Mike Davidson: iPod Giveaway #7: Design a Steve Jobs Movie Poster

Only on a mac...

Mike Davidson: iPod Giveaway #7: Design a Steve Jobs Movie Poster

Note the contest is over: We have a winner

Be sure that the Truth will find you out...

Is it just me or are both AskJeeves (aka Bloglines) and Technorati claiming to have provided the data for A recent Dateline show about blogging?

Technorati and Dateline NBC
Hot Topics on the Blogosphere

UPDATE:
Thanks to Niall Kennedy I now know that NBC enlisted the help of Technorati and Blogpulse to get data for their show, howevever dateline made the final decision on what to do with the data.
Here is a quote from the dateline blog:
"So for this segment, we read through some of the postings online and enlisted the help of two companies that monitor Internet buzz (Technorati and Blogpulse) to find the most blogged-about topics on the ‘Net this week." - Inside Dateline: A jog through blogs
In this Dateline Blog Post Ask Jeeves is not listed as providing any information, which might be an error.

2006 - The Year of the Unique ID?

While people like me are publishing automatic produced predictions for 2006 others like David Weinberger are taking a more serious look at what might be happening this year.

Journal Of Hyperlinked organization - December 5, 2005: "Last year, it was Web 2.0 and tagging. This year, it's going to be unique IDs (UIDs), and for the same reason that Web 2.0 and tagging matter: The Web is going miscellaneous." <SNIP> "Which is why I think UIDs are more likely than global UIDs. Competing groups will come up with their own schemes, perhaps labeling incommensurate objects, and then as the need becomes pressing, we'll map the systems together, however awkwardly. That may require a lot of footnotes, but experience has shown (anyone remember SGML?) that we're better off having relatively local groups succeed at ID'ing objects and then knitting them together than waiting for the World Council on Numbering Things to come up with a global standard. That hasn't happened since Adam and Eve, and even they made an arbitrary decision to names classes of things ('Let's call them 'dogs'') and not particulars ('Let's name that thing 'Rover' and that thing 'Fido'')."

The full article is quite an interesting read, and I think he is right that Unique ID's will be come increasingly important in the next few years of internet history. But this will only happen as this ID's become more (a) useful and (b) visible.
I will talk about (b) first:
(b) Currently there are a whole lot of ID's that we do not see, traditionally the model has been to "hide the ugly id's" so that we don't scare away our users. The same has been true of the likes of RSS and other "computer read" information. Traditionally we have tried to hide all the techie stuff but the rss movement has shown that by exposing some of the raw data, people are suddenly able to do some very cool stuff.
Examples of openly available UID's are already occurring today, want to link to a flickr photo?
It has a unique id : http://www.flickr.com/photos/jambe/59292611/
a url on del.icio.us?
http://del.icio.us/url/721fee21274647cb65c1e67389669aed

These ID's are specific to the individual sites involved and don't help you find photo's that are essentially the same, or find to url's that point to the same website. But they are the first step in what David is talking about. They are also both URL's which you have to say are the most common unique ID's in use today. A lot of UID systems build upon URL's for this reason. This practice doesn't fit very well with the completely random style UID's David W seems to be advocating.

(a) Usefulness - Unique ID's have always been useful, they are used in almost every database, printed on cars, used on the internet, and in networking. However so far there has been little emphasis on exposing these numbers to users. I think that visibility and usefulness will go hand in hand, as UID's become exposed, they will suddenly become more useful, and the more useful they are the more that are likely to be made available.

I also think it is worth noting that small groups creating Unique ID's creates a naturally hierarchical structure (which seems to go against Dr. Weinberger's Internet philosophy - he is a philosopher BTW)

Example hierarchy (This hierarchy doesn't really exist, all the names are all made up):
root-> Microsoft's UID's -> BLOG_ID
                                 -> PERSON_ID
         -> Google's UID's -> UNINVERSAL_INFORMATION_ID
                                     -> ADSENSE_PERSON_ID

Now I guess If everyone started using Microsofts PERSON_ID system (may repeat these are all fictional names) the hierarchical structure would be largely meaningless, but it does show that hierarchies do exist, and they do have uses. If you haven't read about the tagging/tree debate, before you definitely should... I'm still trying to form an opinion.

Automatic Dotcom Predictions for 2006

Thanks to Matt McAlister's Dotcom Predicter, I bring to you for the first time James' dotcom predictions for 2006!

