If you’ve got an hour to spend, this Google Tech Talk by David Weinberger is worth a listen. In it he explains how the breakdown of categorization designed for physical objects when applied to digital or abstract objects (such as thoughts) can be overcome through new kinds of categorization—ie. tagging.
Tag: google
Categories
Moon 2.0
From http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/:
“The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth.”
[Moon 2.0 – YouTube]
Cheesy video? Yes. Feeling inspired anyway? How could you not?
Categories
Google’s Instant Message Software
As I predicted, it looks like Google is about to release it’s own instant messenger program. Look for the announcement tomorrow. Of course I could just be jumping on the rumour bandwagon.
I predict you’ll be able to get it at http://talk.google.com/.
Update: I was right! and it’s online now.
I have 6 more Gmail invites today. This time you only need to write a limerick but posts must not be posted anonymously. Read last time’s entries for ideas. The limerick can be about anything — ones about me or stuff I like are a good starting point if you have writers block. I will give 5 invites away and save one for a cousin I went kayaking with today.
Now onto your limerick writing. Remember Gmail invites are waiting; contest ends Sunday at Midnight with prizes awarded next week.
If you already have a gmail account but are interested in the fine art of limerick writing then you might be interested to know about some dedicated limerick writers that are rewriting the Oxford English Dictionary in limerick form.
Update: The contest is now closed. The results will be posted shortly.
It’s the moment I know you’ve all been waiting for … All 6 of you. The results are in and without further ado here they are:
Matt Oneiros:
25 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
15 / 15 for being a blogger account holder and not posting anonymously
5 / 5 for having a blog
70 / 70 for posting both a regular link and a permanent link to my site
35 / 50 for the limerick. You didn’t get a full score because shock and cough don’t really rhyme. :)
Matt’s total: 350.
Melinda Anderson
25 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
15 / 15 for being a blogger account holder and not posting anonymously
5 / 5 for having a blog
70 / 70 for posting both a regular link and a permanent link to my site though the permanent link should have been to http://www2.memlane.com/jmilner and not to the specific post but that’s ok you still got full points.
45 / 50 for the limerick, missed out on a perfect score because of one extra sylabel in the last line.
Melinda’s total: 360.
Richard Biggs
25 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
15 / 15 for being a blogger account holder and not posting anonymously
5 / 5 for having a blog
20 / 70 for posting a link to my site
50 / 50 Nice poem Biggs.
Richard’s total: 315.
Chris Newhouse
25 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
15 / 15 for being a blogger account holder and not posting anonymously
5 / 5 for having a blog
70 / 70 for the links. I would have given you more for this one but I clearly stated my max was 70 – and I’m sad that I can’t because you really went the extra mile, thanks Chris!
35 / 50 The syllables are a little off and I’m sorry but skull and soul don’t rhyme — and I’m just curious but what does a foot killing a skull have to do with anything? :)
Chris’s total: 350.
Alex Ware
15 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
0 / 15 Weak Alex… setting up an account takes seconds and you don’t have to have a blog to have an account.
0 / 5 for not having a blog. Remember it’s never too late to start a blog.
0 / 70 no links
15 / 50 Interesting structure and an ok poem but not really a limerick.
Alex’s total score: 230.
CJ Castillo
25 / 25 for explaining why you think I should give you a Gmail invite
200 / 200 for first and last name and email address
15 / 15 for being a blogger account holder and not posting anonymously
5 / 5 for having a blog
70 / 70 for posting both a regular link and a permanent link to my site
45 / 50 I can’t justify a perfect score, because even though you went the extra mile to include the fact that I am a lifeguard there are too many syllables on the second last line.
CJ’s total score: 360.
And the final results:
1st place: Melinda Anderson & CJ Castillo
2nd place: Matt Oneiros & Chris Newhouse
3rd place: Richard Biggs
4th place: Alex Ware
Since you guys were all good sports, and since I know someone else with extra invites, you all get an invite! Some of you said you would “do the right thing” and give your future invites to strangers on the web also begging for accounts, but I say they are your (future) invites so do with them as you please. :)
I hope every time you check your Gmail you’ll think to yourself — Jeff Milner is such a great guy. Actually no, make that every time you check your new Gmail account you can think to yourself how much better you are than all the other people who had a chance to be a part of Jeff Milner’s Gmail giveaway but were too lazy to come up with a limerick. Thanks again guys for being in my contest. Look for another contest when I have more invitations.
Categories
Google’s Own Messenger
I know you’re thinking it. If you’re not well you can start now. When is Google going to come out with their own instant message program? They’re obviously working on it. Think about it — they started out with creating the world’s best search engine, then they bought out my favourite blogging service: Blogger, they own a pretty nifty networking service: Orkut and they’ve stated they want to infringe upon Microsoft’s turf. They clearly need to enter the messenger market in order to really pull the mass market of users from Hotmail to Gmail. I’m aware of Hello the IM that Blogger is pushing for the purpose of photoblogging, though I haven’t tried it. But I’m looking for something that can interact with my webmail – a true blue google product. It’s only a matter of time until we see “The Google Messenger”, and I, for one, cannot wait.
Update: Turns out Google doesn’t own Orkut, they are just affiliated. From Orkut’s help page:
Why is it called orkut?
Category: General
Updated: 2/9/2004
Answer
orkut.com is a new social networking service named for the Google engineer who developed it, Orkut Buyukkokten. (Orkut is easier to spell and pronounce than Buyukkokten.) This was created as an independent project and is not part of the Google product portfolio.
Update August 2005: Google Talk has just been released.
Categories
Behind the Scenes at Google
Via Slashdot:
Fortune Magazine published a fairly long but tremendously interesting article about Google.
“Instead of the usual exultation over PageRank algorithm and Larry-and-Sergey biographies, we get a different message – is Google growing up, and is trouble brewing at Google? Here’s Fortune’s description of the pre-IPO days: ‘Google has grown arrogant, making some of its executives as frustrating to deal with in negotiations as AOL’s cowboy salesmen during the bubble. It has grown so fast that employees and business partners are often confused about who does what. A rise of stock- and option-stoked greed is creating rifts within the company. Employees carp that Google is morphing in strange and nerve-racking ways.”