Microsoft can learn from Napoleon

A neat article. The comparisons are very interesting. So what will happen to the Napolean of the computer world?

From the article
Napoleon Bonaparte was arguably the most strategic mind set to war. As we shall see later, his strategic brilliance, however, is equally applicable to the competitive world of Business; and in this case, Microsoft’s rivalry with Google.

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Evidence Americans are insane

The poll results in this article on Iraq certainly would indicate the Americans are a confused bunch and yes quite possibly insane. Well insane in the White House anyway.

Do you think the American’s really know what’s going on in Iraq? I certainly don’t think they do.

From the article
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to those who think that Americans are finally starting to "get it" about Iraq, but the latest Harris poll shows how bad things are

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16 year old hacks MySpace

Well hacks friends MySpaces at least. Being woken by the police at your bedside would be a shock for anyone. Beware of what you do online, as innocent as it may be. Possibly the police have gone a bit over the top but it’s a sign of how seriously they take hacking.

From article
Yesterday 6:00 I was woken up by the NJ state police or as they call themself's the CATU (Computer Anaylisis Technology Unit) at my bedside. They said they had a warrant to search my household for anything related to the illegal breaking in of any myspaces

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The Top 25 Products of the Last 25 Years

eWeek Labs has compiled their list of the top 25 products of the last 25 years

How time flies....Some of this stuff certainly brings back memories. Must be showing my age.

Interesting that they only ranked WIndows 95 at 23rd. What's you views on this list?

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“Viagra Gang” suspect is arrested

Who new there was a “Viagra Gang” in operation. Imagine what taking all those pills would do to you.

From the article
Police have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing anti-impotence drugs from dozens of pharmacies in the past year and were seeking his accomplice in what they are calling the "Viagra gang."

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Google opens an open source repository

Hats off to Google for promoting and encouraging collaboration and openness in the software development world. I think Google’s new site for hosting your project will be a success and we should see some good stuff from out.

From the article
"One of our goals is to encourage healthy, productive open-source communities. Developers can always benefit from more choices in project hosting,"

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New Bird Flu Vaccine More Effective

Good to hear that vaccines against the dreaded bird flu are improving all the time. Must say I had almost forgotten about Bird Flu since it hasn’t been in the headlines as much lately. That’s not to say the risk has gone away so keep the vaccine’s coming.

From the article
“A new vaccine against bird flu developed by GlaxoSmithKline is more effective than any previous version and works at a far smaller dose, the company reported yesterday on its Web site.”

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Digg v’s Netscape : A dummies guide

An article for those of you who have had their head’s buried in the sand the last couple of months and have not kept abreast of developments. Netscape is dead in my opinion.

From the article (re Netscape)
“I gave the site a try and would occasionally submit a story or two here and there, but eventually got sick of it. Again, the main reason I didn’t like it is because it was so cluttered. Where is the story I just submitted? Are the images next to the stories necessary? Why so many crappy ads everywhere? Oh well, what did I expect from a company like AOL?”

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YouTube is knocking on deaths door

YouTube is sucking money faster than you can blink. Running this site costs money and heaps of it. It’s incredible that their own advertising sales people can’t even bring in a single dollar.

So what’s the future hold for YouTube. Certainly not a $1billion dollar sale price that has been bandied around. It’s simple maths…..Without any revenue you die and YouTube is certainly on the path to death.

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Cars and ship are sinking

Nearly 5000 cars are going to sink along with the ship carrying them as the crew of the Asian ship prepare to abandon it. The ship was on route from Japan to Canada when it began listing badly in the North Pacific.

Hope your new car wasn’t been delivered by this ship.

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iLane: What is it?

This is an interesting product for those off you who like to get their emails on the go. It can even read them to you. You can also send emails and do other cool stuff by voice command.

Sounds like a good device to add to ones gadget collection.

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Melbourne Claims the number 1 spot

It’s now official. Melbourne is the number 1 city in Australia according to a recent poll.

I have visited Melbourne a couple of times and while I find it to be a nice city I prefer Sydney. I dispute the poll findings about Melbourne having the best shopping, nightlife etc. Sydney seems to have more buzz about it and more options for things to do. Off course that’s just my opinion. What’s yours?

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YouTube needs the rights to your work

The whole YouTube business model is built around having the rights to do whatever the hell they like with your video. That’s why there Terms of Service are worded the way they are.

For YouTube to make money they need your video and a royalty free licence to do with it what they wish. It’ either that or no YouTube at all.

So YouChoose! If you want to use the service or not.

