What other cool "by product" tools have you seen being used eg in the way that users of Foursquare arent the customer but the restaurants are.
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Amazon Universal wishlist browser add on
Was just browsing Amazon for a book that i added to the wish list for later consideration as i'm still on the fence about buying it only to learn Amazon have a new browser based add-on that will enable you to setup a Universal Wish List on any browser page.
Personally i chose not to install it as i dont want Amazon to be able to track every single web page i visit ever BUT i love the idea, i can only imagine how much anonymized analytic information Amazon is going to glean from this tool if it takes off.
What other cool "by product" tools have you seen being used eg in the way that users of Foursquare arent the customer but the restaurants are.
Cheers,
Dean
What other cool "by product" tools have you seen being used eg in the way that users of Foursquare arent the customer but the restaurants are.
Cheers,
Dean
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Nick Sagan
Am watching #SciHD about the Voyager craft and they talked about how at age six, Nick Sagan's (Carl Sagans son) recorded the greeting, "Hello from the children of planet Earth," and placed aboard NASA’s Voyager Golden Record.[1] along with with a selection of terrestrial greetings, sights, sounds and music, the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft have since left the solar system and are now the most distant human-made objects in the universe).
How freaking cool would this be knowing that some part of you was travelling to another galaxy and will be perpetually out there forever.
Cheers,
Dean
BTW how cool is twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/nicksagan/status/185791839436156929 in response to my post http://twitter.com/#!/deancollins/status/185179817551986688
How freaking cool would this be knowing that some part of you was travelling to another galaxy and will be perpetually out there forever.
Cheers,
Dean
BTW how cool is twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/nicksagan/status/185791839436156929 in response to my post http://twitter.com/#!/deancollins/status/185179817551986688
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
cd, feels like a more mature version of Immaculate Colelction for some reason (but with a more grown up style).Facebook screwup QR codes....yet again
Everyone is talking about how Facebook painted a giant QR code on their roof.......unfortunately they screwed it up.
ha ha ha Justin yet another screwup from Facebook...... If you had of even known the most basic concepts around QR codes you would have painted the QR code AWAY from the wall of the building.The QR code above cannot be read without great difficulty because the wall of the building is too close to the code (eg in "the quiet zone").It needed to be moved 6-10' away from the building and would have been able to be read just fine (it leads to www.Facebook.com/fbQRcode btw).
Up here for thinking....down there for drinking.
- http://www.Cognation.net/QR
There is a difference between doing it right and being a hipster.
ha ha ha Justin yet another screwup from Facebook...... If you had of even known the most basic concepts around QR codes you would have painted the QR code AWAY from the wall of the building.The QR code above cannot be read without great difficulty because the wall of the building is too close to the code (eg in "the quiet zone").It needed to be moved 6-10' away from the building and would have been able to be read just fine (it leads to www.Facebook.com/fbQRcode btw).
Up here for thinking....down there for drinking.
- http://www.Cognation.net/QR
There is a difference between doing it right and being a hipster.
Interesting copyright quirk
Just found out an interesting copyright quirk, you cant sue unless you own the copyright itself eg you cant get someone to sue on your behalf unless you sell them the copyright itelf (question for any lawyers reading this....what about selling 1% of the copyrights would this be enough?)
Silvers v. Sony Pictures Entm't, 01-56069
An assignee who holds an accrued claim for copyright infringement, but who has no legal or beneficial interest in the copyright itself, may not institute an action for infringement.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/summary/opinion/us-9th-circuit/2005/03/25/129107.html
Came across this when reading about the Righthaven cases (which i am on the side of the content owner....) seems right idea poor execution to me.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110416/01084413924/unsealed-document-reveals-sham-copyright-assignments-to-righthaven.shtml
Silvers v. Sony Pictures Entm't, 01-56069
An assignee who holds an accrued claim for copyright infringement, but who has no legal or beneficial interest in the copyright itself, may not institute an action for infringement.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/summary/opinion/us-9th-circuit/2005/03/25/129107.html
Came across this when reading about the Righthaven cases (which i am on the side of the content owner....) seems right idea poor execution to me.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110416/01084413924/unsealed-document-reveals-sham-copyright-assignments-to-righthaven.shtml
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Blackwater - yeh but check out this real power
I've been reading the book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
" over the last few weeks and there have been numerous times where i've gone OMG i have to blog this (basically about the various connections between the Prince family and the GOP and other various shadow "Industry think tanks"/political agenda organizations but i keep thinking no no wait until you finish reading the entire book and write it in one go......up until i get to page 371.
