Place for Ideas

Latest project - Indian payments on eShop plugin for wordpress

2010-06-24T06:00:00.000+08:00

Did anyone notice that no wordpress eCommerce plugin offers payments in INR? I use the eShop plugin for one of our eCommerce websites and it was rather painful to integrate INR Payments into the plugin. However, things may be about to change for the better!

Am trying to convince the guys at EBS to integrate their payment gateway in the eShop plugin. What with Wordpress 3.0 being launched and eShop's latest version about to become live, this might be the best time for an Indian payment gateway to be permanently integrated into the plugin. Hope it goes well, will update on this blog - stay tuned!

Websites that make money from YOUR updates

2010-04-20T05:33:00.000+08:00

Never thought this was possible? Well, there are websites out there that make money when YOU write a blog update! Or even when you tweet to your own followers. How's that possible? Well - all they need to do is aggregate your data on their webpages and then have advertisements bring them the money. Typically, such a website will be owned by someone you want yourself to be associated with. Alternatively, they might also have some sort of an incentive for you to stay and have your content published through them. The system is definitely not illegal. In fact, it might be a great idea for you to make money from the internet - just think of something that can leverage the power of the masses. It could be something like a website that pulls data from other websites. Remember though, that one should always give credit to the source you're getting your data from. It's just plain ethics :)

Here's the first website, from Guy Kawasaki, that makes money for him when people write their blogs. Alltop is a great idea, and it solves a real problem - giving people one place where they can find all the top blogs and websites that cover a certain aspect of online publishing. What's more, it has become a rage with bloggers to have their content listed with Alltop. How Guy did it is just plain clever.

What's more, AllTop is also emerging as a one-stop for people to research on various topics that they cover (40 of the top searched topics on the internet). There's a whole section for people who're interested in blogging. You can see entries from your competition, all at one place.

And here's another website - TwitterTops, that attempts to do on twitter what Guy did with blogs and websites. The idea may be smaller, but the central theme is the same - to bring top tweeps together. In its current avatar, the websites appears to only collate TwitterTops from various geographies. Hopefully they'll be able to eventually amass tweeps based on their expertise as well. After all, just being the top twitter user in a particular country or city doesn't mean as much as being a twitter authority on a subject! The TwitterTops management needs to wake up and take notice!

Of course - you can also argue that all the top bloggers are eventually making money off of other people's hard work - TechCrunch does not itself make all the great web services they talk about. Popular Science doesn't invent all they write about. But at least these guys write about stuff! AllTop and TwitterTops promise not to write about stuff - they are only going to show the world what YOU have thought of! If only I could think of the next similar idea that could fly :)

Thanks to the social networks that make discovering such websites easy!

PutVote redirecting to SalesForce?

2007-11-12T16:32:00.000+08:00

Indian social bookmarking site PutVote.com may have lost traction with the public finally. The site is currently redirecting to this page in SalesForce.

To verify yourself, click the PutVote link above. Hover over the link before you click to make sure it points to the right page. The way I see it, PutVote would've been started by SalesForce (correct me if I am mistaken) and had to be shut down on account of either spamming or misuse by people. Here's a snapshot of what the site looked like, from Google's Cache. It isn't too hard to identify the spam links.

Last I remember, the site did not have any bookmarking juice to offer. This just goes to prove that using bad English isn't the best idea to attract the growing Indian internet audience.

Here are some of the other social bookmarking sites available in India:

NaDa to Report

2007-11-12T15:39:00.000+08:00

Found a great piece of software that works across platforms and OSs, across computers and hand-held devices, never fails in what it does and requires less than a couple of seconds to download and install. Introducing NaDa - it does nothing for everybody!

Here's what the creators have to say about this product:

NaDa™ is a new concept. A thought, really. It is very light : 1 byte. It doesn't take long to fetch. It doesn't take long to understand. It doesn't disturb your habits nor does it makes you feel insecure. It is a reassuring piece of software that does nothing, and does it very well. That's a lot !

With good reviews and recommendations from users, there really is no reason why somebody would not want to install NaDa in their systems. Here's the download link. If you like what you install, be sure to leave a comment.

AdAir - First Peek at Dubai

2007-10-29T03:37:00.000+08:00

Did you hear of the newest advertising idea in the world? I bragged about it here even though I don't have anything to do with it. Now AdAir just landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest banner! At 20,000 square meters, I'm sure nothing else comes close.

And who is going to be the advertiser on this outdoor media? Guardian quotes Stephen Jones in that the advertiser is going to be a real estate company, in line with the current expansion in Dubai. Soon you will see ground based advertisements when you fly over Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago O'Hare.

As I wondered earlier, the ads will most likely target window seat passengers flying to these airports. This may well be one of the ways that make air travel free in the future. Would you mind a travel route covered with advertisements if your tickets were free? Or would you rather take an aisle seat and pay for it?

During an email brainstorming session with Chahal, he pointed out another way for advertising on the ground - use one (or many) of those laser lights to draw high-refresh images on the ground. That way, the ads can be moving pictures instead of being just still ones. This would definitely impact the conversion rates (which are going to be difficult to measure) and the amount of attention the ads receive. Unfortunately we did not brainstorm what happens to the ads in the day. Maybe the current day/night ads can double as a screen for night-only laser advertising.

Surely, this kind of advertising is only beginning now and we can expect more innovations in this arena soon.

This is where I got the news from.

Bubble 2.0

2007-10-21T00:57:00.000+08:00

FrankShaw has a very interesting post here on the reasons why the current internet bubble will pop. The example he points to, eBay's acquisition of Skype for $3.1 Billion in 2005, is very relevant to the argument that the current trend of buying over perceived value of a company might lead to the creation of a bubble. Armed with the right tools, one can find a lot of such examples in today's markets.

If you look at the current 'online contextual advertising' market, you can see signs of a bubble forming. Almost every service depends on advertising as a monetization method. If you remember those obstructive ads of yesterday, the contrast between then and now is very noticeable. Problem is, there might be a race for the two types of advertising models to meet midway. If you've noticed, webpages keep getting more and more cluttered with advertising and other 'link propagating' methods. And visitors keep evolving too, most people today have learnt to avoid even the most contextually relevant ads. Of course, the system works when I'm searching for airline tickets to the Bahamas, but not when I am searching for information on Labor Day. And most searches are probably related for information and may not be focused on products per se. Effectively, people get trained to ignore the advertisements altogether.

So what might the future of advertising hold? I'm tempted to say "that's for Google to decide", but I guess "Time will tell" isn't a bad cliche after all. BTW, lemme know if you find this blog too cluttered :)

Take on Internet Applications

2007-10-19T14:43:00.000+08:00

GigaOM has an interesting post today on Big Internet is Web 2.0’s OS — so Who Owns the Apps? written by Alistair Croll. I have known GigaOM for some very insightful pieces of information but this post is really on top. Alistair writes about how opening up their platforms helps large web services like eBay, Google and Amazon turn into operating systems, servicing niche areas of online business.

Big Internet companies are making themselves the OS of the web 2.0 world. In addition to the fundamentals — operating a web application, storing data, handling logins — each company has a core expertise. In Google’s case, it’s page ranking and relevance; Facebook maps social relationships; Salesforce knows about customer relationships; and eBay has an auction and reputation engine.

Applications created on top of powerful existing platforms get the inherent ability to be relevant and effective, yet light weight. An application built on top of the eBay platform leverages from its reputation and auction engine while delivering functionality that eBay itself may not want to currently get into. Opening up their platform has brought Facebook where it currently is.

Creating an environment for application creation is beneficial for the web service crown jewels of today and they will only hurt themselves by creating roadblocks in the way of application development. Hopefully the Facebooks of today realize the goldmine of collective intelligence they are sitting on and try to tap into it by removing some of the hurdles. Creating conditions for development of applications serving the long tail is going to be the way of the future as per the current internet trends.

Create a Video For AdSense!

2007-10-17T20:57:00.000+08:00

Remember my earlier coverage of the Gmail video? People who reached this blog too late missed the video submission deadlines back in August. Hopefully you're early enough not to miss this AdSense Video submission opportunity.

If you have a website or blog that uses AdSense for monetization (or at least one channel of monetization), make a video for submission to the AdSense Publisher Stories and get featured on the AdSense Blog! For details on what your video should include and how to go about submissions, here's a big chunk of data copied from the AdSense Blog:

Here's how it works:

1. Shoot a video (2 minutes or shorter) about your story with AdSense.
2. Fill out the submission form and submit your video as a video response to Tim’s video on YouTube.
3. We will review your submissions and pick a few videos to be featured on the AdSense blog in the coming weeks.

In your video, you may want to answer some of the questions below, but feel free to include others.

* Where you are from and what you do for a living?
* Why did you create your site, blog, or forum?
* Who is your intended audience?
* How did you hear about AdSense?
* How has AdSense helped you?
* What are some useful AdSense tips you would give to other publishers so that they can see the same success?

I'd rather have you read the terms and conditions at the Blog itself, but please hurry - submission deadline is the 31st of October. If you don't have a YouTube account, get it here. Don't miss this chance to have your blog/website featured on the Google AdSense Blog! You might even be able to pick-up visitors on the way. Look at Tim Carter's video below and try to resist visiting his website..

iPhone Could be More iNnovative

2007-10-15T23:49:00.000+08:00

While we can fathom that electronic accessories aren't the most environmentally viable of creations, at least I was under the impression that the iPhone, and all products Apple, are as safe as they can be. Apparently this is not so, as I learnt from the TechCrunch post today.

According to Greeneace, the iPhone is the only top phone company still using PVC in the manufacture of the earphone cables. The iPhone also contains chemicals like Bromine, Chlorine and Phthalates - some of which have been eliminated or greatly reduced in Nokia and Sony phones. Moreover, the non-user-replaceable batteries of the iPhone don't help Apple one bit.

Maybe it's time Apple took lead in another aspect of technology by choosing to go green in a way no other company has gone before. After all, we expect Apple to be nothing less than exceptional in every aspect.

Just How Did They Measure Hydrogen's Weight?

2007-10-15T18:40:00.000+08:00

Gizmodo has an interesting post on Korean researchers having developed an unmanned plane that uses half-a-kilo of hydrogen to make whopping 10-hour flights. Unlike fossil fuels, Hydrogen packs an immense amount of energy and a half-kilo of the thing is energy equivalent to 1.3 kilograms of gasoline (Source).

My question is, how does one go about measuring the weight of Hydrogen? Being the lightest substance, it's not like you can fill a balloon with hydrogen and tape it to a weighing scale as that would show a negative weight. Moreover, just how negative the weight will be depends on the atmospheric pressure at the time of measurement. Vacuum measurement seems like a good alternative, but as soon as you fill a test tube (previously holding vacuum) with Hydrogen, it should become lighter than its original weight.

Googling for Hydrogen's weight measurement led to some 404s in the book search and more 404s in the actual results. I'm wondering if Google is trying to hide this particular information from the public. One of the results points to heating Methane until it breaks down (The Methane molecule consists of one atom of Carbon and four atoms of Hydrogen) to release Hydrogen. A difference in the weight of Methane used and of the Carbon left over should give the true weight of Hydrogen, given that one knows just how many molecules of Methane were there to start with. Even then, isn't every Hydrogen atom like a wing for the Carbon atom?

If you find yourself inclined to answer, leave a comment. For the sake of simplicity, let's not get into Avogadro's number and such jargon - not every reader may be able to follow.

Law Enforcement Modules from FBI

2007-10-15T12:52:00.000+08:00

FBI is now probably the first Law Enforcement agency in the world to directly seek help from bloggers and website owners to track Predators, Missing Persons and Most Wanted Persons. This link to the FBI website shows the 4 different modules you can incorporate into your webpage to help nab a criminal.

Although the modules use [iframe] and cannot be called 'Widgets' as-such, it's still nice to see a government agency trying to use current technology to help a good cause.

If you have space available on your webpage and you haven't decided on what to do with it, give the FBI widgets a go. Who knows, you might even be able to win the reward set on one of the most-wanted people!

Via Mashable

New Frontier on Nigerian Scams - Hotels and Real Estate

2007-10-14T14:01:00.000+08:00

I have posted here earlier on internet scams and the different ways they employ to dupe Average Joe of his money. It's a pity that most scams originate in Nigeria and I almost burnt my fingers once on eBay trying to make my first sale. What seemed legit business would have resulted in me shipping the item to an address in Nigeria without ever getting to see my payment. I was so happy on making a successful sale that I 'almost' overlooked the fact that the confirmation email did not originate from PayPal at all! Lucky save for me. If you are interested in finding out about the other methods used to cheat people, this post might be a good starting point.

Not to be left behind in the Web 2.0 phenomenon, the scammers have upped their techniques of duping people. The latest one, reported here, is an unsolicited email from someone (apparently) in the UK interested in making a real estate investment in your country. The very fact that the email is unsolicited should raise an alarm. If it doesn't, for some reason, consider the following:

No prior acquaintance

Person willing to invest in huge property (like a 5-Star hotel)

Unnecessary stress on 'Honesty'

Critical illness angle - shouldn't the person be looking forward to passing his family wealth to the next-of-kin at this point?

And here's what readers like you can do to help Average Joe - Spread the word. The strongest line of defense against 'new and improved' scam techniques is to get people informed as soon as a new technique is discovered. SunSeven also lists 16 ways in which scammers get access to your email ids.

Save Three Minutes and Lots of Power - Splashtop

2007-10-12T14:03:00.000+08:00

With Splashtop you can access the internet without having to boot your PC. All you need to do is hit the power button and, before the OS loads, use Splashtop to access your email, YouTube videos, Maps, Skype and other services.

What you save isn't just the 3 minutes on booting time. With a service that lets you power-on and off with ease, you don't need to keep your computer running 24X7 at all. Imagine the number of free TV hours that could generate!

Currently Splashtop is available only on the Asus P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi AP Motherboards, but the service may be integrated with other motherboards as Splashtop is in talks with companies that make hardware.

Here are a few things the Splashtop team had to say about their product - It is fast

With Splashtop your computer is ready to use seconds after you turn it on. Instead of waiting for a full boot, you have Web access in mere seconds. Chat, surf, play a game - all one click away.

Splashtop is Secure

Splashtop is a secure Web-surfing environment. You can surf the Web while staying immune to many of the attacks that plague Windows.

It is Eco-Friendly

Splashtop boots so quickly there's no reason to leave your PC on all the time. Now you can use your time more effectively, and consume much less energy.

