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926

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Paul Keith on May 31, 2010, 02:45 AM »

In this day and age though, the gap is very small between gadget and computer company.

Let's not forget that it was only a decade ago that Apple supercharged the idea of a personal computer which in the past was a concept much closer to a gadget rather than a computer.

927

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Advantages of Chrome's Session Saving Extensions over other browsers

« Last post by Paul Keith on May 31, 2010, 02:38 AM »

FreshStart - https://chrome.googl...lfimjcedenagjfacpobb

*Improves upon this topic's premise

Sessions Manager is a great feature, but it's suffering from immature development. Currently, we can't edit or modify session's content, it's UI is hidden deep within Menu bar, & sometime older session will overwrite the browser's current settings with an older settings...etc. Thus, I'm going to show you how to utilize your bookmarks folder to create a superior version of Sessions manager.

Edit/Modify/Merge any session

Click on the toolbar button and if you have any session saved, click on the right hand side of the name and click edit. This allows you to add the current tab or remove tabs that are included in the session by checking or unchecking them.

Page Monitor - https://chrome.googl...ciniebenbfclihhmmfcd

✓ Monitor any number of pages for changes.
 ✓ One-click adding of pages.
 ✓ Smart comparison system that ignores ads and code changes.
 ✓ Highlighting of changes that happened to a page since the last check.
 ✓ Set separate check interval for each page.
 ✓ Set a sound alert when a page change is detected.
 ✓ Ability to track parts of a page with regular expressions (for expert users).
 ✓ Ability to track parts of a page with CSS/jQuery selectors (for expert users).
 ✓ NEW! Desktop notifications.
 ✓ NEW! Custom sound alerts.
 ✓ NEW! Import and export the monitored pages list.

Unread bookmarks - https://chrome.googl...ggjcbpnjlpfclfeicpei

Watch-list folders - Think Firefox's live bookmarks except for ReadItLater-like bookmarks instead of RSS. Incidentally there is no live bookmarks for Chrome currently that I'm aware of. Although there is this.

Sorry if this isn't much. I tried to omit any similar features any Firefox extension or Opera has. With Page Monitor I mentioned it because I think the ui is easier while with unread bookmarks, it's more about being less complicated than the ReadItLater extension although for true quick bookmarking you need something like Cheese Cake alongside it.

Incidentally there's Incredible Start Page which changes the Chrome Dial into a Post-it send to gmail/gcal and show bookmark and trash can hybrid list.

It's not as easy as Opera Notes to open and I haven't tested it but it gives a different experience from the other browsers.

928

General Software Discussion / Re: FeedSquares - Alternative to Feedly/Google Reader (Chrome Extension)

« Last post by Paul Keith on May 26, 2010, 02:44 PM »

It's a little misleading.

I'm not sure you've used it but yeah, I thought it was going to be just another take on the RSS Speed Dial but the advantage it has is that when you click on one of those squares, it doesn't instantly open up a webpage but a horizontal set of squares that show the title and content of the feed when you click on it.

It's still much more information dense if you're not comfortable with opening up a separate webpage to view a full article and are used to skimming newspaper style but I found this to be the most comfortable time I had of marking anything as read because if I'm not opening the actual webpage, my eyes are still mostly focused on what I clicked kind of like how e-mail works except you get a speed dial list instead of a bunch of lines which is less painful for my eyes.

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General Software Discussion / FeedSquares - Alternative to Feedly/Google Reader (Chrome Extension)

« Last post by Paul Keith on May 26, 2010, 01:19 AM »

https://chrome.googl...gkkeedfnjkldecloidi#



The reviews weren't that positive (mostly feature complaints rather than bugs) but I compare this to the Taboo Firefox extension in that it has a productive user interface for me compared to other RSS reader viewers.

930

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 12, 2010, 09:43 PM »

Paul,

Your points are well taken.

In general though I wish that people do not use cliche words like tinfoil, paranoia etc anytime similar topics come up. The issue is neither of those because. Whenever I bring up these issues, my real intention is never about " gosh my privacy has been lost lost, life is worthless" point of view. Individuals have right to choose whatever make them feel good or happy. My intention is always bigger side effects of the issues, because individual themselves, especially those who are happy with the controversial stuff will never question any side effects anyways. It is all about the future and the global side effects. And these concerns should never make me or people like me a tinfoil hat crowd, because we are bringing up issues that are far more serious. And these issues will overcrowd real problems in the future, I am that certain about these. It is serious, and never meant to be just about "your cash card", or "your individual right to privacy".

Here is a quote from B. Franklin,

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
another variant
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

you can find the other variants here
http://en.wikiquote....ki/Benjamin_Franklin

-kartal (April 12, 2010, 12:11 PM)

Fair enough. This was how I've always viewed your posts about this subject. That's why it disappointed me that you acted the way you did.

