Monday, October 31, 2005

"howstuffworks" playable:true - Google Video

Official Google Blog: More video to watch!

Tons of Google Videos

20 GOTO 10

Dos for the Web. I'm in...

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Cashflow Blog

Cashflow Blog

Great blog on finance, cashflow, and running a business.

Success: Collect calls: stuck in a cash-flow crunch? Twenty ways to get your customers to pay up - fast

The Hardline Collection agency comes a-knockin'

Success: Collect calls: stuck in a cash-flow crunch? Twenty ways to get your customers to pay up - fast

Kiva.org Merges Philanthropy and Venture Capital with First-ever Microlending Web Site

Kiva

More on Micro-lending... I may just try this one.

Free Excel Spreadsheets .xls

Free Excel Spreadsheets .xls

A whack of Excel Spreadsheets focused around valuations of a company, among other things.

Toronto Timelapse - Google Video

Toronto Timelapse - Google Video

MillionDollarHelpPage.com: Help Raise $1 Million For Katrina Victims

MillionDollarHelpPage.com: Help Raise $1 Million For Katrina Victims

Globat took my idea of using the Million Dollar Home Page concept for fundraising activities.

Not quite as successful yet as the real thing.

Archive of American Television Interview with George Takei Part 3 of 6 - Google Video

Archive of American Television Interview with George Takei Part 3 of 6 - Google Video

George talks about how they came about with the name Sulu.

"The waters of the sea touch all shores."

Sulu made sure he wasn't wearing a red shirt at all times.

The New York Review of Books: Wise Man

Are you a fox or a hedgehog?

This article goes on to discuss Richard Feynman's new book (well, it's really his daughter's compilations of her father's letters), Perfectly Resonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman.

Great scientists come in two varieties, which Isaiah Berlin, quoting the seventh-century-BC poet Archilochus, called foxes and hedgehogs. Foxes know many tricks, hedgehogs only one. Foxes are interested in everything, and move easily from one problem to another. Hedgehogs are interested only in a few problems which they consider fundamental, and stick with the same problems for years or decades. Most of the great discoveries are made by hedgehogs, most of the little discoveries by foxes. Science needs both hedgehogs and foxes for its healthy growth, hedgehogs to dig deep into the nature of things, foxes to explore the complicated details of our marvelous universe. Albert Einstein was a hedgehog; Richard Feynman was a fox.

I think I'm a fox.

Nobel Prize-winning Feynman is considered to be one of the great minds of the 20th century. He worked on the atom bomb, investigated the Challenger disaster, and defined many other groundbreaking ideas. He is a personal favourite of mine, since he didn't seem to take too many things seriously, yet his life and teachings were of the most serious topics.

The development of shock waves in explosions. The design of a neutron counter.... General theory of how to fold paper to make a certain kind of child's toy (called flexagons). The energy levels in the light nuclei. The theory of turbulence (I have spent several years on it without success). Plus all the "grander" problems of quantum theory.

He was also a pretty good artist.

Great book. Buy it.

I just bought the Bill Bryson book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. He went from being one of the funniest and informative travel writers to one of the funniest science teachers. He's definately fits the mindset of a fox.

"Academy of Television" playable:true - Google Video

This is really cool. A bunch of uncut interviews from TV celebrities. TV legends, really.

My favourite is Ricardo Montalban. He's got some good hand language going there. I have no idea what the questions are though... or what he's talking about....

Da plane boss, da plane!



Saturday, October 29, 2005

Imagination Cubed

Imagination Cubed

Wow!

raid.jpg (JPEG Image, 1092x577 pixels)

raid.jpg (JPEG Image, 1092x577 pixels)

List of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2005 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2005 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

mamamusings: microsoft research talk: why business people speak like idiots

mamamusings: microsoft research talk: why business people speak like idiots

Comments by JBSurveyer regarding Microsoft's bi-polar personality are powerful and appear near truth.

But then there is Jekyll and Hyde - this is the personality problem at Microsoft. There is a schizophrenic disconnect between the rank and file and the people at the top.

A 80%++ share of the market is zero-sum. It means for Microsoft to win just about everybody else has to lose. This is a very tough row to hoe. But the top brass from Bill and Steve on down are prepared to play hardball to achieve this Schumpeterian impossibility -"monopolies are the seeds of their own destruction".

