Scientists Create the First Super-duper "Pure White LED"
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Cellphones: Sling Player Now Available on Nokia N95
We knew it was just a matter of time before the HSDPA-enabled Nokia N95 would score itself a Series60 friendly Sling Player, and lo, here it is. As you can see in the gallery, you initially access commands through menus, but the trick is to set your favorite commands along with your favorite channels. In case you were wondering, you can't use the transport keys for the N95 video player. One of these days, that would be nice. But as hand model Dave Zatz was showing us, you can do some quick maneuvers using keypad hot keys. Stay tuned for our detailed review. [Sling Media]
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Web Utilities: Create a Multi-Anchored Link with URL Split
Web utility URL Split creates single URLs that direct users to up to seven different web sites. For example, clicking this link five times will direct you to five of my recent Hack Attack Features in the order I linked them ( one, two, three, four, and five). The site is built on an interesting idea, but in practice it could use some work—in particular, one would expect to be able to continue following the link chain from each link location (through some sort of proxy hosting). As is you have to continue opening the same link in a new tab until you see that it repeats, which really just causes more ambiguity than it's worth. If it worked as I suggested, though, URL Split could be a nice tool for sharing simple link tours or step-by-steps.
Featured Windows Download: Turn Your Smartphone into a Webcam with SmartCam
Windows only: Free, open source application SmartCam turns your Symbian Series 60 smartphone into a wireless Bluetooth webcam. Just install the program in Windows (works in XP and Vista) and install the client to your smartphone (be sure to follow the readme in the \win\installer directory). When it's all set up, your SmartCam works with Skype and most other video chat services, meaning that if your computer doesn't have a webcam but you've got Bluetooth and a Symbian smartphone, you're in luck. SmartCam is a free download, Windows only.
SmartCam [SourceForge via Inspect My Gadget]
How Terry Semel Blew Yahoo's Deal For Facebook
How much is Facebook worth? $5 billion? $10 billion? $15 billion? Whatever the number, it's probably a lot more than the $1 billion Terry Semel's Yahoo could have bought it for a year ago. As Yahoo continues its soul-searching, here's the unpleasant history of Semel's catastrophic decision, courtesy of Fred Vogelstein at Wired:
When Yahoo came calling with a bid of $1 billion in cash, the pressure became too much. [Mark Zuckerberg] relented in July [2006], verbally agreeing to sell Facebook to Yahoo. Strategically, it seemed like a good match. Yahoo had hundreds of millions of users, but its foray into social networking was struggling. Facebook had cool tools and was looking for a mass audience.
The timing, however, couldn't have been worse. In the days after Zuckerberg agreed to sell, Yahoo announced it was projecting slower sales and earnings growth, and that the launch of its new advertising platform would be delayed. Its stock price plunged 22 percent overnight. Terry Semel, Yahoo's CEO at the time, reacted by cutting his offer from $1 billion to $800 million. Zuckerberg, who had been warned about Semel's reputation for last-minute renegotiations, walked away. Two months later, Semel reissued the original $1 billion bid, but by then Zuckerberg had convinced his board and executive team that Yahoo wasn't a serious partner and that Facebook would be worth more on its own. He rejected the offer and became famous as the cocky youngster who turned down $1 billion. WiredHow about 200Mbps for $88.20? Hong Kong Fiber Optic Rates Prove Verizon's FiOS is a Rip-Off
How about 200Mbps for $88.20? Yeah, not quite enough, I agree. You might as well jump up to 1Gbps for $215.40 a month. But hey, you don't really need that, do you? You should be thanking Verizon for the opportunity to pay them for a pathetic 5Mbps connection. I mean, the US is so far down on the per-country broadband speed chart (the Japanese are enjoying 60Mbps average) that we should just be loving any crumbs the telecoms are willing to toss our way, right? Thanks again, Verizon! [ CNNMoney via Broadband Reports ]
Terabitz To Expand Beyond Home Searches Today
A search on the site pulls up a basic Google map of the area and nothing else. But users can then drag in modules to add information - local foreclosures, recent sales, listed homes, schools, even fast food restaurants. Every module that is added by a user also adds the appropriate information to the map as well. It's a very convenient way to get a feel for the neighborhood.