I'm sorry for using tinfoil hat then. I've never had anyone taken offense to that word before. (Although I was never one to use that word to insult a person either.)

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Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 09:39 PM »

Paul

I really do not know why you are stuck at that particular word. I publicly explained what my intention was with my sentence. Google is the frontline example of this particular problem regarding privacy.

You said that "That's wrong and tinfoil hat thinking IMO.", and we pretty much know that "tinfoil hat thinking" is used for undermining people, lightly mentioning that they are crazy enough to believe some crap that is normally by standard unacceptably stupid to believe by normal people. If that is not how you meant it please correct me.

If you want to defend a particular point of view that is fine with me, but please do so with the standards that you praise. Because none of the points you have brought up contributed to the real discussion so far.
The discussion is about privacy, internet, data concentration etc. If you want to discuss my lack of wording skills you can do that in private.

-kartal (April 11, 2010, 07:46 PM)

Then let me rephrase: That's wrong and tin-foil hat thinking inducing IMO

i.e. it's the approach (that) and not the character (you) who is wrong or wearing a tinfoil hat. (or if you add the above word, will risk leading to that state of thinking)

I did mean to say "tinfoil hat" but I meant it loosely. I would have used paranoid inducing but that sounds alarmist to me and maybe I should use cult-ish (and I did later on to cement what I mean but obviously that didn't work out)

I felt the tinfoil hat statement is best to define the line between those who are concerned and those who have filled their bias to the point that they simply emphasize the point without even addressing the questions against their bias anymore because they just live in a state where they can continuously justify their concern as being absolutely right and criticisms to it don't get received properly anymore because it's just unfathomable how someone would disagree with their concern. (i.e. resorting to accusations of others rather than discussing the meat of the subject)

I have not added to any real discussion so far because no one has replied to my post so there is nothing to discuss with any specific thing I have said.

The one bit that I added which was a reply to address your point became misconstrued as accusing you of being a paranoid tinfoil hat wearing person even though if you focus on the context of my post, it deals specifically with the subject prior to your next reply.

If you can't spot it, here:

You can't treat non-Google problems as Google problems or you'll fall flat into correlating causation. (data concentration)

It's also cult-breeding behaviour to rely on an "invisible" enemy.

There should be no "representational" name. It should be always about facts or at least better pattern recognition beyond paranoic stereotypes. (internet culture)

Also it's mistaken to think informed and educated people are the key. (internet culture) That's one necessity but if you're fighting an enemy built from invisibility then you're fighting a symbol and not actually doing enough to hurt corporations and corruption. (internet culture + privacy)

Some people may be informed about a certain subject and they may be educated but they also create elitist roadblocks that turn people away. (internet culture) Just look at Stallman and FOSS. (internet culture) The ideal and education is probably there and he made it into a reality that many people know but how many intelligent and informed people ends up switching to say...Chromium because it justifies their convenience while still preserving their ideology? (internet culture/internet ideology + privacy)

Check my 1st and 2nd post. Same thing.

I often do so with the standards I praise and the ones I forgot to do so are often because I rarely notice. I'm not well versed in technology like many of the users here and I am bad at communicating but I often raise my points but it is rarely replied to.

I can't self-convert or contribute to a discussion on my own. If no one replies to it, then there's no point in adding to it.

For example after JavaJones wrote that post I would usually bring up: (and I was going to reply to app with a similar subject but I accidentally closed my tab and it ate up my post - and again the only reply I got was an accusation of my intentions so why bother salvaging that post?)

Convenience + privacy?! No, it's pure convenience ONLY.

Scroogle for example is as easy to use as Google but not only does Google have more market exposure because they venture out of the search business but they are often built by default in browsers.

That's why some can say IE has a monopoly inducing factor by being bundled in Windows because even though it is MS' right to modify their software in what way they like, it cannot be denied that it produces a culture developing stigma that makes it harder to deny or hard for others to compete with unless you build a different ideology like Open Source and only then it's not that Open Source got back a few of the marketshare. It's because Open Source allowed Firefox to gain early traction due to blog lists of extensions and primarily Adblock which Firefox can circumvent because "it is an extension" and not something the browser developers built in. (while at the same time recruiting those who seemingly think it is supporting Open Source because it is an Open Source app and that using an Open Source app to support the ideology is enough to make them think it's helping)

Doesn't mean the solutions or the propositions can't be loopholed as MS showed and doesn't mean the culture won't go against a positive suggestion like that and turn the issue into a laughing stock.

How this relates to search engine discussion is the fact that Google became a privacy monster not because of search but because of their size. Size and culture placement that they have earned that makes it beyond a technology discussion that can be solved by a technological alternative unless it exceeds in convenience and benefits. Privacy? That's just the hump a developer wants to add but it's purely a battle of convenience and exposure.

I could go on and on but the fact is I'm using something like Scroogle because I have no inherent knowledge and reference for actual search engine lingo.

