March 2007 Linkdump

Sometimes I stumble upon sites that cover a wealth of content I want to blog about. I'm starting Linkdumps here to cover such content. Here's a sampling of interesting stuff from The End of Dave:

Panorama of Mars taken by the Spirit rover over a period of 5 months. Can you imagine us on Mars someday?

The power of casual games: I couldn't stop playing Boomshine for over an hour (and I only wanted to check what it was all about). Here's another one that should help flex your brain muscles a bit.

I don't know how I missed this: Results of the Commons Picture of the Year 2006.

Check out this video:

It's hard to imagine why an 'organization' would promote such bias. Coming from Fox News, I'm not surprised at all. I'd rather watch countless re-runs of Survivor than sit through even a minute of Fox's mindless dribble. Sidenote: Bill O'Reilly's comment sounds like a response to some argument so it could be that it's taken out of context for this video.

14 year old kid jailed for 7 years for a shoving incident in school! I'm not even going to cover the racism angle, the article's done a pretty good job at that. I just don't see how this would even warrant an arrest by the Police. Schools should be schools and kids should be treated as kids. I just don't get what we're teaching our kids these days. Last year there was the iPod lawsuit and now this. Courts are for real issues. People should not even be allowed to file such idiotic cases!

Finally, take a look at the Ten Coolest Numbers. I gotta admit, I never knew #1 on the list was so important. Ah, Maths!

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Modifying content for product placement

Watch this video snippet from CSI NY:

Two quick observations:

1. Forced product placement has to go away, especially when it's this obvious. Sure, I have ads on my blog but I don't write posts based on which ads are performing best. I also don't let ads interrupt the progression of an idea here (ad-free channels are also available through the blog feed). And yet, this is text-based content where I can't control your attention. Inappropriate advertising is a lot more relevant to video where your attention follows the series of images and sounds you perceive. Advertising Coldplay's latest hit in this way is so obvious that it disrupts the progression of the storyline. This is after we know how effective product placement can be when a new music track is just a part of the soundtrack.
2. There's hardly anything you can't find on the Internet; that's the power of the medium. I saw this episode on TV and noted down this anomaly. Later, it took me under 10s to find this video on YouTube! Just goes to show how careful publishers and advertisers need to be concerning the Internet: the world is becoming increasingly adept at reporting their screwups.

Oh ya, all of this is assuming Danny's girlfriend doesn't 'Talk' him to death in a future episode, in which case, the ad is quite in context.

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Of advertising gone bad

Ok, I'm not even going to post the new anti-smoking ad shown around Singapore these days (haven't been able to find it either). That's because it's so disgusting and scary that last night I had to sleep with the lights on. Check out the ad's description (image of the ad in there as well). There have been widespread complaints from people regarding this type of advertising during PrimeTime hours. I hope they're planning on doing something about that. Here are my two cents on this issue:

1. I can completely understand the non-smoking population's frustration against the reticence of smokers to quit. Why not ban cigarettes altogether? I mean, chewing-gums are already banned. Hmm, chewy fruity gum vs. cancer-laden sticks of death. Shouldn't be a hard choice. Is it because chewing-gums don't represent a multi-billion dollar industry? Ahem. But then you can't be sincere in your efforts to make smokers quit, right?
2. How about a little practical sense in advertising? So far, I've seen everything from foot Gangrene to stillborn babies on cigarette packs. I don't disagree with the message at all. Given that, how about similar ads pertaining to the super-overdose of just about everything else in life. Ads for Liver Cirrhosis on a bottle of booze? Posters for Chlamydial and Gonococcal infections outside nightclubs? Pictures of obese people outside all fast-food joints?

This is what I consider advertising gone bad. The view is altruistic but it's not supported by the overall desire to influence at all. As with all things in life, people get used to shock and learn how to phase it out. I suspect that the emerging media is going to be a lot better at this. Here's an inventive anti-smoking news story from the French show Groland:

By the way, don't confuse the message of this post. Let me spell it out for you anyway: I don't want people to smoke! I have a lot of thoughts on smoking and I'll be talking about it at length in a future post. Stay tuned.

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Console Designs

I recently came across this article about the design process behind the Xbox 360. Actually, it's more about JD Design and their work in creating an ideological basis for the Xbox brand. Check it out:

Less Hulk, More Bruce Lee

The Xbox division is really kicking ass. First, they created a startup like environment in a behemoth of a company like Microsoft. They were up against the video gaming giant in Sony's Playstation brand and yet managed to aggressively define a competing market for their console. There have been several articles on the design philosophy behind the Xbox 360, mostly from Microsoft's perspective. This one's interesting in its profiling of a new breed of consultancy that managed to present a simple philosophy for the Xbox brand.

