Portugal again

I am with my friends in Oporto again to party New Years Eve. I arrived yesterday with good weather, now it is raining. Alrady eat a lot yesterday and cooking is already started early so I won't starve tonight :).

[Posted from my iPhone]

Christmas

and other celebrations, from Yahoo.com

Christmas is one of the most popular Christian holidays. Celebrated December 25, it honors the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the son of God. The traditions of Christmas date back to long before the birth of Jesus and combine such holidays such as Yule, Saturnalia, and Juvenalia. Many cultures give gifts on Christmas with people gathered around a decorated fir tree. A popular figure in Christmas lore is a fat, jolly gift-giver named Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle.

Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday celebrating African-American culture and history. Created in 1966 in the midst of the civil rights movement by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 through January 1. Each of the seven days focuses on one of the Nguzo Saba, or seven principles. These are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).

Hanukkah (also known as Chanukah) is the Jewish Festival of Lights. Legend has it that during a fight against the Syrian-Greeks, the Jews only had enough olive oil to light a candle for one night. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days. To commemorate this miracle, one candle is lit and placed upon a prong of the menorah on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. During the nightly celebrations families eat foods fried in oil including latkes (potato pancakes), play with a four-sided spinning top called a dreidel, and children are often given small coins, called gelt.

Diwali is one the most well-known Indian festivals and is often referred to as the Festival of Lights. The word itself means "rows of lighted clay lamps." It is a five-day celebration marked with bright colors, oil lamps, feasts, and sparklers. Diwali occurs on the 15th day of the Hindu month of Kartika (during October/November in the Gregorian calendar). Homes, courtyards, and rooftops are commonly decorated with small oil lamps called diyas. Rangoli, a form of colorful sand painting, adorns doorsteps.

In Muslim culture, Ramadan is the holy month of fasting celebrated during the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar. As a sign of sacrifice and humility to God, Muslims do not eat between sunrise to sunset and concentrate heavily on their prayers. Eid ul-Fitr (which means "Festival of Fast-Breaking"), is a three-day celebration which falls on the first day of the Islamic month of Shawall.

Winter Solstice -- the shortest day of the year -- usually occurs between December 20 and December 23 in the northern hemisphere. Many cultures celebrate this time because the worst of winter is behind them. The longer days and extended hours of sunshine symbolize light and birth. Many cultures celebrate by lighting fires or candles.

Fotonauts

Interesting new photo sharing site, an example:

Building my own house?

Well ... it might become reality. One of my colleguaes pointed me to a very interesting lot in Almere-Poort. The lots are only for architects. I already had a meeting with the Architect to discuss some options. It is much closer to Amsterdam compared to the last one several years ago and also close to my work.

I am checking some options financially and will update you later about what I decide.

Last standing

We played our last game, will continue in March 2009. We are doing rather well, almost the same amount of points as we had last year all season, now half-way.

My favorit big cities

1. Vancouver (Canada)


2. Chicago (USA)


3. Oslo (Norway)


4. London (UK)


5. Stockholm (Sweden)


6. San Diego (USA)


7. Oporto (Portugal)


8. New York (USA)


9. Berlin (Germany)


10. Halifax (Canada)


11. Wellington (New Zealand)


12. Quebec (Canada)


13. Istanbul (Turnkey)


14. Cairo (Egypt)


15. Barcelona (Spain)


16. Boston (USA)


17. Shanghai (China)


18. Denver (USA)


19. Lisbon (Portugal)


20. Amsterdam (could also be no 1)

 

Maybe even more difficult ....

10 best spots in the world

Today I was at home and watched the travel channel and some of the programs were about where I have been in the past. It made me think about making a top 10 of hot spots where I was. These are just (some of) my personal favorits, if you want to add yours please do.

Most beautiful views / sceneries 

1. Mount Sinai (Egypt)


2. Aoraki / Mount Cook (New Zealand)


3. Preikestolen / Pulpit Rock (Norway)


4. Colored Canyon (Egypt)


5. Tuscany (Italy)


6. Joshua Tree Park (USA)


7. Acadia National Park (USA)


8. Stanley Park (Vancouver Canada)


9. The Kremlin (Moskou Russia)


10. Chester (NS Canada)

OK, I am missing many of course, and it is very difficult to make such a list.

Back

Was a very good "week" in Berlin. As always Berlin was vert friendly and relaxing, although I got the flew and at the end of the week could not really speak any more.

