Daily Bits

Internet Week Europe 2010

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We have all sorts of celebrations every month throughout the year – why not Internet Week? This is not a novel concept, but this year, the people in Europe are celebrating it for the first time in London. From the 8th of November till the 12th, the creme de la creme of Europe’s digital industry come together to celebrate the wonder that is the Internet.

There are over a hundred events lined up, with big names such as The BBC, Yahoo!, Creative Review, Google, Lonely Planet, and Channel 4 joining in on the fun. While the event is already halfway through, there are still plenty of events that you can participate in. Here are some of them:

  • The Science of Search
  • Virtual Goods Summit
  • No-nonsense Social Media
  • Social Gaming Summit
  • Yelp London’s Curry Night
  • Introduction to Google Enterprise
  • Tokyo Innovation
  • Interactive Street Game

And, that is literally just a few of the numerous events left for the week.  Lest you think that only couch potatoes are going to participate in the huge event, there is actually a Bike Ride going to be held tomorrow for cycling enthusiasts.  Who said that geeks do not like physical activity at all?

The cool thing about the whole event is that you do not need to register for the Internet Week.  You just need to visit the Internet Week web site and pick out the events that you want to participate in.  There are different instructions for each event, and some are paid, while some are free, depending on who is hosting it.  It’s not too late – if you have a bit of free time this week, go check it out!

RockMelt: Do We Really Need Another Browser?

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What web browser do you use now? The chances are that you have at least three installed on your computer, and you probably don’t use all of them on a regular basis – unless you’re a developer, maybe. I have Firefox, Safari, and Chrome and really just use the first two.

That’s why, when I heard about RockMelt – “Your Browser. Re-Imagined.” – I couldn’t quite fathom the need for it. The main thing that they are focusing on is the fact that the browser is very tightly integrated with Facebook, as well as other social networking platforms.

At this point, you are probably thinking of Flock, which basically tried to do the same thing. Unfortunately, it didn’t really take off. Anyone among you using Flock these days? My point exactly.

Even experts seem to look upon this venture as something that might not take off. With the heavy emphasis on social browsing integration, there is not much to sustain whatever initial attention RockMelt might gain. The three big players – Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome – can easily add those features.

Still, we can’t deny that they might have something here. After all, social networking is really the “in” thing right now. Who knows, RockMelt just might change the face of browsing.

Call me a dinosaur or whatever you wish to, but I just don’t feel the urge to apply for a RockMelt account right now. If you do, visit their web site and apply for that RockMelt invite yourself. In the meantime, I shall visit Facebook using good old Firefox. 😉

So tell me, do we really need a re-imagined browser?

E-Ink in Color Coming Soon!

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Proponents of Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook will always tell you that the E-Ink display trumps its LCD counterpart any time. You’ll hear arguments revolving around “no glare issues,” “it’s just like reading a real book,” “it’s like looking real paper,” and more. Of course, one cannot overlook the fact that E-Ink has one drawback – it is in black and white.

If the lack of colors on e-book readers is your main reason for not getting one, then you might just change your mind in the near future. Last week, Hanvon Technology, a company based in Beijing, announced the first ever color E-Ink display. The announcement was made during the FPD International Trade Show in Tokyo.

Now you may be thinking that this is old news as we just heard about the color Nook. You have to bear in mind, though, that the new Nook is going to use LCD instead of E-Ink – something that old timers have been shaking their heads about. Then there’s the Apple iPad, which is great as a color e-book reader as well, but it also makes use of LCD.

This new development from the Chinese company just might give e-readers a boost, although it might not be anytime soon. As good as E-Ink is for reading, it does have limitations such as lack of sharpness. It is also not that colorful as compared to LCD. More so, E-Ink is not able to fully handle video. Still, its developers are confident that the technology will be embraced by consumers in the future.

For someone who is in the market for an e-book reader, this development is certainly something to monitor, although I might have to stick with the good old black and white displays for now. What do you think? Does the color E-Ink have potential?

Want to Rate Your Voice Impersonation Skills?

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We all have our little quirks, and if yours is to try to mimic how other people speak, here’s something that will tickle your fancy. Some time last month, NTT Communications announced a pretty cool mobile phone service. Dubbed Mane-1GP (available in Japan only), the service works this way:

  1. Mobile phone subscribers call a number.
  2. They have the following choices:
    • Popular comedians
    • Lines from movies
    • Animal sounds
    • Various dialect accents
    • Other sounds
  3. They can listen to the particular sound/line they want to mimic, and they can record their own rendition.
  4. The users’ recordings are compared to the original sound bytes, and a score is given.

