not quite exponentially better

Google Squared

Earlier this month, Google announced a new labs product "Google squared" [http://www.google.com/squared].

A quick search in Google squared generates a table of information related to the subject you search on. Results are presented in multiple rows for each column. My first search, "big east football" generated a "square" with 7 of the Big East teams and a bunch of uninteresting info. With a few quick adds and deletes to the columns and rows later, I was able to generate a table with all 8 teams, the coach, mascot, stadium, 2008 record and stadium name.

Did you know that Syracuse's mascot is "Otto the Orange"? Neither did I... I also didn't care. I'm just glad that Rutgers isn't bringing up the bottom of the conference.

Regardless, Google squared is a cool new way to gather and review info available on the web. You can click through on the table entries to view the source, correct or update an entry and save it for future reference. Give it a try. It's loads of fun!

Just say no...

...to Web 2.0

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/03/google_on_washington/

This is a quick bit on what happens when technology runs head first into the immovable wall that is our Federal Government.

Interesting points from Google's Andrew McLaughlin as part of Obama's Technology Innovation and Government Reform group:

• "If the government wants to use a free online service like Flicker or Facebook or YouTube, does it have to go through a competitive bidding process? Even though these apps are free, they're part of a competitive market, so presumably the answer is 'Yes.'"
• "A White House channel on YouTube or a photo stream on Flickr or a page on Facebook can't carry advertising alongside it. Otherwise, it would put it in the position of implicitly endorsing the things that are being advertised. So it would have to come up with some sort of special arrangement with these Web 2.0 services."
• and this is the best one... As per the Presidential Records Act, all documentary materials related to the presidential office must be saved for posterity. "The problem is that everything must be kept on paper," McLaughlin says. "So, government web masters have to sit and print snapshots of their websites on paper."

careful with that backhoe eugene

Last month, The Washington Post printed a good story about the "black wire" buried under Tysons.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002114.html

"A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there... Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, 'You just hit our line.'"

The black wire isn't on utility maps, and if fiber-optic or in heavily insulate conduit, won't transmit any measurable signal making it impossible to detect. "Even after extensively researching land records and maps and digging more than 600 test holes to determine utility locations, it's hard to avoid accidents on a project of such complexity."

With MAE-East (one of the major Internet Exchange Points) running through the planned Dulles rail route, the amount of fiber under the construction site is of concern.

Look for an Internet outage coming to a network near you.

Facebook killed the car

Heard an interesting bit on NPR a few days ago about how the love affair with the automobile is being killed off by Web 2.0.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104800385

Kids are growing up without a cool car to cruse the strip because the need for social interaction is filled online by Facebook, Twitter, etc. "You could have two Corvettes and drive them both at the same time and not look as cool as you could make yourself look on Facebook." (sorry Hugh)

With out the love for their first Camaro, the perception of an automobile has changed from defining lifestyle necessity to just another mode of transportation.

Maybe Detroit car makers should diversify their portfolio by embracing web 2.0 technology services.

Just getting started...

...and I got nothing. ( don't think this counts as a post, or does it)

maybe this could be a commentary on the value (or lack there of) that blogs can bring when there is nothing of any value to blog on. Propagating/aggregating previously published news is where blogs got started, but what does that do aside from mask the original source in an independent wrapper.