first on SWiK

Glen Mazza's Weblog

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:44:03 -0700

Jonny 不走路,因为他正赖在店门口准备成为世上第一位 iPhone 3G 的拥有者 - Engadget 瘾科技

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:56:25 -0700

Homeowners with a traditional 30-year mortgage were on track to become mortgage free after only 8 to 11 years.

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:02:11 -0700

Integrate First Web Application on Spring and Hibernate

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:47:11 -0700

Integrate First Web Application on Spring and Hibernate

Tutorial de NHibernate - Primeros pasos

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:46:35 -0700

The World Wide Web project

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:59:27 -0700

Structural Change Is Always a Good Theme to Invest In

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:58:52 -0700

What are venture capitalists looking for? If you are a startup entrepreneur looking for funding, it’s always a good idea to know what investment themes a VC is interested and tailor your pitch to those themes. Yesterday morning, I saw presentations from three venture firms—Union Square Ventures, DFJ Gotham Ventures, and First Round Capital—at an event hosted by the Media Kitchen. Each of the presenters outlined some of the themes their venture firms are trying to ride. They all boil down to structural change in one form or another.

One common theme everyone seemed excited about is that, after years of hope and anticipation, the mobile Web finally seems within reach. The rise of the iPhone and the work on Android hold out the promise for a mobile Web that doesn’t suck,” as DFJ Gotham partner Thatcher Bell puts it. By that, he means a fully functioning mobile Web that is open to developers so that they can create the same types of experiences on cell phones that they are creating on PCs. Another common theme is the continued personalization of content, commerce, and advertising. And data-driven startups that make sense of the deluge of information and media now available to everyone are also likely to get a hearing from these VCs.

Albert Wenger, a partner at Union Square Ventures, notes that we might be a little bit ahead of ourselves in the hype cycle (see slide above), but that the impact of some of the changes we are just now seeing now on the Web will eventually catch up to the hype. The structural changes and other shifts that Union Square likes to invest in include:

The decline of the firm and the rise of one-to-one commerce
Merging of cyberspace and real space
Unified identity (across different sites and services)
Generational shift
Global growth of the Web
Mobile

Of course the Web is becoming more social, programmable, playful, and intelligent, but there are also bigger shifts occurring as the Web audience becomes more mobile and global. There is also a fundamental generational shift going on among Web users, which Wenger defines as:

The difference between people who dated before they had their first computer and those who had their first computer before they started dating.

The risks he worries about are:

Scaling
Net Neutrality
Data Ownership

Any Web startup that becomes popular fast has to deal with scaling issues that can derail it (see Twitter, a Union Square investment). Wenger, though, thinks that these issues will go away as cloud computing matures. Net Neutrality issues could pose a risk if ISPs decide to start blocking or discriminating against certain types of data. And the whole question of who owns the data that Web companies accumulate about users could result in some privacy backlash down the line. Startups should have answers to how they plan on handling these risks.

Despite signs of a recent slowdown in Web advertising, the VCs are still bullish about the ability of online advertising to keep taking share from other media. And as digital media becomes more personalized, so too does the advertising. Bell from DFJ Gotham sees the evolution of the way advertising is delivered (see slide below) going from undifferentiated mass media to targeting by categories, behavior, context, and finally the social graph. Here are the themes he is looking at:

Atomization of content
The arrival of the mobile Web (finally)
Hyper-targeting of advertising
The coming of human-friendly interfaces
Cloud computing

He thinks we still have along way to go in terms of making the Web easy to use. For instance, Bell compares Google’s current interface to the C: prompt days of the PC before Windows. Says Bell:

This is a really good way for a search engine to get input from a human and for Google to make money. It is not the best way for a human to interact with a computer.

He argues that more intuitive Web and search interfaces, like SearchMe, are needed.

There may be an IPO drought going on right now (not a single venture-backed IPO has gone out so far in the second quarter, according to the National Venture Capital Association), but VCs are still looking for the next, next thing.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Eec PC DIY HACK - How to add Backlight to the Keyboard!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:22:05 -0700

Need that Eec PC to be ultra-portable and the keyboard to light up when using at night? Check out this DIY on how to add backlight to the Eec PC’s keyboard.

As we showed you in our May 2008 issue, Asus’s Eee PC has quickly become a favorite of hardware hackers around the web. Here, we offer the first installment of our Eee PC School series. Check back in the coming weeks for more tiny ultraportable tweaking.—Eds.

