I had thought this might be a good excuse to buy an upgrade to the newer generation Zune 80 or 120, but I’d have to find my place all over again in the current audiobook I’m listening to (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”).  Arrrrgh!

Search around on the net and you’ll find no shortage of complaints and Microsoft bashing surrounding this recent development.  It’s a sad day, and ironic one too.  I had just poked fun at a friend recently who bought an iPod without thinking of the alternative.  To be fair, however, had she bought a current model Zune, she’d be unaffected by the problem.

*UPDATE* Microsoft has released a statement regarding the Zune 30 bug that hit all of us this morning. They’re essentially telling everyone to wait until tomorrow morning to turn on the Zune.  As of 7:00am for Eastern timezone folks, your Zune will magically begin working again; almost ass mysteriously as it stopped.

Though it’s not in their official release, the problem is most likely due to a bug in its ability to handle a leap year, which 2008 qualified.  The idea being that a leap year has around 366 days instead of the usualy 365.  As of January 1st, Greenwich Meantime, the device will be back on 1 of 365 – and working.  It’s a logical solution, but a very unfortunate goof for the Zune hardware team.  Maybe we’ll get a coupon toward the purchase of a new generation Zune in the mail for our trouble (ahem…are you listening, Zune team)!

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1. Zune 2.x
2. Zune 3.0 Coming
3. Too Zune to Tell

The software sees improvements as well. There are some updated looks, an updated social system, and an improved search system among others. Channels in the Zune (software and hardware) look really great. I am a big fan of the Pandora project, so a Zune-similar feature is eagerly sought. The channels are updated automatically and based upon your ratings of music. It’s based on genres, which if yours are anything like mine, will need some cleaning to get narrowed down to a meaningful set. A new social feature allows you to find people in the Marketplace that listen to music like you. As Dunn comments, you can do this yourself now, but it takes quite a bit of time and clicking.

The one point that Dunn brings up as a downer to this feature-rich upgrade is that most of these concepts are designed around the use of a Zune Pass. For $15 per month, the Zune Pass allows you to download all the music you want for up to three people. They still haven’t worked out the issue of assigning different user profiles to this pass. Our pass is in my wife’s name, so I logon with her account to get subscription music. This will effect the way channels work (that is, averaging the music preferences between all users of the Zune Pass instead of offering an individual’s experience), but I know they’ll work this out in time. For now, I’ve learned to deal with the way the pass works and I can accept it. I doubt very seriously the Zune Pass will extend to such services as Audible (it doesn’t currently extend to the MarketPlace video services), so I’d have to look at another subscription price there. I’ve used Audible’s services before, and I did enjoy them very much. I’m a big fan of audio books, so I will likely pony-up at least a basic subscription.

The one thing I don’t know yet is when I can expect this update. Despite Dunn’s lack-luster summary of the 3.0 update, I am very much looking forward to it!

Related posts:

1. Zune 2.x
2. Too Zune to Tell
3. Zune 30 Pandemic

Upgrading to Web 2.5
The Web 2.0 movement brought, among many other ideals, the concept of a truly “communal” Internet. We saw the entrance of communities such as MySpace, Orkut, Friendster, and of course, the blog, emerge. I maintain a regular blog and dabble in these other Internet communities, but ultimately find that they are not my thing.

What MySpace, for instance, did for me was to create a social community of friends and people with related interests. It’s a great concept, if only simple. I encountered two main problems with these solutions – set aside your particular opinion about the communities. The first, and most immediate, problem I had was that the site distracted me and my potential audience from my own blog. The other problem, something that took a little longer to become apparent, was that I was stuck into a much larger community than I was really interested in becoming “buddies” with.

My solution to these problems involves the maturation of Web 2.0 – perhaps to Web 2.5. I have heard of Web 3.0, but I don’t think the industry can make such a leap without some smaller steps in between. Web 2.5 allows the blog proprietor like myself to become part of these communities without stepping out of their home base.

The Case Study
My imagined solution looks simple at first glance. I maintain a blog. My friends maintain blogs and/or social networking profiles. I have other blogs/services out there to which I would like to drive attention. Now think of each of these things as containers to which I can subscribe, sometimes in a granular fashion. I build a collection of “friends,” “family,” and “interesting people” that I would like to have a reference to on my site. Today, you have blog rolls or even RSS feeds doing this. But what if you could access a container having someone’s profile and avatar, their blog articles, twitter feeds, and MySpace posts. From that container I can choose what I want to see, and how often I want to see it. Perhaps I just want digests. What’s more, the originator of that container can actually validate my request to subscribe to this data. They can also choose what they’ll allow me to see using templates (e.g. friends, family, co-workers), or define a custom rule just for me. The data continues to remain available through conventional means – say the RSS feed, a MySpace account, etc, but the personal container has controls.