Every company that I know of wants to be best in market. I thought that this was the goal of a company, and an individual, to succeed spectacularly. Not sure what he's getting at here...


Yet in stark contrast to the ethos of passionate commitment to others success of the rank and file, top executives are committed to other ISVs, VARs, and software vendors success only as means to an ulterior end - their ultimate demise.

So therefore we have seen such actions as cutting off the oxygen by bundling for free. This tactic induced Netscape's demise by giving away Netscape's two major revenues sources for free- the browser and Web server. And the current complete BI Stack nearly free giveaway is done knowing full well former partners such as Crystal/Business Objects, Hyperion, Cognos, SAS, etc cannot respond becuase they do not have a database as a source of revenues.


True, with the release of VS 2005 & SQL 2005 we will see more and more partners fighting for market share and having to reinvent themselves. The philosophy seems to be "get bought or get gone."

But that is just the tip of the iceberg of "hardball" tactics. There is the deliberate slowdown of key technologies when dominant market position allows Microsoft to do so and hardball tactics dictate doing so. Example, no updates to IE browser for 5-6 years thwarting such key Web technologiew as SVG, XForms, JavaScript 2.0 and E4X, XPath2 , JPEG2000, and even Microsoft pioneered AJAX methods. Part of this depended on the fact that Microsoft commitments in 1998 made to support a complete suite of Web stanadrds for JavaScript, CSS, DOM, and XML just never got swept under the table - and never done even in IE7 today.

Not sure I believe this one... slowdown of technology would be the last thing MS should do to retain market share. It would be more of a question of the focus moving from IE to other areas of the company that did not provide a 'free' solution mired in antitrust laws.

This latter case is key to polluting markets where rival technologies could endanger market share. Another example, why does Microsoft insist on distributing a hoplessly obsolete JVM with Windows and offer non-standard J++ and J# - to pollute the Java market.

Because it's focus is C# & VB.

And so these are the incontravertible and uncomfortable facts of Microsoft's corporate personality. It is schizophrenic and disturbingly bi-polar. For many in the rank and file of the company, their ethos and puposes are a direct impedance mismatch with their top executives. Not a pretty site - pun intended.


Micro$oft is there to make money, which it has done spectacularly well. Microsoft is there to grow its company and its employees... How many M$ millionaires out there? I know a few...

Microsoft, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is there to help communities around the globe.

Scoble seems to have to helped MS immensely in creating a transparent organization and adding to its success. Apparently Bad publicity is the best publicity.

To leave you with a quote from PT Barnum..

A banker, politician, journalist, and land developer, at one time he was the second richest man in America. His autobiography was one of the most widely read books in the 19th century.

"We cannot all see alike," he said, "but we can all do good."

All your 'base' are belong to Google | News.blog | CNET News.com

All your 'base' are belong to Google | News.blog | CNET News.com

Still can't get this working...

Friday, October 28, 2005

Subscribe to lectures from major universities. (free academic podcasts)

Subscribe to lectures from major universities. (free academic podcasts)

Gamasutra - Feature - "How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days"

1. Setup: Rapid is a State of Mind
Embrace the Possibility of Failure - it Encourages Creative Risk Taking
Enforce Short Development Cycles (More Time != More Quality)
Constrain Creativity to Make You Want it Even More
Gather a Kickass Team and an Objective Advisor – Mindset is as Important as Talent
Develop in Parallel for Maximum Splatter

2. Design: Creativity and the Myth of Brainstorming
Formal Brainstorming Has a 0% Success Rate
Gather Concept Art and Music to Create an Emotional Target
Simulate in Your Head – Pre-Prototype the Prototype

3. Development: Nobody Knows How You Made it, and Nobody Cares
Build the Toy First
If You Can Get Away With it, Fake it
Cut Your Losses and "Learn When to Shoot Your Baby in the Crib"
Heavy Theming Will Not Salvage Bad Design (or "You Can't Polish a Turd")
But Overall Aesthetic Matters! Apply a Healthy Spread of Art, Sound, and Music
Nobody Cares About Your Great Engineering

4. General Gameplay: Sensual Lessons in Juicy Fun
Complexity is Not Necessary for Fun
Create a Sense of Ownership to Keep 'em Crawling Back for More
"Experimental" Does Not Mean "Complex"
Build Toward a Well Defined Goal
Make it Juicy!
Final Thoughts

Of course I cut and pasted the headings from all of the pages until I realized that they had already done this for me at the bottom of the article with a Handy Cut-Out List! Next time put it at the beginning of the article! :)

Inside Motorcycles Breaking News Blog: Free parking in Toronto

Free parking in Toronto?

