Offline Tech

What I Like And Hate About Invite Share

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 05:02:00 +0000

What I like: It has got to be the most efficient invitation request site out there - I got an invitation for 8apps, Pwonce, Moola and Spock within the next hour. But I strongly suspect it has got more to do with its recent hype and surge in traffic than anything else.

What I hate: The site is buggy and its AJAX features are somewhat suspect at times. After someone has sent you an invitation, you are supposed to log back into Invite Share to verify that THAT someone has sent you an invitation. That doesn't sound like the brightest idea out there but it is better than nothing. My qualms - It is buggy. An AJAX dialog box appears that I have to click multiple times. Yucks. Anyone from the site listening to my complaints - please do something about it.

My Confession

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:43:00 +0000

I am a loser. I admit it, I am a loser. Internet traffic - the one thing that caused me to lose myself. Let me confess, I started this blog with the belief that if I post hard enough, if I post fast enough, I will probably get enough traffic and thus get AdSense working. I was probably thinking that was what made TechCrunch and Mashable popular. Just post about every social networking site out there. Just entitle each post as another 100 ways to do this and that. That is the sure way to attract attention and get onto Digg, Delicious, Reddit and every other bookmarking site out there. It has been 24 hours since my first post and after waking up this morning, I told myself, enough is enough.

Enough of all these nonsense. Enough of the lose of my identity. I am not going to play by others' rules. I am going to play by my own rules. From now on, no more nice words and good comments about this website and that website. I am going to say what is on my mind. I am going to blast the website if it just isn't good and I am going to post my own opinions, my views. If there is one way to get attention and make a lot of true friends in the process - it is to say the truth, tell the truth. People will learn to appreciate it. People will learn to treasure my honest comments.

I am going to say the truth about my views on technology and society and no one is going to stop me.

30-Love For You

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:43:00 +0000

Took me a while to figure out the reason for its name but tennis buffs will probably not find the name love30 too weird a name. Launched just a few weeks ago at the Wimbledon Championships in London, the social networking site allows users to share and upload their favorite tennis-related video clips.

The site is officially sanctioned by the ATP and the leading male tennis players BUT notice the catch - the WTA (the Women's tennis association) and basically the female tennis players are not lending their support right now. So although the site does feature a lot of behind-the-scenes clips featuring the top male tennis players, there are no official ones involving the female players, which in my opinion, is a big big negative point for the site.

The site is open to anyone right now and there are already a couple of clips floating around.

Spock Invitations Up For Grabs

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:55:00 +0000

Anyone interested? Comments and email will do.

Pownce Invitations Up For Grabs

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:40:00 +0000

Is anyone interested? Leave me a comment or send me an email.

InviteShare For Sale After Short Debut

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:16:00 +0000

Invite exchange InviteShare has about 4000 users after it made its debut this week. Guess what, it is already putting itself up for sale. The highest bid thus far - $16,000. I am not in a position to say whether the owners are doing the right thing, but it does seem like a smart move - get popular and sell it.

For any potential buyer, this is my question. Google AdSense daily revenue for the site is reportedly $6. You would need 10 years to get back that initial investment if nothing changes. So it isn't as simple as it seems.

P.S. I just tried InviteShare. I got a Pownce invite within a few minutes of requesting. It is efficient in this respect.

Social Voting...For People

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:33:00 +0000

Gleamd is a social networking site where users submit profiles of people and vote on their relative popularity. Reminds me of college and the various popularity contests.

It is currently a closed-beta. Matt McInerney is the founder.

List Of Applications Running on the Adobe Integrated Runtime

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:10:00 +0000

Pownce by Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, Kevin Rose, Shawn Allen
Pownce Desktop Client by the guys above
San Dimas by eBay
mxnaQUBE by Phil Chung
VEED by Ben Honda-Rottler
Apollo Twitter Application by Lee Brimelow
MyMovieMatch beta by matchmine
Kuler Desktop by Adobe
Tweetr by Bluespark
SearchCoders Dashboard by Searchcoders
StudioCloud by StudioCloud
yourminis.com Desktop Widgets by goowy media, inc.
Finetune Desktop by Finetune
CodePeek PureMVC Demo by PureMVC
Apollo 3D Test Application by rost
Employee Directory by Adobe
Fresh by Adobe
MapCache by Adobe
Maptacular by Adobe
PeekAgenda by Adobe
PixelPerfect by Adobe
Salsa by Adobe
Scout by Adobe
ScreenPlay by Adobe
Signet by Adobe
MINI DIGG by Joe Johnston
D'Lite by Thai Huynh
DiggGraphr Desktop by Arpit Mathur
AppleCare Search for AIR by Jack in The Box Software, Inc.
Apollo Picasa by Denis V.
OnAIR by Edward Mansouri
AddressBookExtreme by Edward Mansouri
Adobe-Announcements by Razvan Andrei Surdu
AIR in Flight by Mike Givens
AIR Flex by Mike Givens
AIR Math Quiz Bowl by Mike Givens
Adobe AIR Music Player by Peter Ent
AIR Video Player by Mike Givens
Air's eyes by lafabrick.com
AIRTV by Edward Mansouri
Apollo Desktop Photos by Janvarev Vladislav
CleVR Stitcher by Sphex LLP
DiggTop by gskinner.com
EarthStats by Xe-Media
Educator Desktop by Edward Mansouri
FlexManiacs by Edward Mansouri
Flickrin by Ashwinee Dash
FotoBooth by Rich Tretola
HTMLExample by Edward Mansouri
iPhone by Knoware 2007
Limitless Quest by Andrew Wooldridge
MAX 2007 Countdown by Mike Givens
Mii Editor by MiiEditor.com
Model Selector by Kaushik Datta
MonitR by Brandon Ellis
MyVacation by Edward Mansouri
NabAIR by Niels Bruin
Onyx-VJ by Onyx-VJ
Project Tracker by Jacob Wright
Qurl by Ronnie Liew
scripKeepR by Chris Seahorn
Spirograph by Kaushik Datta
StudioCloud by DaVinci's Desk Inc.
test-browser by saumya ray
toteNpost by Chris Seaborn
Tweetr by Bluespark Interactive
TwittAIR by theflexblog
twitterAIR by Aaron West
Vehicle Comparison by Kaushik Datta
WebSnapshot by Daniel Wanja