The conference was interesting, the nights were nice, good food (especially the cheese in KaDeWe again), hot Glühwein and nice companions.

Berlin - Online Educa

Next week I will be at Onlin Educa in Berlin. I have been there now 6 times in the last 8 years and beside the conference itself is very interesting business-wise, Berlin is a great city to go to, especially i December. In December many Chrsitmass markets are taking place giving Berlin (and many other German cities) a very relaxing atmosphere.

From a Christmas market website:

Anyone who wants to experience the incomparable charm of “WinterMagic” has to come to Berlin! Berlin is the capital city of the German Christmas Markets.  Whether you prefer a contemplative and magical Christmas market or a lively and urban one, this year Berlin offers you a choice of sixty Christmas Markets.

Allow yourself to discover the vendor booths’ magic, charm, and unique items along the large boulevards and squares as well as on the small side streets and even in several museums.

This year marks the second time a Christmas market will be held in front of Charlottenburg Castle. The Christmas Market will feature the Biedermeier period. Historic carriage rides, theme exhibits in the palace itself, and specialized lighting will feature the fascinating era between 1815 and 1848. 

WeihnachtsZauber on Gendarmenmarkt is another classic Christmas Market that deserves a mention. The Gendarmenmarkt is one of the most beautiful squares in Europe and is the exquisite setting for one of Berlin's many Christmas markets - the historical Berlin Christmas market - which will whisk you away to a magical Christmas world full of scrumptious treats and fairy lights.

A new Christmas market, in which the nearby embassies of Great Britain, France, and the United States will be featuring their Christmas customs, will be opening again between the two Christmas markets at the Brandenburg Gate.

The heart of “WinterMagic” beats particularly strongly on the Potsdamer Platz and in the Sony Centre, where there is a Christmas Market on the Sony Centre’s 4,000 square metre event area. “Boccia on Ice,” in an area protected from inclement weather, is another new attraction for the adults, while the kids can enjoy themselves in the neighboring Legoland Discovery Centre.  

There is another small and subdued Christmas market along the Alte Potsdamer Strasse, but the main attraction in the middle of Potsdamer Platz is Winterwelt, featuring Europe’s largest mobile toboggan run.

 

Great escape

Moodle training

I finished the second Moodle training at Moodlerooms. Will start tomorrow the third, no rest ... It will be about administrating the server/installation.

Traffic chaos

It is raining a bit and see what happens in the Netherlands, almost 450 Km of traffic jams :-(.

The iPhone Is Now the Best Selling Phone In the U.S.

From Techcrunch:

When the economy takes a hit, so do cell phone sales. Last quarter, mobile phone sales in the U.S. dropped 15 percent to 32 million units, according to market research firm NPD Group. But in hard times, the strongest brands also take share. And that is exactly what Apple did. The 6.9 million iPhones it sold last quarter catapulted the $200 device into the top spot among all cell phones, even beating out the much cheaper and still-popular Motorola Razr. (Yes, they still sell that thing. They just don’t make any money off of it.) Here are the top five phones sold last quarter, according to the NPD Group:

1. Apple iPhone 3G

2. Motorola RAZR V3 (all models)

3. RIM Blackberry Curve (all models)

4. LG Rumor

5. LG enV2

Note that the BlackBerry Curve is No.3. Who says expensive smart phones are only for geeks? Everybody is getting one.

Looking up

We're doing fine the last few weeks, today again we won, now 1-5 against de Kraaien. With the next weeks also possibilities or additional wins, we might be in the top 4-5 over the next weeks.

Standings, we are Pinoke C.

Boerengolf

With the opening of the new office in Hardenberg with very nice cold weather we played Boerengolf (a rather nice pastime):

Using an ‘iron’ with a wooden shoe as a head, and a leather ball the size of a small soccer ball, people now can enjoy a rural variety of golf. ‘Boerengolf’ is the invention of local cheese maker Peter Weenink as an alternative to the elite sport. Boerengolf is played on farmland, sometimes amid the cows and their inevitable patties.

Besides the difference in equipment - the hole is a sunken bucket - boerengolf can be described as a fun, simplified and shorter version of the more elitist sport. Rules are simple and, for example allow for repositioning the ball when necessary. A typical Boerengolf course has eight to ten holes. Obstacles include the ever-present cows and other farm animals, ditches and barbed-wire fences.

