Ebay beware, Google has Purchases

This story is from http://google-blog.dirson.com/post.new/0382/.

Google announced it will be launching its service called Google Purchases which will work like E-bay. I think it will be soon enough until Google launches its own pay-pal service by just extending its Ad-sense payment scheme.

It seems Google has speed up its world domination by taking a piece of every service imaginable, i think with this pace its hard for Google to do no evil.

NASA takes a crack on Earth spying

NASA launched its own Earth spying service called World Wind which takes a crack at Goggle Earth. On first glance, World Wind is more of a scientist’s tool compare to Goggle Earth, it packs topographic data and even satellite weather maps. Best of all, its open source!

It will be a matter of time now until all those Google Map hybrids can incorporate World Wind data giving us a more wholistic view of our world.

 

Criticism on Community Website Piles-up. Valid or just BS?

Wired News has a story about My Space which places the community site under attack from schools, parents, politicians, and media: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,70254-0.html?tw=rss.index

However is it really the fault of My Space or it’s an inevitable consequence of Web 2.0? Let’s take a step back and look at the greater picture.

The new dot net boom has forced  information to travel faster than ever, technology for aggregation such as RSS, Atom, XML-RPC, SOAP and many more enables almost instantaneous replication and distribution of information; information that can be the truth or half-lies. We have to admit Internet was only meant to free the exchange of information but determining truth on every information that passes thru this medium is incalculable, if not a form of censorship.

Censorship comes in many forms, the most common is in form of laws that prohibit certain information to be published or disseminated on certain areas; using this definition we may say firewalls, ad blockers, spam filters, and even anti-viruses are also forms of censorship. However these types of censorship are mostly welcomed by users since they filter out the most probable false information; or do they? How about people that welcome Ads being sent to them? Some spam do offer valid services and promotions, unfortunately to weed them out from bogus emails that only wishes to drive traffic to a certain site is still not fool-proof. Topic about quantifying useful information and unwanted spam is out of scope for this discussion so we will leave that for a while.

Let’s go back to the case of community sites in question now that we have a background on the issue.

For cases of fake profiles and misinformation being uploaded thru these sites — does these warrants a censorship against these sites? This issue is BS, community sites like My Space are purely for entertainment and does not have the authority to authenticate user’s identity in anyway. So why the concern about other users pretending to be someone else? Maybe its just some sectors of media and politics cashing in into the ignorance of some people and the paranoia of patents for the safety of their children. Remember the market for parents wanting the best care for their children is a million dollar industry, from baby care, nutrition, to schooling, to quacks teaching parents how to be better parents. Now we see where the fuss is all from.

Digg: http://digg.com/links/Scenes_From_the_MySpace_Backlash

MS to release 6 Versions of Vista

Yes you heard me, SIX versions of Vista! Now in IMHO that means 720 ways to have incompatible systems on a network (6! = 720 permutations).

This story is from informationweek.com. To Quote:

"Microsoft plans to disclose the lineup for Vista Monday, after it inadvertently posted information about its packaging plans for the software on its Web site last week. Microsoft's new PC operating system will arrive in two editions for business customers, three editions for home users, and a special low-priced "starter" edition for sale in India, Russia, Mexico, and other developing countries."

"As a result, each edition for Vista, except for the starter edition, will include 64-bit functionality out of the box, and every edition, except the starter and basic home editions, will include technology from today's Tablet PC and Media Center versions of Windows."

- Windows Vista Enterprise, available to Microsoft's largest corporate customers, adds new BitLocker hard-drive encryption, a virtual PC program for running software written for other platforms, and a new subsystem for running Unix apps.

- Windows Vista Home Premium is designed for the majority of home PC users and includes the ability to show photos on a large-screen TV, play music on a home stereo, write and copy DVDs, and edit high-definition video. It also includes the ability to sync files between two computers.

- Windows Vista Ultimate combines all the features of the Vista Business and Home Premium editions -- it's designed for corporate employees who often work on company projects from home.