It doesn't mean I don't try but if what I'm saying is not going to get a reply or my reply is going to be misconstrued as a malicious act on someone else and I have to be forced to go away from my points related to the actual topic, what do you expect me to do as far as contributing to a real discussion?

I've been here long enough. You probably know I write some long topics that don't get replies or even replies that don't get any attention maybe because it's just plain ignorant or because I'm no good at communicating my intent.

...but there's no way for me to learn by shutting up. I can only allow myself to be educated by allowing my opinions to be challenged. (not challenged as having my post be accused when I'm actually replying to a topic and not attacking a person but challenge as in someone actually looking into the points I raised beyond certain keywords and then replying to those points)

If I'm not adding to the discussion, I'm not going to learn to do so by shutting up.

Only way I can is to keep trying and modifying how I say things INCLUDING clarifying something because the other person pointed out where I lost them. (and them doing that because they are actually giving me some points I can refute and not just blanket stating something I supposedly said)

Anything else on the way I post or contribute to a topic is out of my control.

If I knew the magical way to be charismatic or knowledgeable in such a way that I will always be guaranteed as adding to a discussion, I wouldn't have to deal with someone accusing me of playing on their lack of word skills especially when I'm the one who lacks the word skills or knowledge to "actually contribute to a discussion".

Even here, I struggle to make my point because I simply have no clue how much else I can add so that I won't get accused of not adding to a discussion. If I write too long, it's not going to be read. If I over-simplify I risk being misconstrued.

Even now, I don't want to turn this about me and I would just as like to return to the topic but come on, is there any recovery point after the TS of a topic says you brought up no points that contributed to the discussion of a topic? I can't think of any. That's why if you think this is about your lack of word skills even after I've written so many lines to clarify this, then I'm sorry. Not only can't I steer it back to the points of the topic because those points apparently made no contribution at all, at the same time I have to make one last reply about me and not the topic because it's the impression of my character that's on the line here.

932

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 07:32 PM »

Well, if you have taken my word in that context I cannot blame you. But the way I have used is not the way you have quoted. "Front line" is the one that is in the front of the line, no militarist connotation there for me.

-kartal (April 11, 2010, 03:07 PM)

Err... what?

Front line is the one that is in the front of the line... is that some kind of a joke?

If you think that an invisible enemy cannot exists in real life because it is invisible, that creates an oxymoron for the argument. Since it is invisible I cannot even myself deny the non existence of the invisible enemy since it is invisible and impenetrable.

Again, what?

Also you have assumed that I have illogical unreal paranoia sunken ideas about facts about google and internet, that tries to put me in a position where my claims are not even credible. In reality I am none of those and have no interest in the game of oxymoron tactics.

First of all you just threw two "oxymoronic tactics" in the above quotes.

2nd of all, please prove and quote where I accused you of "illogical unreal paranoia".

I think you just talked to too many others who accused you of that. I neither used the words illogical nor unreal nor does any of my reply in this topic reflect that.

The closest you could spot my usage of paranoia is here:

There should be no "representational" name. It should be always about facts or at least better pattern recognition beyond paranoic stereotypes.

...and I wrote "paranoic" and not paranoia and there is no "you are" in that sentence.

Really kartal, you used to be more decent. Maybe my length of time away from DC has caused me to become more sensitive about the regular members but there used to be a time when you were decent enough to just stick to your cause and not misconstrue people's words when they talked to you about subjects like these.

The fact is that when I say there is no invisible enemy I am flat denying any existence of any form of enemy. Google is a concern to me not enemy. I hope this makes it clear.

Sorry, that's the third oxymoronic tactics you used.

It's semantical to the point of pointlessness.

933

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 02:55 PM »

Most of your argumens fall flat on a marble floor, because what you are telling me about my own words are not proper represantation of what I am saying.

First of all there is no "invisible enemy". Second there is no "enemy"

-kartal (April 11, 2010, 02:14 PM)

When has an invisible enemy ever been called an invisible enemy? That's why I later replaced it with your words: "representational name"

There is no enemy?

Again, here's a piece of what you said:

Google is just a
representational name, and for a reason it is always in the front line.

Onelook: http://www.onelook.c...=front+line&ls=a

front line: the line along which opposing armies face each other

There has to be a line between proper representation and falling flat on the marble floor.

Sure enough this search engine should never be controlled by anyone or anything. And if you think that this is tinfoil hat thinking and it is an unreasonable paranoia solution then I really do not have much else to contribute to conversation.

You said: "what you are telling me about my own words are not proper represantation of what I am saying."

Please apply those same considerations to mine.

934

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 02:03 PM »

That's wrong and tinfoil hat thinking IMO.

You can't treat non-Google problems as Google problems or you'll fall flat into correlating causation.

It's also cult-breeding behaviour to rely on an "invisible" enemy.

