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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Google's big problem

Gigaom presents An intriguing article aims at analysing Google's true difficulties, in the search giant's search to redefine itself in an evolving world. Not without weaknesses, but broad-perspective analyses by intelligent people are always worth a reading in my mind, if only for the brainstorming effect.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Is microsoft's 1.5 million windows 7 phone sales a real positive marker ?

Is  Microsoft's 1.5 million windows 7 smartphone sales a real positive marker ? an interesting critical article from the street argues otherwise, in a rather convincing way. we want the activation data, microsoft !

Monday, December 13, 2010

Why Amazon is so hard to cyber-attack and what it may mean in the long run

I've been refraining from writing about the  wikileaks affairs so far, mainly because I tend to believe that the famous saying ascribed to former chinese prime minister, Zou Enlai , regarding the french revolution, is very relevant to this immensely complex matter.

 It is too soon to say what is the impact of the matter, and its analysis - the analysis of all things related - require time. After all, it isn't as if there aren't other interesting things to think or write about, and the real shortage is in time, not ideas or interesting bits to mention.

But one story of the wikileaks incidents has caught my eye, and is worth mentioning in my mind - Amazon's clear ability to stand unharmed, despite cyber attacks by wikileaks-angry-supporters. Amazon's choice to join others and cease supporting hosting services to wikileaks, a decision which is in itself deserving a post or several, has brought the attention of cyber attackers, who apparently did not analyze the size of their challenge.

Amazon, planned and built for the huge workloads of the shopping seasons, is  not the usual cyber-victim. As the CNN story telling of Amazon's durability, describes so nicely: "The holiday shopping season essentially is a month-long DDoS attack on Amazon's servers". And thus, the avengers had to seek other targets, of a smaller capacity, and leave the giant array of Amazon's free to serve its buyers.

But what interested me here wasn't just the technical reasoning of huge-is-a-winner (which could have been phrased otherwise as hackers are just bullies - they harass only the little ones), but the interesting image whose initial bits get drawn out of this - it might just be that wikileaks and its like may jeopardize nations, but remain quite unobtrusive and even powerless against corporations . And this isn't happy news.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

what went wrong ?!?

The entrepreneurs of various startups shared with signal vs. noise the reasons why their ideas didn't make it. For example, Brian Mulloy, CEO of Swivel, a site where people shared reports of charts and numbers, which had thousands of registered users, but less than ten paying ones. shared the difficulty of making a truly functional product:
"there are so many details that go into turning an original idea into a product, most people don’t realize that. You can spend a lot of time on that. In fact, to the point where a year goes by and all you’ve done is that you’ve fixed a bunch of bugs. So you can either scale back the features and only support a limited set of functionality, or scale up your team to support all of those things."
Definitely worth reading for anyone aspiring at taking a shot with an idea.

הכרמל הבוער במבט מלווין


הודות לטכנולוגיה, אפשר לראות שלא רק בעתלית, אלא גם בקפריסין צריכים לסגור חלונות ודלתות.

Monday, November 29, 2010

מהפכת הקינקט של מיקרוסופט כבר הגיעה למפתחים הפרטיים kinect revolution already at the private developers stage

התלהבתי כבר מהקינקט של מיקרוסופט לא אחת ולא שתיים, ושמחתי מאוד לראות שאני לא לבד. מפתחים עצמאיים שונים מוצאים שימושים מרהיבים לקינקט גם מחוץ לעולם המוצרים של מיקרוסופט. העתיד כבר כאן.

I've already expressed my enthusiasm with Microsoft's Kinect. and was very happy to see I'm not alone. Various independent developers are finding ravishing uses for Kinect, even outside the Microsoft product world. The future is Here! [remark of warning: the story is in hebrew, but the videos quoted there kind of speak in the international language of techno-philes...]

Sunday, November 28, 2010

נפשה של האינטרנט נקרעת בין פתיחות לסגירות, בראיון עם יוחאי בנקלר

ראיון מצויין של דה-מארקר עם פרופ' יוחאי בנקלר, על היבטיה השונים של נייטרליות הרשת, שנושא בחובו גם אמירות מעניינות על הרשת והעולם. בהחלט שווה קריאה. כדאי להתעלם מהכותרת שדה-מארקר משום מה בחרו למאמר.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Gmail conversation-mode can be turned off

I have this bizarre habit of checking Gmail's settings every month (or so), to see what is new. The labs section is usually the more interesting bit, but I was surprised to find out in the general section of settings, the possibility of turning conversation mode off!
At the past, I belonged to those who insisted that conversation view and labels are two of the strongest features of Gmail, and give it a unique edge over competing services. I still believe so. But I do know that people - some of them are dear close friends (embarrassing as it is ) - have been complaining about it, and wanted the old way of RE:-RE: dance, and it seems that the people at Google's Gmail team have been listening.
 
Gmail's willingness to adapt to the needs of users is quite impressive, despite its slowness at times. It took a long time till labs brought us nested labels, which was another fine example for a design concept Gmail was willing to adapt, in respond to public demand.
 
At an age when people talk about the coming death of gmail, or about the death of all traditional email systems   one should not forget this agility of Gmail and this attentiveness to users' wishes. This, more than anything else, is what makes a consecutive winner.  

Friday, November 19, 2010

a sum of $335,000 For Virtual Property

Sometimes you just read it again, to make sure you haven't missed something, or maybe it was a trick of the mind. But no. Turns out someone actually paid hundreds of thousands of U.S$ for virtual property. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm a technophile. I am well aware of the east-europian and south-asian sweat shops where people are playing hard to make a poor living, by selling advanced-stages characters in virtual reality games to lazy gamers.  I am also well aware to the fact that virtual games, in addition to the fun and company they provide, sometimes even benefit the real side of life. But lets consider 2 facts:
  1. ~300K$ could have been used to buy a real-life real-estate asset, in one of the periods of real-estate history when prices are REALLY low.
  2. Gaming and computing trends are frequently victims of fashions, and yesterdays great asset is today's midwives horror story for the newcomer entrepreneur/investor .
And yes, I know, it might very well be that in a year or two he will sell this asset and double his money. But I'd hate to be the last one stuck with this asset. I for one, belong to those who believe we should learn from history. Did anyone yell "bubble!"  ?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Researchers get a free meal at MS Azure

Microsoft is trying to find a path to the hearts of the academic community. And it has found a very interesting direction: Microsoft cloud services (Azure) are offered for free to academic researchers. This is a very cunning move aimed against linux, trying to establish microsoft as an option for huge computing tasks. As we all know that There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, it is very intriguing to see what happens after those scientists get hooked on MS....  

Microsoft launches game hub

Microsoft has anounced the launch of Game Hub, which effectively unifies MSN Games, Bing Games and Windows Live Messenger. Is it me, or has Microsoft just effectively created another social network ?




facebook is valued at 41 Billion $

Facebook is valued at 41 Billion U.S $, according to trades in secondary markets (the IPO is still to come). This means that Facebook is currently the 3rd largest Internet business corporation in the U.S, trailing only Amazon and Google. I have to disagree with the source of this item regarding the importance. The value in secondary market is not unrelated to real economic value. If at all, then this value includes some discount, because of the lower transferability/merchantability of ownership-units traded in secondary markets. Considering the immensely high value that is traditionally given to the number of users/members/subscribers an internet company has, one would expect Facebook's 500 million users to be of a higher value. If we would assume that secondary markets are rationale (an assumption usually made about stock markets as well, without a lot of proof, I claim) It would appear that this valuation is also based on certain risks and difficulties the secondary market sees in facebook. It seems that quick rise and fall of myspace, and the fluent nature of users and members along the social networks, are taken into account in the valuation of facebook. It might also be that the valuation takes into account the variety of fields in which these internet giants are operating. Amazon just announced its entry into the movie making field, with what appears to be a very interesting business model. In such circumstances, with rivals loaded with talent and money, one's moat - competitive edge - might never be deep enough...

good and bad in the Java war - oracle's response to apache's threat

I've written on the evolving legal side of the java war in a different blog I run, and included a small comment there about Apache's willingness to escalate. Not surprisingly, Oracle claims the moving farward cause. It is usually difficult to find out who is the good one and who is the bad one, but somehow having to choose between profit-oriented Oracle and the non-profit ASF, this time, making the choice seems quite easy to me.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

always, always, make a detailed contract

Another tale of partners in an entrepreneurship, whose ways got separated, and will now mark the final farewell in court.