- Windows Vista Home Basic is aimed at users who mainly read and send E-mail and surf the Web. It doesn't include the Tablet PC, Media Center, photography and music software in Vista Home Premium.

- Windows Vista Starter will retail only in emerging markets such as India, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia. It won't be available in the United States or Europe, and runs only in 32-bit mode.

Microsoft on black-propaganda ADS

I ripped this screen shot from INQ7.net's website, another classic example on how desperate Microsoft is to fight Open Source Movements. I think this AD would be more effective if they give away Ipods and PS3s per click :))

The full url of the flash AD banner is found here.

Rat Monster

Are you scared? Are you scared man?!? You should be because you're on Scare Tactics :))

Damn, I'm going to kill anyone who tries to pull this joke on me.

Rubber Band Gymnast

People like this should be banned on the olympic games, it's just to freaky.

Transparent Screens

Transparent Screen - peon.master
Originally uploaded by w00kie.

I found this image gallery at Flickr.com which features "Transparent Screens". To save you all the googling they are actually not transparent, the authors used a digital camera to take a picture of the area behind the screen and used it as a desktop wallpaper thus giving the illusion of transparency.

I tried doing it myself and its not as easy as it seems.

Kudos to all the artist who posted -- great work!

The 2 Chinese Boys Video

It started as a hilarious spoof of the Backstreet Boys by two chinese boys, now its hotter than the short lived Crazy Frog and its starting to sweep the entire globe! God help us :))

Watch the original video that started it all.


They became instant celebrities, now watch them perform on their (own) show as they sing BSB's "As long as you love me" on stage!

Here they are again spoofing a chinese song "Fairy" and "bu de bu ai" while the madness continue to spread all over the globe with "two chinese boys: except only one is american".

Ofcourse we Filipinos are not going to be left behind with "Bebot".

I hope you can still breath? :))

Casey!

Who doesn't love Casey, the most adorable webcam girl we have ever seen. I'm trying to complete my casey collection so please if you know a site where i can find more casey pics then please post a comment. If you wish you can visit my casey collection by following the 5-minute free access to PORNMAN at the right side panel of this page.

Philippines in a State of Emergency

First of all, the following does not reflect the opinion of the company or companies I work for. The sole basis of these opinions is my experience and is neither financially nor politically motivated.

Early morning of February 24, 2006 the entire law enforcement and the military was place on "double red alert", blockades were place on routes in and out the metropolitan due to the Proclamation 1017 of the president to place the Philippines in a State of Emergency. You may read the full story at INQ7.net.

A little spoiler to those reading this hoping for a deep and hard hitting political opinion, this post is not about which side is right or what principles are better than yours and mine. I'm here to ask the questions that most people will neglect to ask during this time.

Who profits by keeping us in mediocre political state? You may notice the Philippines is regularly being plagued by political turmoil since the 1986 EDSA revolution.

Let me first tell you about my fascination in magic. Magic is a term we use to describe something we don't truly understand, but for me I use this term to describe something I couldn't entirely see. Magicians' biggest secret is distraction, the ability to manipulate the audience to see only what the performer wants them to see and since we didn't see the entire trick it baffles our sense and logic thus we only ask the questions that the magicians wanted us to ask. Like when a magician makes a coin disappear on his right hand, we usually ask "How did he do that" or where did it go; but we didn't bother to ask what other things happened like what was the left hand doing during the act.

Now let's get back to our original topic and use magic as an analogy. Let's ask what was the intention of the magician why he need to create a trick so big that it would distract the president, the law enforcement, the politicians, the media, and the entire Filipino people? What past event's will be forgotten and over-shadowed by the current political crisis. What did the magician's left hand do? Who profitted?

Just my two cents worth.

Google Pages postponed accepting new accounts

Google has postponed accepting new accounts for their new beta service called Google Page Creator which was announced on Google Labs webpage last Feb 23, 2005. However less than a day after its beta launch the login page announced it is suspending sign-ups for new accounts due to heavy demand.