Personally, I love the design philosophy, though I'm not a huge fan of the design itself. It's very neutral. I really didn't have any explicit reaction to the design when I first saw it in early 2005. But then, that's probably what Microsoft was gunning for: a neutral design that would work in all territories. It's ok really; the unique services mix in the Xbox strategy is what really excites me most about the console. And the controller itself is a work of art. The Xbox 360 controller is leagues ahead of any other gaming console controller (including the Nintendo Wii, the motion-sensing notwithstanding).

Given that, the Playstation 3's design is much more slick. It's a bold statement and reeks of class. That seems to go along with Sony's overall mantra as well: the PS3 is not a gaming console! Heh, at least that's what it appears to be. And the design translates quite well. How many articles have we seen around explaining why the PS3 looks the way it does? You'll immediately like it or you won't and in my opinion, that's the basis of good design. Love it, or hate it but spare the indifference. The controller is another story. It's not as ergonomic as the 360's controller and seems out of date next to the slickness of the console. I can see why the boomerang was immediately killed off by Kutaragi but that shouldn't have cowered him from going down the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it route. There are many ways in which Sony could have improved over the original controller's design: the symmetrical thumbstick layout being one area.

Finally, design is one thing and it's already set in stone (at least till they come out with version 2). The thing is, the console makers need to stay true to their core philosophy. What that means for the Xbox division is to always think of the gamer at the centre of the integrated experience they're trying to provide. I hear they're gunning for profitability within the next couple of quarters. They have no idea how much good the Xbox brand has done to Microsoft's bottom-line in general.

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That other Tennis game

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India-Pakistan Unity

Heh. Someone at work sent this to me. Seriously though, I hope India makes it through to the next round. They are a batting powerhouse at the moment and this is probably Sachin's last World Cup.

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Drama unfolding after Woolmer's death

My worst fears have been realized. It appears that Bob Woolmer's death was no coincidence and rumblings abound that he was strangled to death. Jamaican police is deferring any announcements pending an in-depth investigation. Anyway, my thoughts on the last couple of days:

Photo©Khalid Tanveer/AP

There was a candlelight vigil for Woolmer in Multan. Umm, if you're thinking, I've talked about this place in my previous post.

Pakistan is posthumously awarding the coach with one of the country's most prestigious civilian awards, Sitara-e-Imtiaz.

Inzamam played his last ODI against Zimbabwe. What an illustrious career he's had. He'll go down in cricketing history as one of the best batsmen of our time (and probably the worst runner between the wickets). Osman Samiuddin bids farewell to the Pakistani cricketing giant.

Apparently, Woolmer is the hotel's third casualty. Who was booking hotels for the team? This is cricket's premier event; they could've been a bit more selective with their choices. No alarm bells rang when they found out about the two brutal murders there? Or perhaps nobody cared to check! This should've been under ICC's purview. Sidenote: check out the link for sensationalism in headlines when not enough content is available. The author rambles on for eight paragraphs before posting something relevant to the headline.

Sarfaraz Nawaz's latest conspiracy theory. Even if he turns out to be right, the way he runs the press with his stories is just laughable. He probably laments the lack of serious betting in the 1970s.

Finally, Mukul Kesavan has a brilliant piece on the reckless coverage of the events of the past couple of weeks by the media. I'll be talking about the media landscape in a future post. Suffice it to say, 'traditional' media is headed down a very nasty path.

Update: The Jamaican Police has formally announced that "...Mr Woolmer's death was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation." Cricinfo provides further details on the announcement.

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Usability in the movies

We all love top-10 lists, don't we :). Here's one that analyzes software/systems usability bloopers in movies:

Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers

One of my concentrations at university was in Human-Computer Interface Systems and I've always been interested in usability issues to the bone. The way I see it, we spend a lot of time feature-loading and very little time in thinking how users access our implementations. Anyway, that's a topic for another day. For now, check out the host website for a whole list of columns on issues in web usability. You'll definitely pick up a few tricks for your own use. And yes, I'm still working on my blog to fix many of the 'basic' issues identified.

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Exclusives no more

Games selection wise, we're getting closer to the point where first-party titles will become the only differentiating factor between consoles. Capcom just announced that Devil May Cry 4 is going multiplatform, coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously followed by a release on the PC. Who's at the losing end of this changing dynamic? Sony and its Playstation 3 console. It's been rumored for a while that the Metal Gear Solid and Tekken franchises are destined to the same fate.