The original idea for the company came from seventeen year old Kamran Munshi, who is now a freshman at Yale. His father, Ashfaq, ran with the idea and raised $10 million in funding. The company has 32 employees (12 in the U.S., 30 in India).
Later today the company is launching a new feature - the ability to create a map with various modules included and then embed it on another website. So any site that wants to add a Google generated map that includes, say, local businesses and restaurants (a hotel, for example) can now do so easily. The tool is free, but will be branded with Terabitz.
Marketers Wait Before Tackling Adblock
Source: http://www.adweek.com/aw/iq_interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003645941
September 24, 2007
By Eric Newman
NEW YORK Marketers mostly shrugged off a threat from Adblock Plus, a tool recently added to the Firefox browser that lets users delete banner ads and disable flash and rich-media messages.
The software, described by some as a "TiVo for the Web," is designed to make Web browsing a purer user experience, said Wladimir Palant, who developed the program as an update to a version released five years ago.
"Adblock is definitely important because there are still too many ads, ones that make sounds and others that are animated, float in the middle of the screen obscuring text and do just about anything else to grab your attention," he said.
Despite the potential attraction of ad-free surfing, marketers appeared nonplussed, arguing that Adblock Plus won't change the online marketing industry, mainly because it's on a niche browser. They also point to the fact that similar programs on larger browsers have not yet revolutionized the business model.
"This particular program is just one part of a larger trend that's a fact of life for marketers," said Ilya Vedrashko, an emerging-media strategist at Hill Holiday, Boston. Vedrashko said browsers such as Internet Explorer, which he says controls 64 percent of browser usage (versus 17.5 percent for Firefox), also have ad blocking tools. "I wouldn't overestimate the importance of the business impact of this application."
Vedrashko argued on his blog last week that such technology is actually good for marketers because it forces them to make better ads. John Paulson, president at digital marketing agency G2 Interactive, New York, agreed. "From an industry standpoint, I don't think any of this is stuff we should be afraid of because it just puts the onus on the image creators to put out messages of value to the user," he said. But Jenny Howell, manager of interactive marketing for American Honda Motor, was less sanguine: "Although penetration of Adblock is still quite low, conceptually, programs like Adblock are, of course, frightening to an online marketer."
Still, Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, New York, said his organization plans to reach out to technology providers to persuade them to discourage the use of ad-blocking software.
Attractive Online Diagrams, Charts And Maps
Data charts and diagrams are used when statistical data has to be presented in the most convenient and usable way. Visual charts are clear, visually appealing and easier to perceive than some simple enumerations or tables - mainly because users don't have to analyze the meaning of presented facts, but can perceive main tendencies through the visual weight of the facts — directly.
You can create charts in graphic editors or use special applications (software or web-apps) which can help you to create your charts in few minutes. However, once you'd like to update an old chart, or create a new one, you have to run the application and create new images over and over again. That's not flexible. Or maybe you just want to offer your visitors not a simple image, but a powerful dynamic chart.
amCharts: Flexible and Dynamic Solution
To gain a greater level of flexibility you need to take a closer look at further approaches. One of them could be a flash-based solution which loads the data from server — from a config-text file. And this is exactly what amCharts offers. There are 4 sets with predefined Pie & Donut, Line & Area, Column & Bar and Scatter & Bubble. Generated Flash-files are dynamic and can be presented in 2D or 3D.
The loader can load data from XML or CSV (coma separated values text file), this means you can easily export data from Excel, dynamically generate data file with PHP, ASP, .NET or other programming language. Some flash-charts also have animation effects (bounce effect, growing effect) and offer users a possibility to export the chart as an image. You can also choose font and text sizes for all texts, specify the colors and define roll-over indicator's color, transparency and text color.
