For anyone building mobile web content you might want to check out Bryson Meunier’s review on the various mobile analytics providers here;
http://www.brysonmeunier.com/the-mobile-seo-s-guide-to-mobile-analytics/comments/41#comment-41
It gives a pretty good overview of ALL the players in the space – yes even www.Amethon.com :)
Regards,
Dean Collins
Dean.Collins@Amethon.com
Phone: +1 646-240-4043
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
scanR
I read about scanR on Alec Saunders blog a few days ago, tried it with a single business card.
Worked pretty good - they mislabeled the company name (the 'logo' didn't OCR properly so they just took the email domain which would normally work but in this case didn't).
For some strange reason they also don’t realize 'cell phone' is the same as 'mobile'.
The VCF file download in the return webpage is a nice touch and makes adding details to outlook a nice touch.
Depending on how good their accuracy levels stay it's a nice feature and well worth the $29 a year.
Would I worry about mistakes and hang on to the card until it was returned in e-format, Yeh probably for important cards but until Americans wake up and understand QR codes (see www.cognation.net/contact) this is probably a good alternative.
Cheers,
Dean
(btw I blurred out identifying information for obvious reasons - also is it just me or do you see scanR selling the contact information to another company as they scan it .... )
Worked pretty good - they mislabeled the company name (the 'logo' didn't OCR properly so they just took the email domain which would normally work but in this case didn't).
For some strange reason they also don’t realize 'cell phone' is the same as 'mobile'.
The VCF file download in the return webpage is a nice touch and makes adding details to outlook a nice touch.
Depending on how good their accuracy levels stay it's a nice feature and well worth the $29 a year.
Would I worry about mistakes and hang on to the card until it was returned in e-format, Yeh probably for important cards but until Americans wake up and understand QR codes (see www.cognation.net/contact) this is probably a good alternative.
Cheers,
Dean
(btw I blurred out identifying information for obvious reasons - also is it just me or do you see scanR selling the contact information to another company as they scan it .... )
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Starbucks closes for 3 hours to learn how to make coffee
Rivals mock as American stores prepare to shut to give staff lessons
Americans will have to cope without blended Frappuccino and blueberry coffee cake for a few hours today as Starbucks shuts its 7,100 company-owned stores for a nationwide barista training session.
Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz has ordered the unprecedented three-hour afternoon closure as part of an effort to improve coffee quality and revive the chain's flagging fortunes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/26/starbucks
Americans will have to cope without blended Frappuccino and blueberry coffee cake for a few hours today as Starbucks shuts its 7,100 company-owned stores for a nationwide barista training session.
Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz has ordered the unprecedented three-hour afternoon closure as part of an effort to improve coffee quality and revive the chain's flagging fortunes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/26/starbucks
LOL - I think they should close down America for 3 hours and teach it what coffee actually tastes like. It's not Starbucks fault they have no idea the swill they are serving up isn't really coffee, your lard arses still walk out the door drinking your grande double cream frappuccino.
Wake up America, coffee is a flavour - you dont need no vanilla essence double cream to make it taste right - just to add the calories.
Cheers,
Dean
Bye Bye WiFi, Hello GiFi
A friend of mine Scott Shaffer posted this on his blog today
The "GiFi" was unveiled today at the Melbourne University-based laboratories of NICTA, the national information and communications technology research centre.The tiny five-millimeter-a-side chip can transmit data through a wireless connection at a breakthrough five gigabits per second over distances of up to 10 meters. An entire high-definition movie from a video shop kiosk could be transmitted to a mobile phone in a few seconds, and the phone could then upload the movie to a home computer or screen at the same speed.
More here... http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2008/02/10-revolutionary-wireless-chipbye-bye.html
Woot go aussies :)
As some of you may know the mimo capabilitie of 802.11n was developed by another group of aussies at the csiro.
What is it about aussies and wireless huh.
Cheers,
Dean
Dean
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Optimus Maximus Video
Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus......does this mean he knows what an Optimus Maximus is?
No, probably not so send him to this page first http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/falls-under-i-want-it-badly-category.html
Then get some geek tissues out for this - Engadget finally has video, it's of an early firmware version but it's enough to get me all hot and heavy.
A few people have commented on various forums that it's hard to type on because of the key mechanics underneath - all I have to say is push harder you nancy boys, it's tough being the coolest geek on the block.
Will 'Jodie Santa Clause' deliver this for Christmas if I'm a good boy?
Probably not but I've been hearing that diamond earrings make a great 5th year wedding anniversary present (wow that time already?)..... I'm wondering if husbands get their deepest darkest wishes on their wedding anniversaries as well?
