Jon Stewart - comedy non-news guy - and team take a funny look at blogs, the blogosphere, blogging, journalism and government. You don't have to agree with his political positions to get the humor on his show, for sure.

It's hillarious.

Stephen Colbert, a.k.a. Ted Hitler, on Bloggers:

"They have no credibility. All they have is facts. Spare me."

Heh...

View the video segment here.
(Note: Some content probably not very good for kids.)

Jan Tielens posted the other day about their newly released "U2U RSS Feeds for SharePoint 2003," which is another tool for creating RSS feeds from SharePoint lists, but with some improvements:

• Aggregation of items stored in multiple lists on multiple sites
  You can create an RSS feed that contains information coming from more than one lists (or document libraries), that are potentially on different sites.
• Customizable layout of RSS items
  For each list that you aggregate in an RSS Feed you can specify how the items in the RSS feed should look like. You can do that by using some sort of formulas, referring to fields coming from the SharePoint lists.
• Non-intrusive installation
  The installation of the RSS Feeds tool doesn’t change a thing about your SharePoint installation, the IT-Pro guys will be happy! The tool is completely separated from the SharePoint sites and doesn’t require you to add metadata or web parts to SharePoint.
• SharePoint Authorization
  Are you afraid of exposing sensitive data? Well you don’t have to, our tool uses the SharePoint security model, so if a user doesn’t have access to the SharePoint list he or she can’t retrieve information from the RSS feed. Anonymous access to RSS feeds is also supported (if your SharePoint site is available for anonymous users of course).
• GUI Administration
  The administration of the tool (creating feeds, item layouts, …) is completely done by using a nice graphical user interface.

Software: http://www.u2u.net/software.aspx

Quick video tutorial: http://www.u2u.be/downloads/tools/U2URSSFeeds.wmv

You ever have one of those moments, probably on a weekend, where you wake up and realize that there are like a million things left undone and waiting for you to tackle them? I don't mean that panicky feeling you get when you suddenly realize you're in way over your head... I've experienced that, too, and this is something very different.

I'm talking about the moment where you suddenly realize you can't possibly end up bored, because there are so many thing to do and look forward to.

I just had one of those moments. Wild.

Many of the things on my "clarity list" are related to home - things like finishing the bonus room completely (I am 90% done, and have been at that stage for several months). Stuff like finishing my Media Center setup, instead of running it in parts with wires everywhere. Building a shed. Fencing a yard. Adding a deck.

And other bigger things, too - things having to do with life, work and relationships. Possibilities.

It's funny, I guess, that my favorite room in the house has all but the last row of floating laminate wood floor laid down, has untrimmed windows and baseboards, and needs to have the last third of the lighting installed. Not to mention that the "furnishings" consist of my dining room table (which really should be in the dining room instead), a 15-year-old recliner and three bean-bag chairs. Plus my guitar - the acoustics in this room are awesome, but 14-foot vaults will do that for you.

I really need to learn to understand paint colors and how to do something other than one plain-old color in a house. Phil Weber's Flickr pics of his living room and media center show that someone somewhere knows what they are doing and have a better eye for that kind of stuff than I have. I don't want purple, especially, but that's not the point... I'm more of an "off-white-everywhere" style painter. I either need professional help (yeah, yeah - don't get started...) or else I need to marry someone with a knack for this. Hey Phil - who picked your colors? 

Anyhow, days like this are nice to have. It's so much better to be able to look at things as possibilities than as difficulties or problems.

Sean Alexander has posted the first "Media Center of the Week" on his weblog, Addicted to Digital Media. Phil Weber, a coworker of mine, happens to be the first featured. His MC setup, he says, has a "high spousal-acceptance" rating. Way to go Phil!

I am so far behind the 8-ball on this one. I need to finish mine off (it all works, it's just not neatly packaged yet) and take some pics when it's all done.

By the way - the next addition to my MCE setup? Virtual Laser Keyboard, baby. I wrote about it last year about this time when it was first announced, and now it's for real. Stay tuned!

If you're not lucky enough to have already seen Primer, a first-time film by Shane Carruth that he made simply because he wanted to, you can’t actually see it right now. I saw it at Gnomedex last fall – it was the closing night event, and while only a portion of us who attended the conference watched the film, those who did thought it was great.

And you will too.

Primer is the sleeper movie that will make it’s way into lots of living rooms this spring, via DVD. You can actually order it now from Amazon.com for shipping when it's released.

Primer won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize last year. If you like movies that make you watch, challenge your mind, tell a great story, won't let you forget about them, and which successfully don't fit the typical Hollywood mold, this one you will want to see.

Carruth made the film on a $7000 budget, which is amazing. Just knowing that, watching the film is a lot of fun. Add the fact that it's well-thought-out, well-writen and generally very well done and you get a lot of bang for the buck.

"An engineer builds a machine (quite by accident) that can transport the user back in time. But his discovery comes with an ominous caveat, because at the heart of this puzzling device, nothing is as it seems on the surface. The narrative inventively blends a patchwork story line with overlapping streams of dialogue that help build tension and suspense..."

Tell Blockbuster, Hollywood, NetFlix.com and others you want to see this film when it comes out on DVD on April 5th. Or pre-order now like I did.

Microsoft has published what is a typically-simple, top-layer look at what the authors position as important information for parents to help them protect their kids online... But, while it's certainly a start, it won't get parents far enough.

If parents want to have a better understanding of what kids do online that can get them in trouble, there are other better, more complete resources out there for both kids and parents. Remember that learning together will prevent many problems, and creates a communication "common ground" for families in an area where kids often have the knowledge advantage.

