While sweeping some of the detritus off my desktop today, I discovered a free MP3 download code I'd sliced off a disposable cup from a sandwich shop. Seemed like a good excuse to try out Amazon's MP3 store. So I entered Amazon's MP3 Downloads area, input the first disposable song title that popped into my head, and clicked. Amazon prompted...

A few weeks ago, my General Manger, Dan Brodnitz, asked me to create a new feature for our Digital Media site. He showed me a sample video of an online editor chatting about recent topics his site was covering. Dan wanted something like that for O'Reilly Digital Media. "But," he said, "I don't want you to spend a lot of...

Guitarist and programmer Lucas Gonze made an interesting observation about my new experimental Web audio player. Although it's clunky compared to his work, he focused instead on its "cool new ideas" and how they evolved.

Electricity flows. So does information. This is an attempt, to describe a metaphorical 'socket,' light bulb and currency flow by connecting the dots between three potent technology trends: Widget-ization of the web. Ascendance of mobile platforms, like the iPhone. Ascendance of mobility platforms, like the iPod touch. Imagine a device called a ‘wall widget’ that functions as a piece...

If you suddenly find that your ftp listings no longer work right, and the BLasted-UnnamEd-HOSTing service won't take responsibility for fixing httpd.conf, you can fix things by adding the variable definitions to .htaccess files yourself.

Instead of telling people what you are doing, show them!...

Social Networking is exploding -- that much is clear. But did you know that sites such as Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace are more than online watering holes where kids gather and socialize? They're creating social change in tandem. Facebook recent launched a "Causes" application tab, allowing members to participate in what the creators have dubbed "equal opportunity activism". Over 35,000...

The second leg of our on AIR Bus tour is a week in and we've had some great events. We took a weekend detour on Saturday to visit a user group in Raleigh, NC which turned out really well. It was more intimate than our other events but it had a great vibe. On the east coast our legs have...

If you've been following Brad Fuller's blogs on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) movement, you're probably as intrigued as I am by the creative potential of these tools. Today, though, I received a press release touting a more sinister use of laptops. The Spy Laptop, from an Indian company called SpyInvent, is built around a remote-controlled pinhole camera that...

This is cool: Simply adding &loop=1 to a YouTube <embed> tag makes the video loop forever. Check it out with this short clip of a Pong-playing watch from Make magazine. (Be sure to click the small play button below the video, not the big one in the center.) Despite just writing an article on hacking embedded videos, I never thought...