Without getting into the details, the lesson drawn in this tale is simple: "Always Insist upon a detailed contract".

Now, this is not always easy to do, especially in the early stages of an entrepreneurship. Efforts directed at formalities are ones that do not go into the work itself. Sometimes differences in opinions that could have been bridged later on create such tensions that groups break up without producing anything of value. And naturally, making a really good contract requires money.

But working without a detailed contract mean you may end up the way that tale, at the beginning of the post depicts....

So what can we do?

Some people believe that the solution is to choose only good people. But we all know how people may change when huge sums of money might be involved. And the solution to that is clarity. You don't need a lawyer to set up a simple document, setting the borders, intentions, and limitations. If you see you get into corners, a lawyer may save a lot of time, but to begin with, if you contemplate between the "it will be ok" to the "lets draft something up" approach, I'm all in favor of the drafting something approach. Just like any other formed of documentation, some form of expressed intentions is better than nothing, when the time comes and it is needed.





google hotpot launched, and more importantly - a new privacy policy by google

Google's  new personalized recommendations engine, hotpot, has been launched.  But the content of this specific launch is not what interests me, in writing this post. (Not that I have anything against  recommendations engines. A close friend of mine has been trying to develop such engines, and I've been somewhat aware to the importance and complexity of this issue even before hearing his complaints).

What caught my eye was the design chosen by google to protect the privacy of a person giving a recommendation. I haven't tried it myself, but according to a reliable report, hotpot (actually google places, hotpot being a new feature of this google service) requires a different profile and has a different friends list. This is intentionally done, according to a reply from google, quoted in that report: "We have done this to ensure that users have control over how their reviews appear to the public".

And this, in turn, sheds light on a basic difference between facebook and google. One of the reasons google buzz was accepted with a lot of objection, in my mind, was the fact that Gmail is a real-life service. It is used in one's regular real life, just like cellular phones and other communication media. Facebook may serve as a real-life friendship service, but it is more virtual in nature, and also gives the infrastructure for a lot of virtual, not regular real life, communications. As a result, when the regular real life, and the virtual real life collided, in the introduction of buzz, people got scared. Google got the message, and hence this separation of identities.
As far as I understand, at the moment, Facebook does not offer such an option, and actually cannot offer it, as it stands in distinction to the your-friends-define-you axiom, which stands at the basis of Facebook's concepts.
One has to wonder which approach would prove more appeasing to the evolving network-society.


Monday, November 15, 2010

the innovative ways of the youth, facing facebook's privacy issues

As a software developer, a sys admin, and as a person who supported users under many hats, I've always been surprised by the ingenuity of my users (by their stupidity too, but that is for another post, at another time). A lot is being said in recent years of the changes in privacy concepts and of the behaviour of teenagers in the social networks. A fascinating post in allfacebook.com, taught me about the ingenious ways teenagers developed to control their privacy and their image in the social networks. In addition to the ingenuity of deactivating your account when you are not there, so that your profile will remain as you've left it, and people won't be able to check you out too deeply there is also the rigorous option of removing past contents, and controlling what remains at present. These practices are probably used by others, no longer teens, as a mean to control their social-network-image, and they have another lesson to teach us - seems like privacy concepts aren't changing as much as people like Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt would like us to accept. It might also be an indicator for software developers - the need for tools that would enable one a control over his or hers net-image are greater than ever. Social networks, like most of the new technologies, have created a new need...

Paul Buchheit, Gmail's creator, talks a little (really a little) about leaving google, facebook and his new workplace

apple taking sides in the java war ?

As the Java War unfolds, it is expected for people (more accurately: corporations) to take sides. But one can always remain neutral, if determined enough, as switzerland's history taught the world. Seems like the following story on MacWorld, by Dan Moren, teaches us that Apple has chosen a formal neutrality position in this war. Considering the surprising similarity between this stance and Apple's formal position in regards to flash, I don't think I'd turn my back to Apple, had I been Oracle...

tablets can die too

Although some of the news around the tablets arena reminds of the late 90's Internet Hype, tablets can die too. joojoo, a linux tablet, has been declared dead. One has a feeling he is not the last....

Saturday, November 13, 2010

a promise made: next generation of Android-based tablets will be magical

ZDnet quotes Nvidia CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang , who justifies the months of delay in the need to plan something really competitive, to stand its ground in opposition to Apple's  iPad, and he makes the same mistake others have made before him, "a magical product". I don't mean to say that the man doesn't know what he is talking about. On the contrary, I'm sure the Android based tablets will be very impressive technological creations. But politically, you must never promise magic. The expectations that will be evolving upon such a declaration, especially when bearing in mind the very impressive product the android tablets are up against, are infinite. These tablets will now have to do really extraordinary stuff, on the leve of making coffee and finding a cure to cancer. And it is a pity, because when bearing in mind that Android does enjoy a broader potentional as an operating system than iPhone OS, the Android based Tablets had a hidden advantage. But now, with the magical anticipation, they will have to much much more than just technologicaly superior... shame, really.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

what is the 2nd most popular app on facebook ?

farmville is still #1 on Facebook's most popular apps, but the 2nd app on the list might surprise people... Windows Live Messenger is the culprit, and this is a very strong indication of the coming change in the social networks of the internet... the integration.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Nokia aint giving up on symbian

Nokia is not giving up on symbian. The company is taking the development of the share-losing O.S into its hands. Mobile operating systems market just got a few degrees hotter, and our life - more interesting ! Long live competition and diversification !

[update: Nokia is ditching symbian for windows 7 mobile

an interesting side-effect of the social-networks mini revolution : social networking browsers

A report on RockMelt, a social-networking oriented browser caught my eyes. It is an interesting example to the impact of the competing forces operating within the information revolution, and of the extent to which entrepreneurs are seeking niches. I don't believe in the future of such specialized browsers. In my mind, the all-purpose browsers will remain dominant in the internet surfing business, just the same way the all-purpose car remained dominant in the personal transportation business. I also see this type of development as an indication that the social-networking wave has reached its peak. Don't get me wrong - the social graph is here to stay, and it is very probable that a 100 years from now, teenagers will communicate via a more advanced version of the social networks. But as far as social-networking is a dominant phenomena within the information revolution, i claim that this is the best sign for the peak of its dominance. After the wave has reached the infrastructures, it will be reduced  to more "normal" levels, as far as normality is something to be expected in a revolution....    

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Employees have a right to talk jointly about working conditions using facebook, just like in real life

The National_Labor_Relations_Board  made a clear stand: Employees have a right to talk jointly about working conditions using facebook, just like in real life. The board accused a company which fierd an employee after she criticized her supervisor on facebook, in illegal firing. One has to wonder whether this will hold in courts. In this case, the social-network communication was with co-workers, on a work related issue, and apparantly had some factual basis, as her co-workers agreed with her... The  usage of the digital medium might cross the line and not recieve the protection of the law if the issues discussed do not relate to work, are mainly with people who are not co-workers, or are clearly disloyal (=defamatory and untrue). Seems like the Social network is slowly replacing the coffee corner at work....

If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version...

A really cool post by Matt Mullenweg discussing the importance of  being willing to "getting a rudimentary 1.0 out into the world".

He ascribes this policy to Apple and Steve Jobs, and makes a rather convincing case for all Procrastinators and Perfectionists to read and reconsider their ways...

The summary of this recommendation is simple enough: If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long. 

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Google Maps caused a border incident between Nicaragua and Costa Rica ?

