Do you suffer from IPOD paralysis?

Nowadays we think nothing of ripping our music from CDs and rehousing a huge library of tracks into our computers to then cram onto a tiny MP3 player. However, the problem comes when you what to choose want to listen to - you either end up listening to rubbish, endless shuffling or just scroll though endless track lists. This is better known as IPOD paralysis!

So it's a relief to welcome a wave of cool tools that resolve this problem and let you mix, match and share your tunes. The best one that I have found is filter.com - a free program that lets you build mood-based playlists, fine tuned by your taste. It cuts out all the guesswork in selecting the best track. You choose a track and the software will build a playlist around that tune.

Another program (moodlogic.com) that features mood-tagging and recommends tracks based on recommendations of thousands of users to create and store playlists of all your tracks automatically.

My IPOD has been saved by such tools as I have rediscovered my music. Check them out and let us know what you think

Microsoft aiming small?

I saw this headline today in my Inbox, and thought, "More Microsoft Bashing!" However, once I clicked on the link, there was a very interesting story behind it, particularly if you own a company with between 1 and 10 employees, which is apparently responsible for 90% of employment in the US, something I wasn't aware of.

Is Microsoft finally waking up to the threats around about it, or is it all just a short term marketing ploy? The decision is yours.

http://www.growthbusiness.co.uk/expansion/it-explained/29961/microsoft-gives-small-business-a-lift.thtml

Hell has Frozen over - Microsoft Plays Nice with Open-Source

Microsoft called together a press conference the other day and announced a collaboration agreement with Novell for its brand of Linux. (This follows an announcement by Oracle to start supporting Red Hat's version of Linux).

As part of the agreement, Microsoft will not assert patent-infringement claims against individual, noncommercial, open-source developers. The moratorium applies only to Linux SuSe developers, not other flavors of Linux or other open-source software.

This represents a major shift for Microsoft, who until now seemed determined to defeat Linux. I guess that hell is now officially frozen. Obviously, both Microsoft and Novell were forced into this by its customers. Linux is just too entrenched in the enterprise for Microsoft to ignore it or fight it. But it is picking its partners.

What is 78 x 23?

The following article appeared on Digg.com and became popular very quickly - it may appear an odd question, but the author draws interesting conclusions about software deskilling people .

For example has the advent of Photoshop and Illustrator producing more talented graphic artists or is it allowing mediocre talents to get by?

Think of this as an 'interactive' article - certainly worth a read.....

http://clintonforbes.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-is-78-x-23.html#the_answer_to_78_by_23

UK Christmas shopping online set to hit £7bn

Britons are set to spend more than ever online this festive season, with internet shopping predicted to rise 40 per cent to a record £7bn in the 10 weeks leading up to Christmas day.

The sales boom is being driven by increased investment in online services by big retailers such as Tesco and Argos, according to the Interactive Media in Retail Group, as well as shoppers’ growing willingness to buy online items such as clothes and furniture they would normally have bought on the high street.

Full article on FT.com

I plan to buy all my christmas presents online and have them sent to me at home. I am refusing to visit the high street at xmas - no crowds for me!

Citizen Journalism - who needs the Sun Newspaper?

We've been waiting for the newspaper industry to realize it needs to do more than just put their articles online and sell advertising, but figure out ways to better enhance their offering via adding features that were simply impossible without the internet. For example, recognize that rather than readers, many people are willing to be distributors of the news as well. Gannett, most well known as the publisher of USA Today and a bunch of other newspapers is now trying to do much more by better involving readers in writing the news as well. Obviously, the idea of citizen journalism has been discussed at length for a while, but perhaps not when it comes to a major newspaper chain. Gannett is reorganizing their news rooms to be more collaborative (something that should have happened long ago), but are also encouraging newsrooms to get the community involved in the reporting process as well.

The article discusses how one newspaper got a bunch of readers to help them investigate excessively high prices for water and sewer lines to new homes. Apparently, it generated a lot of interest, with various experts all coming together to dig out the real story. Of course, that doesn't necessarily work in every case -- and there are some risks involved. As you might expect, many of the reporters are skeptical, wondering if this is just a way to fire reporters and replace them with "free" labour.

Digg up for Sale?

Well, I guess anyone is for sale at the right price, but according to several Internet sources the Digg owners have been talking to a number of potential suitors, including News Corp -MySpace's owner. Asking price, could be $150 million, which may be too high.

Given that founders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson are starting another company, Revision 3, maybe they're ready to move on.

One article about the potential sale: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/24/digg-does-the-acquisition-dance-with-news-corp/

Facebook being greedy and losing its cool

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship with potential suitors. Instead of cashing-out for $800 million, the young entrepreneur is holding out for $2 billion.

Facebook launched in February 2004, and the website now has over 10 million registered users across over 40,000 regional, work, college and high school networks. According to comScore, Facebook is the seventh-most trafficked site on the web and is the number one photo-sharing site.

However, Business Week reports the site is starting to lose popularity and with the decline in growth, might come a decline in purchase price. Potential buyers such as Viacom and Yahoo, are content to sit back and wait, hoping to get a cheaper price tag.

In my humble opinion the decline in viewers on Facebook is down to the site losing its elusive cool factor. I think the owner should get out while the going is still considered good.

LibraryThing - Social Network for Book Lovers

Stumbled across the following social network for Book Lovers - LibraryThing.

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.

LibraryThing is a full-powered cataloging application, searching the Library of Congress, all five national Amazon sites, and more than 60 world libraries. You can edit your information, search and sort it, "tag" books with your own subjects, or use the Library of Congress and Dewey systems to organize your collection. This has been describe as "Myspace for Books".

This seems like an interesting idea, but not sure what the value of this is?