Concurrent editing @ Google Wave

My take:

Google Wave reminds me of Mediawiki, as it keeps track of a history of the edits. Versions and archives mean you can choose to configure the system to accumulate information. Might be a long shot now, but perhaps someday, this will streamline the process of making systems ready for discovery. 

Oh, that and people will be forced to think twice before they type ... or speak :P What do you think?

Yes, a mosquito (हाँ, एक मच्छड़).

Sad but true।

Oh, and it was in self-defense.

Oh, and I found a willing subject for a little experiment ... Thanks, Kristoff for the tip!

This difference seems to explain many of the most contentious issues in the culture war. For example, liberals support legalizing gay marriage (to be fair and compassionate), whereas many conservatives are reluctant to change the nature of marriage and the family, basic building blocks of society. Conservatives are more likely to favor practices that increase order and respect (e.g., spanking, mandatory pledge of allegiance), whereas liberals often oppose these practices as being violent or coercive.

In the graph below, your scores on each foundation are shown in green (the 1st bar in each set of 3 bars). The scores of all liberals who have taken it on our site are shown in blue (the 2nd bar), and the scores of all conservatives are shown in red (3rd bar). Scores run from 0 (the lowest possible score, you completely reject that foundation) to 5 (the highest possible score, you very strongly endorse that foundation and build much of your morality on top of it).








To learn more about "Moral Foundations Theory" and political psychology you can read this paper: Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice Research, 20, p. 98-116 or visit www.moralfoundations.org.

Animal Crossing City Folk theme song

Ryan, if you are reading, this song is dedicated just for you! Welcome back.

-- Kushal

Football marching band @ etbu

Football marching band @ etbu,
originally uploaded by Kushal Hada.

Two of my roommates are in it ... :)

Russian reversal no more

There is a popular Russian reversal: "In Soviet Russia, television watches you." Well, with the surfacing of this picture, this is no longer just a Russian reversal. The television watches us in Marshall, Texas.

Oh, and by the way, be sure to visit our new blip tv channel and let us know what you think ... There is not a whole lot going on now, but look at the bright side: from here, the channel can only get better!

New York Times expands "Recommend" link

Do you read The New York Times?  Well, if you are signed in (membership is free of cost), then you will be able to see a "recommend" link like this one from a New York Times article. Seemingly, it is one of the article tools.

Are you already using it? If you need just a little bit to get tempted to start, here it is. New York Times has an application (facebook link) that you can link to your facebook profile.

A small typo

A small typo
Originally uploaded by KushalHada

Full text from investor.google.com/conduct.html:

BEGIN quote

Preface

"Don't be evil." Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally -- following he law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.

END of quote

Please let know if you want me to remove this picture. You can also ask Yahoo! to remove it for me, if I do not respond (probably because I haven't been online for a while). Thank you!

Uploaded by KushalHada on 22 May 09, 12.28PM CDT.

A pop-up that I enjoyed

Zotero offers to add a proxy
Originally uploaded by KushalHada

It is such a nice surprise when a pop-up brings a piece of good news. While the message on the pop-up itself sounds ominous, the end result is quite pleasant. Here's the result:

1. I type in jstor.org and press enter.
2. Firefox redirects it to the ETBU proxy, which enables me access to JSTOR.
3. There is no step three! Yay!!

I will perhaps forget that I ever found a pop-up I enjoyed, but here it is ... for posterity.

The New York Times

The New York Times
Originally uploaded by KushalHada

Alas! I did not try to go inside. I was just ecstatic to see the building from across the street. Just look at my gaping mouth ... ^_^

Uploaded by KushalHada on 8 Jan 09, 8.05PM CDT.

Inside AdWords: Update to U.S. ad text trademark policy

Begins Jun 15, applies only in the US and is apparently in trouble now. Read more at Inside AdWords: Update to U.S. ad text trademark policy

Watch the new Angels and Demons trailer! In Theaters 5/15/09

Opening night! :P

Google: Say Hello to search options, masses!

I would love to write about it but the Official Google Blog has everything you need to know ... :D


http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-search-options-and-other-updates.html

Oh, check out what I got when I searched for Chaucer. It is mind boggling to think that these results represent times from 1300 to 2009 (early results especially thanks to Google Book Search). Interesting ...

To get here, just click on More options on your Google results screen. Here's how the screen looks without the search options ...

Facebook introduces offline chat

The invisible mode that MSN, Yahoo!, and Gmail have had for quite a bit has made its way to your neighborhood facebook. Lets see how this works out ...

