How to fix Digg

Digg does a lot things right that bigger sites wouldn't do or just take a long time to figure out. That said Digg has some flaws that need to be fixed to stop people from abusing the system it has set in place (as shown in this article) so that every story has an equal chance to get on the front page. Some of these are my ideas while the rest I got from others.

1. Limit friends to 10 - This is to stop the practice where users just randomly friend others so that they can create groups where people just Digg each others stories, regardless of whether they are interested or not. Its called "friends" for a reason and honestly most people do not actually know more than 10 people on Digg.
2. Fan diggs count less than those of non fans - This will put the stories submited by popular users like MrBabyMan, on more even ground with those submited by other users.
   
3. Make entering the story title optional in Step 1 - This way people can save time from submitting a story that's already on Digg from a different source. This will save people the time of typing a description and entering the captcha (that thing that tests if you are human or not). More importantly it consolidates diggs into one story from one source.
4. Burying should be transparent - You should be able see who burried a story, that way everyone can know who is responsible for a story disapearing. Burys should also not count more than diggs, if there is somthing wrong with a story the comuity as a whole should be trusted to stop it.
   
5. Political Stories can not be buried - No topic on Digg is more divisive than politics (ok, maybe Apple vs. MS). Many (not all) Conservatives and Liberals hate to see any story that go against what they believe or cast a bad light on who they like no matter how valid or true it is. They will unjustly bury such stories just to suppress them. That's why political stories should have their own system to be removed, where if enough users have a problem with a story it is impeached and an unbiased person from Digg decides whether the acusations made agaisnt it are vaild and should be removed.
6. Let users subjest changes to a submison - If a user can think of a better tittle or picture to use let them subjest it and have it voted on by other users. The submiter should have veto power to stop abuse of such a feature. I know this would hard to implament but would be great to have.
   

2 Great Firefox Extensions I Discovered because of FF3

Before Firefox 3 went gold a lot of my extension did not work leaving me to seek out new one to fill the void. Here are 3 you might find useful yourself.

Autofill Forms - With Google toolbar out of commission I had nothing to do autofill in FF3. When searching for a replacement I came upon this. I tried this years ago and its was crap at the time, now after a lot improvement and changes, it is one of my favorite extensions. The best part is that it can be activated by a icon in the status bar or keyboard shortcut, so you don't have to add another toolbar button.

BlueOrganizer - This extension does a ton including submit page to Digg. Lets say your looking a DVD to buy on Amazon. This extension will provide you not only with link to other retail sites' pages for that same DVD but it will also provide connection page for reviews of the movie and a Netflix page in case you want to rent it instead. It does thing for almost any product and something similar for people. Lets say your looking at someone's Facebook profile, it provide you link to their pages on other sites like Flickr. This is only the begging of what it can do check it out yourself if your interested.

Eddie Murphy and The Secret World of White People

"White Like Me" is a classic Eddie Murphy skit from his time on SNL. This has the type of boldness that only Dave Chappelle shows today.

Why Opera should buy and rename itself Netscape

Netscape was once a great browser but like many who took on Microsoft it ultimately failed. Part of the reason was that AOL bought it and never used it right, like many of the ISP's purchases. Netscape became bloated with features that didn't really make it a better browser. The ultimate insult was that AOL used MS's browser, Internet Explorer, in its own service software long after acquiring Netscape.
Today after years of being hardly being used by anyone, AOL no longer supports it. The Netscape brand had been used for a variety of assets but none have had great success. Netscape.com is just a clone of aol.com with some small differences. It's clear that the parent company of AOL, Time Warner, is struggling with what to do with the once strong internet company, never mind Netscape.
While Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera have taken up Netscape's fight against IE for market share they still have a ways to go before reaching the coveted 50% mark. While Firefox has a great growth rate and Safari has the Mac and the iPhone / iPod Touch supporting it Opera lags behind them despite being around longer then both. What's more is that Opera is one of the first to use new browser innovations, like tabs.
Part of the reason for Opera's struggles may be its name. If someone heard of it for the first time they may think its some kind of singing recorder software. Also considering that the art form of opera is not the most popular of its kind in today's world additionally makes the name not the best. While the company could just choose a completely new name its previous efforts to promote its brand would have gone to waste. If Opera could were to buy the name like Netscape it would be different. Netscape is well known as a browser and its name evokes something you would use to navigate the net. Plus the Netscape name would finally be attached to a great browser again which would make nostalgic geeks give the it another look.
Considering that Time Warner has in the past put AOL up for sale and Netscape's current status, the brand should come cheap. You may think why shouldn't Mozilla or Apple consider renaming their browsers to Netscape and the simple answer is they already have great names, it would be like renaming Cingular as AT&T (which was a dumb move).
I personally am a fan of Firefox but also like to see strong completion in markets because it usually brings out the best in the companies involved, so here's to better browser software.

