2005 November | RJ Martino's Web Log

Recent Changes

Posted by rjmartino | Posted on 13-11-2005

Okay… over the last few weeks I’m sure you’ve seen changes to the web site. Let me go over what’s happened.

Gallery Added
I’ve been getting a lot of requests to put pictures on here. People that know me and read my blog often tell me that its to “techy” and very impersonal. I’ve added this gallery that will hopefully let everyone know that “I am a real person”. I started on it this weekend and couldn’t stop until I got every picture uploaded. I know… I’m a geek. But when I start something, I can’t stop thinking about it until its done. So, almost every picture I have is now uploaded. I withheld some, so you wouldn’t think badly of me or my friends. I’ve uploaded (literally) hundreds of pictures and over 3 pages of different galleries. Please take some time to look through them.

WordPress has a lot of neat plugins. I was able to easily implement Gallery2 into WordPress using a nice plug-in called WPG2. I’m very impressed with both.

Google Ads
Yes, I’ve sold out. If you look at the side bar, I’ve placed Google Ads on the site. I thought it would be nice for you to see relavent services provided by valid companies. Also, I like the kickbacks they give me. I also added a “recommended items” on Amazon. Feel Free to Ignore them. I placed them at the bottom so you could easily ignore them.

Feedburner
I’ve implemented Feedburner to manage my feeds. Feedburner publishes your RSS feeds in many different formats. They also give you nifty little reports that tell you how many people read your blog. There is no downside to use Feedburner.

Mini-Meetro
Sciprose, a good friend, has started working for a start-up company in CA. They’re developing some really cool software that allows you to manage multiple instant messaging tools (AIM, yahoo, ICQ, MSN, etc) in one little application… Meetro. Additionally, they add a third layer. You can enter your address, city, state, and zip; Meetro will show you people near you with similar interest. You can search through people in your area and see pictures. It’s an awesome tool with a lot of potential. I’m eager to see what they do with it. Anyways, Sciprose just developed a nice Flash addon that can easily be implemented into your blog even if you don’t have a Meetro account. Although I’m a big advocate, they have yet to fix my problem with AIM. For some reason, I cannot add my AIM account to Meetro… maybe this will light a fire under them

Contact Me
I’ve recently decided to create a contact option for anyone interested in getting in touch with me. Click Here to See That Page

Serendipity

Posted by rjmartino | Posted on 10-11-2005

Category : Business Topics, Personal, Speeches

You run into opportunity as you run toward an opportunity. You can’t expect opportunities to run into you and you’ll never see an opportunity unless you’re moving toward something.

Internet Insights

Posted by rjmartino | Posted on 09-11-2005

Category : Web 2.0

Union Squares just posted a good insight on the diminishing amount of attention we have. There are so many neat tools being released but there isn’t enough time in the day to use all of these tools. Our attention is stretched thin between our jobs, families, friends, emails, etc. Tom O’Riely – “Everybody participates in Google because they figure out how to leverage what people do implicitly.”

The most successful tools will have a lot of participation or create value for large numbers of users with a small number of active participants.

To view their entire post, go to Union Square Venture’s Post on Internet Insight

Microsoft Live the new IIP

Posted by rjmartino | Posted on 08-11-2005

Category : Reviews, Web 2.0

Microsoft just recently released Live.com at a Microsoft Press Meeting. You can view some great notes about the meeing at Techcrunch.

What is Live.com Now?
A portal page. Nothing more. Currently, you can add your realtime clock, weather, and some other neat gadgets. But, currently, it does nothing more than a portal page. We’ve seen these in the late 90s… nothing fabulous.

What is Live.com Going To Become?
If I interpret correctly, Live.com is going to become an internet operating system. From Live.com you will manage all of your SASs (software as a service). When you go to Live.com you can immediately launch Office Live which allows you to use Word, Excel, etc from the web. No install needed, just pay a subscription fee. It’s easier for the user and less likely to pirate.

I’ve seen Joel become aggravated because, like flash, when you search using a keyword, view a site from the search results then click “back”, it takes you to the homepage, not the previous search results. This is a big complaint in Flash but I think in AJAX it’s going to be a little easier to solve (technical reasons not included).

I’ve also heard that “its just a web portal”. But, I think Live.com has taken the (now popular) agile method. They are going to be always updating this thing. It currently doesn’t support Firefox but I think it will be supported in a very short period of time. I also assume that that MS gadgets ( www.MicrosoftGadgets.com) are going to be much more involved. Microsoft is going to push for partnerships with people such as SalesForce.com, eBay.com, etc. This will allow your IIP (Initial Internet Point) to be Live.com. Then, you can manage Ebay or Salesforce preferences from Live.com or search through either sites.

Humans Are Better Than Computers?

Posted by rjmartino | Posted on 06-11-2005

Category : Reviews, Web 2.0

There are some things that humans are inherently better than computers. For instance, take two pictures; One of a dog and one of a cat. A computer would have a fit finding out which is a dog and which is a cat ( they both have hair allover, have a tail, walk on all fours, etc.). While a 4 year old kid could see the answers immediately.

Amazon has just exploited this problem and created a solution. Now, using Mechanical Turk you can have humans solve problems that computers can’t. For instance, send a request such as “Of these pictures, which is a do and which is a cat?”

I first read Fred’s post about this service and immediately realized this could be a new way of outsourcing. Typically, when you think of outsourcing, you think of outsourcing to a geographical area that has cheaper labor or better shipping capabilities (therefore reducing costs). This is a new type of outsourcing.

They’re calling this Artificial-Artificial Intelligence. I think that’s a great name! I think this is a great opportunity to again, show the power of the Internet.

How can you leverage this service? I know that when I’m folding clothes, I think, “If I had 100 people and each person would fold just one piece of clothing, I would be done ‘now’. And I could refold them again, ‘now’. And again, ‘now’.”

Think about what you could do with this service.