Spent a lot of time last night browsing the web. well, OK, most of it was just stumbling along really. A few blogs ago I commented on Stumbler, and had downloaded and installed the toolbar into Firefox. I have occasionally stumbled, but last night my wife was watching a murder drama (Blue Murder if you watch Irish/UK TV), so I decided this was boring and I would browse the web, but then I kind of deviated and started to stumble. It was a lot more interesting once I got into it.
I found that they had recommended some 'friends' to me that shared similar interests. A number of them were from Canada, some from the US of A and a surprising number were from Ireland. I then discovered they had groups you could join. Sort of like Yahoo! Groups. So I decided to join the Ireland and Photography groups. This is real community web stuff if you want to meet like minded people. It shows who are online, what their preferences are and you can contact them if you wish. With your Stumbler registration it creates an Inbox for you so that when you log on you can see from the mailbox flag whether you have mail or not. It does not come to your personal mail address, unless you obviously choose to provide that to people. However, I think it is safer keeping it insulated from the rest of your life. I browsed some categories under photography, and found some really excellent pages with absolutely magnificent photos, which I gave the thumbs up, meaning I like it. You can send pages to friends, rate them, add them to your favourites, or just stumble around. Curiously I found that the Photography Group has been around since 2004. So, that means Stumbler has been around since then at least, so not nearly that new. Anyhow, I spent a delighful evening stumbling around.
So much so that I forgot to update my podcasts on my Sandisk, so I ended up listening to music coming into the office. The podcasts for the last week had been from the BBC Archives, entitled Rice Bowl, and it dealt with rice production in China, Bangladesh and Japan. It featured discussions with farmers for their views, ordinary young people about what they eat and how much rice they consume and why, and then a general view of life in the area and the crops. For someone born and bred in a city and who eats rice maybe once or twice a week, it is fascinating, particularly as I had only been to Bangladesh, and had seen what the monsoon does to that country, and had never been to either Japan or China. I also listed to part 1 and 2 on the history of slavery and the period leading up to the emancipation of the slaves with the abolition of slavery. Eyewitness Iraq dealt with the effects the war has had on the lifes of ordinary people in Iraq. The news always focuses on the soldiers that have died and the carbombs, but we tend to forget about the humanitarian aspect of it - how it affects the ordinary people who are simply trying to live their lives and survive. I guess that is what I like about the BBC Archives - it helps me maintain a balanced outlook on the rest of the world that is out there, so that I do not just immerse myself into the wonders of technology and the Internet, but that I remember that the world is more than just me and my computerised view of it.
Anyhow, enough philosophy for today. I also browsed through some of CNN Moneys other start-ups to watch. The next on the list was Revision3. The overview said it was a production studio for geek oriented online shows. Well, I couldn't have said it better myself. They produce a series of video podcasts (or vodcasts as some would have it be) which you can download to your MP3 player or iTunes. Some names: Diggnation (Revision3 was started by the Digg founder Kevin Rose...), Geekdrome, Ctrl-Alt-Chicken, NotMTV, The Totally Rad Show etc. As you can see by the names, very geeky and cheeky. They also have individual sites for the shows, where you can browse the backlog, read the discussions etc. iFanBoy does some book reviews - this week is Michael Moore. From my own experience I suggest you download the show and not try to watch it online. I have a great connection that I work from, yet using Qtime, which it requires, I found it very intermittent. They make their money by selling sponsorships for each episode to companies like Sony, Microsoft and Go Daddy. Well, I guess I finally found where the production house is!
It is very interesting, being part of a business that sells broadband connections off its own network. The payments made by users are declining in real terms (prices staying static) and the bandwidth provided is increasing each year. Therefore for the operator of the network, costs are increasing by inflation, prices are fixed and the only way to make money is to increase the subscriber base. The big debate is net neutrality and how to monetise traffic across the Internet and increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit - that is right, we are all measured as units...). The problem for carriers is that the traffic originates at one point and terminates at the other, and flows across their networks, using the bandwidth they sell for very little money at a fixed price, to generate money at either of the end points for someone else. And, to add insult to injury, one of the end points would be a services server, delivering content from any number of the sites we have been looking at. And, although many fail, and more slide into oblivion, the question for these sites too has been how to monitise their services. And the answer generally is that if you generate enough traffic, you can use advertising. Advertising on the Internet as a marketing medium is growing rapidly again after the lull caused by the Dot.com bust around the millenium. Led obviously by Internet advertising giants, Google, this moves revenues around the Internet across multiple sites in small amounts at a time. Now, if your site gets enough footfall, you generate revenue and survive, or, you may be lucky and become one of the giants, like YouTube, MySpace, Flickr etc. And still the network operators are left wondering how they can make some of those cents moving across their pipes sticky, so they can trap some.
And the answer is they can't. WebTV and video is made possible by broadband and bandwidth. Operators have chosen to move away from charging for usage to flat rate for as much as you can eat as a competitive advantage. Now they are complaining that people are starting to eat too much, and the original 'competitive advantage' is becoming a revenue restrictor. Not really. It is simply the nature of the beast. Operators will need to find ways of layering services on top of their operations, or find ways of partnering with content and service providers to try to get some pennies per connection to stick. And it will only be the bigger ones with scale that will survive in the long run, unless the broadband business moves back to charging for usage, by selling consumption in chunks.
Reality TV showed the way, Social networks then became the next big thing with taking reality TV to the Web. And now WebTV is adding content to it for the Internet to become the entertainment channel of choice for many already and more in time to come. Parental allowances of total screen time per day for young people will increasingly move to the Internet, and old fashioned TV will have to change to survive and compete with WebTV to capture the audiences and the advertising money in time to come. The evolution is taking place, and it can't be stopped.
Thursday 29 March 2007
Tuesday 27 March 2007
Video, technology and life
I must say that I wondered why people did blogs, so I started this one. As much for myself to understand what it is about, as to force me to look at what is happening on the web, what people are using, and why they do, could or should, as for any possible readers out there who may have the same interest. And, the conclusion is - it is addictive!!!
An update on Dabble - I managed to get onto their website (did the initial review during some freetime at the office, and Sonicwall decided that this was unsuitable content as it was rated 'Mature Content/Pornography', probably because it had to do with videos. You sometimes have to wonder how Sonicwall and other content filtering devices at offices 'rate' sites. Even my daughter's space on DeviantArt gets rated Mature Content and is blocked every now and then. Anyhow, enough about SonicWall and more about Dabble - it does have some interesting aspects to it, it would seem. If you are interested in online videos to snack on, this can give you some guidelines. It is not, as I had thought initially, just for sorting your own videos, but allows you to sort videos you like across the various video web sites, and contains lists of peoples favourite videos from various sites. Some that I browsed were from YouTube (naturally...) and others from various other sites. Staying with the whole concept of community rating, it is I suppose a video form of de.licio.us, showing you videos that have been aggregated by others, and in that way getting to the most popular.
Something in the same line is MetaCafe, but only for own content. They claim to serve the best videos! They are rated by viewers, and the site works on the basis that the producers of the videos get paid, based on the popularity of their work! Browse around it and see if you think it is well rated by the community! It is different in the sense that revenue is shared with those that submit popular content. In that sense it becomes an incentive for people who produce good content, to register and post onto this site. The prime difference between this and say YouTube is that the people who post content can make money out of it if it is good. For instance, I am being totally honest here now, I browsed, yes I know..., a Star Trek/Monty Python mash-up. A mash-up, for those who don't know, is a mix of two or more videos and content to create a different version to what the directors had originally intended. Generally to introduce humour of some variety. Sad to have to admit it, isn't it? Ah sure. I liked the concept and some of the material. Will it compete against YouTube? Don't think so, but it will attract a different market - people looking for interesting produced content rather than wanting to watch someone singing a current pop song in a crackling voice dressed in their grandma's dress. (Ooohhhh, I can just imagine a fervent YouTube fan reading this and can picture it raising his/her hackles..)It is not about personal videos, but something that has been created. Call it a showcase for amateur personal WebTV production houses.
However, what these start-ups demonstrate more and more is how the Internet is delivering WebTV and video content to the users and gradually eroding the traditional TV market. People have been watching whatever traditional TV stations have been serving up, because there was no alternative. The Internet is delivering an alternative. Big Brother and other reality TV shows have shown how this can attract audiences, and the reality TV show to beat them all, YouTube, has shown just how this can draw viewers and change viewing habits. Most news stations now have video content on their sites, so you can catch the breaking news on your desktop better than on your telly. And, with the new LCD screens having become so dominant since prices dropped, you literally have a screen the size of your old TV on your desktop. All these changes are combining to dramatically change the way in which we interact with our world and source our entertainment.