I think this is good news for the industry as a whole as it allows the developer/publisher combo to target the largest possible audience. It's also an obvious benefit for gamers especially those on non-Sony platforms. Some may cite this as proof that Sony is losing out on the gaming market. That was inevitable really, considering that the PS2 sold in excess of 100 million units last gen. With the cost and late arrival of the PS3, do we really expect publishers to swear allegiance to Sony.

Keep an eye out for the next important trend: first-party titles crossing over the fence. Rumors abound that Microsoft wants to port Viva Pinata to the Nintendo DS.

(via Kotaku)

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Apple and US foreign policy

Hilarious video:

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From geek to chic

I won't tear apart Calvin Klein's marketing strategy for their new perfume in2U. Shiny Shiny has already done that! Choice quote:

Who are these non-self-respecting people who demand a fragrance to wear while battling it out on World of Warcraft, or while blogging about the 'atmospheric' metaphors warbled in the latest Arcade Fire album?!

One question though: is that us they're trying to represent in that poster? Time to hit the gym!

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More on Woolmer's death

You know what's the first thing I thought of when I read yesterday's headline? That Bob Woolmer was murdered. Given the general reaction to Pakistan's loss, it wasn't too far-fetched to think of some idiot on a personal vendetta against the team and its coach. We generally have a natural disposition to blame someone or something after such tragic incidents. However, I can't see why everyone's still marginalizing the role of the rowdy public in this case. Consider Imran Khan's reaction (which is not completely out of order):

Whatever the general public in Pakistan says, the fact is that Bob was not responsible for Pakistan’s defeat or any other loss that the team has faced because the coach’s job is simply to teach and instruct. The performance of the Pakistan team is a sheer responsibility of the captain and no one but Inzamam is responsible for the exit of the team from the world Cup. And the poor performance of the Pakistani team is the only cause of Woolmer’s cardiac arrest.
(via DNA)

Forget the poor performance Imran, it's the crazy reaction from the public that should be blamed primarily. I just couldn't get over the picture stuck in my head all day long today. Consider this:

He was surrounded by vomit and diarrhoea and with froth around his mouth.
(via The Daily Telegraph)

Can you imagine the mental state of this person on the night of his death? If it's true passion you're looking for in sport, this is it. Yet, Pakistan (as well as India) fail to understand this. This is the reaction to India's defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the same tournament:

Fans have burned effigies of wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and have damaged his under-construction house, demanding that the plot be taken back by the government. They have also suggested that if India does not go further in the tournament, the team should not be allowed to stay in India (what they mean by that is anybody's guess).
(via Sportingo)

England took staunch measures against football hooliganism when it was bringing down the sport in the country. It's time now that Pakistan completely outlaws feverish attitude towards cricket (and God willing, other sports) in the country. Any mob/procession or burning of effigies should be treated as a criminal offense against the stability of society.

South Asians, repeat this over and over: it's all just a game!

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The death of Bob Woolmer

The Pakistani coach has passed away. This has to be the most dramatic incident in the history of cricket World Cup. The cause of death is still unknown but unconfirmed reports indicate that he might have died of a Brain Haemorrhage. My condolence to his family and friends back home in South Africa.

I would advice the general public in Pakistan to lay their disgust for the team's recent loss to rest. I've always had great respect for Woolmer's calm and composed demeanour in the cricket crazed nation that is ours. A brief outline of Woolmer's cricketing career can be found here.

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The power of CG

What do you think about this picture?

It's a Computer Generated image of the Korean actress Song Hye Kyo. Check out this tutorial on the making of this image. It won't help you re-create the entire thing but should give you some pointers to bring your own celebrity to life (umm in the CG world that is). It's not that we don't have the ability to create life-like images on computers, it's just that it's a very difficult and arduous job. Give it another 7-10 years and I bet we'd have advanced tremendously in this field. Add another 10 years for effective Virtual Reality to reach fruition and we'll all be walking around in the Matrix.

Update: Test your skills in this Fake or Foto challenge. Some of them are easy to guess but others are shockingly realistic.

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Rickshaw humor

My attempt at a translation:

Dear General Musharraf, Please accept our congrats on the success of the Women's Rights Bill...We'd be grateful if you draft another Bill for Men's Rights...It's quite difficult to consume and offer (alcoholic) drinks!

Humor on Pakistani Rickshaws is nothing new but this is an audacious attempt at it. I like it.

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The picture we can't fathom

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field photograph gives us a glimpse of our expanding universe. Watch this video as the author explains why this is the 'single most important picture ever taken by humanity'.