To keep with the rural theme, the wooden clubs have a 15-centimetres long solid wooden shoe as a head, all made by an area klompenmaker. Weenink, who this fall will organize a first Dutch Open on his fields, wants operators of other boerengolf courses to adhere to common rules, including equipment. His organization has ten farmer-operators, from Wester-geest (Friesland) to Kessel (Limburg) and from War-mond (near Leiden) to Radewijk (near Hardenberg) at the German border, with others considering to join as well. The new sport allows farmers and camping owners to develop other sources of income.

More information (in Dutch) about boerengolf, its rules and the location of the courses, can be found at www.boerengolf.nl.

The Dutch who already played a form of golf (they called it kolf) in the 17th century, can enjoy the sport at about twenty golf courses.

 

Blue Man Group

Tonight I have been to the Blue Man Group in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, together with Christine one of my co-workers.

Blue Man Group is a creative organization dedicated to creating exciting and innovative work in a wide variety of media.

Blue Man Group is best known for their wildly popular theatrical shows and concerts which combine music, comedy and multimedia theatrics to produce a totally unique form of entertainment. The blissful party atmosphere created at their live events has become the trademark of a Blue Man Group experience.

Congrats with Obama

Americans, congrats with your choice of Obama, I think this was by far the best and will hopefully change the way the USA will work with the rest of the world, or better will work again with he rest of the world.

Hockey update

The first few games we played ok, but did not win. For the last 3 games we even played better, but it was against the the top 2, lost 2-3 and had a draw against our younger brothers, that is we are around 50, they around 40 :-).

Yesterday we played our neighbours for Amsterdam and we won rather easily 5-1. This results and the others but also our next opponents will give us a good standing.

I have to say it's fun ....

This says it all ....

Busy weeks again

Several presentations on one of the new products and preparing for the next Higher Education conference, Surf Onderwijsdagen 2008 in Utrecht.

Will update the site with many pictures in the coming weeks.

Back from Italy

I had a good week in Sestry-Levante Italy although rather busy ......

The ride back took me much longer an almost 12 hours in total. Going there 1,5 hours less.

Learn eXact

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Well you know, fun again ....

Moodle course

Today I started a Moodle introduction course at our partners site Moodlerooms. I have to spend 30-60 minutes for the next 2 weeks. I am away from Saturday until next Saturday so I need do some stuff in advance :-).

The course itself looks very well structured with many activities included.

Test with Flock 2.0

Less than a year after the initial release of Flock 1.0, we are proud to release Flock 2.0. Flock 2.0 has been through three beta cycles, enjoyed tremendous feedback from our community of users and is a significant step forward in capability and quality. And, this final release of Flock 2.0 has some great new capabilities that have not been made available in any prior 2.0 beta release. Let me take a moment to tell you what to expect in Flock 2.0.

Flock 2.0 is built on the latest Firefox 3 technology from Mozilla, so you’ll find it to be snappy, safe and easier to use. Flock 2.0 also comes with some great new features not found in any other browser today.

First of all, we’re very pleased to announce that we’ve added MySpace as a major new addition to our suite of 23 other popular services integrated within Flock. MySpace was the #1 most requested service from our community. Now MySpace lovers can stay up to date with their MySpace friends and activities no matter where they are on the web. MySpace users will also find that Flock offers the easiest way to upload photos, insert photos and videos in MySpace comment fields and share most any web content by simply dragging and dropping it into the Flock People sidebar.

Flock 2 also incorporates Media RSS (MRSS) detection capability so that you can subscribe to media streams being made available by websites, even if the site isn’t one of the 23 integrated with Flock. Once you’ve subscribed to a media stream via Media RSS, you will be notified about the arrival of new photos and videos posted by your favorite sites and they will flow right into your MyWorld page in Flock, so you never miss out on updates to your favorite media streams.  We’ll go into this great new capability in depth in a later blog post.

For the first time, we are also making themes available for Flock 2. Check out extensions.flock.com and install a theme to customize the look of Flock. We’re shipping today with two new themes, and will be adding many more over the coming weeks and months.

If you’re already a Flock user – thank you! And, get ready for the best version of Flock ever! If you are new to Flock, give Flock 2.0 a test drive and discover what users from 165 countries and territories all around the world already know – with Flock you will rock the web! With the latest Firefox 3 architecture under the hood, you’ve now got the latest technology with the most innovative features available in any browser today.  If you’ve been using the 2.0 beta, we highly recommend you upgrade…there’s a lot in this release that you haven’t seen yet.