Google Page Creator is a "what you see is what you get" web application which is suitable for non-technical users who wish to publish websites on their own and users will be also given a sub-domain name under domain googlepages.com. This new service is a welcome news to all users who's still using the aging service offered by free website hosting such as Yahoo Geocities.

(update)

If you're too excited to try on Google Pages but your still on the waiting list then take a tour at: http://fetalsage.googlepages.com/home

Sex with partners is critical to having good health

According to NewScientist.com, scientific studies revealed that sex with a partner is 400% better than doing it alone (better than masturbation) because the body release a chemicals called Prolactin which gives us the "feeling" of satisfaction by countering the effect of another chemical called Dopamine which is released during arousal.

I researched the chemical Dopamine and it turns there were scientific studies pointing this chemical is critical for the brain to control movement and shortage of Dopamine in the body causes Parkinson's disease. Since Dopamine which is release during arousal is ritually needed by the body and Prolactin counters the effect of Dopamine. Therefore having sex with a partner is very critical to a person's health!

This means we should have regular sex with partners as much as excercise?! So what if you don't have a partner, should the Department of Health provide you with an affordable one (like generic drugs)?!

I like that idea :))

AJAX and the basics of web security

Web applications is booming again since the rapid adaptation of AJAX, but let us not forget the basic security measures we have to put in place. If we rely too much on javascript validation to make a "sane" XMLHttpRequest request then we have to rework it since any decent hacker can create a custom browser that allows arbitrary calls to any exposed AJAX methods.

Check out the Open Web Application Security Project's top ten list of security flaws: http://www.owasp.org/documentation/topten.html

Mobile Forensics?

Textually.org has a story on SIMcon, a new tool that can recover deleted messages for forensic evidence. It can even retrieve the full logs of carriers the SIM is using for roaming feature outside the country.

I fear It's a matter of time before someone can reverse engineer this software and use it for viruses to steal information from your phone.

Time for Philippines to have a Mobile VAS Clearing House?

First of all, the following does not reflect the opinion of the company or companies I work for. The sole basis of these opinions is my experience and is neither financially nor politically motivated.

Countries such as the United States and Europe have established a "clearing house" for value added services; this is really not new but how about implementing the same scheme here in the Philippines?

This would mean lesser access numbers to confuse users and they will no longer have to memorize a dozen access numbers, in my experience an access number's popularity depends entirely on how well it is advertised especially endorsed by the Telco, after that the survival of the service depends on the number of users that opted to subscribe on the service to receive a regular content such as notifications or content (SMS /MMS). A universal access number (4 or 3 digit) for common services can also be implemented which would benefit content providers (CP) who wish to provide service across all networks, this could be optional depending on the agreement between CPs and the Telco such as exclusivity contracts. User acceptability test can be done independently by the clearing house to avoid undue bias from the Telco, a standardized format and guidelines for identifying services can also be implemented. Additionally the clearing house may pass sanction on CPs who has committed fraudulent acts using their service such as unfair charging and annoyances.

Finally, the clearing house can also ensure an equal opportunity for all content providers to publish their content/service. We say we have the freedom of expression as provided by the constitution, and then such expression is carried by means of communication such as TV, Print, Radio, and Telco. Can't one argue that argue that if Telco has the sole authority to restrict usage of their service as they see fit or due to biases (competing markets) then it would be hampering our constitutional rights to express?

Now I leave these thoughts to the people with authorities for who and how this is going to be done.

Just my two cents worth.

Root Kit

I was being infested by adwares so i decided to run the old-trusty Spybot to clean it up.

Spybot and adware clashed in a mortal kombat!

The counter started from 0.. 50.. 1000.. 3000.. until it ends somewhere at 30,000+ checks. Damn, why does it always takes so long to scan for adwares?

A slight freeze as Spybot finishes then it reports that New Dot Net and Cydoor trojans were found on my fuc*** pc, well it's my fault because I used a P2P application to download Manny's epic fight last time (you can't really blame me and it was worth it!). So I opted to remove them but New Dot Net persisted, I tried to schedule it for removal on boot then restarted my PC. I re-scanned but its still there; the fuc*** trojan is still there! Time for some drastic measures.