Unclaimed Balances

There are many bank accounts and other assets out there that have been lost and are waiting to be found.

Search the web for foundmoney, or if you are in Canada try out the Bank of Canada's Unclaimed Balances section.

I think I may have found $18,000 for a friend of mine.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Scoble inadvertently gives 1st Amendment to China, with some help from Google

China Herald

A week of being told "you're wrong"

Why doesn't Mr. Scoble use MSN Spaces exclusively? Just curious. I am not a big fan of Blogger, but I use it because it is convenient and integrates well with the Google Toolbar. My MSN Spaces site has many more features but is getting really stale.

Maybe a Blogger - MSN Spaces migration wizard would help things move along? Hurry up VS 2005.

In another issue relating to China, a blanket prohibition on the import of all Chinese objects of art into America is forthcoming.
Bill Gates' stepmom writes her response to this.

I hope this does not go through. The world needs to share and learn about other cultures, and that cannot happen when one country silos all of it's cultural artifacts.

Scoble inadvertently gives 1st Amendment to China, with some help from Google

China Herald

A week of being told "you're wrong"

Why doesn't Mr. Scoble use MSN Spaces exclusively? Just curious. I am not a big fan of Blogger, but I use it because it is convenient and integrates well with the Google Toolbar. My MSN Spaces site has many more features but is getting really stale.

Maybe a Blogger - MSN Spaces migration wizard would help things move along? Hurry up VS 2005.

In another issue relating to China, a blanket prohibition on the import of all Chinese objects of art into America is forthcoming.
Bill Gates' stepmom writes her response to this.

I hope this does not go through. The world needs to share and learn about other cultures, and that cannot happen when one country silos all of it's cultural artifacts.

Amazon.com: Books: Tao Te Ching

Amazon.com: Books: Tao Te Ching: "So the Tao is a fundamentally mystical thing that can only be revealed inside our being. Another critical feature of Lao-tzu's teachings is 'doing by not doing.' In other words, if you try to be wise then you'll never be wise; if you try to know the Tao then you'll never know it, etc. So in order to follow The Way, we must empty ourselves of judgments and desires, rid ourselves of our ego, stop trying to accomplish things, and just let the Tao come. The wise master possesses nothing (which is not the same as having nothing; possession means psychological attachment), asserts no judgments, relinquishes all attachment, attains happiness by helping others instead of himself, and becomes wealthy by giving to others. "

clinton power within toronto - Yahoo! Search Results

Here's an interesting way to increase your search results (for Yahoo anyway)

Include the keywords and site names of the top 10 search results in your blog entry. Hidden comments may even work.

Let's see if this gets to #1.

On a different note, I will be blogging a recap of my trip to China here. I went on the same cable car that climbs the Great Wall as Bill Clinton did. Small world?

Seanbaby.com - The Worst Nintendo Game #4 - Tag Team Pro Wrestling

Seanbaby.com - The Worst Nintendo Game #4 - Tag Team Pro Wrestling

The origin of Strong Bad...

Vincent Cheung: Alarm clocks are bad. How to wake up and feel better.

This sounds like something I should try, since I just got off a 14 hour flight from China.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

clinton power within toronto - Rogers Yahoo! Search Results

clinton power within toronto - Yahoo! Search Results

I am loving this Yahoo Search which inlines both news & blog entries. My entry for Clinton's presentation was 6th after Boston.com, ABCNews, Yahoo, and The Globe And Mail, and what looks to be a Power Within associate site.

Of course Yahoo only brought in a couple of visits so far, but hey, it's still interesting, and thanks for visiting my blog!

I went out and bought Freakonomics and Negotiate This! By caring, But Not T-H-A-T Much from two of the presenters at the conference. Thanks to some of the credit card machines being down at the event because of too many people on cell phones, I went to Chapters and saved myself $$$.

