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Monthly Archive for March, 2006

Wow! Google Analytics

Published
by
Ken
on 30 March, 2006
in beta, idea sites and thoughts
. 0 Comments

This blog is fast becoming a Google mouthpiece. Yet another post related to Google. Google is getting so much into my online activities that it’s freaky.

I use Gmail solely for my email now. I use Adsense and Adword. Since I use Firefox, Google is my default search. I am now starting with Google Analytics.

All these I credit to Google’s international friendliness. While Yahoo and Microsoft restricted their beta stuffs only to US user, Google offers it’s beta service internationally.

Too bad that Y! and MS do not get the globalness of the Internet.

Google Analytics

Today I finally received an invite to Google Analytics. The request was submitted in Janurary and I wondered when I will get the elusive invite.

Only one word is sufficient as I waste no time to sign in - “Wow!”.

Certainly no comparison to open source stuff like Analog, AWStats or Webalizer.

I’m still waiting for the data to be collected but after a few hours I’m learning more about my website than I previously had.

Now this is seriously an unfair advantage.

For those that had been using it a few months back, how had it helped you?

Google doing Finance

Published
by
Ken
on 26 March, 2006
in beta and idea sites
. 0 Comments

Google Finance betaGoogle just launched some thing many people had been anticipating - Google Finance.

What took them so long? Google News had been around for years. One would think a finance site is a no brainer.

Taking a quick look,

  • No chart for markets outside the US.
  • For US companies, there is a nice flash chart that links to news, (see Google, Yahoo)
  • Mouse over management name for bio. Good presentation.
  • Blog posts are included as part of the company information. Interesting.
  • Very rudimentary portfolio function

The way for Google Finance to really differentiate from Yahoo and MSN is to do what they do best - web services. Expose financial data to users so that users can mix and mash financial information in all manner imaginable. If they do, it will be the biggest coup since Google Map.

I certainly have a few ideas up my mind that could use some financial information. Will they do that?

What others was saying before the launch:

Well, it’s here now!

What others are saying now? Let’s hear from insider in Google and Yahoo.

links for Mar 20-26

Published
by
Ken
on 26 March, 2006
in links
. 4 Comments

Thanks to new guys at Best Blog on WordPress, I’m now updating on weekend. Giving me the more time needed to surf using proxy.

Various surfing this week:

  • Looking for PHP based wiki for an upcoming project.
  • Looking at motorcycle sites
  • Checking out sites for Best Blog on WordPress
  • Collecting interesting sites along the way

I decided to consolidate all the del.icio.us link posts weekly as they getting more than my own post and look real ugly.

Continue reading ‘links for Mar 20-26′

Stumble and Annotate Along

Published
by
Ken
on 25 March, 2006
in idea sites, ideas, startup, thoughts and web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Wikalong

The idea behind Wikalong, as they put it, “a wiki-margin for the internet“.

Wikalong is a Firefox extension. When installed, it links to a wiki page on the sidebar of Firefox corresponding to the site that you are looking at.

Wikalong screenshot - click to enlargeFor example, this is how this blog look like with the Wikalong on the sidebar.

Anotation can be added, in wiki style, corresponding to the page. In this way discussion or commentary on the page can be added.

One thing to note though, Wikalong cannot distinguish between http://59ideas.com/blog and http://59ideas.com/blog/index.php. Although the same page, it will lead to different Wikalong page.

An interesting aspect of Wikalong is that the wiki page store can be customised. This means that the annotations can be saved to a different server other than the default.

Can you see any applications for this?
It can certainly use it to comment on web projects among a group of developers.
StumbleUponAnnotation and surfing with a Firefox extension is not a new idea. Another similar idea, StumbleUpon, had been around for a while and is also more advanced.

StumbleUpon also creates conversation around a website although not in a wiki manner.

After installing the StumbleUpon extension, users can annotate or leave comment corresponding the the page they are looking at.

StumbleUpon screenshotIf you have StumbleUpon installed, you can share 59ideas.com by clicking on thumbsup.

This will lead you to this page (screenshot right) where you can leave comment.

But that is not all. StumbleUpon build upon the social aspect of surfing. By linking sites and people together, you can meet people that go to the same site or explore sites visted by people of similar interest.

Now I am thinking,  del.icio.us and StumbleUpon, each has features that I like. Wouldn’t it be cool if there is a tool to integrate them.

My Solar Charging Ideas

Published
by
Ken
on 24 March, 2006
in my ideas and products
. 0 Comments

I was so intrigued by the solar vest idea that I went further to look at the viability of some ideas based on this. It is relatively easy in China to get prototype done up by some factories.

Since I take my notebook around, I had the idea of solar charging for notebook.
The solar cell could go onto the notbook case ot even on the cover itself.

I did a quick mock up with my HP nc4000 and my ZeroShock cover.

Solar chargin HP nc4000 Solar charging Zero Shock notebook cover

Lover’s Cups - a new communication interface

Published
by
Ken
on 23 March, 2006
in ideas and products
. 0 Comments
Wifi Glass

Imagine, when you and your loved one are drinking at the same time, the cups celebrate this “virtual kiss” with a glow.

This is the Lover’s cup, an idea from Jackie Lee at MIT.

Not only for lovers, the idea originator gave a list of other applications. Most notably is the ability of the cup to remember other cup by the action of toasting.

Imagine toasting to a 100 person at a party. The cup will be vibrating non-stop the next day.

For the academically inclined, read the paper: Drinking Interfaces as New Communication Channels

Riya - face recognition photo search

Published
by
Ken
on 22 March, 2006
in beta, idea sites, ideas, startup and web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Riya

This is a good week to release beta. Last night I receive the invite to Riya. I downloaded the Riya Uploader but I do not have that many people photo to upload.

I take mainly scenery photos. The few people photo I have I do not want to upload for privacy reason.

The idea behind Riya is really cool, Check out the Tour. This is one of those Web 2.0 ideas that actually has serious technology content.

What I mean by technology content is that there is some technology not within easy reach of scripting wizards.

This is not to say idea that social bookmarking, photo sharing, online calendar are inferior. It does mean that however that there will not be many Riya look alike as compared to, say, Digg look alike.

Zoho Sheet

Published
by
Ken
on 21 March, 2006
in beta, idea sites, ideas and startup
. 2 Comments

Zoho Sheet

Receive an invite to Zoho Sheet yesterday. You can get one here.

Since Google acquired Writely 2 weeks ago, web office suite is getting hot. Now, will Zoho Sheet be the next target?

Interestingly, Zoho has a very nice suite of applications in Zoto Writer, Zoho Planner, Zoho CRM, Zoho Virtual Office. Maybe owning Zoto Writer can be detrimental to acquisation by Google since they now have Writely. But hey not everyone is after Google.

Zoho Sheet screen shot My first impression of Zoho Sheet is “Wow!”. A every well done interface. Function wise it is nowhere near a fullbrown spreadsheet like OpenOffice Calc.

Online sharing is an interesting aspect that web applications like to highlight. Right now however I do not see myself having a use for an application like this.