Streaming media patent provokes pain.

I got excited when I saw Marc Canter's post about how to add a SoundBlox to your site, as I think it might be cool to add one to my Ear Reverends music site. Then, I saw this article on streamingmedia.com, Patently Absurd? Streaming Users face Acacia Patent Fight. Ouch!

Still excited, but ouch!!!! (Coincidentally, this morning, I started reading The Future of Ideas, by Lawrence Lessig, which I know discusses these kinds of patent = ouch!! situations.)

[the iCite net development blog]

Eurekster, social networking search engine, now out of beta. eurekster, "the only search engine with personalized results," launched today after several months of beta testing. The site promises to "show you What's Hot with your friends... results get better as you invite more friends." Is there a word for that post-Friendster/Tribe/LinkedIn/SixDegrees oh-god-not-again feeling I'm getting as I read the launch announcement? Like, HTML rug burn? I mean, really -- I haven't played around with eurekster yet, and I mean no disrespect to whoever built the project. But if one more website asks me to "invite all of my friends," I swear I'm gonna fucking throw up. Invite your own damn friends, you website.

Anyway, link to Eurekster, link to a slew of news articles, and today's launch release (which explains that Eurekster's revenue model includes paid listings from Overture in the search results). (thanks, Marc) [Boing Boing Blog]

I just joined - now we get to see what this does that's better or different than just.....

The Home Server.

The Home Server

Martin Geddes of Telecopalypse (gotta love that name) saw yesterday's item about home servers and was move to comment.

The key word he adds to the discussion is database. Home PCs will become personal database servers.

This makes sense from an Always-On perspective. After all, what are medical, personal inventory, and security applications doing other than building databases, often huge databases?

But this brings up a key impediment (today) to Always-On, which is the price of software.

As hardware is mass-produced its price declines with Moore's Law. That's not true with software. In fact, complexity (or the ability to handle complexity) increases the price of software.

Look at the price of a Windows server license, for instance, next to the price of a Windows client license. Or look at the price of an Oracle license against that of any client program.

Martin notes in his piece that he's putting his databases onto a Linux PC, and that's a key point.

I've been noodling over the question of whether Windows or Linux will drive Always-On applications for some months. (Windows does have some advantages.) It's the question of price that is determinative. It's not so much that Linux is free as that the cost of Linux solutions move toward free, without the corporate overhead of Windows applications.

What are software companies delivering, after all, once you get the software? They are delivering support. Linux separates the cost of support from the cost of the software, so the initial cost can drive toward zero (especially in volume). That's a key Clue.

An ISP, or telco (is there any difference), or some other company, can earn itself monthly maintenance fees from the Always-On software in your home server, which they can maintain remotely.

I think that's the model for the future. And you won't get it through Windows.

Dana Blankenhorn

[Corante: Moore's Lore]

Marc's comment.....

If I was a betting man - that Linux home server will be running java with struts and Itabis or Turbine, with some coolio basicPortal frameworks - all wrapped inside a social software and personal publishing embrella.  All open source.

All designed for talking XML and serving up one's digital lifestyle.

OK - so I was off by 10 years.  Maybe building the MediaBar back in 95-96 was too early.  maybe spending all my money on research was EXACTLY the right thing to do.

I guess we get to find out now.

PeopleAggregator is back on it's feet and it's sister - WebOutliner - now has accounts.  Various pieces of the puzzle - from the Laszlo rich media front-ends, to JahShaka high-end editing tools, to pre-built jukeboxes and photo albums Portal software or knowledge management utilities - are all falling into place.  Open standards - like ATOM and FOAF - are taking off.  This train is leaving the station.

Rover's stunning image of lander. Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit has delivered its first data on the minerals present in the soil of the Red Planet. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Ross raps it out!

Westinghouse, Ford and RSS.

Dave Winer: "...ultimately we'll need help from the browser to make the act of subscribing simple. That doesn't mean the future of RSS is in the browser."

I guess this is true if one believes that there is a future for syndication in the browser in the first place. I certainly don't believe that.

We need better and different client tools, better information delivery and consumption mechanisms - and we'll get them. Making the act of subscribing simple means getting help from the likes of Westinghouse and Ford and other client developers (like Adriaan and Dmitry and Brent and...), not Microsoft or Opera.

The browser is but one type of client. Its great at HTML. It doesn't need to be great at RSS in order for RSS to be successful.

[Random Bytes]