I’ve been playing with a trial “Typepad”:http://www.typepad.com subscription, and while I think I enjoy the flexibility of using “Movabletype”:http://www.movabletype.org (specifically the plugin support) too much to leave, it has inspired me to work on a bit of a redesign-from-scratch. I’m probably going to go with a layout inspired by the mixed media layouts, but sticking as close to the default MT template as possible. It’ll be interesting.

CliffsNotes has announced that they’ve got 180 literature guides online for free viewing. The snag is that viewing is the only thing that’s free. Downloading and printing the guides will cost $5.99 The CliffsNotes site is at http://www.cliffsnotes.com.

Free Cliffnotes sounds like a fantastic resource. I wonder if now searching for literary titles and terms on Google will start bringing Cliff’s notes up in the results. I bet they don’t even lose much money, as many people will likely pay to be able to print out notes to not read them on a computer screen.

We don’t think people have a burning desire to watch video on tiny little screens,” Jobs said earlier this year. But Gates points to the growing phenomenon of kids watching videos during long car trips as proof that there is a market for small screens. “I guess Steve’s kids just listen to Bach and Mozart,” Gates quips. “But mine, they want to watch Finding Nemo. I don’t know who made that, but it’s a really neat movie.” Of course, Gates knows: It was Jobs’s own Pixar Animation Studios

Considering how many cars are getting built in screens in the backs of seat, or fold down models from the top, I think what I’d really like to see is a way to beam content stored on an iPod onto an external screen.

Perhaps wireless firewire will make something like this possible.

VOTEorNOT.org is a contest created by the same group that produced the Hot or Not websites. It’s offering a $100,000 contest open to registered voters. Interesting…