These new start-ups are all a reflection of these changes. They have to be approached with caution, and for those with children, it is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Children now divide their total screen time per day between mobile phone, telly and Internet, and parents are well advised to ensure they teach their children how to surf responsibly. My own experience from the office with SonicWall demonstrates the fallibility of content filtering devices and software blocking entire sites, rather than specific content. However, if I had young children browsing the web today, I guess I would prefer to err on the side of caution, rather than exposing a young child to the vagaries of the web.
An update on Dabble - I managed to get onto their website (did the initial review during some freetime at the office, and Sonicwall decided that this was unsuitable content as it was rated 'Mature Content/Pornography', probably because it had to do with videos. You sometimes have to wonder how Sonicwall and other content filtering devices at offices 'rate' sites. Even my daughter's space on DeviantArt gets rated Mature Content and is blocked every now and then. Anyhow, enough about SonicWall and more about Dabble - it does have some interesting aspects to it, it would seem. If you are interested in online videos to snack on, this can give you some guidelines. It is not, as I had thought initially, just for sorting your own videos, but allows you to sort videos you like across the various video web sites, and contains lists of peoples favourite videos from various sites. Some that I browsed were from YouTube (naturally...) and others from various other sites. Staying with the whole concept of community rating, it is I suppose a video form of de.licio.us, showing you videos that have been aggregated by others, and in that way getting to the most popular.
Something in the same line is MetaCafe, but only for own content. They claim to serve the best videos! They are rated by viewers, and the site works on the basis that the producers of the videos get paid, based on the popularity of their work! Browse around it and see if you think it is well rated by the community! It is different in the sense that revenue is shared with those that submit popular content. In that sense it becomes an incentive for people who produce good content, to register and post onto this site. The prime difference between this and say YouTube is that the people who post content can make money out of it if it is good. For instance, I am being totally honest here now, I browsed, yes I know..., a Star Trek/Monty Python mash-up. A mash-up, for those who don't know, is a mix of two or more videos and content to create a different version to what the directors had originally intended. Generally to introduce humour of some variety. Sad to have to admit it, isn't it? Ah sure. I liked the concept and some of the material. Will it compete against YouTube? Don't think so, but it will attract a different market - people looking for interesting produced content rather than wanting to watch someone singing a current pop song in a crackling voice dressed in their grandma's dress. (Ooohhhh, I can just imagine a fervent YouTube fan reading this and can picture it raising his/her hackles..)It is not about personal videos, but something that has been created. Call it a showcase for amateur personal WebTV production houses.
However, what these start-ups demonstrate more and more is how the Internet is delivering WebTV and video content to the users and gradually eroding the traditional TV market. People have been watching whatever traditional TV stations have been serving up, because there was no alternative. The Internet is delivering an alternative. Big Brother and other reality TV shows have shown how this can attract audiences, and the reality TV show to beat them all, YouTube, has shown just how this can draw viewers and change viewing habits. Most news stations now have video content on their sites, so you can catch the breaking news on your desktop better than on your telly. And, with the new LCD screens having become so dominant since prices dropped, you literally have a screen the size of your old TV on your desktop. All these changes are combining to dramatically change the way in which we interact with our world and source our entertainment.
These new start-ups are all a reflection of these changes. They have to be approached with caution, and for those with children, it is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Children now divide their total screen time per day between mobile phone, telly and Internet, and parents are well advised to ensure they teach their children how to surf responsibly. My own experience from the office with SonicWall demonstrates the fallibility of content filtering devices and software blocking entire sites, rather than specific content. However, if I had young children browsing the web today, I guess I would prefer to err on the side of caution, rather than exposing a young child to the vagaries of the web.
Friday 23 March 2007
Our changing Universe?
It is amazing what you can find on our little WWW each day. I have just found our whole universe stuck on a web page. Yup. It is titled Universe. What does it do? It represents the news and other bits of information in constellations, just like the stars. See the story detail on CNet (OK, I admit, I get a lot of my stuff from CNet.)
It is not easy, but with a little maneuvering you will get the hang of it. Pick for instance on the home page, under Times, say 'the past week'. It now opens a new window as a Java applet. It asks you to click on the window to 'give it focus'. When you do so you start seeing little dots appear like a evening sky in a rural area filled with stars. As you hover the mouse over it, they start to form constellations. Click on any constellation, and it gives you a name. Could be a place name or person. At the bottom words are displayed (look carefully...) Stars, Shapes, Secrets, Stories, Statements, etc.
Now click on Statements or Stories and the screen fills up with rows and columns of stories or statements. Click on one, and it moves to the centre of the screen, and words from the story float around it, which you can click to find more stories or statements.
It becomes quite involved, and I think for some personality types, it could be addictive! For others, it could cause physical violence inflicted on the computer screen out of sheer frustration.... :-)
Enjoy.
CNet carried an interesting story this week on Photobucket. the most popular unknown site? The statistics on the site are quite amazing. It is a photo sharing site allowing you to post pics to websites, blogs etc, which seems to store quite a bit of info for sites like MySpace and others. Its unique US visitors exceed that of Flickr (double) and even FaceBook according to ComScore, who tracks the monthly visitors to websites.
OK, finally getting back to CNN Money's 25 start-ups to watch, and guess who is next? Joost. I've mentioned them in one of my earlier blogs this week in relations to WebTV, and that is exactly what they are aiming at. They have signed a deal recently with Viacom, then Viacom turned on YouTube to get their content removed and launched their law suit. Michi Knows reckons that Google wants YouTube to get sued to help get legal clarity on some of their other ventures. An interesting opinion, and not entirely without merit, but completely speculative. Back to Joost, their WebSite at this stage talks about what is to come. Apparently they have some 400,000 beta testers out there testing the software. So, like Uvu, nothing just yet, although Joost seems to at least have quite a large base of Beta testers, and have signed a number of high profile content deals so far.
The next Start-up is Dabble. A video sharing tool helping to organise videos into favourite playlists. They claim 12,000 users and partnerships with YouTube, MySpace, Grouper, and Brightcove. As I do not have much by way of video on my computer, this is not of much use to me. If anyone out there knows it, or uses it, drop us a comment.
Found another version of Web 2.0 stuff this morning on CNet titled 'A New Generation of Office Tools'. Or, as they so poetically claim, Work 2.0! :-) Looks very interesting! This is going to out some pressure on me now to finish the 25 Start-ups more quickly! Will give some overviews as soon as I get to it.
It is not easy, but with a little maneuvering you will get the hang of it. Pick for instance on the home page, under Times, say 'the past week'. It now opens a new window as a Java applet. It asks you to click on the window to 'give it focus'. When you do so you start seeing little dots appear like a evening sky in a rural area filled with stars. As you hover the mouse over it, they start to form constellations. Click on any constellation, and it gives you a name. Could be a place name or person. At the bottom words are displayed (look carefully...) Stars, Shapes, Secrets, Stories, Statements, etc.
Now click on Statements or Stories and the screen fills up with rows and columns of stories or statements. Click on one, and it moves to the centre of the screen, and words from the story float around it, which you can click to find more stories or statements.
It becomes quite involved, and I think for some personality types, it could be addictive! For others, it could cause physical violence inflicted on the computer screen out of sheer frustration.... :-)
Enjoy.
CNet carried an interesting story this week on Photobucket. the most popular unknown site? The statistics on the site are quite amazing. It is a photo sharing site allowing you to post pics to websites, blogs etc, which seems to store quite a bit of info for sites like MySpace and others. Its unique US visitors exceed that of Flickr (double) and even FaceBook according to ComScore, who tracks the monthly visitors to websites.
OK, finally getting back to CNN Money's 25 start-ups to watch, and guess who is next? Joost. I've mentioned them in one of my earlier blogs this week in relations to WebTV, and that is exactly what they are aiming at. They have signed a deal recently with Viacom, then Viacom turned on YouTube to get their content removed and launched their law suit. Michi Knows reckons that Google wants YouTube to get sued to help get legal clarity on some of their other ventures. An interesting opinion, and not entirely without merit, but completely speculative. Back to Joost, their WebSite at this stage talks about what is to come. Apparently they have some 400,000 beta testers out there testing the software. So, like Uvu, nothing just yet, although Joost seems to at least have quite a large base of Beta testers, and have signed a number of high profile content deals so far.