Page 371 contains a small reference to a "gossip" piece but when you think about it this is the most amazing piece of power demonstrated by the protagonists running the American economic political war machine.
How they kept this out of the press is amazing and shows the true power some people wield.
I'm reading 369 and it starts talking about Joseph Schmitz who is the Pentagon's Inspector General hired by President George W. Bush in 2002 - 2005 , basically the inspector general is the guy who rubber stamps the cheques paying for the wars and everything else in the armed services.
In 2005 he wrote cheques to 77 different contractors in Iraq worth $42.1B (yes thats BILLION with a Big ass "B") of which Halliburton alone received 52% of the contracts (oh you know Halliburton right Dick Cheneys old company which he forgot he owned stock in while handing out LOGCAP no bid contracts).
So after Joeseph Schmitz hands out all these contracts to Blackwater and resigns his position with the Pentagon he then goes and gets a job at Blackwater as their COO however thats not the most outrageous part of page 371 i'll save all the government stuff until later review when i finish the book - here is the real show of power.
Did you know that Joseph Schmitz has a sister? nope neither did or ...nor should i care, except that his sisters name is Mary Kay LeTourneau.
That name sounds familiar right.......yep it should.
In 1997 the married mother of 4 had an affair with her 13 year old student named Vili Fualaau and she was charged with child rape and went to jail (pregnant with his kid and gave birth to a daughter 4 months later), She spent 7 years in jail...miraculously gave birth to another child while she was still in jail to Vili and ended up marrying her former 6th grade student in 2004.
It was a big deal in 1997 and for years and with the second birth/eventual marriage was in the press/tv multiple times over the years.
At no time have i ever heard that she was Jospeh Smiths sister. Before reading this book i have never seen it mentioned or printed. Considering the press was all over this for years how powerful do you need to be to make the press not mention you in relation to something like this.
In fact if you google "Joeseph Schmitz" and "Mary Kay LeTourneau" together in the first 10 pages - http://bit.ly/GS193q you get a wikipedia article + 1 LA Times article and then nothing but crackpot posts like this one.
No Fox, No MSNBC, No CNN etc nothing. Not even a single New York Times article link the two together.
Thats real power people.
Cheers,
Dean
" over the last few weeks and there have been numerous times where i've gone OMG i have to blog this (basically about the various connections between the Prince family and the GOP and other various shadow "Industry think tanks"/political agenda organizations but i keep thinking no no wait until you finish reading the entire book and write it in one go......up until i get to page 371.Page 371 contains a small reference to a "gossip" piece but when you think about it this is the most amazing piece of power demonstrated by the protagonists running the American economic political war machine.
How they kept this out of the press is amazing and shows the true power some people wield.
I'm reading 369 and it starts talking about Joseph Schmitz who is the Pentagon's Inspector General hired by President George W. Bush in 2002 - 2005 , basically the inspector general is the guy who rubber stamps the cheques paying for the wars and everything else in the armed services.
In 2005 he wrote cheques to 77 different contractors in Iraq worth $42.1B (yes thats BILLION with a Big ass "B") of which Halliburton alone received 52% of the contracts (oh you know Halliburton right Dick Cheneys old company which he forgot he owned stock in while handing out LOGCAP no bid contracts).
So after Joeseph Schmitz hands out all these contracts to Blackwater and resigns his position with the Pentagon he then goes and gets a job at Blackwater as their COO however thats not the most outrageous part of page 371 i'll save all the government stuff until later review when i finish the book - here is the real show of power.
Did you know that Joseph Schmitz has a sister? nope neither did or ...nor should i care, except that his sisters name is Mary Kay LeTourneau.
That name sounds familiar right.......yep it should.
In 1997 the married mother of 4 had an affair with her 13 year old student named Vili Fualaau and she was charged with child rape and went to jail (pregnant with his kid and gave birth to a daughter 4 months later), She spent 7 years in jail...miraculously gave birth to another child while she was still in jail to Vili and ended up marrying her former 6th grade student in 2004.
It was a big deal in 1997 and for years and with the second birth/eventual marriage was in the press/tv multiple times over the years.
At no time have i ever heard that she was Jospeh Smiths sister. Before reading this book i have never seen it mentioned or printed. Considering the press was all over this for years how powerful do you need to be to make the press not mention you in relation to something like this.
In fact if you google "Joeseph Schmitz" and "Mary Kay LeTourneau" together in the first 10 pages - http://bit.ly/GS193q you get a wikipedia article + 1 LA Times article and then nothing but crackpot posts like this one.
