Yahoo has been named “Web Company of the Year” by PC World.
» Yahoo: Web company of the year? | Digital Micro-Markets | ZDNet.com
Category: internet
new web browser – Flock
Flock — The web browser for you and your friends
I’m trying the first release of the highly touted new browser. Will report back here on the experiment.
technorati tags:Flock
book – The World is Flat
I’ve been a fan of Thomas Friedman since I read From Beirut to Jerusalem years ago. He is one intelligent, articulate guy.
Now he’s cool, as well. Jon Stewart interviewed him on The Daily Show this week.
I highly recommend Friedman’s greatest book, an overview of where we are at in the evolution of this planet. The world is flattening. Trade & political barriers are falling. The internet makes it possible to do business or pleasure with anyone, anywhere.
I just got an email from Jason in the UK, for example, telling me about a product I have been seeking for years.
Friedman is an optimist. But I think the flattening of the world could go either way. Certainly we will see a huge backlash soon. The USA, for example, might put up trade barriers against China.
The best idea in the book, I thought, was Friedman’s call for the USA to set energy independence as the #1 goal for the future. He lays that argument out brilliantly. Jon Stewart was not convinced.
Rocketboom featured the Webby Awards with a short video clip of Friedman, their Man of the Year. Soundtrack by Prince.
best RSS readers
I can hardly remember when I did not rely on an RSS reader as essential.
Was that only 2 months ago?
I use Newsgator, a desktop application, and it is excellent with both free and commercial versions. It’s simple to use. There is no learning curve.
» Best of breed RSS Readers | ZDNet.com
If for some reason you work on a number of different computers, try Bloglines, a web reader. Slower, but still good.
I check bloglines daily anyway as the cartoon Dilbert is posted on that site.
Microsoft software phones “home”
Microsoft admitted that “its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker.”
Dvorak Uncensored » “Windows Genuine Advantage” checks in — daily
This is much like the Sony music CDs that phoned home. Those got Sony in a lot of trouble.
In future, expect more of your technology to be spying.
You can get past that. Assume that there is no privacy on the internet.
Or take action to protect your privacy. Encript. Use PGP email.
The only thing I do is use a program called Little Snitch. Every time my computer tries to call out unexpectedly, I get a warning. Then and there I can approve that contact. Or deny it. Normally I deny.
It’s interesting what software is yanking the football out from under me.
Google grumblers
I am as big a fan of Google as anyone.
They are the best and most interesting company on the internet today. Remember how crappy MSN.com and Yahoo.com were before being forced to step up by Google?
But serious grumbling has begun:
Is Google Wasting Its Genius Cycles – Om Malek
Google to add … And I Need to Vent – Michael Arrington
“Google is beggining to bug me.” – Paul Kedrosky
These are some of the most respected voices on the internet.
What has Google done for YOU lately?
time come to “replace” email?
The time has come to ditch email | The Register
“Instant messaging is too instant, and peer-to-peer networking is, ironically, too anonymous. Video conferencing is fantastic – if it’s someone you know, and they’re online (and you’ve combed your hair). Written communication is never going away.
We’re tied into an antiquated email system that needs to be abandoned and replaced.”
Captain Copyright
Here’s a Simpsonesque parody site making fun of lawyers disguised as comic book do-gooder superhero Captain Copyright. Hillarious.
Wait a minute. They are serious.
I’d get huffy at this point but their disclaimer warns that they reserve the right to prevent people linking to their site who are critical of them.
I’m not sure exactly how they can prevent people from linking to their site — but I’ll keep an eye out for Captain Copyright.
Canadian copyright agency launches kids’ propaganda campaign – BoingBoing
website – WineLog.net
A new interactive website for wine lovers tracks your favourites, ratings & comments — then recommends other wines you might like.
online scams in Nigeria
You may have got an email from Akin.
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Akin is, like many things in cyberspace, an alias. In real life he’s 14. He wears Adidas sneakers, a Rolex Submariner watch, and a kilo of gold around his neck.
Akin, who lives in Lagos, is one of a new generation of entrepreneurs that has emerged in this city of 15 million, Nigeria’s largest. His mother makes $30 a month as a cleaner, his father about the same hustling at bus stations. But Akin has made it big working long days at Internet cafes and is now the main provider for his family and legions of relatives.
… Akin buys things online – laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs – using stolen credit cards and aliases. He has the loot shipped via FedEx or DHL to safe houses in Europe, where it is received by friends, then shipped on to Lagos to be sold on the black market. (He figures Americans are too smart to sell a camera on eBay to a buyer with an address in Nigeria.)
Akin’s main office is an Internet cafe in the Ikeja section of Lagos. He spends up to ten hours a day there, seven days a week, huddled over one of 50 computers, working his scams.
Read the whole article …
FORTUNE: Online scams create “Yahoo! millionaires” – May 29, 2006
Rick McCharles 