Image from here

A little over ten years ago, before debit cards became ubiquitous and people cared more about having actual bits of paper for the monetary worth, I had a discussion with a friend about how the world would  eventually move to a cashless society.   I argued over the cost and extent of such a venture going forward.   He did have one good point in his argument – anonymity.

He believed due to corruption (or anything else you wish to argue for) that there would always be cash money to allow for citizens to have an anonymous usage of money in society.   I had several more arguments going against this back then, but I couldn’t truly get around the anonymity factor, especially with small unmarked bills.  I don’t believe the anonymity factor is going to last too much longer though.

Enter in RFID dust, this effectively will destroy anonymity in a cash based society.   The technology was developed as an anti-counterfeiting method.   With this knowledge in hand we can make some assumptions.  The first is that the dust can be used to verify the authenticity of the bills.   The second, when it is truly embedded in the bills and not sprinkled into batches of money – that the RFID will contain a serial that will match the serial number on the bill itself.

If the dollar can “beacon” the serial number, then how does it become anonymous.   In theory before you use any paper money you could microwave it, but eventually that will no longer work either.  The next argument would be that only the government has the readers – this would be a “for how long argument”.   Think of the theft and tracking of the flow of money analysis that could be gained solely on a research perspective.  I can see in 20-30 years as the technology becomes cheaper and centralized databases are more available – that this type of tracking could be the norm.

I’ve written about software currently that can track the flow of money, there is no reason we wouldn’t be able to see real time tracking of every single penny in circulation by utilizing this technology.   The only thing stopping it right now is cost, which will drop.

I really didn’t have time to write about this last week when it first came to my attention but it seems that Creeva.com has been banned from Technorati for gaming the system.   It states that I republish materials from other sites onto this blog.   This is not untrue, though 90% of my posts actually originate from there.   If I write something I centralize it all on creeva.com.   It’s simple.  It’s efficient.  It allows me centralize and backup my writing.

That being said, they aren’t wrong.   One of the underlying experiments that this blog does is crossposting.  It crossposts to myspace, facebook, tumblr, blogger, and many more.   I don’t make huge piles of cash (haven’t made a dime in my pocket yet).  I don’t blast people with ads, though on some sites including the main there are some that are there.   I’m not doing it to drive up profit in any way.  I’m doing it so different communities can read my stuff.  I won’t harp on it, I’ve written about my crossposting before.

The question is how relevant is Technorati becoming.   I know this question has been asked before, and I used to believe in Technorati.   I didn’t start 500 blogspot accounts to promote the material.  I used 1 public site per service.  For the point of experimentation and proof of concept.  I also have been slowly working on a whole article series on how to crosspost.   With the myriad of services and the fact that data is not yet truly portable, but beginning to become so.   How can these services accurately  track where information is originating from.

Like I said I’m not annoyed, I can live without technorati.  When people are posting links to their site on tumblr, friendfeed, twitter, and others how long before there are more people like me?   Services like Ping.fm and HelloTxt serve in a market segment only to fuel this further.   I’m not someone who has a targetted truly branded blog beyond self branding.   I don’t have a certain topic set I cover and regulary write about.  I’m a schizophrenic writer that is all over the place.   The only thing I hope is consistent is my voice.  Beyond that take away from my writing what you will.

Picture taken from here

Introduction

Picture from here

E-mail in the clouds.   Essentially back in 1996 when Hotmail was first released (in the pre-purchased by Microsoft era) the dawn of popular cloud computing for e-mail began.   The main issue was storage space.  I believe that Hotmail launched with 5 megs of storage space for all of your e-mail.   It is frustrating to know all the e-mail that’s been lost over the years due to inadequate storage space.   I now have single pictures in my email archive that are larger then 5 megs.   Times change and space get’s cheap.

Picture from here

When Google released Gmail into the wild it was a game changer.  By offering 1GB of storage space it made it seem that you literally could keep your e-mail forever.   Other providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo were maxing out at 25 MB at the time, this seemed ridiculous in comparison.

Currently Gmail supports almost 7 GB of storage space and Hotmail and Yahoo went to “unlimited”.  I consolidate almost all of my e-mail to Gmail.

Data Types

To utilize e-mail storage you can attach any (supported) file and keep it in your mailbox.

Data Security

While you have to rely on a username and password to access your e-mail as the security barrier entry, if you want true protection from snooping it is suggested that you either get a web plugin that allows you to do encryption with Gmail, or keep your private messages encrypted and use them with an offline client.

Data Redundancy

Since you can forward e-mail from Gmail, I have it configured to forward all incoming mail to both my Yahoo Mail account and my Hotmail account.  If for some reason GMail loses my data or in the unlikely event Google goes out of business I’ll still be able to access my e-mail messages.

It is recommended that you keep an offline backup of your mail messages so they can be accessible while being off the grid.

Data Accessibility

With Gmail offering accessing via a rich web interface, a basic web interface, a mobile web interface, POP3, SMTP, and IMAP; it seems unlikely that you are going to find an Internet device that can not access it in some way or fashion.

Conclusion

This is the e-mail scenario that works for me.  Since encryption really isn’t ubiquitous across the board I don’t use it like I should.   Beyond that this scenario is highly redundant and should allow you operate from anywhere with a network connection without worrying about losing your data.

Previous entries in the Living in the Clouds Series:

Living In The Clouds Part 1 – Introduction To Cloud Computing

Image from here

Where can you post by E-mail?  Well this is the easiest of crossposting methods (especially if you use Blogger).  There are lots of plugins for wordpress or movable type that can send out your full post as an e-mail to another address.   In most cases you would send this to your own e-mail address so you had it for reference.  What about sending it to another site entirely?  What if that site could send it to another site?  You can see how this chain can work.   If you are using Blogger then you can send out your post to ten e-mail addresses.   This means that your post can replicate like bunnies.   What are some of the sites that can receive e-mail posts?  Let’s get into that.

The original Creeva’s World was hosted on Blogger at creeva.blogspot.com.  This is where I started writing and I didn’t want to abandon it after migrating over to wordpress.  This was the very first site I crossposted to from my wordpress blog.  Crossposting allowed me to not abandon my site and any readers that may go to that address, but I could enhance my own experience while keeping theirs the same.

Lifelogger is the “cooler” blogging service, at least that’s what they say.   I’m not going to use any blogging platform again that I can’t customize to the fullest extent.  WordPress has spoiled me.   Though I do maintain a site there.

Unlike some major social networks (I’m looking at you Facebook and Myspace), Friendster does support e-mailing in your blog messages.

Blogr is just another blogging host that accepts e-mail.  Very blogger like, but crossposting friendly.

Evernote is unique unlock some of the rest of these sites, Evernote is a notebook service.   It allows you to e-mail in snippets (or use the desktop applications) to send in information that you can then share with your friends.  You can e-mail in text notes, audio, or video.

Busy Thumbs is a simple moblog site that accepts posts via e-mail.

Twine is similar to Evernote, but it’s about collections and community.   Think of it as sharing what you have with your friends.

Google Groups is a spot that I used to use as an online backup for my blog.   I have a private google group that only handles my own blog posts.   No you can’t join, not like you would want to.

I’ve just recently start crossposting to an old Yahoo Group that I used to moderate.   Mostly this is because I can share my thoughts with my friends that are still in that group, but that group is essentially dead.   So this is the only thing that it’s around for to keep me from pulling the complete axe on it.

Each Day is designed to handle your memories and save them so you can go back over your life.  It handles multiple media formats but all I’m concerned about is the e-mail option.

Multiply is a social network in the same vein as Friendster, Myspace, and Facebook.

Over at Vox I maintain a page to integrate with their community.  I’ve posted in the past how vox is a unique community and because of that I receive unique feedback.   They refer to their e-mail inbound service as moblogging.

I like to think of all of my blog posts as separate documents.   After working on this for awhile, I decided to start e-mailing all of my entries to my google docs account let’s me to search and repurpose documents a little easier then searching through the blog.   It’s my dump all account for documents.  I am annoyed that I can’t e-mail blog posts to Zoho Writer for redundancy, they only take documents as attachments.

When you are looking for a new site to crosspost to check and see if they have an option where you can post by e-mail.  Some sites may refer to this as moblogging.  Also remember to e-mail your post to yourself so you have a backup you can control.

Oh, I use the DJ E-Mail Publish plugin to push out posts from WordPress.

In the next part of our crossposting god series we are going to cover Blogger more in depth.

Previous Entries in The Crossposting God Series:

The Crossposting God Series Part 1 – The Introduction

The Crossposting God Series Part 2 – Vox

The Crossposting God Series Part 3 – Live Journal and Derivative Sites

The Crossposting God Series Part 4 – Entry, Distribution, and End Points

The Crossposting God Series Part 5 – Myspace

The Crossposting God Series Part 6 – RSS Feeds to Crosspost

Picture from here

RSS, I love RSS.   RSS makes crossposting easy.   It also allows me to read all of my news in Google Reader instead of jumping to 50 different sites that I used to visit once a day.  RSS allows users to subscribe to your site and read them where they want to, this may be good or bad based on your advertising style.  If you are like me and don’t really make a dime on your blog, then it doesn’t really matter.

Image from here

I use feedburner as a choke point for every web service that has an RSS feed (and I’m a member).   This allows me a couple things, the first is I can easily remember all the web services I sign up for.  The second thing is I have feeds that I can automatically plugin to lifestreaming services that don’t support the sites I use natively.

Through RSS I cross post my blog to Tumblr, Profilactic, Friendfeed, Suprglu, and any other life service I come across (just search for Creeva as the username).   Now At this point I’ve made feedburner to do all the heavy lifting and bandwidth intensive work for feed readers.  I even use my feed (a filtered version) to post notifications to Twitter when I have a new story published using the Twitterfeed service.

