Friday, November 30, 2007

Wait a second, Web 3.0??!!

Web 1.0 was the good old web of the 1990s. In those times, all client-side changes were the result of a server round-trip. The Internet was ramping up in popularity

Web 2.0 has been a little more than just a technological evolution. The staple of Web 2.0 has been the emergence of social media (Internet users creating most of the content), powered by mature technologies (DHTML, Ajax) on somewhat stable web browsers.

According to a recent article:

Web 3.0 is not a revolution either. It is yet another technological evolution destined to provide users with an even better experience, both online and offline. Web 3.0 will lead to the blurring of that artificial wall between the web browser and the desktop, providing a full — but secure — integration with devices and services exposed by the operating system.

Web 3.0 is just starting. Look around you and you’ll see that Web 3.0 technologies are slowly cropping up everywhere on the web. Google Gears, one of the first Web 3.0 technologies, allows you to build web applications that can work offline. Thanks to Google Gears, applications such as Remember The Milk, an online to-do list and task management system, can now work offline. The Adobe Flash player already allows application developers limited access to the webcam and the microphone. Soon, we’ll also be able to drag and drop files from the desktop to a web browser (see this Java Upload Applet for an example using the Java technology)

Another aspect of Web 3.0 is the use of stunning graphics, smooth animations, high definition audio and video, 3D, etc. and all of this inside a web browser!


If so, I am looking forward to it!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Very Usseful Post

OMG! This is an amazing article on the Google No-Follow tag. It's amazing if you're into geeky things like internet based marketing science, I suppose.

It remains to be seen how significant an effect Google’s “nofollow” rule will have on reciprocal linking and link sales, with the level of understanding and acceptance of the rule among website owners playing a significant role in the outcome. One thought to keep in mind is the that the use of “nofollow” might actually leave an SEO footprint for Google to detect that a site has been “SEO’d”.

Beautiful Code

Saw this and thought it was wonderful! HTML is way overlooked!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Have you used Alexa?

Alexa is an awesome service to keep track of web traffic. It has a very comprehensive cache of data. Check it out!

25 Secret Perks of Working At Google

Picked this up from Cracked.com, and I thought it was funny. You should, too! >:(

1. Google provides free custom detailing on all employee-owned Segways, motorized scooters, recumbent bicycles, and other widely-derided modes of transportation.

2. For recent computer science grads accepting an engineering position with Google, a popular social event is Google's "New Employee Orientation and Arranged Virginity-Loss Night."

3. Google employees who are about to become mothers receive 12 weeks of maternity leave; aging female engineers now coming to terms with the fact they will likely never be mothers receive two weeks of "Crushing Sense of Incompleteness Leave." (It is 50% paid.)

4. Googlers enjoy an Employee Referral Program, meaning, they receive a cash bonus if they refer management to any employee even thinking about leaving Google.

5. For all Google employees who've just committed a crime of passion, Google provides a two-bedroom safehouse just outside the city where said employee can lay low until "the heat" dies down.

6. Google affords all employees a $1500 monthly stipend for mandatory lava lamp purchases.

7. Google employees can commute to work via free company shuttle; it is piloted by retired colonel Buzz Aldrin.

8. To encourage collaboration, the hallways at Google are lined with whiteboards where employees can jot down ideas. To encourage active collaboration, these whiteboards are dusted with cocaine.

9. Google engineers make use of free on-site hair salons, specializing in both men's and women's unsavory bowl cuts.

10. To help relieve the stress of being tied to their computers for such long hours, Google provides employees with free online-based massage therapy.

11. Each new grain of sand in Google's beach volleyball pit is imported via extraction from the bikini of Rachel Wacholder.

12. Google offers a unique "literal 401k" retirement plan; for every dollar an employee invests, Google matches it with $401,000.

13. Following its acquisition of YouTube, Google began arranging employee tours of YouTube headquarters where in a windowless room they can rub awkwardly against lonelygirl15.

14. Googlers can enjoy fruit smoothies via osmosis in one of several on-campus Jamba Baths.

15. New Google employees each receive a keepsake Google hacky-sack filled with pulverized sapphires.

16. At Google's summer picnic the employees don't play softball or soccer‚ they hunt homeless men for sport.

17. Google's college intern recruitment video was written by J.D. Salinger and directed by Sidney Lumet.

18. At Halloween, Google sponsors a costume contest for engineers who dress up as their favorite line of code.

19. Google employees receive personal mentoring sessions with co-founder Sergey Brin, or at least one of the eight Brin replicants built in late 2005.

20. Employees are given beta test runs of exciting new Google software, such as the satellite imaging program Google Maps-of-Gisele's Bedroom and the adult singles-finding service Gspots.

21. The barista at Google's on-campus café is Juan Valdez. (Not the coffee brand icon, just a Latin dude named Juan who happens to make a really great latte.)

22. Google offers training and assistance to all employees planning to journey behind enemy lines in an attempt to rescue their POW fathers.

23. Google arranged that their regular opponent in corporate league basketball is always the team from Washington Generals, Inc. (To date, Google is a combined 238-0.)

24. Google engineers are given "20 percent time" in which they are free to pursue their own personal projects. This incentive has produced such efforts as Gmail, Google News, and 20% more employee masturbation.

25. Google provides free financial planning classes to all its employees. The session consists of just one tip: "Remember. Google. Fucking. OWNS You."

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Some really useful websites!

As I use the web on a daily basis, for long bouts of time often, I like to maximize the utility of the sites I need. I mean, the 'net is filled with all sorts of garbage, and you need to know which sites are better than others.

I've compiled below a list of some of the most useful websites I use. Enjoy:

  1. Guerrilla Mail

    Get a temporary email address that expires after 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes you can read and reply to any messages. Use it and feel like a fighter deep in the Cambodian jungle, staring out at the stars in between setting up punji sticks to stop the imperial dogs.
  2. Ted

    Some really interesting videos about varying topics.
  3. Wiki Travel

    A Wikipedia inspired website relating to travel. Written and edited by users. This site is one of the most useful of all travel sites due to its constantly being updated. Inherent biases in some areas, but this is the norm for Wiki environments.
  4. Full Books

    An index of thousands of books, free for you to read. Great resource to help you feed your mind!
  5. Meta Religion

    This site contains a huge number of articles about religion, science, and philosophy and is published in Spanish and English. Provides a context for some belief systems from which you may better understand their arguments and ideas.
  6. Bibliomania

    2,000+ free online classic texts plus a myriad of other articles/features. And who doesn't love classical text? Ubi est mens mea?
  7. World Freedom Atlas

    The, “World Freedom Atlas,” provides a visual method of understanding the issues of freedom, human rights, democracy, etc in the world.
  8. How to Clean Anything

    Literally…this site provides tips about how to clean just about anything.
  9. Speed Test

    A news site for broadband issues. This link is for a feature they provide that allows you to determine your IP address and test how well your broadband is operating.
  10. Google Translate

    This is another of the many cool Google applications out there. You can translate an entire web page or any other amount of text you need. There are a number of languages available. Especially useful if you have pages of text you need to translate.
  11. Big Oven

    This recipe-sharing site allows users to upload their favorite recipes or search for new ones. You can search by entering up to three ingredients, by keyword, or by rating. Explore new foods!

The Internet Is a Series of Tubes ...

There are a myriad of ways to describe the wondrousness that is the internet. Senator Biden's analogy of "a series of tubes" is certainly a creative one. It's also one that inspired this lovely mash-up: