Today’s topic? Highlighting the power of mashing up Factual data, BatchGeo  geo-encoding, and A.PlaceBetween.Us meetup flashmob planning.

Today’s chosen real-world “pain point” app? Discovering coffee shops, that magical elixir, when out & about in beautiful Omaha, NE.

This map shows Omaha’s 125+ coffee destinations (independents & Panera Bread). Map layers are selected via the legend’s category pins & the “all categories” view are restored by clicking the legend’s black area.

View Omaha Coffee Shops (pins) in a full screen map

This second embedded map showcases BatchGeo’s clustering capabilities. Zooming in or clicking a cluster icon will expand cluster(s) into sub-clusters &/or individual coffee shop locations.

View Omaha Coffee Shops (clusters) in a full screen map

Factual provides many other data sets, all of which can be explored via their API. For example one method of exploring Factual’s API is by pasting the below string into Apigee’s generic console & pushing GET.

This API URI query string is provided by Factual when interacting with their data via the “Get API query” button to simplify developer forays. Also, for reference, each info pop-up card on the above maps contain:

• Coffee Shop Name (hyperlinked)
• Address & Phone Number
• Coffee Shop Category
• Directions Link via Google
• Meet-up Planner via A.PlaceBetween.Us
• Link to edit raw data sourced via Factual
• Fisheye image powered by Google Places

For more posts on solving real-world pain points, subscribe to ThoughtPuzzle via email, feed, or follow. Enjoy!

In an ironic crowd-sourcing twist, the top staff pick from my most recent Digg Digest, was wait for it… wait for it…

…that a record number of folks visited reddit on Monday, 1/23/2012 – more than 100,000 concurrent users.

That’s right folks, 0.0014% of the world population was simultaneously viewing reddit posts. Or, picture every single person in Beaver Stadium at Pennsylvania State University looking at reddit – at the same time.

From traffic perspective via Alexa, reddit (0.06% of global traffic) is receiving about twice the traffic of digg (0.03% of global traffic). Bottom line, interesting to see digg digest staff pick be about reddit record.

Sites such as  Snopes, Fact or Fiction, & Politifact abound. Introducing the ‘truthiness detector’, a search engine for fact-checking sites around the web. First release in series of experiments illuminating philosophy vis-à-vis Google custom search engines.

As a bonus, upcoming haiku, also in ‘beta’…

Startup Schlep – Rinse & Repeat

Conception. Design.

Develop. Test. Iterate.

Release. Inception.

Any one else out there frustrated with how archaic & arcane high school, college & other school class registration processes still are, especially when done in paper, yes in 2012? If so, contact @thoughtpuzzle on Twitter.

discover – pearls, pin

like ⋯ plus one ⋯ tweet, dig, submit

comment – remember

Interesting ‘undocumented feature’ encounter yesterday…

Sometime ago, I’d downloaded the 60-day trial software suite of Microsoft Home & Office 20110, which had since expired and converted to ‘unlicensed product’, i.e., I could open files in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, & Outlook, but could not save files, import/export data, or create new items.

• After yet again evaluating the trifecta of OpenOffice or LibreOffice, coupled with Mozilla Thunderbird & Lightning, yet again came to  conclusion that MS Office, and in particular, Outlook, remains as my personal information manager (PIM) of choice. Testing included converting exploring Thunderbird / Lightning after importing several gigabytes of mail, appointments, from PST files. Some big gaps…
  • import didn’t include [hundreds?] of contact pictures
  • lack of task folder / hierarchy other than multiple calendars
  • copying / pasting across documents within OpenOffice did not retain consistent formatting
  • couldn’t store attachments in contacts, i.e., limited ability to use Thunderbird & Lightning as a wiki
• Decision – purchase license of MS Home & Office (& re-downloading the suite, being sure to keep the same filename at Microsoft’s suggestion), I entered the license key on pop-screen that appears after opening Office. However…

• …the ‘unlicensed product’ label remained in the title bar, and none of the save, import/export features worked.
• First attempt – uninstall Office, reboot, & reinstall, complete with license activation – yes, hour of first world pains – no joy
• Second attempt – try again, assuming perhaps I’d missed a step, again complete with successful license activation
• Third attempt – think – think some more – a-ha, yes, MS Word is always, the ‘master app’ of the Office suite … perhaps…
• Yes, close Office apps, open MS Word – magic smoke changes registry setting &/or update via slmgr, & voilà, activation!
• Video showing effect of 1-time requirement to open MS Word before other Office apps to complete background activation

Where did solution come from? Recalling experiences in older Office versions, e.g., setting ‘master’ menu personalization via Word.

This particular quirk aside, still a fan of office, particularly Outlook & Excel. If OpenOffice / LibreOffice & Thunderbird + Lightning keeps up the great work, may eventually convert to lower-cost office / PIM suite.

 
Tip – Office Home & Business includes MS Publisher until February.

