February 2007 Archives

This is a short post - and this is so funny. I read over from The Register about this website that has a design so reminiscent of the 1990s. And this isn't just any website, but the corporate website of the one of the largest major music labels in the world - EMI Group. Check it out.

Just a quick followup on the previous post. Talk about coincidence. I came across this article that talks about the market shares of online feed readers and interestingly, all three of the tools I mentioned yesterday, Bloglines, Google Personalized Page and Netvibes are in this article.

Consume and consider the following info: Google Operating System: The Market Shares of Online Feed Readers

When I use the internet, I just launch by browser and off I go to all the sites I need to go on a daily basis. Pretty much automatic. However, recently I laid eyes on Netvibes, and boy was a blown away. Sure it isn't new, but I've not been tempted before to click on a Netvibes RSS button that I keep seeing on a lot of blogs everywhere.

But yesterday I did, and I was stunned by the work and the artistry of the site. It was intuitive, quick, and bloody powerful. Before this I fire up Bloglines for a list of my feeds, but Netvibes is able to put everything on a page for me, and allows me full control over the sort of modules and items I want displayed on my page. And there are also tabs to keep me from being overwhelm, which is useful, since anything longer than 5 sentences overwhelm me easily.

I'm more than impressed also by the look and feel of the site. It doesn't look shabby, oh no.

So then I immediately turned to Google's Personalized Page. I've known about this page since it was launched (the joy of subscribing to the Google Blog), and to be honest, I wasn't very impressed. At that time, I wasn't so much into RSS, so I saw no value in it - I had no problems continuing to getting my news from Google News and my email in a separate pane.

Upon closer look this time around, with Netvibes as a yardstick, It does almost the same thing as Netvibes does, but looks wise it pales in comparison. But I've not been been known to only care about looks, so I resolve to dig a little deeper into Google's page, to see if there's anything I missed the first time.

One thing I'll be looking out for in particular would be performance - and this I can only determine after a few days worth of testing.

At present, although interface-wise the functionalities are similar (both drag and drop rearrangements and plenty of modules for each), it remains to be seen which one will eventually win my loyalty.

But hot damn Netvibes is pretty. :)

When we talk about the web, the general public will always think of the information contained within browser windows, and the hypertext links that brings me from Point A to Point B. Seldom do they ponder on the technology behind the pages, and I'd wager that if you ask anyone (non-technical, that is) about the development of the web since the beginning of 1990s, they wouldn't have noticed.

But changed it has. And the change has a name: Web 2.0.

Okay, okay, you can stop laughing now.

When it was first conceived, Web 2.0 was being blown off as hot air coming out of an elephant's tough behind. I suppose in retrospect that's probably because there wasn't a solid real-world example. In fact, think about that last sentence. *One* solid real-world example? Web 2.0 by its nature requires more than one website with fancy AJAX and client-side interactiveness to be even considered Web 2.0.

That's because the essense of Web 2.0 was it's ability to connect people, communities and our shared consciousness. Our combined knowledge leveraged with the speed afforded by the mediums we now have for communication and collaboration. Never before has the web allowed input from the average user, and use that very information as input for other users and uses.

I think it took years for these 'enabled' websites to spring up - all tying the other websites together, to bring them up as a coherent 'whole', before the term Web 2.0 was revitalized. Suddenly everyone is saying, 'Oh, so this is what they meant back in the day!'

Bear in mind that prior to the 'socialization' of the web, the web behaved very much like any controlled mass media, although admittedly it was easier to get web hosting space for your own homepage than it was to write op-eds in newspapers or appear in TV. But the direction of the information was one way, and that was from the screen to you.

It would be silly to try and pigeonhole the term Web 2.0 into one single definition, but if one attribute can be used to embody the spirit of Web 2.0, it would be the socialization of the web. Everyone being able to contribute to the site, giving others instant access to information regardless of physical location on the planet. Real-time communication, information gathering, parsing and tying everything together in a meaningful fashion, easy sharing of data and resources. Sharing. Community.

I came across this video that claims to explain Web 2.0 in under 5 minutes. It's does a good job as a summary, because, like I said, defining just one thing for Web 2.0 would be silly, but it is adequate. Check it out here.

For me, Web 2.0 is a state of being on the Internet, rather than an individual website.

I was about to hit the sack when I came across this article: Mono brings Visual Basic programs to Linux. Although it doesn't explicitly say which version of VB, it does seem to cover only the .NET version of VB (considering what Mono does, this is very logical).

I mean, when you say VB, there are after all two 'versions' , if you will, of VB, and that's VB6 and VB.NET. Both of these languages, despite their similarities in name, are so different from each other that only the colossally stubborn would insist that they resemble anything like each other. The article could do better in being more explicit.