The next Start-up is Dabble. A video sharing tool helping to organise videos into favourite playlists. They claim 12,000 users and partnerships with YouTube, MySpace, Grouper, and Brightcove. As I do not have much by way of video on my computer, this is not of much use to me. If anyone out there knows it, or uses it, drop us a comment.
Found another version of Web 2.0 stuff this morning on CNet titled 'A New Generation of Office Tools'. Or, as they so poetically claim, Work 2.0! :-) Looks very interesting! This is going to out some pressure on me now to finish the 25 Start-ups more quickly! Will give some overviews as soon as I get to it.
Wednesday 21 March 2007
WebTV - more of it
Found this little interesting bit on a comment posted by a reader on CNet - uvu.com. This was in relation to an article on CNet about former Disney executive, Howard Eisner's investment in a brace of new media companies, Veoh and Vuguru. Veoh is an older investment and is an online video company, and Vuguru is a video production company which will, on 2 April 2007, launch 80 ninety second (thats right, 90 second) episodes of a series titled Prom Queen, aimed at teenage ladies. This moves more and more into the WebTV space of Web 2.0. And uvu.com, according to this reader, is better than the lot. However, I am not sure how he knows this, because according to the website nothing is available yet for download. Vapourware?.... I will keep looking back and see if the player actually materializes for download. I also read an article on Total Content + Media, which goes back to November 2006 about an Ofcom report which shows how broadband has affected out lives. 30 to 40% of Europeans watch less traditional TV, and around 30% read less national newsprint. Between 50 and 60% of broadband users have downloaded TV programs from the Internet. 73% of young people (70% in China) have watched videos made by others over the Internet.
WebTV and online videos are invading our lives in many ways. The comment in one report of creating a 'snack culture' certainly seems appropriate, doesn't it? We browse little snippets all over the web, rather than sitting for the full hour and a half watching that old movie on the telly, or like me, you sit 'watching' it whilst working on your laptop. Listen to most parts, and watching snippets,more likely! Drives my wife mad. :-)
Had been a little busy as of late. Decided to give Famster.com a try, given that the Nel family is spread out across South Africa, the US of A, Canada and Ireland. It is still in its infancy and I am awaiting the input of the rest of the Nel clan, but it is on Famster. It uses a Flash Player interface and is a bit slow from Ireland, which is a bit of a concern given that it probably doesn't yet have a large customer base. However, I found the interface relatively easy to use and to set up. Haven't yet used the full spectrum of utilities, but it seems to be easy to use and upload. I uploaded 2 videos and 21 photos with no major issues. It still seems to have some minor bugs, but when I loaded it tonight, all seemed fine. Now I am just waiting for the rest of the clan to use it to see how it pans out, then I will put some content into the public area. It allows you to wall off some content and to make other public. Nice feature.
On LinkedIn today someone asked a question about Twitter. I was delighted that I knew about it and could provide some feedback. I use both LinkedIn and Plaxo to keep track of my network and address book online.
There is just so much out there, what will survive and what will become the next big thing? Don't we all wish we had that answer?!?!? We are suffering severe information overload. How do we filter it? Read that it is estimated that there are 100 million blogs out there. How will we ever find relevant information? Googling it just doesn't seem sufficient. There are some new technologies and sites that claim to provide more relevant search results that good old Google. I still have to finish reporting on the 25 start-ups that started this Blog, but finding simpler search tools and reporting back will be next on my list.
WebTV and online videos are invading our lives in many ways. The comment in one report of creating a 'snack culture' certainly seems appropriate, doesn't it? We browse little snippets all over the web, rather than sitting for the full hour and a half watching that old movie on the telly, or like me, you sit 'watching' it whilst working on your laptop. Listen to most parts, and watching snippets,more likely! Drives my wife mad. :-)
Had been a little busy as of late. Decided to give Famster.com a try, given that the Nel family is spread out across South Africa, the US of A, Canada and Ireland. It is still in its infancy and I am awaiting the input of the rest of the Nel clan, but it is on Famster. It uses a Flash Player interface and is a bit slow from Ireland, which is a bit of a concern given that it probably doesn't yet have a large customer base. However, I found the interface relatively easy to use and to set up. Haven't yet used the full spectrum of utilities, but it seems to be easy to use and upload. I uploaded 2 videos and 21 photos with no major issues. It still seems to have some minor bugs, but when I loaded it tonight, all seemed fine. Now I am just waiting for the rest of the clan to use it to see how it pans out, then I will put some content into the public area. It allows you to wall off some content and to make other public. Nice feature.
On LinkedIn today someone asked a question about Twitter. I was delighted that I knew about it and could provide some feedback. I use both LinkedIn and Plaxo to keep track of my network and address book online.
There is just so much out there, what will survive and what will become the next big thing? Don't we all wish we had that answer?!?!? We are suffering severe information overload. How do we filter it? Read that it is estimated that there are 100 million blogs out there. How will we ever find relevant information? Googling it just doesn't seem sufficient. There are some new technologies and sites that claim to provide more relevant search results that good old Google. I still have to finish reporting on the 25 start-ups that started this Blog, but finding simpler search tools and reporting back will be next on my list.
Tuesday 20 March 2007
Back from Budapest
Spent the last week in Budapest and survived the riots on their national day, the 15th of March 2007. Was at a VoIP conference, boring people with my presentation and listening to some interesting ones and some less interesting ones.
How did technology impact on me with this visit? For one thing, I battled to get a decent connection at the hotel, and when I managed to connect through our VPN back to the office, Microsoft Exchange drove me demented trying to get my email. Arrgghhhh!!!!! *Sulk*
AND, to heap insult upon insult, they charged HUF125 (around 50 Euro cent) per MINUTE! When Microsoft Exchange acts up, it dents your pocket quickly....
Anyhow, I missed all the exciting Irish sport over the last weekend. Ireland (never realised they played cricket) drew against Zimbabwe, then went on to BEAT Pakistan. Then, to top it all, the Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer dies of a heart attack following the loss. Incredible.
To make matters worse, after a dismal outing the last Saturday against Scotland, the Irish team have a great game against Italy, and it looks as if they will win the Six Nations cup, finally after 22 years. But, dear France snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the last minutes of the game against Scotland, and, once again, they carry away the laurels of the Six Nations. Anyhow it is amazing how the Internet enables you to get information, even when you miss the action on live TV, because it is not available where you are. You can of course use a Slingbox to move your TV via your broadband to where you are, provided you a) own one (I do), b) it is connected (it is not - I still have to run a cable to my TV from my broadband connection) and c) it is switched on (can't, it isn't connected). The alternative is to get the updates via the web! Neither cricket nor rugby is very big in Hungary, but, technology can bridge the gap! Would previously have had to wait for the next day's newspapers (remember the old media?...).
Updated my podcasts last night, and was listening to the Twit show no 91 (skipped 90, will have to catch up). The interesting thing that came up was this discussion about Twitter. They had mentioned it before, but I had assumed it had to do with the TWiT show. Today I was enlightened. It is not. It is a site which allows people to link to each other and send updates of what they are up to via SMS or IM, but has an open API (Application Programmable Interface) allowing other web services to interface with it. Apparently Jabber (the Power of Presence - great slogan huh? :-)), an Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) application (download client here) can. With Twitter you allow people to become 'friends' and if they pester you, you can 'unfriend' them. One person mentioned that he had asked on the Twit show if anyone wanted to meet up at a show for dinner. Apparently 30 Twitters responded and they had a ball. This is a curious twist on community/social networking. Maybe someone that is a Twitter can post some comment on the reasons why and how? Leo, the chief TWiT, stated he had 58 'friends', but one of the guests had over 1,000! For some people this becomes nearly life consuming. The debate focused around how Twitter was the seemingly most useless program on the face of it, but grows because 'all my friends have it' so it expands its circle of friends! Amazing what the web gets up to!