How does the system analyze the recordings?  The concept is simple: an algorithm was developed specifically for the analysis of recordings, to compare the original and the user-inputted recording.  The analysis is based on the following factors:

  1. Speed
  2. Intonation
  3. Sound pressure
  4. Voiceprint
  5. Voice quality

Knowing just how good the Japanese are with technology, you can bet that these analyses are technologically sound!  The service is compatible with most mobile phones available in Japan via the major phone companies: NTT DOCOMO, au, and SoftBank Mobile; and each call will cost a person about 10 to 20 yen.  Oh, and to make things more interesting, users can invite friends to join a “competition” wherein the person who gets the highest score wins!

NTT Communications is also known for its other services such as international data service centers, but this piece of news just goes to show that the telecommunications giant is not averse to offering fun and quirky services to their clients!

It may not be for everyone, but hey, each to his own, right?

Slash the Web with Blekko, the New Search Engine

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Contrary to what some people think, there is a search engine world outside of Google. And, on the first of November, another contender has joined the fray: Blekko.

The newest search engine on the block has been described as the offspring of an imaginary union between Google and Wikipedia. There is no such union (at this point), but Blekko exists in beta version, and it seems to hold a lot of promise.

The idea behind Blekko is that users are given the responsibility of tagging web pages (through the use of slashtags) that are indexed by the search engine. According to the founders, this makes the search engine results more relevant as humans weed out the unnecessary or irrelevant results which computer algorithms come up with. Other advantages that Blekko offers:

  • Designed to weed out spam
  • Does not include results from content farms
  • Will offer better results as more and more pages are tagged by users

Of course, the search engine also has features similar to what Google has, such as the ability to apply filters to one’s searches.

Blekko did not come out of nowhere, even if this might be the first time you are hearing about it. It is the brainchild of Rich Skrenta, who has been working on the search engine since 2007. He is also known for being the driving force behind the Open Directory Project. Blekko has caught the attention of venture capitalists and has received $24 million in funding from various sources (e.g., U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital, and Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame).

Watch the video below to find out more about Blekko from Skrenta himself.

blekko: how to slash the web from blekko on Vimeo.

That was a pretty convincing demo, although I am not sure if the average search engine user will take to slashtags. What do you think? Will Blekko be a serious player in the world of search engines?

Facebook Friendship Pages: The Magic of Friendship or a New Stalking Tool?

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Yesterday, I got a Facebook notification that my cousin had “liked” what I posted on her wall the other day. Naturally, I clicked on the notification to check her wall out. One thing stood out immediately – a new link labeled See Friendship. I think what used to be there was See Wall-to-Wall.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I went ahead and clicked on the link. I swear, despite the initial misgivings about the use of the term friendship, I kept an open mind. This is what greeted me, and I just didn’t like it.

I guess the guys at Facebook have been really busy in the past weeks, haven’t they?  For some reason – specific reasons, actually – this Friendship Page thing just rubs me the wrong way.  Before I go into those reasons, let’s hear it straight from Wayne Kao, the guy behind this feature.  In a blog post, he narrates how he came up with the idea:

One of my favorite Facebook moments is browsing photos from friends in the News Feed after they’ve begun a new relationship, gotten engaged or gotten married. It gives me a fun and meaningful glimpse of the friendship between two people I know.

I realized that a similarly magical experience was possible if all of the photos and posts between two friends were brought together. You’d remember that first Wall post with your best friend or the funny photo from a night out. You may even see that moment when your favorite couple met at a party you all attended.

I guess there’s nothing really wrong with that. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s kind of cheesy! Still, some people wouldn’t mind having this kind of information accessible to them.

The use of the term friendship also doesn’t sit well with me. It’s a personal thing, so I really shouldn’t gripe about it, but couldn’t they have found another word?

What really bothers me is this: “You’ll be able to see a friendship page if you are friends with one of the people and have permission to view both people’s profiles.”

If you take a look at the right side of that screenshot, you can see Browse Friendships.  In short, you can view other Friendship Pages of people in your circle.

What this tells me is that they seem to have taken the compilation of information to a whole new level!  It freaks me out, even though I make it a point NOT to post anything on Facebook that I don’t mind anyone else seeing/knowing about.  Still, you never know.  Indeed, I am not the only one reacting this way – there is already a Facebook Page dubbed Opt Out of the FB Friendship Feature.  I am pretty sure there is a group that love the feature already, but I wish that we had the option to disable it as well.

Yeah, Facebook Friendship Pages can either showcase the magic that you call your friendship, or it can be one of the most convenient stalking tools online.  As for me, I don’t need Facebook to make me appreciate the magic in my friendships.  Please give us the opt out feature?