Feedsparks link

There is a burst of traffic on leancode and ... it has a bunch of trouble with two of my hosting providers on the same weekend. Both textdrive and aplus went down in different ways, leaving no way to get to the information page for the new feedsparks gadget (although the gadget itself is fine, for everyone that happened to have it installed, since it's hosted elsewhere)

So if you happen to make it here, you can find the backup homepage at

http://bernie.thompson.googlepages.com/feedsparks

Or you can go to the main (more up-to-date w/ discussion, etc.) homepage of the gadget at

http://leancode.com/feedsparks

Using the Tekka Template

It's nice having a blog engine which lets you manage the page layout with individual page elements and a UI for moving them around. The new (Dec 2006) version of blogger has this support, but it requires porting whatever stuff you added to your old template to the new format.

I finally did the upgrade here on this blog, and as you can see, also chose to take on a new look.

The "Tekka" template takes up less space for the header, and has a variable page width (making fuller use of the screen) -- both features I like in blogs. Let me know if you disagree.

Every Problem is an Opportunity

Apple is set to announce a new product line this morning -- an Apple phone, previously called the iPhone.

The Internet is buzzing about this for one simple reason -- the cell phone market today is one huge headache for consumers. The quality of the hardware and especially the software on phones is lousy. The carriers, especially here in the US, are all about lock-ins to long contracts, and towards that goal they use their bag of bait-and-switch, selective crippling, and other lock-in strategies against the consumers that they aught to be serving more honestly. Microsoft has been doing a better job with Windows Mobile, but still is resistant to open standards at the communication layer (e.g. syncing contacts).

Apple has a track record of taking a broken situation involving complex technology, focusing on the basics, and making it actually work. In recent years (since the second coming of Jobs), they've flipped to become a fairly steady supporter of standards. So thus all the hope and hype.

In this case, I have a nagging suspicion that expectations are running ahead of Apple's ability to deliver. Many of the problems are too entrenched -- for example, the rumor is that Apple will launch with Cingular, which is unlikely to change its ways for just this single partnership.

But we will soon see. The announcement, whatever it is, is minutes away now.