Recently, I have been really frustrated with downloading files from the internet, as the combination of Windows Vista, McAfee and a D-Link router does not seem to be a match made for continuity – downloads constantly seem to break off and time our 
I have specifically had problems downloading podcasts through iTunes, but also just downloading large files.Finally, this evening it suddenly dawned on me that using a freeware, I might be able to resume broken download and eventually get my podcasts down in full length 
I found a small but so far extremely useful application called FlashGet which seems to do the job – wonderful. Wonderful this magic feeling of finding a simple workaround after spending days trying to sort out the issues by updating hardware firmware etc. to no effect. Isn’t it great to get these small breakthroughs I can even download the Simon Lynge album that I have bought NovaTunes without worrying about having only 5 attempts.
Archive for January, 2008
Oh that magic feeling.
Saturday, January 19th, 2008Public service broadcase and license fees
Friday, January 11th, 2008Tom Loosemore has an interesting discussion of when you are liable to pay the license fee. Apparently in the UK, you have to watch the BBC in order to have to pay license.
In Denmark it is enough to be in possession of a mobile phone (or any other electronic device) that has the capability to show one of the national TV channels:
It looks like there is still some way to go here in terms of harmonisation within the EU, but watch out if you borrow a computer from a friend in Denmark, you may have pay a license fee while you browse the your Facebook profile and enjoy a latte in your local café.
Novatunes – worth waiting for?
Friday, January 11th, 2008I have previously blogged about NovaTunesand my frustration at not being able to purchase Simon Lynge’s forthcoming album. Finally, it looks like NovaTunes will launch on Mondayand I can get the new Simon Lynge album. Forgive a dedicated fan’s ramblings.Apparently, the delay has been caused by the development of a new Novatunes platform, and I am getting curious whether this has been worth waiting for. On the description on the website Novatunes write the following:
“The music on NovaTunes is sold in a new digital album format called the ‘DP’, which stands for Download Pack. Each DP comes with high quality DRM-free music tracks playable on any device. The package also contains printable artwork, with a bio, lyrics, credits and liner notes and an iPod-ready video. NovaTunes cuts out the middle man. [...] with the average DP selling for around $7. Additionally NovaTunes gives regular customers an ‘All Access’ status, where they can download albums to listen to on their iPods and decide to pay later. NovaTunes pays 70% of music revenue to the artist at the moment of purchase, thanks to it’s innovative payment solution and transparent accounting system. “
The unique selling point of Novatunes seems to be this new format and for the first platform which allows users to listen to music on their iPods and other devices before they decide to buy. The cynic would probably doubt whether anyone will ever pay for the music and I am not sure whether Radiohead’s esperiment with allowing users to pay what they wanted ever worked, but I certainly welcome this experiment in music distribution, it can only be an improvement from file sharing.
Spokeo – a catch-all social networking tool
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008Guy Kawasaki recently had a post on his blog about Spokeo which I thought, I had better check out. After getting over the irritation of not being able to use my preferred email address, I found it fascinating to get blogs, flickr streams and other more or less interesting news about people who happened to be in my hotmail address book – if nothing else this was a prime example of why we should always consider to weed our contacts lists from time to time
However, after my initial enthusiasm subsided I got irritated over several small things in the tool.
1) My LinkedIn contacts do not all seem to update – some of them stay as numbers and although all profiles can be displayed by clicking on the number why can’t Spokeo at least retrive the name…
2) Organising information by person or alphabetically rather than by platform.
I mainly use LinkedIn and Facebook and have just over 100 in the former and between 20 and 30 Facebook friends. Still I would much rather be able to see information on a contact across several platforms rather than looking at all platforms before moving on to the next.
Otherwise an interesting tool, but personally I still prefer to visit people profile pages on LinkedIn and Facebook, especially if they include links to their Flickr stream, del.icio.us bookmarks and YouTube channel here.