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.

Shared Items from Google Reader

Don't overlook those Shared Items on the right, under the BlogRoll. They're all interesting stories that merit reading, courtesy of Google Reader, which allows you to share any article from their RSS feeds.

This is what I'm talking about... links to this video on YouTube.

Who links to your site?

GooTube Slammed By Viacom Takedown Demand...

CNET Launches New API...

Google To Provide Downloadable E-Books...

SmugMug: The (Anti) Web 2.0 Company...

Give away the music and sell the show...

Everything in its place (ment)...

If Google Were a Restaurant...

DEMO 2007 Embraces Web 2.0...

Netflix offers downloaded movies...

Images: Google Earth's 3D world...

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

Yahoo Pipes

RSS Feeds help us stay informed in an organized way.

Now, there's an interactive feed aggregator from Yahoo called Pipes, which allows you to manipulate those feeds into a more powerful, relevant and hopefully, more useful tool.

Some of the most frequently run Pipes so far include Google Video Search, Microsoft Live News Search and del.icio.us flavored web search.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/

Browse a complete list of Pipes modules here.

Read more about Pipes at O'Reilly radar BLOG...
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/02/pipes_and_filte.html

attendio.com

Attendio is a new social events service that automatically connects people to local events to match their interests. The user community continually adds relevant local events, reviews, and recommendations to their website and user's calendars.

The free Attendio service (still in beta) launched online on February 1st, beginning with local events for the San Francisco Bay Area. The service is rolling out to additional cities across the country throughout 2007. Coordinated with the launch of Microsoft's new version of Windows, Attendio is also featured in the new Windows Vista Calendar, and debuted at the DEMO 007 conference in Palm Desert, California.

The unique VIP "Recommenders" provide an insider's view on all the "hot" events across all categories at any time. Some early VIP's are Adam Duritz of the band Counting Crows and Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.

"Attendio just sounded like a cool idea to me," said Adam Duritz, lead singer for the Counting Crows. "After all, there are so many great cultural events taking place all the time in the Bay Area and New York. It seems like I spend half the space on my own blogs recommending theatre and films and bands and events at Cal I think people should go out and see. Attendio seems an obvious way to get the news about that stuff out there so everyone can enjoy them as much as I do."

Users can also designate their friends as "Recommenders" to easily share information on interesting and worthwhile events. For example, music lovers can automatically see what albums or concerts their blogger friends recommend.

Within a few clicks, Attendio users set up their own personalized profile, and request that events automatically populate their personal calendar through popular programs, including Apple iCal, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Vista Calendar and Google Calendar.

Source:
www.demo.com
www.attendio.com
www.netvibes.com
media.prnewswire.com

Feed for thought!

Not all feeds have to be from a blog or the media!

I have been offline for a few days moving. And yes, I was having withdrawals. But as I was catching up on my Feed reading I realized that a couple of my favorites are not blogs or even media sites.

Having always been interested in history and people, these 2 feeds are a perfect fit for a little daily knowledge. Each one typically has only a couple of short items per day, which makes it easy to keep up.

• This Day in History
• Who2.com - Find Famous People Fast! (I subscribe to their Personality of the Day )

TIP: To make it easier to catch up, I "blended" all my Google Reader feeds by selecting "All Items" and placing them in "sort by oldest" order.

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.

Dave Winer

Have you ever read Dave Winer? He's been credited with starting RSS and has one of the longest running blogs on the internet, for about ten years. There's a lot of one liners each day; kind of like a real journal or log.

Online @ www.scripting.com

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

Beginning a new Wiki wave

Recently Mark Cuban announced the formation of a new Wiki for his beloved Dallas Mavericks.

Is this the start of a new trend with Wiki's?

It just might be.

For a Wiki to work it takes a topic that is changing and evolving along with a base of people who are passionate about the subject matter. And that pretty much describes any professional sports team in the United States.

Only time will tell, but it just may be a wave we start seeing played out across the Internet.

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?

The Best of CES 2007

cnet.com reviews the Best of this year's CES.

LG debuted the world’s first DVD player that supports both Blu-Ray and HD DVD! LG really does stand for "Life's Good!"Warner Brothers Studios announced it's own hybrid video disk, called Total HD, which will play on both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives.

Harman Kardon rolls out their mobile media manager Drive + Play 2.