Check it out and let us know what you think. Your feedback has been essential in developing Flock 2, and we have been growing with the strong global support of satisfied Flockstars everywhere who have been telling their friends: “get ready to meet your new favorite browser”.

-Cheers

Shawn Hardin, Chief Flockstarshawn at Flock dot com

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Some big lots in Norway

 in Norwayfor sale in Haasum in Fyresdal, should be interesting to see what you get for just € 31.500, as they are really big, from 8 to 10 hectares.

Next trips

Some business trips scheduled, in a week first to Sestri-Levante in Italy, for the first joined learn eXact / Hive user conference. In December again to Online Educa in Berlin and for pleasure to my Portuguese friends in Porto again end of the year. So nothing to complain here. 

Too busy

... to write each day at the moment. Busy with my company (several new products added and changes made), started a new study "Interior Design" and of course planning next holidays. Well better is to write "read about where to go", not planning yet.

As you can see at the blog I am still a big fan of Canada, but my next big trip might lead to Alaska. Other possibility could be taking the Trans Canada Highway from Vancouver to Ottawa (rest I have mostly done). It is long though, 7.821 Km in total.

I have been in Vancouver some years ago and think it is one of the best cities to be in, too expensive to buy a house though :-).

Great Video

iPhone 3G

I have got one and this is my first test.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

iBlogger

Great new application on my iPod Touch; IBlogger

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod]

Starting hockey competition

Yesterday the competition started again. It's about field hockey (at Pinoke) big in the Netherlands. We have a completely different team from last year, seems to be stronger. We lost the first match though (not all players were present) against one stronger and younger teams, VVV, 2-4.

Opening Academic Year

Yesterday we were at the opening of the Academic Year at the New Business School in Amsterdam, one of our clients. The event took place in "De Duif", a great spot for such an important gathering.

There was a Masterclass of Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch Astronaut, who had a speech on sustainability, which is also a big part of the New Business School projects itself.  

Great stunt

Pirates Day

I had my six year old nephew over for the weekend. We went to the Pirates Festival in Lelystad. In Lelystad is the Batavia, a replica of an old VOC ship.

The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Company") was established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. In addition, the VOC possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.

It remained an important trading concern for almost two centuries, paying an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years, until it became bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1800, its possessions and the debt being taken over by the government of the Batavian Republic. The VOC's territories became the Dutch East Indies and were expanded over the course of the 19th century to include the whole of the Indonesian archipelago, and in the twentieth century would form Indonesia.

 

So now London, bad mayor

If you have seen the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics with the new mayor of London, Boris Johnson, you could have seen what it will become ... He was totally out of order by not conforming the dress code, actually it was almost as on the picture. How could people have chosen this "clochard" .... a real mistake I think. Also the presentation of London was extremely poor, just showing Beckham as the biggest asset ... hm ... I hope it will be a big success, but the start was rubbish.

Final logo 2

  

Final logo 1

Well I got 2. I think i can use them both, the one with the plain when I am traveling, the other when not :-).

 

Apple Worth More Than Google

Digital Daily notes that Apple's market capitalization at $159.37 billion is now worth more than Google's which is at $157.56 billion. Apple's market cap first exceeded $100 billion in May of 2007. Apple was included into the S&P 100 index at that time. For interest, MacDailyNews compiled a list of the market values of other notable companies:

• Microsoft (MSFT) - $255,648,204,000
  


• IBM (IBM) - $169,964,678,000
  


• Apple (AAPL) - $157,012,662,240
  


• Google (GOOG) - $156,392,862,560
  


• Cisco (CSCO) - $142,125,692,160
  


• Intel (INTC) - $135,658,860,000
  


• Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) - $111,866,423,760
  


• Nokia (NOK) - $97,746,699,520
  


• Research In Motion (RIMM) - $71,143,935,000
  


• Disney (DIS) - $59,257,501,500
  


• Dell (DELL) - $50,483,256,060 
  

iPhone leads in Flickr cameraphone uploads

Well I do not have one, I use the Nokia N95, but the Apple iPhone is by a wide margin the phone most used by Flickr uploaders, updated charts from the site suggest. The charts track the number of people with a particular device "who have uploaded at least one photo or video with a particular camera on a given day over the last year," according to Flickr, and show the iPhone as nearing 100 percent of site cameraphone users. Nokia's N95 has an overlapping figure of about 70 percent, but the N73, N82 and Sony Ericsson K800i are the only other phones on the list, at just over 20 percent each. The N73 and K800i are in decline, while both the iPhone and N95 are increasing in popularity.
Flickr cautions however that while the charts are normalized against increasing site membership, only phones that identify themselves can be recorded, and these are likely a minority.

