All posts by jetrotz

the author of this blog.
technology

‘C is for Cookies’ Patented

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cookie_monster.jpgMicrosoft has been awarded a patent they applied for in 2000 to extend the functionality of cookies and web beacons. Trouble is, I really can’t discern where the originality in this concept lies – thousands of web sites do this every day. Ars Technica (quote below) suggests the focus may be on the addition of an API to these ‘permanent cookies’ – of course how permanent can any file be on any computer device for a savvy user?

Provide developers with an Application Program Interface (API) which can be called from languages such as JavaScript, ASP, and VBScript. The permanent cookie can contain four data types consisting of bits, counters, dates, and strings. In the patent description, Microsoft also notes that the cookie is flexible enough to allow for new data types in the future.

M-Dollar: Microsoft patents the super cookie

The patent itself is lengthy and obtuse, but I wonder what’s really ‘new’ in here. The abstract suggests that it’s the application of the cookie info to what content a user is presented on subsequent visits; I believe that’s been done in many forms by many web sites using cookies and databases in the past. 

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Photography, sam

Inman Park Festival 2006

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CRW_9286

While the day began cool and overcast, it warmed up to be a wonderful day last Saturday to head out, meet some friends and their kids (and shhh – dogs) at the festival. The parade was, as always, the highlight. And Sam had a great time on the kiddie slide. Check out the photo gallery here.

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journalism, oldschool, Photography

Back in the Day

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Conflagration

It’s been almost ten years since I  picked up a camera to earn a living on a daily basis, back when I was in Savannah, Georgia as a staff photographer for The Savannah Morning News and Evening Press. I was recently doing some housecleaning and found an old Kodak PhotoCD I’d created from my best chromes and black-and-white negatives when I was job hunting in 1994. I posted the collection of images on Flickr, seen in the photo gallery here. I was trying to be so bleeding edge – I remember sending out portfolios on a floppy disk (yeah, a 1.4 dual-sided deal) and I put together a slick one-page dye-sub print from this collection of images using all the gusto our office Mac IIcx could muster. Meanwhile, we shot all our color images on Fujichrome 100 or 400 – talk about challenging. Later that year I took on my next job at Morris Communication’s Augusta Chronicle as photo editor, and cut way back on daily shoots – and at least had the chance to shoot color neg film! I do miss those days, chasing news on the scanner, trying to produce something compelling from otherwise mundane assignments. Today’s work has it’s own set of challenges, and thinking on my feet – but at least I’m not working nights anymore!

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technology, Television

Yahoo! Releases MCE Competitor

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Just weeks after closing their deal to buy Meedio, a software developer of a ‘roll-your-own’ digital entertinament solution akin to Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition, Yahoo! has put a branded version of the software out for free download. called Yahoo! Go. Download the software here and give it a spin. It includes features to access video, music and photos on your local PC, as well as TV tuner integration should you have one, including DVR features. I do wish the Flickr piece was a bit more feature-rich; currently there’s no way to select your own photos or specify a tag to view, it simply includes a half-dozen or so pre-selected tags/groups to view as slideshows. One nice bit of integration is the ‘Video’ area – with Yahoo video content presented alongside your own, as well as search features for other video content. Overall, a very nice UI with a ton of features.

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