Create a Video For AdSense!

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..

Just How Did They Measure Hydrogen's Weight?

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.

World In A Blink

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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.

Hurdles - Funny Japanese Style

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

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

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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

Learning A New Language? TryMango!

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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.

Don't Like The world? Sue God!

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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

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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.

Non-Japanese Engrish

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

Interesting Find - The 4-Hour Workweek

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?

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.

Labor or Labour day?

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.

How to make astronomy interesting

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

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!

When you don't talk

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.

Fake Steve is Daniel Lyons

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.

Create a video for Gmail!

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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!

Geeky Tattoos

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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?

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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.