The TWiT's also briefly mentioned Telcos and Joost in the podcast. Given that I am with a wireless broadband Telco (Irish Broadband), and speak at various conferences in Europe about VoIP. WiMAX and Wireless broadband, one of the questions that has been keeping my braincells active, has been about IPTV, the so called triple play. I could understand why cable operators moved into the broadband and telephony space, but could not understand the need for Telcos to move into IPTV. Video on Demand (VoD), yes, but IPTV? What is becoming clearer to me is that the whole triple play and IPTV debate is becoming more and more irrelevant. Web 2.0 is making it so for the younger generation through services such as YouTube, Blinx.tv, and now Joost etc. WebTV exists and is growing, is delivered via broadband, and has a rapidly growing user base. Why bother with traditional TV via IP? It makes limited sense, and does not justify the additional cost. WebTV and Web 2.0 is where it is at for the current generation.
Saw another interesting site on CNet today for closed family networks. Virtual fun with Famster. It is a video on CNet's site, showing you what Famster is all about. I think I am going to get our extended family (I have a daughter in South Africa, a brother in Texas and another in Vancouver island, Canada, and I'm in Dublin, Ireland) to connect on Famster. So, I will give you an update on that later again!
Anyhow, back in the saddle. Started this last night, finished it this morning, so time to do some useful work again! For those that missed the daily weather update - it is freezing bloody cold here in Ireland, after walking around in my short sleeves in Budapest last week. Grrr.... Well, it is supposed to improve. At least it is sunshine outside, and warm in the office!
How did technology impact on me with this visit? For one thing, I battled to get a decent connection at the hotel, and when I managed to connect through our VPN back to the office, Microsoft Exchange drove me demented trying to get my email. Arrgghhhh!!!!! *Sulk*
AND, to heap insult upon insult, they charged HUF125 (around 50 Euro cent) per MINUTE! When Microsoft Exchange acts up, it dents your pocket quickly....
Anyhow, I missed all the exciting Irish sport over the last weekend. Ireland (never realised they played cricket) drew against Zimbabwe, then went on to BEAT Pakistan. Then, to top it all, the Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer dies of a heart attack following the loss. Incredible.
To make matters worse, after a dismal outing the last Saturday against Scotland, the Irish team have a great game against Italy, and it looks as if they will win the Six Nations cup, finally after 22 years. But, dear France snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the last minutes of the game against Scotland, and, once again, they carry away the laurels of the Six Nations. Anyhow it is amazing how the Internet enables you to get information, even when you miss the action on live TV, because it is not available where you are. You can of course use a Slingbox to move your TV via your broadband to where you are, provided you a) own one (I do), b) it is connected (it is not - I still have to run a cable to my TV from my broadband connection) and c) it is switched on (can't, it isn't connected). The alternative is to get the updates via the web! Neither cricket nor rugby is very big in Hungary, but, technology can bridge the gap! Would previously have had to wait for the next day's newspapers (remember the old media?...).
Updated my podcasts last night, and was listening to the Twit show no 91 (skipped 90, will have to catch up). The interesting thing that came up was this discussion about Twitter. They had mentioned it before, but I had assumed it had to do with the TWiT show. Today I was enlightened. It is not. It is a site which allows people to link to each other and send updates of what they are up to via SMS or IM, but has an open API (Application Programmable Interface) allowing other web services to interface with it. Apparently Jabber (the Power of Presence - great slogan huh? :-)), an Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) application (download client here) can. With Twitter you allow people to become 'friends' and if they pester you, you can 'unfriend' them. One person mentioned that he had asked on the Twit show if anyone wanted to meet up at a show for dinner. Apparently 30 Twitters responded and they had a ball. This is a curious twist on community/social networking. Maybe someone that is a Twitter can post some comment on the reasons why and how? Leo, the chief TWiT, stated he had 58 'friends', but one of the guests had over 1,000! For some people this becomes nearly life consuming. The debate focused around how Twitter was the seemingly most useless program on the face of it, but grows because 'all my friends have it' so it expands its circle of friends! Amazing what the web gets up to!
The TWiT's also briefly mentioned Telcos and Joost in the podcast. Given that I am with a wireless broadband Telco (Irish Broadband), and speak at various conferences in Europe about VoIP. WiMAX and Wireless broadband, one of the questions that has been keeping my braincells active, has been about IPTV, the so called triple play. I could understand why cable operators moved into the broadband and telephony space, but could not understand the need for Telcos to move into IPTV. Video on Demand (VoD), yes, but IPTV? What is becoming clearer to me is that the whole triple play and IPTV debate is becoming more and more irrelevant. Web 2.0 is making it so for the younger generation through services such as YouTube, Blinx.tv, and now Joost etc. WebTV exists and is growing, is delivered via broadband, and has a rapidly growing user base. Why bother with traditional TV via IP? It makes limited sense, and does not justify the additional cost. WebTV and Web 2.0 is where it is at for the current generation.
Saw another interesting site on CNet today for closed family networks. Virtual fun with Famster. It is a video on CNet's site, showing you what Famster is all about. I think I am going to get our extended family (I have a daughter in South Africa, a brother in Texas and another in Vancouver island, Canada, and I'm in Dublin, Ireland) to connect on Famster. So, I will give you an update on that later again!
Anyhow, back in the saddle. Started this last night, finished it this morning, so time to do some useful work again! For those that missed the daily weather update - it is freezing bloody cold here in Ireland, after walking around in my short sleeves in Budapest last week. Grrr.... Well, it is supposed to improve. At least it is sunshine outside, and warm in the office!
Saturday 10 March 2007
How the Internet has changed our lives
Saturday afternoon in Ireland. Six nations rugby on. Ireland has just narrowly beaten Scotland, and I am still fuming. It was a miserable match quite frankly. So now its Italy vs Wales in Roma. A much better match.
However, I have my laptop on my lap, and decided to do some more work and update my blog. I use both del.icio.us and Digg. The first allows you to bookmark your favourites and allows you to share them with others, and allows them to send you favourites. Again, the concept of community to share and to filter information. Listening to some of my podcasts, a lot of people use Digg to find new stories and information that comes off the alternative media such as bloggs, which lifts obscure stories into the mainstream. In Ireland they have free morning newspapers that are handed out. I am often amazed at the number of stories that come from the alternative media, implying that even the mainstream media are starting to use the alternative media to enable them to cut costs and improve productivity from their journalists. I love the way some of CNets pages use a heading cloud to show the most popular stories. If you go onto CNet, then onto any of the stories, there is a link on the right below the big fat advert, that says What is Hot, which it displays as a cloud with the level of popularity VERY clear in type size. Doing some serious multitasking at present- typing here, watching the rugby with my right eye and listening to the Buzz Out Loud tech podcast. (OK, not quite multitasking, more like round robining.... Interesting comment as it happens from Buzz Out Loud that MySpace is looking to start their own Digg type service. I suppose it would make sense.
OK, next start-up to look at from the CNN Money list is Wikia. As the name suggest, it is about being able to edit the site. The concept is editable community sites, supported by advertising. I suppose you can liken it to web page bulletin boards in terms of concept. Now I know some may take offense at that description, but the basic concept is that anyone can add to it, in the hope of improving it. I guess open source type concept. Had a quick look around, and it has quite a broad based community. Worth a visit, and if you are the brainy type that likes showing off your skills, go for it!!
Next up is the well debated in the mainstream media due to the ex Kazaa and Skype pair involved - Joost. The concept is still in beta, but is creating lots of hype. The idea is TV over your broadband connection wherever you are, and even interactive TV. Well, given who is behind it, it will be an interesting one to follow. You can have a look at some of their screenshots here.
Anyhow, at the moment Wales is ahead of Italy by 20 to 13, and it is time to log off for the day, just as Italy makes it 16 to Wales's 20.
However, I have my laptop on my lap, and decided to do some more work and update my blog. I use both del.icio.us and Digg. The first allows you to bookmark your favourites and allows you to share them with others, and allows them to send you favourites. Again, the concept of community to share and to filter information. Listening to some of my podcasts, a lot of people use Digg to find new stories and information that comes off the alternative media such as bloggs, which lifts obscure stories into the mainstream. In Ireland they have free morning newspapers that are handed out. I am often amazed at the number of stories that come from the alternative media, implying that even the mainstream media are starting to use the alternative media to enable them to cut costs and improve productivity from their journalists. I love the way some of CNets pages use a heading cloud to show the most popular stories. If you go onto CNet, then onto any of the stories, there is a link on the right below the big fat advert, that says What is Hot, which it displays as a cloud with the level of popularity VERY clear in type size. Doing some serious multitasking at present- typing here, watching the rugby with my right eye and listening to the Buzz Out Loud tech podcast. (OK, not quite multitasking, more like round robining.... Interesting comment as it happens from Buzz Out Loud that MySpace is looking to start their own Digg type service. I suppose it would make sense.