Anyway, [stiffles yawn], so now I can write VB.NET applications running on Mono. Is it a good idea? It simply means if I've existing skills in VB.NET, I could leverage that on a platform I don't understand. However, since you're coding in VB, it's a high probability that you're going to go through a learning curve getting around in the Linux environment anyway. If you're going to learn, why not learn a new language and code for Linux the 'proper' way? At the very least take this opportunity to use Mono to learn up C#, if you haven't already in the Windows world!

I'm oh so pissed.

I waited damn long for the SQL Server Compact Edition to come out of beta so that I can use it in my application. We're talking bated breath here, the daily website status check.

I just found that it cannot support byte datatype length beyond 510 bytes! This sucks, of course, as I can't use it to store the images the application that I'm currently writing depends on!

And I spent hours today porting the database from Access to SQLCE, only to hit this problem.

I'm more than a little angry - time is money, and as it is time is already a premium. This is counterproductive, and I wished this sort of crap wouldn't always happen when I'm in crunch mode.

I'm not unfamiliar with this sort of tech curve balls, but it'd be nice once in a while to just work with new technology that 'just works'.

If this was for work, I'd be less angry, but this is for my personal project, which is already behind schedule as it is (and getting later as I write this rant).

I don't think I talked about my feelings about affirmative action. I feel I'm not properly equipped language-wise to articulate my feelings - it's complex, but it sure isn't ambivalent.

Firstly, I think I speak for many of my generation who don't really care for politics and how it shapes our daily lives. And I think this stems from the fact that during our schooling days, we've never been encouraged to talk politics (not that it was incredibly interesting to talk about while you were 12). However I did remember feeling very curious: "why politics?" What was it about politics that was so dangerous that it had to be out-of-bounds, even when none of us at that age knew what it was?

So anyway, here we are. I think I will spend a little time later to talk about politics in general, and why it is one of the most exciting and interesting topics to talk about, and how difficult (if not downright impossible) to be completely objective about politics.

Politics as a whole - it's very simple for me personally. How does it affect me and mine? Has it a positive effect on my community and the community as a whole? And does whatever happens in politics make me learn about people, and improve me as a person?

One thing about politics I learnt is you should try and clear your thoughts, and find neutral sources of information to feed your mind. In the end, it's important that you make up *your own mind*, and come to your own conclusions.

I saw this snippet of info, and found it incredibly interesting. I'm not sure about the neutrality of this article, but I think as a companion piece it goes well with the Internationl Herald Tribune article.

Yeah. Answer me that. Where does all the time go?

Okay, here's a little spaced out post. I find that the time just zips by like a bullet train. I cannot seem to think of a proper post to put here when suddenly a whole week has passed since my last post.

I will try and keep a closer schedule, but apparently my ideas are travelling faster than my will to type it down. Even my obsessive book purchases have not been up for a while, and I have bought at least 3 rounds of books that hasn't been updated here.

Btw, I'm claiming this blog for Bloglines.

The fellow is in the best form of his career at present. When he gets the ball, everyone doesn't really know what he's going to do, that that's the epitome of a great dribbler, which, undisputedly, he is. Anyone who doubts what a great player he is is simply deluding himself.

Which is why I say that Cristiano Ronaldo will indeed move on this summer, when the transfer window opens. Whether Fergie wants to or not, this chap will want to leave, and the members of the board, acutely aware of the debts the club has amassed during the takeover by the Glazers, will not turn down a generous offer. I mean, come on... it makes perfect business sense. When you buy someone for less than 20 million, and you can sell him off at 45?

I'm not huge fan of his acting talents, that's true. Sometimes I wished he'd stay on his feet and tussle with the best of them. But he is what he is. And he is a joy to watch. Something about him when the ball is at his feet keeps me mesmerized.

It's like watching Ronaldo (the fat one) while he was at Barcelona, and his early days in Inter. He was simply superb. You get a sense that you'd lose the showcase of skills sooner or later, but boy when it was displayed did it rock. It's the same sense I'm getting with Cristiano now.

Oh well, I'm resigned to losing him to whichever club he wants to go. I preparing right now that my MU matches next season will be decidedly less exciting, and to enjoy his performances while I can.

I had wanted to update the blog with my thoughts on ebook, on forum member dynamics, on my feelings towards several books I've read but not had the time to blab about, about what I thought about Mono and being obscenely late in my development work.

However.

I caught an episode of Heroes, after hearing good things about it. Wow. It's brilliant. Intelligent and engaging, and Ali Larter is hot. :)

I noticed that it takes a lot of effort on my end to get involved in a new TV show - so much crappy stuff out there (read: MTV reality shows). But Heroes sucked me in totally.

Looking forward to bullying people I know who has the whole season.