Good books so far.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The Power Within Toronto with Bill Clinton

For the second time I attended The Power Within, an all-day seminar around leadership and motivation. Again it did not let me down. Last year was Lance Armstrong, Mark Burnett (reality tv guru), the CEO of Mandalay Enterprises, the author of Smart Couples Finish Rich, and many other great speakers. This year's event started out a bit slow, but quickly picked up speed to finish with Bill Clinton, someone who has changed the world and continues to do so.

Here's a summary of my thoughts, ideas, and recaps from the event, from my limited short-term memory.

We arrived early to get better seats than last year, then realized we had not brought paper tickets. Thinking it was something we could pickup at the registration desk, we tried but found out that this was a concert-style event with a wristband policy and tickets were required. We rushed over to the hotel next door to get some proof of purchase from my amex, and managed to negotiate our way in, with around 15 other people who had a similar problem. Thanks to Lucas the registrar guy.

The best presenters talked from the heart, related the audience to their ideas, and made us laugh and think. Seth Godin had a great idea about providing "purple cows" or stand-out products and services that differentiate to become successful. (Why don't farmers paint their cows to promote their products anyway? Why isn't there purple milk?) Judy Carter did some interesting magic & was a good pick-me-upper for the morning. Steven D. Levitt was someone I could most relate to, as he didn't seem to be the greatest math genius, and yet is one of the most brilliant of economists for uncovering things other people won't find. (another book to buy, Freakonomics) I missed most of Mark & Craig Kielburger, but their contribution to society was probably the greatest in the room next to Bill Clinton.

The next presenter was a really interesting writer, with the unfortunate task of presenting to a non-captive audience. It was like a fire drill in there, with people exiting in droves. Really rude but appetite probably got the best of most of them. It was well worth staying, as he talked and read from his book (Rocket Boys), and it was as seamless as any story taken from the heart. Unfortunate that his style of speaking did not translate as well to a large audience as it should have, most likely because of some sound quality issues that were fixed midway during his speech. His key message appeared to be that everyone has freedom when they are able to read and write, and that perserverance, passion, and planning are the keys to success.

The afternoon was even more interesting than the morning, with Herb Cohen being the highlight of the day. (need to buy his books) Herb has negotiated business deals and hostage-taking situations, and could probably sell fridges (and snow) to Eskimos. (or Inuit, for the politically-correct) Leahy, the Juno award-winning musicians from the Peterborough/Lakefield area were phenomenal. Most people probably thought they were at Riverdance or watching some Irish or Eastern-Canadian superstars, not a family from Eastern Ontario.

Herb Cohen, in a Rodney Dangerfield/no respect kind of way was the funniest presenter by far. His key negotiation tactics as described were to 'play dumb', 'listen and maintain true interest', 'care, but not a whole lot' and realize when things are not going well and get out fast. He says it works well in life and marriage, except the get out fast part. I hope I translated properly, his is the first book I'm going to get. His tips will definately help my negotiating power for my upcoming trip to China, and hopefully keep my marriage going as long as his. (He said he has been married for over 45(?) years and has tour buses drive by his home)

Bill Clinton was everything that I expected, and more. He had a huge stage presence, a captive audience, and most of the huge earth-altering topics of the day to discuss. His key points (from my recollection) were on global warming and the need for change, the flow of capital from western to asian societies, and the need to work together rather than in a silo. Another key point was that security is one of the most important aspects of a society, but cannot be the only one, or none at all. He praised Canada as being like a second home to him, and remarked that many of his critics in the states would love to see him retire here.

He discussed some of the key problems facing the world today, including AIDS, water quality, and preventable disease in third-world countries. He remarked that because of his (and others') contributions, the cost of medication for an AIDS victim in Africa has dropped to $140/year, and will go down to at least $100 over the next few years. He praised the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as being the largest contributor of this effort. He talked about micro-finance as one of the better ways to opportunity.

He told his audience of a device which can power a light, heat and a stove for 1 day on solar power alone, and asked that this device be distributed to the world. In terms of world powers, he noted that China, India, and other countries were gaining huge amounts of wealth, and the balance of monetary power in the world is dramatically changing.

President Clinton's view is that he is a much more powerful figure as a former president than a president, and can reflect change much faster without bureaocracy slowing down change. By treating charitable ideas as a business problem, he can convince companies to contribute to society while helping their bottom line, in a win-win situation for all.

His view on the internet is that it is one of the greatest society-changing inventions ever (Well, Al Gore invented it, why not?). For the first time, non-governmental groups will take control of society, and every person in the world will have an opportunity to change it dramatically and contribute.