The other key thing to remember with RSS is when we get to the widget space.   Some sites don’t have an option for crossposting, they are completely locked.   You can however (in some cases) place a widget in your profile on these sites.  More times then not you can manage to place an RSS widget.  An RSS widget shows your current RSS feed items and allows you to place them on these profiles that otherwise have locked data.

With wordpress there is a plugin called feedwordpress that aggregates feeds and publishes them as items on your blog.   They keep trying to make this plugin better, but I can tell you it doesn’t seem ready for prime time yet.  I’ve tried every trick imaginable and I always end up receiving duplicate entries in my main blog.   Because of that I don’t use feedwordpress anymore, I may try in the future.  This would lead to the ultimate life caching solution, by allowing my blog to pull in all the data I generate everywhere else, and then crosspost it to all my friends across the web.  Unfortunately it’s a pipedream at this moment.

Now click the logo to subscribe to Creeva’s World 2.0:

Image from here

In the next part of our crossposting god series we are going to cover services that allow you to publish by e-mail.

Previous Entries in The Crossposting God Series:

The Crossposting God Series Part 1 – The Introduction

The Crossposting God Series Part 2 – Vox

The Crossposting God Series Part 3 – Live Journal and Derivative Sites

The Crossposting God Series Part 4 – Entry, Distribution, and End Points

The Crossposting God Series Part 5 – Myspace

Picture from here

The other day I wrote an article in which I briefly discussed cloud computing and how I accomplish it in my life. I wanted to start a new series called “Living in the Clouds” which goes over the functions that you can do to migrate over to a cloud computing setup yourself.

First we need to define what is cloud computing?  Cloud computing is placing and manipulating on the Internet.  While part of this is cloud storage, where you store your data online so you can access it anywhere, the other part is being able to use and manipulate your data anywhere.   Whether this is from your home computer, your work computer, or any other device you have access to an internet connection with a browser, this is computing in the clouds.

I wanted to outline what I’m trying to accomplish with this series.   What I want to do is go beyond the normal here is a cloud service, isn’t it shiny?  You can get that form anywhere.   What I want to work through in each section of this series is as follows:

Data Types: What type of data can you store or manipulate and what are the best services for that.

Data Security: How can you trust your data and the providers you are using.  How can you minimize the effect of data leakage.

Data Redundancy:  This includes redundant services with the same data, how to make your data portable, and how to back this data up.

Data Accessibility:  What devices and items other then web browsers can you manipulate your data with, what API’s are available.

I’m taking all of this from a perspective of what do I use and how do I use it.   I want to let you know what works for me instead of dovetailing in a goo goo gah gah review over something new and exciting.   If I don’t use it to a decent extent I will let you know.   I will include speculation and theory sometimes, but when I do I will alert you to such.

Hopefully this is a series you will enjoy.

A couple days ago I asked the blogosphere should I get an N810 and like the blogosphere normally answers I got nothing back. That’s fine, I’m used to talking to myself on my blog.  However I decided that I would give it a go.   I knew that if things didn’t work out I would return it.   It arrived last night and I thought I would describe what I went through.   It is also interesting that this morning from the blogosphere I got a comment on my article that was crossposted to my vox blog (hey I’m sorry vox users get weird characters).

Hyphn on vox asked:

Nice article. I’m in a similar situation to yourself. I’ve got a Palm TX and an Nokia 770 (& N95 8GB).

I use the N95 8GB for all of my music and podcasts (it automatically downloads them over the air). I have a Palm Infrared keyboard for my TX, which is nice, but the problem is that you just can’t really see the screen when you are out in bright sunshine. – Is the N810 screen readable in bright sunshine?

The N770 is ok, but it’s a bit slow and the lack of a keyboard (of any description) is a killer…. Not sure I can justify the extra 280GBP for another device thought…. (?)

So I’m going to cover this comment in this article.

I’ve never had a keyboard for the TX, I’m a fast on screen keyboard typer.  I knew however when my wife tried out the N800 it wasn’t for me since I’m more active online these days, the keyboard would be essential.  I never really wrote long blog articles on the TX so this is a hope for the N810.  I tried it the N810 outside today and in bright clear sky direct sunlight the screen was washed out but readable.  So I think the transreflective coating they advertise does work as designed.    For thoughts on whether the device is worth money, well I’m going to be writing about the device for the next couple weeks or so, what I find, how I make things work, and some things that people may not know because they are not widely published.   Hopefully yhis will help you make a sound decision.

New Toy

So everyone now knows I have an N810, I also added an 8 GB micro SD card (with mini SD converter card so it would fit).   Xie ‘anthia still feels that I’m going to feel cramped on space.   I unpacked the device last night and imeediatly had it flashed to the newest OS 2008 revision, curse the mobile ubuntu team for not having the port finished and ready to go.   I then paired it with my phone and installed everything that seemed interesting.

After trying to uninstall somethign I discovered that I had the rare N810 bug that sets the internal card read only and corrupts the data.   At this point I reflashed the device, formatted the internal memory card (virtual ram made it so I had to reflash before I hear any comments), and started over.   I had spent so much time installing software on the previous run that I wasn’t going to go through all of that again in one sitting.  Let’s however looked at what I did do.

I went through and chose a theme to my liking, I cleaned out the bundled maps and documentation.  I removed the demo music, video, and images.   I removed the map application and the welcome application.  In essence I stripped down the device as far as possible befoer starting over.    I didn’t need those things, and for map GPS data I plan on using maemo mapper, so I’ll get to that in a future blog article.

So what did I install?

Seeing as I have some guidance from Xie ‘lanthia on what is good and what is not so good, I followed her lead on some of my applications.  The first thing I installed was Pidgin, if you are unfamilar with Pidgin think of it as an IM product similar to Trillian.  It allows you to connect to many other IM networks at once.   The included chat progam bundled with the N810 really is good for gtalk, but what if I wanted more.   Pidgin right now is configured to connect to the following IM networks (some I rarely use) – Gtalk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and Myspace Chat.   Also I installed Skype, thought I would mention it here while I was talking about IM.   So the N810 allows me to connect six instant messenger networks at the same time.   I’m all about ubuiquitous internet communication, especially when I can talk or broadcast across everywhere from a single point.

Pidgin Screenshot from maemo.org

Next I needed a media player.   I had read that the Canola2 would subscribe to podcasts as well as scrobble tracks to last.fm (last.fm connectivity is important from me in this device’s grand future).   However there seemed to be a bug in Canola2 that wouldn’t allow either copying and pasting a url in to the subscription field, and it wouldn’t allow me to use the function keys, so that ment no forward slashes.   Essentially the data entry for podcasts is broken.    Well this thing is going to keep me from carrying an Ipod around so I wanted some way that was simple to get podcasts on to my unit.  I found a way, but I wouldn’t use simple to be an accurate description, I used the Gpodder podcatcher to handle pulling down podcasts.

Conola2 Screenshot from maemo.org

gPodder Screenshot from maemo.org

The thing that drove me nuts over Gpodder was the fact that I had no easy way to add subscriptions.  Sure they tell you just point to a directory.opml online, but goodluck finding one.  I think I spent an hour on this before I found an article that explained that I could setup subscription in Itunes, export the opml file, put it on my N810, and then subscribe to the correct feeds in Gpodder once I opened the opml file there.   *WHEW*.   Then it seems that gpodder isn’t a fast and responsive application if you attempt to queu two or more songs it hardly moves, so load your subscriptions one at a time for the best response.  I limited it downloading one podcast at a time but that didn’t make much difference.   The last problem with Gpodder was that it doesn’t (rarely) save the podcast in it’s naming scheme, it downloaded most of my podcasts in a 34598745893475.mp3 style format.   These aren’t bob’s podcasts, except for one or two they are all from twit or revision3.   I can say gpodder will work since it will be a set it and let it do it’s thing overnight application, I wouldn’t however recommend living in it.

The next thing I installed was rdesktop.  This allows you to use the windows remote desktop function, so last night I was able to access my Windows 2k3 server from my N810.   The responsiveness was adequate and I can definetly see myself utilizing this.   I use RDP quite often and I think this is a life saver.   If you want to know how to setup and see screenshots, I just found this article on another blog (I figured it out myself).

The last thing I installed before fighting Gpodder to sync my podcasts for the next day was Maemo Wordpy this application is a blogging client (wonder what I want that for).  It allows me to post directly to my wordpress blog, like the test post I did last night before I reflashed the device.  It works, it’s a bit complex and you have to jump to different tabs for more options for you post but it works.  I had to however disable my myspace crossing plugin on my blog because I was getting duplicate post issues.   Wordpy still allows me to post a notification or blog post across about a dozen services (well my blog does all that work).   Wordpy does however support Blogger if WordPress isn’t you cup of tea.

Maemo Wordpy Screenshot from maemo.org

Some of the side things that I discovered last night.

• I can pull pictures directly off my phone, before I had to use esoteric software on windows or ubuntu to get them off via USB, with the N810 it just works via bluetooth (I have a RZR since I’m a cheap bastard and take the free phone).
• The Samba implementation on the N810 allows you to see hidden windows shares by default – good for me, bad for windows.
• Too many large files or directories in a share will absolutely lock up the N810′s file manager.
• The keyboard get’s easier to use the more you force yourself into it, with more training I may not need another bluetooth keyboard for “serious” writing
• Exchange Webmail works in the browser

Tonight’s goals (after I do some automotive repair unrelated to the N810) is to get a mail client working that I like (I’m leaning toward IMAP versus POP3, we’ll see how that goes.   I would also like to get a decent media player that can scrobble my songs to last.fm (who knows it might be great to find one that supports last.fm and pandora).  I did have some problems getting online via my cell phone so I’m probably going to following Xie’s article on how to set it up to properly use t-mobile as an internet connection.   I’m sure I’ll have some other information for you also.

