Google Alerts

Google Alerts are an easy and simple way to keep up with things. For example, say you wanted to see any news stories about the CES show that just happened last month.

Go to www.google.com/alerts,
enter your Search Terms (keywords or a phrase)
select the Type (News, Blogs, Web, Groups, or Comprehensive)
specify How often (once a day, as-it-happens, or once a week)
and Google creates your alert!

Then all you have to do is check your gmail.

This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google.

Remove this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Digital Ethnography

Cool video about Web 2.0. I like it because it's using standard everyday things we use like notepad, viewing the source, google, etc., but in a new way and with purpose. Linking humanity together and using the net's enormous amount of data to serve everyday people.

Video created by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. Nicely done and not too long, so it holds your attention. Good pacing too. I think the average attention span online is about 15 seconds, if that long.

The Professor's profile on YouTube says his videos explore mediated culture, seeking to merge the ideas of Media Ecology and Cultural Anthropology.

The Professor's Blog: mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg

Link Love

Thanks to Blog Bloke for the "link love." We couldn't agree more with your last post about building relationships.

The simplest way to build traffic on your blog is a link to those you read, and of course, that works both ways. It's always exciting to get linked on another blog, so why not share the "link love" and link back to them?

So with that idea in mind, we'd like to point out our BlogRoll, which is a few of our favorite blogs that get a daily reading...like InstaBLOKE, O'Reilly Radar and Scobleizer.

Comments are always welcome too. The key is to stay engaged in the conversation threads and reply to those who take the time to read your blog and write a comment. It's a community thing and we humans like to interact with each other.

Final point. I haven't used FeedBlendr yet, but the concept sounds cool, to create a single "blended" RSS feed from many different feeds. I started out using Bloglines and now use GoogleReader much more. Plus we're using the Shared Items feature in GoogleReader to put a "clip" on our home page. It's a great way to browse, read and share alot of the breaking news stories with our friends and visitors.

Google CSE adds statistics

Google has added statistics to the Custom Search Engine (CSE) control panel.

Effective Jan 22, 2007.

"...information such as overall traffic to your search engine and popular queries is now available. And you can view this info by day, week, month..."

Source : Google Custom Search: New statistics page

Netflix Streams Movies Online

Netflix, the online movie rental service has announced their newest service. Streaming movies over the internet to your computer. They said the new feature will be available to subscribers over the next six months, with about 1,000 movies and TV shows instantly available, at no additional cost. Of course, Netflix continues to offer DVD's by mail via their regular subscriptions.

No large video file to download, either. Netflix will be using real-time playback technology that will allow video to stream to your computer, so you don't have to wait for a download, or a DVD in the mail. Yes, you'll have to install the usual internet browser applet the first time you use it, but the company says your movie will start playing in as little as 15 seconds after loading.
Note: Their new service only works on Internet Explorer right now.

Now you're going to need some good bandwidth...one megabit per second is required. Three megabit will give you DVD quality. Service is based on your existing subscription. The entry level 5.99 a month plan gives you online movies for six hours a month. The full 17.99 a month plan gives you 18 hours a month online.

It's always important to get the content providers on your side, and most of the major and indie studios are onboard. NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema and indie studio Lionsgate.

They will be competing online for the first time with iTunes, Yahoo, Amazon.com, Google Video, and YouTube.

Sources:
CNN$Money @ money.cnn.com
Robert Scoble's blog @ scobleizer.com

Google Social Reader

Google Reader has become a favorite RSS Reader. Now they could easily become the Social Reader king of the Internet.

Google Reader gives you the ability to Share items that you read with the rest of the world. These Shared items can be viewed at a native page on Google Reader or added to your site with a little javascript. (See our Shared items in the right sidebar.) You can also subscribe to others shared items and see what they are reading. It is very interesting to see what your favorite writers are reading. One of my personal favorites is Robert Scoble.

Now, lets get the next killer social site.