What good is that portable PC if you can’t type anywhere and anytime? With its ultra-compact keyboard, even touch typing pros will be hard-pressed to avoid frequent mistakes on when the lights go out. To say it’s a frustrating exercise in futility to locate the miniature F3 key in the dark is an understatement. Oops, you just lost WiFi contact by accidentally hitting F2.

Clearly, a keyboard backlight like those found in higher-end laptops is the answer to your nocturnal Eee PC typing woes. And for less than $15, such a backlight can be installed with minimal fuss.

via make

The World Wide Web project

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:58:03 -0700

Plenary talk by Tim BL at WWWF94: Overview

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:46:35 -0700

What’s Interesting: Pimping My Mac, Google Sports & More

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:48:09 -0700

In-flight broadband antenna maker AeroSat has raised $14 million for expansion. Their antenna is going to be installed in the planes of several major airlines starting this summer, further proof of the growing market for in-flight broadband.
Hallelujah…real-time stock quotes have arrived at Google Finance. One more reason to like the service.
What a hit…Google is offering baseball scores on mobile phones. Sweet. I hate the MLB.com’s wap page. This is better.
WiMAX will soon go mobile in Europe on 3.4-3.8 GHz bands, as per an EU decision.
First Solar’s CEO sold half of his company shares last month. What’s up?
CBS will launch a new video player. Excellent, Numb3rs just got better.
TruPhone Anywhere, for international calling…Pretty darn good.

And finally there is Tim Roberts, who sat next to the GigaOM team when we shared the True Ventures office space in San Francisco; his company, Infectious, was also funded by True. Infectious, which launched last week, combines graphic art and stickers to really pimp your ride. But since I don’t have a car, and prefer to ride the broadband highways instead of the tarmac, I got a sticker that perfectly encapsulates my love of music and pimped my Macbook Pro — simple, yet elegant.

How To Display Adsense On Your First Post Within The Loop

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:19:11 -0700

In this guide you’ll learn how to display Adsense on just your first post within the Loop. Sure, there may be plugins that will do this for you. This guide, however, will use code examples to accomplish the same thing by editing your WordPress theme.

The first step is to open up your index.php file in your theme editor. Find the following line:

<?php if(have_posts()) : ?>

Just above that, insert the following like this:

<?php $i = 1; ?> <?php if(have_posts()) : ?>

Now, scroll down a bit until you find this line:

<?php endwhile; ?>

Insert the following above it, like so:

<?php $i++; ?> <?php endwhile; ?>

The final step is to insert your Adsense code. Locate where exactly you’d like it within the Loop, and place it between a conditional tag like this:

<?php if ($i == 1) { ?> [YOUR ADSENSE CODE HERE] <?php } ?>

And that’s all you have to do. You can be creative with this code as well. You could add a certain css style class to the top post in your Loop. It doesn’t even have to be the first either, as you can just change the number in $i == 1 to whatever you want. This same method can be used in other archive templates such as archive.php.

Self-Help Site First30Days.com Launches With $5 Million from Hearst and Dick Parsons

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:39:03 -0800

Self-help is big business—just look at all the Tony Robbins and Dummies books at your local Barnes & Noble. As with all media businesses, the self-help industry is moving online in a massive way. The latest Website to organize itself around self-help is First 30 Days, which took the covers off its private beta this weekend. The new site is designed to take people through the first 30 days (and beyond) of major life changes, such as the first 30 days of finding your dream job, starting a new business, buying a home, being pregnant, or getting a divorce. Founder and CEO Ariane de Bonvoisin tells me, “We will help you through any change that life throws you and will help you get going on anything you want to get started.” The site is launching with 45 different life changes and will soon get up to 100.

Before founding First 30 Days, de Bonvoisin worked as a corporate strategist/VC at Bertelsmann, Sony, and Time Warner. At Time Warner, she worked directly for former CEO Dick Parsons, who personally put up the seed money for the business. The company recently closed a $5 million series A financing, led by Hearst Corporation (other investors included Parsons and the New York City Investment Fund). The site plans to make money with ads and sponsorships targeted at each life change—stroller ads for people looking at how to deal with pregnancy or being a new parent pages, banking ads for people contemplating starting a new business.

I suspect that First 30 Days will appeal more to the Oprah crowd than to readers of TechCrunch, but I also suspect it will have no problem finding its audience. The site will likely skew two-thirds towards women, predicts De Bonvoisin, (indeed, it’s the type of concept you’d expect to see on the cover of a woman’s magazine). But she hopes men who wouldn’t be caught dead reading a self-help book in public will flock to the site as well in search of answers.

