Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

scriptingNews outline for 8/8/2000

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:8/8/2000; 12:14:16 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 8/8/2000
Msg #:19545
Prev/Next:19544 / 19546

Today's stories 

DaveNet: Developments.

Reuters: States accuse record labels of price fixing. "Twenty-eight states filed suit against the world's five largest record labels on Tuesday, accusing them of fixing prices of compact discs and demanding 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in damages."

Industry Standard: The Piano-Scroll Precedent. "What in retrospect may seem quaint and funny 'was as deadly serious to them then as Napster is now,' says Paul Goldstein, a Stanford Law School professor and copyright expert."

Pet peeve of the day. Articles about websites that don't link to the site they're writing about.

How to find the WinAmp server 

It's a little tricky to find.

First, go to http://www.winamp.com/.

Look in the upper-right corner, there's a small search box, entitled "MP3 Search". Enter an artist name, album or song title. Click on Search. A list of music appears. Click on a title to download the MP3 to your hard drive.

Radio UserLand/Mac 

Today is Radio UserLand/Mac beta release day. You can get it now on the download page.

Please remember that this is a beta. We're still working on the software.

Check out the support page for updating instructions, and a pointer to the mail list. We ask that all users join the mail list so we can get the benefit of your experience.

Critiquing Prince's site 

I hate sites that try to control every aspect of their use. Prince's site is one of the most paranoid sites I've ever seen. As I was browsing around I conceded OK it's another pov of the Web, then I came across a page with all kinds of broken images, and there's the lesson, keep it simple, it's hard work to keep a site paranoid. You end up with broken links.

From the Black Hole of Mike Donellan 

Mike says: "In the same way that Lars Ulrich shouldn't be blathering on about the way things work on the internet like he does, neither should internet people be blathering on about the way the music business works either. Mindless name-calling between groups who should be supporting each other at this important cross-road is just gonna end up putting the control in the hands of somebody who REALLY doesn't give a shit: the government."

My use of Napster 

My use of Napster has shifted. After going to a concert, the first since using Napster, I've been exploring Sting music released after The Police split up. Some wonderful stuff, like Fields of Gold. What a beautiful song. I've also been exploring KD Lang. What's different is that the music is stuff that I've not purchased.

So yesterday I bought a KD Lang album at CDNOW, and today I bought a Sting album.

From the world of Blogger 

Unlike Megnut's Mom, I (heart) acronyms. I had to say that the Blogger way. Forgive me.

Blogger now supports syndication, in a low-tech way.

Forbes article on Spam 

Forbes reporter Kiri Blakeley is working on a story on Spam and ISPs. She's seeking help from people who have worked at ISPs, on the record or off.

Thanks! 

I'd like to thank the people of the press who are working with me, in new ways. I am not a competitor in the sense that I will not call 19 people and get quotes and do all the research that a professional reporter can. I love partnering with reporters. The first time I did it was with Jodi Mardesich, when she was at the SJ Merc. I had a source saying that Gil Amelio had been fired, but it hadn't been announced yet. Jodi and I both got our stories on the Web at the same moment, hers a reportorial, and mine an op-ed. This is the win-win. I'm a participant in the industry, and I write. Sometimes I get leads that I can't do much with. We can work together.

The value of links 

Over on Inessential, they're talking about the value of links down the left edge of weblogs.

When I spoke with Joel yesterday, he told me that that a link in the left margin of Scripting News is worth a lot to Google. When I linked to him there he became the first hit when you search for Joel on Google. I think Susan Kitchens found the same thing when she became the authority on Lake George, NY, according to Google.

Then I remembered that Google rates hits based on how many places point to you, and I guess it must be recursive in some way, because Scripting News is pointed to in so many places, as Doc found out, a link from this site means more than a link from other sites.

In that context, I'm glad that Updates is the first link in the left edge, perhaps that acts as a distributor of flow to frequently updated Manila sites. I like that!



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