At least at the Burlingame Apple Store. Lines wrapped all the way around the corner and to the back. They were turning folks away within 20 minutes of opening Friday. Some had been there since 7 am.

No iPhone for me. Yet. -m

Andy King’s Website Optimization is now in print from O’Reilly. This book covers it all: performance, SEO, conversion rates, analytics, you name it. If you run a web site, you’ll find this useful. I tech edited and contributed a small portion, about the growing trend of metadata as site advantage. Go check it out. -m

Looks like a reasonably-sized revision. The first public working draft seems downright thin, in fact, relative to all the SHOULDs and MAYs in the requirements document. In particular, I’d like to see progress on 2.3.16 Higher order functions. (Then do we get a book XQuery: The Good Parts? …kidding..)

-m

This article made my day. Very similar approach to what I did in WebPath, but even cleaner. Great explanation and performance numbers. -m

P.S. Thanks to Crock for pointing this out.

Someone overseas, whom I consider trustworthy but haven’t actually met, wants to buy one of my domains. Great!

There’s not huge sums involved, though it’s a hassle to move the money and coordinate the transfer. Readers: Any advice on how to complete the transaction? Escrow service? Anything lighter-weight? Comment below. -m

My next Meade Classe will be on Saturday, August 2nd, which happens to be Mead Day. Come learn…and taste. Full details:

Mead brewing and appreciation class

Mead, honey wine, “the nectar of the gods”. Whatever you call it MoreFlavor Los Altos is sponsoring a class to help you learn more about this wonderful fermented beverage and equip you to brew your own.

Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:00 – 4:00 pm
MoreFlavor
991 N. San Antonio Road
Los Altos, CA 94022

Taught by an award-winning meadmaker: Learn about

• Different types of meads
• Brewing techniques
• How boiling affects mead
• The three most important factors in mead brewing
• How to taste and evaluate mead

Food and drink are included in the class materials fee of $10. Seating is limited. Email me at mdubinko@yahoo.com to reserve a spot today. -m

That’s my game idea. Unfortunately I won’t have time to develop the idea, so somebody else go for it–just mention my name in the credits ;)

My 7-year-old has just discovered Oregon Trail, or more accurately Westward Trail, a respectable online clone.

-m

Traffic ain’t what it used to be there. But since I’m at a core xml technology company, it makes sense to participate again. Now, are there any topics left that haven’t been hashed to death? (hint: yes) -m

Today Google announced Protocol Buffers, described as “think XML, but smaller, faster, and simpler“. Language bindings for C++, Java, and Python. Oddly not even a whisper about JSON, which is a much more apt comparison. And along with that, no JavaScript implementation. So why the omission?

My guess is that it wouldn’t compare that favorably with JSON. The extra needed compile step is a hassle, and doesn’t give enough of a relative benefit for Ajax applications. But perhaps this will unleash a torrent of people asking for ‘binary JSON’. OK, maybe not… -m

Nope, not spam. You can now order electronic components from Amazon, advertised right on the front page for me. What can’t you get on Amazon? -m

The old rule: only even-numbered Star Trek movies are any good.

The new rule: only odd-numbered Indiana Jones movies are any good.

-m

I haven’t seen an announcement about this, but try the following query on Yahoo Search: [searchmonkeyid:com.yahoo.rdf.rdfa] (link). It shows documents containing RDFa, with Digg at the top. Since this is a Searchmonkey ID, it’s also usable in Searchmonkey to actually extract the metadata and use it to customize search results.

Does your site use RDFa yet? -m

Commentators, having long since run out of useful things to say about YHOO+MSFT, only bemoan how it continues to drag out. In reality, deals of this size do tend to take a while. Microsoft (and specifically Ballmer) aren’t walking. Why?

Because they need Yahoo. They need search share–the deal with Google only puts on more pressure. But they also need a non-schizophrenic brand under which to put all their audience attractors. In short, I’d say MSFT has been terrible at tactics (and non-intimidation-based negotiating), and YHOO has been mediocre at strategy and terrible at execution. Maybe they are meant for each other…

Prediction: by the end of the year 1) some kind of deal happens, and 2) Yang is out as CEO. $28.

Disclosure: I still hold long YHOO shares

Disclosure: The irony of this post is not lost on me

-m

Several folks, including me, have experienced increased CPU usage on Firefox 3, especially on OSX. Try disabling it, going back to the bookmarklet. -m

Even though the timing is about perfect, it’s not gonna happen But if it did, would that be awesome or what? -m

All writing depends on conflict (without which there is no story), but there’s more than one kind. The obvious kind is steadily building tension with unknown outcome. The battle between good and evil in most stories is like this, though admittedly the good guys usually win.

More subtle is “dramatic irony” where the reader knows what’s going on while the characters don’t. A really effective writer weaves these together for maximum effect, for example Stephen King’s _The Stand_. -m

Day 3 and the first real difficulty: I can’t type most of my passwords except by muscle memory.

Overall, though, I’m enjoying the challenge, even if my postings are conspicuously short. :-) -m

I hoped for something fresh, but this from Len Merson is only warmed-over GTD. Avoid–go for the original. -m

I taught Anita some Python this weekend, and was peppered with questions like “where is the key for the two little lines?” “You mean a quote mark?” “Yeah.”

I’m going through much the same now. Moments ago I changed my keyboard layout to dvorak. Why? I type alot. Variety helps keep carpal tunnel at bay. And a few mental flexibility exercises definitely won’t hurt. (I’ll keep using qwerty at work.) Some observations:

• “the” is really easy to type. It just flows out.
• OSX has a key mapping that preserves qwerty layout when the cmd key is down–useful for muscle memory on cut, paste, open, close, tab, etc.
• Expect more typos the next few weeks. :-)
• ABCD is highly recommended.
• Pointer fingers go on “u” and “h”. Without the little bumps on the keys, it’s hard to get your hands oriented. Two small pieces of tape help.
• I’m getting better at this already.

