These are modules that we have contributed to the community.

My little ChiPet has finally returned to its spot on my dashboard. As you can see it is healthy and was trimmed just before the screencap. With the new sleep capability he will stay healthy and not die on me every weekend....assuming I don't forget to put it to sleep.

Big thanks to NovisDesign for coming through on this update.

Go to ChiPet to download the latest version.

Technorati Tags: widget, dashboard, widget

If you recently watched Lessig's presentation, you will notice he made reference to RW Internet, and gave some funny examples.

While the URL for some of the clips was given, the clip of mana mana set to an anime was not. After looking around I found it. It is titled "Muppet Show meets Vampire Hunter D". You can also see the Original muppets version of manamana

While driving home last night, I heard beautiful track on Flow 93.5FM. I recorded a fragment on my cell so I could look for it later. I failed to find the song/artist info after countless lyrics searches on Google using words I recorded.

It was by sheer dumb luck that I stumbled on this page which gave me name & artist info for the track. Still had to confirm if it was indeed the right song...

Next I went to Capitol Hill Records (a lovely flash site that can't be indexed by search engines.) which had Rewind playing on the homepage. YAY!!

Having confirmed Andreena Mill's Rewind was the right song, I did a few more searches to find where to get it. I found it here. Still no album to buy though.

Later on I found that Andreena Mill's MySpace which had the music video you see below.

La Rocca Creative Cakes makes wonderful cakes. I get them at Zehrs & other Loblaws stores. With my special day coming up, I wanted to share with you a cake I love.

The Chocolate Mousse Bombe is best cake I have found after many years of searching. I have yet to meet someone that didn't like it. If they hate chocolate...well they are a lost cause. The Bombe is a light, rich and smooth cake. I first had it in Toronto, at a restaurant called Just Desserts. After some digging, I found out who makes it and where I can buy it!

If am asked to bring a cake for a party, I always get the Bombe! This way, no matter how bad the other cakes are, I know I will l have some nice cake to eat.

Technorati Tags: desserts, chocolate, food, cake

Dear Steve Jobs,

The private walled garden known as .Mac is out of touch with reality. With .Mac's major features available for free from various web 2.0 companies .Mac is becoming irrelevant. iLife's many sharing features are crippled if you don't have .Mac.

If .Mac hadn't become pay only in the .bomb days, it would have grown to be the largest social network today. For example just adding a friends networking feature based on iChat buddy lists or AddressBook could make .Mac a wonderful MySpace replacement. .Mac as a social network can sell more Macs, iPods, Photo prints, music and movies. .Mac could make the life of Mac users easier and better.

To still have the .Mac tax today is just plain stupid. Why make users pay? Bandwidth costs? Nope. Apple is selling movies and TV shows for less than 10 bucks? It would take weeks for an average user to use that much bandwidth. Storage? Nah. That's too cheap to even discuss.

Someone at Apple needs to re-do those basic calculations of what the residual value of a .Mac user is to Apple.

Steve, with the iPod success heading for the plateau, you need a new killer app, .Mac can make Apple the hottest and most useful social network.  Do something before dotMac becomes deadMac. Or kill .Mac & have the dev teams work on making iLife integrate better with other successful 2.0 sites.

Frankly no one cares for .Mac anymore.

Cheers.

Technorati Tags: iLife, MySpace, apple, .Mac

My Dream App contest reaches finals: 

I love all six applications that have made it to the finals. Reducing down to three favorites has taken over an hour of personal deliberation. I applaud the organizers and sponsors for making participation fun and beneficial.   

So how did I vote? 

What I cut:

• #6. Whistler - Richard - Music creation has never been this easy or fun. I think this is a cool app, but since I don't have any music ski115 it would be like expose, fun to show others but rarely used by me. A search tool that let you whistle a tune to find such a song would have made it into the top 3 for me (I know that's not easy).
• #5. Cookbook - Michael - The ultimate cookbook application. Another cool app, but I don't have the passion for cookbooks. My wife would love Cookbook but it is not for me. Besides, right now, I'm looking out for #1 (me).
• #4. Blossom - Dan - A virtual plant that responds to productivity. So close. But I opted for Atmosphere as I have been working too hard keeping my virtual chi-pet alive. I just can't take any more virtual responsibilities. I realize this is a different app, but in the end it would be another virtual plant that would wither because of my neglect.

