Mark Pilgrim announced the Atom 0.2 snapshot yesterday…and, coincidentally, NewsGator 1.3 (also announced yesterday) supports Atom 0.2 feeds. A couple of notes about NewsGator’s current level of support:

• Multipart/alternative content is supported, although multiple independent content items will not both be shown. To clarify:
   
  If you have multiple renderings of a single content item, using multipart/alternative, you will see one of them.
   
  If you have multiple independent content items, you will only see one of them. When the spec solidifies, NewsGator will add support for multiple independent content items.
   
• The xml:base support that didn’t make it into the 0.2 snapshot is implemented anyway in NewsGator – because it’s the right thing to do. See Simon Fell’s feed for a good example of how this should look.
   
  Note that the way relative links are handled in NewsGator is slightly different between RSS and Atom feeds, in the absense of a xml:base element.
   
• MIME types and encoding specifications for titles is supported in NewsGator 1.3, although this too didn’t make it into the 0.2 snapshot.

Phil Wolff interviews Steve Rose, creator of RSSJobs. One part I took note of:

Q: What’s on your wishlist for news reader features?

A: I would like to see an RSS Reader that could manage the items from an RSS feed as individual items. A user could archive specific items for viewing later after it is no longer included in the feed.

NewsGator works this way today. Very important, as we’re often reminded from some of our business customers.

The original code I had posted to generate RSS feeds from a VSS database has expired; I just put up a new version that will work through the end of October, and fixed a couple of bugs at the same time.

This is an awesome tool (IMHO) – check it out! :-)

Refer to the original post for instructions.

Download here: msi | zip

On Sunday, Tom and I (and his Dad and Uncle) went out 4-wheeling near Argentine Pass, which is about an hour west of Denver. His uncle (a geologist) was quite excited about the whole thing and was glued to the topo map we had with us. He pointed out that the place we stopped for lunch, which was right about 13,000 feet elevation, was right on the continental divide.

Now, I’ve probably been to places on the divide a hundred times, but I never consciously realized it at the time.

I thought it was pretty cool. I dumped out some water where I was eating a sandwich, which might eventually (if you’re very optimistic) make it into the Pacific ocean. Then I walked about 20 feet, and dumped out some more water that might someday see the Atlantic ocean. (I know, I know, it will never make it, but that’s not the point!)

The upcoming 1.3 version of NewsGator fully supports relative links. I’m writing this here to make sure I haven’t missed anything…input is appreciated. 1.3 beta testers – what is written here does not reflect your latest code.

When resolving all links, including <link> and similar elements, and content links (description, content:encoded, atom:content), xml:base behavior is used. The xml:base attribute may appear anywhere in the input document, and the rules will be followed according to the spec. Which means, of course, that multiple xml:base attributes can be used, applying to different parts of the document.

For content elements, in the case where no applicable xml:base is found, links will be resolved relative to the <link> URI (or <guid> if @isPermaLink=”true”).

Well, I was hoping not to have to do this, but it appears it’s inevitable. Here’s the comment policy for my weblog:

I reserve the exclusive right to delete any comment left here. Reasons a comment might get deleted (this is not an exhaustive list):

• The comment contains flames or attacks on me or others, as determined solely by me.
• The comment is obviously off-topic.
• The comment contains offensive language.
• The comment promotes illegal activities such as copyright infringement, software piracy, cracking, etc. Note that discussion of these activities is fine; promotion is not.

Chris and Tomas talk about their digital music experiences:

Chris replays his poor experience buying music online with www.buymusic.com. All I can say is: I’m a happy EMusic customer now.

Granted, I only joined a couple of weeks ago, but it couldn’t be easier, it has no stupid DRM to deal with, and the music collection is great. Then again, I just happen to like much of the bands they were offering, and I think their rock/metal selection has quite a few wonderful bands. Heck, two of my last discoverings there include Tristania and Vintersong, both of which I found great! [Commonality]

I’ve been using PressPlay for a couple of months now, for $9.95/mo. It actually works really well for me, so far. I get unlimited streaming, which I use whenever I’m sitting at my desk (which is unfortunately something like 12 hours/day!). The streams are full-length, 96kbps encoded. I can also download as many songs as I like, with the catch that they will no longer be playable after I cancel my subscription.

I can also purchase “portable” downloads, which I can use on other devices and which will continue to work after my subscription lapses, for about $1 per song.

All in all, it seems like a great deal, and it works for me. It lets me listen to some music I’ve never heard of, looking for new stuff I might like. And I don’t worry about not “owning” my music, as some folks have complained about; if I really like something, I tend to just buy the CD.

Another great day on Sunday. Tires felt great, car felt great, driver felt great – leading to another pole (by 0.2 seconds over 2nd, and about a second over 3rd). During the race, there was some heavy pressure – another car was within 2 seconds of me for the first 15 laps or so, but finally he went off and lost 15 seconds or so…so I ended up leading flag to flag again. Woo-hoo!

Unfortunately, despite this win, my hopes for winning the division are pretty slim. You’re only allowed to keep your best 6 races, so I have to start dropping points. The bottom line is, I’d have to go out-of-division twice. Of those two races, I’d have to win one, and at least finish on the podium in the other one. Not impossible, but not extremely likely either! I haven’t made a final decision, but I think I’ll “cool the tires” so to speak until heading for Mid-Ohio to prepare for the runoffs.