To get an n810 or not is the question.   A few days ago I wrote a couple blog posts from my wife’s new n810.   I have some reservations about the keyboard for “power writing”, but that can be handled by a seperate bluetooth keyboard.   I think that’s not an issue.

Would I use it instead of a laptop – kind of.    Right now through work I have a Mac Book Air for my mobile device.   It’s great, it’s light, it does most of what i need it to do (what it can’t do would require linux or windows so it’s forgiven).    The one thing I run into with the air is the same thing I run into with my normal laptop, accessibility.   For normal computer use they are highly accessible, but if I do make it to HOPE this year or other travel venues it would be MUCH better to not bring a full laptop (if I do take an 810 to HOPE I’ll be accessing the internet through an encrypted Hamachi VPN tunnel to home and using a proxy there to access the Internet – no clear text information is going to be slipping by me – I can deal with the speed hit that will cause).

It’s much easier to have a bluetooth keyboard and an N810 to haul around to these places more so then a full laptop.   WIth a full laptop I need to worry about power (n810 has better battery life), privacy due to larger screen size,  finding a place to sit versus standing and using the n810.    These things are all things that go through my head while debating this purchase.

So yes the N810 would make me more mobile, and be more convenient.   I know for me (extreme power user) it won’t replace a computer or laptop, but for some people (like my sister) I could see this as a 100% computer replacement.   Too much geekery for me it seems.   So then we open up the question, could I live for a week with just the N810?

The N810 isn’t really designed for offline use.    If it has an internet connection that’s great.  I would be able to do most my blogposting and status updates via email so when I hit wifi I could sync up and go.   In alot ways I think this is enough.   To check this I need to menally compare it to my my Palm TX.

I’m not sure that the N810 will fully replace my Palm TX (then again no one said I couldn’t keep it).  WIth my palm TX I use it as an email platform, a web access device, a centralized syncing device, and an ebook reader.   Anything else I use it for is mostly games so that’s not really an issue – IM has always been painful on it do to .

Since the N810 does not have heavy document handling and I don’t think the resolution is quite right for ebook reading (the two thing I think I would keep my TX for)  it does have better web page filtering (my blog almost breaks the TX).   I would also be able to do IM since I wouldn’t be forced to stay on the IM screen like I do on the TX.   Email should be equal or better on the N810 versus the TX, Web Browsing would be better, and IM would be better.   The occasional full need to document editing and e-book reading would mean the TX could sit on the bottom of my bag (and a bluetooth keyboard would work with it – two devices one keyboard).

So theoretically I could replace my laptop about 90-95% with the two devices.   With having a much smaller footproint and ease of use in carrying these devices with me.   Having the N810 would mean that I no longer have to carry an iPod around since it would handle my podcast playing – bonus to the fact that it will auto scrobble to last.fm something that I have never gone working to a level I liked with an iPod and linux.

Movies however I’ll probably still use my palm TX – I can play full divx movies on it without having to re-encode them.   Bonus to me.    This will also have the side effect of saving me battery life on the N810 if the TX is with me.   I don’t watch movies too often on the go though.

Through hackery I would be able to sync my calender on google with my N810 – something that never worked right on the TX.   I would be able to compose music on the N810 (yes it can compose music).   Someone is also working on an instrument tuner – which is something I was going to buy this summer – so I’ll save 30.00 there.     I was going to buy an iPod, but with the 10 GB I can max out on the N810 and the fact that I only really use an ipod for podcasts would mostly make that that a non issue  – so a savings of 150.00 – so far I’ve saved myself 180.00 on stuff I would probably buy this summer.

There is an NES emulator (that works better on then on the TX) and a GBA emulator – this should save me from carrying around my GBA (which I ironically use more then my DS).   I also play RPG’s so the slight frame drop won’t really effect me.    I can use skype which really isn’t to much of an issue for me since I mostly would call my wife and we have free phone calles between us.   With utterz I can use my phone to “call in” blog posts.

I would be able to start geo caching with the N810 built in GPS, I’ve watned a gps for a long time, not for driving directions since I can look at a map easily and I’m able to figure out where I am.   My wife is sometimes jealous of my innate directional sense.   Usually I get way to lost sometimes by actually reading a map, wrongly at that.   I could get a cheap GPS for 90.00 – but that would take my total electronic purchases to 270.00.   We are approaching the N810 price.   (We actually match it if you figure out it would handle my gaming needs – but I already own those devices)

I like the N810′s keyboard versus the N800′s touch screen which my wife tried out first, but it still a small small keyboard and I have bigger fingers then her.   I can enter information quickly enough for a mobile device I can whip out real quick – and 500% faster then I can do on my phones keypad.     If I utilize bookmarks and saved password this should help limit my typing.   The less need I have on this the better.    Once again if I’m going to write a long blog post like this one is becoming i would have to have a bluetooth keyboard.

My tmobile internet connection is very slow on my cellphone, but being able to stop by any mcdonalds or burger king for quick internet access kind of alleviates that concern.   Granted wifi coverage isn’t ubiquitous but it’s common enough that I think I would be fine.

I’m probably going to decide tonight to get one.   Working through this post has helped alot.   I think I started with the fact that this would replace my palm TX, and going through that thought process I don’t think it would.   I think it will however handle the fact if I’m gone for a week or two away from a computer (though I can fathom two weeks away from a regular computer) that I could be just fine in a solely mobile solution without a laptop.    Using the host mode hack on the N810 coupled with the card reader program on the Palm TX means I’ll be able to utilize the Palm TX as a removable storage space on the N810 if I need it with normal SD cards instead of needing a thumb drive that would drain the N810′s power quicker.    This would allow me to throw another 8 GB and make the card switch out very easy for me.

I’ll keep everyone updated on what I decide.

Earlier I had written that Google really needs to integrate it’s reporting services across the board.  Now I still hope that do unyfi their reporting experience, but it seems Feedburner is going to eb the first to get sucked into the already fractured reporting structure that exists for Google‘s many services.

Earlier today on April 25 Feedburner posted that they were finally going to integrate their service with the standard google account logins.  This means the same account I login into Gmail, Adsense, etc, and etc. will work with Feedburner.   Using this unification I’m hoping that we’ll be able ot finally embed Adsense into out RSS feeds.   I’m also hoping that the reporting (hint hint Google) can be blended in with Web Analytics.

Whether the reporting structure is going to be absorbed or if this will stay a single login structure for the foreseeable future has yet to be seen.   I have hopes though.

One thing I’ve been working on for awhile is and Internet Deadman’s Switch.  With all of my crossposting and media re-usage activities in the grand scheme this should be fairly trivial.   I am sure however that some things will slip me up.   We’ll start in this section of identifying the goals I wish to acomplish and work through some of the stages in part two.

What do I mean by Deadman’s Switch?

A deadman’s switch is something that is triggered normally to keep you alive.   A quick example is the pressure plate on a riding lawn mower.   The pressure plate must have weight on it or the lawn more will not start and if the weight is removed the lawn mower will shut off.  So essentially one action cause another action to occur when certain variables are met.   My trigger would be my death.  If I didn’t verify if I was alive after a certain period of time to a program/website/etc.  the a serious of scripts and actions would trigger leaving behind all the information I wish to impart on those behind me.

Why do I want a Deadman’s Switch?

This idea started in my head about 7-8 years.   There used to be a website that had you check in once a month and if you didn’t log in it will send off emails to the ones you care about (or the ones you don’t).   This gives you the final word and allows you to send of those things that might be important.   I can leave my wife information about all my accounts and password, any relevant information that she may need and won’t be able to gather up, parting words to friends and families.   I would also thanks to my current setup be able to post to all my social networks and make an announcement of my death.   This I find intriguing and I’ll at least go through all the steps of implementing this (whether I actually use it and maintain it will remain to be seen).

What would I send?

I’ve broken down what I would want to send into four sections:

• My wife – I can deliver my final message, copies of important documents, access to all of my accounts and any other relevant information she needs
• My family – I would send each family member a personal message from the beyond – I also would send them a follow up to do with my wife in case something happened to her at the same time, that way there would still be someone i could trust that would have access to the information they may need to clean up my estate.
• Friends – I would send each of my “high level” friends an individual message – if somehow my whole family is taken out in one full attack – I don’t think I’m passing any of my personal information off to them.
• Public Internet at Large – this is broken into a few more sections, but essentially I’ll be leaving a video, audio postings, status updates to my social networks (“I’m dead thanks for all the fish”)), and a few final blog postings.

The trick to all of this is of course is reliant on a few things.   The first and foremost being that I can send email after I’m dead.   It also can not be reliant on my home PC (if a housefire hits or a tornado takes me out I don’t want my home to be the weakest link).   Finally whatever script I use must be able to pull from an FTP site (for the audio and video).    Once those can be accompished I’m fairly sure I can get everything else done.

When would I send it?

This is the other conundrum isn’t it?  How do you net tell everyone you have passed on while you are still alive (that could be embarrassing).    You need to pick a time period that seems suitable to you (every 12 hours is not suitable).  I’m thinking either every two weeks or every month I would have to login and verify that yes I am still alive and kicking.  The only problem this would really cause is if I’m kidnapped or held hostage.   The chances of those being so minimal that it is unlikely so I won’t really take those into account.   So to be safe I’ll set it for somewhere between 14 and 31 days.

Another thing I would like to do is configure it to be staggered.  That way I’ll be able to send a message to my wife warning her about the upcoming announcement of what is going to occur before it actually does.  Then to family, then to friends, and finally to the Internet as a whole.   This would keep it from being one big whirlwind hitting everyone at once like a ton of bricks.   I don’t want someone completely freaked out when they see a new youtube movie of my me uploaded.    So a staggered release would be the best scenario (if it’s possible).

How am I going to do this?

You’ll just have to wait for part 2.

