:skyecade online

If anyone out there on the great Interweb would like to shoot me an invite to Pownce, I will be forever in your debt.

For those of you who don’t have the foggiest idea what I’m talking about, allow me to enlighten you. Pownce is sort of like twitter + ftp + instant messaging, all rolled up into one neat little app. Of course, I’m just assuming it’s rolled up into one neat little app, since I haven’t actually tried it yet for myself.

FYI, Pownce is a new “Kevin Rose” start-up — the same guy responsible for digg and revision3, as well as various podcasts and T.V. shows. He has yet to disappoint me, hence the reason why I’d love to try out his new service. I’ll keep checking my inbox.

     

Filed under: Cyberculture, Technology, Design / Development, Internet
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I was snooping around the Google Labs today and I noticed a new service called Google Voice Local Search. How intriguing! It’s Google’s version of 411, but instead of using the conventional methods of other phone directories, this service seems to be tied in directly with their search algorithm, or more likely a tweaked version of their search algorithm. Simply call this number - 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) and follow the prompts. It seems to work pretty well considering that it’s fairly new.

From Google:

Welcome to Google Voice Local Search

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.

Using this service, you can:

* search for a local business by name or category.
You can say “Giovanni’s Pizzeria” or just “pizza”.

* get connected to the business, free of charge.

* get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone.
Just say “text message”.

And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

Note: Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

If Google can iron out all the kinks in this technology, the possibilities will be endless. Why limit themselves to a mere phone directory. You’re already connecting to (and searching through) Google’s massive databases via a phone connection, why not pass them other search terms? For example, need to know John Adams birth date in a pinch? - Just bare with me.- With this technology, Google could simply forward the user’s query to a site like Wikipedia, or even use their own built in define operator, i.e., define: John Adams. Now all Google would have to do is read you the results, which is what they are already doing in Goog 411.

It will be interesting to see where they take this.

     

Filed under: Google, Technology, Design / Development, Internet
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Scratch is a new programming language developed at M.I.T. and specifically geared towards kids. Instead of using the conventional syntax based methodology, Scratch employs colorful building blocks (objects) which users can drag and drop. Each of these blocks has different attributes, and when combined with other blocks, users can alter the functionality of their program and create something truly unique. It’s a great way to get kids interested in and understand the fundamentals of programming.

Interesting Video and Article on Scratch by the BBC.

     

Filed under: Geekculture, Software, News, Technology, Design / Development
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This is the best. Bubbleguru.com allows you to create a video right from their website and embed it into your website as a little video pop-up bubble. And you now how much we all like pop-ups, right?

It’s completely free and it takes only a few minutes to get a new video on your site. I signed up, created a video, and embedded it into my site in under 5 minutes. Sorry for the bad quality. I used the built-in mic and camera on my MacBook. But imagine the possibilities.

Not only can I annoy people with my writing, but now someone has made it easy for me to annoy people with my face too. Thanks bubbleguru! Their slogan should be “We are Web 2.0s version of blinking text”.

All kidding aside though, this looks like pretty cool technology. You might see me pop in from time to time. Prepare yourself.

     

Filed under: Software, TV / Video, Geekculture, Web 2.0, Cyberculture, Design / Development, Technology, Internet
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You can now create your very own customized Netvibes theme. Thank God!

Here’s the thing. I am a Netvibes addict — I honestly don’t remember what life was like before Netvibes came along. The only problem, Netvibes really isn’t prettiest thing to look at. At least not until now.

Read the full article on the Netvibes blog.

     

Filed under: Web 2.0, Technology, Design / Development
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Finally, after years of development (actually just a few days), the Zen Geeks blog is now online and rearing to go.

Have a look. You may notice some design similarities.

     

Filed under: News, Zen Geekery, Design / Development, Internet
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This is a really good article from read/write web, laying out the three most viable scenarios for the Google OS, and they predict we could see it within the next six months.

Here’s the break down:

• A web based desktop (i.e. operating system)
• A full featured Linux distribution
• A lightweight Linux distro and/or BIOS

Personally, I think the first option is the most likely, considering that this is the direction the internet is heading. Let’s dismiss the other two options for the time being. Most of the apps I use are internet based already, e.g., Writley (now Google Docs), del.icio.us, gmail, Google Calendar, flickr, Netvibes, meebo,…

The only thing really holding back resource heavy apps from residing on the net, i.e., video games, photo editing software, are the broadband limitations. Someday this will be the thing of the past. When that happens, hard drives will also be the thing of the past, at least in the conventional sense. This is still a long ways away though.