The only time you can't clean up a trojan is when it's rooted (it means it installed a "rookit" to stealth it totally), so i fired-up my "not-so-recommended for noob" Autorun and Rootkit Revealer from Sysinternals.com. I found that it has installed to .sys file called cert32 and cert64 including some other files that high-jacked some legit image entries in the registry, so all i needed to do was delete the entries then reboot.

* deleting..

I have just deleted the entries and the files, im going to reboot now. If you don't hear from me it means i fuc*** up my OS and I have to spend an entire day fixing it. Oh well, ill just boot Linux for a while until its fixed, too bad that some of my tools runs on MS Windows only, if not i would totaly junk MS.

Pray for me, im going to say hi first to some people online since it's going to be a long silent day for me if this doesn't work :((

I have my avatar!!.. next the world. bwahaha

I finally decided on my avatar thanks to dookyweb.com. If you have any comments and violent reactions... should i care?!?

Before I-Robot, there was C-Robot

Mike Perez has an interesting blog post about jabberwacky chat bot. I too have an interest on chat bots about since year ago and I have stockpiled a lot of bots raging from Alice bots to voice enabled bots like pandorabots. After much tinkering around with lines and lines of botscripts and downloading the massive knowledge base, I found pandorabots the most suitable for all my needs. Pandora bot's basically runs as a webservice so you can use any of your favorite scripting language such as PHP, Perl, and Ruby to directly post user queries to the bot's URL. The interface was kept plain and simple so you can use screen-scraping methods to capture the bot's response. Pandora bots has a web interface that you can use to add new knowledge using AI Markup Language (AIML) or train using question and response (in which you can change the bot's response to some question if you don't like it).

You can visit my bot at using normal chat mode or with voice. Please be polite and you can ask the bot about our company Finger Apps (our company) too!

Advance pandorabots.

You can use pandorabots in tandem with kannel and glue it up with a simple script as I mentioned above, this will give you an SMS based chatbot. If you like to use pandorabot with IM's then you can hook it up a jabber server, I used the PHP jabber API to hook my pandorabot to my Yahoo messenger :))

Service bots!

If you like bots that "do things" other than chat with you then try our smarter child. You can command the bot ranging from taking down notes to search google. Smarter child is also available for chat in AOL, MSN, and ICQ messenger.

Freedom of txtpression

Philippines is considered the text capital of the world -- this may be true before but countries like South Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia is already battling for that position, but if I was to bet on who wins I'll put my money on China with 1,306,313,812 population. Shit! That's a lot freaking people; I guess a 40% mobile penetration alone would make who ever cash in on that market richer than Bill Gates :))

Still Philippines boasts the most diverse value added services (VAS) for mobile, it may not be as high-tech as the European countries but hell just look-up any newspaper now-a-days and the pages will be covered with VAS advertisements telling you to try out a service by sending an SMS with keyword to an access number.

When I attended the August 17 2004 Open Source Conference at Shangri-La Hotel, I was able to meet up with Mr. Rafael 'Dido' Sevilla, one of the pioneers in mobile technology and value added service in the Philippines. We agreed to start the first-ever local mobile oriented e-group to advance the dissemination of technology and to discuss the status-quo of the mobile industry. Some believed we have reached the saturation point for value added service being offered in the country.

One year ago I didn't believe this so I went on to build a killer application with Friendster, it was a success and we had a hard time keeping up with user's request via SMS. However like the dot com bubble things like this doesn't last at all and I'm starting to believe that the group was right after all. If this is true then a true killer application for mobile is truly not possible?

I decided to give it another take, if a killer app was not possible then maybe a killer service is?

Enter Web2.0 which is fuelling the next dot com boom which many experts predict to be a sustainable this time since its foundation is based on solid applications and market rather than the speculative market. Armed with this new vision we launched a service that would leverage on this trend and the growing importance of domain services.

Introducing TXTmokko.com.

TXTmokko is a service that aims to provice interface for any user or web application to expand its interactivity via SMS and MMS. To explain more here is a text version of the flyer being distributed:

What is txtmokko?