Back to regularly scheduled philosophizing on content creation & tech startups…subscribe for Thought Puzzle updates, such as the daily haiku.

match scenes, every where.

augmenting, assisting, think.

ent - or - tain? people?

partially inspired by automated humans by Troy Hunt

What if we start multithreading the humans?

Content index listed below video. Section top-level links correspond to indicated time hacks. Weekly review also available in 480-resolution.

• 0:00 - Introduction
• Thought Puzzle intro by Chris Augeri
• Recording Date – Saturday, 1/21/2012 – Wikipedia
• Recording Location – Omaha, NE – Google Maps

• 0:22 - Prior week recap
• 1/13/2012 - CES ends
• 1/13/2012 - SXSW registration – price bump
• 1/14/2012 - Obama Administration – responds to ‘We the People’ petitions on SOPA & Online Piracy
• 1/15/2012 - Why SOPA is unconstitutional – Cory Doctorow – Boing Boing

• 1:05 - PandoDaily Launch
• Sarah Lacy launches PandoDaily – startup “site-of-record” – CNET
• Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda) - Twitter
• Why I Started PandoDaily - Sarah Lacy - PandoDaily Blog
• Pando Tree – Largest Living Organism – Wikipedia
• PandoDaily – site-of-record for Silicon Valley

• 1:59 - Internet Blackout Background
• reddit blog – stopped they must be; on this all depends
• SOPA Infographic
• Keep Web Open – infographic – public comment on OPEN Act
• Lumin Interactive – Infographic – via Search Engine Journal
• Ape Con Myth - Super PIPA-SOPA Flowchart
• Thought Puzzle – A to Z – The Definitive Guide to SOPA
• NLB Creations – anti-SOPA Blackout day – Google Cache
• Google Custom Search Engine – Internet Blackout Search Demo – curated by ThoughtPuzzle, data via Nikki Blight Creations
• Google Custom Search Engine – Default Search sans Redaction - curated by ThoughtPuzzle

• 4:41 - Blackout Pages
• TechDirt Gallery – reddit & other SOPA Blackout Protest Screens
• Wikipedia blackout page – via Best About Pages
• End Piracy, Not Liberty – Google – also in our blackout screenshot archive
• Thought Puzzle Blackout Pop-Up – powered by Stop SOPA WordPress widget
• Thought Puzzle -Haiku – Widespread Interwoven Protest Acts – WIPA SOPA

• 5:50 - SOPA/PIPA Protest Politics
• Protesting anti-piracy bill [w/ my interview] – Omaha.com – Omaha World-Herald
• SOPA: Lee listens, Saddle Creek sets record straight and Moran reaffirms – Silicon Prairie News
• Silicon Prairie politicians distance themselves from SOPA, PIPA – Silicon Prairie News
• Senate postpones PIPA vote; SOPA delayed indefinitely – Consumer Reports
• SOPA Markup to resume in February? – via House.gov
• Reddit blog – Thank You – Technical Analysis, SOPA & PIPA

• 7:10 - Megaupload Takedown
• Before shutdown, Megaupload ate up more corporate bandwidth than Dropbox – ars technica
• Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses? – Molly Wood – CNET News

• 7:50 - Silicon Valley vs. Hollywood
• YCRFS 9: Kill Hollywood – Y Combinator
• Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood. – Hacker News [powered by Y Combinator]
• Now, We Need to Build the Internet Defense System – Ben Huh
• Y Combinator’s Short-sighted and Irresponsible Declaration of War Against Hollywood – Ben Parr

• 9:16 - Facebook Happenings
• Facebook Expands Open Graph To 60 New Apps, Many More Coming – Forbes
• Facebook Could Replace YouTube As Vevo Host – NBC San Diego

• 9:53 - Google Happenings
• Google To Close Social Graph API, Not OpenSocial -
• Google Pulls The Trigger On Three More Services – Gizmodo Australia
• Picnik Image Editing [to be shuttered by Google]
• Google Abandons Anonymous Accounts With New Signup Form – Webmonkey@ Wired
• New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+

• 11:11 - Twitter acquires Summify
• Summify - Twitter Acquisition Announcement
• Twitter buys Summify, helps you automatically turn off the noise – Engadget
• News.me, Percolate vie for Summify users after Twitter buy – GigaOM

• 12:16 - Also in news
• @bigomahacow – Big Omaha Cow – Twitter
• Big Omaha 2012 – register for latest info
• Enormous solar outburst could dazzle your weekend – Christian Science Monitor

• 13:30 - Wrap-up
• @thoughtpuzzle – Chris Augeri – Twitter
• ThoughtPuzzle.com - now redirects to Chris-Augeri.com/blog

Thanks for watching & tune in again next week!

Weekly broadcast. Soon.

Net out. MegaUpload down.