Nicaraguan army invaded an island which apparently belongs to CostaRica.... and the reason given:  Google Maps, with disagreement to all printed maps, showed an island which was formerly considered to belong to CostaRica, as a Nicaraguan island....  This affair is not yet over, but I suspect its importance is much greater than valued by the media.
If we have come to the point where armies are relying on digital data held by large corporations, it seems like the times when corporations can decide on war and peace has come.
You don't need to fear hackers changing a map for these horrible purposes. All you need, is like the old times when the USSR and the US incited wars in parts of the world, as a part of their cold war,by providing partial or misleading data to one side, about the actions and intentions of another....
Now, a corporation whose interests include a war somewhere, just needs to provide some altered digital information, and even a country that has dismantled its army more than 60 years ago, suddenly finds itself in a military conflict...

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Facebook isn’t playing fair

In a rather controversial act, Google has changed its contacts-export API, so that organizations that do not enable a similar action for their user's contacts (i.e and mainly - Facebook), will not be able to use the API for the retrieval of the complete user's contacts from Gmail. Seems like Google is really intimidated from the evolving power of the social graph. Can't really blame them, can you ? and it does seem Facebook isn't fair. The inability to leave with your contacts is a serious lock-in design. Maybe myspace and their like should start legal anti-trust-like actions ?

[update, 9/11/2010: as could have been expected, Facebook has been reported to use Google's regular User Interface to enable a less convenient but still very simple download-upload process of the gmail contacts into facebook. Unlike the writer of the report, I do not think Google will continue to address this issue. I also believe that the slight inconvenience was all Google wanted to achieve, so that Facebook's users will take the minute to think about the fact that they do not know how to extract their contacts from facebook... will it work ? time will tell... and in the meantime, Facebook should work harder, to try and automate the entire process...
or maybe just do the right thing, and add an export-your-contacts button, like a really good sport ?]

[update, 15/11/2010: Techcrunch reports a workaround enabling mass export of your contacts from facebook (So, now there is a way to export your contacts from Facebook to a file. But it is a shame that one can do it only with the help of a 3rd side - Yahoo... ]

[update, 21/11/2010: Now it seems Gmail was removed from Facebook's third-party Email providers, and when one wishes to seek friends, he can no longer use  his Gmail contacts at all, in a direct manner. It might be the best solution, as it reflects the current state of affairs - one has to upload a file, not directly access his gmail account. And yet, one also has to wonder whether people at Facebook shouldn't rethink the direction they have chosen]

[update, 6/7/21011: Facebook appears to be so scared by Google+, it is now blocking a Friends-data-export Chrome extension]
]

Friday, November 5, 2010

Microsoft Kinect is here

Microsoft Kinect, a product I've shared my enthusiasm about in the past, is here, and others seem to agree with me, that it is a part of the moves that will help put Microsoft back on track. I must say, though, that I hate that pun about Kinecting the dots, Kinecting people, etc. Some puns should be left untouched. Have some dignity, people!

[update: mid november 2010 - a press release from microsoft tells that Kinect for Xbox 360 has hit the Million Mark after 10 Days. Microsoft estimates that it will hit 5 million by the end of the year.
A word of warning for anyone seriously considering purchasing this (and I am one of those):  pay attention to this quote from the press release: "Microsoft also recently announced that the more than 25 million Xbox LIVE members have spent more than 1 billion hours on the service a month, an average of over 40 hours per member."
40 hours a month !
oh, well... at least kinect games make people move more than the traditional gaming arenas... ]

Amazon isn't slowing down

An interesting bit I bumped into, while surfing wearing my economy-curious-hat, is analyzing Amazon, and displaying a rather impressive and scary image of this [still] emerging Giant.

One day we will tell our grandchildren we have witnessed the birth and childhood of this company, and they wouldn't believe us.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Don't you hate it when skype changes a webpage and makes it unusable ?

Another one of those things that shouldn't happen to a serious software package (and especially one that plans an IPO soon): As I was browsing this morning, skype decided that a range-link (XXX-YYY) is actually a phone number, and prevented me from choosing the link (instead trying to dial...)

Well, it turned out I wasn't the only one freaking out over this disastrous UI design, and the solution is quite simple in Internet Explorer:
  • go to Tools\Manage Add-ons\
  • locate the Skype section [hint: bottom] 
  • disable the skype Add-on for IE. It will disable the other skype add-on there.
  • There is no need to restart IE. After a refresh, I was able to see the web page as God (more accurately, its creator) had intended.
clarification: this was performed on Internet Explorer 8. The instructions in the link above refer to both IE7 and FF. I still haven't toyed with IE9 but learning from past experience, it would appear the guys at Redmond are no longer changing the interface all over at every chance they have...

and a small remark to the guys at skype: before you run along to the stock market, Pleaeaeaease get those annoying quirks settled.  Afterall, it is probable that your best and brightest will leave soon after the IPO with their vested options, and move on to greener, not-yet-IPO-ed fields... [anybody mentioned FB ?]

Whats going on in Intel ?!?

Intel has allowed access to its production lines to another company, and a startup ?....   Achronix, a manufacturer of chips called FPGAs (programmale  chips), is startup. And one has to wonder what is Intel's angle here... Is it possible that Intel has decided FPGA will be the workaround, preparing for the day Silicon-based processors reach the end of the line for Moore's law ?  

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Facebook finally does something to improve its media sharing capabilities

Facebook, probably the world leader in image sharing, has made a significant step in improving its technical capabilities by purchasing drop.io. How sad for drop.io users... And another step in making life harder for the already lagging competitors. The Like's revolution is making facebook somewhat of an index of the Internet as a whole. But the intertwinement of drop.io into facebook will most probably present facebook as an alternative for all other storage services. The privacy policy chosen in regards to this new service will probably determine the level of acceptance... time will tell, but if I'm youtube (i.e google), I'd start working overtime to prepare for the coming rough months.


[update: another plausible explanation given: Mark Zuckerberg just really, really, really wanted to work with Drop.io's Sam Lessin]

Another Google alumni member joining Facebook

'come hang out with us for a while and we'll see what happens', was the job title Lars Rasmussen was offered by Facebook, or so he tells....  considering Facebook's IPO is probably coming, there is no doubt this is the right time to jump aboard. and thus no one can deny that  Lars Rasmussen demonstrates excellent timing. And let us not forget that for Facebook, the ability to display top notch ex-rival team members, is also an excellet pre-IPO maneuver. The only question that remains is what will he do there ? despite his claims, I tend to believe we will see a similar service to Google Wave evolving within facebook, in the coming 3-5 years, under his leadership.

Microsoft stepping ahead in the field of gestures recognition

Microsoft plans to purchase Canesta for its specialty in gesture-recognition technology. This adds to Microsoft's quite developed capabilites which are currently embodied in its soon-to-be-coming Kinect. Is it possible that despite past indications, Microsoft is a Rolling Stone ?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

the shift between China and the U.S as leading economies is accelerating

A news item telling of Lenovo choosing to focus on China and ignore the United States in regards to its leading technological products is, in my mind, the strongest signal yet of the U.S losing its leading role, even in setting the tones and fashions.

In the last great shift - from the European powers to the United States, it took ages for the Americans to become world taste-setters.

Seems like Globalization is making these processes much faster. The queen (US) is dead.
Long live the queen (China) !

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Lenovo: Win7 and the U.S do not interest us any more... What does it actually mean?

Lenovo has anounced it has no plans to market the company's Android based tablet or Smartphone in the U.S in the near future, and that it has no plans to manufacture a windows 7 based tablet even in china.

I believe this is the first real indication I've ran across that -

  1. Some serious companies no longer consider the U.S a critical market
  2. Android is a real threat to Windows in the personal computing space.

Lenovo's director of new technology, Howard Locker, was quoted: :
"Windows 7 is based on the same paradigm as 1985 -- it's really an interface that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard,"

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

How many books are there in this world ?

How many books are there in this world ? the good people of google books might have the answer.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Facebook finds it hard to deal with criticism ?

I was trying to post a status update in Facebook, referring to youropenbook,  a site which enables search through all public status updates. Another initiative aiming to help people realize the changing state of the privacy.  I was surprised to receive a "This message contains blocked content that has previously been flagged as abusive or spammy. Let us know if you think this is an error" message,
This is the first time I have ever encountered such a message, and I have posted a link or two in my status updates... Is it possible that Facebook is finding it hard to deal with criticism and is using its Anti-spam mechanism for internal censoreship ?!?

