NYTimes: Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts

Sentiment mining: now this is a business I could invest in. Playing
on the growth of interactive 'web 2.0', mining of all the public
feedback available out there will become an importan corporate tool. I
cannot imagine what the fellas at Google hav already developed.

From The New York Times:

Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts

The universe of reviews, ratings and recommendations online open a
tantalizing window on the collective consciousness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/technology/internet/24emotion.html

Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People

Even wikipedia is beginning to see an evolution of it's mission.  "We are no longer at the point that it is acceptable to throw things at the wall and see what sticks," said Michael Snow, chairman of the Wikimedia board that governs wikipedia.

From The New York Times:

Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People

Founded on the concept that anyone could change its content, the online encyclopedia is requiring reviews on articles about living people after embarrassing incidents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/internet/25wikipedia.html

NYTimes: Apple Denies It Rejected Google Application for iPhone

Apple says 'still studying' Google iPhone app, not rejected:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/technology/companies/22apple.html

NYTimes: The Big Draw of a GPS Run

As you can see from my runkeeper log to the left, I love that app. I
now hope one day to make art from my gps tracked runs!

From The New York Times:

The Big Draw of a GPS Run

Part sport, part art, GPS drawing lets runners, walkers, cyclists and
hikers imagine themselves anew, mapping their track lines across
cities, roads and farms, and sharing them online.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/fashion/20GPS.html

NYTimes: Care to Write Army Doctrine? With ID, Log On

The army is using wiki's to rewrite field manuals: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/business/14army.html

Is Google a Monopoly?

Don't get me wrong... I love google. The simplicity of their search engine, the innovative products and team members, and the general attitude of google is tremendous. But in the age of "Too Big to Fail" I must ask the question: Is Google a monopoly and should it be broken up?

At time of writing, Google has 74% of the search engine market share. 10 years ago, this was not a big deal. But considering that search is becoming the marketing selection of choice, is this too much? The 74% statistic is actually slightly blow the more important statistic: Google has a 76% market share of the search engine advertising market. Considering this is a $21BB market, this is staggering!

Even with Microsoft's and Yahoo's pact, they are really nothing in the large scheme of things. Already, we are seeing a lot of concerns around Google's privacy and data policies. They know more about me than I do! (well, so does my grocery chain with their loyalty card, but I digress). Further, there seems to be a lot of flack around Apple and their App store not allowing in Google Voice (see FCC demands details from Apple around Google Voice article). This should be reversed!

Remember that in the end, Google is about making money from advertising. That's it. Nothing more. In much the same way TV stations, radio stations, newspaper, etc make money from advertising so does google. Rather than buying additional TV stations, Google gathers more information about people's search habits through different products (Froogle, Gmail, Blogger, etc). They are just collating that information and making their algorithms stronger (this is a great feature for advertisers). But if GE (who owns NBC), went out and bought CBS, ABC (who owns Disney and ESPN), Fox and Turnery (CNN, TNT, TBS), leaving only a small number of other channels, wouldnt this be considered a monopoly?

EPA asks: What is environmentalism?

Environmentalism to me is FIRST reducing use and waste. Then its about smartly producing and using (including using waste).

Let your voice be heard on the EPA website.

Rorschach on Wikipedia - a Good Thing

Recently, there has been a dustup in the media around posting not only the inkblots for the Rorschach test on wikipedia, but also what the analysis behind typical responses. The words "creating a furor" around this have even been thrown. I have fallen on the side of - this is knowledge, and spreading knowledge is a good thing.

As background, the Rorschach test is a series of inkblots, like the one shown above, created to assess an individual's personality and even state of mind. Though not the only images used for tests, these blots (10 in all) were created by Swiss pyschiatrist Henry Rorschach in the lat 1920's. The subject is asked to review the inkblots one at a time and say what they see in the inkblot. It is supposed to be a very open ended question in which the subject may immediately blurt out an answer, ask to hold the card the inkblot is on, rotate the card, etc. All of these action reveal something about the subject, not just the answer itself. Even asking whether they are allowed to hold or rotate the card is an indicator.

The "furor" has been created because on Wikipedia, a tremendous information source, a community is posting the tests (inkblots), methodology, what to think about certain answers and actions, etc. It was actually an emergency room doctor, James Heilman, who posted the inkblots and research around the inkblot answers to Wikipedia. Now a community of psychologists have come out strongly against this information on Wikipedia. There reason: "The more test materials are promulgated widely, the more possibility there is to game it,” said Bruce L. Smith, a psychologist and president of the International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Methods, who has posted under the user name SPAdoc (from the NYtimes article).

I can understand the psychologists argument. There has been a vast number of studies, 50 years of research and understanding, and very detailed methodology around the tests. The concern is that people will be able to game the system. Though I am not a psychologist, nor do I play one on TV, I am in disagreement here.

The Wikipedia community is not posting answers to an SAT or final exam here. In the end, the community is trying to share and transfer knowledge from a few to many. For me, philosophically, no matter what it is, the sharing of knowledge to a larger audience always has more positive effects for society than any short term impact of sharing that knowledge.

