9 files changed, 0 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/build.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/build.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ac66e48..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/build.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-<img alt="Nightlybuild" title="Nightlybuild" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/nightlybuild.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />The Nightly Build:

*	[The Freedom Toaster][2] is a self server kiosk that lets you burn software and media. Currently the project is limited to South Africa. From the website: "The Freedom Toaster project began as a means of overcoming the difficulty in obtaining Linux and Open Source software due to the restrictive telecommunications environment in South Africa, where the easy downloading of large pieces of software is just not possible for everyone."

[2]: http://www.freedomtoaster.org/?q=home "Freedom Toaster"

*	So far it's just a rumor but [according to ZDNet][1] blogger Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft will be offering a "Family Pack" discount on Vista Ultimate edition. Foley claims that plans are afoot to "allow Vista Ultimate customers to purchase two additional copies of Vista Home Premium for somewhere between $50 to $99 a piece." 

[1]: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=201 "Microsoft to offer Vista ‘Family Pack’ discount for Ultimate users"

*	Google pulls a page from Microsoft's playbook. Google has [removed Yahoo and MapQuest Maps][3] from their search results page. In an official statement Google tells Search Engine Land that, "Google is always working to improve search. The redesign of maps onebox better simplifies the Google user experience when looking for business and address information." In other words shut up and and eat it; Google knows what's best for you.

[3]: http://searchengineland.com/070116-103251.php "Google removes links to Yahoo and MapQuest maps"

*	It may not be not software related, but it's pretty cool: George Clooney and the SCI FI Channel are teaming up to [bring a six-hour miniseries][4] version of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age to the small screen. Please don't screw this up Mr. Clooney. [via [BoingBoing][5]]

[4]: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=39447 "Clooney, Others Develop SCI FI Shows"
[5]: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/16/clooney_and_scifi_ma.html "Clooney and SciFi making "Diamond Age" miniseries "
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/elsewhere.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/elsewhere.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 19b38a2..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/elsewhere.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-<img alt="Wiredblogs" title="Wiredblogs" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/wiredblogs.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />Elsewhere on Wired:

*	Randy Dotinga over at Bodyhack has news of new study which finds that video games may be [good for your head][1]. Didn't [Steven Johnson][2] already say that? Silly scientists and their "proof" and "evidence."

[1]: http://blog.wired.com/biotech/2007/01/video_games_goo.html "Video Games: Good for Your Head (!)"
[2]: http://stevenberlinjohnson.com/ "Everything Bad is Good For You"

*	Autopia [reports][3] that Lotus Engineering, which helped to develop the only-cool-electric-car, the Tesla Motors electric car, has partnered with ZAP, a small Santa Rosa company. 

[3]: http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/01/lotus_and_zap_t.html "Lotus and ZAP Team for EVs"

*	Forget the video iPod, if you want your movies really, really, really Zoolander-style small, you need to check out Gadget Lab's write up on a [wristwatch that plays movies][4].

[4]: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/wristwatch_play.html "Wristwatch Plays Movies"

*	Table of Malcontents has some great [surreal paintings][5] from Polish artist Jacek Yerka.

[5]: http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/01/jacek_yerka.html "Jacek Yerka"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/outlook.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/outlook.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ad3eb39..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/outlook.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-As the public release of Vista and Office 2007 draw near more details about the new software is emerging. One such detail that emerged last week involves Outlook 2007 which no longer uses Internet Explorer as an HTML rendering engine and instead relies on the rendering engine used by Word 2007.

There was [much][1] [uproar][6] in certain quarters as Word's rendering engine has historically been substandard. Considering that a number of popular authoring tools, such as Dreamweaver ship with special tools whose sole purpose is to clean up the often bloated, non-standards-based output of MS Word's HTML output, using that engine for Outlook might seem like an odd choice.

Rumors have swirled about as to the reasoning behind the switch so to put matters to rest I got in touch with Jessica Arnold, Product Manager for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. 

It turns out that even older version of Outlook use the Word rendering engine for creating HTML emails so there's no real change on the authoring end. The change to using Word for received emails come because, according to Arnold, "A big thing we heard from customers is that they wanted the richness of the editing experience they were used to from Word integrated throughout Outlook."

The problem she says was that "often the content people created looked different to the recipient receiving it - like the formatting would be slightly off, or things wouldn't appear as they had when the message was in "compose" mode." 

