Owner: Web technology and development URL:http://ashchuan.com/blog Join Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:34:19 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Daily news on web technology and development Site statistics:Click here
LinkedIn announced service for developers 2007-12-10 14:46:40 It is finally happening. LinkedIn
, the social network for professional will open up its service today to software developers to develop application for the LinkedIn service. LinkedIn is one of the adopters of OpenSocial API. The first software developer creating apps for LinkedIn is BusinessWeek magazine.
Viral distribution matters most 2007-12-08 18:57:34 Recently an influential business investor who has been in the information technology (IT) industry for decades said something that got me thinking. He said that in today’s IT world, the success of an IT company is not to just focus on the technology but to focus on distribution
. He was referring to IT storage technology. I said to myself this also holds true for internet businesses. Whether it is e-commerce, blogs, video sharing, forums, software, etc., viral distribution is crucial to the success of the business. Your online target audience will not know about your online business unless you find a way to reach them through some form of online distribution channel.
There are two phases in any online business. Firstly you must get yourself recognized in cyber-world. Then when people recognize your business, you must convert them from visitors to fans. Hence, find a way to get them to stick around. Only then will you be able to get repeated sales and form a relationship w Read more:Viral
, matters
The cost of increasing bandwidth 2007-12-08 17:48:00 As more people start watching video online or play online games, bigger bandwidth is required for data streaming over the internet but with broadband companies cutting the cost of broadband subscriptions due to competition, who will have to pay for the high demand of a bigger broadband pipeline? I read recently that there has been talks that broadband subscribers and online media distributor sites will have to pay higher prices for more bandwidth. Is this fair to the online consumers? The internet is like a highway built for cars to travel from point A to point B. Can you stop a car that travels everyday on the highway from point A to point B because the driver is using the highway too often? This is a problem because based on current usage of broadband, there is a need for bigger bandwidth but with the lowering cost of broadband subscriptions, how much more would broadband users want to pay for a “bigger” broadband?
Games for iPhone 2007-12-07 08:38:24 As the iPhone
fan base and user base continue to grow, so are iPhone applications. Have you wondered what type of applications iPhone users are installing on their gadget? The top 10 iPhone applications found on Apple’s website are Google Search, games and Mobile Magazine Newstand. Here is the list of the top 10 applications on Apple’s website (this is true at the time I am writing this) :
1. Google Search
2. Frenzic
3. iPunchOut!
4. Google Maps for iPod Touch
5. iDuckHunk
6. Connect4 touch
7. The Zinio Mobile Newsstand
8. Finger Scan
9. MindDojo
10. SMASH!
I am not suprise that games are popular with iPhone users. The bigger screen and user interface are suitable for game playing. Many iPhone users were/are also iPod users and these users like entertainment and interactivity. If you look back on the development of iPod, you know it started out as a portable music player, then it evolved into a music and video player, now iPhone provides telecommunication, fi Read more:Games
More Google Apps for the iPhone 2007-12-06 17:31:27 Do you know that Apple’s iPhone
is the most frequently searched word on Google
search engine this year? That is according to report from Google and I believe it is true. If there is a award for most popular gadget in 2007, I am most certain it will go to iPhone. Seeing the popularity of iPhone and the growing number of mobile users making iPhone as their choice of mobile phone, Google has strategically released their applications for the iPhone. With wi-fi connectivity and a web browser, iPhone users will want to surf the internet, check their emails and do a lot more with the gadget. The most common things one will do when connected to the internet is to use a search engine, check emails, make appointments and maintain a calendar and read the news. That is exactly what Google is providing on the iPhone. Google has now provided an application that let users access Google search, Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Reader on the iPhone. To access Google’s application
Use GMail to chat with AIM buddies 2007-12-05 16:37:34 GMail users are in for another treat this festive season. Google has just launched their latest Google Talk enhancement where GMail users will be able to chat with their AIM buddies using Google Talk. If you have a GMail account, you can sign in to your AIM account and chat with your AIM buddies. Your AIM buddy list will appear together with your GMail buddies and you can chat with both from the Google Talk interface.