(Whats the bet Matt gets a whole lot of links out of creating this predicter?)

I had no Idea what would come out when I filled out his form, but some of it actually makes sense...

The Funniest thing is that bit where is says Jeremy Zawodny would up set Tim Bray for supporting Atom. Actually Tim would be over the moon if Jeremy was to start supporting Atom.

----------------------------------------------------
Last year I made several predctions that now seem ridiculously humble. But a few ideas were pretty close. I've got a feeling that 2006 will be a big year, and here are some of the reasons why:

1. A Mt View startup is going to open our eyes to some new ways that The Semantic Web can influence culture. John Battelle's Search Blog will pick up on this and run several cover stories on the founders.
2. Jeremy Zawodny will be in the spotlight for his decision to support ATOM. This will upset Tim Bray, and the blogosphere will react interesting. The noise will quiet before the end of the year and it will all be forgotten soon after the shock.
3. a9.com will see their stock skyrocket after their search business starts taking off. We've seen it coming for a while now, but 2006 will be the year it really kicks into gear.
4. Either del.icio.us or akamai will seek to expand their content delivery business by acquiring wink.com. squidoo.com will be overlooked in the process, and they will see a management shakeout later in the year.
5. One of the big leaders in the steel industry will wake up to the threat of the Internet and the Web 2.0 trends. After months of speculation, they will make a key acquisition that will shake up the landscape for years to come.
----------------------------------------------------

SNARF from Microsoft Research

Microsoft has recently released a tool that users information about who you email, and who emails you to attempt to prioritise your inbox. I'm about to try it now...

(Microsoft Outlook Only)

Read more at research.microsoft.com/...

Google releases Firefox extensions

Google has just announced 2 new firefox extentions.

One is a sort of one page blogosphere search, telling you what the world is saying about the current page. And the other is designed to warn you about dangerous sites. Which I guess is google's entry into the anti-phishing toolbar arena along with other players:
NetCraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar (Internet Explorer)
Microsofts Phishing Filter (Internet Explorer)
Outfoxed (Firefox)

It is great idea for search engines to help protect customers computers, they have the right data in their index, and they want the data they will learn by giving away a service like this (all the urls that you visit). It seems like a fair trade to me, others will have their privacy concerns...

It appears that google safe browsing is only available for users in USA, with is a little bit sad for people like me in New Zealand. Interestingly Glen Murphy (the guy who wrote the google blog post) is an Austalian, so prehaps there is some hope for those of us who live down under...

BTW: Can we get it as a web service please google? It would be awesome if we could dynamically block sites at an isp or work place before you even get to the site!

Yahoo! gets del.icio.us

This will make things interesting! Will MyWeb become del.icio.us? Or will they keep them both seporately? - I doubt it

I like the way yahoo is working very hard to integrate different services into the yahoo family of products, and makes it very easy for users like me to have a single login, and don't have to worry about signing up for everything seporately. They are innovating my aquisition, but at least they are willing to innovate!

Joshua (from del.icio.us says):
"I look forward to continuing my vision of social and community memory, and taking it to the next level with the del.icio.us community and Yahoo!"

I'm looking forward to seeing it happen...

Viruses: not a Linux problem?

Ever heard the phrase "I use linux, so I don't have to worry about using a virus scanner. Linux doesn't get viruses!" Famous last words! Viruslist.com has an interesting blog post on the topic.
Viruses: not a Linux problem? : Virus Analyst's Diary - "More and more organizations are starting to use Linux alongside Windows, with a Linux file-server storing Windows applications. These files can be infected at desktop level, with infected files then being stored on the server. Organizations must therefore accept the necessity of scanning the Linux server to protect against malicious code attacks.
"

Ngata dictionary — Online English<->Maori Dictionary

Interested in learning Maori? Want to translate a sign or greeting?
Try this fantastic site:

Ngata dictionary From Learning Media

Slashdot | Jonathan Zdziarski Answers

Jonathan Zdziarski creator of DSPAM, was interviewed recently on Slashdot.
I found ther interview interesting, I hope you do too :)

Slashdot | Jonathan Zdziarski Answers

Looking for a good blog?

Technorati has just released a new service that aims to make it easy to find blogs.
Its called "Blogfinder" and it seems to work fairly well, but it is based largely on people "Claiming" and "Tagging" their blogs.
Which has some nice effects, such as the fact that my blog (A Word A While) is currently the only the only blog listed under "Lingustics"...