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Zune to battle ipod

So after a few weeks of yes they are, no they are not, it has been confirmed that Microsoft plan to take on the Apple and the ipod with a product called Zune.

Microsoft say this offering will be available this year. They have there work cut out though. Apple have a stranglehold on the online music business and there ipod is hugely successfull. Zune is going to have to be something very special to compete with that.

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US is supplying Israel with bombs

A rushed delivery of precision bombs to Israel. Huh more confirmation about just how much support they get from the US. While this delivery is tied to a deal that was made last year it's obvious why they require them now. Surely as part of the pressure from other countries to stop this war, the US should not deliver these.

What are your thoughts on the US delivering these bombs to Israel?

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Telepathy ability to be tested

It seems the quest to prove that telepathy abilities exist is to be continue with the latest experiment to be carried out by the University of Manchester.

I don’t think the results will prove conclusively either way if telepathy abilities exist. Still it’s worth a shot. I am a little skeptical and will remain so until proven otherwise.

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Cut off North Korea and then what?

Since it seems we can't go in guns blazing and rid North Korea of it's leader and there weapons then what's the next best option?

Well complete isolation it would seem. It's like were back in school.....I'm not talking to you because you were nasty to me. Come on, do we really think this will work? It just buys more time for North Korea to further develop there weapons.

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Social Network Overload

Too many social networks and not enough time!!!

Is there far too many social networks out there? Off course you don’t have to belong to them all but even just keeping up with your social network on Myspace can be time consuming.

What about the real world?

It seems that 24 hours in a day minus some sleeping time minus time at work and what’s left. If you add in the time it takes to social network, spend time with family, friends and whatever else….Suddenly 24 hours in a day is not enough.

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US spreads it troops around

The map in this article makes interesting viewing.

If you are curious just where the US has deployed it’s troops then check it out. What’s going to happen though when the current crisis in the middle east spreads?

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Oil companies started the war

There is plenty of articles on the internet blaming Bush and co for the current crisis with some even suggesting they organised it. I will put another view that this current wave of violence was started by the oil companies. Why would they do that? Money of course….They are not happy with the already excessive profits they make so what better way to increase prices and profit than start a war.

Anyone care to dispute this theory?

Oil prices are way too sensitive too any sign of trouble. Oil prices have been on the rise again as a result of the scrap going on between Lebannon and Israel. No need in my opinion. They should only go up should the supply chain be attacked

Want to know what Google owns?

Have you ever wondered just what domain names Google owns? Well for all you Google geeks out there here is the list.

Must say this is quite a list and one that keeps growing.

Google to take over the world!

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A fresh target for Google

Are Google on the prowl again looking for more areas to move into and try to dominate? This time it looks like they have the Yellow Page’s industry in their sights. The potential here is huge which is why Google would be interested. It would be a perfect fit to their already extensive advertising setup. For those in the Yellow Pages industry, I would be shaking in my boots.

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The first Skype laptop

Skype is getting adopted by more and more people and now it seems by more and more companies. Packard Bell has released a laptop with the Skype calling button, a world first.

The way we communicate is certainly changing so expect to see more Skype (or the likes) enabled devices.

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Kid builds a rocket launcher

What was this kid thinking? He’s going to have the authorities on his back over his building of a rocket launcher, and his posting of it on the internet.

He will probably get locked in Guantamano Bay prison for this!

Didn’t we all like to build things when we were kids though? Can’t say I ever built a rocket launcher.

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Getting into online auctions

Christie’s is moving with the times with the announcement that you will be able to bid on their auctions over the Internet.

It’s an inevitable move and one which should add to Christie’s already successful business. Sotherby’s were not successful with their online auction business a few yers ago but the Internet has moved on since there attempt and so I am picking that Christie’s offering will be a success.

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Soccer hits rock bottom

Just days after the joy of winning the soccer world cup, Italian soccer has hit a low with the heavy punishments being dished out to a number of clubs after the investigation into match fixing.

I applaud the Italian authorities for having the guts to dish out the punishments that they have. Match fixing is a plague that affects many sports and needs to be eradicated. Hopefully these punishments will send a signal to all that match fixing will not be tolerated.

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Trip planning the Yahoo way

The goodies just keep on coming. This time Yahoo’s trip planner has graduated from Beta and I must say I do like it.

What can you do with trip planner I hear you say, well:
• Like the name suggests, you can plan a trip!
• Carry out research
• Share your trip online with other users
• Print your travel guide

Plus a bunch of other stuff.