Sony Ericsson W950i Walkman Phone:
3G - advanced digital music player with music management software -
4GB internal memory - built-in FM radio - stereo headset - USB cable
2.6 inch touch screen display - send email with integrated Opera8.0 web browser.
http://www.sony.com/ces/index.php

Wired.com talks about how everything gets connected. It's the year for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

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

CES 007 What would Bond use?

Browsing CES; Day One:
If James Bond was at CES this year, what would he be doing, and which cool gadgets would he be using? The SpyCam has come a long way, baby.

Apple & Cingular = iPhone.
We've heard about Apple's rumoured iPhone. Now the word is Cingular will be the official provider of Mac's new wireless service, although it may only be GSM. How cool would iChat mobile be?

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet puts the web in your hands with:
- Wifi & BT
- VGA (640×480) webcam
- 4.13 inch screen (same as the 770)
- Stereo Speakers (770 has mono)
- Microphone has moved to the top.
- Audio jack and mini usb port have moved to the right side.
- Requires mobile phone (with BT) for cell connection.
- Integrated Stand, the n800 comes with a sleeve, rather than the sliding shell on the 770. Blog & Flickr pictures!

XBOX360 plugs into IPTV with DVR & VOD - DigitalVideoRecorder & VideoOnDemand.
The "new and improved" XBOX360 sports a 120GB hard drive with available HDMI ports. IPTV services will be multi-channel, multiple picture-in-picture, video on demand, and broadcast television, with DVR functionality. Bond would have the VideoOnDemand on a monthly subscription and a SpyCam in the palm of his hand. This will be the first major hardware update to the XBOX360 in over a year and a half.

Finally, I can setup my home network with full backups, because Windows Home Server will be available this year. Microsoft's mass data storage solution is a software suite that automatically finds and backs up all of the data on all of the Windows PC's on your LAN. It can be used to manage data stored within user accounts, shared folders, and external storage devices.

WindowsHomeServer also has Zune Connectivity and a Web Component that lets you login and access your backup data from any connected computer on the planet. Wow, think of it! Wireless access to your personal online storage (Area51?) from any connected computer on the planet. Redundant Storage capacity is expandable; data is reorganized on the fly as you plug in more hard drives.

I've had my eye on Dell's XPS 410 Desktop PC since last year, but this latest configuration is the final winner, with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo E6600 Intel processor, nVidia's GeForce 7900GS graphics adapter with 256MB of VideoRAM, a 20-inch widescreen Dell 2007WFP flat-panel monitor, 2GB of DDR2-667 RAM Memory, two 320GB hard drives in a RAID configuration for a total 640GB of storage, 16X multiformat dual-layer DVD burner, and a second 16X DVD-ROM drive. Integrated audio can handle up to a 7.1 channel surround sound speaker system.

The midsize tower has four drive bays, two internal and two externally accessible, plus two PCI Express 1X and three PCI slots open, six USB and two FireWire ports on the rear, and a FireWire and two more USB2.0 ports up front, and retails for just over $2000.

Q would find plenty of gadgets to equip Bond with at CES this year. Even Moneypenny would approve.

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

Ford and Microsoft to Sync up?

I have to admit that my first thought was about the old GM and Microsoft joke when I heard that Ford Motors and Microsoft are going to work together on an in-car wireless phone and data system

There are several versions of this joke, but, some of the highlights are:

• For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day.
• Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
• Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would have to reinstall the engine.
• When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
• The airbag would say 'Are you sure?' before going off.
• Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna.
• Every time they introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
• You would press the 'start' button to shut off the engine.

That Dodge Charger sure is a good looking car!

Year of the Cell Cam?

What does 2007 hold in store? It could be a big year for personal technology, like cell phones with cameras. That technology might just drive changes that businesses didn't see coming.

Dr. Martin Illsley, director of the European research labs for tech consultancy Accenture, says: "camera phones will allow customers to communicate with businesses via pictures in addition to phone and email. Consumers will be able to complain more easily by snapping the offending incident or object."

Greater documentation of faulty goods or bad service could be a downside for business, but a boon for consumers fed up with the lack of quality merchandise and customer service.

However, the smart companies will find new ways to harvest this new information and put it to good use. Businesses are already looking for ways to tap into net communities and online interest groups, to create recommendations consumers will trust.

Source: BBC News

Subscribe to a story, not just a blog

When there is a particular story that you have an interest in, the best way to stay current is by subscribing to the story and setting up email alerts.