What do you think about invisible mode? Do you like being invisible? Do you like other people being invisible? Feel free to comment ... 

I also have some exciting "news" (I am sure you have already read about it, though) about Google's Wonder Wheel and timeline that seem to have made it to the mainstream. Stay tuned!

Temporary post

http://embassyofpiracy.org/print_this/kopimi_pyramid_p_150_1.pdf Get it and do it!

Economics

Two books: Six days.

DRM and the onslaught on books

I just hope we don't have to go through the same old routine—DRM down our throats.

Please remember that DRM does NOT solve the problem. If you can see and/or hear it, you can copy it with the utmost ease. DRM just puts obstacles for people who legally purchase the books. Which I would guess is a fine reason if you want me to buy the same book twice—for the kindle and for the iPhone.

Wait, I thought we were on the same side when the issue was whether I can put ripped CD music on my iPod ... It is kind of strange how loyalties change once money is involved. *sob

Oh well, enough of crying. Let Amazon.com sell those DRM-ridden books. Six years later, when Kindle is finally a success and Amazon.com has a "monopoly" on e-book market, you will go running to Apple and offer DRM-free "e-book plus".

I just wished all this convulated way could be avoided. Alas, nature (and corporate management) take their own way.

(expected to appear on the New York Times)

Silent updates

Here's a report on silent updates and its effectiveness. It seems that Chrome users like it. A case in point: I once had the opportunity to talk to a Pidgin developer shortly after the public announcement of the gaim-pidgin transition. The developer did not like the idea of auto-update in Mozilla Firefox and said that it induced bad behavior in the user (not an exact quote).

What do you think about silent auto updates?

The kindle family and newspapers

People are used to reading news on the Internet without an additional cost. I am not sure how the economics of digital distribution will work.

USD 13.99* seems cheaper than the price for print. Moreover, there are many advantages to digital distribution—ask anyone living in a small town (like Marshall, Texas). The devices WILL improve over time and a solid "push" from publishers will help.

Oh, and Condé Nast, now is not the time to bicker over Amazon's monopolies. Let them have a monopoly. When we reach 2016 (and Amazon starts seeing cumulative positive profit results). Then, you can reverse the roles as RIAA did with iTunes Store and Amazon.com with music. Or even better, allow Amazon to sell your newspapers without DRM today!

I already see a good prospect for The Economist to sell the audio version of their magazine on the Kindle. Perhaps the Times will also offer its podcasts on the Kindle (for free). How delightful that would be!

Now, how do we get millions and millions of people to buy these readers? Do we go the iPod route, offering upgraded versions of iPods every year and planned obsolescence? Do we wait to jump on the bandwagon until we get "high definition color" screens and risk missing the train altogether (or worse risk killing the new revolution before it has arrived)? These are tough questions that cannot be solved in a day.

As Bob Dylan said, "The Times They Are A-Changin'."

* Update: It seems that New York Times might be considering plans as low as USD 9.99 a month and/or plans that subsidize the cost of the device itself. May contain uncited information from  one or more of  The New York Times, TechCrunch, Ars Technica. Please cite this blog post at your own peril. 

Slow times ahead ...

While we move on to the summer, I predict that this summer will be slow(er than what I would expect) in terms of the number of posts in this blog. However, that does not mean that life is slower than usual. In fact, I expect to get more done this summer as opposed to what I have accomplished so far this year.Optimism—that's what we need moving forward. Think positive and stay optimistic. 

To anyone living in the northern hemisphere, I wish you a very happy summer ahead!

Footnotes on OpenOffice.org 3

When I am writing my logs on an OOo document, I need to use footnotes quite often. I invariably select "Automatic" and then "OK". I wonder why OOo does not yet have an option where I can choose to not receive these prompts anymore for the particular document in question. Perhaps it will come in a later version, we'll see.

Towards a more organized facebook ...

Just as TechCrunch reported yesterday, Facebook is rolling out Friend Lists. Automatic generation of lists seems to depend on the data the Facebook user provided. These lists have existed since before the end of 2007. However, the expected mass adoption never happened. Thus, Facebook came up with another device—auto-generated friend lists. 

Here's a copy of the prompt I saw today on my Facebook home page. 

Check out this new Friend List.

It will help you filter your stream down to the posts you care about most. This list was created based on friend details that you entered. You can edit or create lists from the Friends page.

 

Snowball - Our Dancing Cockatoo

Oh, by the way, scientists are studying this and this phenomenon was covered in BBC World Service ...

"It seems he is inventing new moves" said a commentator on BBC World Service.