With most people buying computers today just to connect to the internet, is it possible that Splashcast (and the included browser) one day make it possible for people to stop using Windows? I may have let my imagination run wild but with the $10 million funding received, this could be exactly what the Splashtop people have in mind!

Other blogs that mentioned Splashtop -

DeviceVM's SplashTop: more info about the five second Linux system at Engadget

Splashtop Funded And Launched: Surf The Web Before Booting Up Your PC at Mashable

Asustek P5E3 Motherboard Features Embedded "Splashtop" Linux Variant at Gizmodo

Microsoft Should Read Email

2007-10-09T16:19:00.000+08:00

Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, is back in the headlines after claiming last week that 'Unlike Google, Microsoft doesn't read your email'. Pray tell, Mr. Ballmer, how does Microsoft know where to send the email if they don't read it? For an email to be transmitted over the internet to my browser, it definitely needs to be read first. What Microsoft doesn't do (can't do?) is serve-up unobtrusive contextual ads. Moreover, how does Microsoft detect spam emails if they don't read any emails at all?

For one, Steve Ballmer is not new to creating controversy. He was in the news earlier for his comments on the iPhone and how the expensive phone will not appeal to customers because of the lack of a keyboard. On how Microsoft plans to compete with the iPhone, he said "Right now we're selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year, Apple is selling ZERO phones a year (this is just before the launch of the iPhone). In 6 months they'll have by far the most expensive phone in the marketplace and let's see how the competition goes". We all know how the competition went for that one. Here's a video where you can see Mr. Ballmer fielding the question himself -

If you like the iPhone, though, you would love the following video where Craig Ferguson bashes Microsoft's Zune in favor of the iPhone. A must watch video -

If you want to head to where people are discussing Mr. Ballmer's latest comment, here are some places -

Steve Ballmer Attacks Google's Gmail Ads at Mashable

Microsoft's Ballmer: Google Reads Your Mail at Slashdot

OLPC's XO Reviewed

2007-10-06T14:56:00.000+08:00

NY Times' David Pogue reviews OLPC's 'Initially planned at $100 but now selling at $200' XO laptop. Somewhat contrary to what a lot of people are expecting, the XO does pack a punch when it comes to functionality that will help students in poor countries.

The lappy appears small, but is fully loaded. The OLPC is for sale in America for two weeks, starting November, at $400. You don't get extra features for that amount, what you do get is the satisfaction of having helped one poor child get a laptop somewhere on the planet. No, you won't know where that child is. The XO has a gamepad controller, stereo speakers, a little camera, a dustproof and splashproof keyboard and a drop-proof casing. For more great info on the OLPC laptop, take a look at this YouTube video-

UC Berkeley YouTube Group

2007-10-05T01:19:00.000+08:00

Hi, my name is UC Berkeley. I am 139 years old and live in Berkeley, California. My hobbies include Teaching, Research and Public Service. Maybe YouTube should not have treated UC Berkeley as just another group started by a person, but both YouTube and UC Berkeley are doing a great service by offering courses online for free. To access more than 300 hours of videotaped courses from UC Berkeley, visit this link.

These courses, from some of the best faculty in the world, can help every student supplement her knowledge outside of their respective classrooms. Especially in developing countries, perhaps such courses should be made mandatory for students to attend. Christina Maslach, UC Berkeley's vice provost for undergraduate education , said the following in a statement

"UC Berkeley on YouTube will provide a public window into university life, academics, events and athletics, which will build on our rich tradition of open educational content for the larger community,"

Another school that has made news earlier about Open Course ware is MIT, with over 1700 courses available for free to anyone with an internet connection. These courses, some of them including video lectures, help students plan a course of study and enhance their knowledge in a particular course.

I hope other top schools soon jump into the arena of providing information free of charge as a way of helping students in developing countries. With free education, the world will surely be a better place.

Other places where this was mentioned:

UC Berkeley first to post full lectures to YouTube at News.com

Berkeley puts courses on YouTube at SMH

UC Berkeley Puts Courses On YouTube at TechCrunch

UC Berkeley's YouTube Channel Offers Full-Course Lectures at Mashable

UC Berkeley Puts Lectures Online To Bore You At Home at Gizmodo

World In A Blink

2007-10-03T13:48:00.000+08:00

Play this post

In his book, Gladwell talks about the power of thinking without thinking. Actually, this very sentence is written on the cover of the book.

Here's what Gladwell says about the book on his website -

It's a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. Well, "Blink" is a book about those two seconds, because I think those instant conclusions that we reach are really powerful and really important and, occasionally, really good.

But that's not what this post is about. It's about Zeitgeist, Google's monthly list of 'Search patterns, trends and surprises'. To get a true blink view, I'll just cover the most popular query by country. To view the entire world list, please visit this link, or this link for US specific trends.

People in Afghanistan searched for Afghanistan and Kabul (their capital). With a 2% internet penetration rate and half-a-million subscribers (source), I'm not surprised. Maybe they wanted 'before and after' maps as well!

Argentinians searched for Football and Australians for Kelly Brook and Marilyn Monroe. Again, not surprising. China, the manufacturing behemoth, searched for Carrefour (and not Walmart, donno why). Costa Rica searched for Mathematics and the Czech Republic for 'Love'. Germany and Greece searched for Boom chicka wah wah and Reggae, respectively.

Hong Kong searches for an Indian actor while Iraq searches for Army Knowledge Online (is this dangerous?), Israel for 'Wooden Floors' and Pakistan for the SAT exam. In a way, you can predict the behavior and motivation of people just from what they are looking for. Poland searches for Swimming pools and Puerto Rico for 'Joy' and Russia for Carpets (approaching winters?). Singapore searches for Movie halls, movies and Investment advice. South Africa is looking at electronics, and Vietnam at Che Guevara.

Given all of this, it's not surprising that people in America are looking for Another Universe. We sure live in interesting times eh? Let others know what you think about these trends in the comments.

Can't Miss Advertising - AdAir

2007-10-03T01:05:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Now here's advertising you just can't miss - AdAir presents ads targeted specially at window-seat airline passengers. There's just something about people asking for window seats that makes them a sought-after demographic. With standard ads the size of 3 Manchester United Football pitches (which equals 4 times the Dallas Cowboys' football field), the visual effect on a passenger is no less than stunning.

The teeny-tiny plane in this picture is a Boeing 747 passenger aircraft (70.7 meters in length) and the pitches are each the same size as Manchester United's Old Trafford football pitch.

In their own words,

The Ad-Air concept revolutionises 'out-of-home' advertising with the largest adverts to be seen from the air. This 'record breaking' new medium delivers a captive audience of millions of premium international passengers.

The results are no less than stunning though, here's a picture I found on Gizmag. It shows the view a window seat passenger gets. Hard to miss eh? The ads will be placed along 30 major airports and passengers flying to Dubai might be the first ones to witness these ads. With upto 10 million unique viewers (probably includes the aisle seat passengers as well) and upto 20 million impacts a year, advertising for airline passengers is bound to take off!

Of course, this creates the problem of excessive advertising and, where applicable, loss of land. To cater for the possible loss of land, the boards will be non-permanent and may be fenced and surrounded by landscaping to prevent land-based humans from inadvertently registering views. If they cover fertile land, they will be printed on a PVC mesh that allows light to reach the vegetation below. When illuminated at night, the ads promise free light to the plants. The farmers would be so delighted!

Just like phone calls of the future will be paid for by relevant advertising on the medium, I hope my airline tickets can someday be paid for by ground-based advertising. Can we have bigger windows please? I promise to keep my eyes peeled open.

Other places where you can find relevant posts - Switched.com and Gizmag

WOW! Free Image Resizing!

2007-09-30T21:26:00.000+08:00

Play this post

You saw me ranting earlier about Image Resizing On The Fly and how it may change the way we interact with images. Until now, though, we never got the chance to sample the technology. Thanks to rsizr, now you can use the Seam Carving Technology to resize and alter your own images. Want to remove a person from the last vacation pics? Here's your answer...

Here's what the people behind rsizr say about the service:

rsizr is a Flash application that lets you resize JPG, PNG, and GIF images on your computer. With rsizr, in addition to normal image rescaling and cropping, you can also resize images using a new image resizing algorithm called seam carving (a method of image retargeting) that tries to keep intact areas in your image that are richer in detail.

To get an idea on what Seam Carving is, check the link in the first paragraph of this post. rsizr is still in public beta, so there are bound to be some bugs. Get the early mover advantage and you might even be able to suggest some other cool features the team can add to the service! BTW, Dreamhost couldn't have asked for better advertising

Sample resized picture:

Original -

Resized -

Other blogs who mentioned rsizr recently:

Rsizr: Groundbreaking Image Editor with "Seam Carving" at Mashable

Seam Carving co-inventor hired by Adobe

Hurdles - Funny Japanese Style

2007-09-21T14:55:00.000+08:00

You have to give it to the Japanese when it comes to designing funny games. Video below of the 'Hurdles' redefined.

Via Funniest Stuff.

Today In History - ROCKEFELLER SAVES $198

2007-09-21T14:22:00.000+08:00

Again, from the NYTimes on 21 September 1907, John D. Rockefeller saved $198 by cutting the wages of eleven collegians working on his Forest Hill estate. The men worked on tending the garden and lawns, and kept the drives in shape. The layoffs of today, with the severance and other benefits, are far better.

The students, who earlier made $1.50 per day with an eight-hour shift, would now get $1.25 per day with ten-and-a-half hours of work. That's a massive 36% cut in hourly wages!

Oh, and before you pass a judgment on Mr. Rockefeller here, it's nice to know that he contributed more than 85 Million to the cause of education between 1897 and 1907. Link to the original story here.

iTunes Fans, Nevermind The Missed Shows

2007-09-21T00:09:00.000+08:00

Play this post

FSJ has an interesting post on what the future might hold for the big TV Networks (like NBC's Download service) as they move out of the iTunes way of broadcasting. An excerpt:

So they've all been threatening us with this for years, and we've told them to feel free and go right ahead, and now they're finally going to take the bait and go do it. We're thrilled. They are going to waste hundreds of millions of dollars wading into a quagmire and in two years they'll be looking for a way to back out while saving face.

It sure would be interesting to see another video/audio delivery channel compete with iTunes (in terms of service delivery and content availability). Hope it doesn't take them too long to come back to iTunes... $1.99 deals are the best! Link to FSJ's post

BTW, Steve Jobs (the real one) was subpoenaed over stock option backdating to the tune of $20 million! Reuters report here.

Other blog posts on News Networks starting their online distribution networks:

Fox Free on iTunes at Mashable

Fox To Offer Free Shows On iTunes at TechCrunch

Infinite Memory Enough For You?

2007-09-20T23:33:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Anyone who uses USB Memory Drives knows the pains we need to go through to transfer the bulky files. It's amazing how movie files (legitimately acquired, of course) are always just a little over the capacity of the flash drive and we need to find ingenious ways of transferring them (from the home PC to the Laptop) like setting up a LAN connection. Hell, I even tried to move files via Bluetooth! Painful process... Here's the solution.

Designer Vicky Wei has come up with an excellent design to extend the storage space of your USB Flash Drive. How far can you extend it? Well, is infinite good enough for you? Here's a quote from Yankodesign:

Memory Infinite has a USB male connector at one end and a female connector at the other, providing an “add up” concept for USB finger discs. By connecting one Memory Infinite with another to, you can grow the space you need. The user can choose to combine or separate Memory Infinites to share files and if you build a chain long enough, you can wear it. When plugged into a computer, the daisy chain appears as one unified USB drive.

The way the design works is, the USB drives each have a male and a female connector (the current ones have only the male connector that plugs into, well, wherever you want to plug it). This way you can daisy chain multiple drives and theoretically have that much more storage available. The designer also envisaged a flexible middle in the drives so that the multiple-connected chain does not protrude too much.

Other uses include using the chain as a bracelet or around the neck, in case people don't already know your geek god status. Whatever the use, we may never have to throw old USB Drives away again. Unless you switch to Wireless USB.

Hitachi's New Storage Technology Promises 10X More Space

2007-09-20T13:05:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Hitachi's new 'Perpendicular Storage' promises to save enough room on existing hard disks to store 10 times the data! How do they do it? Well, apparently the data bits in current hard disks lay flat on the surface of the disk. With the current data density increase (in line with Moore's Law), the bits are so closely packed that they end up influencing each other's magnetic orientation - leading to data corruption.

Hitachi came up with this radical new idea to have the bits standing instead of lying on the disk. The result? Less crowding of the bits, more space available for more space (aka higher capacity) and happier bits. Now if only they could have multiple levels for the standing bits, kinda like city apartments ...

Follow this link to watch a flash video of the new technology. The soundtrack is interesting. I couldn't ascertain if the domain name is owned by Hitachi though, if you have any idea on that, do leave a comment.

Learning A New Language? TryMango!

2007-09-19T22:32:00.000+08:00

Play this post

With the plethora of learning resources available today, language learners have never had better times. Here's shiny new Mango Languages. Unlike Coffee Break Spanish, Mango is a totally free resource and the presentation is in the form of slides. If your iPod is the only gadget you wish to use for your language learning, that's your choice, but Mango is a great resource if you are interested in learning languages.

For one, you can choose from a total of 11 different language courses - each with over 100 lessons. On an average, each lesson contains around 80 slides and focuses on one part of the conversation. Registration is also simple and straightforward. What I liked best is the color coding of the words. This may not work as well with some languages, but it's a neat feature. You can click on a word to hear it. Alternatively, you can click on the icon before the sentence to hear the full sentence. You can even invite friends and challenge them to an (offline) competition later.

As of now, the service is not monetized. While I would prefer to see AdSense at work here, really any method is okay as long as the modules are available for free. If they start charging for content, it may hit the subscription base. I wouldn't mind paying for proficiency certification tests though.

If you are in for community-based language learning, you can also try xLingo or Tutorom. Personally, I'd rather learn the basics from a structured program and maybe later shift to community based learning to polish the diction and accents. Which type of language learning resource do you prefer?

PS: Please take a minute to bookmark this post if you liked it. Do check out my 'Recent musings', you might find them interesting.

Secure Your Email Address Online

2007-09-19T14:46:00.000+08:00

Play this post

If you have a blog, you would probably want to give out your email address so that your readers can contact you. But how do you prevent scamsters trawling through webpages from harvesting your address and sending you lots of unsolicited email? More importantly, your email address might even appear in a Google search for your name! One way is to include your email like Fictitious_John [at] gmail [dot] com but this does not look very professional.

Here's an alternative that Fictitious John might be able to use: . Notice that the email address comes as an image and cannot be harvested by a crawler (Google included).