-m

The result of tons of work by lots of smart people. Go forth and implement. And I need to put in a plug for Metadata for Grandma which (indirectly, as it turned out) influenced the spec. RDFa is already a big deal, used in places like SearchMonkey. The subset of RDFa used by SearchMonkey is 100% conforming to the CR.

I’ll have more thoughts and perhaps implementation notes on this later. -m

A common point of debate within Yahoo! was whether employees should feel compelled to use Y properties (”eat your own dogfood”) or whether said properties should have to compete on pure merit to earn internal usage. But in any case, there’s always pressure, even if subliminal, to use internal products.

I’ve free of such influence for six weeks now. What Yahoo! services do I still use? Which ones not so much?

Yahoo Answers: not so much. Even the 1 point-per-day for visiting doesn’t entice me. If I had a burning question that would be a good fit for a community answer, I’d go back.

Yahoo Mail: all the time. I used Yahoo mail long before I worked there, and I’ll be using it long after.

Yahoo News: almost daily. Still a good collection of global, national, and local news.

My Yahoo & Finance: multiple times daily. I’ve peeked at iGoogle, but the Y is too comfy, and the competion isn’t easy enough to get comfortable with. But often the page takes up to 30 seconds to load. If that doesn’t improve, I’ll leave.

Yahoo Search: still my default. But only because of tweaks I put in place with SearchMonkey. The baseline quality of results is right on par with Google. I still recommend Y search to friends and family.

Yahoo Maps: rarely used. Google maps is just better, particularly street view.

Yahoo 360: Abandoned. Tons of site bugs, no fixes on the horizon. In fact, they’ve announced shuttering of the service, to be replaced with some unspecified alternative. But who knows when that will happen? So the Meadblog is on hold until further notice. I’ll still check once in a while for postings from friends and family.

Yahoo front page: Still use it to check whether wireless is working. Most often with ping, not HTTP though. :-)

What Yahoo services do you still use? Comment below. -m

Update: a few more inspired by the comments.

Delicious: still use, mainly through the browser extension.

Flickr: still use, but I’m not much of a photos guy. I’ll be using it again shortly to upload screenshots for a blog-post tutorial I’m writing.

According to Ars Technica, Google captured 61% of mobile search market share in the first four months of 2008. Yahoo! came in at a distant 18%, so pretty much reflecting desktop search market share. This is due, of course, to Google being the default provider on the iPhone, and the iPhone being the biggest bulk of mobile internet usage.

So Jerry (or whoever is on deck as CEO), you should probably look into this mobile thing and see what’s up with leadership there and whether anything is salvageable… -m

Here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know. Netflix has gone on record as saying that although their Instant View library, viewable online or via the hardware Roku player, is much smaller than their DVD library, they’re working hard on closing the gap. For instance, one quote says “adding titles at light speed”. But some titles are disappearing over time.

Just today, the Leslie Neilsen flick Wrongfully Accused (the tale of the one-eyed, one-legged, one-armed man) went offline as of today. Yesterday I watched it for free online. I’d really hate to see the kinds of negotiations that must be going on in back rooms between the studios and distributors these days…

If you have an Instant View queue, check it out. Under the “Availability” column, check for dates when your selections go offline. Blank means it’s safe for the time being. -m

During a Q&A session today, I asked a panel of MarkLogic users about whether they saw metadata (and specifically RDF) as becoming an important factor in the near future. Fair enough question, having just come from the SearchMonkey project at Yahoo! The answer:

A qualified yes. Having a strong metadata store and query engine isn’t a crushing must-have-today need. But that day is coming… -m

Other than training sessions today was the first day of the Mark Logic User Conference. And I was surprised by the feel of it: very much like a industry XML conference. Many familiar faces were there, like Norm, Zarella, Kurt, and  Eliot. The sessions were somewhat more narrowly focused around MarkLogicy things, of course, but it still had that feel. I got alot out of the sessions I attended, and had great hallway conversations.

I’ll post more details when I’m not exhausted (which isn’t likely to be any time this week).

Things to check out: the tweets, the liveblog, and don’t miss the CEO blog (don’t worry, he’s a math/physics guy. It’s worth reading.)-m

I’ll be up in San Francisco the rest of this week at the Mark Logic User Conference. If you’ll be there too, be sure to look me up. -m

For instance, The Business Value of Windows Vista. Seriously, Vista for “speed and security”? Or mobile? The comments on this post alone are worth the click. -m

I’m reading Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide. It’s a more business-ey kind of book than most Web 2.0 faire. So it jumped out at me the section “Who this book is for”. I hate these sections, even though they are quite common.

Why would I need a book to tell me who it’s for? Isn’t that kind of insulting?

Back when I was a product manager, I needed to coordinate an even, and I pushed back on the marketing folks who wanted a detailed list of who should attend. “It’s self-selecting,” I said. “Anyone who can look at the event description and determine that they should be there is in the target audience.” The suggestion didn’t go over well. -m

P.S. Yes, my book has a “who should read this” section too…

From the Yahoo! Developer blog, new search keywords you can use to hone in on indexed microformats.

For example, to see every hAtom-bearing page that mentions ‘dubinko’ use the query [searchmonkeyid:com.yahoo.uf.hatom dubinko]. Works similarly for hCard, hCalendar, hReview, and XFN. I’m sure more are coming soon too. -m

I was on the right page at the right time and spotted this:

WIth zero votes for any candidate and zero precincts reporting, CNN calls it. Now, I’m no stats expert, but this one seems a bit extreme. Comments? -m