Sounds like blogging to me.

---

China just removed blocking of blogger.com & blogspot.com. I wonder if anyone's reading my China blog?

Monday, October 17, 2005

General Zod for President

Mr. Zod, will there be lots of toys when you are President?
- Katie VargasSpokane, WA


General Zod replies: Child, let me explain something quite important to you. Under my new order, I allow you to live. In return for your obedience, you enjoy my generous protection. I expect tribute. Your tricycle, your dolls, everything you own. All these you will gladly give to me. All swear allegience to Zod!

I would still vote for Christopher Walken.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Ask Jeeves Blog: Bloglines "Key" New Features

Ask Jeeves Blog: Bloglines "Key" New Features Bloglines gets hotkeys

Smartmoney.com: Esquire Magazine: My Outsourced Life

Smartmoney.com: Esquire Magazine: My Outsourced Life

This is scary, and amazing. One of my clients, who published a self-help guide, told me that the best way to make money is the 'while you sleep' approach. This is effective for books, music, software, investments - really anything that doesn't require your time or effort, and provides compounding returns.

So rather than investing in mutual funds, invest in your own guy (or girl) Friday for a few months and see just what the returns are....

6 or seven � Blog Archive � Live blogging the t4g information session

6 or seven � Blog Archive � Live blogging the t4g information session

The company that I work for presents information sessions to schools in and around the Toronto area, for recruiting and just to get the word out about T4G & technology in general.

This link provides a good picture of who we are and what we do. And yes we use open-source, but prefer Microsoft and their partners. ;)

Mini-Microsoft

Mini-Microsoft The inside scoop.

Welcome to IKEA.com/PS

Welcome to IKEA.com/PS

Wow.

Beijing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beijing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I probably already posted this, but... it's still the best out there...

Beware the Web Fads of Yesteryear

Beware the Web Fads of Yesteryear

What about blink?

Zazzle.com - 'Samy' T-Shirt

Zazzle.com - 'Samy' T-Shirt

Going right next to my Homestar Runner t-shirts

Samy, Their Hero

Samy, Their Hero Phillip Lenssen interviews Samy, the most famous guy on mySpaces right now, and Samy is my Hero.

Blogthings - What's Your Monster Name?

Your Monster Profile

Lethal Killer

You Feast On: Fried Chicken

You Lurk Around In: Olive Gardens

You Especially Like to Torment: British People

Another Day in Paradise: Cali NG General drains morale

Another Day in Paradise: Cali NG General drains morale

This wonderful donation finally arrived on my husband's post and his unit quickly prepared the ground, erected the pool and filled it within just two days. His unit had plenty of volunteers putting in their free time to get this project completed. However, on the third day the Commanding General found out that this pool was set up on his post. He quickly put a stop to this morale building donation without offering a reason, as to why. He ordered that no one would swim in it and that within seven days the pool would be taken down.

Talk about an amazing morale-booster, to have a swimming pool in the middle of war-torn Kosovo? Oh wait, Sergeant Snowball, what are you doing to our beloved unit?!? Tear that down now!

Sad, really sad.

HP recalls 135,000 battery packs | CNET News.com

HP recalls 135,000 battery packs | CNET News.com So that's why my laptop is so friggin' hot all the time!

gada.be (Chris Pirillo)

gada.be (Chris Pirillo)

Gada.be is one of the neatest search tools out there right now.. and works with my PSP!

Channel 9 (Logged in as: wavesmash)

Channel 9 - XBOX 360 videos

The Post Money Value

The Post Money Value - Real-life answers from Microsoft employees. Very intriguing...

The Post Money Value: Robert Scoble and Karl Rove - Same problem

The Post Money Value: Robert Scoble and Karl Rove - Same problem

Somebody should have printed that thing out...

Kevin Sites Blog

Warning: graphic depictions of violence and war.

Kevin Schofield On The Job

Kevin Schofield On The Job - The General Manager at MS who gets to fly with Bill Gates to Waterloo.

Pretty amazing that Bill Gates chows down on McDonalds. Cheeseburgers, nonetheless. Bill, don't you know what that stuff does to you?

. Devices kept going into "sleep mode" and when you're on stage in front of 800 students it can be a little hard to figure out how to get something out of sleep mode.