1. Subscribe to a BlogSearch for the topic
2. Setup an email Alert

As an example the story about the Helicopter being used in Jackson, Mississippi has some special interest for me, so I subscribed to "Jackson Mississippi Helicopter" in BlogSearch and then setup an email Alert with the same topic. In this case I set the type to "Comprehensive" and the timing to "As it Happens".

One more option is to use the Google AJAX Search API which you can configure to return results from where you want. With one click you can search for "Jackson Mississippi Helicopter" and see Blog, Web, News and Video results.

Now I can sit back and watch the story come to me.

Retail Research

If you do your research online before going into the stores, you already know more than the average sales person. I've found that to be true at services like Sprint and Cingular, and in general retail stores like WalMart.

Best Buy employees seem to have a little better knowledge of their product, but by and large, retail sales reps are just reading off the label like we do.

Politics and the Internet

In March of 1999, during an interview with CNN, Al Gore was quoted as saying:

"I took the initiative in creating the Internet"
Source : Transcript: Vice President Gore on CNN's 'Late Edition'

This quote was used and abused for years to come. You can still read and hear the "Al Gore, invented the Internet" jokes. Al Gore was preparing for a Democratic nomination the following year. Almost 8 years later we have another Democratic hopeful using the Internet card, but, this time will certainly be different.

It appears that John Edwards understands the Internet and is willing to embrace it. If you have not kept up with the Scobleizer and his time on the road with the Edwards campaign, you should. This is certainly a foreshadowing of days to come when these Political Campaigns utilize the Internet and all it's resources.

Which Superhero are you?

After seeing the "Which Superhero are you?" test all over the Blogosphere I thought it would be interesting to try it. I must say, the results are not what I would have expected, although I am happy to be Spider-Man with a little Hulk and Iron Man thrown in there.

Being married with 2 daughters, 2 female dogs and 2 female cats probably lends itself to the reasoning for the Catwoman and Supergirl influence, lol.

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Hulk 75% Iron Man 45% Catwoman 40% Supergirl 40% Batman 40% The Flash 40% Superman 35% Robin 30% Wonder Woman 20% Green Lantern 10%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Live Lynching?

Is the Internet going to send us back 100 years?

How long will it take for the hanging of Saddam Hussein to make it to one of the main Social sites that broadcast video?

Hussein is scheduled to be hanged in the next couple of days and it is certainly likely that this event will show up, if not live, very quickly thereafter on the Internet.

A Social Rant

As usual Mark Cuban speaks his mind, and in typical fashion his rant about Google and YouTube goes on for over a 1000 words and then he hits the nail on the head near the end of the post.

When a forum is open to everyone, eventually everyone shows up and the original attraction of the forum is lost. Someone has got to take responsibility for any open social network or the network will die.

Source : Mark Cuban - http://www.blogmaverick.com

Having run several forum sites over the years this is a well described problem I have seen firsthand. And it is obviously infecting a lot of the Social networks. It is the main reason I have not been able to fully enjoy a lot of the social sites.

And it is a "catch 22".

• Everyone wants an open environment, but when a system is totally open without controls there are going to be people who take advantage of this and cause problems.
  
• And if a system is monitored and policed, then everyone complains about censorship. Well you can't have both.

Social has more to do with having relationships with others who are like minded, and less to do with a place that is open to a free for all of abuse.

Does your SEO know about the SEI?

For 20 years I have been told to make it "idiot proof", and being a programmer I would invariably spend extra time on the error handling only to find out that this was not the same as "idiot proof". This is also where the phrase GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) came from.

Now there is a lot of talk (blogging) about what is wrong with the SE's, maybe it is more about the SEI (SE Idiot) and the SEU (SE User)?

Look at some of the top searches listed out there.

www.google.com
www.msn.com
www.yahoo.com

And if you run any type of site where a celebrity is part of your site you can be guaranteed that there are searches for www.personsnamehere.com, with all types of misspellings and character assassinations.

Some examples:

A common search for Britney Spears might look like this....

www.britneyspears.com
www.britney spears.com
britknee spears.com
britneys ears.com

Now, let's be real clear about this. People doing searches like this are NOT idiots, they are just a little ignorant on the way things work and ignorance is something we all have in common, we are just ignorant about different things.

Ignorant = lacking in knowledge or training

Did you learn how to read without training, how about writing?

So maybe we need to spend more time on SEE (SE Education) and work to turn the SEI and SEU into an SEP (SE Pro).