Saturday, August 7, 2010

There goes Google Wave

is SEO killing search engines ?

John Dvorak seems to be convinced that Google, Bing, and their likes have lost the current battles with SEO techniques.

He claims that techniques which are used to make a webpage, more popular, for advertising purposes, have overcome the search engines smart algorithms, and more and more surfers find themsevles reaching unpleasant pages, crowded with lots of commercials and little content.

The techniques he refers to, are such as finding bizzare reasons to add sexy content, such as celebrity names, and keywords that have a high probablity to appear in user queries. an example for that would be a page with the following astrological-informaton:
Did you know that Barak Obama's astrological sign is a Leo ?
And Did you know that Britney Spears is a Sagittarius ?
That Michael Jackson was a virgo ?
3 simple questions, have created a seemingly innocent page, with not-so-bad external links, which should come quite high in web-searches, due to the imprinting of those so-popular names...  
 
Personally, I haven't experienced a decline in my ability to find good content on the web. And I really doubt that this post will become more popular because of my venerable guests... after all, this post isn't about porn, it does not deal with sex, it does not contain images, and it sure doesn't mention really important search terms of the last year, like iphone or smartphones... oops. now it does (:
 
More seriously: it is clear that SEO and Engines are in an ever-lasting battle. it is clear that our interest as surfers is that engines win. What caught my eye was Dvorak's suggestion to add into the engines a rating device based on the percentage of content compared with the percentage of advertising. I was sure this is already done. Isn't the first thing a smart algorith does is check the content ?

Thursday, August 5, 2010

אריק שמידט: אנשים לא מוכנים למהפכת המידע

אריק שמידט הצהיר בכנס טכנולוגיה כמה הצהרות שכדאי להכיר.

Google's Eric Schmidt: People aren't ready for the technology revolution

In an interesting piece from ReadWriteWeb, I've learned about a recent staement by Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt. He states (in a manner reminiscent of Mark Zuckerberg's 'privacy is dead')
"People aren't ready for the technology revolution". I must admit that while finding unneutral Zuckerberg's assesment annoying, but had to agree with him that privacy concepts are changing along with the information revolution, Schmidt's statements somehow hit a more sensitive nerve. The predictions -
  • "There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003...but that much information is now created every 2 days, and the pace is increasing...People aren't ready for the technology revolution that's going to happen to them."
  • "If I look at enough of your messaging and your location, and use Artificial Intelligence...we can predict where you are going to go"
  • "In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We need a [verified] name service for people. Governments will demand it."
  • "In our lifetimes...we'll go from a small number of people having access to information, to 5 billion people having all the world's knowledge in their native language." 
might foresee a safer, more comfortable world, but they also bring with them a definite atmosphere of a sea of information that is very hard to navigate for the individual, and greater power than ever before to some who will control the flow of information and its uses.

I don't know what you make of it. I think I'll clear some time for another reading of Roger Zelazny's "My name is Legion".

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

FBI has an issue with Wikipedia....


seems like the FBI has a problem with Wikipedia. The beaureu isn't happy about Wiki's usage of their seal in the wiki article about the FBI.... some people think this isn't a claim without merits, as the high resolution of the image of the seal on wiki's site, might help counterfeiting... it seems to me that the FBI guys had better read their own website, with its accurate verbal description of the seal, and maybe they should also try  searching their own website ... a nice result of that search can be seen here. FBI's facebook profile might have also been a good place to check, before complaining about free information sources....
shame, really... seems like someone hasn't really learned the ropes of this confusing digital era...

developing world as a patent-free zone

an interesting bit regarding developing countries (such as the BRIC states (Brasil, Russia, India, China)), as the best site to develop new technogoloes, as so few patents are registered in those places, and thus R&D is greatly less limited. interesting to read, but requires more thinking, in my mind.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

פייסבוק כאתר דיווח על עבירות תנועה

עוד שימוש ברשת החברתית הגדולה בעולם: פייסבוק כאמצעי-דיווח על עבירות-תנועה.

Windows 7 already passes Vista

Windows 7 already passed Vista, and is in a very good pace. still, XP has more than 60% of the Microsoft-based computers... and the Web is still visited by a computing world which is more than 90% based on Windows operating system...

Wired is claimed to proclaim: the open web is dead

Wired is claimed to proclaim: the open web is dead. This proclamation, in regards to the impact of close shops like iTunes and the Apps convention, might be the another tip for the creation of a snowball, which the singer prince started. However we view these claims, one can't ignore that fact that the current directions of the web are quite reversed to those happy open times of the 80s. It is really hard to tell how web #5 will look like, but I for one would like to envision giant, multi-platform app-stores and music/media-stores in operated by various players...


Friday, July 30, 2010

Microsoft Kinect is no trackpad...

The more I read about people's experience with Microsoft Kinect - its recent hardware add-on to its Xbox gaming-platform, the more I get the impression that this is the future of interfaces. While Apple's Magic trackpad seems to me like a sound from the past, this "controller hub -- which features an RGB camera, three sensors (one depth sensor, one motion sensor, and one multi-array microphone) -- tracks full-body movement, facial expression, and voice with a precision" appears to me as the real deal . Sci-Fi as it sounds, this is the intuitive hands-free interface one could have only dreamt about up until now.

I'm seriously thinking about buying Xbox + Kinect for myself, this coming Hanukkah.

even Dvorak admits it: E-readers are here to stay

Even John Dvorak admits it now: E-readers are here to stay. Read , and move on to the important but unanswered questions:
Who will be the E-reader of the future ? Tablets or iPad-likes ? are kindle and nook just temporary phenomenas, until tablets will reach the needed maturity ? or will the 1-month battery and easy-on-the-eyes display clear advantages will mean E-readers, as a uniquely-targeted technology, are the clear winners for book-reading, which will leave tablets for the internet surfing, and raise serious doubts regarding its ability to compete with smart phones ?  
Amazon, according to this article, have sold more electronic books that hard-printed books in its last quarter. This is a revolution, taking place infront of our eyes. The largest online books retailer (a revolution in intself, still taking place, as amazon is much more than just a book retailer nowadays, and is truly threatening retailers like walmart), is now primarily selling more digital books than paper-books. We live in Gutenberg-like times. Just imagine the possible implications. And people still claim that the changes of the last quarter of the 20th century were rapid and a little hard to adapt too...
We are living in interesting times.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

i hate trackpads

Apple has released its Magic Trackpad  and some people think it is the beginning of the end for the mouse. What can I tell you ? 
I can understand the excitement about touch screens. They are the real thing. The end of the confusing and cumbersome pointing devices. But Touchpads ? I rarely use them on laptops. they are inconvenient, inaccurate, and although they are certainly much better than no pointing device at all, I'll take a mouse over a trackpad any day of the week. 
I must confess I haven't tried the new trackpad, and size and area of pointing will differently improve the experience compared with tiny trackpads, but there is a slight problem - it will take time for the eye-hand coordination to assimilate for the new proportions. This is a device that takes time to learn. And this is the basic difference when comparing trackpads with Touch Screens. Touch-Screens are intuitive. People I've seen running away from computers are able to use devices with touch-screens. I've seen 60+ ladies flipping through images on smartphones without hesitation, and doing so without the repeated "I'm stuck" or "How do  you ?" or the occasional "Help!" you get on the less-intuitive devices of the past. 
With All due respect to the new trackpad, I'll patiently wait for those huge Touch screens of the future... 

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Google's new social network

As anyone with some IQs in his head could see that Google Buzz is buzzing out, it was only a question of time when Google will try another direction at its cold war with Facebook, the world's largest social network, and the third largest collection of people on the planet.

Wall Street Journal reports a new initiative, Gaming based, Google is working on. It will probably take some time before it matures, but one expects Google to learn from its Buzz mistakes, and put a real challenge in Facebook's wheels, for a change... I for one am imagining a high-class gaming network, free of charge, bringing the best in net-gaming, social-gaming and Google's free content and content-search capabilities.