Doh! Have to remember to turn off my Spiderman screen saver for the next demo I do.

everyhuman: thesis

everyhuman: thesis A masters thesis on blogging? It's here...

Sam Gentile and Ward Cunningham - Recounting early days of Wiki (Logged in as: wavesmash)

Sam Gentile and Ward Cunningham - Recounting early days of Wiki

Humor Today Sounds - Comedy Sound Files and Bites - Movies TV Radio Cartoons

Humor Today Sounds - Comedy Sound Files and Bites - Movies TV Radio Cartoons

A billion soundboards are here..

Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

Great article on estimating software projects.

I added a few columns to Joel's spreadsheet. Added Phase to rollup the project. Added Actual to track how long it actually took Status to track completed items, in progress, not started, etc. Comments. Added totals to the top of the report for costing & total hours.

FindForward Search Engine

FindForward:

Really neat in a voyeuristic sort of way. Search IRC chat logs with FindForward, the Uber Engine. Another Google on Steroids release.

Summary of features.

*

Normal Search: This goes through all of the Google-indexed web pages available via the Google Web API. You can use the full Google syntax. This covers phrase search via quotations (e.g. "Abraham Lincoln"), the minus operator "-" to exclude something, the tilde "~" to search for synonyms, and the OR operator.
*

- Only your language: This will reduce the result set to pages in your language only.
*

Ask Question: You can ask any question, like When was Einstein born?
Shorter questions will take less time.
*

Amazon: This will search Amazon and return books as well as reviews which you can expand. If you want to search for other media than books you can append your search with the keywords dvd, vhs, and music respectively. Example: jaws dvd.
*

- Amazon RSS: The results are the same as when searching using the "Amazon"-option, but the page will be delivered as RSS feed to be included in newsreaders.
*

All-around: This search option not only returns normal results, it will also query for related pages. This option is useful if you want to let your mind wander around the whole scope of a topic, including related areas you may not yet know about.
*

Search Grid: You will see a two-dimensional grid with results for phrases created out of two-word couples. You can enter up to 5 words. E.g. if you enter free love hippies results for "free", "hippies", "free love", "free hippies", and so on will be shown.
*

Chat Search: With this option only chat logs from IRC (the Internet Relay Chat network) are crawled. You get a feeling for what people are talking about regarding a certain word.
*

Weblog Newsfeed: This will only search blogs (weblogs/ daily journals) or blog-related information available via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
If you'd like to see your RSS included here, please let me know.
*

Exclude Weblogs: This excludes blogs or blog-related information from the result list.
*

Get Questions: As opposed to the Ask Question option, Get Questions will deliver not answers, but potential questions. For example you can enter Einstein, and you will find pages like "What was Einstein's estimated IQ?".
*

Global: If you want to search a topic's manifestation around the globe, this option is for you. A map with the link relevant to a specific country is displayed.
*

Person Info: This search collects information on any person. You can also enter your own name, but naturally, the more popular the person, the more there is to find online.
*

Thing: Like Person search, but for everything else (including concepts).
*

Image: Similar to Google Images but with different result. Enter any search term, e.g. Bill Gates and this search will directly deliver full-size pictures.
*

Just Files: On purpose or not, sometimes people leave their Web directory browsable. So that when you enter example.com/files/, instead of a default HTML page the list of files in this directoy is shown. The Just Files option searches files within those directories only.
*

Meta Search: This combine the result of several search engines on one page.
*

Backlinks: Want to know who links to a certain URL, like your own homepage? Enter the web address and choose this option to get several backlinks checker on one page.
*

1900-1950: Interested in how important a term was in a certain year? With my Centuryshare algorithm (based on the Googleshare/ Mindshare algorithm) you are presented a Zeitgeist of the years from the first half of the last century.
*

1950-2000: This is like the 1900-1950 search option but for the second half of the 20th century.
*

Directory: This is based on the Open Directory of DMOZ.org, a human-edited collection of sites. You can leave the search query empty when selecting this option to be taken to the start page.
*

Old Pages Sometimes you might want to research older (mid to late 90s) Web pages discussing a certain topic.
*

Lucky First This option simply takes you straight to the first result. Just like Google does with its I'm Feeling Lucky button.
*

Wildcard Word: This searches for parts of a word as well. Try a search like phil to get philosophy, philadelpha, and so on.
You can also search for go*d to find gold, godsend, and so on.
*

Wildcard Phrase: The Wildcard search will find the most popular word within a phrase, for example "I like to drink *" would find Cola 10%, Pepsi 6%, Milk 3% and so on. You can use the asterisk "*" anywhere within the phrase. (If you don't submit an asterisk, the last word of that sentenced will be searched for.)
*

Randomize: Need to be inspired? This option will add a random word from a dictionary to your query and directly display search results. Everytime you hit "Find", a new word is added, making for less and less results, until no more results are available. There will also be a random pick from a quote database on top.

