Monday, September 29, 2008

Apple App Store customer reviews now require purchase

Macworld | iPhone Central | App Store customer reviews now require purchase:
"That’s kind of a no-brainer, when you think about it: if you’re going to review an application, it only makes sense that you’ve used it, right? Hopefully, this will do something to prevent the onslaught of bad reviews based only on an application’s description."



On a site I run for work, we encounter the same problem - people providing bad reviews, bad information and inflammatory comments on devices and services they don't have - and have no intention of purchasing. This is an interesting technical solution - and fairly easy for Apple to adopt, since their review platform is tied directly to their backend purchasing systems.

Our systems are unfortunately not so well interconnected - we have no way to identify users who actually have the device, so we rely on good old fashion manual reviewing of content submissions. Some sludge still leaks through, but it's as good as we've got for now.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

TexSTOC Ride Report


TexSTOC was my first event I've been to since I wadded up my ST1100 in May of this year. Rode down on Saturday on my new-to-me Ducati ST2 (hey, it's still an ST!) - it took a while to get psyched up to go ride, but I did it. Intellectually, I was ready to ride, but my body still remembered the last time I was riding it rather hurt. Lots of autonomic responses trying to make me stay home. (translation: I was skeered)

Turned out to be a fine ride down, great people too. Met up with a good chunk of the KC crew that I'd seen occasionally at Culvers or for BBQ over the past couple of years, plus a new member, Maureen, from Lees Summit. Spent an hour or more talking with Mike and Allison from Louisiana about their BMW club, pets, kids, lowering bikes, their Cajun ride to eat and rock in November and more.

Saw George Catt across the room at dinner but never caught up with him - guess he was across the street atCampSTOC Hi, George!

I won the door prize (set of screwdrivers) for the most unreliable bike there -- thanks, Keith!

Going home was even better than coming down. Rode from Eureka Springs up to Eagle Rock, then cut across MO Hwy F through Roaring River state park. (that'd be a great location for a camping evnet!) 'F' took me to 112, south to Seligman, then North on 37 to Washburn, and 90 across to Southwest City. Awesome route! From there, down through NE Oklahoma and up US69. Passed through Pitcher, OK, a sad rural wasteland. They've had a double dose of hell - first the tailings from lead and zinc mining have toxified the entire area - no plant growth, serious heavy metal poisoning in the animals and human stock left there - and were hit by supercell tornadoes on 11-May of 2008 killing six. No one has bothered to rebuild - just left the ruined buildings and found somewhere else to live. It gave me remembered shivers looking at themoto photos from the Chernobyl area


However, I did manage to hit lots of twisties on the ride home, and got my rhythm back. The new Avon on the back of the Duc only has about a quarter-inch chicken strip left on it. That Ducati sure handles sweet and really has a great growl coming out of the corners. I wasn't sure if I'd be willing to push it any after wadding a bike, but I was hitting the corners harder and faster than I ever had on the ST1100.






Thursday, September 18, 2008

Now This is a Disclaimer

Nelson Rocks Preserve - Disclaimer: "We do not and will not even try to keep the premises safe for any purpose. The premises are not safe for any purpose. This is no joke. We won't even try to warn you about any dangerous or hazardous condition, whether we know about it or not. If we do decide to warn you about something, that doesn't mean we will try to warn you about anything else."

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Alec at sunset


Alec at sunset
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
--
Will England, mobile on the mogul
wengland@gmail.com

The short - but eventful - life of Ike - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The short - but eventful - life of Ike - The Big Picture - Boston.com:
"In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike - though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900."
Amazing high resolution photos . . .

Everything you wanted to know about Honda Goldwings

Bike Timeline: "This page is dedicated to the various models, options and images of the Gold Wing throughout the years."

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

View from Teeter Rock


View from Teeter Rock
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
This is a painting in the lobby of my building. Pretty darn accurate - those are the rocks we sit on when we go out there... Surprising to see this hanging on the wall here.

--
Will England, mobile on the mogul
wengland@gmail.com

The Art of Evangelism - Guy Kawasaki presentation

The Art of Evangelism: "a time when consumers are bludgeoned by online, offline, text, audio, and video advertising, what marketing tools still work? One answer is evangelism -- that is, getting people to spread the "good news" about your product or service to their friends, relatives, and colleagues."


Guy Kawasaki, one of the original Apple employees and the original technology evangelist made the above presentation on how to use evangelism to promote your brand, product or company.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Alec with mango popcicle


Alec with mango popcicle
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
We went to the Indian Resturaunt last night and Alec had leftover mango juice. So we made a massive mango popcicle!

Blurry squirrel


Blurry squirrel
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
Tried the digital zoom on the mogul. Not so much.

Who's getting taxed?

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. - The Official Website:
"According to recently released IRS statistics, less than one half of one percent of Americans are 'wealthy,' meaning that they have assets including houses, of more than two million dollars. When a middle-class house in many cities can easily cost over $500,000 for less than 1,500 square feet, having $2 million in assets may make you 'affluent,' but it's far from 'wealthy.' Put another way, the 'upper five percent' of Americans that Obama wishes to tax more heavily amounts to roughly fifteen million. According to the IRS, only ten percent of those are wealthy."

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Reduced costs at Harvard, Yale hard to replicate | ScrippsNews

Reduced costs at Harvard, Yale hard to replicate | ScrippsNews
"Last week Yale detailed its plan to cut costs for students by as much as 50 percent and to increase annual spending for undergraduate financial aid by more than $24 million, to about $80 million. Families with incomes under $60,000 would pay nothing toward a child's education, and those with incomes of less than $120,000 would contribute between 1 percent and 10 percent of their income annually. Students still will be expected to pay $2,500 annually, a cut from about $4,000."

Google Hardware

Google Hardware: "Wonder where your search runs? Here are the machines:"

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Up too late


Up too late
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
__
Will England, mobile on the mogul
wengland@gmail.com

New haircut


New haircut
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour
Rainy day today so Alec and I went for haircuts. Footlights in Westport is such a great place for a quick, good haircut.

__
Will England, mobile on the mogul
wengland@gmail.com

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Why I like Palin . . .

Palin and the Beltway Pundits by William L. Anderson: "Ultimately, the response of the Beltway Crowd has boiled down to this one viewpoint: Sarah Palin and her family are not like the rest of us. Therefore, she is not qualified to be Vice-President of the United States."

Because the political insiders don't. :-)

Neat essay above - worth a read.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Make your 404 pages more useful

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Make your 404 pages more useful: "If you've created a custom 404 page this allows you to embed a widget in your 404 page that helps your visitors find what they're looking for by providing suggestions based on the incorrect URL."