I think we can infer by simple probability that there's at least one civilization like ours out there amidst the several billions of stars. By the way, there's a great shot of the Orion constellation at the start of the video. Must see!

(via One Man's Blog)

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Where do we stand?

This video should answer that question:

Amazing!

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Cricket and Pakistan

Sigh! Another low for Pakistan. I'm sure you've all read by now that Pakistan has been knocked out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 by Ireland. Yes, it's frustrating and disappointing. But is it this disappointing:

Protesters held a mock burial of the team and chairman Ashraf in Hyderabad city, while posters and effigies of Inzamam and Woolmer were burnt in the central city of Multan.
(via CNN)

And more:

In Multan, Inzamam-ul-Haq's home town, incensed youth held a protest rally, chanted slogans against Pakistan and demanded that police arrest the World Cup squad. The mob was heard chanting, "Death to Bob Woolmer , death to Inzamam, death to Nasim Ashraf - police should arrest them".
(via Cricinfo)

Now, don't delude yourself into thinking that this is passion talking. Even if it is, to hell with a sport where people get this passionate. I think it's a good thing that Pakistan never even made it to the Super 8 stage of the tournament. Here are some reasons:

1. This should take some focus off of cricket in Pakistan for a while (in terms of expectations). It's time the nation spends more resources in developing other sports e.g. Squash, Hockey, Athletics and even Football. With almost 160 million people in Pakistan, we have the capacity to gain a local and international audience.
2. Instead of this being a low point for cricket in Pakistan, consider this as a punishment for the 'extreme' fans of the country who'd rather burn effigies than show grace in defeat.
3. It shows that cricket at the Associate level is improving. With the defeat of India at the hands of Bangladesh yesterday, it's good to see that the sport is getting more and more balanced.
4. I'm fairly certain that the Pakistani cricket system will be overhauled yet again. Only this time, it appears that the role of committees and Senate (!) involvement will be diminished. I think the Coach and Captain should have complete authority on field.

Something's gotta be done about all this. This has become a far too common occurrence in South Asia.

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Of rumored phones and other stuff

Posting will be light for the next couple of days as I try to catch up with a personal project. Meanwhile, here are some short comments on stories I found interesting these past few weeks:

Do something nice for the environment. These stickers remind people to curtail their use of products derived directly from trees.

You've heard of the Zune. Well, the Zune phone is under development if these stories are to be believed. I think Microsoft should have never gone ahead with the Zune. It should have been the Zune phone from the get go.

I'm more excited about the Google Switch (rumored codename). If the final product is anything like the leaked photos, I'd buy it in an instant based on the looks alone. Given that it's Google, we know it's gonna be geek friendly!

Top 25 Web 2.0 search engines (often gratuitous use of AJAX, Flash etc). Ujiko has the weirdest interface I've yet seen of any search site. FlickrStorm looks really good and I'm definitely going to explore it further for image searches.

Finally, here's a video from Microsoft's Wow campaign for Windows Vista. There's a clear message in there for everyone (heartfelt really). It's not of the same caliber as some of the other ads we've seen from that 'other' computing giant but great job nonetheless:

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Organizational bias

National investments in innovation are largely wasted and technology studies confirm the political and social biases of their sponsors instead of presenting the truth.

That's the conclusion of Forrester Research in their December 2006 report on the impact of national spending in support of innovation. Someone should comment on the quantitative aspect of the analysis; I'm definitely intrigued to find out any specifics. However, I have one comment on this report. This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I could generalize this argument and apply it to any organization that has monetary dependence on any external party. Heck, even bloggers aren't spared! Do you remember the whole ruckus over disclosure a while back when Microsoft was giving out Acer Ferrari laptops (preloaded with Vista) to influential bloggers? There's always the tendency for that bit of bias. That's why it's imperative that ethical standards are formalized and made an intrinsic part of organizational culture for even the smallest of cases.

(via InformationWeek)

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Content streams for online TV

Ha ha! You might think I'm after TechCrunch's tail really but I can't help it. It's one of my favourite blogs largely because they've condensed the coverage of startups in America (often other countries) in one place. That doesn't mean that their word is the gospel and I tend to nitpick a lot.

You see the thing about the blogosphere is that you can hardly go wrong. Whatever you write can inspire someone to write more about, often with different interesting perspectives. So, why the prelude? Consider this excerpt from their coverage of Viacom's deal with Joost:

It would be a real loss to the world if the two tiers of creativity, professional and user generated, were forever bifurcated in different distribution channels.