In the realm of regular cameras, the three most popular compacts are variants of Canon's PowerShot series, led by the SD1000. The two most popular DSLRs are versions of Canon's Digital Rebel, while Nikon's D80 is in third place. The only professional-grade camera on the list is Canon's EOS-40D, ranked at fourth.

Amsterdam Tournament

Yesterday I visited the Amsterdam Tournament again. It is something I yearly do with my father. Although Ajax lost again, now 0-1 from Inter Milan (after loosing Friday from Arsenal) I think there is some potential in the new team.

Marco van Basten (the new coach of Ajax) started with a B-team, bad, bad move ..... 30.000 paying spectators thus saw several players most probably not even playing for Ajax this season. 

The other game of the evening; Arsenal - Valencia, was especially from Valencia's perspective a nice one, although the end-score only was 1-1. Meaning Arsenal won the tournament.

Some revisions

These are some revisions after I told them I like water and mountains and that when you minimize them they were difficult to read. I think these are already much better.

 

 
 

 

Logo Design for "Yes It's Me"

I have asked my favorite Logo Design company; Create Logo Design, to make me a new logo for this "Yes It's Me" website.

I asked for a "Blueish" one, based on Holiday and Travel entries suited for a personal Weblog.

Some of the first drafts:

Great Art

  

Alfred Brendel

This Sunday me and my parents went to the Concert Gebouw Orchestra to enjoy one of the last recitals of Alfred Brendel the pianist. My father became 80 in January and this was my present to him.

It was a very nice experience and Brendel still was in great form, at age 77, so it became a memorable… 

Updates

I have not been able to update the weblog part of the site more frequently, was too busy or was doing other stuff. Will spend some more time on updating my upcoming visit to New Zealand instead of the standard weblog. 

Busy weekend

It is not so often I have my nephew over for a long weekend. He is now six years old, so rather demanding. It was a beautiful weekend, temperatures 25-27 degrees Celsius, almost too hot, but in "het Amsterdamse Bos" with the small lake and many canoes and water bikes a perfect treat. 

Some snow in the Netherlands ..

and the country comes to a complete stop ......

This morning 800+ Km of traffic jams (126) .... and the Netherlands are only 200 x 300 Km :-(.

Mozilla CEO says Apple's Safari auto-update 'wrong'

A lot of people appear to be bent out of shape about Apple using its auto-update service to distribute the Safari Web browser on Windows. The CEO of Mozilla, which makes the rival Firefox browser, calls it bad business.

In a blog on Friday, Mozilla CEO John Lilly criticized Apple's practice, uncovered this week, of offering iTunes and QuickTime users Safari 3.1 on Windows through the Apple Software Update pop-up.

Lilly says that automatic updates are a good way to ensure people have the most recent and secure versions of software. It's a practice that Mozilla uses with the Firefox browser.

What's different in what Apple is doing is that it is adding a product to the auto-update list that users never requested. That means they could very easily install software unintentionally, he argued:

Apple has made it incredibly easy--the default, even--for users to install ride along software that they didn't ask for, and maybe didn't want. This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices.

It's wrong because it undermines the trust that we're all trying to build with users. Because it means that an update isn't just an update, but is maybe something more. Because it ultimately undermines the safety of users on the Web by eroding that relationship. It's a bad practice and should stop.

Easy for users or a breach of trust?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

An Apple representative issued an e-mailed statement on the matter to Information Week: "We are using Software Update to make it easy and convenient for both Mac and Windows users to get the latest Safari update from Apple."

Meanwhile, my colleague, Tom Krazit, in a post on Friday argues that people should become more aware of the software on their systems and think before they install.

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Test with mail

to Typepad

Webb Alert

What a robot Dog ....

Tip: Syncing Google Calendar with mobile devices

Google Calendar

(Credit: Google)

Google Calendar is probably one of the most successful web-based calendar tools to hit the Web 2.0 scene, and no wonder. It has a very clean and easy-to-understand user interface, GMail integration, the ability to share calendars with others, SMS notification reminders, and like other web-based calendars, immediate accessibility regardless of what computer you're using (Well, as long as you have net access). But perhaps the most useful aspect of Google Calendar is that you can carry it with you on your mobile device, as long as you know how.