What is the "Comments" feature?

Below every search result you will find a "Add Comment" link. If there are any comments on this URL, they will be directly shown under the result. To add your own comment on this website you can just follow the link and type a comment. The comment can range from "This site is spam" to "Great blog" to everything else you can imagine. This way, all FindForward users can reflect on search results, inform or warn others, and directly communicate within the search results.

Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

Google Hacks wrapup

Google

Altoids Survival Guide

Living out of an Altoids can

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Neave Lab › Imagination

Great way to kill some time...

Friday, October 14, 2005

Under the Hood, MSJ February 1998

Always wanted to figure out assembler.

Under the Hood, MSJ February 1998

Always wanted to figure out assembler.

nedwolf - Best Free Web Applications

Lots of free online web 2.0 apps

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Drugs are bad, mmkay, Camel Toads are good?

Going to the local pool to scout out some camel toads? Concerned and uniformed reader wants to know what this is all about.

Lorelle on WordPress » HTML, CSS, PHP, and More Cheat Sheets

Lorelle on WordPress » HTML, CSS, PHP, and More Cheat Sheets

Neowin.net -> (Guide)SpeedUp Improve XPs Boot and Start Up Time

10 million ways to speed up XP, other than using a Solid State drive.

MySpace hacked: Samy is my Hero : www.Fast.info/myspace

This is hilarious... Samy is my Hero too...

LeaderNotes.com: Leadership Changes Lives

Hal Halliday has some interesting comments on leadership, and Unitus, the microfinance company introduced to me by Robert Scoble from MS's Channel9.

I am going to see Bill Clinton speak next week at The Power Within, a leadership and motivational seminar being held in Toronto. Last year's was Lance Armstrong, Gene Krantz, Mark Burnett, and many other amazing figures. Hope this one lives up to the bar set last year.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

DRIPs and DROPs, Poverty On Loan

A very moving cause.

I have been looking at DRIPs (Direct Re-Investment Plans) lately. This looks like a better investment.

I'll coin the phrase DROPs (Direct Re-Investment Opportunity for Poverty) to describe Mike Murray's objectives.

Do you know that only 2% of philanthropy in the US goes outside the US.

With a $100 loan, a woman can purchase a water bucket & a dairy
cow. It will take 2 years to pay off this loan.
By 7 years
she will be self-sustaining and her family will be able to go to
school. Her family will break the cycle.

Over 7 years seems like such a long time for the 30-second MTV
generation. How can we do this faster? (hope I quoted him
right on that)

How do we get this money to the people, and be sure it gets
there? Paypal? Mail? The journalists who risk their
lives every day, like Kevin Sites?

The aid workers who have access to the Internet? Eco-tourists who want
to give a little extra? Are there banks or money transfer stations
people can go to? How does this get distributed?

How do we see the results of our donations? Some ideas. The Million Dollar Home Page becomes full of people's joyful faces for each hundred dollar loan. Digg
becomes a list of different testimonials from the field on how people
will use the money, with dugg people receiving more loans. Slashdot, well, Slashdot better not change.

Microfinance is a great idea that sounds like it just may work.

Read this book if you want to open your eyes to the world of insurmountable poverty.

Not so much agreeing with that Smurf Video though. There are many other ways to get your point across with positive messages. Here are a couple.

Unitus - Global Microfinance Accelerator

Click. Click.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Friday, October 07, 2005

USB Copy Cruiser Plus

Think about this...

USB transfer from hard drive to/from memory stick device without computer.

Is it possible?

This would be great for loading up the iPod or PSP without having to go back to the computer.

I don't see that it supports the duo format used by PSP, but maybe there is an adapter somewhere....

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Panoramio

Great Picture/Google Maps Mashup

Saturday, October 01, 2005

WindowsXP Tips

Bunch of useful xp tips.