I don't agree with this sentiment at all. If by classifying user generated content as a tier of creativity they're implying that it stands on par with professional content, they've clearly never been bombarded with tons of similar videos of sleeping cats (some of these are really good though). Remember, this is in context with Joost's planned TV-like service. TV-like! Which immediately means that unfiltered user generated content shouldn't fit into the picture at all. We have Youtube for that. The kind of content that would make this service successful would have to be professional (including professionally made-out user videos). Convergence of the two streams of content would be less than ideal given that users would have the same expectations of Joost as they have of TV.

This is why Xbox Live Arcade is a closed system. Microsoft's aim with Live Arcade was to bring casual gaming to the masses through their Xbox console. What platform was and still is the dominant one for casual games? Answer: the PC (browser based games). Now, why didn't Microsoft just create a porting interface so gamers could simply access the countless online 'user generated' Flash/other games available. Probably because they wanted to control the quality and quantity of games published. Revenue splits would also be a good reason :) Even now through their XNA initiative, Microsoft is allowing user generated games to appear on the Xbox 360 only if a gamer is signed up as an XNA subscriber.

It's all about controlling the user experience (remember TV-like) and here bifurcation is a necessity. Now, I'll wait for someone else to be inspired by this ;)

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State of the Asian IT industry

I'm a bit late to blog about this but in the general interest of the IT workers in Singapore, here you go anyway.

Kelly does not have such good news for information technology staff, however. A major reason is because employers currently prefer to get contract staff to work on a project basis.

That's an excerpt from the AsiaOne article on Kelly Services' 2007 Singapore Salary Guide (PDF file). Why should contracting staff have anything to do with pay hikes in the IT industry? I mean, nine sectors are poised for growth while the baseline industry that should perhaps be responsible for the growth of the nation as a whole is forecasted to stay stagnant. Well if it's only market forces that are determining where the IT industry is headed, I can't complain much. That's simple economics, right? The problem is, it's not.

Preface: In the following discussion I'm using IT as an umbrella term that includes anybody who can work wonders with computers and does that as a profession. Like I've noted earlier, I'm not a fan of discrediting arguments based on semantics.

The Kelly survey mentions that salary increase in the IT industry was almost flat in 2006 as a result of high demand in the industry being satisfied with a good supply of IT manpower from overseas. Makes sense: stagnant pay levels for the whole industry because demand is being more than fulfilled by supply. What doesn't make sense is why it's only happening to the IT industry. After all, the other sectors reported on are also affected by the influx of foreign workers. The argument would breakdown in cases where we're comparing against jobs requiring specific domain knowledge. However, specialized skills don't play a role here: we're making generic industry comparisions. Clearly the IT industry (in all of Asia really) is taking a direction where workers are dispensable and in general a-dime-a-dozen. This is exactly my only concern and it's not Singapore specific.

The problem is we're commoditizing the IT market in Asia. We're not leading, we're following. IT in much of Asia is reduced to hundreds of thousands of programmers maintaining and upgrading existing systems churning our inordinate amounts of code for siloed problems in the marketplace. In many ways, with the raft of individuals creating a cliche out of office positions (front, middle and back office) and hence a brand new form of elitism in our society, IT's being severely looked down upon. Remember, this is the same industry that's spawned (or was spawned by) companies the like of Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Amazon. We're on the wrong track and if we continue down this path we'd have effectively extinguished any source of inspiration for computing in Asia. It's really not about stagnant pays. Do we want to be the continent that stays stagnant? All the great innovations we're looking at today are charged by the IT industry. Here, take this 3D molecular search engine promising to rapidly advance new drug discovery as an example.

What do we need to do in order to put IT back on the pedestal? First, every company operating in Asia needs to realize that IT is not a non-revenue generating job. This distinction has been popularised by the banking and finance industries mainly but exists in just about every other one. If your traders are dealing with securities and your Sales team is bringing in the money, it's largely because your baseline is strong. And your baseline is in IT. If you're in the business of selling technology, your customers are buying your products not because marketing is enticing them or Sales is pushing them. It's because your tech. team is designing and building them as quality products.

Second, the utilization of computing is completely upto the company. If you want to relegate it to the setting up and maintenance of computers, intranets and websites, that's fine. But don't for a second believe that the buck stops there. You could do much more by utilizing the full computational capabilities provided by computers and enhance your business as much as possible. Finally, stop treating this industry as a plug-in plug-out repository of employees. Though we may all have incredibly transferable skillsets, we're not all the same and the difference could very well enrich or ruin your company (again just as with any other industry).