The Most Beautiful Training Videos Online

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Total Training Online is a video website that offers subscription to their array of online training videos. The topics on offer include Flash, Access, ASP.Net, Expression, the CS3 Suite and the list goes on and on. In essence, the videos on offer are very well-updated and comprehensive.

What is most impressive is the high quality of the streaming videos. I thought it looked to be shot in HD to me and true enough, according to Total Training, all their videos were shot in full high-definition. There is also a separate website tab that gives you access to all the project files that you need.

A free 2 day pass gives users the ability to watch 20 minutes of each course. An all access pass cost $250 annually while there are also separate passes for their Microsoft, Adobe and CS3 suites.

Check it out, the videos look gorgeous.

Total Training Online

Windows Live Mobile Search Version 2.0 Gets Online

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:14:00 +0000

Version 2 of Windows Live Mobile Search adds movie showtimes, more local data, mobile virtual earth maps and directions.

The application is available for download free and provides coverage of both the US and the UK. Versions for three platforms are currently available - .Net for Windows Mobile devices, J2ME for other platforms and a beta Blackberry version.

Brain Games For The Web Generation

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Started by a Stanford University graduate, Lumosity is a website that guides you through a series of brain tests that have been designed to increase your brain power (memory, attention, processing speed and cognitive control). A progress tracker records your progress while most of the tests are flash-based.

Lumos Lab lists are many as 8 Ph.D.s who are advisers to the cognitive fitness program. The fees for usage of the website, as expected, as not cheap. There is a 2-week trial after which users will have to pay $79.95 for a full year of usage.

The free Lumosity blog does provide very useful health information for free though.

Full marks for the creative use of technology and full marks for its health benefits. The yearly fee is still too costly in my opinion.

Auctomatic For Ebay Users

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:38:00 +0000

Auctomic is a tool that is aimed at online business owners. It was designed to give sellers the ability to monitor real-time inventory levels. At the same time, it makes use of listing templates, scheduling and bulk listing to aid in the sales of items. The site is expected to work well with eBay.

The founders include Harjeet Taggar, Kulveer Taggar, Patrick Collison and John Collison. John and Patrick are brothers. Paul Graham and Paul Buchheit (employee 23rd at Google) are some of the investors.

Initial angel investing has already raised $400k on top of the funding Paul Graham's Y Combinator provided.

Interested users can sign up to be notified at launch.

The Best P2PTV Service You Have Never Heard Of

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 11:13:00 +0000

Before Joost there was Zattoo. Started in June 2006, the P2PTV service grants users access to European channels and licensed content. The project was started by researchers from the University of Michigan and the private company currently has offices in Zurich (Switzerland) and San Francisco.

Unfortunately, content is currently restricted to viewing in the following countries - Switzerland, Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom. The video format is based on H.264 and is generally of very high quality. Clients area are available for Mac OS X and Windows 2000, XP and even Vista.

According to the company, one out of five broadband user in Switzerland currently uses Zattoo, which is amazing statistics for any internet company.

Using Technology To Make A Wish Come True

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:46:00 +0000

Wishood was first launched at the end of 2006. Co-founder Liar Katz was inspired to create the website after he realized how fun "wish exchanging" was with his wife. His current goal - to help people make their wishes come true.

Users can choose to make a wish or grant a wish. By describing their wishes in detail, users can utilize the website to make their wishes known. On the other hand, the website also allows users to browse through wishes and grant wishes. The user whose dream gets granted may then wish to write a testimonial about the granter of the wish.

A website that is simply just good karma.

I like the motto - "Behind every name there's a world of wishes"

Wishood

Skiners Joins The P2PTV Crowd With Silverlight Solution

noreply@blogger.com (Clay Timmy) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 09:12:00 +0000

London-based Skinkers have been working on a P2P solution named LiveStation that gives users the ability to watch live television. Microsoft Research has a minority stake in Skinkers while the guy sat Skinkers have also done some work with the Redmond company before.

It is one of the first service to be based on Microsoft's Silverlight technology. Currently, there is only one channel but several broadcasters have expressed interest. It is envisioned to be able to provide audience the ability to watch TV on a variety of screens - at home, cell phones and at public places.

A beta version is available for Windows while a Mac version is currently in the works. The final version is due out this October.

A LiveStation video demo below:

Video: LiveStation Demo