Britepic
April 17, 2007Interesting simple product from AdBrite. Use their Javascript when you embed an image in your blog, and you get zoom/pan functionality on your pic. In exchange, Adbrite will serve Ads to your pic. Hmmm.
skype launches click-to-call feature
this is a bit old, but still good news. Via a Firefox extension, Skype adds "click to call" icons beside each visible phone number on the site that you happen to be browsing. Click on the icon, and your Skype client launches and a SkypeOut call is made (via your Desktop Skype client). I need to check if this works also for regular Skype to Skype calls? For example, Dotph has a skype-to-pbx gateway. Dial our Dotphofc skype account, and you'll get our regular PBX greeting.
Moguling
Buy lots of interesting domain names first (especially ones that will do well on Google searches), slap on some blogging and search optimization techniques, then look for Bloggers to put content on the site. This technique seems to be catching on since Jason Calcanis sold his blogpubishing empire (of 50 sites - including the popular Engadget) to AOL for $25M in October 2005. At that time, Calcanis claimed Weblogs Inc was making $1M monthly in Google Adsense clickthroughs.
i've always wondered what the business arragement is like on these blogs - what happens if the blogger/writers leave and set up their own competing blog? The answer seems to be, as far as DotVentures is concerned, is that - it doesn't matter if the writers leave, new writers can always be found - it is the domain that matters. The domain has the google ranking and will bring in the hits.
Dotventures calls this technique "Moguling". More info here and here.
Pics from our recent trip to Lisboa and Granada (Spain)
One of the most impressive palaces I've ever seen is the Alhambra, in Granada, Andalucia. It is hauntingly beautiful, set amidst the snow-covered Sierra Nevada (and the highest mountain in the Iberian Peninsula, Mount Mulcahen - which I briefly considered climbing, till I realized I needed crampons). It was built by the Moors back in the 12th-13th century. Quite surprising were the hammams (aka Saunas). I didn't realize this technology was actually applied way back then. The saunas were massive - perhaps enough to service 250 people. Water was piped in, from several miles away. Servants would burn firewood to would heat the hammam's floor. Then cold spring water, when allowed to flow through the hammam's floors, would burst into steam. The Hammams had curved glass roofing, so you could see the sun while enjoying a steam bath. When we were there, temperatures were at 5 degrees Celsius; you could very well appreciate what a luxury these baths were. Man, these guys really knew how to live!
Even more impressive, were the painstakingly ciphered halls. Upon close inspection, you notice that the arabic print on the stucco walls repeated the same phrase over and over. Over and over, room after room, from bottom to the valuted ceiling. It said "There is no Winner but Allah". How about that. The moors build this achingly beautiful palace, set it at a high promontory, fill it with well-manicured gardens, and the best creature comforts that 12th century technology can offer, subjugate the Spanish, and in the end, this is phrase they chisel into their walls over and over, millions of times, to remind them to be humble; to remind them of their place in the world. Makes you wonder why the Spanish conquistadors thought of the Moors as barbarians.
Google Developer day!
Are you into mashups? If so, you'll want to check these upcoming conferences out:
Ignite Where - May 28 (San Jose, CA)
Where 2.0 - May 29 and 30 (fairmont hotel, San Jose , CA)
google developer day - May 31 (mountain View, CA)
Where camp - June 2 and 3 (San Francisco)
More info from Radar O'Reilly.
People sometimes ask me, why go to these conferences, when one can read up on them on the Web. The answer, my friends, is that there are many things you learn by talking to people at conferences that you won't get from reading RSS feeds. Like what other developers think of Googe Maps vs Yahoo Maps. Or what new products will be coming out in the next 9 months (that they'll gladly tell you over dinner or whisper conspiratorially, but will never tell the press). Or which companies are throwing a lot of marketing behind a product, and which ones just happen to have an impressive Webpage.
Almost 25% of Europeans use Firefox
The images above are from xitimonitor. Once Microsoft loses control of the browser market, things may unravel quite quickly for the Redmond based company. IE is integrated tightly with MS Office, and, I suspect Microsoft's .NET strategy . (after all, if innovations need to made, it's nice to make modifications on both the server side and the client (IE) side). With Microsoft now forced to make its online offerings work with Firefox, Microsoft is now at the level of any other Web 2.0 company, without any of its usual built-in advantages.
It'd be interesting to see at what point MSFT stock starts to tank. Will we see Bill Gates rush back from an early retirement?