A unique wireless service which is designed to empower individuals and groups of individuals to create and launch mobile services on the fly. You own your personal txt-id. This wireless service enables you to post messages or anything you want to share to anybody and create your own mobile community.

So tell me more!!

Are you the 'loud and proud'? The 'shy and cowering'? Whether you're the average or demented, as long as you have something to share, txtmokko is your tool! It is a venue to txtpress yourself! and reach out to others using the mobile network. Make it your 'mobile post-it' or your 'mobile bulletin board'! Who can have a txtmokko account? Anyone who has an existing and active email account and GLOBE mobile number. What is the access number for txtmokko? txtmokko is accessible thru 2948 for Globe. And soon SMART and SUN Cellular too!

How to start an account ?

Register

a. Log on to the website: http://www.txtmokko.com
b. Fill-up Registration form
c. Create your txt-ID and activate via SMS. e.g. txt christine SEND to 2948 for Globe.

Create a T-box!
a. Personalize your content thru your T-box.
b. Place contents(messages, blogs, anouncements,bulletins etc.)
c. Activate your T-box. and send to 2948 for Globe.
d. Create as many as 10 t-boxes.

Spread the Word! Tell everyone about txtmokko and your new TXT-ID! Visit www.txtmokko.com

*Rates : P2.50/per txt

powered by Megamobile

* UPDATE:

Txtmokko.com - users can register a mobile keyword under and short code number allowing them to receive SMS messages anonymously.

It works like this:

1. Register a keyword.
eg: GODIE
( this is my real keyword :D )

2. Compose an SMS:
eg: MSG GODIE this is a test test, I'm sending to myself

3. Send it to Txtmokko access number 2948 (Philippines only)

4. Log-in to http://www.txtmokko.com

5. Go to your inbox/chats page at http://www.txtmokko.com/?q=chat/form

6. The test message you have sent via SMS should appear in your inbox.

7. You can also read your inbox via a private RSS feed, just click the orange RSS icon on the inbox page.

8. You can reply for free, just click the test message you have sent on your inbox to reply or use the link provided on your inbox's private RSS feed

9. You can set to forward all SMS messages to your email too!

Other things you can do:

1. You can add additional keywords and upload auto-replies in the text-box section at http://www.txtmokko.com/?q=hello/manage

eg: TXT GODIE

2. Let users get up-to-date information about you by composing an SMS and sending it to the short code.

eg: TXT GODIE
then send to 2948

3. Users will receive via (actual sample using my keyword):

Roger aka "Godie" is a 20 something geek from the Philippines. He works as a mobile specialist for the past 3 years which also involves security, networking and banking.

So far it works for Philippine users only and it cost Php2.50 to use the service but its free if your replying to a message.

Its useful for getting customer feed backs, live customer support, interactive Chat, or just allowing your application to receive messages via SMS.

The interview with me and myself

Ok kiddies a little bit of introduction before I start bitching all over the internet (I hope this one survives a few days before being taken down) :))

Ok let's start.

* Roger sits down at his desk with the PC in front and starts to interview his alter-ego.

Roger: Hello, can we start with the interview?

Godie: Sure, oh wait.. give me a sec, somebody PM'd me.

Roger: (great start huh? I think I need a smoke...)

* after a while...

Godie: Ok I'm ready.

Roger: Great. Now first of all tell us your name and something about yourself.

Godie: My name is Godie from the Philippines, a 20 something geek working as a mobile specialist for 3 years already. I'm also involved in outsourcing which includes security and banking for both local and international clients. In my personal life I'm single but I'm very well taken tho -- I have to state this on record because she might read it eventually :))

Roger: Ha-ha. For the record I'm well taken too, I don't want to end up sleep at the office too :))

* laughs

Roger: Tell us more about your personal side. Do you have any hobby?

Godie: I like sketching as a personal hobby and I even use to compete during my younger days.

Roger: You say "younger days", when was that exactly?

Godie: Like when I was in high schools :) ha-ha. They say I was a prodigy or something shit like that.