The desire for consistency appears to be the main motivation, but Arnold did admit that "for some particular users this may not be true and we're always looking for ways to improve our rendering support in the future."

For a full rundown on what HTML is available via the Word rendering engine there are [two pages][2] [worth of specs][3] on Microsoft's website. There's also a white paper on what's [new in Outlook 2007][4]. Microsoft has a [code validator][5] (Windows only) for those looking to create Outlook 2007 compatible emails using other authoring tools.

Perhaps the most annoying thing for users looking to deliver HTML email newsletters and the like is a lack of support for CSS positioning with <code>div</code> tags and the lack of support for the CSS float property. Without these tools it will be difficult if not impossible to design standards compliant HTML emails.

Arnold says "customers using Outlook don't just want to display HTML content, the way they do in their browser, but also have an expectation that they should be able to author that content as well." Arnold claims "Word's new HTML rendering engine has been improved based on HTML and CSS standards," but did not provide any specifics.

However given that many popular mail clients and services have HTML rendering disabled by default (GMail for instance), and many users consider HTML email a nuisance, perhaps the outcry is misplaced. It's possible that only people really effected by this will be spammers who rely on embedded images to verify when email was viewed.

Unfortunately Microsoft's change of rendering engine doesn't appear to have been motivated by a desire to fight spam or enhance security, while background images are not supported, images nested in tables are, which means spammers can still get information sent back when Outlook renders the HTML content.

If your business relies on HTML email, you'll definitely want to revise your code come January 30th when the new versions of Vista and Office hit the shelves. Until then you might try contacting Microsoft, Arnold says "the Word team is continually examining HTML and CSS support based on customer feedback."

[1]: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/2007/01/microsoft_takes_email_design_b.html "Microsoft takes email design back 5 years"
[2]: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338201.aspx "Word 2007 HTML and CSS Rendering Capabilities in Outlook 2007 (Part 1 of 2)"
[3]: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338200.aspx "Word 2007 HTML and CSS Rendering Capabilities in Outlook 2007 (Part 2 of 2)"
[4]: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102109301033.aspx "Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 e-mail editor white paper"
[5]: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0b764c08-0f86-431e-8bd5-ef0e9ce26a3a&displaylang=en "Outlook HTML and CSS Validator"
[6]: http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=3&issue=156#5 "Microsoft Breaks HTML Email Rendering in Outlook 2007"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/reboot.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/reboot.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 32fb6b4..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/reboot.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-<img alt="Any_key_3" title="Any_key_3" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/any_key_2.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />The morning reboot suggests you not put today's fresh coffee right next to the mug with yesterday's leftover, cold and somewhat slimy coffee as this may cause early morning confusion and unhappiness.

*	[Wikiseek][1] is a new Wikipedia search engine that indexes only Wikipedia pages and sites those pages link to, which should make for more focused, less spam-laden search results. It's also much faster than Wikipedia's current search engine.

[1]: http://www.wikiseek.com/ "Wikiseek"

*	Netflix has [unveiled a new streaming movie service][2]. Select subscribers will gain access to the new service, "Watch Now," which will allow users to watch films straight from the web. The service does not offer actual downloads to cut the risk of piracy. Initially only 250,000 customers will get Watch Now, but Netflix plans to add roughly the same amount each week until June.

[2]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6266819.stm "Netflix unveils online film offer"

*	Open source is the way forward. An article over on CNet [claims][3] that more companies are "finding that the best way to make money with software is to give it away." The examples they cite are a bit obscure, but hey, here's hoping they're right.

[3]: http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6150104.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news "Taking the plunge into open source"

*	HSIA: [US man badly burned by self-combusting mobile][4]

[4]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/16/mobile_phone_fire/ "US man badly burned by self-combusting mobile"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/tut.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/tut.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a72866..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/tut.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-<img alt="Feedicon" title="Feedicon" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/feedicon.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />Today's RSS tip comes from comments on yesterday's post. I'd been looking for a way to archive selected feed entries as email messages for long term storage, but using services like <a href="http://rssfwd.com/" title="RSSfwd">RSSFwd</a> or <a href="http://www.r-mail.org/" title="RMail">RMail</a> by themselves sends everything to your email address.

