You don’t look 83 at all !
Yesyes, everyone has his turn, and in 11 hours (CET) it’s Nathan’s turn to get a change in digits. Nobody knows how old Nathan really is. It’s a secret that’s very well kept, it’s almost as secret as Google’s algorithm. Going back through the archives I noticed that last year he didn’t even wrote about his own birthday. So I figured we could try to make this a well commented post and wish him a very happy birthday, for starters. The more the merrier !
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
General |
6 comments
The Firefox Foundation invited their dedicated network of users to participate in the Firefox Flick Contest, which is a contest in which people were asked to create a 30-second ad, in any style (live action or animated,) that brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discovered Firefox and the better Web experience it delivers. The website has a clear briefing with strict guidelines here.
Apart from personal glory, participants could also win great prizes. This is just one of the great examples of user created vids:
via i-Wisdom | Marketing Thoughts
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Culture, Microsoft, Humor, General |
no comments
From C|Net:
An Internet Explorer update released earlier this week can interfere with some applications, including Google’s Toolbar, according to PatchLink, a maker of patch management software.
Other applications affected by the Web browser patch include business software from Oracle’s Siebel customer relationship management unit and certain Web applications that use specific versions of Java, PatchLink said Friday.
The problems arise because of changes Microsoft made to how the Web browser handles Web programs called ActiveX controls. The modifications are designed to shield Microsoft from liability in a high-profile patent dispute with Eolas Technologies and the University of California.
Read more…
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Toolbar, Microsoft, Tools, General |
no comments
Competing with Google’s Scholar service, Microsoft launced Windows Live Academic Search.
Windows Live Academic is now in beta. We currently index content related to computer science, physics, electrical engineering, and related subject areas.
Academic search enables you to search for peer reviewed journal articles contained in journal publisher portals and on the web in locations like citeseer.
Academic search works with libraries and institutions to search and provide access to subscription content for their members. Access restricted resources include subscription services or premium peer-reviewed journals. You may be able to access restricted content through your library or institution.
We have built several features designed to help you rapidly find the content you are searching for including abstract previews via our preview pane, sort and group by capability, and citation export.
The available content is a collection of articles and information from about 10 different publisher resources. Data is provided by (amongst others) the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Association for Computing Machinery, and publishers Elsevier and John Wiley & Sons.
The search system is a cooperative effort between the publishers, Windows Live Search and industry association CrossRef.
http://academic.live.com/
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Google Scholar, Microsoft, General |
no comments
Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat down with Charlie Rose recently for a pretty good interview, here’s a snippet:
(on people fearing Google) “Our ambition is consistent with our mission, and the mission is all the world’s information. There are many people who are concerned about the all the world’s information being generally accessible. There are governments worried about that…many, many people concerned that broad access could be used for things they disagree with or could be used for bad things. We worry about that. We don’t want people using this for anything but good but the overwhelming power of Google is that there’s a tremendous access for information. We try very, very hard to be true to our principles which many viewers know the most important thing being we don’t use our business to alter ranking.”
Read more snippets on Resource Shelf
The 56 minute interview is for sale for $0.99 on Google Video
SE Journal pointed to an interesting video of Eric Schmidt teaching a public speaking class back in 1988.
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Google Video, Culture, General |
no comments
India is joining South Korea, and a number of other countries, to pressure Google to “do something” about it’s “Google Earth” service.
The security organizations in these countries are alarmed at the ease with which Google Earth enables any user to quickly get a satellite photo of just about any area on the planet. This capability is nothing new, it’s been available from commercial photo satellite firms for over a decade. But what has changed with the Google offering, is that the company gathers together the largest collection of satellite photos ever, and makes them very easy to get at, by anyone with Internet access. This is what worries counter-terrorism officials.
First of all, Google isn’t alone. There are other search engines that offer a similar service. Xxxxx, xxx xxxx [removed upon kind request] It’s not that you don’t have libraries with books that have this footage too… It’s not that you have anything to hide, or is it? If any terrorist got briefed sufficiently enough, he would be getting military information from some corrupt high-placed officer, just like they get arms from those same sources. Blocking out a geographical tool like Google or any search engine is just like finding ‘a’ stick to beat ‘a’ random dog. This is ridiculous.
Anything that makes it easier for an Islamic terrorist to plan attacks, the more likely that attacks will be put together and carried out. In addition, South Korea fears that poverty stricken, but heavily armed, North Korea, could use Google Earth to more effectively plan military operations against them.
Perhaps you should also forbid road maps and kill anyone who retired from a job that involved working with ’sensitive’ information. Maybe eliminate all the workers that build the roads to your sensitive spots too. Added: Any country that asks for these maps to be changed is just ignorant and being stupid. But that’s just my two cents.
