Best of the Web 2.0

A list of the best Web 2.0 apps. Wow, am I actually excited about the internet again?

Backpack.

Backpack really is a cool application. I even upgraded to the $9/month version, which allows you more uploads and more lists. It's flexible enough to implement GTD (your own version), but sophisticated enough to be usable as-is. I even included an Oblique Strategy in an iframe which refreshes on each load to my main page.

Backpack?

In my constant struggle to deal with information overload in my personal and work life, I've recently adopted an old school, lo-fi solution to organizing stuff. I maintain a notebook with tabs for "projects," "to-do", and "waiting for." The big problem with this system is that I carry around three notebooks at a time - I have a planner, a calendar, and a reference book.

The plus-side is that this system is completely portable like a PDA, and I can bring it anywhere I go.

The downsides include the fact the system is physically clunky, and I can't link to websites, insert anything electronic, and my scratched out pages end up being a royal mess. I may have found a happy middle ground if I am willing to give up portability (and, yes, I've tried Palm Pilots, and I think they completely suck. I can never find or organize anything with them.) One of my friends is perceptive to cool web trends, and he's linked to this thing called Backpack.

Frankly, I probably am spending more time figuring out how to organize my life, rather than actually organizing it, but it's kind of fun creating a system to parse information, label it, and stick it in its proper place.

Skype = Better than Google Talk

Skype is better than Google Talk.

Widgets

Yahoo widgets are one step closer to making Windows work like MAC OS. The coolest thing I've come across in a long time.

A tribute to local media coverage of last night's weather

Note the "ominous blood" font.

Hi-Fi iPod

I recently sold my 60GB iPod photo. High frequencies sounded distorted on a recording of Bach piano music I was listening to, as well as some choral music. I encode all of my CDs as Apple Lossless. I had a 20GB iPod and bought the iPod 60 GB photo because I needed a little more room. As soon as I noticed that my 60GB photo was experiencing this slight distortion, I found out other users had the same problem when listening to certain music, even though the problem doesn't irritate enough people for Apple to admit that the sound board in the 60GB photo is a genuine product defect.

I don't consider myself a bona fide audiophile, but classical music really demands decent fidelity. And, Apple Lossless delivers files that are reasonably true to the original CD - enough so that I stream all of my music from my hard drive via AirPort Express to a pair of Vandersteen Model A1s without any noticeable problem. So, I bought a new 5G 60GB iPod (the one with video) and the sound is infinitely better.

Granted, the audiophile world has been a little slow in adopting the iPod, maybe because the downloads from iTunes are all done at a relatively low bitrate, and so they have the fidelity of an 8-track.

However, two articles on Wired do a great job of explaining how to adapt the iPod to a set of overly demanding ears. The Digital Audiphile's Toolbox and When Hi-Fi meets the iPod describe methods of ripping CDs and maximizing the possibilities of the iPod, including the use of vinyl as a source, rather than a CD.

I would follow their suggestion and use WinAmp instead of iTunes, but the sofware doesn't offer support for a "composer" field (and iTunes does), so it's impossible for me to sort anything. It's apparently on the developers' list of things to fix. I hope they fix it soon, because the ml_ipod plugin provides an easy way to transfer music from your library to iTunes.

Flowers for Algernon.

I used to be a "web developer" during the internet boom. I only wore black turtlenecks. I used the phrase "paradigm shift" with my grandmother. I checked out k10k every day. I was so hip and on top of my game. Then, I quit because I was bored and I kind of sucked at programming.

Anyway, for old time's sake, I was just reading some articles about what's going on with internet development these days. I felt like that guy in Flowers for Algernon who was mentally retarded, had an operation, got smart, and then went back to being mentally retarded. I don't know what half of this stuff is. What the hell is Ajax? Do people still make nested tables? It took me a long time how to make nested tables, and how to make a form work in Netscape. Dammit!