| Random Thoughts From a Confused Mind | ||||
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Friday, August 09, 2002 ( 12:35 PM ) MB The new look for JoeAnt is online now. We are still working on adding features for the editors to use so we aren't adding sites or new editors yet, but you can still access the directory and see the (fully spiderable) new look. Each site is rated by the editor who added the listing and shows the features of the site (audio, video, e-commerce, chat...). Experienced editors will also be able to mark the entries of their sites as an "editor site" and lock the rating and description so that it can't be edited by other editors. We're hoping this will help reward our volunteer editors for their work and protect their listings from someone who tries to go into a topic to rerate sites in order to make their own rank higher. We had problems with that at the Go.com directory. At JA, the sites are listed in order of their rating and within that grouping, they are listed in the order in which they were added. I'll post updates here when we add new features and when we begin accepting site suggestions or editor applications again. Permalink ( 12:22 PM ) MB I went to an employee meeting yesterday to learn about Sprint PCS Vision. This is third generation technology for wireless phones. Other companies besides Sprint offer this technology (Verizon for one) but it's on a market by market basis so while my phone will have the data capabilities here, it may not have it when I travel to another city. With Sprint, the service is available nationwide (except Anchorage). For most of the carriers, it will be years before they are up to speed on this and then their customers current phones probably won't work with it. I learned a lot about the new phones and the services they offer, but what I really learned is that I want one! I plan on upgrading my phone next month. I would do it now, but since the new phones are in limited supply Radio Shack is asking employees to wait to get a phone so that we can take care of supplying them to customers first. This makes sense...we have some customers that keep up with technology news and have been waiting for months for the phones to become available. The hard part now will be deciding which phone to get. We have a couple of them that you can get a digital camera that will hook up to the phone so you can instantly send photos. I like that idea but don't know how much I would really use it. I do know I want one with a color screen. I guess I'll just have to play with the demo phones until I can get my own...maybe by that time I'll know which I want. Permalink Thursday, August 08, 2002 ( 1:01 AM ) MB On my recipe site I have a list of links to newspapers that have food sections. I've been going through and checking links...I'm taking a break now since there are soooo many of them to check. I've already done the other media sources for recipes. I've removed a couple of the newspaper ones so far. Now the sites are only available for subscribers to the newspaper. I'm sure they have their reasons for doing this, but to me it seems short-sighted. I like to check out the newspapers of cities I'm going to visit and think they are a good resource for tourists. It seems to me that the more you have available online, the greater the chance you could attract the interest of people wanting to visit or relocate. While the newspapers aren't in business to promote their cities, increased interest in the area could bring about long-term benefits. And I miss being able to read the cooking sections. I like to see what types of recipes are being published in different areas. Permalink Monday, August 05, 2002 ( 10:35 PM ) MB What word do you use for carbonated beverages (pop, soda, coke, other)? This site has conducted a survey and has a map showing the regional patterns. You can see that "coke" is popular in the southeastern U.S....it seems to radiate out from Atlanta. You can also see what choices people put in for "other". It also links to a dialect survey at Harvard. Permalink ( 9:35 PM ) MB I don't watch as much television as I used to (and not just because the kids have taken over the best TV with video games), but one show we do usually watch is Iron Chef. This link is for other fans of the show. If you thought squid ink ice cream was weird, check out these flavors of Japanese ice cream. Some of them make squid ink sound almost tasty. This is going on my Christmas want list. Permalink |
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