I can extend it beyond the profile containers. Say you want to interact with your email or IM system through your blog. Think about having a single entry point to your personal web experience. The personal blog transforms into a personal dashboard with both public and private views. On the public side, you present your audience with your blog, some profile data, contact information, and perhaps a friend’s blog. Privately, you see your email, all your friends’ blogs, address book, and a calendar with your upcoming events.

There are ways to achieve most of this through conventional means, but there is no “solution” to it all. It takes a fundamental shift.

Back to WordPress
At the beginning of this post, I referred to my need for more in WordPress. WordPress utilizes a model of communal sharing already that leads me to believe that it is one of the strongest contenders to make my dream a reality. I’m jaded, of course, because I use WordPress a lot. However, I’ve also read about the WordPress.com Multi-User (MU) extension making its way to the public domain, BuddyPress. BuddyPress will make WordPress.com (and any other WP MU implementation) a community blog with integrated social networking a la MySpace. This is exactly what I’m talking about, if only on a very small scale. WordPress may have the framework to get where I want, but I still have to reach further for the over-arching API that allows WordPress to talk to social communities outside of itself. I believe WordPress has made the first move in my imagined Web 2.5.

The Solution
In brief, I imagine the final solution as being a web service that handles a centralized API for the OpenSocial, or something similar should the industry choose a better standard. Blog systems such as WordPress would have to utilize plugins to communicate with the API, but MySpace, Orkut, LinkedIn, and others would fit into the picture by being a part of OpenSocial. The custom web service would handle the “mash-up” of these different systems into a personal container. And of course, the user would manage their own container; permissions and contents.

In the end, I’d have my blog, my friends, and my choice. Web 2.0 moves forward and brings together the biggest social community ever on the Internet. Our personal sites become personal dashboards and launch points to our other interests. I think the way to Web 2.5 is clear, and someone out there is surely already working on it. You heard it here, first!

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There’s a more sinister element to this story when you tie Carrel to this story.  Carrel was influenced by the times leading up to World War II in Europe and believed he was working towards a common ideal of eugenics.  While he might have used the word eugenics at the time, put in perspective with World War II most of us think Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, and genocide.  There were some debates in the late 1990′s that give rise to the question of whether or not Carrel was involved in any inhumane practices to harvest the organs on which his experiements relied.  In Carrel’s book; L’Homme, cet inconnu (Man, The Unknown), published in 1935, he advocated the use of gas chambers to rid humanity of “inferior stock.”

It’s 2035 c.e. now and the 100th anniversary is upon us to commemorate Lindbergh’s and Carrel’s fantastic inventions based on the perfusion pump.  Young adults, classrooms, and spoiled children everywhere are keen on one thing this Christmas – the Centennial Man!

In 1935 Charles Lindbergh and Alexis Carrel unveiled the perfusion pump; a thing of science fiction creativity and unimaginable medical repercussions.  In its early years, the perfusion pump could maintain whole organs outside of the living anatomical system.  Soon after, these pumps were perfected to maintain more complex systems for extended periods of time.  Now, it seems, organic cellular metabolism has no mortality given the proper, sterile conditions of its vascular system.  What was once termed “a twist of vitrified bowel oozing out of a clear glass bottle” becomes the concept for Rockefeller University’s “Centennial Man.”  The Centennial Man will last 100 years with no maintenance at all and fully encapsulates the human anatomy for the entertainment and education of its controller.  The Centennial Man is operated on a simple wireless controller which takes standard programmable function logic from a computer system running the Centennial Man SDK.  Provided with over 140 pre-built routines, you can control Centennial Man to behave as though it were alive!  Centennial Man is made entirely from natural organs encased within a cadaver for life-like simulations.  While not exactly the perfusion pump of 1935, Centennial Man is based entirely* on a microscalar version of this premise – systematically reintroduced inline with the organs and vascular system of the anatomy to maintain the organic cellular functions as if it were a living body.  Only this body will last 100 years through the genius of a fluid regenerative micro perfusion pump system!