There should be no "representational" name. It should be always about facts or at least better pattern recognition beyond paranoic stereotypes.

Also it's mistaken to think informed and educated people are the key. That's one necessity but if you're fighting an enemy built from invisibility then you're fighting a symbol and not actually doing enough to hurt corporations and corruption.

Some people may be informed about a certain subject and they may be educated but they also create elitist roadblocks that turn people away. Just look at Stallman and FOSS. The ideal and education is probably there and he made it into a reality that many people know but how many intelligent and informed people ends up switching to say...Chromium because it justifies their convenience while still preserving their ideology?

935

Living Room / Re: building reputation: great o'reilly book and blog

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 01:54 PM »

Oh that's troublesome then.

For example, I've always ranked Lifehacker on my bullshit detector as far as bad "research due to quantity" blogs go.

I also don't have respect for IGN and Gamespot and I only tolerate Gamefaqs because I know no other.

However they're not only the authority in their category because of their consistency but you have to join a community to find out what the true quality sites for each category are and the only other guaranteed way to make up for that is to be a slot junkie who treats Stumbleupon like a game of slots.

In real life or things like authorship, the same problem rears it's head again.

You can go look for sources but then you'd not only have to take longer to digest something but your subject needs to be of the verifiable kind and not something more case by case like say friendship, relationship, howtoes, manuals and such.

Even with heuristics, you have to assume you're the one holding the cards. Guys like me who don't know about many subjects like say... programming are going to be suckers for books on say... O'Reilly and only realize not all of them satisfies us or are good enough without follow-up books.

Similarly with strangers, it's like meeting a guy in a gym and you having never worked out before and not having money to pay a trainer. How do you not get goaded into that guy's training regimen especially if you're shy or such a weakling that light plates look heavy or looking good = strength training and you're just desperate? (Even with trainers, how do you judge without that experience and when you can't experiment between trainers?)

It is an interesting topic though but I don't have an answer. My only heuristic is to never give up. Never stop clawing at what I don't know nor give up totally when I feel like quitting on verification because I just don't have a map to refer to.

936

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / 2010 list of (Rarely Mentioned) Productivity Apps

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 12:32 PM »

Well...not really but the blog's title of "10 Excellent Applications to Organize Yourself" doesn't apply to DC members.

Most of these are single purpose websites but it is true that they are not mentioned on here enough: http://www.smashinga...ganize-yourself.html

For those who don't want to click on the link just to see the list:

1. ColorHat - http://colorhat.com/ - Didn't try this. Apparently the site's update said they recently released a new version because of bugs

2. Rooten - http://rootein.com/ - I use this but I'll get back to this later.

3. Link doesn't load (OpenProj)

4. Notefly - http://www.notefly.tk/ - Basic Sticky Notes app with an additional feature of sending the note online to e-mail, Facebook and Twitter but apparently the site update says there is some problem with Facebook currently.

5. When is Good - http://www.whenisgood.net/

schedule meetings and get togethers whether it is with friends or your colleagues and coworkers. With this application all attendees to a meeting can upload their available date so that the host can choose the date most suited to everyone.

6. Tungle - http://www.tungle.me/Home/ - registration version of When is Good

7. Osmo - http://clayo.org/osmo/ - old app that is rarely mentioned by productivity lovers

8. Digital Janitor - http://davidevitelar...are/digital-janitor/

Digital Janitor is file+folder sorting desktop application with a great interface. This entry is obviously different than the others in this list but it will surely help you better organize your computer and increase your efficiency on your machine

9. Scribbly - http://www.adobe.com...amp;offeringid=15420 - Adobe Air Notefly

10. Do It Again - http://www.spacetornado.com/DoItAgain/ - I think there's a NANY post for this but I haven't been monitoring DC topics for a while so I could be wrong.

...for those who don't feel like the above apps are anything worthwhile, you might prefer to opt for this topic instead:

I am Saravanan from Dmailer. Please Let me clarify your concerns.

@Hasin Hayder: Dmailer backup software allows you to store your files “online” and hence you can have access to your files from anywhere. You get a free 2GB online account(no time limit) along with the backup software. You will also have an easy to access web interface as part of the online storage through which you can share and restore files.

@Mike626: You are correct. We offer a different service to backup your files(local as well as online storage). “Dmailer backup” software is more focused on data protection of your PC. Thanks to live backup and versioning, Dmailer backup software monitors your computer and backup your files locally (external hard drive) and online whenever a change is made to the files.

Thanks,
Saravanan
Dmailer SA

Stop reading the below text! It's just my own lengthy post and has nothing to do with the links above.

How I use Rootein.

First off I'm already using Joe's Goals and it's alot better for repetitive tasks than Rootein just because it's not limited to a single day. (Which is a problem if you often check out your tasks just before midnight)

That said, Rootein's design is more motivating for a person like me and if I'm using Joe's Goals I wouldn't drop Rootein just because of that because both site's design has their purpose even though the bottomline is the same.

