• Kinetic Arts Center - circus school, fitness, yoga and dance classes
• Beebliss  - Yoga clothing for men and women
• Loggly - log management in the cloud

This contrasts pretty nicely with me feeling stuck at work currently. I feel like I’m not creating enough output. This is partially my own responsibility but also due to a recent reorg that has people waiting to see how things shake out. Also things are just slower as we’re approaching the end of the year. But I’m taking it personally.

I signed up in January 2007 and have been to the site only about 10 times since, typically as a result of an email notification that new content is available. These notifications seem to come in spurts. Sometimes I get one every day for a few days in a row. And then nothing for weeks.

2 days ago I received an email that promised new content on Dinosaur jr, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Nada Surf. Awesome! I click through but can’t find any of this content. Instead I find Hot Hot Heat and a History Channel ad. Yesterday the email promised Radiohead, Nada Surf, Weezer, Kasabian. Again, the content of the “magazine” didn’t match. We Are Scientists just isn’t Radiohead. And I couldn’t figure out how I would get to the content I came for.

The idea is great but the execution sucks. The virtual magazine does indeed look like a real magazine (except for the videos). Nice layout, glossy look and you can even flip the pages, all done in Flash. Unfortunately this interaction model doesn’t really work on the Web.

How to fix it

Idiomag has good content but makes it really hard to access and share. They have built in sharing functionality but it’s really hard to discover. They will have to drop the magazine-style if they want to become successful.

I would publish the same content (including all the meta data/tags) in an invisible blog. Expose the main genres as their own page/blog (basically a tag search on the main blog). The same recommendation/matching engine can still act in the back and produce a customized main page based on tags and meta data. Users would still have their personalized content but in a form that is easier to consume. I could then subscribe to my personalized RSS feed and go check out the full rich-media blog whenever I feel like it. Enable comments and ratings and even suggest new things based on what similar users find interesting. And all of a sudden sharing is easy through simple linking.

But what about the widgets

Idiomag is available as widget for an impressive amount of sites. I just added the one for Facebook and suddenly I do see Dinosaur jr, Nada Surf and Hard Fi. At least a partial match. However it doesn’t seem to play very nicely with the new Facebook design. Widgets are great for distribution but Idiomag has to fix their main site first. And please make the edit Interests easier too. Thanks.

Imagine mobile phones as sensors constantly recording your geo-location, speed, altitude, temperature, nodes in proximity etc. Let’s ignore privacy concerns for a second. The data could be anonymized for example.

Data for personal use only

Even if the data is not shared with other devices some interesting applications are possible, e.g.

• Personal diary of locations - searchable
• Tracking of commute time - recommendations for best commute time
• Weather history - searchable
• Live blog geo-tagged photos as you take them

Data shared with nearby nodes

Now let’s allow the mobile devices to communicate with nodes in their proximity:

• Personal diary is now also aware of who you were with at any given moment
• People you keep running into but haven’t met can be introduced automatically

A German startup called aka-aki built a social network on top these two ideas. Your Bluetooth enabled phone tracks other phones in proximity. It basically keeps a trail of who you cross throughout the day. Another way to meet interesting people. Love it!

Data shared between all nodes - centrally aggregated

The real power of mobile sensors emerges when they’re networked together and the nodes have access to all the data (e.g. aggregated centrally). This totally changes the applications that are possible:

• Real time traffic for your commute (I’ve written about this before)
• Real-time weather in all locations as well as weather forecasts
• Heat maps of sensor density indicating events

What other applications can you dream up?

I’ve been living in my current apartment since March 2007 which is the first data point on the x-axis. I wonder if there is a limit to how many months they show?

Making it easier to compare

The electricity usage is obviously seasonal and you can see the ups and downs in the graph. It would make more sense to have a 1 year wide graph and overlay last years data over the current data in a line or area chart. This would make the comparison easier and more meaningful. Alternatively a 12-months trend line would provide additional information but with a significant delay.

I created the above graph using Google Docs. I like the look and it makes comparing the charges from one year to the next a lot easier. Even adding another year shouldn’t impact readability. Now I have to find out why I’m paying 15-20% more this year.

It would also be interesting to compare usage and charges in the same graph. Am I paying more because I’m using more or because electricity is more expensive?

What are other companies providing?

Not much. I would love to have similar graphs for my bank account, credit card and phone bill. In fact I initially started this post rambling about AT&T and how they make it really hard to look at usage history. I’ll save that for another post. Maybe I’ll whip out Greasemonkey and create a little script…

Update 7/8/08: I’ll have to check out Skydeck for my AT&T billing needs. Still in closed beta.