Coloured labels in GMail 2007-12-04 16:34:36 When I login to my GMail this morning, I noticed a new featured on the top right of my IE7 browser. Google has released a new feature in GMail - coloured labels for emails. Previously you can label all your emails and you can only label them in green. Now you can choose different colours for different labels. It enhances the visibility by providing different choice of colours for labels. Unfortunately this feature is only available for IE7 and Firefox 2 browsers. I use IE7 browser at work but when I am at home I use Safari on my Apple computer and the feature is not available.
Read more:Coloured
Viral strategy using Wordpress themes 2007-12-03 17:17:46 Today when I was reading news on various blogs, I came across news about a 5-month old blog that was sold for USD10,000 on Sitepoint.com. What is interesting about this blog is in five months the guy who created the blog raised his Google PageRank to 6, the website is ranked in the top 50 on Technorati and ranked 35,331 on Alexa. How on earth did he do it when the site was only getting around 1000+ visitors/day?
The guy who created the blog (blogohblog.com) created various Wordpressthemes
and he was getting all the links back to his site from sites that used his Wordpress themes. Amazing how Wordpress themes can be viral and spread across the internet so quickly that it boosted the website’s ranking in such a short space of time.
Read more:Viral
Understanding Facebook Beacon 2007-12-03 16:43:49 I received an email notification today from YouTube about a video created by Matt Dickman. It is a video about FacebookBeacon
. In the video Matt gives a demonstration how Facebook Beacon works by using a real-life example showing how you can set up Typepad blog to send blog feed to your Facebook dashboard. You can control what data you would like to allow Facebook Beacon to send to your Facebook. The example is simple and clearly shows the integration process between the two sites (Typepad and Facebook). It is worth watching the video if you curious and like to know more about how Facebook Beacon works.
Read more:Understanding
Facebook Analysis using Adonomics 2007-12-02 07:41:11 I came across Adonomics, a website which is an open analytics and advertising platform for Facebook
. Adonomics was previously known as Appaholic before it was acquired by Altura Ventures.
Adonomics provide analysis of Facebook platform for develops and investors to track Facebook application growth, activity and valuation. Take for example 3 of my favourite applications in Facebook that I have installed - Super Wall, iLike, SuperPoke! Adonomics will show the trend movement in activity usage, valuation and number of users. Data is updated daily so it is nearly close to real-time. Trend movement data can be exported to CSV and graphs can be embedded in your website.
Click here to see the trend graphs.
Read more:Analysis
Worm makes it way through Orkut 2007-12-21 16:52:20 A Brazilian hacker has injected a worm in the Orkut
social network. It was reported that the worm first appeared in Orkut on 19th Dec. and has spread through Orkut’s scrapbook system and has infected more than 650,000 users.
How does the infection start? It starts when an Orkut user is sent an email them about a new scrapbook entry and when the Orkut user logs in, he/she is greeted by a message in Portuguese. Apparently the infection is spread by just looking at the scrapbook message and no interaction is necessary.
If you have received any scrapbook entries in the last few days, I suggest that you do not read it for it may be the worm working its way through your Orkut. I received a scrapbook entry yesterday and I have not opened it and will stay clear of scrapbook entries for now.
Read more:makes
The pursuit of happiness 2007-12-19 15:31:50 This week is a rather different work week for me. For starters I am not in the office. I have been commuting into London every morning to attend a SQL Server 2005 course. This also means I have a little extra time during lunch to catch up with my reading. I am not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier blog entry that I bought the book “The Age of Conversation” from lulu.com. It is a compilation of 100 one-page contribution from bloggers on the topic of conversation. This is the brainchild of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton.
I haven’t finished reading the book but I thought I would share with you one of my favourite by Steve Bannister (www.sbannister.com). His entry is entitled “How to be Happy”. He likened the pursuit of happiness
to the pursuit of a perfect diamond. I quote Bannister, “If the four Cs Diamond Guide (cut, color, clarity and carat) refers to the universal method of determining the value of a diamond, then the following four Cs
iPod lectures 2007-12-18 15:03:15 I read recently that university students in the US can download lectures onto their iPod
or MP3 players after the lecture is completed. This gives students the opportunity to recap lecture points after they have left the class room.
