Testing The E-mail Blog Feature

I've enabled Blogger's e-mail post feature, in order to allow me to post
via my Sidekick. Is that ridiculous, or what! I'm not only a nerd, I'm
the Uber-nerd.

What I've learned (the hard way) is that if you attach a image, Blogger discards your message, rather than stripping the attachment. Seems a bit of an odd behavior, but what do I know. I had several failed tests, then did a search on the problem. Turns out the symptom was described in the Blogger FAQ.

RTFM. Imagine that.

-- Doug Bunger

This Is A Test...

...only a test. In case of an actual blog, you would have beentold
where to tune for worthwhile information. I'm transmitting this message
13 Jan, at 0006. There will be an understandable propogation delay as
it travels through the wireless network.

See, I Told You It Wasn't My Problem

After all my e-mail posts for the previous week showed up at the same time yesterday, I assumed Blogger's problems were fixed. I attempted another test, but after eight hours, still no luck. I prowler around there site until I found a status page, and they are aware of the problem. Unfortunately, according to Status.Blogger.Com, they have had this problem since 15 December. Of course, technicians are feverishly working toward a resolution.

You know, maybe it wasn't a good idea laying off all those tech people, a few years ago.

Not My Problem

Imagine that. It seems that my posts were being blocked after all. Appearently, Blogger had some nature of problem, and all my failed attempts had been buffered in one of their servers. It took a few days, but they must have found and fixed the problem, as all my test messages posted.

At this point, we need to post another test message to ensure that the problem isn't a programmed delay. Like there would be value in that!

Testing The E-mail Blog Feature (2)

I've enabled Blogger's e-mail post feature, in order
to allow me to post via my Sidekick. Is that
ridiculous, or what! I'm not only a nerd, I'm the
Uber-nerd.

What I've learned (the hard way) is that if you attach
a image, Blogger discards your message, rather than
stripping the attachment. Seems a bit of an odd
behavior, but what do I know. I had several failed
tests, then did a search on the problem. Turns out
the symptom was described in the Blogger FAQ.

RTFM. Imagine that.

On another note: It appears that Blogger blocks mail
from some sources. Are you ready for this... T-Mobile
is one of the sources! So, I guess this was all a big
waste of time.

20 Year Archive on Google Groups

Once upon a time, there was Usenet, the Internet equivalent of the dial-up bulletin board system. The network allowed anyone to post messages into groups that were usually classified by topic. Others could view the messages, and post replies. Usenet still exists, but has lost much of its appeal in favor of the forum.

In the early 90's a group called DejaNews began to aggregate and web enable the Usenet groups. This allowed for quick and easy searching of Usenet posts. Unfortunately, Deja was a victim of the dot bomb crash. Google came to the rescue, secured the archive, and took over the search function.

Well, appearently, the folks over at Google got bored. They have created a Usenet timeline, 20 Year Archive on Google Groups, identifying important events in Usenet, Internet, and real-world history. Each event is linked to the original post of the event.

The big question for me: Who decided what events are historically significant?

New Year, New Adventures

Welcome to the New Year. As they say on VH1: “2005 is sure to be the best year ever!” I don’t watch VH1, my kids do.

I’ve made several big changes to the site, with a few smaller ones forthcoming. The blog, which had become tedious, as had my life, has now moved to Blogger.com, where I’m sure things will be much more exciting. I’ve also linked to a mobile photo blog (moblog) service and have had some fun with that. Luckily, I travel enough to see lots of interesting stuff. Initially, I have been a little disappointed with the availability for moblog integration, but we’ll work on that.

A few areas have been retired from the main menus, like Qbasic and Palm Computing. Qbasic has been dead for years. It took some soul searching over the last few months to bring myself to abandon Palm, but they just haven’t kept up with their lead. They’ve been loosing market share, have been dropped by some big licensee’s, and have gone in the wrong direction with their wireless connectivity. (The only upside to Palm’s impending demise is that Microsoft isn’t winning, either.)

Something else I’m having fun with is my new Bunger Tracker. I’ve developed a process of letting people track my movements via my cell phone. (Just for the record, the cell phone companies know where you are, so there is no use whining about it.) The page displays an icon on a map showing current city and movements.

It’s been a great holiday, and Monday, we start a big new adventure. Stay tuned.