In this case, we are creating a community that understands more about these tests. More of the community can continue to add to the meaning. Additionally, a larger community now sees, at a very cursory level, what psychologists see and look for in behaviors.

Furthermore, the Rorschach test is but only one indicator of an individual's personality and state of mind. As the NY Times article referred to, if you memorize the eye chart when going to the optometrist, do you really think you are going to fool him/her? That is one test, and s/he has a series of other tests to review your eyesight. In this case, the psychologist will see through other tests, or even through other non-posted subtle signs while taking the test. If a person truly wanted to game the system, they would go to the library and do much further research than the cursory review shown on Wikipedia.

Review: Toodledo for iPhone

Without a doubt, as a business user of the iPhone, one of the biggest things missing was a good "to-do" app built in to the iPhone. Every other smart phone I had purchased before came with one, and it integrated nicely with outlook (another must have).

I work a lot out of outlook and the other half of my time out of my iPhone. I get a lot of things done when in front of outlook; I think of a lot of things to do while sitting at the airport playing with my iPhone. Outlook integration was a requirement.

I tried a few different types of to-do applications. As I thought this was a must have (even more, dare I say, than copy and paste!), I did not want to spend a lot for the app. I tried "ToDo" a free app. It was a basic todo app, but nothing more than that. I researched a lot about other todo apps. The problem was, it seemed for any app to integrate with outlook, I had to pay a premium free - up to $25 / year!

Then, I was playing with my iPhone app store, and came across toodledo. It had 4.5 stars in the app store. I read many success stories, and then I read that by downloading a free plugin, it would sync with outlook. I was intrigued. Then I saw the price: $3.99. One time, thats it. It was a download in two minutes.

As soon as I opened up the app, I thought "not bad". Rather than "types" of tasks, it organizes them into "folders". This was easy. I created a Business folder and a Personal folder and added a few tasks. Easy enough. There are tons of ways to customize the display, organize the information, and set reminders, alerts etc. You can even have it text you when an alert is needed.

Then I went online and created an online account at toodledo.com. In an easy to read fashion, you can see all of your to-do's instantly and organized. I went back to the iPhone and entered my login info, and wow, pretty instantly, everything was sync'd. Great! But still not satisfied - what about outlook?

Clicking around the site, I found the "export" section. I then realized that (a) this was not a true over the air sync up with todo list (like found in Microsoft based smart phones) and (b) toodledo did not yet fully support this. It is actually a free plugin made by another company called Chromatic Dragon. Oh well - I gave it a try.

On my cpu with outlook (work cpu), I downloaded Chromatic Dragon - it is free. They only ask for a paypal donation if you like the plugin. Not yet. After downloading and installing, the plugin asks for your user name and password. A little tricky here as it is not your username from the website - you have to go into your account details and find your unique ID on the website. Through me for a minute or two, but then I got it.

Time to sync! Well, I actually found the sync works very well! I could do a manual sync, or I could set it to sync in intervals I set (I set it for 2 hours to not bother me while I am working too much). The tasks showed up under the same categories as I entered them into the toodledo app on my phone. In the reverse way, whatever I entered on outlook, showed up properly on my phone.

This was near perfect. However, the only time it will sync is when you have outlook open. And itwill only sync up in set time intervals. For this I would give it 4 out of 5 starts. But wait, I found something else - a firefox plugin.

I downloaded the plugin. This is a very nice feature - I had forgotton how much I work out of Firefox when I said "I work in Outlook and iPhone" before. Right in firefox, I can see my to do list and get reminded. I can enter, cross off, adjust any of the tasks.

Now the system was perfect - I have to change my rating to 4.5 out of 5 stars. My system works very well now - in my iPhone I tend to add a lot of todo's. When I am at the office, I am usually in Outlook, and I complete a lot of todo's. But the other important place, at home, I am usually browinsg in Firefox. Now I had the perfect place to enter in more todo's and complete todo's - mainly for the Personal tasks.

If you are satisfied with a current todo app, then dont get this. But if you really add todo's on the go, complete them on the go, this is a great app. You just have to live with the fact it does not sync over the air - but for 90% of the time, I am covered with what it gives me. Lastly, an important criteria (since I thought it should have been included), Toodledo meets the important checkoff of being cheap. So get this if you are looking for a complete todo app.

Go Away! Honesty and Something Like Leadership.

Unlike the other US Legacy airlines who pretend they care about you, the head of European discount carrier RyanAir says, "Just go away!". Funny thing... His approach is working.

From The New York Times:

THE SATURDAY PROFILE: No Apologies From the Boss of a No-Frills Airline

By SARAH LYALL

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, believes as long as tickets are cheap and the planes are on time, passengers will endure almost any indignity....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/world/europe/01oleary.html

In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable

A terrific article on how sometimes it is better to go with your gut. As Malcolm Gladwell teaches, data and analysis is great. However, the more complex the situation, the more you should just go with your gut.

From The New York Times:

BRAIN POWER: In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable

By BENEDICT CAREY

U.S. soldiers are at the center of an effort to understand how it is that some people's brains can sense danger before others' do....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health/research/28brain.html