If Google would take these items and create a Social Reader where the collected shared items are listed by most shared and tags we could see what articles are actually the most popular in the blogosphere.

How about it Google?

Gadgets In Vegas: Hi-Tech Goes Wild @ CES

Cool. Wireless TV.
HP MediaSmart TV has 801.11a/b/g/n WiFi adaptors & Ethernet ports.

Here's a neat idea...HP's new PC design with a wide 19-inch flat screen that tilts up to allow access to the integrated printer in back. But the print out comes out in front. Very smart design, now where's the specs?

Motorola O ROKR Bluetooth enabled headset built-in to a pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Sling Media announces their Clip + Sling which uploads and shares video clips from TV. They've partnered with CBS to develop a video community like YouTube, but with a focus on legal high quality content.

Cisco and Apple argue over the iPhone name. Oh, c'mon, both companies stand to make a fortune over this new phone, if everything works the way it's hyped to do. Sign your agreement and get over it already.

Google Earth4 goes 3D.

Finally, a portable keyboard that goes anywhere! The i.Tech Virtual keyboard. Laser and infared technology combine to project a full size QWERTY keyboard onto any flat surface.

Best of Innovations Honored this year @ CES

Sources:
www.engadget.com
www.gizmodo.com
www.crunchgear.com
www.on10.net
scobleizer.com

Apple iPhone More Than Just iTalk

MacWorld & CES ~ New Technology For A New Year.

The Apple iPhone will finally ship this June and it's a beauty! It's thin, sleek, and simple to use, thanks to it's 3.5 inch screen with multi-touch display. It looks like you can just scroll right through the menus with just a point and tap, and no stylus or button wheel to mess with. Nice navigation. Bloggers are going nuts covering it, so there's plenty of reviews, photos and video.

It can also be called a widescreen iPod, but it does so much more than just play your music. iPhone’s multi-touch display and the OS X Safari web browser may just finally put the wireless web in our hands. It also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! Search so you can instantly search for information, just like on your computer. iPhone also includes Google’s useful and innovative Maps service, so you can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s amazing easy-to-use touch screen interface.

Apple Inc. has totally moved into mobile technology with the iPhone, which follows their market share of iPods and MacBooks. It's kinda pricey to start at $499, but this device may just tip the scales from Blackberry back toward the Apple. 4GB is $499 and the 8GB $599 available in June in the US, and later this year in Europe. Cingular Wireless is the ISP.

Good looking specs too:
3.5 inch screen with 320 x 480 @ 160 ppi resolution
GSM Quad-band Wi-Fi (802.11), Cingular EDGE & Bluetooth2.0
4.8 ounces at 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
Battery Life up to 5 hours on talk, video, web browsing, and up to 16 hours on audio playback.

It was a busy day...

Microsoft Home on the Vista

Microsoft: A new Vista on every desktop

Sony K750i MP3 Phone

RealNetworks and TiVo combine to share access to the Rhapsody music services

AsusXG Station External PCI-Express Graphics - MacWorld Expo - Nokia MultiMedia Phones

Sources:
www.engadget.com
www.gizmodo.com
www.crunchgear.com
www.on10.net
scobleizer.com

Share your Feed reading

A good friend has begun referring to me as CyberGoogle instead of CyberCoder claiming that all I talk about is Google stuff. Although I do not believe that is entirely true, I certainly must admit that Google has my attention with most of their tools.

Case in point is the Google Reader. I jumped right in with Google Reader when it first became available, and just as quickly shelved it and went back to Bloglines. After the last major upgrade I thought I would give it another try, and I have been using it since.

One of my favorite features is the Shared items feed that you can create allowing others to see what you are reading. I have posted my shared items in the sidebar with the javascript code supplied. It is very interesting to subscribe to others shared items and see what they are reading. This has also led me to subscribing to sites that I had never seen before.

If you use Google Reader, do everyone a favor and let them know it with a link to your shared item feed.

They are available as a page at https://www.google.com/reader/shared/00656704731855016255 (and there's a feed too)