Ping.fm allows me to sync my status from the following services:

• Bebo
• Blogger
• Facebook
• Hi5
• Jaiku
• Linkedin
• Myspace
• Pownce
• Tumblr
• Twitter

Keeping all the statuses in sync across all my services is a life saver.   If you would like to sign up use the beta code “pingfriends” and get in on the beta action.

Lately I’ve been playing with utterz, it’s kind of hard to explain but think of it as the gateway to blog from your cell phone.  It’s a short term blip based podcast – call in and leave a message and it can post the audio to your blog.   Send Utterz a picture, it will send it to your blog or service.   Send it a video and utterz will post it on your blog and youtube.

The coolest thing about Utterz is they keep adding connections, thereby making you more likely to use their service as your gateway for interacting with the online world.   It also seems to have a vox-like community that really intereacts with each other instead of some other web services.   The great thing that prompted this post however was not about the great community, it’s about crossposting.

Here are the innate services that Utterz will crosspost to:

Blogger

Livejournal

Tumblr

Pownce

Flickr

Yahoo Groups

Typepad

Twitter

WordPress

Movable Type

Twitxer

Drupal

Live Spaces

YouTube

Blip.tv

and MetaWeblog API compatible sites

(if I missed one I’m sorry Utterz)

Going to one places allows you to hit up everyone else,  I would almost wish to use Utterz as a distribution point instead of a web service, but I already have most of those covered (hey wordpress plugin writers, compose a pownce crosspost plugin).   I’m not sure how often I’ll use it, but it’s a nice option to literally just call in a blog post.   So with this I’ll use it for what it is.  I’ll let my wordpress handle most of the data dissemination across the blogosphere.

But this brings up the question, what am I crossposting to from Utterz?

Well the obvious is that is posts from Utterz to my main blog, the other settings I configured more mood.   All videos I post will go to my blip.tv profile and youtube accounts.  Pictures will go to my twitxer account and flickr accounts to be publically displayed.  Any additional messages will also cross post over to my pownce account (this will go away once I have a way to post to pownce from wordpress).

The only thing I’m unsure of  at this point is archiving my utterz – utterz uses a flash player to play the locally stored audio file.   WIth video files I do have a recourse of pulling them off of another service or using the source file for life caching purposes.   This is really the only bummer about the whole thing.

The awesome thing is when I call up utterz to post an audio clip now, my voice is now spread across about 15 sites at once.   That is true internet broadcasting of yourself.

If you head over to Utterz make sure you add me as a friend, here is a link to my profile.

Google is all about consolidation of data, there whole mantra is behind it.  They have released oodles and oodles of services that I utilize (yes I’m a google whore – there I said it), but only minimal correlation between the tools other then a common login.   Many of their tools generate reports or data that could be transformed into reports.  Some of their services it’s almost brain dead that they haven’t integrated the services.   Let’s go through the services and how I would design “Google Reports”.

The most obvious Google “products” I would lump together would be Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Google Adsense, and Google Adwords.  All four of these products are usually used together – so why can’t we get reporting for all three on one page?  All of these products can give a webmaster an overview on where his site(s) are going and what he can work on.   There is absolutely no reason to go through four different interfaces to get this information.   Yes I can set up email reports from some of them – but a singlular report and page to view them at a quick glance would be great.   If I click on something to drill down on it could then take me to to the specific related products page.  While we are the subject of Google Analytics – a listing of recent page views ala the way statcounter does it would be great.   To be honest that’s the only reason I still use my statcounter account.

Those were the four products that prompted me thinking about this in total from the beginning.   Now let’s move on to the other products, video for example.   Google Video and Youtube both fit different niches in the google video structure.   Youtube allows you to upload video more quickly but has time and size limits, Google Video however allows downloads and unlimited sized and no time limits when you use their external (non browser based) uploader.  Now Google Video’s reporting very frequently fails to work – loosing view and download counts so this needs to be addressed.   But a report that would include subscribers, views, and downloads would be fantastic.

Feedburner should be tied into analytics also for the amount of information it gives you and stats, while I’m on a mini rant here when are we going to be able to inject adsense into our feedburner items?

Now let’s break into the quickies:

Google Base – ok I still don’t understand this product so I have no idea.

Blogger and Page Creator would tie in easily with Analytics – so there is no reason not to make this automated.

Browser Sync – The number of synchronizations and all machine that you ahve synchronized against.

Calender – Ok trickier but the number of appointments from a given day/month/week

Docs – Number of edits, number of documents, space they take up, and how many of your colloboration documents have had edits.

Gmail – Number of emails received, sent, spam caught, most frequent contacts, amount of free disk space.

Groups – could tie into Analytics if your the group owner but beyond that – number of members and messages – how many new messages if your just a reader.

Igoogle – um no clues

Reader – number of stories read

Picasaweb – how many times each photo was viewed, who has linked to it, and any subscribers

Finally webhistory – the amount of searches performed, and a concise list of sites embedded in the reports.

I would want to see report being able to be generated automatically on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.   The ability to customize reports by date or time period would also be great.   The ability to atomically email them to you at a preset time would be fantastic.

The last feature I would add is an open API so we could plugin new reports and send them to google to collect and have other programs able to fetch and manipulate the data on a client side.  I know I’m asking pie in the sky at this point.

Google literally has all this data on us and more.  They are preaching data portability and openness so why don’t they consolidate and show us more of the data they are holding.  I’m not asking for all of the secret sauce just what’s relevant to me.  Combing the original few things before I went into quickie mode though would be utterly fantastic and an excellent starting place.

Original From Journey To Get Paid: Google’s Next Service Should Be – Google Reporting.

–
Posted By Creeva Murkado to Journey To Get Paid at 4/11/2008 12:19:00 PM

Yesterday on my main blog I wrote a quip on my battle for the search term “creeva” in google and how many hits it brings back.  It flucuates up and down and was more of a joke then anything.   However I started thinking about it a little more deeply last night.

I’m a huge crossposter, I don’t deny it.  My friends can track me down and find me whereever.   I manage to get new readers by utilizing diffferent sources to store my data.   When I wrote a blog post on my main blog, it gets copied or notification goes to many other sites.   The path it takes is that I write an article when I click publish it sends out the article to my myspace, my live spaces account, my vox account, my tumblr account, my suprglu account, my facebook news, my old blogger page, my xanga account, my livejournal page, my multiply account, and a google group for back up (that one is private though).   On top of that livejournal also sends it on it’s way over to my dandelife account.  I’m also copying things over to www.creeva.net which is my by beta testing blog.

If I listen to a song that get’s scrobbled to my last.fm account, upload a picture to my flickr account, digg a story, favorite a video, share an RSS news item, write an article on a blog other then my main (like this article) or mark something down in all consuming; these all get pulled into my main blog, which at that point goes through the data dissemination process all over again.

This is data portability at it’s finast (at least for the content side of the equation) and I work it well.   Some people prefer to go to a single location and that’s fine, that is what I have a main blog for.   Get everything from everywhere all in one location.   Google loves the idea of everything in one place, it’s their whole mantra.   However you will get penalized in Google for having duplicate content.   So my google score will drop theoretically the more places I cross post to that it indexes.

So by disseminating my content to everywhere in the world Google will penalize me in it’s search ratings.   It seems my main blog still gets the most traffic and it’s hits don’t suffer.   So all and all I don’t truly mind.   However I’m sure that sometimes I do suffer when my vox account for example rises to the top instead of my main account.

How can Google truly and actively support data portability when it’s anti ethical to it’s search rankings?  I can understand that it’s an attempt to fight spammers and such, but we all end up hitting pure spam BS blogs all the time.  The crap floats and rises to the top while the rest of things drown in the data deluge.   I don’t think that google necessarily needs to adjust it’s algorithm but in the coming months or years it will need to take it into account.

Original From: Does Data Portability Hurt You in Google?

–
Posted By Creeva Murkado to Journey To Get Paid at 4/10/2008 06:29:00 AM

Kiosk Options

When discussing kiosk system we need to discuss the scope, security issues, and functionality requirements that we must maintain to achieve a successful deployment.   There are many types of kiosk systems that we can implement within the Company network.   The solutions we are going to describe in this document are based on product literature that we have received after scope is finalized actual product testing will be done so we can verify that all the features work as described and will function within the deployed environment.

For the sake of categorization the following options were identified as possible for use within a kiosk environment.   This list is not meant to be all encompassing but rather a list of desired features that we feel can be accomplished from the products we are looking at.

·    Internal Websites – company Designated
·    External Websites – Completely open from a kiosk standpoint
·    SSL VPN – For access to the internal network
·    Citrix – for terminal server capabilities
·    Printing – locally attached print
·    Sound – for hearing active embedded media
·    USB Mounting – for USB memory sticks
·    Run Apps Locally (Read Only) – from either the memory stick or kiosk directly
·    Run Apps Locally (Read / Write) – from either the memory stick or kiosk directly
·    Write to USB Memory Stick – from kiosk
·    Access to User Documents
·    No Login – completely is designed to start being used without login
·    Boiler Plate Website – standard start page
·    Full application list
·    Internal – Authentication
·    External – No Authentication
·    Browser Plug-ins – for enhanced compatibility
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites – Company Designated

Kiosk mode systems come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and functions.   To help narrow the design gap for our needs we have devised eight categories in which we can work around design structures for:

·    Full web only access kiosk on the company guest network
·    Limited web access on the company guest network with a locked down browser
·    Full web only access kiosk on the internal network
·    Limited web access on the internal network with a locked down browser
·    Limited seat with security controls on the company guest network
·    Limited seat with security controls on the internal network
·    Full seat with security controls on the company guest network
·    Full seat open use office solution – internal network
·    Full seat with security Controls open use office on the internal network

Each solution has its own benefits and concerns for deployment.  We will be going over these one by one to analyze and work with company to implement the correct and desired solution.  The analysis will include which functions identified above can be implemented, target placement, target users, benefits and disadvantages of each solutions, and possible security concerns.