Good on you Yahoo for again coming up with some useful tools.

If you don’t have it, here is the link http://travel.yahoo.com/trip

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Album Art in itunes

Excellent news that with itunes you can now automatically get album art for your imported music. I like to have the album cover with my music and it was a pain having to manually find the album cover.

Good feature and thumbs up to Apple for this one. Keep up the good work.

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6 figure jobs: Not many of us get one

It seems that only 5 percent of the population earn the magic 6-figure salary.

So is the 6 figure salary all it’s cracked up to be? Well it really depends where you live doesn’t it. The table in this article certainly makes interesting reading. It just confirms what we all ready new though and that is it costs a hell of a lot more to live in New York than Houston.

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Rules for talking

How many times have you been annoyed by the way people are talking on their mobiles? I would suggest a lot. Some people are so oblivious to what’s going on around them when on their mobiles that they end up getting in your way and more. What about the SHOUTER! Wouldn’t you love to break the phone over their heads?

This is a neat little article with some good tips for mobile phone use that should be applied everywhere.

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Gaming: Stay tuned for the next episode

There are clearly two lines of thought when it comes to the idea of releasing games in a TV like episode format. New episodes every week….Interesting. I can’t see this happening anytime soon. The shear time it takes to produce a game and the cost must surely put a stop to this idea, for now. The concern is that if games were to go to an episode type of format and release, would the quality be as good. Probably not. I suggest the game industry looks at other delivery methods.

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Liberating North Korea

Something needs to be done about North Korea and done now. It’s people need to be freed from the communist regime they are under. North Korea not only poses a big threat to the world but also to it’s own people. While the world dithers about on what to do I’m sure North Korea’s leader is not sitting on his arse doing nothing.

Come on let’s take action, now!

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The .mobi domain is a bad idea

Sometimes I think the “Domain Name” controllers are really stupid. Whoever thought that the .mobi domain names for mobile enabled websites was a good idea needs there heads read. As this article points out, you can serve mobile web sites using exisiting domain names and so forth so the creation of the .mobi domains just adds to an already confused domain name system.

Wouldn’t you agree?

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Putting your ID on a card

Are you comfortable with your identity being stored on a card? I’m not. This is just another way that your identity could be stolen. While I can see some benefits in having an ID card, I think the possibilities for misuse and fraudulent activities far out weigh the benefits.

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Little players footing it with the big boys

When it comes to searching the Internet, all the focus these days is on the big boys such as Google, Yahoo and the likes. It seems the smaller search engines have been forgotten.

I would suggest that some of the results you get by using a smaller search engine are more meaningful and relevant than what Google sometimes serves up. I say these little search sites need to be encouraged and supported even if it is just so the bigger players can adopt some of their great ideas and technology.

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A bite out of the biscuit

Kraft is buying the British biscuit business, UB. Seems a good purchase to me. Food is one industry that will never die.

Do biscuits have a future though? Given the drive towards healthier eating and all the obesity concerns over the recent years, biscuits have largely escaped the spotlight which seems to focus more on the fast food chains. How about all the chocolate biscuits, are they good for you?

I wonder if Kraft will bring in some healthier biscuit options? I doubt it as long as they are making piles of cash with what’s on offer at the moment.

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The world of cash online

Some interesting developments recently with Google’s new payment service and the banning of it on eBay. Paying for things online has always been an area that has generated plenty of debate and raised a number of issues.

The big issues for me when paying for something online is
(1) How secure is the transaction
(2) How reputable is the provider of the payment system and the website
(3) Ease of use

It’s good to have competition in this area.

When will we be able to get rid of physical cash altogether? That is the question I want answered.

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The battle for survival

There is many people with varied opinions on just how long the human race has before extinction by one means or another. The question that this bloke Stephen Hawking posed on Yahoo Answers certainly generated a lot of interest and a variety of answers.

The real answer though is that nobody knows. Could be tomorrow could be never.

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Design a great logo

Some great tips in this little article. A great logo is essential to any great brand so it’s important that you take your time when designing one and don’t settle for second best.

Remember, all the great brands have great logos. Just look at Nike for an example.

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Play it on your mobile

Games on your mobile phone has not really been a winner. I think the likes of Nokia etc thought it would be a raging success. Well, no it’s not. I personally don’t like playing games on my mobile phone. After playing games on a PC, Playstation and so on it is just not the same on the mobile phone.

This technology has a long way to go yet before the millions of phone users readily adopt it. If it does then what a money spinner it will be.