Hidetext lets you convert your text to images that can be embedded in webpages without any fear of them being harvested. What's more, you can download the image so that even Hidetext does not need to keep a copy on their servers. The current text limit is at a generous 100,000 characters - enough to convert all of your private information (up to and including entire blog posts, if you so desire). You can even choose the color, size and font of your text in the image. Here's Fictitious John's email address with a little more jazz:

This method of protecting personal information is as good as Captcha graphics you usually see on websites. Hopefully we'll see more users for Hidetext in the future.

Don't Like The world? Sue God!

2007-09-18T21:47:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Reported in MSNBC News, Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Quoting from the news website,

The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere.

Apparently, the lawsuit is filed because the senator wants to make a point about the frivolous lawsuits we hear so frequently these days. But this may well be the beginning of a class-action suit against the almighty.

Scott Adams has an interesting post on the topic. Here's one of Scott's comments on what a courtroom scene might look like -

Lawyer: “Where were you on the night of the tornado?”
God: “Um, everywhere. Same as always. Go to Hell. Seriously.”

There's not enough information to speculate which party might win this case yet.

Update:BTW, you may also find this post on BoingBoing interesting.

This Day In History - Coal Miners Needed In America

2007-09-18T14:26:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Now that the New York Times have dropped their subscription method, readers around the world can enjoy reading all the NY Times articles on the website. Articles from 1851 to 1922 are already in the public domain though, and the removal of subscription applies to articles published since 1987, with the 1923 to 1986 editions available in part for a charge.

That didn't stop me from visiting the NY Times article on 18th September 1907 to dig out this headline - COAL MINERS NEEDED. Probably fed-up with the non-English speaking Italian, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak who observed around 35 holidays a year, the Coal mining companies sent agents to England, Scotland and Wales to get English speaking miners. The United States Steel Company, however, went looking in American cities for (English speaking) men to replace the 30,000 or so 'Foreign workers'.

Some piece of history eh? I like how it contrasts with today's top American employers of technology people (Google, Microsoft, among others) and their global approach to talent acquisition. What do you feel about the article? Your views in the comments. For a link to the original PDF containing the article, click here.

PopURLs Is Fichey's Competition

2007-09-18T13:40:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Popurls does exactly what Fichey does, but in a simplified manner. The most popular links from Digg, Delicious, Fark and a host of other popular sites (like BoingBoing, Reddit, Flickr, StumbleUpon, etc) are listed by popularity.

You can even customize your page to a level that Popurls looks more like your feed reader (don't you have one already?). In this one aspect, maybe Popurls goes a step further than Fichey by giving users the option to customize their feed pages. Also, there's a bigger range of feeds to choose from.

Currently, for some reason, the website is extremely slow. Perhaps Popurls would switch to faster servers soon. Overall, the content in the site is impressive (one, long page) and it's nice to have another service that helps solve the bookmarking overload. If a person can find all the best stories on the internet at one place, there's little incentive to visit multiple sites to get the same information. Way to go Popurls!

For my earlier post on Fichey, click here. For Guy Kawasaki's review of Popurls, click here.

Advertise Your Blog Using BlogRush

2007-09-17T13:29:00.000+08:00

Play this post

"The Fastest And Easiest Way To Instantly Drive A Flood Of Targeted Readers To Your Blog... Absolutely Free!" That's the bold claim BlogRush makes in the website. With the multilevel referral scheme, it might come quite close to delivering on the promise. since no money is involved, it isn't one of those (illegal) pyramid schemes but the benefits are still on similar lines.

When you place the BlogRush widget on your blog, it shows relevant posts from other bloggers next to your posts. Every time your page loads, you get one credit to show your blog on other blogger pages. Neat eh? Moreover, when you refer someone and their page loads, you still get a credit. That's also the reason why all the BlogRush links in this post are referral links...

In their own words,

BlogRush is a "Cooperative Syndication Network" that rewards its users for their contributions to the network -- from the impressions they provide of the BlogRush Widget to the referral of other users through 10 'generations' of activity and the impressions of the widget that they provide. BlogRush was designed to be incredibly viral and to provide its users with tremendous distribution leverage to receive exposure for their blog content (onto related content blogs) that they could never achieve on their own; at least without a massive advertising budget.

There you have it - the best (so far) way to promote your blog for free. We already know the advantage of a targeted readership - people interested in what you are writing are more likely to stick around your blog and this will directly affect the revenue you generate from your efforts.

So go ahead, use one of the referral links in this post (or visit www.blogrush.com directly) to get code for your widget and start reaping the benefits of targeted readers.

Update:Just got a mail from BlogRush explaining the 'The Syndication Credit System Formula' (the formula used to derive your credits). Here it is:

Your Traffic = 1:1
1st Generation Of Referrals (Directly From You) = 1:1
2nd Generation Of Referrals (i.e. Jen in the video) = 1:1
3rd - 6th Generation Of Referrals = 1:4
7th - 10th Generation Of Referrals = 1:8

1:1 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 1 impression of the
widget by your own traffic or by any users located on the 1st (direct)
or 2nd generations.
1:4 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 4 impressions of the
widget by any user located on the 3rd to 6th generations.
1:8 means you earn 1 syndication credit for every 8 impressions of the
widget by any user located on the 7th to 10th generations.

Hopefully this clarifies your doubts on how the service works. In case you are wondering how BlogRush plan to monetize their service, I got that answer in the mail too - Soon you will be able to BUY Credits!

Other bloggers who wrote about BlogRush:

Why You Shouldn't Rush into BlogRush at Search Engine Journal

Tips for Using BlogRush to Generate Traffic for Your Blog at ProBlogger

BlogRush: 8 Reasons to Be Wary...and Optimistic at Mashable

Try Blogrush Widget for Free Referral Traffic Till 10 Levels at Quick Online Tips

BlogRush - Getting More Blog Exposure Through Syndication & Leverage at Squidoo

If you would like to make legit money on the internet, do check my other posts:

Make money from uploaded videos

Earn magazine subscriptions by watching ads

If you are a website owner, also check Amazon's Flexible Payment System

Your videos can earn you money!

2007-09-14T20:50:00.000+08:00

Play this post

I have posted earlier about making (not so tangible) money by watching ads. So far, it only gets you magazine subscriptions but soon it might become a part-time source of income. If you are like millions of other internet users, though, you would be watching videos on YouTube or one of the other popular video sharing networks. You have probably also been uploading and embedding videos but never really wondered if all your effort could net you any moolah... until now!

Recently, at their first anniversary, Revver announced that they have paid out one million dollars to content owners and distributors (people who embed Revver videos in their sites or blogs). Here's how it works - As a content owner, you upload a video and Revver shows pre/post roll ads whenever someone views your video. From the revenue generated, you get half the amount and Revver keeps the other half. If you are a distributor, Revver gives you twenty percent of the total revenue generated before splitting between the content owner and itself. All in all, a nifty deal if there ever was one for video sharing.

If you would like to view Revver's press release, you can find it here.

Some other video sharing networks that share advertising revenue with content owners:

Flixya shares 100% ad revenue with content owners

Metacafe gives content owners $100 for every 20,000 views of their uploaded videos

YouTube and DailyMotion have made revenue sharing deals with some of the top contributors on their sites

If you have a video camera, there couldn't be a better time to go out and capture the world. Who knows, you might even get the most viewed video on the planet! Oh, and here is the current most viewed video on the planet (Metacafe would've paid the owner something like $3000 by now!)

To get more traffic to your blog, do check my post on Blogrush . Don't forget to help me by getting a referral! Another way of helping me - digg or stumble this post. A little motivation goes a long way :) BTW, you can also earn access to magazine subscription issues! Learn how.

Google Reader has a lot up its sleeves

2007-09-12T20:29:00.000+08:00

If you have been using Google Reader, you would be aware of the 'Shared Items' link. One of the most popular shared items come from scobleizer.com. Recently, Blogoscoped reported a leaked Google Video that details the team's plans for the Reader. It's known that two-thirds of blogs/sites have just one feed subscriber. This is understood, as I'm probably the only subscriber to my own blog. Such feeds are not indexed as frequently as the more popular ones. Some of the important points from the post:

Expect more social features in Google Reader

Reported in TechCrunch earlier, you will soon be able to comment on a person's shared posts (remember, the posts are owned by someone else)

When you search on Google Reader, you might be shown results from your subscribed shared items

ProBlogger reports that the feeds may be more directly monetized, especially when the real publisher has an Adsense account

Although I'm glad Google is thinking of displaying ads from the content owner's Adsense account, it still bothers me that content owners might not be able to get people to visit their pages (specially if a more popular blogger has the full post available on his shared items). Hopefully Google will fix the legal aspect before launching the new features to the public.

Privacy ablaze

2007-09-12T16:26:00.000+08:00

Play this post

I'm pro-privacy but I understand when we need to give out a certain amount of private information to help web-services to help us. An example for this would be the Google services that get better when they track our past search behavior. Of course, not everyone treats their personal information this way and it's evident from the number of phone numbers and email addresses people leave on their Orkut, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. Leaving your email address out in the open will mostly get you some spam, here's some help on dealing with those promising offers you'll get.

Two days ago, TechCrunch posted this article on a new breed of start-ups geared to help you store your life's story. Problem is, would you really want to have your life story (including genealogy, family and friends details, and pictures) available for everyone to see? Granted, your personal data can be protected by the service provider and you will have control over who visits your pages. But if the recent Monster Scam is anything to go by, no service provider can guarantee 100% safety of your personal data that they hold.

So my question to you, now is this - Do you feel comfortable with having your life's information stored on a server? Also, can start-ups in this arena do something to assuage your (possible) pain?

China's new record

2007-09-07T19:00:00.000+08:00

The world's largest population wanted the world's largest TV. At 100 meters long and 20 meters wide, this $32 million TV shows the sky (presumably at day-time) and fish (at night?) and also people's pictures. They say sometimes people confuse it for the real sky! Given the rate at which animals (and birds) are becoming extinct and the rate at which we're polluting our skies, this may well be the future sky in a lot of cities. Birds in the video look fantastically real though -

As if to compete with nearby Hong Kong's Ocean Park or Singapore's Water World, the Giant TV also shows an interesting display of fish swimming around. It's like the view from the bottom of an aquarium. Check out the video -

Now imagine similar screens on both sides of the passage. Welcome to Videotopia! Wish I had one of these in my house. So... your TV is 132 inches? Inches? Mine's as long as a soccer field!

BTW, Gizmodo reported this first. To read their post, click here.

Non-Japanese Engrish

2007-09-07T18:27:00.000+08:00

Engrish.com has an interesting compendium of mis-spelled/bad English used in Japan. I couldn't stop myself from using the one below for this post. Do visit the site if you have a few hours to spare. Yes, hours!

But this post is about non-Japanese Engrish. Photographs below of an English test I had to take recently. This replaces the usual Captcha test we need to pass on low-tech sites like Orkut and Digg. I wonder if such tests might gain popularity to become the preferred way of differentiating between humans and robots. Of course, I'm assuming robots will learn proper English when they do. Pictures of test follow:

Broun?? When they said 'small and funny English test', I didn't think they meant THIS funny...

Maybe she is! Nudge...nudge... Unfortunately, there is only one correct answer to each question...

What kinda table is a VegeTable? Ok, at least the spelling is right - kudos to whoever wrote this. There are three other mistakes in the options. Can you find out which ones? Your answer in the comments below

Feed Reader Demystified

2007-09-06T18:04:00.000+08:00

After a recent comment by an avid reader of this blog, I'm covering Feed Readers today. I will try to explain what a feed reader does and how you can benefit from this great service by popular email providers.

If you like this blog and read it regularly, you can do it two ways. The first way is to visit this blog at a set time everyday (even multiple times) to check if a new post has been published. It's fairly easy to do, all you need is to remember/bookmark the site address and visit at a convenient time. This is okay as long as you are reading only a couple of blogs a day. If you would like to read (let's say) 50 blogs, you'll agree that visiting each blog everyday will soon become a chore. That's why there's a second way - subscribe!

If you use Gmail or Yahoo! or Hotmail, you can easily subscribe to many blogs using their readers. The most popular, of course, is the Google Reader and you can log-in with your existing Google/Gmail id. If you don't have a Google id, I recommend you get one ASAP. No, Google doesn't pay me to advertise for them (I hope they're reading this).

In the left panel you'll see this 'Add Subscription' button. You can use this to type in the URL of the blog you want to track. That's it! The reader will automatically get updated every time a new post is published on the blog. All you need to do is log-in to the reader to access all the blogs you love to read. No wonder it's called 'Really Simple Syndication' or RSS. To read the definition on Wikipedia, click here. Click below to watch a video of RSS explained in plain english:

Leave a comment if you'd like me to explain other web services.

Interesting Find - The 4-Hour Workweek

2007-09-06T13:06:00.000+08:00

If you have never read The Blog of Tim Ferriss, I suggest you give it a try. Tim is the author of the NY Times Bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek and the blog does more than just talk about the book. In the blog, there are numerous time saving techniques that everyone can use in their lives.

This post is on memorizing large numbers and gaining the ability to recite them forward/backwards. Did you ever wonder how anyone did it? The trick lies in system mnemonics and picturisation of the words. Pretty easy actually, visiting the post will illustrate the process in detail.

When you're all geared up and saving lots of time from work to do what you truly love (reading blogs), be sure to leave a comment on how you found this post.

Sci-Fi or Bad Try?

2007-09-06T11:48:00.000+08:00

If you are interested in science and like Sci-Fi movies, have you ever noticed discrepancies in the way a movie is shown in a theater and reality? I know - it happens all the time, but do you mind gross inadequacies as far as the story framework/picturization is concerned?

Popular Science has an interesting compendium of movie mistakes where a science fact is depicted incorrectly. Visit this link to see the list for yourself. Interesting stuff, with calculations and all.

Moviemakers, remember this:

Sound does NOT travel through the vacuum of space

Conservation of momentum still holds true

Archimedes died, not his theorem

Same with Newton - the three laws haven't been disproved yet

We haven't been in outer space and neither have you. If you want to take us for a ride, keep it close to the facts (gravity and the whatnots)

And thanks for the incredible visuals. The movie experience has never been better.

Now, iCar

2007-09-04T14:19:00.000+08:00

The 'i' prefix could mean 'Intelligent', but it doesn't. Apple and some car manufacturers have been colluding to make the cars of the future more pleasant (like they made the mp3 player and phone pleasant).