Full web only access kiosk on the company guest network:

Description: This would be a fully open web kiosk with an address bar located at the top with the web browser being the only application available to the end user.  All functions must be done within the browser.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites – via SSL VPN
·    External Websites –
·    SSL VPN
·    Citrix – via SSL VPN
·    Printing – locally attached print
·    Sound – for hearing active embedded media
·    Access to My Docs – Via SSL VPN
·    No Login – completely is designed to start being used without login
·    Boiler Plate Website – standard start page
·    External – No Authentication
·    Browser Plug-ins – for enhanced compatibility

Target placement:

·    Public areas where guests are most likely

Target users:

·    Visitors
·    Visiting Contractors
·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Allows users access to information at placement points
·    User will not have access to the local computer beyond the web browser

Disadvantages:

·    All functions must be performed must be performed within a browser
·    Won’t be able to perform other application tasks

Security concerns:

·    If a user leaves an authenticated session up there will be a time delay before the profile resets, risking possible exposure of private data or company data if the SSL VPN was used.
·    Unsigned Active-X controls could cause issues and it would be recommended denying unsigned Active-X controls.

Limited web access on the company guest network with a locked down browser:

Description: This solution can be configured with or without an address bar allowing the option to restrict this to certain web sites.   Active X would be disabled.

Possible targeted functions:

·    External Websites
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    No Login
·    Boiler Plate Website External – No Authentication
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites

Target placement:

·    Public areas where guests are most likely

Target users:

·    Visitors
·    Visiting Contractors
·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Tighter Security Controls
·    Limited Risk Exposure
·    Option of controlling where the users can go via the browser

Disadvantages:

·    SSL VPN will not work if active-x controls are disabled
·    All functions must be performed must be performed within a browser
·    Won’t be able to perform other application tasks
·    With no SSL-VPN – no access to internal company data

Security concerns:

·    If a user leaves an authenticated session up there will be a time delay before the profile resets, risking possible exposure of private data.

Full web only access kiosk on the internal network:

Description: While not recommended this is being offered as an option for choice.  It has the same features as the Full web only access kiosk on the company guest network, but would require user authentication due to the network access it has.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites
·    External Websites
·    Citrix
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    Access to My Docs
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Internal
·    Browser Plug-ins

Target placement:

·    Public sites within company buildings that are not commonly visited by the large amounts of visitors at once.  This would be to limit the amount of time that authenticated data is available if a user walks away from the kiosk.
·    Would not be recommended at location that the general public has access to

Target users:

·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Company employees would be able to access their Webmail from anywhere these are placed
·    Company employees would be able to access a terminal server session from anywhere these are placed

Disadvantages:

·    All functions must be performed must be performed within a browser
·    Won’t be able to perform other application tasks

Security concerns:

·    Possible information leakage due to open Webmail or terminal server session.
·    Unsigned Active-X controls could cause issues and it would be recommended denying unsigned Active-X controls.

Limited web access on the internal network with a locked down browser:

Description: While not recommended this is being offered as an option for choice.  It has the same features as the limited access kiosk on the company guest network, but would require user authentication due to the network access it has.

Possible targeted functions:

·    External Websites
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    No Login
·    Boiler Plate Website External – No Authentication
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites

Target placement:

·    Public sites within company buildings that are not commonly visited by the large amounts of visitors at once.  This would be to limit the amount of time that authenticated data is available if a user walks away from the kiosk.
·    Would not be recommended at location that the general public has access to

Target users:

·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Company employees would be able to access their Webmail from anywhere these are placed
·    Company employees would be able to access a terminal server session from anywhere these are placed
·    Tighter Security Controls
·    Limited Risk Exposure
·    Option of controlling where the users can go via the browser

Disadvantages:

·    All functions must be performed must be performed within a browser
·    Won’t be able to perform other application tasks
·    Some sites won’t work due to Active-X being disabled

Security concerns:

·    Possible information leakage due to open Webmail or terminal server session.

Limited seat with security controls on the company guest network:

Description: This would be a scenario where we would have an open standard windows desktop for the user to access.  It would allow only certain applications to run but will give the user access to a portable memory stick for use.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites – via SSL VPN
·    External Websites
·    SSL VPN
·    Citrix – via SSL VPN
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    Access to My Docs – Via SSL VPN
·    No Login
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    External
·    Browser Plug-ins
·    USB Mounting
·    Write to USB Memory Stick
·    No Login
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Browser Plug-ins
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites – company Designated

Target placement:

·    Public open use office space

Target users:

·    Visiting Contractors
·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Allows users access to information at placement points
·    Access to certain designated applications
·    Controlled environment

Disadvantages:

·    Won’t be able to perform non designated application tasks

Security concerns:

·    Possible information leakage due to open Webmail or SSL VPN session.
·    Unsigned Active-X controls could cause issues and it would be recommended denying unsigned Active-X controls.
·    Possible application vulnerabilities could compromise the unit

Limited seat with security controls on the internal network:

Description: Same as the limited seat on the company guest network but designed for internal GRC employees.   Smart card access would be recommended and roaming profiles blocked.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites
·    External Websites
·    Citrix
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    Access to My Docs
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Browser Plug-ins
·    USB Mounting
·    Write to USB Memory Stick
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Internal – Authentication
·    Browser Plug-ins
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites – company Designated

Target placement:

·    Public open use office space

Target users:

·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Allows users access to information at placement points
·    Access to certain designated applications
·    Controlled environment

Disadvantages:

·    Won’t be able to perform non designated application tasks
·    Large threat to data being exposed

Security concerns:

·    Unsigned Active-X controls could cause issues and it would be recommended denying unsigned Active-X controls.
·    Possible information leakage due to be on the open internal network
·    Large data exposure footprint
·    Possible application vulnerabilities could compromise the unit

Full seat with security controls on the company guest network:

Description: This option would give users to the same standard applications as their normal desktop.   The hard drive would not be written to for data storage.  Roaming profiles would be blocked.  These seat would also have full security controls applied to it.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites
·    External Websites
·    SSL VPN
·    Citrix
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    USB Mounting
·    Run Apps Locally (Read Only)
·    Run Apps Locally (Read / Write)
·    Write to USB Memory Stick
·    Access to My Docs
·    No Login – completely is designed to start being used without login
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Full Application Suite
·    External – No Authentication
·    Browser Plug-ins
·    Restricted To Certain Web Sites – company Designated

Target placement:

·    Public open use office space

Target users:

·    Local Contractors
·    company Employees

Benefits:

·    Users are able to function as they would at their desks
·    Allows users access to information at placement points

Disadvantages:

·    No login requirements
·    Possible data exposure

Security concerns:

·    Unsigned Active-X controls could cause issues and it would be recommended denying unsigned Active-X controls.
·    Possible information leakage due to open Webmail or SSL VPN session.

Full seat open use office solution on the internal network:

Description: Standard full seat for user to use on the internal network located at open access points for any user to access.  Security settinga would be applied and user profile data removed upon log out.   It is recommended to require smart card access to these units.

Possible targeted functions:

·    Internal Websites
·    External Websites
·    Citrix
·    Printing
·    Sound
·    USB Mounting
·    Run Apps Locally (Read Only)
·    Run Apps Locally (Read / Write)
·    Write to USB Memory Stick
·    Access to My Docs
·    Boiler Plate Website
·    Full Application Suite
·    Internal Authentication
·    Browser Plug-ins

Target placement:

·    Public open use office space

Target users:

·    Local Contractors
·    Company Employees

Benefits:

·    Users are able to function as they would at their desks
·    Allows users access to information at placement points

Disadvantages:

·    Requires smart card
·    No access to local profiles

Security concerns:

·    Possible information leakage due to open sessions.

I’ve written a few articles on life caching.  For those that need to catch up check out this article. For those that don’t need the refresher course, let’s dig in.

What is coComment?

I’ll let them speak for themselves:

coComment keeps track of all the online conversations you’re following in one convenient place, and informs you whenever something is added to a conversation.

coComment will centralize all your conversations in one convenient place so you won’t lose any more contributions you have made on other websites. Stop bookmarking your comments to keep track of them, we will do that for you!

• We will inform you when somebody follows up on your comments, turning the web into a true and reactive global conversation. No need to go back and check on every comment you’ve made to see if the conversation has developed. We’ll let you know!
• Interested in following what people are commenting on? If they’re coComment users, (like heavyweight tech bloggers Pete Cashmore or Robert Scoble), you can follow what they’re saying in the “commentosphere” by checking their comments on their respective pages!
• Keep your conversations organized using tags so you find and follow them more efficiently.

Now why is this useful to you? 

Do you ever post on a blog and say something that comes out so  well written that you wished you saved it?  Do you want to keep track of all the online discussions you participate in?   Do you want to have a copy of all that data you post that Google is going to cache away on their servers? If you said yes to any of the above statements, for the low cost of 19.95 a month….er sorry mindset of what I was saying.  If you said yes then coComment can help you on your journey to maintaining this.

CoComment works as a browser plugin.   Currently I have tested it with Firefox 2.x-3.x and Flock.  Tranparently in the background it looks at the type of web site you are looking at, if you try to make a comment it sends a copy to the coComment servers.   The supported forums/blogs/etc that it supports are:

You participate in many online conversations on blogs and others websites. coComment supports most existing conversational spaces and additionnally lets you start conversations on any webpage:

On blogs and community websites:

• coComment helps you managing existing conversations
• coComment works all major blogging platforms, on services like Digg, Flickr or Youtube and some Forums.
• coComment automatically collects your participations, add conversations to your account, and let you organize them with tags directly from the current page

On conventional websites:

• coComment let you initiate new conversations
• In a single click, every website has now a commenting section
• Being on CNN.com or any other website, feel free to discuss the information.