Legend:
SEI (SE Idiot)
SEU (SE User)
SEP (SE Pro)
SEE (SE Education)

Negative buzz, positive results?

There is an old saying "any publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right", and as much as you may think the way things work on the Internet are a far cry from the old brick and mortar ways of doing business, some things may never change.

In the last couple of weeks, there have been two cases of what may be considered bad press, giving good results.

1. Google Drops the SOAP - The negative aspect of Google deprecating their SOAP API has certainly drawn a lot of attention to their AJAX Search API.
   
2. Wikisaria - First there were the reports that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was partnering with Amazon to create a search engine to do battle with Google. Then we learn that this was being reported wrong. Now, how much traffic has been generated for Wikisaria and the rest of the story?

These reports may not have been produced for this purpose, but, there is no doubt that the negative sides are certainly driving positive results in each case.

Note : Is this the final stop on the Wikisaria romp around the blogosphere?

A Digital Christmas with CybersView

CybersView has an incredible start; Thanks to Google and all our new friends. We enjoy your comments and appreciate your support of our efforts. Please subcribe to cybersview.com in your RSS feeder and take advantage of our CyberSearch page.

'Wii' continue to evolve with a look at today's digital lifestyle, it's events and it's history. Thanks for reading and searching CybersView.com.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the birth of Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Happy Holidays to you, with His blessings in this holiday season.

Posted by David & Mike ~ Christmas 2006

Wikiasari

It's interesting to see all the blogging going on about the reported new search engine called Wikiasari that is a collaboration between Amazon and Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia).

However, if you go to http://www.wikiasari.com there is a message posted today by Wales that clearly states the role of Amazon.

Reporters and bloggers note: Amazon has nothing to do with this project. They are a valued investor in Wikia, but people are really speculating beyond the facts. This has nothing to do with A9, Amazon, etc. Help me out, spread the word. I am looking for a community of people to continue the development of wikiasari and so on. Discuss here. Join the mailing list. ----Jimbo Wales 23:24, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
Source : http://www.wikiasari.com

Another key fact is that the domain name Wikiasari was registered in November of 2004, so this is not just something that has happened overnight.

Based on most reports it seems that Mr Wales believes we can have a better search engine if we rely on each other to make judgements on the value of pages instead of using algorithms generated by computers. This should be an interesting topic to monitor over the next few months as the first quarter of 2007 is being reported as a potential launch date.

Digital Camcorder for Video Blogging

With all the video blogging and podcasting going on it appears to be a good time to look into the Digital Camcorder options. At first glance it appears there are only 2 million choices.

If you are Podcasting or creating a Video Blog how about sharing some of your wisdom? Maybe a good post on your blog about how you create your program.

For now, here is the Top 25 Most Popular Digital Camcorders according to Amazon. Each link will load our search page and display information from Blogosphere, Internet, News and Videos sources.

Pure Digital PSV-352
Pure Digital PSV-351
Canon Elura 100
Sony DCR-DVD405
Sony DCR-DVD505
Sony HDR-UX1 AVCHD
Sony DCR-DVD105
Canon ZR500
Sony DCR-HC26
Sony DCR-SR40
Sony DCR-TRV280
Sony DCR-HC96
Sony DCR-DVD305
JVC GR-D350
Aiptek DV5900
Sony DCR-DVD205
Samsung SC-D363
Sony DCR-HC36
Sony HDR-SR1
Aiptek MPVR
Canon HV10
Samsung X210L
Sanyo Xacti HD1A
Panasonic VDR-D300
Aiptek DV3100

Symantec has a new adverband

RockdotRock is the new adverband from Symantec. And just what the heck is an adverband, well obviously someone with a warped sense of advertising thought it would be a good idea to use an unknown rock band as their branding mechanism.

RockdotRock was formed in late Summer 2006 by Symantec Corporation as an alternative to broadcast advertising. The band was selected from a pool of 20 competing acts who were ready to lend their chops to the cause of Internet freedom. As the world's first adverband, their goal is to create awareness for their sponsor through the majesty of rock n' roll. Source : Official Press Release

Of course, knowing the way things work these days, it will probably be a smash hit. And if it is not, it will still go down as one crazy viral marketing scheme.

Maybe it's just Spinal Tap reincarnated!

Links:

Symantec Corporation

RockDotRock Official Website

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)

Google Secret Sauce

Why so much Google?

It's easy..... they listen.

Recently Robert Scoble interviewed Mark Lucovsky and they touched on a lot of the reasons so many developers love Google.

