4/13/2006

Finally, the Google Calendar

So today Google finally released the beta to their long awaited calendar application. My first trial was less than expected, as I only got a server error. The site seems to work stable now though, and I am rather pleased. Unfortunately, features like natural language input or automatic event parsing are only useful to native English speakers, and since there still isn’t a decent Google Maps for Europe I don’t bet on a localized calendar to appear anytime soon. Anyway, I like the interface a lot and will give it a try for managing my appointments with Google Calendar in the next few days.

4/8/2006

Earning money with MySpace

PRWeb has an Article suggesting there is a lot of money to be made with MySpace related websites. Of course MySpace is a traffic phenomenon, with a huge mindshare among teenage users. Obviously there is a big demand for support sites that offer help in creating appealing profiles, and some of these sites are reported to earn millions of dollars with advertising. While I do believe this market exists, I have a hard time believing these numbers. I wonder if there is a similar market for Facebook?

1/18/2006

The bubble about to burst?

Allthough Yahoo managed to increase their profits by 80 percent, they were unable to meet analysts expectations and promptly suffered a 13 percent drop in their stock value. Couple this with the demise of Searchfox and the blogosphere is abuzz with speculations on the crash of the Web2.0 [via Micro Persuation].
While there is no doubt that the whole 2.0 thing is overhyped, there has been a tremendous amount of innovation last year, which produced a lot of lasting values. I hope nervous investors will understand some day too.

11/27/2005

Open Source Cartoons

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams had an odd request for the readers of his blog today: He asked them to give him a line of text for one of his upcoming cartoons. Now collaborative online writing has been around for quite some time, but I think this is the first time a popular cartoonist offered his readership to work on his dialogues. Actually Scott chose one of the comments just an hour later. Had I noticed this early enough I would have contributed for sure. Being co author of a Dilbert cartoon would have been a high honor, just second to being featured in User Friendly.
[via Micro Persuation]

11/13/2005

Defining the Web 2.0 - Nice try

As much talk as there is on the Web 2.0, it seems nobody can give a precise definition on what the term actually means. Allthough I consider myself a Web 2.0 fanatic, I couldn’t define it either. Now over at del.icio.us, a site almost everyone counts to the core Web 2.0 assets, they tried to define the Web 2.0 by looking at their users tags. What they came up with is a collection of tags that are frequently used in association the with the term »Web 2.0«. Let’s have a look at these:

Ajax 9.9%
This came as a surprise to me. Sure, Ajaxian sites are cool, and there is a lot of hype around that technology, but I would not say that the use of Ajax by itself makes a web application 2.0. Both del.icio.us as well as Flickr started out without using Ajax, and I don’t think anyone would doubt that these have been Web 2.0 sites from the beginning.
Blog 6.1%
The blogging phenomenon sure goes hand in hand with a lot of things that are related to what most people feel are parts of the Web 2.0: RSS feeds, visitor interaction, open APIs and generous crosslinking come to mind. But then blogish sites like Slashdot or Kuro5hin have been around for a long time, most likely longer than the term Web 2.0 exists.
Social 4.2%
That is a strong one. I’d say every serious Web 2.0 site has some sort of social component to it. Of course, bulletin boards have been kind of social too long before, so being a »social site« might not be sufficient to be Web 2.0, but one might argue it is a requirement.
Tools 4.1%
Well, actually I don’t know what to make of this one. Sure, there are tools that belong to Web 2.0. But providing tools does not really define anything on the web.
Software 3.3%
So the Web 2.0 still relies on software. What a bummer. Maybe Web 3.0 will finally run without.
Tagging 3.3%
Next to social, I consider this rather on spot. Nearly every site that made the buzzlists in the Web 2.0 community uses some kind of tagging. It’s a social component nonetheless.
Javascript 2.8%
Same as with Ajax, actually a part of it. Heavy use of Javascript is often seen in Web 2.0 applications, but I don’t consider it a requirement.
Internet 2.6%
See »Software«
Programming 2.5%
Well, someone gotta code all these cool new webapps. Programming sure is a required skill. It is required for creating spreadsheet software too though. No winner here.
RSS 2.5%
Just as blogs, RSS has been there for a long time, but it looks like it really took of with the Web 2.0. Actually it has changed the way people look for information, so I think this one fits right in.

Conclusion: While some of these tags seem to name components of what we consider to be the Web 2.0, they fail to provide the final definition. Others are so vague, that they don’t provide any help on this question at all. Next try?

11/6/2005

All the best, Steve

Steve Rubel, a blogger who’s writings on Micro Persuation I value a lot, has recently been diagnosed with skin cancer. As a matter of fact, he opened a Skin Cancer blog, where he intends to track the progress of his own recovery, as well as provide helpful links and information on the subject. Best wishes Steve, I hope you recover soon.

4/30/2005

OS X Tiger: Blogger’s favourite

Seems like everyone is blogging on the new Apple OS X release right now. The screens I’ve seen so far look impressive, especially the desktop widgets, which, as I get it, can be created with HTML, CSS and Javascript. Guess that’s what Microsoft had on it’s mind when they released active desktop some years ago, but that technology never really seemed to take off. Guess I’ll have to get myself a powerbook some time to know what all the fuzz is about.

4/12/2005

CS Paper Generator

Scholars agree that constant-time methodologies are an interesting new topic in the field of steganography, and computational biologists concur. Given the current status of linear-time technology, computational biologists predictably desire the synthesis of architecture. In this work we verify that despite the fact that e-business and the Internet can interfere to accomplish this ambition, expert systems and consistent hashing are regularly incompatible.

Damn, I would have needed this when I still attended university.

Last.Fm trouble

Last.Fm is an awesome service, broadcasting web radio tailored to my personal music taste. Unfortunately, they seem to have some serious problems, the site seems to be down more often than up recently. Anyone else thinks that sucks?

4/11/2005

Making $100 a day blogging - within 12 weeks

WebSiteNights is a blog on a challenge to make $100 daily with a blog. So far there are twelve bloggers who have taken up that challenge. That challenge was started at march 16th, and it might be interesting to check out what these people are doing to meet that goal.
Found via ProBlogger