After all, people going through major changes in their work or personal lives need a place to turn to when they cannot figure out what to do. Visitors are encouraged to sign up to get a daily e-mail with a different tip about the particular change they are going through. Each life change has its own section on the site, with Top 5 Things to Do, expert interviews, daily news and blog posts from across the Web on that topic, a daily tip, community Q&A, shared wisdom from readers, and links to relevant books, websites, magazines, movies, music, and more experts. There is also a weekly podcast called Change Nation that features interviews with celebrities about how they deal with change.

The site takes a positive approach to dealing with the changes in your life. Its overriding message is: change is inevitable, change is good, make the most from it. The whole approach reminds me of corporate change management techniques applied to people’s personal lives. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. Each change section on the site follows a familiar template, which provides easy entry points, but sometimes can make every life change sound the same. For instance, look at the two lists of Top 5 Things to Do below. One is for improving your sex life and the other is for switching to a Mac. You can tell which is which, but barely:

Dig deeper and you’ll find some actual advice,and maybe others going through the same change. That is potentially the most powerful aspect of the site, as a place to find other people who are going through the same twists in their lives as you are. Once you go through all the expert advice and check out the resources, that would be the biggest reason to go back.

The site is built on Ruby on Rails. And there are two viral widgets in the works. One is an Everyday Change tip that can bring some inspirational candy to people’s personal sites and pages. The other is a Facebook app due out in March where you can select which types of changes you are going through, get tips sent to your Facebook feed, and post a bar chart that shows how many people on Facebook (who have loaded the app) are going through breakups, starting a job, or going through some other change.

First 30 Days is starting on the Web, but it could easily expand into other media such as books and TV. In May, HarperOne will be publishing The First 30 Days by de Bonvoisin. And she plans many more books. “The idea in my head,” she says, “was to start it as a book series. Dick Parsons said start it online. With books, I have no relationship with you.” If she can make First 30 Days the first place people go to when they need help with life’s transition points, it could easily become more than a 30-day habit.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

The First Web Page

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:06:10 -0800

slides: first slide start open

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:31:55 -0800

Removing the persistent tab function

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:31:54 -0800

The Screencast Blog: Running your first JavaFX program in Eclipse

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:12:44 -0800

The World Wide Web project

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:10:05 -0800

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:00:24 -0800

First look at Firefox 3.0b1: fast, stable, and full of new features

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:31:58 -0800

Re: Yet more problems with eclipse and starting on the first thread

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:40:31 -0800

Re: Yet more problems with eclipse and starting on the first thread

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:39:19 -0800

chinese folktales

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:10:13 -0800

Egypt

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:34:55 -0800

Test First Development Using Eclipse

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:51:57 -0800

Test First Development Using Eclipse

Marc's Musings: My first Red5 experience

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:38:12 -0800

My first Red5 experience

WPILib

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:59:54 -0700

The World Wide Web project

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:25:30 -0700

The World Wide Web project

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:13:39 -0700

Maven 2 - Erste Schritte

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:57:08 -0700

mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=com.mycompany.app -DartifactId=my-app

first on SWiK

Glen Mazza's Weblog

Jonny 不走路,因为他正赖在店门口准备成为世上第一位 iPhone 3G 的拥有者 - Engadget 瘾科技

Homeowners with a traditional 30-year mortgage were on track to become mortgage free after only 8 to 11 years.

Integrate First Web Application on Spring and Hibernate

Tutorial de NHibernate - Primeros pasos

The World Wide Web project

Structural Change Is Always a Good Theme to Invest In

Eec PC DIY HACK - How to add Backlight to the Keyboard!

The World Wide Web project

Plenary talk by Tim BL at WWWF94: Overview

What’s Interesting: Pimping My Mac, Google Sports & More

How To Display Adsense On Your First Post Within The Loop

Related posts

Self-Help Site First30Days.com Launches With $5 Million from Hearst and Dick Parsons

The First Web Page

slides: first slide start open

Removing the persistent tab function

The Screencast Blog: Running your first JavaFX program in Eclipse

The World Wide Web project

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix

First look at Firefox 3.0b1: fast, stable, and full of new features

Re: Yet more problems with eclipse and starting on the first thread

Re: Yet more problems with eclipse and starting on the first thread

chinese folktales

Egypt

Test First Development Using Eclipse

Marc's Musings: My first Red5 experience

WPILib

The World Wide Web project

The World Wide Web project

Maven 2 - Erste Schritte