Educators will enthrall their students with a complete functioning anatomical system to dissect.  Impress your friends with your very own animated cadaver – program it scratch your back, rub your feet, or fold your clothes.  The possibilities are endless!

* Centennial Man does not have a functioning nervous system.  To replicate this function and provide programmability, the nervous system (including the brain) has been replaced with advanced micro circuitry and an AI logic core function processor.  Carbon nano tubes are necessary to interface this system with the various micro perfusion pump systems and vascular control valves to maintain their viability within the system.

Centennial Man requires special food, available from most major retailers, to maintain its growth nutrient and blood supply to organs.  Centennial Man also discharges an excrement approximately weekly that should be disposed of properly.

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In 1969 the goat was burned on New Year’s Eve.

In 1970 the first goat burned six hours after it was erected. Two heavily intoxicated youths were tied to the crime. With contributions from several donors, the goat was rebuilt, this time of reeds.

In 1971 the local merchants who had previously built the goat abandoned the project, tired of seeing it burn each year. The science association at the Vasaskolan upper secondary school took over. Their little goat was broken to pieces.

In 1972 the goat collapsed due to sabotage.

It’s a Guiness Book record holder – probably for all times, but I haven’t checked that factoid out. I love the idea of a massive, miscellaneous craft project brought to local cheers and jeers. It’s unclear to me how the whole thing got started back in 1966, but it’s town tradition now that triumphs through all manner of abuse. I mentioned to a friend of mine in Sweden that my family should start our own goat (Gradinbocken) to display at the house and arouse further suspicions that we were…off. He pointed out that anyone late to that party may not notice something as obvious as a 1,300lb straw goat either. Still, it’s a worthy venture I think! Anyone want to start a Gainesville tradition? Maybe a Godzilla-sized chicken would be more appropriate…

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Silver Stars is described as a classier place, targeting primarily women and couples:

Forget venturing into the sleazy adult video store in the seedy part of town. We strive to provide women and couples with a safe, clean, upscale and positive environment that presents all of our products in a fun and intuitive way.

Not for nothing, the store is located just over the city line to avoid some harsher political scrutiny, as well as maintaining a minimum amount of pornographic material. I believe it’s the magazines that can get you shut down in Gainesville, but their videos are described as “educational” just in case. However, if I read quickly through the list of items bulleted on their site, I get the false impression that I might be able to do a lot of my Christmas shopping there too:

• Bath Products
• Handmade Soaps and Lotions
• Educational Books & DVD’s
• Party Supplies
• T-Shirts
• And Lots More…

*There’s a lot to be said for “and lots more…”

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I originally got into blogging because it was a spreading phenomenon that involved technologies I knew and loved. As secondary incentives; I have always enjoyed writing, it’s a great creative outlet for web development and design, and blogging may very well give my descendants a familial history that will not otherwise be recorded in any books. A personal Wikipedia, if you will.

So here I am, more than three years later, assessing my blogging passions.

Of particular importance is my interest in a legacy. I am passionate about telling my story. Above all else, I trust that my musings will pass along a message that I cannot reach into my own ancestry for. That message will be a referential perspective to those in need of familial comfort. If we are to know the answer to life, the universe, and everything, we are to know our history.

It won’t be elegant nor abundantly enlightening, but the importance of having these recorded scraps of memory will one day prove to be some of the most cherished objects of a future generation. My own son will grow up in a revolutionary time when his every move is captured in startling fidelity – he will undoubtedly take for granted the provisions I aim to establish. But in his times of personal discovery, he will be able to look back on his own thoughts in perfect clarity; as well as those of his father. Perhaps he will see it. Perhaps it will be his children, or his children’s children…the estate of the future is a collection of intellectual capital, and there can be no greater treasure than knowledge.

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Having spent the next couple of hours working around impetuous security personnel at the Hyatt hotel (you’d think it would be a little easier for actual guests to check-in), Jeff and I had fully unloaded three cars worth of supplies and costumes. It was a grueling effort even though we were parked only two blocks from the hotel. Finishing that, we had time enough to grab a quick dinner before the wife and I hit the DragonCon drum circle scene. I usually enjoy this very much and this was my inaugural jam to start the weekend off. As such, it was a little lame. The circle was in full force, but diametrically opposed. There was a small niche on one side that seemed to be taking it upon themselves to run the group. This is all well and good, except that they had formed a sub circle of their own – one that was not large enough to accommodate any dancers. That, and the other side of the room was cut-off and unable to hear their rhythm through the throng of dancers in the room. So they attempted to follow along only to create a contrast to the rhythm. It was also proving difficult running the circle on the star drummers that had taken the lead. Burn-out drummers, I can say. The type that crank up a really great sound up front, but drive everyone else to play faster. It just creates a chaos in the end that is destined to burn out. The larger the circle, the more definition needed to highlight the rhythm distinctions. The group that puts this on is in discussions on the subject for next year.

