NewIdea

  • article: rss for stuff other than news articles
ebay searches
c'l searches
flickr comments
wiki changelogs
bugs
cvs?
your bank balance?
bruce schneir's blog
bugtraq and other security announcements
freshmeat and other software release announcements
cisco secuirty advisories
(http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_psirt_rss_feed.html)
weather
grouphug.us
gov't feeds
nasa updates
halo player stats
audioscrobbler recent played list
coupons!
  • article: REST api and how it works with del.icio.us
add some other examples
  • article fragment: embedding rss feeds into phpwiki pages
also look at feedburner, etc.
  • article: using a camphone effectively
maybe for Popular Photography magazine?
  • figure out how to sync fastmail addr book w/ mutt addr book on mac os x.
no idea at all on this one.
  • article idea: converting your office admin to linux
based on what I did at the office
openoffice
firefox
  • article idea: setting up lm_sensors on an unknown motherboard
use my experince with the SuperMicro 370DER system
tracking down the hardware
getting valid numbers out of sensors
writing sensors.conf
using sensors-detect
  • article idea: the politics behind setting up a DR site
how to negotiate contract
stuff that better be in contract (like A/C specs)
managing disputes
  • article idea: awk: it's not dead yet
use my ipmi init script as an example of how awk is still the best choice for many scripts where you don't need to heaviness of perl
proposed to newsforge 11/22, but they did a similar article 6 months ago. MAybe find somewhere else to run it.
  • article fragment: skateboard tech
talk about longboarding - boards, trucks, wheels, and especially bearings. Especially go over selecting bones reds for my last set.
could expand to general tips & tricks article? skating in nyc? lowdown on longboarding pothole-style?
problem: where to get this published?
  • article idea: vrrp for fun!
write up how to use keepalived for vrrp failover
submit to newsforge, keep it high-level?
submitted idea to newsforge 3/05, approved.
submitted idea to linuxdevcenter 3/05, approved. Will write high-level aritcle for newsforge and in-depth for linuxdevcenter.
  • article idea: writing a real expect script
problem: so many expect examples aren't very useful, more toy than anything
write about how I developed my modem test script
give details on how to break down problem and really use expect
  • article idea: ssh tricks
specifically, how to use ssh port forwarding from inside the firewall to punch through in reverse.
another good one is the use of .ssh/config to locad port forwards, change server names, change user names.
  • article idea: xfig power user's manual
why doesn't this exists? Heck, I could write a whole book on it.
cover everything from creating diagrams to layers to groups to alignment, etc.
  • article idea: WAN links demystified
draw on my experience to explain T1s, T3s, ISDN (maybe), etc. in simple language. Go through what you need to do to order circuits, how to deal with telecom vendors, what to do when things go wrong, etc.
  • article idea: napping at work
make it a how-to. equipment, what to tell your boss, how to schedule, etc.
  • article idea: converting from syslog to syslog-ng
why you would want to switch - filtering, multiple log sources/destinations, configurability
gotchas - converting syslog.conf to syslog-ng.conf, pipe() vs. file(), /dev/log dgram vs. stream
how to roll it out and smoothly replace syslog.
resources - syslog-ng home, faq, mailing list
  • blog idea: shame on panasonic
based on my experience returning their junk cd player twice.
write about how the internet makes it impossible for companies to hide bad customer service.
  • article idea: overstock.com: do bargains really exist?
compare the items I purchased and determine if I really saved any money.
talk about how suppliers manipulate pricing mechanism
return of the bubble hype?
submitted idea to mesforge 3/05, responded it didn't have a good linux/free software angle and suggested somewhere like cnet.
  • blog idea: fighting wiki comment/content spam
is it different than blog comment spam?
what steps can be used to control it.
  • update on awk article idea/maybe blog idea?
getting clever w/ awk and grep
using awk /text/ { print $1 }, etc. to replace the standard grep/cut or grep/awk
extensions in gnu grep. In particular, the -P to use perl regexps and -o for 'only-matching'
  • blog idealet: my fascination with obsolete and awkward tech
holga, 35mm slrs
rio500, which is now ipod shuffle
is this a useful obsession or just stupid?
holga, camphone, old slr, 8mm film, etc.
is this useful? does it produce better art?
what in my background makes me do this?
assertion: the difficulty of working with balky equipment makes you strive harder to produce quality work.