I hope that Asian governments are aware of this and are taking measures to ensure that industry growth translates to a growth in reputation and employee mindsets (maybe even pay!). We all know that market forces determine the predilection of the youth towards particular careers. I just don't want out entire region fail to nurture talent in the computing field. And for all you readers out there in the IT industry, gain some respect and understanding of that which powers your lives by watching these two great movies:

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The online bird of Singapore

Well, it's no secret that the Singapore government is actively investing in startups. The relative success of this endeavor and the reason behind it is a conversation for another day. For now, consider the ambitious startup by the name of VelvetPuffin that's getting some global recognition to the extent that they were profiled by Techcrunch. Here's a video demonstration of the service:

I haven't tested the service so I'll leave out comments related to that. Seems a sort of noble cause when they're trying to extend social networking across the major clients (web, desktop and mobile) whilst still keeping a carrier independent approach. The UI seems really slick given that it's coming from Singapore; the Web 2.0 moniker has not permeated the startup space here yet and genuine UI development seems to be related to actual needs rather than for any classification. I've read that they are looking towards revenue sharing deals with the major carriers.

I don't agree with Techcrunch's assertion that:

...the major drawback of VelvetPuffin is their two required downloads (desktop and mobile), a tough sell for consumers now accustomed to website based applications. I don’t think that a superior mobile experience will be enough to get users to jump on board en masse.

Velvet Puffin is not a service for everyone. Their target market may appear to include users of MySpace and Facebook but it's really a subset of that. The current market is for those high-energy networking junkies who wouldn't mind the added inconvenience of downloading a PC and mobile application to satisfy their fix. In that context, the two downloads are hardly a tough sell especially given that the user experience provided in the client version of their application would be far greater than what's possible through browser-only versions. Ofcourse, they could make life easier for their customers by only providing an online solution that can be accessed from the PC and mobile. Maintenance of the application would be a lot easier as well for the young startup. However, I suspect that this would hardly help in growing their userbase beyond a certain point.

The one main issue I have with the service is the name. Apparently, Velvet Puffin is a bird indigenous to Singapore. What is the sense in localising the name of your startup? I mean I'd expect the marketing guys to think along the lines of picking a name that's easy to remember and is short. VelveltPuffin is neither! A user comment on the Techcrunch page sums it up well:

Unless VelvetPuffin only intends to market to Singaporeans that justification for a name is equivalent to a company calling itself Hajikamaji because it is named after five legged horse famous in Timbuktu. (by trevo)

Anyway, it's nice to see some representation from this small Island-nation in the battle for your eyeballs. They could very well provide the spark that brings together the grandiose vision of Singapore to have a Taiwan style economy.

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User guided search

ChaCha is described as a people powered search. The site enables users to find information through live 'search experts' who I imagine are avid Google users. Normal web search is also supported. So, I thought I'll give the experts a shot. I had recently heard a remix version of True (originally performed by Spandau Ballet) on a cab ride to work. I couldn't get that song out of my head and before searching for it on Google I thought I'd give ChaCha a try. Check out a screenshot from the session:

Neat. I mean the interface is fairly usable: a panel on the left for chatting with the expert and a shared results panel on the right side. I didn't get the song I wanted but I don't blame the other guy for it; he did provide me with a close second match. The song was found on the Wikipedia page for True: Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by P.M. Dawn.

Although I won't be using the service again (too used to Google), there were some nice takeways from this experiment. The first expert I was connected to wasn't listed under the entertainment category. That was quickly fixed when 'she' routed me to the relevant person. The guides were courteous even if it was to get a good rating from me. I briefly looked around to see how ChaCha signs up their search experts. You can only become one if you're invited by another user at the Master level. Given that, one should hope that these guys really are much better at this than the average person.

Notice that monetization through referrals should provide a large chunk of ChaCha's revenues should the service pick up. The agent that was tasked to answer my query was listed under Shopping > Entertainment and specifically asked me whether or not I wanted to buy the song in question. While shopping sites currently have to fight for attention on a level playing field in Google, ChaCha could strike deals with specific sites to refer users directly to their product listings and make a cut based on each referral.

I'd much rather see this integrated with our normal search experience. More often than not searching is really researching. What if ChaCha integrated expert guided search within the main search page rather than force users down one of two paths. To make this a real user guided search engine, a panel on the right (chat window) would contain real-time agent suggestions based on the context of the query. Notice that the proponents of semantic search engines are trying to accomplish this in an automated manner (a very difficult proposition indeed). The disadvantage is that the user is not completely reliant on the agent's expertise and could simply use it as a reference in his searches.