Tuesday, July 27, 2010

שירים בתערוכה של מט"ח - איך מתקינים

בעוונותיה הרבים, בת-זוגי, מורה בהתהוות, החליטה להשקיע, והזמינה את הלומדה "שירים בתערוכה" של מט"ח.
הדיסק הגיע, והיא בהתלהבותה הרבה ניסתה להתקינו בכוחות עצמה. בסך-הכל, ב-2010, התקנה של לומדה, למישהי שהייתי מגדיר כמשתמש לא-חלש ולא-חזק, היתה אמורה להיות חווייה נעימה וקלה. בוודאי כשאנחנו מדברים על המרכז לטכנולוגיה חינוכית.... אבל החבר'ה במט"ח כנראה לא חושבים שנגישות, שימושיות, ופשטות הם ערכים מנחים.

מדובר בלומדה ותיקה, שלדעתי ספק אם בכלל צריכה להיות מופצת כיום, בגלל דרישות-הסף שלה. היא יכולה לרוץ רק על גרסאות חלונות ותיקות, החל בחלונות 95 וכלה בעדכנית ביותר - חלונות 2000. יכול להיות שזה אומר משהו על הגרסאות שמסתובבות בבתי-הספר שלנו ? זו הדרך בה אנחנו מכינים את דור העתיד לגלובליזציה ?
מה שעצוב יותר, הוא שהדרך שבה הלומדה האומללה מעדכנת את המשתמש בכך שהיא לא יכולה לרוץ על חלונות בגירסא מתקדמת ביותר, היא על ידי התעקשותה על זמינותו של microsoft media player בגירסא ותיקה ומשופשפת במיוחד... היא מחפשת את mplayer2.exe וכשהיא כושלת מלמצוא אותו היא מודיעה על פרישתה מהבלי העולם הזה....

כך שפתאום מצאתי את עצמי עם בת-זוג אומללה, שלא מבינה למה התוכנה שהיא רכשה לא עובדת לה. היא ידעה לספר לי שגם מורה אחרת, שחופפת אותה בתפקידה החדש, רכשה את התוכנה בעבר, והתלוננה על שלא הצליחה להשתמש בה...

אחרי שהתברר לי שהתוכנה לא סתם מחפשת קובץ בשם מסויים, ובאמת יודעת מה היא צריכה מנגן המדיה, ושאי אפשר לעבוד עליה כל-כך בקלות, נוצר אצלי הרושם שלא יהיה מנוס מלאפשר ללומדה לנסות ולרוץ בסביבה שלה.

הערה לסדר לפני שאמשיך: בהתאם להוראות שעל התקליטור, יש למט"ח תמיכה טלפונית. יכול להיות שהייתי יכול להתקשר. חשבתי שחבל על הזמן שלי. לא שיש לי מידע מיוחד לגבי היכולות והאיכויות שלהם. אבל חשבתי שמי שמצא לנכון להפיץ, בשנת 2010, תוכנה שיכולה לרוץ - לפחות בצורה המוצהרת של 'הכנס תקליטור לכונן והגב להתקנה בnext'- רק על מערכות הפעלה שאף אדם שפוי לא אמור להשתמש בהם (למי שלא יודע, מיקרוסופט הפסיקה לתמוך בחלונות 95 ב-31/12/2001, בחלונות 98 ב-30/6/2002, ובחלונות 2000 ממש ממש לאחרונה, ב-13/7/2010.... (ההגינות מחייבת לומר שבעוד שלגבי 95 ו-98 ציטטתי את תום תאריכי התמיכה הרגילה, לגבי 2000 ציטטתי את סוף התקופה לתמיכה המכונה extended. החל משלב זה, לקוחות יכולים לנסות ולהשיג את התמיכה במסגרת custom support program וזו כמובן שאלה של כסף. אני בספק אם זה שווה למורים.... ), מי שבחר לעשות את המעשה המסחרי המעניין הזה, שעליו עוד אעיר פעם באופן משפטי, בבלוג אחר, מי שבוחר להתנהל כך - הוא מישהו שאין טעם לנסות ולבחון את רמת התמיכה הטכנית שלו. אולי אני טועה, אבל כך בחרתי.

אז מה עשיתי בעצם ? וזו המטרה העיקרית של כתיבת הפוסט הזה, מעבר ל-venting על אובדן הזמן כאדמיניסטטור ביתי - לאפשר לאחרים שייתקלו במצב דומה, ויהיה בעלי כישורים טכניים נדרשים להבנת הפוסט, להסביר איך מפעילים את הלומדה "שירים בתערוכה" בשנת 2010.

אז קודם כל, החומרים הנדרשים:
  1. מחשב עובד עם מערכת הפעלה עדכנית כלשהיא, שהחומרה שלו מספיק חזקה להריץ במקביל וירטואליזציה. אני השתמשתי בלפטופ שהריץ עליו חלונות בגירסת ויסטה, עם זכרון 2GB (מה אפשר לעשות, ככה האישה אוהבת את זה), ונפח דיסק נורמלי לימינו אנו (כלומר, כמה עשרות GB פנויים, כך שלא הייתי לחוץ).
  2. תוכנת וירטואליזציה. אני אוהב את virtual box, ולטעמי היא הכי פשוטה ונוחה שיש היום למשתמש הביתי.
  3. דיסק התקנה של מערכת הפעלה שנתמכת על ידי "שירים בתערוכה". אני ניסיתי בהתחלה חלונות 98 enabled, כי לא ממש סמכתי על ההצהרה בדיסק ההתקנה של "שירים בתערוכה" שהצהירה על תאימות לחלונות 95, 98, 2000, בעוד שהאתר משום מה דיבר רק על 95 ו-98, אבל אחרי קשיים טכניים בהתקנה של חלונות 98 בתוך virtual box (שלהבנתיהיו קשורים יותר לסיומה המפתיע של הסוללה בשלב התקנת הדרייברים, ולכושר התאוששות מאכזב של virtual box למרות ירידה של ה-host לhybernate, ולמרות הקפאה על ידי virtual box) שהלקח העיקרי ממנו היה להתקין רק כשהלפטופ מחובר לחשמל (אגב, נתקלתי לפני שבוע בהתקנה שלא הסכימה לרוץ כשהיא סברה שהלפטופ לא מחובר לחשמל. בהחלט בדיקה גאונית, כשחושבים על זה. חבל שאני לא זוכר מה היה המוצר הזה...), החלטתי ללכת על חלונות 2000. בסופו של יום אני ממליץ על 2000 - אומנם גם היא איננה מעודכנת מספיק כדי לאפשר חיים נוחים, אבל התקנתה מהירה יותר, וחרף חורי-האבטחה שמיקרוסופט כבר לא תתקן בה, היא בוודאי בטוחה יותר מ-95 או 98.
  4. להוריד (מראש) למחשב המארח directx8 מאתר מיקרוסופט ושמור אותו בתיקיה שהיא shared, כדי שמערכת ההפעלה האורחת (שנתקין עוד מעט) תוכל לגשת לשם. צריך את זה, כי בדיסק של שירים בתערוכה יש רק directx7 וזה לא מתאים לחלונות 2000. בלי directx שירים בתערוכה לא עובדת, וחלונות 2000 לא מגיעה עם directx מהקופסא.