For those of you who don’t use internet apps, you really don’t know what your missing. Over the course of a month, I must sit in front of twenty different computers. Yes, I know, for the average user this may be a bit extreme, but for people like us it’s not that strange. My point is, it’s nice to be able to hop on to any computer and have my bookmarks, my documents, my email, my news, my instant messengers, my appointments, my RSS feeds, my photos and videos, etc… right at my finger tips.

Now imagine having your entire desktop there as well. This isn’t a matter of if it will happen, but when will it happen. When eyeOS was launched (or at least when I first saw it) about a year ago, it was in rough shape. It’s come along way since then. Though still not even close to ready for the mainstream, you can definitely see the potential. Some other webtops to check out are YouOS, Goowy, DesktopTwo, and Xin, the latter of which really caught my eye. I’m just waiting for my confirmation email to check it out.

So, as you can see, there is some progress being made towards full featured online desktops, though even I think you would be crazy to use them in their current state. Google OS could possibly change this. And I stress, possibly.

Until that day, what every power user should be using is an ajax driven, dynamic, customizable start page such as Netvibes, Pageflakes, Google Pages, Live, Protopage, or the relatively new contender, Webwag (which I have to admit, looks very impressive). Use one of these for a month and you would be lost with out them. I prefer Netvibes, but all of the above offer a slightly different look and feel as well as there own set of features.

     

Filed under: Software, Google, Web 2.0, Cyberculture, Design / Development, Technology, Internet
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I’m blogging about this so I don’t forget how to do it, but some of you may find it useful too.

I needed to edit my .htaccess file from my web server, but when I downloaded it to my desktop, the file magically disappeared. So I downloaded it again. This time it asked me if I wanted to overwrite the existing .htaccess file on my desktop. That’s when it hit me, .htaccess is a hidden file. Duh!

I did a quick scan in Finder for a “Show Hidden Files” option, but I had no luck. Google here we come. And this is what I found.

In a terminal, type the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

To revert back to the way it was, repeat the above step, but this time replace the TRUE value with a FALSE value. Voila! Nice and easy.

     

Filed under: Apple, Technology, Design / Development, How To's
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Three reasons sites break in Internet Explorer 7.

This is a great write-up by Swedish blogger Roger Johansson. From my experiences over the last month, I would say he hit the hammer right on the head. This is what he had to say:

1. Sites that have an XML declaration before the DOCTYPE, making IE 6 use quirks mode, but not IE 7. Both browsers still get the same CSS, so IE 7 renders it differently.
2. Sites that depend heavily on CSS hacks that no longer work in IE 7.
3. Sites that use conditional comments to feed a bugfix stylesheet to IE without specifying a version number, thereby making IE 7 load the bugfixes and mess up rendering.

     

Filed under: Microsoft, Design / Development, Internet
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Busy, busy, busy.

So a few of us have been working on a new community site geared specifically towards geeks. The site is still being developed, but the forums are up and running and the official blog is only days away.

Check it out at zengeeks.com. A bit of a warning though, this community is not for everyone. It’s for the geekiest of geeks, e.g., TWiT fans, digg fans, gamers, coders, technology enthusiasts, sci-fi fans, movie buffs, web 2.0 geeks, cyberculturists, Mac heads, hardware freaks, modders, podcasters, bloggers, internet junkies….

If you don’t have an interest in at least one of the above topics, then save yourself a trip. You would most likely die of severe geek shock. In fact, just to be safe, I set up a little geek test for you below. See how you do. Don’t cheat!

You must know one or more of the following people (and if they’re fictional or real):

• Joss Whedon
• Steve Wozniak
• Leo Laporte
• Kara Thrace
• Kevin Rose
• Boba Fett
• John Carmack
• Gordon Freeman
• Linus Torvalds
• Kevin Mitnick

You must know what two or more of the following stand for:

• LotR
• IBM
• BF1942
• HTML
• USB
• RSS
• WoW
• 1337
• HTTP
• BIOS

You must understand and accept the following:

• The internet is not a series of tubes.
• Web 2.0 is not the next version of the web.
• When someone tells you they’re in a clan, don’t assume they’re racist.
• Star Wars Episodes 1, 2, & 3 suck!!
• A hacker is a programmer, not a pimply faced kid in his basement trying to break into your computer.
• Never use the term “l33t haX0r” in a sentence, written or verbal, unless to tell people never to use the term “l33t haX0r” in a sentence, written or verbal.

Was that so bad? If you think you did half way decent then head on over, register a user name, create a profile, and start geeking out. The more the merrier. The more the geekier. Sorry, I had to say it.

     

Filed under: Cyberculture, News, Zen Geekery, Design / Development, Internet
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