Cheers,
Dean
Friday, February 22, 2008
Mark Jensen V' State of Wisconsin
Please note these are only my opinions and observations from watching the trial live on cnn live video feed/court tv with significant lapses (and no notes) - as for why I started watching the trial I was doing some research about a webtv project and for the first few days it was just interest....then I got sucked in to the whole story and couldn't wait to see how it played out.
Reality tv has NOTHING on real life TV - this stuff was riveting for hours on end.
Yes the 'event' (be it murder or suicide), took place over 10 years ago but Mark Jensen wasn't charged formally until some years later for a number of reasons I'll explain below.
In fact although DA Jamboise says he thought this was a murder from the first day he saw the dead body (which concerns me greatly on how the trial investigation was conducted, along with the witness 'conducing' if not downright tampering by Detective Ratzberg), DA Jamboise did not have the sufficient 'evidence' (ethylene glycol crystals) for some time after the event due to mishandling of the evidence and poor third party laboratory testing.
There were major screw ups in the computer forensic procedures (probably enough for a mistrial - I hope) including detective ratzberg getting frustrated with the crime labs not looking at the computer the day they were supposed to so he went down and turned it on without a write-locker on the hard drive and basically thrashed around files on the computer looking for what he could (ineptly) see.
You also had a prosecuting computer witness lie on the stand about third party cookies (and thankfully was later impeached by someone in her own department who watched the testimony who came forward and said she lied (i hope she has since been fired).
So there was a significant time from the death – to the ‘come down for a chat’ (an 8 hour interview that I would have been asking for a lawyer on in the first 5 minutes it was so much of a setup – FFS they asked the guy to drop by on his way in to work and then grilled the guy for 8 hours).
You then had a pathetic toxicologist that screws up the amount of ethelyne glycol that was supposedly consumed (660ml), and because it was so much they said had to be murder with someone forcing it down her throat.
OK so are you ready for the kicker.
When the guy gets a lawyer by the name of Craig Albee (trust me this guy is on my speed dial if I ever get charged with anything), they have their own researchers look at the data….turns out it was a minor amount she drank. They screwed up the calculation.
So then they turn around and say because it was ‘so little’ she must have been poisoned.
Now here is a woman who says she is in ‘fear’ of poisoning and her husband is going to kill her. And he is supposedly able to hide the taste in a drink (anti freeze is fluorescent green and tastes like crap!!! Tell me what you are able to mix this in to hide it.
Oh here is another prosecution flip flop – they said it was mixed in Benadryl the cough syrup, until they find out years later that the only Benadryl in the house was gel caps….then they changed their mind and said it was juice.
Where did they get the Benadryl story from – let me introduce you to Mr Kluge – so Kluge worked for Mark Jensen after his company merged.
Apparently the month before the death of Julie Jensen they were at an ‘away event’ for a country wide work meeting. Kluges wife was thinking he was having an affair so he said he was up until 3 in the morning talking with mark, now this may have been the case but 7 years after event Kluge comes forward and says they were talking about ways to kill there wives and that he was going to do it with Benadryl.
So we get closer to the court date and Mark is taken into custody (he was out for years even while charged but the DA manages to get that revoked), so here you have a white collar 40 year old in prison…what do you think happens – thugs start beating him up, stealing his stuff, getting him to make phone calls on his behalf.
Then one of the thugs says I’ll take care of the problem for you I’ll kidnap kluge for 6 weeks so he cant testify if you give me a $1000. So Jensen is probably thinking how can I get this idiot away from me, I’ll play along and stall him as long as possible.
(of course all the calls are recorded so they get found out and Marks like well I was never going to do it anyway – but Jamboise is like…see this is why kluges testimony is so critical, never mind the fact that the looser didn’t even come forward until 7 years later – oh and there is this great scene where Kluges own ex-secretary says "I worked with kluge for 15 years – I wouldn’t trust a word that falls out of his mouth").
Ok so we get to the trial – states pathologists gets up on the stand and says yes I was wrong with the amounts but as it’s small you can see she must have been poisoned.
Then comes the kicker…..recross examination, Jamboise asks pathologist, well if I had a witness that says Mark Jensen poisoned his wife and then in her dying breaths roll her over pushed her face into the pillow and then suffocated her what would you say to that.
Pathologists (who has had all the evidence for 10 years) says in like a fake surprise wow well that would make sense then lists some other supporting bruises etc and jamboise says shazaam so the cause of death is ethylene glycol poisoning ‘with’ suffocation.