What I want:

• #3. Atmosphere - Cameron - Put the weather on your desktop. I've read lots of crying about how this candidate has got over dugg. You all have been reading too many 'gaming digg' blog posts. The idea is flat out cool people, a 'live' desktop showing weather conditions is IMHO is the ultimate desktop.
• #2. Portal - Farzad - File syncing from the future. Having .Mac like sync without .Mac is the ultimate senario for any mac owner.
• My #1 Choice. Hijack - Kevin - Browse your favorite forums. I like where this app is headed, with microformatting and possible collaboration with BBoard developers to standardize the layouts, tracking conversations online is the future.

  I'd certainly be willing to help Hijack by especially formatting the different modes of conversation at Otavo to allow Hijack to track quests, forums and blogs effectively without having to jump through regex hell. Wonderful idea Kevin.

So go register and vote for the top 3 I like. You have until Wednesday to do so. For participating, you get PhotoPresenter 2.6, Overflow & $5 off: Insanely Great Tees

Technorati Tags: Atmosphere, Poral, Otavo, Microformats, chi-pet, apple, Hijack, My Dream App

Potion Factory has made me smile several times this past week.

The first time was when they offered Voice Candy at My Dream App contest. I found Voice Candy's interface beautiful and the sound effects very realistic. I had lots of fun listening to myself talk. I think my primary use for Voice Candy will be to record my thought streams (with eyes closed, visualizing and verbally describing various ideas without having to write stuff.)

Today I learn that the have made a new app called Tangerine. It analyzes a track's beats per minute (BPM) and compiles playlists based on the setting you choose. This is the first time I've seen an app that helps organize music in this fashion...it is perfect for helping create a good group of like-sounding songs for a steady workout.

Good luck guys and keep surprising us.

Disclaimer: they did offer to provide license to tangerine if you blog it. That helps motivate me to blog, but the main reason I blogged them today is because here is a company that is testing new ideas, not just in terms of apps they are creating but also the various avenues they are taking to expose themselves to the world at large.

Technorati Tags: apple, music, Tangerine

Otavo has been a joy to use and develop.

Everyday I am surprised by how others use Otavo and what they are looking for. I join the quests that 'move' me and chip in whenever I come across a relevant link.

But, from all the quests running I have truly loved this one I am embedding on this post. It is a collection of things that may you say "this is genius"

There are a few others such as help with inspiration but when I see an update notice for these two quests in my email and rss reader it truly makes my day.

BTW: Yes I developed Otavo, but these quests have truly made the journey worth it, thank you all who have started and contributed to the quests.

Novis Design the daddy/alpha/omega of the chi pets, a while ago posted this:

The New Pet In Town - Upcoming Chi Pet Features
The Chi Pet has been one of the most popular widgets out there to date. And we think it could be much better. New features in an upcoming release are going to include a haircut named 'Barber Shop', a sleep called 'Hibernation', and a huge innovation that will let you talk to your Chi. These features and more will be in the upcoming version 1.1.

I have a fully grown chi pet that needs to learn to take naps and get trimmed.

Please hurry with chi pet 1.1. two additional pets have died on me so far, and I am not sure how many more deaths I can take.

Technorati Tags: chi-pet, widget

TUAW - Why Apple's Mighty Mouse is like the Apple III:

Well Apple's done it again with the so-called "Mighty" mouse. Their 3 or 4-button wonder is great, as long as you don't get hooked on using the little scrollball. Never mind the fact that you can't move in X and Y directions at the same time (as you can using 2-finger trackpad scrolling)-- the trackball is a piece of junk. I mean, the build quality is nice (just like those Apple III's had heavy-duty aluminum chassis), but after about a month of frequent use, the thing gets jammed with gunk, making it largely unusable. And yes, I wash my hands regularly...

I have found the little nipple/scrollball on the mighty mouse too-wiggly for my taste. I guess with my next iMac (24'' baby!) I'll have to get another Logitech to replace the Mighty mouse it will come with.

Currently I'm in love with the features of Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse

I'm hoping that a wired version of the MX Revolution will be available soon.