OK, next start-up to look at from the CNN Money list is Wikia. As the name suggest, it is about being able to edit the site. The concept is editable community sites, supported by advertising. I suppose you can liken it to web page bulletin boards in terms of concept. Now I know some may take offense at that description, but the basic concept is that anyone can add to it, in the hope of improving it. I guess open source type concept. Had a quick look around, and it has quite a broad based community. Worth a visit, and if you are the brainy type that likes showing off your skills, go for it!!
Next up is the well debated in the mainstream media due to the ex Kazaa and Skype pair involved - Joost. The concept is still in beta, but is creating lots of hype. The idea is TV over your broadband connection wherever you are, and even interactive TV. Well, given who is behind it, it will be an interesting one to follow. You can have a look at some of their screenshots here.
Anyhow, at the moment Wales is ahead of Italy by 20 to 13, and it is time to log off for the day, just as Italy makes it 16 to Wales's 20.
Thursday 8 March 2007
Another new day, another exciting tecno find!
Still staying with CNN Money's25 start-ups to watch, the next one is Bebo. This one I haven't used, but I'm familiar with it, as most Irish school children and students are subscribers to this social networking site. As an older person, I better not subscribe, lest I be seen as a dirty old man! If you go onto the website, you will see a link to webwise.ie, an effort by the Irish Government for school children and other young people to help them surf the web more safely. It contains a fascinating video survey of interviews with young Irish Beboers. Will this one make it? I would bet money on it. It is incredibly popular with the young Irish.
The next one is Meebo, which my favourite podcasters at TWiT discussed. This is an IM tool which basically combines Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, Aim, ICQ etc and allows you, through their servers, to access friends on all these IM services. This makes a lot of sense if you use IM, which has increased in popularity over the last few years. In fact, research shows that amongst teenagers IM is replacing email as a means of communication. I can see this one resolving communication problems and becoming more popular. They claim a few million users, and I can believe it. What I particularly found interesting was the Meebo map showing the IM's sent over the preceding 15 minute slot, via Meebo. Even if you do not use an IM service, like me, browse over to the map! That is fascinating because it shows visually the areas where IM is used most:- the USA east coast, California, Brazil and Europe at the time when I looked (22h00, Greenwich mean time).
Last night on the way home, on my BBC Podcasts, I listed to a piece titled 'Who will explode the next nuclear bomb?' Lovely.... just what I needed to cheer me up. I REALLY wanted to think about this. And they are so cheerful when they tell you how much easier it has become for terrorist groups to make nuclear devices. REALLY??? I am delighted to hear that, no, honestly, I am. *Sigh* Ruined my evening, I can assure you. Go on, click on the link if you're in desperate need of some depression, such as because you are feeling insanely happy this morning and need to temper your early morning cheerfulness with some depression before your colleagues drown you in a cup of lukewarm tea in the staff canteen. And they ended the Podcast by advising me that I am in for a further dose of cheerfulness next week. Great. I really look forward to that.
And of course Mr. Smarty pants here forgot to update his MP3 player (NOT an iPOD, but a solid Sansadisk E270, 6GB, with an in-car FM transmitter for playing it through my car radio) yesterday, so I had no podcasts in the car coming in to the office this morning. Horrible, all that silence. I had to listed to RTELyric, a classical music station in Dublin (yes, I am THAT old).
Oh well, guess I better do some real work!
The next one is Meebo, which my favourite podcasters at TWiT discussed. This is an IM tool which basically combines Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, Aim, ICQ etc and allows you, through their servers, to access friends on all these IM services. This makes a lot of sense if you use IM, which has increased in popularity over the last few years. In fact, research shows that amongst teenagers IM is replacing email as a means of communication. I can see this one resolving communication problems and becoming more popular. They claim a few million users, and I can believe it. What I particularly found interesting was the Meebo map showing the IM's sent over the preceding 15 minute slot, via Meebo. Even if you do not use an IM service, like me, browse over to the map! That is fascinating because it shows visually the areas where IM is used most:- the USA east coast, California, Brazil and Europe at the time when I looked (22h00, Greenwich mean time).
Last night on the way home, on my BBC Podcasts, I listed to a piece titled 'Who will explode the next nuclear bomb?' Lovely.... just what I needed to cheer me up. I REALLY wanted to think about this. And they are so cheerful when they tell you how much easier it has become for terrorist groups to make nuclear devices. REALLY??? I am delighted to hear that, no, honestly, I am. *Sigh* Ruined my evening, I can assure you. Go on, click on the link if you're in desperate need of some depression, such as because you are feeling insanely happy this morning and need to temper your early morning cheerfulness with some depression before your colleagues drown you in a cup of lukewarm tea in the staff canteen. And they ended the Podcast by advising me that I am in for a further dose of cheerfulness next week. Great. I really look forward to that.
And of course Mr. Smarty pants here forgot to update his MP3 player (NOT an iPOD, but a solid Sansadisk E270, 6GB, with an in-car FM transmitter for playing it through my car radio) yesterday, so I had no podcasts in the car coming in to the office this morning. Horrible, all that silence. I had to listed to RTELyric, a classical music station in Dublin (yes, I am THAT old).
Oh well, guess I better do some real work!
Wednesday 7 March 2007
What is new today?
Hmmmm..... beautiful sunshine outside, and, as predicted, yesterday afternoon the weather was miserable, although it cleared up in the evening. Dublin, 4 seasons each day.....
So, last night I decided to go over my old favourites and also see what the CNN Money 25 start-ups to watch list holds. First on their list was Stumble Upon. It describes itself as allowing you to channel surf the web through a browser button, finding websites, videos, pictures etc. that matches your interests, a collaborative webtool. On the front page is a great review from those illustrious media institutions Wall Street Journal and BBC singing its praises. So, typically, I signed on. Signing on is easy enough, and if you use FireFox, which I do, then it adds a easy little toolbar and buttons. Only problem, *Sigh*, is that I am running out of browser space with all my buttons and add-ons! So I set my choices of categories that I am interested in when I registered, and, when FireFox had restarted, off I went, stumbling around the web to random sites, based on my preferences. The first was a timezone site, which I wasn't clear about, so I moved on. Next was a speedtest site, appropriately named Speedtest, which had various servers around the globe. I selected Dublin, and the results seemed reasonable, so I bookmarked it and rated it a thumbs up. The next site was a photography site of wild life. Right up my ally. OK, so I think I understand this one now. Interesting and different. This would be interesting if you are simply browsing around for something different. I can certainly see it getting a following. I suppose this is like Digg with buttons that could allow random surfing, instead of going to specific titles. Concept seems solid. Will keep the buttons for a while and see what comes up next. Very appropriate name I must say - Stumble Upon.
I must say this whole concept of more and more community sharing and interaction will probably allow the better and more interesting sites to get improved exposure.
The next start-up on the list was Slide. As the name says, it is about slide shows, but not on Microsoft's good old PowerPoint. This allows you to easily assemble slideshows for insertion into your blog, MySpace page, RSS feeds, or desktop as a screensaver. Useful, but I have no real application for it right now myself. My blog is simple, and I want to keep it that way. It is really just my diary of all the things I try and how or if it impacts my life, useful or otherwise. I do not send out RSS feeds, I subscribe to them, so no use there. Don't do YouTube or MySpace, so no need there. What could be nice would be the screensaver function, although there are several utilities out there doing that already. However, I suppose having the utility with the functionality to send out slideshows into RSS or your blog would be useful to a lot of people, but more where your blog is family or personal friends oriented or your MySpace page with a similar function. It would be great putting up a collage of recent holiday pics or family or friends reunion or event up in a slideshow without having to click through all the pictures. A quick browse around the website could get you drooling, if you like publishing your personal and family or group photos. Seems like it has Yahoo Group support as well, which would be great for school reunions etc. I know my wife went to a school reunion and they use Yahoo Groups to publish their photos. It is painful having to click on each, then close it again, then go to the next one etc. etc. OK, I can definitely see use for this! I will recommend to my wife that their group uses this before their next reunion, so I won't have to sit and go clickety click with her through dozens of pictures. Should halve the time needed to look at them!
