Zdnet Australia has an <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=251&amp;entry_id=154″ title=”http://zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Take_browsers_to_the_limit_Google/0,2000061733,39204515,00.htm” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Take_browsers_to_the_limit_Google/0,2000061733,39204515,00.htm’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> about <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=252&amp;entry_id=154″ title=”http://maps.google.com” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://maps.google.com’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Google Maps</a>, and the lead engineer Lars Rasmussen. He states that:<br />
<blockquote><br />
If a Web application takes advantage of the best technologies a user’s browser can offer, then “each individual gets the ’sexiest’ experience in their browser”, he said.<br />
<br />
“Go beyond browsers’ lowest common denominator,” he advised developers.<br />
</blockquote><br />
I think that if there was ever an anti-Nielsen then Rasmussen would take the cake. For a long time, <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=253&amp;entry_id=154″ title=”http://www.useit.com” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.useit.com’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Jakob Nielsen</a> and his fellow Usability experts have expoused the notion that users of the WWW are only after information. Sites that take longer than 10 seconds will be thrown away and discarded as users move on to other sources of information. Nielsen prefers sites that are less than 3KB, almost no graphics and extremely basic colour use. In short… boring.<br />
<br />
Whilst I agree with some of what he says I don’t think his rules should apply to all websites - Google Maps being one of them obviously. But should we go the other extreme and lock out some of the older browsers (and some of the newer ones that cater to vision-impaired persons?) for the sake of utilising the bleeding edge technology available?<br />
<br />
I think that at some point we are going to have to let go of some of our pre-conceptions of the technology people use out there. I don’t think people are still using NCSA Mosaic anymore, and I do think that people who are looking at Google Maps may have a faster-than-dialup connection. When I first started using the web it was really limited to what you could cram into a lab session at uni, bulletin-boards were the order of the day and if you had a 22.8K modem then you were doing really well. But the times have changed now and it’s about time we lifted the bar on minimum browsing standards.<br />
<br />
I’d rather see more creative uses of browser technology such as Google Maps than being stuck with backwards-compatibility with Lynx - bring it on I say!

If you’re like and find that the 22MB that the treo 650 provides you to be too puny to do anything meaningful on, Palm has released a new firmware to address this. The instructions are located <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=247&amp;entry_id=153″ title=”http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo650updater/unlockedgsm_dl.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo650updater/unlockedgsm_dl.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>here</a>. Note that if you don’t have 15MB spare, there is instructions on how to free up your memory to in order to install the newer firmware.<br />
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The results are in - it’s a fairly painless process as long as you follow the procedure step by step. I ended up freeing about 5MB of memory mainly due to the changes in the way contacts are stored on the palm. So if you are running out of room on your treo, I highly recommend getting the new firmware.<br />
<br />
Thanks to <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=248&amp;entry_id=153″ title=”http://prasad.typepad.com” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://prasad.typepad.com’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>PD</a> for sharing this.

In amongst the ads for Viagra, Cialis tabs and other assorted drugs that I receive in my email, I had an interesting one delivered the other day for “OEM Software”. By ordering off their site you can get up to 75% off leading software brands such as Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia.<br />
<br />
They even have a pretty slick website front end hawking their undoubtedly pirated goods.<br />
<br />
What cracks me up is the FAQ section of the website:<br />
<blockquote><br />
Q: How can you sell this software so cheap? It seems to good to be true - is there a catch?<br />
A: There is no catch - the software versions that we sell are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) which means you will receive the installation CDs only (they do not come in their original retail packing and do not include the manual). We do guarantee that all programs are the 100% full working retail versions - no demos or academic versions. When you order, you will receive all materials required for a complete installation - or your money back. Why should you pay hundreds of dollars more if you can get exactly the same product but much cheaper? You don’t have to pay that much for the fancy box and manuals.<br />
<br />
This software is recognized as a backup software.<br />
</blockquote><br />
Backup software??? I thought that this was OEM? Ohhh.. I get it, backup = pirated. Wow those fancy boxes and packaging really is expensive.. $99.95 for Photoshop CS, isn’t that normally over $1000?<br />
<br />
<br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/152-Amusing-SPAM.html#extended”>Continue reading “Amusing SPAM”</a>

The Economist has an article on the darling of the Nasdaq, Google. Some of the highlights are:

Now valued at more than $80 billion, Google has left in the dust the other three internet Wunderkinder—Yahoo!, eBay and Amazon—and even passed media stalwarts such as Time Warner. How does Google do it?