Technorati Tags: Logitech, mighty mouse, apple

Movie Downloads: iTunes v. The Rest:

For now, I think I’ll continue using DVDs to archive my favorite movies, but rent digital versions of the ones I just want to see once. What I’d really like to see in this category is a digital Netflix service that automatically rents, downloads, and deletes movies from my computer for a flat monthly fee.

The dvd clearance bins at Walmart and smaller local stores have great prices on movies. Blockbuster is just down the street. So what will movie downloads do for me? Precious little. From what I have read, I see two key problems with all the offerings:

1. DRM: DRM can't work for me, it never will. If I pay for it, it is mine to do as I please. I as an informed consumer don't want it.
2. Price & Convenience: If I have to spend time downloading to acquire the product, then it takes up valuable space on my drive, I better save alot of money! I'd say $1.99/movie max. Since most movies in the clearance bins are around 5-10 bucks, I do not see how mastering, boxing and shipping a product can cost as much as a download. Why I should pay so much when they are really are so inconvenient to own?

I'll stick to the DVDs for now. Best bang and flexibility for my buck. Movie downloads offer me nothing.
Technorati Tags: DRM, movie downloads

Email has been a reliable form of communication for many years but, in the last 10 years, thanks spam and phishing email is dying.

Email worked because it was a quick and sure way to communicate with individuals over the net. Spam and phishing concerns attack the two key things in any communication medium:

1. Know who you are talking to. Thanks to spam, you can't tell if the email you receive is from a real human that knows you or has real reasons to contact you.

   With phishing you have emails that look genuine to trick you into performing some act.

2. Know that you are being heard/read. If you send out an email, there is no longer any real guarantees that the recipient has received it.

If you can't receive real genuine emails, can't be certain if the recipient will get your message, and are afraid to share your email address with others, why bother with email at all?

This rant was caused by years of watching the email platform crumble and this article at Techdirt -
When You Can't Tell The Phishing Emails From The Legit Ones, Just Ignore Them All

I think it is time to look for new options...any ideas?

Well after 3 weeks of growth, thanks to labour day weekend and construction at my house, I didn't get to water my pet.

It died. *sob.

After my last post the pet never grew more fur etc. It would be nice if someone made a vine dashboard that grew all over the other widgets or something...that might be more exciting.

I installed Chi Pet on my dashboard. Several pets have died...but I have refused to uninstall it. The deaths were cause by the fact my laptop sleeps over the weekend, and on Monday morning....I find my little guy upside down, dead.

But this past weekend, I took time to wake my machine, water the little guy and put it back to sleep. *sigh*

So yesterday, it was still alive and I was rewarded with a lush Pet....see for yourselves.

We'll see what happens over the next weekend.

This diamond mine in eastern Siberia (Mirny, to be exact) is so deep that the surrounding "air zone... is closed for helicopters" after "a few accidents when they were 'sucked in' by downward air flow..."

You can find more pictures and details about the mine here

I found the little city next to the big hole...uhmm interesting.

We can now all marvel at the result of all their hard hard work.

Thanks everyone that has helped get us to this point. Without your feedback Otavo would not be what it is today.

Techcrunch's Take on Otavo
Mashable's Take on Otavo

those are the first two I found this morning.

So go on, read about Otavo, sign up and give it a spin, and have fun.

Search 2.0 vs Traditional Search, Part 2

Written by Ebrahim Ezzy and edited by Richard MacManus. Ebrahim is lead developer and co-founder of Qelix Technologies, the company behind a search 2.0 contender called Qube. This is the second in a 2-part series of posts.

Ebrahim does a wonderful job of covering many different innovations being explored.

Ebrahim thanks for the mention. More news and announcements coming soon.

The new technorati look is nice but, I am going to miss a nice functionality that used to exist in the old interface.

When you did a search, you could click on any of the buttons in the green bar and it would switch your search to the selected type....But now, you have to change the dropdown and hit search.

So we now have several steps when we used to just have one.

I'll miss that interface feature but am happy to see the technocrats turning 3. I'll need a few more days to decide if I like the new look. Regardless happy anniversary Technorati.

Some noticed the search issue too.
Dave's rundown on the changes

Yes, a faster way to tie your shoes. I'll have to slow the video and watch it a few times. Saw it on rocketboom this morning. Now I have to practice.

we’re happy to announce Yahoo! Local fully supports the hCalendar, hCard, and hReview microformats on almost all business listings, search results, events, and reviews. There are a few reasons behind this change, which for now, will be transparent to almost everyone.