The interview revolves around Mark's work with the Google AJAX Search API and how they have produced a solid working product in a short time.

The Google secret sauce:

• Develop for both beginning and advanced developers.
• Give the code to the developers without restrictions.
• Listen and respond.

And this is exactly how the AJAX Search API has progressed. In the interview Mark talks about how a self proclaimed "hick programmer from Mississippi" requested the video bar one day and Mark was able to take the idea and deliver a working product by early the next morning.

That type of relationship between a company the size of Google and an individual programmer goes a long way to building great products.

Links:

Robert Scoble interviews Mark Lucovsky

Google Ajax Search API

Update : Google Code - Updates: Beyond the SOAP Search API

Search the Solar System with Google & NASA

Google in space...boldly searching where no engine has before? Google's new partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center will share the enormous global information the space agency has with the average internet user.

We've already had an out-of-this-world experience with NASA's World Wind, which allows you to zoom in from satellite altitude into any place on Earth, leveraging high resolution LandSat imagery to experience visually rich 3D, just like you were really there.

I like Google's philosphy to share this immense data about our planet and solar system online with the average person, using simple web controls anyone can use. Visualize Google Earth expanding into the solar system!

Imagine a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin at Headquarters in Washington. "This innovative combination of information technology and space science will make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone."

Official NASA Press Release @ www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2006/06_96AR.html

GooglePhone

Until now if we used the phrase GooglePhone it usually referred to using Google Talk over IP. But according to the blogosphere there appears to be a new Google Phone on the horizon.

It has been reported that Google is in talks with Orange about a mega deal to bring a Google branded phone to the market. This seems like a logical step for Google. With the transformation of cell phones from simple verbal communication devices to handheld mini computers, Google could give us the tools to bring the phone to life over the Internet.

If Google uses it's same philosophies for the phone that it has used on the Internet we may finally get an affordable means of searching and browsing from our little handheld friends.

Sources :

The future for Orange could soon be Google in your pocket | World | The Observer

mobile.newsthis.com · Googlephone Coming Soon?

Top Digital Cameras and Phones used on Flickr

This is probably the best endorsement for a digital camera or camera phone I have seen.

Instead of digging through the reviews just check out this list at Flickr. They have compiled the following from their extensive uploads.

Most Popular Cameras in the Flickr Community

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
• Nikon D50
• Canon EOS 20D
• Nikon D70
• Canon EOS Digital Rebel

Popular Point & Shoot Cameras

• Canon PowerShot SD400
• Canon PowerShot SD450
• Canon PowerShot S2 IS
• Canon PowerShot A520
• Canon PowerShot SD300

Popular Cameraphones

• Sony Ericsson K750i
• Nokia N73
• Nokia N70
• Sony Ericsson K800i
• Sony Ericsson W810i

Link :Flickr: Camera Finder

You Witness News

It appears that Reuters is catching on to the Blogosphere. First they started syndicating blogs through the BlogBurst service and now they are partnering with Yahoo to create a "citizen journalism" portal. All you need is a camera phone to become a paid journalist.

Yahoo! News - You Witness has launched and gives people the opportunity to upload photographs and videos to be considered for syndication through Reuters and the Yahoo News (You Witness News) service.

Reuters Link: Yahoo partners with Reuters on eyewitness pictures | Tech&Sci | Internet | Reuters.com

NY Times Link: Have Camera Phone? Yahoo and Reuters Want You to Work for Their News Service - New York Times

Hi-Tech Text

Over a million text messages are sent every day...and email number into the billions. All these awesome hi-tech tools developed from over twenty years of technology research and development are available at our fingertips.

And what is it being used for? So kids can send text messages, LOL, BRB, IMHO. They can text one handed from their cell phone faster than most people can type email with both hands on a full sized keyboard.

Funny...a text message gets a quicker response than a phone call these days.

Cingular's New Samsung BlackJack SmartPhone

Sprint Power Vision Phone by Sanyo

Google Talk: Get connected not just communicate

We love Google talk because we don't just talk, but we're communicating live. We may not actually talk for minutes, because we're both working on a draft, a post, or something else - the point is, it's more productive communication because we're at our computers and we're both using hands free headsets, so we can talk and type at the same time.

Sending links, text and graphics back and forth is a snap using the the Chat window. Anything in the chat window is also saved in each of our Gmail accounts so retrieving items at a later date is very easy.

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