  • article idea: damn the spam!
spammers invaded my wiki so I had to protect it. The used a wiki name too so I couldn't get addr.
used to be wiki spam once every few days, which was manageable. what is the point where it becomes unmanagable? How about 500 per day?
will spam take over everything? I've managed to deal with it in email. What is the general solution? Are captchas the answer? Problem there is subversion via free pr0n and problems for blind people.
talk about eff guy and his open relay. Not quite the same because spammers don't modify the mail server like they do with wiki
what is the future of open collaboration on the web. Is it possible w/o passowrds, etc?
what about password protecting the site and then just putting the password on every page in an image. Would that simple captcha be enough to defeat spammers?
  • music review: The Go! Team, Mobius Band, and The Big Sleep at Mercury Lounge 3/21/05
The Big Sleep: half Kyuss, half Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. Loved the enthusiasm and music student feel. Low lighting for that goth look. Girl on bass == hott.
Mobius Band: hey, The Postal Serivce called: they wanyt their sound back. Uninspiring
The Go! Team: I have seen the Wall of Sound for the new centruy and it is The Go! Team. Phil Spector is rolling over in his grave. Oops, I mean someone that Phil Spector shot is rolling over in their grave. Two guitars, bass, two drummers and a singer create a rich blen of punk, rap, and 70s kitsch. This is increased by use of novelty instruments: recorder, harmonica, banjo. Maybe it's Polyphonic Spree but without the freaky religious overtones. The band bounces between heavy, layer punk compositions and pieces that could be themes for PBS shows, circa 1976. Imagery: closing music for Falcon and the Snowman. The lead singer just bounces everywhere: short sassy black girl from Brighton with a big mouth and a big voice. Disappointment: the horn tracks on songs such as The Power is On and Junior Kickstart are taped. On the other hand, where would they fit any more musicians ont the 20x10 stage at the back of the Mercury Lounge? Nice touch: band members frequently rotate between different instruments.
  • article idea: basic gimp photoshopping
cover the basics of cropping, levels, curves, unsharp mask, clone
basically a few quick tips on how to effectively fix photos in gimp
good one for newsforge.
  • article idea: geolocation with geourl
use of geourl.org to physically locate websites. How to add proper meta tags to your site.
submitted idea to newsforge 3/05, rejected because no opensource angle
submitted to onlamp.com 3/05, no answer yet.
4/20 - onlamp likes it, but I need to come up with some more real life uses. nycbloggers.com?
  • article idea: greasemonkey scripts for firefox
how to install and use greasemonkey
how to use existing scripts
sample of how to create your own.
would be good for newsforge?
4/25 - newsforge wants me to write this one
John Udell page: http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2005/05/10.html#a1230
Forrester Research report: http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,36708,00.html
  • essay idea: new york as heroin
I used to have lots of problems, now I have just one
how all the complications of life elsewhere (like cars, etc) are replaced with just one: the struggle of living here.
  • essay idea: 10 simple rules for better photographs
angle: here are some quick tips to improve anyone's photos
nothing complicated at all.
look at your background
turn off the flash
get closer
ask, "what is my subject" before taking picture
compose with subject off-center
take lots and lots and lots of pictures
don't show the bad ones to people
throw out all bad photos
decide if you are a journalist or an artist (ok this one might be lame)
change camera angle
don't look through the viewfinder
take portraits from 45 degrees looking down on subject (stolen from Merlin Mann)
use a cheap 35mm camera? also, stop with the zoom already - become your own zoom
organize your negatives.
  • article idea: compare website responses
do companies really respond to 'request for more info' queries on website?
submit queries to tech comapnies, record how long it takes to respond, email or phone, etc.
newsforge?
  • article idea: building a linux driver as a module
sometimes you get updated drivers as a patch meant to be applied to the kernel source. Example: updated Eicon ISDN drivers for
2.6. You can turn this into a standalone rpm instead so you don't have to rebuild your kernel to make the change.
  • article idea: backing up your web2.0 life
how to back up your data from the various online services such as flickr, delicious, and imap mail.
  • article idea: medium format photography with linux
scanning 120 film in linux (iscan and epson scanners)
touch-up with the gimop
all open-source
linux magazine?


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