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Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts

04 April 2008

Add Persistent Highlights and Sticky Notes on Any Webpage

Diigo, the Web's premier annotation, bookmarking and research tool, just released their latest version of this resourceful tool. Unfortunately, the top tier of tech bloggers were not overly enthusiastic in their coverage. Such useful and appropriate innovation deserves a similar degree of acknowledgment in my view, but somehow writers seem to have fallen into what we might call a "sound byte" methodology especially in describing complex startups. Don't you want to know about things that help you?

Diigo is fairly well accepted as the best research tool on the Internet. Classified (incorrectly I might add) as uniquely a bookmarking tool, the feature filled platform is actually more of a people driven data gathering tool. With refined aspects allowing for marking, annotating, saving, sharing, organizing and manipulating Web data – Diigo essentially emulates most aspects of human powered research and study organization. Diigo helps users "grab" knowledge from all over the Web and stores it in a platform where it can be assimilated. Version 3 is all about accentuating and integrating these and more online research tools with socially interactive community aspects.

Version 3 Refinements

A great new UI, a new Diigo toolbar and especially an added fully functional sidebar have added great form and function to Diigo. Version 3 has over 100 new features; here are some of the new features.

Diigo as a research tool: Diigo's entire browser extension has been re-designed for improved usability, with a sidebar where a user can easily search and access their bookmarks, annotations and notes. This sidebar adds great flexibility and simplicity to viewing annotations and in using other Diigo functions. Users can view, search, tag and perform other functions in the sidebar while still using the classic view and/or surfing for resources.

Team research platform - Another powerful Version 3 addition is the enhanced ability for users to vote or approve bookmarks in a rather "suggestive" matrix. Group tagging, allows entire groups to suggest the "best of the best" and in this fashion good content (voted on by a collective) tends to rise to the top. Suggestive excellence may be the best feature of any social network and Diigo's content is superb.

Social Browser Discovery - The Diigo toolbar has been a great innovation of Web 2.0. Now with Version 3 users have added utility; users can see what others have tagged or marked as well as similar pages. This toolbar is the heart of the Diigo gathering machine and the new version rocks with features.

Personalization - Diigo as a source of collective social content makes finding, selecting, evaluating and effectively using interesting content much simpler. Users can see much more clearly the tags of individuals and groups, while browsing content of friends, group members or the Diigo community as a whole. From recommended news to top rated bookmarks, Diigo has added a compelling new way to gather and use data.

Networking – Diigo's strength as a social network has not yet been realized as the startup has not been overly promoted until now. An increased user base will only add to the great content and essentially empower the content and suggestive elements to "connect" users with more and more refined content. A network acting on such a storehouse of great data will truly make for a worthwhile series of valuable connections. Diigo is no Facebook beer sending messenger, but a serious knowledge matrix where people can derive real value.

Here is a video explaining it all in under 4 minutes:



Conclusion

As I mentioned from the start, refined and useful innovations like Diigo deserves better scrutiny from the top media outlets. There is no shortage of articles on TechCrunch or other about what I would call "entertainment" startups and sites. Perhaps our fascination with fast and hyped news has outgrown our desire for information about serious applications, but I don't think so. I think in many cases we are being fed what someone else wants us to utilize in much the same way fast food is presented to the consumer. This is a shame, as we thought the advent of Web 2.0 was going to be about value and the user experience. Personally, I would like to experience a little more Diigo type utility and a little less Twitter.

Article by Phil Buttler from Phil Butler Unplugged. Submit your thoughts - click here!

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17 March 2008

How To Fix the Web With Greasemonkey in 3 Minutes

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16 March 2008

The BIG Idea: Social Relations as a Business Model

Now I've been thinking about this for quite a while but haven't been able to put it into words quite easily. What I usually do when I think I've found something new is to sit down and think through about what I found before I go online to research about it and see if it is actually not something totally new. Perhaps I've been searching using the wrong words but help me develop this concept if you can.

The idea is this. We probably all know the concept of "six degrees of separation"; Which refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth.

If we assume this concept is true then this has implications on business relations as well. Now, let's combine this concept with the pyramid scheme where every individual has a network of up to 6 levels and every individual is on top of "their" pyramid. However, unlike the pyramid scheme where no product or service is being delivered; individuals in this combined concept sell their own goods, services or talents.. etc. For simple reference, let's call this "big idea" Hexamodel.