Anyways, I use Rootein as a testbed idea for a concept I haven't heard used by other productivity users. Again, I just don't browse enough productivity sites to know if I'm just repeating old stuff. Oh, I was also really unproductive when I was doing this and I still am so I haven't converted this to any productive boost at all.

The idea is somewhat based on David Allen's birdview/wormview/runway view of problems. (Some GTD enthusiasts would call this the look at your problems from x number of feet high and then lower and then higher and then straight! Straight cause the airplane is about to hit you! ...but I forgot the exact numbers and the wikipedia article for GTD doesn't show any of that information.)

Instead of switching perspective on the actual task/problem though, I thought... what if a system switches productivity methods as the person becomes more unproductive.

Not higher or better but worse. That way instead of being squeezed both by your system and your unproductivity, you have more floating room because you're adapting yourself more in dealing with that problem while relieving yourself more and more from the burden of a system that hasn't prevented you from dealing with this problem.

Of course all people do that but I wondered if there was a way to control the drop-off.

I felt it couldn't work with specific tasks because then you have to worry about the portability of your lists.

However, what if the things you're keeping are both minimal but also unnecessary? That way you can have the benefits of a productivity system while also procrastinating.

Now this goes against all productivity ideas that a system should help you be productive rather than be unproductive but if I'm unproductive, I usually find myself not being able to do something productive.

An example for this would be a work-loaded guy who goes to the gym. If the work stacks up enough, no matter what he does, he can't go to the gym. He'd either have to settle for the inferior quality of lifting weights at home or work on his ever increasing load. I thought for someone unproductive, they often resort to the former that's why they procrastinate.

How this relates to Rootein's site design is that when you go to the home tab of Rootein, it shows how many days you haven't checked off a task.

JG does this too but Rootein shows it in red plus the days and separates the green if you're on track and it does this automatically.

Now for regular tasks this obviously wouldn't make much difference because you're just going to see that you haven't been working on them. Even for recurring tasks, you only get the idea that you're slacking off and unless what you need is a reminder rather than a productive pick me up, it doesn't make a difference.

By combining this with Life Category-like concepts though, it becomes a barometer for what aspect you're most being unproductive in.

These aren't life categories but like I said in that topic, it's similar but I just prefer what I made up for myself.

Instead the 6 tasks I have in Rootein are Challenge, Release, Pessimize, Sinkage, Optimize and Recovery.

All are kinda obvious but here's my justification for them anyways:

Challenge I check if I feel I did something challenging regardless of how major and minor it is. A good example is doing something that makes me anxious but getting over it and doing it anyway. Not necessarily finishing it but facing it.

Release is anything that I finish whether it be a minor thing like a blog post or jumping rope or of course a major task.

Pessimize is anything I was worried about and then followed through. Again, it doesn't mean I finish it as long as I did something about it.

Sinkage is anything I realize whether it be from reading a post in the internet or just self-contemplation. Even the realization that I am being unproductive or procrastinating and succumbing to the fact that what I'm fighting against isn't making that huge of a difference.

Optimize is any improvement in life that I feel. Even from merely letting go of my worry and just double procrastinating by eating ice cream instead of letting my stress bog me down.

Recovery is rest but not merely sleeping but feeling recovered and relaxed even though I haven't worked on any of the things I need to do as long as I'm not feeling stressed or pressured by it.

Obviously as recurring open-ended tasks you can not only check this even when you're not being productive because it's so open-ended but if you are productive you may not even need this as a motivational tool and it will just be an extra unnecessary hassle to your productivity system unless this is your reminder.

Just speaking for myself though, when I'm unproductive, I can check some of these things occassionally but I can't even manage a simple to-do list program. Just too stressful.

By occassionally I don't even mean 4 or 5 days, I mean a long long time.

For example it's been 32 days since I've checked the Optimize task and 43 days since I've checked the Recovery task.

However because of knowing that, I now know what aspect I've been least focusing on that I may need focusing on: The Recovery criteria.

Now if I normally became unproductive, I often break down and don't know what task to do or what mentality to apply.

It doesn't matter if I have next actions, check lists, markers, warning notes... I'll just be flipping them back and forth or almost being paralyzed and praying I can at least stay in one task and hope no one bothers me.

With this system though, even if I'm still unproductive, I realize not only did I not realize that I was omitting rest or sleep most of all but I found out that it's the hardest thing I can't manage when I'm being unproductive.

I thought before that maybe I'm just not working enough on this one task or I'm not listening to my productivity system enough or I'm just not making those systems work but the hardest task turns out that I can't relax.