Software companies have developed application for iPod where the audio lecture is synchronized with Powerpoint-like presentations and universities across the country are quickly adopting this method of media distribution.
iPod is no longer just a entertainment media gadget but fast becoming an education tool too.
Create your own ringtone for your iPhone 2007-12-16 11:49:07 It is possible to create your own ringtone for your iPhone
by using GarageBand 8 (version 4.1.1).
1. Connect your iPhone
2. Run GarageBand and create a ringtone either using Apple’s loop or choose songs from your iTunes library.
3. Sync with iPhone once completed.
4. After sync go to your iPhone and select the ringtone as your ringer.
It is as simple as that.
The most sought after gadgets in Europe 2007-12-15 08:04:24 If you are like me, someone who loves gadgets
and are still looking for presents for love ones this Christmas, I would like to let you know that research results show that iPod and iPhone are among the most sought after item in Europe
(actually in the UK, France and Germany) this Christmas.
Wii shortage this holiday season 2007-12-15 07:48:24 I read that Nintendo is losing out on $1 billion with the current shortage of Wii
game station this holiday season.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Knol - the unit of knowledge 2007-12-14 13:40:12 Google’s latest project was announced yesterday - Knol which is a unit of knowledge is a website for knowledge contribution. It aims to promote the authors who contribute through the Google Search Engine and promises to share ad revenue with the authors. This is how it works - if you have knowledgeable in a topic, you can sign up with Knol and write about your topic. Essentially Knol is created to compete with Wikipedia. It is not any different from a blog or a webpage. It allows readers to comment, authors can collaborate and write about a topic. Google claims that they will not act as editor to articles that are published on Knol. Will Knol be able to topple Wikipedia? Will bloggers want to use Knol to write articles where they can post on their own blog? I am a skeptic on this product. I will have to wait and see how it develops. At the moment, only invited authors are allowed to test drive Knol.
Getting free traffic to your site 2007-12-13 06:08:51 You can get free traffic
to your site by advertising on free ad sites. Trackforward.com has listed 5 best sites (with ad examples) to post ads for free.
InetGiant
Hot-Web-Ads
FreeClassifiedAds
Kingdom Classifieds
USNetAds
Brazillian iPodsicles idea 2007-12-13 04:23:11 What do you get when you put an iPod shuffle and a popsicle together? Gizmodo tells the story about the Brazillian ice-cream company, Kivon who came up with the marketing idea to freeze 10,000 iPod shuffles in popsicles. It sounded rather insane when I first read the story but Kivon did their homework and tested out various methods of keeping the iPod in its working state in both humid and frozen environment. Kivon created a special prototype case for the iPod shuffle that feels and looks the same as a real popsicle and the case also protects the gadget from humidity and freezing. After much testing and persuasion from Kivon, Apple bought the idea and gave the go ahead but there is still the question of how to get the charger and manual into the popsicle prototype. Kivon decided that they will provide a telephone number where the winner will call and the charger, manual and an actual popsicle of the exact flavour as that advertised on the prototype will be sent to the winner.
All
Not impressed with online purchase snail delivery 2007-12-12 04:32:00 Recently I bought the book, “The Age of Conversation” from lulu.com thinking I will get the book before Christmas but I found out today that the delivery option I selected is EU slowest delivery option and it will take 20 days for the book to arrive after I get a notification it had been shipped.
I am so used to buying online
from Amazon who provides speedy delivery, I am totally not impressed with anything that does not match Amazon. I will be able to accept if delivery is between 5 to 7 days but 20 days is way too long. That means I will only be able to read my book in the New Year. Sigh
Read more:snail
Happy Christmas 2007-12-24 06:08:47 I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a HappyChristmas
and have a brilliant New Year.
Apple to launch iPhone in Japan in the new year 2007-12-22 06:33:17 Report suggests that Steve Jobs has been in discussion with Japan
’s NTT Docomo about the possibility of launching iPhone
in Japan next year. Japan is the second largest economy in the world after US and it is an attractive market for Apple
.
Statistics show that there are nearly 100 million mobile phone users in Japan who buys new mobile phones every two years. Apple has also indicated that the iPhone release in Japan will be the next version of iPhone that will supports 3G for faster internet surfing.
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