One of the sites I still enjoy is Blinx. It allows you to search the web for videos, then mount them on a videowall, giving you thumbnail videos available on the web, based on your search. You can then click them and watch the videos. Sort of like Google for video. I will have to compare Stumble Upon's channel facility for video to Blinx. Two different uses and applications, but dedicated to video on the web. Must say, with the advent of sites like YouTube, Flickr and the host of similar sites, or other genres such as Bebo, even with personal blogs, video on the web has become as prevalent a words and images.
There is just so much to learn, to see and experience. I guess that is the gap that these new sites and tools fill/try to help fill. Through community rating and recommendations we build up an idea of where to find information and sites that are a closer match to our tastes and interests. So much better than stumbling (pardon the pun...) through the web and trying to muddle your way through it by Googling keywords and hitting 1.2 billion possible matches, isn't it? At least this way someone else is helping you go through the hundreds of millions of sites out there, helping to sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak. And is many hands make light work, then a million hands out there should make light of even 1.2 billion sites I guess.
Speaking of wheat and chaff, listening to my BBC podcasts last night and this morning, had two interesting stories from their archives, one about the first leader of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and his rapid rise and fall from power after independence, and the second is The Rice Bowl, looking at China, and the consumption of rice, its impact and interviews with young people in Shanghai, then with farmers in the rural areas and the way in which improvements in the yield per crop has benefited the country.
Lovely interesting human interest stories for the day, to break the stream of technology we face each day, and to remind us about the rest of the world and how they live.
So, last night I decided to go over my old favourites and also see what the CNN Money 25 start-ups to watch list holds. First on their list was Stumble Upon. It describes itself as allowing you to channel surf the web through a browser button, finding websites, videos, pictures etc. that matches your interests, a collaborative webtool. On the front page is a great review from those illustrious media institutions Wall Street Journal and BBC singing its praises. So, typically, I signed on. Signing on is easy enough, and if you use FireFox, which I do, then it adds a easy little toolbar and buttons. Only problem, *Sigh*, is that I am running out of browser space with all my buttons and add-ons! So I set my choices of categories that I am interested in when I registered, and, when FireFox had restarted, off I went, stumbling around the web to random sites, based on my preferences. The first was a timezone site, which I wasn't clear about, so I moved on. Next was a speedtest site, appropriately named Speedtest, which had various servers around the globe. I selected Dublin, and the results seemed reasonable, so I bookmarked it and rated it a thumbs up. The next site was a photography site of wild life. Right up my ally. OK, so I think I understand this one now. Interesting and different. This would be interesting if you are simply browsing around for something different. I can certainly see it getting a following. I suppose this is like Digg with buttons that could allow random surfing, instead of going to specific titles. Concept seems solid. Will keep the buttons for a while and see what comes up next. Very appropriate name I must say - Stumble Upon.
I must say this whole concept of more and more community sharing and interaction will probably allow the better and more interesting sites to get improved exposure.
The next start-up on the list was Slide. As the name says, it is about slide shows, but not on Microsoft's good old PowerPoint. This allows you to easily assemble slideshows for insertion into your blog, MySpace page, RSS feeds, or desktop as a screensaver. Useful, but I have no real application for it right now myself. My blog is simple, and I want to keep it that way. It is really just my diary of all the things I try and how or if it impacts my life, useful or otherwise. I do not send out RSS feeds, I subscribe to them, so no use there. Don't do YouTube or MySpace, so no need there. What could be nice would be the screensaver function, although there are several utilities out there doing that already. However, I suppose having the utility with the functionality to send out slideshows into RSS or your blog would be useful to a lot of people, but more where your blog is family or personal friends oriented or your MySpace page with a similar function. It would be great putting up a collage of recent holiday pics or family or friends reunion or event up in a slideshow without having to click through all the pictures. A quick browse around the website could get you drooling, if you like publishing your personal and family or group photos. Seems like it has Yahoo Group support as well, which would be great for school reunions etc. I know my wife went to a school reunion and they use Yahoo Groups to publish their photos. It is painful having to click on each, then close it again, then go to the next one etc. etc. OK, I can definitely see use for this! I will recommend to my wife that their group uses this before their next reunion, so I won't have to sit and go clickety click with her through dozens of pictures. Should halve the time needed to look at them!
One of the sites I still enjoy is Blinx. It allows you to search the web for videos, then mount them on a videowall, giving you thumbnail videos available on the web, based on your search. You can then click them and watch the videos. Sort of like Google for video. I will have to compare Stumble Upon's channel facility for video to Blinx. Two different uses and applications, but dedicated to video on the web. Must say, with the advent of sites like YouTube, Flickr and the host of similar sites, or other genres such as Bebo, even with personal blogs, video on the web has become as prevalent a words and images.
There is just so much to learn, to see and experience. I guess that is the gap that these new sites and tools fill/try to help fill. Through community rating and recommendations we build up an idea of where to find information and sites that are a closer match to our tastes and interests. So much better than stumbling (pardon the pun...) through the web and trying to muddle your way through it by Googling keywords and hitting 1.2 billion possible matches, isn't it? At least this way someone else is helping you go through the hundreds of millions of sites out there, helping to sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak. And is many hands make light work, then a million hands out there should make light of even 1.2 billion sites I guess.
Speaking of wheat and chaff, listening to my BBC podcasts last night and this morning, had two interesting stories from their archives, one about the first leader of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and his rapid rise and fall from power after independence, and the second is The Rice Bowl, looking at China, and the consumption of rice, its impact and interviews with young people in Shanghai, then with farmers in the rural areas and the way in which improvements in the yield per crop has benefited the country.
Lovely interesting human interest stories for the day, to break the stream of technology we face each day, and to remind us about the rest of the world and how they live.
Another bright day in Ireland!
At first I couldn't understand the preoccupation of the Irish with the weather. I mean, in South Africa it is either very hot and dusty, or hot and dusty or cool and dusty and every now and then, thank God, a thunderstorm, and, if you have a garden, then even greater delight if it is raining for the day and you don't have to water it. But here? Every time the sun is out, EVERYONE starts the conversation with 'Beautiful day isn't it?'. And you know what? They actually do mean it. After 6 months of 16 shades of grey, the sheer delight of seeing the sun is palpable. Anyhow, enough of the weather, except to say, it is a beautiful day out this morning. But, with delightful Irish optimism (I'm a plastic Paddy now according to my wife), it is certain to be miserable this afternoon.
Anyhow, I'm still preoccupied with Me.dium. It is sitting in the left side of my browser, letting me know everytime another user has logged onto Me.dium. Haven't come across any of them on any of my other sites, so I have sent my daughter in South Africa an invitation to join, so that I can have a friend on Me.dium. I am feeling lonely browsing the web now without friends. This is disgraceful exploitation of yet another human foible in the search for more ways of making our lives sociable and interactive. Up to now I have been perfectly happy to surf the web anonymously and on my own. My moments of peace and quiet and tranquility. Now, since I've installed this demon on my browser, I keep looking at it, longing for 'friends' to join me so I can see it at work! Just how nutty can you get?!?!
Yesterday was a busy day, so I haven't had much time to look into some of the new stuff out. I posted a comment I came across on Me.dium about Stumblr (just before this one), and how to use it. Have to make time today to try to get to that and see what it is about. I have been browsing the various bits that Leo and the team had been discussing on my podcast and found the list of 25 start-ups to watch on CNN Money. That should keep me busy for a while, working my way through that lot!
Finished listening to the TWiTs last night on my way home, and have started listening to my BBC podcasts. These are not technology related, but it works well with my FeedDemon RSS feeds, and it is great for just keeping you up to date with some of the things that go on in our old world that are not necessarily news worthy, but has a great human interest aspect to it. My favourites are the daily news roundup from all the BBC stations, and their documentary archive with human interest stories from around the globe, from China rising, to a five part series on India, to the way in which old Russia had left parts of the former Soviet republics with radiation risk from some of the uranium mining ventures and the impact of the people who live there. I used to love listening to the American politics on the weekly round up from Mother Jones radio, but that died a quiet death on 31 December last. I actually do miss it, I must admit. Can't say I have found anything to replace it, but then again, I haven't really been looking too hard now have I?
I suppose I will have to visit Podcast Central or CNet's Buzz Out Loud or some other search to catch up on what is happening across the pond in the big ole US of A, and finally bury Mother Jones.
... *Sniff*....