Even when I see that it is the most number of days I have let pass by, I just can't let go as easily of my worries and just rest. When I try to sleep I'm wide awake or my mind will then start rolling and then I'm back up and either playing videogames or some other unproductivity tasks or working on what I need to do...but then I'd get nowhere because fatigue will step in and I'll just get so tired I don't realize how I'm walking to the bed already and when I doze off, I often over-sleep the whole day but when I wake up I don't feel rested and I get stuck in that rut and become worse off. I'm unemployed btw so that's not an exaggeration.

937

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 10:37 AM »

Am I the only one here who does not have a problem with Google at all? I mean, I visit websites every day that log lots of information about me without me even knowing it. As a web server administrator, I know just how much you can learn about someone just by them visiting your webpage and clicking around. I am not saying you shouldn't fight for privacy rights, but is someone knowing that I shop for books by Charlaine Harris for my wife really going to be a big privacy concern? Does the fact that they know I bought Milk, Eggs, Condoms and a book at walmart really impact my life? Has anyone proven that any of these companies are using your data for malicious purposes? If you are worried about people finding out about you online, I really feel sites like Facebook, Myspace and twitter prove to be far more harmful to your privacy than Google knowing I searched for "George Carlin Used Underwear" (NOT A REAL SEARCH I PERFORMED!).

-Josh (April 11, 2010, 10:14 AM)

I sort of agree but I wouldn't go as far as saying no problem to Google.

Remember you're thinking Google "Search" alone. Google also has Gmail, Gdoc and they're working their way to Twitter, Facebook and Myspace...they just keep failing.

The big elephant in the room though is Google Maps/Earth and address finder. That's where it becomes shades of grey especially since Google is opening up the worm hole for a government to force Google to show certain data. (although it's not so much the government can't nowadays but it's a nice feeling to have the internet pie and eat it anonymously too)

938

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 10:33 AM »

IMO this:

People think just because a form is put in front of them on the internet or at the grocery store (for those discount cards) that we are legally bound to answer the information truthfully. They are just forms, people, put before you trying to get you to disclose personal identifiable information so they can track you & what you do.

Is a more worthwhile lesson to warn people about than saying Google has your privacy.

Not only is it much harder to cover up your anonymity especially because you can't exactly double check your worm trail unless you're a hacker but some businesses who need networking need that information.

Personally I knew that online because I surf but if I just casually joined any sites, I wouldn't know that. Especially with forms but that's because I don't know much about the law...but most people don't either.

No one really knows which form should be legally respected and which shouldn't.

It also makes you come off like a tinfoil hat wearing freak because people warn about "Google" and don't warn about the hazards of "forms" per se.

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Living Room / Re: building reputation: great o'reilly book and blog

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 10:27 AM »

...um sorry, come again?

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Living Room / Re: How the big boys win the race for most popular website and rake in the dough

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 11, 2010, 10:25 AM »

I don't think it's as conspiratory as that.

I think this is just a specific case of supply and demand. Even sites like Lifehacker and Download Squad tow the line by hosting lists of p2p apps but not actual links.

It's just a repeated case of the rule makers not understanding how the market works and end up padding the illegal black market.

Of course there is no such market in the internet that pays that's why often big business fail when they start to apply this phase of the issue:

...and start charging for the services the site once offered for free once they have locked in users and locked in their position as the dominant market force.

There's nothing really big market about it. Tons of websites cheat the SEO, use linkbaits, make top 10 lists, make short uninformed but reader friendly posts at a rapid rate... how is Youtube and Viacom worse for playing the game and uploading copyrighted materials?

They're just taking advantage of the demand caused by how the copyright banning promoted the appeal for copyright videos viewed with better convenience.

Believe me if there were no copyright and sites like Youtube uploaded the legal copies, they might not have gotten as big as say a site like Youtube but also allowed direct torrent series downloading but with warning labels (pre-breakdown Mininova if combined with Youtube)

It's just the opportunist taking advantage of the other richer opportunists. Viacom just didn't know how to play the game well but sites like Gaia Online, Gamefaqs.com, sites bought by Google, they tow that line too and are doing well even by making the product inferior. Best (or worst depending on which side of the fence you are), they have a sustainable website. 

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Living Room / 10 Pretty Stupid Business Moves

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 09, 2010, 08:08 AM »

http://listverse.com...upid-business-moves/

Even my favorite company loses sanity at times. In 2007, 9-year-old Shea O’Gorman emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs with ideas for improving her iPod Nano (like adding lyrics so people can sing along to the music). Little Miss O’Gorman soon received a threatening letter from Apple attorneys stating that the company never accepts unsolicited ideas and warned her not to send in any more suggestions. And thus, another Mac hater was born…

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Note-taking Software for Windows (FREE)

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 09, 2010, 08:05 AM »

Speaking of "killer feature", we can only speak of Knowledge NoteBook (KN) (it may sound biased):
* Innovative Flash Card Creation (not our words but users)
* Concept Mapping (virtually all male users LOVE it and the latest version
has improved its process to make it no brainer.  I don't exactly understand that part
though why all male users love it so much but have not heard anything back
from female users about it other than one I showed it to her and she said "cool".
* Contextual Link to Wikipedia (a valedictorian commented, "I've NEVER seen anything
like this, very cool!"

