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Why, Microsoft, why? That’s all I ask. Why must you continue to introduce proprietary technology in Internet Explorer?

Internet Explorer 8 Beta is now available for download and one of the new features is WebSlices. By adding a few specific class names to content blocks, IE will essentially syndicate the content.

<code><div class=”hslice” id=”1”>
  <p class=”entry-title”>item – $66.00</p>
  <div class=”entry-content”>high bidder:buyer1
    …
  </div>
</div>

Using the above classes will generate content the user (or IE8 user) can subscribe too. Why not RSS? Is it because that’s compatible with other software, browsers, and readers. Microsoft wanted something that would just work for Internet Explorer.

Do they honestly thing any developer will support or use this? Hmm… let’s see… I can create a RSS feed for my content that anyone can use (even IE7 and IE8 users) or I can create the WebSlice just for IE8 users. The only use this will get will be from FrontPage/Expression users who do not know any better.

Even Microsoft says it’s just like RSS on their site:

WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.

Please Microsoft, just make a good, fast browser for people to use. I was willing to admit IE7 was a step in the right direction. It’s fast and renders content relatively well and has good CSS support. It was only a matter of time before they had to go and ruin it.

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Zombies in the Mall

George Romero satirized American’s as a mindless, Zombie nation in his 1969 Night of the Living Dead and 1978 Dawn of the Living Dead films. I remember watching these films for the first time in a “serious” context in college and the message hitting me like a pile of bricks.

The more I think about it, the more it seems right. Just read the linked Vanity Fair article for a humorous look at the short-cut we are willing to take to make our life easier.

America’s Can-Do-But-Why-Bother spirit has produced a wave of gadgets that take the effort out of almost everything: vacuuming rugs, parking cars, walking dogs. In fact, why wear out those tongue muscles when a virtual assistant can order you a Motorized Ice Cream Cone?

I’m not saying I’m any better than the rest. We buy yogurt in a tube for Carter’s lunch and use any number of pointless gadgets and concoctions that will supposedly make our life easier. More and more, I’ve been thinking about how much things have changed since I was a kid. As I see more of myself reflected in Carter and as he develops his personality, I find myself thinking of when I was a kid and realizing that maybe things were better back then. Now, I’m really starting to sound like a parent…I remember walking to school (true) in the snow (not true) barefoot (not true).

read more | digg story

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YouTube Spam – Seriously, how hard is it to implement a filter to keep people from posting their URL/Cam Site names as comments on my video posts. Any given day I can check and 1/3 of my new comments will be spam. Marking it spam never seems to work and I swear that if I mark it as spam, it reappears the next time I check the post.

Come on YouTube, let’s get some seriously good comment spam protection going.

Badly Formatted Top 10 Lists – You know that a good list (Top 10 Ways, Best, Most Sucessful, etc.) will get you on Digg no problem, but formatting that list with only one entry per page means that I probably won’t read it. How hard is it to make something easy to read? Do you want to turn away readers?

Here’s a good list – ASME’s Top 40 Magazine Covers and a bad list – AOL Money & Finance: Most Successful Movie Franchises.

Guess which one I read?

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Occasional Superheroine has a great post detailing the Seven Deadly Sins of the Comic Book Industry. I have to say, I agree with every point (especially #1 and #3). It’s a quick glance at the many problems the industry is facing. In turn, that reflects the books that are being put out. While I love all of the references and re-appearances in some of DC’s titles lately, this would have been the perfect time for a revised Who’s Who in the DC Universe series. As a kid in 1985, this was the series that pulled me into DC and I can’t help but think that a similar series would do the same and serve as a reminder/refresher for old and returning fans.

As a side note, on #4, I think it’s my responsibility to monitor what Carter is/will read, but a nice warning or reference would be nice and should be included.

1. Hey, I enjoy delving into the rich histories of the larger comic book companies’ output as much as the next fan. But please don’t assume I do. Don’t assume I can differentiate between Chemo & the Anti-Monitor at the “big reveal” of “Sinestro Corps” #1. Don’t assume that when I see Elektra turn into a Skrull it will automatically ring any bells. Don’t assume that I care. Assume I am a first-time reader. Because I might be. Because without some more first-time readers — or readers that have come back to the hobby after ten, fifteen years — you can’t grow your readership. Don’t give me a weak book like “Countdown” where its only claim to fame is that it digs out obscure characters and puts them in wacky situations. Please do include recaps at the beginning of each issue — especially if the book is a tie-in to another event.

Be sure to read the entire list.

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The tragic death of five New York teens in a car accident–believed to have been caused by the driver sending/receiving text messages on her cell phone–has prompted lawmakers to propose a bill banning text messaging while driving.

ALBANY – The horrific deaths of five upstate teens when the SUV they were riding in slammed into a truck has pumped momentum into a measure that would prohibit New Yorkers from sending text messages when they’re behind the wheel.

“The recent tragedy in Canandaigua highlights how deadly the combination of texting and driver inexperience can be,” said Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Oyster Bay), who is co-sponsoring the proposal with Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn).

Using cell phone records, police determined the 17-year-old driver who caused the deadly wreck last month was sending and receiving text messages before the SUV she was driving rammed a tractor-trailer, killing her and four girls who had just graduated from high school.

Tests conducted on the driver after the fiery crash showed the primary cause of the accident was driver inattention due to the apparent text messaging. Alcohol was not a factor.

A recent poll of people 18 to 24 years old showed that two out of three admit to sending text messages when they drive.

Ortiz, the author of the trail-blazing New York prohibition against drivers using hand-held cell phones when they’re behind the wheel, said, “It’s a shame that it may take a tragedy like this for this bill to move forward.”

Under the proposal, those nabbed texting while driving could be hit with fines of up to $100 – the same penalty that applies now when police catch drivers gabbing on cell phones.

Does anyone besides me think this is pointless. Nearly impossible to enforce and just as hard to catch someone doing it (especially in New York), I don’t see how it could be very effective. A better approach would be to use this tragedy to educate teens on the dangers of such activity. However, the “old” person in me wonders why anyone would need educating to this fact, but that’s a rant for another day.