Albee goes nuts – say wants a mistrial, no notice was given, says wants time to prepare alternate case etc etc
Judge says nope and it’s on with the kanagaroo court we go. (having said that the judge was pretty good about most rulings).
So in they walk a jailhouse stooge, who has been convicted on numerous fraud and theft charges, and for selling fake visas to the USA to Lithuanians. An he say “oh yeh mark told me in jail that he rolled her over and then suffocated her” (in other words they change the plan to something that suicide by poisoning couldn’t cover which is what the defenses strategies is all about).
Oh btw in case you didn’t think the jailhouse stooge didn’t say this for free – he was paroled out of an 8 year prison sentence (in other words free and walking around now in return for his testimony).
Anyway I’m sick about writing this but hope it gives you an idea on why I think this case will be overturned, hopefully sooner rather than later.
He may have done it, he may not have but there is now way in hell he deserves to go to jail for life based on this crappy trial in a kangaroo court where the prosecution have made so many screwups.
Cheers,
Dean
Reality tv has NOTHING on real life TV - this stuff was riveting for hours on end.
I'll probably post something about this trial on my blog www.collins.net.pr/blog later next week, I’m still formulating my thoughts but some of the background can be found here
Yes the 'event' (be it murder or suicide), took place over 10 years ago but Mark Jensen wasn't charged formally until some years later for a number of reasons I'll explain below.
In fact although DA Jamboise says he thought this was a murder from the first day he saw the dead body (which concerns me greatly on how the trial investigation was conducted, along with the witness 'conducing' if not downright tampering by Detective Ratzberg), DA Jamboise did not have the sufficient 'evidence' (ethylene glycol crystals) for some time after the event due to mishandling of the evidence and poor third party laboratory testing.
There were major screw ups in the computer forensic procedures (probably enough for a mistrial - I hope) including detective ratzberg getting frustrated with the crime labs not looking at the computer the day they were supposed to so he went down and turned it on without a write-locker on the hard drive and basically thrashed around files on the computer looking for what he could (ineptly) see.
You also had a prosecuting computer witness lie on the stand about third party cookies (and thankfully was later impeached by someone in her own department who watched the testimony who came forward and said she lied (i hope she has since been fired).
So there was a significant time from the death – to the ‘come down for a chat’ (an 8 hour interview that I would have been asking for a lawyer on in the first 5 minutes it was so much of a setup – FFS they asked the guy to drop by on his way in to work and then grilled the guy for 8 hours).
You then had a pathetic toxicologist that screws up the amount of ethelyne glycol that was supposedly consumed (660ml), and because it was so much they said had to be murder with someone forcing it down her throat.
OK so are you ready for the kicker.
When the guy gets a lawyer by the name of Craig Albee (trust me this guy is on my speed dial if I ever get charged with anything), they have their own researchers look at the data….turns out it was a minor amount she drank. They screwed up the calculation.
So then they turn around and say because it was ‘so little’ she must have been poisoned.
Now here is a woman who says she is in ‘fear’ of poisoning and her husband is going to kill her. And he is supposedly able to hide the taste in a drink (anti freeze is fluorescent green and tastes like crap!!! Tell me what you are able to mix this in to hide it.
Oh here is another prosecution flip flop – they said it was mixed in Benadryl the cough syrup, until they find out years later that the only Benadryl in the house was gel caps….then they changed their mind and said it was juice.
Where did they get the Benadryl story from – let me introduce you to Mr Kluge – so Kluge worked for Mark Jensen after his company merged.
Apparently the month before the death of Julie Jensen they were at an ‘away event’ for a country wide work meeting. Kluges wife was thinking he was having an affair so he said he was up until 3 in the morning talking with mark, now this may have been the case but 7 years after event Kluge comes forward and says they were talking about ways to kill there wives and that he was going to do it with Benadryl.
So we get closer to the court date and Mark is taken into custody (he was out for years even while charged but the DA manages to get that revoked), so here you have a white collar 40 year old in prison…what do you think happens – thugs start beating him up, stealing his stuff, getting him to make phone calls on his behalf.
Then one of the thugs says I’ll take care of the problem for you I’ll kidnap kluge for 6 weeks so he cant testify if you give me a $1000. So Jensen is probably thinking how can I get this idiot away from me, I’ll play along and stall him as long as possible.
(of course all the calls are recorded so they get found out and Marks like well I was never going to do it anyway – but Jamboise is like…see this is why kluges testimony is so critical, never mind the fact that the looser didn’t even come forward until 7 years later – oh and there is this great scene where Kluges own ex-secretary says "I worked with kluge for 15 years – I wouldn’t trust a word that falls out of his mouth").
