Trials and Tribulations

My trial period with Google Chrome is over… after using it as my default browser for not quite two weeks. I’ve reverted back to Firefox, for a number of reasons. First and foremost: Chrome doesn’t play well with others, and most specifically Google’s own Blogger application. It’s come to my attention (through trial and error, with the emphasis on “error”) that the browser you use affects how Blogger handles your attempts to post. Firefox seems to behave better than Chrome in this regard.

Secondly… I noticed Chrome doesn’t handle some instances of embedded video well… not at all, actually. The example I’m speaking of is when a web site provides you with a clickable link to a video in Windows’ Media Player format. Clicking that link in Firefox activates the video (using Windows’ Media Player); clicking that same link using Chrome gives you a dialog box that asks where you want to save the video. Well… I don’t want to save every damned multi-hundred-megabyte video file I come across… I want to watch it, and I want to watch it now! But… I can’t, using Chrome. There are other nits about Chrome as well, but I can’t think of any at the moment. The foregoing two reasons are enough to make me retreat to Firefox.

Nice try, Google… but no cigar.

―:☺:―

Good news, this… but why do I have to read it in The Guardian, and not a US newspaper? (“Future brightens for internet radio”) Excerpts:

Internet radio stations threatened with closure in the US are on the verge of securing their future, after a groundswell of support from users.

Tim Westergren, who founded popular online music service Pandora, said that phone calls from thousands of fans helped to repel a "sneak attack" by media industry lobbyists who were attempting to derail new legislation.

"We emailed all our listeners and said to them to call their representative, and buried the Hill in phone calls," Westergren said yesterday. "We beat back a concerted attempt to knock us out."

[…]

A new proposal which gives internet radio stations more time to renegotiate the settlement was put forward, but organisations including the National Association of Broadcasters had attempted to scupper the deal.

However, with grassroots campaigners swamping senators and representatives over the issue, Westergren said he was confident the new deal would succeed in the next few days.

He also suggested that the incident could be a breakthrough moment for those who want to harness consumer power online to fight established Capitol Hill lobbyists.

People Power! Yes! We Can! (oops. I think The One has trademarked that last comment. So… never mind.) This is great good news. I’ve worried about the future of internet radio for quite some time now.

―:☺:―

I owe ASW a big “thank ya!” for turning me on imeem.com… a pretty cool social networking site that’s all about music… which is why I signed up for their service this morning. A few months back ASW gave me a link to a song by Collective Soul I was looking for… or rather a specific version of the song I was looking for. And I just now got around to signing up. I’m pretty slow, sometimes. (ed: Sometimes?)

So… my inaugural imeem post is my favorite song from John Hiatt… lyrics below.

Down here the river meets the sea

And in the sticky heat I feel ya' open up to me

Love comes out of nowhere baby, like a hurricane

And it feels like rain



Underneath the stars lying next to you

Wondering who you are baby

How do you do?

When the clouds blow in across the moon

And the wind howls out your name

Feels like rain



We'll never make that bridge tonight

Across Lake Ponchartrain

Feel like rain



Batten down the hatches

But keep your heart out on your sleeve

A little bit of stormy weather, that's no cause for us to leave

Just stay here baby, in my arms

Let it wash away the pain

Feels like rain