Well, since everyone is talking about RSS all of a sudden, Mozilla’s FireFox has builtin RSS support. The new Safari of Mac OS X “Tiger” will support RSS. And at the same time, there is news coming from the content providers stating that the whole RSS thing is cutting in their bandwidth, leaving less for the non-aggregated, probably more profitable, content.

There are some major problems currently with RSS, first of all and also the most important factor, is that it is a poll system. It means the user has to poll the content provider for new information. Well, that is not so much different from going to the website every now and then, but the problem is that RSS feeds are downloaded very often, also on moments the user would not be watching the site anyway. Also, you miss the exposure of your advertisements, so no income.

For RSS to be a big commercial success like HTTP is right now, it needs to be converted into a push system, in which the content provider notifies the subscribers of changes; very much like E-Mail is nowadays. The problem with E-Mail however is that you get a lot of spam, and the last thing we want is getting spammed in our new and improved message system.

A very nice idea may be to integrate RSS with some kind of new and shiny internet message system. Luckily, the IETF has a protocol for such a system. This protocol is called Jabber. Currently mainly in use as a layer for instant messaging, but it is very powerful and, very importand, all messages are identified and authenticated. This is a major difference with E-Mail, in which anyone can send an E-Mail to anyone using a third person’s address. This is in fact what most spammers and E-Mail viruses do.

So, if RSS is pushed, then we can subscribe to some service who will be posting certain messages when they come available. This is also a drawback of current systems: News isn’t really news, it is news with a small delay, and therefore unsuitable for real-time information like stock quotes, a burglar alarm for your house, parcel tracing, etc. It is nice to get this information at all, but it would be even nicer if you get the information right on time.

Good, so now we have a pushed RSS feed from an authenticated party. A spammer can spam me only through a feed on which I am subscribed (of course you could set this differently if you like), but if he does, I simply stop the subscription and nothing is getting through from that spammer anymore. It is like subscribing to a mailing list, but much simpler of course. We want this to be as simple to use as possible.

This is the first part of an article series about RSS. I’ll come up with some more points that need consideration probably within a few days. I hope it will also be a bit more vivid.

From the Linux 2.6.9-rc4 changelog:

<schwab@suse.de> [PATCH] Properly recognize PowerMac7,3 	

Make the PowerMac7,3 no longer unknown.
Signed-off-by: Andreas Schwab <schwab@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

So that is nice already, let’s hope the Ubuntu guys will create a new installer soon with this patch applied. Maybe it will boot (it currently doesn’t at all).

I was trying to install Debian with a newer version, but that was no success at all.

...ok
opening display /pci@0,f0000000/ATY.WhelkParent@10/ATY,Whelk_B@1 ... ok
copying OF device tree ... done
starting cpu /cpus/PowerPC,G5 ... failed: 00000000
Initializing fake screen: ATY,Whelk_A
Calling quiesce...
returning 0x01400000 from prom_init

…and then silence. Well, not completely, because the fans start blowing after some time… And they can get really loud indeed!

This weekend I was at my parents’, so no playing around with my Mac. Sunday me and my cousins went to Six Flags Holland. I really liked the Goliath which was so… different from what I had experienced before (and that is not much to be honest). It was my first non-Vekoma coaster and what a difference indeed!

Update: Actually, it wasn’t my first non-Vekoma, Big Thunder Mountain (Disneyland Paris) and Bobbaan (Efteling) are no Vekoma rides.

While Vekomas tend to rattle and shake, this one, of Intamin AG was smooth like a snake. Some nice > 90° banks and air time on the bunny hops.

Aw, well, I think Superman the Ride is also funny with its linear motor, but that is more because it is a technical challenge to get something heavy at a high speed in short time and on such a short track.

So, I’m having some problems with my machine, of which I’m not sure it is because of the machine or from external factors.

Firstly, the network is sometimes very unstable, I cannot even watch the AppleExpo keynote at 300kbps (I have a 10MBit connection) and (incoming) ssh connections also suffer from instability.

Secondly, the machine tends to overheat itself and then just go into suspend, of course only if I’m away.

Thirdly, it is a bit loud at night, so I can’t sleep with it on.

After playing around with OS X I must say, I’m impressed. It is something you need to get used to, because it just works a little bit different. For instance, I keep forgetting there is a menubar of the running program all at the top of the screen. Over to the design of the machine itself. The materials used are of very high quality. It is put together very well, everything fits exactly. I only have one single point of critic, the screws of the PCI slots are a bit hard to (un)screw; the frame is in the way.

I looked into the DVD/CD drive bay to look if it is just an ordinary drive, and it is, so you can just put any ATA drive in there.

Oh, and one other thing about the material, it is very prone to dirt ;-)

Well, here I am. Sitting at OS X on a very small screen (14”) and an even tinier resolution (832 x 624). I really need a bigger screen, this is not workable. But I have to for the time.

Yes! What no one ever expected (ahum) has happened. Today, extremely early (8:02), a mailman of TNT came to my parents house with a big box and a bag… Looks like I have to go home now, but I have to work a couple of hours first; my last workday, on Monday university is starting again.

All in all, the G5 made a very interesting route starting from Cork, via Arnhem, Eindhoven, Venray, back to Eindhoven, Rotterdam and only then it was in Breda… It probably was transported from Eindhoven to Rotterdam over the highway A58, which runs directly to Breda. So, once again it was very near its destination… Efficient driving and shortest path can’t be combined or at least not both at their maximum.

Well, I got an E-mail from Apple soothing me that everything still is ok, but that Venray is actually an Apple depot where they reorder all shippings for further shipment. Strangely enough, I get to see this and even worse, I don’t get any confirmation about what is happening. Others might freak out.

All in all, my G5 is still underway and probably will be delivered this week. It’s comforting to know the Macs get to see their makers one last time before they are let loose in the big bad world. They’ve tasted it a little bit on the rough flight from China to Ireland, rest there a bit in the comforting arms of their parents only to be sent on another journey that will take them deeper into Europe. There they will get one last meal and patting before they will meet their adoption parents who will embrace them with all their love they can give them…

Oooooh, Happy Thought!

Hmm, the TNT Consignment Tracker gives me some second thoughts... Although both the tracking number of the and the web order number match mine, the order was going to Venray... And is now even delivered at someone named 'V Leuken'!

At 23:18, the package checked in at the mail warehouse in Eindhoven, just about 500 meters away from my dorm room. Tomorrow, it will go to Breda and then in the evening back to Eindhoven by car…

It is so close and yet so far away!

Today, 8:22, my machine was checked into a TNT Hub in Arnhem. Looks like it going my way in one or two days.