ולעבודה [אני לא מנחה בצורה מפורטת, אלא בצורה סכמטית, כי ממילא, מי שלא עשה את זה מעולם, יידרש לכמה וכמה שעות עבודה טובות, ואולי ליותר. לאנשים לא-טכניים, ובוודאי למי שמילים כמו וירטואליזציה אינן מובנות, כדאי לבקש ממישהו טכני עזרה]:
  1. יש להתקין את virtual box על המכונה המארחת.
  2. ליצור מכונה וירטואלית בזכרון של 640 MB ונפח דיסק 4GB . בוודאי אפשר יותר , אבל לא לשכוח שאם מקצים לאורח יותר מדי זכרון, מערכת ההפעלה המארחת עשויה לקרטע, וחבל.
  3. להתקין באורח את חלונות 2000. לא לשכוח, צריך לעשות mount ל-cdrom  של המארח, ואז להפעיל את המכונה האורחת. יהיו reboot או שניים בהתקנה. מה אפשר לעשות. ככה מיקרוסופט היו פעם.
  4. להתקין guest additions ולטפל ב-display. זה וה-seamless integration מאוד מאוד משפרים את חוויית המשתמש, ובהנחה שממילא מדובר במשתמש חלש יחסית שיתקשה להתרגל לחיים עם מחשב-בתוך-מחשב, פשוט קריטי. זה גם ייקל מאוד על העברת חומר למארח, ואולי אף יחסוך דרישות להתקנות נוספות באורח שהמשתמש עלול להיזקק להם... פשוט לעשות umount לcd של 2000, ולעשות  mount על הguest additions.iso, והוא כבר יפעיל את ה-setup.
  5. לסדר את העברית. אני שכחתי, וכשהיתה לי 2000 עובדת, וחזרתי להתקנת הלומדה, שבגללה התכנסתי, והנה זה  פלא -   ההתקנה של הלומדה מדברת אליי בג'יבריש... אבוי, נכון, באמת היה איזשהו קווירק מוזר במערכות ה-NT בקשר לעברית של התוכנות שאינן unicode.... אבל איפה עושים את זה ? תמיד הייתי שוכח... ומוצא את זה שוב, ועכשיו - שנים אחרי, בגילי המתקדם, להיזכר שוב בקטע המתסכל הזה ?!? לשמחתי, האינטרנט היא ה-knowledge base הבשל ביותר שאני מכיר, והצלחתי למצוא את הלינק הזה,  שעוסק בבעיות עברית ככלל, ובאמצעותו את הלינק הזה, שעוסק בבעיות עברית בחלונות 2000, ובאמצעותו להיזכר שאכן פעם, בעידן שקדם ל-XP מיקרוסופט הצניעה תמיכה ב-non unicode programs, תחת הכפתור הסתום set default שתחת regional options/general....  אז קובעים ש-system locale ששמגדיר את השפה שבה יוצגו תפריטים ודיאלוגים לאפליקציות, כ-hebrew.
  6. בשלב הזה יש להריץ את ה-directx8 שהורדנו. נזכיר שעושים share על הספריה אליה הורדנו הקובץ, מגדירים shared-folder באמצעות virtual box, ממפים אליו כונן מתוך האורח, ומריצים את התקנת directx8 (עוד reboot, כן....)  בשלב ההתקנה אפשר לחשוב מחשבות טובות על החברים ממיקרוסופט, שגם כשזה נוגע במערכות-הפעלה שכבר אינן  נתמכות, מתמידים בנוהג שכל sys admin ראוי לשמו פועל לפיו: לא זורקים מה שלא יודעים אם באמת לא יהיה צריך אותו יותר....
  7. בשלב הזה יש לבצע umount לסידירום , להכניס הדיסק של "שירים בתערוכה", לעשות לו mount, ולהתקין (סוףסוף!)  את "שירים בתערוכה" !
תהנו !


נספח - תמצית למי שהתקשה עם מחשבותיי המרקדות, הז'רגון, ורק רוצה checklist לדעת מה עושים
(וסליחה על לשון הזכר שהשתרבבה פה ושם. עברית שפה קשה):
א. השתמש במחשב שמסוגל לסחוב וירטואליזציה (לא חלש מדי).
ב. השג דיסק התקנה ו-product key של מערכת הפעלה שתומכת ב"שירים בתערוכה". אני עבדתי עם חלונות 2000.
ג. הורד והתקן virtual box.
ד. הורד למחשב שלך directx8 מאתר מיקרוסופט ושמור אותו בתיקיה שהיא shared.
ה. צור מכונה וירטואלית, בזכרון של 640 MB ונפח דיסק 4GB .
ו. התקן חלונות 2000 במכונה הוירטואלית האמורה.
ז. התקן guest additions על החלונות 2000 שהתקנת.
ח. סדר עברית בחלונות 2000 שהתקנת. כולל regional options/general/set default ל-hebrew.
ט. התקן directx8 שהורדנו ב-ד' (לגשת לקובץ,  הגדר shared folder ב-virtual box, ומפה כונן לשם מהאורח)
י. התקן הלומדה !   (לא לשכוח לעשות umount לcd של 2000, להחליף cd-ים, ולעשות mount לחדש).

3 הערות:
  1. הפוסט הזה נכתב מהזכרון. כמו כל צ'קליסט או הנחיות שלא נערכה עליהם בקרת איכות, ייתכן שנפלו שגיאות. כתבו/או העירו אם נתקלתם בבעיה ואתקן בהתאם.
  2. אפשר לשים לב שלא עסקתי כלל בסוגיות אבטחה של האורח. חלונות 2000, וקודמותיה ידועות בבאגי אבטחה שכבר אין להם Patch-ים לתיקון (אין תמיכה, זוכרים ? ויש סיפורי בלהה על פרצות תקשורת שלמיקרוסופט לא היתה אפשרות לתקן בלי לפגוע בתאימות אחורה); אני מניח שהרשת שלכם והמארח שלכם מאובטחים, כך שהאורח ממילא לא נגיש מבחוץ, ושהעובדה שחלונות 2000 מגיעה עם אקספלורר 5 ממילא מביאה לזה שלא ייעשה שימוש לגלישה החוצה מהאורח. אם זה לא המצב - לטיפולכם. אל תגידו שלא ידעתם...
  3. אם יתברר שמשהו היה חסר או שיש משהו נוסף שנדרש, בהתאם לפידבק של המשתמשת שלי, עדכונים יבואו ...



Sunday, July 25, 2010

Microsoft has certainly not given up the mobile market

Microsoft's recent agremment with ARM, has one clear impact: it might has lost a round, but as far as the Redmond guys are concerned, the war is on, and they intend to improve .... remembering Microsoft's past in the browser's war, and seeing the difference between Vista and Seven, it is quite clear that future mobile devices coming from MS will be interesting...  
Although claims in the referred post suggest that this might be an XBox oriented move, I'd be very surprised If MS has chosen to give up what appears to be the hottest gadget's market of the near future. Regardless of what computing equipment might be waiting for us at home and work at year 2015, some form of an intelligent device will be carried by us on the way, when travelling, or just having fun in our leisure. At the moment it seems that tablets and smartphones are completing gadgets and not competing ones, and under this assumption, I believe MS will use the new ARM contract to rebuild its failing projects of a tablet and a smartphone. Kin and Slate are dead, but their replacements are under work as I'm writing this post... another year from now, we'll know more... 

India presents a cheap tablet

India's government has anounced a government-lead initative to develop a cheap (~35$) tablet, to be used by students in the country's tens of thousands of colleges and academic institutions. A prototype as been presented, and now a manufacturer from the private sector is sought. As a previous project anouncement, regarding a cheap laptop did not materialize, it is recommended to be patient about this project. But the new model India and China present - of a government involvement in projects of a percieved national-importance, is very interesting. Technology is not lead just by private sector and the Academic world. Politicians have their say, and this direction could be very important in the years to come. 

Friday, July 23, 2010

well, seems like PCs aint dead yet, either....

Recently, I was surprised to discover that Macintosh computers are being sold very well, despite the great demand for tablet computers and smart phones. Microsoft's recent quarter reports, which were excellent, taught me that Personal Computers running windows are being sold excellently as well. 
According to a research by the IDC research group,  "Worldwide PC shipments rose about 22 percent in the quarter". This clearly shows that corporations worldwide, renewing their IT infrastructure, after years of  standstill which were mainly due to the economic situation, are still betting on the Desktop, as the primary platform for Information Technology usage. 
This choice has several interesting ramifications - 
  • competing tablets with iPad will have a chance to pursue the heart of corporation IT;
  • smart phones are not considered as an alternative to desktops, but a complemntary technology, at this stage; 
  • desktops that are purchased today will probably serve a 3-5 years period, and as they are mostly appear to be Windows7 machines, neither Linux nor ChromeOS will become dominant in the desktop segment during this time-frame, and this windows-dominance persists despite clear cost-advantages for the competition, at least as far as licenses cost is considered (and we are talking about post-recession purchasing decisions!);
  • as the next point in time for a change is somewhere between 2013-2015, innovations like Microsoft's surface, may very well be prepared to compete on the hearts and minds of desktop users, and position a real threat to tablets, which might prove - yet again - to be a temporary phenomena. 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Apple's recent quarter: the Mac isn't dead

Apple's last quarter earnings report has an interesting bit in it: Despite selling nearly 3.3 million iPads and  8.4 million iPhone units  in the last quarter, "Apple sold 3.47 million Macintosh computers, the most ever in a quarter" !