It’s happening to me constantly. While discussing a topic with a friend or co-worker I remember having read a relevant blog post a few days ago. I want to send the link for reference. I know I’ve seen it in my feed reader but can’t remember in which feed. A Web search returns too many results and rarely the one I’m looking for. What I really want is a search for my feeds only!

The solution? I finally got around to setting up Google Custom Search. I entered the URL of all my feeds (watch out for the feedburner redirect ones) and named it appropriately “Search my feeds”. It seems to work pretty well but I would like a way to sort by publishing date as I often look for recent posts. New posts are often ranked lower as they haven’t had time to accumulate links.

It would be awesome if google.com would automatically add my custom searches so that I can run them from there. Getting to my custom search right now is painful. Bookmarking the link or adding a module to iGoogle works but is far from ideal. Going to google.com/custom doesn’t work. google.com/cse gets you within 2 clicks of your search. Adding it to the Firefox search bar would also be cool.

Ideally Google Reader would create such a custom search automatically given your feed subscriptions. Or use the subscription information they have in FeedBurner.

Navteq is the leading provider of Maps data for GPS, mobile devices and Internet. This acquisition will allow Nokia to provide improved location-based services and at the same time making it harder for competitors to get this data. Smart move! It looks like the acquisition hasn’t closed yet and is still undergoing regulatory approval.

I first heard of Plazes back in June 2006 from Laurent Haug. The basic idea at the time was to have members report their location and record their IP address (or subnet). The system would then assume that any visitor with a similar IP is in the same location. They extended this to mobile phones and cell towers if I remember correctly. A dedicated community emerged on Plazes (basically a social network around places). I didn’t end up using the service on a regular basis after trying it out. It looks like the product has come a long way since then and is now more centered around organizing social activities (with a corresponding place and time).

These two companies combined are a great foundation for location based services and applications! However turning acquisitions into new and exciting products is always a huge challenge. It’s been too quiet around Google and Dodgeball or GrandCentral for example.

The latest announcement is the acquisition of the remaining shares of Symbian to create the Symbian foundation [press release] and partially open source the OS. An interesting move given Google’s Android project and other closed source OS for mobile devices. It looks like Nokia wants to ensure that Symbian survives as an independent OS.

Nokia’s shares have been on a downward trend for a while now. I hope these acquisitons will start the turnaround.

Disclaimer: I have owned several Nokia phones and the brand has always kept a special spot in my heart. I do not own a Nokia phone (or shares) right now. And I’m eyeing an iPhone.

I love Nova Spivack’s comparison to cars and how the choice of a Social Network will come down to personal preference (ultimately determined by brand). For this to happen the Social Networks will have to open up and support a common base feature set. This is already happening today but will accelerate. I’m convinced that soon most of our online activity will be aware of our friends and that ’social context’ will lead to a more relevant user experience:

• Amazon book and NetFlix movie suggestions based on what your friends like
• Craiglist and ebay items from friends of friends
• Search results ranking enhanced by sites friends clicked on
• Yelp reviews and ratings from friends rather than 200 strangers
• News that your friends have read
• …

Things to think about:

• ‘Friend’ is probably to strong a term. What are better terms? How will this evolve over time?
• ‘Soocial context’ brings trust. Trust brings economic opportunities.
• How can the 2nd and 3rd degree be used especially on commercial sites (LinkedIn is already using this)?
• When will large retail sites grasp the concept and what kind of opportunities will arise?

And the big question is:  How can the Social Networks be open (interop) and closed (privacy) at the same time?

I’ve only recently started using Myspace and I use it exclusively to listen to music. I don’t even have a Myspace account. I consider myself more of a visitor to the site than a user of the ’social network’ Myspace. However I’m a user of their ‘DJ/Band pages’ and a consumer of the online music.

I’m a pretty engaged Facebook user on the other hand. I have an account with over 300 friends and log in about 4 days a week if not more. I change my status, send messages and post on walls.

My engagement and therefore user value is clearly higher on Facebook.

I think Hitwise could measure active accounts by looking at the subset of URLs that is only accessible when logged in and report that number separately from overall traffic to the entire site.

I think that’s good longer term for Yahoo! even though it will hurt the stock in the short term. It might have actually helped rallying the troops behind Yahoo! even though we lost a bunch of good employees. It’s now up to the leadership to send strong signals to the employees asap and get them fired up.

Steve Ballmer seems to be very nervous about the recent (partial) outsourcing of search monetization to Google and has included a few remarks on that topic. I’m surprised Valleywag didn’t point out that these bullets were directly addressed to regulators rather than Yahoo!.

