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Technobabbles - Voyagerfan5761's Blog

Journal of interesting (to me) events in the technology realm, including both facts and opinions.
Don't get the idea that I actually know something, though. ;-)

Badly Designed Websites: Improvement SightedSeptember 5

Yes, I know this post is short. It reflects my most recently added constraint: Time. I just don't have much of it these days. It makes me sad that I can't blog as much as I'd like, but I'll do what I can.

Image via Wikipedia
Remember that old post I made last October citing www.mcool.org as an example of a badly designed website?

Say hello to their redesign!

Yes, it's true! The site has been completely redone since the end of last school year, and it now features a great deal of improvements. Not the least of which are bookmarkable URLs (no more JavaScript-submitted CGI junk) and a menu structure that is fully functional without JavaScript enabled. I dare say time has been good to the site.

Well, that's one less annoying site off my list... Too bad I'm nearly done with my association with that organization; it would have been nice to have the current site about three years earlier...

Would I Ever Use BlogBurst?August 23

I wrote this post in late April, before I left for Chicago, and initially scheduled it to publish the morning of April 25. It was replaced by something else because I wasn't sure about it, but reading it again now I think it's pretty fine. I'm writing a big post to be published in the next week or two, so this looked like a good post idea to use in the mean time.

I don't remember how I initially heard about BlogBurst. It's one of those many sites I just got in my head somehow but can't trace. There's been a post idea nagging at the back of my head for a while, and I decided to let it out now.

BlogBurst is an RSS-based syndication network, where publishers submit their content and other sites can take it and display it under their own umbrella. The content producers make money (theoretically) and the other sites get content.

So would I use BlogBurst? That's a good question. There are a few problems I see. First, I probably can't sign up. (Due to the other niggling ethical issues I haven't bothered to check for an age restriction, but one probably exists.) Second, I'd be providing content for other sites to make money off of. Third, I'd be creating duplicate content, upon which Google and other search engines frown.

Putting my writing on someone else's site for their profit -- even if I would get a cut

How Should I Respond to Copied Photos?August 17

All right, it's time to get this issue out there.  I tweeted it a few times before, many months ago, but last night I was just reminded of the issue by an entire Facebook album of photos uploaded by someone I went canoeing with last summer -- but represented as original works.  No credit, no acknowledgment, not even anything about the fact that someone else took the photos!

Fine, I did upload the photos to Picasa Web Albums and set them as public, and I did send everyone on the trip the URL of the gallery page... But still, those are my pictures that have been taken without any attribution and uploaded to a social website that claims a ton of rights to user-submitted content in the fine print of its user agreements:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

In short:

[...] this means you’re giving up copyright c

What Does "Friend" Mean?August 16

Image by Veronica Belmont via Flickr This was inspired by a recent experience I had when I went back to Evanston, IL for the NHSI Musical Theatre extension presentation.  I'd rather not talk about the details -- I've decided not to blog about that part of my life, despite its significance, as it's rather painful -- but I did get to thinking.  This is what I came up with in the time since.

Social networking websites have really degraded the concept of friendship.  I suppose it's not their fault entirely -- other things like amateur radio have been doing the same things (namely competing based on how many contacts a person has) for decades -- but none of the previous offenders used the term "friends" for the number being compared.

See, MySpace and Facebook both have a lot of users, and substantial subsets of those users often compare their friend list size with that of other people they know, and try to get the biggest number within their social circle.  So we have people you barely know sending (and accepting) friend requests to (and from) you.

Now, I have always used the term "friend" to refer to people with whom I feel connecte

Hampton Inn Internet IssuesAugust 16

Image via Wikipedia All right, so obviously I managed to get online.  But it took about half an hour.  Let me begin the saga... (And this was after something of a disappointment at the NHSI Musical Theatre extension's presentation... but I don't think I'll blog about that.)

We checked into the hotel around 22:00, then got up to the room.  I set up my computer and started looking for clues as to how the Internet access was delivered (RJ-45 plug or Wi-Fi).  I finally figured out that it was wireless (the amenities book gave the impression that it was wired) and tried to find it.  No luck.

So I called the front desk.  Duh.

DC: "Guest Services."

Me: "I'm having trouble accessing the Internet.  Is it wired or wireless?"

DC: "It's wireless."

Me: "I can't seem to find the network."

DC: "Have you entered the code yet?"

Me: "On a Web page or in Windows?"

DC: "On the authentication page."

Me: "I haven't even managed to find the network yet