Ok so we get to the trial – states pathologists gets up on the stand and says yes I was wrong with the amounts but as it’s small you can see she must have been poisoned.
Then comes the kicker…..recross examination, Jamboise asks pathologist, well if I had a witness that says Mark Jensen poisoned his wife and then in her dying breaths roll her over pushed her face into the pillow and then suffocated her what would you say to that.
Pathologists (who has had all the evidence for 10 years) says in like a fake surprise wow well that would make sense then lists some other supporting bruises etc and jamboise says shazaam so the cause of death is ethylene glycol poisoning ‘with’ suffocation.
Albee goes nuts – say wants a mistrial, no notice was given, says wants time to prepare alternate case etc etc
Judge says nope and it’s on with the kanagaroo court we go. (having said that the judge was pretty good about most rulings).
So in they walk a jailhouse stooge, who has been convicted on numerous fraud and theft charges, and for selling fake visas to the USA to Lithuanians. An he say “oh yeh mark told me in jail that he rolled her over and then suffocated her” (in other words they change the plan to something that suicide by poisoning couldn’t cover which is what the defenses strategies is all about).
Oh btw in case you didn’t think the jailhouse stooge didn’t say this for free – he was paroled out of an 8 year prison sentence (in other words free and walking around now in return for his testimony).
Anyway I’m sick about writing this but hope it gives you an idea on why I think this case will be overturned, hopefully sooner rather than later.
He may have done it, he may not have but there is now way in hell he deserves to go to jail for life based on this crappy trial in a kangaroo court where the prosecution have made so many screwups.
Cheers,
Dean
Dilbert's Revenge
I love this articlehttp://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080220/NEWS/802200382
Basically guy gets fired for posting a dilbert cartoon on the bulletin board at work lampooning his management.
Management gets mad - guy gets fired.
Guy sues management - Judge calls management idiots.
Guy wins big payout....last seen dancing away with booze and sleazy hookers :)
(ok so i made the last bit up but you get the point).
Cheers,
Dean
Flat World
Wow – this is a great example of how flat the world is;A Vietnamese person reading a NY guys blog about an Australian magazine.
Technology is F*&king fantastic.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Internet Footprints
Interesting situation, I met someone yesterday who is a new subscriber to the "newtech-1@meetup.com" mailinglist but didn't know who I was.
(newtech is a technology mailinglist for New York based startups-great content if you are in that space).
And I said just google my name on Newtech you'll find some stuff.
So yeh I know everyone has done a vanity google search on their name before but as I often 'tag' my work related comments
"cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net"
...I thought cool I should search that.
Crap I post a lot of stuff online.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cheers,+dean+collins,+www.cognation.net&hl=en&start=0&sa=N&filter=0
Cheers,
Dean
(newtech is a technology mailinglist for New York based startups-great content if you are in that space).
And I said just google my name on Newtech you'll find some stuff.
So yeh I know everyone has done a vanity google search on their name before but as I often 'tag' my work related comments
"cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net"
...I thought cool I should search that.
Crap I post a lot of stuff online.
http://www.google.com/search?q=cheers,+dean+collins,+www.cognation.net&hl=en&start=0&sa=N&filter=0
Cheers,
Dean
Windows Live Messenger Translation Bot
Microsoft Research Machine Translation team has come out with an IM Translation Bot. MTBot prototype project which made it possible to combine machine translation technology with instant messaging.
This will help millions of Windows Live Messenger users to make use of this IM Bot which will act as a human translator, participating in conferences and translating messages as they are sent by all parties.
Just add MTBot-en_us@hotmail.com to your contact list, and once you're accepted send it one of the following messages:- Hello: activates the bot to translate from English to any of the available languages (you will be prompted to select one)
For example 'ja' for Japanese. After that the Bot will tell to invite your friend to join the conversation who wants this translation. So from this point on everything I type gets translated to Japanese and whatever friend types will be translated from Japanese to English.
Check out the pic below....shame we both only speak english :) but I'll find a use for it real soon now.
This will help millions of Windows Live Messenger users to make use of this IM Bot which will act as a human translator, participating in conferences and translating messages as they are sent by all parties.
Just add MTBot-en_us@hotmail.com to your contact list, and once you're accepted send it one of the following messages:- Hello: activates the bot to translate from English to any of the available languages (you will be prompted to select one)
For example 'ja' for Japanese. After that the Bot will tell to invite your friend to join the conversation who wants this translation. So from this point on everything I type gets translated to Japanese and whatever friend types will be translated from Japanese to English.
Check out the pic below....shame we both only speak english :) but I'll find a use for it real soon now.
Cheers,
Dean
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