Killer features doesn't equal exclusive or appealing features though. It's features that for some reason has the magnetic power to convince users to switch from their default apps and stick to yours.

Albeit these are the features that made me want to try this app (minus the last bit about contextual link) but in order for those to be killer features, it should convince users to try it despite the barrier of entry. (In this case the 30 day license key system.)

This depends from person to person and a single person sample is insufficient but at the same time, it has kept me from trying your software for this reason and that much is true.

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Note-taking Software for Windows (FREE)

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 08, 2010, 08:20 AM »

Actually speaking from a non-DC veteran member, such mechanics have turned me off from using many of the applications in DC. (Including Auto-Hotkey apps being detected as viruses)

The reason I use some DC apps are because I couldn't find exact alternative apps that would fill my needs but that is something notetaker applications have a luxury of.

A good example of a DC app which I rejected so flat out that I didn't even install it was FARR. The advanced features didn't appeal to me as I'm not a heavy techie user and I opted for Slickrun until I preferred the indexing of Launchy until Launchy became too heavy, I finally got an account and license key on DC and felt welcomed by the community before I even stayed with FARR.

I'm not the main audience though so that's alright but it shows how even the most mundane of setbacks can hurt your potential audience.

Another major example: many on DC here have expressed dissatisfaction with Evernote's online approach (especially the disappearance of critical features) and dropped it but many may have adapted it for those same reasons.

Another further example: many dropped Google Notebooks as soon as the announcement that it was going to be kept online but not updated anymore even though prior to that many were satisfied by the current set of features.

As far as getting locked into a note taking app while trying it out...well...that's gonna be a potential problem with any of them if you decide it's not for you.

Besides, that's really not all that different a situation than you'd have if you wanted to switch your email, database, or office suite - so I'd hesitate to call it a unique problem.

Most don't switch e-mail, database or office suite. When it finally came time to switch why did OpenOffice seemed a viable alternative? Because outside of piracy there wasn't much of an alternative for free office suites out there.

There are tons of notetakers out there. More importantly notetaker isn't a category that can't be replaced by a non-notetaker app like Word unlike those other examples.

Even when a person would opt to getting locked in once or twice, it eventually gets tiring.

Some of the more experienced testers or people with actual work to do probably has a "test load" they just copy paste and often they do that because an application is totally free or a priced app has a killer feature that actually made them want to test it regardless whether the app is free or not. (Even then it takes a hardcore notetaking searcher to do that and that was prior to OneNote being bundled in MS Office)

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Note-taking Software for Windows (FREE)

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 07, 2010, 04:16 PM »

No, I didn't mean to say it is a zero-sum game. Just that the marketing and the overall expectations have become a zero-sum game as far as notetaking applications go.

People just get tired much faster of putting their notes in an application, realizing it doesn't work and finding out they have to start all over again. On the flip side, it is precisely this lack of zero-sum effect, which allows such discrepancy between casual, academic and hobbyist notetakers that causes each group to be receptive to a zero-sum hype from a notetaking application.

That's why the further down the road this becomes, the more effort it takes to convince others to even click the download link and test-run such software. For some of the ones who tried many other software, they could even simply dismiss it just from viewing the feature list because they've already tried many other software and have a comfortable estimate of the pains they encountered.

That's why it's important for your group to seriously re-consider the "free as bonus" approach. I have no business knowledge to flat-out say there's some missing link in your marketing or approach to your software but in my opinion there is something you guys may be missing if you can on one hand say you gave a survey where Word (a word processor and not a notetaker) is the most dominant software being used and then in another post assume people should be rational and reasonably intelligent in choosing their notetaker software.

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Note-taking Software for Windows (FREE)

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 07, 2010, 11:29 AM »

Yeah, it's an unfortunate part of the culture at least from a person who has tried several notetaking software point of view.

Nowadays if something is free it's not really seen as an extra. I don't know whether that rings true in the mainstream sense but people are so used to free in the internet nowadays that you can't really tweak the model of how people consume free software or if you do, the less hassle the better.

Word is what most people refer to because "notetaking" is a very niche cult. If MS didn't release OneNote few would even re-consider the idea that notetaking is a separate system of input because few really put in that much text notes to their work and even though I have no academic background, I think them not totally going against Word speaks to that volume that it's more of a "blind" standard than the top enemy to use for feature vs. feature comparison as far as impressing the circle.

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Note-taking Software for Windows (FREE)

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 06, 2010, 09:02 PM »

This is an interesting software because it can potentially be an image organizer but I'd seriously re-consider this:

When the software expires in 30 days you simply follow instructions and we'll send you license code to continue its permanent use.