See for yourself:
More blogs about lingusitics.


It reminds me that I must get around to updating AWAW this weekend...
It might be called "A Word A While" but it certainly has been a while!

Flickr Magazine

Have you always wanted to invent a magazine cover?
Here's your chance!
1. Upload a picture to flickr (or find one that is already there)
2. Head over to this site and put in all the details.
3. Admire your creation.
4. See what others have done...

Free access to a unix server!

Are you interested in Learning how to operate linux/unix? I turns out there is a non-profit organisation in the us that allows free accounts on a unix server on the internet! You can host your own website, check your mail, do just about anything!

Heres what they have to say about themselves:
--------------------
The Super Dimension Fortress is a networked community of free software
authors, teachers, students, researchers, hobbyists, enthusiasts and
the blind. It is operated as a federally recognised non-profit 501(c)(7)
and is supported by its members.

Our mission is to provide remotely accessible computing facilities for
the advancement of public education, cultural enrichment, scientific
research and recreation. Members can interact electronically with each
other regardless of their location using passive or interactive forums.
Further purposes include the recreational exchange of information
concerning the Liberal and Fine Arts.

Members have UNIX shell access to games, email, usenet, chat, bboard,
webspace, gopherspace, programming utilities, archivers, browsers, and
more. The SDF community is made up of caring, highly skilled people who
operate behind the scenes to maintain a non-commercial INTERNET."
--------------------

Check it out www.freeshell.org

A mention in the press!

Some times it pays to be first :)

A few weeks ago, I made a quick comment on Robert Scoble's Blog. I mentioned that he had made a mistake in reading the number of blog posts that link to his weblog. See his post here


Little did I know that David Berlind over at ZDNet would mention me in responding to Schoble! Check it out for yourself:
Microsoft's Scoble questions ZDNet's agenda

The Book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiates has always been one of my favorites books in the Bible. I love the way that solomon shares his own thoughts and fears on life.
Khouse have just put an article online about the book. Here's a quick quote:
"Ecclesiastes is different from any other book of the Bible. It does not dwell on the covenant, the election of Israel, redemption, prophecy, sacred history, or the temple. Its focus is on man the creature, his life on earth, and the inscrutability of God and His ways. Ecclesiastes goes beyond the other wisdom literature to emphasize the fact that human life and human goals, as ends in themselves and apart from God, are futile and meaningless." - Read more at Koinonia house

Is man made to work?

I love this quote from Paul Graham:
"As societies get richer, they learn something about work that's a lot like what they learn about diet. We know now that the healthiest diet is the one our peasant ancestors were forced to eat because they were poor. Like rich food, idleness only seems desirable when you don't get enough of it. I think we were designed to work, just as we were designed to eat a certain amount of fiber, and we feel bad if we don't." Paul Graham - What Business Can Learn from Open Source.

Isn't it funny that the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence? Because we have to work we wish we didn't! If, like me, you have had times in your life when you didn't have much to do, you soon realize how empty that kind of existence is.
Rick Waren made this point in his book, "The Purpose Driven Life". We are not here on earth to sit around an make life as easy as possible for ourselves. Instead we are here for a mission (a purpose), to make Jesus known throughout out the world, to live in fellowship with one another, to worship God, and to serve others.
Notice the last point, serving others?
Serving others is the basis of open source software, the open source movement is fueled by people who say, I am willing to give my time and effort so that I am able to help others get great software. Without this attitude I suggest that open source wouldn't get very far.

Optical Illusions on pavement

These pavement drawings are amazing!

Here is a globe (Commissioned for live8):

From the other side:


See more pavement drawings at Julian Beevers Website:
Julian Beever's pavement drawings

A car powered by Air!

I remember as a kid imagining myself as the inventor of an air powered car. Of course as I grew older I learned that it was pretty much imposible. Others don't seem to lose faith so quickly:

The MDI Air Car - the world's cleanest car.

It is running on compressed air, which means it does need to be 'charged' or 'filled' up every so often. But you can't deny that is runs on air :)

Another Photo...

I've been experimenting lately with some close up photographs.
Here is an example:

I have labeled this Photo "A Leaf, A Branch and an Island"

To see more closeups visit my photos tagged "closeups".

How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily

How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily - This is a very interesting presentation, Not only does it communicate ways to learn and write, it talks about logic, and how to evaluate an argument. Highly recommended...


Note: The above presentation was writen by Michael Covington