Extracting the essence

Recently I've been overwhelmed (Have you too?) by Web2.0 stuff. Clearly, I needed some time to aggregate and filter all the information on this exciting topic. So this post is my try to extract and enumerate the most important characteristics (at least for me) of the before mentioned topic and how to exploit them in a business way. (read: how to make money with Web2.0).

Because the difference between "taxonomy" and "folksonomy", the very important thing was achieved: ease of building logical and searchable structure of user-contributed content. When you compare, let's say the biggest catalogue of Web1.0 (especially the way it's built) and possibilities of simple tagging (del.icio.us) from the point of view of average user, you will admit it's the brilliant way to exploit social nature of human.

Nowadays, everyone and everything is going mobile, we want to use everything on the go. Personally, I read e-books on my way to work and back, take pictures and immediately send them to my flickr account, play games, call friends and co-workers, and so on. I try to use every moment spent alone to do something (even if it's having fun or resting actively). Before you ask, I am not some freaky geek without social life. I just don't like wasting my time. I took myself as an example of this trend which escalates among youth even faster. Implementing Web2.0 principles in mobile world we can further exploit all this "social thing". Possibilities here are enormous. I bet you can come with some bright ideas quickly (don't hesitate to comment on them).

Today I've read article describing research on strength of Internet ties and the way Internet users socialize comparing to ones who don't use The Network at all. The results can be condensated into this sentence: "People who use Internet are far more social beings". They mention previous research results which imply something opposite, but are much older and I think just not fresh and thus irrelevant.

The whole Web2.0 thing is about delivering easier, more useful ways to enrich our social lives by creating the infinite flow of information, knowledge, content, interaction etc. interconnected with links. And content is still the king. Links are the base of The World Wide Web. Everyone (even my father) knows what link is. The Web2.0 is still about links. Links are still base of The Web.

I think I'll need at least one more try to come with more clearer extract of business and social aspects of Web2.0 movement. This is for now. Comments are appreciated.

Structured Blogging, Web2.0 essence

Some time ago I've read an article. It was full of terms such as semantic web, intelligent content and other buzzwords. I have to admit I've not understood a word. It was so blurry then. I don't really remember when it was - one or two years ago? Sounds probably. One thing I remember is this (famous now) Web2.0.

Today, after 2 hours of brainstorming with one of my friends (a very good marketer) we've begun to ask ourselves what is the essence of Web2.0 and how Web2.0 looks or will look like.

We are in the middle of making a list of features for our new product (hopefully killer app). Last months we've been moving around the concepts of Ajax and have used the term Ajax interchangeably with Web2.0.

We were missing the point.

Web2.0 is not about Ajax. It's about those buzzwords I stumbled upon last year ago. Semantic web is by far the more important one. Semantic stands for meaning. You may think: but the meaning is already here, in every sentence on the Web. It's true. But for machines it's not. They don't understand the meaning of sentences written in natural human readable form. They need something else. Hints. Decorating the content of the Web1.0 with hints for computers makes Web2.0 come true. Structured Blogging is the first place where you can read more on this topic and be finally enlightened. It's a good word considering the impact Web2.0 will have on Internet.

My prediction is simple: Revolution comes. Don't sleep through this opportunity to make the world better (and get rich).

Any comments? Ideas on how to ehm.. get rich "using this tools and techniques"? (David Deangelo's beloved question)

Home sweet home

After approx. 13h of work today, I am finally home. 13h of pure adrenaline fighting with so called database. You guess, I will only tell that it sometimes let you have the same value in unique column twice. I have witnesses.

In few weeks this nightmare will come to an end. Let's hope to the happy end. And how this imaginary happy end looks like?

1. TCO is much lower than now.
2. Maintenance is easier.
3. Stability of rock.
4. No licensing issues.
   
5. No more 13h days at work.

I don't want more. This would be enough. After the switch we finally will be free from expensive licensing although I don't consider this main reason this migration. I've just lost too many evenings like this one using this piece of software. It can be good, but not for our purposes. Our needs developed greatly and we have to move on. We will never miss you. Ever.

Farewell,
adieu,
au revoir,
ciao,
adios,
bye-bye,
so long,
see you later,
see you,
sayonara,
bon voyage,
cheers,
toodle-oo,
żegnaj

Microsoft Access!!!

Skype, MacOS X, Bluetooth headset. Holy grail?

I always wanted to work at home. To have the safety of being next to my bed and my computer at the same moment. To have the ability of taking a short nap every moment I want. Some of you may think it's hard to maintain discipline. And you're right.

But let's go back to the topic. If you work at home you're obliged to have a rather good Internet connection. Lousy dial-ups won't do any good. 512Kb/s will satisfy almost all of your needs (except downloading these Oracle databases from production servers).

Next thing you'll need is a very comfortable operating system. You have a choice. I use MacOS X myself and find it excellent. You also have to set up all applications you use to work with. Sometimes it's can become tricky easily when you use very advanced and rare tools which are impossible to install on a typical home workstation but in most cases there is a solution.