OK that’s cool it’s another social network based around comments, but what does this have to do with life caching?

The key feature that this does is that it gives you an RSS feed output of all of your comments.   If you are doing a simple life stream application or a full blown life caching that involves archiving all of your data, this allows you the input to save it.   Until EVERYTHING suppors a data portability initiative this is just one more tool to get you closer.

If you decide to try out it, go ahead and add Creeva to your friends list.

10 New Years Resolutions Every Geek Should Make

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 03:08 PM CST

It’s the end of the year – almost quite literally. I’ve only got a few more hours to figure out what my personal goals list will be for next year, but I can at least publish my geek goals so that I’ll have some public accountability as to whether any of these will be achieved in 2008.

Most of these are fairly open, too. My guess is that most of you will be able to adopt most or all of this list as your own. Let’s make it a year to remember. Let’s actually achieve some New Year’s resolutions.

01) Log-in to my social networks more than twice a week.
Whether it is because of the copious amounts of spam on MySpace, or the unending piles of Pirate v. Ninja notifications on Facebook, I somehow can’t bring myself to log into either one of them more often than a couple times a week. Interestingly enough, I’m finding that Twitter fills the gaps that I joined Facebook for in the first place. I wanted to be a part of Facebook so that I could communicate with interesting folks in my industry, but as my Twitter network grows, I’m finding that it is much easier to find folks I’m interested in talking to there, than wading through the hassle that is a web-based social network.

Still, there are benefits, like the centralized apps and mini-feed views, that are afforded from Facebook that you simply can’t get out of Twitter. Having one spot for productivity and a quick glance at what my friends have been up to recently is something I’m missing out on.

02) Drink the Apple Kool-Aid
I got my first new laptop computer in several years. Typically, I’m the sort of guy who will buy a machine that’s a generation or two back because I love bargains, and most of the time it is good enough for what I do daily. Since joining up at Mashable and spending literally 12 hours straight on the computer every day, I figured it was time to upgrade. I got a Black Friday special laptop from Dell, a speedy little Vostro 1000. Unfortunately, it came with Vista, and I must say I’m slightly less than impressed with it.

On the other hand, folks with the Apple laptops are always expressing their condolences and telling me how super-great Leopard is. They’re finally starting to wear me down. I want to be one of the shiny happy people now. The Hare Krishna act has finally worn me down. At some point next year, I suppose I’m going to need to drink the Apple Kool-Aid, and hope the increased productivity is worth the sack to my identity as a PC guy.

03) Set up a spam bot for Ron Paul
Because as much as he concerns me with his associations with the Alex Jones’ of the political fringe, unfortunately he’s the one that most closely represents my political desires (based on his Congressional voting record). Additionally, he’s probably the most tech-friendly Presidential candidate. I can vote for him, as I voted for Badnarik last cycle, but voting for the underdog doesn’t always get the job done.

What does get the job done? Apparently setting up spam servers works. Got him all that campaign money. I’m tech savvy, it is the least I can do to help the old coot.

04) Get control of my personal brand.
Not only is my personal website under construction, but as I try out more social networks and lifestreaming utilities, I’ve spread my personal brand all over the Internet. I’ve got podcasts, domains, writings, tumblogs, linkblogs and RSS feeds scattered all over the internet bearing my name. I need to find one or two good utilities and a slick looking format with which to consolidate it all in a useful, user-friendly manner.

05) Invest in the next Google.
I see and profile, what, twenty, thirty startups a day? I should be able to spot the next winner out of this bunch. I wanna be a Web 2.0 billionaire (or whatever we end up calling the buzzword du jour next year).

06) Get my calendaring organized.
This is the one area of my life I’m still really sucking at getting migrated out to the cloud. I still manage my calendaring with a local exchange server that synchronizes with a copy of Outlook on my local machine, which synchronizes with my ancient Asus WinCE unit and my wife’s video iPod. I really like Google’s calendaring, and I know that sites like Upcoming and others are great. I just haven’t found the one calendaring site that manages all my task list and todo needs as well as synchronizing with my ancient mobile devices.

07) Travel to more conferences.
I enjoy networking. I enjoy learning. I enjoy showing myself off as an expert. I even enjoy traveling. I should go to more conferences.

08) Fix my grammar errors.
I’m sure the regular Mashable readers can back me up here. WordPress doesn’t have grammar correction like desktop based word processors, and thus many dangling participles and silly “its-it’s” errors often slip past me. WordPress either needs to implement grammar into the SpellChecker, or I need to get more attentive to these errors. I don’t care which one happens, but I’m tired of Suezanne always calling me out on my grammar errors, I know that much.

09) Make the next blockbuster online video podcast.
It has been a minute since I’ve done any work in video podcasting. My last valiant efforts were before the rampant investment in video monetization firms. With YouTube monetizing, Revver paying out $30 CPM, and BlinkX boasting upwards of $60 CPM, now is the time to make something happen.

10) Get my email under control.
As I write this, I have 2551 unread messages sitting in my inbox. Aside from the 500 emails a day into the Mashable inbox that are forwarded to me, I’ve also got WordPress forwarding me everyone’s comments and track-backs, as well as a 10 year old email account that sends me a hundred or two pieces of Bacn a day. Add to that notifications from my social networks and the occasional email from someone I can actually correspond with, and it’s a monumental task to deal with. I need to set up more advance filtering and make more liberal usage of the delete button.

Share This

New FAA rules limit batteries in checked and carry-on baggage

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 12:45 PM CST

Planning on packing plenty of spare battery power to that New Years party? You might run afoul of new air travel rules that go into effect on January 1, 2008.

Read More…

The Showdown: Street Fighter IV in action… good or bad?

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 11:58 AM CST

Hot off the heels of their last debate, Frank and Ben square off again: this time about the newly-released footage of Street Fighter IV and where the series may be going.

Read More…

Top 10 Business Debacles Of 2007 [Top 10]

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 09:47 AM CST

Maybe we’re just getting better at the job but it seems like the debacles this year were bigger and more scandalous than last year. Every time we turned around, there was another deadly product or breach of consumer rights or act of malfeasance. Here’s our roundup of the top 10 worst moments in business this year…

10. VerizonFiOs Setting People’s Houses On Fire

Verizon’s new fiber optic cable network is blazingly fast, but their technicians can’t be accused of the same swiftness as they keep drilling through customer’s electrical lines and gas lines, leading to small fires. In an effort to put out the PR blaze, the Verizon Policy Blog always seemed to find a way to spin each story into a tale of how wonderful and in-demand their new network is. The phrase goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” yet Verizon’s PR mavens felt they could reinvent physics and claim that the smoke at some of the incidents occurred in the absence of fire. (Link to stories)

9. Comcast Throttles Bit Torrent

Though long suspected on tech-oriented sites, the internets went into a frenzy after the AP proved that Comcast was disrupting the traffic of customers using popular file-sharing program BitTorrent, preventing its use. Though often used to trade pirated movies and music, the software is used by popular online game World of Warcraft and open-source groups to distribute new versions of their software, and in the AP’s case, the decidedly non-copyrighted Bible. Comcast denied disrupting BitTorrent traffic, but said that they reserved the right to manage their network. (Link to stories).

8. E.Coli In The Meat Kills Topps Meat Company

Late 2007 saw an extremely high number of meat shipments recalled for e.coli contamination. At Topps Meat, the recall was so massive that the company went bankrupt carrying it out. Insiders say the USDA’s ineffectuality and meatpacker-friendly loopholes have lead to higher tolerances for e.coli at plants. When the meat tests too high for e.coli, meatpackers only have to slap a “Cook Only” label on to and still get to sell it without reporting it to the USDA. Quoth Fast Food Nation, “There’s shit in the meat.” Medium-rare no longer looks so appetizing. (Link to stories).

7. Best Buy Caught Stealing Porn From Customer’s Computers

Following up on insider tip-offs of systematic porn pilfering, The Consumerist rigged a computer to make a video of itself, loaded it with porn, and it took it Best Buy. On video, we caught one of the techs purloining porn from our computer. The video went viral and Best Buy conducted a nationwide internal investigation, outsourced to ex-cops. Kids were interrogated. Kids were fired. Store hard drive were searched and seized. Pants were shat. According to some reports, most of the worst “porn caches,” communal computers where employees swapped porn, movies, music, and documents taken from customer harddrives, somehow managed to escape being hooked up for remote review. (Link to story).

6. Student Loan Scandal

Attorneys General sued and fined prominent banks and universities after uncovering widespread collusion and conflicts of interest between the two to sell college students on high-priced student loans. One of the techniques was to give students a “preferred lenders” list, which is to say, the private institutions the university preferred you to use because it meant kickbacks, gifts and expense-paid trips for them in referral rewards. While they were being shuttled into expensive private loans, the students were often not informed of the array of Federal loans that should be exhausted first. Seems some universities slept through their own Intro to Ethics classes. (Link to stories).

5. Jet Blue Passengers Stuck On The Tarmac

A winter storm swamped discount airline Jet Blue’s operating capacity, with planes grounded, passengers stuck on the tarmac for over four hours, flights canceled, call centers jammed, and thousands of passengers unable to reschedule their flights. The CEO initially won kudos for making an online video apology, but that, and his subsequent apologies upon apologies weren’t enough to save his job. The airline has developed contingency plans for future fiascoes, including new “stranding policies” for passengers, which includes paying passengers if they’re stuck inside a metal tube on a runaway for upwards of four hours and not given any food or allowed to disembark. The debacle helped galvanize a growing passenger’s rights movement and spurred pro-passenger legislation in New York, legislation which the airlines then quickly moved to scuttle. (Link to stories).