Anyhow, I'm still preoccupied with Me.dium. It is sitting in the left side of my browser, letting me know everytime another user has logged onto Me.dium. Haven't come across any of them on any of my other sites, so I have sent my daughter in South Africa an invitation to join, so that I can have a friend on Me.dium. I am feeling lonely browsing the web now without friends. This is disgraceful exploitation of yet another human foible in the search for more ways of making our lives sociable and interactive. Up to now I have been perfectly happy to surf the web anonymously and on my own. My moments of peace and quiet and tranquility. Now, since I've installed this demon on my browser, I keep looking at it, longing for 'friends' to join me so I can see it at work! Just how nutty can you get?!?!
Yesterday was a busy day, so I haven't had much time to look into some of the new stuff out. I posted a comment I came across on Me.dium about Stumblr (just before this one), and how to use it. Have to make time today to try to get to that and see what it is about. I have been browsing the various bits that Leo and the team had been discussing on my podcast and found the list of 25 start-ups to watch on CNN Money. That should keep me busy for a while, working my way through that lot!
Finished listening to the TWiTs last night on my way home, and have started listening to my BBC podcasts. These are not technology related, but it works well with my FeedDemon RSS feeds, and it is great for just keeping you up to date with some of the things that go on in our old world that are not necessarily news worthy, but has a great human interest aspect to it. My favourites are the daily news roundup from all the BBC stations, and their documentary archive with human interest stories from around the globe, from China rising, to a five part series on India, to the way in which old Russia had left parts of the former Soviet republics with radiation risk from some of the uranium mining ventures and the impact of the people who live there. I used to love listening to the American politics on the weekly round up from Mother Jones radio, but that died a quiet death on 31 December last. I actually do miss it, I must admit. Can't say I have found anything to replace it, but then again, I haven't really been looking too hard now have I?
I suppose I will have to visit Podcast Central or CNet's Buzz Out Loud or some other search to catch up on what is happening across the pond in the big ole US of A, and finally bury Mother Jones.
... *Sniff*....
Tuesday 6 March 2007
Rockin' the web with Tumblr | Me.dium
On TWiT Podcast 89, Leo and the team referred to Tumblr, and following a big debate no-one was quite certain of what benefit it would be.
Lo and behold, I find an entry on Me.dium today describing the use and value of Tumblr. Now, granted, this is obviously not a techno-phobe, but a serious techno-geek, but it is worth reading to try to understand how one can use this, if, like me, you are fascinated by the little things in life and how it affects/benefits us!
Rockin' the web with Tumblr | Me.dium
Spring is in the air
Well, it is in Dublin at least, and for now. This may change later of course. No, allow me to correct that. It WILL change later, naturally. It always rains here. The question is only when, and how much and for how long.
Anyhow, listened to TWiT Podcast 89 on my way into the office. I was sitting laughing in the car at times and got some weird stares from my fellow commuters who were still battling to wipe the sleep and grit from their eyes. Probably wondered what I had for breakfast.... Anyhow, they were reviewing Business 2.0's list of 25 Tech start-ups to watch, and it was a humorous debate, particularly with cranky John C. Dvorak there. The new young lady (can't remember her name Veronica I think, but she is from CNet's Buzz Out Loud team, was a great new addition. I must remember to have a look at Mebo and some of the others they mentioned. Sounded quite interesting. Have a look at the link. Last night on the way home they were commenting on the fact that Bill Gates has rationed his 10 year old daughter's 'screen time'. It was an interesting concept, because it is defined as 'screen' time, so no matter whether it is a game console, mobile phone, TV or computer screen. The combined time is limited. Also heard the same recently about a young lady here in Ireland dividing her daily ration of viewing time between TV and PC, with more and more seemingly being allocated to PC time with social networks, in this case it was Bebo, a student social network.
Yesterday I installed Me.dium. Uh uh. I know, I know. What did you do THAT for. Well, I did. It is a browser add on. I use Firefox, and it neatly fits in on the left side. When you log in, you type in your user name and password, and then you are invited to 'cross over'. Real spiritual. Now, all I have to do is get some friends onto it. Hmmm.. that could be difficult, don't have many friends. The idea is that you have a circle that shows you the sites you are logged onto and if any of your friends are online as well, you can share ideas and thoughts about the site. Could be a VERY small circle. So, a different form of social networking whilst you're browsing. Very interesting. Will it take off? Good question.
Will have a look at some of the stuff that Leo and the TWiTs chatted about this morning to see if there is anything interesting there. Am way behind on my RSS reading, but had to re-install FeedDemon onto this profile (had to change profiles on my computer - long story, so I won't bore you with it, but it means I still run up against bits and pieces every now and then that I haven't transferred. My favourite is National Geographic. The stories are fascinating and the photography stunning. Yes, I even have a subscription to the print edition and it is my favourite Christmas gift to young kids to teach them to love their environment. Must be my South African genes. :-) Either that, or I am just cheap, or too mean to spend time looking at something more original. Whichever it is, I don't care, I like giving the subscriptions.
My latest edition of Red Herring arrived on Zinio this morning (Zinio is an electronic book reader that allows you to subscribe to magazines and read them, on your computer. It uses a real magazine look and feel and even 'turns' the pages for you, and you can zoom in and out. The only gripe I have about it is that you cannot move it onto a second screen if you use Extended Desktop with 2 screens. It is stuck on the primary screen. My second gripe is that you only have one zoom mode, which is kind of annoying when you have screens of different sizes - you cannot set a zoom level that is comfortable for each screen. It is what it is. *Sigh* Oh well.
Some interesting comments in it about the impact of globalisation and how the recent fall in China had such a massive impact on stock markets across the globe. It certainly did. Wiped billions in value off the stock markets across the globe. Amazing how interlinked we have all become. A few decades ago China was that vast communist country on the other side of the world that was a potential threat to world peace, and now it is an economic powerhouse affecting us directly and indirectly. That reminds me of an experience last year. We had ordered furniture some years back from a local furniture store. Sort of old look but modern made, if you understand what I mean. I love old fashioned furniture. Beautifully crafted in France from Cherrywood. We then decided to add some pieces to that last year. When it arrived, guess where it had been shipped from? Correct. China. That same place that used to ship cheap plastic toys, was now shipping finely crafted wood furniture. And, I could not fault it. It was beautifully made to similar standards and quality as our first pieces. Rather amazing.
Anyhow, behind my back is beautiful sunshine, and I still have some more reading to do in my Red Herring and McKinseys Quarterly.
Must remember to give you some of my thoughts about my daughter and her log on DeviantArt, where she posts her graphics, pictures and also photos about herself. She hasn't even been a teenager for a year, and it starts.... *Sigh*. And, being the technophobe that I am, I can't even complain, but if there is anyone out there that has developed a small piece of software a father can install on a website that blocks evil minded little boys and dirty old men from viewing online pictures of their daughters, please let me know. I think I am in need of it. At times like this I am all in favour of censorship....
Anyhow, listened to TWiT Podcast 89 on my way into the office. I was sitting laughing in the car at times and got some weird stares from my fellow commuters who were still battling to wipe the sleep and grit from their eyes. Probably wondered what I had for breakfast.... Anyhow, they were reviewing Business 2.0's list of 25 Tech start-ups to watch, and it was a humorous debate, particularly with cranky John C. Dvorak there. The new young lady (can't remember her name Veronica I think, but she is from CNet's Buzz Out Loud team, was a great new addition. I must remember to have a look at Mebo and some of the others they mentioned. Sounded quite interesting. Have a look at the link. Last night on the way home they were commenting on the fact that Bill Gates has rationed his 10 year old daughter's 'screen time'. It was an interesting concept, because it is defined as 'screen' time, so no matter whether it is a game console, mobile phone, TV or computer screen. The combined time is limited. Also heard the same recently about a young lady here in Ireland dividing her daily ration of viewing time between TV and PC, with more and more seemingly being allocated to PC time with social networks, in this case it was Bebo, a student social network.
Yesterday I installed Me.dium. Uh uh. I know, I know. What did you do THAT for. Well, I did. It is a browser add on. I use Firefox, and it neatly fits in on the left side. When you log in, you type in your user name and password, and then you are invited to 'cross over'. Real spiritual. Now, all I have to do is get some friends onto it. Hmmm.. that could be difficult, don't have many friends. The idea is that you have a circle that shows you the sites you are logged onto and if any of your friends are online as well, you can share ideas and thoughts about the site. Could be a VERY small circle. So, a different form of social networking whilst you're browsing. Very interesting. Will it take off? Good question.