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Have a real holiday

These days it can be very difficult to escape work even when on vacation. With all the mobile devices around you can potentially be working just as hard when on holiday as your would normally. Some vacation!

Some employers actually expect to be able to contact you even when on leave. I think this is unacceptable. A holiday should be just that, a holiday. If you boss expects to be able to contact you then you should advise him that he can not.

Work is getting more and more stressful so a complete break is essentially to getting ones energy back and getting rid of built up stress.

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Massive invasion of privacy

I am appalled that school administrators want the power to search students cell phones and read their emails. Come on, this is a huge invasion of privacy.

A line has to be drawn somewhere and this is way over that line. School administrators have no right to do this. While I acknowledge that things such as drugs and so forth is a problem in schools (as it is everywhere in society), there has to be a better way to try and fight it.

Leave the students alone!

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Japan again leads the way

Japan is again to the forefront in the technology sector. This time it’s huge sales in handheld gaming consoles. I am not surprised by these figures in Japan. They love their mobile devices and it seems handheld gaming consoles is no different.

The Japanese market is a little different to say Europe where I doubt the handheld’s have been as big a success.

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Now eBay release something

There has been a real flurry of offerings recently from Google, Yahoo and the likes. Now eBay are at it with their release of ebay express which is an ecommerce site targeted at small and medium companies.

It seems to me that this is a useful product and one which could be quite successful. This is an example of eBay trying to spread it’s wings a little and create new revenue streams away from their flagship auction site.

My message to all these companies, keep the new releases coming. Even if some don’t survive it’s fun checking them out.

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Wikipedia can’t cope

The death of Kenneth Lay has highlighted issues with Wikipedia. The real problem is around recent events and what gets written about them.

I believe Wikipedia need to take some control over certain events that happen and restrict stuff that can be written about the event until more reliable information becomes available. The various stuff that was written about Lay’s death just confirms the need for “control”.

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On your own over Net Neutrality

Isn’t this whole bill just a mess? I don’t think anyone really understands it completely. All I am concerned about is that content is not restricted and that it doesn’t cost me any more to access it. Isn’t that what we all want?

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No bond for you

Bail has been denied to the 6 accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower. I can understand authorities making this decision; it’s just the world we live in today.

Unfortunately I can see the headlines now. Should these 6 actually be proved to be innocent there will be recriminations in the media as to how this whole operation was handled, how it’s an attack on Islam, Muslims, human rights and all that. Should they be found guilty then the law enforcement authorities will be hailed for their achievements in stopping this plot. So a no win situation.

I back the authorities in this case and believe they are doing the right thing in trying to protect the population from terrorism. Maybe it can be called heavy handed but it’s better than doing nothing at all and regretting it later.

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Get yourself an FBI password

You would think the FBI would have one of the most secure computer systems around. Turns out they don’t, not if you can break into it as easily as this story says. Just goes to show that as long as information is stored on a computer somewhere it is not secure regardless of who is storing it.

I think my old filing cabinet with a key I kept in my drawer was safer!

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Email decreases productivity

I would have to agree with comments in this article about how email actually decreases productivity. How much time each day do you devote to dealing with your inbox when it would really be time better spent elsewhere? If you are anything like me then it would be a lot. It’s a battle for employees and organisations, and one for which there is no easy solution, especially given our reliance on email to conduct our business.

The other interesting snippet in this article is about the trend to outsource IT work. Maintaining an IT department within your organisation is a huge cost but should not be the only factor when considering whether to outsource or not. A number of organisations I have worked for outsourced their IT department and quite frankly I would have to say the service they got for it was appalling. It also happens quite frequently where you outsource, realise you have made a mistake and bring it back in house. How expensive is that!

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A new toy for Christmas

The iPod is about to get some competition. News is out that Microsoft will start selling their version of a wireless music and video player by Christmas.

It’s going to have to be something special to really foot it with the iPod, which totally dominates this market. It’s nice to get some competition in this area and I will be watching the success or failure of Microsoft’s offering with interest as will the Apple Execs.

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Iran says no thanks

It seems that the old dangling off a carrot in terms of incentives for Iran to suspend its nuclear programme has failed, at least for now. Iran has said they need time to consider the proposal.

Doesn’t this all seem a little similar to Iraq who were given time and then time extensions and then extensions again to comply with various requirements over there alleged weapons programme. Will Iran become another Iraq? I can see it now. Once the US has finished with Iraq they will jump the border and get stuck into Iran.

I am certain that Iran are up to no good with their nuclear programme. The more time they are given the further along with it they will be.

