Technology and Money

The Benefits of Lifestreaming in Plain English

Amit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:17:23 +0000

Page 1 1 Open Privacy Steven Green Cabinet Office Communications Government of Ontario October 2008 Page 2 2 privacy /privv si, pri-/ • noun a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by others I’m sure you’ve heard throughout the conference that the very idea of privacy is changing. Particularly for younger people the definition of what is personal and what is public information has shifted. What I want to leave you with today is the thought that: These are more than just tools, they have the capacity to change the way we see and know each other. Page 3 3 intimacy • noun 1 close familiarity or friendship 2 an intimate act or remark We all understand the concept of intimacy. It’s one of the most important states we aim to keep private. Wikipedia says intimacy has to do with rituals of connection. Intimacy requires empathy, the ability to stand in another's shoes. Think about: Who would you say knows you intimately? Page 4 4 friend • noun a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection We all know what a friend is… or do we? Show of hands… How many of us are on Facebook? How many of you have more than 10 friends, 50, 100, 200? Did you know, psychological studies have confirmed that human groupings naturally tail off at around 150 people? It’s called the “Dunbar number,” based on the fact that apes need to constantly groom each other to maintain their “friendships”, and they can manage up to about 55 friends. So how do you define what a friend is? Is this concept evolving? Page 5 5 stranger • noun a person whom one does not know What about strangers? Is this concept evolving as well? Are virtual friends strangers, or friends? I’ve known for years now, people I’ve met in Second Life and we’ve never met. Are they strangers or friends? And what about the other 200 people in my Facebook “friends list”? Sociologists are quick to point out that these new “social networking” sites don’t measure or record the strength of the connection, which can grow or shrink over time. If someone’s in your Facebook list, are they your “friend”? Maybe I need to spend more time “grooming” my friends? Is Twitter the equivalent of e-grooming? Page 6 Llifestreaming means you are displaying intimate facets of your life to friends, family and even strangers who you know through online world.

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Building a Better Blog: Google Offers Some Blogging Advice

Amit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:36:53 +0000

Ms Google - your new virtual teacher.

"A useful blog post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily." – Ms. Google

Last week, Google released an helpful SEO Guide [PDF Book] that discusses factors which are often responsible for improving the rankings of your websites in Google and other search engines.

Now there’s a new document from the same Google Webmaster Central team that offers tips on how bloggers can improve their blogs.

It suggesting publishing full feeds, using tags and getting readers though comments on other blogs. If you have a blog, you probably know all of this already but for those in a hurry, here’s a quick summary:

1. Provide full-text RSS Feeds: Rich, full-content feeds make users happy because they can view your content with minimal effort. They may result in a short-term decline in visits to your actual blog, but the long-term gains of increased readership and mindshare are typically worth it.

2. How often should you blog: A frequently updated site encourages people to return - as long as your content remains relevant and engaging. A useful post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily.

3. Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs: Visit these blogs, comment on posts, and participate in the discussion. Thoughtful comments with useful information will make readers more likely to visit your site.

4. Use Categories & Tags in your blog: Labels and tags are a great way to organize your content, and encourage users to browse your blog.

5. What should your write about: A great idea is to search Google for subjects of interest in your field. If you can’t find a good answer, create a blog post about the subject - chances are that other people are searching for the same thing. (Related: Beating Bloggers Block)

Building a Better Blog: Google Offers Some Blogging Advice - Digital Inspiration

How Kerosene Lanterns Helped Bill Gates Save a Day

pratham — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:03:00 +0000

Last week, Bill Gates was all set to leave India in his private jet from the Jodhpur Airport, when trouble struck. The Jodhpur airport was under repairs since mid-April and the authorities ordered that no flight could take off after 4 pm.

While security officials knew that the light from Bill’s aircraft was sufficient for pilots to take-off, the local airbase officials were not prepared to take a chance. So the authorities arranged for more than 200 Kerosene Lanterns to lit up the runway and saved the day for Gates.

How Kerosene Lanterns Helped Bill Gates Save a Day - Digital Inspiration

Looking for a Good Book on Learning CSS? Download It Free

Amit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:12:11 +0000

If you are looking for some offline resourcs to learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), here’s an offer that you should not miss.

The Art & Science of CSS is a good CSS book (read reviews at Amazon) packed full of practical examples. You’ll learn about CSS techniques like making rounded corners, creating navigation tabs, styling web forms and list, designing web page backgrounds with images and so on.

The book costs around $40 but you can download this for free as a PDF ebook. All you have to do is either follow @sitepointdotcom on Twitter or put your email address at SitePoint.com.

If you are worried about sharing your email, go with the twitter approach – as you soon as follow sitepoint, they’ll send you a direct message with a link to download the free CSS book.

This is Sitepoint’s second giveaway – earlier they had offered a Photoshop ebook for free.

Update: Here’s a direct link to download the eBook. It’s about 24 MB in size.

Looking for a Good Book on Learning CSS? Download It Free - Digital Inspiration

Yahoo Glue Pages Now Available in all Countries

Amit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:26:51 +0000

Yahoo Glue is like a more comprehensive version of Google Universal Search. Type in a search terms and you can view web pages, news headlines, images, videos and even blog posts related to your search topic in one easy-to read page.

Glue search pages are contextual in the sense they show information based on the query type. So if you searching for a celebrity name (like Barack Obama), you may see excerpts from Wikipedia as in this screenshot.

If your query represents some company (like Google), you may see stock quotes and even related job opening in the search page. And if you search for sports (like Cricket), the glue pages will show live scores for any current games happening around the world. Pretty interesting.

Yahoo! Glue Search initially launched in India but after some six months of testing, Yahoo! is making the Glue search service available internationally.

Yahoo Glue Pages Now Available in all Countries - Digital Inspiration

Time to Grab a Copy of PC Magazine from the Newsstand

Amit — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:30:34 +0000

May it’s time to grab a copy of PC Magazine from the nearest newsstand and preserve that for our grand-children.

That’s because the popular computer magazine is shutting down their print edition and Jan 2009 will be the last issue. The website and digital edition of PC Magazine will however continue to exist as they are extremely profitable ventures.

Related: Read PC Magazine for Free

Time to Grab a Copy of PC Magazine from the Newsstand - Digital Inspiration