4. TJMaxx’s Largest Data Breach In History Of The Universe

Unsecured wireless systems at TJ Maxx lead to the largest data breach in the history of the universe, with millions of credit card numbers compromised. As is typical, the credit card companies and banks tried to keep everything as hush as possible and most customers only were curious as to why they and all their friends were getting their credit cards forcibly replaced. The issue highlighted how retailers have been quick to adopt the convenience of wireless information systems without taking the security measures to make sure they weren’t also conveniencing potential thieves. Who would have thought you could conduct the world’s greatest bank robbery without a note, gun, or even leaving the parking lot? (Link to stories).

3. Menu Foods Kills Pets With Fake Pet Food

Before there was lead, there was the counterfeit pet food. Menu Foods of Canada was found to be selling pet food tainted with fake protein. Swapping out the cheaper ingredients lined their and their suppliers’ pockets, and the intestinal tracts of their customer’s pets with poison, leaving dozens of pets dead. Consumers were livid. A massive recall ensued, and readers got their first glimpse into how Chinese ingredient makers get their contracts approved, only to later replace certain key ingredients with cheaper and sometimes fraudulent components, a practice that would come to be at the center of the massive lead recalls that were to come later that year. (Link to stories).

2. Mattel’s Lead-Tainted Toy Recalls

Worries about children consuming lead were largely confined to jokes about avoiding eating paint chips on old houses, until Mattel was forced to conduct the largest toy recall ever after it was found a number of their toys contained lead well above the federally allowed toxicity levels. As parents, agencies, advocacy groups, and other manufacturers began scrutinizing products and supply chains, scores more products were recalled for high levels of lead. Congressional hearings were held and the story became a staple of local and national news broadcasts. It may not be until 20 years from now that we know the true impact, when we start wondering why national IQ levels have dropped 45 points. (Link to stories).

1. Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown

Housing prices stopped going up and banks stopped refinancing houses, pulling out the bottom blocks of the giant Jenga tower that was the housing frenzy. In fact, it was Jenga towers upon Jenga towers, with the mortgages being carved up and reshuffled until they looked like sensible investments. Now banks are washing out billions upon billions of losses, and homeowners across the country are worried about losing their homes. Everyone in the confederacy of dunces; homeowners, loan officers, credit agencies, banks, investment firms, stand to lose. Who will get stuck holding the hot potato? (Link to stories).

(Photo: jgodsey)

Most Bookmarked TechCrunch Posts of 2007

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 09:37 AM CST

Okay, final list for 2007. Here are the top-25 bookmarked or shared posts from the year, as determined by people who used the “Add This” bookmark button at the bottom of each post (see also our other year-end lists: Popular, Headlines, Launches, Deals, Deadpool):

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

TorrentFreak’s Most Memorable Quotes of 2007

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 07:48 AM CST

Some of the quotes are pretty straightforward, others might not make that much sense without context if you’re not a regular TorrentFreak reader. You can always subscribe to our feed if you want to stay stay up to date in 2008.

Happy New Year!

The quotes…

The MPAA after they were caught infringing the copyright of Patrick Robin’s blogging software “Forest Blog”:

“The blog was only ever used for testing purposes.”

BitTorrent Inc. co-founder Ashwin Navin on iTunes DRM:

“iTunes DRM Inspires People to Pirate Content.”

The Pirate Bay’s Gottfrid Svartholm about his favorite anti-piracy organization:

“The MPAA can most accurately be described as rabid, obsessed lunatics.”

Mediadefender CEO Randy Saaf when we found out about Miivi:

“This is really fucked.”

Mark Cuban to Bram Cohen, in a rant about the new BitTorrent movie store:

“But where are they ? Not just the customers Bram. The content? I searched for Prison Break. Lots of torrents. None of them Legal. Is this what Fox had in mind when they signed up with you?”

President Basescu (Romanian President) on copyright infringement:

“Piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It helped Romanians improve their creative capacity in the IT industry, which has become famous around the world … Ten years ago, it was an investment in Romania’s friendship with Microsoft and with Bill Gates.”

Shaw, Canadian ISP gives advise on how to configure BitTorrent:

“Set the KB/s LAN max upload speed [0:unlimited] value to 1.”

MPAA’s Dean Garfield about Pirate Party politicians:

“There’s nothing about what the Pirate Bay does or what the Pirate Party does that is legitimate.”

P2P virus to its victims:

“Ah, I see you are using P2P again……if you don’t stop within 0.5 seconds, i’m going to kill you!”

Scener about Feds that try to stop the Scene:

“No matter how hard the Feds try to stop the scene there are always people smarter than them out there. What they should be doing is leaving us to it and catching pedophiles, rapists and psychopathic killers rather than wasting resources on a few geeks.”

The Pirate Bay about the Caribbean pirate Jack Sparrow:

“Hollywood is trying to ridicule us pirates by portraying us as crazy but sympathetic adventurers. Not far from the truth, but in the 21st century real pirates are riding other torrents than that of the ocean”

BitTorrent admin about Leaseweb:

“It looks like we’re not going to be very safe anymore on Leaseweb, we are putting backups in place on another location, just in case.”

Demonoid explains why they were offline for almost a week, and moved from The Netherlands to Canada:

“We had a system problem which will force us to restore everything from backup. The disks are pretty much empty right now and until we are able to upload the backup and set up everything up, we have to close down.”

IsoHunt’s Gary to Brokep from The Pirate Bay:

“You are either illiterate and don’t check the frontpage of sites you are pointing fingers at, or you are a communist. Or both. What makes you think you have rights to content you didn’t produce? People’s rights vs. copyright holders’ rights? Please. I will laugh at you when you are marked a terrorist and US armies hunt you down. Not that I like the whole anti-terrorist thing from the US but I digress.”

Marnie stern about her BitTorrent addiction:

“Since I’ve been here I have downloaded…I mean I feel I’m going to jail– well, I discovered the torrent– but I feel I’ve downloaded, I would say, honestly 40 or 50 movies, which I hear isn’t that bad, you know, for jail. But I mean, because I’ve pretty much been staying in the studio and a little bit with Zach [Hill], I have all of this time to just sit….”

MPA to “Christmas” movie Pirates:

“We can say this to all the pirates out there: you’d better watch out, you’d better not try”

Pirate Bay admin Brokep on US politics:

“The US government is losing popularity every day in Europe, and people don’t want to see us give in to them.”

NiN’s Trent Reznor about OiNK after it was raided:

“I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted.”

TorrentSpy’s Justing Bunnel on the power of the entertainment industry:

“Unfortunately many companies use their power and influence to halt and punish innovations they cannot think of ways to make money with. The monopolies tried to stop the VHS, DVD, and MP3 player, but thankfully failed when they took it to Court. Now Imagine for a second all the amazing products they did manage to squash…”

Dave Peters, frontman of “Throwdown” on supporting musicians:

“If you wanna really support a band, “steal” their album….help bury the label….and buy a tshirt when you show up at their show and sing every word.”

“A former music buyer writes to the CRIA:

“The music industry itself needs to recognize that they are to blame for sagging record sales. For years, they have been marketing recycled crap, and people are getting tired of it.”

Comcast to its customers:

“Comcast does not block access to any applications, including BitTorrent.”

(but we do slow it down)

Researchers on the effect of filesharing on CD sales:

“We estimate that the effect of one additional P2P download per month is to increase music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.”

Noël St-Hilaire, head of copyright theft investigations of the Canadian police on piracy:

“Piracy for personal use is no longer targeted. It is too easy to copy these days and we do not know how to stop it,” he added.

TorrentFreak council in an open letter to the Dutch anti-piracy organization BREIN:

“Your “news release” is peppered with inaccurate information, calculated to mislead and intimidate the millions of legitimate users of the many peer-to-peer filesharing services that are in common use throughout the world.”

50 Cent on filesharing:

“What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.”

Eric Wilkinson, the producer of the independent film “The Man from Earth”, wrote an email to RLSlog in which he thanks them for the free promotion they gave him:

“In the future, I will not complain about file sharing. When I make my next picture, I just may upload the movie on the net myself!”

New Years Eve, Live On The Net

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 04:38 AM CST

Another year has passed us all, and 2008 beckons tomorrow. For those not out and about this New Years Eve, here’s a few places you can join the experience online:

Video Streaming Sites

Sites such as Ustream, Kyte, Justin.tv and others will have many users live stream the new year from where ever they are.

Twitter

Twitter will provide a rolling text version on NYE around the world. The first off the mark are two new Twitter friends I met today, Eli and n8duke, who are both located in Antarctica.

I did a brief interview today with Eli, one of the two most remote Twitter users on the planet:

how long have you been down there?

I’ve been living (and working) at McMurdo Station (on Ross Island) for 3 months, and I’ve got about 6 more weeks to go before the end of the summer season.

How long have you been using Twitter?

my first tweet was posted on 07/07/07 and i’ve really loved it from the very beginning.

Do you find Twitter helps narrow the distance to the rest of the world?

definitely. i have friends all over the planet (US, Europe, etc) using twitter right now and it makes it so easy to stay in touch. it is especially helpful for me down here because the internet connection is pretty terrible, so it’s nice to just hope on to twitter, type a few characters, and be done with it.

What are you doing for new years eve? will you be watching others on the net?

well, it’s 10:45pm on new years eve for me right now, so in a few minutes i’m going to suit up in me ECW (extreme cold weather) gear and hike to the top of Observation Hill with some friends. there’s about 6 inches of snow on the ground (in the summer!) and it’s still snowing. we’re going to bring in the new year in true antarctic fashion!

There’s also live streaming cams as well.

Earthcam is streaming NY NYE live, -5 GMT. MSN is promising a live NYE feed as well, but just don’t try to open the link on a Mac, or not in IE…ouch.

If anyone else has some NYE live links let us know in the comments.