At least in part by shrewdly manufacturing a winning mystique. No outsider today can prove definitively that Google is not an office park full of geniuses who could at any moment announce, simultaneously, world peace and a cure for the common cold. That is because no outsider today can say anything definitive about Google at all. This is intentional. Google makes itself totally opaque by camouflaging itself with lots of what journalists call “colour”.

The article mentions that Google has defied market trends by cultivating an air of mystique and ambiguity about it and its operations. No one can really nail down exactly what Google does. They seem to have a product for everything (searching, advertising, picture management, maps - the list goes on). On the latest press tour the journos were treated to such facts as how much food the engineers at the Googleplex consumes and discussions about executive sock collections.

This would normally send share prices tumbling, most analysts like to hear the hard facts about the company - where is it heading, gearing etc etc but everyone seems to still be enchanted by the Google phenomenon. Not that I am saying that it is a bad company but I just don’t see its direction and where it is heading. It seems like it is run as a nerd think-tank - groups go away and dream up ideas and eventually commercialise it. Not a bad model so long as investors can see a return on their money.

And what a return it is - the share price has tripled in the last ten months and they are currently running at over 100 on their price-to-earnings ratio. But at these sort of increases how long can it continue to grow and sustain this market pressure before stablising. It seems, that like its products and operations, the share price continues to defy established market trends.

I think it would be interesting to see who actually is buying these stocks - is it investment funds or is it curious investor, rubber-necking at the scene of a financial anomaly (”I own Google shares!” would be an interesting topic of discussion at a dinner party).

I was cruising <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=240&amp;entry_id=150″ title=”http://www.whirlpool.net.au” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.whirlpool.net.au’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Whirlpool</a> and saw that <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=241&amp;entry_id=150″ title=”http://anindha.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://anindha.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1′;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Anindha</a> was organising another mass purchase of these great Dell monitors. They have organised these beauties at AUD $1400 (they currently are listed at AUD $1620 and that is with a 10% discount) delivered. If you are interested then follow these <a href=http://anindha.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=52#52″>instructions</a> to purchase one of your own.<br />
<br />
I was interested in these monitors mainly because they seem to be getting rave reviews at the moment but it has a host of features over the Apple cinema display (multiple inputs, picture-in-picture, USB hub, 6-in-1 card readers) all the while using the same lcd panel. Plus I wanted to use my mac with dual monitors - I keep on running out of room on the desktop with everything going!<br />
<br />
The LCD monitor (as long as I can get it) will replace my aging Sony trinitron (I’ve had it for about 5 years now) which has been a workhorse but now it is time to upgrade.

Double review today - War of the Worlds, the latest epic from Spielberg and Greater Union Gold Class out at Bondi. <br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/149-War-of-the-Worlds.html#extended”>Continue reading “War of the Worlds”</a>

What about an Australian corporation?<br />
<br />
<b>TRADITIONAL CORPORATION </b><br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You sell one and buy a bull. <br />
Your herd multiplies and the economy grows. <br />
You sell them and retire on the income. <br />
<br />
<b>AN AMERICAN CORPORATION </b><br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You sell one and force the other to produce the milk <br />
of four cows. <br />
You are surprised when the cow drops dead. <br />
<br />
<b>A FRENCH CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You go on strike because you want three cows. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A JAPANESE CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of <br />
an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. <br />
You then create clever cow cartoon images called <br />
‘Cowkimon’ and market them World-Wide. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A GERMAN CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat <br />
once a month, and milk themselves. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A BRITISH CORPORATION </b><br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
Both are mad. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>AN ITALIAN CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are. <br />
You break for lunch. <br />
<b><br />
A SWISS CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have 5,000 cows and none of which belong to you. <br />
You charge others for storing them. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A CHINESE CORPORATION </b><br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You have 300 people milking them. <br />
You claim full employment and high bovine productivity. <br />
You have the newsman who reported on the numbers arrested. <br />
<br />
<b>AN INDIAN CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You worship them. <br />
<br />
<b>A MALAYSIAN CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
You signed a 40-year contract to supply milk at RM0.06 per litre. Then <br />
midway through, you raised the price to RM0.60 <br />
or you cut the supply. When the buyer agrees to the new <br />
price, you change your mind again and now want RM1.20. <br />
The buyer decided you can keep the milk and they go <br />
look for milk that comes from recycled cows or the cow <br />
urine instead. <br />
<br />
Your two cows retire together with the Prime Minister. <br />
<br />
<b>A SINGAPOREAN CORPORATION</b> <br />
<br />
You have two cows. <br />
One cow-peh and one cow-bu..