There's a rumor that Jaguar and Apple may be collaborating on improving the car's control interfaces. This post on Autoblog is about how the JaguarDrive system may be redesigned by Apple to make it more contoured (read soothing and pleasant) and driver-responsive.

GigaOm reported here earlier on how the Mini Cooper and BMW are planning to add support for the iPhone in their new cars to be launched in Europe this year.

Do you see the future of the car yet? Traditionally, electronics have a shorter life-span than most cars. While we may buy a new phone every two years (conservative estimates), we usually don't buy every new car that fancies us. So what happens when you upgrade to the new version of iPhone (which should be out in the next two years at least)? Remember the old iPod Shuffle? See how much difference there is between that and the new Shuffle? If you bought a scooter designed around the old shuffle, you can't let the big clunky Shuffle go. Will it be the same with the cars of tomorrow? Maybe we will need to keep the iPhone as long as we want to use the new Mini.

My question to you is, then, do you think Apple may inadvertently be harming their business by integrating iPhone support in cars? I will also try to put the question across to Fake Steve to get his comments.

TouchGraph - A New Frontier On Egosurfing

2007-09-04T01:28:00.000+08:00

Welcome TouchGraph, the website connectivity finder. Basically, it uses Google Search and data from crosslinks between webpages to display information in a visual manner using circles (spheres?). The area of the circle is proportional to the number of pages linking a particular site. The diagram itself is expandable and all the circles can be clicked to retrieve more data about that particular page. Here's what the team says about visualization -

Visualization goes beyond lists to reveal larger-scale patterns. Results are displayed in context – one can see how they fit into the big picture, how they relate to each other, and how they connect to metadata such as subjects and authors.

Data taken from Google is presented in the Google browser for TouchGraph (the first link). You can also use their Amazon Browser and the Facebook Browser to see how business or people related websites are connected.

This would also make a great place if you are in for some Egosurfing today. Choose one of the browsers and search for your name. The results may surprise you. It's just like Googling yourself, but with a snazzy visual representation of the results.

Labor or Labour day?

2007-09-03T22:31:00.000+08:00

People in different parts of the world spell different words differently, and the word labo(u)r is no exception. With this word though, the associated meaning is also different and so is the day it is celebrated on in America and in the rest of the world.

Quoting from this article on Wikipedia,

The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

Remember though, this is the Labour with a 'U' - same as AUstralia. Even then, different parts of Australia celebrate the day on different days of the year and only Queensland and the Northern Territory celebrate it on the first Monday of May (like the rest of the world). Other parts of Australia celebrate Labour Day in either March or October.

As for the American Labor day, from this article in Wikipedia,

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.

Happy Labor day to all in America! Happy forthcoming labor day to people who celebrate it later in the year. An 8 hour work day was a good idea, not in France anymore though. To all the workaholics out there, don't substitute work for other activities that help maintain a balance in your life.

Most Popular Toolbar

2007-09-02T20:54:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: Google is my default search engine and I use the Google Toolbar.

If you use just one search engine, have you ever wondered if there's a chance your search results may be skewed? Or, if Google were to delete it's index of my blog, will it cease to exist? Of course, I will lost all readers who arrive from organic searches on Google but my point really is that there isn't a standardization on what a true search result looks like.

Consider this - I searched for 'Toolbar' on the top search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Live, AOL Search(Powered by Google) and AltaVista) and the results show some internal tweaking - evident from the fact that the top spot in the results goes to the search engine where the search is performed (at least at Google and Yahoo) and not all can be true. A comparative analysis of the top 5 results is below.

Google's own toolbar gets ranks #1 and 2 while Windows Live toolbar gets rank #3. Yahoo gets ranks #4 and 5.

Yahoo gives itself ranks #1 and 3 while Google toolbar gets ranked #2 on the Yahoo Search results page. Conduit, a Toolbar Builder, is at #4 and AltaVista gets the #5 spot. Interesting to notice that Windows Live Search comes in at the 7th spot.

Windows Live Search gives the truest looking results this far by ranking Yahoo at #1 and 2, Google at #3 and the Wikipedia entry for 'Toolbar' at #4. The fifth spot is taken by Windows live itself.

AOL Search, being powered by Google, doesn't show results any different than the Google results themselves.

AltaVista reports Yahoo at #1 and 3, Google at #2, AltaVista at #4 and Windows live at #5.

So what's going on here? Does the search bot assign a higher rank to pages hosted under the same domain? Or is this an example of 'When marketing overshadows the product'? Moreover, is there a way to find out which Toolbar really is the most popular? Your comments please.

What you can do with Google Earth

2007-09-02T17:07:00.000+08:00

If you're the 'no so much into finding restaurant locations on a world map' kind, here's one reason to get Google Earth - now you can play Flight Simulator on Google Earth! If flying-by your house/school/office was your dream, here's your chance to make it a reality - virtually, of course.

It's not for me though, here's what my screen usually looks like when I'm flying: The STALL sign is missing in this picture though, and I'm happy about that.

The simulation will give you the option to fly either the F-16 Fighting Falcon or the Cirrus SR22. The Wikipedia entry for the SR22 also says the aircraft has the Aircraft Parachute System but I'm not sure why I still kept crashing. Hope you do better than I did.

In time, hopefully, Google will add more airports to the list which currently is at 27 airports from around the world. Hope to see more planes as well and, while I'm at it, how about a map layer with the airline routes across the globe? That way, passengers will be able to better choose which side of the aisle they want to sit during their real flights.

Other blogs who mentioned this easter egg from Google:

Google Earth's Hidden Surprise: A Flight Simulator at TechCrunch

EASTER EGG: Flight Simulator Hidden Within Google Earth at Mashable

Google Earth flight simulator at BoingBoing

Flight Simulator in Google Earth 4.2 at LifeHacker

Google Flight Simulator Lets You fly Big G Style at Gizmodo

Asterpix - Welcome to Video 2.0

2007-09-02T15:15:00.000+08:00

Asterpix enables a user to create hyperlinks in a video. This is immensely helpful if you're planning to add more information than the video can display - like here in the embedded video below:

This can help education as well as entertainment. If you go to the Asterpix page where this video is displayed, the details show that the source of the video is YouTube. This means the method will also lend itself to a new way of monetizing video content. In the words of the Asterpix team,

Asterpix enables users to easily create hypervideos and share them through websites, blogs and email. Analogous to hypertext, hypervideo provides an interactive experience by allowing viewers to select objects of interest to get more information or navigate the video.

Once you are a registered user, you can even add your own tags within the video and share with your friends. How soon before we have full HyperVideo HV HD movies? I'll be willing to take credit for that term whenever we do!

If you liked this post, you may also like

Stumble Naturally on merging the power of Stumble with Attention Trust

Make Money By Watching Ads - AdPerk: How your attention can get you magazine subscriptions

Wish your HDTV could do this?

2007-08-31T17:20:00.000+08:00

Play this post

How long before this technology becomes a reality? USC Institute for Creative Technologies has developed a 360 degree 3-D display. And, by the looks of it, the final product isn't going to be short of stunning. Unfortunately, I'm not experienced enough to advise on whether you should hold on to the cash you saved for that new HDTV this Christmas - or the next one.

Silent video of the display in action:

For the more technically inclined, I post the abstract from the Official USC Page here:

We describe a set of rendering techniques for an autostereoscopic light field display able to present interactive 3D graphics to multiple simultaneous viewers 360 degrees around the display. The display consists of a high-speed video projector, a spinning mirror covered by a holographic diffuser, and FPGA circuitry to decode specially rendered DVI video signals. The display uses a standard programmable graphics card to render over 5,000 images per second of interactive 3D graphics, projecting 360-degree views with 1.25 degree separation up to 20 updates per second. We describe the system's projection geometry and its calibration process, and we present a multiple-center-of-projection rendering technique for creating perspective-correct images from arbitrary viewpoints around the display. Our projection technique allows correct vertical perspective and parallax to be rendered for any height and distance when these parameters are known, and we demonstrate this effect with interactive raster graphics using a tracking system to measure the viewer's height and distance. We further apply our projection technique to the display of photographed light fields with accurate horizontal and vertical parallax. We conclude with a discussion of the display's visual accommodation performance and discuss techniques for displaying color imagery.

This new display is also published in SIGGRAPH 2007, just like this image resizing patent discussed in an earlier post.

Hopefully the core people behind this 3-D display will also get acquired by a big company (like Sony?), just like Adobe acquired Shai Avidan (mentioned here). And I hope that's not just wishful thinking.

Suggested Mashup - QuickInsert and AdPerk

2007-08-31T15:12:00.000+08:00

Play this post

This post earlier on how a reader can make money by watching ads. Alternatively, AdPerk also allows you to get subscription issues of a few magazines just by watching a short commercial. All-in-all, a pretty neat idea - until you think of the positive implications this may have on bloggers who are planning to monetize their blogs, but an essential payment service is still missing.

To bridge the divide, there's QuickInsert. In their own words,

You have a site, a blog, or webspace. We protect and host your membership content. This content is known as your "protected content" and is unavailable to non-users. Once a visitor registers on your website, they are either prompted for payment via Google Checkout/Paypal or are activated instantly. They can then login on your site, and your site's protected content becomes available!

As a blogger, now you can keep snippets in your main blog and keep the full posts accessible only to registered users. But that's not as far as you can go - imagine (as suggested in this post's heading) a mashup between the two services and you have a wonderful money maker. You can get your readers to view short ads before they can read your posts. Everyone benefits! Well, except the readers of course as they now have more clicks before the content becomes available.

Using QuickInsert is easy and you don't need to do any extensive HTML/Javascript editing before getting this to work. What's more, your readers/users will not be redirected to any other site. Payment and logging-in will be taken care of at your site itself.

If an entrepreneur out there is reading this blog, here's your million dollar idea! Don't forget to make me the (honorary) co-founder.

Other blogs that reported QuickInsert:

The QuickInsert Blog

QuickInsert: Charge for Your Content at Mashable

Protect or Sell Your Content via QuickInsert at Jeffro 2.0

QuickInsert - the free and easy way to protect and sell your content at Hotscripts.com

Orkut redesigned

2007-08-31T14:33:00.000+08:00

Play this post

I went into this mad frenzy a few minutes back. It all happened when I logged into my Orkut account to resolve some friend requests. First thing I thought - am I using Safari? After ruling out that possibility, and after scrolling down a little on the page, I was again mystified at the use of the old Google logo. Here's the new one:

And here is the old one found on Orkut:

And here's what I still don't understand after reading all about the Orkut makeover on TechCrunch - why not use the new Google logo?

Overall, not changing too much on this hugely popular social networking site (specially in Brazil and India) was perhaps a good idea. To find comparison pictures of the old and new Orkut, click here to visit pictures on Flickr. Maybe this is Google's way of telling users that they still like Orkut as much as we do and that they're working on getting it out of Beta soon. That's one makeover I've crossed my fingers for.

How to make astronomy interesting

2007-08-30T20:35:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week, the video of Miss Teen South Carolina did its rounds and I caught it on Fake Steve's blog here and on BoingBoing here. Against FSJ's advice, I'm posting the video below for your entertainment/education (ahem!).

On a related note, below is how to make education more interesting and easy to understand for everyone. The picture is available at NASA's website and they have a fresh one everyday. This one is from sometime in 2005 - the time when they found WATER on MARS

If geography was this expertly explained, maybe the teenagers of today would find it easier to locate iRaq on the world map.

If you liked this post, please leave a comment below. You may also like the following posts featured under 'Humor':

Non-Japanese Engrish about a funny Captcha-like test on a website

Gullibility Survey to check if you are gullible. Don't forget to vote!

Suggested Mashup - QuickInsert and AdPerk, a Fresh Business Idea!

Asterpix - Welcome to Video 2.0 - see what the future videos will be like

TryMango to learn a new language effectively

Funny Japanese Hurdles - always makes me laugh

Gmail video done

2007-08-29T22:58:00.001+08:00

I reported here on August 3rd about the Gmail team's invitation to create a video on how you think mail travels around the world. During the 2 weeks that submissions were open, as reported by TechCrunch, the Gmail team received 1100+ video submissions. I'm embedding the final video below:

It's interesting to see how many people participated in the submissions. Surely, many more would have submitted videos if the event received more publicity. Google sure doesn't budge from their current advertising model (or lack of it). I'm not complaining though!

Double Wow - Sooner than you think...

2007-08-29T22:11:00.000+08:00

It's rare for someone to be posting back-to-back about the same item when the posts are both inspired by the same blog (Ahem!).

My last post about Image Resizing was inspired by this post on TechCrunch and the current post is inspired by this one on TC again. I don't mean to plagiarize Mike's posts, but I can't hide my excitement as I learn that the co-inventor of the Image resizing technology, Shai Avidan, has been hired by Adobe.

I now wonder if some other image processing company is planning to hire Dr. Ariel Shamir and get him to compete with his co-inventor in the image processing market. Capitalism has its benefits :)

WOW! Image resizing on the fly - Seam Carving

2007-08-28T16:12:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Every once in a while there comes a service that really helps all of us in a big way. Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing is one such service. The patent is held by Dr Ariel Shamir and Shai Avidan of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science and the service revolves around finding horizontal and vertical seams that can be removed/added to resize images. The video below will give you a 'better picture' of how exactly it happens in real time.

Dr. Ariel Shamir's Home Page will give you a detailed description on how it's done. The technique is impressive and comes at a time when most of us thought of image editing as a plain vanilla service. On a related note, it's interesting to imagine how this may change things in the future. For one, it'll give copyrighting a whole new definition as pictures can be easily altered to remove content (and thereby creating totally new images).

Comments on TechCrunch also talk about editing music files, videos and even text to fit the browser in your desktop or handheld device.

All in all, it will be interesting to see how this service gets integrated into some of the more well-known photo editing softwares (like Photoshop) and whether the technology can be borrowed into resizing our videos.

When you don't talk

2007-08-24T19:18:00.000+08:00

If you treat blogging like a business, it turns out to be a business. If you don't give it time, it won't give you any financial juice. No, I don't treat this blog like a cash cow, it's actually a way for me to learn a few things about the web and to be regular at one thing in life at least.

Having said that, the reason I haven't been writing here for over two weeks now is firstly because I am traveling. Secondly, I have been unwell over the last couple of days and thirdly, I have limited access to the internet. All in all, it's a pretty nasty combination for a budding blogger...

I will try to revive my blog in the coming days and reach back where I left off. I hope you as a reader will come back for more news, views and commentary on the things that are happening around us.