No Fox, No MSNBC, No CNN etc nothing. Not even a single New York Times article link the two together.
Thats real power people.
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The EIDR Model
Does anyone else have a problem with the EIDR model in that it is an opaque system with no other way of confirming functionality apart from querying their servers?
The registry assigns a unique universal identifier for all registered assets. EIDR is an opaque ID with all information about the registered asset stored in the central registry. Its structure consists of a standard registry prefix, the unique suffix for each asset and a check digit. The suffix of an asset ID is of the form XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-C, where X is a hexadecimal digit and C is the ISO 7064 Mod 37, 36 check character.
Life of a startup
Great article, love the OMGPOP and the Pandora reference.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/24/get-rich-or-die-trying
Determination is critical to success as overnight successes actually take years to build; indeed, “overnight successes” are a myth.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/24/get-rich-or-die-trying
Determination is critical to success as overnight successes actually take years to build; indeed, “overnight successes” are a myth.
Amazon currency conversions
Interesting i just noticed that Amazon are now doing currency conversions eg they will bill you in a local currency eg i just bought something on my Australian credit card so they showed the total including shipping in $A. (but give you the option to proceed in $US)
I checked the rate and it was better than visa normally deliver via ANZ so why not.
Considering the volume of transactions they do each day it totally makes sense Amazon would have a currency desk and collect the few percent that would normally go to the banks....good for them in eeking out every profit point there is to make on a transaction.
Cheers,
Dean
I checked the rate and it was better than visa normally deliver via ANZ so why not.
Considering the volume of transactions they do each day it totally makes sense Amazon would have a currency desk and collect the few percent that would normally go to the banks....good for them in eeking out every profit point there is to make on a transaction.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, March 22, 2012
"Spooky action at a distance"
wow...just watching tv and learnt for the first time about "Spooky action at a distance" (whats not to love about #PBS)
I had heard of Quantum Cryptology before and understood it had something to do with photons and fibre optics but never had it explained before.
After googling for 20 mins its even cooler than i first thought.
Check out;
- http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/quantum-cryptology6.htm
and then
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/spooky-action-distance.html
I love that there is a commercial use for something...we don't even understand how it works. Who says there is no economic output from pure research.
Cheers,
Dean
I had heard of Quantum Cryptology before and understood it had something to do with photons and fibre optics but never had it explained before.
After googling for 20 mins its even cooler than i first thought.
- http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/quantum-cryptology6.htm
and then
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/spooky-action-distance.html
I love that there is a commercial use for something...we don't even understand how it works. Who says there is no economic output from pure research.
Cheers,
Dean
http://www.LiveCollegeBasketballChat.com
http://fabzing.com/watch?s=njRgQtMs: You can't learn a thing if you don't use fabZing.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Micro Sonic Grenade
lol i love stuff like this - http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/e200
Best fun per cubic centimeter $4.99 can buy :)
Micro Sonic Grenade
Ever get SO ANNOYED at that guy down the hall that you want his head to explode? With the ThinkGeek Micro Sonic Grenade, you can do just that! It's 115 decibels of fun for everyone. Okay, mostly fun for just you.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Death being optional...what does this mean
this article needs to be longer....its getting closer every day yet people dont talk about what this means for every facet of society
http://www.wfs.org/content/when-death-becomes-optional
http://www.wfs.org/content/when-death-becomes-optional
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
CCA Vs Kaleidescape
If you are interesting the recent Kaleidescape ruling yesterday
(Kaleidescape Ruling) then i highly recommend this link as a worthwhile read http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/12/194218/ruling-prohibits-kaleidescape-from-selling-supporting-movie-servers as there are some ex RealDVD employees filling in some of the back story.
In light of the Kaleidescape ruling i'd really like to know how Rovi are getting away with their dvd "cloud lifting" service that was just announced at CES 2012 - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/ces-rovi-digital-copy-dvd-cloud.html
BTW yes http://www.cloudification.net/ domain is still available for sale :)
Cheers,
Dean
(Kaleidescape Ruling) then i highly recommend this link as a worthwhile read http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/12/194218/ruling-prohibits-kaleidescape-from-selling-supporting-movie-servers as there are some ex RealDVD employees filling in some of the back story.
In light of the Kaleidescape ruling i'd really like to know how Rovi are getting away with their dvd "cloud lifting" service that was just announced at CES 2012 - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/ces-rovi-digital-copy-dvd-cloud.html
BTW yes http://www.cloudification.net/ domain is still available for sale :)
Cheers,
Dean
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
IMDB review for "Drive"
lol haven't seen the movie but a friend of mine sent me this link and i had to share.
