Oh wow! .. I just realised how powerful Ubiquity is for the blogger. Say for example I’m blogging about the Isle of Man. Just highlight the term, invoke Ubiquity and I can get:
A map of the Isle of Man Isle of Man
Testing if this works …
Hmmm .. inserting into the post didn’t seem to work, the code is being generated, but Google Maps reports a malformed URL. Here’s what I see:
How great would it be if you could just tell your browser what you wanted and have it obey you? Well, that’s just what the guys down at Mozilla Labs are working towards with their prototype of some new technology they called Ubiquity. It tries to address the issue of having to open multiple web browser windows to perform different actions, often cutting and pasting between them, trying to get a consistent message across to someone else.
Here’s a short video that demonstrates that it’s all about:
Personally, I’m really happy to see this development as what it does is makes the browsing experience more useful to people who don’t have the technical skills to build stuff from scratch. Casual users shouldn’t need to learn those skills, just as you shouldn’t need to learn how to rebuild a carburettor is you want to drive a car. There’s even more information about this on Techmeme, so start reading!
Interesting development this morning on the WGA blog (Windows Genuine Advantage) where one of Microsoft’s senior managers talks about changes they are rolling out to Windows XP Professional, one of the most pirated editions of Windows XP. It seems that there’s a new version of WGA out which will be much more invasive for people who have unlicensed copies of Windows. What form will the nagging take? Well the backdrop will switch to black every hour and a small message is present in the bottom right of the screen telling users they have a counterfeit copy of Windows:
Will this persuade users to shell out an buy a proper version of Windows? Well frankly, I don’t really think so. It’s not quite a “kill-switch” and people who dabble in pirated software tend to be used to much worse than this and frankly, anyone I know running a pirated version of XP is well aware of the fact and is ready to accept a bit of nagging about it. You know, the sort of people who would prefer to take Ephedrasil Hardcore than go for a jog and put some effort into it.
It’s interesting to see Alex Kochis’ (the post author) justification for this though:
Our research has clearly shown that customers value the ability of Windows to alert them when they may have software that is not genuine
I just realised that I didn’t put together a Honeypot for last weekend, even though it was a long week with a Bank Holiday on Monday. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t find a truck rental if it hit me head on. Anyway, here are some interesting posts and websites I came across recently:
Animoto: looking to create a video? Provide some photos, upload a sound track and bang, it builds a video for you.
Choosing a domain name is actually a pretty big deal. Think about the amount of effort you put into naming a pet, a child or a house; why should a domain name need any less consideration? In the same way that someone’s name may affect the way other people treat them, your domain name will have an impact on how your website is perceived, and more importantly, how search engines will perceive it.
I came across a great article on Web Hosting Rating; a website that specialises in web hosting providers; which talks about different factors to keep in mind when choosing a domain name. It talks about things like associating the domain name to something your business does, making sure the TLD you choose matches the website and trying to get a short name. There are a number of great articles on the site, so if you’re looking for some web hosting services, check them out.
Yesterday, I received a letter in the post; a letter I’ve been expecting for a few weeks now. It confirmed that I had all the requirements to get my MBA and that I graduate in November! I was over the moon! It’s nice to know that all the effort I poured into it has paid off and now I can relax properly.
It’s been quite a journey and I must say I’m pleased at how much I’ve picked up along the way. The topic I enjoyed most was probably either Marketing or Influence; but the topic that seems to have impacted me most was Economics. It made me realise how economies are really just big processing systems, with inputs and outputs and processes in the middle. It also made me realise how most politicians have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. It amazes me how people are elected to run a country based primarily on their charisma rather than their understanding how a country should be run. Having said that, I really wouldn’t like to be in a politicians shoes, especially when harsh realities of having to decide who gets what hit home. Still, if politics were as well-defined as IT Process Automation, than anyone could do it I suppose; still .. not my game though.
Anyway, glad my MBA is behind me .. did someone ask about a DBA?
How great would it be if you could just tell your browser what you wanted and have it obey you? Well, that’s just what the guys down at 