I believe that the exposure to Apple's design and way-of-thinking makes people reconsider the move to a Macintosh. Naturally, the expectation for a better coordination between one's devices, and having one Apple-made device at home, is another point for buying a Mac. 

At the moment, Fact is, Apple has 3 winning products - Ipad, Iphone (still 3Gs, as 4 started selling only 3 days before the end of the quarter, and the antenna-gate impact on sales is still unclear), and the older boy on the block - The Macintosh. 

I must confess that I am of those who believed that iPad, and his brethren of the really smart tablets, will deeply hurt Desktop and Laptops sales, and might even bring the death of the desktop/laptop on the home-users market share. This data does force one to rethink things. 

Tablets are still at their initial phase of acceptance, and it really does remain to be seen what gadgets and equipment are hurt by the entrance of the new kid on the block to our lives, but now a new possiblity needs consideration - is it possible that the tablet replaces Older technology - like books and newspapers, without hurting other members of the  computing world ? 


Monday, July 19, 2010

אנשים לא לגמרי מבינים כיצד הדברים עובדים ולכן הם מקבלים החלטות שגויות

טום קייט, הפנים הטכנולוגיות של אורקל, בראיון לארגון משתמשי אורקל בישראל, מצהיר הצהרות שתוקפן יפה הן לתחומי הטכנולוגיה, והן לחיים בכלל...
דוגמית מהראיון המלא:
"לאורך השנים, איך אתה רואה את ההשפעה של ההתקדמות המשמעותית של העולם הטכנולוגי בכלל ובסיס הנתונים של אורקל בפרט על סוג השאלות ועל מורכבות השאלות והנושאים השונים שאנשים מעלים בפנייך במסגרת האתר שלך?
אני לא רואה בכך השפעה כלשהי מלבד העובדה שהאנשים כיום נתקלים בבעיות מהר יותר ומוקדם יותר מאשר בעבר. כיום ניתן לפתח ולבצע פעולות שונות מהר יותר בהשוואה לעבר, אולם המוח האנושי לא נהיה מהר יותר מאשר היה לפני 10 שנים ולכן אנחנו זקוקים לאותה כמות זמן בכדי לתכנן נכון את הדברים. הבעיה הבסיסית שאני מזהה היא שאנשים לא לגמרי מבינים כיצד הדברים עובדים ולכן הם מקבלים החלטות שגויות."
מומלץ לקרוא, ובכלל, askTom הוא מקום שמומלץ לבקר בו, לכל מי שטכנולוגיה מעניינת אותו.


Saturday, July 17, 2010

there is no problem ! actually, it is a small software bug ! ah, maybe it is the phone... but...

Steve Jobs finds it hard to take responsibility. If only he made the shortest news conference ever, and made do with - 
"We're going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can't make them happy we're going to give them a full refund and say we're really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we're going to do better next time".
But no.  He had to make a long series of accusations regarding competition and attempts at lowering the importance of a the problematic nature of a cellular phone that just isn't available as a cellular phone, 100% of the time.... Steve. Really. Listen. People trust Apple to take responsibility, fix the problem, and keep aiming at being the best. Leave excuses to others. Stand up like a man, explain that you fucked up in the design, but that the problem has a relatively reliable fix, that you will provide that workaround, free of charge, to anyone, and that you are already working on the next model to be free of that problem. I know that it is hard. you probably have piles of Iphone 4 GS with the poor antenna design floating in boats or flying in planes from china, and you definitely don't want to be stuck with them, or lose a generation like Microsoft did with her Kin. But you have something much more important than that at stake here - Apple's reputation. 


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Google profiting off rivals

Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, explains on an interview to cnbc that as far as Google is concerned, it doesn't really matter what people do online, as long as they are online.
It seems that Google is benefited from any significant venture which directs people to spend time on the internet, as they eventually get to use Google's search engine, or Google's browser (chrome), or some other product of theirs. One has to admit that this sounds logical, and if true, would make the internet a competition space which is not a zero-sum game, unlike other realms of Information Technology.

It is a little harder to believe that notion, remembering the efforts Google displayed, pushing forward Google Buzz, and other indications of Google's awareness of Facebook's presence as a serious competitor in Online Advertising, Google's main source of income.

So, is the internet a zero-sum game, or have we entered a new era  ?

Time will tell.
 Personally, I am very suspicious of any claims regarding "a new economy".


Thursday, July 1, 2010

a change of times

My involvement in a certain startup has made me quite engulfed with news. All sorts of news, with the holy grail of differing between 'regular' and 'really important' news. This involvement also brought into light this peculiar habit of myself and my partners to argue, long silly arguments about seemingly important technical issues. As these discussions take precious time and have little value, I thought it would be best to invest this time in a new sort of evangelism - promoting my views on these subjects, using the platform of a blog, in a manner which shall enable my associates - if they so desire - to carry our arguments via the comments and talkbacks (I seriously doubt that they will). 

So, starting this month, and for quite a time, I guess, this blog shall become a lot busier, and the arena for discussions of varying levels of depth and interest in news items, most of which shall come from the following "fantastic seven" sources of technical news - 
I will naturally use other news sources as well, the top among them, the natural harbingers of news in this day and age: Google and Bing (with the possible glimpse at Wolfram Alpha

P.S


Sunday, June 27, 2010

אני כאן בשביל האותיות הקטנות...

לקרוא ולא להאמין... יש בתאגידים הגדולים אנשים שהתפקיד שלהם זה לדאוג שחוויית הלקוח תהיה נעימה יותר... לפי הכתבה, האחראים על חוויית הלקוח באים לתת משקל נגד למחלקות השיווק, ולעצור מהלכים לא-הוגנים. כמישהו שרוב חייו היו בקצה הטכני של הספקטרום העסקי, הידיעה שאנשי שיווק הם מקור הרוע בעולם התאגידי איננה חדשה, ואפילו לי, צעיר שכמותי, יש כמה סיפורי זוועה משלי.... אבל עם השנים למדתי גם להבין את החשיבות של אנשי השיווק והמכירות לשגשוגו של עסק, ועצוב לראות שהתהליכים לאיזון סביר מחייבים יצירת משקל נגד למחלקות השיווק, ולא חינוך מחדש של אנשי השיווק לאתיקה.

Friday, June 25, 2010

is Apple losing it ?

seems like the new Iphone 4 has a wee bit of a problem....

a report of new iphone owners, teaches that "covering small black lines on the band with their hand decreases call signal strength. In some reports, people say they can induce the iPhone 4 to drop calls by holding it a certain way"... and Apple, in an impressive demonstration of denial, retorts that user should avoid these deeds, and that these problems are "a fact of life for every wireless phone"...

one woners how much time will it take for Apple to get a grip, and give a better response. If iphone 4 really does have that remarkable ability for limited mobility (freeze or lose your call, one might say), it might just be that flop every competitor in the market has been waiting for.

time will tell, but if were an Apple person, I'd seek a much more service-oriented solution , and FAST.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Why does Google develope both android and ChromeOS ?

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie explains why Google developes both Android and ChromeOS, if anyone wondered, and summarizes up a pretty nice theory:
Android is a bet on the past. Chrome is a bet on the future. Android is still about installing applications on a specific device. Chrome OS is designed for a future where everything is online, in the cloud.

