URL.  Which means, spaces should be encoded to “%20” instead of “+” and if you did want an actual “+” in your tag text, it would be replaced with “%2B” in the URL.

Right now, in BlogJet 2.0.0.9 (the specific version I’m trying out), if I add a tag with spaces in it, the tag link body has the space replaced with a “+” and it’s also in the tag link href the same way.  There’s no way for me to create a tag with an actual whitespace in the text.  And, since BlogJet treats tags “specially” I can’t even go into the HTML source view and hand correct this.  Ugh.

Again, I’m hoping this is a simple matter to fix, but this is of course the problem with closed-source software products: I’m entirely at the mercy of the original developer to make the necessary changes.  And, it’s the prerogative of that developer to ignore my pleas and not make the changes at all, leaving me with no alternatives other than to not use the product.

… and like I said at the beginning of this blog entry, BlogJet 2.0 is a product that’s well worth its $39.95 price tag, and is definitely a must-have blogging tool for the Win32 platform.  Dmitry Chestnykh, you’ve done a fantastic job.  Would you mind fixing these few warts for me, though?  :-)

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8apps, a more social BaseCamp

March 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment

8apps Screenshot, 2007-03-14

So, I received an invitation to 8apps this morning, and it appears to be another Rails-based web app.  Those of you who are familiar with BaseCamp probably have a good idea as to what features are currently available.  Right now, only 3 out of the “8apps” have been implemented: Handshake (social network), Orchestrate (task management), Blueprint (brainstorming).  It’s an interesting approach, dividing the functionality out into separate applications–I wonder what impact it has on overall usability.  Generally, design gravitates towards related functionality being neatly integrated, not separated.

If you’d like to check out 8apps, leave a comment here or otherwise let me know you’re interested and include what email address you want the invitation sent to.  Once you’re in, don’t forget to add me as a contact.

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