Make money by watching ads - AdPerk

2007-08-07T15:43:00.000+08:00

I have reported here earlier on how a visitor's attention can attract a value for itself. AdPerk brings you (currently) magazine subscriptions that you pay for by watching upto a minute long ads before getting a link to the magazine edition. This is a pretty nifty way of paying for a service, and I get a feeling it's going to be very successful.

At present you can only get subscription issues of Dwell and Popular Science but this is going to change soon. I see from their site that they're recruiting advertising personnel so as to get more companies to have their products available through this mode of payment. It's understandable why they're focusing on magazines - the marginal cost of producing another online issue is zero. Hopefully they can expand to include other similar services that users can pay for by watching some ads.

I have contacted AdPerk to know if they are thinking of offering their services to Bloggers. After all, bloggers spend a lot of their time writing on what they think their viewers will like. Instead of waiting for a random user to click an ad, wouldn't it be better if every user can see a video ad while reading the blog? Will update this post when I get their response. Meanwhile, if you're planning to get your iPhone this way, I would suggest you take a year's leave to watch all the videos they'll stream your way...

Update:The response of the AdPerk team on when/if the system will be rolled out for blogs -

We just launched the company a little over a month ago so we’re in the very early stages. We’ve been working to make our platform completely scalable so as we move forward, you’ll see new titles added more quickly. We have several additions in the cue to go live over the coming weeks.

Re: rolling the concept out to bloggers is absolutely the direction we’re heading (in) – it’s a matter of executing on some of our established partnerships. We hope to have some solid news about our plans in the coming months

Other blogs who wrote about AdPerk:

AdPerk Signs on Popular Science for Free Subscription Rewards Program at Mashable!

Watch commercials and get free stuff with AdPerk at Download Squad

AdPerk rewards consumers for watching relevant online videos at 901am.com

Network review - Cozmo.tv

2007-08-07T14:39:00.001+08:00

Play this post

Cozmo.tv is when YouTube meets StumbleUpon. Using keywords from your settings and the publisher's, Cozmo.tv will stream videos only of your interest. Welcome to the personalized TV2.0. Moreover, it uses RSS feeds for channels. This means your content will always be up-to-date in that particular category.

When logged in, you will also be able to rate content and Cozmo will then decide on your preferences and how people of similar interest rated the videos. The next video you see will be based on some complex computations to ensure it suits your individual taste. Well, that's the whole idea behind it anyway. As of now the site Cozmo.tv is being upgraded.

You can also embed the Cozmo widget into your own website or blog. That way, your visitors can see your custom channel. It's much better than displaying keyword specific YouTube videos. Currently Cozmo.tv will only feature videos from top video sharing sites like YouTube, Google Videos, MySpace, etc. In their own words,

CozmoTV is going to redefine television. Today, people in the US spend an average of almost 5 hours a day watching TV and DVDs. However amazing this number is, what is even more amazing is that most are still not happy with what they are watching. CozmoTV is going to change this by dramatically improving the quality of what you watch when you ‘watch TV’ on our network.

What you need to do is set-up a channel by embedding a YouTube-like player in your website and start broadcasting.

What is also exciting is that you can aggregate channels on your webpage, show what you think your community might be interested in, and rake in the advertising dollars and subscription revenues! This one part definitely sets Cozmo.tv apart from the other video sharing networks which capitalize on your uploaded videos.

The reason why the Cozmo.tv site is not available at this moment is, as reported in their blog, that they are adding 1400 new RSS channels, some celebrity channels, custom networks, Blip.tv support, WordPress upgrade, a new search, and a 'New Server'. I'm always happy whenever a service adds 'new servers' as it means they're planning to cross the chasm from innovators and early adopters to the mass market - always a good sign on where the company is going. From starting in early 2006, the company has come a long way indeed. Hope we are able to dump the tube ~~soon~~ in favor a of tailored broadband Television soon.

iPhone no longer tied to AT&T

2007-08-06T20:59:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Great news - the iPhone can now be freed from the AT&T network. If you're on Verizon (or any other network), you can still buy that iPhone you've been drooling over. No need to wait for that lock-in period to end before you lay your hands on this one of God's creations. For $96, your iPhone can be (re)configured to work on any network. Hackintosh forums has a step-by-step guide on how to go about making the necessary changes to your iPhone

Of course, doing so will void your warranty and neither Hackintosh nor I can be held responsible. Moreover, I haven't tried the stunt yet but I have this feeling it will work. Mashable reported earlier on this iPhone hack. In fact, Tech blogger Digital Inspiration also reported earlier that Indian hackers will unlock the iPhone for as little as $25. This report from his blog on how.

All the best to iPhone fans across the globe. Do give the hackers in India a chance before you go all out to void your warranty yourself.

Fake Steve is Daniel Lyons

2007-08-06T13:20:00.000+08:00

On an unrelated note, Fake Steve Jobs (FSJ) has been unmasked. Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes, has been on the slick job since August 2006. FSJ has a readership that includes not only everyone at the valley and a lot of people around the globe, but also Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. In fact, Bill Gates even denied being the author of FakeSteve at the All Things Digital conference earlier. Still in continuation of the funnies, here's the picture Fake Steve put on his blog:

In case you're still wondering what Daniel Lyons looks like, I have a picture of him here (source: TechCrunch) He was busted by Brad Stone of the NY Times. Brad has been reporting on the Silicon Valley for over 10 years and his picture is sourced from the NY Times website. Below, pictures of both -

Notice the smiles? Apparently, FSJ was waiting to be uncovered. Here's what he said when he was approached by the reporter:

“I’m stunned that it’s taken this long, I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I’ve been sort of waiting for this call for months.”

. On his blog, however, FSJ laments Brad by saying

Well, tip of the hat to you, Brad Stone. You did the sleuthing. You put the pieces of the puzzle together. You went through my trash, hacked into my computer, and put listening devices in my home. Now you've ruined the mystery of Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people around the world of their sense of childlike wonder.

Indeed, not knowing who the real FSJ is was part of the fun. I hope Daniel Lyons can still continue to enrich our lives with his unique sense of humor and his way of lampooning everything non-Apple (sometimes including Apple as well). To view a video interview with Daniel Lyons, visit the Forbes.com website here.

Update:In the video, Forbes announces that it will sponsor FSJ's blog starting August 6th and that it will remain edgy and fun - Forbes will not edit it in any way.

Network review - Clipshack

2007-08-06T11:58:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Clipshack is owned by RealityDigital, which also offers a white label platform for launching and hosting entire sites.

ClipShack is a community for videophiles; a destination where people can post their video for general public viewing and comment, share clips with friends and family, post video to blogs, share information and feedback with other videophiles and wireless media aficionados and gain industry information relevant to digital video creation. The mission of ClipShack is to be the easiest, most fun site for sharing and playing with video.

RealityDigital was also in the news some time back (as reported by Mashable) when they raised 2 Million using Clipshack. There has also been speculation that Clipshack may be no more than a smart piece of marketing for RealityDigital. But all that shouldn't stop me from doing an objective review of the service. Here goes -

Clipshack has not been making news of late, but they have been mentioned by PCWorld and CBS4 earlier. TechCrunch calls it 'The Flickr of Video Sharing'. All uploaded files are converted to flash (for ease of viewing across browsers) and so the videos can easily be embedded to any site. Users can also rate and tag videos (which has become a plain vanilla service these days) and create holiday video cards. One added bonus is that you can upload videos from your Cellphone. While the space per user is pegged at 5GB, it should be sufficient for a long time. The site also integrates Google Maps so you can map your content and search by location.

Overall, I would give Clipshack a 2 on our one-to-five scale. If you are a company representative or a die-hard fan of Clipshack, do leave a comment and I can add in the updates.

Oops! Sorry for the triple post

2007-08-05T00:28:00.000+08:00

Play this post

If you have subscribed to this blog, you may have noticed a 'triple posting' for WOW - Podcasting on the phone!. Honest mistake! I have no idea how it happened. Maybe it was because I was trying to make the table appear closer to the paragraph before it, or maybe it was because I 'accidentally' updated the tags for the post. Either way, I need to be more careful next time.

If you like this blog and haven't subscribed to it yet, please take a minute to do so. The subscribe button on the right column works like a charm, and I am no longer 'triple posting' :)

WOW - Podcasting on the phone!

2007-08-04T23:29:00.002+08:00

Play this post

Starting today, I will add a WOW feature to my blog - to be published whenever I see a service that's based on a really neat idea. It need not be related to the core theme of this blog, but it'll be something that has good potential to 'solve a problem' and enrich our lives.

Today's WOW feature is about two podcasting services I recently discovered - Podlinez and a service from Alltel.

Podlinez, a free service, just needs you to enter the Podcast Feed URL and it generates a (US) phone number that you can call to listen to that podcast. You can use the * and # keys on your phone to skip forward and backward in the podcast. Now you don't have to miss your podcasts just because you are in office. Here are some of their most popular numbers:

CNN News Update	+1 (415) 376-7253
PotterCast: The Harry Potter Podcast	+1 (818) 688-2780
NPR: Hourly News Summary	+1 (650) 523-6819
this WEEK in TECH - MP3 Edition	+1 (831) 480-3911
The Cell Phone Junkie	+1 (510) 495-6352
Diggnation (Mp3)	+1 (408) 538-2141
NewsPod	+1 (510) 248-0337
Faith Church Weekly Word	+1 (408) 538-2182
TalkCrunch	+1 (831) 480-3920
Daily GizWiz	+1 (415) 376-7224

With Alltel Axcess you can use your phone to search and choose from thousands of podcasts. BestStuff puts the monthly subscription at $3.99 but I was unable to verify the same at the Alltel website.

There you are - two WOW services, one that generates a phone number that you can call (use the free office phone) to listen to podcasts and the other to choose from thousands of podcasts without having to remember any numbers. I would prefer the first, which would you choose? Do you think these services can be improved? Leave a comment.

Fruitless Fruitcast - Ads in Podcast? Not now!

2007-08-04T22:19:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Any idea what happened to the much talked about service that appends audio ads to your podcasts? Fruitcast is the first service that came to mind when I thought of adding a podcast to my blog. After all, it won recommendations from TechCrunch, SolutionWatch, Mashable, ProBlogger, LifeHacker and SoloStream. So what exactly happened to this wonderful idea? It seems Fruitcast is taking a break from business (who does that?) to come up with some more wonderful ideas. Or perhaps the high CPM rates brought them down?

Here's what they said when they started out back in November 2005 -

‘Want to earn income from your labor of love? Putting ads on your podcast is now as easy as signing up for an account and changing the URL of your podcast’s RSS feed. Tasty!’

I hate to see love's labor lost and Fruitcast is currently proving fruitless. In the meanwhile, Kiptronic has come up with a similar service and I think they also took all of Fruitcast's customers with them.

It sure would be nice to see more competition in the field of serving ads with podcasts, and I'm sure Fruitcast is working on something wonderful behind the curtains. Just don't take too long guys!

Like this post? Write your thoughts in the comments!

Network review - Castpost

2007-08-04T18:38:00.000+08:00

Play this post

At a time when Video sharing networks are raising millions from VCs, it's surprising to see Castpost in Alpha testing since 2005! Either that, or they're growing so fast they didn't have time to update their About page. The former case seems more likely, gauging by the mindshare Castpost commands.

In their own words, "Castpost currently includes Castpost Hosting, a popular video hosting services for user-generated content. Castpost Hosting is in Alpha, and people all over the world use Castpost to share their personal video and audio clips with friends and family." Just how popular, we don't know yet.

The good part - you can customize your personal page to have only audio files (as well as a mix). This one is a good example. Tyromaniac is an example of mixed audio and video on a page. But these features don't pack anything special really.

TechCrunch calls such video sharing services The Flickrs of Video and I'm sure the other services mentioned in his post are much better than Castpost at what they set-out to do. It's got the lowest storage space available to users, doesn't convert the format (flv/flash/3gp). You can still share via RSS though, but maybe some more work and the service will be fully baked. Another two years maybe?

Amazon launches Flexible Payments Service (FPS)

2007-08-03T18:32:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Amazon today goes head-to-head with PayPal by launching the Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS). It is a set of payment service APIs that facilitate the transfer of money between two entities (people or computers). The service provides more tools than Paypal to help developers set-up payment on their sites. This service will cover different types of transactions and the user will be able to make one-time/recurring transactions and also set-up weekly limits on transfers to any particular receiver.

There is no limit to the number of payment instructions. Moreover, "Developers can create payment instructions that are as simple or complex as they desire. For example, creating a relatively complex business model around micro-payments is easy to do with Amazon FPS. Our aggregation feature lets you track and aggregate micro-payments into a single payment transaction, saving on transaction processing costs and avoiding having to build complex ledger functionality into your own applications. Without this capability micro-payments would be difficult or cost-prohibitive."

The service is also customizable to accept different ways of receiving payment (credit cards, online bank transfer and Amazon Payments balance transfer), view account balances, transaction history and transaction details.

As a developer, you can also apply for monthly volume discounts as per the following:

2.5% + $0.30 per transaction for payment volume from $3K- $10K
2.2% + $0.30 per transaction for payment volume from $10K - $100K
1.9% + $0.30 per transaction for payment volume over $100K

Overall, seems like PayPal finally has a real competitor. Moreover, Amazon already has products that it sells (unlike PayPal) and it won't be difficult to integrate this service first into their own systems. With Amazon's consumer base and having given a lot of options to developers, this may be one big step by Amazon to become the leading online service provider in this sector.

Amazon rolls out Flexible Payment Service - Scobleizer

Create a video for Gmail!

2007-08-03T17:15:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Till 13th August, Google is accepting videos of how you think email messages travel across the world. The videos can be uploaded here. Google will feature your videos on the Gmail homepage and they will be visible to users worldwide.

What you need to do is download the M-velope and print it out (in color). Once that is done, all you need is a camera. The M-velope should enter the screen from the left and exit on the right and it should also be clearly visible throughout the video. The video length needs to be under 10 seconds, so you don't need to have great directorial/story writing skills. Oh, by the way, you don't need to worry about sound quality either - the Gmail team will add a soundtrack to the video.

Here's the video's first few seconds, (by employees and collaborators) -

And here are some of the featured videos -

Hurry! Make and upload yours now!

Network review - Buzznet

2007-08-02T17:13:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Launched in 2003 by Marc Brown, Anthony Batt, Steve Haldane and Kevin Woolery, Buzznet really appeared on the public radar sometime towards the last quarter of 2004. Since then, though, it has grown exponentially into a 6 million user strong "vibrant social media destination representing the next generation of social networking".

