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voidstar

Here's one of those should exist problems.

Start a search for your favourite band. Specify .Mp3 only. Get the results as an RSS feed. Use your podcaster to collect the feed and treat every entry as an enclosure to be downloaded. Voila! One week later you're well on the way to building your own local archive of every instance on the web. Now instead of music and mp3, try .torrent of videos of your favourite TV show.

There's clearly a lot of problems with handling duplication and managing disk space. But right now, with MSN doing RSS output and Yahoo already doing it, the potential is there. The next problem is that I had a look at the advanced search settings in Google, MSN and Yahoo. In all of them, file format is a drop down list with only a few entries although you can use command line style parameters so a search for Alias (the TV show) torrents http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=alias+filetype%3Atorrent does appear to work.

What's interesting is that some of these searches produce almost no results. So http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=def+jam+filetype%3Amp3 has a single result from Japan. Which makes me wonder. Does Google really not index Mp3s or the ID tags inside Mp3s? Or is it really the case that there's only a single Def Jam .mp3 or audio/mpeg on the web?

Spy Blog: SMS disaster alert and warning systems - don't do it ! is a good summary of the issues with trying to implement my suggested SMS-Tree early warning system.

I do think though that some of the problems are overstated. The major one seems to be that an SMS tree is no different from email spam, and if you received an email spam warning of the Tsunami you wouldn't act on it. I think the biggest difference here is that one level down the tree you are receiving the SMS from a friend not from some arbitrary spammer. And the high level of manual intervention at every stage would work to verify the system and provide natural cut offs for "Crying Wolf".

"A self selected SMS flash mob "warning" system is no substitute for a proper Civil Defence and Emergency Services system, and tempting though it is to some people to create one, you should be kicking your government for proper resources for the latter and not be wasting time and lives on the former." I'm deeply distrustful of the ability of Governments and centralised bodies to build big systems n time and on budget. My proposal was really a straw man for bottom up and de-centralised systems as an alternative or parallel development. I happen to believe that bottom up systems can be built faster, cheaper and more effectively. But maybe this one was made of straw and has been comprehensively burnt. After all, he's pointing out all the problems that I knew would come up and had tried to deal with by at least having a central clearing house and having the first layer of the tree be trusted individuals.

RSS Feeds for Search Results

This appears to work in each of the Beta search sections simply by adding &format=rss on the end of the URL. So with MSN and Yahoo both doing this, Google is now the odd one out. Unless of course you host a copy of GNews2RSS.

What's interesting here is that it looks like it may be possible to do the same trick on the image search, although every time I try I get a "The MSN Search (beta) is currently unavailable." message that feels like it's covering up a software crash.

Of course the catch in all this is that Googles news output is still considerably better than Yahoo's or MSN's.

Bloggerheads (UK) - I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

Fascinating. The UK political Blog aggregator I threw together one weekend is distorting the Google view of UK Politicians. Several of the proxy blogs stalking MPs now appear in the top 10 links for the MP's name via their feed display in the aggregator.

With an election coming up, the Aggregator and each proxy blog need your help in terms of links in and content. Of course I'm assuming here that you think it's a good thing that each MP and prospective MP is more famous on the web for the Blog that fact checks their arse rather than their own boring and useless website.

Have you taken digital photos of an Ecademy Event?

Then please post them to Flickr with at least one of the tags being "Ecademy". [from: JB Ecademy]

[from: del.icio.us]

Details about Podcast audio manipulation using Audacity [from: del.icio.us]

Note to self.
http://www.musicplasma.com/
http://www.music-map.com

peer to peer broadcasting of sound and video compatible with shoutcast [from: del.icio.us]

20 years old today.



It's sad that the promise of battery powered personal mobility is really no nearer than it was then.

Now what I really want is a recumbent bicycle with a battery powered booster engine. In can be had but for £1500 upwards. [from: JB Ecademy]

Rather cool, nerdy comic. Thanks SuW. [from: del.icio.us]

Distributed BitTorrent [from: del.icio.us]

Oi!

You lot out there on the web.

Stop writing so much!

I can't keep up.

Just heard of this.

Text the word "DONATE" to 83321. The whole £1.50 is donated to the DEC disaster fund.

Do it now.

Tell others. [from: JB Ecademy]

Yay! lightweight decentralized identity [from: del.icio.us]

jbond posted a photo:

[from: Flikr Photos]

jbond posted a photo:

Mike Southon. First to lunch.

[from: Flikr Photos]

jbond posted a photo:

Between sessions

[from: Flikr Photos]

An open letter to my good friend, the Blogosphere's resident Cigar expert.

As a fellow connoisseur of the noble leaf, Nicotiana, I wonder if I could prevail upon you for some advice. Early in my smoking career I developed quite a taste for Turkish tobaccos. So much so in fact that on an overland journey to the east, I reduced my co-driver to apoplexy by working my way through 5 large duty free tins of The Balkan Sobranie consumed in a rustic Bavarian pipe. My normal smoking pleasure since then has been Camels but sadly, their “subtle blend of Turkish and Domestic tobaccos” is not what it once was. Both thoughts for my health and consideration for others, compels me to descend to the infernal “Light” variety rather than the full strength untipped of my youth. And I feel sure that Messrs R.J.Reynolds, the proprieters, no longer pick the finest Latakia and Perique leaf but rather use the sweepings from the floor as often as not.

To whit, the point. For all these long years I have been searching for a supplier of a turkish, virginian blend of hand rolling tobacco, or custom “cigarettes” made from same, but sadly without success. My inquiries in various purveyors of tobacco products have been rebuffed with either blank stares or mutterings to their partners of “stuck up git, innit”. I confess I have been perplexed that the elegant (and fragrant) establishments I remember with their rows of humidors and pipe displays seem to have been displaced by some combination news agent and toy store so perhaps I am in the wrong place.

Many, many years ago I did try the Tobacco Emporium in Burlington Arcade (now a shoe shop) but I suspect that my attire prevented an honest answer. Though I felt that I cut quite a dash in my ripped jeans, combat jacket and woolly hat, I understand now that this was not quite the right approach even if the staff in nearby Charbonnel and Walker were too polite to comment. Ah the Foolishness of Youth! Dunhills produced a similar reponse, but then I have always found rather suspect their own devotion to their brand. They may be in St James, but they have an air of the Nouveau Riche about them quite unlike say Locks, the hatters.

As I write this, it has occurred to me that perhaps the answer is to seek out Sobranie Black Russians (https://www dot ipcvision.com/page05/lux-cig-01.htm) or even (god forbid, I have no wish to appear as some consumptive poet) Sobranie Cocktails but I have heard a rumour that these were discontinued some time ago. I certainly haven’t seen hide nor hair of them since dear Aunt Mildred’s funeral, of which the least said the better, a decade ago.

So you see my dilemma? My addiction demands to be fed, but I am unable to find a ready supply of a product to feed it that will both satisfy me and enhance my standing among my peers. I live in hope that you can provide me with some pointers.

I remain, sir, as I began,
your most obedient servant.