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Scribd: Youtube of documents

Scribd is an innovative concept. The site lets users upload several document types which can be viewed in an Acrobat Reader like interface (or plain text for some). You can embed documents in other pages or download them to your local machine. One cool feature is the ability to listen to a real-time audio of the document or download it in mp3 format. I tried it and came away with good impressions. Some general thoughts:

1. I know it's a Y Combinator funded startup but that doesn't mean that they have to plaster Paul Graham's OnLisp on their homepage. If anything, this alienates a large segment of their target audience since a significant part of the load time is spent in displaying a flash applet for a core programming book.
2. Copyright issues should be much easier to deal with here. We're quite far ahead in scanning text for copyright violations compared to the same process for videos. Although, I'll bet good money on the fact that copyright issues will be tolerated for atleast their first year of operation (until they gain mainstream recognition).
3. This should have a solid business model from the start. Selling advertising against text is not only easier, it's also more context sensitive. The guys at Scribd can also experiment with different use cases for advertising without significantly interrupting the users normal flow through a document. I also see that they're providing an option to order a printed copy of the document which should provide them with additional revenue streams.

A while back I was toying with the idea of setting up a site where users could upload short stories, essays, novels etc. I thought that with the right application such a service could be a disruptive force in the publishing industry. Well another site popped up doing exactly that and now Scribd could potentially eat everyone's lunch by providing a mass market solution for both producers and consumers of media. So far, this is ok! Eventually, I would like to see integration of all such services so that I have one place for professional and user generated content. Google should keep an eye out for such services for acquisitions.

Update: Apparently they randomly select documents to show on the main page and maintain said document for a certain period of time? Well, OnLisp disappeared but in its place I'm looking at a Spanish slideshow of a book-reading dog! This mainpage of the site needs to be modified (copy Youtube!). You don't want to turn away visitors to your site just because they couldn't identify with a randomly selected document you chose to display prominently on your homepage. The solution could be as painful as a homepage layout change or as trivial as an editor-selected neutral document of the day.

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The fairy of the lake

During the past Chinese New Year holiday, I went up on a road trip across Malaysia with a couple of friends. Looking at some of the pictures from the trip reminded me of Lake Saiful Malook back home in Pakistan. Umm, that's not because of any resemblance to the places we visited (more on that later). Anyway, check out this snapshot of the lake first:

Photo©Syed Abulhasan Rizvi

And another:

Photo©Heartkins

Magical place isn't it! It's located at a height of 10,500 feet above sea level. The story goes that a young prince by the name of Saiful Malook (surprise!) used to frequent this place during his hunting sessions. One day he saw a beautiful fairy walking on the lake. The two meet up and fall in love until one day the fairy disappears. The prince treks all over the surrounding mountains to try and find her, never to be heard from again. Now some stories say that the prince manages to find the fairy and the two live happily ever after. Others surmise that the prince never found the fairy and cried so much that his tears formed this majestic lake. In any case, they say that midnight each day (or maybe during a full moon!) fairies gather here and dance around the lake (with wind chimes tinkling and what not).

Well, I've never been to this place. If you believe the beauty of these Northern areas of Pakistan (and India for that matter), you'd realize that these are some spots that you just can't miss especially if you're an avid traveler. Compared to South East Asia, these places are less publicized . And then there are the security concerns. So, you'd be hard pressed to find the Himalayan and Karakoram region bordering between India, China and Pakistan making it to any top ten lists for tourists. I'd like to say that the opening up of Pakistan to tourism should be seen as one of the biggest benefits of improving the security situation in the country. No doubt there are huge 'internal' economic and social benefits to be had from regulation of security in the country; in my mind, tourism should rank right up there as an 'external' benefit. Simply put, we owe it to the world to see nature's miracles regardless of where they might be located. And so far, Pakistan has not done a very good job at that.

If you're a traveler to this region, this could be a good thing. A relative of mine used to say that the miraculous thing about the Himalayan region, considering its beauty, is that most places would be so deserted (read: heavenly) that you could possibly be the only person to have ever set foot there. Translation: an out of the world experience where you can't peek around and then buy a souvenir from the local shop/shack. It's literally pristine beauty. No wonder the fairies still frequent this place.