Update: BlogTV has a live zone here.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Top 10 Web Tech Stories of 2007

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 04:06 AM CST

2007 was an eventful year in Web Technology, with the rise of Facebook, some frenzied acquisitions from the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and of course the iPhone. To round out the year (and put an end to the December lists!) here is a look at what we think were the 10 biggest Web tech stories of the year. They’re ordered in terms of technology impact and innovation – however it’s a subjective list, so let us know in the comments what you think should be in there.

This post doubles as the final Weekly Wrapup of 2007 — it’s been a great year and all the best everyone for 2008! Here’s looking forward to more Web innovation and startup success in ’08!

1. iPhone Launch

On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs announced at Macworld “three revolutionary new products”: an iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. But turned out it was all one device: the fabled iPhone. This is our number 1, because it finally made the Mobile Web real for the influential US market (and the geeks who bought it in America, then took it overseas and unlocked it! cough).

2. Facebook Announces Platform

Much has already been written about this announcement on May 24, but suffice to say that it ushered in a new era for social networks – where outside companies could deploy advanced functionality inside the Facebook site.

3. Google Acquires DoubleClick for $3.1B

On April 13 Google acquired online advertising company DoubleClick, which set off a frenzy of acquisitions in this space – notably Microsoft’s $6B purchase of aQuantive. The Google/DoubleClick deal confirmed that online advertising was in a bubble period.

4. Google Announces OpenSocial

At the end of October Google launched OpenSocial, a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web, in a bid to cut off Facebook’s momentum with third party developers. Perhaps the biggest part of this news was the world’s largest SNS MySpace joining OpenSocial the day after.

5. Amazon Launches Kindle eReader

Despite mixed reviews of this e-Reader device with internet connectivity from Amazon, the Kindle promises to shake up the e-commerce giant’s core business model – by delivering books electronically instead of the familiar brown box.

6. CNN/YouTube Debates

On July 23, eight Democratic presidential hopefuls took the stage in South Carolina — a crucial early primary state — for a debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube in which all of the questions were submitted by users of YouTube. The Republicans got their chance in September. In the same vein, 2007 also saw the MySpace/MTV Candidate Forums and the rise of web 2.0 tools in politics.

7. Google Announces Android

On Nov 5, Google announced an open-source mobile operating system called Android. This could significantly change the way that Mobile Web applications are developed.

8. Steve Jobs’ open letter against DRM

On Feb 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted his Thoughts on Music in the ‘Hot News’ section of the Apple website. In it he outlined why DRM should be abolished by record companies. And Jobs’ pleas seemed to be heard by the record industry, with first EMI and then later Universal and Warner on AmazonMP3 ditching DRM.

9. Facebook Beacon Saga

Late this year Facebook announced a new advertising system that used retail data collected from its users. But after howls of privacy protests, Facebook had to back off some and make the system opt-in. It’s also worth mentioning here another Facebook story that just missed this list: in October Microsoft invested in Facebook at a $15b valuation.

10. Adobe AIR

On June 10, Adobe officially unveiled Adobe Integrated Runtime, or Adobe AIR for short. Formally called Adobe Apollo, it is a cross-operating runtime developed by Adobe that allows developers to create Rich Internet Applications for the desktop. It was a close call between this and Google Gears (the offline browser plug-in), or Microsoft’s Silverlight (a Flash-like plug-in) – both of which were also launched in ’07.

What have we missed? What were your top Web tech stories of 2007?

BBC Censored Bhutto’s Reports that Bin Laden Was Murdered

Posted: 30 Dec 2007 11:30 PM CST

When a news organization as venerable as the BBC censors the reportage of a story as important as the assassination of Benzir Bhutto –a highly visible critic of Bush/British policy with regard to the “War on Terrorism” et al –it is fair to ask: who is the BBC protecting? Are they covering up the motive for her murder?

Worship Your Plastic Heroes in <cite>The DC Comics Action Figure Archive</cite>

Posted: 30 Dec 2007 11:00 PM CST

Worship your plastic heroes in The DC Comics Action Figure Archive.

Winning Even When You Lose

Posted: 30 Dec 2007 07:33 PM CST

* April 1, 2004: Gmail launches in a private beta and starts to offer 1 GB of free storage.
* May 13, 2004: Yahoo increases the free storage from 4 MB to 100 MB. In 2005, Yahoo Mail’s free storage grows to 1GB and now it’s “unlimited”.

* August 25, 2005: Google Talk launches. “Built to support industry standards, Google Talk enables Google users to connect to the Google Talk service and exchange IMs using any client that does the same, including Trillian, Adium, iChat, GAIM, and Psi.”
* October 12, 2005: “Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced a landmark agreement to connect users of their consumer instant messaging (IM) services on a global basis. The industry’s first interoperability agreement between two distinct leading global consumer IM providers will give MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger users the ability to interact with each other, forming what is expected to be the largest consumer IM community in the world, estimated to be more than 275 million strong.”

* July 2007: To bid for the 700MHz spectrum in the US, Google asks four conditions, the most important being to allow people to use any application and any device (these two conditions were accepted).
* November 27, 2007: Verizon Wireless announces “that it will provide customers the option to use, on its nationwide wireless network, wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company”.

* November 2, 2007: Google launches OpenSocial, “a set of common APIs that make it easy to create and host social applications on the web”.
* December 13, 2007: Facebooks opens its application platform. “Now we also want to share the benefits of our work by enabling other social sites to use our platform architecture as a model. In fact, we’ll even license the Facebook Platform methods and tags to other platforms.”

At the end of the day, it’s not important if your product doesn’t win when your offerings can make changes for everyone.

The issue I am having is all of my contacts of disappeared. I first noticed this on thursday lat week and I let it go considering it was a temporary glitch or my browser didn’t render the page properly. My calendar was still working so I was happy at the time.

I logged in today though and my calendar was still working, but still no contacts. No contacts means their new “social network” called Pulse is completely useless also. Now normally this wouldn’t be a big deal to me since I’ve dealt with other minor issues with Plaxo in the past. But I had to re authenticate yahoo today in my account and then I hoped my contacts would re populate – they did not. So theoretically all contacts population (the pudding in the Plaxo pie) is now broken for my account.

The other sync points I use – outlook, google, yahoo, msn, and aim are all up to date with each other. So my data may not be centralized but it is up to date. I’ll give them another week or so to decide if this “hub” is worth using if I can’t get to it for my central need. This issue is highly annoying but not devastating in my life as a whole since I still have the information. This may however make me rethink giving Plaxo the second chance I did give it.

Originally I sent this back to the person that forwarded the wrong link to me:

“…You had a line that said “…photo ID cards offer the terrorist all new weak points for exploitation” did you use the word terrorist (since the paper didn’t seem to be about terrorism (which then it would be forgiven in my viewpoint) because of the heart-strings you felt it would tug at? Wouldn’t a better line to keep the document a bit more politically neutral been some thing in the line of “photo ID cards offer possible weak points for exploitation” or using the term fraudsters like you do later in the paper? I don’t like the term terrorist since it has connotations that have widely been twisted since 9/11 and theoretically under some interpretations of the PATRIOT act writing this paper and examining possible weaknesses and publishing it could be a borderline activity (I don’t believe that but strict interpretation of the law could be taken as such).

Machine readable weaknesses could greatly be strengthened by not relying on a local computer but going to a central database while bring up the picture on the screen like advanced documents leading into a two factor authentication of machine then person verification instead of the other way around of a casual glance – this way the authenticator looks at it twice. I don’t like the idea of a centralized authority and I’m against a national ID card for this reason – the privacy concerns are immense. The simplest way would be when the card is printing place an MD5 hash that would need ned to match one printed holographically on the front of the ID. This way education would teach us (verifiers in general) that to verify the ID – we scan it and then type in the pin that should match against the MD5 hash on the magnetic strip. This allows us infinitely more security then we have now without the privacy loss implications of a centralized authority.

Document fraud is always going to continue as long as believe in the privacy and rights of the individual. Document verification does not nec. make our government more secure. While some of the 9/11 terrorist had expired Visas – other had perfectly valid non forged ones. If we track back history to the last major terrorist attack before that Oklahoma City bombing – that was done by an American with which I suppose had valid accurate documents. …”

As you can see by the verbiage I used and the fact that I didn’t pay extreme attention at first I had mistakenly thought the person that sent the link was the author. He was not and told me he couldn’t speak to the points contained within the paper. Fair enough.

I stated most of my points in my above email excerpt, however one thing started nagging at me later (the same nagging that urged me to write this post. The author fails to take into consideration (or glazes over the fact in his paper) the inherent insecurity during the migration period. While border guards, guards at federal government facilities, and TSA representatives can be well-trained ramping up to launch of new identification, the populace at large would not have the same training.

Because the population at large would be vaguely aware of a new system but not sure the details of what to look for this opens up a window of opportunity for larger fraud to happen then what dictates under the current system. I remember businesses having issues accepting the 20.00 bill when it was redesigned since many people thought it felt like play money and looked phony. While they usually (reluctantly) accepted it, I’m sure there was a good opportunity for counterfeiters during the weeks/months that followed.

Now if you notice above I mentioned federal agents, local police are normally no better at detecting these things. If they called it in they may get confirmation, but some police departments are lax and don’t follow a unified procedure. For an example of this idiocy please track down Steve Wozniak’s stories about having issues with the police saying his 2.00 bills were phony when a store manager who didn’t believe 2.00 bills existed asked the officer that came into the store.

I’m not saying we should stay the course during all of this and some states should have a stronger anti tampering mechanism. The realID issue trying to get into fruition is one attempt at the federal level to do this. I don’t believe in the realID system since it erodes our personal liberties so I don’t think there should ever be a central authority. I could go on and rail about the realID system – but you should search “ron paul realID” and here that man’s thoughts on the issue.

Finally the cost of this reimplementation of identification papers. This is something completely not absent in the document. If you look at the numbers implementing the realID system you can see the absolute cost that this will cost you for very little security in return.

“The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. “
Benjamin Franklin