Roger: Prodigy of whom?

Godie: I guess of myself, I think my style was so unique nobody wanted to put me under their wings to teach me. It a BS was of saying I suck big time :))

Roger: Ha-ha. So what happens afterwards?

Godie: When I started on college I took up BS Compushit and I got busy so I didn't have more time to pursue sketching. You know how college is, there's just too many to do.

Roger: Yes I know I been like that on college days, so you studied a lot then. What subjects you were hooked into?

Godie: It was biology and human anatomy. Those were my favorite so I even stayed late at school to study.

Roger: I thought you're into Compushit and stuff like that?

Godie: Yeah, but I was hooked to those subjects because my lab partner was a damn hot chick -- oh boy was I hooked :))

Roger: You dawg! :))

* laughs again

Roger: But you turned up well somehow and now your a specialist in your field.

Godie: Yes I guess all that cheating paid off :) im kidding. Its a lot of hard word but i enjoyed it so for me its fun.

Godie: When I eventually started on my thesis that's when I worked on internet and networking. Then I got a job on an ISP and phone company while working on my thesis, that's where I developed my curiosity towards technology involving communication.

Roger: I see, that's why you're into mobile now. So tell me what have you been up to in this field so far?

Godie: Well I really started on mobile when I went to our city campus to take up some "back" courses. Remember I said I was hooked to other course and I neglected some essential ones so I have to make up for it if I wanted to really pursue my curiosity communications technology.

Godie: So I went there and I needed some bucks to supplement my financial for the study. So I got a job in a mobile firm, those days were the boom of mobile technology and everyone was hooked into cell phones. It was crazy, we created a lot of value added service that most of the time didn't make sense but people are willing to try it because of the hype.

Roger: Yes, I was also hooked into that hype.

Godie: Anyway the work got time consuming and I had to drop my back courses. My mom was furious but hell I'm not going home so she can't spank me :))

Roger: I'll spank you then!

Godie: Ha-ha. Anyway after a few months I transferred to another company. It's smaller than my previous company and it's an upstart.

Roger: So why the transfer?

Godie: I like the challenge and I get to head the projects full time. I have no regrets; we have developed out company with a reputation to be one of the most feared by competitors. In a year's time we had affiliates on Africa and a few months after we opened another company specializing on content.

Godie: We also made history to be the first firm to aggregate content directly from abroad. I guess that spawned more interest on aggregating content providers abroad to be used here locally and vice-versa.

Roger: That's impressive.

Godie: Yes that's when I earn the title specialist. Outsourcing jobs also helps; I got the chance to handle banking, security, and network. My client goes as far as Germany on this area but it still prefer working on company projects since its much rewarding seeing it launched and people using it. You can even hear people talk about it at Starbucks so I feel proud.

Roger: I guess you will feel like a celebrity?

Godie: I just like keeping a low profile and I hate that entire BS about the celebrity status.

Roger: But you're the specialist that must attract a lot of attention?

Godie: "Specialist" is a fancy term for saying no body knows what they are doing and so those who claim to know these stuff their words became law.

Roger: Amen! :))

Godie: Worship meeee :))

Roger: I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy :))

* laughs and more non-sense about being god and all that shit. After 15 minutes.

Roger: Ok, some final questions. Tell me the What, When, Why, How about your blog.

What: This blog is about the BS that I get everyday from my work, community, government and personal life.

Why: I'm always fond of reading blogs but I haven't had the time to make one. I did have a blog before called "god of the box" but it didn't go well tho. IMHO it's because it focuses too much on technology making it cold and dry for most people -- it lacks the aspect of humanity.

When: I started blogging 3 years ago. But like I said the first one is short lived. Then I started this one since I got spare time again to amuse myself

How: I write my blogs for myself. To amuse myself when I'm bored and keep an online diary about my thoughts and rants in everyday. Someday I'll look back to this interview and feel so sorry for bitching up but hey at least I don't have to repeat the same mistakes :))

* More non-sense follows then me a myself decided to go out and get some beer to continue more.