Not just a video sharing network, Buzznet is Social Networking service that offers more than profile pages and communication tools (read MySpace, Facebook and Orkut). Buzznet enables users to interact with and create dynamic multimedia communities around the topics they are most passionate about. The demographics (and audience targeted) keeps the topics around music and pop culture. Users connect, discuss, discover and share audio/video media and photos.

There's a reason why this 'video sharing networks' post mentions Buzznet's video sharing platform at the end - a lot of users embed videos from popular video sharing services like YouTube, MySpace and others. Frankly, I think services that offer only Video sharing are plain vanilla. The real chocolate sauce that separates Buzznet from the others is the type of customized pages users can create. A quick look at Jeffrey Star's page will illustrate Buzznet's power of creating social networks. Users can subscribe to communities, tag and rate videos, display information specific to the community and, of course, leave comments.

Overall, for the unique blend of many vanilla services, I would give Buzznet a hearty 4 out of 5. Do you feel different? Leave a comment!

Talk as long as you want, the call is free

2007-08-02T01:52:00.000+08:00

How long before you get to say that to your friends? This Engadget post quotes FCC Chairman Kevin Martin saying users will be able to "use any wireless device and download any mobile broadband application, with no restrictions." This means we may soon be able to buy phones that operate only on internet telephony over the (soon to be) free 700MHz spectrum. No wonder, then, that the leader of free (read Google) has promised a whopping 4.6 Billion to sweeten the deal for FCC.

Google is already in talks with Wistron NeWeb for development of Wi-Fi phones with Google Talk compatibility. Once the product is available to customers, there'll be no reason to stick with AT&T and their subscription plans. Free is obviously the best subscription plan (yet). Expect a surge in usage as telephony goes free. Also, the services available to cellphone subscribers will fade against the applications Google will encourage users to create.

What services would you like your free phone subscription to provide (besides contextual audio ads)? Leave a comment.

More than your Wii

2007-08-01T17:31:00.000+08:00

Play this post

In this post yesterday, I mentioned how accelerometers are helping change things around us in an interesting way. Apparently I haven't been reading my blog subscriptions - InventorSpot reported two days ago about the same Tango that I mentioned. What's more, they have more pictures than I could find at that time.

Quoting Inventorspot, "High schoolers Ben Gulak and Jason Morrow, both 18, displayed their vehicle at a recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque. Besides being cool, the bike is also green. It produces zero emissions, and the inventors hope it will be used in cities due to its compact size."

My analysis suggests the bike uses information from a triple-axis accelerometer to ensure that it doesn't fall when you lean forward/back on it. In fact, the imbalance caused when you shift your weight is used to turn, accelerate and brake. The concept, although not new, is pretty neat and we can hope to see more applications based on this device. This one application is quite interesting - Remote measurements

This also adds another item to our list of devices with this technology at the heart -

Nike +

The Wii Remote

Segway Scooters

Wireless power - another jump

2007-08-01T14:49:00.000+08:00

Play this post

I reported here earlier about different ways of transmitting power wirelessly. The last among them was about a recent patent from Apple (reported by Hrmpf) which enables the charging to be done without any metal-to-metal contact. Powermat seems to function on the same principle and Electromagnetic Induction seems to be at the heart of the device.

Frankly, I do not see how this innovation frees the people of wires.

What I do see in the picture are laptops connected to their (shorter) umbilical cords and maybe there's a whole mesh of cables under the charging unit. The Powermat team says "For all those confounded by a tangle of electronic device cables and chargers or a shortage of electrical outlets, Powermat thinks it has the answer".

I think the best way to move forward in a big way would be to do away with wires totally. How is this possible? Two ways - one involving Microwave transmission, as reported here by ThinkGeek and the other involving Electrical Resonance as reported here.

Do you think there is a better way of doing this? Leave comments below and let's start a discussion.

Nike +, minus the Nike shoes

2007-07-31T20:27:00.000+08:00

Play this post

It's been official for almost a year now - the shoe sensor does not need Nikes (and you don't need to take a dermel to your insoles either, like this guy did(second comment)). Gizmodo reported in August 2006 about Marware's $10 waterproof pouch for you to stuff the sensor in. Today, Gizmodo reported a $7.99 Neoprene pouch that does the same thing.

What was originally thought to be measurement using the Piezoelectric effect (which explains why the sensor needs to be placed below the foot), as reported here, turns out to be a simple play with Accelerometers. While a Piezoelectric crystal also fits with the economic, accuracy and power consumption models, using an accelerometer really frees the user from buying the Nike+ shoes. Nice work Mr. Jobs.

Incidentally, accelerometers are also at the heart of the new Wii(I had the previlige of testing one today - it's wonderful! Now you can actually get some exercise playing a tennis video game) and the Tango bike.

What's bad about this Apple device? Two things -

The device is not compatible with the iPhone. Actually the iPhone isn't compatible with the device, but you get the idea. Now you need to carry your iPhone and your iPod Nano so you can listen songs and attend calls while measuring your run. Quite a feat indeed!

Insufficient reason? How about the fact that you can be tracked from a distance of about 60ft as long as you have the transmitter in/on your shoe? I believe carrying it in your pocket might also cause it to detect movement (Piezos would've been better for this). You should keep it 'Switched off' when you're not using it. Doing that, however, is a chore if you're donning the Nikes. And it doesn't stop at just tracking, this research at the Washington University suggests that your travel information can also be put up on the Google Maps. Do you really want everyone to know how much you ran? Or how little you ran? One of these is a real invasion of privacy.

Geeky Tattoos

2007-07-30T13:56:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Just how far are you willing to go to get attention? Or to prove your dismay at Microsoft for every time you've been shown the Blue Screen of Death message? Some of us (at least this one) are willing to get the BSOD message tattooed on an arm as a symbol of harassment (?). Image below from Modblog.bmezine.com

It doesn't stop at a BSOD message - this guy got a tattoo of Microsoft Zune! Reportedly, he was flown to Microsoft's Redmond office so he could meet the Zune team (more likely so the Zune team could meet this ztard)Image below from Geekologie

Dudley Frank (William H. Macy) got an Apple tat in the movie Wild Hogs and, apparently, he's not the only one! A quick search revealed a lot of Apple and Mac lovers.

And this place has a whole bunch of people with Apple tats. Wonder if any of them got to meet Steve Jobs yet...Image from TheAppleCollection.com

If you are planning to get yourself tattooed, the following resources might help you prepare for the event. The information will also be helpful in caring for that inked skin:

Tattoo FAQ

Aftercare instructions

First Tattoo - what not to do

You got a timeline on that?

2007-07-30T12:49:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Have you ever wondered whether there is a better way to represent information than Wikipedia? The founders of xtimeline probably did too. That's why Lauren and Kevin created something that's, in their own words, "a cross between Wikipedia and YouTube".

A graphical representation of chronological data is much more interesting (and easy on the brain) than the usual figures and play with words. If you have information that you would like to share with the world, why not make a timeline of it? It's much easier to create and the information is spread easily too. If you have Picasa installed on your computer, you'll be able to relate to the timeline format in which your pictures are displayed. It's also similar to the way Apple's Leopard displays your images and videos. A good idea indeed.

With xtimelines, users can create timelines on almost anything of their interest. What makes it collaborative is that other users can comment on and rate the timelines. You can even 'bulk upload' timelines in the .CSV format if connectivity costs you dearly or if you'd rather create things on your computer first.

What's even better, some of the top timelines appear in the 'featured' section of xtimelines. Ones of particular interest are the timelines of Google, The Iraq war and The Lord of the Rings.

So next time you have to make a school/college or job presentation about data, consider creating a timeline - it's easy to share and more effective than charts.

Fichey solves bookmarking overload

2007-07-28T14:40:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Here's a good idea if there ever was one. Do you want to browse through the most favorite pages on del.icio.us, Digg, Downfly, Reddit and StumbleUpon? Fichey provides a one-stop solution to viewing the day's top pages in the top bookmarking sites.

What's more, you can drag or scroll down on a page to move around and double-click a page to interact with it. Fichey stores top pages as .jpg images and uses them in its flash 'Microfiche like' interface. Just choose the date, and you're set. I hope they are also planning to include features like 'date range' and 'months' for viewing favorites. Also, Fichey could index more bookmarking services and offer them in the service drop-down.

The monetization is the classic contextual advertizing. If you double-click a page, you will be served Fichey's image of the page and a link to visit the original source. On the right of this link bar are some ads from Google.

All in all, a pretty neat idea for a start-up. With the advent of this many bookmarking services, it's sometimes hard to keep track of what's hot where. Fichey helps by simplifying the bookmarking platform. Moreover, there's no image to load and javascript from each page to execute. If you're more into voting and bookmarking and less into knowing the latest on the internet, you may really miss the voting button here though. Imagine Fichey as the Google News for bookmarking, but with a better looking (and easy on the computer) flash interface.

Like this post? Think I missed something? Leave a comment!

4 8!09 1n !337$p33k

2007-07-27T18:25:00.000+08:00

9!4y 7j1$ p0$7

17'z $0m3h0w funny wh3n 4 819 c0mp4ny !1k3 m1cr0$0f7 7r13z 70 3xp!a1n p0pu14r 1n73rn37 !1n90 wh1!3 4!$0 c0mmun1c471n9 7h3 1mp0r74nc3 0f 900d p4r3n71n9. 7h1$ p493, d473d j4nu4ry 2007, 0n 73h m1cr0$0f7 w38$173 3xp!a1nz 73h 'curr3nt' 1n73rn37 !1n90. Wr171n9 4 !0n93r p0$7 m19h7 !34d 70 c4rp4! 7unn3! $yndr0m3 :) 97w, d03$ 9009!3 1nd3x $uch p493$?

1f y0u 7h1nk y0u und3r$74nd 7h1z p0$7, d0 wr173 y0ur r3$p0n$3 1n 73h c0mm3n7$. 83773r $71!!, !1473n 70 73h p0dc4$7 - 17'z h1!4r10u$!!m4ny 7h4nk$0rz.

Ajax Office

2007-07-27T14:45:00.000+08:00

Play this post

If you have a fast enough internet connection, use ajax13 and you won't need to buy an Office software at all. The current applications offered are

1. ajaxWrite
2. ajaxSketch
3. ajaxXLS
4. ajaxPresents
5. ajaxTunes

Applications take a little while to load, the company quotes a '6 second' loading time, but it could take longer depending on your internet connection. Once the application is loaded, though, even a slow connection speed will suffice as the service connects only when some functions are used.

All applications have the same look and feel as the corresponding mainstream applications, while being full of ideas that haven't yet been incorporated anywhere. For example, you can save an ajaxWrite document directly in PDF format.

ajaxSketch is designed for people using Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. The output is saved in the .svg format and can directly be opened with MS Visio, Illustrator, Inkscape or Macromedia Freehand.

Whether you use MS Excel or the corresponding program in OpenOffice, ajaxXLS is compatible with both. You can open and edit spreadsheets using ajaxXLS and any formatting you use will be preserved across services within the platform. Currently in Beta, ajaxXLS looks like it still lacks some features (like creating a spreadsheet), but the application itself has a lot of possibilities.

With ajaxPresents, you can view and edit Microsoft Power Point files (.ppt) as well as Open Standard Presentation files (.odp) files. Additionally, there's also an option of publishing your presentation by emailing it to the ajax13 team. Viewers can comment on and download the published presentations.

ajaxTunes lets you listen to songs from the company's repository of over 40,000 titles. With a small, desktop based player having all the basic music playing functions, you can access your personal locker of songs and you can even add the player to your website so visitors can listen to your collection.

All the services are OS and machine independent. And you don't need to worry about updates - they're taken care of by the ajax13 team. One glitch though, all services only work with Firefox. It makes sense to develop the product for other browsers like IE and Safari - especially since Firefox has a small market share and ajax13 will benefit from IE users who may want to use the suite.

While Google offers most of these services to online users, ajax13's services are more suitable for slower connections. The documents you create can be stored directly on your machine and a user buying a new computer may not need to buy MS Office at all. This direct saving may offset the price of subscribing to broadband for a few months, if not more.

From the look of it, it seems like ajax13 may want to get acquired as no monetization method is clear. The appearance of Relevant, Contextual ads on my documents could prove me wrong though. Do let me know what you think.

Best viewed on Safari

2007-07-27T14:44:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Written, not posted on 14th June - It's only been an hour since I started using Safari and the experience is awesome. You can download it here. Of course, as with most other softwares, this one's not fully bug-free yet. When I tried to open my yahoo mail (the new beta version) using Safari, it gave me a windows error. I did not report the issue to Microsoft as the pop-up asked me to do. Instead, I opened another window of Safari to reported a bug. Wonder why Microsoft wants to know when Safari crashes - maybe Mr. Gates wants to talk about the number of Safari crashes when he's with Steve Jobs on stage the next time.

Written today - 27th July: Safari has come a long way since their launch on the 4th of June. Currently, version 3.0.2 is available for download and most of their earlier bugs seem to have been fixed. The Download Updates page lists Latest Security Updates, Improved Stability and other fixes as the top updates. You may also be interested in the 'Coming Soon' list of features.

Now might be a safe time to migrate to Safari, if you haven't done so already. The interface is compellingly addictive and you'll fall in love with it within the first hour of starting use. And don't worry about those bookmarks in IE and Firefox - those will be automatically migrated when you install. As of now I'm still not sure if these bugs were solved though, but I haven't ever encountered anything similar.

The Broadband Video Dilemma

2007-07-27T12:40:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Broadband is at a juncture where the bandwidth almost rivals the data pipe of the good ol' Cable TV. This post earlier on the world's fastest home broadband connection. In what might be a Tipping Point for broadband use in broadcasting media, the entertainment industry is poised for a shift.

The shift will involve not only big networks going the broadband way, but also the millions of YouTube and other video sharing network users who can expand services to the Long Tail of video consumers. As more and more people connect to the internet, there is a bigger and bigger market for niche video. Just as Netflix does business with almost all the titles it carries, the day is not far when we will see a market for a channel for Monk episodes.

Ok - I'm no great Techie, but this is what I had in mind: Instead of making channels for viewers, why not just tag the videos (aren't users doing this already?) and have a service that serves videos of any particular tag at a time? In essence, tags ARE channels! Networks like Blinkx already offer ~~inexing~~ indexing services for videos across platforms. And can you think of a limit to the number of (text) tags a video can have? If each tag were a channel, the number of options available will only be limited to the number of tags available across platforms - a big number indeed!

