The Web
Is Wolfram Alpha Gay? Wolfram Fails The Only Test That Matters (To Me)
In my very scientific tests vetting newcomer search engine Wolfram Alpha against stalwart Google, Wolfram Alpha has failed:
Astronomy? Seriously? I know you’re in beta, but is that all you can come up with? Are you confused? Wait, are you…..oh no.
I mean, that’s fine and all. Wolfie, me and you are still cool. Just not that cool. Like, we can still play XBOX. You just can’t stay over anymore now that I know you’re not on my team. Not that I’m against people like you–I’m not. Really.
Long-time Man-staple Google, on the other hand, when searched for “hottest girl earth” comes up with a TON of great entries, including the top entry, a photo spread of Megan Fox (who is pretty much the hottest piece around) from Maxim.
Google 1, Wolfie 0 (or should I start calling you Bruce?) .
Twitter on your business card
Look in the bottom-right corner of Ayush Agarwal’s card. Apparently, if you don’t have your Twitter handle listed on your business card, you’re a nobody.
Would you list your Twitter on your business card?
I think it’s kind of cool.
Better Know A Startup: Gist
I’m a very effective Google searcher, and after meeting a new contact, it takes me less than a minute to find out everything I want to know about that contact using Google. I call it being well-informed, but it could seem a little stalker-ish, depending on if you’re the one being Googled, or the person Googling.
A new startup, Gist, is attempting to kill my information advantage over the Search Plebes. Their product rifles through your email inbox looking for names, and comes up with tidy little reports for you that will help you know your contacts better before your meeting with them. It’ll show you all your communication with that contact no matter the platform (email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs). It’ll tell you what is being said about them in blogs. It’ll tell you what they’ve been writing about in blogs. It can tell you so many things that, in reality, your future in-person meeting with them will be just a formality, because all your questions for them will already be answered by Gist in advance. Skynet will then hunt you down.
I love their idea. The inbox is the ultimate tool, and hasn’t seen much innovation. I think, ideally, Gist would be bought NOW by Google, who could integrate Gist into GMail, negating the need to use any other messaging platforms by way of integrating communication in one place. Google has already been doing that with their additions of GoogleChat, AIM, and GoogleTalk into GMail.
Foundry Group, Allen’s Vulcan inject $6.75 million into Gist – TechFlash
The Panasonic GH1 Kills The DSLR, TV-Industrial Complex
This is an amazing time to be alive, what with all the things that are changing, evolving, improving.
A major step was just taken that will revolutionize how video is produced and consumed. It’s called the Panasonic GH1.
It dispenses with the traditional SLR mirror and optical viewfinder, allowing a shorter lens-to-sensor distance; in turn enabling smaller, lighter, and quieter cameras. The platform, called ‘Micro Four Thirds’, maintains the same-size image sensor as a traditional DSLR, and uses similar (though smaller) interchangeable lenses that allow for shallow depth of field, which is one of the defining characteristics that DSLRs have long had a monopoly on versus point-and-shoot consumer cameras.
So it’s smaller. Why is this camera so revolutionary, then?
Well, size is not the revolution. HD video functionality is.
Though hardly the first digital camera to shoot HD video (notable examples include the Canon 5D Mark II and the Nikon D90) the GH1 manages to provide jaw-droppingly-good HD video (1080p) in a smaller and less-expensive package* than its predecessors and rivals. This means that any idiot with a thousand bucks, a subject, and a PC can become a movie producer.
Here’s the freshest example of HD video shot off a Panasonic GH1 (if you watch the HD version closely and notice the shallow depth of field and fantastic quality, you’ll understand how revolutionary this is!):
Panasonic Lumix GH1. First footage from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
What we’ve seen with print media–the replacement of the top-down newspaper/magazine model with a more democratic, user-generated model–is exactly what is going to happen with digital video. With the increased accessibility of cheap HD video recording, sites like Vimeo and FunnyOrDie are going to be swimming in quality user-generated content (if they’re not already). The losers are going to be the big studios, whose only advantages will be 1) bigger budgets for marketing/production, 2) star power, and 3) existing distribution channels (movie theaters, et cetera). The studios, however, will be at a massive disadvantage on the internet, coming up against small niche players who will be able to undercut them on production cost AND content pricing, providing the content for free (ad-supported). If the big studios eschew the free-content route, as print media did, and they’ll lose market share to the internet upstarts.