PandoDaily up.

inspired by many things, such as

‘a picture is worth a thousand words’

Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch via Carnegie-Mellon University

Somewhat seductive.
Scrambled social sensations.
Game changers? Yep. Schleps.

inspired by Guanzhi Ma’s comment on TechCrunch article

‘rise of sensationalization of start-ups’

Brad Feld via ecorner - more of Feld’s thoughts on work-life balance

time splits, incomplete

time rivers, unraveling

time flows, imagine

inspired by Beyond Flow by Cal Newport

‘waging battle with my attention…deliberate practice’

Niagara River Whirlpool by johnobub

Quid pro quo loosely translates to ‘this for that’, a concept intrinsically core to society. This meme is woven into Paul Graham’s 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups essay – complete with (33) of this, (107) of that, & (16) of the other. Tech startups similarly leverage the ‘this, that, the other’ meme.

1. ShareThis provides link-sharing services such as shortening, social media integration, and analytics. Competitors include AddThis & Lockerz_Share (formerly AddToAny), along with publisher-direct options, such as Twitter’s tweet this & Facebook’s like.

In market for link-sharing services? Check ‘do not track’ / ‘opt out’ privacy policies and user conveniences, e.g., bookmarklets / browser extensions & blog / content management platform integration.

FastShare Tutorial via ShareThis

2. This or That is a ‘versus’ comparison site providing gamified ‘this’ vs. ‘that’ (ToT) comparisons leveraging Facebook integration. Hunch also offers recommendations, along with 3-way or greater comparisons (this, that, the other, …). A related developments in the user comparison space is with respect to how Xuba (via Bloom.com) may expand social commerce.

3. This for That implements #2, ‘This or That’, in real life by providing  an online bartering system, i.e., a cash-less craigslist, eBay, etsy, etc. Users can virtual currency points based  on the quality & quantity of goods you submit to the central trading facility. Many other bartering sites exist to trade ‘this for that’ such as U-Exchange.

This for That demo via Ben Langholz

4. It’s This for That emits startup tagline pitches, albeit  tongue-in-cheek…

• CRM for… laundromats – e.g., LaundryLinx™
• Analytics platform for… bars – e.g., iBarControl
• Shopping site for… Ugg boots – e.g., via Amazon
• Crowdsourcing for Star Trek conventions – e.g., via wiki
• Amber alert for… your boss – e.g., yep, believe it or not…

5. ifttt, or ‘if this, then that’, enables building ‘recipes’ [mashups] to generate actions based on input data. In the spirit of It’s This for That, ifft is Yahoo Pipes! for the rest of us. Users generate actions via source triggers (if this). Most sources, such as social media services or email, are also destinations (then that). Like Yahoo! Pipes, users can publish recipes for use by others.

ifttt demo via geektelligence (@fancyshowtech)

Bottom line – this, that, the other is a powerful meme for elevator pitches. Launching startup? What’s your meme? This? Or perhaps that?

Lobbying? Freedom.

Red Herring – Darknet – Mad Max?

Sense – or – Ship? Changes.

MPAA’s CEO, former Senator Chris Dodd officially commenting
on the Internet blackout of Wednesday, January 18, 2012.

‘abuse of power’ — ‘corporate pawns’ — ‘gimmick…dangerous’

SOPA & PIPA via Khan Academy

this, that, the other

simple memes for startup seeds

stack, swap, share, seek…

inspired by the this ‘n’ that card trick via Paul Annett

little bit of this, little bit of that, not much of the other

This ‘n’ that card trick revealed via Card Trick Teacher.

Stories discovered on Monday, 1/16/2012, re: looming Internet blackout on Wednesday, 1/18/2012 to protest SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. These stories were also integrated with A to Z – The Definitive Guide to SOPA.

Also published yesterday - ‘August Dreams’, a haiku in remembrance of  Martin Luther King, and a  search engine simulating the effects of Wednesday’s Internet blackout.

1. Al Gore & Frank Zappa having a conversation
2. Alexis Ohanian’s activities (Reddit co-founder)
3. Bad industrial policy
4. Censorship in Netherlands?
5. CloudFlare – stop censorship app
6. Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, speaks out
7. David Seaman no longer contrd_ibutor for NBC - musings - IB Times
8. Google rebuffs Rupert Murdoch ‘piracy leader‘ claims
9. Hmm, H.R. 3605 Global Online Freedom Act of 2011
10. How far we’ve come, how far we need to go
11. How social media movement stalled SOPA legislation?
12. Local News Coverage - Omaha!
13. MPAA & SOPA supporters claim obstruction ‘clears the way’ for action?
14. President’s Challenge – what does gov’t want from tech world?
15. Republican presidential debate – Fox News via NYT - reddit - twitter - ROE - Q&A
16. Send a sympathy card over Internet death to your senator
17. SOPA is a red herring?
18. Skyline banner over Packers playoff game
19. SOPA Infographic - Internet leaders
20. Wikipedia joins the blackout - confirmed by Jimmy Wales - tweets - Twitter disagrees
21. Why blackout?