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Two startups, one giant concern

Consider these two web startups:

Geni: The site allows users to create and maintain their family tree online. Your tree expands as you connect to nodes that already have their own nodes defined. Eventually, you should have this immense social network that includes all your extended family members. Interesting; definitely in the short run. The interface is Flash based and quite simple. I'm guessing that they'll eventually make a play for social networking within the extended family network enabling text, voice and video for the whole network. Check out the screenshot below:

Buxfer: I can see myself using this site for an extended period. It allows users to manage their finances online and unless you're an accountant with thousands of dollars in daily transactions (in which case you'll probably have one bloated excel file), I think you'll find this service really useful. You'll find it especially useful if you're a recent college graduate, in which case you can track who owes you what and where you're spending that minimum wage you're earning at your first real job. Check out the screenshot:

I have the same issue with these two services (and potentially most of the new crop of startups): what is their business model. How are these guys planning on making money beyond their inital support from VC firms? Now don't get me wrong, I respect the risk the founders have taken to deliver desirable services to users. The advice most often doled out is to figure out the idea/implementation first, the business model will follow (after all that's how Google did it). My concern is that too many startups are thinking of advertising as the sole revenue stream for their companies. And that's a bad thing! The businesses might not scale to the levels required to maintain profitability with advertising alone. And who can accurately predict the impact of serving ads on the existing service. My advice: figure out a sub-service for which the users can be charged. New entrepreneurs should keep a paid service business model in mind when they venture into the business world.

I can't think of a scenario for Geni at the moment but I can definitely think of one service that I would pay for in Buxfer's case. Assuming these guys prove their credibility with user data, I'd pay for a financial advisory service. It's a base idea i.e. I'm not considering privacy etc. I would gladly pay (a reasonable amount) for professional financial planners on Buxfer's service who analyze my income and expenditure data and help me invest savings or manage money in an optimal way. Again, this is assuming that the service remains so good that I use it regularly.

Update: The real reason I started this rant was after reading Techcrunch's post on Geni's post financing valuation tagged at US$100 million! That's a lot of dough and I only hope the VCs see what we can't see now or else we really are headed for another dotcom bust.

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Shakespearean insults

Speaking of the famous bard, check out the Shakespearean Insulter. Wonder if he used a few of these during his lifetime.

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Evolution of word power

So I suddenly remembered these lines from Fight Club today:

...God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

Such power and purpose in words! In the context of the movie it tends to provide the glue that holds Tyler's arguments together. I'm not going to discuss the content of the above passage. I'm rather interested in how it came about. Since I'm trying to track information flow, I will also not distinguish between literature and media. Words represent everything and we're looking at the evolution of word power.

You have to appreciate how far 'words' have evolved over the centuries. We started off with the power of literary thought fully vested with philosophers: only their words were worthy of being quoted. Mass distribution brought forth entire industries in publishing, where relatively unknown authors could script together essays, stories and novels creating an entire generation of thought leaders with the ability to create literary wealth. Broadcasting increased this level of influence with Radio and TV creating original content to give us a holistic experience of content.

However, note what happened in this progression. Or rather, what never happened. Our position as 'consumers' of content never changed. The mass market always existed downstream and we were always the consumers of information. We still rely on these information sources and are arguably highly influenced by them. They, on the other hand, are not influenced by us atleast in terms of the information collated (no disputing the fact that coverage is firmly based on our desires). What changed is the 'attention' factor: we simply paid more attention. We became more knowledgable as a result of more and more information coming downstream to us. Still, one question was left unanswered. Do we all have something important to say?

Well, that question is being answered now. The enabler is the internet. I don't care much for semantics so you could call this revolution Web 2.0 or revel in the fact that Time magazine christened you as person of the year for contributing to the information superhighway. In my opinion, the internet did not need a version change to enable us to add new thoughts to the world. The one thing it provided us from the start was an active medium where the notion of upstream vs. downstream and producers vs. consumers was always going to change.

The internet is inherently different because it's not a passive medium. We consume information and we create new knowledge. And we're starting to get our fair share of Plato, Socrates, Hume, Kant and Shakespeare in the process. Sure seems to me that we're getting thought leaders for each genre of information. This is how far we've come and what we've achieved. This is how the power of words has evolved. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why I'm blogging and why you're subscribed to my thoughts :).

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Post paucity

Heh. Twists my tongue a bit, reading that out.

Anyway, I apologise for the dearth of updates in the last couple of weeks. I'm obsessive in some ways and getting this blog's domain name setup properly turned out to be right up there with lining up pencils on a desk for me. If you notice, I now publish this blog on http://punchfire.com. For the life of me, I can't seem to get the www subdomain to work properly.

It turns out that the new version of Blogger doesn't support custom domain mapping for both the main domain and its www subname at the same time. There are other issues with Blogger custom domains which I won't get into. I will say this though, Blogger shouldn't have made it out of beta until each feature was thoroughly tested and fully functional.

Regardless, I'm going to let http://www.punchfire.com remain as it is for now and hope that eventually I'll be able to set a forward from there to where my blog is published now.

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