Will have a look at some of the stuff that Leo and the TWiTs chatted about this morning to see if there is anything interesting there. Am way behind on my RSS reading, but had to re-install FeedDemon onto this profile (had to change profiles on my computer - long story, so I won't bore you with it, but it means I still run up against bits and pieces every now and then that I haven't transferred. My favourite is National Geographic. The stories are fascinating and the photography stunning. Yes, I even have a subscription to the print edition and it is my favourite Christmas gift to young kids to teach them to love their environment. Must be my South African genes. :-) Either that, or I am just cheap, or too mean to spend time looking at something more original. Whichever it is, I don't care, I like giving the subscriptions.
My latest edition of Red Herring arrived on Zinio this morning (Zinio is an electronic book reader that allows you to subscribe to magazines and read them, on your computer. It uses a real magazine look and feel and even 'turns' the pages for you, and you can zoom in and out. The only gripe I have about it is that you cannot move it onto a second screen if you use Extended Desktop with 2 screens. It is stuck on the primary screen. My second gripe is that you only have one zoom mode, which is kind of annoying when you have screens of different sizes - you cannot set a zoom level that is comfortable for each screen. It is what it is. *Sigh* Oh well.
Some interesting comments in it about the impact of globalisation and how the recent fall in China had such a massive impact on stock markets across the globe. It certainly did. Wiped billions in value off the stock markets across the globe. Amazing how interlinked we have all become. A few decades ago China was that vast communist country on the other side of the world that was a potential threat to world peace, and now it is an economic powerhouse affecting us directly and indirectly. That reminds me of an experience last year. We had ordered furniture some years back from a local furniture store. Sort of old look but modern made, if you understand what I mean. I love old fashioned furniture. Beautifully crafted in France from Cherrywood. We then decided to add some pieces to that last year. When it arrived, guess where it had been shipped from? Correct. China. That same place that used to ship cheap plastic toys, was now shipping finely crafted wood furniture. And, I could not fault it. It was beautifully made to similar standards and quality as our first pieces. Rather amazing.
Anyhow, behind my back is beautiful sunshine, and I still have some more reading to do in my Red Herring and McKinseys Quarterly.
Must remember to give you some of my thoughts about my daughter and her log on DeviantArt, where she posts her graphics, pictures and also photos about herself. She hasn't even been a teenager for a year, and it starts.... *Sigh*. And, being the technophobe that I am, I can't even complain, but if there is anyone out there that has developed a small piece of software a father can install on a website that blocks evil minded little boys and dirty old men from viewing online pictures of their daughters, please let me know. I think I am in need of it. At times like this I am all in favour of censorship....
Monday 5 March 2007
Monday Morning Greys
Well, everyone has the blues. I am a South African living in Ireland for the last 6 years now. The Irish always boast about the 14 shades of green of the emerald Isle. Well, they kind of omit the fact that for 6 months of the year, it boasts 16 shades of grey during the winter months.
It is Monday morning, the start of a bright new week of opportunities and the marvel of watching the changes taking place in our wonderful world. I never cease to be amazed at the pace of change over the last decade. And now, over the last 5 years, it seems to move and change at an accelerating pace with the advent of broadband. Bandwidth used to be domain of large wealthy companies. Now 13 year olds have access to more bandwidth than many large companies had 10 years ago. In fact, around 2000 the entire country of South Africa used around 142Mb international access.
It is interesting watching how things change, but also how these changes affect us. I am now enjoying my mid morning coffee break, having completed reading my emails and responding to those I wished to whilst pondering the remaining ones. I have checked my LinkedIn account to see whether I have any new connections to my network, and to read the questions posed. Answered a few of those as mental stimulation, reading the answers of others. In my Inbox I had a mail from McKinsey, so I opened that and it contained an interesting article on 'The Halo Effect, and other Managerial Delusions'. Sounded right up my alley, so I downloaded the PDF (I have a subscription to McKinsey), read the article and chuckled as I agreed with most of what the Author, Phil Rosenzweig had to say. Filed it under Articles in My Documents, and printed out a hard copy to file for reference purposes (So much for the paperless office, but generally I seldom print things out, unless it really takes my fancy...).
Next I read my CNet subscriptions. Nothing overtly fascinating today, but then I found a little gem, www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9693246-2.html?tag=cnetfd.mt about Ning, the new alternative to YouTube. Sounds brilliant so I tag it with Deli.cio.us so I can get back to it later when I have more time. Quickly scooted over to Total Content & Media to see what has happened in the weird and wonderful world of the media and telecoms world. The most interesting and least surprising bit was YouTube striking a deal with BBC over their clips. Hmmm... probably to avoid another Viacom issue.
Still have to get to my RSS feeds and update my daily podcasts. I listen to them in the car when I drive home and to work each morning and evening. Gives me time to catch up. I seldom seem to listen to the radio or watch TV anymore.
The question is, with all the technology we use, have we improved our lives, or have we created more pressure on ourselves trying to keep up with all the things that we now have access to? We have more choices than ever before, but in order to make informed choices we have to try things. When we try them, do we become bound to them in the fear that we may lose track of some vital little gem of information that may come through this means like a grain of wheat through the chaff, or are we able to manage our use of technology responsibly?
Sometimes when I watch the way in which people use mobile phones, I fear people have lost their individuality as they live by their mobile phones being available on demand to anyone that wishes to call them, forgetting that their phones have voice mail and text facilities and that it is OK to sometimes be out of reach, no-one will take offense. And if they do, they probably deserve to be avoided.
I think we need to stand back from the technology and take back our lives, using the technology to enhance and enrich our daily communication, but not become slaves to it.
It is Monday morning, the start of a bright new week of opportunities and the marvel of watching the changes taking place in our wonderful world. I never cease to be amazed at the pace of change over the last decade. And now, over the last 5 years, it seems to move and change at an accelerating pace with the advent of broadband. Bandwidth used to be domain of large wealthy companies. Now 13 year olds have access to more bandwidth than many large companies had 10 years ago. In fact, around 2000 the entire country of South Africa used around 142Mb international access.
It is interesting watching how things change, but also how these changes affect us. I am now enjoying my mid morning coffee break, having completed reading my emails and responding to those I wished to whilst pondering the remaining ones. I have checked my LinkedIn account to see whether I have any new connections to my network, and to read the questions posed. Answered a few of those as mental stimulation, reading the answers of others. In my Inbox I had a mail from McKinsey, so I opened that and it contained an interesting article on 'The Halo Effect, and other Managerial Delusions'. Sounded right up my alley, so I downloaded the PDF (I have a subscription to McKinsey), read the article and chuckled as I agreed with most of what the Author, Phil Rosenzweig had to say. Filed it under Articles in My Documents, and printed out a hard copy to file for reference purposes (So much for the paperless office, but generally I seldom print things out, unless it really takes my fancy...).
Next I read my CNet subscriptions. Nothing overtly fascinating today, but then I found a little gem, www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9693246-2.html?tag=cnetfd.mt about Ning, the new alternative to YouTube. Sounds brilliant so I tag it with Deli.cio.us so I can get back to it later when I have more time. Quickly scooted over to Total Content & Media to see what has happened in the weird and wonderful world of the media and telecoms world. The most interesting and least surprising bit was YouTube striking a deal with BBC over their clips. Hmmm... probably to avoid another Viacom issue.
Still have to get to my RSS feeds and update my daily podcasts. I listen to them in the car when I drive home and to work each morning and evening. Gives me time to catch up. I seldom seem to listen to the radio or watch TV anymore.
The question is, with all the technology we use, have we improved our lives, or have we created more pressure on ourselves trying to keep up with all the things that we now have access to? We have more choices than ever before, but in order to make informed choices we have to try things. When we try them, do we become bound to them in the fear that we may lose track of some vital little gem of information that may come through this means like a grain of wheat through the chaff, or are we able to manage our use of technology responsibly?
Sometimes when I watch the way in which people use mobile phones, I fear people have lost their individuality as they live by their mobile phones being available on demand to anyone that wishes to call them, forgetting that their phones have voice mail and text facilities and that it is OK to sometimes be out of reach, no-one will take offense. And if they do, they probably deserve to be avoided.
I think we need to stand back from the technology and take back our lives, using the technology to enhance and enrich our daily communication, but not become slaves to it.
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