So, how does the Hexamodel work? Let's take me as an example. I'm a freelance graphic designer and according to the six degrees of separation concept I'm connected to everyone in the world. Perhaps not everyone in the world needs a designer, but along these degrees of people some will. Lets say that I offer a %5 commission on any person who refers me to his or her friend from the work being done. If we expand this network to everyone then it means lots of work for me, lots of money shared, and lots of friendships to be made?

Of course this is something in its roots but I believe it could be developed to create a sustainable business model. Also I haven't done much reading about it so Hexamodel being simplistic doesn't come as a surprise. There seems to be some great studies in the notes section of this wiki page. In particular, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's 'Linked: How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life' is very intriguing.

What do you think?

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04 March 2008

Search Engine Comic Strips (A New Series?)



Does anyone know the source of these? Let us know.

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16 February 2008

The Thinking Blog Goes Mobile (And So Can You)

Remember a few years ago when camera phones and music phones first started hitting the market? Everyone thought they were the coolest things on the block, but it's actually harder to find a phone that doesn't have a camera today than one that does. Technology is quickly advancing and the public wants more out of their mobile phones. They want to stay connected in every way possible and text messages just won't suffice. They want to harness the power of the world wide web everywhere they go.

Mobile Web For Everyone

Wireless data appears to be the next major frontier for consumer-level cell phones, but not everyone is willing to pay the hefty data fees involved in rendering full web pages. When you visit Beyond the Rhetoric or The Thinking Blog, a series of dynamic elements are conjured up and images are loaded. Watch a YouTube video or two and you could be looking at quite an expensive cell phone bill.

At the same time, blog owners want their loyal readers to have access to their website everywhere they go, and a mobile-optimized version (WAP) is one way to do that. For those of you who aren't familiar, WAP sites carry much the same content as their full HTML counterparts, but they've been stripped of the fluff and heavy downloads. Images are kept to a minimum and the formatting has been designed to better suit the small screen of a cell phone.

I'm not a coder, so I have no idea where to begin when it comes to creating a mobile site. Thankfully, there is a service set up at Wirenode that does this for you, transforming any regular blog into one that is more accessible from a cell phone's WAP browser. Whether you've got a RAZR or an LG Voyager, there's a good chance your modern phone does WAP.

Wirenode Cuts the Wires

Wirenode specializes in creating mobile versions of blogs. As I mentioned earlier, these mobile sites trim the fat, so to speak, leaving readers with the core content. Yes, you lose some of the sidebar navigation and some of the flashy formatting you may have on your full site, but it opens your blog up to a whole new (mobile) audience.

After the mobile version of a blog is set up, Wirenode then allows you to enter into an admin area where you can safely edit the mobile site, adding more pages, images, and adjusting the content to suit your preferences. This appears to be a very straightforward and easy-to-understand process. If you can handle Wordpress, you should be able to handle this.

Better still, Wirenode also provides widgets for your blog. These widgets can inform your existing readers about the mobile version of your blog. These can be found under the Promotion tab in the admin area.

My main gripe is that the mobile sites are hosted at the wirenode.mobi domain, though I'd imagine it is possible to transport them over to your own servers too.

Read The Thinking Blog On Your Phone

To see what mobile blog reading is all about, be sure to check out the mobile version of The Thinking Blog on your cell phone. You can find it at http://ttb.wirenode.mobi/. Now you can access all these thought-provoking posts at the coffee shop, in the library, or when your significant other drags you to yet another boring opera.

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17 January 2008

Ambitiously Viral: Free eBooks Online

Here is an interesting viral tactic to spread the word online. Bloghology is one of the most ambitious projects ever with its ground-breaking objectives and creative approach to online marketing. Basically, it is a monthly eBook eZine composed by several different bloggers. Except, the download link wasn't clear enough so we created the buttons below for everyone to freely use. We're optimistically looking forward to the project's progress and, hopefully, its ultimate success!

From the page:

"An anthology is a collection of poems, stories, songs, articles, or other literary passages chosen by a compiler. Similar to an anthology, a bloghology is a collection of bloggers, their profiles, photos, and links to their best posts."