NBC Universal shows still on iTunes

NBCU may have pulled out of iTunes, but Apple still has deals with the studios that makes some of its shows. Below are links to the iTunes pages of the shows that are currently shown on its networks. To find the listing of the studios just go the lower right corner of the TV page on iTunes.

Journeyman
My Name Is Earl
Scrubs
Stargate Atlantis
Chuck

9 Ways to Improve the U.S. Government

The Democratic Republic of the United States is one of the best governments in the world. That does not mean it is without problems, as the great framework set by the Founding Fathers needs some adjustments to better fit with today’s country. This is not about helping or hurting one party or the other, it is about working out the kinks in government so that it better serves the people. This was written an independent moderate that doesn’t like either party and just sees them as a necessary evil.

1. Popular vote decides the President - The electoral vote rarely has a different outcome than the popular vote, but it does happen, like in 2000. It was set up to keep large population states from having their issues dominate. States today do not have as differing issues so the need it not as great. The problem with the electoral vote is that it causes some people’s votes to be useless. Those voting Democrat in red states or Republican in blue states do not count because only the votes of the majority in such states decide the electoral votes. When a person’s vote does not count in the most important election of the country it is no wonder we have low turnout. The electoral vote just makes candidates focus on swing states because those are the only places where even one person’s vote could theoretically change the outcome of who gets the states electoral votes and that is the difference between winning the office and being the runner up.
2. Lower the voting age to 16 – When a lot of people are 18 they are living outside their residential district in a college dorm. To vote in the first election they are eligible for they have to make the extra effort cast an absentee ballot or go home in the middle of a class week. Neither is ideal, but if they were able to vote in high school they be home. Also they would have their social studies class as a great source to inform them on the issues and encourage them to participate in government. If they are mature enough to drive a car, which can be very dangerous if not used right, then why not mature enough to have direct influence on government. This could have the problem of teachers trying to influence students’ votes but most students should be able to see through such efforts.
3. Election Day should be a national holiday – Voting is the heart of a democracy yet we can’t get the day off to do it. This discourages people from taking time to go to the polls, especially in places that have long lines to get to the booth. This also hurts poor people, as they might not have the money or time to take off from work to vote. Credit for this idea belongs to former President Bill Clinton.
4. D.C. should elect the senate president – In case you don’t already know, the Vice President currently holds this job. He casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie. The executive branch holds enough power as is, being able to veto bills that both houses pass. The VP being able cast a vote just gives the branch two chances to stop a bill. This job was given to him because originally he did not have many responsibilities, but today VPs have shone the ability to have influence on a lot of other aspects of the government. D.C. should not be able to have regular representatives in congress, as this is the privilege of a state. However if the elected representatives of the 50 states reach a deadlock in the senate, why not a representative from the remaining part of the population of the country decide.
5. Limit Congressional terms – Congress is full of people that have held their seats for decades. Newcomers have to wait until someone has decided to leave or they have to take them on as a nobody versus someone that is well established in the state. Long time holders of an office tend to loose touch with the people. Senators should have a limit of two terms (a total of 12 years) and Congressmen in the House five terms (a total of 10 years). A decade should be plenty of time for the congressmen and women to achieve the majority of their goals.
6. A person must live in a state for five years to be its congressman or governor – How can a person know what is important to a state and what in government should be done for it if they have not lived in it for a while. An outsider holding a state’s office is rare but it happens and that is too often.
7. Supreme Court Justices are chosen in a different way – Currently the President picks a nominee and Senate has final say whether that person should be a justice of the court. If a party controls both the White House and the Senate they can choose whomever they want. This leads to justices who are chosen based on how they will rule on issues important to the party rather than what they should be chosen on, upholding the constitution. The court should be about justice under America’s most sacred legal document not winning ideological battles. I can’t think of a better way to choose them as of now but involving both houses of congress would be a start. Direct election by the public seems ideal but it could also make the court more political rather than less.
8. Congressmen need to regularly report all earmarks they sponsor – Earmarks are small additions to proposed legislation that are about a something different then the bill itself. Often they are for pet projects in the state the sponsoring congressmen are from. The problem with this is it usually leads to federal money being spent on things without any debate because most of the time it is the merits of bill itself and not what’s attached that decides whether it will be approved by congress and the president. This in effect lets small pieces of legislation to sneaked by wasting money on things most people don’t want. While the ultimate goal should be to eliminate earmarks all together, a start would be forcing members of congress to report all earmarks they are responsible for, by law. Some did such a thing voluntarily at the request of CNN, but many had to have pressure put on them before complying. An article on it can be found here. Another way to curb earmarks it to give the president the ability to veto earmark without vetoing the bill it is attached to.
9. Conversations between elected officials and lobbyists should be recorded – The technology to do this sort of thing is certainly cheap enough. The office holders may not like the idea of this but if nothing wrong is happening in the meetings with special interest groups then why can’t the people, the governments boss not hear them. They are not like security briefings where peoples lives will be in danger if the public knows. With such a measure corruption should be cut down and you just might hear those in government act more like an advocate for the voters.