Listen to this blog!

2007-07-25T01:40:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Starting today, you will be able to listen to my posts directly on the blog using the embedded player above. If you find them interesting, please consider subscribing to my posts via Talkr.

If you would rather read the posts in your RSS reader, you can also subscribe to them using the 'Subscribe' button on the right. Either ways, hope you have a pleasant internet experience :)

Power to the people, wirelessly!

2007-07-24T13:17:00.000+08:00

Play this post

A good thing worth waiting for would be wireless power. As reported in ThinkGeek these devices transmit power over microwave frequencies and there is no need for any connecting wires between the base and satellite units. A word of caution though - you may accidentally burn that instruction manual if you leave it between the two units! (Image source: ThinkGeek.com)

Another attempt at wireless power transmission - pioneered at MIT, WiTricity may pave the way for transmitting energy (as against information) wirelessly. This article on Sci-Tech Today explains the concept behind MIT physics professor Marin Soljacic's (pronounced Soul-ya-cheech) brainchild. Electrical resonance has successfully been used to transmit power over short distances. Unlike microwaves, these radiation will only affect objects that are at the same resonance frequency - leaving the rest of your house intact. As reported at Sci-Tech Today, the team have successfully been able to transmit power to a 60 Watt bulb from a distance of 7 feet.

A third way of transmitting energy wirelessly? A team of Japanese researchers has created an 'energy mat' which can be placed anywhere - desks, floors, walls and delivers power to appliances placed on or near it. This paper describes the process in detail, along with photographs.

Soon we will be charging some of our favorite appliances wirelessly. As reported at Hrmpf, with Apple applying for a patent in February this year for its 'non-contact charger', we can be sure other companies will follow suit and it won't be long before the ubiquitous wire is forgotten.

Wirefree - totally

2007-07-24T11:55:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Wireless USB has finally arrived. From this post at GigaOm, I can't stop wondering how things are going to change once wireless USB is as widely available as the current wired version.

For one, we can free ourselves of some of the wires we have been lugging around till now - connectors for camera, cellphone, etc. Moreover, there isn't a need to worry about the number of USB ports in your laptop anymore. I'm assuming the wireless USB will incorporate the possibility of multiple connections. If the connections are to be limited, hopefully they'll be limited at a figure over 10.

Don't expect every USB device to go wireless though. The ones that need to draw power from the USB will still need to be connected, or they would need to carry batteries (and will be heavier).

Network review - Brightcove

2007-07-23T14:25:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Company founder: Jeremy Allaire.

After raising 59.5 million in their third round of funding in January this year, Brightcove has added more services and media partnerships.

Current Brightcove partners include Reuters, TiVo, Fox Broadcast Net, FX, Speed, CBS, Discovery, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Showtime, Rainbow Media, Buena vista, Dow Jones, BSkyB and NY Times. Website owners can display their own/user generated content as well as content from the partner networks on their webpages. Some partners, like Reuters, need you to fulfill certain requirements like number of page views before you can start displaying their content. If you are a TiVo subscriber, you can watch your content online - a great plus when you are traveling to another country and don't want to miss the latest episodes of your favorite soap.

Monetization - As reported by Mike earlier, the Brightcove Network is the video delivery and monetization channel for small publishers. You get 50% of revenue generation from ads displayed on the viewing page and 70% of revenue each time one of your videos is downloaded from Brightcove. Ads displayed along your video may be pre/post roll or synched banners appearing along your player. Enrol for a premium publisher account if you would like to take control of how the ads appear. You also have reason to cheer if you are the creator of content - with the acquisition of MetaStories, editing your flash based video should be a breeze.

A sample video:

Aside from the usual features associated with video sharing networks, Brightcove stands out in the following:

1. Syndication Marketplace: Here website publishers can use video content from hundreds of uploaded videos. The owner can choose to approve and add ads to the uploaded video. The appended ads will be displayed along with the content on the publisher's webpage.

2. Publish using Brightcove network: Using the Brightcove network, you can publish for free and Brightcove will place and sell ads. While you will earn half the ad revenue on every video display, your earnings go up to 70% if your content is downloaded.

3. Publish using Brightcove platform: Designed for media companies, broadcasters and marketers, this platform gives the user full control over ads displayed on the content. A usage fee is applied, as Brightcove will not have control over your content.

Other articles you may find interesting:

Brightcove needs time before getting personal

Embed Breaking News Videos in Website or Weblog - Retain Visitors

Brightcove Launches Its Network for Small Video Publishers

Network review - Break.com

2007-07-22T14:12:00.000+08:00

Play this post

Break isn't exactly a network you could view on a Sunday afternoon with your kids. The content is not tailored for adults per se, but this isn't Cartoon Network either. Unlike networks where adult content is flagged, Break doesn't believe in censoring the content and, with Break Girls, it seems the Break team involves a bunch of naughty guys.

You can rate videos, bookmark 'em and add them to your Stumble or MySpace page. The video controls are good - you can link to related, top rated and most viewed videos from within the video player. Videos are also rated, and the most rated videos feature in the Who's Hot. The page even shows the one-day percentage jump in rank. A jump of over 3000% gets a video in the 'Breakout' category. Other categories for videos include 'Just submitted, most viewed, most discussed, top rated and most shared. Here is a sample video:

Most videos take time to load though, and that is expected when a site has close to 17 million unique monthly visitors and 500 million video plays. The over 3 million (registered) users are spreading quite a word.

It would be nice if we can pause videos before they start playing. That way, a user can open multiple videos in multiple windows and then view them one-by-one after they all load. It would be a better use of the limited bandwidth.

Monetization is what separates Break from most of its competitors. You can get paid for the videos you upload. All original video content that makes it to the Break homepage (with enough votes) gets you $400. Original short films and flash & animated films and games get you $2000 if they feature on the Break homepage. Not only this, Break also advises you on how you can make your uploads popular (posting on Digg, MySpace, asking your friends to view, etc) so that you get to see those green ones sooner. You can even apply for Break Pro if you produce video content as a profession. Break will help you monetize your creation further.

Further reading recommendations: Make money from contextual video ads

Spam Scam - Nigeria

2007-07-20T22:46:00.000+08:00

Play this post

There are many different types of scam techniques floating around on the internet. One of the popular ones is the Nigerian Spam services. I call them services because, just like those annoying salesmen selling you millions of insurance dollars in exchange for petty cash every month, the Nigerian spamsters also sell the promise of making a lot of money. The two services differ in that the insurance sometimes pays.

The latest of the Nigerian scams is detailed here. As you can see, the technique has evolved from the simple mails we used to receive a couple of years back. New Nigerian geeks are coming up with brand new ways of robbing us of our hard earned money. No wonder then that scamming is one of the largest industries in Nigeria today! Some of the documented ways of being robbed are illustrated here (click the link to go to the page that explains the method):

You've won a lottery! - What you get in your email is a poor photoshop job of your name superimposed on a lottery ticket. Common sense should tell us that a person's chances of winning a lottery are ZERO if no ticket is bought! Why would someone buy a ticket in your name in the first place?

Need to move money from my country - You get a usual looking email from some stranger (first red flag) asking your help to move lots of money (usually in the hundreds of millions) from their country. What you get is a cut from the transaction, anywhere between 15 and 40 percent. Again, common sense should tell us that a crook (yes, they aren't like you and me) wouldn't solicit help from a decent person to move that huge an amount of cash..

The classic eBay scam - You put up your old, $100 phone on eBay hoping to sell it for something like 40 - 50 bucks and the winning bid surprises you! Some bloke in Nigeria is willing to pay you 300 bucks for your old phone! Well, maybe they don't have such advanced equipment in Nigeria and you decide to sell it to the bidder. The money will never reach you and you'll lose the merchandise as well. They bait you into mailing the item by promising a 'held payment' cheque deposited in your name with some (usually well known) postal department. Again, common sense should tell you never to ship out an item without first receiving payment for it. Also, check the buyer's reputation before entering into a transaction. Also, if you think an email is sent to you from eBay asking you to trust the buyer, check that the email is valid. An example - eBayCustomerService@polar.com is an not a mail from eBay at all while customerservice@ebay.com is a valid email. Check for the domain name (bold).

The great 419er - The name comes from section 419 in the Nigerian criminal law which deals with cheating. The scamster will usually ask for a small amount (to the tune of a couple of hundred thousands) so that they are able to free amounts in millions. Of course, they'd be more than willing to share between ten to thirty percent of the amount with you for your help. Problem is, the hundred thousand you wire to them will never be heard of again. If you try to pursue your money and reach Nigeria searching for it, you risk losing more money - and worse, your life!

Someone's died, no will, please help us recover the money - Same as the 419er mentioned above.

The Dating scam - This one might sometimes pay you a pittance first before you're lured into parting with lots more. Spammers, usually masquerading as foreigners working in Nigeria, try to establish a correspondence with you. Once the initial hesitation of 'talking to strangers' is over, they pretend to fall madly in love with you and even send you some (cheap) presents. Eventually they will ask for your help in moving large amounts of money out of the country. After that, it's basically just like the 'Need to move money from my country' scam illustrated above.

So what does an average person like you and me do when contacted by such scammers? Do not respond! That's the best defense we have against people who try to rob us of our hard earned money. If the scammers do not get people to respond to their bait, maybe it'll persuade them to actually look for meaningful work. Another thing you can do is try your hands at scambaiting. It's kind of like hunting and presents some inherent risks - you may burn your hands doing it, but the rewards are gratifying too. You pretend that you're falling for the bait and get the scammer to spend some of his (hard earned) money on you. A better idea would be to let an expert do the baiting and read about it on their website. Report a scam to 419eater.It's a source of some entertainment while also a detriment to the scammers. With enough scambaiters around, some day we will hopefully see the end of these fraudsters.

Video sharing - Expect more

2007-07-20T20:53:00.000+08:00

From this post on NewTeeVee.com by Laurie Sullivan, we now know about the future of internet video networks. A lot of new video sharing networks are coming up. Call it video-sharing 2.0, these networks promise to give more professionally generated content to the users and are poised to gather huge audiences.

All this, thanks to (1) the democratization of media and the falling cost of production and distribution on the internet and (2) the increasing connectivity and bandwidth available to the end users. The fastest internet connection, currently serving Sigbritt L öthberg of Sweden, is pegged at 40GBps. Moore's Law dictates that it will not be long (a few 20 month cycles perhaps) before such connections will be the norm and we will be able to download hour long HD videos in about the same time we currently take to download that 3-minute .flv from YouTube.

Expect more juice in your (free) video downloads in the future. Also, expect detailed reviews here.

Gullibility survey

2007-07-20T15:53:00.001+08:00

Alarmists call for stricter control over chemical 'Dihydrogen monoxide' because of its rampant use in all countries and the possible harmful effects of use. Some of the effects:

1. Excessive use causes overhydration, a condition which can kill humans
2. Accidental inhalation has been widely reported as a sure killer
3. Causes perspiration and is the leading content in antiperistalitic movement
4. Major component in acid rain
5. Can cause severe burns in the gaseous state
6. Causes soil erosion and is found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

Would you support a ban, or at least some control, on the use of this chemical compound? Vote below:

Do leave comments (only what you thought of the poll, not what the poll was about) :)

You might also be interested in this Gullibility Factor test.

Random fact from

Hamster Sudoku anyone?

2007-07-20T13:26:00.000+08:00

This mashable on Beckysweb lets you play Sudoku with Flikr pictures. The link to the mashup will take you to a hamster sudoku. If you don't have a particular preference for hamsters then you can choose pictures from pretty much any category of your liking. This mashup will bring pictures of cars to your sudoku game.

It's nice to have choices. But too many choices can sometimes lead to unhappiness, as illustrated by Barry Schwartz in his talk at Ted. A video is attached below:

But the way we are heading, we will see more mashups than ever before. Any ideas on how, if at all, we can standardize the creation of new services?

This post was inspired by: 11 Craziest ways to Browse Flikr Photos

No way out

2007-07-20T00:35:00.000+08:00

After using Google Analytics and finding out which pages people use to exit my blog, I removed all the exit pages. Now this blog officially has no exit pages! Once you are in (which you are, I can tell), there is no way out of the blog.

Since you might be stuck here for some time, I suggest you make use of all the clickable little links I have here. Have fun, feel at home.

Network review - Bolt.com

2007-07-19T18:05:00.000+08:00

This site is an attempt at bringing a lot of independent services together - People profiles, photos, video sharing and forums - in keeping with the site's tagline 'Upload and Share you Life'. For the sake of keeping to my theme though, I will not include a review of the other services at this time.

In their own words, Bolt is "a place where you could store, organize and share all the media you create in the course of your digital life. A place where home movies can attain cult status, where snapshots from your last vacation might inspire a stranger to make the same trip, where the most timid voice can find a listener, and the most obscure subject, an audience.". A pretty nifty idea, I wonder why they're channeling their efforts into WikiYou now. There's a link at the very beginning of the content on every page asking users to check out their new site. I hope the Bolt team isn't losing confidence in their product just yet.

Here is an embed from Bolt:

Quite frankly, I don't see the need for a triple decimal timekeeping in my videos. Instead of the HH.MM.SS.MMM format currently, I'd rather have MM.SS total and MM.SS remaining/elapsed. Better still, make it clickable so the user can choose how he wants to see the time.

You can tag a video or bookmark it to Digg or post it to MySpace. The page format also shows similar videos (same tags) and videos from the same user. If you are planning to leave a comment, try to include a picture of yourself. The blank pic icons look kinda boring.

Overall verdict would be in the 2.5 range, 5 being the highest.

Network review - Blinkx.com

2007-07-18T14:26:00.001+08:00

In their own words, Blinkx is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine! Having over 12 million hours of searchable video and 130 media partnerships is quite a feat indeed. Users can search for video content, create personal video playlists, and build customized video walls for their site/blog or MySpace page. Here's the custom video wall I built -

The ease of use is quite evident and the site is neatly organized in a no-clutter, lightweight (read no advertising) frontpage. The ajax based video wall is a great concept. Maybe it would be better to have the videos popping up in the same window, rather than opening a new video every time a user clicks on one.

The content is divided across five broad categories - World News, Entertainment, Business, Sports and User Generated. The content though, is not stored at Blinkx but is streamed from a lot of other video sharing networks (for user generated content) and news/media websites from around the world.

Since videos are not uploaded to Blinkx, users simply submit the Media RSS or RSS 2.0 feeds to the Blinkx index and, from then on, Blinkx processes the feeds at least once daily.