This morning it occurred to me that using del.icio.us or any other social bookmarking site as an intermediary would make it possible. When I checked my email I noticed that Monkey Bites reader David Rotham had [posted exactly the same workflow][2]. Here's what he suggests:

>decide on how you'll tag items that you want emailed to you. Use that tag to "flag" items you want emailed to you. Get an RSS feed for your user ID and that tag from del.icio.us.  Give that feed to RMail.  That's it. 

So there you have it. And naturally David's tips apply to any social bookmarking site. If you send those emails to GMail, you've got a permanent online archive of news that you can tag and search whenever and wherever you need.

The second tip for the day is pretty simple but something I didn't realize was available. As Digg continues to grow in popularity the signal to noise ratio seems to have corresponding decline. Posts that have nothing to do with technology still end up in that category, but it turns out that you can actually create feeds from Digg searches. 

Using a combination of "not" operators in the advanced search page I've generated a Digg feed that cuts out a lot of meaningless chatter that was cluttering up my RSS reader. Muhammad Saleem over at The Mu Life has the full details on [creating search-based Digg feeds][1].

[1]: http://themulife.com/?p=580 "Digg.com's Lesser Known RSS Features"
[2]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/01/stories_were_wo.html "RSS Power Users"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-javascript.jpg b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-javascript.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index a119d36..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-javascript.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-logo.jpg b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-logo.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 440e3d1..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-logo.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-results.jpg b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-results.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 0aa1c1d..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek-results.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index b7ddcb6..0000000
--- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/01.15.07/Tues/wikiseek.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-The search engine company SearchMe has launched a new service, [Wikiseek][1], which indexes and searches the contents of Wikipedia and only those sites which are referenced within Wikipedia. Though not officially a part of Wikipedia, TechCrunch [reports][2] that Wikiseek was "built with Wikipedia's assistance and permission"

Because Wikiseek only indexes Wikipedia and sites that Wikipedia links to, the results are less subject to the spam and SEO schemes that can clutter up Google and Yahoo search listings.

According to the Wikiseek pages, the search engine "utilizes Searchme's category refinement technology, providing suggested search refinements based on user tagging and categorization within Wikipedia, making results more relevant than conventional search engines."

Along with search results Wikiseek displays a tag cloud which allows you to narrow or broaden your search results based on topically related information.

Wikiseek offer a Firefox [search plugin][3] as well as a [Javascript-based extension][4] that alters actual Wikipedia pages to add a Wikiseek search button (see screenshot below). Hopefully similar options will be available for other browsers in the future.

SearchMe is using Wikiseek as a showcase product and is donating a large portion of the advertising revenue generated by Wikiseek, back to Wikipedia. The company also promises to have more niche search engines in the works.

If Wikiseek is any indication, SearchMe will be one to watch. The interface has the simplicity of Google, but searches are considerably faster, lightening fast is fact. Granted Wikiseek is indexing far fewer pages than Google or Yahoo, but if speed is a factor, niche search engines like Wikiseek may pose a serious threat to the giants like Google and Yahoo.

Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion has [an interesting post][5] about the growing influence of Wikipedia and how it could pose a big threat to Google in the near future. Here's some statistics from his post:

>The number of Wikipedians who have edited ten or more articles continues its hockey stick growth. In October 2006 that number climbed to 158,000 people. Further, media citations rose 300% last year, according to data compiled using Factiva. Last year Wikipedia was cited 11,000 times in the press. Traffic is on the rise too. Hitwise says that Wikipedia is the 20th most visited domain in the US.

While Wikiseek will probably not pose a serious threat to the search giants, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is looking to compete with the search giants at some point. While few details have yet emerged, his for profit company Wikia is reportedly working a new search engine dubbed Wikisari which aims to be a people-powered alternative to Google.

With numbers like the ones cited above, Wikipedia may indeed pose a threat to Google, Yahoo and the rest.

[1]: http://www.wikiseek.com "Wikiseek"
[2]: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/16/wikipedia-search-engine-wikiseek-launches/ "TechCrunch: Wikipedia Search Engine WikiSeek Launches"
[3]: http://www.wikiseek.com/tools/search_plugin/ "Wikiseek Firefox Search Plugin"
[4]: http://www.wikiseek.com/tools/FF_extension/ "Wikiseek Firefox extension"
[5]: http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/01/wikipedia_threa.html "Micro Persuasion: The Wikipedia Threat to Google's Empire"
\ No newline at end of file