Feel free to add these buttons on your blog:

Badge (125x125)

Download Free Bloghology Ebook
<a href="http://www.searchforblogging.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/2007-bloghology.pdf"><img src="http://www.ilkeryoldas.com/download-125.jpg" alt="Download Free Bloghology Ebook" /></a>


Hi-Res (501x396)

Download Free Bloghology Ebook
<a href="http://www.searchforblogging.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/2007-bloghology.pdf"><img src="http://www.ilkeryoldas.com/download-big.jpg" alt="Download Free Bloghology Ebook" /></a>


Some other viral eBooks from around the net:

- Guide to Blog Promotion eBook (104Kb PDF, Direct Download link)
- Make Money Online eBook (1.78Mb PDF, Direct Download link)

Do you know of others? Let us know in the comments and help us expand this list.

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09 January 2008

The Thinking Blog Goes Multi-Author!

We've had some incredible thinkers over the past year who contributed to our thinking process. Going back through the archives and finding those articles show how some of the best are written by you. We've been looking for regular thinkers for some time now and it's time to make it official. Take a look at the new "Thinking Team" section on the left sidebar and you'll know what we mean.

The New Thinking Associate Editor

We are pleased to announce Jon Percepto as the new Associate Editor in our team, a thinker who has already made five contributions to our blog. He will be posting regularly (currently one article per month) and keep us thinking. It was an easy choice for us because if you read his blog, his aim is quite similar with ours. From Eclectic Commons about page:

"This Blog provides a starting point to bring to light and discuss relevant issues from eclectic subjects that we encounter in the course of our lives. To raise questions we ask internally, but may be too distracted to give serious attention to. To provoke thoughts and hopefully to help us discover who we are individually and collectively, what our reality is, and how we can effect and perhaps change the course of our lives. My intention was not to provide answers. It is each persons’ responsibility to resolve their own issues, find their own solutions, and formulate their own views on life."

Let's all welcome Jon to his new 'second' home at TTB!

More Thinking Editor Positions Available

This means we are still looking for more writers who are willing to regularly contribute articles and enjoy the fruits of being a TTB editor. Let's look at what these positions are and what benefits they will bring you:

Associate Editors
Writes, edits, proofreads, and copyedits articles. Plans and prepares stories for online dissemination. Prepares page layouts to position and space images, photos, illustrations and videos in the story. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field and apply it to the interests of The Thinking Blog readers. Supports the selection process of upcoming articles; potentially suggesting new topics; investigating authoritative source documents etc. Assures that all copies meet the requirements for publishing and adheres to editorial standards of quality. Must have a demonstrated aptitude for and interest in writing.
Contributing Editors
Writes, edits, and proofreads articles. Maintains a publishing programme and contributes to marketing activities. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field and apply it to the interests of The Thinking Blog readers. Assures that all copies meet the requirements for publishing and adheres to editorial standards of quality. Primary job functions do not typically require exercising independent judgment. Must have a demonstrated aptitude for and interest in writing.
Benefits:

This is a great opportunity to expose yourself to a whole new audience and also get some link love at the same time. Readers who enjoy your style will definitely click through and even subscribe to your RSS feed. Since you can link to anywhere relevant in the post, including your own blog, it means more traffic for you. Apart from these benefits, you will also get a link on the sidebar worth $30 per month. The link which is displayed site wide is visible to readers of all pages (remember we have 10k visitors on average per day). There will be bonuses (read $$$) if your article somehow becomes popular on the Internet. You will also have access to make use of our services (graphic design, marketing, ad network and others) at lower rates and sometimes even free if you are an active Associate editor. After submitting in several posts, based on the response from regular readers, we will offer you something you can't refuse (hint hint) and hope to see you in the "Thinking" family. Perhaps this might bring more credibility to your name as a writer but, above all, working together will be more fun than you might imagine!

Application:

There are no application deadlines and the process is on-going until further update on this post. All you need to do is email your entry with the subject "TTB - [insert appropriate catchy HEADLINE here]", our Chief Editor will edit and publish it when it's ready. We will be working on drafts together via email. If you don't have a topic to write about, our editors will help you out on that too. Also don't forget to include your name and blog URL with your entry so we can give the appropriate credit with the post. If you wish to introduce what you write about on your blog, feel free to include a short descriptive sentence like "[NAME] writes many times a week about [TOPIC]." Important: We will not publish duplicate content. Please submit original articles exclusively for The Thinking Blog and don't post it elsewhere on the net.