It’ll be an interesting Monday. For sure.

I’m running Flash 9,0,115,0. I will try upgrading to the latest version and see if this improves anything.

It’s not the first time that I see a third party component hurting performance and stability of the browser. I wonder how many extension the Mashable guys are running and how those impact the stability of Firefox. Disable/remove all extensions for a few days and see if the browser still crashes as often.

Also see “Firebug and Yahoo! Mail“.

The fact that all of this is happening in a very public way is indicative that the shareholders are an important piece of the puzzle. The tone and message sometimes remind me of two kids that are fighting.

We’re currently at the stage were Microsoft threatened to lower the bid and blamed Yahoo! for not even talking to them. Yahoo! denies this and says the offer is too low and that they are willing to talk.

And tomorrow Yahoo! will announce Q1 ‘08 earnings. There are basically two possible outcomes:

1. Results below expectations: Shareholders will get even more nervous and will push hard for accepting Microsoft’s bid. Microsoft can close the deal by increasing the bid slightly. This is preferable to lowering the bid which might have the same result but is more risky.
2. Results in line or above expectations (with positive outlook): Shareholders are willing to give Yahoo! another chance and Microsoft will have to raise the bid and potentially go into a proxy-fight to push the acquisition through.

Given that Yahoo!’s senior management has been on a roadshow confirming the Q1 and 2008 forecast I would be surprised if earnings came in below expectations. This would totally ruin the management’s credibility.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s announcement and the after-hours market.  Microsoft’s next move will probably follow several days later. Valleywag determined the last possible date for a result in the case of a proxy fight to be mid-august.

They’re using GPS devices to enhance their data sources:

“collecting trip data from…employees who volunteered to carry G.P.S. units in their cars.”

I suggested using mobile phones not too long ago. More sensors equals more accurate data.

The math used by the online ticket sellers is stunning. Here is an example of ticketmaster:
2 x $32.50 for the tickets
2 x $9.45 convenience charge
1 x $5.15 order processing charge

Total: $89.05

That’s a 37% premium over the ticket price! The total would have been even higher if I chose to get the tickets delivered rather than will call.

Sure, they’re running a business and have to make a profit on every transaction. That’s what the order processing charge is for. But what is the convenience charge and why is it per ticket? Isn’t an online transaction more cost effective for them? If I called in my order they would have to pay an operator. In some cases I even print the tickets myself. Shouldn’t ticketmaster pay me for doing some of their work?

I got so annoyed that I went over to StubHub and see what they have (after checking Craigslist too). There my experience ended at the sign-up flow where my email address with a 2-letter country code didn’t validate. Too bad.

I then went on to ticket liquidator which I hadn’t heard of before.

I found better tickets for the same show for $44 instead of $32.50. Add to this a $16.28 service fee and $15 for shipping (cheapest option) and you end up with a total of $119.28. Again, I feel like I’m getting ripped off with a 35% premium. The show better be good!

Community-based translation

The idea of community-based translations is not new but Facebook is trying to optimize the result with two twists:

• A Translation Application allows for easy and contextual translation instead of an external strings file
• A rating system bubbles up the “best” translations through community-based voting

I haven’t had the time to look at the quality in detail yet but started using Facebook in German today. I will switch to French in a few days.

I’ve tried to add the Translation Application a while ago without success. I just managed to add it now though.

Promoting the new language versions

One of the key questions when launching a new interface language is how to migrate users to it. Typically the user is given a choice via a preference. Facebook went one step further and force-redirected IPs from Spanish speaking countries to the Spanish version. I expected some backlash from users as changing the user experience without their consent is typically a recipe for trouble. I haven’t seen anything so far though.

One thing that doesn’t seem to work quite right: I tried setting my language to German in the logged out state. After logging in the interface language switches back to English. I have to change it again in my account settings.

Impact on local competition

I do expect to see higher Facebook adoption in non-English speaking countries as the interface language is an important factor in the user experience. Network effects, i.e. if your friends are already part of it, are more important than interface language for social network adoption though.

The Spanish launch is targeting the Latin America market where Hi5 is strong. Germany has a Facebook clone called StudiVZ that will now get stiffer competition. Asia has very strong local competitors and entering those markets will be very tricky.

And who will translate the Facebook applications?

Applications are trickier to translate as they’re built by third parties. This leads to a weird mix of languages on profile pages. The larger application companies could collaborate with Facebook and expose their strings for translation too. Smaller applications are probably out of luck for the foreseeable future.