Then you will need some way to cooperate with your boss and co-workers. I would recommend here some of tools made by 37signals. Personally Basecamp and recently created Campfire are my favorites.

Last thing you need is some voice instant messaging. Skype is the most popular one, but there's one catch. Windows versions are far more stable than MacOS X, and Linux versions. I used all of them. Linux and MacOS X versions are far behind considering functionality. I don't blame Skype programmers. They're have a business to run and Microsoft Windows users are the vast majority. To make Skype work you need some headset of course. I personally use Bluetooth headset from Logitech, but sometimes it drives me crazy. This is common to all wireless devices I know. Batteries will run out of energy only when you're speaking with your boss about the recent crash of your program or whatever you do to pay your bills. They also tend to loose connection without reason. Murphy's Laws at their glory.


These would be all you need.

I work in office mostly and at home partially, mostly Saturdays and when it rains too heavily. I think I am more productive working this way. Changing work conditions helps me to come with good and innovative ideas more often. And if I have worse day I can sleep longer and do my assignments later but more enjoyable.


If you don't agree drop some comment, they're always read and answered.

Airport successfully installed. Two screws left unused.

Yesterday, after long day at work I finally came home, ate dinner and unpacked mysterious package received that day. It was earlier ordered AirPort for iMac mini. The wrapping was tight, everything looked ok.
I took my two special iPutty knives and opened iMac. When looking inside I was wandering which screws should I remove to get to the motherboard. Of course I could google for some videocasts and tutorials on this topic, but my only computer at home was already dismembered. And besides who needs to RTFM? Last but not least I found three critical screws and after few seconds the motherboard was mine. On these iMac mini photos you can see the finesse the motherboard was built with. Next, I removed the daughterboard with Bluetooth module, and installed AirPort module on it. Notice, now I got two daughterboards. One came with AirPort and the other was installed because of Bluetooth module. Someone wants to buy the spare daughterboard? Let me know. The most interesting and funny thing is Apple uses sticky tape inside their computers widely. The AirPort chipset is taped to daughterboard, almost all cables are taped . I think it's ok, but somehow it doesn't fit to the trendy and sophisticated Apple design. Ok, back to AirPort. After reassembling iMac, I had no blood on hands but two screws left. And you know what? iMac works without them. So, besides I've upgraded this piece of hardware I've also improved the mobility by lowering overall weight.
After those interesting moments with screwdriver I came with this conclusion: You can always remove some parts and a device will still be working fine. And you can use these parts to assemble some new revolutionary hardware. Any questions?

Big Money research

A lot of people on SEO and e-marketing forums are not sure if AdSense "fraudsters" are really so successful as all the buzz implies. So we've come with a little experiment. We set up two AdSense accounts and on one of them we act ehical and obey all the rules. On the second one we're not so saint. The experiment is about who will make more money in short and long term. We are of course conscious about breaking some rules (and laws!) on that second account and we know it can be blocked any minute. Of course we won't hire any Africans to click on our ads for 5c per hour. We will use some more advanced fraud techniques. After publishing results of this experiment we will donate all the money from the second not-so-saint account to some open-source project. Any suggestions are welcomed.

We're moving to dedicated hosting soon.

Unfortunately, due to slow blogger.com hosting and other issues and limitations, we're moving to dedicated hosting soon. Expect new blog engine, new design and of course more juicy news. Our next goal is to give you aproximately 5 news daily and one bigger article on a weekly basis.

We expect the transition will be smooth, despite the fact we probably will use some new and unexplored tools by us. As some of you readers may guess we're moving to RubyOnRails.

Stay tooned!

Update: If you know some affordable hosting companies selling RubyOnRails accounts, drop us a note.

Thursday Trix meetings

Last thurstay we've initiated our weekly company meetings. We discuss all aspects of our work, present our brilliant ideas and drink famous polish beer. Everyone is invited. Feel free to come. Cafe Rene, Pszczyna, Poland.

Accidental ethernet cable disconnection testing

Today we are testing update for our major software product. As always on saturdays, I'm at home skyping with boss. He's in Germany. We want to see how our application behaves when someone accidentally pulls the ethernet plug out. So, here's what I hear in my uber-cool bt headset:

- Jacek, I'm going to pull the plug now.
...
- Yo, boss, are you there??? Helllloooooo!!!
...
...

After five clicks he's skyping me again:
- Jacek, I've lost Internet connection. Everything worked perfectly.

Can you imagine? By pulling the plug out of the ethernet card you actually lose Internet connection. That's great. Now, the question. How can you make money using this "technique"?

Camperaphones. Was it worth it?

A little shitty new nokia smartphone...
Originally uploaded by Rstless.

Notice the violet glare in the center of this flick. My old Agfa e-photo behaves much better and was bought few years ago.

More to come!

I will drop here some random sentences about healthcare. I hope Google AdSense will notice and show some relevant ads. We all know they pay more for "Pennis enlargement pills" ads.

Liberator’s line of pillows will heighten your lovemaking -- literally. The new angles and elevations equal new possibilities for pleasure.

Ehh, I think it's pointless anyway...