LeKnott

Microsoft vs. Google vs. ??

"Call it corporate politics or a co-incidence, the fact is when the biggest corporate giants fight, their strokes are beautiful and sinful as the best paintings or the best composition ever heard.."

A great article (though rife with grammatical anomalies) by Puneet Mehrotra, a web strategist at www.cyberzest.com.

The master strategist - the Microsoft move

Google, Google and yet more Google. For the last couple of months it seemed as the web was only about Google. A Google fan I am fan, but even I was almost getting sick writing about the same company acquiring or launching a new application week after week. Google Calendar, Google Finance, Google acquiring the online word processor. It seemed the web belonged to Google.  Some neo-pundits even predicted Microsoft had it days counted and soon everything in the civilization would be Google.  Well folks, the giant has finally woken. The biggest company in the world Microsoft has made its move. And what a master strategy it is. But first what's behind the moves.

The thought machinery in Microsoft and Google

An electronic civilization it is. Trust me it is.  I just moved to a new apartment and two days without the internet and now as I type this on my notebook it seems from the ice-age back to the future.  The Microsofts and Googles of the world are the corporations that govern our existence in this electronic age.  Google offers mostly everything for free.  The free attraction and freedom is gone. Call it the subliminal effect of brands in the e-age. The bottom line, the ultimate weapon in this e-age is the thought machinery.

The Standford - Google connection

The "thought network". The Standford University Network and the Google connection is well known.  In fact, each Google application is absolutely superb. Right from design to development to usability, Google applications are absolute stunners. . This simply isn't possible without the right brains at work. Why haven't the other companies, some bigger giants than Google managed to get even half the kudos? The answer is the thought network Google has. Absolutely awesome.

Watch What You Say

From AlterNet March 9, 2006

Two months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration ordered the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens, only three corporations--AT&T, Sprint and MCI--have been identified by the media as cooperating.

Despite the President's rigorous defense of the program, no company has dared to admit its cooperation publicly. Their reticence is understandable: The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the government officials who leaked the NSA story to the Times, and many constitutional scholars and a few lawmakers believe the program is both illegal and unconstitutional. And the companies may be embarrassed at being caught--particularly AT&T, which spent millions advertising its global services during the Winter Olympics.

Read the full story at AlterNet

Cut Down On Junk Direct Mail

Here is a great way to save trees, send a message and spread the word about junk postal (snail) mail.

Our friend Jen Maiser at Life Begins at Thirty has been collecting and saving all the catalogs she receives in the mail for some time. Recently she hauled out the pile of catalogs and contacted the retailers. From her blog:

Just write a note like the one below, and be sure to include all information from the mailing label and a viable email address I used one of my "junk" addresses so that I can correspond with them but don't get bothered by any possible spam.

The note:

Please remove me from your catalog list. I am interested in your company, but am trying to cut down on the amount of mail that I receive. Please help me save trees! I will continue to read your website.

Thank you.

Check out Life Begins at Thirty

A $100 Laptop for Every Kid

From Wired - Negroponte:Laptop for Every Kid

TUNIS, Tunisia -- If tech luminary Nicholas Negroponte has his way, the pale light from rugged, hand-cranked $100 laptops will illuminate homes in villages and townships throughout the developing world, and give every child on the planet a computer of their own by 2010.

The MIT Media Lab and Wired magazine founder stood shoulder to shoulder with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to unveil the first working prototype of the "$100 laptop" -- currently more like $110 -- at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society here Wednesday. The Linux-based machine instantly became the hit of the show, and Thursday saw diplomats and dignitaries, reporters and TV cameras perpetually crowded around the booth of One Laptop Per Child -- Negroponte's nonprofit -- craning for a glimpse of the toy-like tote.

With its cheery green coloring and Tonka-tough shell, the laptop certainly looks cool. It boasts a 7-inch screen that swivels like a tablet PC, and an electricity-generating crank that provides 40 minutes of power from a minute of grinding. Built-in Wi-Fi with mesh networking support, combined with a microphone, speaker and headset jack, even means the box can serve as a node in an ersatz VOIP phone system.

Under the hood, it's powered by a modest 500-MHz AMD processor, and uses a gig of flash memory for storage. But the key to building it cheaply enough to educate the world's children is an innovative, low-power LCD screen technology invented by Negroponte's CTO, Mary Lou Jepsen. "The manufacturers are the toughest audience, and they stopped laughing in September," says Jepsen. The machine is expected to start mass production late next year, and the governments of Thailand and Brazil have already said they're serious about placing $1 million orders for their school kids. Others are close to lining up.

Wired News broke through a cloud of admirers to chat with Negroponte about the future of the little green box that's captured the imagination of normally staid world leaders.

Paypal Scam Using Phishing

Our friend Hans put up this excellent post about a particularly insidious email scam using a tactic that has been dubbed phishing.  (not to be confused with phishing).

I will only post and spread the word about legitimate and helpful information about scams like this.

From:

Urgent: Latest Identity Theft Scam--Paypal Users Beware!

Suddenly suspicious, I looked and saw that the link in the email was directing me to some other website and not Paypal.

This is what's known as a "phishing" scam.  They are fishing for your personal information so they can get into your Paypal account.  If you get an email like this, DELETE IT.

Read the full post

Portland City Commissioner Changes the Way Elected Officials Use the Web

Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Sam Adams has jumped into the proverbial "blogosphere" like no other elected official I have seen.  By many accounts, Sam's is a truly revolutionary approach and quite groundbeaking.

Here is a snippet about the launch by a local blogger and expert on web campaigning, Kari Chisolm @ Mandate Media :  http://www.politicsandtechnology.com/2005/06/is_blogging_too.html

Here is Sam's blog http://www.commissionersam.com.

Google Maps

Google has gotten WAY serious about maps now.  Check it out by searching an address, then clicking on the 'Map of [address]' link at the top of the google search results. 

Heres an example.  After you get to the map, try the CRAZY driving directions feature, and then try the CRAZIER 'zoom around' (top left hand corner of the map) feature.

Or just start here, and zoom to anywhere you want in the United States.

Downhill Battle - Music Activism

Five major record labels have a monopoly that's bad for musicians and music culture, but now we have an opportunity to change that. We can use tools like filesharing to strengthen independent labels and end the major label monopoly.

How do musicians get paid for downloads? Simple: collective licensing lets people download unlimited music for a flat monthly fee ($5-$10) and the money goes to musicians and labels according to popularity. This solution preserves the cultural benefits of p2p, gets musicians way more money, and levels the playing field.

Our plan is to explain how the majors really work, develop software to make filesharing stronger, rally public support for a legal p2p compensation system, and connect independent music scenes with the free culture movement.  Learn More.

VJ V2 -- Video Scratch Artist

"A pioneer in the emerging art of manipulating visuals the way disc jockeys shape sound, Vello Virkhaus performs on club and concert stages worldwide. “Sometimes it’s really nerve-racking,” admits Virkhaus. “When you’re in front of 50,000 people and you’re about to push this one button, there’s that initial rush in case it doesn’t work. But it works. And after that, it’s the most fun you could have."

Read the Full Story at apple.com

Creative Commons - The Wired CD

These musicians are saying that true creativity needs to be open, fluid, and alive. When it comes to copyright, they are pro-choice. Here are 16 songs that encourage people to play with their tunes, not just play them.

Get the scoop and download the open source tracks posted here by many artists including David Byrne, The Beastie Boys, Thievery Corporation, Le Tigre and Chuck D:

http://creativecommons.org/wired/