Articles of Previous Thinking Writers and Guests

Starting with those who contributed the most, here is the list of people who submitted articles in the past. As you can see Jon has had five posts prior to us contacting him for the position. We would like to thank each and every one of the following for their most excellent entries - and hope to see more in the future:

Jon Percepto thought:

- How To Help Someone Who Is Choking
- Removing the Veil
- The Good, The Bad, The Cause: Understanding Karma
- Being a Good Parent
- Living Up To Your Full Potential


Alvaro Fernandez thought:

- Being a Pavlov Dog in Holiday Season Shopping Spree
- 7 Tips to Deal with TMI (Too Much Information)
- Shrink Your Brain in 8 Easy Steps


Steve Levenstein thought:

- Latest Japanese Trend: Weird Themed Cafes
- Top 5 Most Outrageous Japanese Female Celebrity Nicknames
- Latest Japanese Craze: Bandage Fetish


Mark Dykeman thought:

- Does Your Brain Play Tricks On You?
- Jamais Vu - The Reality You Have Never Seen Before


Justin Swatsenbarg thought:

- Woman Sues Doctors After Failed Abortion
- Microsoft is Not Making a Difference?


Mert Erkal thought New Era in Social Networking

Michael Beck thought Free Internet Is Under Threat

Jeremy Miller thought The Future: Ubiquitous Computing

Jennifer Hitchcock thought Aurora Borealis: Nature Lights Up the Skies

Shankar Ganesh thought Minority Report PC Becomes Reality

Jake Olson thought To Bargain or Not To Bargain

Mark Harris thought Green Burial: When Dust Really Returns to Dust

Asgeir Hoem thought STUDY: How To Be More Creative

Andy Tilley thought Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Rehuel Lobato de Mesquita thought Reclaim Your Brain Before It's Too Late

Michelle Dyer thought Blind People Can Drive Cars Too

Oswald-Ong Thomas thought Top 3 Female Star Convicts

Elmer Aquino thought Weirdest Named Places on Earth

Rob Neville thought Define: Critical Thinking Skills

Saboma thought Please Do Not Feed Internet Trolls

Kanute thought Gmail Hack: Use Your Account Space Like Extended Drive

Srikanth thought How Supermassive Black Holes Merge

Pearl thought Meeting Your Virtual Friends

Speeding Computer thought 10 Crazy Ways To Cool Your Computer

Blue Dreamer thought 2000 Year Old Terraces Carved By Hand

You can bookmark this post to come back and read the rest when you have more time. It is definitely worth it. If you enjoyed these subscribe to the RSS feed and don't miss a single article!

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06 January 2008

Till Death Do Us Apart

COMIC: Blogging This. Till Death Do Us Apart.
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04 January 2008

Water Resistant RuffBook Tech Giveaway - Winner!

This is it! After the final round of voting for the best Ruff PC review, we have determined the winner. But before we announce who won the prize worth $1,800 - let's look at the winner of the side contest - maker of the best demo video. As mentioned earlier, the rights of the best video will be bought by Ruff PC and used on the website, commercials..etc after some professional editing like Apple did.


Without further due, here is the creator of the best video: TechTreak!











Now, the moment you have all been waiting for: announcing the winner of RuffBook Tech!

..drumroll please..

..and the winner is..


Written by Michael Kwan, the killer review based on your votes was indeed one of the most comprehensive and honest reviews we've received for the giveaway. Starting with an interest provoking introductory paragraph, Michael gave reasons as to why would the average consumer need a Ruff PC, supporting his argument with statistics, and moving on to review each and every product in the Ruff PC product line. He also gave a brief opinion on the pricing and concludes with the links necessary to enter the giveaway. Being a rich blogger like John means that he would not need to add another laptop to his laptop collection and will be giving the RuffBook Tech away on his own blog.

So, don't worry if you didn't win this giveaway - you can get it back from John! - after he finishes testing the unit on birds:


Finally, I would like to thank everyone who participated in this giveaway, be it with reviews or votes, and congratulations to the winners!

Grab the RSS for future updates and keep thinking.

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