But - if you're completely lost when you see words like "133t5p33k" or "!337$p34k," this short article at microsoft.com is geared toward you.

An announcement by Bill Gates at the RSA conference: Internet Explorer 7 is set to be released for testing this summer, says Microsoft. It will include anti-spyware functionality, and will not wait for the next version of Windows.

• Info on the IE Blog
• Microsoft press release
• Reversal: Next IE update divorced from Windows (news.com)
• Microsoft to Release New Internet Browser (Yahoo! News)

(from some random web forum, via Tim)

Where would I be without FeedDemon? Between it and Outlook, most of my "content" is organized, filed and (quite intentionally) segregated into workable chunks-o-stuff.

And now FeedDemon version 1.5 is out! From the web site:

This new version offers a ton of new features, but here are the highlights:

• Powerful podcasting tools to automatically download audio files and copy them to your iPod or other media player (that's right - FeedDemon supports media players other than the iPod!)
• Integration with Bloglines and NewsGator Online Services
• Flickr and del.icio.us search channels
• Per-channel newspaper styles
• Improved popup-blocking under XP SP2
• Support for favicons throughout the user interface
• Numerous performance improvements

See the announcement on Nick Bradbury's weblog - He's the quite excellent author of FeedDemon.

If you ever wondered how to spell out the American Idol theme music, well... there ya go.

Now, aren't you glad you read this blog?

In the wow-that's-random category (yeah pun intended), Jim Wright took his new iPod shuffle, as well as three more his friends had, and made a USB RAID array with them on his Mac.

Now that's geeking out. Not sure how useful it is, but it's cool.

[via Doc Searls]

Ummm - WOW...

Google does it again, and takes online mapping and driving directions to the next level. You have to try this - if nothing else it just looks cool. On top of that, it works very well. Animated maps and excellent, clean detail are real eye-openers. Google has a tour to get you acquainted here.

"Maps are great for getting around, but online maps could be a lot better. So Google decided to make dynamic, interactive maps that are draggable — no clicking and waiting for graphics to reload each time you want to view the adjacent parts of a map. Want to be able to type in the name of a region or neighborhood and see any part of it as easily as with a regular street map? Now you can with Google Maps."

Enter an address, hit enter, and voila:

Need directions to a location? Click the live links in the map, and enter a starting address:

Driving directions are fast and in my test (home to office), quite accurate:

Click on mapped items to automatically reorient the map image (animated) and zoom in on the mapped item:

The slider for zoom detail is very nice - much better than others out there - and there are no browser refreshes happening here. No time to look into exactly how this works right now, but it definitely does.

Check it out.

Did you know that only 11% of identity theft takes place online? You're much more likely to have your identity stolen or discovered on paper, and chances are the bad guy (or gal) will be someone you know...

"The 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report shows that despite growing fears about identity theft and online fraud, of the victims that know the identity and method used by the criminal, these crimes are more frequently committed offline than online. Internet-related fraud problems are actually less severe, less costly and not as widespread as previously thought.

"Further, the study concludes that those who access accounts online can provide earlier detection of crime than those who rely only upon mailed monthly paper statements."

Those of us who work in the field have known this for some time. And those of us who do our banking and other important transactions online also know we'll notice if something gets out of the ordinary, and we won't have to wait for a paper statement or a bounced check to tip us off.

How safe are you? Take the quiz. If there's anything you should be aware of in this day and age, it's how to protect your personal information.

Here's my results:

Your Score is 10
Please note that a perfect score is 0 and the worst possible score is 100; a typical score is 38.

How did you score?

It's a bit crazy in my world right now, between work and recovery from surgery. I'll never get around to blogging my own thoughts about all these cool things that caught my eye, so here you go - a bunch of random, cool links gathered from other blogs since the first of the year. See something you like? Then you go blog about it and let me know.

1. How I Made Four Minutes About Podcasting (from: Lisa Williams)
2. Super-size the boss
3. Need a Job ? (from: Mark Cuban)
4. Lovin' it a little too much
5. PC Based Mobile Registry Editor
6. Firefox Pomposity
7. Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams
8. BitTorrent Podcasting How-To Video
9. Prepping for Windows Server 2003 SP1....
10. BizTalk Server virtual labs available online
11. MCE in the car
12. oregon blogging map
13. PhoneThemes.com - This is gonna be huge
14. Metroblogging Bangkok: Phuket Disaster Relief: Day 2
15. The Motorola MPx goes on sale in Brunei
16. Niveus Pocket Remote - Wi-Fi Pocket PC MCE 2005 Controller Application
17. Robotics Alive Series: Monkey Head!
18. View your desktop as a list
19. New Media Center Universal Remotes at CES
20. Talk to your PocketPC Phone
21. More security audio resources
22. Wowee Robosapien V2 and Robosapien Dinosaur
23. What IS a security vulnerability, anyway?
24. Tinstall sounds cool
25. Vonage F-1000 Wi-Fi Handset
26. Media Center 2005 Wiki
27. Visual Studio 2005 CTP - December 2004 - DVD (English)

F-Secure has published a RSS feed where you can get listings of all newly-discovered viruses (see HTML list here). People responsible for knowing what's new and changing will likely want to subscribe. This is one great way to get an ongoing education, not to mention a useful reference for daily AV routines:

"We've received some questions on whether it would be possible to receive the list of our new virus descriptions as an RSS feed.

"Well, turns out we've had this available for quite some time already, but I guess we've never really officially announced it.

"So: our new virus descriptions are available as an RSS feed here: "