It is wonderful to see new techniques being used by the larger firms.

Read the post: Yahoo! Local adds Microformats support.

We all made car sounds when we were young, but I think this is the first I have seen/heard of professionals getting paid to do it.

Bravo Honda and the people that made this. It sounded, beautiful.

Civic Ad

Tags:Honda, Vrooom, Civic, Car Ad

A Canadian man who set out to use the internet to trade a paper clip to get a house says he has achieved his aim.

Kyle MacDonald, who is 26, made 16 trades over almost a year - and is now preparing to move into his new home.

Kyle MacDonald's blog

BBC story

whaw! Congrats on your new home Kyle.

This morning, I realized that if Apple produced a product like the fake on the right, it would be the worst iPod in terms of functionality.

The fakes based on the patent diagrams seen a while back seem cool but are actually a step back in functionality. The iPod AV as visualized would:

• not allow you to operate it from within your pocket
• not allow you to receive a tactile response for any of your actions (click of button)
• would require that you almost always have the hold switch active due to the large active surface

So the question as I lay there thinking about the dream was, how can Apple make an ipod that looks like the fake but works as well if not better than the current generation.

I came up with a few realizations.

• Fingerworks technology. I own and use a Touchstream LP keyboard. So I am familiar with the power of gestures on the touchstream. An iPod with fingerworks could detect how many fingers are being used. So for example:
  • 2 finger strokes for volume control
  • 3 finger strokes for seeking
  • 3 finger tap for pause/play would allow an iPodAV to operate in your pocket.
• Screen as rocker. It may be possible to have the whole screen tilt/rock like the wheel which would be interesting.

I guess we'll see what Apple comes up with.
Photo is from the gallery at macrumors.com

Tags: ipod, macrumors, fingerworks

Some details about Otavo has been released.

Enjoy. More detail to follow here soon.

Tags: otavo, Intention Engine

When I was playing with my Nokia 6670 setting up custom ring tones for my clients, family, and friends, I came up with a rather neat idea.

I could record myself saying "Amanuel, you have a client on the phone" and set that to my clients group. I did the same for all my other groups and had my phone say who was calling instead of playing some annoying melody.

In the end I had my wife be the voice in the recordings, as I like how she says my name better. ;-)

And when I was at a meeting people were baffled as to how my 'secretary' was able to talk to me. Some thought she was listening to us the whole time...they just could not figure it out.

Even after explaining the whole thing they still were not sure...

It was fun.

Here are some tips:

• add a little extra silence at the end of the recording so it sounds more natural when the recording loops.

   

• Find a voice that you like and will recognize in a room full of noise.

   

• Set the ringing to be ascending in volume, it will give the effect that the person is repeating themselves cause they were not heard.

   

Add in the comments here if you have additional tips or experiences you would like to share.

Hint on what Otavo is about: (a limerick)

There was a young man who said: "Damn!
It seems to me that I am
An engine which moves
On pre-determinate grooves
I'm not even a bus; I'm a tram!"

Limerick II

The young fellow then thought, “No,
It is not necessarily so,
The argument fails,
I can lay my own rails,
And go where I want to go."

Tag: otavo

"Web 2.0 doesn't exist" post kicks up a ruckus by ZDNet's Russell Shaw -- Man, did I raise a storm of controversy with my Web 2.0? It doesn't exist post[...]

Richard MacManus had similar sentiments as well.

It is exactly the reason why we started the Intentional web Initiative.

Larry Sanger, a co-founder of Wikipedia, plans to launch a project called Digital Universe that will take advantage of public input for its content but rely on acknowledged experts to edit the submissions.

Material will be free, with subscription fees for access to copyrighted materials. Sanger has raised $10 million in start-up funding.

This strikes me as a silly idea and a move in the wrong direction. Wikipedia was found to be mostly accurate compared to its closed brethren. Wikipedia in my view is fine as it is. It has its issues and as time goes it will evolve and get better.

BTW: The Register has had a minor axe to grind against Wikipedia in its articles. :)

Full Story.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has organized a study group of universities and electronics companies. The government reportedly is considering spending up to $885 million on the search-engine plan as part of its efforts to become more dominant online.

Full Story.