Google Calendar Sync lets you sync your Google Calendar with your Microsoft Outlook calendar.

(Credit: Google)

There are basically two ways to access or sync Google Calendar with your phone. The first is to sync Google Calendar with the calendar software on your computer, and then sync the calendar information to your phone, essentially utilizing the computer as an intermediary. If you use Outlook to sync up calendar information, Google has conveniently offered a Google Calendar Sync tool for use with Outlook that allows 2-way syncing. Aside from Google's own syncing tool, there are other third-party Google Calendar syncing applications like OggSync, Jotlet, and Calgoo, though many of them aren't free. From there, you can sync Outlook with your phone, and you're ready to go. For the Mac, I personally have had great luck with Spanning Sync, a third-party application that will sync up Google Calendar with iCal. Similarly, you'll then have to sync the calendar information to your phone via the computer.

Then there's the second method of accessing Google Calendar with your phone, and that's over-the-air. The most obvious way to do this is to just head to http://mobile.google.com/calendar using the phone's built-in browser. From there, you can add and remove events just as you normally would, but with a scaled down user interface. If you have an iPhone, you'll be treated to a specially formatted mobile Google Calendar page with a user interface optimized for the iPhone's touch screen display. However, this doesn't always work if you don't have a reliable Internet connection, plus it can be painfully slow. Thankfully, there's a way around this as well, and that is to sync Google Calendar with the built-in calendar on your phone.

Google Sync for BlackBerry

(Credit: Google)

If you have a BlackBerry, Google has developed an application called Google Sync for BlackBerry, which will sync Google Calendar with the BlackBerry's own built-in calendar. And if you have a Windows Mobile phone, third-party applications like OggSync for Windows Mobile/Pocket PC will work as well. However, if you're one of many thousands of people with just a regular phone, GooSync is probably your best bet when it comes to over-the-air synchronization of your Google Calendar and your phone's built-in calendar. GooSync offers a free as well as a premium service (The premium service is $39.50 a year and offers multi calendar support, a contacts manager, and more), and supports a wide variety of phones. You should still check out their Supported Devices page to see if your phone is on the list though.

As with any of these applications, your mileage may vary as to how well they work, depending on the kind of phone you have, your net connection, and so forth. If you have any more ideas on how to sync Google Calendar with your mobile device, let us know in the comments!

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From ReadWriteWeb: 35 Ways to Stream Your Life

It's
a pretty good bet that if you're not making a Twitter or Facebook
application, you're probably making a lifestreaming application. Okay,
so not everyone is into lifestreaming, but it is one of the hottest
areas for development out there, and there are an overwhelming amount
of services offering a way to aggregate all the little bits of your
online life (which, for the purpose of this post, is the definition of
lifestreaming that we'll use). Richard MacManus wrote an excellent primer
on lifestreaming in January, but we touched on just 5 such services.
The purpose of this post, rather than to review, is to just list the
various options out there.

Lifestreaming apps generally fall into two categories: those that
help you keep track of and display your own lifestream and those that
help you keep track of your friend's lifestreams (or both). For the
sake of clarity, we've focused mainly on the former for this list.

 

