If you’ve recovered from Thursday night’s Halloween celebrations (we’ll be at the West Hollywood block party), check out Friday evening’s Memefest at the C-Level media space in L.A.’s Chinatown district.

The conference/screening is focused on Internet fads and how/why they propagate, one of my favorite subjects. My close personal friend, freelance writer Dave Cassel of Destinyland and Gettingit, will be presenting along with several other net/art geeks. (I was originally scheduled to speak, but had to back out at the last minute because of prior obligations.) The C-Level guys are very entertaining, so you have my personal guarantee that it won’t suck.

For those that don’t live in Los Angeles, it’s Ambiguously Gay Satan!

Record label EMI is hiring a vice president for their Anti-Piracy division. (“P-P sharing”? Is that anything like watersports?) Via the Pho discussion list. Update: Anil points to a CTO job listing for Warner Music in New York, that “challenges current technology selection and rational” and evaluates “P2P warfare.” This means war!

We recently launched a new website at work, and an accompanying research library. It doesn’t validate yet, but I’m proud of it. Not just because of the clean design and improved usability, but because of the extremely powerful software that powers it: a practically-unknown content-management system called Bricolage. Update: eWeek published a glowing review of Bricolage.

Continue reading “Content-Management with Bricolage” →

The most compelling functionality of Linux over Windows, by far, is virtual desktop support. (For those unfamilar on the concept, it’s the ability to create multiple desktops with different windows on each.) When in Linux, I can keep separate desktops dedicated to e-mail, web surfing, and programming, and switch between them immediately.

Window managers for the Linux-based Gnome and KDE display thumbnails of the desktops, let you drag windows across desktops, and allow you to switch between desktops using either hotkeys or by moving the mouse across screen borders. As it turns out, only one of the 20+ third-party Windows utilities supports all of these features: Enable Virtual Desktop. Try to ignore the awful web design, and just download it. It costs $19.95 to register, but it’s worth it if you’re a Linux expatriate.

Or you could wait until Microsoft implements virtual desktops in Windows natively, which is right around the corner if these Windows Longhorn beta screenshots are to be believed (1, 2).

From this unusual page about the Simpsons in Thailand, check out the three censored screen grabs of Patty and Selma. In addition to banning smoking in most public places, the Thailand government mandated a ban on depictions of smoking on television. Still, California is stricter on one count: you can smoke in bars and nightclubs in Thailand. (Found while searching for this Simpsons sound clip.)