Assorted Links

Danger to release beta form of SDK via ~stevenf (hiptop.com)
"With the hiptop SDK, software developers will be able to use industry-standard development tools to create new applications for hiptop devices."

EspressoBlog 2.1 (interalia.org)
Phil Ulrich has released ExpressoBlog 2.1, which utilizes the new features in 2.6. New changes include: Older post editing and deleting, ability to add multiple categories to a post, support for metaWeblog.newMediaObject, improved speed and support for keywords.

The death of the "Comments" section. R.I.P. (oreillynet.com)
Steve Mallett writes: "People don't like to make comments on websites like they used to. Instead they make comments on their own website where they have a voice...Personally, I feel this is a case of the pendulum swinging all the way to the other side...Voices are heard just fine in conversations taking place in a moderately sized community and only become unruly when the number of participants climbs to the point of creating more noise than signal (150?)."

My Commentary: To a certain extent I agree that there is a magic number -- usually the number of visitors a site receives -- for when a mechanism like TrackBack makes the most sense. But I also believe that the attraction of the remote comment is partially due to the forced accountability. You're not going to want to mar your own site with the sort of comment that you may leave anonymously in someone's comments.

Google Goes Blog-Crazy via Scripting News (forbes.com)
"Those who last year had never heard of it will start handing out personal blog Web addresses alongside with their e-mail addresses. And that means that along with nearly everything else about the Internet, the mild cachet that came with being among the first to publish a blog will quickly evaporate with the mass stampede that follows."

Amazon Associates Beware (kottke.org)
"There's no documentation on the Associates site that says anything about how to properly link to an item using the second style, so the solution is to modify your links to the first URL style if you have it wrong."

Frugal Oddpost is a Downturn Baby (wired.com)
"But some say Oddpost's odd timing, coinciding with the San Francisco area's worst economic decline in a generation, could become its biggest advantage. Entrepreneurs willing to work on a shoestring may be more successful than those who start when times are flush, business experts say."