DragonCon in general proved to be more than the three hotels could manage under heightened security measures. Security was tighter than in years past and the con suffered for it. Despite there efforts however, some people did manage to slip through and attend the panels they had paid to see. We didn’t manage to see many panels ourselves, but only because we were busy doing other things. We did catch the Star Trek Reunion panel in which the audience asked some questions that the celebrities didn’t answer. Some of the questions were kind of lame, but the three cast members of Star Trek attending the con this year should have made more of an effort to answer the questions. Humor the geeks, mkay. If they do something like this in the future, the coordinators should really work up some questions before the panel and present them to the talent beforehand. That way proper answers can be prepared, and good questions often lead to more.

Masquerade this year was really good. Grant and Kari hosted the annual costume ball this year. They did a good job together. Grant was showing off his over-the-top nerd trivia. The guy knows his Sci-Fi! Spazz and Fox were also in the masquerade this year. A first for any of us! They dressed as the Duct Tape Pirates – also a first at DragonCon as far as any of us know. Their costumes were perfect! When they first entered the stage, the crowd gave them complimentary “oooohhhh’s” to the detailed description of their ornate costumes. Feathers, ornaments, lace, etc. At the end – we planned the description just right – they dropped the duct tape bomb on the crowd. It was smooooooth. They went wild. It was one of those roars of excitement that can only build from thousands of people. The girls got kudos everywhere we went that night and they deserved it. If not for the fantastic effort they put into their costumes, then for walking around in uncomfortable duct tape costumes while smiling for their adoring audience.

There’s too much for me to get my mind around, so I’ll just close this up with a link to the pictures. This year, Flickr really exploded after the event with DragonCon photos. If you want to see thousands more, check the tag dragoncon2007.

Flickr: Olaf’s Dragon*Con Set (Multiple Years)

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It began as what I took for childish misuse of an SUV by brazen young kids on their way to their first day at school in the new year. There was a wild swerve into the median – a hard hit against the curb wall followed by a brief foray on a narrow median, ending in the erratic jerk back into the vehicle mainstay. This was the opening act for several more wild swings of the SUV’s rear end as it tried to come to terms with the perfectly straight road. You might say it was going through corrective maneuvers, but each swing seemed wilder than the former until the wheelbase could no longer handle the large vehicle’s centrifugal force. I witnessed the slow and labored moment where the driver-side wheels lifted off the ground and I knew the driver had lost. The truck rested on its side in the middle of two lanes; as though it had happened sometime in the night when no one was there to see it, and now it is found with the surrounding mystery of how it got there.

I pulled around at the very next median break to see how I could help. I have a cell phone, vague knowledge of CPR, and I’m 2 meters tall with great dexterity – surely that makes me useful in some ways. However, people were already running out from stores on the side of the road and other cars behind me had stopped in the road to lend their hands. In seconds, the scene was covered in people looking down into the truck’s interior. I have no idea what happened in there, but I can only imagine a few circumstances. A) There was a fight between the driver and at least one passenger. B) The driver had a seizure. C) It was intentional. All of these are pretty bizarre circumstances in my book. The oddest thing is that it has taken me three days to actually blog about this and I didn’t mention it to anybody until late Monday. The whole event seemed to have taken place in my imagination. It was difficult for me to keep the memory from being a nebulous dream in my mind.

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Of all the dorks we’ve been associated or formed numbers with, Wizard dorks are some of the more tame. They’re about having fun, dressing up in wizardry garb, and reading books. Nothing too serious. I think a lot of them aren’t even really Harry Potter fans, they’re just interested in going to book parties and having a good time.

The only real problem with the deal was that they sold out of books from pre-orders and we didn’t get a chance to get a copy. That, and it’s like a million miles from Gainesville to East Atlanta Village. But this is good business for Celestial Studios.

*UPDATE Whoa! Just as I wrote that last piece, they wound up with three copies to spare. Sweet!

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