Data sets and configuration can be changed in a simple text-file. You can download and use amCharts for free. The only limitation of free version is that a small link to this web site will be displayed in top left corner of your charts. If you'd like to be able to use the tool without a backlink you can buy a single site license for 85 Euros (~$117).
The developer of the tool, Antanas Marcelionis, also offers a customizable flash-based solution for interactive maps, amMap: same conditions, same level of flexibility. In both cases you can start to create your own charts and maps right away - the documentation is well-structured and easy-to-use.
Samsung's Armani phone has a surprise: a haptic feedback UI
DocuSign Raises $12.4 Million
Competitors include EchoSign, VeriSign, Entrust and others.
If you have doubts that people are using eSignatures, you should know that, to date, DocuSign has completed over 5 million of them. Their clients currently include Expedia, Land America, RE/MAX, AMICA, Worldspan, Sony, Weyerhaeuser, Yamaha, Tektronix, and Fidelity National Title.
Creative Commons sued for deception
Augustine: the lack of understanding of the Creative Commons license (which is fairly new and un-tested in court) leads to these situations. This case has far reaching implications for Creative Commons too, since they are named in the suit.
Published Monday 24th September 2007 19:14 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/24/creative_commons_deception/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/24/creative_commons_deception/
A Texan family has been handed a harsh lesson in what the Creative Commons "movement" really means for creatives who use its licences.
Filmmaker Damon Chang uploaded a family photograph of his young niece Alison to Flickr, only to discover weeks later that it was being used by Virgin Mobile in an expensive advertising campaign. Neither Alison Chang nor her youth counsellor Justin Wong, who took the photograph, have received compensation for the use of the image - having handed over the rights without realising it. Damon Chang used a licence which permits commercial reuse - and even derivative works to be made - without payment or permission of the photographer: Merely a credit will do to satisfy the terms of the licence.
Both Changs believe the use of the photograph was insulting and demeaning, as Alison - a minor - became known as the "dump your pen friend girl". And after taking legal advice, the Chang family is now suing Virgin Mobile USA and the Creative Common Corporation.
Virgin hoovered up over 100 "user generated" images for its ad campaign - saving itself a fortune. The lawsuit accuses Virgin of invasion of privacy, libel and breach of contract, but it's the section of the lawsuit that names and shames Creative Commons that promises to have lasting consequences for "Web 2.0" and "user generated content".
"Creative Commons owned a duty to Justin Wong," argue the Chang family in the complaint, but "breached this duty by failing, among other things, to adequately educate and warn him... of the meaning of commercial use and the ramifications and effects of entering into a licence allowing such use."
Virgin had said it believes "...the spirit of the Creative Commons agreement matches Virgin's philosophy."
(A philosophy of getting stuff for free, is presumably what they mean.)
In fact, in all but one detail, this is the "Creative Commons" working exactly as it should: Making it easier for images to be re-used, without permission or compensation to the creator. In the parallel economy of "Web 2.0", sharecropping is the norm. Virgin goofed in only one respect - by failing to credit Justin Wong, which it could have done so in tiny print. Otherwise, it got the free ride it wanted, thanks to the Creative Commons.
In this enthralling thread on Flickr (spare five minutes if you can to read it) - Alison discovers, to her horror, that she's famous - and lawyers rally round to help. Here's how it starts:
Alison Chang discovers how her image has been used. Surely a defining moment in the history of "user generated content"?
(Damon Chang explains his motivation at length in this message, further down the page.)
"People allowing commercial usage of their photography on Flickr are suckers being taken advantage of," is the advice from one of several professionals who pitched in.
"With all the money [Virgin Mobile] saved on photography through this campaign, they will probably break even on fees for the attorneys they keep on regular retainer anyway."
Flattering to deceive
For long-time watchers of Creative Commons, it's simply the latest in a series of confusions and misunderstandings that leave creators a dollar short.
In fact, the "movement" itself is founded on a fiction - that somehow, the era of free movement of cultural goods is coming to an end, requiring a new set of legal mechanisms.