I've never seen a movie with so many wildly varying reviews
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/reviews?start=20
Soo slow and boring! - Author: steph_jt - I have no idea how this movie has received such glowing reviews. Gosling appears to be heavily sedated throughout the movie, and the virtual lack of dialogue through the majority of the film just adds to the overall boring experience. Overall it's a movie about nothing with no message at all, and it ends by leaving you with no sense of closure or understanding of why you have been subjected to such a depressing experience. If there was any message at all, I would say it was that life sucks and then you die, or crime doesn't pay perhaps, but overall that's a little bit too Disney for my tastes, but perhaps this will appeal to the masses? Do yourself a favour, and spend your time watching something else, or at the very least take some Valium to get yourself in the correct frame of mind for this slow-paced, self-indulgent offering. No Stars.
Anyone seen it? what did you think? any thought on why it got an average of 8.0 but 90% of the reviews give it 3 or less stars (lol apart from the movie PR people paying for SEO inserts).
I've never seen a movie with so many wildly varying reviews
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/reviews?start=20
Soo slow and boring! - Author: steph_jt - I have no idea how this movie has received such glowing reviews. Gosling appears to be heavily sedated throughout the movie, and the virtual lack of dialogue through the majority of the film just adds to the overall boring experience. Overall it's a movie about nothing with no message at all, and it ends by leaving you with no sense of closure or understanding of why you have been subjected to such a depressing experience. If there was any message at all, I would say it was that life sucks and then you die, or crime doesn't pay perhaps, but overall that's a little bit too Disney for my tastes, but perhaps this will appeal to the masses? Do yourself a favour, and spend your time watching something else, or at the very least take some Valium to get yourself in the correct frame of mind for this slow-paced, self-indulgent offering. No Stars.
Anyone seen it? what did you think? any thought on why it got an average of 8.0 but 90% of the reviews give it 3 or less stars (lol apart from the movie PR people paying for SEO inserts).
Monday, March 05, 2012
Ads Capture - "Slide to fit" works perfectly
Was just about to fill out yet another captcha when i saw something new...
Wow this is actually quite neat, by moving the slider icon from left or right you need to line up the picture. Although this was a default image from http://www.adscaptcha.com/ you could imagine it quite easy to have a product image in there that would be remembered....
If you check out this video on their website you'll see a phillips shaver being used as one of the early adopter advertisers. http://screencast.com/t/HdUyQNEwnRn3
Neat idea. (lol lets hope that Yale locks and Apple dont come after them for slide patents...)
Cheers,
Dean
If you check out this video on their website you'll see a phillips shaver being used as one of the early adopter advertisers. http://screencast.com/t/HdUyQNEwnRn3
Neat idea. (lol lets hope that Yale locks and Apple dont come after them for slide patents...)
Cheers,
Dean
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Ninja blocks
This kickstarter project has already reached funding.- http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ninja/ninja-blocks-connect-your-world-with-the-web
No mention of ongoing costs for backend servers etc...
Looks great (albeit high price for general market) but built in the thousands costs should/could fall to 1/10th and be the beginning of something cool.
Just hope the founders have the money to run the back end servers for a while....(yeh I'm looking at you Peek).
Cheers,
Dean
No mention of ongoing costs for backend servers etc...
Looks great (albeit high price for general market) but built in the thousands costs should/could fall to 1/10th and be the beginning of something cool.
Just hope the founders have the money to run the back end servers for a while....(yeh I'm looking at you Peek).
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Jason Calcanis with George Zachary of Charles River Ventures
One of the best "This week in startups" i've ever watched
George Zachary delivers some of the straightest VC talk i've ever heard.
Cheers,
Dean
George Zachary delivers some of the straightest VC talk i've ever heard.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, March 01, 2012
AMD acquires SeaMicro
Wow that didnt take long - http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/stave/Pages/seamicro.aspx
Makes a lot of sense for AMD to "skin that cat another way".
Though you have to wonder even with some fast success can SeaMicro really be worth that kind of money eg Now that’s what you call an “ACQUIHIRE”…. “The small 80-person Silicon Valley server maker” = $4.1m per employee
Makes a lot of sense for AMD to "skin that cat another way".
Though you have to wonder even with some fast success can SeaMicro really be worth that kind of money eg Now that’s what you call an “ACQUIHIRE”…. “The small 80-person Silicon Valley server maker” = $4.1m per employee
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