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The best of the current trends

This is a great article about the trends that are driving today’s global economy. The one I like in particular is how sites these days are been driven by user generated content. This has really taken off and is re-shaping the way we interact, not just with each other, but how we read and write the news, work with companies and so forth. You just need to take a look at Newsvine for example.

It really is an exciting time if you are an Internet and technology addict like myself.

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Mail-In is Out

It seems the days of the mail-in rebate offers are out. About time too! In this day and age it seems silly that you have to carefully complete a form, send it via snail mail, get a reply back via snail mail just to claim you few dollars rebate on the product you have just purchased.

It seems for once that stores are in agreement with the consumer and are doing away with this nonsense.

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Poaching the talent at Microsoft

Is Google a more attractive place to work? It would seem so as another senior staff member from Microsoft is jumping ship. It’s possible that one of the reasons behind such moves is the fact that Google seem to have more going for it at the moment. Certainly in the area of research and development, Google seem to be up to a lot more exciting stuff than Microsoft. The repeated delays in Microsoft’s flagship products, Windows and Office would be enough to drive any senior staff member to drink, or in this case too Google.

Why does Gundotra have to wait a year before starting work with Google? These non-competition agreements are silly. It’s not like Gundotra will know any less or be able to pass on less knowledge in a year’s time. After all Microsoft today as opposed to Microsoft in one years time will probably be the same, maybe just a different version number.

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Britain and the US are no longer lovers

Seems the British love affair with the US is over. A new survey has revealed that the British regard for the US is at it’s lowest point in a long time.

I suggest that Britain are not the only country that feel this way. I believe the US are on dangerous ground with they way they try to dominate the world and dictate to other countries on how to conduct their affairs. The longer this goes on, the less and less popular the US becomes.

It’s time for an extreme makeover to give the US a fresh image. Perhaps getting rid of trigger happy and arrogant George Bush would be a start. Bring back Clinton!

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AOL has gone mad

The customer service debacle at AOL is just incredible. How can they expect to get away with such shoddy customer service practices? If I call someone to cancel an account I expect to be able to do just that in a timely manner. I don’t expect to be grilled and have repeated attempts thwarted by some idiot on the other end who is getting a bonus should he enrage me enough that I give up in attempting to leave.

Poor customer service is not a problem at just AOL. Just go spend a day at the mall and you will encounter many times an experience of poor customer service. Seems the days of “be nice to the customer” and “the customer is always right” are over.

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Google not as good as some think

So while search remains Google’s main focus they have released plenty of other offerings over the last year or two. Off concern for Google would have to be that none of these offerings have really cornered a market in the way that their search engine has.

I believe Google still has plenty of work to do if it wants to achieve “total” domination of the Internet and bury the likes off Yahoo and Microsoft.

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Donate to Charity

On the back off Buffet’s huge donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation this article on starting your own charity/foundation is quite timely.

Now while we don’t have as much money as Buffet it’s the old saying of every little bit helps. So if you feel you do have more than enough money to live on then I urge you to consider starting a foundation or certainly investing your money in an established one. There are plenty of great causes out there that could do with your help.

As for the Bill & Melinda Gate’s foundation. Expect big things from them, they certainly have the money to create a difference (managed wisely).

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Future Net: Who’s confused?

Senator Stevens has foot and mouth. The guy obviously does not know what he is talking about when it comes to Net Neutrality and a two-tiered Internet.

It’s pretty scary when guys like him are in positions off power with the ability to influence something as important as the future off the Internet.

The whole topic of Net Neutrality and a two-tiered Internet needs some intelligent and proper debate and is something that must not be entrusted in the hands of plonkers like Stevens.

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Technology aids urban development

As cities are continuing to change new development is required. Now there is 3D technology that can really aid urban planners in their planning of new developments.

Using the 3D technology, planners can really see what developments will look like and provide a “real life” visual experience. This technology is going to be of big benefit and one that will hopefully lead to better developments in the future and less of the eyesores or complete disasters that seem to happen on a regular basis.

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China to Tibet

China has unveiled its new railway through to Tibet and it is a real technological marvel. The features that the train and track itself have are something to behold. It is a real triumph for technology and engineering.

Putting aside all the controversy over China’s rule of Tibet, this new train is really something special. There are concerns about its environmental impact plus the effect on the Tibetan economy. I personally see this development as a good thing and one which can only help the Economy.

It is expected the train will double tourism to the region. While increased tourism brings it’s own set of environmental impacts, it will boost the economy significantly.

I might have to take a trip over there just to try this train out.

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