• Tumblr - Tumblr is a microblogging application that also allows the inclusion of activity streams from other services.
• Onaswarm - Onaswarm, which is in private beta, is a dedicated lifestreaming app that supports a wide variety of other services.
• Jaiku - The chief function of
  Jaiku, as a presence app similar to Twitter, is enhanced by letting
  users aggregate activity from outside services.
• Lifestrea.ms - Lifestrea.ms -- in closed beta -- is a dedicated activity stream aggregator that quotes our review in the company line by calling itself a "standards based nerve center."
• Soup.io - Similar to Tumblr,
  Soup.io is a microblogging application. It also supports outside status
  updates for 11 services and any RSS feed.
• FriendFeed - Due to being
  founded by a bunch of ex-Googlers, FriendFeed might hold the crown for
  most talked about lifestreaming app. It supports nearly 30 web sites.
• MyBlogLog - MyBlogLog, which specializes in creating ad-hoc social networks around blogs, just got into lifestreaming with an update last night.
• Profilactic - Profilactic supports 135 sites. Yes, 135 sites.  As well as the ability to add your own.  Have fun.
• iStalkr - iStalkr is a hub
  for your social media activity and that of your friends and family,
  with a unique approach to lifestreaming that puts your life on a
  timeline.
• Correlate.us - Correlate.us
  creates a river of activity for a handful of supported sites, and
  graphs which sites you use the most, all with the design sensibilities
  of del.icio.us.
• ProfileFly - Focused on social
  networks, ProfileFly creates a replacement profile that mashes up
  status updates from your existing social profiles.
• Second Brain - Second Brain
  takes takes a slightly less automatic approach to life streaming by
  asking that you categorize and group your activity into collections.
  See our review.
• Explode.us - Explode.us is a social media search engine that also offers "a profile to consolidate your various online presences."
• liveZuu - A lifestreaming application that supports 28 networks and offer a Facebook app.
• OneSwirl - A newer dedicated lifestream aggregator that celebrated its first public release today.
• Socialthing! - Currently in
  closed beta, Socialthing! is a promising lifestreaming service that
  offers a nifty-looking iPhone optimized version. They're planning to
  release the service at SXSW.
• iminta - iminta keeps you up-to-date on what your friends are "in to" and lets you share your own activity stream.
• Plaxo Pulse - Most famous for helping to get Robert Scoble temporarily banned from Facebook, Plaxo's Pulse product lets you aggregate activity from a wide variety of third party services.
• Identoo - A fairly standard social streaming site.
• Escaloop - Escaloop is a
  free-form lifestreaming app that lets you combine up to 20 RSS feeds
  into a single stream (yeah, there are other RSS mixers out there, but
  Escaloop is notable on this list for specifically targeting
  lifestreaming).
• Hictu - Hictu is a video microblogging app that supports importing activity streams from outside services.
• Life2Front - Life2Front's LiFE-Line activity stream feature is a functional activity stream aggregator, if not the most attractive.
• 30Boxes - The online calendar app also has lifestreaming capabilities.
• Readr - Readr mashes 21 different sites into a single profile feed.
• Suprglu - Suprglu pulls content from the web services you use and then republishes them in blog format.
• Where is me? - A lifestreaming app that pulls from 11 services or RSS feeds.
• Slifeshare - Lifestreaming via a Mac OS X application (Windows promised soon).
• MovableType ActionStreams - For do-it-yourselfers, MovableType offers a lifestreaming plugin for their blog platform.
• SimpleLife - More for the DIY set, SimpleLife is a lifestreaming plugin for Wordpress.
• WP Lifestream - Another lifestreaming plugin for Wordpress.
• RSS Stream - You guessed it, a third lifestream plugin for Wordpress.
• oneConnect - Yahoo!'s oneConnect mobile service includes activity stream aggregation features.
• Facebook (?) - Rumor has it that Facebook will be opening up the news feed to outside service updates.
• Socialstream
  - Nothing has come out of it yet, but this Google funded academic
  project at Carnegie Mellon University into lifestreaming has garnered a
  ton of press attention.
• Jeremy Keith's Lifestreaming Script - Jeremy Keith's lifestreaming script was one of the first and inspired some of the services on this list.

Are there any we missed? Which is your favorite?  Let us know in the comments below.

Great new iPhone game

The new iPod Touch commercial

"Connected" Part 2 of 2

Well ... talk about free publicity .......?

"Connected" Part 1 of 2

Prospects 1.0.1 - Personal finance budgeting solution. (Demo)

I have seen and used many financial products, I own even several, but this one seems to be a interesting competitor, check it out.

Prospects 1.0.1

Prospects is a personal finance application that allows users to manage their finances via extensive account monitoring capabilities and budgeting.

Prospects provides up to three ViewPoints that provide instantaneous information about an account. It allows users to group accounts into Binders which provide immediate feedback on assets, liabilities, and overall growth. Prospects contains many other features as well, such as a Budget Advisor, rules, memorized payees, attachments, categories, split transactions and QIF, OFX, and QFX importing.

More information

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And Moblogging with a picture

Moblogging

Test with Moblogging to Tyepad.

TypePad is the premier blogging service, hosting the world’s leading

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or a seasoned pro, TypePad can help you create a great-looking blog in

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TypePad blogs are one step ahead. Not all blog platforms are created equal. TypePad is better. Here’s why:

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live blog in minutes.

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ultimate in blog management tools, allowing you to customize your

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search-engine optimized. In addition, we provide valuable services

such as Google Site Maps, search-engine friendly URLs, and the

exclusive Six Apart Atom stream used by Google and other search

engines that make your content easier to find.