Source: Military Intelligence
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Google Earth, Culture, Controversy, Google Maps, Keyhole, Services, Products, General |
14 comments
From the Morningstar
When the big three Internet companies report next week, investors will get an indication of how quickly online advertising and commerce grew on the Web during the first three months of this year. […]
Importantly, given the increased competition from traditional media and startups as places for consumers to entertain themselves, inform themselves or to shop, investors will gauge whether the Internet companies command the premium valuation they’ve enjoyed in the past. […]
Based on estimates for Yahoo and Google, advertising sales are expected to grow between 30% and 85% in the first quarter. Google’s revenue, which is derived primarily from sponsored search listings, is estimated to grow nearly three times faster than Yahoo, which also relies on branded advertising. Ebay, whose results will be a proxy for retailing trends and fee-based businesses on the Web, is expected to see revenue rise 34% in the quarter […]
Read much more insights at the Morningstar
Seriously. I’m missing a major player here. Whatever happened to MSN or Microsoft? They can’t come up with figures? Don’t they have advertising models too at Microsoft? Hmm.
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Stock Market, Yahoo, Microsoft, General |
no comments
Lately, Google planned to boost development in the Chinese region, launching advertising and other businesses. However, Google is awaiting regulatory approval before launching new businesses in China. Intel & Baidu saw this, and decided to go ahead in an effort to create some distance between the search giant and themselves.
From the PakTribune (Pakistan)
Intel China Ltd and Chinese-language Internet search service Baidu.com Inc on Thursday agreed to develop search and other applications in China, one of the world’s fastest growing markets.
Intel China is a subsidiary of chip maker Intel Corp, the two companies said they will develop new Web search applications for cellphones, computers and other devices.
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Coolz0r |
Controversy, Consumer Products, Stock Market, General |
no comments
I knew it! It’s been over a year since I first posted about Google Calendar, and I knew there was only one thing that would get Google to finally release it: If I wasn’t around.
So, what’s up with Google Calendar? Well, GCal lets you schedule your whole life (and doesn’t judge) and share your schedules with others. You can see your friend’s calendars next to your own, share events, invite others to events, and other things.
Google Calendar claims to support IE 6.0+ and Firefox 1.07+, but since it says IE7 is not supported, I guess it loses one “+”. Still, it appears to work just fine.
Creating an event is simple. Click where you want the event to be, on the calendar, and start filling in the options. Being that today is my birthday (yeah!), I decided to put that in, setting an annual all-day event. Simple, and took exactly 14 seconds. Well, maybe. I didn’t actually time it.
You view your calendar in day, week, month, next 4 days, or “Agenda” view. The day view is just the week view, without the other days, and longer, so I already don’t see the point in it. The month view shows the current month, with no option to scroll down and show the second half of this month and the first half of the next. The next four days view is like the week view, or the day view, but with less/more days, and nothing special. Waste of views, but to each his own.
At least the Agenda view seems to have a purpose. It shows all events covering a certain time period, giving you a decent idea of what’s going on in your life. Or it reminds you that you need to get a life (sorry, man).
You have some options you can change in the settings, like time/date formats, use the ever-popular army time, set your default view (hint: don’t bother with day and “next 4″), change the length of the “next 4″ to another number of days (including next seven, which isn’t at all redundant).
You can create multiple calendars, with differing color schemes, and choose with a checkbox which to display together, toggling quickly the views. You can also add in other people’s calendars, and do the same.
You can also set notification settings, including SMS notifications. You enter your phone number and carrier, get sent a verification code, and you can now have event reminders sent to your phone.
Unless you use Verizon, one of the most popular carriers in the country. Then you’re $#!7 out of luck. Brilliant.
But, hey, they support “Cricket Communications”. Huzzah.
You can set reminders to be sent via email, SMS or onscreen popups, and you can choose which types of reminders to send to each, or multiples, or not at all. You can easily invite others to your events, and they can RSVP and leave comments.
You can import calendars from iCal or CSV formats, but not Microsoft’s new-fangled RSS extensions designed to do exactly this. That’ll change, I hope.
You can share your Calendar with others in RSS or iCal format, but doing so gives away your Gmail address, so no dice. When is Google going to get that I, and many others, have no interest in publicly posting our Google Account names anywhere?
Gmail recognizes when a person mentions an event in an email, and allows you to add that automatically. Assuming the text analysis is spot-on, that is a great feature.
There’s a lot more, but how about a verdict: Google Calendar looks like a great product, with a lot of depth and a lot features. If you really need a calendar application, this could really work out for you.
However, if you currently use Outlook or some other program, I’m not sure why you would switch. Other than being web-based, I don’t see a must-have feature that begs switching to Google. Unless you hate the program you are currently using, I wonder why you would switch.
Still, it is a full-featured release, a quality one at that, and one that should be a major player, and a decent draw for Google, for years to come.
April 16th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Calendar, Services, General |
8 comments