This is a MASSIVE opportunity for anybody with film-making experience. You have the opportunity to be involved in a revolution. Yes, the democratization of HD video will mean declining prestige, and an increasingly flooded content marketplace. But at the same time, it allows content creators to put more professional-looking creations on the web and garner maximum exposure before the big studios begin to adapt to the new platform.
If there is to be an internet video production star made, he/she will be made king very soon. As I said earlier, this is an amazing time to be alive.
*Note: the Panasonic GH1 may be priced similarly to the Nikon D90. We’ll have to see.
Kauai sunset: Lumix GH1 slow motion from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
Swine Flu Up-To-The-Minute Map
Swine flu is within 140 miles (225km) of Seattle (my location), which means in all likelihood, somebody has it in Seattle but just hasn’t been diagnosed yet. F***. Check the constantly-updated Google Maps application to see when it gets close to you:
H1N1 Swine Flu on Google Maps:
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
It’s been identified in Israel, Australia, Colombia, and all over Spain! Holy s***!
Via The Big Picture.
Unfortunate Truncation
Putting a money-manager into a freezer seems like an odd regulatory response. What are they going to do next? Send Bernard Madoff to the North Pole in assless chaps?
Follow WSJ on Twitter (or me).
Endorsed
Because I’m neither famous nor prolific, I revel in small victories and nods from others. Reading the following comment from a random Seattle Times commenter made me smile, not due to its waxing of my vanity, but because he described me in a way that I constantly strive to be defined as:
Holy cow, Cameron. This is doubtlessly the most reasoned, considered, and worthwhile comment I have seen attached to any ST article. Good work. [...] I look forward to reading more of your comments.
I think he just called me reasonable, and that’s the one of the highest honors I could ever strive for, up there next to qualities like honesty, selflessness, or being valuable. That’s what I want to see more of (reason). I’m trying to be my own change.
On the internet, most discussion/commentary is very juvenile, largely due to the anonymous nature of the platform. I strive to inject reason into any argument.
What do you strive to define yourself as? What change do you want to make?
John Mayer and Twitter
John Mayer is popping-in to a music venue in Los Angeles tonight, and you’d only know this if you follow him on Twitter:
Getting my guitar playing together for a little pop-in tonight.
I don’t really care for his music, so I’m not getting any value out of it, but it serves as an example of how a celebrity can engage his fans, and how fans can extract value from an abstract tool like Twitter.
That’s innovation.
Goldmines
Google is sitting on top of a goldmine.
People go to Google when they’re searching for something. Google gives it to them. And they can charge (advertisers) for the privilege (of appearing next to the results).
Likewise, Craigslist gives people what they want. Job seekers and potential room-renters flock to Craigslist. Human resources executives might starve without it. With it, they thrive.
Google and Craigslist are sitting atop of goldmines.
Facebook, on the other hand, doesn’t serve a direct need, and is not sitting atop a goldmine. It serves the consumer something they only peripherally desire. It does not serve a market necessity, but rather a compliment.
A good way to understand this is that, prior to Facebook, humans relied on direct human interaction and the Yearbook to catalogue their contacts and classmates. They paid little for the privelege. Now, they can keep track of their workmates and family in the same sphere as their classmates and friends (by using Facebook). So why pay? They’re not searching for anything specific (as with Google/Craigslist). Commerce is not implicit in Facebook usage.
That’s why Facebook will never see the same level of monetization as Google/Craigslist/Ebay. Commerce is not implicit. Once humans are used to paying for their Rolodexes, Facebook and LinkedIn will thrive. It’s human behavior that has to change.
New Google Features
Some new products/features were launched today by Google. My favorite? Gmail Autoresponder. Check the examples below.
Sample Autopilot responses
Respond to business proposals
Match your personal style
Bookshelves
I’ve got at least 300 books in my house.
Number of childrens books in the American home:
White households: 83
Black households: 41
Latino households: 33
In 2005, 3.1 billion books were sold in the United States, roughly 28 per household. Therefore, the average number of books in a home must be somewhere over 100.
How many books do you have?
On a side note, I strongly recommend you use Shelfari or LibraryThing and catalogue the collection of books you’ve read, or want to read. It will suggest books for you, and you can see your friends’ bookshelves, rate books, et cetera.
Year 2000 National Survey on Childhood Health
2005 Book Industry Study Group