If you are the creator of videos, maybe you post them on YouTube or MySpace or you have a personal blog. Whatever be your hosting method, it makes sense to add your videos to the Blinkx index so you will be able to generate more traffic (and perhaps more revenue, if that's your model) from each video created.

Beating the cops, French style

2007-07-18T00:49:00.000+08:00

Last week, Times Online UK reported about how French and Spanish motorists avoid speeding tickets and save those valuable driving points by using a fall guy. Here's how the system works - you were caught speeding on the speed camera (France has more than 1000 and the UK has about 3200 installed) and the police send a ticket to your house. If you are able to convince your grandfather (who has an impeccable driving record) to take the hit for you, then you can respond to the ticket saying it wasn't you who was speeding, but him. He knows he won't be needing the 12 points on his license and wants to help you because you need to drive to work. There, problem solved - you just saved yourself those speeding points. What's more, you don't need to ask your grandpa for help every time - use the friendly eBay!

The whole idea of having computerized traffic cameras, as against cops holding speed guns at intersections, is to save manpower. Surely the team overseeing the modernization of the traffic control system never saw this coming!

After spending a few hours trying to translate eBay.fr I finally found a person selling 6 driving points for 400 Euros each. Pretty steep, if you ask me - especially since the minimum points deducted for one speeding offence is probably 3. So a person would most likely be parting with 1200 Euros! That's more than two times the US$ 800 per Capita GDP of Afghanistan!

Here is the screenshot of the eBay page in French (click image for full view):

And here is a Google translation of the page (click image for full view):

Maybe it's time to educate motorists (again) about the risks involved in speeding and sharing driving points. This type of points sharing is also present in Spain and may spread to other countries using a similar computerized model for monitoring traffic on their highways.

Network review - AtomFilms

2007-07-17T18:15:00.000+08:00

Introduction/About:
AtomFilms, a service from MTV Networks, has been around since 1998. Till 2007, AtomFilms only catered to independent creators who wanted to bring their work to a larger audience, and not to the online video sharing community. Post May 2007, a new section (AtomUploads) was added so that users could post and share their videos. Source: Atomfilms - About us

After registration, you can either choose to watch AtomFilms (short films, animations and videos produced by professionals) or AtomUploads (user generated content).

AtomFilms: Good quality films and, if you like it, you can add the film to your custom channel. You also have the option to embed the film to your website/blog and share via email or IM. Currently bookmarking is available only for Digg and StumbleUpon. You can also rate the film, leave comments and check film credits like Director, producer and cast. Also on the list is the awards the film has won and the places it's been screened at. While watching a film though, be prepared to first be presented with a sponsor ad!

Sample Film:

AtomUploads: Choose a channel or tag for the videos and you'll get uploads from that category. videos have a short description, together with the tags attached and channel suggested by the uploader. As with films, you can Embed the video and share it via URL or email. Users can also leave comments and add video to their custom channels and subscribe to other videos from the same uploader.

Sample upload:

Demographics and Traffic

Atom Traffic:
Over 6 million monthly unique users

Demographics:
AtomFilms Demographics:
75% Male & 25% Female
73% 18-44 years old
AtomUploads Demographics:
65% Male & 35% Female
79% 13-24 years old
34% 18-34 years old
Source: AtomFilms - About Us

Nice to have:
AtomFilms: Running time, instead of just the duration

Video sharing networks

2007-07-17T12:45:00.000+08:00

Video sharing is all the rage these days and some of the most popular services today revolve around the video sharing platform. How many can you list off the top of your head? Five or maybe ten? We compiled a list of all the video sharing networks on the internet. In the following days we will review each one of them. The list is growing constantly, so it is possible that some of the ones you like are not here. If so, do leave a comment and we will review them.

Here is an alphabetical list of the 62 82(!) we got:

Atom Uploads
Blinkx.com
Bolt.com
Break.com
Brightcove.com
buzznet.com
castpost.com
clipshack.com
Cozmo.tv
Dailymotion
Divvio.com
dumpalink.com
evideoshare.com
eyespot.com
flukiest.com
Funnymoviesite
grouper.com
guba.com
hallpass.com
happyvideo.info
i-am-bored.com
ifilm.com
imeem.com
infectiousvideos.com
joox.net
jumpcut.com
LiveLeak.com
Mediabum.com
Meevee
Mefeedia
metacafe.com
miloop.se
mobitv.com
muzility.com
mynumo.com
myspace.com
Network2.tv
NextNewNetworks
onetruemedia.com
OnNetworks
openvlog.com
panjea.com
pixparty.com
pixpo.com
revver.com
Revision3
sciencehack.com
sharkle.com
shoutfile.com
soapbox.msn.com
stickam.com
stupidvideos.com
TheDailyReel
Tilzy.tv
Tuberoo.com
TvTonic
Ulinkx
uncutvideo.com
veoh.com
veotag.com
video.google.com
video.tinypic.com
video.yahoo.com
videoegg.com
videosift.com
vidiac.com
vidilife.com
vimeo.com
vmix.com
ViralVideoChart
vobbo.com
vox.com
vsocial.com
VuGuru
vume.com
WatchMojo
WebTvHub
WeShow
whirrl.com
youare.com
youtube.com
zippyvideos.com

Check this place for reviews on each of the networks, as well as a list update which happens whenever I find more networks.

The google umbrella - literally!

2007-07-16T14:13:00.000+08:00

The internet giant has been on an acquisition spree since the time it went public back in 2004. Since advertising is the primary revenue generation stream for Google, they have made a lot of acquisitions which will help them make a bigger advertising footprint.

From Google Radio Ads to free 411 Directory Assistance, Google has made investing wisely sound like child's play. Ever wonder what they'll acquire for lunch today? How about an umbrella manufacturer? Pileus is not just any umbrella manufacturer, they're the pioneers in developing the internet umbrella - one that has a built-in Camera, motion sensor, GPS, Digital compass, Photo Sharing, 3-D map navigation, a wireless internet connection and a big, round projection screen. Yes it also protects you from sunlight and rain, though sometimes not together. Sounds like something straight out of a Bond movie, but this one's real.

Here's a video of the umbrella being used:

You can see pictures and youtube videos, take pictures and upload them to your online album, look for directions (and the weather) with the 'wrist flick' motion on the handle.

Now to why Google should be interested in Pileus: To give value to the user (you and me) while getting another ad-delivery platform. Sounds like something on the lines of some of Google's acquisitions? Of course, Google would want to integrate the search function in the umbrella, maybe even add a search button next to the umbrella's open button. But the benefits that Google can derive by going after such ingenious inventions are only limited to their imagination.

Imagine every piece of online information being available under the Google Umbrella!

Stumble Naturally

2007-07-06T03:16:00.000+08:00

Stumbleupon - a great place to look for ideas :) It's also a good thing to do if you just want to look around the Internet for what's happening in areas that interest you. A brief outline of how it works:

1. Join and download the toolbar
2. Choose preferences
3. Start exploring by clicking on the 'Stumble' button on the toolbar

Simple - isn't it? It's also beautiful in the way it simplifies information intake based on individual preferences. In a sentence, Stumbleupon is an easy to use, community based, people driven personalized tool that combats information overload. All the words in the last sentence are taken from the About us page of Stumbleupon. Kudos to the people who are behind this great service.

However, is there a way we can simplify the system a little bit - maybe eliminate a part of the process while still delivering content that interests the users continuously while also tempting them to explore further into other areas that might be of interest? What if we eliminate the whole part of 'choosing preferences'? What, you say, is the whole purpose of stumbling if the preferences aren't fixed? There IS a way to fix preferences without users having to choose from a finite list. If Stumbleupon really wants to benefit from the Long Tail of stumblers, the finite preference list definitely needs to go. In its place, we can have 'Attention based' preferences. Have you ever noticed how we spend more time on web pages that provide information on something that's of interest? We definitely spend lesser time on content that's either of no interest or when we're unable to connect with the content.

Turns out, our attention is a measurable quantity after all - the amount of time we're spending on each page is really a reflection of how much interest that page generates. When a new user starts using Stumbleupon, pages from different areas can be displayed. The service provider may need to serve pages with broad interests initially and, by measuring the time a user spends on each page, a very personal preference chart can be plotted. I am interested in modern day knights and I somehow get to Knights Templar no matter what I do - search for it, use it as a Stumbleupon keyword, look up blogs or anything else.

Fortunately, work's already on it's way in attention measurement. Attention Trust is a step in the right direction as far as attention measurement is concerned. I personally do not subscribe to the idea of monetizing everything, but that should be a separate post. Even then, 'What we do online increasingly represents who we are' is totally agreeable.

So how do people rate? What will communities be based on? Well, if we're creating communities like 'people who like Ancient History, Internet Tools, Computer graphics, Self Improvement, humor, Animation, Classic Rock and Physics', then we're probably getting off on the wrong side of the bed. A tree doesn't grow roots only in specific parts of the soil, it grows them in all directions. Where those roots go really depends on the environment present in a particular soil area and the nutrition the tree could derive from it. Our minds, unlike trees, aren't limited to the physical space around us and, thanks to the Internet, geography doesn't stop us from exploring the vast pool of knowledge available all over the planet. A user will still be able to rate and recommend pages, but the pages will interest a smaller segment of the population. With the more than 2 million users that Stumbleupon has, and the speed at which it is growing, that smaller segment is a bigger number everyday.

The time for receiving information (and indeed, presenting it) is increasingly for a spectrum of niches within any given broad area. As of today, Stumbleupon provides 28 broad categories for users to choose from. That gives more than 250 million unique preferences a user can make. Just like colors, though, preferences aren't limited to a number. You can have more than 250 million combinations just between the blue and the green of the spectrum. Or, indeed, any other color.

The time is for teaching the machine, and the idea somewhat resonates with the theme of The Matrix. Are you game?

iMuse

2007-07-04T12:20:00.000+08:00

Okay, so mankind survived through the iPhone hype and now all the die hard fans already have their iPhones. Congratulations to all of you. In case you're not among the people who camped outside Apple or AT&T stores before the release, you might want to check this post from Gizmodo about the features the iPhone doesn't have (yes, it isn't perfect!). Some of the features you might miss in the iPhone - No video recording, MMS or IM, no GPS and no games. Other than this the iPhone is pretty much living up to its hype. And, once the iPhone apps market hots up, there will be some very exciting applications coming.

Here's a look at two interesting videos - one pre-launch and one post-launch. Some of the features promised in the pre-launch video have been delivered in the post-launch! It's only a matter of time before the rest of the apps make it.

Pre-launch hype

Features mentioned:
- Camera
- Movie Player
- Remote control
- Bottle opener
- Electric razor
- Blow Drier
- Mousetrap
- Lip gloss
- Condiment dispenser
- Mace
- Cheese grater
- Sonogram
- Treadmill
- Thermometer
- Portable shower
- Bookmark
- Hand grenade
- Flute
- Sideburns
- Prophylactic

Post-Launch magic

Features/Apps available
- Coffee!
- Electric razor (delivered as per the hype)
- X-Ray (should not be used as a sonogram)
- Stocks

Not only that, you can even see the OS10 in the background if you shake the phone a bit.

Now that's what I call an iNtelligent phone!

You mean you don't like me?

2007-07-02T04:26:00.000+08:00

If you have ever had a discord with a person because they misunderstood what you were saying, maybe this article from the Linguistics Society of America will help put things in perspective.

Although the article talks about different cultures understanding everyday events differently, the thinking can be extrapolated to the point where every person's 'personal culture' is slightly different from every other person. Your personal culture depends on events and experiences that are unique to you. This would also explain why that childhood buddy understands you so well while your latest boy/girl friend doesn't. Also, to a slight extent (or maybe to a large one), it explains why men and women behave and act differently in different situations - the collective personal cultures of the genders are different as they mature.

Although the article mainly focuses on language and whether the different language speakers see the world differently, from the above argument one can see that the difference is not only from the language you speak, but also from the unique cultural and personal experiences you have had.

If you have any views on the post, do give feedback!

Are you being served?

2007-06-13T05:24:00.000+08:00

If you've just joined in, I am pleased to announce that I have recently revived my blog after a good three years. Not that I had some great posts back then, but it's been revived nonetheless, for good or bad. :)

A lot has changed in three years. I don't particularly remember having something to do with feeds or even HTML editing back then and so I was adding all the feeds (and other buttons) on my blog today. My recently acquired knowledge on Adsense and Adwords also led me to create accounts there. Yes, I hope you readers find my posts interesting - even informative at times - and that you keep coming back for more.

Now to what I was wondering about - when an advertiser pays all that moolah to display her ads on the network, is there a way to find out if the ads were really displayed? I am all for Google's brand name and all - after all it's been my favorite search engine ever since I heard of it, but that should not stop me from questioning and confirming - should it?

So coming back to the question here, let's assume there's an advertising network X who's been around long enough for advertisers and publishers to trust it. What do you think would prevent X from inflating the ad display figures? If I have, let's say, a multiplier that just doubles the number of Impressions for an ad and gives that in the stats to the advertiser, who really can question my results? Seems like trust is the only thing that's keeping this business going! And that's good enough as long as nobody's getting the same idea as me..

Before we forget, I'm just wondering :)

Never losing your bag?

2007-06-12T01:08:00.000+08:00

It's not like I'm supporting this business or anything, just that I have been awed by the way the GPS technology can be used.

Globalbagtag.com is a paid service for anyone who wants to stay connected to her (or his, depending on who's reading) bags/luggage/scooter/surfboard via the internet. Although I have no reason to be connected to my surfboard over the internet, I'm pretty sure locating it floating somewhere in the Pacific will not bring much peace after losing it but it's a welcome change to know that the airline baggage handlers can no longer lose your luggage. In fact, your luggage will no longer be lost at all! You can always confirm that it wasn't checked-in with you on that connecting flight from Frankfurt to Adelaid and will be arriving only after you've already left Adelaid after that client meeting...

And hey, you can use a tag on your surfboard afterall! You never know if it floated back ashore after you gave up searching for it!

Anyway, the service I was talking about in the earlier paragraph is excellent for the frequent traveler and for people who want to keep track of things in your life. You can even use it for a dog's tag. Frankly, I'm sometimes saddened by notices in the parks about lost and found pets. If everyone used a GPS tag on their pets, maybe we can eliminate the whole 'lost and found for pets' posts altogether. Wouldn't that be nice? :)

To link my finding with the essence of this blog, how about I put one of these tag on my bike? That way mom will never have to call me to find out where I am! She can always look me up. Guess I'll just have to leave my bike at a friend's place if I'm going out partying late night..