Is he right? I suspect the answer has a lot to do with a question Apple has a lot to do with - who rules the operating system of the coming age. But more than that it has to do with another important question - is the world ready for cloud based operating systems? if not, than Android is Google's night in shiny armor for the near future, whereas ChromeOS is the visitor from the far distant one. 

Moscow gay pride parade enabled thanks to flashcrowd techniques...

Turns out not only gays in Jerusalem find it hard to parade... 

I was surprised to read about the difficulties gay Russians have in getting permission to hold a pride parade.

Happily, it turns out that modern technology has helped Russian gays hold their pride parade in Moscow, despite serious attempts  by police to prevent it from taking place.

Apparently, Flash crowd techniques (similar to hit 'n run) coordinated by modern net technologies, are giving civilians the upper edge over oppressing regimes.

Makes one wonder...





Why did HP actually buy PALM?

HP CEO, Mark Hurd, explained on June 2nd, in a technology conference that HP: "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business".

They actually bought Palm "for the IP. The WebOS is one of the two ground-up pieces of software that is built as a web operating environment...We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices...Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is a very value proposition."

A day later, someone in HP realized that it might not be the best idea to tell people you are not interested in the smartphone market (probably one of the most important markets for operating systems in the world currently, and one which will have a significant impact regarding adoption of systems in other gadgets, such as TVs)...  and thus engadget gets the following statement from HP:
"When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP's small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS's footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones."

Glad they sorted it out (:

The really important thing here, in my mind, isn't HP's sad PR.
It is the attempt of HP to make things clear:
Smartphones aren't the only gadgets people whould think, when the operating systems of the future are considered.
Google has ChromeOS for the larger gadgets, and Android for the Smaller.
Apple has iOS for the smaller gadgets and still hasn't dumped Mac OS/X for the larger ones.

As  for HP - they are trying to make it as clearly as possible, incase anyone didn't concentrate when the news about Palm's purchase spread out. HP is no longer planning on Windows.




Friday, May 21, 2010

password case-sensitivity in Oracle

As an Oracle veteran, one of the surprises Oracle 11g had in store for me, was password case-sensitivity

One could have discovered it by reading thoroughly through the new features. But one was busy working on a startup idea, and discovered it the hard way....  as this feature comes with case sensitivity security enabled as the default, out-of-the-box.  

So, now that the startup is sadly behind, and looking ahead at the future, it is time to record some points to remember: 
The parameter: SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON
tells of the password case-sensitivity status. 
False - case insensitive passwords 
True - case sensitive passwords 

The DBA_USERS view includes a PASSWORD_VERSIONS column. 
Users imported from ealier versions of the db, will have a "10G" (and maintain case insensitive passwords independent of the SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON parameter setting). 
But pay attention: the passwords of those users will adhere to the DB norm, once  they are changed.


Sunday, May 16, 2010

סטיב ג'ובס מבטיח חופש באייפאד תוך הבעת שעשוע מהדרך שבה שמרני-המחשב-האישי מגיבים

סטיב ג'ובס (יו"ר Apple) וראיין טייט (כתב Gawker) בילו ערב בחילופי מייל מתלהמים, שטייט היה אדיב מספיק לפרסם תחת הכותרת Steve Jobs Offers World 'Freedom From Porn. שווה קריאה.

דבר הסטיב שתפש את עיניי:

"Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin', and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."

מדהים. האיש שהוא בעצם החברה שהבריקה כל-כך עם הפרסומת של אפל, מבטיח לתת לנו חופש, על ידי המנגנונים של 1984.


[הערה: פרסמתי את הפוסט הזה במקור בבלוג שניהלתי בעבר בדה-מארקר; עם המעבר לכאן, מגיעים גם הפוסטים הקודמים... עם הקוראים הסליחה על אי-הסדר...]


Saturday, April 3, 2010

life as an involuntary system administrator

working from home, one sometimes wonder where his time is spent, as the end of the day comes, and his daily task list has not shortened as expected, but actually, went the other way...

so, sitting and searching for a solution for my dearly beloved spouse's iPhone troubles, i started wondering about the number of computers and smart gadgets i'm catering for, as an ad-hoc administrator, and was quite stunned at the revelation that i'm the proud manager of a small network:
  • two desktops (one for wife's wordprocessing, internet, research and leisure, the other for myself, filling the same needs, but also my workstation for development, writing, and legal work, covering my different personalities);
  • two laptops (one for wife's needs as a student, lecturer and teacher, the other for my multi-personalities needs as described above, but its hardware profile was mainly analysed following my need for a second computer for my development environment that could proudly run virtual computers);
  • one net-computer: eee-pc.  it was purchased when my wife, at a happy but difficult period of pregnancy, just couldn't handle carrying her laptop anymore. nowadays it is not really needed (until some future day when the need will hopefully reiterate... knock wood), so it was turned to be the music-center of the living room for our toddler's happiness, and it also servers as the only true XP of the house, an access point for an internet website that can be accessed only from IE7);
  • and the last but not least - the latest member of the family - my wife's iPhone, which turns out to be a really bothersome fellow and requires a lot of attention...
the list intentionally omits the home router, virutal machines, the home's combined printer/scanner/fax and other equipment which is far less smart.

at least now i have it on record (:


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Google looks straight at China's eyes and says it is going free

Google has announced that  search results in google.cn are no longer censored. Hopefully, they will keep up that policy, which is great news for everyone who believes in the importance of the freedom of information, and everyone who fears the outcomes of the policy other large corporations have taken, which argues that limited information is better than none.

It should be noted that the solution chosen by Google seems like the one chosen for appearing as the least dangerous for Chinese employee of Google who might be accused or charged for the implementation of the new policy.

This is ofcourse not a foolproof step. China can block access to google.cn, as a result of this brave decision, and might even undermine Google's other operations in the huge Chinese market.

It is rare in our world to see a corporation making a moral step. I'm proud to be a google user today.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

google and china: an explanation

just read "What Google Will Do in China", an excellent presentation by kaiser kuo, outlining the current situation between the search giant and the chiense giant, and i found it enlightening. Both regarding the nature of netizenship in china currently, and regarding the nature of the china-google conflict. You certainly don't have to agree with him, but it seems like a perspective worth hearing.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A trip down memory lane

Once upon a time, on the year 2000, I found myself building me a homepage. 
It was a very naive and simple HTML project, with a self-teaching target in mind. The result was hosted on freeservers.com, a free hosting service that was very popular at the time. 

And then the dotcom bubble burst. A few months followed, and then a news service that my site used in its welcome page went bankrupt. Suddenly the welcome page had no content except for the top and lower bars. Such can be fate when you rely on external dynamic content, I learned, not knowing that the lesson was going to be harsher yet. 
It was an intensive period for me. I was about to begin my law degree studies and was just at the beginning of a new job (it was supposed to be a java programmer position for a large project. Alas, that project died too as a result of the demise of the tech bubble, and I found myself working in that company as an oracle dba/sysadmin/infrastructures-programmer/software-architect/whatever-title-you-think-fitting, which was better than the alternatives the post dotbubble hightech employment market had to offer). As a result I found myself performing slight changes on the website, hoping that with the accumulating effect it will once again become a delight for sore eyes,  but knowing too well that in the interim period it was just a mess. It was then, in the middle of things, that the hosting service went missing. Apparntly, the post bubble impacts were too strong for them either. 

Years passed, and even though I had the entire site backud up, I never found the time or the motivation to launch it again somewhere else. Then, suddenly, one of these eves, I discovered (thru a technical search of an issue that required sifting thru many results) that the service was back online, with old contents as well - and among them my old website! 

So, without further boring and never-ending details, here is a link to my old website, bearing the title "Gil's Sight": Shabtai.freeservers.com 

I doubt that you will enjoy viewing it as much as I did. 

After all, old websites are of interest only to those of historical 
interest or of nostalgy. 

But blogging is about sharing, and for me, this was one heck of a surprise trip down memory lane. 

The only question left, bugging my mind, is: 
is there any point in making any corrections to the damn thing, or would it better to leave it as it is, for future web historians? 

[Update: 23/08/2014: I've decided to delete the old website. The reasons and last images can be found on the post re-visiting the old website (take2)