It may sound like nitpicking but none of your competitors have this as far as I know.

In a way this can be even more troublesome than an adware app because you have to sort of "invest" in an app even when trying it out.

Compendium had a register to download mechanic and it nearly turned me off so I'm sure you'll probably lose alot of potential downloads just due to this especially when you have an app that on first impression is like Evernote with a slightly better ui, ability to not always consume online connectivity and is not an advanced flash card app using SRS (at least I didn't see it in the introduction video)

I'm also skeptical about the comments you have under the VentureBeat article. It says someone uses it over OneNote but alot of the comments sound like astro-turfs although I may be over-estimating the knowledge level people have with notetaking software features but it is a bit glaring that you use it to compare only with Word rather than other popular notetakers.

All in all, I don't mean to jump the gun but it's a bit of a red flag when the emphasis of an app is that it's free but it's not convenient free. Seeing as you already have positive responses and not a bad website design and name, maybe you do have the marketing to make this product more popular but again I'm skeptical. Feature-wise there's just very little compelling act to download this and go through the 30 day process but your direction seems to go along the lines that it's so good that once you use it, you'll want to go through the hassle of getting the license and make it permanent but if not enough people download and generate that buzz, it's not going to work either.

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The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Just a Cartoon

« Last post by Paul Keith on April 06, 2010, 01:09 AM »

http://www.geekcultu...oyarchives/1373.html

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The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Gmail Unreads Summary Greasemonkey Script

« Last post by Paul Keith on January 06, 2010, 03:51 AM »

Since this was recently posted on lifehacker, I just thought of highlighting this script for people who don't use GreaseFire or monitor the recent Greasemonkeys:

Gmail Unreads Summary

Author's Page:

http://www.winstonyw...ail-unreads-summary/

...It doesn't empty the inbox or help you unsubscribe newsletters but I find that I prefer it this way then having an empty inbox or worrying about which newsletter to unsubscribe.

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The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / (Just a Poll) Ever experienced getting more things done...(title too long)

« Last post by Paul Keith on January 06, 2010, 03:00 AM »

Ever consistently experienced getting more things done when you don't have anything in your system/list/reminder/etc?

I don't mean having no system. (since then there's nothing to measure)
 
I mean having a system you put stuff in... but the tasks/projects you don't put in it becomes faster, easier and more efficiently done than the actual items in any structure you have set for yourself. (Yes, this includes things like brain dump and someday list and list filters)
 
Yes - 1

No -

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Living Room / Re: Sex Doesn't Sell

« Last post by Paul Keith on January 05, 2010, 01:54 PM »

Maybe I just missed your point but I don't think it's possible to really highlight that.

Many people think sex belongs only in the act and the visual medium is for losers.

Then there's people who think it's only valid if you limit it to the "missionary" scenes.

The onion peel goes on and on...

Even after you justify that, a good porn film as with any good film uses such techniques as fade to black to highlight and not censor a sex scene so we are back again to treating the effect as a tool.

Even without fade to black, a porn film will use such similar techniques to highlight sex scenes instead of take away from them:

-fade to white (often used by hentai films to signify post-orgasm)
-angles (link NSFW)

As there's been a lot of discussion here recently about Hong Kong actresses and cinema, I thought I should do a post on the most famous erotic HK actress of all: Amy Yip. In spite of her global fame, there is surprisingly little concrete information I could find about about Amy, at least in English. Indeed, despite being famous for her obvious (enhanced) assets, even her nipples are a mystery: she always somehow manages to show all of her breasts, except the part everyone wants to see - a brilliant marketing strategy which has come to be known as the "Yip tease".

-underskirt and it's variation (viewpoint where the act is implied but the actual sexual organ is omitted)

-blanket over chest (a common technique used to not show nudity)

-Innuendo (besides the actual words, it could for example be a metaphor like a metallic drill as a penis for example)

-the "kiss" (i.e. a lesbian kissing scene depicting that something has took place)

...really in terms of highlighting and not highlighting, sex is no different than any other act in film. There's tons of ways to highlight, imply, satire, parody, take away it's sexuality depending on what you do with it.

A well respected artistic director like Kubrick for example can create a violent sex scene and justify it as a violent "art scene" even to the most anti-porn viewer. (The popular cliche of "it's a crucial element to pursue character development" or the other cliche where "the person who has sex gets it at the end and dies/humiliated" thus becoming more of a revenge film for anti-sex viewers.)

Then there's the previous quote about Cronenberg's Crash where the complaint was two-fold: 1) it was porn because it shows sex scenes and lots of it. 2) Since the correlation already has been made, then it's a bad porno because it didn't titillate.

...yet the entire movie judged as a whole is more about taking the fun out of sex scenes and making it more animalistic in order to un-arouse a viewer. (maybe even bore them to the actual act of sex they're viewing)