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Recent innovations include industry leading mobile support (most

recently with the iPhone and iPod Touch) and social networking

integration with Facebook.

7.We’ve got your back. From spam prevention to comment control to

powerful back-end data protection, TypePad is committed to keeping

your blog content safe. All of the content you upload to TypePad is

hosted in a tier-one data center, giving you world-class reliability,

uptime and system performance.

8.Grow as much as you want; we’ve got the technology to handle it.

Whether you have a readership of one or one million, we’ve got the

backend technology to accommodate your needs. TypePad is the only

service that balances ease of use with sophisticated functionality and

high-traffic capacity.

9.We’re here to help. Here at TypePad, we’re passionate about customer

service. We provide customer support 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

We want you to get the answers you need, and we’ve developed a huge

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10.You deserve the best. TypePad’s parent company is Six Apart, the

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First test

in TypePad Blogging system

From Engadget, great news: Starbucks brews up WiFi pact with AT&T, disconnects T-Mobile

That is if you live in the US.

Announced today, Starbucks is gearing up to transition its WiFi relationship from T-Mobile to AT&T in over 7,000 of its locations in the US. For T-Mobile HotSpot customers feelin' a bit like day old espresso right about now, fret not, as the coffee giant has assured us all that you folks "will be able to continue to access WiFi services at no additional cost through an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile." Starting "sometime this Spring," Starbucks card holders will be treated to two hours of free WiFi access per day, while more than 12 million "qualifying AT&T broadband and U-verse internet customers will have unlimited free access." For whatever it's worth, the press release also notes that the carrier will "soon extend the benefits of WiFi at Starbucks to its wireless customers," but it (sadly) fails to elaborate. For those of you out there without any ties to AT&T, expect to pony up $3.99 for a two hour session or $19.99 for monthly access.

From TechCrunch: Companies Change, So Do their Logos

What does a logo say about a company? And what does it say when those logos change? A logo is more than just window dressing. It is a company’s identity boiled down to its bare essence, and is often the essential image consumers have in their mind when they think about a corporation. Products change, but logos endure. Or do they?

Neatorama has a great post that goes through the evolution of several corporate logos. I’ve reproduced some of the images below. How many of you knew that Apple’s original logo featured Isaac Newton under an Apple tree? When you look at the Palm logos, the best one, in my opinion, is the one with the blue circle—when the company was at its height. And what’s with that Nokia fish? Talk about a company that’s evolved.

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From TechCrunch: This Week’s Plaxo Merger Rumor: Google

In the words of one Silicon Valley insider that I spoke with today, “Plaxo has been desperately, desperately, desperately trying to sell” for quite some time. Late last year they got serious and hired an investment bank, Revolution Partners, to help move things along.

The rumor mill really got going when Revolution Partners started making their calls and sending out the company’s financial information to potential buyers. A rumor about a Facebook acquisition turned out to be false. Now Wired is reporting that Google may be doing the deal, for $200 million. Writer Megan McCarthy says she’s 100% sure a deal has been done, and thinks Google is the most likely buyer.

Plaxo did around $5 million in 2006 revenue, doubling that to $10-$12 million in 2007. 2008 projections are $20-$25 million. The company has 1.8 million worldwide visitors per month (Comscore).

Did Google buy them? The two companies are certainly friendly. Plaxo has been a big supporter of Google Open Social from the start, and has consistently adopted new Google social products. And Google’s new Social Graph API gels nicely with what Plaxo has done with Pulse.

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Apple TV patent filing boasts video chat, widgets, broadcast capability

Filed under: Home Entertainment

No stranger to the odd patent filing, Apple has once again delved into the dark waters of the unknown with an application for an Apple TV-like device with iChat-esque functionality, amongst others. In the patent, the company suggests a number of uses for widget overlays during video, including those triggered by content and timing, as well as widgets used for menus and navigation. The patent demonstrates how real-time widget updates may coincide with live broadcast television -- such as a scorecard overlay for a sporting event -- and also showcases a video chat function which can be used simultaneously during the playback or broadcast of content. Additionally, the filing shows a new remote which would have hot buttons for quick access to widgets, navigation, and the automatic milkshake mode (we might have wishfully made up that last one). Sure it looks good, but we'd happily take the latest Apple TV update until this comes along.

 

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