(Out in the real world, where thanks to broadband we can consume digitised versions of cultural products without paying a penny for them for the rest of our lives - with a negligible chance of getting nicked - the idea of a clampdown is laughable. If this is oppression, many of you are probably thinking, can we have more please? But without this fiction, the rest of the Commons edifice would have no reason to exist: it would be a legal conceit with nowhere to go.)
Few participants who slap a CC license on their work understand that the mechanism was designed to benefit the network, not the humans, by removing "frictions" such as compensation or consent.
Meanwhile, confusion abounds - and we don't just mean the bewildering farrago of licensing permutations.
After criticism that the foundation-backed non-profit appeared to offer something it didn't - legal backup - the Commons produced a "you're on your own - don't call us" disclaimer.
Then there's what to do if you change your mind. You can't. After we drew attention to this two years ago, even some prominent Creative Commons evangelists - and as a pseudo-religious cult with its own Messiah, it has a fair few of these numpties - were surprised to learn this.
(For example, a songwriter who'd put out a tune under a CC license discovered he'd given away his rights, lock stock and barrel - and couldn't do anything about it.)
A Commons licence promises freedom, but requires the creator to abandon several; including the freedom to assign one's rights as one wishes, according to principle or whim.
While the Changs have now ditched the CC licence for a more sensible "All Rights Reserved", they've only been able to do so because of Virgin's failure to attribute the photographer, and it's far from clear that their change might stick.
Earlier this year, marketing consultant Seth Godin used a similar licence the Changs had used for a freebie booklet he'd written , only to discover it was printed up and sold for profit without his knowledge, with no compensation. He couldn't revoke anything, because no terms had been breached.
Is there a better way?
Evangelists have reacted in time-honoured fashion - by blaming the user. Just as Wikipedians blame the user for absorbing incorrect information, and OpenOffice nuts blame the user for not fixing bugs they discover, Commonistas today have rounded on the poster for... posting the photograph to the internets. A bit rich, you might think, coming from the "sharing" community.
Of course copyright, particularly in the European context, affords the little guy plenty of protection and some unique advantages over would-be exploiters.
If the photograph had been released under conventional "All Rights Reserved" terms, then Virgin would have been obliged to check with the family first - and also throw some of its multi-million budget advertising budget to the 100+ photographers who made the campaign so memorable. And by taking advantage of moral copyright, or "droit d'auteur", you can oblige a tacky commercial opportunist to withdraw the work with one just phone call.
No wonder Commons licence evangelists hate to tell the truth about copyright: The truth is that the world has always ticked along just fine without them.
What are the chances the Commons will add a disclaimer: "Using this licence may invade your privacy, and seriously damage your wealth"? ®
Monday, September 24, 2007
Dell Eliminates Almost All Crapware From Dimension and Inspiron Notebooks
Dell's reasoning is this: most people want anti-virus built in, Acrobat Reader doesn't count as trialware (it's free), and Google tools is fine because it's from Google. You do have the option of declining the EULA for the antivirus on first boot to have it automatically uninstall, and Acrobat and Google Tools can be removed using Dell's new uninstall utility.
Although we would have liked for the machine to be completely empty when shipped—we've never had a use for Google Tools, and we like AVG's free antivirus just fine—we can live with this. [Dell]
IPhone Accessories: Helium Digital Solves iPhone's Stupid Headphone Jack Problem for a Mere $3.99
Sure, Griffin and Belkin were first up with headphone adapters for iPod, but they cost $10 and $11 respectively, and Shure has a $50 music phone adapter with a VoicePort mic that also lets you pause the iPhone's music and make/take phone calls. And oh yeah, of course Monster Cable weighs in with its overpriced entry, the $20 iSplitter 200 headphone jack splitter.
That leaves Helium Digital's HD-005 3.5mm headphone adapter, selling for $3.99 Canadian, which is just about the same as US dollars these days, and for a while the company's offering free shipping. Such a deal. [Helium Digital]
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