emconsteroids

Check out this cool flash face sketch application, where you can try to reconstruct faces from memory. Turns out to be quite a challange …

Ever since the dot-com boom people try to make a business of top level domains. Domains like .name, .jobs, .coop, .museum, .tel or .travel appeard but be honest: have ever used any of them before? The idea is simple: introduce a new top level domain and sell it as much as possible!

That’s exactly what happened to the .mobi domain. Some supposingly clever guys came up with the idea of introducing a new tld called .mobi. Their idea is that everyone will jump on it. If you think twice, it’s a ridiculous idea – but if you don’t, you better jump on it before your desired domain is gone. My worry is, that they succeed trough some mad marketing and virtual “hype”.

There are at least three reasons, why .mobi is just a ridiculous idea:

1. The aim for the future is to make websites, that are W3C standard. Thus developing according to the .mobi guidelines is just what everyone else should do:
   • Provide consistent navigation mechanisms.
   • Clearly identify the target of each link.
   • Use clear and simple language.
   • Limit content to what the user has requested.

   Ok, there are a few more rules, but that’s just common sense: Adding Access Keys to the links where needed or making sure, the device supports the content.

2. The goal of the future is to have ONE url and the server detects the device. Is it a browser of a computer or is it a handset? Then according to the device or browser, redirect the user to the appropriate page. This has NOTHING to do with the top level domain. In fact, why should a end user enter a different url for accessing a site depending on which device he is using? This is just not user friendly.
3. Speaking of user friendliness: entering the domain .mobi into your cellphone requires you to press 6 — wait — 666, 22, 444. How silly is that? WAP was only 927. Particularly using a word that uses two successive letters placed on the same key is just the proof that this concept has not been thought through well enough!

If you really want to have a different url, why not set up a subdomain e.g. wap.domain.com? its not only shorter than www.domain.mobi, easier to type in and more flexible – it also saves you the fee of registering a new top level domain …

PS: The next one is already coming: There is a discussion about a .web top level domain going on…

Well done, Flickr! … Geotagging allows you to add geographical data to your pictures! And it’s simple! Have a look…

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Originally uploaded by christoph b..

Robbie Williams concert in Bern on the 24th of August 2006. An impressive show, I must admit.

Let’s say, I have apples. A lot of apples. And I want to have a pear. What would I do? I would look out for someone who has a lot of pears and then trade an apple for a pear. This concept works fine, as long as the opposite is actually interested in my apples. But what if the my trading partner is actually looking for bananas? This makes the situation a bit more complex.

The solution to this would be, that you introduce some kind of “medium” that just bears value but other than that, there is nothing more to it. We’ve done it, we call it “money”.

Now I am a strong believer in the idea, that the world and society would fall to pieces, if it would consist of takers only. People, that would only take and never return anything back. Ideally, everything anybody takes, has to be given back in one way or the other. Not necessarily in the same form to the same person – but maybe in a completely different manner to separate individual.

I think, this idea should make sense to everyone.

Now, software is a special case. Software can be multiplied an infinite amount of times. This phenomena is relatively new. Before the “digitalization”, copying was always associated with physical resources, work effort and a loss of quality. Today, it’s a matter of a mouse click. Microsoft Corporation exploited this transition at it’s peak and thus made it’s owners to the richest people on earth.

Soon after, free software movements started to claim that knowledge and thus software has to be freely accessible for everyone, especially because it can be copied so easily.

But just because it’s called Free Software and it can be copied with one single mouse click, this doesn’t mean you can get it for free. Richard Stallman always emphasized: “Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ‘free’ as in ‘free speech’, not as in ‘free beer’”.

However – and this is the important point in my opinion – paying for software does not necessarily mean returning money in exchange. In fact, returning money is probably the least wanted. The free software development community is in such a demand, I am sure, they will appreciate you contributing apples. Localization for example, helping out programming, help on the documentation. Even help promoting software, writing/blogging about it, organizing workshops and events or yet creating your own free software project and releasing it to the public. This is the concept of taking and giving. Surely, not everybody is lucky enough to be endued with the abilities required to contribute apples. And sometimes, they don’t want apples but bananas. That doesn’t matter at all. In this case, you can always buy something from the Amazon Wishlist, invest in merchandising or donate. It is important to me, that the concept of “taking and giving” doesn’t get lost in this world of seemingly “Free” Software!

Here are just a few options to give something back:
Wikipedia or donate
Mozilla/Firefox or donate
Apache Webserver or donate
OpenOffice.org or donate
and many, many more …

Need an overview of all time zones around the world. You can have it. The QClock gives you a nice google map of all the timezones, even with a nice world shadow overlay!

Useful if you have friends scattered all around the world.

Google Maps Mobile is now available with real-time traffic data. Other than that, you can always use it to find directions, postcode search in the UK and store favorite places. New is now also, that you can load KML files into your mobile to send your spots to friends and share them over the internet. For more details, check the Google Star Trek fan page.

Last week, I bought myself a license of MediaCentral. The license costs around 30 EURO and is worth all the money! Even though I find the software still a bit clumsy (the interface can be laggy, some of the icons look a bit odd and important features such as search functionality is missing) it keeps its promises: You can use it to browse your movies (just like with Front Row), images, and the best: Youtube/Google Video and a whole bunch of IP TV channels/Podcasts from across the world!

Obviously, MediaCentral is meant to be a direct competitor to FrontRow, it also supports the remote control – and indeed: the networked functionalities and some innovative features are a big advantage to Apple’s media center.

Pablo Picasso is right. What distinguishes a human being from a computer is mainly the fact that the computer is not able to be creative nor artistic. And culture, heritage and tradition certainly emerges from creativity.

I know, this is an old one. But yet, it is very impressive. Have a look how all the big managers of US companies are all tied together. Explore how the finance industry is linked into the computer industry and how politicians fit into the picture. Have fun!