Apple - iTunes oh my god. Several people pointed me at iTunes in response to my prior post. I've been a fanatical iPod owner for about a year (including getting a new car stereo that has direct analog input for my iPod) but I can't believe I never really used iTunes until now. I'm addicted. Someone better restrict my allowance! Now I have to figure out what to do with my iPod so I can get an iPod mini instead. (Hey, remember the shortlived Apple / New Beetle promotion? When is the Mini Cooper / iPod Mini promotion coming? Sign me up!) ¶6:45 AM; digg

I just uninstalled Musicmatch Jukebox from my PC, after realizing that a recent "upgrade" actually intentionally slowed down CD ripping to a crawl, and then tried to upsell me on a "pro" version which can rip faster. Unbelievable. What is the best CD ripper for Windows these days? One that does not try to do all things, but which simply rips and burns between my filesystem and my CDs, without introducing some other intermediate format or place. ¶1:06 PM; digg

The richest man in town disproves the saying that he who dies with the most toys wins. ¶1:47 PM; digg

Flickr is another photo sharing tool, with blog integration and a very slick browser UI. (Link from Ben.) ¶7:53 AM; digg

Blackberry Nextel is the future business communications device, just released. The combination of these two killer business communication services is absolutely amazing. Blackberry has always had the best portable email (and they get the details right) and living without the Nextel DirectConnect feature is like living without instant messaging on your PC. I know you might be overwhelmed thinking about yet another way for people to contact you, but if used correctly, it works amazingly well. ¶9:39 AM; digg

Bureaucracy. Why do we still have toll collectors on highways? Hasn't anyone done the math on costs of toll collectors vs. the easy pass systems and figured out a way to get everyone to have a pass? Why don't they sell them at the tollbooths for $20 with $20 preloaded and automatic credit card reload via a (toll-free :) phone call and internet site? And if I were king for a day, I'd make a law that in the meantime when we still have stupid toll booths, they would be required to be open and free each time there are seven or more cars in line, to avoid wait time pollution, frustration and wage and family time loss.

Acela Express. I've been taking the Acela Express between Boston and New York a lot this year. This is another rediculous bureaucracy. Why do our taxes pay for this luxury? Why are their so many empty seats and so many extra employees (not sure how high paid) standing around talking all the time? I'm told it is much lighter load everywhere else in the country, but politicians keep it running through their states. I do like the Acela a lot, although I'm also stunned it does not have internet connectivity yet. ¶7:11 AM; digg

Initiation ceremony goes bad: I'm glad I don't belong to any clubs like this. ¶9:00 PM; digg

David Weinberger writes about electronic voting. To confirm that your electronic vote really counted, just have the machine print you a random (not sequential etc) but unique 6-character unique vote id, which you can bring home and type into any Internet PC to verify your vote counted. This is much better than paper ballots for which you can never tell if your vote was counted. ¶5:29 AM; digg

We Are Hiring a Product Manager and UI Design Lead for my new Internet travel company, located in Maynard, MA. Please send any great candidates my way. :) ¶10:04 PM; digg